New Pets

Our kids, like all kids I am sure, have an obsession with bugs.  So Jon and I got them a butterfly hatching kit thing for Christmas.  We ordered the caterpillars on line and they looked like this when they arrived.

 Don't worry, if you can't really see anything, there is barely anything to see.  They were so tiny.  Just little specks.  We didn't think all five were even moving the first couple days.  But they quickly doubled, tripled, quadrupled their size.  They seriously got huge.  And their container got disgusting.

 The kids were starting to lose interest because it was taking so long for them to become butterflies.  Haha.  But they finally decided it was time to turn upside down and start the transformation.  You can see one was a little late.  It took him about two extra days before he started his cocoon process.  But you can also get an idea of how big they were before they turned to butterflies.  I'm fairly sure they are not this big in nature.

After they were in their cocoon like this for a week, we put them into their butterfly net home.  Jon did it because I was too squeamish.  The container seriously grossed me out.  Glad the hubs will take one for the team :)

 There are the cocoons dangling all gross like.  Don't tell my kids I think it's gross.  I tell them it's way cool.

 Two fell off so they had to rest on the bottom.

It felt like it took forever (I think ten days or more) but we finally have butterflies!  So far, only four have....hatched?....is that the proper term?  The kids are stoked.  We have soaked paper towels in sugar water for them to eat but plan to get some flowers to make it prettier soon.

Benson Matthew Brady

Benson is two years 4 months.  I actually had to count that on my fingers just now.  Someone asked me a couple weeks ago when he turned two.  When I told them September they said, so he's a young two.  It caught me by surprise.  I seriously forget, on a daily basis, that this child is two.  And a "young two."  He's not two and a half, or almost three.  He is closer to two than three still.  It's probably unfair to him but I find myself expecting much the same of him that I expect of Vanessa.  
Benson has a great memory.  He has a gift for remembering people's names.  He is slightly shy, but when he warms up to someone, he knows them.  He knows their name, he'll remember things they say and do and what they like to play with.  He will tell me things someone did weeks later while he was playing with them. 
Benson is an extremely picky eater.  But he has a sweet tooth like his mommy.  He loves candy.  I can bribe him to do almost anything if I give him candy.  I say almost because I bribed him with a candy cane if he would drive his powerchair and he wouldn't touch it.  So we'll stick with the almost. 
Benson likes to do things Vanessa does.  His favorite toy from Christmas is actually the ponies she got.  He likes to be where she is and play with her.  He is also the est of all three at playing by himself.  He can entertain himself for quite awhile.  He is also learning to have amazing patience, as he often has to wait for me to finish doing something to get him a toy, move him to a new position, get a new activity, a drink, etc.  I was worried this aspect of his life would cause many tantrums, but I am amazed at how good he is about just waiting, as long as I tell him I heard and I will do it asap.
Benson is having a rough time sleeping right now and we haven't quite figured it out.  Some nights are better than others.  But he is waking 4-20 times per night.  Yes, we are quite exhausted at this house.  I think he will probably always wake at least 4 times per night to be turned.  But I have not quite figured out why he sometimes has nights when he is waking up 20 times.  Ya, that equals about every 30 minutes.  No one really sleeps when it's that bad.  Not even him.  It's something we are working on and hope to not have nights like that anymore by the time he really is three.
Benson loves to play with cars, trains, and ponies.  He got an iPad for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Purdy.  (Seriously, this kid is spoiled!)  We call it a family a iPad.  He didn't want to play tons at first but now he is all about it and getting really good.  His favorite activity right now is probably the puzzles.  He is quite good at them.  It works as a great distraction while he does time in his stander.
He still won't go to nursery without mom or dad there as well.  We're working on it.  But we still think this pretty handsome dude is pretty great.

Vanessa Brady

It's tough to get a cute picture of this girl right now.  Her favorite thing is to make silly faces at the camera and then ask to see them.  I love this girl to death.  She is growing and learning so fast, I can hardly believe it.  We are working on learning her letters.  She isn't such a fan of me teaching her.  She likes to insist that she already knows them and doesn't need to learn them.  But she is slowly realizing that she does have to learn them and it's okay for mom to teach her.  The other day she told the PT (here for Benson) that she wasn't born knowing her letters.  Haha, it was something he had talked about the day before.  How we have to learn our letters because we aren't born knowing everything. 
This little lady loves to be the second mommy.  I think these boys have a long life of this.  Vanessa has had her third class of gymnastics.  She had a short lived debut with ballet and decided it wasn't for her.  Who needs choreography?!  She is more of a free spirit daner, and wasn't enjoying being told how to dance.  The kicker was when she realized she would have to perform.  That definitely put ballet out of the game, despite her bff being in the class.  So far, she loves gymnastics.  The class is pretty simple, they rotate on beam, swings, sometimes bars, and different activities on the floor like forward rolls, backward rolls, and headstands.  I can't believe how fast she is improving already!  I think she could definitely be an amazing gymnast if that is something she chooses to pursue.
Vanessa is a techie junkie.  She loves the ipod, ipad, TV, and playing computer games.  She asks to do them all day.  However, on the occassional day when she gets too much of them, she gets pent up aggression and turns crazy.  So we try to keep them limited and get her some exercise.  Some warm weather will make that so much easier.  Darn this cold! 
Vanessa is very loving.  She loves to cuddle.  She gives hugs and kisses all the time.  She loves to learn about Jesus and watch the Bible Videos about Jesus' life.  She is Benson's helper all. the. time.  She loves to push him in his wheelchair.  The other day we got a loaner powerchair and Benson didn't want anything to do with controlling it.  But Vanessa was happy walking alongside and doing it for him.  They are finally playing together pretty well most of the time.  I love to see their relationship growing so they can be best friends.  I hope the three of them always look out for each other and love being together over anyone else.

Brigham Robert Brady

I can't believe he is already ten months old.  This kid is spunky, crazy, funny, happy, opinionated, teething, crawling, standing (but not on his own).

I feel like I haven't dedicated as many posts to Brigham's growth and development in his first year.  So many changes go on in such a short time.  I have hardly done them justice in documenting.  He started crawling at nine months.  He did a scoot for about a week and then was on hands and knees.  He just started teething this past month and that has been rough.  He now has the two bottom teeth in but is getting two more on top.  Though not the two front ones.  Haha, hopefully they are soon behind.  Brigham is a mama's boy.  He wants to be held, a lot.  He wants me to put him to sleep and comfort him when he wakes up.  He kind of goes crazy when things aren't like he expects them to be.  Don't get me wrong though, he loves his daddy.  He gets super excited when Jon gets home.  He kicks his legs, scrunches his nose and growls; that's when you know he's pumped.  He wants to play with Vanessa and Benson like his one of the crew.  The call him "the destroyer."  Vanessa will ask me all the time, will you just hold the destroyer? 
Every once in a while, this kid will bust up laughing, for what seems like no reason.  His laugh is contagious and soon we are all laughing about nothing other than laughing.  He loves to play peek a boo.  Anytime there is a blanket in reach, he throws it on his head and waits for us to look for him. 
He is still pretty rough with Benson, but Benson is a good sport.  We assure him Brigham is still learning to be soft and doesn't mean to hurt him.  They do love each other and I love watching them when they laugh and play together.

Jumpin Joeys

I went with a couple friends to Jumpin Joeys, a local jump place.  It ended up working out perfectly since Brig fell asleep on the way, I was able to climb up some slides with Benson while he slept.  When he woke up, Benson was happy chillin in his chair and watching everyone.  As well as eating snacks off the super clean benches.  I'm sure it will somehow build his immunities and make him stronger, right?!

Momarazzi

 

I realized the other day that I have been seriously slacking on family snapshots. So I stalked the kids a bit.  I also have a New Years Resolution to take more and better pics of them.  I have a bunch of other New Years Resolutions, but that may or may not be a featured post.  I'm still debating :)

Closets!

Just about the only thing I am not a fan of about this house is the storage.  So my plan is to slowly fix that. The mud room is now mostly completed, I finally sewed the cushion.  And we added shelves into the playroom, boys room, and Vanessa's room.  We haven't painted the toyroom closet or the boys room closet.  But the boys room is currently being painted so it'll get a coat during that process.  We painted Vanessa's closet pink since she really wants a pink and purple room.  The closet is about as much as I am willing to paint pink.  Granted, the pink in there is VERY pink.  We could do a more subtle pink on the walls.  Maybe one day.  For now she is going to have to be happy with a pink closet and a purple bed.  Here are some pics.

*i feel like I should give credit where it's due.  Jon does most the work.  I try, but most the timeigetintrupted by crying, whining, and otherwise demanding children.  I am the mastermind behind many schemes, but Jon deserves credit for the majority of the manual labor :)