Narration by Peter

Peter likes to talk. Alot. He pretty much never shuts up. I am not sure if this is because I like to talk. Alot. I pretty much never shut up either. He always narrates EVERYTHING he does during the day. Especially if he is in the car or in the stroller.
"White Car.....Stop sign.....semi truck.....BIG truck......River....Bridge.....Playground.....rediculous....."

Okay, time out of the narration... I guess I narrate too. Kind of. I comment to myself on everyone else's driving and in Pittsburgh the most frequent words leaving my mouth is "that's ridiculous" Apparently, Peter was listening.

If we are in the stroller its the same thing. Only its, "I hear birds.....I hear plane....I hear 'copter [helicopter]....I see birds....I see chipmunk...I hear ami [ambulance]...."

You get the picture.

The poor kid has been sick the majority of our trip back to Arizona. It started in C. Springs with a 102 degree fever for 3 days...then followed with the cold from hell. Seriously. And of course, he gave it to me. And to Brooke. So I sound like death when I try to talk. And that is hard for me because I love to talk.

Anyway. His latest phrase (being sick he says this ALOT) is "Hold you- Please."
Too cute... well, I thought it was for about 3 days. Now my arms are really sore from lugging a 2 year old around. I am trying to teach him the correct way to say it- Now he says "I wanna hold me".
It makes me laugh every time.

Tonight I asked him where his tummy was. He looked down at his pajamas and said "Under my monkey jammies!" [duh mom!]

Being in Arizona is different for Peter. Every time he sees a wide open space he automatically says "RIVER!".
um...nope. Sorry kid. That's a 'freeway'. You know...one of those things where cars can drive 75-85 miles per hour in a straight line for hours... Oh, wait. You don't know that. Because it doesn't exist in PA. oopsie.

Air Force Academy Graduate!

Congrats Haley! We are so proud of you!
The Air Show after the worlds longest graduation ceremony

My parents. (yes, my dad's glasses are quite possibly the ugliest sunglasses ever made)

Brooke hung out under the umbrella the whole time!

Emily and Cori

(it was SO hot today and we were way overdressed)

Haley getting sworn into office by my Granpa

The crew

Emily and Ryan

(yes, I agree, they look like they are getting married)

We walked for miles to get anywhere. My dad and grandpy carried Brooke.

at the banquet

SOOO much food! (and cool ice sculptures)

Nannie and Gradnpy

(The COOLEST grandparents around)

Poor Peter got sick the second day here. That is a whole separate post entirely.

Haley is now off for 60 days of freedom before she goes to Tindle Air Force Base in Florida. She is going to be an Air Battle Manager. Go Haley Go!

I might add that she is now backpacking Europe with friends for 3 weeks. Just because she can. And after that its a week long cruise to the Bahamas. Wow. Must be nice. :)

Peter turns 2!

Wow. Can you believe its been 2 years??? I can hardly believe it myself. It was a good thing we had a party for Peter the Friday before his birthday because he had a not so wonderful birthday suprise. He woke up throwing up on his birthday. Poor guy! He slept pretty much all day and ate 2 pieces of bread all day. What a way to spend your 2nd birthday.

We got together with some friends for a joint birthday bash earlier and it was so fun! We had hamburgers and cake. Good times! I made Peter a Semi-Truck cake for his birthday. I think he liked it. He swallowed all the letters whole off the side of the cake before digging in to the rest of it.

Peter, here are some things to remember about the past year.
You still have a binky. Yup. That's right. I caved. You got it back because you stopped sleeping after I took it away. Even after a over a week with out. But now you are back to taking a 2.5 hour nap and sleeping from 8pm to 8am.
You hate wearing flip flops. But you love your Chuck Taylors.
You can speak in sentences, but I am not sure if anyone other than mommy and daddy know what you are saying.
You have developed a slight lisp to the letter 'S' in the last 2 weeks. I sure hope it goes away soon.
You LOVE trucks and trains. You have quite a collection of 99cent matchbox cars.
Not much of a climber. You barely figured out how to get on the couch/chair by yourself about a 2 months ago.
Not much of a jumper either. Actually, let me rephrase that, you can't jump. Sorry. Hopefully this one is figured out by your next birthday.
One of your favorite phrases- "Mommy do it" or "Daddy fix it"
You are so stinkin' picky with your food. It drives your parents nuts. Speaking of nuts, you will eat nuts. Weird. But no meat. Are you going to be a vegetarian? Your favorite food is Cinnamon Bread. Not toasted. No butter.
You call the computer a "comPeter"
When you are done with your food or a toy, you always give it to us and say "Thank You" Its pretty funny because it is your way of saying you don't want it anymore and because you are using nice words, we usually let you be done too!
You love to read. We read books all the time. A few of your favorites this week are "If you give a Mouse a Cookie" and "Green Eggs and Ham" and "The Thinks you can Think"
You can count to 12 on your own. You kind of know the ABC's. But you skip about 30% of the letters still.
TV? Ah, your most recent discovery. The most requested show- Sesame Street.
You also love church and going to nursery. You can say a prayer with mommy's and daddy's help but you will only whisper it. I have yet to hear you use your normal LOUD voice when praying.
That's just a little bit about you at 2. You are so much fun and I love you so much! You make my day so bright and I am blessed to be your mom. Happy Birthday!

*2 year stats: 26.18 lbs (40%) 33.5 inches (38%)

Brooke's Blessing Day

Have I mentioned I love having a little girl? Not that I love Peter any less, but I LOVE dressing a girl. SOOOO fun! There isn't a day that Brooke leaves the house without some sort of bow on her head.

Anyway. Brooke was blessed last Sunday at church. It was a really great day. She was so good and didn't cry at all. (But she grunted a lot. As usual. Such a girly sound.) She was so awake all through church and I think she was pretty happy to be there and be blessed by her daddy. I wish we could have had the rest of the family here! At least we will be seeing them soon. I can't wait for our trip back to AZ/CO at the end of the month!

Pretty much a photo album

Here is whats been up the past couple of weeks-

Bryan's mom came and stayed with us. Here we are in Erie, PA. It was FREEZING. This is on the top of some lookout tower.

I am so cool checking out Lake Erie. This is in the harbor. The land you see is a peninsula. And of course I am sporting my wrap with Brooke sleeping away inside.


A light house on the beach. Again, freezing cold.

Peter being Peter.

We also took a trip to Ohiopyle. Yup. That is what this state park is really called. This is Cucumber Falls. And yes, it was freezing cold.

Here is Frank Loyd Wrights house called 'Falling Waters'. Its built over a waterfall and is really amazing.

The Nelson's came with us. And yes, it was Freezing!

Here we are doing more sightseeing. This is a lookout point on Mt. Washington. Guess what? It was freezing cold. And really windy, if you couldn't tell by my sweet hair do.

Peter liked the view. Mostly he liked the tunnels we got to drive through to get to it.

We took a trip to the Strip District to eat at Pamela's Diner. Its famous for breakfast food. We all ordered sandwiches.

Bryan loves all the pictures I make him be in.

Peter wants to do whatever Brooke is doing. So when I put her in her 'chair', he gets in his.

Schenley Park on the two mile loop. Yup, it was cold. How did you guess?

Going home from Church. Poor kids. Its definitely nap time. They never make it home and fall asleep about 2 blocks away from the house.

Well, Brooke just falls asleep anywhere. So I guess she doesn't count.

And last of all, we finally got the transmission fixed on the Explorer. Thank goodness. We have only been putting it off for a year and a half. Hopefully it holds up until we leave Pittsburgh. The pot holes have really taken a toll on it!

Just not my day

I really try to keep myself positive, and this blog positive, but life is not always the easiest thing. This is a whiney post so feel free to not read it! :) Life with two kids has been a lot easier adjustment than I was thinking. So that is good. Here is my complaint-

Why the heck can't they both be asleep at the same time???

It has me exhausted. To the point my back muscles are all tensed up and I have had a headache for 3 days straight. I am not done whining yet. Due to me being lazy and not digging the bobby pillow out of storage I think I am slouching too much when nursing, which is also contributing to my headache/backache. And she is eating every 2 hours for the past 3 days... Oh ya, I need to add, Tylenol SUCKS. Why can't they make a pain killer that actually works when you are breast feeding??? Okay okay. I am going to stop complaining.

Here are some positives. Brooke finally slept for 5 hours straight this week. And made it a total of 7 hours from one feeding to the next. Awesome. Peter can count to 12! I am very excited about that! Bryan had a week off school last week and got to be home with us- which was great. And I am finally back into running. YES! I am loving my treadmill and hating it at the same time. I am getting my butt back in shape and have been sore for days....

I promise to be happier tomorrow.
P.S. I am in the process of making Peter's birthday cake. Pictures to come soon!