Birthday Celebrations & the end of July

July 15th we celebrated my birthday with the Hortons. 

It was a nice afternoon.

These two kiddos love this dog!  Millie gets so much attention all day long.

I was on baby duty one afternoon.

Ally got a much needed haircut.  She was like a new dog.

We finished the Summer Reading Program at our library.  We finished with 77 books and around 2,800 pages.  I'm so proud of these kiddos. 

Checking out the fountain at school.

Friday, July 20th, my friends and I went out to celebrate my birthday.  Jessica wins the prize for most loyal friend.  She is so very pregnant and she sat on the patio in the July heat.  Then she endured karaoke stone cold sober.  Bless her.

We had dinner at Bartaco and it was so good.

Our group had dwindled.  Brittany and I did not care.  We would have sang to an audience of zero.  We love karaoke so much.  I can't sing to save my life but I love it.  We have pretty good song selection and that makes all the difference.  There were more people there this time than last so we didn't get to sing as many songs as we'd hoped.

Saturday we met my sister in law, Leslie at her brother's house to swim.  Her nephew and Barrett are both going to be in Kindergarten together at Bryan so it was fun for them to get to play.

The Sunday afternoon Cassie invited us over to swim and we had the best evening.  Barrett started swimming without his puddle jumper and he's doing so well.

Best I could get of them in their matching swimsuits.

This one let me hold her and then she fell asleep.

We came home and snuggled on the couch until bedtime.

Barrett had his last day at CEC.  He has had a wonderful experience but he's ready for big school!  

So, my parents have this broken down hot tub on their deck and it is a breeding ground for tadpoles/frogs.  We brought a few home to watch grow into frogs.  We've also delivered a few to friends. It's become a thing and we've laughed and laughed about it.

On Thursday, the 26th we went to the Alabama Theatre to watch the Lion King.  Barrett had never seen it and we love the Alabama Theatre so much.  It was a fun morning.

Jessica and Jackson met us there.  

Love these babies so much.  We've had so much fun this summer.

We went to the Big Spoon Truck to grab some ice cream that afternoon.

We've been watching Big Brother and Barrett loves watching the competitions, so he's very into it.  The guys wear these bandanas around their heads and he thinks hes so cool.

This is out of order but the Police horse was at the Alabama Theatre and the kids got to pet him.

For my actual birthday I'd been wanting to go to the lake and spend the night.  Patrick was on call but we were going to chance it.  Until he got to work Friday morning and they told him he had to be there at 7:00 am Saturday morning for an event.  So we cancelled the lake and decided to go to dinner as a family to celebrate.  Barrett decided he didn't want to go to dinner because restaurants are boring.  So we called my parents and asked them to keep them and they agreed.  So we got a little date night and it was perfect.

My dad offered to ride up to the lake with the kids and me for the day if we wanted so we took advantage of that and had the best afternoon.  My mom ended up coming up too and we stayed to watch the moon rise.  It was beautiful!

I loves these two pictures of my parents with the kids. I love getting to watch them be grandparents.

Ally got to go and she loved it too!

On Monday, Anna invited us to tag along with her and Drake to the Cullman Aquatic Center for an afternoon of fun.

We had the best time!

Barrett wasn't scared of anything.  He even went off the high dive!  I was shocked!

Tuesday the 31st, we went to work at the local elementary school putting up vinyl.  The kids did so great. They were pretty good and played together so nicely.  I was so thankful!

That's a wrap for July!  We've got one week until Barrett starts Kindergarten and we are soaking it up!

First Ear Infection

We had Barrett's one year check up on January 2nd.  He'd had a snotty nose for a few days over the Christmas holidays but once we got him back on his schedule it seemed to get better.  He still had a bit of a cough but never ran a fever.  While we were at the dr. for his check up they found his ear infection.  I felt so bad that he'd been sick for a week and I didn't take him in.  Earlier this fall we'd taken him in because we thought he had one and he was fine so I didn't want to jump the gun again.  He was given an antibiotic and he seems to be feeling good.

I think it's so funny that he hasn't taken a paci since he was about 3 weeks old, until last week.  Now he wants it all the time.  I know I shouldn't let him have it but it's so cute and I know it's comforting to him.  Plus he grinds his teeth when he doesn't have it.  
It was a rainy, dreary day. The Dr. mentioned that he should really be at least saying "mama" and "dada" by now, which he isn't.  I wasn't really concerned because I feel like he hears just fine but you can't help but worry when you feel like they are "behind".  So we are working everyday on getting him to say words.  
He was stuck in his walk behind toy.  It was funny.
We have dropped the bottle and are completely on whole milk.  I'm certain it was more traumatic for me.
After Christmas and Barrett's birthday it was painfully obvious that the "man cave" was going to need to be duel purpose as a play area too.  So we're doing a little rearranging and Patrick is building a shelving unit to go across the back wall for toys.  I'm really excited about it! I took my Christmas down so the pack and play went back to its "spot" in the living room.  That means we no longer had something to block the kitchen doorway.  Patrick put these two chairs down and Barrett just pushed them out of the way.  That boy is smart!
I know I've said it a million times but I am so thankful for my job.  My boss is awesome and lets me bring Barrett everyday. (He actually prefers Barrett to me, when Barrett can run the sign equipment I'm toast!)  Well until now he's just been in a pack and play in the corner and it's worked perfectly. Now he just needed a little more room so Steven fixed this side of my office for him.  He put down some carpet and put up the fence.  So far Barrett loves it!  He has so much room! And just because he's cute! Man, I love him so much!