May

I just love his CHEESE face

The month of May was ALL OVER for us. Dan was still wrapping up some jobs from busy season and was out of town for a couple weeks- one for work and another for training. I think it's safe to say and we're in summer mode now! He worked very hard and did awesome this busy season balancing all that's been asked of him. We love him!

We also love Brooks' newest obsession with shoes

It's funny how some kids are just drawn to the mud

Brooks spiked a fever one Sunday night with no other symptoms. I gave him some medicine, thinking it was teething and tried to get him to sleep. The next morning I new something was off when his fever climbed to 103. In the year and a half that I've had Brooks we've been lucky that he's never passed 101. Poor thing was miserable. Needed Bronco, binky, snuggles and a movie. I took him into his pediatrician and although he wasn't showing any other symptoms (yet!) she made a bet that it was Hand Foot Mouth. She recommended ibuprofen, liquids and quarantine so that's what we did.

Poor bud you could just tell he felt awful. His fever took 4 days to break, but when down each day. By day 2 his spots started to appear. We were very lucky that new only had less than a dozen bumps and none blistered. Most were on his face.

 I tried to get a picture here but they were hard to see through a lense.

Side note: I made black bean burgers and they were gross. Pass the cow please!

The moments he was feeling better we took full advantage of it and let him play!

Day 4 we had full blown cold symptoms with watering eyes, coughing and so much snot. It was hard to tell if it was allergies (because I was feeling it), teething or part of HFM.

 So miserable! Poor guy was also cutting all four canines.

Thankfully from then on he just got better and better each day. He was sick for a full week! Then the following week I got it! Thankfully on a lesser scale with no bumps.

More mud!

 On Mother's Day I was surprised with flowers and treats! Dan took Brooks on a walk and these are what he brought back for me, love it!

 This was all on the next Sunday. Brooks wasn't 100% to go to nursery so he and I stayed home.

After we were all free from the plague we went to Brooks' first dental appointment. I was sure he was going to cry, scream and throw a fit (like he does at the pediatrician) but he actually did ok! Some tears and resistance because he was scared but when he realized the dentist was only brushing and looking at his teeth he calmed down. So naturally I took him to fro-yo as a reward. Was is more for me.. or him..? haha!

 While eating our froyo these ladies at the table next to us were just loving on Brooks and seriously were trying to convince me to get him into baby modeling. Guess I'm not the only one who thinks he's cute!

Our school district has an AWESOME free program called Parents As Teachers for kids 0-K. You have a Teacher that helps guide you through teaching and raising your child! They come over once a month and bring fun activities so they can learn through play. She gives me heads up of what to expect developmentally and what activities are helpful for gross-motor, fine-motor skills, cognitive, social etc. They have 2 additional activities every month and it's just been so awesome for us to do! Since it's the end of the school year they had a family field day with super fun activities for all the kids. Brooks loved the balls and the water station (surprised? nah)

At the end they had a race down and back the width of the field. I wasn't sure if Brooks would do it but we just went for it. I ran with him to show him what to do but as soon as he saw his teacher at the other side he actually started running. Then we turned around and came back. By that time everyone else had already finished because Brooks was the smallest to do it. Everyone was waiting at the finish line, cheering him on! That smile on his face was so priceless! Ah it's even making me tear up just writing about it! He was so happy and I loved it! He got a medal and some excellent hat hair. 

We're in Texas so it's already HOT. So that means swimming! Our community pools opened up this month and I'm sure we've been over a dozen times already.  Brooks is getting used to his puddle jumper (hated it at first) but he loves the water!

After Brook's dental appointment we learned he had no cavities and that he has my mouth structure. He's 4 times more likely to chip or break a front tooth because they stick out. I have a big overbite so... you're welcome! It's mostly genetic but can be exaggerated by binky use. So after the appointment and now that everyone was feeling better we cut ties with the binky, cold turkey. He only used it during the day and never needed it to sleep. Brooks was pretty sad and mad the first day. He kept asking for his, "Dinky? Pease?" and it broke my heart but I didn't give in!The next few days he asked for it less and less and then we were done!

Binky free!

Our local Chick Fil A is awesome and always has fun, family friendly events. They had a mobile petting zoo and I KNEW we had to go. Brooks was over the moon IN LOVE with it. They had goats, sheep, a cow, pig, donkey, rabbit and chickens. Brooks was running around petting all of the them, doing all the animal noises while the other kids stood back scared. He loved it when the cow licked him and was so soft with the animals. We went in and ate some dinner then came back out for some more animals. The organizer of the event just loved Brooks' animals noises and enthusiasm.

Once Dan was back in town we decided to go bowling! The place we went didn't have any launchers for kids so we put the bumpers up and helped him push it. He would push the ball, watch it and clap for himself. He bowled maybe 10 times then was uninterested and just watched and cheered for us. We had a lot of fun! We went to the arcade in there and let Brooks drive then got some ice cream on the way home.

We had an awesome Memorial Day! Our ward had a breakfast that morning, we went swimming then took naps. We had some lunch, played outside then went to a friends house for dinner and more swimming. It was a wonderful time and that's when Brooks really started to get comfortable in deep water with his floaty on. It was just an awesome night.

 "Smile!" vs " Say Cheese!"

Update on Nursery: He still hates it haha! He starts crying even before he walks in and still cries even if we're in there. They brought him to me on Sunday because he was just screaming, "MAMA!" Please tell me it'll just take time and consistency right? Anyways during sacrament Brooks lept out of Dan's arms because he was being crazy and fell right into the pew. The next day I kept trying to 'scrub' the 'dirt' off his ear then realized it was a bruise and put it all together. I had no idea you could bruise cartilage. Took about 10 days to clear up but it's all healed now.

One on my best purchases this summer was cones for ice cream. Except for the fact he looks so big holding his own cone!

And the last thing that happened in May was that we bought a new dishwasher! I couldn't get our old one to run just once more so I had a laundry basket of dirty dishes until they came the next day to install the new one. I LOVE it and we got it on sale. Linked here.

My want list for a dishwasher was very minimal:

1.Right price range

2. Hidden buttons (hello toddlers!)

3.Runs

So as you can see we found the perfect fit! I love it, it washes and dries and my toddler can't stop it half way through by pushing ALL the buttons. Happy Mama!