Just can't catch a break...

My alternator went out a little over a month ago. Chris was friends with the guy that worked at a local auto parts store. The guy helped him get the alternator with an employee discount, and Chris installed it.

Well, today, my battery light came on again... yeah, my alternator is already messing up. And since the guy helped Chris get it, we never got a receipt :( So, now we have to buy another one. Grrr!


Anyway... I got around to taking pictures of Brentley's birthday presents :)

These are his super hero Little People, bath toys, and Weebles he got.

This is his baseball glove, and his school scrapbook.

These are all the new clothes he got.

He also got a bag full of used clothes, but I didn't feel like dragging those out. Oh, and he got a Magna Doodle, but it's in the car.

We got his birthday pictures done today, and he did SO good! He is a ham for the camera! Lol. I'll be posting them soon :)

Brentley is officially one!

His birthday was Sunday. The first half was uneventful. We just hung out at the house. Later, we took the kids out for ice cream. There is a park right next to the ice cream place, so we got the ice cream and parked in the park's parking lot. The kids sat in the front seat with us, and we all ate our ice cream. While we were sitting there, Brentley pulled the keys out of the ignition, and dropped them. They didn't land on my side, so I thought Chris would get them (especially since they were his keys). Well, he didn't, and he didn't realize it until after he locked the doors. We had to called a locksmith, and it took them FOREVER to get there. It was so hot and dusty, and we were all miserable by the time we got to leave.
Then, after we had rested some, the kids were playing outside, and Brentley fell into an ant hill. I immediately grabbed him up and got all the ants off him, but he has about 10 ant bites covering his body :(

Yesterday, we stayed home most of the day. Grace had gymnastics, but that was it.

Today, Brentley had his one-year check up. He weighes 28.2 lbs, so he hasn't even gained a whole pound since his 9 month check up. He weighed 27.6 then. His weight gain is finally slowing down! Now, he has grown 2 and a half inches taller since his 9 month check up. He is not 32.5 inches tall! She said he is off the charts for both weight and height now! Before, he has always just been off the charts for weight, and at the top for height. She said now that he hasn't gained much and has grown taller, his weight and height are proportional to each other on the charts. So that's good!

I love his doctor (well she's a nurse practitioner, but we always see her). I really do, but today, I was disappointed. After she went through all the usual questions, she goes, "You can turn his car seat around now." I was like "Well, I'm planning on leaving it until he outgrows the weight limit, which is 40 lbs." She said, "That's perfectly fine. You can do that. I think the recommendation is 2 years. I haven't switched mine either..." (She had twins about 3 weeks before I had Brentley) I was thinking why would she tell me to switch if she hasn't switched her kids? Then she says, "I haven't switched them because I'm afraid they're going to change the law. I don't want to switch them and then have to deal with switching them back." Are you kidding me?? She's AFRAID they'll change the law... like that's a bad thing?? I mean seriously, being a nurse practitioner, she should be more informed about things like that. If we can't trust these people for accurate information, who can we trust?? Okay, I'm done ranting about car seats (again lol).

I took these at the doctors office today. I would say "fish" and he would say "ishhh" and point to the fish lol. It was so cute!

I love this one. My little model! :)

We take a break from the birthday festivities to bring you a major facepalm!

http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/08232012-car-seats-my-son-will-be-forward-facing-at-1/

This ^^^ instantly made me facepalm... then I read some of the comments, and I felt like banging my head against a brick wall. No joke.

First and foremost, this comment...
"Kaylab says:

August 23, 2012 at 7:43 am

I turned my son front facing after he turned three months. It wasn’t a tough decided. I had to get back to work and I didnt feel comfortable driving and not being able to see him through my rear-view mirror. The made much more sense to me! I was able to see if he spitup, fell asleep or simple playing with himself.

I just made sure he was securely strapped in and that the base was also secure. I couldn’t imagine doing the rare-facing thing for too long."

Ahhh 3 months?!? How did she even get a base to forward face?? There is absolutely no way that car seat was properly installed! Not that I expected it to be from someone like that. I mean, "it wasn't a tough decision" after all. Facepalm times infinity!

I also love how the original poster tries to claim that she hits his head every time. My car is 14 years old, so very tiny, and my son is huge, and I don't hit his head every time. I'm not going to lie, I have a couple of times when I was in a hurry and not paying as much attention as I should have been, but as long as I watch what I'm doing, I can easily make sure not to bump his head. I swear these people will come up with anything to justify themselves. 

If she's so worried about his head, you'd think she'd rear-face him longer, huh? Double standard much?? 

And seriously, she makes all moms look bad by using the "distracted driver" excuse! Every. single. mom. out there goes through this. She is not alone by any means. We have all dealt with the screaming, kicking, pooping, puking, whatever the case may be, child in the backseat. 

The first time Grace really threw up, we were in the car. I was driving, and going about 70. I heard a strange noise and looked back to see her projectile vomiting all over creation. If there was ever going to be a time that a mama got so distracted that she became a dangerous driver, this was going to be it! My first experience with my baby really throwing up had to be in the car. What did I do? I calmly pulled off to the emergency lane and slowly came to a stop. THEN I panicked, lol. 

Her kid is not going to be any less of a distraction forward facing. And, as a mama, we all know that it becomes more of a routine than a distraction. If she can't handle driving with her kid in the car, she needs to quit driving. Her turning him around is not magically going to make her a better driver. 

I just want to give a shout out to this woman...

"Elizabeth says:

August 23, 2012 at 8:57 am

I just can’t see switching for ease/convenience when they are safer rear facing."

Someone with some sense!!

Oh wait... I found another...

"kara says:

August 23, 2012 at 9:17 am

I’m going to straight up judge you. My daughter is a carseat screamer as well and always has been. She is rearfacing in a convertible carseat in my TWO DOOR honda civic. In order to get her in and out, I have to pull up the front seat,pick her up, climb back there with her, buckle her, climb back out,and adjust the front seat when I get in to drive. I’m a busy single mom and having her rear facing in my 2door is INCREDIBLY inconvenient, but it is MUCH SAFER and I have no problem doing it because my convenience (or not having to listen to a screaming toddler) does not even come into play in a safety situation"

Thank God there are some sensible people in this world!

I mean, come on! I was 17 and I knew enough to at least not turn them around before 1 year and 20 lbs, and the more I learned, the more I changed.

Seriously, how can anyone know about internal decapitation and not do everything in their power to protect their children from that?!? Oh wait, it's better for her family! She wouldn't be saying that if something actually did happen to her son! Having the potential to have your child's neck broken/ internally decapitated/ dead cannot possibly be better for her family. I know there is no situation where it would be better for mine!

Some people... I swear. I lose my faith in humanity a little more every day because of completely ridiculously selfish people like this.

She opens with this... "The mommy wars continue. First it was breastfeeding vs. formula feeding,..."
This is so not the same thing as that. Formula feeding does not have the potential to kill your child!
Later in the post, she says this... "Don’t judge me for it just as I won’t judge you for never breastfeeding..."
Well lady, I AM judging you. Why? Because it is not the same thing!!! You are putting your child in HARM'S WAY. You have the knowledge to protect your child and you choose not to because it is more convenient for you. What a selfish person you are. 
I do not judge people who honestly don't know. I have been there. I was one of those people. I do judge the people who educate themselves and still refuse to change. 

That is all.

**Sorry for the crazy font! The copying and pasting messed it up, and I can't get it to fix. I will try to fix it more when we get back from taking Grace to gymnastics.

Brentley's 1st year scrapbook!

Just wanted to post it on here because I know many of you live too far away to ever see it in person.

This is the cover.

This is the first page. The card on the bottom was his birth announcement. 

Newborn pictures!

Left: hearing screening certificate. Right: going home.

Left: first bath. Right: first trip to the aquarium.

Trip to the pumpkin patch!

Left: first trip to the discovery museum. Right: First Christmas.

More first Christmas!

Left: his card from the President and the First Lady. Right: first Valentine's!

Left: the pictures that go with the entry about us moving. Right: his first trip to the park.

First Easter! Sorry, this one didn't come out so well.

Left: first drawing. Right: first 4th of July!

I log all of their doctors appointments, and that is what this part is.

This is all of his milestones in order of when they occurred during his first year! Grace helped me decorate this page :)

This isn't even the whole book. It's a good bit of it though. I still have to add everything about his first birthday to it as well.

His birthday went pretty well. I'll probably do a post on it tomorrow. Here's a "highlight" though... we managed to lock our keys in the car today! Yep... locked ourselves out two days in a row. We're on a roll!! :p

Brentley's party!! *Pic heavy!*

We dropped Brentley off with my mom this morning so we could go get everything set up. Grace came with us, and we got to the building around 9:30. Later, Chris went to get some breakfast and get the balloons filled up, and when he did, he locked us in. When he got back at about 10:50, he told me to come help him get the balloons, so Grace and I walked out with him, grabbed some balloons, and pulled on the door. Yeah, it didn't open. Long story short, we locked ourselves out. We called the emergency number, and they sent a maintenance guy. While we were waiting, we ate our breakfast, and then I painted Grace's toenails and fingernails lol. He didn't get there until 12, so over an hour of waiting. I'm just thankful that Grace had come out with us. She would have been so scared in there by herself.

I was in a mad rush by the time we got back in. I had lost over an hour of prep time, so I was panicking. It all worked out though.

Well, a lot of people didn't show up (including Chris' mom and step-dad because they were "sick." Suuuure. But whatever.), but it still turned out to be a nice party. There were 18 people there all together, so not too many, but I actually liked it that way. It seemed less chaotic.

Here are some views of the decorations.

Here are some shots of me working on the cake.

I was pleased with the way they turned out. They were a little lopsided, but I thought they were good for being so crunched for time after being locked out lol. 

His smash cake... 

 His big cake...

People!

(Chris, Kayla, and Jaylen)

(Grace)

(Brentley playing in the floor. It's a good pic of his outfit.)

(My cousins, Eli and his mommy)

(Cheyenne, Sami, and Grace)

Presents!

He really liked this one.

He tried to put it on! It was sooo cute!

Cheyenne and Grace were working together to hand him his presents. So sweet!

He got lots of clothes and socks, some Little People super heros, some Weebles, a little baseball glove and ball, a school scrapbook, a magna doodle, and some bath toys :)

Did someone say cake?!?

Grace stood there and pulled all the stars and dots off lol. 

Brentley seemed to enjoy it :)

The candle on the big cake was a sparkler!

Brentley watched it burn the whole time lol.

Cake compared to the decor.

And after it was cut/devoured lol.

Clean up time!

Brentley played with these for like 30 minutes lol.

Chris was pushing the girls around on this. They loved it!

Then Brentley discovered a mop. He pushed it around for another 30 minutes lol.

I really enjoyed the party! Also, another shout out to Brittany for staying to help clean and helping us bring stuff home! You are such a great friend!! :)

It's still hard for me to believe that in about 10 hours, my baby will officially be a year old! We are taking him for ice cream and to the park tomorrow :)
We also have birthday pictures this week, his 1 year check-up Tuesday, and we're going to the Discovery Museum Wednesday :) So lots of posts to come! Oh, and I'm going to do a post showing his completed 1st year scrapbook :)