bedtime tonight

the boys favorite part of the book:

"boom berry

zoom berry

rockets shoot by

mountains & fountains rain down on me

buried in berries

what a jam jamboree."

(in our house, 

there might be some actions that go along with this part of the book...

if you ever visit you will see why this is their favorite part)

i know this one by heart.

we read it to beck ALL the time.

sadly, the twins don't get as much story time as beck used to...

hopefully we can change that soon.

these moments are too sweet 

to not recreate as often as possible.

one year ago yesterday.

just for fun tonight...

i looked back on my blog 

to see what my life looked like a year ago.

well, take a look at what i posted one year ago yesterday.

these WERE the days of my life. 

wowza.  

that makes me feel A LOT better about the days of my life right now.

today:

i ran a few miles

beck didn't have any potty "accidents" (woohoo!!!)

i only changed about 8 diapers

still have to buckle 3 car seats (that won't be changing for a LONG while!)

we went to the grocery store (and didn't have to use the stroller)

the babes took a 3 hour nap

i only fixed 4 bottles & 4 sippy cups

no pumping, no burping, no rocking to sleep

it is 9:30 and all my dishes & laundry are done

no one spit up or threw up

all the boys can basically feed themselves at this point.

beck and i made some valentines

all the boys got a bath (& beck even took  a shower too)

i took a shower

and, now i am eating some red mango and watching The Bachelor.

i may not sleep more than 4-6 hours, but it will most likely be continuous.

life is still busy 

& it ain't always easy, 

but... 

life is good.

we've come a long way babies!

these 2

right now,
these 2 are...
(16.5 months old...)

so fun...

so funny...

so crazy...

so much work...

&
so dang cute!




this guy finally started walking!
Crew has been walking for months now...
and, so McKay is so excited to be joining the party!

walking isn't the only thing

that McKay has been wanting to do like his brother...

seriously,

these two make me laugh all the time

(but they also still cry A LOT

which is still so frustrating for me...

ready for the "we need momma 24/7 phase" to end...

but, let's focus on the laughing part for now!)

i just LOVE watching these two interact.

although, they have started fighting a bit more lately.

i can already tell these two are going to cause a lot of trouble together!

Crew wore big boy (hard soled) shoes for the first time last week

and he LOVED them!

pure joy, right there.

now every morning both boys bring their shoes to me to put on.

seriously,

could these 2 be any cuter?

oh my goodness.

i love you

I often sing 

(scary, I know...)

my little guys

a silly little song

that goes like this:

"I love you!... 

and you!... 

and you!"

I tickle one of their little bellies each time I say "you"... 

they all love it and laugh every time.

Even after tough weeks like the past one

(It often feels like ever week is a "tough one")

I still really really do 

"love you and you and you!!!"

kisses

often when we ask Beck for hugs and/or kisses

he says "sorry, but I don't have anymore"

or "my kisses/hugs are all gone".

he has this whole story he tells...

his kisses & hugs only come out when it is dark outside...

 during the day, they take a nap in his tummy.

often in the evening,

he will come up to me and say

"mom, guess what? my hugs & kisses are back!"

seriously, this boy...

so sweet, so funny & so smart..

(at times a stinker)

and all mine.

how'd I get so lucky?

i'll take those hugs & kisses whenever i can get 'em.

weekend escape

i was so tired.

i needed a vacation.

so, last weekend,

 i took off for a last minute escape

to visit my dear friend, Molly, in Colorado.

it was DCT girls weekend.

i told Molly that i wanted to do the following:

workout

sleep

go to Pinkberry

see a movie

get a pedicure

eat nachos

well, we did it ALL and more.

we went to 3 cross fit workouts

i went to a Real Ryder cycle class that Molly taught

Pinkberry

3 runs along this trail

Hot Power Fusion yoga!

a movie

pedicure for me and massage for Molly at Tall Grass Spa

more Pinkberry!

plenty of shopping

nachos!

and, church, of course!

LOVED my weekend escape!

BIG THANKS to Molly for having me

and to Adrian for taking care of the kiddos while i was gone.

i am one lucky girl.

he loves me...

he really loves me.

today Beck told me:

"I'm so happy you are here"

(i was out of town all weekend)

and,

"I love you more than Curious George"

that is some serious love right there!

THE story.

OK, because i have had a lot of requests... here goes... "THE STORY"

just a fair warning to begin with though:  this is LONG and BOYS ARE GROSS... and i'm going to share all the gross details (because i had to clean them up people so you can at least read about them!)

this picture was taken about 15 minutes before the story began.

you know, it was just a typical day at the Brown home.

So... let's start with last Wednesday.  It was about 4 or 5PM... you know, the time when all the kids (and usually the moms too) turn into monsters.  I was trying to get some dishes done (while the kids were still awake... always risky) when I heard a cough/choke coming from the entryway.  The twins love to each look out one of the windows on either side of our front door and say "dada dada", which is what they had been doing.  I quickly stopped doing the dishes to go check out that cough/choke sound.  well... what I found was that Crew had thrown up and McKay was eating it.  BLEH!!!!!  After cleaning up the mess, I texted my mom to share this grossness with someone.  She texted back "well, at least it wasn't poop."

So... then came Thursday.  Again, it was about 4PM... monsters were out.  I decided the babes needed a little snack (to keep them quiet for a few minutes at least).  I put them in their little high chairs that attach to our counter top with some snacks.  I then remembered that Beck had spilled Cheerios ALL OVER my pantry floor earlier that day, so while the babes were contained I quickly grabbed my mini Dyson (you NEED one of these!!!) and started sucking up the Cheerios... this took like 30 seconds... but, in the midst of my Dyson sucking up those Cheerios, I heard a crash.  I turned around to find that in those 30 seconds, McKay had somehow climbed out of his chair (that he was buckled into!!!) and was sitting on my countertop with glass and candy everywhere!  McKay is an M&M addict and he had attacked my pretty glass candy dish (SO SAD that it is broken -ugh!) that was sitting on the counter full of M&Ms (I know... glass candy dish... maybe not the smartest thing... but, come on, a girl should be able to have a cute candy dish with some M&Ms, for the love!!!).  His poor little hand was cut... so, there was actually blood, glass and candy all over the floor and countertop.  AHHH!

I grabbed McKay and cleaned up his hand and then started cleaning up the mess while holding him... at the same time I was trying to keep Beck and Crew (who had started trying to imitate his brothers escape, so i took him out of his seat and onto the messy floor) away from the mess, especially the glass.  They started making a "pit" with all the couch cushions and I was like "perfect" stay over there (we have a great room or a big open space that is our kitchen and family room, so i could still see them).  

As I am cleaning the mess and comforting McKay, I suddenly smell something.  We are in the midst of potty training Beck, so I am ultra sensitive to the poopy smell. "Who has poops?" I say as I start to walk over to where Beck and Crew are playing.  Right as I see "it", Beck says "Mom, Crew is eating my poop!" UGH!!!!!!!!  Are you kidding me? (unfortunately, I'm not!) There is poop (diarrhea if you want all the details) all over my Restoration Hardware couch (I know, again.. what were we thinking!?!  what can I say... it's a super cute and comfy couch!  and, now "poopy" too...) and ALL OVER Crew's little hands.  BLEH!!!!!!!  I'm thinking... what do I even deal with first???  I put McKay down... hoping he doesn't get blood everywhere?!  I pick Crew up and run him to the kitchen sink while yelling at Beck to stay put.  Beck is scared at this point because Mean Mom has started to emerge... so he is crying and running after me... leaving a trail of poop (diarrhea!!!) behind him... and also, running right through the glass, candy & blood mess in the kitchen!  UGH!!!!!!  (still not kidding you) I yell at him again because he is barefoot and I don't want him to step on glass... which of course scares him even more... and now scares the babes too.  So, as I am frantically washing Crew's hands and mouth off in the kitchen sink, all the 3 boys are crying.  I set Crew down (but, remember there is glass, poop, blood and candy all over my floor) and pick Beck up (holding him arms distance away from me hoping to not be completely covered in poop... not sure how I actually thought I would escape that?).  Then, I immediately remember about the GROSSness that is all over the floor that my babes are now crawling all over (while crying).  So, I quickly run Beck to my bathroom (on the same floor) and set him down... remember, I have already turned into Mean Mom, so I am sure I asked/yelled him to "stay put".  Then, I run back into the kitchen and rescue my babes and bring them into the bathroom and shut the door.  

Next, I throw (only slightly exaggerating there) Beck into the shower to de-poop (diarrhea!!!) him.  I managed to clean everybody (except myself) up and get everyone a bit calmed down before we re-entered ground zero to begin phase 2 of the clean up.  

I began to try to clean up the blood, glass & poop while keeping the boys out of the mess... of course it became a game for them... they would all start going towards one of the messes and watch me freak out and grab them... and then we'd do that fun little game again and again and again.  At least they were laughing now?  But, unfortunately Mean Mom was NOT laughing.  I set up a temporary barrier around the poop mess on the couch, managed to clean up the glass, blood & candy.  

And then, at that point, instead of starting the poop disaster clean up, I called Adrian and told him to come home "IMMEDIATELY".  Then, I texted my mom and told her that today it WAS poop.  


The end.  (I hope....)

Team Beck!

As I was laying with this little man

before he fell asleep tonight,

I was so frustrated that he hasn't totally caught onto the potty thing yet.

We are about a week and a half in

and the past couple days have been rough - too many "accidents".

As this frustration was milling around in my head,

I looked over at this sweet boy who had just fallen asleep

and my heart instantly softened.

he is so sweet.

and then, I noticed the shirt that he was wearing

(I made this for a fun run that he and Adrian did last summer).

I am SO a part of "Team BECK!"

We are in this together

and, he/we can do totally do this!

I just need to keep believing in "Team BECK!"

GO TEAM!

Bachelor and sugar and friends!

i have a problem.

(and, i actually love this problem and don't want to change it)

i had some friends over to "watch The Bachelor" tonight

and it ended up looking like this...

i just can't help myself.

"keep it simple" is not my strength.

i LOVE making anything a bit more "fancy".

i mean... why not, right?