Our Ball Player

Today Brice got his uniform, had his team pictures and instead of a regular practice, they had a practice game! Justin took him this morning for pictures and then the plan was to come home, have lunch and then head over to the ball field for the scrimmage. When Brice came home from pictures outfitted in his uniform, I seriously could've started crying. I knew this was the first of very many uniforms and I hope I will always remember that image.And when Robin and Larry arrived and Robin saw him for the first time, I could tell by her face, she was having a flashback! Little Justin was before her 26 years prior.
He must be proud, how often does he look at the camera AND smile?!
The weather was COLD and WINDY!!! Anna didn't seem to mind though. She toddled around for most of the game while Robin and Larry took shifts chasing after her.
Little snack, little boogers.
Brice did really well. First at bat, he got a single and the second at bat, a double. Both times, his teammates batted him home so he got to run the bases (his favorite). While in the field at second base, he grounded a ball for a stop! We are so proud of Our Ball Player!!! Go Pirates!

On first base with the first base coach, Justin.
Running home!
"In the Hole".

Ninety Minute Day

A couple of weeks ago, we all went out to dinner. On our way home, Brice asked what time bed time was. Seven-thirty, I replied. Usually, I have Anna in bed by seven but I think we were running late that night. I looked over at Justin and said, "Let's put them to bed and then sit on the couch together."

He said, "You mean, so we can have our ninety minute day?".

Pretty much. Kids in bed by seven-thirty. I'm half asleep by nine. So, yea, that gives Justin and I ninety minutes to unwind, review the day and preview the next day. Please tell me I'm not the only one in this boat!

Ben Dover

Do you know him? Because I do. Very well, actually, along with his sister Eileen Dover. Every parent must know these people because they will see them several times a day when picking up after their young ones. Ben, Eileen and I are all due for a massage, how about you?

Jack

Here is my darling nephew. How cute is he? I say, VERY cute. Of course, I have a thing for babies with tubes in their little noses. It's an occupational hazard, some would say. Jack is doing very well. Getting stronger with finishing his bottles everyday. I just keep praying that he gets to go home before Kelly hits the wall, if she hasn't already. Go, Jack, go! If I could, I would come to your room everyday and see you and sprinkle some beans on you so you could grow as tall as the beanstalk! We love you, little Jack!

G.I. Jane

The Prehistoric Party

We have now concluded the birthday week! Although I know that the dinosaur balloon will be floating above Brice's chair for at least another week. And it will probably take me a few days to get the gifts put away. But, all that said, the party was a success and we had a great turnout despite all the goings-on in our family right now (baby Jack, shingles, travelers, and a late comer). The important thing was that Brice had a great time and loved being the center of attention.Brice needed a pre-pizza snack.
Making a silly face. I wanted a picture of his shirt and ribbon.
Aunt Blaire digging in. We had three types of pizza: one for the carnivores (meat-lovers), one for the herbivores (garden fresh) and one for the omnivores (both veggie and meat). This is about as creative as I get as far as party themes!
Oh, and a zebra showed up to the party. Not sure she knew what era we were in!
Lots of gifts from all the generous family members!
A cool UGA book from Jonathan. It goes through the alphabet and references a Georgia player, coach, memory for each one. Very neat.
A game of horseshoe for when the weather clears up, warms up and stays that way! We got a little taste this past weekend and it was good for our souls!

A dinosaur fossil dig from Grandma and Grandad.
Mr. Camo thanks to the Wiese's!
And finally! The Wizard of Oz. When Brice was three he wanted to watch this movie but I thought he was too young. I told him when he turned five he could see it. I felt like it was so far away and here we are five years old. Hopefully, no nightmares of flying monkeys will interrupt our nights of sleep.
The paleontologist has lots of work to be done.
Blowing out that number 5 candle.
And this concludes our Prehistoric Party.

Anna Wuz Here

Carly-bunny, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

Birthday Boys!

Well, well, well. We have had quite the past 72 hours! Brice successfully turned five and we had the most wonderful day with him. He truly enjoyed his gifts, his school party and going to the aquarium. And what would a birthday be without a little excitement?

As most of you know Justin's sister Kelly was expecting a baby in March. Well, little Jack decided that February would be a much better month to be born in. We do after all have many February birthdays in the family! And so on Brice's birthday when I was at home doing some laundry we got the call that Kelly's water had broke. Needless to say, we all went into stress mode. She was 34 weeks and 5 days at this point. I, of course, knew all the ups and downs that this could bring. But to sum it up nicely, Kelly labored all night with a little help from pitocin, didn't have bad contractions until early in the morning (at which time that lovely man with the epidural appeared) on the 17th, pushed for 15 minutes and out Jackson David popped at 11:11am! He is a nice healthy weight of 5 lbs, 12oz and 19.5 inches long. He is doing beautifully in the same NICU where I work. I am trying not to be too nosy and keep my brain occupied until we get the word that he gets to go home. This is taking a lot of restraint on my part as I want to be there for him and for Kelly. Not to mention I am really wanting to hold him but know I have to leave this to the parents and grandparents right now. After all, Kelly got to come see my babies and get some love after I delivered, now it's my turn to be the aunt! So, Robin and Larry now have two Birthday Boys in February just a day apart. We are so excited for Kelly and Greg and wish them the best with their new baby boy!!! (No, I do not have pictures as I forgot to take my camera due to sheer excitement of seeing his little face.) I will try to get some soon though! For now, enjoy Brice's birthday pictures and like I said before, I will post more after the party on Sunday.Trying to guess what his present was...a new basketball!
And the goal to go with it! Which is still in the middle of the floor due to all the happenings going on!

Dinosaur candles I put on top of his cupcakes...we didn't light them, I didn't want to be the talk of the town for burning down the school.
Singing "Happy Birthday to Brice!". Red in the face!

We made it to the Aquarium (after a pit stop at Northside Hospital so I could calm Kelly down as much as possible, this is a hard feat, just ask Larry and Robin!)

Schooners anyone??? Grouper sandwich sounds good to me!
I loved these schools of fish the way they would change direction and a couple of them would forget and at the last minute turn the other way!
My sweet family enjoying the "wall" of fish. We stayed until it closed which was nice.
They had three or four penguins there. I think this was one of Brice's favorites.
Justin touching some slimy fish. After the lady said, "They secrete a mucous...", there was no way I was touching one of them!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BRICE AND JACK! YOU ARE BOTH SO LOVED AND WE CAN'T WAIT TO SPEND LOTS OF YEARS CELEBRATING YOU BOTH!!

Brice Turns FIVE!!!

Tomorrow my handsome boy will be five years old! Wow! He is such a kid. He is learning so much at school and has just become such a guy instead of a little boy. The way he talks is like a teenager sometimes. He has started what I know will be a long streak of sports. He is so sweet most of the time always thinking of others. I think this is probably my favorite attribute of his. He adores his little sister more than any mom could ask a brother to love his sister, always protecting her and correcting her if need be, "Anna Claire Reynolds....what did you do with...?".

It is very hard for me to believe that five years ago, he made me a mommy. I don't feel as though I'm five years older. He is almost as tall as me when I am on my knees! Brice is built just like Justin and tonight he was looking at his reflection in the mirror and said, "Mom, my eyes are now green.". And they are turning more green just like Justin's!

He is so well behaved that sometimes I wonder if he is stressed out by always thinking about being good. He is shy when in new situations or when he doesn't know someone very well. Most of my friends think that he never talks! Oh how I wish they could be a fly on the wall. Just tonight he said as he was getting out of the tub, "Remember when I slipped getting out of the tub when Nana was here?". I asked him if this was last week when Robin was here. "No, it was a long time ago, maybe 2009 or 2008 when I didn't know what year it was."!

Brice is so excited about his birthday. He has had a spring in his step since January turned to February. Tomorrow (the 16th, his actual birthday) I am taking cupcakes with dinosaur candles on top to school along with a dinosaur project. Then Justin, Anna and I are picking him up from school and taking him to the Aquarium. He wanted to do this because I've never been, not just because he wants to go. I asked him if he wanted Anna to go and he said, "Yes, she'll love it!". So, we will have a very busy day tomorrow and I wanted to go ahead and wish him a HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY on the blog. I know I will enjoy tomorrow just being with my BIRTHDAY BOY!

His party is this coming Sunday so get ready for some ferocious photos!

Happy Valentine's Day From the Man

Snow Man that is! I took these pictures on Saturday after I built Brice a snowman. I can't remember the last time I made a snowman. Today for Valentine's Day we've all been hanging out. My dad came up and got Brice for the day and night so Justin, Anna and I napped which was awesome!!! Thank you, Dad! Most of the snow has melted and we are forecasted to possibly get some more tonight. We shall see...two more days til the big birthday!!Little Anna admiring her "sweeties" out the window. She was content to walk around with her footie jammies on, coat and hat! My kind of girl.
And she talked on the "phone", it's my old cell phone. She holds it to her ear and jabbers away. She is handing it to me in the picture below so that I can open it for her.

And speaking of footie jammies, here is a cute conversation I had with Brice the other day. I put it on Facebook too so some of you may have already read it.

"Mom, when you go to Heaven are you naked or do you wear clothes?"

"You can do whatever you want in Heaven, I'm going in my pajamas"

"Me too, my footie jammies, if they have some big enough because I'll probably be really old when I go."!

Snow on the Fourteenth Month

We have snow! And I mean real snow! We ended up getting about four inches. I took a lot of these pictures before the majority of it fell. I didn't know it was going to keep coming. Brice had fun out in it until he was soaking wet and then he wasn't such a fan! Anna enjoyed the chill of the air and just watching it. Once I put her down in it...well..you'll see the pictures below...
Our Mr. Potato Head snowman ended up covered in snow!

Self picture with my almost birthday boy.



Not so sure about walking in it!


And, Anna is now FOURTEEN MONTHS OLD!!! So hard to believe, time is just ticking away. She is wild, running around, very loud, some days she is more willing to try new words, other days, she just whines and grunts and points. We are trying to be patient with this! She knows where her nose and toes and hair are. She also likes to point to herself when we ask her "Where's Anna?" and then she loves to clap for herself when she gets positive feedback for anything! She has become even more attached to Carly-bunny, hugging her and putting her in my face to kiss and hug her! There is no substitute for Carly as we found out one evening a couple of weeks ago. Her naps are leaving little to be desired lately, I think she is just in between needing one nap and two naps. Most days she is a good eater and loves her milk. Adores Brice and her Daddy! And we adore her!