Brady Tries Soccer

We are always looking for new activities for Brady to provide him lots of experiences and give him a taste of all things so that one day, he can choose a few that he really enjoys.  There are many things that I wanted to try growing up, but never got to, so it is really important that I provide my kids the opportunity to try everything.  Until now, swimming and gymnastics were the only thing he could do at his age.  Once he turned three, more activities were available to him.  I had been searching around online for things that he could try.  Immediately soccer was an option.  I remember playing soccer from a young age (even though I hated it as I am in no way a runner).  Brady, on the other hand, loves to run, so this seemed like the next logical activity to try.

The one I chose out of a few in the area, had an age range of 3 to 5 years.  So, he's pretty much one of the youngest kids since it started at the end of April.  The first week it got cancelled because we had two straight weeks of rain and the fields were flooded.  The next week wasn't much better on the actual day, but the week had been dry so they didn't cancel.  It was cold and rainy so Andy took him alone.

Because the kids are young, it's more about teaching skills instead of playing a game with others.  Each child has their own ball and they are learning to dribble, cover the ball, etc.  It would seem like this activity, like all the others, takes a while for Brady to not be a wild man and listen to the instructors.  Andy caught a few pics of him away from his ball doing things he wasn't supposed to.  The parents aren't supposed to interfere, so I heard an account of Brady playing in a mud puddle and it taking three instructors to get him away from it and back on track.

Time for a water break.

Totally soaked from both the rain and the mud.

The second week, it was in the mid-60s, so Izzie and I decided to go along and watch.  There were way more kids there that week because I guess a lot of the parents kept their kids home on the rainy day.  I had brought my camera, but of course the batteries were dead.  Brady wasn't such a great listener on this day either.  He was constantly picking grass and putting it on his ball, jumping on instructors, and running away.  I'm not going to lie, it was a bit embarrassing.  Although we were outside for only 45 minutes, all of us (except Brady) came home with a bit of sunburn.

We seem to have bipolar weather here in Michigan (which we hear is pretty much the norm).  Only a week after we came home sunburned, it was 39 degrees outside.  Brady is layered from head to toe and according to Andy was still cold (Izzie and I stayed home).

Yep, that's my kid throwing his ball instead of kicking it like the other kids.

Another week, and yet another climate change.  This past Sunday it was in the mid-80s, so this time we all made sure to wear sunscreen.

Brady would go back and forth following each of the instructors.

Izzie is always just along for the ride.  We drag her just about everywhere with us.

Andy Hits the Big 30!

The second week in May is what we call Trapuzzano celebration week.  Our anniversary is May 9, Andy's birthday is May 12, and Mother's Day falls anywhere between May 8 and May 14.  It can last anywhere from 4-6 days depending on when Mother's Day falls.  There are years when we double up.  Our first anniversary fell on my first Mother's Day and this year Andy's birthday fell on Mother's Day.  This year was made more special by the fact that it was not only Izzie's first Mother's Day, but Andy's 30th birthday.  He also happened to be born on Mother's Day, so it's kinda cool that one of his milestone birthdays fell on it again.

We started off this year with our anniversary and it's tradition for us to watch our wedding video.  Both guys were munching on popcorn and Brady was so cute pointing out all the people he knew.

Sunday the 11th, we had two birthday parties to attend.  The first was for Brady's friend, Ainsley, who turned 5.  it was a cowgirl themed party and all the kids got cowboy hats, handkerchiefs, and sherrif's badges with their names on them.

Another cool thing they did was take the kids' pictures and put them on wanted signs that they got to take home.  This is definitely going in the scrapbook.

A friend of the Reeses was taking pictures because they were busy with the party and she snapped this candid of Izzie.

The second party was in the afternoon for the twins, Emma and Ella, who live a few doors down from our house.  They were turning 3 that day.  They had a Jake & the Neverland Pirates themed party.  Brady is seen above searching for gold doubloons.  

They had amazing pirate-themed bouncy house that Brady LOVED.

Mother's Day (and Andy's birthday) morning, we woke up and Andy decided he didn't want to do our usual pancake breakfast at home.  He suggested going out to eat.  We tried out one of the many Coney Island's (don't let the name fool you, they're more known for their breakfasts than their hotdogs).  It was really good and a great value (all three of us got meals and the check was only $20).

This was my fourth Mother's Day since I became a mom.  I was only 23 when I became a mom, but I have loved every single minute of it.  I think of my kids before myself and would rather spend money on them before myself.  I've had several people ask me if we're done now that I have a boy and a girl.  My answer remains the same now as when I was pregnant with Izzie - no we're not done.  We have an ideal number of children in our minds (nothing crazy, you'd be able to count them on one hand) and will continue towards that goal as long as we can afford it.  We love children and they bring us so much joy every single day.

We've gotten to the point in our lives that there isn't much we really want, but thing that we really need.  Last year, we were in Europe and decided to forgo gifts because we traveled so much.  This year, we have a new house and need so many things that we didn't before when we were just renting smaller places.  We decided to combine our gifts this year.  For our anniversary and Mother's Day, I got the patio set pictured above.  We've eaten out there several times already since purchasing on actual Mother's Day.

Andy's birthday and anniversary gift was his new grill.  Until now, he'd only had his small one that we used when tailgating.  We've already had chicken, turkey burgers, and steak on it since acquiring it two weeks ago.  This is where we have it now on our deck, but it was in a different spot when Andy used it the first time.  We now know why you don't put a grill against the house.  He melted a portion of the siding.  I guess you live and you learn, right?

Skater Dude Brady

For Brady's 2nd birthday, his Nana got him a set of Fisher Price training roller skates like we had when we were kids.  Nana's all for safety, so she also got him a set of Cars knee and elbow pads, in addition to a helmet.  We never got around to pulling them out last summer, but we've been spending the evenings outdoors in this beautiful weather, that it might be a fun activity one night.  Andy dug them out of the basement and as soon as Brady saw them he got very excited.

All the pads went on first.  He was fine until the knee pads were put on.  He kept asking us to take them off because they were hurting his knees.  Then he started to get impatient with Andy breaking the skates out of the box.

The skates have three stages you can set them one.  The first one is locked wheels so they can "skate walk," the second one allows the wheels to roll only forward, and the third allows the wheels to go forward and backwards like regular skates.  Andy decided the "skate walk" was a waste of time and went right for stage 2.  Andy started rolling Brady around while holding his hand, but it wasn't long before Brady was yelling at him to let go.

There were plenty of wipeouts.  His poor little bum was so bruised later that night.

But he always got right back up.  He's a tough kid. 

 We are all about allowing our kids to try everything out there so they get a taste and then can decide which ones they like the best and want to focus their time on.  We are already planning on getting a different type of skates for his next birthday ;)

Two Months Old - Izzie B

Today Izzie B is two months old! She has changed so much in the last month, with most of it being for the better.  She's no longer crying just to cry and sleeps on a more consistent basis (needing a nap after 90 minutes of awake time).  She has also spaced out her feeds to closer to 2.5 hours - 4 hours apart during the day.  She still likes to be held during her awake time, but is very alert and pays attention to everyone and everything.  It's almost like a switch was flipped the day after she turned one month old and she's been a completely different baby.  Most nights she'll sleep a 6-7 hour stretch at the beginning of the night, feed, then fall asleep for another 3 hours.  We even had one night where she slept 8 hours!  She's doing better about sleeping in her own bed, but there are still times I fall asleep nursing and she ends up spending the rest of the night in my arms.  The only thing that has not changed for the better would be bottle feeding.  She had had several bottles during her first month, but I preferred to feed her myself if I was around.  Now that I'm going to the gym on a regular basis, she sometimes needs fed while I'm gone.  We have now found that she will refuse a bottle. We even went so far as the get new bottles with latex nipples and pumped breastmilk, but it's still a no go.

I love dressing her each day and rotating through her wardrobe.  I love the color combo above (pink, black, and white), but her summer clothes are so vibrant and the perfect colors for her red hair, so I can't wait to break those out soon!

Brady is still an amazing big brother!  He will rock her if I'm doing something and have to put her down.  If she starts to cry, he immediately tells me about it.  When she's nursing, he'll come over and stroke her hair, letting her know that she's a good girl.  He told Andy the other night that he (Andy) was a bad boy because he woke up Izzie.

Izzie is now a pro at smiling.  I usually get the best ones out of her ;) 

Both my kids are quite the sleep movers, but Izzie (on the left) more so than Brady (on the right).  Last night, we had quite a scare when we heard muffled noises in her crib and when we looked, she had rolled over right onto her face!  She requires swaddled at night, so she couldn't use her arms to prop herself up.  We'll see if I get any sleep tonight after that.

She's such a crazy (literally) redhead!  People stop me everywhere we go to look at her and always exclaim about her red hair and ask where it came from.  Fortunately, we know the answer :)

This is the view Andy sees most mornings when he leaves for work.  He's quite the sneaky cameraman. 

She's starting to work on grabbing things more, so I thought it would be time to start slowly introducing her bear blankie.  Brady was given his as a gift at four months old, so he was more than ready to start loving on his puppy blankie at that point.  I'm sure soon, Izzie B and bear blankie will be inseparable. 

Big Red and Little Red hanging out while Brady plays around them.

Tummy time has come a long way as well during the last month.  This is her early in the month.  She would lay face down and scream, while moving her legs like she wanted to crawl.

She now stays calm much longer and holds her head up. 

Brady on the left around 10 weeks and Izzie on the right at around 8.5 weeks.

I love using Brady's chair as a prop to keep Izzie upright for pictures (since she hates the boppy).  I wish there was more light in this one as she's got a cute little smirk on her face. 

Brady does get a little jealous when he sees Izzie in his chair, so we tried putting them in it together.

 It took a couple of tries to get a good one.

During the first month, she HATED the swing and the bouncer.  We brought the swing out a few weeks ago to try again and she'll tolerate it for about 20 min at a time a few times per day if I need to get something done.  She will not fall asleep in it.  As for the bouncer, she still dislikes it, but will sit in it in the bathroom while I shower or blow dry my hair as she likes both of those noises and will stay content.

The last few days, the weather has warmed up considerably.  I only have a few summery outfits for 0-3 months and was so grateful when a neighbor dropped off some of her daughters' clothes from when they were babies.  This dress was one of them and she finally got to wear it yesterday. 

Brady and I went to the gym last night (Izzie can't go to the daycare there until she's three months old).  When we came home, we found both her and Andy hanging out on the front steps.  I guess it calmed her down after another failed attempt at bottle feeding.

Last night, she also watched her first Pens playoff game (which they won 5-0).  Brady loved watching hockey as a baby. 

This morning, when I walked out of the bathroom, she was almost sitting straight up!  She's been trying for a while and it looks like it won't be too much longer.  That girl has abs of steel!

Before we went to her doctors appointment this morning I of course had to take pictures of her with her monthly owl sticker. 

Every time Andy picks her up, he remarks about how big she's getting.  We have decided to keep playing the weight guessing game (Price is Right rules) until she turns two to see who gets the most correct guesses.  Neither of us won last month, so we were both looking for our first win.  Andy was certain that she was over 12lbs, and guessed 12lbs 3oz.  I didn't think she was quite that big and if she was, I wanted to guess lower so that I won.  I guessed 11lbs 10oz (Brady was 11lbs 12oz at two months).

Here are her two month stats:

Weight - 11lbs 9.5oz (70th percentile)
Height - 22.5 inches (45th percentile)


Again, both of us lost!  Last time I lost by one ounce and this time by half an ounce!  She's increased in weight percentage, but decreased in height percentage.  She gained 2lbs in a month which is average for a breastfed baby, so she's doing well.  She's still in 0-3 months clothes and graduated to size 1 diapers this month.  She's starting to get towards the upper height limit on the one-piece sleepers and I can tell.  She may only last a few more weeks in those.  The only other things that she's starting to grow out of are the Gerber onesies we use under sleepers.  They typically run small and Brady was always a size ahead in that brand and in his age size in all other brands.  Looks like Izzie will be the same.

She got three shots today and boy was she mad!  I've never heard a child scream like that.  I can only liken it to a stuck pig.  Most babies calm down when their mom picks them up, but she kept going for a while.  She's not going to be happy when she gets her ears pierced later this month, that's for sure.

A quick comparison between Izzie B at one month and two months.  She's definitely filled out in her face and is holding her head up straighter.