Before our world gets a little crazy......

Brian is on his way home for R&R, so the next couple of weeks are going to be kind of crazy. It is definitely going to be the good kind of crazy though.

Speaking of Brian, let me share a little update on him. He was officially pinned Sgt yesterday!!! He went to the board on February 3rd, and passed. Then, he had to wait until the promotion points for February came out and once they did, we knew that he was going to be promoted. As of yesterday, he was pinned by his unit, and he is now Sgt. Brian J. Hays!!!! We are SO proud of him!!! He has definitely earned this promotion as nothing in the Army has come easy to him. So, his hard work, patience, and studying has paid off. Yay Brian!!!! :)

In my news, I'm still trucking along in school. I am taking Fitness for Life, US History II, Biology, and Ancient Literature. The fitness and History class are pretty easy. Biology is not too bad, and the Literature class isn't too bad either. Biology is a lot of technical, and complicated words, and Literature is a TON of reading REALLY BORING material. I am doing ok this semester, but doubt that I will be making all A's and a B like I did last semester. Oh well. I'm just trying to make it through as quickly as possible so I can start teaching. Other than school, there really isn't much else going on in my life besides taking care of B and waiting for Brian to come home.

Brandon news is good. He is getting bigger by the day! He has learned a ton of new tricks, so I doubt I will remember them all. For starters, he knows what it means when I say, "Can I change your diaper?" He walks over to his changing table. Haha. He HATES having a dirty diaper, so I suppose this is the main reason, and I doubt that it will last long, but it is cute while it lasts. He dances ALL the time, and when he is holding something in his hand and I ask him to shake it, he bounces his little tushy. :) SOOOO cute. He is understanding SO many new things. He started pointing to things, and points ALL the time now. He LOVES when I chase him around the house, and loves to tackle me. The smile on his face when I am dodging him is priceless. His best friend is still Leia the beagle. They play chase all the time, and it never gets old to him. He is just beginning to hold my hand to walk places instead of having to be held, although we move at a snail's pace. It is precious when we walk hand in hand. It is moments like these that I want to remember forever, as I know that he is getting big fast and I am going to miss these moments. He is perfect, and we love him more each day.

Well, to close this post, I am going to share a couple of pictures of Brandon's new rain coat that Nana and Papa sent him. It is a fire truck rain coat, so it fits him perfectly! :) It is a 3T and it FITS!!! lol Can you believe it?!? :)

It's been awhile....

My last blog was February 2, so it has been awhile since I have updated anyone on life in Hays-land.

There really isn't too much going on.

The day after B's 1 year check up the pedi called with some interesting news. She referred us to a pediatric urologist. She didn't really give us a reason. It is common for circumcisions to cause minor complications that aren't easily noticed. So, based on my own vast medical knowledge (note the sarcasm), it appears that it is one of three conditions. I also discovered in my research (heh) that 2 of the 3 conditions are corrected with surgery, the 3rd condition corrects itself. The pediatrician recommened Texas Children's Hospital which is a world renowned hospital. Naturally, I called them as soon as I got off the phone with the pediatrician. Brandon was scheduled to see one of their pediatric urologists on February 23rd barring the approval of the referral. Lovely, wonderful Tricare did NOT approve the referral to the pediatric urologist with Texas Children's Hospital. Instead, we got a referral to a pediatric urologist in Pasadena, an HOUR away. Ugh. On top of that, they gave me the WRONG contact information for this doctor. When I FINALLY got in touch with him, Brandon was given an appointment date of March 19th. It is all so irritating. I just want him to be seen so I know if there is anything wrong, and if he will need surgery.

The whole thing was rather shocking. I kind of jinxed us though. This was the first well-baby check up that we had gone to and gotten a clean bill of health, and not the chance of a scary health problem. I was so excited about a great appointment and even said to Brian, "Yay, finally a well-baby appointment with no scares!" I guess I should have known better than to say anything. :)

I know I joke about how B has had "health scares" at every appointment, but we have been truly blessed with all of those potential scares ending up as false alarms. Brandon is definitely a healthy baby, and for that Brian and I are grateful. We both are aware of how blessed we are to have a healthy baby boy.

Speaking of the health of our family, Emily had a vet appointment the other day. We were concerned because she has a lump growing on her belly. It started out as a small lump about the size of a half dollar and has grown to about the size of a golf ball. The vet did a test on some cells from the lump and believes that it is just fatty tissue, so nothing major. We were so relieved! We could opt to have it removed, but with a cost of $850, I think we will wait awhile and see if it continues to grow. So, Emily is healthy too!

In other Hays family news, Brian's R&R is coming up! I am not going to say any specific dates due to operational security, but we both CANNOT WAIT!!!! It is going to be so neat to see Brian and Brandon interact again. I'm sure initially there will be some hesitance, but I have every confidence that Brandon will take to Brian rather quickly. Brandon is a very accepting, easy going baby. So, I'm sure that he will roll with it. The thought of Brian coming home so soon gives me butterflies! It has been SO long since I have seen him! I am seriously about to burst with excitement!

Speaking of Brian, he went to the board on Feburary 3rd and PASSED!!!! SO, he will hopefully be getting promoted to Sgt at the end of the month!!! I am SO proud of him! He studied really hard, and spent a bunch of time practicing everythine he needed to in order to be ready, and all of the stress and hard work was worth it! The best part about him passing his board was hearing the pride in his voice. He was so proud of himself! He doubted himself, but I never did. I always knew that he could do anything he set his mind to! I am so proud of him!!!

There isn't really much going on in my part of the family. I am just trucking through school, trying to do the best I can. I'm still loving being a Mommy, and enjoying every second I have being a stay at home Mommy. I keep thinking about what it is going to be like when Brian comes home and Brandon has to be in daycare all day. The thought scares me, and makes me want to savor this time I have with Brandon.

I think that is pretty much everything. I apologize that this blog is kind of choppy, but my brain is all over the place. :) Until next time.....

12 Month Appointment and Portraits

Today was Brandon's 1 year checkup! He is getting SO big!!! His stats are:

Weight: 29 pounds 15 ounces (1 ounce shy of 30 pounds)
Height: 33 1/4 inches (almost 3 feet!!)

He has met and exceeded all of his developmental milestones, and is doing wonderfully. He has been given the green light on all foods!! So, I am going to make a shopping list and start him on some fun stuff soon! The pediatrician was happy with his development and was not concerned with his head circumference. If anyone remembers from his 9 month well-baby check up, she was concerned about the growth of head. She ordered ultrasounds and they came back ok. She still wanted to plot the growth at the 1 year check up to see the curve on the growth chart. All is well with that. He got 2 shots today. He was supposed to get 4 shots and a TB test, but I am splitting up the shots. So, on the 16th he will get the other 2 shots and the TB test. He was very unhappy with me after the shots and made sure he told me all about it. He quickly forgave me when I handed him the sippy cup. So, an excellent doctor's appointment!

He also had his monthly appointment with Mrs. Jennifer at the portrait studio. She had a whole party set up for him! She bought him a cupcake and got him some balloons and streamers. It turned out really cute! She also made him into Baby Cupid, which is absolutely adorable! My favorite picture is the nakey one. I just love his tummy! :) I made a little slideshow of the pics. Enjoy!

Some entertaining pictures...

I have been a little camera happy since Brandon's birthday. In the process I have gotten some really funny/cute pictures. So, I thought I would share....

His birthday cupcakes....


His special cupcake...


I went into his room shortly after midnight on the 30th to take an official birthday picture. The flash woke him up. He always wakes up in a good mood....notice the awesome bed head.


Mmmm....funfetti and rainbow chip cupcakes....


We went to Papasitos for dinner. They did the little birthday song thing...he was NOT a fan of the hat...


His famous "Lemon face."




Of course, what would a birthday be without jokes from Mommy?