Now...Where Were We??

Oh yes, I was playing the part of the blogging slacker and you were the annoyed reader :-)

Hope you all had a great holiday season. Ours was great. Actually, it was one of the best we've had in a while. I'm not even sure why, I just felt so relaxed and calm and happy during all of it....and I can't even remember the last time I felt that way during the holidays. Usually I'm completely stressed out. It was so nice to really enjoy it this year. It probably also helps that the weather this winter has been AMAZING!!! I know it's supposedly global warming and that's a bad thing blah, blah, blah. But when the average temps this time of year are normally around freezing and this year the entire month of January has been between 45 and 60 (until today....it's currently 7...I'm wearing my coat and scarf right now...in the house.) it's pretty hard to complain.

Here is a nice little family pic from Christmas..

Hmm, let's see, what else is new. Oh, we have a new niece!! Greg's brother Matt and our sister-in-law Kelly had their second child in late December. Her name is Mallory (love that name). We were hoping Kelly would have her when we were home visiting, but we just missed it by a few days. I can't wait to meet her. The pictures of her are so precious!!

The whole new year's resolution hoopla has begun around here. I have several resolutions, some of which I'm doing well on and others not so much. I decided to give up all soft drinks...even diet. I used to drink 1-2 Coke Zeros a day, so I've started brewing a pitcher of green tea every couple of days and just drink iced green tea instead of soda. I've done fairly well. I've cheated a couple of times, but for the most part, I'm off the sauce (cola).

I'm also cooking a lot more....meaning I don't just microwave things or get them out of a can :-) This one I go in waves on. I'll cook up a storm for a few days in a row, but then I just get so tired of it. When I'm on a cooking spree, I wind up feeing like my whole existence is spent cooking or cleaning up the mess I made from cooking. I bought a grain mill too, so I've been grinding my own wheat flour. I made blueberry pancakes from scratch last weekend with my freshly milled wheat flour. The pancakes were delicious if I do say so myself :-) I've also been making daily smoothies. I have an app on my phone with a bunch of healthy smoothie recipies. Very yummy. Ben loves them too.

My other main resolution is to get back to attending church on a regular basis again. We went a long period of time where we just weren't going at all. This is partially due to getting a new pastor (we loved our old pastor) and partly because Ben would throw such a fit in his Sunday school class that it became super stressful to go. Anyway, we need to start going again.

Ben turned 3 last month!!! I can't believe he is 3. He is really growing and developing so quickly now. He has made leaps and bounds with his speech and is really becoming a big boy. His speech therapist is thrilled with how much he is progressing. Also, he can go to the bathroom all by himself now (except #2...we're still struggling a bit with that). He goes to daycare once a week and doesn't even cry when I drop him off anymore. We also have a weekly playdate with a couple of ladies from my MOPS group. So things are really going well with Mr. Ben.

I'll be doing the Lincoln half-marathon again this year. I'm excited because I didn't get to do it last year because I was out of town. The race keeps getting bigger and bigger every year. The first year I did it, the cap was 6500 runners, then they raised it to 8,000, then to 10,000 and it kept selling out every year. This year, it sold out within a couple of weeks. Crazy!!! I'm glad I signed up right away! It looks like they will have to raise the cap again next year. I love how active this community is. Lincoln only has a population of 250,000 and the fact that the marathon consistently sells out says a lot.

And last but certainly not least.....My brother came home from Afghanistan in September!!!!!! We went back for his welcome home celebration and it was wonderful. We are all so incredibly proud of him and grateful for service to our country. But most of all, we are so glad he is finally home!!! Love you Jimmy!

Brooke

Road Trip

Hello! Well, we survived a fairly lengthy trip back to good old Illinois to visit both our families. We've actually been back for over a week now, but it has taken us awhile to get back into the swing of things. We were gone for 8 days (that is counting travel days...we drove), which I think was about 3 days too many for Ben. His mood steadily declined over the last few days of the trip and hadn't improved much since we'd been home.....until today. Today he is at least becoming recognizable as the child I know. I love him with all my heart but the last several days have been very, very rough. Hopefully we've turned a corner and Ben will be back to his old self soon. Although stress-inducing at times, it was soooo nice to be back home. We were able to enjoy the company of family and friends which is always a blessing!

Here are some pics:

I love this picture of Ben and his cousin, Ava....

Ava, My Sis-in-Law Nathalie, Me and Ben....and a deer head:

Ava and Ben celebrating Ava's 5th birthday:

Another pic of us with Nat and Ava:

I love this one of Ben. He looks so grown up!

Another one of the four of us....plus Greg:

Ben with cousin Reagan:

And my personal favorite....Ben swimming at Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds' house. He LOVED it even though the water was freezing (only 78 degrees at one point). His little mouth was chattering like crazy, but he still had a great time.

In other news, we celebrated the one year anniversary of the day Ben's adoption became 100% complete. We bought him a little play kitchen as a gift to celebrate the day. Whenever he goes to the speech pathologist, he always plays with the toy kitchen they have, so I figured he would enjoy one here at home. It was a BIG hit. Poor Greg had to assemble it though. I had no idea it would be in so many tiny pieces. It took him a couple of hours to get it together, but I know Ben appreciates it :-)

It is finally cooler around here today. The weather in Illinois was nice and cool the entire time we were there, so I was hopeful that when we returned to Nebraska, it would be the same way. I was wrong. It has been wretchedly humid and still above normal temps for the past week. Today, however, has been beautiful!! We went to the outdoor mall this morning and it was in the mid-70's!!! I actually wore jeans. It was magical. Although the days have been hot (with the exception of today), the evening temps are starting to back off a little and I can even detect the tiniest hint of fall in the evening air. I love when that starts to happen. The "creeping in" of fall is one of my favorite things about living in the midwest. For me, fall has always stirred up something in me that makes me feel like anything is possible. I know it's weird, but it happens every year. I think it's because this is the time of year that school starts and I was always one of those kids who looked forward to a new school year; a new year of adventures and endless possibilities. I guess this time of year just takes me back there for awhile. It's a nice feeling.

I hope, wherever you are, you're feeling nice too :-)

Brooke

Fridays are for Lists

I read several different blogs a few times a week and it seems like the majority of them do some kind of list on Friday. I enjoy those lists, so I think I'll do my own today. And if you know me at all, you will not be surprised that this list is going to be completely random and probably weird....

1) I miss running outside. I hate that if I attempt an outdoor run these days, I'll either drop dead from heat stroke or just spontaneously combust. Neither sounds pleasant. So I run on the "dreadmill". Blech! I think I'm ready for fall....and it's only early August.

2) Greg claims he saw Adam Levine from Maroon 5 at the golf course last Friday. I kind of believe him because A) One of the other members of the group is from Lincoln and B) Greg is really good at spotting celebrities. All of the celebrity sightings we've had in Vegas have happened because Greg has pointed them out (except for one....I believe it was either me or Mike that spotted Loni Anderson...and she looked exactly the same as she did on WKRP in Cinncinati).

Apparently, Greg and his buddy, Rick, were at the course's snack cart ordering a hot dog when Rick's cell phone started ringing. His ring tone is "You're the Best Around" from The Karate Kid (awesome, by the way) and the alleged Mr. Levine thought it was funny....that is how he caught Greg's attention. And since he and Greg both ordered a hot dog, Greg now likes to refer to the time "when he had a hot dog with Adam Levine from Maroon 5".

3) I'm so stinking ready for my brother to be back from Afghanistan. I miss him. Less than two more months to go....thank God!!

4) The SuperTarget we shop at is right by our church. I took Ben this morning so we could get some grocery shopping done and he started crying when we pulled into the Target parking lot. Apparently, he thought we were going to church (VBS was last week). Hopefully his new found love of church carries through to this weekend when we attempt to go as a family again...fingers crossed.

5) I had jury duty early this week. It was my first time ever serving. DUI case. Some of it was interesting and some of it was mind-numbingly boring. I took some political science classes in college for the fun of it (my major was psychology, but I found poli sci very interesting). At the time, I thought being a trial lawyer would be fun. Let's just say I no longer feel that way after completing jury duty.

6) I recently discovered why I had such a hard time with algebra but such an easy time with geometry in high school. I was reading something (can't remember where or what) that said algebra and geometry require the use of opposite hemispheres of the brain. I did a little more research on it because I am a nerd.....according to Google, algebra is a "left-brained" activity (the left hemisphere of the brain directs the cognitive processes of logic, symbols and language) while geometry is a "right-brained" activity (the right hemisphere deals with creative, spatial and musical processing). I am definitely more of a "right-brained" gal....thus, much better at geometry. Kind of interesting. Or not.

7) I love puppy chow. Not the dog food, but the snack food. I normally don't crave sweets. As far as chocolate or candy or cake or other sweets are concerned....I can take them or leave them. I prefer salt to sweets. Except for the darn puppy chow. I seriously crave the stuff. And if I make it, I'll eat it until I feel sick. I don't get it. Is it because of the presence of the peanut butter?? I adore peanut butter. Greg's brother Mike thinks it's the combination of sweet and a little salty (from the rice chex) that makes it irresistible. I think he may be on to something.

8) I really want to do a marathon. A full one. My original goal was to do this in 2012 but I don't think it's going to happen. It takes an enormous amount of time to train and I don't want to be away from Greg and Ben that much. Maybe when Ben starts pre-school in a couple of years.....

9) My dad bought me a couple of tomato plants while Greg and I were in Vegas and he and my mom were here watching Ben. Can I just say that I am PUMPED about these things!?! I check them every day and so far, there are 2 growing on one plant and 1 on the other. Both of them have several blooms though, so hopefully there will be more coming. I love tomatoes. LOVE them. I would love to have a full blown garden, but our yard is way too small for that. Maybe some day!!

10) I think I'm too wordy for lists.

Have a great weekend!

Brooke

A Hodgepodge, If You Will....

Hello everyone! Long time, no post..... I know. I can't believe it's almost August. As usual, summer is flying by. The past few weeks have basically been spent trying to find things to do that don't involve baking my 2 year old in the stifling heat. We've been going on a 3 mile walk (Ben rides in his stroller) in the early mornings before it gets too hot. Unfortunately, our definition "too hot" has been pushing some serious limits lately. When it's already 88 degrees at 8:00am, it doesn't leave a whole lot of time to do much of anything outside, so we've been spending a lot of time at the children's museum.

Ben and I have also been going to VBS at our church the past couple of nights. I'll admit I was very nervous how it would play out. The last few group activities I have tried with Ben have not gone well, but it appears we have turned a corner! I'm sure it helped that I was volunteering in his room, but Ben had a GREAT time! When we got to the toddler room, he took off and immediately started playing right along with the other kids. And it is all he has been talking about at home. I am beyond thrilled that he is finally getting comfortable in big group settings.

There was only one problem the first night with a little girl who basically "attacked" Ben. I sensed something was going on when I passed by the area where she and Ben were playing and I thought I saw her push him down and then he stood up and said "No, no!!", but I didn't say anything....just figured it was normal toddler stuff. Then a few minutes later, she was ramming his head into the wall. By the time I got over there to break it up, Ben was sobbing and just starting to get his footing when she pushed him HARD into a big pile of toys. I know kids get into little scuffles at this age...and I know it often gets physical (trust me, Ben has his done his fair share of hitting), but this was ridiculous. So, I picked him up and told her "we don't push our friends and we need to keep our hands to ourselves". She redeemed herself last night though when she walked up to Ben and gave him a big hug and a kiss. As soon as she did that, Ben looked at her with this hilarious, confused expression like "Make up your mind, girl!". Toddlers are a fickle bunch, aren't they? :-)

Ben has also been seeing a private speech pathologist lately. The last couple of SP's we consulted were through the public school system and both said they had no concerns with this speech and were sure he would be speaking in phrases "any day now". Well, after waiting several months for this to happen, we finally decided it was time to see a private SP. When she first evaluated him, she said she never had a case like Ben's before. His vocabulary is actually quite large and she was impressed by some of the words he was using. He just isn't putting them together in phrases yet. He will say a few two-word phrases, but not many. And we usually have to prompt him to do it. She said she definitely didn't see it as a long-lasting language delay, but rather a little "bump in the road" he needs help getting over. She is really good with Ben, and he just loves her. He is already making some progress, so hopefully this is what he needs to move forward.

Other than that, not much going on around here. Just trying to beat the heat like everyone else. We had that stellar week of temps right around 100 with the crazy 110-115 degree heat indexes. Now we've been back in the mid-90's (close to normal for this time of year around here) and it looks like we'll stay there for at least another week or so. You know it's been hot when the 90's feel cool. I went on a run outside a couple of nights ago for the first time in a while. It was 93 out and I couldn't believe how nice it felt. Pitiful.

Anyway, here are some pics of what Ben has been doing to keep it cool....

He's trying to drink the water from his sprinkler in the pic above :-)

And one last shot with his potty in the background :-). By the way, potty training has been going really well. We still don't have #2 down, but he goes several days in a row without having any accidents with #1. He'll have the occasional accident, but they are becoming fewer and farther between. Yay, Ben!!!

Have a great rest of the week!!

Brooke