Night Time

Most of the time, Matt is the one to put Barrett to bed. They have their own, little routine down. It is so sweet. Occasionally, I get to rock Barrett to sleep, and when I do, it makes me realize how fast time has flown by. Honestly, it makes me want all those moments back!!! It seems like just yesterday that I was giving him a bottle and rocking him for what seemed like a lengthy time,until I could ease him into his crib without waking him up.

Now, I feel like my baby is all grown up.

The night time routine (mainly for Barrett to read about when he gets older)

After dinner, Barrett usually gets his second burst of energy. He runs around the couches, and wrestles with Matt! If I ever try to get down into the floor with them, I usually get booted out. I just get to help out if someone gets hurt.

Speaking of dinner...this is what he does with his corn and peas. The more he can stuff into his cars, the better. Then he cries when I am washing them out!

Around 7:30 or 8:00 we tell B that it is time to go to bed. He grabs his little puppy dog, Deputy and sometimes takes a little car with him to his room. Matt reads a book, and rocks him to sleep. On the nights Barrett is really tired, he crawls down out of the rocker and into his own bed all by himself.

This is Barrett playing on with the ab roller. In action, it is hilarious. He drives it all around the house, running into to things. Then he giggles and keeps go going. Trust me, my walls need a new paint job!

I usually sneak in before I go to sleep to steal a few kisses. I can't help it.

Barrett's favorite books right now are:

Good Night Moon (which we have memorized)

Ace the Racing Car

The Truck Book (I think this book is for older kids, but Barrett listens to every word of it - - it's all about different kinds of trucks, bulldozers, and tractors)

Elmo Lost his Blankie

Colors

Elmo Learns to Potty (this one has sound effects and Barrett's favorite part is to make the toilet flush sound)

Halloween 'Round 2'

We had a wonderful weekend. The weather was great and we caught up on seeing a few of our favorite friends.

Saturday started with a morning breakfast at IHop! Yummy. Since my son doesn't sleep in at all, we were up and in IHop parking lot around 7:30. Talk about beating the crowd! That's a way to put a positive spin on getting up early.

After breakfast, we headed back to Wylie to get ready for our next adventure...a drive out to Point, Texas. Yipee!!! We took a road trip to see some of our favorite friends, Megan, Jeff, and Hayden Smith! We love and miss them so much.

Barrett and Hayden are already good buddies. Barrett let Hayden wear his camo hat and Hayden let Barrett play with all of his toys (including his nightlight in his room).

Saturday night we joined our friends at the Hazelwoods for some Halloween festivities. Being a bad mom, I totally forgot Barrett's costume at the house...but never fear...Caiden had his costume from last year to loan Barrett. We snuggled up in our monkey suit and hit the road with all our friends for some trick or treating.

Barrett eventually figured out the routine of getting out of the wagon, walking up to the door, trying to say trick or treat, and saying thank you. Overall, he did very well. I laughed however when I cleaned out the pumpkin because not only did it have a lot of candy, but it had a lot of ROCKS in it too. Matt said that every trip up the sidewalk, he was searching for a rock to pick up as well! Too funny.

Sunday...we were on the road again. I was beginning to feel like I was living inside Willie Nelson's song, "On the Road Again".

We headed off to Graham to visit Barrett's KK, great-Meme and Grandad. We watched the Dallas football game, played outside, and ate some good home cooked food!


We did hit the jackpot. KK told us about an awesome sell at this place called, BEALLS. You could buy any item in the store and get a second item similar to it for ONE dollar! YeeHaw!!! I stocked up on shoes for Barrett and for Matt's work! That's the best sale I've come across in a while!

Trick or treat in the ... BATHTUB???

Oh my! It finally happened. My mom kept telling me that it would.
Barrett loves his bath time. Obviously, it is relaxing, although the majority of the time he is splashing, kicking his feet, turning on and off the facet, and pouring water on his head.
Tonight, I decided to let him play a little longer than usual. I was sitting next to the tub while Barrett was playing...meanwhile, I was in deep conversation with Matt, when I noticed a few extra "toys" floating around. The more I looked, the more I saw! They weren't toys!!! They were little turds! ha ha ha I guess that was Barrett's little trick or treat he left for us!!!
I know it gross, but all you moms get ready! It's bound to happen sooner or later to you too! ha ha
Matt was champion. He had to clean it all up! Thanks Honey.

Note to Barrett: One of these days you will have children, and they're going to pull this little trick on you too. You better be a good husband like your daddy and clean the mess for your wife!!!

Dr. Barner

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever, so here is a quick update...

Barrett played, "Dr. Barner" for the Baby Bash last week. It was fun to get together and see all of his girl friends.

He sure misses his friend Camdyn. I even caught a sweet picture of the two of them together (like the old days at Ms. Sherry's). You can tell they remember each other.

(Last year at Ms. Sherry's house)

I've waited two weeks to announce (mainly because I was afraid I would jinx it), that we have stopped using a pacifier. We don't even use it at night! Believe it or not, it was pretty easy for us. One day I decided that I would try cutting off the end of it (the sucker part). I walked right into the kitchen, grabbed the scissors, and chopped off the end.

Later that evening when he started begging for his paci, I handed the broken one to him. You should seen the expression on his face!!! He looked at me like, "What happened to this thing?"

I just told him that it was broken and made a sad face. He tried sucking it, turning it in every direction possible, then ended up ditching it. That same night, I handed him the broken pacifier and he just messed with the plastic part (mainly wanting something to hold). Within a day or two, he quick even looking for it, and as long as I didn't offer it to him, he was okay.

Knowing that he likes to fidget with things while trying to go to sleep, I replaced the broken paci with a little stuffed puppy. Now he takes "Puppy" in one hand and a Hot Wheel car in the other (oh my gosh the Hot Wheels we've collected) and he's pretty much down for the count.

Whew! I lucked out on that transition.

We went home to Throckmorton over the weekend. I was anxious to visit my family (sister's family and my parents). I haven't been home in two months, so I was very excited to see everyone.

Barrett got his first ride on the big John Deere tractor, rode Papa's four wheeler with him (he even let Barrett drive), helped feed the "moo cows", and even ate some of Meme's home cooked meals.

I didn't get any pictures, but that's okay. We're heading back to Throckmorton for family pictures, and I'll try to grab a few shots of Barrett in action while we are there.

Pumpkins and Hay Ride

What a busy weekend. Saturday morning, I participated in the Race for the Cure with my friend Angie. It was awesome. Not only was it inspirational, but it has motivated it me to train a little harder. I want to try and run in a couple of 5Ks near future, and if I set my sights really high, I can try a 1/2 marathon (if my knees hold up). It might be a long shot, but it's worth a try.

This is a bummer, but after the race, I began backing up in my car and the vehicle right behind me didn't see me backing up. The next thing you know, we hit and all I heard was the crushing of metal. Ughhh Really, no one was at fault, but it made me sick. I love my car. Too bad I wasn't in the old PT Cruiser.

This is Barrett's attire on Friday night as we went for a late night Sonic run to get Mommy a vanilla diet Dr. Pepper -yummy!!!

Saturday afternoon, we took Barrett to a pumpkin hunt (kind of like an Easter egg hunt, but instead you hunt baby pumpkins). It was chilly, but fun. Once Barrett found a pumpkin, all he cared about doing was running around in the open space.

Debbie and Caiden met us there and joined us on the hay ride. The boys were fascinated by the big blue tractor and the feel of the hay! Barrett thought he was an animal and tried eating what he pulled out of bail. Since that didn't work, he thought he would try the stem off the pumpkin.

Come to find out (after inspecting his mouth today) he's cutting teeth like crazy. I guess that explains the never ending running nose and desire to chew on things lately.

Caiden cracked us all up. The entire time we were on the hay ride, he was singing the song, "Take her for a ride on my big, green tractor". It's a country song, and Caiden knows every single word. He kept us all entertained since there wasn't a live band.

Sunday, we shopped for shoes (Barrett's already in a size 8), and got another hair cut. This time he did really well. We gave him a sucker and didn't hear a peep out of him the whole time. That sucker seems to do the trick!

Infected Family!!!

Man! What a rough week we had. It all started Monday morning when our little guy woke up with puffy, swollen, eyes. I was for sure preschool would probably turn us into CPS because it looked like Barrett had a black eye. I thought it was allergies. By 3:30 that afternoon, his eyes had dark red circles around them and a thick discharge seeping out of the corners (gross and sad). Poor little baby kept rubbing them, but maintained a huge smile and lovable attitude as I shipped him off to the doctor (visit #1). Yep, it was pink eye, in both eyes!!!!
*Don't even get me started on the horrible pharmacy issues I had waiting around on prescriptions to be filled. Long story short, I hung around with a 16 month old (who looked horrible might I add) for over 1 1/2 hours! Ridiculous!!!)
The following morning (when it seemed to be the worse), his eyes were completely swollen shut (or should I say stuck). It was heartbreaking. He was trying to open them, and couldn't. Talk about making a mommy cry!!!!
Luckily, the pink eye didn't last but a day. Once we applied the eye drops a few times, he was all cleared up (Tuesday afternoon).
Thursday rolled around, and BAM...Barrett woke up running temperature at a low grade. Well, you all know me. What did I do???? FREAK OUT MODE! All I could think was FLU! I stayed home Barrett and we spent the majority of the day snuggling, sleeping, and reading books. Since I had parent conferences that afternoon, Matt took over the evening shift, and when I got home....BOTH BOYS were running a temperature. Matt has some type of upper respiratory infection and Barrett's temp. was up to 103!
The fever continued over night, so Friday morning we set up a doctor's appointment (visit #2) to get Barrett tested, and Matt stayed home to rest as well.
God is great! The doctor said it was just a viral infection and by the afternoon, Barrett's fever was down and he was back to normal.
Matt on the other hand, has a major sinus infection, and Friday I lost my voice! My throat felt (still feels) like it is on fire, and I have coughing fits...but other than that, I feel okay.
Can someone say, "Get out the Clorox wipes and Lysol the entire house?"
Trust me! I did just that over the weekend. I've washed sheets, pillows, blankets, cushions, rugs, and used Lysol on so many things, the fumes only could possibly knock you down!

I hope this upcoming week is better!

Lazy Weekend

Last weekend was rather lazy. Honestly, it was the first weekend we didn't have anything planned.
Ready for the weekend!

I spent the majority of the day on Saturday, just cleaning. I guess it was what you would call, Fall Cleaning. Barrett was great. I'm so surprised (and thankful) that he plays so well by himself. He had all of his trucks, tractors, cars, and bulldozers out (lining them up in the window sill). It's so precious listening to his little sounds that he makes with them.

It got really quite a few times and I began to panic....thinking to myself that Barrett had probably crawled up onto a shelf or something, but to my surprise, he was off in his room going through all of his books and then switching over to playing in his toy box and ABC Train. Great kiddo!!!

There were a few times he attempted to help me. Once again, it was during one of those quite moments when I thought he was playing with his own toys, and then discovered he was playing around with my Swifter and the laundry basket.

Sunday, I worked on my blog book. It's a book I am composing for Barrett that will pretty much take the place of the traditional baby book. I'm having so much fun editing, cropping, and writing! It's time consuming, but I could sit and do it all day. Matter of fact, I DID. (Thanks Matt for entertaining Barrett).