10 Things I Love About You....

What I love the most about each of my boys at these ages...

James (2 years 4 months):
- talking so much! We're now able to have real conversations!
- being so sweet to his little brother and looking out for him already
- a great sense of humor. This kid is really funny!
- a stubborn streak that either cracks me up or tests my patience.
- when he "reads" to me.
- dramatic faces! (sometimes I have to look away when he is making naughty choices and giving me these faces)
- how diligently he can work on something
- how organized he is for such a little guy
- snuggling with him for a few moments when he actually slows down
- watching him build with blocks and pretending with him about what he has built


Brendan (8 months):
- snuggles! So many snuggles!!! I am trying to soak it all in before he becomes a big boy!
- brushing his two tiny teethies.
- when he touches my hair and pats me gently while I am nursing him.
- how his face completely lights up when he sees me. I melt!
- watching him work so hard to pick up finger food and aim it for his mouth.
- how he is just the HAPPIEST baby I have ever met! I just marvel at how smiley he is!
- the way his little ears remind me of Yoda! They are kind of floppy!
- how excited he gets in the bathtub splashing around with big brother and chewing on bath toys.
- chubby baby legs!
- getting a chance to just enjoy him being little and not worrying if every little thing I do it the perfect thing. So liberating!!!

The 5 Ws of Our Man on the Move

WHO: Brendan Neal Duffy, also known as "B"

WHAT: Crawled for the very first time!

WHERE: Big brother's bedroom

WHEN: About 7:00pm on April 16, 2010

WHY: to get the the train set that he has had his eye on for months!

I sat Brendan in the middle of the bedroom floor with a baby toy while I was getting Jamer into his jammies. We were having a "conversation" with our babbling baby and I turned back to look at him and he was gone! I looked the other way and there he was.....sitting in the middle of the Geotrax train tracks! I was pretty sure he had crawled because he got there so quick. So I picked him up and put him back in the middle of the floor, and there he went crawling over to the train again. I cried! Tears of joy. Tears of pride. Tears of relief. My little baby is growing so fast and meeting his milestones. Let me say that again, just because it feels SO WONDERFUL to type it....MEETING HIS MILESTONES! Each time he meets a motor development milestone I catch myself sighing a big sigh and some of the worry that has been bearing down on me since my second trimester of pregnancy is lifted. Looks like Brendan is continuing right on track (ha ha, the track, as in train track! Pun intended!) ! AMAZING! Thank You Lord for keeping our sweet boy safe. Thank You for this healthy, energetic, precious baby. I am getting teary now thinking about it, about all we were told MIGHT happen, and what all we are blessed enough to WITNESS happening.

When I was sure he was really crawling, I ran to get the flip and the camera and we had a re-enactment of the big event. So these pictures were taken within a couple of minutes of his crawling debut. I wish I had the flip handy the very first time because when he was sitting the middle of the train set, he managed to turn the train on and operate it with the remote. Priceless! I guess he has really been watching his bubba. I will post the video soon, but for now here are a couple of pictures of B on the move!

When "Cheese" Is Not Enough

We met George and Bethany in Grapevine for lunch this past Saturday. We actually had brunch at Willhoites. Pretty tasty! James had an interesting meal: 3/4 of a Belgian waffle, a beet, some diced hardboiled egg, red jello and a tiny pickled corn on the cob (like in stirfry). Hey, it's what he picked out. Who am I to judge? Brendan tried mash potatoes, but didn't really dig 'em. I guess he will be my picky eater. It seems as though every mom should have at least one.

We walked around after lunch to see the sights. Very cute stuff in historic Grapevine! I found a fabulous little wine bar that I would like to visit some time when we have a date night. A craft show was going on too out there which was nice. Tried to snap some pictures when we took a break by the fountain. As you can see, Brendan still cooperates with Mommy for picture taking. And you can see that James is SOOO over the pictures. "Say Cheese" doesn't cut it. This kid has hated pictures since I can remember. Brings to mind these Oaxacan natives I met who thought taking the pictures took a part of you. Thanks for doing your best to get J to smile George and Bethany. You are real troopers! Can't wait to see you again! George, aren't you excited to come put the swing set together?! What an awesome godfather you are!

Well, that is not exactly what I had in mind.....



You can see Daniel is sort of over this little attempt of mine! Notice that happy face he has on?!


Ok James, when you are 10 years old don't ask me where you were on this fine day. My answer will be "cropped out of the photo"!

Boogers are yuck!

James informed me of this today while I was cleaning off his little face. Ahhh, the profound wisdom of a two year old. So true little guy, so true. Boogers ARE yuck. And you know what might tie for yuckiness? Germs! The germs that must be everywhere in this house and multiplying like crazy! The germs that are making them sick! I cannot get ahold of the germs attacking my boys.....I promise you that one of them is sick at least once every ten days. Right now, Brendan is under the weather and I am home with him today. He feels lousy and so do I, just from seeing my happy guy feeling so poorly. It is as though one is sick, gets nursed back to health and then BAM, I look over and the other one has a runny nose, hacky cough and a diarrhea diaper. Sorry, but it is true. Whatever this funky bug is, it involves lots of snot and lots of poo. A little vomit is thrown is just to keep things interesting. Oh, glorious Motherhood! No I am not making this up.....it is MOMMY VS GERMS! I know they go to daycare and this is supposed to be "normal". Well, it is also frustrating and sad. Who likes to see their babies feeling crummy? Not to mention, did I bring up that I am SOOO out of days at work it is not even funny? I guess that happens when they make mothers use all of their sick days for maternity leave. Brilliant plan isn't that?! But I digress.

Germs I am after you! I can't stand you! You are bringing the boogers that are yuck! So you must go! And YES, I am aware that I can't put the kids in a bubble, but frankly that did cross my mind. I see them at daycare sanitizing stuff all the time and it is a super-clean facility.....well as clean as you can be when a majority of your inhabitants still wear diapers and explore noses with tiny fingers. Thanks to his school, James is addicted to washing his hands. I would worry about the obsessive nature of this new hobby if I were not convinced that it is the sole reason he is not sick every day of his life. So, in the spirit of cleanliness, I decided to get after those germs here at our house. While I think we do a pretty good job of keeping clean and tidy, I decided to attack it all at once! If nothing else, I feel satisfied. I guess like a cathartic release. Now I am exhausted and need a nap. But let me tell you what I did to rid this place of the yucks. First step was loading about a million (ok, a thousand?!) plastic toys into the bathtub with a water ad bleach solution for a nice soak. Next step, wiping down everything that was plastic and too big to fit in the tub or had batteries. After that? Sanitizing all door knobs, faucet handles, toilet flushers, light switches and place mats. Then? Wash all current linens and all the baby blankets in hot water. Steam sterilize all the pacifers, sippy cup lids and bottle nipples in this house. Finish off with mopping the floor with the Swiffer wet. Ahhhhh, it FEELS cleaner!

Loaded up all the germy toys! Well, all the germy, plastic, non-battery operated toys....


Taking a soak.....

He is Risen!

Today is the most important day of the entire year, where we reflect on the Resurrection and remember what God has done for us. We enjoyed church so much today and Father Crary's homily was really wonderful. I teared up knowing that this is the last Easter homily I will hear from him, as he is retiring next January. All day long I have had all of our blessings on my mind. Mostly, I have been giving thanks for my children and for Jesus for dying upon the cross for our sins. That means that my children, and all of us, may have everlasting life. As a parent, knowing what awesome things are in store for my children, well it doesn't get better than that! We are so blessed and feel so passionately about raising our sons to be believers and to do good works.

Today was extra special for me as a mom because we celebrated Brendan's first Easter and James' third Easter. Nana and Granddaddy came up from Houston for the weekend. We had lots of fun despite sharing the holiday with a grouchy toddler. It seemed that he rode an emotional roller coaster non-stop. It is frustrating but also makes my heart ache for him because he doesn't seem to know what he wants from one moment to the next. I think feeling that way would be pretty awful. I know that I find myself praying more for patience and guidance than I ever have in my life. Brendan of course was just his happy smiley self the whole time, thank goodness! I am not sure what we would have done if he had been a grouch too. His little warm cuddles brighten my day so much. I hope that he will never get too old for them! I know these terrible twos will pass.....I just hope we all survive it in the meantime! :-)




James was getting over being sick, which could have led to some of his grumpiness, and slept a lot of Saturday. We decided to take him to the Haslet Easter egg hunt and to the park instead of going down to the Stockyards, and I am so glad we did. He was scared of the egg hunt! I guess all those kids coming in his general direction was too much for him. He probably would have been even more overwhelmed at the Stockyards because they would have been really crowded. I was impressed with the Haslet Egg Hunt. The Easter Bunny was there and they had done a pretty good job putting the whole event together.




This morning we went to church, came home and had a nice lunch (made by Central Market....YUM!) and then the boys napped. The church service was beautiful and James could not wait to go this morning. He kept saying "I go church!". The choir was especially nice today and I just closed my eyes and listened to the beautiful music. At one point it really sounded like angels singing! I just remember thinking, what a joyful noise we are making! We watched some classic movies like The King of Kings and took it easy. It was nice to hang out around the house with the family. The Easter Bunny came while the boys were asleep this afternoon. I am so glad that he had that wonderful plan, because it meant we got to deal with a less grouchy James. James LOVED finding all the eggs in the yard and kept running around finding more. He would laugh when he found an egg and talk about the egg he found. The church service and the egg hunt at our house were by far the best parts of the weekend. Even though the Easter Bunny loaded up his basket, the big hit was a nerf football. He and Daniel must have thrown it for over an hour this afternoon. That kid has quite an arm on him I must say! Brendan's basket was filled with baby goodies: Johnson and Johnson's Baby Bubble Bath, a stuffed bunny, Sprout Organic baby food, Touch and Feel Cards and a Touch and Feel book. We sat him on the floor with the basket and he was so sweet pulling the things out one by one and examining them so carefully. What a doll he is! The Easter Bunny left baskets for the boys with Nana and Granddaddy too. The boys raked in with clothes and money and bubbles and books. We are all looking forward to next year when Brendan can join in the egg hunt. That will be really fun! We look forward to sharing with our sons the real meaning of Easter and enjoying the fun family traditions that make it extra memorable!

Here are some pictures from our weekend! Hope you and yours had an eventful and meaningful Easter!






He is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!