LET THE HEAD TWIRLIN' BEGIN!

Officially.. we are offically..

26		days
628		hours
37696		minutes
2261780		seconds

away from THE one year old celebration... what this means is that there will never be a free second for the next 2261700 seconds of my life :). I only thought it was bad trying to plan an adult party.. shoooooot, ain't got nuttin' on throwin' a SAFARI PARTY like nobody's business, and for a ONE YEAR OLD.. there will be bottle poppin' like you ain't neva seen... MILK BOTTLES THAT IS :). It should be fun... but crazy... because of the size of the family/friends we would like to invite compared to the "fisher price" "party of 3 please" house we live in.. we are going to do 2 different parties.. Family- on November 20 and Friends- November 21.... Both from 11-1 or 2 or whenever they end. From there it is on to helping with the family reunion style gathering we are having for Thanksgiving with my pops side of the family!! So very pumped to see the aunts/uncles/ cuz's :)/ 2nd cuz's that I haven't had the pleasure to meet yet! So needless to say that I have also booked us doing this or that every weekend of November as well so I am fully expecting the next 26 days to go by very quickly and take away my "oh he is ELEVEN months" to telling the inquirer that he is officially in YEARS- ONE YEAR OLD. BOOO HOOOOO HOOOO.. Maybe I will always just say his age in months when asked.. oh he is 216 months.. isn't he perfect ;). Makes me feel better already about my hunkie goin' off and getting older on me.

OK.. onnnnn to what we have been having fun with the past few weeks! The TENTH-ELEVENTH month was, in my opinion, a very life changing month... as in.. I think Brad and I were "winded" from keeping up with the busy"ness" that he brought to the table on Saturday especially.. I am pretty sure that we are going to be famous because my pain tolerant, doesn't need sleep baby might just be the real life superman in the making.

It has become the new thing for bedtime to be somewhat of a comical experience... More and more I find that he is not wanting the "let's snuggle momma" after the bottle.. it's "let's bounce on your ever fading "chest" and have some fun time".. ORRRR, "let's snuggle momma, no stay still this bite won't hurt your shoulder a bit!". Yeah he is a biiiiig ol' faker sometimes when trying to pull off "the attack". The stinker will actually grin as he sweetly.. slowly.. pulls your finger to his mouth to all of a sudden tighten his grip and pretend he is a freaking paper shredder.. then with his teeth IN YOUR FINGER.. he will giggle. Evil I tell ya.. just evil. AND FUNNY :). Really need to stop laughing at him being evil :).

So now generally bedtime goes as it normally does.. bath, bottle, then I try to hold him for as long as he will let me.. we dance... whatever it takes.. anything so that his bottle can have some time to settle. THE SECOND I set him in his bed.. it's no holds barred.. literally. He will start falling all over the bed! Free fallin', bonkin' his head... flailing around like a freaking fish on a dock! OH NO, he is not throwing a fit.. it's QUITE THE OPPOSITE. He thinks it's fun (and I do thank God for this action instead of screaming upset) to just fall.. Generally in our race around the room trying to put his diaper on...then jammies.. we sometimes have things spread everywhere.. I put him in his crib then pick up... Not sure why.. and sometimes I think he is laughing at me picking up the mess??? HAHA... but he thinks that is so funny and doesn't care if he bonks his face.. head.. whatever.. he will just keep laughing.. like BELLY LAUGHING. It's funny.... no longer does Brad ask "is he asleep" every night (that used to make me bonkers..) because he can hear his shrieks of enjoyment and laughter.. then about 20 minutes later it's quiet and the crazy caged monkey has passed out... HAHA... ohhhh so much love for him.

We went down to 3 bottles last week I think it was.. trying to get the little guy prepared for NO MO' BOTTLES here in that whole 26 day thing. Not sure if I will go as exact as "to the day" but we are doing fantastic in preparing. I think he is kind of catching on that the solid food we give him is his "food". I know for a while I think he was just seeing solids as, ohhh I can live with or without em... That is my only worry, but I am also seeing it all come together more and more.. I don't think we will have any type of problem with him not taking a bottle, it's just if he will put two and two together that I need to eat more at meal time with the solid foods.. I ain't gettin' a bottle! It's going to be so weird that after bath time that is it.. game over.. lights out.. instead of sitting down and relaxing with him giving him his bottle. I think I enjoy that more then anything... I am also trying to think of a new plan for the nail clippin'. We do that on Sundays, while he is taking his bedtime bottle. I don't see getting that little guy staying still at any other time.. but I guess we will figure it out!

I am horrified of the hard times ahead as we have such a little dare devil.. He has taken this "RAAHHHRRRR HERE I GO, I DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS" outlook and is rearing to walking.. He just takes the plunge.. and giggles the whole time. Lord please do not let the goose eggs be abundant! Scarrrryyyy! He also loves to take these "trust falls" while you are holding him or if he is in your lap... or just whenever... and just fall back with the biggest smile on his face. One of these days.. the world will not be his pillow.. although I am hoping he is not doing it when that time comes. Just a brave little fella!

He has been trying to say uh oh... but it has sounded a tad bit more like a machine gun.. uhuhuhuhuhuh oh hahaha... although last night (10/25- baby book purposes :)) it was clear as day when he started the game of throw cup.. now you go pick it up momma... over and over :). It was cute.. although I can see the cuteness fading with that game :). I still don't have a name... no ma-ma.. no nada.. DADADADADADADA... allllll day :). Sheesh...

He is becoming very repetitive.. it's really neat.. He loves to watch your mouth and then try to make the same "sounds". He isn't saying many words just yet but you can sure tell he wants to! I think I am going to turn bottle time into "book" time now that the bottles are leaving the picture soon.... so we will be able to really sound things out and maybe get some words coming :).

We had THE FIRST DOG NIBBLET taste the other night... dang it :). One escaped and slipped under a kitchen chair where I couldn't see it with the chair covers draped over it. However, inspector gadget over here found it no problem.. ew. :)

I am thinking that with my imaginary love of David Beckham...

Hunkie is taking after his momma's imaginary baby daddy.. and might take up the excellent hobby of SOCCER. He is just too funny... he will bat a ball around the house all day if you let him.. Mom has a video that I will have to pull off of her camera so you can see it.. It's really funny. He has gotten SOOOO quick too with the crawling.. so he creates quite a "game" of one on one :).

NEVERMIND.. HE HAS NOTHING ON BRAD :)....

We decided to enjoy one of the many beautiful days that we have had lately and took a "family date" to the lake to have lunch at Carlos and Charlie's... We had a great time.. it was a fantastic ambience. Daddy took hunkie on the slide.. and the swing.. just a good day all the way around! Such a new world for the Connells... I was trying to aim for the "before the party begins" when going to C&C... Pretty sure it was the EXACT OPPOSITE about 2 years ago :). WHERE'S THE PARTY! WHERE'S THE PARTY :)!

I love the reaching... and the crawling to us.. it's just about the most heartwarming reward thus far... When I drop him off at Gigi's it's arms out to Gigi, big ol' smile on his face.... When I pick him up I hear.. GO GET HER... and then clap, clap, clap- his little hands moving as quick as they can to get to me at the front door.. just so sweet.. when it's bedtime, he doesn't deny it but will reach up to you like "let's give in to this day momma" :). It's amazing how much more rewarding motherhood is becoming to me every new day that I wake up. He is just changing so much and is staying such a sweet kid.. JUST ONE THAT BITES EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE :).

So glad that Santa will be here soon... now my big reason is BECAUSE THE MOSQUITOES WILL BE GONE! Sheesh.. Brady, as we all know, is filled with the sweetest sugar :).. unfortunately the "flying vampires" know this as well. It makes me insane because I don't see them.. but he will wake up with a bite! DANNNNNG IT! I have batted out his wall hangings... under his crib.. mattress.. clothes in his closet.. all hoping that he would fly out... and I would fight him :). I mean he has to be huge! Hopefully he or she, I am not sexist to the "skeeters".. died... or got out in the house and died.. or I will make him die :).

Last but not least because this blog is gettin' long on me.... I wanted to start a "tradition" of going to a pumpkin patch this year. Take a cute pic... maybe pet a pony... buy an overpriced pumpkin... sure I could do all of that at some precious church only a few miles away... but no, I wanted this to be a "roadtrip" tradition... One that we could drive to a small cute town, have lunch, go to the "patch".. I was introduced to SWEET BERRY FARMS... in Marble Falls, TX. My heart filled with admiration for this place as it was just the sweetsie pie place that I had envisioned...in beloved CUTE Marble Falls.. It was all panning out perfectly... the wedding I mentioned in my last blog was on Oct. 15th... so how perfect that we could just go by Sweet Berry on our way back in town on that Sunday! Yeah... not perfect enough apparently :)... Brad was holding Brady during lunch, who had consumed a bottle of juice previously.. well the knee bouncin' from Brad got the belly bouncin' which had Brady bouncing in my arms as Brad received a nice amount of "inside junk" from Brady's belly.. this went all over Brad's outfit that I was hoping for a family pic. in. It was warm out too.. which I had bought Brady a long sleeve white shirt that I had wanted to roll the sleeves up on.. so cute.. but OF COURSE.. the cool dry air had to dissapear and ruin my idea.. ANYWAYS.. we didn't get on the road until three and little guy didn't want to take a nap so I just said.. nevermind the stars aren't lining up. Soooo, we made the attempt on Sunday.. got all packed up so that Brady could take his morning snooze when we were on our way.. it was going perfectly.. Brady fell asleep as planned, got there really smoothly.. driving up to it AT 10 AM MIND YOU, I am thinking how fantastic it was that it was not crowded as I pictured it being so crowded the weekend before Halloween... The closer it is I see a gate.. A GATE THAT IS CLOSED... SUNDAYS- OPEN AT ONE.. soooonnn oooofffff aaaaa! I couldn't believe it.. I couldn't believe that I had been so negligent to not look at the time it opened before making the trip! I assumed way too much with it being my first "patch" year.. figured hey it will be open all day... not like they pick up all the pumpkins and put them up every day or something.. dear, dear, dear... since we were there and Brady was awake we went to a nearby park and ate breakfast... then introduced him to Daffy... which we ended up in the middle of a Daffy gang fight... hahaha.. Oh the entertainment in our lives.. :) I will leave you with some pictures of the duckies... and then the "PATCH" pictures which mind you was.. remember this... "sure I could do all of that at some precious church only a few miles away"?? Well that is exactly where we went after we got back in town and hunkie woke from his afternoon nap.. Downtown Leander it is.. :).

Not quite sure about these "noisey" suckers..

Hold on a second Dad, are those MY SNACKS you are throwing? haha! 

I FORGOT TO MENTION... BRADY HAS NOT COME INTO HIS OWN WITH BEING A DIRTY, GRASSY LITTLE BOY.. If you set him on grass he will pick every limb.. or exposed skin off of the grass and balance sitting on his diaper if he has to lol..

Here we are trying to like the pumpkin... but you can see the "Diva" hand lifting.. GET THIS FREAKY LOOKIN' PUNKIN' AWAY FROM ME..

OK IF I TOUCH IT LIKE THIS, CAN WE PLEASE GET OUTTA HERE..

And there you go.. the amazing diaper balancing...

Why? :)

Last but not least! Happy Birthday to Daddy today!!

And super last but not least-

59 DAYS, 12 HOURS, AND 47 MINUTES TO SANTA TIME!

OUR SANTA'S LITTLE HELPER- 12/25/2009 :)



ROUND, ROUND, GET AROUND, WE GET AROUND!

A little family pic. :)... Poor little teether.. that thumb didn't come out of his mouth almost the whole weekend! Gnawin' away..

Whoooooaaaa! It can’t really already be the END OF OCTOBER ALREADY COULD IT?

What does that mean! It can't mean that the little thief of my heart could ALREADY BE FIXING TO TURN ONE!

Sheesh! Maybe it was because it was the end of the fiscal year here at work in Sept. so Oct. has been spent catchin’ up on the little “oh if I have to’s”.

Well, of course tons has been going on.. it seems like the lives with the exception of the “adult outings” that kept us busy “pre- bubbie” has now been consumed with “family outings” that are keeping us on the run like nobody’s business! I am going to go backwards as I can only assume that I might as well cover the stuff most fresh on the mind. I mean might as well be the most accurate how you can right?

This past weekend little hunkie went to his first wedding.. First let me say, Kara if you are reading this.. I love you muy mucho :)… NOW that I have covered my rear for the OHHHH MY GOSH that I am fixing to speak of… We had a pleasant ride in to China Grove, where Kyle/ Kara were to be beautifully united as husband and wife with their beautiful baby girl Kelley at their side. I realized on Thursday that uh… I might want to get off my hiney and start compiling one of the many lists I live by now, and get a “hush” bag together for hunkie. So together it went… we had juice, dried fruit snacks, cheerios, puffs, cookies, teethers, toys, baby cheeto puffs, etc…. anything that was quiet and had caught his eye, WENT INTO THE “HUSH” BAG. What momma didn’t plan on, was pulling up to the church and seeing “St.” on the sign in front of us as well as “Catholic”. For those that have not experienced a Catholic ceremony.. they have so much beautiful religion in them… all compacted into a beautiful hour LONG service. That is something that no mother in the world can plan a “hush” bag for hahahaha! He actually did quite well… If I haven’t spoke of it before, he LOVES little kids.. An adult speaking to him in their sweetest “coochie coochie coo” voice can get that bottom lip poked out in no time… not a kiddo. A kid talking to him makes rainbows in his world and he couldn’t be any happier. Well since we were carrying a ticking time bomb (the wedding was from 2:30-5:30 which sumummagun, is also B’s nap time) we sat on the 2nd to last row in the back. Well since there were other “bombs” in the place we had quite the group back there. What this meant was that hunkie was in love with all of the “little people” that were surrounding him. Although I was able to keep him snacking for a while.. he all of a sudden found daddy’s silence and shhhhhh’ing HEEEEELARIOUS. As cute as his belly laughs sounded, in a wedding any noise is too much :). Soooo, thank God it was nice outside and shady because that is where we spent about 30 minutes :). He sure did look cute though.. the shoes lasted a good couple minutes before they were off.. then once those were off it was a free for all ripping the socks off which are one of his FAVS to rip off.

Here are some pics. from the wedding day!

Quick one before the shoes came off :), my handsome fellas!

Pretty sure the those two peepers were wondering what was next out of hunkie lol..

We also got to visit with Grammy/ Grandad, as well as Grandma… I love being able to get those visits in!



The weekend before that..



BEACH TIME!

Although it was not an all inclusive resort buried in Mexico with limitless rum, margaritas, and delicious Mexican beer- IT WAS A VACATION TO US, and not Buttercup Creek. We took off to Port Aransas to meet up with our VERY MISSED brother and sister in law and our nephews! Our truck was possibly one of the funniest parts of the trip, as it looked like we had just made out like champs at a flea market. You talk about over packing.. it was one of THE WORST over packing jobs that I personally have ever done. We had a large long tote filled with snacks for an army, paper plates, towels, coffee, batteries, etc. Then bubbie had his toteS, yes totes.. one with blankets, bath stuff, other “baby needs”… another tote with his toys.. a huge recycle bag with his snacks, formula, etc. goodies, a bag for bottles and cups, his diaper bag, his bag with clothes and diapers for the trip…. Then you had our suitcase, umbrella, towel beach bag, wagon, stroller, pack n play, cooler, chairs, etc.…

It really does make me laugh... LOL..

JUST IMAGINE.. And lately I have had a huge dilemma with not wanting clutter.. home, car, wherever... what that meant was that Brad was to compile everything in the back of our truck and bungee it down.. It was quite a picture.. I just don’t like feeling squashed and didn’t want Brady too either.. surrounded by CRAP. Anyways, we got there Friday and left Sunday.. it was a ridiculous amount of stuff.. but oh well. I am just glad that never does my hubbawubba complain.. just bundles it all up. Brady did fantastic on the road trip, which honestly, it didn’t even dawn on me just how long that little guy was going to be in the car!

I guess since I already had his snack bag, toy bag, and diaper bag in there I didn’t focus on it so much because I wasn’t having to put together something just for the drive?? I don’t know but I just didn’t really consider it… Bubbie is NOT a car sleeper… he never has been (like his momma, can you get that from someone? Or am I really reaching here trying to find something that is like me? Hahaha). Well we timed our exit from home so that it would be around nap time so that we might get lucky… yeah not so much. He did fall asleep quickly after we got in the truck..

But traffic also developed quickly after we got on the road so those little eyes gave us the “good morning” really quickly after we were sitting still.. He was awake up until an hour before we got there..

I can hear many a "ARE WE THERE YET"'s in my future with this wide awake traveler..

what that meant was that since he was awake, so were his “goods”.. which meant more diaper changing stops :). It was fun though.. it was a relaxing road trip.. no rush to get there (thank god since we got there FOUR hours after I wanted to :)). He did great.. didn’t get upset or nuttin’ :).. We just snacked and had fun.

Taking a car seat break, diaper change, cookie break :)

MO' COOKIE PWEEAASSEE :)

He was quite curious whether momma had really lost her driving talent or just what that movement was when we got on the ferry :).

WHAT IS THAT SMELL MOMMA :)

Uhhh- Momma you get some new shocks on our ride???

He absolutely loved Colby, our 5 year old nephew! He would chase Colby around squealing in delight and would get SO EXCITED! It would just make you giggle watching him!!

He absolutely loved the water! I did too, and I am not an OCEAN CHICK.. If I can’t see what could be “seeing” me.. I nooooo likey. However, we were at an awesome spot on the beach! Seriously, I have never been on such a great spot on Port A beaches. It had a portion of water that I would say was maybe mid shin on me, then there was a sand bar that you could sit in and was super shallow, it then went to the normal ocean.. It was great. Brady loved crawling around and was quick to attempt the escape and crawl further into the water… YEAAAHHHH RIGHT! I am not letting Jaws get a delicious little meatball out of hunkie! He did really well on the beach as well! I brought a down comforter that we spread out and he was just crawling everywhere and playing with his sand toys.

 I am going to keep this short as you know me it can turn into a very long winded adventure when it comes to me.. I took a lot of pics…. Here are a few!

It really is not easy getting a great family shot these days.. lol.

Again.. 2 out of 3...

I think hunkie is on strike! NOT LOOKING AT THE CAMERA! Nope, not gonna do it!

OK maybe all the kids are strikin'! lol

 Look at that sweet little fella.. Carson! And Auntie Lisa!

Our last morning there just Brady, Brad, and I went for a last visit to the beach.. it made a great photo opp... although I am not the best photographer :).

HE WAS HILARIOUS CRAWLING.. HE WOULD LIFT HIS ARMS REALLY HIGH LIKE A HIGH STEPPER WOULD BE DOING IF THEY WERE WALKING LOL.

THAT IS HIS OFF IN A DISTANCE FANCY POSE..

HE LOOOOVED HIM SOME MUD!  

 UHHH CAN SOMEONE PLEASE COME PLAY WITH ME, OR GET ME OUT OF THIS MUDHOLE LOL.

DADDY CLEANIN' HIM UP..

There was a little added excitement of THIS.. AS WE WERE PACKING UP...  

If you do not remember my past stories of my horrifying fear of tornadoes.. yeah.. just shove me in a cellar and I will be just fine on even the quietest sound of thunder- tornado possibility pops in my head. Although I don't have the same fear with a storm.. if there is a possibility announced on the good ol' beep.. beep.. beep... of a weather alert on the TV screen.. yup... here comes the fear! Well we had to be out of our place o' paradise by 11 am so Brad was putting everything in the truck.. he comes in and says BABE, GET YOUR CAMERA THERE IS A TORNADO.. uhhhhhhh I am not sure if you are calling Lisa Babe, but I am pretty sure you know darn well that "this babe" does not run TOWARDS TORNADOES. Let hunkie and I know when it is safe to come out, we will be hiding in the bathtub... Well he convinced me that it was far away.. I guess I had to trust him... not only was his true love's life at risk, hahaha, but so was his little junior's :). It wasn't even close enough for us to feel the wind.. but man was it a awesomely scary experience! At one point there were 4 funnels forming.. it was bonkers.

This one, you could actually see the water starting to come up from the ocean to meet the funnel cloud to make a waterspout! If you look to the left of the main funnel.. you can see another one forming. To the left of that one was another, and to the right of the main one was another one! Just crazy..

The trip ended as it began.. with the little guy saying adios and passing out before we were even on the ferry to head back home :). So glad it was a good time to be had by all!