The Beginning of Something New!

Sorry I haven't posted in a very long time. What with all the recent developments, I'm sure you understand!

I'm sure all of my few followers already know that we are expecting baby #2. But this time, we're having a girl. Not sure how this will affect the title of 'Biddle Brilliance' yet. But we'll work it out when she gets here. But it may be a moot point, considering I probably won't have time to blog anyway! Unless I can multitask while breast feeding or something clever like that.

I'll share these 2 kind of short stories really quickly to reveal how we found out we were having a girl, in case anyone would like to steal these lovely ideas that I so aptly stole myself!

We were scheduled to have our first trimester screening (13 weeks) and the sonogram tech said she was pretty certain she knew what 'it' was. I asked her to write it down and seal it in an envelope and not to tell me! The next day I went to one of those party stores with the sealed envelope and gave it to the balloon gal along with a rather large box. I explained to her that after I leave the store she should open the envelope to see the what the verdict was and then fill the box with either pink OR blue balloons, which ever was appropriate. I picked up the sealed box 30 minutes later and made arrangements for our photographer neighbor to join me and the family at our neighborhood park to take some shots of our actual reaction to the news! We were delighted to see pink!!!

We didn't share with the family at that point what we believed 'it' to be since we were only 13 weeks and there is a large margin for error at that point. So we waited until our 22 week appointment and had another plan for that visit, you know, in case the results were different. We still wanted to have a neat story to share with the baby one day. So I bought two bags, two onesies (one pink and one blue), and labeled one bag 'Better luck next time!' and the other was 'Congratulations, IT'S A...'

We told that sonogram tech to again not tell us, but once she figured it out...to go in a separate room with the goods and fill the 'Congratulations, IT'S A...' bag with the correct colored onesie. We had already trained Jaxen that if he opened the bag and it was pink that it'd be a girl and the blue would be a boy. So he was going to be our 'big news' opener! We got home after the appointment, grabbed the camera, and had Jaxen open the bag. We were thrilled to see that the onesie was still pink (doubly confirming GIRL) but Jaxen wasn't AS thrilled. He rubbed his hands together in concern asking 'Where's the boy one?' Haha. Loved it, and so glad that we got it on video! See the video here: Jaxen on Facebook.

So far we are 24 weeks...so we're a little over half way already! She's growing healthy and strong and mommy is growing huge and sluggish. I guess that's the way it goes! But, knock on wood, no stretch marks! And after glancing at some of the 'Awesome Pregnancy Bellies' as dubbed by babycenter.com....I think mine ranks up there in the top 10 compared to some of the ones I saw on there!

Little baby girl will be named (drumroll please - mainly for those of you who don't know)...Sela Christine. Brewer is a given! Hah

She's not as active in the belly as Jaxen was (yet) but she does give some punches and kicks. And I love to see Jaxen's face light up when he gets to feel it. He's only been able to feel it 2 or 3 times, but he gets so excited. As a matter of fact, this morning he said (after feeling a kick) 'I'm so excited about baby Sela!' Now, if that doesn't make your day, I don't know what will.

My dear hubby has been working diligently on getting baby Sela's room completed so I can do the fun decorating stuff by the time she arrives. Lots to still be done, but he's on the scene! UNFORTUNATELY, our baby doctor said I can not help paint. As a matter of fact he said have your husband close the door and you stay away! So I was so happy...I mean, SAD, yes sad to tell Jeff that I wouldn't be able to help paint the room. But I'm sure he'll do an excellent job without me....just not as fast! But she'll have a brand new room when she gets here and lots of hugs and kisses on back order.

In other news, Jaxen most recently turned the BIG 3! He had a great time celebrating with some of his like-sized friends and neighbors and hosing the poor dog down with the water hose the whole time. Don't get me wrong, Skamper LOVED it. And when the kiddos weren't hosing him down, he'd just sit there and stare at the nozzle waiting for someone to pick it up! Jaxen adored his 'Cars' cake and wanted to hold Lightning McQueen from off the cake right away. I told him we'd have to leave it on the cake so his friends could see, and he said 'I don't want my friends to see!' Gotta love this kiddo.

Well, I think I've shared all of our exciting news as of late.

Keep us in your prayers for a safe delivery and healthy baby (& mommy).

Mission Accomplished!

Oh yeah, uh huh, we did it, you're jealous! Jaxen is completely, yes, 100% potty trained! It's quite an accomplishment, if I may say so myself. Now that I know what I know....I don't wish potty training on my worst enemy...but it's so glorious when you are done.

We followed the '3 Day Potty Training Method' book sent to me by my good friend Janet. Yeah, it was brutal. 3 days of Potty Training lock down! Every 3 seconds repeating 'Be sure to tell Mommy if you have to go potty.' It gets real old....fast. Especially since you are watching the little one like a hawk to make sure to catch all accidents. BRUTAL, I tell you! By the end of the 3 days...it was meltdown time. But after a brief psychotic break...I was back on it the next day. However, the next day was Sunday...which meant Jaxen had to actually leave the house...and go to church...in underwear! Pause for the feeling of dread to creep up on you.

I was really nervous since he kind of 'got it' but still chose to refrain from telling me EVERY time he had to pee. But to my surprise...he did fantastic at church. Of course I sat in his class with him and was a complete and total distraction and the constant nagging about telling me if he had to pee didn't help. But still...it was a success.

Unfortunately potty training...no matter how well it's going with the #1s...#2 is brutal when constipation has always been a factor since birth. So we paid Dr. West a visit and was told to 'clean him out.' A good ol' dose of Milk of Magnesia and then a daily dose of Miralax is sure to get things rolling. And boy did it. After one bout of the 'comeback' it would've been almost easier to pack up and move than to clean up. But...we did it. We survived. And now our little fella is getting regular as clockwork and has FINALLY figured out that #2 doesn't go in our underwear. Victory is ours!

So I thought I'd brag to all my peeps that I managed to train another human being to put onesies and twosies in their rightful place. If you are saying to yourself right now, 'Big Deal...', then you my friend have not potty trained a toddler!! Those who have...know how hard it is and what a relief it is when you are done!

And yes, he is potty trained through naps and night time too. Word to your mother!

Yeah, we're at it again...

So...potty training. Yeah, it sounds great....once you're done. But to start the endeavor and follow through, well, it might as well be Mission: Impossible!

Now let me just say I haven't tried THAT hard. We've dabbled here and there because, frankly my dear, Jaxen just is NOT interested. You could say he IS interested if screaming at the top of his lungs when the word potty is mentioned indicated so.

Well this past Saturday I decided to let him run around the house with no diaper or bottoms on, you know, to see if he'd tell me he had to pee or pooooo. We only did this for a couple of hours and we were 1 for 3. 1 stream landed in the potty...the other 2 landed on our carpet. NOTE: This should incentivize my husband to put us some hard surface floors down...hint, hint!!

So I considered Saturday a partial success....he did SIT on the potty after all. Busy busy days followed Saturday and now here we are on Thursday and I didn't have anywhere to go today...so I thought I'd give it another whirl. The no diaper thing.

Success!!! Success??? Wait, I'm not sure yet.

This morning we changed him out of his realllllly wet overnight diaper. So clearly overnight is NOT an option right now! Then I let him run boundless and free around the house with no diapy and no undies. Doing pretty good. The first pee made it's way into the potty that I thought to bring into the living room. **GENIUS!!**

It seemed to work pretty good since he didn't feel like he was leaving all his toys to go potty. Jaxen did seem a lot more apt to sit on it when prompted to.

The second pee...not as lucky. Dern carpet!!! But the good news was that he knew he wasn't supposed to just let it fly on the floor because he immediately started screaming and crying. So we cleaned that up. No biggie, right?

Third and forth pee of the day (this kiddo pees a lot)...made it in the potty! Yay!!! Then comes the not so attractive part of our day. The dreaded twosie. The ol' #2. El pooperino. Yes, it reared it's ugly head.

I had been on Jaxen about sitting on the potty all day. So I was certain he was fine for 3 minutes. BIG MISTAKE!! I had literally JUST sat him on the potty moments ago. Nothing happened. So he was in his room playing as I threw a load of clothes in the wash. Foolish foolish girl. Next thing I know....I hear screaming. The 'Uh oh' type screaming. He came running to me to have me investigate the scene of the crime.

I run into this bedroom fearing that he'd peed on all his toys or worse....on Doggie Dog. But no. I noticed as he was running back to his room to show me the dreaded 'accident'....he had a smidge of yuckity yuck on the back of his calf. I was like, huh?? And then...OH NO set in.

I go into his room and see the tiniest little piece of dookerino on the floor. He's regularly constipated so I figured that was it. Not too bad for our first misplaced #2. Mind you, his room had every toy known to man all over the place, cleverly used as a disguise! I run him to the potty and clean him up. SIt him on the potty...thinking more was to come. I run back into the room to clean up the itsy bitsy poople....and then I see it. Oh no, it can't be. Oh yes it is.

A turd. And not a Biddle sized one. A full grown man, I haven't twosied in weeks, sized one. I was like...WOAH!!! And where was it?? No, not in the bed, phew!! But it was on the blanket he sleeps with...oh and yeah, partially on the carpet. I couldn't believe it. I ran to the bathroom and got MORE TP and began cleaning.

Needless to say Jaxen's room needed an airing out and some scented candles.

I got to say, Lesson Learned! Don't leave a most of the time constipated kid alone with no diaper on, in his bedroom surrounded by toys, and try to do laundry. What was I thinking?

On a high note, he did tinkle one or two more times (in the potty) before nap time...but I'd definitely say that the Dookey Bandit was the highlight of my day. Did I say highlight? Maybe I should say....most 'interesting' part.

Good luck to all you parents trying to potty train. I feel ya!!!

Biddle Boo and Doggy Dog Too!

Sorry I haven't posted anything lately....I feel like I've been so busy and really haven't had anything interesting to post. And now I have something interesting to post, you ask? No, not really. But I feel like I should post SOMETHING to keep the Biddle Brilliance allure going. So I suppose I'll just update all my adoring followers with iddle Biddle antics, oohs-&-ahhs, and funnies.

So my little guy is 27 months now. I know...I hate it when moms say XX months when the kiddos are over 2...but how else do you describe them when they aren't exactly 2 and babbling still. He's older than that and he plays a mean game of 'Pete & Repeat.' You say it. He says it. You say it. He doesn't say it. You think he's ignored you. Then 3 hours later....he says it. It's grand to realize you ARE actually getting through to him!

I had to take Jaxen with me to my Ob/Gyn the other day and I was explaining to him that he came out of mommy's tummy. He didn't seem to listen or even much care. But I tell you...as soon as we walked into the Dr's office he was spouting out 'Jaxen came from Mommy's tummy!' So this really makes you aware of the fact that he is listening to EVERYTHING you say!

We finally got around to taking him to his 2 year check up. Yes, I know....we are 3 months behind. Well I have a good excuse. I forgot his appointment the first time. I called and rescheduled. Then you guessed it, I forgot again. But the third time is the charm. We went to see Dr. West (and Jaxen had been practicing saying 'Dr. West' all morning) so every time someone walked into the examination room he greeted them with 'There's Dr. West!' Haha He's a clever little booger. He did awesome. Sat still and let the doctor look in all the nooks and crannies and he got a clean bill of health. He's in the 75th percentile for height and weight. Yep, he's a big'un.

Around the house Jaxen has been keeping mommy & daddy verrrrry busy cleaning up race cars. His new addiction. Everywhere we go - he takes Lightning McQueen. He takes him to bed too. I have 3-5 race cars in my purse at all times. We bring one home from Nana & Papa's house every time we visit....we probably have 40 race cars. It's especially fun to have that many because yes, they can be spread in EVERY room of the house all at once. No...it doesn't hurt to step on one barefoot. Not at all. But they do work as a good bargaining measure. 'Jaxen....come take a bite or you have to hand me that race car.' To which he immediately responds wimpily (whether or not he's actually holding a race car) 'Uhhh...wace caw....wace caw.' It's hilarious.

In case those of you who are familiar with 'Doggy dog' are curious if he still has to come everywhere we go in addition to the newly beloved Lightning McQueen....the answer is YES! Doggy dog with the gray butt is with us at all times. In the grocery store. At church. Beside the bath tub. When we trick or treat. If we leave the house without him...you guessed it - we turn around and come back to get him. Jaxen is requesting 'Doggy dog!' before we even get off of our street. Poor doggy can't get a break. Both legs and neck have had to be stitched back together. His hiney no longer is white, even after a soak in bleach for 2 hours. And that 6 day old Jaxen's morning breath smell on the tail end of the furry friend...no longer goes away after a bath. He's Jaxen's wooby...and that's all there is to it.

And lastly...Jaxen is so funny lately because he refers to himself in the third person all the time. I find it sooo cute. He'll hand me something and say 'Thank you, Jaxen.' We pull up into the driveway and he says 'There's Jaxen's house wight dere!' When talking about himself sneaking out of his bed and coming to mommy & daddy's bed he says 'Jaxen climb out!' When asking for his vitamin, he says 'Jaxen want bitamin.' I and My don't really exist yet to him. Just 'Jaxen.' Love it!

Well I guess I'll bring this not so interesting post to a close because Jaxen is currently requesting 'Momma hooollldd you.' Translation: Pick me up! Which is all really a ploy to bang uncontrollably on my keyboard. He's a clever little fella....but I'm on to him!

Hope to have something a little more interesting to post around Thanksgiving. I'll tell Jaxen to do something really cute by then :)

Happy Halloween!

I'm telling you...these wreaths just get better and better. Now once again, I can not take full credit. I know, I cheat! I steal other people's ideas and run with them as fast as I can. And I am sooo glad that other people in the world are creative...so I can 'appear' creative to others as well.

So....with no further adieu, here's a Halloween wreath that is sure to spook the neighbors!

You start by getting your retired dad, who seemingly has nothing better to do than to help you once again with your 'new project', to help you gather some sticks from his yard and cut them into small pieces. Our yard might as well be a barren wasteland....no trees of any sort that can produce any useful limbs.

After you've gathered enough sticks, break out that old can of black spray paint you've been trying to figure out what to use on...and get busy. Spray spray spray. Rotate. Spray. Make sure the tips of the sticks are black too. No body is scared of a regular ol' stick...make sure these puppies are black!


While those are drying...grab two of your kitchen bowls and a piece of cardboard (diaper box, wipes box, hmm...just some examples) and trace both bowls onto the cardboard...the smaller one inside the larger one. I used about an 8.5" bowl and 6" bowl. Then cut that sucker out. This sounds easy, but is harder than you think. Cardboard is surprisingly stiff when you want to actually cut a circle out of another circle. Once you've got your 'ring'...you can either spray paint it black or what I did was wrapped it in black tape. I thought this may make my cardboard a little sturdier. It didn't really...but I had ran out of black spray paint...so this worked fine for me. This part is optional: I bought a little wooden 'Happy Halloween' cutout from Michaels for like $3 and a piece of scrapbook paper that I intended to cover it with. So I taped the wooden cut out onto the back of my paper and traced it with pencil. Then I pain stakingly cut out the intricate design. Yes, this took some time. Hind sight, I regretted this decision....but I was too far in to give up now! So I continued on and finished cutting out all the little bats and what not. Then I mod podged the paper on to the front and then put another coat of mod podge on top of the paper. I **thought** about smearing some black paint around the edges to give it a darker look...but decided I was too tired and carried on with the original plan. I know....but I'm tired!!


Then I started to hot glue all the now dry, black sticks (that have been taking up space in my garage for two days now) all around the black cardboard ring. This took a little maneuvering...but I got it done. It was good to have an array of fatter and thinner sticks to fill in spots. Once they were all glued on I had about 5 or 6 sticks left over...so I'd say that was good planning. Goooo me :)

I looped a piece of ribbon around the top of the wreath and went ahead and tied a bow, so that the ribbon would be in place before I attached the wooden Happy Halloween cutout.


Since the stick thicknesses were so different, my original plan of glueing the wooden cutout to the top of them...now didn't seem really feasible. I thought it wouldn't hold as well. So I got out some trusty floral wire that I had and just wrapped it around four spots on the cut out and wrapped it around the cardboard ring and twisted it secure. This seemed to work perfectly - if you don't mind seeing the itsy bitsiest piece of wire. I do mind, but hey, the glue wouldn't have worked...and I wanted this thang to stay together!





I popped that sucker on my front door (after cleaning off all the REAL cobwebs and dead spiders, yuck!) and bam...I once again out do my neighbors' halloween wreaths. Wait, they don't have up halloween wreaths, BUT...if they did...I'm just saying. This one is awesome.

Thanks to this site for the idea! ** Delia Creates **

Our Biddle is Two!

So Jaxen's 2nd birthday came and went this year...it happened so fast! Unfortunately it was overshadowed by the death of our furry son Stinkemus Pete. But we still had a great time celebrating our big boy! And it helped us to take our minds off our sadness too. Luckily I had started weeks prior to that making some special items to help round out the party for our roly poly 2 year old.

1. Matching shirts for the family. So...they weren't 'matchy matchy' but we definitely all matched the theme. OWLS! Not sure I'd want one as a pet, but they sure do make for cute party decorations! Freezer paper, fabric paint & an iron are all you need to make these cute puppies. I also did this for a baby shower, lots of cute onesies were the result. Y-E-S!


















Jaxen's shirt said 'I HOOT, I TOOT & I'M 2.' My shirt said 'I'M ONE HOOOT MOMMA.' And good ol' dad's shirt said 'SMART OWLS SAY 'WHOM'.' Anyone who knows Jeff knows how appropriate that shirt was for him! The graphics are super easy to make and anyone can do it. I totally ripped this idea off and so can you! Here's the tutorial I followed.

2. Owl Cake & Cupcakes. I wanted Jaxen to have his own cake and I wanted cupcakes for the guests. And of course, I wanted them to be owls.

Now...all the moms out there - if you don't already have a subscription to 'Family Fun' magazine...stop what you are doing, run out and get one immediately! Your cute and 'awe'some future birthday cakes depend on it! I got this cake idea from there and adapted it to what I could find in the store. I hate ordering candies/cookies online just to pay more for shipping than for the actual item. Grrrr!!! Ok...back on task. Jaxen had his own owl cake which he was delighted to eat...that day and for the next 3 days. And all the guests loved the cupcakes.

Sidenote: these called for coconut and I've learned that MOST people do not like shredded coconut. Just saying. Here's how you too can be a cupcake rockstar.






3. Owl garland. These were easy to do but rather tedious. I cut out all the working parts from scrapbook paper I had lying around and hot glued all the pieces together. I then hung them with some twine. They turned out cute...but sadly they ultimately found their final resting place in the trash can. But hey, who can put a value on themed decor??




4. Party favors! Of course a party wouldn't be complete without party favors! I made owl wrapped Hershey bars. Now...these did take the longest to make. But totally worth it! How often do you get to send home chocolates with guests that are magically disguised as cute and lovable owls? Again, I just used paper I had around the house...and some googly eyes I happened to have. My hot glue gun is my best friend!! Until it scalds the skin right off of my fingers and then I curse the day it was invented...and then I love it all over again.


Jaxen seemed to really enjoy having all his favorite people gather and sing in his honor. He politely waited, hands in position, until the end of the Happy Birthday serenade and began to clap very excitedly. He still hasn't blown out candle one, but he doesn't have to! When you're that cute, you can just skip right to the gifts!! He loved all his new toys. So much so that every time we come home now...he runs inside and yelps 'New Toys!'

We had a great time celebrating the 2nd anniversary of the most painful thing I've ever went through....errr, the most joyous day of our life. Happy 2nd Birthday Jaxen!

Ode to a Stinkem Pete

I usually like to put upbeat, funny or handy posts on here...but this one will have to be in remembrance of our wonderful Stinky Pete. His given name was Spartacus but over the years he became Sparky, Stinky Pete, Stinkems, Tink tink, and so on. He loved his people so much and his people loved him. He did everything with us. And now that he's gone, it's just so very hard to put into words how very much we miss him and wish he were with us still.

He was the best dog one could have. He was our best friend and he knew us better than anyone. He kept all of our secrets safe and still loved us despite of all of our flaws. It's so hard to lose a pet, especially when you don't even think of them as a pet. We loved him as if he were Jaxen's brother. We often told Jaxen that Stinky was his older brother...a much furrier brother. I won't drag this on too long because frankly, it's too hard and tears are welling up as I type.

We just hope that Stinky knew how much he was loved and how dearly he will be missed. There is a hole in our hearts and despite today being our less furry son's 2nd birthday, we are a little gloomy. A lot gloomy.


And in honor of Stink, I'd like to share some very special things that we used to do together that will be oh so hard to do now without him.


1. Eat breakfast or any other meal.
He used to finish my milk for me and it became kind of a ritual. He'd eat Jaxen's left overs and devour any crumbs in Jaxen's high chair. He was our furry vacuum cleaner.

2. Go to bed or wake up.
He would fall asleep in his tiny little bed right next to ours every night. But some time in the middle of the night...he'd bounce up on to our bed (unbeknownst to us) and make his way under the covers. He'd curl up right in the crook of my knee and growl if Jeff tried to move him. And in the mornings, as I sat on the side of the bed or at breakfast...he'd come and push on my feet for his morning back rub.

3. Watch TV.
No Pete didn't watch, but he kept us company and curled up as tight as tight could be in my lap and stay with us until the end.

4. Bike rides with Jaxen.
Jaxen would carry Stink's ball and Stinky would run with us for 5 miles or more. He loved bike rides because he could run as fast as he could and take periodic dips in the ponds around the neighborhood.

5. Play ball or tug.
This dog was crazy about balls. If you even said the word ball...he was on 'go.' He loved to play and never got tired. He kept us in shape! And Jaxen loved playing with him too. It kept Jaxen busy!

6. Coming home.
Stinkems would always very excitedly greet us at the door and jump, jump, jump. He loved greeting his daddy at the car door and playing in the yard before dinner. He'd give us kisses all night and hugs galore. He loved us so much and we loved him just as much.

Stinky Pete...we love you. We hope you are somewhere that makes you happy and you have lots of balls and lots of open space to run until you need a cool dip. We love you. We miss you. We will always miss you.