Reese's First Walk

Tonight we took Reese on her first walk around the neighborhood. She seemed to enjoy it (I guess). I know that I did. It was nice to get some exercise and to be able to go on the walk and not need to stop and catch my breath every 5 minutes like I was doing 5 weeks ago. I haven't been able to go on the walks with the boys lately and I've missed out on a bunch of stuff with Wyatt. First of all, he refuses to let me push the stroller. I started to push them and he cried and kicked until Brian took over. He knows every house that he's going to pass with a dog. While we're walking towards the house he points and says "Doggy." When we pass the house and the dog is out he says "Doggy says woof woof," and then he starts panting. If the dog is not outside he says "No doggy. Doggy go bye bye." He also says whatever he thinks or whatever he sees. "Biwdie (birdie), bunny, hop, hop, hop, walk with Daddy, Daddy push, car, beep, beep, beep." And it goes on and on and on.

Tonight we also discovered just how much Wyatt likes sleeping with his new blanket ("banka"). He doesn't even want to read a book anymore. This kid wouldn't go to bed without reading two books. Tonight he walked into his room after his bath and said "bed, banka." Brian asked if he wanted to read and book and Wyatt looked at him and said, "No, bed, banka," and dragged him over to the crib. He just goes to bed, waits for the blanket, wiggles his little toes and falls asleep. We'll see how long this lasts....

Wyatt looking back at "Pieces, pieces" for their first ride in the double stroller. Brian had twin baby cousins born last year and we were fortunate enough to get their stroller that the car seat fits on. We got a side by side too, but this is better for walks around the neighborhood since the sidewalk is so narrow.

Reese in the back!

A portrait of Noelle at the door taken by Wyatt. He's very into taking pictures lately. He's taken a few of Brian and I and a few self portraits too!

Me and the kids

Brian and the kids

Tomorrow is Wyatt's half birthday so I'll be making him half a cake and we'll be having a mini celebration for him. The time flies by!

The Always Horrendous Wal Mart

I would just like to take this opportunity to say that there is not a place in this world that I despise more. We had to go do some "major" grocery shopping this morning and I couldn't stand it! On top of the fact that it's a horrendous, wretched place, they've remodeled the one I go to and moved stuff. The only thing that got me through that place was the fact that I could get in and out quickly! Today I actually had to look for things and it drove me freaking bonkos. My own fault for going on a Sunday (I usually go first thing in the morning on weekdays), but whatever.

On another note, this world would be much easier if people refrained from the following:

1. Standing directly in front of a freezer door with a huge shopping cart while looking for something. I kept trying to get into one door and this lady (on a cell phone) would not budge!

2. Hey lazy lady, how about of you get the snacks instead of telling your 10 year old (while you stand in the exact center of the aisle so no one can move around you) "Not that one. No not that one either. To the right. To the right. No your other right stupid." It would go much faster if you walked over there and got it yourself. Plus you wouldn't have to call your poor kid stupid(kind of demeaning and a confidence downer anyway). Physically trying on your part? Yes. Nicer to your kid? Yes. Faster? Definitely. (P.S. - also did not appreciate you stopping to talk on your cell while still standing in the middle of the aisle).

3. Did they have to take away the self check outs? Brian and I had a system! And you can't tell me that you're going to have those new lanes open all the time. You don't even have half the lanes open some of the time!

4. I really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY wish that Target would start selling produce. I hate having to take both kids in and out of the car to go to Target and then to a separate grocery store, but I will SO start doing it again.

Yesterday

We went to get the kids' pictures taken yesterday. We got them done individually and then together. They came out pretty good. Wyatt wasn't being very cooperative with his individual pictures (the word "no" was used pretty frequently). He was happy when he was able to "hold" Reese and have his picture taken with her. She did wonderfully and has her eyes open in all of her pictures. I'm pretty pleased with what we have, but I'm starting to wonder what we're going to do with all of these pictures...our walls are getting filled up with all of these pictures of our kids!

Wyatt asked me yesterday for some "duice, pease." When I asked him where his cup was he grabbed my hand and took me over to the fridge, where I found his sippy cup sitting on the ice/water dispenser section. We usually water down his juice, so I guess he thought that was where it needed to be to get filled?

Reese is starting to hold her head up really well, and she's doing a wonderful job sleeping for me! She's only waking up once in the middle of the night and it seriously takes 15 minutes for me to get her back down! She is much better at the sleeping thing than her big brother was. Brian and I were just discussing how her NICU experience shaped her as baby. She can put herself to sleep, which Wyatt couldn't do until he was 6 months old. Part of that we attribute to the NICU experience, but I think the fact that this isn't our first go 'round with a baby is also a factor. There's just certain, well I wouldn't call them "mistakes," but things we did (like holding him and patting his butt until he fell asleep, picking him up every time he cried) that we couldn't do now if we wanted because of her big brother. I wouldn't trade either experience with my babies though. It was nice to have that time with Wyatt. No one ever tells you with your first baby to take advantage of the private time to bond with your baby. With two, you're breastfeeding one and the other one is either standing right next to you, staring intently saying "baby eating, baby eating," or he's running around the house getting into things that he shouldn't. At the same time, while I was pregnant with Reese, I felt like I was missing out on something with Wyatt because I couldn't keep up with him all the time. Today we went to my parents' house for my grandmother's birthday party and every time I needed to get up to chase Wyatt up and down stairs (they have 4 small ones into their den) or around the house, I could actually do it without getting exhausted. And it felt great. At this point it's nice to finally have some sort of balance.

Here's a few shots of Reese including one of her showing off her head holding skills!

Holding her head up to look at Daddy! If you look closely in the bottom of the lamp you'll see the Wonder Pets Puppy. That's one of its favorite "hiding" spots.

Hanging out on her boppy

stretching

I'm trying to get as many shots of her eyes while they're still blue as I can. Between my brown and eyes and Brian's green eyes, I don't think they're staying this blue.

Reese Smiling & Wyatt Big Brothering

This was right when Wyatt woke up from his nap. He wanted to see the Baby. She smiles here and he shows off his knowledge of body parts :).

New Things

As I've mentioned before, Wyatt is a little sponge right now. He listens to everything, pays attention to everything and generally just gets into everything. Over the last few days he's been cracking us up with the things he does and says. He's very particular about his routines too. For example, he has his snacks at the same time everyday. His morning snack he eats in his booster seat (anything to keep me from having to chase him), but he prefers to have his afternoon snack somewhere else. EvIn the afternoon I give him a small snack and a cup of (very, very watered down) juice or milk. He brings his snack and sets it down in the family room, keeps his juice in his hand, runs to his playroom, grabs his little chair, and drags it into the family room saying "chair, chair," the entire time. This is his every day routine: Last night when Brian got home Wyatt really wanted to go look at the turtles. He walked up to the cabinet where we keep the turtle food and said "turty, turty," and pointed at the cabinet. So Brian took him outside where they sat and looked at the turtles and talked for twenty minutes.

Looking at the turtles in the pond. Forgive his shoes. I bought them yesterday and after I tried them on he didn't want to take them off. Wouldn't even let me put his sneakers back on.

Showing Daddy the "turtys"

Last night I made lasagna (okay, Stouffer's made it, but I baked it) for dinner. Wyatt wasn't a huge fan (I don't know why, he loves ravioli). I think he could tell it came from a box. I bet when my mom makes him lasagna he'll love it. Anyway, he kept picking up the food with one hand, sticking it on the spoon and then sticking the food in his mouth. Then, he'd spit the lasagna out. I didn't give him anything else. He'll learn to eat what I give him that way. He still got the lasagna all over him, but at least he was happy.

On Tuesday night Wyatt woke up crying. He's being doing that a little bit lately and my gut feeling was that he was getting cold at night. We hadn't given him a blanket on him yet because at first we were waiting to talk to the doctor to see when we should give him one to sleep with, and then we just kind of put it off so he didn't have anything to cover his face with when he slept. But the other night I knew he was cold, so I gave him one. He loves it! As soon as I put the blanket on him he wiggles his toes underneath it and gets a huge smile on his face. He's slept really well with it.

Last night after getting tucked in

I guess the flash woke him up a little bit....

One Month Old!

I can not believe that our little Reese is one month old today. The last month has been the biggest roller coaster ride of my life. I can't even look at the pictures of her right after she was born or connected to the machines yet. Every time I've tried, I just break down. I'm honestly not sure I would have gotten through it if I hadn't decided to be strong for her. It's silly, but every time I look at her pictures, all I can think about is how excited I was sitting in my recovery room waiting for Brian to bring her to me and then how frightened I was when he came and told me that she was in the NICU. But Reese pulled through all of it like a trooper, we're so proud of her!

She is doing so much better! She still has her little cold (for the record, so does my snot nosed almost eighteen month old), but other than that she's doing wonderfully. She's gaining control of her little head, she focusing on things and people when she looks at them, and I got her first smile (real smile) this morning! She's been giving me gas smiles for a little bit now, but when I saw her really smile I was so happy. I'll try to get a picture of it, but it's not likely that I'll catch it!

Wyatt is learning at least 3 new words a day now. On Tuesday is was "Reese's Pieces." But it comes out as "Piecees, piecees." Yesterday it was gross, disgusting and home. As in "Wyatt, your nose is gross and disgusting!" and "Daddy's Home!" Last night Brian was watching the Yankees game and he ran in the room and shouted "Yankees!," which comes out sounding more like "Ankeeeeeeeeeeeeees!" So far today his new words are dinosaur, nasty and pouring. It's a disgusting day. We've decided to stay in our pajamas.

My recovery is going really well! I've got 4 pounds left to get to pre-Reese weight, and I now feel like I can hop on the elliptical to get some exercise. I've wanted to go walking at the very least, but we've been keeping Reese in so I haven't been able to. The only thing that really still bothers me is the place where they gave me the spinal. It was really bruised and now is very light yellow (like the end of a bruise), and is still sore at times. I don't know if that's normal or not because I got an epidural last time and it didn't hurt, but I go for my follow up appointment on October 13 so I'll find out then.

Here's Reese this morning at 10:07 when she turned one month old!

Waking up

Still waking up, and kind of smiling

And she fell back asleep

Uck.

This is the most disgusting thing I've ever read in my life. Do they even WANT to be taken seriously? And if you have extra milk, donate it to a hospital for preemies who might need it or send it to Africa for babies (I read about it in a parenting magazine). Please keep it out of my New York Superfudge Chunk.

Reese's First Bottle!

Brian and I decided that we were going to go out last night. For an entire whopping hour and fifteen minutes we left the kids alone with his parents to go have dinner. We missed Wyatt's bedtime and Reese staying awake the whole time. It was very nice to be able to go out and have dinner. I even got to have a drink! Of course, the downside of that one drink is the 6 ounces of milk that I dumped down the drain when I got home, but since she had a bottle standing by it wasn't too bad. Last time we went to Babies R Us I actually saw a this test for alcohol in breastmilk and was bewildered. I guess I just always thought it was best to dump it. Oh, and don't be a lush while you're feeding your kid.

We exchanged our gifts when we got home. I got Brian a Shamwow set (we see the commercial 85 times a morning while we watch Mike and Mike...if it really works, it'll be great for regular household use and for cleaning up after Noelle) and a hammock for his cotton gifts. Brian got me brand new towels and a towel warmer for the bathroom. I'm stoked! I hate the cold when I get out of the shower, and I really needed new towels. We got Brian some not too long ago because I ruined them (I have difficult skin that stays clear but only if I use stuff that destroys color in towels). I really wanted them, and he didn't even know. I was just waiting for a sale at Bed Bath & Beyond!

Anyway, in preparation for our big night out, Brian gave Reese her first bottle on Monday night. He really enjoyed being able to spend that time with her and feed her. She took the bottle pretty well. She did the same things she does when she breastfeeds, taking a few sips and then taking a break. In the beginning Brian thought she was done, but she was just pacing herself. She's a silly girl!

She's started having her tummy time now too. She played on her playmat and had some fun. She can lift her head up and move it around if she's being held, but she can't lay down and pick it up yet. While her playmat was out, Wyatt went over and started to play on it. We took some pictures of him on it too, just to use as blackmail in the future :).

Reese loving her bottle

Daddy feeding her

Reese on her playmat

Checking out the baby toys

Daddy wanted to check out the playmat too!

Happy Anniversary!

Two years ago today I married my very best friend in the world! Everything about our wedding was perfect. From the perfect proposal, to the planning (we actually agreed on everything, and Brian was very involved in the planning), to the rehearsal dinner and finally our perfect day!

We always knew that we wanted the day to be about "Brian & Brittney." The only thing Brian really wanted was Noelle to be in the wedding. That was the biggest holdout for the planning, but we finally found a church (the one Brian went to growing up) that would let us bring her in to be a part of our day. Noelle is such a huge part of Brian's life (and mine) and it wouldn't have been right if she hadn't been there. Hearing her drinking water out of her bowl while we were saying our vows made us both laugh and was perfect! The way she broke free of Brian's Dad when he let her go when we were walking up together at the end and followed us out was perfect.


Words can't describe how I felt walking down the aisle and seeing Brian, my very best friend, at the end. I love him more than anything in this world, and for as long as I can remember (at least for the last 8 years), all that I've ever wanted was to marry him and have his babies and be his wife and share our lives. Standing in front of him and saying our vows in front of our friends and family felt like the most "right" thing I'd ever done in my whole life (and it was!). The ceremony was perfect!

The few moments we were able to carve out alone after the ceremony and during the reception were perfect (seriously, a few moments). Just to have that time together where we could enjoy and celebrate the fact that we were married was priceless. I'll never forget standing in the Pastor's office with Brian and Noelle immediately after we were married. It was amazing! The few minutes we had together at the reception while the photographer took her final pictures (and Brian chugged the glass of champagne I'd been holding in my hand, unsipped for the last 20 minutes) were perfect.


Our reception was great. We had the formal dances, the cake cutting, we made the rounds and said hi to our friends and family, threw the garter, threw the bouquet (neither of them are married yet by the way...someone needs to get a move on!), and then the party started. Well, courtesy of Steve (or as my mother continues to call him to this day, "The Wedding Crasher," she had no idea who he was and was convinced that the huge guy doing pirouettes around the dance floor snuck in) who requested "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and got the party started. Who knew that could start a party? Not me. But we had a blast with our friends on the dance floor, all of them drunk courtesy of the open bar, while I had the time of my life stone cold sober! Even Brian was dancing. He doesn't dance, but he did at our reception. And that was perfect.

Leaving and knowing that were finally married. Our honeymoon tour on the cruise and swimming with the dolphins in Orlando. Coming to "our" home and being carried over the threshold (at last the house was finally mine too)! Even the surprise of finding out about the baby, which became Wyatt, two months before the ceremony was perfect. I still fit in my perfect dress, which I'd had my final fitting for the day I found out about him. He was there with us (in a miniscule version) when we got married, went on our honeymoon and came home. Immediately starting to get ready for our growing family, all of it was perfect. And none of it would have been if I didn't have Brian by my side. I am the luckiest girl on the planet to be married to him and to have our amazing family. I love him :)!

Getting ready with Carolyn and Darcy. So helpful to have a best friend and bridesmaid who worked for Clinique.

Brian and Noelle (with her pretty flowered collar) right before the ceremony.

I love this picture of Colin playing with keys!

Uncle Brian and Colin before the ceremony

Walking up the aisle after the ceremony with Noelle in toe. One of my favorite pictures from the day!

Me and my cousin Madison, the flower girl!

Me!

Me and my grandfather

Leaving the church to go to the reception

Sitting at the sweetheart table trying to shovel down some food

My cake, which was supposed to be topperless until some smartass snuck this one on! Fortunately, I wasn't a Bridezilla and I don't hold a grudge. Do I Dave?

Eating our cake. I told Brian that he had to be lovey.

Another one of my favorite shots. I think my brother forgot the words to his speech. I bucked tradition and had a "Man of Honor" instead of a "Maid."

Partying on the dance floor! Yes, after all the formal stuff, Brian put on a black and white Yankees hat. He's that serious.

Seriously, put on some techno, and Ryan Mack will dance!

One of my favorite pictures of my husband ever.

Some Stuff

Today the kids and I are just hanging out around the house...typical. Reese was able to take two trips out of the house this weekend for the first time. We went to the Home Depot on Friday to look for the lock for the patio door to keep Wyatt in, and yesterday was a big moment. She took her very first trip to Target. She lost a sock. We found it. We bought some stuff. She slept the whole time.

Last night we watched the final game at Yankee Stadium. I think they did it really well. Everyone today is commenting on the fact that Roger Clemens got left out of some video tribute and that he was missing from the ceremony, due the whole steroids scandal. I guess their main point is that Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi, two current Yankees, were included and honored. I think there's one big difference. Pettitte and Giambi have both acknowledged what they've done while Clemens is fighting it tooth and nail. Maybe if he'd just 'fessed up like everyone else there'd be no problems. I don't know. I honestly don't care. My favorite Yankees were all there, from Yogi Berra to Willie Randolph to Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez to the Captain himself, Derek Jeter along with Jorge Posada and Johnny Damon. I thought it was a great night and I enjoyed Derek Jeter's comments at the end of the game.


Brian and I are trying to finalize what we're doing for our anniversary tomorrow. To go out, or stay home and go out later. The main problem is the feeding situation with Reese. The advice we've gotten from the lactation consultant and the Pediatrician was to wait until she was 4 weeks old to give her a bottle to avoid nipple confusion. She had a bottle in the hospital and was fine with breastfeeding (and actually preferred it), but I don't want to chance her not wanting to keep breastfeeding. She's 4 weeks old today so she can have a bottle, but I thought about waiting until next week to give her one because she's only been breastfeeding for 3 weeks now. I never experienced problems with Wyatt after we gave him his bottle at first. He was only getting one occasionally and she would too. He only started having a few meltdowns when he started teething. And even then, he was fine. I don't want to put off giving her the bottle for too long because she'll need to take one when I go to work. I think that I will probably have Brian give her a bottle tonight (I won't give her any bottles so that she always expects breastfeeding from me) and then we might go to dinner tomorrow. And that's it.


Or maybe we'll do what we did last year and have all the things that we didn't get at our wedding reception for dinner. We had shrimp and sushi and chocolate covered strawberries....but we got none of it because the shrimp and the sushi were appetizers and we were still taking pictures (and the staff saved some for us, we just never got around to eating it), and the chocolate covered strawberries were gone before we knew it. We got the rest of the food, just not the stuff we'd paid extra to have! So last year on the night before our anniversary, we went to the restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner and then went and stayed at the hotel we stayed at after the wedding before we went on the honeymoon tour. That was the first time we left Wyatt alone overnight. The next day, on our actual anniversary, Brian surprised me with the shrimp, sushi, chocolate covered strawberry dinner (he made the strawberries himself) and we exchanged our gifts. I don't know what we're going to do, I hope we figure it out tonight!

Wyatt found the sports section form yesterday's paper, saw the football on the cover and said "Hut one, hut two," and started reading.

Readin about the Ryder Cup

Reese in her swing

Looking out the window

Update

The kids seem to be getting better, and they're taking their colds like little troopers. Both are still sleeping well and it's not getting them down. I just wish that they weren't sick!

Brian bought me my Rav-4 for Christmas last year and he didn't trade my old car (an '02 Nissan Sentra) in because he wanted it to be a surprise. We'd tried advertising to get the car sold to no avail and since it was paid off we just kind of forgot about it with the pregnancy and the demands on Brian's time in the summer. Yesterday we had the car jumped (it's literally been sitting in the driveway for 8 months) and Brian took it and got a new battery. He then took it to a local dealership that will buy your car even if you're not buying and got a really good deal. We'd heard that they were trying to get smaller cars with good gas mileage and my Sentra definitely fit that bill. We're both just excited that it's not in the driveway anymore and that we have the money for it. And we can take it off our car insurance policy. It's one big thing off of our to do list.

My dad finally came home from his long trip to Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and wherever else he got sent with the FEMA Team to wait for hurricanes to hit over the last three weeks. They got some clean up done in Texas and then came back. Today was the first time he'd seen Reese since she was 5 days old and still on the vent! And Wyatt's been walking around asking "Where Pop Pop go?" for goodness knows how long. We're all happy to have him back home!

Today we went to a new development not far from our current home to look at houses. We like our house for a lot of reasons, but there's things that are kind of prompting us to make a move. The main thing is the pool and the backyard. Clearly, even if you have grown kids who know how to swim pools aren't always that safe. With the current set up of the pool right off the back door, we really just worry as the kids get older. No matter what they'll have swim lessons and be little water babies, I just don't want to have to worry about it 24/7. Wyatt could get out of bed and go out to the pool, or I could be doing laundry and turn my back for just a second...it's scary stuff. Plus, the pool and the concrete literally take up our entire backyard. There's about a foot on all sides of the concrete with grass and Wyatt and Brian need room to play. We're not ruling out putting a pool in once the kids are older, I just worry about them now. Plus, our home owner's insurance will probably go down :).

Anyway, we both really like the new development, we're just trying to figure out if the timing is right. Brian is going to call our real estate agent this week and talk to him so we can see what he thinks. I'm not getting my hopes up, but I'd love to have a backyard and things that I get to pick out myself. All the models had tons of cabinet space (something we're lacking in this house), spacious rooms, awesome master suites (we're really spoiled in this house, our room and bathroom are huge and we need to find a place that the furniture set that we bought will fit), and we like the look of all of them. But I'm sure we'll do some more looking. We just want to find a place where we know we'll be for years with great schools for the kids (we have a really great elementary school now, I'm just not a huge fan of the middle and high schools).

Anyway, that's what we've been up to this weekend. Brian and I still have to find the time to go shopping for anniversary presents. Our two year anniversary is Tuesday, and we stick to the "traditional" gifts. Last year was paper, so we got each other gifts that had paper. I added pages to the scrapbook that Brian had made when he proposed with pictures of our wedding and Wyatt. Brian wrote me a love note :). This year is cotton, which shouldn't be hard but somehow is posing a challenge. Plus, Brian ruined it for himself because he also had a blanket made for me last year with our names and wedding date. Guess he didn't look ahead. That'd be a great second anniversary "cotton" gift :)!

Waiting to See

Reese woke up this morning sounding a little congested. I can't tell you how much I absolutely hate the fact that she's might be sick. I'm waiting to see how she sounds when she wakes up from her nap right now. There's no snot or anything and she seems fine when she's awake, but if she sounds bad when she wakes up I'll call the nurse's line at the Pediatrician's office. I don't know if this is bad given her history (it's weird to say that my 3 and a half week old has a history), so I'm waiting to see.


Wyatt seems to be okay with the exception of the snotty nose. He's stopped coughing (I guess that was just a one night thing) and he's his usual chipper self. I put him down for his nap and I'm hoping that the jet noise calms down for the next hour or two....he usually sleeps through it but they've been exceptionally loud today. I wouldn't live where I live if I didn't love jet noise (trust me - love it, appreciate all that they do!), but I'm trying to cut down on the power bill and leave the windows open! And they've literally been shaking the house all day. There's an air show this weekend and they have been practicing all week, and I've seen some jets here that I don't think stationed are here and are louder than our typical noise.


Here are some pictures of the sky outside our house last night. Brian was putting crabgrass killer down and came in and called me to come see, so we snapped a few shots. Those are followed by Reese wrapped up and ready for bed last night. She looked so cute!

And It's Official

I sucked a ton of snot out of Reese's nose with the nasal aspirator when she woke up crying (probably because she couldn't breathe through her nose), so I called the Pediatrician's office and left a detailed message including the fact that as of today she's only been out of the NICU for two weeks, why she was in the NICU and which doctor she sees in case they wanted to talk to him before the called me back.

In 5 minutes, they returned my call, had spoken to the Pediatrician and had a list of things for me to do. I need to give her saline drops before she eats a few times a day (done, we have some on hand), keep sucking all the gunk our of her nose, monitor her feedings and diapers, prop her up to sleep so everything can drain (by putting her in her swing or something under the mattress), and monitor her temperature. If she develops a fever or isn't eating or pooping or peeing regularly I need to call and they'll fit me in ASAP. I hope she gets better soon! I feel so bad for her!

Wyatt must be worn out from his cold. The day that I've set aside time to cut him fresh oranges and strawberries and have his lunch ready by 2 is the day that he extends his 2 hour nap to 2 and a half hours...and running! I used to feed him before his nap, but then he started falling asleep in his high chair, so I just give him a late snack...and apparently he's not hungry yet....

The Shiner

Wyatt has gotten two black eyes in the last six months. The first he earned running through the house and tripping and hitting the TV stand. That happened right before his one year pictures. The evidence is photographed and hanging on the wall. The pictures are really cute though.

The second he got when he tried to be brave and walk down the steps at my Mom's house (there's only 4) about 3 weeks ago. I saw him walk towards the stairs and jumped up right as he fell down the bottom two (I moved way faster than I should have considering that I'd just had a C Section 4 days before). I scooped him up (again, probably not something I should have done) and immediately knew his eye was about to turn black and blue. I broke down when that happened. Wyatt was screaming, and all I could think was that one of my babies was in the NICU and I couldn't even keep up with my other one. I think I cried with him for about 5 minutes.

Anyway, last night we had another black eye fall on the family. This one did not happen to Wyatt, it happened because of him. Wyatt and Brian were being boys and rolling around and Brian got whacked right under his eye by the unlikeliest of foes. A Wonder Pets toy. Wyatt has a little Wonder Pets traveling kit that almost folds up like a lunch box. Well he had it in his hand and swung his arm around and a sharp corner hit Brian's eye. Brian shouted "Ow!" and grabbed his eye and was bent over. Wyatt walked over to Brian and said "Where Daddy go?" because he thought that Brian was playing peekaboo. But he wasn't. I could tell he was getting a black eye as soon as I saw it. Fortunately, Brian recovered and has since moved on with his life...with a black eye.

The Assailant

Wyatt Allan - 17.5 months old

The Weapon

The Wonder Pets Save the Puppy Kit - it came with Linny, not Tuck, but I can't find Linny right now. That minuscule puppy is the one that Wyatt continually loses and asks us to find...or knows where it is and asks us to find anyway.

The Damage

Brian and the black eye. Pitiful.