Perfectly Imperfect Mom

It has been quite a busy month for us. I actually have had issues with my internet as well so I haven't been able to really update.

Ash, me and Branden in Magic Kingdom

We went to Orlando for Christmas and it was great. My cousin and her family came over from Dubai and it was so awesome seeing her. She has two beautiful boys and I do mean beautiful. These kids are insanely good looking. The 2 year old Max has these insane blue eyes and gorgeous tan skin. Both boys have long eye lashes and just sweet faces. I can't believe she is a Mom. She never wanted children but now she has two.

Ashley with all her niece and nephews

We went to Magic Kingdom on the 23rd and it was a lot of fun. Ace was such a good boy. I got so many compliments on what a great baby he is which made me very proud. My brother's family also met up with us and their baby Gavin who is about 2 months younger then Ace is almost the same size as him. He is such a peanut. Both the babies were great and all the kids had fun. That night we went to Celebration because it "snows" every hour at night and by snow they mean foam. It was really cute. We got out there with Ace and he kept looking around like what is this!? We got some cute pictures of that night.

Tree in Celebratio

The next day we went to Epcot and it was so hot. I couldn't believe it. We got through the park pretty fast because we got there when it opened and then left early. We later went to my Aunt and cousin's hotel pool and hung out with a lot of my other cousins from my Mom's side and Aunts and Uncles. Unfortunately my sweet angel baby turned into a pissed off little guy. He started really teething that night and he was miserable. He had a hard time going to sleep and kept screaming in pain. I felt so awful for him. We had to leave early but it was probably for the best. I wish we could have spent more time with my cousins but thats life. Then when we got to our hotel we had Ace open two presents, he got a silver FAO rattle from my parents which he LOVED! I really wanted it for him because babies just love those old fashion ones.

Christmas Eve 2011

ICE

"Snow" in Celebration

Christmas Eve

This was at a Christmas party the week before we left

5 months old!

Yesterday Ace turned 5 months old! He is such a big boy now. He is such a fun little guy too. He tries to "talk" to us and squeals, laughs, blows bubbles and gurgles. He is really into his hands still and has started bringing toys to his mouth. He loves his Sophie giraffe and round teethers and rings. He still has not rolled over but I am not concerned. I think he just doesn't care to try. When he is on his stomach he kicks his legs and pushes himself forward so I don't think he thinks of turning over and when he is on his back he does turn almost over but then rolls back flat. He will get there.
He also is an amazing sleeper! Last night was the first time he slept from 8:30 to 7:40 without getting up at all. He usually gets up around 5 or 6 and then will sleep till about 8:30 or 9 but I was surprised he went that long. He also can be put in his crib and will usually just fall asleep with little to no fussing. Just now I was holding him and he was getting sleepy so I just laid him in his crib with his blankie (I lay it underneath him) and he went right to sleep.
I feel incredibly blessed to have such a good baby. The first 8 weeks were rough. I never imagined he would be this easy going and happy. I just love him so much.

We had a great time on our trip to Tennessee to see Branden's family. We stayed in a cabin in the Smokey Mountains which was so scary to drive to but since we got the picture perfect view cabin it was one of the highest ones and wow, it really was a picture perfect view.
While we were there we drove down to Gatlinburg and just hung out and had lunch with Branden's Mom, step-dad, cousin and her husband. Then we went back to the cabin and hung out, had dinner and played games. The next day we just kind of relaxed and tried to find a Christmas ornament. We try to get one from every place we visit. Then we came back and that night did a Christmas with his family since we won't get to spend it with them. Ace got some awesome gifts from his siblings. Ace loved the wrapping paper and did pretty good "unwrapping" his presents. Branden helped but he was hitting the boxes with his little hand. He was so adorable. The we exchanged secret Santa gifts.
Our drive back wasn't too bad but it felt like we would never get home. Ace did great in the car again and pretty much slept the entire time. He hates the car normally so I was shocked he did so well both times.

Thursday was my last test and I now have my Bachelors in Psychology. It took me forever to get it because well, let's face it, it's my personality. I take forever to do anything. My Dad always described my sister and me as the tortoise and the hare. Ashley is always fast at doing things but sometimes does things so fast that she can make a mistake, this isn't always the case but its funny how fast she can pick something up and wing it. Me on the other hand, I really like to analyze things, make sure its done right and I take my time. So after forever and a day I will have my degree.

Nothing else too exciting has been going on here. We are getting ready to go to Disney/ Orlando for Christmas. I am beyond excited about this. My cousin Tara, who was always like an older sister to my sister and myself will be flying in from Dubai and I haven't seen her in 10 years! She was always the fun cousin and now has two boys and a husband, she never wanted kids so its funny that she now has a family. My cousin Tom and Aunt Lillie and Uncle Dave are flying down to see them and we will get to spend Christmas together! I can't wait!

I will update with pictures from our trip later!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. It is Ace's first and we are spending it in Tennessee with Branden's family. I really miss my family but it is nice to be somewhere where it is cold and looks like Fall. We drove up here Monday, it ended up taking 14 hours and Ace slept most of the way, thankfully since he hates the car. Then his brother, sister and brothers girlfriend got here Tuesday and we went to dinner and then his cousin and her husband came over to give us some awesome news.
Then Wednesday we went to Nashville. I have always wanted to go. We went to downtown and had lunch then met up with my friend Heather, who I met on BBC after my miscarriage 3 years ago. She also has a little boy who is a month older then Ace and so it was nice to finally meet her in person. It was funny because her son is a month older but looks so tiny compared to Ace.
After that we went over to the Country Music Hall of Fame and just walked around that area and went up this bridge that was there. It was really pretty over there. Then we came home, had dinner and just hung out.
Today everyone is watching football. I am not a fan. This was not my tradition growing up. We would wake up watch the parade (which we did do this year) and then go to a movie and head to my grandma's and everyone hung out by the pool talking, kids running around or in the pool if it was warm and listening to music. Then we would eat around 4 and sit around and talk some more. I miss Thanksgivings at my grandparents so much. It was my favorite holiday growing up. My grandma was an amazing cook and my grandpa was the sweetest man that there ever was which is why my son is named after him. I think it is nice to be able to share holidays with my family and Branden's but I do think next year we are going to go to a movie like I used to do. Ace is too young this year but maybe next year.
Anyway here are some pictures from our trip so far.

In Nashville

First Thanksgiving!

Ace and Nathan at Maggie Moos

Nashville

Mr. Handsome ready for the cold!

4 months

2 weeks old

My baby boy turned 4 months old on the 16th. Today was his 4 month check up and he is in the 25th percentile for everything.

Weight: 15lbs
Height: 24.5inches

He got two shots and a "cocktail" drink. I hate shots! His little legs always hurt him afterwards.

Right now Ace is really into making noises, squealing, laughs and ahhs.  He loves his hands, obsessed! He is super drooly right now too. He really likes his bouncer and playmay and we just put him in his super seat yesterday for the first time while I was cooking and he did awesome in it.

Tonight he had his first try at food. We gave him squash, he only had a few bites but his doctor said to go ahead and just start and see how he does.

Oh and last night he blew rasberries at me for the first time. He is always making bubbles and kind of does this noise that sounds like he is going to do them but actually did it last night. It was so cute.

I have been terrible about updating. With working part-time and being home with Ace during the day I have little time to update.
First I want to update on Ace's first Halloween. It was rainy and we had already planned to go meet up with my cousins at the mall since it was their baby's first Halloween as well. It was cute seeing the boys dressed up together. Colton is almost 7 months old then Ace and he kept staring at him and touching his arm. It was adorable.

Ace with one of his girlfriends Riley

After the park we went to lunch with my cousins and got the cutest picture of Adonis. 

Today has been a rough day. I woke up to my husband saying Brenna, come here and look. I look at our dog beds and there is blood on them. I knew it was from Tyson. His tumor has gotten big and I just knew it must have been bleeding so I went outside since Bran had let them out and looked and he was bleeding but not bad. He ate his breakfast then I called my Mom and she said I think you need to bring him in to be checked. I said I don't want to bring him in just to tell me he is dying. I know he is going to die from this I just don't see the point. I got off the phone and Bran went golfing with his buddy and I fed the baby then noticed Tyson was bleeding again. I put Ace in his pack n play and cleaned off his mouth and sat with him and called the vet to see about getting him pain meds. He said to bring him in since the tumor was in his mouth, he said pain meds won't help. I called my Mom and she said Dr. Stone won't put him to sleep if he doesn't think he needs to, he is good about that. So we brought him in and his assistant said he didn't look good, she said him breathing from one nostril is not a good thing and he sounded terrible. She was very sweet and I started crying and she gave me tissues and my Mom too. We both knew when Dr. Stone came in he was going to tell us we needed to put him to sleep. The second he came in and saw his tumor and heard him, he said I'm sorry but we have to put him to sleep. He is swallowing the blood and it's not going to stop bleeding. He will bleed to death if you take him home. We cried and they had me sign a paper and he said now come at his head and I just couldn't sit there and watch them put him to sleep. I felt like I was going to throw up. Even Dr. Stone said he could tell it was too much for us and he wasn't comfortable doing it with us there if we couldn't handle it. My mom stayed with him and then he asked me to come back so he could show me the tumor so I felt better about our decision to put him down and once I saw inside his mouth I knew we did what was right. I trust him very much so I knew when he said it that it was the right decision but this just sealed it. I felt bad looking into Tyson's eyes and leaving the room but he gave him something to go to sleep first then they put him to sleep for good. I miss him already and I wish he never got sick but he was an amazing dog and I am glad I got to spend those 5 and a half years with him. God gave me him because something was missing in my life I am sure of it and when I got pregnant with Ace he got sick so maybe it was God's way of making losing him easier. My precious baby boy sat and laughed and smiled and cheered me up and now he is sleeping and letting me mourn Tyson's loss.

I have a friend who is insanely talented. She is super crafty and does all these awesome projects she does and then posts them on her blog. She also makes these adorable tutus. She is having a giveaway right now and it's actually a three piece giveaway which would be adorable on any little girl. Go to her blog and read all about it!
The Craft Crazy Mom

Since I totally suck at updating lately I am going to just post a cute video of my adorable son!

This was taken yesterday. I know, I know, he is turning into a total chunk!

My parents had a little family Halloween party yesterday. It was super cute and fun. We had lots of Halloween treats and a pumpkin carving contest. We dressed Mr. Man in his bumblebee costume and he looked super adorable. My brother's kids also came and they dressed up and my newest nephew was a pumpkin. We got a lot of cute pictures too. Ace is 15 weeks old as well and he is just getting to be more and more fun each day. Today he was grabbing his new froggy toy and it was just so cute watching him try to grab it and pull it to his mouth. Soon enough he will really be playing with his toys. I just love that little guy so much!

How cute are the ghost ones? My Mom is so cute!

15 weeks old!

Adonis and Gavin

My sister got this for Adonis' first Xmas!

We had a great weekend! Friday Branden and I went to an Oktoberfest with some friends and they had different beer venders there giving out samples. I rarely drink so I had a buzz going on, then we went and had food from the food trucks, I love those! My bestfriend Maggie and I split nachos, which were awesome. Bran and my sister had food from a hot dog one and they seemed to like it. My parents watched Squish, which was awesome of them. I don't know what I would do without their help. I would never go anywhere.

Saturday I met up with some girls from my Mommy Meet Up group. There was five of us and Adonis was the youngest baby like usual. He slept through most of it after he had his bottle but was really good the times he was awake.

Sunday I went to my uncle's house and had dinner with my parents, sister and cousins. Adonis was of course the center of attention and so cute. I am super close with my cousins so I just love seeing them with him. We also got back our pictures from our photo session last week. We got some really great shots. That's about it for our weekend!

Bran spray painting it after it was primed

The finished product, it's not that dark in person

I have a new obsession and it's name is Pinterest! I am trying to be better at organizing, cooking and home projects and this is the perfect site to help with it.
So far I have gotten a lot of recipes and home ideas. I have this nightstand from my Grandma's house after she passed and I do not want to mess it up so I found a few ideas on what I can do with it to make it look refreshed. I also want to get something to put in our kitchen for extra storage. I am thinking I need some kind of long dresser/shelf thing. I want to do a vintage, shabby chic look in there since our kitchen is very old fashion looking and so I am still on the hunt but I found this really cool mirror with three sections. The one in the middle is a circle and the two sides are rectangles. So far we have primed it and will paint it a teal color and then glaze it. I am then going to paint the glass with chalkboard paint so I can put a to-do list, menu and shopping list on each section.
I will post pics once I upload them. I am hoping to finish the mirror on Wednesday since Branden has off and he can help me with it and hopefully we can find a piece for the kitchen, we tried Salvation Army but they had a power outage from the storm and Ace was cranky so we are going to try another day.
Here is my Pinterest so you can see some of my recipes and home ideas!
http://pinterest.com/bren3784/

First Pumpkin Patch visit!

October has been quite the busy month for Mr. Ace. He had his first beach visit, pumpkin patch visit and turned 3 months old!
My big beautiful boy is 3 months old today and I just fall more in love with him everyday. He is just so sweet and silly. He smiles and laughs and is so happy now. He used to be so cranky due to his tummy issues but now he really is such a joy.
Last night he had his first pumpkin patch visit. It was nice to go at night because it was cool out and there wasn't really anyone else there. My bestfriend and her boyfriend met up with us and we took some pictures and got a few baby pumpkins.
Today we had his 3 month photos taken as well as a few family ones and ones of him in his bumblebee costume. He looked so incredibly cute. The photographer has the photos still but we got a few snapshots from our phones. I can not wait to get the CD with all his pictures.

My 3 month old angel

Brunch at Beverly Hills Cafe

Today my precious prince is 13 weeks old. He is so amazing.
In a bit we are going to go to a pumpkin patch to take some pics and get a pumpkin and see some friends. Then tomorrow we are taking his 3 month photos at another pumpkin patch. I can not wait. We have a few outfits so I hope we get some good pictures. We are also going to take some family ones for our Christmas card.
Last night we took Squish to the beach for the first time. It took us forever to get down there and find somewhere to park. We spent more time then at the beach. We got some cute pictures though.

Bran putting Ace's feet in the water