Birthday Boy

I can hardly believe that Braden turned one on Sunday. Where has time gone this past year? We celebrated by having about 30 of our friends and family over to grill out, eat cake and par-tay. And then on Sunday, Braden's actual birthday, we spent with just the three of us for some quality Brady time. It was such a wonderful weekend and here are some of the highlights:

The collage of pictures of Braden (it was amazing when I was putting this together to see how much he has changed in just one short year) -

The cakes (they were from Whole Foods and apparently Whole Foods makes their icing out of vegetables instead of using artificial dyes - go figure, so the polka dots were not the color I was hoping for, but the cakes tasted amazing so I didn't mind so much)

The peeps (well some of them) -

Brady enjoying some hamburger, watermelon and pasta salad at his party

Singing Happy Birthday - Brady LOVED this part of the party, he smiled and smiled and then got shy and buried his head on my shoulder, it was so sweet - Digging into the cake - now my sweet baby has texture issues with some foods (more on that later), so as soon as he touched the icing, he made this face of disgust. He never would dig into his cake, I even tried to give him a taste of the icing and he wouldn't have anything to do w/ it. Clearly he didn't get my sweet tooth gene.

"All done" -

The clean-up begins -

Opening presents, we had to change outfits b/c Brady had too much fun in the sink -

Just the three of us - Happy Birthday baby boy! I have to say that in the days leading up to Braden's birthday, I found myself extremely emotional...crying as I rocked him to sleep at night, staring into his eyes as I gave him his bottles, cuddling him in my arms as he endlessly flipped through books on my lap and I found this time to be bittersweet. Sad that a year has passed so quickly and that my baby has gone from literally depending on me for everything to a walking, talking, signing little toddler and yet excited for all of his accomplishments, his budding independence and for what the years ahead will hold. In some ways, we wish we could go back to those tender, emotional days in the beginning when we didn't know what we were doing and didn't know how we were going to survive with a baby...I wish I could hold him more, slow down and take in more of life back then, but in some ways I am so thankful that gone are those exhausting days when I felt like I could barely function. It seems like overnight this gift from God has changed into a tiny person, full of personality and life...as I looked back over Braden's baby pictures, I could hardly believe how tiny he once was and how much he has changed. How can so much happen in just a short 365 days? Austin and I concluded Braden's birthday by reflecting back on favorite memories from this past year and I thank God for the blessing and gift that He has temporarily entrusted to us. I pray that as we move into the toddler years and the years beyond that, that God will equip us with all that we need to love, discipline, train and mold this child into a man after His own heart. Braden we are so proud of the sweet baby you are and of the little boy you are becoming. We love you baby.

Practice, practice, practice...

Braden's been practicing his walking quite a bit (okay he prefers to spend every waking minute practicing), but nonetheless, he's gotten quite good in the past few days and we are so proud of him. He's funny though b/c he insists on carrying something in his hand while he's walking. Usually it's a rock so he spends lots of time bending over to pick up a rock, carries it a few steps, throws it only to spot a new and better rock and the process repeats itself. He just yesterday mastered how to get up on his own w/o my help. After dinner, Austin and I always take Brady outside and we finish off our evening outdoors watching him walk. It's been a nice evening tradition and a great way to finish off the day. Here is my little man last night...now keep in mind he was super hot from all the walking and his hair is in desperate need of a haircut. Hope that explains the mad scientist hair :)Bending to get another rock -

The planning has begun...

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 -