Wahoo!

Ok This is my trying to put a positive spin on starting my period:D TMI sorry should have warned you! I read some excellent websites recently that helped me understand what was going on with my body and I took some form of hope that I didn't take clomid and I STILL got my period! Yep thats right No clomid in the month of January and I STILL got it! Thats GREAT! I am starting a hormone spit test that will chronicle the time between my cycles to fully pinpoint what hormones are freaking out. So this is good. I was only sad for one day which is also good, and it helps the Brian is starting to understand my emotions a little better. So my friends there is now Hope at the end of my tunnel something I had not expected to see so soon. For that I can thank my Heavenly Father for hearing my prayers and sending some WONDERFUL friends who may not be understand but listen as I try to talk myself out. Plus He is helping me in more ways than that and I am grateful for that every moment of every day. Well I suppose I had better get moving! I have to get out size 4 t for my 2 and a half year old (well almost a half) he is too tall really for the 3 t and they squeeze his waist a little too tight for my comfort! Off to dig through bins of clothes! Wish me luck!

Gram made Leland a Sweater!

This reminded me of Once there was a snow man.... tall tall tall

In the sun he melted melted melted

Small small small:D

I think he looks dang cute in it! Thanks Mom! We love it!

Some things

I just don't want to forget are how cute it is that every time I fold my arms Leland does to and he waits for me to pray.... we pray over a lot of things now including snack... its also darling when you start to pray and he starts mumbling the words along with you. He says AMY for AMEN... and whenever he sees Amy pull into our driveway the excitement is hard to be contained. Its fun to watch him with her. He also adores Mike which makes me laugh because I don't know how Mike feels about him.... but its cute to watch.
Some of the phrases he has now: I love you, I want chips, I want ki ki (candy...derived from Kit Kats) I want a binkie (he only gets them when he is in his crib) and I want my blankie or Ba..... Its hot and my favorite... I wanna tuby... ok its dang cute when he says I love you too.
He has a lot more but those are just some of my faves. He really is starting to talk a lot... won't be long till I can't get him to sit quietly.

Leland loves to be outside... and Saturday he decided it looked warm enough to go out and let himself out the back door. I must not have locked it but he has never taken the wood out to open it before (it wedges in really well) so that was a little amusing till I saw him covered in muck... wish I had thought to take a picture... I think he was happy to get in a bath to warm up after that little outing.

Leland also likes to tell people where their eyes are by sticking his finger in them while he tells you what they are. He knows nose and we are working on mouth and ears. I have been told he does both of those last two but I have never seen them so I don't know for sure if its true.... but its a pretty credible source so I will take their words for it!

Today we had Eli over for a play date in the morning... and Leland dumped out two smallish things of Sunny D on my carpet... I of course yelled... a lot and swatted his bum twice... this is not a new thing for him... he does it all the time.... and its getting really really old... so today I kind of decided (which really stands for I was so mad.....) that it was time to drive it home... this IS NOT something we do in our household (mainly because I am worried he will do it at someone elses house) anyway after I got done telling Leland rather loudly that we don't dump out our drinks... Eli spoke up real quietly from behind and said "I love you Allie?" I am sure he thought he was in trouble too... poor kid. But it made me laugh so hard I forgot I was angry... and we played some more. (Leland was headed for his crib)

We had Kinsington... (did I spell that right Lauren?) over yesterday to play with us and Leland was pretty fascinated by her. He thinks she is pretty awesome... and he loved all the gear she came with:D

Snow plops and flakes

We had snow here in Texas... not our light dusting but full on snow... I woke up and my world was blanketed in snow... Poor Brian had to work in it... which wouldn't be so bad if he had a job where he was inside! But nope he works outside supervising the gas station... I got pictures in the wee hours of the morning looking at a white Costco parking lot! I was so excited because usually when it snows in Texas its just a light dusting and it is gone later in the day. But this time it SNOWED all day... I know nothing like what the East coasters are having or the Midwest but still its fun for us once in a while to get snow.

Leland is NOT a fan of walking in the snow... he just isn't a fan of walking in anything that moves under his feet really so Brian and I forced him too... I know we are GREAT parents. I held his hand at least.... (and yes I am aware of how bad I look in that picture... apparently Brian missed the how not to take a horribly unflattering photo of your wife class) This was the beginning of our snow plop... which is what we called it because it looked nothing like a snowman by the time we were done.... We couldn't get the middle to firm up enough to hold together so it kept falling apart!

This is Leland not being very impressed with it:D

He was gathering snow to try and help us make it stand a little firmer....

This is the first picture we took out in the snow... I am a super awesome mom because I didn't realize that the red dots all over Leland's face were a staph infection... we got it all under control now but it was stressful for a bit!

Overall I am going to say he loved it... this was his face almost the whole time... Darling!

Dad was even a good sport and came out to play... I had let him nap right after work and went to wake him up to come out and play but he wouldn't so I may have thrown some snowballs at our bedroom wall to help him get up:D It worked... he came out and was happy to play for a bit! I know that looks like he is going to chuck it at Leland but he threw it at me and because I was taking pictures he actually hit me....
You can tell in this picture that it has the follow through to come my way! At least there weren't any rocks in it!!

Random...

Leland is almost as long as our garden tub now... but more importantly it should be noted that he is laying back in the water.... I tried in vain to get him to lay back on me this last summer when we did mom and me swim classes and he refused... now he thinks its fun... go figure....

He has started to hand me my phone and say cheese... meaning I had better take his picture with it or he will get impatient... Here he is helping me read some paperwork for insurance crap... by helping I do mean coloring all over it with that pen in his hand and making it hard for me to read at all!


Amy sent us home with a Mack ( I think to borrow... but maybe to keep... who knows) and for Valentines day she got Leland Cars... so he now watches it at least once a day with his Mac... that Eli introduced him to. We think its pretty darling...

(All of these pictures are taken on my old phone and they didn't really come out well but at least you can kinda see him!)

Crafty....

Crafty is not really my thing... however I did make this curtain tie... along with 3 others to go in our front room... gotta have a little bit of fun with it. Plus I just really love Zebra print... I haven't figured out why yet.... but it could be that it is black and white... my two fave colors to use!

Zoo

Because Amy loves Leland and me she put our names on her Zoo membership so that we could come and enjoy the zoo free:D We usually go with Amy to the Zoo and we usually have a BLAST. Lately we have been taking Camden ( the one with the pigtails) along for the ride. Leland absolutely adores being out with his Amy and Eli... and he even seems to be warming up to Camden! Well anywho here are some pictures...

These are just some of the metal statues that they have around the zoo... we have yet to enter the children's zoo without stopping for the 3 yahoos to climb up...

This is Patrick... the silver back... the incredibly thoughtful silver back... yes he may be on the other side of the glass but when you get close enough to him to realize how BIG he is you kind of panic when he shifts his weight. A few times ago when they had the girl gorillas on this side of the exhibit they would run up to the windows and pound on them... we thought it was because of all the school kids that were tapping on the glass (which I don't think you are supposed to do) but this time around we were told by someone in their research center that they like the reaction we give when they do it... they think they are playing with us and not to be afraid... right I don't know if you have ever seen a 200-300 pound animal run at a window and start pounding but its scary! I put my hand up on the glass to see if he would look at it but pulled it away when he started to move. He held his hand out like he was examining it... or showing me what his looked like. It was a pretty neat experience... one that Amy and I enjoyed although the kids were ready do be done!

Amy went ahead and upgraded her membership so we could get unlimited carousel rides and monorail rides... its a pretty sweet deal and this last time we rode twice (which normally costs $12 dollars) for free... and the monorail for free... yes I know she paid when she upgraded but our next trip to the zoo should be pretty fun as it really will be for free... as we made sure it paid for itself last visit!

The three of them at the entrance to the children's zoo... every time we go they seem to get on the same ones so as not to mess up the order it works well as Camden is the oldest and Leland is the youngest!

Brian Leland and I got this cool new wagon from the Hamilton's for Christmas... and the three of them love it... which is only a probably because the 3 of them can't all fit at the same time. I love that it has cup holders... Yes I am a HUGE fan of cup holders!

More posing on metal statues... some of the kids were worried that they might be real... we assured them that they weren't and they seemed ok with them then but still nervous.

I think going to the Zoo is something our mom instilled in us as a blast because we love going. I miss the San Francisco Zoo though mainly because I really love the lemurs and they have tons of them while the Dallas Zoo only has like 4 or 5. Although we are getting a safari part of the zoo soon and they are going to have a lot more animals then... a whole pride of lions (which I asked about it and turns out to be some lion cubs... but I guess once its more than 3 you can call it a pride) So Mom you had better come visit once it opens so we can see if its any good!

Another fun fact... the elephants at the zoo are named Jenni and Gypsy. Amy and I like them because Jenni is Amy's age and Gypsy is mine... and every time we tell the kiddos that... its sort of amusing. While I think Amy's favorite are the turtles I think I like the otters the best or the Tiger.... or the tiny little monkeys... Ok I love them all:D

Shopping with Amy...

I am a master packer of the cart... they don't look too squished do they? All it takes is a little chocolate to keep them still:D