weigh ins

Today we took both boys to the doctor for their weight checks.

Bates, of course, screamed, cried, and carried on.... just sitting on the scale. And Brodie, of course, was all smiles and happy.

Good news is they both gained weight!

At 16 1/2 (almost) months, Brodie weighs 19 1/2 pounds.

At 31 months (almost), Bates weighs 24 1/2 pounds.

They are both still below the growth chart curve, but we are staying consistently below it. Although, I bet next time we go, Brodie will be on the charts!!!

We also talked to the doctor about Bates' throwing up, which he's been doing quite frequently recently. He's also been coughing, which is leading to lots of the throw up incidents.

Bates is now on nightly breathing treatments and a morning pill. The doctor seemed to think that due to his past medical history he might be getting asthma, and coughing is often the first symptom in kids his age.

So, we got to bring Puff the Penguin home with us.




Bates was obsessed with Puff. He carried him around the house and wouldn't nap without Puff in the bed! After nap, we talked about how before bed we were going to give Puff some medicine and Bates was going to have to help by wearing his super hero mask.

So at bedtime, we piled on the bed and gave our first breathing treatment a go while we read books.







He did really well for about 5 minutes, then the mask was bothering him so we took it off and held it to his face.












But then he was DONE




We got about 95% of the medicine in him I'd say and it wasn't worth holding him down and making him take the rest of the treatment on the first night, so we called it quits for tonight. Not too bad I'd say!

Although, it is 11 and Bates is currently upstairs with Nick watching Mouse cause he would not or could not fall asleep. I'm hoping the breathing treatments aren't making his wired. The doctor said she was giving us the one that shouldn't keep him awake... hoping this is a fluke! I don't know what is worse, the throw up or the fact he is up till 11!!!

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big boy bed, take 2

We recently tried to get Bates back out of our bed and into his own bed. We made a big deal about him getting a big boy bed, bought a special "Mouse" pillow, new Mouse pjs and a special new Mouse shirt for the day after he slept in his bed. There is a fine line between bribery and rewarding in our house. :)

Well, it was a complete and total failure that ended with Nick and I cleaning up throw up.

Bates likes to snuggle mommy when he sleeps and melt my heart, he now says "snuggle mommy". So the crib to toddler bed just wasn't cutting it cause mommy can't get herself in that bed WITH him and there is no keeping him in it without one of us, particularly me....

So, tonight took his crib down and moved in a REAL big boy bed... a twin.

















tomorrow will be a run to the store for more sheets (that actually match) and a bed skirt.

He was happy to try out his new bed with his monster friends.





I told him tonight Mommy will lay with him and we can read books. He wanted to read his "shishing book". It is a book MawMaw and PawPaw gave him that is a custom book about Bates and PawPaw at a fishing contest. He sat on his bed and read "Pawpaw shishing Bates shishing" over and over. It's his favorite book, MawMaw.





He seriously sat on his bed for over 30 minutes reading books. He would holler for me and I would think he was wanting down and I would go check on him and he would ask for "more books" and would read more.

Please folks, get down on your knees and pray that this boy will sleep in his bed! Our goal is for him to at least sleep in his room, even if that means one of us is with him for the time being. Baby steps, folks.....

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Playdough

Bates loves to play playdough! I was excited to let both boys play but the first time we tried playdough Brodie hated it! It was a complete failure!

Yesterday I thought we'd give it another go! I love playdough time cause it means strapped in their seats, confined activity, not to mention it's great for their fine motor skills!



Well looks like we won little brother over to the idea of playdough!








And like I said, Bates loves playdough and will literally play for hours. Here he is playing long after everyone else had left the table.



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tushy tuesday

I looked out the window and noticed Nick had the boys stripped down and they were happily playing in the water!

I got lots of cute pictures but this is the only one I can share publicly.


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the Asian temper

Ok, maybe it's just me but my Asians have some strong wills! These boys have tempers!

And you've seen what sweet Bates does when he doesn't get his way, but today I wouldn't let poor Brodie drink a coke and this is what I got!

family rules

We have some awesome friends, one of whom is our buddy Ryan. He's the guy behind the camera on our awesome family pictures (and he'll be taking updated family of four pictures when it's not a million degrees outside) and our airport homecoming pictures.

He's super talented behind the camera, but he's also super talented behind a computer. He's a graphic designer by day. His wife, well she comes up with fun projects for him to design and then I just sit by, cheer them on, and luck out and get a copy myself!

So, thanks to our friends the Brown Casa now has some rules!



I know they are awesome, right!?!? And you too can have your own family rules (or some super other cool things he has!)

Just hop on over to my bud's Etsy store and make a purchase and tell him I sent ya!

Alexander Creative Etsy Shop

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First English word

Tonight Brodie said his first English word!

He is such a babbler, he seriously has this super funny and super fast gabber. I knew it wouldn't be long before he was talking. He still uses some Korean words- he calls me "omma". He's been saying momma mamamamamamamamamama but I'm not sure he's calling me momma.

Tonight I wad bringing him in from helping daddy in the yard and told him to give daddy a kiss cause he was going night night. He gave Nick a kiss and then I scooped him up. As we were walking in I was telling him "night night" and he said "night night"

So officially his first English word was "Night Night".

This is so fitting for my Brodie. This kid is a rock star sleeper. He goes to bed about 8 or 8:30 and will sleep till 9:00 or 9:30 - yes that is 13 hours! Then.... get this, he was take an over two hour nap. Today it was 2 hours and 15 minutes, last Friday 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Now Bates.... he's a different story......


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Happy birthday, Nate!

This weekend we headed to Jumper's Playhouse for our buddy Nate's 3rd birthday!

The boys both really enjoyed themselves! They had fun jumping and sliding!!!









The boys, with daddy's help, climbed all the way to the top of the BIG slide! They had a blast and wanted to do it over and over! How tiny do they look on this slide?!





All was fun and games until Brodie tripped and fell. Poor guy almost bit completely through his bottom lip. Blood went EVERYWHERE!!!! Poor guy, but he bounced back and enjoyed the rest of the party!


Happy birthday, Nate!!! We are gonna miss you (and your fam) when you move in a few weeks!

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Aunt "mam me"

My aunt Mandi came up to see the boys and meet Brodie. It was so good to see her, Gray and Caroline.


And despite this picture, Brodie did actually like his Aunt Mamme, even if he wasn't feeling her rocking him to sleep.






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Because he's two

Two year olds are somewhat dramatic when they don't get their way!



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127 kiddos

Nick and I are a part of a non profit called the 127 call (based from James 1:27).

Last night we had a meeting, so I wanted to get the kids together for a "we like show hope" picture.

These are too cute!
These kids represent 5 families, 11 adoptions and 5 countries!














Poor Bates, the guy didn't think he needed a nap yesterday... Well, I think the evidence speaks for itself!

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Smores

After a playmate at the pool and a fun dinner at Mellow Mushroom, our friends the Alexanders came over for some fire pit fun!

I was a tad nervous with a fire pit and two busy toddlers.... but the boys did great and really listened and obeyed and were safe.







Brodie trying out the marshmallowy- chocolate goodness.

Brodie's first hair cut

It was finally time for a little trim on our Brodie. I made an appointment for both Brodie and I to go see our favorite haircutter, Annie! We sure do love Annie! Annie is a Korean Adoptee too!

Even though it was just Brodie and I getting our hair cut, Annie fixed Bates' hair from the chop job he had gotten a week ago with Daddy.


Then it was this little smiley guy's turn.





For the most part, he did alright sitting in the chair by himself with the help of a sucker! Which led to a sticky, hairy mess.


After the cut, so handsome!!!!





His shirt got soaked when Daddy was trying to wash off the sticky hairy mess on his face and neck. He looks like a big boy now!