Better Brady Brother

Before I begin, let me say that the reason there has been no post this weekend until now is that my computer inexplicably died on Thursday afternoon as I was in the middle of sending a work email.  I believe I bought my laptop about 2 and 1/2 years ago so I was thinking it wasn't quite time for it to give up the ghost just yet.  But alas, Duncan wasn't able to revive it which tells me that it was really, truly dead.  Since we still had our $180 gift card to Costco from our Directv switcheroo, we decided to get a new one there (and since they were having a great sale) but couldn't make it there until this morning.  That meant I went three whole days without a computer.  Thank goodness I have my iPhone or I would have gone bonkers.  I did enjoy the day off work on Friday though!  So this morning Duncan picked my up an Acer laptop.  No, I have never heard of an Acer before but Duncan insists all PC's are the same and it doesn't matter what brand I get.  I think he's just being an Apple snob but whatever.  Now I'm just trying to get used to the difference.  For one, it has a ten key on it which I love because it will really help with my work.  Secondly, the "Fn" or function key is the second key from the left on the bottom row whereas with my Lenovo it was the far left.  Why different brands put their keys in a different spot I'll never know but this is bound to drive me crazy for the first few days/weeks.  I'm sure there will be other stuff I'll go nuts about that I haven't discovered yet but for now, I'm just glad to have a computer again.

Okay, now on to more important matters.  I'm so happy to report that Brady is all better...at least for now!  As I had mentioned in my last post, we hadn't noticed Brady coughing for a few days.  That continued and when we went to his doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning, Dr. Verma confirmed that she couldn't hear any wheezing or mucus in his chest.  I was anticipating that we could stop his steroid but she insisted quite adamantly that he needed to stay on it because we're in the sick season.  She said it's much better to take the steroid through the nebulizer to keep him from getting sick than having to take the oral steroid that's a thousand times more powerful to try and get him better.  It was a valid point.  I asked her that if this was asthma, could it not come back at any time and she confirmed that was correct.  I would hope that if/when it does, it will not include the mucus because I do believe that was from an illness.  The last thing we talked about was getting the bloodwork repeated so we can see if the t-cells have improved.  This reminds me that I need to go do that.

The other big thing was his weight gain.  I was a little worried from his lack of weight gain the previous week but when we weighed him at the doc he was at 13 lbs, 13 ounces which was a 6 ounce gain from the previous week and 14 ounces from the previous appointment four weeks earlier.  Again, not the greatest gain ever but definitely enough to make me happy.  We got four his 6 month appointment on Wednesday at the pediatrician so we'll see what he's up to then.

Today was a big day for Brady.  He had his first taste of "real" food.  I didn't start either of the girls on solids until they had passed the six month mark but Dr. Verma encouraged me to get Brady started now (albeit only a little over a week from turning six months) so out came the rice cereal today.  If I remember correctly, the girls weren't too excited about it and we started off very slowly.  Not so with little man.  He barely made a face, if at all, and I even had to refill the little bowl with a second helping.  I probably gave him about 25 bites of the stuff.  Of course, they were small bites but they say to start a baby off with a tablespoon and I know we exceeded that for sure.

A lot of other stuff has been happening this week.  Last Sunday morning following First Watch, we went to JCPenney to try and get a nice family picture for our Christmas card.  I emphasize the word try.  It did not go very well.  It was nearly impossible to get a picture where all three kids looked good.  I ended up having to settle for "not looking horrible" as the criteria.  And then, the worst was trying to get a picture of just the three of them.  The girls would not leave Brady alone.  They kept trying to kiss him, hold him, stroke him, tickle him, etc.  They could not resist him since he was right there in their laps.  Finally he had enough and that was that.  I figured they were tired out and we would try another day which we did on Thursday.  I settled for another average picture.

After naps on Sunday it was off to get our Christmas tree.  It greatly disturbs me as to how many people in our circle of friends have fake trees...even Canadians who you would think would know better.  That is one thing you will never see the Grodacks do.  We will NEVER have a fake tree.  I have many fond memories from my youth of my family going to pick out our tree.  So off we went.  We ended up with a slightly smaller, and cheaper, tree this year but it was one Calleigh picked out so it's all good.  Of course, had she picked out a Charlie Brown tree, I would have overruled her but this one was pretty full with no gaping holes.  Decorating the tree went pretty well with only three broken bulbs and only a few branches hanging down to the floor...because as you know, kids put all the ornaments on the two lowest branches.  Aubree started talking about the "instruments" and it took us a minute to catch on that this is what she called ornaments.  Close, Aubs, close.  You can watch a video of our tree trimming by clicking here.  There's a little something special right at the end.

Watching our tree getting bagged.

Tuesday evening we met Jennifer and the boys and Karis and his boys at Chik-fil-A for kids eat free night.  More importantly than the free meal, Mr. Richard was there performing.  He's a guy with a guitar that does kid's concerts.  The Christmas music was in full swing when we arrived and imagine our excitement when he did "Must Be Santa."  We heard that song for the first time at the Boston Pops last year and Calleigh declared it her favorite song and even remembered that fact this year.  We hadn't heard it since the Pops but Mr. Richard belted it out so of course, I had to get a video of it. Click here to see it. The girls really, really enjoyed Mr. Richard (we were almost the last ones to leave) so I'm sure we'll be catching him again on the next go round.

Wednesday night was the Christmas party for Adventurers.  Since Duncan had to work late, I was there with Aubree and Brady.  Aubree pretty much thinks she's an Adventurer too and she's involved in nearly all the activities that go on with Calleigh.  Calleigh was giving me a hard time about going (I know she wanted to go but she'll put on a fuss for a minute or two saying she doesn't want to) and I had to bring out the Lisa card as in "Lisa's going to be there.  Don't you want to go?"  That got her going.  I told Lisa I was sorry but I was now using her as a bribe.  The party was a fun time involving games, crafts, singing, and at the end, cookies and hot chocolate. They handed out the cookies in sets of four so the girls really thought they had hit the jackpot on that one.  I don't about the wisdom of kids having four cookies at 8:00 pm but it is what it is.

For some reason, Luke Deininger is obsessed with ruffling Aubree's hair.  It's pretty cute, actually.

Cookie time!

Thursday was the pictures again, as I mentioned, and then Friday was yard sales.  It's always especially fun this time of year because the weather is usually perfect and then just before Christmas you find a bunch of toys that make great gifts.  At one spot, there were a bunch of girly stocking stuffer type stuff and you should  have seen me trying to snatch stuff without them noticing.  I pulled it off though and I got some neat stuff for their stockings.  It's nice because a lot of the stuff you buy is junky and the stuff I got is still junky but at $.10 and $.25 a piece, you don't really care.

Friday evening we went to Ron and Elaine's for supper and the girls were so excited to see all their outside lights and then, most importantly, the train under the Christmas tree. They have a big village under the tree too and the girls love moving the pieces all around.

Sabbath was a big day for Calleigh.  Since it was the first Sabbath of the month, the kids are supposed to wear their Adventurer uniforms and then they also get to help with the offering.  Calleigh was one of the volunteers this month and did a great time passing the plate around.  I think she thought she was a bit of a veteran at offering collecting since she's done it a few times at Papa's church with Bruno.  I thought Aubree was going to have a fit because she kept talking about doing the offering too but in the end, she retired to the pew and didn't make a fuss.

Shepherd Aubree again.  Calleigh wore that dress for our Christmas picture two years ago.  Always strange to see her wearing things of Calleigh's and realizing how much time has passed.

Last night was the Christmas party at the Bergherms.  There were about seven or eight families there, mostly our usual group, and it was a really great time.  I SO love Christmas and always enjoy Christmas parties.  We all brought appetizers and Jennifer made some of her famous cookies and cupcakes some of which we were happy to bring home.  The girls got to decorate their own cookies with frosting and glitter.  Towards the tail end of the party when some people had already left, I noticed Calleigh walking back from the kitchen with a strange look on her face.  Turns out that when no one was looking, she had snuck in there to stick her finger in the some of the frosting still sitting out.  Caught you!  Jennifer put me in charge of the games and I was all to happy to oblige.  Since I'm in charge of all the games each Christmas at home, I had a number of games already in the till that I could reproduce.  It seems like things went over well and Duncan and Allen (who randomly got put together as a team.  Go figure) almost won but finished second to Rob Deininger and a lady named Nichole whom we just met.

The kid table

No, no.  Only the piano or violin.  

Today we had no official plans other than to get things done.  Duncan got a new battery for the van, got the tires checked (need two new front ones), and new windshield wipers.  I went to the consignment store during the kids' naps and got some needed winter clothes for Calleigh and Brady.  Poor Aubree.  She gets the short end of the stick since she just inherits Calleigh's old clothes.  David and Megan came over this evening so we could watch the Patriots dismantle the Colts in a game we recorded earlier in the day.

Go Patriots!!

So that's that.  A few other random bits of news and quotes:

• Duncan got the new iPhone 4S on Thursday.  He's had a work phone for years but the policy is changing so he had get his own and finally gave in and got the iPhone.  He's very pleased.
• This week Calleigh told me, in disgust, that she was going to just have to change her name because everyone keeps calling her "Cay-Leigh." I feel like I should apologize since I'm sure people get confused with the unique spelling. 
• My exercise regimen is on about week eight/nine and I haven't been as diligent with it the last week because I've been so darn busy.  Since I began, I've lost seven and a half pounds but I'd like to ideally lose four more.  We'll see what happens.
•  I don't want to say my dog is hurting for attention but I had my arm outstretched with a dumbbell in it and he tried to strategically place his body underneath it right in the middle of my set.  All in the name of getting a little pat on the back.  Poor thing.  
• Brady started saying the "d" sound today so it sounds like he's saying "dadadadada" but obviously it has no meaning.  
• A few days ago Calleigh was asking me how the first person got here.  I took that to mean Adam so I told her that God created Adam.  But then she says "No, how did the FIRST person get here?"  So I said "Do you mean God?"  And she says "Yes."  I tell her that God has just always been here and that no one created him.  Boy, that sounds even more unfathomable when you say it out loud to a 4-year old.  I told her that it was very hard for us to understand that but we would some day in heaven.  She's asked me the same question a few more times so I can see it's a very hard concept.

Finally, I just have to say how much I LOVE this time of year.  It's truly the best time of the whole year.  I love having our house all lit up with Christmas lights, the aroma of the pine and cedar candles covering up the dog pee smell, the Christmas music playing around the clock, singing Christmas carols for worship, seeing my 2-year old sing Silent Night during the church service (even if she did say "Holy infant so tender and 'child' instead of 'mild'), seeing the excitement on the girls faces as we drive by houses lit up (Aubree even got excited to see the lights on Hooters even though they're lit up all year round), and so much more.  It all culminates with out trip to Papa and Gigi's coming up and I'm telling you the truth, Aubree asks me every single day, and more than once, "When are we going to Papa and Gigi's?"  Now if we could just get it to snow there...

Have a great week! 

Aubree is very into cleaning the table.  I think she sprayed the same spot and wiped it like eight times.

The ultimate Aubree face.  Yes, I know I didn't fix the red eye but Picasa isn't working on my new computer yet.