Happy 2nd Birthday!!

Dear Beckett,
I can hardly believe that my sweet boy is two years old today! These past two years have flown bye faster than I could have imagined, and we fall more in love with you each day. You have brought so much joy into our lives, and we are forever changed because of you.

Every day with you is an adventure...filled with many laughs, lots of bumps and bruises, and an occasional temper tantrum or trip to time out. You are ALL boy and love any kind of ball you can get your hands on these days. Football was the first sport you learned much about, and you summarized it by saying they "run, run, run, aww man...he fall down." So that is how you've adapted every sport. No matter what kind of ball you have in your hand you take off running with it/kicking it/hitting it but always end up falling down at the end. It is cute and funny to us now, but we've got some work to do before you start team sports. We couldn't believe how quickly you learned the difference between the sports, and you definitely have an opinion about which one you'd like to watch on TV on a given day.

You also love to narrate your life. You talk constantly and speak in complete sentences. We are so grateful that speaking has come so easily for you because Daddy and I get such a kick out of hearing the thoughts that go through your sweet little head. Your memory amazes us. It is not uncommon for you to remember and talk about things that happened a couple of weeks ago.

You are independent and opinionated and have become a rather picky eater. You will still eat any kind of fruit we put in front of you, but you have pretty much given up on vegetables. We've tried bribing you with a reward for taking a bite of your veggies (i.e. a lollipop for a bite of broccoli), but most of the time this ends up in a crying fit because you refuse to eat the veggie and we therefore refuse to give you the lollipop. I feel bad, but I guess tough love has to start somewhere!

My favorite time of day with you is bedtime. Daddy gives you your bath and then Mommy gets to read to you, say your prayers, and sing/rock you to sleep. I know the days of you letting me rock you to sleep are numbered so I treasure everyone. I also love this time with you because you are so talkative and blurt out the most random thoughts as we rock and sing.
We are so blessed that God chose us to be your mommy and daddy and can't wait to see how you will grow and change in the next year. We love you so much sweet B!!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

We're Alive!

Just in case any of you thought we had all fallen off the face of the earth...

I won't lie. Going back to work full time has been a really hard transition for me, hence the lack of blogging. I was so used to my part time schedule and probalby didn't appreciate how good I had it until it was gone. The first few weeks were especially tough...I cried on most days because I just missed my baby (well...technically he's very much a big boy but I'm his mommy so he will always be my baby!). But this has become our new normal, at least for now, so we're trying to make the best of it.

Despite working too much and playing too little we have managed to take a few pictures and enjoy some much needed family time on the weekends.

Aunt Jenny came for a visit at the end of the summer, and Beckett was all about Aunt J. It may or may not have something to do with the fact that green is his favorite color, and Aunt J packed an entire wardrobe that consisted completely of green. Not that she needed the bribe...he LOVES her!!!

When we weren't soaking up rays at the pool, we spent some time in the backyard shooting hoops and trying to drink like the dog does out of the water table. We like to keep it real around here so that's why Beckett's pants are about to fall off...I mean he was playing basketball...what do you expect??

After we got all the manly basketball playing out of the way we spent some time walking around the house in Mommy's favorite red shoes. Beckett might kill me for posting these one day, but it's a risk I'm willing to take because they are so darn cute/funny!

Love this pic...you can't tell but he's checking out his reflection in the dishwasher!

Stay tuned for some more pics coming shortly...I'm determined to catch up one of these days.

Trip to N.C.

For my mom's birthday, Beckett and I decided to treat ourselves to a trip to Charlotte, NC with Char to visit Aunt Jenny and Uncle Chris. We were able to sneak away for about 5 days so it actually felt like a vacation. We had so much fun visiting, and to say that Beck loves his Aunt J and Uncle C would be a huge understatement. He adores both of them and made himself right at home in their new crib.

Aunt Jenny took off work our first day there so we took a trip to the Children's Museum downtown and met Chris for lunch at a fantastic pizza place. A day in the life of Beckett can't get much better than this.

Then on Saturday they took us to the best pumpkin patch EVER! We could not have asked for more perfect fall weather, and of course we stopped at Starbucks on the way to pick up a pumpkin spice latte to set the mood. B loved playing in the pumpkins, climbing on the pumpkins, and throwing the pumpkins. He was not such a fan of posing with the pumpkins or smiling at the camera...good thing he's cute either way!

He loved playing on the huge tractors they had out there, and it was a fight to get him off of them to give the other kids a turn.

They had lots of animals for us to see, and this was probably Beckett's favorite part of the whole trip. Since I don't do the whole goats/sheep/whatever licking your hand thing Uncle Chris was a good sport and showed B how to feed them.

B even got brave and decided to feed them on his own!

After he fed the animals he discovered the cows...probably his favorite animal right now (besides our dog of course!). He walked right up to the cow pen and screamed "Moo!" trying to get the cows to talk back to him. It actually worked. He was amused until one of them took a huge poop. Beckett then announced that the cow went poo-poo and needed a diaper change. As you can imagine, the smell was quite overwhelming so that ended our visit with the cows.

We ended the trip with a hayride...where again B screamed at passing cows trying to get them to moo back.

We spent the rest of our trip hanging out at the park and eating lots of yummy food. Thanks so much to Aunt Jenny and Uncle Chris for being such wonderful hosts. We can't wait for our next visit!!

Special Treat

Since I am returning to work full-time on Monday (let me wipe my tears as I type this...hopefully it's just temporary) we decided to do something fun this morning. So we took Beckett to Shipley's for his first donut.

When I asked him what kind he wanted he said "green," but since it isn't St. Patrick's day we had to settle for a chocolate donut with sprinkles. Lucky for us some of the sprinkles were green because as soon as we set it in front of him he began to point out all the green sprinkles.

To say he loved it would be an understatement!

**Side note: As we were eating a man walked into the store with his kids. He was wearing a grey t-shirt with a 3-inch Aggie logo in the middle of it. In between bites Beckett looked at the man and said "Aggie shirt." He surprised all of us, and the man commented that we were "training him young." Well done, Beckett! You made us proud!!

Best Friends

Last weekend we got to keep Addison while her mom and dad went house hunting in San Diego. Honestly, I was a little nervous at first about how I would do with two kids. But she was such an angel, and Beckett absolutely loved having her here. And truthfully it was almost easier to have two kids because they played so well together and entertained each other.

Addison slept in our guest bedroom, and every morning/nap when Beckett would wake up he would start jumping in his crib and asking to go see "Assie." (I know...a bit profane but we're working on the proper pronunciation.)

It has been an adjustment for him this week to understand that Addison is back at her house. Beck has now gone from "see Assie" to "Assie bye-bye." I think he is a little heart broken...maybe someday, Buddy!

Disclosure: I had no idea how difficult it is to get 2 two-year olds to look at the camera at the same time so these pics are not great...just proof to A's mommy and daddy that she had fun!

Sharing is no fun!

Back in July we had Sam's family over to celebrate his dad's birthday. At John's request we had Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars instead of a traditional birthday cake.

Apparently one bar wasn't enough for Beckett, and he wanted to hold mine too. Thinking it would make for a cute picture I let him.


Cute picture...but taking it back was a bad idea.

Fortunately there is nothing like splashing Nana...

or playing t-ball with Grandpa to drown your ice cream blues.