I Got {No} Powah!

The title is best sung to the tune of Snap's "The Power".  Just FYI.

Before I get into explaining the title, let me just set the stage for you. We have been potty training this week. While Brady is catching on relatively well, I.am.exhausted. If I had the money, I would totally pay someone to do this task for me. Judge me all you want. It's true.


Anywhooo. Where was I? Oh yes, I'm tired. To top it off, my dear husband has caught some sort of ickiness. Not too bad, but it definitely flares up at night. He gets stuffed up and can't breathe. Since he can't breathe that means he snores when he's sleeping. As in, loudly. Which also means I, although beat out and exhausted, can't sleep.


Enter the morning. 5:30 to be exact. The power goes off. I know it goes off because the smoke detector in our bedroom starts beeping because the battery is low. Awesome. To top it off, Brady wakes up early. Double awesome.


Now, you may not know this, but my son has collected all our candles in the house and plays with them. Whatev. No biggie. Except for when we actually need them to see because the power is out and the house is pitch black because it's 5:30 in the morning. And the wicks have all been smushed into the wax. More awesome. We managed to find a couple (literally, a couple) that were lightable and put them in our living room. Then, in a stroke of genius (especially for 5:30 in the morning), I remembered my Aunt Betty (woot! woot!) gave us some awesome head lamps when we went camping, last September. With the help of the flashlight app on my phone (thanks to my brother for installing that bad boy!), I was able to locate them in no time. Brady thought it was awesome and, you know what, I kinda did too. It was actually fun, sitting in the dark, with each of us wearing our camping lights (I'm not sure what they're actually called), covered in blankets (hello? no heat!). 

 It's just another reason I love this little fam of ours. We are able to make fun out of not-so-fun situations.

I know the pictures are horrible. I love them anyway.

Now, if you're still reading after all that wordiness (first of all-thank you!), I have decided to start participating in Embrace the Camera. I found the idea on this blog.  I love it because I was just looking for pictures of the little guy and me the other day and couldn't find any recent ones.

Without further ado, here I am, embracing the camera. Prior to this "challenge", I probably would have deleted this because a) the quality stinks and b) hello? I look like poo. But Brady is in the process of landing a big ole smooch. And, despite the picture's (obvious) flaws...

...I love it anyway.

Baby, It's Cold Outside.

It was a chilly day here in the Ozarks. As in a windchill of 5 below. Yowsa! But, we crazy Butlers play in the windchill that makes lesser men freeze.



Normally, we are not so keen on traipsing out in such chilly weather, all willy-nilly. But, it did snow. And, we promised Brady if it snowed we would take him out to play. Now, we did make the promise before we found out what the temperature was, but hey, a promise is a promise! In the words of Dr. Seuss, "I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant is faithful. One hundred percent." And, just for the record, I quoted that from memory. Woot!

Doesn't he look dangerous with that icicle? Watch your back, man.

What good is playing in the snow without some sledding. What? We didn't have that much snow? What? We don't have a big enough hill? Trifle little details. Especially when you have a willing daddy to lug you around.

Whoa! Hold on there, slick!

And, one more from our excursion in the snow.

The boys. Kinda like 'em.

Friday's Favorite

For Mike's birthday this year, Brady picked out a birthday card (all by himself!) that said "Happy birthday to the big man, from the little man." Ever since then, Brady will randomly say Mike is "the big man" and he happily calls himself "the little man". I love it.

These pictures were snapped when Brady's Nanny was visiting. The entire two weeks she was here, Brady refused to nap in his bed. So, every afternoon he would usually crash on the couch. This particular day, Mike cuddled up with him and I just happened to have my camera handy. I love how you can sense their bond, even while they're sleeping. (It bears mentioning that the day after she left, he happily returned to his crib. Thank heavens!)

So, here they are.

The big man and the little man.

Man, I love these guys.

A Day at the Park.

We have thankfully gotten a reprieve from onslaught of hot weather. With the (much appreciated) cool down in temps, we Butlers have been spending a lot of time outdoors. I couldn't be happier.

In between doing outside projects, we managed to sneak away to our favorite park,  Close Memorial. We decided to forgo the stroller and let Brady walk, while we secretly worried we would be constantly chasing him from water's edge. But, our little guy did great. He even moved to the correct side of the sidewalk when we came across the occasional passerby. What a little gentleman. Sometimes he just amazes me.

I just grabbed a couple shots from the day, a feat for me considering I have been very lackadaisical about taking pictures lately.

I believe it was President Roosevelt who said "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Not sure this is what he had in mind. Not that Brady has really mastered speaking softly either.

We made it all the way to the bridge, which is Brady's favorite spot of the whole park. He knows he gets to throw rocks in the water. It was a little more nerve wracking this time since he wasn't buckled in a stroller. Extra care was taken to ensure he didn't throw himself over the ledge along with the rock. We survived, unscathed.

Brady finished the rest of the walk with style...courtesy of his daddy.

When I see pictures like this, it reminds me of when Mike and I would walk here while I was pregnant. We would talk about the days, months, and years to come, always with a smile on our faces. Our conversation always went to "one of these days, he will be running around this park." Sure enough. It's such a happy/sad feeling. Sad because my little tiny baby is gone. Happy because that little tiny baby has grown into a full-blown toddler boy who is, by description, all boy.

We wouldn't want it any other way.

Movie Night

Before I get started, I just want to acknowledge the fact that I am aware it's been 20 days since my last blog post. A lot has happened that I want to catch you up on (Hello! Brady's two now!), and I will, but for now I just want to jump right in. I'll sprinkle the things you've missed here and there and, before you know it, it'll be like I've blogged everyday for the last 20 days (ha!). Seriously though, I vow to do better about more timely posts...thanks for hanging in there with me!

OK, now on to the "official" posting!

Brady is not a television watcher. He never has been. He knows a lot of TV characters like Mickey, Pooh, Thomas the Train, etc., but he knows them from books...which, I'll admit, I love. Mike and I have read to him since before he was born. Mike used to prop his head near my belly when I was pregnant and would read to Brady all the time. It is one of my favorite memories of being pregnant (and I have a lot of favorite memories from that time!). So, needless to say, we're thrilled he loves books.

All that to say, his latest craze has been the characters from the Disney movie "Cars". He knows them all: Lightning McQueen, Mater, Doc Hudson...the list goes on. And, in true B-Man fashion, he knows them from his books.

Well, the weather here has been unbearably hot and we haven't been able to be outside as much as we like to be. Folks, I'll cut to the chase...the Butler Family has a bad case of cabin fever and we're going a little stir crazy. So, Mike and I thought it would be fun to have our very first family movie night and what better movie to get than "Cars"?

We knew Brady would be excited, but to tell you the truth, I think Mike and I were more excited about seeing him be excited. Ah, the joy of parenting! I love the fact that we get to revel in the joy of Brady's laughter and excitement. I am smiling just thinking of it.

We ran through a drive-thru on our way home to get our favorite chicken nuggets (there goes your thoughts of me being the perfect parent!) and, after a quick stop at the video store, we were home! I covered Brady's chair (his birthday gift from us) with a blanket, propped it up in the middle of the floor with his thermos cup (courtesty of B-Ma) by his side and his chicken nuggets in his lap.

And we pushed play.

It's times like these I wish I had better photography skills. The pictures just don't do it justice. He was pointing, nuggets in hand, at all the characters and saying their names. The kiddo was excited!

In all his excitement he was squirmy and I wasn't able to capture the pictures I had hoped for, but I was happy I snapped these.

Despite all that excitement, he only watched about 30 minutes of the movie...I told ya, he's not a television watcher...but it was totally worth it!

One of my favorite moments was right after the movie came on and Brady said an excited "Thank Yooouuu!" to us. I see many more family movie nights in our future. Who knows? Maybe one day we'll actually be able to watch the whole movie.

Friday's Favorite

For this week's Friday's Favorite, I'm posting a picture of our trio taken last year at a Cardinals baseball game. The B-Man doesn't have the happiest expression, but it'll do.

Wishing you and yours a happy (and safe) Memorial Day weekend. I know here at the Butler household we are certainly looking forward to a three-day weekend!

Friday's Favorite

Mike and I had the rare opportunity to have a date night last night. Braden's Uncle A-Lay (Lance) watched over him as he slept, allowing us a night out on the town (downtown, to be exact). Our dear friend Keebee (Keri) gave us a gift certificate to Fedora's. It is by far the coolest place we've ever eaten. Everything about the evening was perfect. The food was delicious and the ambiance was just right. There was dim lighting, accented by the warm glow of candles, while a delightful arrangement of music played overhead.

It was truly a (much needed) grown-up evening that left us both with a feeling of euphoria. We were even able to change up our CD rotation from Raffi to romantic love songs.

Be warned: this next section is...mushy. I am so thankful to have Mike as a partner in life. Not only is he my best friend (sappy, but true) and a wonderful husband, but he's an amazing father...which makes me love him even more. When I watch him and Brady together, my heart swoons and I say a silent prayer of thanks.

Which, brings me to today's picture for the Friday Favorite. This was taken last year, but it's still one that makes me smile.

Two of my favorite people...goofy as can be. Wouldn't change a thing.

The Beginning

Today marks the beginning of yet another adventure...blogging!

As the B-Man turned 21 months on Saturday, I realized how quickly time is slipping by. In just three short months (that's a little less than 13 weeks, folks!), my once tiny, little baby boy will be two. While we do our best to live in the moment and treasure every second, I found myself wondering "will I remember all the little things that make this life so special?". The answer: probably not. So, with that, here is our blog.

For the future, brace yourself for an overload of parentheses (I'm a big fan), quirky posts (and probably some boring ones), lots of pictures, and hopefully some touching and unforgettable moments that will be forever captured in cybyerspace and thus solidify them in my memory.

Without further adieu, welcome to Life with the Butlers.