Back to Michigan we go...

Wow, what a week. I am glad that it is finally Friday. We fly out tomorrow and are staying for a week in Michigan for Christmas. At this point, I am not up for traveling, again, but I know that as soon as I get there everything will be fine.

Braden is doing well. He is getting another tooth, but he seemed to deal with this one better than the rest. I took him to get his hair cut the other day. He screamed the whole time. He looks so cute now. They just trimmed up the back and around his ears.

Tonight we will be packing so I will make sure to post plenty of pictures when we get back from our trip.

Merry Christmas everyone!

My paper is in.....now I wait for the results.

On Wednesday I turned in my final paper for my graduate class. It was a huge relief to get that out of my hands. I really enjoyed that class and will be working with that professor next semester. I am taking and Independent Study class with her where I will be helping undergraduates in program planning and I will also be helping her with a Latino Health Fair. She is such an inspiring teacher. She loves what she does and has so much positive energy.

On a more somber note, my grandmother has passed away. She died Wednesday night. Brian and I will be traveling back to Michigan for the funeral on Saturday.

I know she is in a better place.

Last entry for a while....

I have a BIG paper due in one week, and lets just say, I have to get going on it. Every time I get on the computer I avoid working on my paper by updating this blog. I am cutting myself off from the blog until this paper is done. Talk to all of you again next Wednesday.....

12 month appointment

I have to say, this last doctor appointment was the worst! Braden just was hit with one thing after another. In the past I have been unaffected by the shots, not completely, but Braden has recovered quickly so I have too. This time, he had to have his circumcision fixed. No cutting, but Braden is still uncomfortable. Then he had three shots! As he gets stronger, I have to hold him tighter, and it was hard to do today. Two shots went in his arms and one in his leg. Finally he had to have blood drawn. Before they did it by pricking his heel, this time they took his blood like they would take our blood! The first arm didn't work, so they had to switch arms! They had to poke around for a while also. That is what almost killed me! No tears on my part, but plenty on his!

He was so exhausted from the whole day that he feel asleep eating his dinner.

My poor baby!

FYI--I was wispering during the video, so turn up the volume for this one!

Messy baby

Braden get so messy when he eats. I like that he can eat our food, but the clean up is overwhelming sometimes. We had lasagna last night, as you can probably tell!

I shot this video for Brian because he had to stay late at wrestling!

Birthday Celebration

We had some vistors for Braden's Birthday! It was very nice. We celebrated today since that was when everyone could attend. He had a great day. Here are some pictures from the event!




Do you like my birthday hat?




Happy birthday to me!




Yum, this cup-cake is really good.










Look mom, I have new books!



This is everyone who came to visit! Thanks for making the trip!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADEN

One year ago I was in the hospital holding this little bundle of joy!
One year has gone by and I am STILL in awe!

I have such a beautiful little baby boy.





















This video was taken this morning...

Deja Vu

No, it is not Thanksgiving day, this picture was taken on Wednesday night, 11pm to be exact. I sent my lovely husband grocery shopping this week so that I could work on a paper and he came back, very proud....he got a DEAL! I asked for a small turkey breast to make Braden some dinner and he must have interpreted that differently and bought a 20lb turkey. Did you know they sell turkeys for .29 a lb after Thanksgiving day? Well, now you and I know! Since he did such a GREAT job at the store I decided he could find time to cook this lovely turkey. I wanted him to be able to claim sole responsibility for this one.


In the end, he did cook it and it tastes great! (Please note my use of the present tense, as we are still eating it)
Brian always finds a way to make me laugh!

New Look

Well, Braden is almost one year old and I needed a change! (I am one of those people that changes the furnature around often.) I wanted to change the background and the title. Though the blog is about Braden, it is really my journal about Braden. I hope you enjoy the new look.

He is almost one year old!

This Friday is Braden's birthday. I can't believe it. I am not upset about him getting older. It is so amazing to watch him grow. Julia was here this holiday weekend and spoiled our little boy. It was so nice to have her here for so long! Brian drove her to the airport this morning. This weekend all of Braden's grandparents are coming to visit. Even his Uncle Jeremy will be here. I don't have much planned for Braden's birthday, just spending time together.

Happy Thanksgiving

We all had a great Thanksgiving. Julia came to visit and cooked and amazing dinner. Thanksgiving this year included Brian, myself, Braden Michael, Sarah, Scott, Camden (the other baby), Julia and Mel! It was nice to have everyone over. We watched a little football, played darts, and ate great food!



Aunt Melly, Auntie Julia and Braden


Braden, Camden and Sarah


Sarah and Scott



Mel, Julia and Me!



Braden is very interested in Camden













"Hey Braden, want to try some whip-cream?" -Auntie Julia

Spaghetti Night

Braden has been a little fussy when it comes to lunch and dinner lately. He loves his bottle, but when it comes to his jar of baby dinner, he is not into it. Tonight was his last straw! He said, mom, I don't want to eat this stuff, I want real people food. Mind you, I should be giving him table food, but that means I need to cook healthfully every night and with our schedule, that doesn't always happen.

So, of all nights to stop eating the jars of food, it was spaghetti night! What a mess. He thought it was so fun. He is growing up so quickly.

All Better

Braden is feeling better. He has been eating, smiling and laughing again. Our little guy is back to normal, thank goodness! Also in the past week, he has started clapping. It is really cute, in fact he tried to get out of getting in trouble by clapping earlier. Braden was climbing up the stairs in the basement and Brian told him to stay down. Braden looks right at Brian, then me and then starts clapping to get out of having to come back down the stairs. It was so cute and Brian and I were trying not to laugh! He did end up coming back down.



Here are some pictures of our goof-ball. FYI, the second picture is a happy scream. You will also be able to see his newest bump. He went right into the corner of the wall. It was so terrible. All that is left is the bruise because he does not seem bothered by it anymore!

















Braden Clapping




This is another video of Braden taking his caterpillar for a walk.

Still Sick

Braden is still not 100%. He didn't sleep well at all last night and was very crabby tonight. He falls asleep as soon as he hits the matress, lets just hope he sleeps throught he night. Since he woke up so often last night, I was a bit irritable while teaching today. My fuse was short and my students received the brunt of it. I think I scared a few of them from asking me any questions!

Anyway, here is our crabby, sick baby.

Sickie

Well, I have a sickie baby. He has a temp, and a cold and is very, very irritable. The past two days have been tough. I was up every few hours with him last night. It reminded me of when he was just a little itski. I was asking myself how did we made it through that. I am worn out and it was just one night!

I don't have any cute pictures of our sick baby. He is not exactly in the mood to take any pictures.

I know it has been a long time since I updated the blog. It has been pretty busy.
Here is a little update on us.

ME
I was in NYC last weekend with a friend that I work with. I had a great time. It is the end of the Quarter at work, so grades are due and we are just busy cleaning up and getting organized. I have a few projects for my graduate classes that have also been keeping me busy.

Brian
Wrestling season has started so Brian is gone more now. Between AP Chemistry and his graduate class, his time is taken.

There are days when I am not sure we are going to survive this year. Today is one of them, but it may be the sleep deprivation talking.

Well, Braden is sleeping and I think that is exactly what I need to be doing, otherwise this is going to be a very long night.


PS. About Election day, I wanted to add to the blog that day, but didn't. Still, this is what I wanted to say: We did cast our vote and hope that all of you did the same. VOTING is what keeps us free. This is how our voices can be heard.

Halloween is here!

I had to teach today and the students were suprising calm for Halloween. Some of the students had costumes, but not too many. Afterwards I went to Jeanne's and she had a bunch of people over to hand out candy and eat chili. It was really nice. The girls were dressed up and Braden looked so cute. Braden was a dragon, Gabby was a puppy dog, and Bella was a kitten.




















































































Braden was so tired on the way home. He couldn't stay awake!

Sleeping Baby

Last night Brian and I went to dinner in Baltimore. It was nice to get out for a little while. We met up with some friends for a while afterwards. We weren't out too late and Braden had fun with his baby sitter, Lyndsey. She is a student of Brians and loves to play with the squirt. I don't know what she did, but this little guy slept until near 9am this morning! I couldn't believe it! I kept going into his room in the morning to make sure he was OK just because I could not believe he was still sleeping! He must of hit snooze when his 5:15 am internal alarm went off this morning. I guess even babies like to sleep in on Saturday's every once in a while.

He is down for a nap right now and is sleeping with his feet in the air! I had to take a picture of it! We have a very sleepy baby today.

Cute pictures of Braden

Here are some extra pictures of Braden. Enjoy!






This is my new toy that my mommy could not resist! I love playing basketball. I put the ball through the hoop and it counts for me!












This pumpkin is big!




I am too cute!

Waving

Braden waves hi! This video does not do it justice but it was hard to get him to wave and tape him at the same time. Everytime I waved the camera shook up and down. I had Brian help me and this is all we got! Now the noise he makes when he is waving is his attempt to say "hi". He does it everytime he waves and it is so cute. Today was the first day that he waved to me when I dropped him off at Jeanne's.

How strong!

It still suprises me when Braden shows us how strong he is! He is always pushing something over or pulling something onto himself. He is walking so much better now and is getting stronger. The other day he decided to lift a small cooler and carry it around with him!

Braden's First Experiment

Well, Brian brought home some extra dry ice today. He did a few experiments at school with it and Braden was in love with it! He has so much fun. He wanted to drink it and he kept putting his hand in the water. It was so funny. I guess this is what happens when you marry a Chemistry teacher!

Friday night~

Well, we made pizza for dinner, Brian made a run to the store so Cherry Wheat is the drink of choice tonight. Braden is having fun playing with us. He will probably stay up a little later tonight since he slept so well for me at Jeanne's.



















Please ignore me in this video. Brian should know by now not to include me, but as you can see, I am in the video. I just took a shower, so anyway, watch the cutie pie. He loves to make this noise. I have tried to teach him to to do it himself, but he love it when you do it for him!

It is finally cold

Well, there isn't any snow in Maryland, but is finally getting cold. There was frost on the cars this morning. You had to warm them up. I don't have a warm coat for Braden yet, so I dressed him in a few layers and added a hat for warmth.





I think the hat was holding his cheeks more than keeping his head warm!!!









Gabby goes to preschool on Monday, Wednesday and Friday so I have the two babies in the afternoon by themselves. I was able to get a few shots of the two of them. They are so funny together. Bella wants what Braden has and vice versa. I was able to get some video of Bella trying to get Braden's bottle, but do know that Braden has done the same to her.





Nice hair Braden!





He is still waking up: eyes are closed while drinking his bottle!

Braden in the bath tub, part II of many many more!

It is hard not to take a picture of Braden in the tub. Lately, he has been trying to stand up while taking a bath, which has been a small problem, but I did manage to get a few good shots without embarasing him 10 years from now, if you know what I mean.

Countdown to Halloween

I have to say, I have been waiting for October 31st since Braden has been born. I love, love, love Halloween. It is the weather, (even though it can still be 80 degrees here), the orchards, the pumpkin carving. Last year at this time, I was 8 months pregnant and waiting for my little pumpkin to come. I can remember shopping in Old Navy and looking at the little baby costumes wondering if I was going to have a boy or a girl and what I would dress my little one in for Halloween the next year. Well, the next year has come and I have had to hold myself back from buying TWO, yes two, Halloween outfits. I have bought a dragon outfit. It is too cute. We tried in on the day we bought it and Braden was all smiles. I was then looking through a costume magazine and saw the CUTEST Tootsie Roll costume. Brian helped me come to my senses (even though he though about it for a minute). Only one costume for Halloween this year. There are exactly 20 days until Halloween and I will wait in endless anticipation.

Just trying something

This in another video. I am trying something out so enjoy and we'll see if the quality of this clip is a little better than the previous ones!

Braden walks!

Braden has become more brave and has begun to take many more steps. He walks from room to room and loves to walk outside. Last Thursday I took him to the store to buy his first "real pair" of shoes. I went to Stride Rite and bought an adorable pair of shoes for my peanut at an outragous price.



















The shoes don't seem to bother him. He is getting better at walking outside. Inside, he does very well.










































Walking outside



Walking inside

A night out at the Neorr's

Last night Brian, Braden and I had dinner with Cindy and Peter. They have a fun cat that plays with Braden. Well, it is more like Braden tries to get the cat and the cat runs away, but never to far and he doesn't bite Braden so that is playing, right? Anyway, Cindy and I take our graduate classes together so we have grown very close over the past year and a half. We have really made some great friends in Maryland and these are two of them! Cindy and I try to meet for dinner before our class on Wednesday nights. Cindy and Peter are so great with Braden and have been a great help since he has been born. They have brought over dinner and babysat for us!

Thanks Cindy and Peter!