Alexa Being.....Alexa

Alexa, Braden and I met my mom for lunch today to get out of the house. While we were there Alexa had to go to the bathroom and had Gramma take her. A couple minutes later I hear a little voice yelling in the distance "I WENT POTTY, I WENT POTTY!" haha This is something many people who have been around us have been hearing for several months now. But guess what, I.don't.care! She's potty trained! WOOHOO! It is funny though, I love the reactions from bystanders....thankfully most of them think it's funny too.

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The other weekend we were out running some errands. We pull into the parking lot of Target and Alexa sees the big red sign and says this: "We're here, we're home, this is our home, I love it!" Incredibly adorable, unbelievably funny and so super cute. Unfortunately Matt was in the car with us and heard the whole thing. Oppsss :o)

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Thank you to Disney movies Alexa has picked up on a couple not so wonderful little sayings. A new one and a definite favorite of hers is "right now" which is NOT cool with mom and dad. (Side note: we do not say this to her because we just feel that it is not appropriate and don't want her repeating things we say that she shouldn't be saying....but thank you Disney movies for going right ahead and sneaking it in somewhere.) Sometimes when she is having an "episode" (I know, it's hard to believe but these days they happen more than I would like to admit.) she will say something "leave me alone" or "come back here" and end them with "right now!" We have had several talks about how that is not a nice thing to say and she is not allowed to say it. SO, now the sneaky little girl will say it in other ways while not yelling, just to say it of course. The other night she was in the tub I was sitting in the hallway with Braden and as she was playing and I could hear her talking really softly to herself. I leaned in a little and heard this: "one, right now, two, right now, three, right now....."

Oh man! I actually enjoy seeing other parents struggling with their own children out in public. Don't get me wrong I really do feel for them but it's SO nice to know we're not the only ones.

We Need Sleep!

We have a problem in this house, it's called sleeping. S-L-E-E-P, our children just don't quite get it. Not so much Braden but Alexa for sure. How much sleep should a 2 year old get anyway? Most nights she gets maybe 8 hours and I just thought kids her age needed more than that. We have always tried getting her to bed by about 8-8:30 but many nights it could be more like 9 and the girl usually gets up anywhere around 5AM. It's crazy really. We tried the whole keep her up later thing, didn't work. We tried the get her to bed earlier thing, didn't work. Are we domed? Has anyone else had this problem? Is there anything we can actually do about it? I'm not even kidding, the other morning she was up at 4:30. Same thing every morning, all the sudden we here the "click" of her light going on then some banging as she pulls books off the shelf. We try to go up and tell her that it's still night and put her back into bed....she will actually stay in bed but will just sit there and talk, play, read, but never actually goes back to sleep. It wouldn't be so bad except that when Braden was sick he was getting up during the night again and now is back to doing that every night. Maybe we just have to suck it up and deal with it until they start getting older and sleeping later, longer, better. But seriously, I'm sure we're the only people in the world up eating breakfast at 5:30 in the morning on a Saturday. Matt and I joke about how in not so many years we'll have to actually drag them out of bed for school....that's when we'll get our revenge! :o)

Speaking of sleeping though, I LOVE going to get Braden up from naps and in the morning. He never has been a crier, we'll just hear him in there talking, playing, yelling for dada. But when we get in there we are greeted with his cute little smiling face. Usually pulling down the bumper pad so he can see us when we get there. Super adorable!

Such a happy boy!

Flashback Friday

After taking this picture of Alexa "feeding" her baby the other day....

....it reminded me if this picture of her "pumping" about 6 months ago.

Do you think she's seen too much?

Random Stuff

Braden is FINALLY over all his illnesses. He went through 5 days of wheezing which was a little concerning but after a couple trips to the doctor to make sure everything was okay, it finally ended. A couple days later his cough ended too. YAY! He is now back to his VERY happy self. You could tell in the thick of it all he was not feeling well because even when he is sick, tired, or anything he still almost always has a smile on his face and for a day or two he just didn't. It broke my heart so I am so very happy he is back to happy guy Braden!

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So Alexa has been in a new room at school for a couple months now and she just loves it. She like being with the older kids and has made lots of new friends in there. Today when I went to pick her up she was sitting in a little reading area that is set up with bean bag chairs and books. She was there with two other girls and one of them was laying right next to her on one of the bean bags. When I went in Alexa saw me and did her usually "Hi Mommy!" thing and came over hand in hand with this other girl. Then she asks me if she can come over to our house. How cute is THAT!?! Her first "I want to have a friend over" experience. I thought it was so cute! I told her that she had to go home with her own mommy but maybe another day she could come over to play. When we got to the car I was trying to ask her what the other girls name was but Alexa just couldn't remember I guess. :)

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There is a wonderful family blog I follow who have an amazing story. Long story short, their forth and youngest child was diagnosed with many heart problems before being born. They were told he would surely die but was then born a completely healed and healthy boy. He is now almost 5 months old and was taken into the doctor this past Sunday with some extreme cold symptoms. He was given a medication that put his heart into SVT, the same thing he had before being born, the same thing he was healed of. Since Sunday it has been an extremely emotional roller coaster for this family. This little baby boy, Stellan, has been through so much this week and really needs all the prayers he can get. Please pray for Stellan and his family. To read his story or see updates you can go to their blog: http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

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Did I mention I am not working anymore? What, I didn't? Well.....guess what....I'm not working anymore. :) I know, I have been meaning to write up a whole happy post about it but with Alexa and I having food poisoning or something and then Braden being sick, I just never got around to it I guess. But anyway, I just want to give a shout out to President Obama. Thanks dude for all the "change" - it's been great, the economy is great, and not having a job is great. (Oh wait, just kidding that part really IS great....don't tell Matt I said so.) So it looks like I am going to stay home for awhile and just do the mom thing again. The pay isn't that great but the benefits are wonderful. I have also thrown around the idea of going back to school for a medical assisting program, but with Matt still in school it probably won't be something I will be able to do for another year. Until then it looks like it's me and the kiddos get to hang out again, which will be absolutely wonderful once it finally gets nice outside and we can get out and DO something already.

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Can anyone tell me when spring is really coming? Seriously, only in the midwest can it go from 70s one day to snowing the next. *Please mother nature, we're begging you, enough already!*

Wordless Wednesday

Pictures, Pictures

Happy Spring!!

What a BEAUTIFUL day it was yesterday! It finally feels like spring might actually be here to stay. We went down to Stillwater and walked around by the river....one of our favorite things to do in the summer. We usually picnic there but it is still way to wet so we just hung out. There was SO many people out everywhere, LOVE IT!! This is by far my favorite time of the year, it's so nice to be able to get outside in the nice weather every day!

Braden has been really sick the last couple of days but was finally feeling a little better by yesterday afternoon so he actually enjoyed getting outside too!

Happy Spring Everyone!!

Flashback Friday

Here's Alexa on her first St. Patrick's Day in 2007. Look at those big cheeks, I wish I could go back and squeeze them and kiss them again! And doesn't Braden look a lot like she did? :)

Does Anyone Talk Anymore?

What is the world coming to? Am I super old fashioned or what? Let me get this straight...not only is there Facebook and MySpace and Blogs and IPhones and texting and who knows what else, but now there's TWITTER. Apparently everyone has a twitter account. And I don't really get it but apparently you can follow other people and update it all day long and just tell the whole world what you're doing. Hmmmm....okay.....still don't get it. Does anyone just pick up a phone and call someone and tell them what they're doing? Or does the WHOLE WORLD need to know? Because now if you have a twitter account you can even "follow" celebrities like Brittney Spears and know what she does all day long too, sorry to say but I am guessing she's not going to "follow" you back.

Being pretty young myself you would think that I would know a little more about all this new technology and stuff, well I don't. I'm still trying to figure out this whole blog thing! I was reading an article not too long ago that says teenagers today are not learning the skills that they will need to know to get a job and interact with people out in the "real world". Well no kidding. I guess I'm not totally sure anymore but I would think you would have to have SOME verbal skills to get a job and work with other people. Maybe by the time teenagers right now get out in the job world they won't have to talk to each other, they can just text the person in the next cube. And can you imagine an interview?

Interviewer: What R UR best skills?

Interviewee: IDK, I worked 4 Target n got 2 manage....blah blah blah.

Okay that's kind of a lame example but you get the idea. My little sister is probably going to read this a shake her head at me and then maybe text me and say "pshhh, ur weird"

I guess I'm just out of the loop with all the new stuff out there. I am going to have to do better at keeping up with these things so when my kids come home with these things at least I know they exist in advance.

Anyway, we're on the bandwagon....you can follow us on Twitter! :)

Name: bignellfamily

It's also located conveniently on the right side of this blog for all to see as well.

Let us know if you're going to join the fad and "tweet" so we can follow you too!

Braden and His Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Ohhh my poor little B, today just was not one of his best days so far in life to say the least. He has had a raspy cough now for, oh I don't know like 3 months or so. Alright it hasn't been that long but he has had it off and on for a lot of the winter. Which is weird considering he was sitting at home with Mommy and Alexa the whole time. Anyway, it usually doesn't get too bad or anything serious but he just keeps getting this annoying icky cough. And since he is the second child we haven't taken him in AT ALL for this cough....can you believe it? We have been in to regular check-ups and other appointments during these times and had him checked of course and it's always the same old thing, humidifier, fluids, sleep, wait it out, blah blah blah.

Well the other night he woke up coughing so hard that he ended up making himself throw up and it was just gross flemy stuff. I know that's gross but that's what it was. Now this morning he woke up and was wheezing a little bit and it progressively got worse through out the day. It finally got to the point where I thought maybe he should go in and get checked out. So we called at 4:00 and got in by 5:00 tonight. Of course since we have the best pediatrician in the whole world we couldn't get in to see him. Actually he was off this week because his kids are on spring break and apparently they need him too. I know, can you believe it? What about MY kids? :)

So we get into the office and here's come the "other" doctor. First of all, I think he was wheezing just as much as Braden and coughing almost as much as him too. Besides the fact that he was the most monotone person I have ever met. Isn't that strange, don't you think maybe he picked the wrong career? Also, is it okay to ask a doctor to wash his or her hands before they start touching your sick little baby? I don't know, to say the least I was NOT impressed. At our house we have strong feelings about our children seeing actual pediatricians not family practitioners, BUT if this guy is the last one out there I don't think I will go back to him....ever.

Anyway back to Braden. Dr. Monotone checked him all out and listened to all his stuff for a long time and decided that it was nothing that needed immediate attention. He said he could hear a little rattle in his lungs but at this point he didn't think medication was necessary, especially since he was still eating enough to have wet diapers. Our prescription: humidifier, try to push the fluids and lots of extra Mommy love. (Okay so I added the last one but I'm sure it will help the most.) And if things get worse or NOT better in 2 days he should come back. Okay doc, thanks, see ya never again! After he left the room I told Braden I was sorry that I took him to be poked and pushed and gaged by the big cherry stick for nothing, he smiled, he still loves me.

To completely top off the night he had his first ouchy. He was sitting in the living room playing as we were making dinner and all the sudden he tipped over and he was a little too close to the ottoman and face planted right into it. He cried and even had real tears. Mommy and Alexa to the rescue, we rocked him and gave him lots of kisses and within a minute he was all better!

So I guess it wasn't the worst day ever, it definitely could have been worse, but it was a rough one for the little guy. Let's just hope he starts feeling better soon. Maybe with spring finally in sight everyone will start getting well again. He is currently curled up in bed sleeping peacefully....next to the humidifier cranked up all the way.

For You, Gramma!

Of course anyone can look but Gramma left for vacation and made us promise to get her lots of pictures. So everyone else might have to deal with a couple extra picture posts for the next week and a half.

(Miss you already Gramma!)

Alexa teaching Braden all about the color pink....seriously. Poor little boy, I made sure to show him the blue page after she was done!

Have you ever seen camo at a tea party? Pink, tea party...Daddy is going to have to spend some extra man time with Braden after him being with Mom and Alexa all day!

Cheese!

How cute are these two? She IS a Daddy's girl and he can't resist that cute little face!

Wordless Wednesday

Have a Shamrocking Day

Today is the day fer the wearin' o' the green.

Today is the day when the little people are seen.

Today is St. Patrick's Day, so if ye'r Irish me lad,

Join the celebratin' fer the grandest time ta' be had.

We did not disappoint our heritage today, we all were decked out in green and celebrated St. Patrick's Day in true fashion....some green milk. No, just kidding we didn't drink green milk, but we did think about it for a second. Alexa enjoyed telling everyone she saw all day Happy St. Patrick's Day although it didn't sound like that. Besides the fact that for the first half of the day she kept adding in the last holiday...Valentine's Day. So it was more like "Happeeeee Saint Patritine's Day!" People got the point for the most part.

Go Twins!

Spring is coming and that means baseball season is almost here too. Matt loves watching the MN Twins and we usually try to get to a couple games a year. Alexa had a blast last year, mainly because she got to eat her first hot dog....

a blue sno cone...

and lots of other yummy game food.



We can't wait to be able to get to a game this year. Braden never made it to one last year outside the belly so it will be his first one. Matt is excited to watch the game and I'm excited to dress our kids up in their Twins apparel, they look so cute.....here's some pictures of our test run!

Happy '7 Month' Birthday Braden

I can't believe he's already 7 months old today....time goes by too fast. Here's some pictures we took this morning, doesn't he just LOOK older!?! As sad as it is that he is growing up so fast, the past month has been so much fun. He is just doing so many more things and can actually sit and play with us. He is also definitely getting a mind of his own too and he's starting to really show what he wants.

This means there's only 5 months to go before his first birthday.....I better get planning! :)

Flashback Friday

Braden after his first real bath - 2 weeks old.

Just Some Random Pictures

Alexa likes to "paint" her nails by herself....with markers.

What is she doing to him???

Singing Diva

Alexa has been spending A LOT of time walking around the house singing lately. She carries her microphone with her constantly and will just burst out into song at any given moment. I asked her if she was going to be a singer when she grows up and she said "NO and I am going to be a Cinderella Singer!" Well of course, how could I forget the Cinderella part!?!