October update...

Brayden has been so busy lately. He is walking, or should I say running everywhere. It is amazing how quickly he goes from walking with his arms out trying to balance, to literally running. He just keeps amazing us on how much he is now understanding what we are asking him. He is very good at "where is". So far he can locate ducky, the ball, the book snuggle-puppy, his water, the bathtub and of course his golf clubs. It is so funny because if you ask him something that he doesn't know he looks at you and then says "huh". Very cute. The best one he does is, can you find the diapers? He will go to his room and pull out a diaper from the diaper holder and bring it to us. If only he could reach the wipes! I don't seem to be taking a lot of pictures lately, simply because he doesn't stay still long enough for me to capture the image. Here are a few picture over the last few weeks.

On a side note, Grandpa Dave had his prostate removed over a week ago due to cancer. Jon made the trip out to Columbus to be with his dad, but we didn't think Brayden would do so well on a 6 hour car ride and a few days stuck in a hospital, so we stayed back. The surgery went well and Dave is home recovering. Please keep him in your thoughts for a speedy recovery.

We got to celebrate Colin's 1st birthday at the beginning of the month. Brayden loves party hats, doesn't look like Colin likes them though.

We also got to celebrate my Aunt Dorothy's birthday with all of her family. (We took pictures, I just don't have them yet).

Braydn was trying to steal Colin's I'm 1 button.

It is so funny to have Brayden walking around. Since we have hard wood floors, he hardly every wears socks or shoes in the house. So we are trying to get him used to wearing shoes and socks. He totally freaks out when you put them on and then when you try to stand him up, he won't. So right now he only wears the little slipper shoes out. Also funny story Brayden refuses to walk anywhere else but our house. This weekend we opened the door and tried to have him walk into the hallway and he refused to. He just stood at the front door and whinned until you picked him up. So then we tried it again when we got outside, but no, he won't walk outside. He just stands or throws himself down until you pick him up. I guess he figured out that he likes the free rides he receives from us. So not only do we have to get him used to shoes, but we have to have him learn to walk outside.

Brayden got in his top four teeth all at the same time, so he wasn't feeling so good then. Here is his "old man" face. I guess he was getting used to his new teeth.

Brayden has been sleeping on his face with his butt up in the air and this is what he looks like when he gets up. Needless to say we got his hair cut a couple days ago because it was so long.

Brayden cuddling with his favorite things: a bottle, ducky, and the remote control. Life is good.

We have been signing to Brayden since he was about 4 months and just in the past month he has started signing back to us.

Small steps...

Brayden has been trying really hard to walk lately. He is pretty consistent with it. We were at 3-4 steps for about a week and now we can get him up to about 15 steps at a time. Most of the time we still have to tease him with a cell phone or something to make him come to us, but he does!! He has no fear what-so-ever. He falls every which way and doesn't seem to be bothered at all. I am sure we will have a full fledged walker here in the next week or two. I am not sure we are ready for that. Actually I take that back, we will have a runner, not a walker on our hands. The kid is in such a hurry and he gets way too excited and moves as quickly as he can. Here are just a couple pictures from the past weeks. I seem to be getting bad about taking pictures lately.

Brayden and Colin eating breakfast. It is so cute, whoever is in the chair the other one (whether they have eaten already or not), comes to the chair and shares the food.

Look at our Sheriff, he even has spurs on his outfit!!

Brayden Walking!!!

Labor Day Weekend

Brayden has been a ball of energy these days. He is discovering everything!!! He has now learned how to open and close all of the cupboards. It is hilarious, he opens it up, looks inside, and then gives you this look like "oh my gosh, this is the best thing ever". And what did he discover, tupperware. Who needs toys theses days, he plays more with the tupperware, empty boxes, and his puffs containers.

Brayden got a taste of daycare last week for a couple days. Our nanny went on vacation, so Jon took off a day and stayed home with him and then my mom helped out the other day. So for two days, we put Brayden in back up daycare. I am sure Brayden had a ball, but mommy and daddy got the consequences of daycare at home. I didn't know how he would do since he is really shy when it comes to strangers. So when I dropped him off, I was bracing for melt down. It never happened, he saw all the toys and he was off. Not one tear was shed. They even let us call in and check in on him, and they said everything was fine. Ok, I guess if he is eating, playing, and sleeping, then there is not much too it. Well Jon picked him up the first day, and he was a dirty mess. Come to find out they let him feed himself his yogurt and carrots. They said he only had about 2 bites, but about 7 were on his shirt. I haven't yet ventured to let a 9 month old feed himself spoon things. So we laughed about it and sent him back the second day with dark clothes and a bib. His report said he only took 2 thirty minute naps, yikes!! The best part was that they let Brayden play with markers. He came home with markers all over his hands and sure enough in his diaper bag was his picture that he made us. Once again, not quite sure I would allow my 9 month old to have markers. The poor guy gets so easily distracted that if there are toys he will play. So he came home Thursday so overtired, we didn't know what to do. He just screamed at the top of his lungs. The only way he would sleep was in the car, so at midnight, Jon and I are out driving in the pouring rain to get him to sleep. Finally asleep, he woke up again at 330 am and couldn't be consoled, so back in the car we went till he was sound asleep. So needless to say, we are not taking him back to daycare anytime soon. At least until he can tell us how his day went.

On a happier note, Brayden is trying so hard to walk. He definitely gets 2-3 steps in and then falls. He climbs up on everything, we caught him yesterday trying to climb up onto the couch. He is very vocal and says ma-ma, to just about everything. He has also learned to wave bye, so anytime you say it, the wave comes. It is very cute. Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Brayden hamming it up for the cameras

We went to the petting zoo and Jon and Brayden got to feed a cow

Brayden thought it was so funny!!

Look at that smile, a lot of gum and a little teeth

Is there something wrong with my hair guys?

Brayden reading the Sunday paper

We went apple picking today, he couldn't decide if he liked the taste of apples.

Brayden in his rocking chair.

Mommy and Brayden, at this point he wanted off.

He has been so active these days, the poor kid passes out on his face from exhaustion.

I promise these socks are clean and unworn, I just love his giggle

Brayden started doing this angry face about two days ago. He does it when he gets frustrated and can't get what he wants. Unfortunately Jon and I think it is hilarious. If we make a funny face to him he will do it back to us. The video doesn't do it justice, it is so funny in person.

9 months and counting...

Brayden turned 9 months on the 9th. Here are his stats for 9 months:
29 inches long (75%)
20 lbs 3 oz. (50%)
44.3 head circumference (25%)
He seems to be pretty consistent the past few months. He is growing longer and definitely thinning out. He is a very busy kid these days. During therapy she is trying to get him to start walking, I don't know if I am ready for that yet!!! He is getting very gutsy though and lets go of the couch and just stands there. The longest so far was 7 seconds. We have also gotten him to take 2 steps all by himself. With his determination, I am sure it won't be long until we have a walker on our hands. Here are some pictures from the past few weeks....

Enjoying bath time.

Just relaxing with dad

Summer seems to wipe him out, he loves being outside. It is like he is sunbathing.

We went to Indy last week to see Jimmy Buffet, hence the Hawaiian shirts. Brayden didn't get to go, but he wore his shirt too.

We stopped by Butler (Jon and I's alma mater), we moved in my brother Joey for school. So we stopped by a few famous landmarks and took a few pictures. Let's go Bulldogs!!

He fit perfectly into this sign, I love this picture.

Then we headed on up to the lake. He was dying to try licorice, so we let him.

Who knew it would make such a mess!!!

We had a great time hanging out with all of Jon's family. Here is cousin Maddie sitting all by herself.

They were pretty funny, he acted like she wasn't there..

Still acting like she wasn't there, he just went and sat right on her.

You have to get the background on this picture as to why it is so cute. Brayden loves the dogs. He thinks it is hilarious when he gets to touch them. So there is a foot rest on the bottom and we were putting cheerios on it so the dogs would come eat them and then tickle Bradyen's feet. He got such a kick out of it.

Then we had Halloween at the lake. They celebrate the holiday early since most people are not up there after Labor day. It was pretty hot out, so we tried to create an outfit to keep him cool. So he wore his swim trunks and we made him 8 gold medals, to be Micheal Phelps.

Maddie was a Ballerina. They even got to go door to door trick'er treating.

Bradyen has been very vocal the past few weeks. He started saying Da,da all the time. Then all of a sudden his lost da da and now everything is ma ma.

The Month of July Review...

My mom would like to apologize for not updating the blog lately. As you will tell from all the pictures, we have had a very busy month. So here we go....

My dad thought it was time for my first golf lesson, some putting

I have started to eat all kinds of different foods. I usually only eat things that I can feed myself, I don't really like to be spoon fed anymore. Here I was trying out some kiwi.

For Fourth of July, we went up to the lake place. Aunt Kathy was letting me relax and put my feet up.

I have learned that I really love dogs, I think that they are hilarious. I love the way that they feel, especially on my feet.

Buster was going in to give me a wet kiss.

My parents tried to trick me to eat, so they put some puffs on a shovel to see if I would eat them. I do love those puffs!!!

I got to go swimming for the first time. I think I tried to escape out of the pool more than I went swimming, but overall I thought it was pretty fun.

I got to spend a lot of fun time with cousin Nellie and Maddie.

Then Daddy and I had a party. Mom went out of town to a wedding in Boston for one of her dental school friends, Carolyn. Congrats Carlyon and Jason!! She had so much fun, but she did miss me a lot. Dad had to call in for back up so Grandma Patty and Grandpa Dave came to help out.

Back at home I have been learning to climb up on everything. I also have learned to bounce when standing, so it looks like I am dancing. Mom seems to get a kick out of it.

I love when mom opens the fridge or the dishwasher, I crawl right to it and see what I can get my hands on.

My friend Colin and I have such a blast during the day with Emily. We were both having a tough day here, so we went for a walk hand in hand with our pacifiers.

Don't you think Colin and I are getting to be so grown up and handsome.

We have had a ton of visitors this past month. Here I am chilling with Uncles Jimmy and Joey. They came up with Grandma O to help celebrate Daddy's 30th birthday.

Then my friend Mason came over.

He was liking my party hat. That's my moms good friend Erin, she is pregnant and is due in January. I am super excited to have a new friend.

I don't know if you can tell in this picture or not, but the day I turned 8 months old I got two teeth on the bottom!!! After all these months that mommy blames everything on teething, I finally got some teeth and I was really good when I got them.

Dad thought it was funny to slick back my hair since I am over due for a hair cut.

I am really on a mission to learn how to walk all by myself. I get pretty confident and think that I can do it holding one hand sometimes, but it usually ends up with me on the floor. I seem to be what mom calls a bruiser. I have no fear really.

My mom and dad got to celebrate their 5 year wedding anniversary this month. Unfortunately they didn't allow me to join in the celebration. But don't worry I still had a ton of fun with my grandma and grandpa. We even got to visit with my cousins Jenna and Nellie and they kept me pretty entertained.

After a great month and a lot of traveling, I am now sick with a cold. But don't worry I will be turning 9 months old soon and I am sure my mom will have some more stuff to report on what I have been doing.

We have a lot of birthdays this month, so I wanted to wear my birthday hat one more time to give out my birthday wishes. My Uncle Josh turned 30 yesterday!!! Then it was Auntie Lauren's birthday today. Happy Birthday, I love you guys. Plus we just found out that Lauren and Josh are expecting a baby too!! I also want to give a big 1st Birthday wish to Benjamin.