Tube Update

Just wanted to post a quick update on Bryson's surgery this morning. Our arrival time was set for 8:00 AM, which immediately concerned me considering Bryson was not to eat or drink from 12:00 AM on. In an effort to wear Bryson out last night, we took him out to eat and also kept him up until well after 9:00 PM. About 2:00 AM we heard him crying and much to our disappointment he had thrown up all over himself. Every now and then he does this in the middle of the night out of nowhere and is completely fine afterwards. Fortunately this was one of those instances. So we cleaned him up the best we could and put him back to bed. Thankfully he slept thru the rest of the night and was an angel this morning even without his cup of milk! The only tears we saw all morning were when the nurse was putting the little monitor thing on his foot which he did not like at all. He played and talked until it was time to take him back and then before we knew it the procedure was over and done with and we were on our way home! He has been playing and napping all morning. This is just such a 180 change from the last time and I'm sooo glad it has gone so smoothly and has not affected him the way it did previously. So hopefully this is the LAST time we will have to have this surgery done! I surely don't want to put him thru it again! Here are some pics:

Last night at dinner

Before Surgery:

After Surgery:

A White February?

Hello All!

It has definitely been an interesting winter this year! Last weekend we experienced something that's very rare here in the south...snow! And lots of it! I'm not sure what the grand total was after everything was all said and done but I'm sure it was a good 5 inches and more in some areas! It was definitely the snow storm of the decade for us. The fun part is this was Bryson's first snow so watching him experience that was really awesome. He really didn't know what to think of everything but he enjoyed himself. I will say that while snow is fun for a little while, I am so glad it didn't stick around long! Here are some pics of the snow.

In other news, Bryson is having his second tube surgery this Friday on his R ear. For whatever reason the first tube decided to come back out so unfortunately we have to go thru the entire process again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is the LAST time we will have to do this. I'm not quite as anxious this time around since I know what to expect. Still, it's no fun to have your child undergo surgery of any kind! I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly and he recovers quickly.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on in our world. We did get a new laptop and I can say that we are officially Macs now. I'm still learning how to use this thing but I'm hoping that by having this, I might update the blog more frequently. I wont make any promises though! We also got a nifty little video camera so I'm hoping that uploading videos will be a lot easier so I can post some soon. (again, no promises!) :)

Until next time!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year...catching up

So I've been a bad blogger once again and I've missed Christmas and New Years! Let me try to back track and catch up. Aside from Bryson having a virus which caused a fever of 103+ on Christmas Eve, several sleepless nights due to fever, teething, etc....I guess you could say we had a pretty good Christmas. Bryson of course racked up on all kinds of toys and clothes! He enjoyed opening his presents and seemed to find more joy in the little things like hangers or tissue paper rather than the gifts themselves. And of course he enjoyed spending time with his grandparents and great grandparents.

Now it's the beginning of a whole new year, which is hard to believe in itself. In just a couple weeks my baby will be 16 months old. He has grown so much over the past couple of months. It never ceases to amaze me the changes that I see daily. His vocabulary has grown to include SO many words, I can hardly keep track. Mommy, Daddy, cookie, apple, uh oh, duck, doggy, cup, bye bye, no, Elmo, quack, book,...are just a few. Every day it's something different. His new thing is imitating ducks. If you ask him what a duck says, he makes his arms into little wings and starts flapping them while saying "quack quack quack" (sounds like "cack cack cack") It's pretty much one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

We are still experiencing a lot of tantrums and attitude as well, so I'm still hoping and praying that this phase passes soon. Apparently this is all part of parenting a toddler though. While we do have our fair share of the tantrums, Bryson also has some very sweet and loving moments as well. He loves to give hugs and kisses, and now he'll actually wrap his little arms around your neck and squeeze tight. It definitely melts my heart every time.

Well, that's about all the catch up I have to do for now. I will do my best to update this more often...let's think of it as my New Years Resolution! :)

I do want to add a special note today though. Today we all heard on the news of the horrible earthquake in Haiti that occurred yesterday. This earthquake has brought unfathomable destruction to the Haitian people....a destruction we can only imagine. Seeing the pictures and reading the stories today just broke my heart into pieces. I don't understand why God allows these things to happen, but I do know that somewhere, there is a purpose and a plan. I would just like to encourage everyone to keep these people and the country as a whole in your prayers. The road to recovery is going to be a very long and very painful journey for them. My heart goes out to them.

I'll leave you today with some pictures from Christmas.

Bye bye turkey...

Ok so of course several weeks have passed since my last post and SO much has happened. Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is slowly approaching us. It is just insane to think how quickly the year has flown by!! Before we know it it will be 2010!
Bryson is growing more and more each day and has now joined the walking world! That's right! It is so funny to see his little self wobbling around like a little old drunk man.....and also very nerve racking! I'm waiting for him to bust his head open at any minute! He is getting the hang of it though and actually getting quite good at it. He can't stand up by himself yet so he will just crawl to the nearest object so he can pull himself up and then he takes off. I know when he learns to stand up, we are in BIG trouble.
Along with walking, Bryson has also developed a HUGE attitude and temper. I think we may be experiencing the "Terrible Two's" a little earlier than originally planned. He can be very aggressive and mean if he doesn't get what he wants. We are definitely struggling with these issues a lot. I'm trying my best to be patient and hope that this phase will pass soon!
He is also going through a huge mama's boy stage. If he isn't attached to my hip, he's following me around the house crying saying "maaamaaaaaaa......MAAAAMAAAAAA!!!" Don't get me wrong, I love having a mama's boy...however this phase he's in can get EXTREMELY tiring. I guess I need to enjoy it while it lasts though because I know he won't be wanting to be with me like this forever....and I know one day I'm going to look back and miss it so much.
Bryson has also added some words to his vocabulary...we hear "thank you" (tee-too), "duck", "got it", "nummy nummy" (which means I'm hungry), and Daddy's favorite "Go Gamecocks!" (gah cocks!) And of course we also frequently hear all kinds of gibberish accompanied with plenty of pointing. He is just developing so quickly and it's so neat to watch him learn and discover things. He dances whenever he hears music, he has begun to figure out how to push buttons and make things work, he knows how to look for things when you ask him....it's just amazing to see how much he's learned.
Unfortunately I don't have any new pictures to post today, however I will attempt to get some new ones on here soon, and possibly a video or two as well.
As always, thanks for checkin in!

Halloween!

So Halloween has come and gone and we had a great time hanging out with our friends Brian and Kristen and little baby Aubrey. We ate, trick or treated a little bit, and watched the Carolina game. Bryson dressed as a puppy and got to ride around the neighborhood in his wagon! He had a blast!!

Also, we had our 12 month photo shoot with Ashley at Harmon Tree Farm a couple weeks ago. The pictures turned out great! I wont share all of them, but here are just a couple of my faves.

That's all for now!!

Random items!

So as I said before, a lot has been going on over the past few weeks! Bryson has been increasingly pulling up and is now cruising along on anything he can get his hands on to! We try to work with him daily to take his first unassisted steps but he's still pretty unsteady! However, tonight he did take a couple wobbly steps by himself, just in time to fall into Daddy's arms! We'll keep working!

Bryson has also graduated to the toddler room at daycare without any issues. They say he moved right on without a hitch and without any tears! Thank goodness! He's been playing his little heart out every day apparently, because he comes home every night and is exhausted! Those big kids must be wearing him out!

Bryson has also begun to drink regular milk instead of formula. Can we say hallelujah?? What a relief on our wallets!! How wonderful it is to pay $3.00 instead of $15.00 for his milk!! Woooohoo!! Now if we can just get rid of those diapers....

We are also starting to see his vocabulary start to develop. So far we've got Mama, Daddy, Bye-Bye, and Pup-Pup. We also believe he has been saying "ah-cha" (a.k.a "chop") thanks to his Daddy who is frequently karate chopping me (while saying Ah chop of course!). So it looks like I'll be getting double chops soon. (doesn't that sound like fun?

Ok, now for some random shots from the past few weeks:

Swinging in my new swing!

Digging in my kitchen cabinet

Trying on Daddy's hat

Just hangin out in my diaper box

mmmmmm

Obviously enjoying some mac and cheese at McAlisters

Oh, and you might have noticed that a certain green object has been missing from all of these pictures....that's because we are 2 weeks paci free!! Wooooohoooo!!!

Playin catch up...

Ok ok so I've missed a month of blogging. Oops again!! A lot has been going on so I'll try to do a run down in a few blogs.

Bryson had his first birthday party at the Gilbert Park a few weeks ago. We had a blast and he did so well. He saw lots of friends and family and completely demolished his cake! I don't think he even took one bite of it! It was great to celebrate this huge milestone in Bryson's life with the people closest to us. It's wonderful to see how loved our son is!! Here are some pics of our time:

The adorable cake thanks to Carey and her mom! Thanks guys!!

Bryson and Torrin, wagon buddies!

Being silly

Checkin out the cake

Not liking the hat one bit!

As you can see, we did have a bit of a meltdown at the end of the party, but overall the day was wonderful!! Good food, good friends...what more could you ask for??