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Worst Picture EVER

Back in early March, we had portraits done. Brady was 3 months, Logan had just turned 3 and Aiden was about 1 & 1/2 (1 year and 8 months so close enough). We tried and tried AND TRIED AND TRIED to get a picture with the three of them, but Aiden would just keep running away. Once we got him situated, Logan would leave. It was a nightmare. I was sweating to death and Brian was about to lose his mind. The only picture we got? Well, check out Logan's eyes....it's hysterical (maybe it's not the worst picture EVER, but it's seriously no framer for sure!) The other ones turned out well though. I'll post a few

The three boys....if you double click on this, you can see that Logan's eyes are like rolling back into his head!
Logan got an A++ for his portrait sitting...he hammed it UP!
I have to laugh because this is exactly what Logan's 18 month portrait looks like...a snap shot of a boy LEAVING the little area where he's supposed to be standing for pictures! We'll title this one "Aiden takes a stroll"
I laugh at how much hair Bray still had in March. I guess I didn't realize how much hair he lost - he's pretty much completely bald now!

Our first discussion about God

Today we went to downtown Naperville to buy daddy a new laptop backpack since he starts his train commute to Chicago tomorrow (boo!) We made quite a morning out of it. We took bread and fed the ducks (and geese) along the riverwalk then had lunch at Einstein Bagels followed with chocolates from Ethels (we had to go there twice since mommy accidentally gave daddy her coveted dark chocolate caramel and needed another one). On the way home, God came up in a discussion about slurpies (long story) and we had the following conversation:
Me: "Logan, do you know who God is?"
L: "yes"
Me: "who?"
L: "I dun know!"
Me: "God lives way way up in the sky and he created everything. He watches over everyone"
L: "when we get home, I want to go outside and yell up in the sky to God"
Brian: "what are you going to yell up to God?"
L: "I WANT A SLURPEE"

Sweet Couragous Boy

Today, Logan and I had QUITE a discussion involving easter eggs at nap time (Aiden acutally sleeps with one as a sort of lovey...don't ask...and Logan wanted some for his nap as well). However, instead of sleeping with them, Logan just wanted to talk about them, play with them, discuss their colors (specifically that he wanted a big GREEN egg, not the big YELLOW one I brought to him) and NOT sleep until I was forced to take them away and threaten their imminent demise should he chose to remain awake. Sadly, my threats did not win me some free time, but I had located the "big green egg" that he had begged for and left it outside of his bedroom door with a note that said: I (heart) U (happy face) love, mommy. He found it when I let him escape from nap torture and I helped him read the note. Later, he wanted to have it, but it was up in his room. I quickly wrote him another one. Both were written on squares of paper that came from a note cube in the kitchen. After I put them to bed tonight, I found both notes on the fridge, stuck there at Logan height with magnets. I almost cried it was so cute!

The gym: a constant source of anguish for both Logan and me. When I take the boys to the playroom, sometimes Logan runs away happily, but mostly....he cries, snots all over himself, has been known to scream etc. When Aiden sees Logan in this state it's like he thinks "crying? are we crying now? I want to cry too!" So.....today started to look shaky on the gym front even before we left. Logan took one look at me in my work-out cloths and said "I don't want to go to the gym!" Then I had a brilliant thought. I have these three keys (long story) that say "courage", "respect" and "honesty" on them. I bought them all for different reasons and I realized that the courage one was PERFECT for the gym. I explained to Logan that I was going to give him this special "key of courage" and that courage meant being brave and not crying. He was going to be allowed to keep this key in his pocket while we were at the gym to help him. I have to say...it worked like a charm (at least for today!) He showed everyone from the front-desk guy to the girls in the kids' playroom his "key of cor-age" and proudly kept it with him until we got back to the car. It's in my diaper bag for tomorrow...fingers are crossed that he falls for my little trick again! :):)

Day Move Countertop

What kind of title is that you ask? Day Move Counter top = Our first nice Day outside, Daddy makes a move and Counter top drop.
Thursday afternoon was lovely this week so we ventured outside to run around for a while. Eventually, a bunch of our friends wandered over and played on our driveway with us. Aiden took a bit of a fall on the concrete which was a big bummer, but he was back at it within minutes. We played so late that our friends, Susan with kids Ryan and MacKenzie, stayed and had pizza with us since both of our husbands were working late.
On Friday, we had lots of people in the house starting early so mommy took the boys out on a big date. First, a couple of construction guys arrived at 8am to drop the counter top between the dining room and the kitchen. We decided it was just too high. We could never find stools that were tall enough! The maids were coming at 10:30 and so there was going to be something going on upstairs AND downstairs. I took the boys to McDonald's for breakfast. Logan and Aiden were actually very well behaved! They had pancakes, apple dippers and milk (Brady had rice cereal). After that we swung by the mall to pick up pictures that we had done in early March (see future post). We played on the playground inside the mall for a while and then hopped back in the car for a 30-minute drive to daddy's building where we had lunch in his office with him. Daddy's company is moving downtown after next week so 1. his commute is going to increase quite a bit and will now be by train instead of by car and 2. we probably won't get to visit him as much. I took a picture of Brian at his desk even though he thought it was silly. As Denay says....I have now become the annoying photo journalist. But seriously, he has worked in this building since before we got engaged so....it's been a while now. He'll thank me in 30 years when he has pictures of his very first corner office!!!!
Final note on the week: we found out that Bray is slightly allergic to amoxocillin. He almost finished the 10-day dose and his ear infection is gone, but he had a little rash yesterday and the day before so....good to know for the future. Thank God there are about a bazillion antibiotics on the market these days :)
As always, picture time!!!!

The boys outside on the driveway. I must have a thing for blue hats because I found one that fit each boy in my "summer cloths" bin
You can't see it quite yet, but here is a picture of Aiden after his run-in with the driveway.
YEAH! Aiden can finally play with the ball and tee set he got for Christmas. He's overjoyed!
Some of our neighbors and a view down our street
Here are the boys in daddy's office. He has a table in there for meetings (or for lunches when we stop by!)
Here is Brian at his desk...goodbye Oakbrook Terrace!!
Here we are on the way home. Aiden holds up his new object of the day, a "stress reliever" star that he found at daddy's office. Check out Logan in the back of the van taking a nap. He got a race track from daddy's office...it was left over from some sort of team builing activity...lucky boy!

Here is the countertop at the new height. We found these bar stools at Target (best store ever) for a steal!
The boys enjoy their first breakfast at the bar. It's hard to get a good picture with the morning sun coming in all the windows...

The Week In Review

This was quite a week! Bray had his first ear infection (thank God too because he got up 15 times one night and then wouldn't eat so I was happy to hear that there was an actual cause to all of his craziness!), I lost my ipod at the gym (boo!), Barry Keefe left the Eric & Kathy show (there goes my reliable news source in the mornings....maybe only Denay will understand my pain!) and Aiden threw one of those crazy money-saving light bulbs on the floor. My friends later informed me that those contain mercury and can be pretty dangerous (yikes!)
On several happier notes.....WE GOT NEW CARPET! Yeee-haw!!! Our old carpet was the "builder special" and it was just GROSS after 3 years of crazy kids and other non-sense. We upgraded to a nice, darker frieze that will show NOTHING. It is heaven on the feet and so fun to play on. Brian and I even tried making "carpet angels" on it one night...it's just lovely! Also, my darling husband brought home some of my favorite treats this week...twizzlers. Check out how AWESOME they are though (pics below!)

Oh...and Brady had his 4-month check up on Thursday. He weighs over 15 pounds and is 24 inches long. That is 75th% for weight and 25th for height (see previous post about chunker thighs!!) Bray is 15 pounds, Aiden is 25ish and Logan is 35ish...nice 10-pound increase between each. I thought that was funny!

Here, the boys have breakfast on the old carpeted living room floor. We had to move the table and put the TV on top, so we did "floor picnics" for breakfast and dinner

Here are the back stairs....with the old carpeting removed!

How "high school girl" of me. I took a pen and wrote this message on one of the back stairs...our mark on the house even if we don't live here forever

Oh...Brady had his first solid food this week on Wednesday night (the 9th). Here we are having our nightly floor picnic. Mommy had salad...Bray had rice cereal (I think I got the better end of that deal!)

All my boys enjoy a little time on the new carpet!

Check these out...EXTRA long - extra yum!

Hey...are you guys eating mommy's candy?!

Well, with a 3lb bag of twizzlers the size of my arm, I guess I can share!

Here Brady enjoys tummy time with his little mirror toy...who IS that good-looking kid!?

Daddy got a new pair of glasses this week...Logan tried them on - what a ham! He tried to walk around the kitchen and almost fell over looking through them! too funny.

Brady & Mommy have a big date

This weekend, Brady and mommy set out together (and alone!) for California to visit Auntie Denna and Uncle Tom. We had such a great time!!! Brady was an angel on the plane (both ways) and only had a few little fussy periods. He made a great traveling companion for mommy who was happy to have SOMEONE with her (it's odd being alone when you have little ones who usually ask lots of questions and keep you busy busy everywhere you go!) It was so nice for our little guy to get a lot of attention from everyone since he usually has to share the spotlight. He was a DREAM sleeper while we were gone and adjusted to California time right away. We helped Denay and Tom pick out TONS of stuff from Ikea for baby Scharpf's nursery, went to a great brunch on Saturday, got pedicures while Brady and Tom went shopping, watched final four basketball at their place and even went out Saturday night for a bit while Denay's sweet co-worker, Erin, watched Brady and another couple's baby. Below: pictures!!!

Here is a picture of mommy and Brady on the plane ride to California. Baby boy's first time!
On the streets of San Fran. Auntie Denna brought Brady a coat when she picked us up from the airport. It belongs to baby Scharpf, but his BFF Bray got to test out quite a few of his nice things (like the stroller and car seat also pictured below)
Annie and Bray at lunch. We ate at a place called Medicine. Mom had mushroom ramen - pretty tasty!
Here we are on our mega shopping trip to Ikea. Brady did what he could to help out. This is the pillow for baby S's bedding and our color pallet for the room decor.
The adorable mom-to-be with her cart....I think all three of us had one at the end!
Mommy and Daddy Scharpf hauling their goods to the car. We bought: a dresser/changing table, an armoire, a rug, baskets, shelves, a lamp and a side table...oh and like 8 curtains!
Here Brady tests out the ultimate bouncer. This thing even has a place to plug in an ipod!! Also....Brady models for us a piece of baby Scharpf's wardrobe...some adorable baby GAP pjs.
Look at the stroller and mommy S's new diaper bag. Are we noticing a green pattern here? I had to help Den pick out a great diaper bag so we literally emptied bags out of their paper in the store and shoved my diaper bag contents inside to make sure they were big enough!
This is actually a picture of Brady at the Midway airport in the women's bathroom. Those who know the whole story will find this amusing. I actually found out I was pregnant with our little #3 in this very restroom on my way to Denay's bachelorette party last year!! I know...I'm a weirdo taking out my camera in the bathroom!

Update on Logan

Well, we did end up at the doctor's today. L had a temp of about 100 after our play group this morning so I ran him and Brady to the doctor's office while Grandpa answered the emergency call of duty and watched Aiden. Logan does have a bit of an ear infection, but tested negative for strep (phew! I hate being the mom who takes the sick kid to play group!) The doctor peeked into Bray's ears for me since we're going to be a plane this Friday...all clear for take off! Funny note: the doctor (a woman) knew that Logan would be home with daddy and Aiden this weekend so she gave us a prescription for an antibiotic that only needs to be administered once a day (and doesn't need to be in the fridge). hee hee!