We'll Miss You Pawpaw

Friday afternoon, March 25, 2011, my grandfather passed away. He has battled lung cancer for 4 1/2 years and lived with it a long time, but he finally gave up his battle. He is only my 2nd grandparent to pass away - I've been very blessed because I didn't lose my first one until I was 23. I've struggled with his death more than I expected to. We've known for a while now that he was in his last days, yet I failed to go out there and visit like I should have. The main reason is that I didn't like seeing him like that, but that's no excuse. The other reason I am struggling is because I didn't get to say goodbye. Don't get me wrong, I'm able to go on with life, I just think about it alot. We were notified on Friday afternoon that he had entered a 72 hour window of living. Mom called me at work and of course, I was planning on going straight out there to see him after I picked up Brayden after work. However, when I called her once I had Brayden, she told me he had already passed away. My grandfather was one of the greatest men I know (in addition to my other grandfather). He was so kind, patient, smart, hardworking, and faithful. He was very involved in my life when I was younger. I was the oldest grandchild and was very close to my grandfather. We always told each other that we were each other's bestest bestest bestest friend. He took me to test drive my first car when I was 17 or 18. He pretty much saved mine and my grandmother's lives when I knocked his truck out of gear and it went rolling toward a cliff while he was in the gas station. I could literally go on for hours and hours about all of the memories I have of him and what an outstanding grandfather and person he was. I'm so glad he got to meet Brayden. He could make Brayden laugh and it was the most precious thing. Life definitely will not be the same without him. However, I know he is loving life in Heaven right now and in no pain whatsoever. That in itself is worth our pain and suffering. I wish I could find my wedding pictures because there is one on there that I love, but I can't seem to locate them. In the meantime, these will have to suffice:

More than likely there will be another post about this great man because I hope to find some more pictures and want to share something my cousin wrote, but I have to get my hands on it first. Until then . . .

Tannehill State Park

Today was another beautiful day! After church, we grilled hamburgers and Tyler cut the grass in the front yard. My original plan was to hang out at home today, but I just couldn't resist getting Brayden outside since he loves it so much. I realized it was Trade Days at Tannehill State Park so Mom, Tyler, and I decided to go and take Brayden. We got there a little late for Trade Days and they were starting to pack stuff up, but we still got to walk around and see some of the stuff and go and look at the waterfall. I wasn't able to take many good pictures because Brayden was so focused on the water that he wouldn't look at the camera.

Tyler doesn't get to go with us very often because he works so much, but he got to go today and Brayden loved it! Brayden laughs so hard at his daddy and it makes me a little jealous. :) When he wasn't in his stroller, Tyler was carrying him on his shoulders and I could just tell that Brayden was so happy. It really makes my heart happy that he is such a good daddy. I know Brayden will appreciate that as he gets older and gets to do stuff with him. Hopefully, he will still love to do stuff with "the girls" a.k.a Mom, Nana, and Aunt Brooke! :) It will help if he has his best friend/cousin (fingers crossed it will be a boy!) to hang out with. I'm just kidding, he will love his cousin whether it is a boy or girl! :) It's only a little over a month before we know for sure!

Botanical Gardens

Today, we, excuse me - I, decided to take Brayden to Botanical Gardens. He loves to be outside and it's totally free to go so I figured what better way to spend a beatiful Saturday. Mom wanted to go and Brooke wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but she went anyway. :) I believe Brayden has more teeth coming in because he has been really fussy the past couple of days. Once we gave him some Motrin, though, he was ok. We went to eat lunch at Newk's, one of my favorites! Then, "Aunt Brooke" wanted to get Brayden a camera for an early birthday present. I have a really bad camera, and as you've noticed, I don't take alot of pictures. Well, that's all about to change! Brooke got me/us a camera today and I already love it!! It takes such good pictures. After going to get the new camera, we went to Botanical Gardens. Now, when we set out today, Brayden had on an adorable outfit with a brown shirt and brown plaid shorts. However, his diaper ended up leaking and got that outfit wet. The only spare outfit I had was the cowboy outfit he was wearing in his last "photo shoot"! Anyway, these pictures may look similar to last time, but they are still cute! He loved being outside and overall it was a really good day!! Here are a few good ones we got:

10 Months!

Brayden is 10 months old today! He is the happiest, sweetest, most loving little boy I know and I could not imagine my life without him. He has gotten so much fun as he's gotten older and I can tell we're going to love every minute of life with him! I cannot imagine our lives without him. Our world revolves around him, in a good way. I cannot believe that in two short months, he will be a year old!

At 10 months:
*He is sleeping from about 7:30 at night until about 6 in the morning. We have to fight to keep him awake until 7:30 - daycare wears him out!
*He is still eating really good. He still loves yogurt and fruits. He eats breakfast and lunch at daycare and they say he eats really well. He also loves water! He will also be trying juice tonight and I'm thinking he will love that too!
*He wears 12 month clothes, although 12 month onesies are getting too small in length.
*He's back in size 3 diapers and will probably be there for a while.
*He now has 6 teeth! I discovered 2 more just the other day and there's no telling how long they've been up there. He now has 4 teeth up top and 2 on bottom.
*He's still not crawling or walking. He can roll wherever he wants to go REALLY fast, but that's about it. It looks like he may skip crawling and just start walking.

It is very difficult to take pictures of him now because he's either moving or trying to get the camera, but here are the only decent ones I managed to get this afternoon.

Happy Birthday Emma!

Tuesday, March 1st, was my niece, Emma's, first birthday! That is so hard to believe for me because it seems like yesterday we were visiting her at the hospital anxiously awaiting Brayden's arrival just 2 short months later. Time has passed by so quickly since those 2 precious babies have joined us in this world and I'm hoping they grow up to be good friends (along with Emma's future brother or sister that is coming in September!). Anyway, yesterday was Emma's first birthday party and we had so much fun! I didn't get to take too many pictures between Brayden's napping, eating, and getting into whatever he could, but I did get these:

Emma in her adorable birthday outfit!

Brayden telling Emma how much fun he had at her bday
party and Emma telling him thanks for coming :)

Last night, my mom, sister, Brayden, both of my grandmothers, and I ate dinner at my mom's house. We had already starting eating and were waiting on my meemaw to get there when the power went out! Brayden got scared (it probably didn't help that I screamed) and Mom went looking for candles. While all that was going on, Meemaw got there and was just standing by the door because she couldn't see anything! Anyway, we ate a wonderful meal by candlelight and had a great GNO! :) Then, my sister tried to make homemade whipped cream with no power and it was hilarious! She donned my dad's "headlight" and actually made it. Of course, I had to take a picture of that and my Mom trying to serve the angel food cake with no power. Funny thing is, in the pictures it looks like we have power, but I promise we didn't!

Both of my grandmothers are such wonderful people and I try to remember to cherish every moment with them! I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner together and hope it's a first of many to come!

St Patricks Day Giveaway

My friend, Jennifer, is starting a new business called Braylabee's and she has the CUTEST stuff! Right now, she is giving away the cutest monogrammed St Patrick's Day shirt. All you have to do is go to her blog, http://www.thegreensajb.blogspot.com/ and comment on her post for the St Patrick's Day giveaway! Go check it out!!