Brady has been a long-time fan of the growl...sometimes we call it a dinosaur roar. Aiden can really get him going by doing it first. Here is a link to a video of the boys goofing around on our bed one night. Bray waves, says "iii" and growls....

This is also a great example of Aiden talking about "bes frens"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4wYKl0MmPo

To begin...I write this entry the night before my new nephew is going to be born. I'm am BEYOND excited. I can't wait to meet Ryan Matthew!!!!!!!!

So....vacation the week before last was AWESOME, AMAZING and totally lonely without the boys (um....I'm supposed to say that, right?) Seriously though, we really did wish they were there (from time to time) to share the beauty of Cabo. We were SO ready to come home and see them after being away for 7 days, especially since Brady got sick while we were gone and threw up on my mom twice (sorry mommy!) After several calls between home, Cabo, the doctor's office and one forged permission note, Bray was diagnosed with a sinus infection and put on an antibiotic. He still wasn't himself for a few days after we got home. We kept joking that nana and papa broke our perfect angel baby! (he's feeling fine & dandy now...and starting to wave and say "iiiiiii" which means hi! <-- what a genius child, right?! Not even 9 months old! hee hee).

This week wasn't much for the blogging notes, but I took some pictures of the boys being...the boys. We did have our last official Wednesday playgroup, but I forgot my camera so I'll have to see if Kelly will give me some pics to do an entry on that.....I almost cried that day (we have been going to the same group since Logan was 6 months old. It's like a little phase of our lives is coming to an end! God help us all when I have to blog about Logan's first day of preschool...coming soon!!! ack!!)

Aiden is a sicky this weekend. He had a temp of about 103 all day yesterday (or for small amounts of time yesterday between doses of tylenol and advil). Today he woke up with a temp of 104.7! We rushed him to the immediate care facility and it turns out that he has a double ear infection and a sore throat. Therefore, we continue our weekend quarantine and skip neighborhood playgroup tomorrow. I have something planned....I'll take pictures!!!! :):)

And now...pics from vaca and last week...........


Here is the view from our room in Cabo. AAAAmazing. We got there a day before everyone else (three other couples) so we had a little time to ourselves. We got hot stone massages which were pretty cool. We both thought the stones were a bit on the HOT side, but we felt like melted butter when we were done.
Around 3pm on Sunday (the 10th), the crew rolled in. We were ready pool side for the resort orientation. It didn't take the guys long to grab a couple drinks each and head off in a pack to check out the infinity wall of the pool.
The wives didn't care that we got ditched...."we're on VACATION!!!" (between the four couples, we have 9 kids plus one on the way)
Here are the boys again...this time they are plugging up the giant spray fountain in the middle of the pool
We did a lot of really fun stuff. One night we went to the most DELICIOUS sushi place followed by some mega dancing at Cabo Wabo. The next night, we went on a sunset cruise (picture below). Thursday, we went on a snorkeling boat excursion. We ate a lot, sat by the pool a lot and took naps!!
Here is a view of the famous arch at Lover's Beach. They said that it looks like a dragon sticking it's mouth in the ocean for a drink.
These are seals on a rock.....much more fun to look at in person (because my photography skills are LACKING)
I thought some of the best sights were the carved watermelons at the resort. I took lots of pictures of the different designs to show the boys. These were at every buffet (we were big fans of the breakfast and dinner buffets, but lunch was lacking....except for the guacamole....ohhhhh.....the guacamole!!!!)
Because we went a day earlier than everyone else, we also left a day earlier (booooooo!) Here are our friends waving good bye from the pool. We managed to get in breakfast, an hour in the pool, and at least one bloody mary before we took off for the airport (wet bathing suits in a zip lock bag I so conveniently had along!)
This is Brian in the van transport back to the airport. We like to take pictures of our sad faces after especially wonderful vacations....
I'm mostly sad because I didn't get to sit next to my husband during the 40 minute ride (but also because we had such a fun time!!!) :):)
Our troubles were eased a bit when we found "Wings", the restaurant in the airport. Brian had been craving wings.....
And I finally satisfied a week-long craving for a club sandwhich. The olympics were on (albeit in spanish which is infuriating when you don't understand gymnastics scoring!!) so we ate and watched TV for a while.
Thankfully, they clearly mark the planes out on the tarmac since you have to walk by several looking for your flight.
Ahhhhhh....back at home Saturday morning (Bray was sleeping during this photo). So happy together!!!!!!We even got to hang out with nana and papa for a whole day before they went back to Cali.
One night this week, I was bathing the boys and stepped away to grab pajamas. When I came back, Logan was covering Aiden in bubbles. A said "maaame....I gettin redy for de bubble par-tee" I raced downstairs to grab my camera because I thought it was HYSTERICAL (maybe only to me?). By the time I got back, some of the bubbles were gone, but I thought it was super cute. (Logan likes to make up all these different reasons to have parties and Aiden is ever-so-eager to play along...it's a party after all! While I had my camera, I snapped a couple pictures of Brady in my all-time favorite jammies....rock band pjs!!
These were inherited from "cousin Jack"....they have guitars and speakers and drums and earphones on them. Check out my little army crawler. This dude gets AROUND now!! It's almost time to block all the stairs again...and just when I was getting so used to not opening gates!
Here, daddy shares some computer time with the boys (I think they were checking out Diego games on noggin.com). Bri is yelling because Brady is happily pulling on his hair!
Aiden likes to take it upon himself to be Brady's wake-up committee. One morning, Logan and Aiden were supposed to be watching Blue's Clues in my room while I got ready. I heard two little giggles over the baby monitor and went to find Aiden and Bray. A had climbed into Brady's crib and look at what a fun little time they were having!
Bray actually loves to wrestle with his brothers (am I in trouble or what?!)
Logan got in on the action as well. He is decked out in his "soccer stuff"...it's very shiny, right?!
So that's our week. Tomorrow....a new baby!!!!!!

Nana & Papa, The boys are anxiously awaiting your arrival (while mom and dad anxiously await a whole week of vacation together!). They do, however, have a question for you:

Did you get that message?? Here....let's try it again:


It's seems like Brady made a snack out of his sign....let's try that one last time....
I took this pictorial opportunity to document every one's ages (as I do every month for at least Brady)
Just remember guys....these are my kids
But these are my kids on "Diego" (Go Diego, Go!)

Here are some pics from last week. Head to toe commentary: 1. Aiden loves this new soccer hat I bought him, but he always wants to wear it backwards. 2. For some reason, the boys were carrying their backpacks around last week and then 3. Aiden threw his crocs down one of the drains in our backyard (yes...he did. I fished them out with a bent hanger the next day). Anyway.....here he is in his cool guy flip flops, backwards hat, & backpack....he just looks like a future frat boy to me :) Logan also loves his new hat, but it's a tiny bit big on him.
Aiden's favorite activity is what I call "manipulating things". He likes to play with small parts, puzzles etc. This is a picture of him playing one morning with four different games: a Pirate game that involves the red, yellow and blue swords you can see on the ground, Elefun which includes the red net he's holding, Lucky Ducky which features the blue "pond" thing he is touching with his left hand and the fishing game (bottom right of picture...yellow thing that is turned upside down). But...instead of playing just ONE of those games, he was putting the fish from the fishing game and the swords from the pirate game on the pond from Lucky Ducks (which moves, usually ducks, around in a circle) and catching everything with his Elefun net. He fills my heart with happiness!!!!

There...it's the 1st of the month and I said it (right Den?!)


This morning on Blue's Clues (which was being played from 5:30 until 6:00 so mommy and daddy could get a few more minutes of sleep), Blue wanted to weigh herself...so the older boys wanted to weigh themselves too. Here are the numbers:

Brady (almost 8 months) = 21.6 pounds

Aiden (2 years) = 26.8 pounds

Logan (3 years, 5ish months) = 37.0



I was surprised to see that Logan and Aiden are a full 10 pounds different and even more surprised (well...not really) to see that Brady is only like 5 pounds lighter than Aiden. I think it was fortuitous that we nicknamed him "itty-bitty" when he was born (Aiden that is).



On another note, after over a week of trying to keep Aiden in his crib, I finally broke down and bought a crib tent yesterday. At first, I felt like I was putting him in a cage, but I stuck my head inside and it's actually really cool....very much like camping plus he has all his toys and stuff in there so it's totally his own little world! I wouldn't mind sleeping in something like that and he FINALLY had a good night's sleep. Previously, I would put him in his bed and he would immediately climb out and run around his room laughing and saying "I funny mommy". Following Super Nanny's advice, I kept going in his room over and over again to pick him up and plop him right back into bed. Yesterday during naps, it took 18 trips before he finally stayed in bed. The other day, after 12 trips in during nap time, I gave up and let him come out of his room. He looked up at me when I walked with him into the hallway and downstairs saying "tank ew mommy....you my bes fren" (yesterday, during our marathon session, he asked me as I put him back into bed "mommy...why you mean?")




During the composition of this post, the boys have been "hiding" in the playroom and then whispering to each other, laughing and coming out yelling "boo!" to me. I pretend to be ever so frightened and they laugh, run away and do it again. My presence has now been requested for a game of hide and seek.