Braden's Cadillac

My parents just recently bought Braden one of those super nice wagons that have the seats and seat belts in them so that an active little toddler can't just fly out the side when he wants to get out and run. We seriously use that thing everyday and Braden thinks it's his new Cadillac. He LOVES to push, pull, flip the seats up and down and crawl in and out of that wagon. Anyway, here are some recent pictures of Braden playing with his new wheels. It also has two seats in there for #2 to sit in there with him. Right now, his teddy bears always travels along for the ride. Thanks mom and dad.

"Um, why are you going so slow?"
Chilled out - In other news, Braden has become quite the helper lately, he gets really excited whenever I open the dishwasher and he runs over and takes all the spoons out and walks them over to where I keep our utensils, opens the drawer up and puts (okay, throws) the spoons in there. Seriously, it's great! His new favorite thing is to use the broom and push it all over the house. He actually even knows where I keep it, so I often find him in that closet, digging out the broom. Here are some pictures of Braden looking "too sexy for this broom." Check out those thighs!

Sleep, oh sleep, where have you gone?

This is what my day looked like:
5:30am - hear my child happily talking to himself on the monitor, never to return back to sleep (after only 9 hours of sleep). Yep, 9 short hours. It seems like 9 hours is our new average...whew...I need more than 9 hours of sleep at night.

10:30am - my child falls asleep at nursery while I was attending a Mom's group. He slept for all of 30 minutes.

3:00pm - attempt to get my child to actually take a real nap
3:20pm- Braden is still happily talking in his crib, sleep being the farthest thing from his mind
3:25pm - things are starting to get a little awkward and the fussing starts
3:37pm - Braden finally falls asleep for 25 minutes

8:00pm - the boy finally passes out in my arms after I give him his bottle

Total sleep today: 9 hours and 55 minutes...awesome. Isn't that less than most of your kiddos sleep at night alone?

Oh yes and we have a molar coming in, so there were several bouts of fussing spells, followed by several mini tantrums. Not sure if the fussiness was due to the teeth, the lack of sleep or both. Who knows...a mom shall never know these things?

Time for an update...

Wow, I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to post, in fact I ask myself that same question "why does it take me so long to do anything (laundry, dishes, put make-up on, get myself or my son dressed, etc) these days." I guess it's because I spend my day chasing an ever moving toddler around all day and at the end of the day all I want to do is sit on the couch with my husband and relax. All that to say, this is long overdue and I won't bore you with the details, but this pretty much sums up our last few weeks:

In August, we went to Lake Michigan for Braden's first beach trip. As you can see, he loved wallowing in the sand and endlessly dumping it on himself -

The girls and the kiddos -
The boys, Max 2, Braden 13 months and Davis 4 months
Look how blond my baby is
Max and Braden life guarding the beach -
In other news, this is how I found Braden last week when I went to get him after his nap. Do you think he needs a haircut?
So we gave the boy a haircut. With a lot of snacks and a lot of distraction, here is the end result...a very grown up, not-so-baby looking little boy. This picture is a little fuzzy, but you get the idea -
On Saturday night we headed to the Tennessee State Fair with our friends for some good "people watching." Perhaps the best sight we saw were two little girls wearing matching air brushed tee-shirts that read "Free my Daddy"with a mugshot picture of their daddy. Actually it was really sad. Here are some of the pictures from the evening -
And finally, on Sunday, Austin and I celebrated 6 amazing years of marriage. We tried everything to get a babysitter for the weekend and had no luck so we decided to stay in, make a nice dinner and grill some steaks and reread our vows (something we do every year on our anniversary) with hopes to go out sometime soon to celebrate. We had a great menu planned, so after a trip to the park with Braden, we headed to the grocery to get the supplies. After we got home, fed Braden, bathed him and put him to bed, we started to make our dinner and quickly realized that we left a bag or two of grocery's at the store. Sooooo...we had margaritas and steaks and cherry pie. Yep, that's it...so much for a nice dinner. It was actually kinda funny, we felt a little like Napoleon Dynamite with our naked plate and a big fat steak. Here is a picture to remember...and yes we are wearing our work out gear b/c we had been at the park with Braden.

All grown up...

Okay, more to come on our wonderful trip to Lake Michigan, but I just wanted to post this picture...it was the first picture I downloaded from our camera and after looking at it, I realized that my baby is all grown up. He looks like such a little boy in this picture...

Lake Michigan here we come...

Well, we are outta here and headed to Lake Michigan with my two best friends, their husbands and kiddos. I can't wait, but am a little nervous about the sleeping arrangements...Braden hasn't slept in a pack n'play in the room with us since he was 5 months old. We are staying in our friend's lake house so that means Braden, Austin and I will be all snuggled up in the same room...yikes!! Wish us luck for the LOOOOOONG drive up there and for the sleep.

Cute pics

Bumps, Bruises and Toddlerhood

Well, we've entered it full force...yep, toddlerhood. Within a matter of days, we had a bruise on our forehead from running too fast on the concrete, a busted lip from tripping over the flower pots and falling into the railings of the deck, and a split eyebrow from falling into a table...oh yes and another bruise above our eye from trying to climb the stairs and missing one step. And yes in case you are wondering, Austin and I do watch Braden, but I'll tell you this guy is on the move. All of those times I just mentioned, Austin or I were standing right next to him, but bruises and bumps happen and thank you God that our babies are not as fragile as they appear on the outside. I've quickly realized though that we are in the full swing of toddlerhood...and here is how I know:

1. You find your child sitting in the floor, next to the electrical outlets, eating one of the outlet covers and trying to put the other one back in the outlet. Note: as we recently discovered, the outlet safety covers from Target don't do so much protecting as they do provide a fun game for your child. I hear Babies R' Us has a better, more toddler proofed version.

2. You find your child in the laundry room taking one piece of trash out of the trash can at a time...apparently this is good times.

3. You realize that your child has taken a sudden interest in the dog's food, the dog's water bowl and the dog's tail (which keep in mind Tyson is a boxer so he doesn't have a tail so much as a nub...we do lots of hand washing after this fun game occurs)

4. Your child has suddenly decided that throwing everything is a fun part of the day...this includes toys, books, sippy cups and most of all food. At least he has a good arm

5. Your child doesn't sit still because he is walking everywhere and just as I get there and sit down to play with him he's up and off to the next room.

6. Your child finds that standing on a pile of books is more fun than sitting next to them and reading them.

7. Your child rearranges the house by pushing chairs, laundry baskets, toys, brooms, dog beds, hampers all over the house. Apparently at this stage, they love to push and pull things...but why push push-toys when you could push bar stools?

8. You spend a good part of your day saying "no" "don't touch that" "let's find something else to play with"

9. Your child falls asleep in the highchair because he is so worn out from running around all morning. Here is the evidence:

But despite all the chaos, this stage has been so much fun. The little guy spends most of his day exploring his world with a big smile on his face, proud of himself that he can walk where he wants as he begins to become more and more independent. Ready or not, here we go...

Lying on Tyson's bed enjoying his bottle and laughing at Tyson -
Braden's first bruise -