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.

Pictures...

Just some pictures so everyone can get their Brayden fix.

Brayden enjoying the swing at the park. The weather has been up and down, one day we are wearing shorts and then the following day we are in coats and hats.

This is the face I get when I ask if he is all done!

Easter 2010. I didn't know if Brayden would understand that we were hiding eggs for him to find, but he caught on very quickly when he learned that there was an M& M inside of them.

Notice the chocolate all over his face!! Funny thing is that he asks us everyday now to hide Easter eggs for him. We of course give in, but we have learned to hide them now with cheerios instead of chocolate.

I went to say goodnight to B and this is how I found him, he unzipped his pajamas to get a little air. I guess it is time for some summer pj's. And yes I know there are a million stuffed animals in his crib, but he insists on sleeping with all of them.

We had three visits to Indy in a time span of one week. Two for the Butler games, bummer they lost! And one visit to Uncle Joey's frat house for his Trike Day.

Brayden jumping on a big jumping thing outside the frat house, boy did he love it. He completely wore himself out on this thing.

A little fun for the big kids. Myself, Heather, and Joey riding the trikes around.

We took B to the Children's Museum this past weekend. Here he is pretending to slide down the fire pole.

Busy doing some grocery shopping. It is hard to get a good picture of him these days since he is soooo busy.

Digging for dinasours!

I went to get Brayden out of his crib one morning and he was doing this, so I had to get the camera and have him do it again for me. The kid has so much energy from the time he wakes up.

Introducing...

On March 19th, my brother and his wife had a beautiful baby girl Callie Marie. We went and visited last weekend to get some cuddling time in with our new niece.

Jon and Callie

I love this picture, look at that face!

Callie and I

Brayden giving his new cousin a kiss

When we were leaving Brayden kindly told us where to put the baby, back in the boppy. AKA you are not taking her home with us!!! It was pretty funny.

Brayden has learned that he loves the train rides at the mall. As soon as it stops he yells "more, more!" We tried to visit the Easter bunny too, but that just ended up in screaming and squirming off the bunny's lap. They weren't quick enough to snap a photo of it. I guess we will just look from a distance for now.

We are the biggest Butler fans and looks like Brayden is going to be one too!!! He was cool as a cat watching the game on Saturday as our team is in the Final Four!!! Go Dawgs!!!

"All Done"

Brayden has definitely been keeping us extremely busy!!! He has been learning new words on a daily basis and using them at any chance that he can get. His absolute favorite word right now is, "All done". When a tv show is done - all done, if you are done eating - all done. You think, oh how cute, but there are definitely times it is not cute. Brayden is an early riser, let's just say the past couple weeks he is up sometime during the 5 o'clock hour. And you know what he is screaming at 5 in the morning, "All done"!! That's right, he tell us when he is all done sleeping and somehow there is now way to convince him to go back to sleep. Trust us, we really have tried everything!!! So thank goodness for the time change because we are all now getting up in the 6 o'clock hour, which is much better!!

Brayden is also very stubborn lately about what he chooses to eat. He went to the allergist just after his first birthday and he is allergic to dairy products and eggs (both cooked and raw), so needless to say our selection of foods in the first place is not all that great. I tried giving him a hot dog and I was so super pumped because he scarfed the whole thing down in like one minute flat, and then about thirty seconds after that he whole face swelled up. Who knew that hot dogs have egg whites in them!!! So which leads me back to one picky eater. He loves chocolate and anything with sugar in it, I guess he got his sweet tooth directly from his mom! The only vegetable that I can get him to eat these days is edamame, I know weird right? And for fruit, it's only dried fruits by Gerber, no fresh things!! Anyone have any suggestions on how to get my kid to eat more? Now a days, if I put new things on his plate, he kindly hands them back to me and won't even try. The only way that he will eat though is with a fork and that even includes cheerios and bread.

Alright, enough talking here are some pictures....

Playing hide n' go seek - his favorite spot (actually his only spot) behind the curtains

Eating bread and turkey with a fork

Jon and I went away to Florida for a long weekend for a wedding, Brayden was a big helper with the suitcase

Actually he couldn't wait to get rid of us, he carried our bag out. He had a great weekend hanging out with Grandma O minus the teething part.

Annie and Anton - this is my friend from dental school

The Dental Clan

Just trying out a sucker for the first time, and what a surprise he loved it

Brayden and Colin ready for a ride outside, the boys have been going absolutely stir crazy, so they were super excited to get out the past few weeks.

Just a flashback, this is the boys when B was 7 months and Colin was 8, the previous picture B is 16 months and Colin 17, boy have they grown!!



Braydn saying his favorite phrase, All done!




Brayden showing off his dancing skills

We are working on animal noises so these are in the initial phases, but he loves to do them.

Another month has gone by...

Once again, we have gotten so busy and the blog seems to get neglected. So let me say I'm sorry and hopefully this month will be much more relaxing and not as crazy that I will be able to update it a couple times.

Brayden has been very busy and experimenting with everything and trying to be more vocal. He has learned a few more signs lately, his newest are please and thank you. It is adorable if he wants milk he says milk please, repeatedly until he gets some. Somehow it is hard to say no when he is so cute doing it. His favorite words right now are: Ma, Dad, Hi, All Done, and More. A very random mix of words, but he is really tyring to read your lips and understand how to say them.

Brayden has become a very picky eater lately. He really has his favorite things and if you try to put something on his plate that he has never seen he refuses to eat it. He has discovered that he loves M & M's. I know I am a bad mother that he has already come to loving them. It started that he would give us kisses for them. So now he will give us a million kisses in the morning thinking that he will get some M & M's. Of course, he doesn't get them, only special occasions. The kid is so smart that you can't even say that word because he knows it means chocolate, so we have renamed them L & L's until he figures that out too!!

Here are some pictures of what Brayden has been up to this past month:

Brayden loves reading books!! Every night after we each read him one book before bed, he always asks for more, so of course we give in.

He has learned to empty the whole toy bucket and climb in it until every last toy is out

He finally how to use the string on the pull toys and now pulls them around the house

Our nanny Emily had to leave us this past month. She had to student teach in order to get her Masters. We miss her tons, but we know she will be an amazing teacher someday.

Brayden got to go to his second Butler Basketball game with Daddy!

What a ham!! I love that smile.

Brayden has become a good helper around the house. Here he is waxing the floors with his toothbrush and the kitchen towel.

He loves to do the laundry...

And when I'm getting ready in the morning, he patiently sits on the scale and reads books. Ok, so this lasts for a whole 5 seconds but it is really sweet.

We got to see Maddie this weekend and he loved wagon rides with her.

How cute, kisses on command for Maddie

On a side note, some other events that happened over the past month:

My college roommate Erin, gave birth to Lillian Grace on Jan. 20th!! I already got to go and snuggle with her, she is adorable.

Maddie Grace turned 1 year old on Jan. 29th!! Happy Birthday Maddie.

Brayden's Great - Grandmother Worthington passed away this past weekend. This picture is from last year, but we did get to celebrate her 80th birthday this past October. She truly will be missed.

This is Brayden trying pizza for the first time.