Summer Lovin'

It doesn't get any better than the pool, the park and some ice cold watermelon:

We're Walking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More to come, but off Braden went! Still very wobbly w/ a lot of falls, but off he goes. I was SO proud of him and he was quite proud of himself. The falls are very scary though.

Happy 11 Months to you!

Happy 11 months sweet baby! Here are some fun facts about my 11 month old:

1. Braden took his first wobbly steps . He's been walking, holding my hand for weeks and weeks now. In fact we spend HOURS each day practicing walking, but yesterday out of nowhere he just let go and off he went (3 or 4 steps before falling). I'm gonna miss that little hand gripped around my finger!

2. My sweet baby has become the pickiest eater lately. He used to love finger foods, but now he spits out almost everything I put on his plate. Curse words are usually forming in my head as I attempt to put food in his mouth as he turns around and spits it out. His favorites (and the ones I can count on him to eat) are blueberries, watermelon, green beans, pasta, cheese and bread. Other than that, he's not really in to eating these days.

3. My little man loves to flip through books. The only time he'll actually sit still and let me read to him is right before his morning nap. Otherwise, he's flipping through the pages so fast I can't even get a word read. His favorites are: "Brown Bear, Brown Bear," "Where is baby?" "You are Special," "Barnyard Dance," "Belly Button Beach," and "Guess How Much I Love You?"

4. Braden is really into throwing things these days...that would include food, dishes out of the dishwasher, his blocks, his sippy cup and even his socks out of the crib. Austin is hoping this great arm of his will aid him in his future career as a baseball player.

5. Braden LOVES Tyson, well all dogs for that matter. He has a special squeal that he lets out when he sees a dog. But Tyson is his favorite. Tyson walks in the room and Brady starts laughing. Tyson scratches his back and Brady starts laughing. Tyson drinks water and Brady starts laughing. Tyson chews a bone and Brady starts laughing. Who knew Tyson was so funny.

6. Little man has 7 teeth...4 up top and 3 down below.

7. Braden has been practicing quite a bit of vocabulary lately. His favorites are dada, baba, mama and nana....and a bunch of high-pitched gibberish that I can't make out. Oh and Tyson is "da."

8. We are still on 2 naps a day...well most days. Today he only took one and was up from 11:15 until 7:45 bedtime...ugh! But he was in a great mood for skipping his afternoon nap. I'm hoping to hang on to 2 naps a day for another few weeks.

9. He still gets up at the crack of dawn...5:50am yesterday...boo! But he is an awesome night sleeper and has been since he was 3 months old so I guess I shouldn't complain.

10. Here are some of Brady's favorite tricks: clapping his hands, pointing, giving high fives, feeding mommy and daddy, raising his hands above his head when I say, "How big is Brady" and giving kisses (although he is stingy about these) and will push my face away if he's not interested (it makes me sad) :)

11. Braden's favorite playmate is still momma and daddy. He is very cuddly and wants to be in my lap on in my arms most of the day.

Home again...

We are finally home again after another weekend of travelling. We headed out last Thursday to go back home to Lexington to visit family and attend the wedding of one of Austin's dearest friends and former UK baseball teammates Beau Moore. Of course Brady came down w/ a head cold the day before we left so the trip there was a wee bit rough, but once we got settled (besides skipping naps every once in awhile) he had a great week too. It was so fun to have a few nights out w/old friends and it definitely made me miss Lexington. We managed to squeeze in some good family time too. And Coach, here are the pictures I promised :)

Austin and I at the wedding -

Will, Beau (the groom), Austin and Jason (all former UK baseball players) -

This picture is just cute - Brady had a great time playing in Nana's fountain. His face here is pure joy as he's splashing water on his face -

Playing in the fountain -

Swimming w/ Coco. ps...Brady spent the whole time at the baby pool walking, walking and walking) He would walk in the water and then back out again and then turn around and do it all over again. He did manage to sit still for this picture -

Playing in his new zoo that Nana bought him -

The feared 2-1 nap transition has begun...I think...

Yikes...I fear that we are starting the awkward 2-1 nap transition. I was hoping to make it past Braden's first birthday before we started the transition, but I'm not sure we are gonna make it another 5 weeks. I was talking to my mom today and she said that my older sister was on 1 nap a day by 7 months and I was on 1 nap a day by 10 months. I love the 2 nap a day schedule we have been on for the past 5 months and selfishly I'm just not quite ready, but I think Brady may be. Our days are super awkward now and each day is different...either a later, really long morning nap followed by a hard to get shorter afternoon nap or a shorter morning nap and a shorter afternoon nap. Either way, I can't seem to fit two naps a day plus all the activity time Braden needs in order for him to be tired enough to get two good naps in. We are in KY this week visiting family and attending a wedding of one of Austin's best friends, but when we get back we have lots to work on between weaning off of the bottle and transitioning to 1 nap a day. My baby is all grown up...and about to enter the scary world of toddlerhood. Beware...

Gone are the days...

Gone are the days when my sweet baby would fall asleep in my arms and I had the uninterrupted opportunity to sit and hold him, snuggle him, caress his sweet head, whisper that I love him for hours upon end. Ever since Braden was born, I have spent many a day in his rocking chair...rocking him, reading to him and soothing him while he snuggled so tightly in my arms, drifting off to sleep. In those moments (usually at night instead of naps) that he would fall asleep in my arms, I would hold him close, stare at him, pray endlessly over him, speak words like "I'm proud of you," "You are special," "You can be anything you want to be," "God loves you and Jesus died for you" over his life. I would ponder what his future held, what his personality would be like, if I had taught him enough, if I had done enough to foster an environment of love for him. I would wonder if he knew how much I loved him, how many tears I had shed over him, how often I worried about him, how many times we had prayed for him. And on those days that I was blessed enough to have him sleep in my arms, oftentimes I would close my eyes for just a few minutes and enjoy those moments. But too often, I would stop rocking after 10 minutes and put him in his crib b/c I had so much to do and I felt rushed by the craziness of life. And that is where the guilt sets in...because gone are those days.

Those of you that know me also know that I have been a bit obsessed about Braden's sleep since he was born (mainly because I knew he and I both needed that break). I've read all of those books "The Baby Whisperer" "The Sleep Lady" "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and checked out numerous websites and chat rooms on the subject of sleep. I have always required A LOT of sleep and I guess that's why I was so obsessed b/c I knew if Braden didn't sleep then neither did I...so from the wise words of Dr. Weissbluth, I started focusing on the phrase "tired but awake." Mainly at naps did we work on this, but in my mind there was a constant battle of "I want to hold my baby and rock him to sleep in my arms" vs. "put him in the crib tired but awake so that he knows how to fall asleep on his own." And I have to say, each day was different, some days I would rock him to sleep, just because I could or because after a frustrating day of fussiness I would need that bonding time and some days I would put him in the crib "tired but awake" only for him to drift off to sleep on his own. And over the past few months I have to say, Braden has caught on marvelously to the "tired but awake" phrase. And although I am so proud of him for developing good sleep habits and feel fortunate to have a baby who will peacefully drift off to sleep (most days) and sleeps 10 hours straight at night w/o needing me even during sickness, teething, etc., I am saddened to realize that gone are the days when I could hold my sweet baby till he falls asleep in my arms.

He is becoming independent. Isn't that what I've been trying to foster in him since the day he was born? But somehow, now that he can fall asleep on his own, I find myself missing those moments when he was in my arms. This morning he layed peacefully in my arms and listened to a story before naptime, but as he became more tired, he started squirming and I tried to hold him close and rock him and I realized that all he wanted was to be put in the crib so he could go to sleep. On those rare days, which God blesses me with every so often when he'll fall asleep in my arms, I sit back, close my eyes, often tear-up, and hold tightly this precious gift God gave me. I find myself so thankful for the gift of being a mother, for the opportunity to hear my baby's breath in my ear, feel his eyelashes on my cheek and it's in those moments that I wish I could freeze time because sweet Brady you are growing up way too fast.

Where have we been...

Wow...I cannot believe it has been this long since I've posted...we are alive and well, but we have been crazy busy. As I've realized lately, life w/ a 10 month old doesn't slow down much. The other day, I sat down to download my pictures from my last post and I had 124 on my camera! Sooooo...here are all 124 pictures...just kidding, but I'll let a few of the pictures explain where we've been and what we've been up to...

On Mother's Day (which started off with Austin letting me sleep in, followed by homemade pancakes in bed and an entire cup of hot coffee - usually by the time i actually get around to finishing my coffee it's already cold) we headed up to Bowling Green, KY to Austin's grandmother's house for a little family reunion. Braden was really in the thick of the stranger anxiety thing at this point so he never would let his great grandmother hold him. Here is Braden wrestling w/ his cousin Jordan:

Here is my baby after 3 days of 103 temperature and a yucky cold. He was pitiful this day...and spent most of the day snuggled in my arms asleep:

This picture is just cute..I love his shark pj's...Here is Braden in his new swim trunks looking a little terrified. We spend pretty much all day long outdoors these days. His new favorite outdoor activities include picking up sticks, splashing water around in buckets, pushing his truck walker around and digging for rocks. Anything that involves standing or walking will do the trick as well.

Last week, we headed home to spend the weekend w/ family. We also left Braden w/ the grandparents for 4 days while Austin and I headed to the mountains of Virginia to visit the Homestead (http://www.thehomestead.com/). Austin had to be there for a 3 night black tie business trip and his company asked me to come along all expenses paid. It was unbelievable...by far the nicest place I have ever stayed. Austin and I had a great time dressing up in our black tie wear every night and during the day I read, relaxed by the pool and even managed to get a pedicure in. Brady did awesome w/ the grandparents...he slept good, ate good and even managed to get another tooth in while we were gone. He had his fussy moments during the teething, but besides that he had a blast as you can see. Here he is in his new pool at Coco and Poppa's house: Hanging out w/ all his aunts and uncles:Playing in the rocks w/ Coco:

Taking his first boat ride at Coco and Poppa's house...Brady was fascinated with watching the water turn under the boat. He also LOVED driving w/ Poppa:

We also visited w/ my two best friends from home. Cassie just had her baby boy Davis 3 weeks ago and Annie's prego w/ number 2. Her oldest Max is almost 2:

Braden in his walker at Nana and Coach's house. We don't have a walker at home, but his grandparents bought him one and let's just say Brady runs sprints in that thing...Playing w/ Nana and feeding Papa Coach his new favorite finger food...watermelon. That's how I know my boy is a true Madison, that he loves watermelon. And finally...a picture of Austin and I hiking in the mountains in Virginia

Oh and one last exciting piece of information...my oldest sister Shannon got engaged last night in Mexico! Way to go Daniel! Congrats to both of you!