Brennen 2 mths

Okay so Bryce started school and Brennen turned 2 mths, sent off for his passport, finally figured out his sleeping and eating habits and how we can all stay sane bc that is kind of important since Daddy isn't around. He can stay awake for about an hour and a half before he needs to hit the bed. He is NOT a snuggler when tired...IE when it is time to sleep he is not going to fall asleep on you. So swaddle him up and put him in bed or he will just scream at you. He loves to be outside and that can calm him immediately, eats and nurses well or will take a bottle, his fists and fingers are his new toys.

He will snuggle, just not when he is sleepy

Silly faces

This tummy time thing is great



He also loves the pool.

MMMM loves to chew on Sophie

Bryce starts Pre-School

Well we roll back into IN as a family of 4 and finally we are staying put for awhile. We realized that we might need to start Bryce in a preschool program. Not the best situation as we are in Korea, IN, and where ever the Air Force sends us in the spring....but he might be starting Kindergarten in the fall depending on where we are since he has an August birthday and if we feel he is really ready. So we visited a couple of places and what a blessing that less than a block from Mom's is a great preschool and he started right away. Lets just say it was interesting to be on the other side of this with my child....I held back the tears...sort of....he did too kind of...although letting go of my leg was a little harder. The sweet secretary even called me and hour later to tell me the teacher had come in and told her he was doing great! School is from 7:45-11:00 and he goes 3 days a week. So we aren't really an early family and very thankful that Daddy was there those first few weeks to get Bryce to school, while I was feeding Brennen. Then Daddy left and I had to get him there...that has been a challenge.
1. Bryce doesn't like to get out of his PJs
2. Nor eat breakfast with any kind of speed
3. Brennen either needs to eat, is still sleeping, or has a full blow out as we are walking out the door...yes this has happened more than once.
In the end Bryce has loved school, his new friends and we can get out the door...some mornings are just crazier than others. He is giving me a run for my money on attempting to write his name....but don't leave any paper laying around with importance bc it might get hole punched or cut into tiny pieces. I am only saying this bc the child has fine motor skills just no desire to put them to use with writing....I am sure it will come before I hang him by his stubborn toes. :) As he got into his routine getting home as fast as he could was important at first bc there was no way he was going to poop at school...I just can't do that Mommy, so don't send Gaga to pick me up anymore bc I can't walk Buster around the block I need to get home. But he informed me that he can do that now at school and it is no big deal. I also learned that free play time is very important to him as he started showing up in my room around 6:15 am, which for him is super early. Well Mommy he would say to me, it is a school day so that is okay and we won't have to hurry and I can have time to play before the clean up music starts to play. :) We already had to say good bye to those classmates, but we will see them again in the spring for a little while. There will be another post when we start this all over again in Korea with new challenges.

Bryce and Mrs. Gansman

First field trip and got to ride on a school bus...he decided it wasn't
as much fun as he thought it would be. He said Mommy there
wasn't anything to do but sit there and it was way too loud.

Exploring the pumpkin patch
 

So Brian was able to be with us for 10 days after Brennen was born and all was going well. A week after he left I found myself calling 911 for myself while home alone with the boys. I felt fine and recovery was awesome compared to baby number 1 :) But long story short I had to have an emergency D&C and then my body decided it should pass out a couple of times (great) so an MRI a few days in the hospital and no real reason for the passing out...I was released with a clean bill of health...but I did have to start the recovery process over again. Lets just say that this had me more worried than having the baby without my husband....In the end all is well :)

Then a week later we (the boys, My aunt, uncle, cousin, and their dog) hit the road to Colorado in one car by the way....yup that was 1219 miles (20hrs and 49 mins) oh and that is just one way. The boys did great and stopping to nurse only added 2hrs daily to our two day drive :) But we had an awesome time in the mountains and Daddy got to join us for the last week to start his midtour...hard to believe we are half way through our Korea tour.

The family at the Lake San Cristobal over look

Chunky Monkey 8 wks old

Sleepy boy....lets just say that Brennen was giving me a run for my money the first few weeks at the cabin and he spent a lot of time in this or the becco.....ahhh thank you love for growing out of that terrible stage and being a good baby as I write this and you are 3 mths old :)

There was a lot of bone searching and use of the rubber band gun.

Bryce thought it was a good idea to take a picture with both boys in snuggie PJ's...Brennen not so much

There was a lot of this.....

Beautiful fall colors



and more of this

The views just can't be captured in a photo

We are building a new fence at the cabin and Bryce was on the demolition team

We picked up Daddy in Grand Junction and did some hiking



Colorado National Monument



Walking down to the lake to fish

My sweet boys!

Hey a few months late is better than not at all! August is full of Birthdays for us everyone but daddy....Aug 1, 16, & 19 are big days in our family. Brennen was born on Aug 1st, Bryce turned 4, and Mommy well lets just say worn out this birthday but with such a happy sleepy heart :)

 Bryce was very excited to have his first birthday party with his Evansville cousins.

 Our family of 4 :)

 The Cars Ice Cream cake was a big hit!

 My brother's!

Water balloon fights are the best!

Bryce 4, Avery 5, Addison 6, Kaleigh 8, Gavin 9



Brennen Rhodes

Since I almost have a 3 mth old I thought I should finally post this. I will just skip the part where I had 3 different OB's and Korea was terrified to see me due to the meds I was on to keep the pregnancy it was a crazy pregnancy to say the least....but I feel blessed to have made it back to family and to have another very sweet little boy. Well here I was @ 38 wks right before my routine stress test. I was having some issues with my amniotic fluid. I was scheduled to be induced 5 days from this day and I was told it was too low when I went in and I wasn't going home and we were having a baby tomorrow. Well being induced kind of sucked, I didn't sleep at all, just what you need before you have a new born right? I waited until late that night (6 am in Korea) to call Brian and let him know that he needed to be ready via skype. Then he wanted to talk to the nurse as if he didn't believe what I was telling him....whatever...The next morning went much smoother than the night before. My nurses were awesome I didn't have to push long, Brian was next to me on the computer and my Mom and Aunt were in the room with me.

 Brennen Rhodes (after his great grandparents) 8lbs 10oz

 The first time Bryce sees Brennen, he is only kind of excited

 Bryce has been a very good big brother! He loves to read him stories and sing songs to him.

 Gaga doesn't spoil him at all.

 Guess who surprised me and showed up. That explained why he needed to talk to the nurse to see if anything could be delayed or how long it might take tomorrow. He was catching a flight out and thought he would be here a few days before I was to be induced and he didn't want to be on the flight and miss all of it....God was with us in so many ways....He stayed home from work and just as they took Brennen to be washed up he needed to go to a meeting and was going to be out of touch due to a mini exercise....IE just in time to catch the bus to the airport and show up at the hospital 27 hrs after Brennen was born.

Our little one with all of his flowers....

 

Needless to say I was shocked to see Brian and all the nurses were in on the surprise and were hiding outside my door as he skyped with me as he walked down the hallway and into my room.Sorry this is so late but now I can at least start posting other things and will try and do better. We spent all of Sept in Colorado and before that my wireless stopped working so I am very behind. Hope to catch up soon and at least back post before we head back to Korea in a few weeks.

 

Opps a month passed

Well Bryce and I made it back from Korea and I didn't swell up like a watermelon so that is a plus :) Bryce was great again and I wasn't too uncomfortable....the stewardess gave me a full giant water bottle that helped too. The only down fall was bc of turbulence they didn't serve dinner until like 8:30 and Bryce was so excited to eat the good airplane food he would rather complain about how hungry he was instead of eat the other food I had brought. All in all it worked out great and the sweet Korean girl that sat next to Bryce helped him pick up things that he dropped bc Mommas belly made it kind of hard to get things from the ground.
We then spent a week and a half in Pitt with Brian's family. There was lots of swimming, eating, playing with cousins and adjusting to jet lag. I was even lucky enough to get my much needed hair cut and highlighted and an afternoon at the outlets with Grandma. Thanks to Aunt Kelly, Grandma, and Papa for entertaining and chasing after Bryce.
I can't complain enough about tricare (our insurance) no matter how early or on top of things I was they still screwed it all up. So after several hours on the phone, me in tears, I did figure it all out or tell them how to do their JOB...they were killing me. So I finally did get to meet my delivering OB and thankfully since I had all of one choice, I do like him. All is well, thinking of inducing me and I will know more next Tuesday when I go back. Please pray for us since Brian will not be here and really I am trying not to turn into an emotional basket case. Just gotta love the military, leadership positions, and major exercises.
Bryce is very excited about his brother, back in Feb he named him Squeaky Cranberry, yup and he still calls him that today. Bryce is still confussed and after visiting Papa and Gaga's house thinks we should be moving back to CAFB and tell those people that are renting our house to get out we are home.
Dr is thinking of inducing me Aug 6, but he doesn't think I will make it that long. I went in the other day and the baby is 6.5lbs and I am only 35 wks. The 100 plus temps I could do without, but otherwise we are good. Lucky for me Gaga , (Great too) Aunts, Uncles, and 4 extra cousins as playmates have kept Bryce busy. Although I will say that he has been showing his colors as of late and time out has been his friend....UGGGG lets just say I hope he works through this soon.

A few more pictures to add from the last few wks



The Seoul Zoo! This was an adventure that is worth writing about. We went with a girl friend and her little boy Asa...this was the best we could get them to both look at us.... The adventure started on the way to the train station....1hr and 40min and two trains later we made it. There is a ski lift to take you to the top of the zoo and work your way back down. Guess what our jog strollers couldn't go..so we walked and walked to the top...bob stroller and all 40lb child, prego momma equals tired momma. We laughed as we saw a free bus to the top and tram....none of which we saw at the bottom or how to get on them..there wasn't anything in English that would help us anyway. Oh and there was lots of chicken on a stick, silkworms, and snails to eat on the way up the mtn if we were hungry.

Here we are at a bar (Geckos)for a work going away dinner. Bryce had lots of fun playing pool. I met Brian there he told me when I entered the stairwell I might think I am in an abandoned building...he informed me it wasn't and to walk to the 3rd floor. Glad I knew that bc we would have walked right back out....the stairs going down were a mess and looked scary.

This is the main shopping district right outside of base and as you can tell bryce is kind of done.

Bryce, Asa, Aaron and Brian at the jet...Bryce tried to take off running up the wing when this was over...it was awesome

Learning about the F16, as you can see Bryce isn't pushing any buttons

IN the engine of an F16...lawn dart an all was still fun to go out to the flight line



Lots of food cart options too...not a chance I will be eating any of that ever....We have seen lots of raw chicken on sticks sitting in the sun waiting to be cooked when the crowds come later in the day....come on raw chicken can sit out forever right and then they just cook off the whatever...YUCK
Sorry I can't get this picture back where it is suppose to be....