February 26th: Homecoming Day

We had a big reason to celebrate Friday. It marked the two year annivesary of bringing Bronson home from the NICU. Lots have changed since that day. I can't believe that he is now 26 months old. Bronson amazes us daily and continues to learn things at a lightening speed pace. Here is some new things about our boy.

-He currently weighs about 26 1/2 pounds



-He favorite toy remains the vacuum


-He is obsessed with the movie Toy Story, but calls it the dog show...he also picked up a new phrase from the movie, "picky,picky,picky"


-He can talk in complete sentences, but his favorite thing is to find cute sayings and repeat them over and over again in perfectly acceptable situations. Some of our favorites are "you gotta be kidding me" "do you have any monies" "you are too funny" and "the mommy, the daddy, and the baby" (He uses this one a lot to tell who is in his family)


-He loves music and making up all types of songs with his daddy


-He is loving his new daycare situation with our dear friend, Kim Re and learns new things daily. She has already helped him learn to count to six.


-He keeps going back and forth on the potty training, but no permanent choice made.


-He is computer savvy and could spend all day searching online for siren sounds, vacuum models, and kid videos.

-He has also noticed the color of his mommy's hair and was pretty sure that the Ronald McDonald on his milk container was an exact image of "the mommy." This has got to be the best joke he has made to date.

My Motivation

This month marks a year since I stopped pumping every 3 hours to sustain Bronson's nutrition. It also marks the beginning in my ever so quick weight gain. My diet hasn't changed; however the lack of activity has added to a downward slope of packing on the pounds. This is my second month of my new workout plan and I have to admit last night I almost threw in the towel. After a steady routine of 3 times a week of working out and changing the way that I eat...I GAINED FIVE MORE POUNDS!!! Yikes!! I was so upset when I stepped on the scale that tears actually filled my eyes. I know it sounds a bit dramatic, but I wondered why I was working out in the first place and then I remembered my motivation.

I am not working out to lose tons of weight. That will happen in the process. I am working out to be a healthier mom and sustain a better lifestyle for my family. I also would like my husband to be proud of me. He already is, but I think that I could work a little better to be in as good of shape as he is. The man works out 5-6 times a week and still weighs what he did in high school. That would be a huge undertaking for me, but I would love to be back down to wedding weight.

As I approach the end of my first week of running training I am reminded of my new goal and motivation...I want to run half of the 10K for March for Babies. Kyle and I are going to do it together. This is a struggle for me because I like to socialize so much, but I know that the reward will be so much greater when I have pushed myself to work for something that I believe in. I believe in the mission of March of Dimes. I believe that every baby should be born healthy. I believe that no mommy or daddy should have to leave the hospital without their baby. I believe that someday advances will be made to prevent prematurity even more. Until that day comes, I will keep on running for Bronson and Jackson.

Bronson Babbles

Here is another Bronson quote that came from this weekend at Papa's Pizza. Kyle had Bronson duty while I was busy trying to put together a meeting for our March for Babies team. Bronson was obsessed with one of the video games that had a steering wheel and was basically a fake car. Here is the conversation that took place between Kyle and Bronson.

Bronson: You got any monies? (Kyle was surprised he knew the machine needed money)

Daddy: Sorry buddy, I don't have any cash.

Bronson: (with hands out and shoulders shrugged) You got to be kidding me!!! (It sounds kind of like you gotta be kimming me.) SOOOO cute!!!

My First: Outta the Mouth of Bronson (Thanks Amber G)

Bronson stayed up late the other night because he refused to poop in his diaper. I don't know why all of the sudden it bothered him, but he was adament that he needed to sit on the toilet. After 10 minutes he finished the task and I took him back into his bedroom to get ready for bed. He shrugged his shoulders while holding out his little hands and in a fashion that was almost like, "what's the big deal?" He said,"I was just sitting on the pottychair and I pooped." When I asked him the repeat himself he shrugged again and repeated the same sentence. He uses lots of three to four word sentences, but I think this is probably the most complex sentence I have ever heard from him. It totally cracked me up.

A Byer Becomes a Vacuum

It happened overnight; Bronson no longer uses his made up word for vacuum cleaners; "Byer." I have to admit, I miss his little made up language. Almost six months ago he began calling vacuum cleaners a buyer. The only reason that we can think he called them this is because he watched his daddy vacuum up a spider and he couldn't quite say the s sound. Anyways, he has a true obsession with the vacuum and would talk about byers in his sleep. He even saves ads from the newspaper so that he can look at each and every vacuum that is for sale. His Papa Huey taught him that all vacuum's cost $99.99 (Bronson just says 99). This obsession has been very cute and also kind of disturbing. This kid thinks about the constantly.

Last Sunday we left him for a couple of hours with his Auntie Christen and when we returned we realized that he was referring to the vacuum with the correct terminology. It shocked us. Christen said that he had been talking non-stop about the vacuum hose. I think that this is a series of changes that we are about to embark on as our little toddler becomes our little man. I just want to jot these little notes down so that I can remember this weird little obsession that he has.

A Confession...

I want another baby really bad. For some reason for the past couple of weeks I have been having this strong desire to have another baby. Then I think logically and talk myself out of this completely crazy idea. I can barely handle one baby, what am I thinking about adding another one to the mix? Also, I don't think that this idea would go over so well with my incredibly driven husband. We have a game plan and I must stick to it. I also really want to be in a better place finanically so I don't have to worry so much when my next little one is a baby. Here I go speaking of my next little one...I think I just have to say outloud that I think I am slowly getting over being scared of the unknown with another one. I think that God is preparing my heart for the maternal instincts and clock to start once again. I don't know when it will happen, but I know that I am strongly beginning to desire to add to our family again.

I don't know if anyone else has experienced this intense feeling while looking through pictures of your oldest, but it just makes me long for that "baby stage" again. I still refer to Bronson as my baby, but I know the day is coming soon when he will correct me and beg me to refer to him as a big boy. For now, I will just hold him a little tighter and longer and treasure the times that I have with him still wanting to cuddle. Seriously, this isn't an announcement there aren't any new ones on the way, but my heart is slowly softening to the idea of another one sometime after Bronson gets a bit bigger. Thinking maybe 4 or 5.