18 Months

I hope you're ready for pictures! I had the camera out all day on Thursday because Brayden turned 18 months and I felt that it was worth documenting. Even with some narrowing down there are so many pictures! But, I'm sure all of you who don't get to see Brayden in person can appreciate it at least. 

Here's a few things about Brayden at 18 months:

• He talks all day long, but we still don't understand hardly anything
• His favorite toy is Mommy's cell phone and iPod (and you should see him navigate those things!)
• He loves most fruits, but doesn't care for many veggies. Favorite fruit is blueberries for sure and favorite veggie is broccoli.
• He has regressed to whining at diaper changes and kicking until the diaper is off. He's a generally happy boy, but doesn't smile and giggle at just anything. You'll see in the pictures that he's mostly very serious for the camera.
• On occasion he will close his door, get his binky and blanket and put himself down for a nap. Of course I always go in to say goodnight, but it's pretty cute.
• He's a sweaty little boy! It only takes a minutes or two in our Florida heat until he's sweating all over.
• He loves to do actions to songs. His regular favorites are "If you're happy and you know it," "The wheels on the bus," "Itsy bitsy spider," "Shake your sillies out," "Head shoulders knees and toes," and finally he will always smile when we sing "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" while tossing him up.
• He reads scripture stories each night and then "kneels" at his bed for prayers. 
• He kisses his picture of Jesus goodnight anytime we lift him up to the wall.
• He gives the best kisses with a smack sound and all.
• He loves Sadie dog and follows her around when she's inside.
• He always wants to help hold Sadie's leash during walks.
• He's found a new interest in baby gear. He's wanted to sit in the bouncer and insisted on pulling out the walker so he could walk in it.
• He still cries when Mommy holds little babies, but is doing very well with letting kids his age share her attention.
• He knows where Baby Brother is and will pat my belly.
• He wants to stand up in his bathtub a lot these days and has started to aim his squirting toys to try and squirt me.
• He has a little toilet that works as a stool as well, so whenever we go to brush his teeth, he tries to pick it up and move it. Sometimes successfully, but usually with help.
• He is fascinated with toilets and watching us go to the bathroom and then helping us flush, but he doesn't have the desire to try it out yet.
• He has never tried splashing in the toilet, which I am very grateful for! We've had one toy that got dunked once, but it's been a while.
• He can recognize all his standard animals that he sees and can point them out when we ask.
• He knows a lot of shapes, but struggles with his colors.
• He loves when strangers give him attention.
• Cars is his favorite movie and now whenever I mention cars (whether I'm talking about his toys or anything else) he gets way too excited and brings me the movie so he can watch.

I think that's a pretty good list for now. There's so much to tell about him! He's growing up so fast! As soon as he starts talking so I can understand he will seem so old! I think he'll be a great big brother! But, he'll have a little hard time with sharing Mom's attention in the beginning. Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Breakfast. I pulled out some cheerios and oatmeal and asked which one he wanted. He looked at both then pointed at the cupboard and picked out Oops All Berries. He got his Daddy's sweat tooth for cereal.

drinking ALL the milk out of the bowl.

More please!

Playing with the iPod on his bed.

Giving Sadie a hug while she asks to go outside

"Le me get that for you Sadie"

Walking Sadie girl

Playing with a balloon

Climbing on the rocking footstool and trying to move it back and forth. He's fearless.

Time for binky!

Getting blanky too.

Sitting with Daddy after his nap. They were cute and matching!

A face we see a lot these days. He's had teeth poppin out like crazy and there's more coming! He likes to chew his lip and tongue though.

Like father, like son. I also love his little squat :D

Smile for Dad

Finding Mommy's teeth

Finding the nose

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands. . .

. . . if you're happy and you know it clap your hands. . .

. . . if you're happy and you know it then you're face will surely show it!

Turning on his Animal Scramble game.

Tagging the animals

Getting his back massage

Playing with Sadie

Sadie won. . .

Daddy came to help tug of war with Sadie

Brayden and Daddy won that time.

Being sad because Mommy said no more iPod

But, Daddy comes and tickles him and "roughs around" to make him happy.

He loves his Daddy

Kisses!

Next age milestone: 2 YEARS!!!!

29 Weeks

I love taking pictures and I love being in pictures, but it's tough to do both simultaneously. I got a couple decent pics to share though. I still can't decide my favorite way to edit photos (or what program is best from my options), so bare with the variety.
 

My fashion boy

What can I say, he loves shoes! And yes, he definitely gets that from me.

Harp Lessons

Besides the ever learning Brayden, I started teaching harp again! I have a 7 year old student who just started this week and I think it went really well! I'm excited for these lessons to keep me "harping."

Memorial Weekend

SATURDAY
It was so fun to have Preston home for the first weekend in 3 weeks! We got spoiled with the long weekend too. Saturday we ran some "fun errands" as a family to get some play sand for Brayden's new donated raised sand box. It was on sale at Lowe's for $2.66/ 50lb bag! Awesome. Then we went to Walmart to pick out a training potty for Brayden. He loves lifting the lid and if I catch him working hard (if you know what I mean) then I'll ask if he wants to sit on his potty. He definitely understands because he walks to the bathroom and lifts the lid up and points at it, but he doesn't really want to use it yet. We tried sitting him on the big toilet after he had messed his diaper just while we wiped him, but he shook his head no at the first and didn't want to stay long. We're certainly not in a rush, but we felt strongly that we needed to have it around to at least introduce the idea. I would love to have him potty train early since I'll have another set of diapers to buy and change soon. But, all in good time.

After Brayden's nap we took him and Sadie to the Tom Brown park and thought we'd check out the dog park there. But, first we made a stop at the animal shelter just to let Brayden see the animals. He LOVED the cats! They were mostly uninterested in his little fingers poking in the cages, but he did get a couple cats to come over for rubs and they loved it almost as much as Brayden. He then found a cage with a bunch of mice and possibly other rodents, but I didn't look too well. Also loved it. People around him were laughing and smiling because he just stood there on his tippy toes so his fingers could be in the cage and laughed his cutest laugh every time a little mouse would sniff his finger or brush by them. This kid loves animals! The dog area was so fun at the beginning because Brayden was just going from cage to cage having the time of his life seeing all the different dogs, but then a worker took a dog out and barking exploded in the area, which made Brayden a little nervous. We took a cute little german shepherd puppy outside to a fenced area thinking Brayden would like to be with a little dog out there, but other than trying to pick the pup up to carry him to the water bowl, he wasn't very interested. I guess he gets his fix of dogs from Sadie. We might have to go back this week because we were told that there are 8 week old border collie puppies that are going to be available to see. I want to see them :D hehe. Anyway, I'm so long winded. . . sorry. We did make it to the dog park where Sadie got mauled by 6 bigger dogs who wanted to sniff her and check her out, she wet herself all over me when I picked her up and then right as she was starting to enjoy herself it started pouring. As in, we were soaked by the time we got to the car. Welcome to Florida. We'll be going back to the dog park to really try it out! Oh, and I can't forget that we stopped at Joann's to see their flannel sale for the weekend and picked up some fabric for burp cloths. So many friends are having babies! I have 6 people I'm going to make them for! Fun fun.

SUNDAY
It was a fairly usual Sunday. The nursery leaders reported that Brayden has gotten attached to a sister in our ward who runs a nursery every Tuesday night while I'm at Young Women's. She happened to be helping in nursery at church and evidently Sister Mauer couldn't hold any other child or Brayden would have a meltdown. Oh, my sweet little man. Hehe. We also got invited over to dinner that night and had the most amazing pancakes ever! I'm going to try the recipe soon. Thanks Tena!

MONDAY
We had plans to go to Wakulla Springs to swim with a few other people from the ward. Unfortunately everyone had retreated from the heat in to the gift shop by the time we got there except for one couple and the Holdaways who got there about the time we did. So, we didn't actually get to see any of them other than to say goodbye, but we had fun with the Hargrett's and Holdaways! Brayden dragged Kendal and Chris into the water with him while we changed into our suits and was fearless of the cold water! It was really surprisingly chili! But, he had a great time! I have a few pictures, but I still need to get used to my zoom lens for my nice camera because it won't take the pictures sometimes when I would try to. I don't know if that's because people were getting closer or what. I need to play around with it more. But, I got a couple decent ones :D

We had a great time! I wish we could have more days with Daddy around, but life is what it is. He's working hard and we're proud of him. I'm truly blessed with the most wonderful family! 

Oh, and I must mention the best part of the Memorial Day was singing all the patriotic songs we could find on the iPod together on our way to the Springs. Good memories. We love America! 

Baby Brother Update

Went to the doctor again. Got my RhoGAM shot. Passed my glucose test. Still HIV negative (phew. . .I was worried :D ). Weight is 118 for a total gain of 10 pounds so far. Start going to the doctor every 2 weeks now. Everything is going great!

Here's the thing. . . I keep having these thoughts that my baby will come early. Like, a month early. I wish I knew if they were inspirational feelings or just thought. Whatever it is, it makes me really excited to think that I could have a fresh new baby in just a couple of months! Whether he's early or not, I am getting really excited for my new little man! Scared out of my mind, but overjoyed at the thought as well!

I am so excited for Brayden to be an older brother. I am so excited to hold another precious newborn. I am so excited to have another shot at raising a little boy and teaching him about life. I am so excited to see my own growth with this new addition. And yet, I'm nervous that all these things won't go well. Mostly, I'm holding on to the excitement and pushing the fear aside. I don't know why, but this pregnancy has zoomed by. I've hardly remembered I'm pregnant all the time and now he's almost here! So, I'm just catching up on all the exciting anticipation I've been missing out on I guess.

Baby's doing great! He kicks around a ton. Brayden moved a lot, but he had a lot of slow movements that you could watch. This little guy is always full of quick punches and kicks. We watched my belly for 10 minutes last night just seeing him make his sudden movements. I love him already!

Name update. . . well, there isn't one yet. But, here's the ongoing list of options:

• Zander
• Connor
• Tyson
• Taylor
• Quinn
• Cody

We really don't know about our favorite name yet. Something about Zander just draws us in, but we know it's bordering weird and Preston's family has already informed us that they will call him something else. So, there's some strikes against it, but I still just really like it at the same time. It would grow on you I'm sure. But, the other names are all good too and not so weird. TELL ME WHAT YOU LIKE AND DON'T LIKE! Seriously, we love feedback! Good and bad!