A lover and a fighter

A wonderful summer comes to an end...

There’s much to update, as my dear husband so kindly reminds me. Ironically, I was ‘encouraged’ to do so while he is off on another man date with Pat. That’s right, I said it. Rob’s on a man date, to a Slayer concert no less. Brett was actually upset that he was not allowed to go. He was chasing them out the door, grabbing his shoes saying “Brett go Uncle Pat Pat’s music!” Meanwhile I’m stuck with a 2 year old for the rest of the night asking to go to a heavy metal concert and confused as to why that would be an inappropriate place for a toddler.
We were blessed with the opportunity to have a kids free weekend for our birthday/anniversary celebration last month. Both Johnson Great Aunts and Grandma Nancy stayed with Brett and Bailey so that Rob and I could enjoy some time with each other. It was great to have a break but couldn’t avoid waking up at 6am like usual. Brett certainly appreciated the extra attention and asked for days where Bobbie and Barbie went.
We had a quick couple days in Ohio. We went down to Cincinnati to see my old college roommates and their new additions (Baby Sawyer Bradshaw and Alexandra Brenkus), then up to MG for a few days with the Wood grandparents. Poor Bailey was sick for the majority of the time, come to find out she had THREE teeth coming in (total count up to 5!) and an ear infection to top it off. She did great considering she had a high fever for days. Sorry I didn't get many pictures of that trip, camera was dead.
Other Harman updates:
Rob is back to school, he started the beginning of Aug….and has been without A.C. in 90+ degree weather…but remains quite positive.
Bailey has ‘graduated’ from her DOC band so she is officially done with it. She looks great.
Brett has a fantastic memory and has no shame selling out his father. (“Brett, what did daddy give you for breakfast?” “cookies” “Oh really?”)
Bailey is officially on the move. She’s not technically crawling since her belly doesn’t come off the ground except for the occasional ‘yoga plank’ but she does scoot with purpose and gets to where she wants to go.
Bailey has a good grip…ask Brett and his poor hair that she pulled out.
I’m attempting to make Bailey’s baby food …we’ve accomplished bananas, avocado, sweet potato, and papaya. Next we’re adding butternut squash, plums, apples and pears. I just made sweet potato and butternut squash pancakes for Brett...who am I?
My 7 month old daughter and my 2 year old son can wear the same diaper size….
We’ll be adding 2 more kids to the Harman house this year…NO, not our own! I’m watching two other little ones. So soon there will be Brett and 3 under 12 months…it’s going to be busy. And that’s a lot of diapers.
Brett made me rewind the morning news 3x so he could see the fire trucks and ambulances on an accident report.
Bailey LOVES music. Now that she’s sitting up, she’ll bounce and dance with anything that is on. She is a particular fan of the ABC’s and Itsy Bitsy Spider.
The terrible 2’s have hit and time outs are typically experienced multiple times a day… but now Brett puts himself in time out. He squeezed Bailey making her cry (his most frequent transgression), he said “Whoops, Brett time out, go sit down” and walked out of the room.
Bailey’s legs got stuck in her crib (please refer back to diaper size)…enough so that I actually had a hard time getting her out. Time for the bumpers!
Rob was trying to get Brett to say “Go Blue”…he responded by yelling “NO, Go Buckeyes!” Happy Mama and Happy Football Season

Summer trips

Thornburg/Harman Visit

We’ve had a lot of fun this summer. Our 2nd annual Thornburg/Harman visit was a blast! Brett Thornbug (4) and Brett Harman (2) were hilarious and exhausted by the end of the weekend. We took all 3 kids on the train downtown to the Children’s museum at Navy Pier. The actual commute was tiring for the adults in 90 degree weather but the Bretts were thrilled to experience a train ride, bus ride AND got to play at the museum. We enjoyed wonderful BBQ food from Smoque. And then the boys had ‘no girls’ breakfast on the McCann yacht. Our Brett was basically hyperventilating from so many transportation opportunities. Dustin and Rob, I’m sure will say their highlight was hearing that without any provocation, the Bretts without talking, grabbed the boxing gloves and holding pads and started ‘practice’ in the morning after breakfast. It went about 3 exchanges and then Harman realized he wasn’t as big as he thought he was. Game over. He also refused to be called “little Brett”. I told him coming down from a nap that he could be ‘little Brett’ and Brett Thornburg could be ‘Big Brett’ so it wouldn’t be so confusing. He immediately argued saying, “no, Big Brett too” pointing to himself. Fair enough. Can't wait for next year's reunion!

2nd Annual Thornburg/Harman Visit