Family Time...

I know we have been absent here lately and I do apologize. I know most people don't care what we do they just want pictures. So here are some pictures. I will tell you though, we have been so busy over the past 6 weeks, I am getting pretty bad at taking pictures too.

First we had a visit to the lake house one weekend. Aunt Jamie gave Maddie and Brayden indoor wagon rides, it was a little cold outside.

Maddie and Aunt Jamie

Brayden was wishing he could go outside, instead he stood and watched Uncle Josh mow the lawn.

Getting a ride with Aunt Jamie

Since it was cold outside, the kids had to find something to do inside. They found a closet with cushion chair covers in it. They found it a great little spot to play. Over the past few weeks Brayden has a huge obsession with balls. We have about 20 at our house at all times laying around.

Then it was on to playing with Uncle Jimmy at our house. I had to work, so Uncle Jimmy and Grandma came over and watched him for the day. When I came home I found that Brayden had learned a new trick. Since our house is lofted Brayden doesn't really have walls to his room. I walked in to find him hanging over the wall to the kitchen throwing balls over it.

Then I went in his room and here is Uncle Jimmy lifting him up so that he could throw the balls over. I didn't mind at all, except for the fact that when they left he asked me to do it and there is no way I am lifting him like that. Good thing their memory is not that good, because after a couple days he hasn't asked again to do it.

Uncle Jimmy and Brayden

Brayden consistently tells us when he is wetting his diaper, by grabbing himself inappropriately. So I thought that maybe he is ready for potty training. We have sat on the toilet a million times, but no luck yet. He is actually pretty obsessed with it, saying "Brayden potty". Let's hope this is a good sign that he will be ready to be potty trained here sooner than later.

Uncle Jimmy (far right) and his girlfriend Kim (to the right of me) moved to Colorado over the past month. My mom threw them a little going away party. Also in the picture is Aunt Lauren, Uncle Josh, and baby Callie. When Brayden sees any baby now, he exclaims out loud, "baby, wa wa!!" It's pretty funny.

Brayden and Ga-Ga. Brayden has been talking up a storm the past couple weeks. You can have a full conversation with him now. He answers all your questions. He has finally picked up on names of the family. Grandma has been renamed Ga-ga and Grandpa is now pa-pa.

We had another trip to the lake house over Memorial Day weekend. Pa-pa had hip replacement surgery a couple weeks ago, so we went home to see how he was doing. It's amazing how quickly you can recover from such a huge procedure. He was just walking around with a cane. Which Brayden thought was a "golf club". He kept telling pa-pa, golf club. We let him play with it once, but he almost took out cousin Maddie, so then it just became pa-pa's only.

Aunt Jamie and Uncle Josh put up a swing outside the house. Boy did Maddie and Brayden love that swing.

Brayden's new favorite words that we hear about a thousand times a day are "hockee" and "andy-Many" aka Handy Manny. If you don't know who he is, it's a cartoon where he has talking toys that fix things. Well if we try to fix anything around here or if he sees someone on the street doing it, he screams "Andy-Many". The other day at the park there were workers putting up a fence, all the kids are playing and Brayden stood there for about ten minutes repeatedly telling me "Andy-Manny". So needless to say, I caved in and bought him the Handy Manny tool set, he carries it all around trying to fix things. It's pretty cute. The second obsession is hockey, which is a little weird because we are not huge hockey fans. It's been on tv since the Blackhawks are in the playoffs, but other than that it is not on. Well it has become a full on obsession for him. If he sees it on tv, in the newspaper, if he sees a banner hanging up. We hear the word hockey over and over again. Jon finally gave in yesterday and bought him a Blackhawks t-shirt. The kids looooooves it!!! All day he just pointed to his shit and shouted hockey. Well needless to say we tried to take the shirt off last night before bed and again today, but the poor kid cried when we tried to take it off. Somehow almost two days into wearing the shirt we convinced him to take it off so we can wash it for the game tomorrow.

It's amazing how much he understands us and talks to us these days. We had his 18 month check up a few weeks ago. He was again in the 90% for height, but only 20% for weight. We also had to follow up with the NICU clinic. They did an evaluation with him to see how things are coming along. It's amazing how they tests kids that small with all these different techniques, like hiding objects and following directions. Needless to say, he passed with flying colors and we don't have to go back for another year. So that is great news. She even thought that he was more right dominant, which we always thought he would be left handed due to the stroke, just goes to show that you can't really tell at this point.

One last thing that we have been up to lately. Ok, so it has completely consumed our lives, hence why I haven't blogged lately. We are moving here in the next couple weeks down to the Indianapolis area. I along with Jon ,as my business partner, are taking on the huge task of opening my own dental practice. I'll give you guys more info as things start getting up and running.