Reese's Epic Tantrum

Reese threw some kind of epic temper tantrum on Tuesday night through bath and bed time. I think it might have something to do with the new tooth he seems to be cutting on the bottom right side, but still it was a pretty tragic event. In the end, after we had some how bathed him and got him in PJs, he didn't want to read stories with Daddy and Clayton, covered my mouth with his hand if I tried to sing, and he was throwing his pacifier and blanket if we tried to give it to him, so he was rolling on the floor and eventually ended up on his tummy and backed up onto Clayton's bed, feet first so that he was upside down. This helped him stop crying for a little bit but would start up again if approached. (I wondered if being upside down helped the tooth not to ache so much?)

I even pulled out the video camera, but I didn't get any of the "good" parts. I had hoped to catch him backing up onto the bed, but he was done with that by the time I pulled it out. But here is a little snippet anyway:

I ended up taking him back out to the living room so Clayton could have some peace and was able to calm Reese down by showing him our family pictures on the wall and talking to him about them. I also had a cool, wet washcloth for him to bite on, which turned into a funny game when I was trying to show him how I wanted him to bite it. Shortly after that the ibuprofen we'd given him must have finally kicked in, because he accepted his blankey and pacifier and snuggled up, allowed me to sing our "goodnight song" (Baby Mine from Dumbo) and laid in his crib and then went to sleep with out another fuss.

At times like these, I'm sure grateful for a sense of humor, because when I've tried everything else and he still won't calm down, the only thing left to do is try to laugh to myself about it! Well, and take some pictures ;)

Grandma's Pool

Here are some pictures from yesterday afternoon. After nap time Clayton headed for the back door declaring that he was going to ride his tricycle to Grandma's house! haha. So to Grandma's house we went.

Here are the goof balls pretending (or not) to take a drink out of the pool like the dog does!

Hungry Toddlers

This was the boys last night while I was trying to get supper on the table. I guess I was too slow and they gave up waiting and opted for their own feet . . .

Pictures at Penny's and a Trip to the Zoo

On Friday morning the boys had their pictures taken at Penny's again for Reese's 18 month photos. I decided to dress them in Ohio Bobcat and Nebraska Husker shirts to gear up for football season which is right around the corner. (Their Uncle Ty plays for the Bobcats). Here is a link to view their photos online:  http://tinyurl.com/lpbv6zo

After pictures were over we, Grandma Diane and I, decided to try out the Lincoln Children's Zoo for a little while before it was time for lunch. We didn't see everything, but just enough and the boys had a blast.

We fed the goats and the llamas. Clayton enjoyed it but Reese did not. He had fallen asleep in the car on the way there and he was kind of cranky.

Reese perked up for some pictures though!

They enjoyed climbing onto all sorts of things:

A giant Caterpillar in front of the Butterfly House

The Egg Shells across from the flamingos

And a statue of a bear

Then we even got to ride the train around the zoo!

It sure was a fun day!

Reese Is 18 Months!

Reese has been 18 months old for a few days now. I guess it's just not as big of news when you're baby number two. . . Sorry Reese! He had his 18 month check up and even though he has only put on about 8 oz. since his last check up in May (he weighed in on Wednesday at about 22 lbs) he has grown a whopping TWO inches and is now about 32.5 inches long!

At 18 months old he loves to climb, and can run but not quite jump. He still loves to eat all kinds of foods and his favorites right now are corn on the cob and mango (I buy diced mango in individual cups, he really loves it and yells it out "MANGOOH" when I get it out of the cupboard). Although it's hard for anyone one but Mom to understand, he has several words he can say or repeat, like "eee too" for "me too" and he says this anytime he wants something that Clayton has or is doing. Surprisingly, he doesn't have a word for "Clayton" or "brother" but you can already tell that he thinks the world of him! He loves to give everyone a "bam" (pounding fists together) and "bonk" (bonking foreheads together) as a goodbye ritual and it's very important to him.


Swinging on a beautiful evening the night of August 7th

Fun at the County Fair!

Of course we took the boys to the York County Fair this past weekend. They really enjoyed the Merry-Go-Round and we even let them spend 2 min. in the bounce house (for 3 tickets each, what a rip-off!)

They also really enjoyed the petting zoo, especially Reese. I thought he was going to kill a baby chick trying to pick them up (by the head), but he was just soooo excited to be there and touch them and pet them.

We also took the boys to see the Figure 8 Races in the Grandstand on Saturday night. Clayton LOVED to watch the race cars, and so did Reese but he could just not sit still for more than 5 seconds at a time. Hopefully next year that will be a little easier for him.

The Pool!

We are trying to use up all our pool passes this summer, and after this week there is just one week left before it closes for the season, so we went yesterday (the boys, Grandma Ann Branz and I) and today with Daddy. It was fun everyone is tired for sure!

And Yes, when it's time to go I have to lure them out of the pool with cookies! 

We have two passes left!

Cold at the Lake!

So last weekend we were at the lake again but it was COLD for July, anyway.

So we had a BIG Fire!

Clayton warming up his hands

Reese trying to warm up too, first you rub them together

Then Hold them out to the fire!

We even (sort of) convinced them to take a picture with their Uncle Ty who is back from Ohio for 2 weeks

We still had fun even though it was a little chilly!

Reese Playing with a Big Ball

Reese ON the picnic table

Clayton playing the train tracks we found in the shed. He even collected some rocks to haul in the car!