Brower Family Treehouse

Marty the Mouse

2009-05-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

Michael woke up from his nap today and looked at the window and said "look, doggy" ... so I looked, and there was a mouse crawling all over the screen door outside. We've had Echo (the dog) here for a couple weeks while my parents are out of town and she has been obsessing over a few spots on the deck, so I figured there were mice under there ... but as Tony says "now we have proof!" We've decided to call it "Marty" ... because it starts with an M. No other reason. Tony is now working on setting traps to capture it and kill it ... YES, I said KILL it! I don't approve of mice around my house. Why is it with all the neighborhood cats that camp out in our front yard, none of them go get rid of the mice in the backyard?????And yes, we set Michael straight that it is a mouse, not a doggy. :)

Catching Up

2009-05-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are ... several months since the last posting. Sorry I haven't kept up with putting pictures and stories on here. Here are a few pictures to help catch you up on the last few months...

This picture was from today. We bought a big bouncy ball at the store and he's not been away from it since. (the whole 2 hours we've owned it) We went outside to play for a bit without the ball, and when he came back inside he said "there's my ball ... I missed you ball ... I love you ball."

Here are the "party hats" Tony and Michael wear when we have pizza for dinner. One night, I told Michael that Daddy was bringing home something special for dinner so he decided he wanted to make some party hats. I had him color the pages and when Tony got home, he figured out how to make the hats. Yes, we still have them around the house ... and yes, he still wears the party hat (and we wear ours!) when we're having a "special" dinner.

This is Michael helping Tony fix the rototiller (however you spell that!) He was so excited to get to "help", but wasn't thrilled about being in the backyard while Tony was using it ... he decided it was too loud.

The rototiller again ...

Here's the problem with waiting too long to post pictures ... I can't remember what he was eating to get his face so dirty ... nor can I remember who he was talking to! I'm sure it was chocolate and one of his Grandmothers! :)

Here he is at the beach over by Bodega Bay. We went to the ranch house for the weekend and he loved getting to go to the beach and play in the sand. We even sat and watched some guys with parachutes float down from the cliffs above to the beach (not sure what that's called ... I'm sure there's some name for the sport!)

Tony is making his own sandcastle because Michael would help make it and then squish it ... so they got sent to their separate corners. I think it ended up turning into who could dig the deepest hole!

Ahh, training the future television technician. The tv didn't work up at the ranch house, so Tony taught Michael the official way of fixing tv's .... you bang on it until you hear it working. Unfortunately, it didn't work. But it was great to spend the weekend WITHOUT cable tv! Only problem is that now Michael thinks you're supposed to hit tv's on a regular basis.

Eating birthday cake on his 2nd birthday in March.

The birthday cake. Notice some of the frosting missing on the side? Well, that was Grandma letting him use his finger to swipe some of the chocolate early!

fun times!

2009-02-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

Hi Again! We've had another busy month .... Tony has started on his two furloughs a month, so we've been enjoying having "daddy" home more this month! What a great thing it has been for Michael. He loves helping his daddy out in the garage and in the backyard! We've had some nice weather this month too, so they've made a dent in the backyard shed project!

Here are some photos to share .... Michael is growing and looking older to me ... I can remember the first year thinking "is he ever going to be independent?" ... now it's all happening very fast! We're enjoying every minute of it!

Went to Cousin Fran's house this week to play. She has a playground area for her grandkids to play with, so Michael had a ball!

This is Michael watching Veggietales in the garage while Tony was working on stuff. He thinks he's very important because he gets to hold the measuring tape!

Okay, so Tony and I set up an area in the garage to do some workouts. I was out there doing a yoga video with Michael one day ... this is his version of downward dog!

Michael in Daddy's shoes today

Hello??? Am I here????

2009-01-24T20:36:00.001-08:00

Wow! It's been over two months since I've posted anything! It's been a CRAZY two months, full of family visiting and all of us being sick for what seemed like a month! I'm posting some pictures so you can sort of get an idea of what we've been doing ... because I know you don't want to see the 275 pictures I just took the other day out in the backyard! :) I think I've inherited my mother's illness of taking tons of pictures to make sure I capture that "cute" moment! Just so you know, I did end up deleting pictures that didn't turn out great and ended up with only 80 something pictures from the other day. We're all finally well again ... Michael is working on 4 back molars all at once, so it seems he's constantly being given tylenol or motrin. Poor guy, sometimes when I forget to give him some he gets so miserable!

I've been feeling the need for some structure to our days lately. While we were all sick, we got too used to watching videos and I'm sick and tired of Tigger and Pooh, Curious George and the Wiggles. Not to mention, I'm sure there's more I should be doing to help my son learn!!! :) So, we started "school" the other day. How crazy and obsessed is that? He's not even two yet and I decided to start getting him excited about school already! What's that mean???? School consisted of a coloring page, and he was supposed to color everything red. So, there's a bunch of red scribbles on the page ... and everytime I asked him what color he's using he said "blue". Why is it that he can remember what color he's looking at in his Thomas the Train books, but can't figure out what color crayon he's holding????? Okay, so maybe he's not ready for preschool yet! But, he was pretty darn excited to show EVERYONE the page that is now up on the refrigerator and tell everyone that there is a "melon water" (watermelon), "sku bus" (it's actually a truck, but since he was doing "school" he called it a school bus), a "heart" and a "bayooooon" (balloon). Oh, and there's a "kitty" on there and the crayon is "blue". (it's really red ... remember, it's a red them today!) So ... I guess we need to work a little more on our colors.

He loved having Tony's mom come visit at Christmas ... he calls her "Nana". Now when he sees blankets we used on her bed it's "nana's blanket" and he's always talking about "nanas cookies" and "nana hugs". Nana, could you hurry up and come home so I don't have to explain that you can't give him a hug because you're in Arizona???!!! :)

Alright, enough stories for now. Oh wait! I have another story ...

One day when Michael was sick, I put in a call to his doctor to ask a question about an "owie" he had. When I was on the phone, I mentioned his Dr's name and when I got off he kept saying her name and asking about her. So, to get him off my back I told him that "mommy called Dr. Gill to ask her about your owie. To find out if you need another medicine, or if you can just take the medicine mommy already has here." So we go through the day, and the Dr. returns my call during his naptime. I get my questions answered and move on. Michael wakes up from his nap and a little later comes to find me in my room and says "Dr. Gill? Owie?" How in the world does he remember? We talked about this hours ago! So I respond with "Dr. Gill called and said you could just use the medicine mommy has" ... he says "okay" and turns and walks away. Silly little boy!

Alright, now I'm done with the stories ... I'll let you get to the pictures!

This is a picture my mom took while Michael was looking in the mirror in his bathroom.

This was Nana's bed at Christmas time. It took me a few days to clean it up after she left so Tony would go in there and lay on the bed while Michael played ... it's in Michael's play room. Michael and Nana made up a new game to play on her bed called "fun". You sit on the edge of the bed and then fall back and laugh and say "fun!". This is Tony and Michael playing "fun" after Nana went home.

Michael and Nenny (aunt Jenny) reading in Nana's bed.

Tony and Michael at the Christmas parade ... it was cold!

Michael and his suitcase that came with a "raff" (giraffe). He loves that thing! He's constantly walking around the house telling me he's going on a trip!

Patience

2008-11-03T17:28:00.000-08:00

Michael spent 20 minutes sitting down trying to put on his "outfit" (pajamas). At one point, the shirt was on his legs and he was trying to figure out what to do with the pants. I tried not to look too often because it would distract him and I was afraid that he'd stop working on it! After 20 minutes he got up and walked over to me. When I tried helping him, he got frustrated ... so I just let him continue walking around trying to get dressed. He finally got the pants on ... I had to explain to him that once he got one leg in, he had to put the other leg in from the top (he was trying to put his leg through the bottom of the pants) ... then he got it.It's been 45 minutes and now he's focused on waiting for daddy to come home. He took off his outfit ... and attempted to take off his diaper as if that's part of the outfit! Crazy little boy! He's now in the front room with the door open watching for daddy and dancing on the lid of a plastic bin. And this was the boy who, 1 1/2 hours ago woke up from his nap and couldn't do anything but sit in my lap and cry! Go figure.

Catching Up ...

2008-10-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

It's been about a month since I've posted pictures! We've been busy having fun and Mommy ends up being too tired at the end of the day to play on the computer. So, here are a bunch of pictures from the month of October ....

Yummy Cookies! I got to help Miss Bonnie make them and now I get to eat them!

With Daddy up at Apple Hill

My first Choo Choo ride up at Apple Hill. While we were waiting for the train to start going, Michael said "all done!" I think he was a little nervous about the ride. Once we got going though, he loved it and asked for more.

My first "real" train ride! We took Amtrak to Martinez where Aunt Betty (A.B.) picked us up so we could go play at her house. We had the car all to ourselves, so it was great! He loved looking out the window saying "moo" to the cows.

Passing time on the train ... we got stopped at one point because a large truck had taken out one of the crossing arms. The train had to stop suddenly because cars were going across the tracks with the train coming!

We made it! Okay, it was only a 45 minute ride but it was long enough for him! This is us with A.B. Did I mention that my mom came with us? She took all the pictures for us ... but I was glad to have her along!

Michael and AB in her backyard with the bubbles. That's Uncle Tom in the background planting things.

This was the quiet hideout at AB's, where a dirty diaper was made!

Michael in the backyard here at home ... with his new haircut that makes him look so old!

Inspecting the rock ....

Just as I was getting ready to take pictures of him playing in the pile of leaves, the camera died ... this is him on his way to get his rake so he could mess with the leaves.

Lake Tahoe Trip

2008-10-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to Lake Tahoe. We all had colds so didn't do too much, but both sets of Grandparents came up to stay with us during the week and it was great. Michael was so thrilled to wake up and have someone else around other than Mom and Dad!

Here is our visit to the beach .. I think Tony had more fun building his little sand city!

Hunting for rocks....

Sitting in the "big boy chair" to eat, barely able to see over the table

Nana playing with Michael on the playground

"Cheeeeeese"

Working very hard at building something before bedtime

Grandma, the photographer

2008-09-09T19:32:00.001-07:00

These pictures were taken by my Mom. We had the trailer parked in front of their house so we could wash it before putting it into the storage place (our new storage place is now in Woodland at half the price!). Michael was watching us through the window with Elmo and his doggie.

Michael's New Playground

2008-09-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

Michael now has a new (used) playground in the backyard. We had a hard time keeping him off of it while we were building it! He has a great time playing on it, loves that he lands on his rear on the lawn at the end of the slide. Had Grandma go inside through the door with him, so figured he would invited Daddy inside when he got home too. I think the tunnel will be his official "hiding spot" down the road. He likes that he is "invisible" to us in there.

Mommy's brain can't think of anything new going on ... we've all been sick for the last week. Michael started it ... then mommy got it and still has it ... and now daddy is starting it. Great. We did go camping this weekend, thinking Michael was getting better. That's when Mommy got sick. So maybe when we stop being a sicky house, I'll remember some fun stories from the weekend!

Eating, Eating and More Eating ...

2008-08-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

I didn't really plan on having a bunch of food pictures in this post. But apparently I think my son is amazing everytime he eats food!

Michael drawing on the etch a sketch thingy that Uncle Brady and Aunt Annette gave him a couple weeks ago. He LOVES it and loves erasing his drawing so he can draw some more!

Here is Michael eating Missy's food at the breakfast table in the trailer. (Missy is one of my friend's daughter) Fortunately, she wasn't too put off that he was eating from her plate. Cute for now, but I guess it's one of those habits he'll have to change later in life. Wouldn't be so cute if he were 25 and eating off of everyone else's plate! Oh, and the big news is that Missy is going to be a movie star! Well, she just got the role of Mrs. Beauregarde in Willy Wonka for her local theater company! She'll be Violet's mom ... the girl who turns into a blueberry. Now Michael is going to be even more "star struck" by her!

Again, his obsession with Daddy's hats. Only this time he puts it on backwards. I tried getting him to do a rapper pose, but he didn't do it long enough for me to take a picture.

Eating cantaloupe with a fork. He gets so excited now when I let him eat with utensils!

Today's lunch. He ate a whole taco ... well the insides of the taco. He had a blast too, as you'll see in the next photo.

Weekend with Cousin Mia

2008-08-05T17:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from this past weekend. My brother Brady and his family came to visit with my 3 month old niece, Amelia (and 13 year old nephew, Wyatt!). We had lots of fun visiting with them all!

Michael with his airplane ... note the half-eaten propeler ... my parent's dog, Hunter got to it while we were out of the house. It still works though, and Michael hasn't noticed anything!

Michael with Baby Mia ... my sister-in-law Annette on the right.

My brother with Baby Mia and Michael

We wanted to see who stands taller!

Michael's first kiss ....

And, just a cute picture to share. He's in the rocking chair at my Mom's.

The Interview and Little Boy Sound Effects

2008-08-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

Michael says "excuse me" ... please excuse the burp at the end of the video. Where are his manners???

Coloring Fun

2008-07-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

This was Michael's first time of sitting down and coloring with his crayons. When we go to restaurants, he gets crayons but just bangs them on the paper. So we're working on drawing instead of banging. He know where I keep the crayons now too, so he's always asking for them!

4th of July Camping

2008-07-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

Pictures from camping this past weekend ...

Where we camp is close to some of the fires burning, so it was pretty smoky all weekend. If we got out of the trailer early in the morning, it was beautiful. Later in the morning, they were setting back fires to help keep the fire away from our area so it was pretty ugly.

We had fun anyway! We took a few walks so Michael could collect sticks and rocks. When we were in our trailer, he was constantly looking out the window asking to go to Nanna and Papa's trailer ... then he'd bring us his shoes. He loved having breakfast with us, then walking over to Nanna and Papa's trailer to eat more pancakes with them!

Michael had his 15 month Dr. appointment this morning. He weighs just a bit over 20 pounds and is 29 and a half inches tall. Such a little guy! His cousin, Mia who is not quite 3 months old is 23 inches long ... Hmmm, they're a year apart and she's catching up to him already! Should be fun to see them both together when she visits in a month!

"Helping" Again!

2008-07-03T12:31:00.001-07:00

Laundry Day ....

Helping Dad, The Zoo & Haircut

2008-07-02T20:01:00.001-07:00

I observed the "Michael helping Daddy" last night. I think Michael was a little distracted by the camera, he likes to come as close as he can to the camera which makes it difficult for me to take pictures. So I had to sort of hide to take pictures.

"I've got my shovel and my rake Daddy, now what do you want me to do?"

"That looks fun, can I play in the dirt too?"

"This thing is funny, it makes me laugh!"

"Mommy, look at this pokey thing. Isn't it cool? Daddy lets me play with it while he's not watching. Don't you think he's a good Daddy??"

"Um, Daddy ... I think you're doing something you haven't shown me before. Are you sure you want to do that? Shouldn't you let me help you?"

"Wait! Where you goin'? Take me with you!"

"Really Mommy, I'm not the one pulling leaves off the plant and eating them. There must be someone else who comes into the garden at night and does that. I was just inspecting the leaves for you!"

"How does this thing work again?"

"Ahhh, my very own hole to dig!"

Here we are at the zoo today with the frog he likes to play on ... it took him a while to warm up to just wandering by himself. There was another kid there and he was entertained by just watching him.

"Mommmmmmeeeeeeee, I NEED my shuck shuck (pacifier). Can I pleeeeeease have it? Mommmeeeeee? I'm going to diiiiiiiie if I don't get it right now. Mommmmeeeeee?"

Bubba with Aunt Jenny ("Nenny") at the zoo.

Michael's Second 1st Haircut! This time I broke down and paid the outrageous amount and had a "professional" cut his hair. I told them it was his first haircut so we'd get the picture taken and a little frame for it ... it was his first professional haircut! He looks like such a big boy now! I guess it's time to have another baby so Michael can grow up. (for those Aunts and Grandmas, etc out there ... NO we're not pregnant ... don't read into that little comment!) That's about all I have to share tonight. We're headed up to the campground this weekend, so I'm sure I'll have more stories to share. Hopefully it won't be "falling out of the trailer" stories!!!

New Snack Table

2008-07-01T09:24:00.000-07:00

We bought Michael a new snack table. He ate breakfast there yesterday ... he loves it!

Michael has been spending a lot of time with Tony out in the backyard working on projects. Last night he was "helping" Tony dig post holes. Tony said that it was more like Michael would work on filling the hole Tony had just made. But he had fun. He even has his own little shovel to use and he feels so important! If they go out tonight, I'll take some pictures to post here. It's funny to listen to them outside. Michael is just talking away with Tony as if Tony understands every word he is saying. Maybe I'll work on posting a video too.

A Bunch of Pictures

2008-06-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

Michael found his stick this weekend while we were camping. This was the ONE he HAD to have. Three times the size of him! The pathway between our trailer and Grandma and Grandpa's trailer
Michael unpacking what I had packed to take camping for the weekend. Such a big help he is! I guess he just wanted to make sure we had everything, but had to lay it all out on the table to make sure.
Michael and Daddy relaxing together ...

Cousins Andrew and Rachael playing with Michael. Rachael says Michael is "so soft".
Michael keeping an eye on things while wearing my shoes in the trailer. Notice the gate up in front of the screen door. Before we got a chance to put that up Friday night, Michael decided that he needed to follow Daddy outside ... he fell. Three steps down to the ground. I didn't see it, I was inside minding my own business and not paying attention to the fact that my son was about to go outside. Tony said he did a couple flips ... like the Nascar driver Carl Edwards (he does flips off his car when he wins). It was scary, but Michael is okay. He had a little bit of a fat lip, but as you can see from the other camping pictures, he's being his normal self and having fun with his bruises. Now we just leave the gate up and step over it when we need to go outside for a minute!

Hmmmmm .... what's the deal with the shoe obsession? These are Daddy's shoes. (don't look at our messy room with the unmade bed, mom!)

Yes Mommy? I'm in my cave for the moment, could you wait please?
Feeding himself applesauce. I figure I should start getting him used to using utensils. The day will come soon when it won't be appropriate for him to eat everything with his hands. I just hate having to clean up the mess!

Wearing Daddy's hat ... another obsession of his. He won't wear one of his own though!

It's been too long!

2008-06-10T18:34:00.001-07:00

It has been WAAAAY too long since I've posted pictures here! We got really busy since Tahoe. Michael got sick, then Tony, then me ... so we lost a week. Then we started our summer of camping! We spent a lot of time setting up camp for the summer, so I didn't get very many pictures but Michael had a blast up there in the dirt.

The two pictures below, I just took tonight. I was looking at our sliding glass door and made the following comment to Tony: "I thought that when Echo moved in with my parents, I'd have a non-slobbered on glass door!" Apparently Michael and Echo had some words and Michael is keeping this up for the dog.

We got tons of toys out of Grandma Maria's basement a few weeks ago! Here are just a few of them. Michael is playing with them by sitting on them all! We'll be rotating some of these toys through the months!

Michael got to go swimming at Grandma Sarah's house... she turns off the heater to the hot tub during the summer so the grandkids can use it as a little pool. I bought a little outfit with floaters in it to help Michael feel more comfortable, but it's still a little big on him so I ended up taking it off of him.

A recent trip to Grandma Maria's house ... we figured out that he's very comfortable with her furniture. This was the last time he was allowed to climb onto a table without getting a spankin' (it was just too cute to watch!)

And finally, a picture of Michael climbing up the steps in the trailer last weekend.

Next time we go up there I'll get more pictures of him outside. It was pretty cold in the morning! He had so much fun running through the trailer and checking everything out!

I took him to a mom and tots play "thing" today and he loved it. He was climbing on all the big structures and cargo nets. It's just a big padded room with lots of pieces to climb, crawl under, slide on and just run around. We'll probably go next week and I'll get some pictures to share. It was a blast watching him!

Lake Tahoe

2008-05-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from this morning. This is Michael's first trip to a beach and first time in water other than his bathtub and the sprinklers as he's taking a walk through the neighborhood. It's really nice and warm up here right now so we're enjoying the sunshine. I think it's supposed to get cold in a day or two, so I had to document the warm weather right away!

Camping

2008-05-15T08:22:00.001-07:00

We're getting ready to think about getting the trailer up to the campground for the summer. We thought we'd get Michael his own trailer so we don't have to share with him! Here it is ...

This picture has nothing to do with camping ... I just thought I'd take a picture of him playing and putting his leg into a box he's made.

Echo went home last night. Michael woke up this morning looking for Uh-Go. He was sad she wasn't around. He stood at the back door looking for her. But, the good news is that now I can start getting rid of the dog hair! I don't think she left much behind, really. I just didn't bother to clean the floors while she was here.

Mommy's Vacation

2008-05-07T19:25:00.001-07:00

I went to the Women's retreat near Santa Cruz through our church this past weekend. It was great to get away for two nights! Of course, I didn't sleep much because we were a bunch of mommys who could actually have a conversation without being asked for more food or to be picked up or anything else. When I returned, I was downloading some pictures from the camera that Tony had here at the house .... here's a photo of Michael over the weekend. This was taken after they had spent the day out in the backyard digging holes for posts and cementing them in. Tony says he ate a little bit of bark, a little dirt and a little bit of cement. But he had fun! I don't want to know if Tony washed Michael's hands before he fed him!

During our "free time" at the retreat, we had the option of going on the ropes course ... so my friend Melissa and I were trying to decide if we should do it. I wanted to do it, but didn't want to be the only one from our group doing it. I was a little concerned when the guy told us that it wasn't their most strenuous course, but it was their highest course. So, Melissa said "I'll only do it if you do it". To which I responded, "okay, let's do it". While we were hiking up the hill, Melissa said "I'm only doing this because you are doing this and I'm so competetive that I just agreed" and then I told her "that's exactly why I'm doing it!" We just looked at each other and said "what were we thinking!!!????" So here are some pictures of us/me on the course. Man, when I did these things in my early 20's I wasn't bothered by the way I looked in a harness!!

Waiting our turn to climb. See that cargo net in the background? That's what you climb up, NOT ATTACHED to anything to get up to the rest of the course.

This is the part where I had to straddle the board and hook myself onto the tree so I could get to the rope bridge for the next section of the course.

Here's the balance beam part ... they suggested we go across not holding onto anything, yea, right! The only thing to hold onto was the rope connecting my harness to the cable above, but I wasn't crazy enough to think I have that good of balance! The guy did make me sit and swing in the harness there though, and then I had to get back to standing on the beam ... I guess it really was just a telephone pole.

I'm actually standing on a cable here and walking across it with just a loose rope to hold onto. I figured that the only way that rope was going to be of any use to me was if it was taught ... so I had to lean forward a bit to do that and then just slide my feet along the cable.

This is when I found the true meaning of "tree hugger". I was told to stay on that platform until the person in front of me got across the next cable. I had no intention of standing there without holding onto something.

The final portion of the course was the zip line. This is me jumping off ... like how the guy looks like he's pushing me??? I think he was doing that because he told me to just lean forward and go ... if I leaned backward I might have hit my head on the platform as I fell downward waiting for the slack in my rope to go away. I thought it was pretty funny that the person taking the pictures actually caught this with the camera and got the guy "pushing" me!

All Done. This is me suspended in the air after the zip line ...

So, after we did the ropes course Melissa and I went on a hike and then we found the super slide at the retreat center. It's a really long, windy water slide set up on the side of the mountain. They don't put water in it, but you go down on a burlap sack. It was a blast! We would go down it and then run (yes, I said run!) back up the hill to go down again and again. We were like two kids in the world's largest, bestest park ever! My body didn't stop hurting until just yesterday! (3 days later)

She's Back!

2008-05-07T19:17:00.001-07:00

Yes, That's Echo. She's visiting us while my parents are back in New Jersey seeing their new granddaughter. NO! My mom hasn't stopped asking for a granddaughter from me ... she says it's not the same if the granddaughter doesn't live nearby. Whatever.

Anyway, this is the "woof woof" "Uh Go" as Michael likes to call her. She's behind the gate during a lot of the day, unless she's outside. Michael is too much "in love" with her and wants to go up and touch her face. It makes me nervous when he gets his face down close to hers because she doesn't like it when kids do that. She's been fine with him, but I don't need to have something go wrong before I just keep them separated when I can't keep a close eye on the two.

I know this picture is a little blurry, but the look was cute!

Can We Sell It On Ebay Mommy???

2008-04-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

We've had a clogged shower drain for a REALLY LONG TIME. Months and months. We tried a lot of things to unplug it, none of it worked. So tonight, my son-of-a-plumber husband got the snake out and ran it down the drain. We've decided that Cousin It was living down there! "Do you think we could sell it on Ebay?" Tony said as he pulled the large chunk out. Michael was standing there saying "oooohhhhh" while he did. Caution ... gross picture is below. Tony is now cleaning the bathtub ... hopefully with lots and lots of bleach or something to sanitize the thing!!!

I guess this is what I get for 10 years of losing hair and not cleaning the thing out, huh?

Thanks for listening to my gross story ... I couldn't pass up the chance to share it with the world. You'll notice that I threw in a couple pictures of Michael "helping" so I could justify posting this story!

Oh Mommy, it's so gross I think I'm going to throw up!

Laughter

2008-04-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

My Mom just sent me this picture ... I think it makes us all laugh. He's such a happy boy. This is pretty much how he is during most of the day, unless he hasn't had a nap! I haven't posted anything lately because I've been sick and just getting myself out of bed and off the couch has been a chore on most days. When I have done something, it's been getting out of the house so Michael can go see people and things ... so I've stayed away from the house so I can ignore the mess that is happening! My "maid" didn't show up while I was gone, so things have piled up around here. I'm feeling better now, so maybe I'll start getting some things done, and be my own maid.

Michael's First Haircut

2008-04-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

We went to Cousin TJ's birthday party today ... he turned 15! ... and decided to have Grandma cut Michael's hair. (since TJ was more interested in hanging out in his room with friends instead of hanging out with us) Yes, I'm a cheap mom! I decided that as long as we took pictures and saved a bit of his hair, it would be as good as paying the $15 (or whatever it costs!) to get it done "professionally". He did a very good job of staying still so Grandma could cut ... it didn't hurt that Grandpa was making silly noises and faces while he took the pictures.

Funny story for the day ... I was in the kitchen and Tony was working on his computer. Michael was quietly playing, which should have clued us in. We both noticed at the same time that he was standing on what we call his "snack table" .. it's really just a small square coffee table we use for him to put his toys on and put his cheerios on. He had a huge smile on his face as if to say "look at me! I'm king of the table!" I so badly wanted to laugh and take a picture, but realized that would only encourage him to continue climbing up there. So he got punished and we kept our eyes on him until he decided to become obsessed with a toy... which didn't take long since his attention span is very short! But, I guess the climbing has begun. I'm sure he'll be climbing on the table many more times in the future ... I just hope he doesn't break his neck before he learns that it's not okay to get on the table! Notice the blue empty box he's standing on to help him climb!

Okay, so I included this picture just because it's cute. But I'm not biased! My mom took the picture because she has been desperately trying to get a good picture of his face so she can blow it up into an 8X10 for her picture wall.

Michael's Birthday Part 2

2008-04-05T16:27:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I've put up Michael stories ... we've been busy with getting new teeth and getting shots at the Doctor. It seems we get through one molar tooth coming in and then we're on to another tooth. I think he's working on two bottom teeth now... oh joy! Anyway, Tony was out of town for the week after Michael's birthday and Michael was a perfect little angel! He went down easily for naps and at bedtime ... then the day Tony came home, he stopped sleeping well and it was all over! I think it was just a way the Lord blessed me while Tony wasn't able to be here to help at night. I actually thought "man, this is easy this time". So ... I'm telling you all of this because we haven't really had any fun stories to share ... just horror stories, and no one wants to hear those! Hopefully these teeth will come quickly and he'll be back to his normal funny self.

Here are some pictures of Michael's birthday cake at Grandma and Grandpa Brower's house. When we put it in front of him, he knew exactly what it was so said "more! more! more!". He was a happy little boy. Notice, the first thing he did was get all the frosting off of the cake!

And now the pictures of him opening a gift. He pulled out the bubbles all by himself. Then he saw that there was more in the bag ...

Michael's First Birthday

2008-03-27T15:50:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when Michael is in charge of his own Easter egg. It didn't rattle like the plastic eggs with quarters in them, so he threw it on the ground and walked away. When he walked away, he stepped on it. Hmm.

After telling everyone she didn't want to have to be "in charge" of Michael while opening his gifts ... Great Aunt Lisa was "chosen" by Michael to be in the middle of it all.

And his first, first birthday cake. We had another cake at Grandma Maria's house, but we'll post those pictures later. I don't want to sound like a bad mommy, but we left the camera in the car at Grandma Maria's. So fortunately she got some pictures and is sending them to me.

He wasn't quite sure what to think of the cake until he got it in his mouth. Then he had fun. After only a few minutes though, he announced that he was "all done".

The new play table Lisa and Larry gave Michael ...

And last, but not least .... the gift that was in the box that drove me nuts for a week!!!! It's a Mickey Mouse airplane toy. He loves hiding things in the seat that flips up. I'm sure there will be a morning when I'll smell the sippy cup of milk he puts in there! Every once in a while, he hits a button that starts the propeller and he gets a little nervous about that. He tells it "all done!" and thinks it should turn off at his command.

Mac N Cheese Hair Gel

2008-03-21T16:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, he used the macaroni and cheese as hairgel! I guess he was right when he announced that he was "all done!". This is the reason I don't bother to bathe him until the night before Easter!!!! (after he eats dinner) If I give him a bath today, he'll just do this to himself tomorrow ... and I don't have time to bathe him two days in a row!

What!!!????

2008-03-17T19:17:00.000-07:00

The Mess

Am I doomed to be tortured, or what???? After dinner tonight, we were sitting at the table while Michael was wandering in the room. He finally noticed the large gift sitting on the couch. He started tugging at the paper and found that it came off! So we watched for a while as he tore off piece by piece ... slowly .... and in very small pieces! He was so excited every time he got a piece off, it was hilarious. At some point, he took a break and came over to us ... then we smelled the poopy diaper. Game over. And I STILL don't know what the gift is ... it's in a box that doesn't tell me! I guess I'll have to put a bug in his ear tomorrow night and get him to tear some more paper!

Like Father, Like Son .... need I say more?

this is Jim (Tony's Dad)...

Surprises ...

2008-03-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

Lots of "exciting" things happening here ... it seems like it's been a while since I've posted pictures so I have several to post!

We've had some problems with the neighbors behind us watering ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT LONG!!! They have their "garden" in the back corner of their yard which is where Tony is in this picture (back along the fence). Tony has a plan for changes in the yard that will essentially push the water back into their yard rather than flooding our yard and having the water flow out through our front yard. And I mean FLOW out our front yard. It's like a river flowing out into the street! I think they got our message when I called them at 8am on Saturday morning to inform the homeowner that they are once again flooding our yard. It's her elderly father who is doing the watering, so she was surprised when I informed her that this was the 3rd time this week he has left the water on all night. I asked her not to let him water for a couple days last weekend because we were trying to do some work in our yard but couldn't because there is so much water. They haven't watered since Saturday. Okay, now that I've "vented", Michael couldn't stand being inside while his Daddy was playing outside so here he is walking toward his Daddy to "help" him.

Aunt Jenny came over the other night and brought her bag ... Michael promptly took off with carrying it around the house. It's his new "man purse"! Tony will kill me for saying that ... so nobody tell him! ha ha!

While we were printing something for Aunt Jenny, the printer started smelling like it was going to catch on fire. So Tony started taking it apart to fix it. He had a very interested helper. There were several times when Michael would "crouch" down and look at the printer just like his Daddy was doing ... my camera wouldn't take pictures quickly enough to really catch that.

I LOVE surprises! Only I don't like to wait. UPS showed up at our door today with a huge box. It said it was for Michael. I thought, "well his birthday is in a couple weeks so maybe that's what it's for". It's from the McGaughy's in Fresno (Brower family friends) so I thought I'd wait to open the box until Tony got home from work. My intention was to completely open the box ... whatever was inside would be opened too. Michael doesn't know that it's not his birthday yet. He probably won't know it's his birthday when it really is! So, Tony comes home and after dinner we decide to open the box. The above pictures show what was inside the box. Tony takes the shipping box and puts it in the garage and walks away. I said "aren't we going to open it?" He says "what is today's date?". Darn. It's not the 23rd yet and I can't open it. BUT IT'S KILLING ME! I NEED to know what's inside. Again, I LOVE surprises ... even when they aren't for me! So ... I'm going to be TORTURED and have to look at this wrapped gift until Easter morning when it's finally Michael's birthday and he gets to open it. Of course, he's very happy with the wrapping here .... he has no idea how much fun it is to unwrap gifts! So McGaughy's, if you read this ... thank you very much for sending Michael whatever it is you sent him and for wrapping it so nicely (I can't even peek to see what it is) and having the fun curly thingies on top (Michael loves that part). I will enjoy looking at this wrapped gift for a bit and will probably have dreams about what it might be ... I do know what it is NOT ... a real-life toddler sized quad outfitted with a really cool engine to race Dylan at the beach! I do know that I am looking forward to watching Michael open his gift on his birthday and that I will be a more patient woman in the end for waiting. Tony even told me I could peek if I needed to ... but then I felt really guilty and knew it would ruin the whole thing! So now I'm determined to be good and not peek.

The Bubba Dance

2008-03-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

Here's a video of Michael dancing ... careful, I had to hold the camera and dance with him so you might experience a little motion sickness! He's much more hilarious to watch in person doing this ... when he doesn't know anyone is watching, he gets more into the dancing.

2008-03-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

It's March! You know what that means? Grandma and Grandpa Brower come home this month! Yay! I decided to try to get some good video of Michael to post today so the Browers could see more recent video ... for some reason, he's decided not to be his normal silly self when he knows the camera is on him! I'm posting a few videos ... but it will be much more fun to see him in person!

We Went to the Zoo ....

2008-02-26T19:44:00.001-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!

Michael found a dump truck to drive while at the zoo. He was pretty excited to be able to sit in something like this all by himself.

Waving to his fans out the "window"

Ahh, the leaf he found on the ground ... he just wanted to taste it and see! After we got home, I found a piece of leaf stuck to the back of one of his teeth. Dirt and leaves, the breakfast of champions! (well, lunch!)

The peaceful Bubba ... well, he was actually running around and exploring on the lawn at the zoo, but for the moment he stopped just long enough to capture a picture. On another newsworthy note: HE HAS A MOLAR! We've been wondering why he's not been sleeping well, eating well and well, just been sort of a "not so nice of a person to be around". Now we know ... he's been working on getting one of his molars through his gums. We've been so focused on another tooth that is taking over a month to come through that we didn't even see the molar. Poor little guy!

2008-02-25T11:52:00.000-08:00

"What is that?" you ask ... well, it's one of the walls in the kitchen. I happened to walk by and something caught my eye. It's one of Michael's snacks. Of course, when I pointed it out I got Michael's attention so he came and ate it. Does it remind you of places we'd put our gum to save it for later????

This is Michael's play area ... where we throw all the toys at the end of the day. He figured out how to climb in there several months ago, but just today decided to get back in there. He was quite proud of himself too! Then he decided to try to get out ... head first doesn't work very well. (no children were injured in the filming of this story!) He got up from his little stunt and clapped. Now ALL of his toys are out of there in the middle of the floor, and he's rolled my computer chair into the middle of his toys.

2008-02-22T17:22:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!

No, we didn't get to the zoo this week. Darn. It was yucky, rainy weather so I didn't feel like getting all bundled up to go. We'll go next week though ... the penguins are back, we want to see them! Okay, it's really me that wants to see them. Michael couldn't care less probably! Yesterday I had an "ah ha" moment. Michael hasn't had a very good week ... he's been teething and not sleeping well, so he's been REALLY cranky! Our plan for yesterday was to pick up a friend at the airport and go to lunch with her. She was going to hang out with us until around 4:00 when I would take her to the train station so she could get on a train to Fresno. For some reason, I thought to feed Michael here at the house before we left. The last thing I wanted was a screaming boy in the restaurant because he was starving. So I gave him his lunch early ... and he was great! Apparently that's what most other moms do because when I mentioned what I did to other people, they said "yes, we do that too!" So from now on ... if I'm going out for a meal with him, he's eating here at the house FIRST! The funny thing is that he ate about 3 slices of that yummy carrot bread at Mimi's Cafe and several fries ... as if he hadn't eaten a meal before going to lunch! I guess that's what is meant by "he's a growing boy". Anyway, we had a nice time with my friend and she was looking forward to her train ride to Fresno (which I'm told was great and a really nice and inexpensive way to get down there!)

We don't have much planned for the weekend. Aunt Shelly and Uncle Tom and the boys are coming over tomorrow to visit so that will be fun. Maybe I'll have fun stories to tell after that.

2008-02-17T21:35:00.000-08:00

Mommy, may I please have that bottle I see sitting
on the dresser behind you??? Please, please, please!

These pictures were take after we spent an evening at church with "Bubba" screaming bloody murder most of the evening. We went there for a special dinner, and Bubba went into the nursery with all the other kids of parents attending the dinner. Apparently he was on overload with all the kids running around (they were older kids too) and I got up from the table to go use the restroom and heard my son screaming! The poor guy ... he was just tired and overstimulated and not in his normal routine. Fortunately, Rose was there. Rose coordinates the helpers in the nursery at church and LOVES babies. She loves Michael and knows that he is usually all smiles and very playful. But boy did she get an earful tonight! We got him calmed down for a little bit so I could go in and enjoy the yummy flan that was for dessert. Did you know that El Pollo Loco makes flan? It was one of the better flans I have tasted! Who would've thought? Maybe it's just our local El Pollo Loco ... but go try it! Oh, and as soon as we put Bubba in his carseat to come home, he was playful and happy. We played our "momma .... Bubba" game the whole way home. He says Momma, I say Bubba and we laugh together. Then he says Momma again and I say Bubba and then we laugh again. Do that for 10 minutes and you're sure to change your frazzled mood into a happy mood!

Back to my last posting .... Tony and I had a GREAT time going out to dinner alone. We didn't have reservations, so we showed up at the restaurant at 5:15. We were seated immediately and the place was empty. By 5:30, the place was packed and people were waiting for seats. It was nice to get in early on that one! We forgot what it was like BK (before kid) when we'd just go cruise Target and meander through the aisles checking the clearance stations. So that's what we did ... meandered. So a big THANK YOU to Robyn and kids for blessing us with a night out! We didn't even worry about a thing here at home!

We're hoping to make it to the zoo later this week, so maybe we'll have something fun to post! Last time we went, there was some monkey screaming/singing. We found the monkey's "home" and Michael sat there watching him and then started singing back to him. It was kinda cute. Now that he's walking everywhere (which he wasn't when we first went to the zoo) he might see more things ... like the duck poop on the lawn, the leaf in the middle of the walkway, the piece of gum stuck under the bench .... lots of fun stuff!

2008-02-14T13:39:00.000-08:00

The things that make Michael laugh!

2008-02-14T13:20:00.000-08:00

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Here are a few photos of Bubba to share with you on Valentine's Day. The greatest part of my day is having a friend come over to watch Bubba tonight so Tony and I can go out to dinner ALONE!!!! WOO HOOOOOOO!

2008-02-13T10:11:00.000-08:00

Michael's cousin TJ was playing with him the other day and decided to share his hat with him. He was only ok with this the first time. The next time TJ put the hat on him he cried. I don't think he could see, so he didn't like it. But TJ had fun!

"Speedy Bubba"

2008-02-11T18:47:00.000-08:00

The Lawnmower

2008-02-08T16:16:00.000-08:00

We're rotating toys! Michael got this lawnmower for Christmas, and since I'm rotating toys so he thinks he gets new toys all the time (do you think this trick will last until he's 18???), it's new to him today! I brought it out for him and showed him how he can walk with it. When he walks with it though, it makes noise. Loud noise. He was a little surprised by that so decided that he shouldn't push it ... but that he should carry it instead. Unfortunately I wasn't wearing my camera around my neck so I didn't get a picture of it! It was cute though ... this lawnmower is about as tall as he is when he picks it up by the handle! Now he's figured out that it will sing songs to him when he pushes it so he's okay with that ... he LOVES music.

2008-02-07T11:54:00.000-08:00

2008-02-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

I figured it out! Thanks Robyn for showing me how to add that badge of photos on the blog! (See the new square of pictures on the right hand side of the page)

Michael and I were at Target by 8:30 this morning! Quite early for us, usually we're just getting breakfast around that time and I'm definitely NOT ready to show myself to the world! But, today Michael woke up early and I had errands to run. I figured I should do them while he was in a good mood! I had forgotten how nice it is to shop that early ... no one is in the store! It's great! We went grocery shopping too and Michael had fun talking to the produce guys and giving them his big cheesy smile where he wrinkles his nose and shows them his teeth. Once we got home, he took a nap ... running errands wore him out I guess.

2008-02-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

Advice from Michael ... Just say "DaDa"

2008-02-05T15:55:00.000-08:00

We were having some fun with the camera today! Michael cracks up when he sees the camera come out.

Our day consisted of meeting a friend for lunch at the mall. Michael went to bed late last night, so it was good to have a slow day so he could get a good nap in this morning. We had fun at the mall... Michael likes to "people watch" there. It was nice to catch up with a friend of mine from work too. We were saying our goodbyes when some guy came up to us and practically joined our conversation. It was really weird. Then he says " I wish I had a baby". I'm thinking "you're not getting this one though!" He just stared at Michael, asked Cecilia why she doesn't have a baby and then walked over to his friends and walked away. Ahh, the people you run into on the K Street mall! Fortunately, my paranoia of him taking my son away because he "wishes he had a baby" were just that, me being paranoid!

Michael has now figured out how to open and close his door to his bedroom. By open, I mean when he doesn't shut his door all the way he can then open it back up. It's when he shuts it all the way that he stands on the other side of the door and calls me. I'll bet it will be fun when he can reach the door knob ... open, close, open, close, open, close ..... oh joy!

2008-02-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, Okay, I've given into this "blogging" thing and I'm giving it a try! It seems to be an easy way to share our Michael (AKA "Bubba") pictures and little stories I call my mom with almost every night. I will try to keep this updated every few days, hoping that I won't have to remember to email a bunch of pictures to everyone when I think it's been a while.

Tonight's Bubba story goes like this:

I'm standing in the kitchen, cleaning up. Michael is sitting in his Daddy's lap playing with him on the couch. He sees me grab one of his bottles and he points to it and says his typical "uh". "uh, uh, uh". I said to him, "I've already made your bottle to go night night, it's in your bedroom for when Daddy puts you to bed." He immediately gets up off of Tony's lap and starts walking down the hall to his room. Tony and I looked at each other as if to say "he couldn't have understood all of that!" Michael stopped half way down the hall and turned to look at Tony, and said "uh" again. (yes, that's pretty much his favorite word right now even though he can say "all done", "mom", "dad", and others) He proceeds to turn back around and head into his bedroom and walks around in there for a few seconds. Then he stops at the rocking chair and giggles and points up to his dresser ... where the bottle is! He stands there pointing and laughing/giggling and bouncing up and down so excited that he has found his bottle. So ... off to bed he went ... happy because he found his bottle.