Easter Weekend 2011!

We had an absolutely fantastic Easter weekend! Friday night, Tyler, Brayden, and I dyed Easter eggs. Brayden played with his plastic eggs and watched us. :)

Saturday, Tyler worked so we just hung out at Mom's. We went grocery shopping to get our Easter lunch ingredients. When we got home, it was pool time!

Gigi, my grandmother, even came over to watch.

And Uncle Jordan was home so he had to come out and play too!

While Brayden was swimming, Papa came home from being in his boat on the lake. Brayden loves the boat! He loves to "drive" it and even makes the boat noises. We're hoping Papa will take us out on a boat ride soon!

Easter morning, we got up and discovered that the Easter Bunny had been to our house!

Pretty much all Brayden cared about was the grass!

After church, we ate lunch at Mom and Dad's and Brayden napped. Both of my grandmothers came over to eat with us. Once Brayden woke up, we went outside to take some family pictures.

Then, it was time for Brayden's first egg hunt! He donned his Easter egg hunting shirt . . .

And off he went atop Daddy's shoulders to find some eggs!

He found some!

And took some more pictures with Mom and Dad. :)

He spent a little more time in the pool and then it was off to Meemaw's for dessert. He got to see Colton again and we took a picture of Racheal, Brooke and me with Colton, Bentley, and Brayden.

It was quite possibly the best Easter we've ever had and I just can't put my finger on why that is . . . maybe a certain little guy who has stolen our hearts and makes life so much more fun than it's ever been? :) Yep, I think that's it!

We Finally Have A Crawler! (& A Little Weekend Recap)

Brayden is finally crawling like a normal baby! I know what you're thinking . . . isn't he about to be a year old? Shouldn't he be walking soon?Yes, he is and yes, he should. :) I guess he's a late bloomer. He's been "rolling" since he was about 7 or 8 months old and "army crawling" since 9 or 10 months. Today, he actually mastered crawling. It is the most adorable thing! I don't think we'll see him crawl for long since he's pulling up ALL the time!

I tried to get a video of it, but my camera went dead like right when he started.

Saturday, he went to Braylen's Candy Land birthday party. Braylen is a friend from high school's daughter and a really good friend from a previous job's granddaughter. She was born about 3 1/2 weeks before Brayden so it's been fun keeping up with her. Her birthday party was seriously one of the best birthday parties I've ever been to. Her mom put so much detail and creativeness into it. Here a few pictures from the party:

Please notice the shoes - he's finally wearing them (every
now and then)

Brayden and Sawyer

Brayden, Sawyer, and the birthday girl :)

Sunday afternoon, Mom and I had a baby tea to go to so Dad kept Brayden. He took him strolling and he napped pretty much the entire time we were gone. Sunday was my brother, Jordan's, 20th birthday. We had a family party for him Sunday night and Meemaw, Grandmommy, and Aunt Linda came over to eat dinner.

He loves his Aunt Brooke! He's oblivious that he's
about to have to share her attention! :/

The birthday boy!

Brayden loves sweets. Yes, I'm embarassed to admit that. He comes from a long line of sweet teeth so I guess it shouldn't surprise me. My dad gave him some ice cream cake and of course, he loved it. He would actually fuss when dad would stop giving it to him. So, what did Dad do? Give him some more, of course!

11 Months

So, I realized that I never posted an 11 month post so even though it's a little late, here it is! Friday, Brayden was 11 months old. He is the most precious, loving, happy 11 month old I've ever known. However, I won't lie - he has quite a temper and can be a little mean sometimes. I just chalk that up to him being a boy. Hopefully he'll grow out of it! And for the temper, he gets it honest. :) He is growing so fast and learning new things every day.

At 11 months:
* He is finally pulling up! He still rolls and now army crawls anywhere he wants to go. He can pull up on coffee tables, in the bathtub, and in his crib. He's usually standing up when I go in to get him in the mornings and it just melts my heart.
* He is still a great sleeper. He averages around 11 to 12 hours a night.
* He LOVES water. Bathtime is his absolute favorite and we've recently discovered he loves the pool as well, although that didn't surprise us.
* He doesn't really care for vegetables. He loves fruits, yogurt, and anything sweet. He gets that honest too!
* He has finally moved up to a size 18 month clothes and is on the verge of going into a size 4 diaper.
* Daycare is still going really well. He usually cries when I leave in the morning, which I'm hoping is pretty normal.
* He still doesn't say many words. He says Dada, Bye, and Hey. We like to think he says Dog, but I'm not certain that's what he's really saying. I'm still waiting to hear that one sweet word I'm dying to hear - Mama!

Even though he wears me out and keeps me on my toes, I could not imagine life without him. I cannot believe he will be 1 in 3 weeks. It's very sad to think that he is about to celebrate his last "first" holiday. I wish I could just stop time for a little while. I miss him being this sweet little tiny baby. I was so ready for him to "grow up" and start sleeping through the night and crawling and walking. However, I would go back to those days in a heartbeat. I have learned not to wish the days away and wish for him to learn the next big thing because right where he is is the perfect place.

I didn't take any pictures on his actual 11 month birthday, but here are some I took last weekend that I haven't posted yet.

What A Great Weekend!

We had a great weekend! It was a very busy one, but it was so much fun. Friday night, we went out to eat with my parents and grandmother at Lee Branch. Brayden had a great time looking at the fish and the waterfall in their little pond.

Saturday, I took Brayden with me to a co-worker's baby shower. This was his first time to meet my co-workers and he was good so I was happy about that. After the baby shower, we met my mom and both of my grandmothers to eat lunch. B fell asleep in the car on the way there and continued to sleep once we got inside.

Evenutally he decided to wake up and my grandmothers were very happy he did! Meemaw kept saying "I wish he'd wake up before we have to leave." :)

After eating and working on taxes for a little while, Mom and I decided to go shopping and eat some dinner.

Sunday, after church, we met Meemaw in Alabaster to eat lunch. And this time, much to Brayden's delight, Papa went with us.

After lunch, Brayden went to his 2nd birthday party (meaning the 2nd one he's been to in his life). Some friends from high school have a little boy who was born exactly one month before Brayden so we went to his birthday party and had so much fun. They had a space bounce there and I tried to put Brayden in it when there was no one else in it and he freaked out! I think the noise scared him to death! He was pretty content just swinging in the swing or playing with the balls. He also got to meet his new cousin, Colton. Hopefully I'll get a picture of them together next time.

So, I don't know if I mentioned it, but this kid LOVES water!! Bath time is his absolute favorite. He doesn't care if he splashes it in his eyes or anything. So, since it has been so hot this weekend, we had to buy him a pool and some swim trunks. He got in his pool after the birthday party today and can I just say the kid was in heaven! He seriously would have stayed in that pool for hours.

Needless to say, this boy will probably stay in the pool this summer! Next weekend is shaping up to be just as busy!

Catchup

It's been a little while since I've blogged about B. He is now pulling up, mainly in his crib and in the bathtub. He thinks he's so cool when he does it - he just grins from ear to ear. On the other hand, when you are trying to confine him somewhere because you need to get a shower, you get a look like this:

He's also become quite the pro at drinking out of his sippy cup. You know what that means - almost done with formula and bottles!!!

Last weekend while we were at my grandmother's house, I tried to take some pictures of Brayden and Tyler. When B is with Tyler, though, he has a hard time concentrating on the camera. Somehow we always end up around water when the 3 of us are together. I told Tyler all of their pictures together would have to be "action shots". :)

We have a very busy schedule coming up. We've got birthday parties, baby showers, Easter, and someone has a birthday soon! SO hard to believe, but we won't get into that right now. :) I am in full party planning mode for Brayden's first birthday party and I am so excited about it! I have 2 very wonderful friends, one who thought of the idea for me and one who helped me go and pick out all of the cute stuff for it and is letting me have it at her house. Don't know what I'd do without them!

I went out and took some pictures of B this afternoon because I loved his cute little outfit he had on.