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

Summer time at the Harman house

I apologize firstly for my delay in posting. Rob, as he was off for a solo movie night, told me this evening to stop playing with my phone and to utilize my time effectively to update our blog (verbatim). So to my dear husband, who is eager to read the blog but reluctant to put forth any effort to help, this is for you.
Much has happened in June so I will try my best to summarize without missing too many things. Rob is off for the summer (YAY). But with his school changing to a year-round schedule next year, he really only has a couple more weeks off (BOO). Brett and Bailey have really appreciated the extra time with their father and I too, enjoy the family bonding but am finding it difficult to have one more person to clean up after: ) Case in point, we still have not unpacked from vacation, which we returned from over a week ago. Our suitcases and laundry have over taken the front room and we just keep finding other more entertaining things to do.
This year for vacation we made a trip to Michigan with my parents, and brother’s family for a week at Traverse City. It was a new area for us and I think we really enjoyed it. We were in a great condo on the beach and were able to take advantage of the pool/gym at the hotel beside us…not that Rob and I entered the gym, but the pool was nice! Brett LOVED the beach and could have spent every day there! He really knew how to work Papa into playing with him…i.e. chase the bucket after Brett threw it into the water. It was precious. Weeks ago, Brett was reading one of his library books about transportation (need I mention again, he is SUCH a boy), we get to a page that asks how would you like to travel? Brett says ‘ride boat’. So of course we called grandma and grandpa Wood for Brett to say “papa, ride boat!” Sure enough, Uncle Phil pulled through and rented a boat for us one afternoon and Brett was certainly the happiest one aboard. He was even allowed to drive…he still talks about it.
To inform anyone we haven’t discussed with, Bailey has to wear a DOC band on her head to help shape her development. Her doctor noticed very early on that she preferred to lay her head to one side and even with modifications and changes in routine by us, it wasn’t getting better. She is one stubborn lady. So after a month of appts and insurance calls she received this band (basically resembles a wrestling headgear, fitting for our house). We were quick to decorate and personalize since it was pretty bland and unattractive but that was more for our sake. She adapted quickly since she wears it 23 hours a day. We noticed a change within a week and she is almost done with her treatment. Her therapist says she is doing great and should be done in a couple of weeks. I’ve seen these bands before and didn’t realize what exactly they did, and for Bailey it’s just to help guide the growth of her head to be more symmetrical. It has nothing to do with cognitive development, purely aesthetics. Since there are more pictures of her this month with it on, I thought I should share.
Other quick new things with Brett and Bailey:
Brett now sleeps in a BIG BOY bed. Hasn’t got out once.
Bailey rolls all over the place and will be crawling soon!
Brett talks NON-stop. I’ve even notice some talking in his sleep which kills me to hear what he’s thinking about when he’s dreaming. After the boat ride day , he was saying “go, GO, GO!”
Bailey has just started baby food…bananas (ok), peas (good), sweet potatoes (not a fan). Totally opposite of what Brett liked
Brett seems to have a good arm…and why Rob encourages this sort of practice in the house is still beyond me.
Bailey started talking! Of course her first words were ‘da da’. Obviously she is warming up Rob for when she asks to take the credit card to go shopping. She is learning fast:) She currently has him in the palm of her chubby little hand
Brett loves climbing and going in the 'sky'
For months Brett always wanted to know where people were going when they left...sometimes we would say they had to go home, or to lunch or to bed. But now it's his answer for everything. I was changing his diaper the other day and he said "Bye bye poop. go home, eat, night night!" And then he laughed hysterically.
Bailey had her 6 month appt – she is in the 90% for weight and 75% for height. Her doc said she looked great!
During breakfast one morning Brett said “iying (crying)”
(ME) who’s crying?
(Brett) Fruit loop
(ME)Why is your fruit loop crying?
(Brett) Broke…Bump head…UH oh

I'm so glad he's sensitive to how others feel:)

Rob returned from said movie with McFlurries…all is forgiven. For now

Vacation to Traverse City MI

June Pics