The Pen

"Brady????? What ch'ya do'n?"

"Just check'n some email."

"I swear"

"Don't you believe me?"

"I may have drawn all over my face, but pretty sure it's Mallory's fault."

"I'm too cute for you to be mad!"

There is only one time I am worried about Brady.....when it's quiet. Silence usually means trouble and today proved to be no different. I was cleaning up the kitchen and helping Mallory with breakfast when Brady decided to do some office work. He checked a couple emails, facebooked his ladies and then fined tuned his writing skills. He is terribly worried that his generation will forget about good'ol fashion pen and ink, that they will never know the pure joy of connecting utensil to paper or in this case chin and cheek. When he couldn't find a post it he quickly improvised and used the closest surface he could find. So there you have it. A fine exercise in perfect pen artistry, font a la Brady. From the expressions on his face you can almost read the conversation.

On a side note I am super pumped that he got the cap off the pen and put it back on. This also turned out to be a fine, fine motor exercise.

Tubes and CO

Brady got tubes this morning!!! The Doctor was able to get the smallest tubes in both ears. We are pumped. Hopefully Brady will be able to hear better now that the fluid can drain properly. The surgery was a snap, seriously the easiest thing ever. I questioned if it was a walk in the park or an actual procedure. After the drowsy phase passed, he was back to kick'n ass and take'n names.

Jeff and I went to Denver this weekend, just a quick little 36 hour escape from NE. We took Mallory and my parents hosted Mr. B for the weekend. Mallory seemed to enjoy herself and quickly took to the flying thing. She only cried for about 2.4 minutes (seriously I timed it). Which isn't bad, but the looks the other passengers were giving us meant they equated 2.4 minutes to the entire flight. She charmed her way into the cockpit and shared her sweet sugary smile with the flight crew.

I wish I had beautiful mountainous pictures to share, but Jeff and I are horrible at documenting things as they are happening (hence you get airport shots just to prove we were there).

Huh?

On Monday Brady will finally get tubes in his ears! The doctor attempted to squeeze the tiniest tubes in about 6 months ago, but wasn't successful. Fortunately, the Dr. thinks his canals have grown enough that he can get the tubes in place. This will hopefully help Brady with his hearing. He doesn't have chronic ear infections (that we know of), but I do know he has fluid and enough wax to light a candle. His hearing test results all border between normal and mild hearing loss. So we are hoping that the tubes will open things enough and make sounds clearer for him. I'm pretty sure that the tubes will not make it easier for our little turkey to hear my voice though. He has a sneaky way of tuning me out.

So it's back to the O.R. again, but of course this surgery is quick and simple. Pretty much a walk in the park for our OR veteran.

Camp

Brady is going to Camp this week and he is having a BLAST! He is operating at warp speed and generating so much energy he could probably power a light bulb. In true Brady fashion he has already jump started his "Camp Mayor" campaign and swindled the counselors into contributing to his "cookie bridge to no where fund." His approval rating is at an all time high. I think his slogan could use some fine tuning, but he thinks it has a nice ring to it "If you're a lady vote for Brady." Never mind it only appeals to 50% of the voting population.

When I pick him up and we maneuver through the masses, each individual receives a hardy "hi" and firm hand shake.

Mallory is taking this solo time to fine tune her walking skills. It's amazing how well she does without Mr. B "testing" her balance.

After camp

Upright

Look who figured out how to stand! Brady's days without a kid sister on his tail are limited. Mallory is a quick study and she will have this walking bit down to a science in no time.

Initiation

Number 12 on the previous list is now "initiated Mallory into the poop club." What exactly is the poop club you ask? Well it's when big brother Brady drops a chocolate submarine in the tub, while little sister is soaking up some suds. We all had to abandon ship as quickly as possible before Brady's sneak attack crept it's way into Mallory's curious paws. Once again I found myself finger raking turds from the murky waters and scrambling to keep anyone from tasting the Tootsie rolls.

Have you missed us?

One of my favorite sayings is "you've got to have a set back to have a comeback." - Mr. T (please use a deep, manly voice and site me as your original cool quote source).

So our blogging has had a technical set back, but here is our comeback baby!

Since it has nearly been a month since my last post I will update you in fast forward motion.

1. Brady still loves Claire

2. Mallory has taken 2 steps

3. Brady is working on a neighbor for his lone front tooth

4. Mallory can go up and down the stairs

5. Brady is heading to Camp Munroe in a week- for a WHOLE week from 9:30-3:30, without me- GASP!!!!

6. Mallory waves hi and bye

7. Brady can swim on his back and float independently

8. Mallory says- Mama, Dada, what's that? and ba for bottle

9. Brady can do a pull up on the rings- seriously! He's sending invites out for his personal gun show. He's big time people- big time!

10. Mallory is signing!

11. Brady calls Mallory De De