Brayden is 9 months!

This past month has been absolutely crazy. Not only did Brayden celebrate Thanksgiving, my birthday, and a few Christmas festivities, but he has really taken off! Brayden has learned how to crawl (the real thing) and is all over the place! He is a much happier baby now that he can actually get to the places he wants to go!

Here is what Brayden has been up to....

• He is an eating machine. He will pretty much eat anything, but to Brayden's style, will only eat them in the order he wants to eat them. For example, he could have a plate full of food but will whine till Cheerios are poured on his plate. Then he would eat a few and then go back to his regular food. He does this too with his water. He will not eat one more bite until he gets that sip. He is really into blueberries, chicken nuggets, Cheerios (still) and cheese. He also loves sausage in the morning.


• He is still our early bird. Getting up in the 5s. He takes a total of 3-3.5 hr naps during the day but the length of his two naps vary daily.


• He loves to drink water and now can drink his bottle sitting up. Very convenient when needing to drink his bottle on the go in the car.


• Brayden knows the word no, and will listen most of the time.


• He can clap and way hi. Well, his wave is just a too cool hand in the air. There is no waving involved. He also loves to give hi fives and will giggle like crazy when we give him one or two.


• Brayden LOVES to cruise the walls and will walk around our entire house just using the walls, going in and out of the bathroom to do it!


• He also LOVES to push things. We don't really have a baby walker but he will use anything that moves and push it around the house. He gets very frustrated when he runs into a wall and can't push it anymore, but has learned in the past few days to move around to the other side and just put it back to where he came from.


• He is a crawler. Carissa and I took the boys to the pool a few weeks back and they both pretty much left the pool crawling. I need to remember that for next time when I want to encourage crawling and not army crawling. He likes to crawl and is getting pretty fast at it, but will choose cruising over crawling any day.


• Brayden doesn't mind the car and will often watch is big brother Jackson. I also have found them holding hands in the back seat.


• He still takes 4 bottles a day but often does not finish his middle of the day bottles.


• He doesn't like to take pictures. He is too busy now!


• He can entertain himself for much longer periods of time now that he can crawl and seems to be more interested in toys.


• Brayden has a new name...babyzilla. He loves to destroy the train table, among other things.


• He is a WHINER! He is just a loud kid and will whine all day long, no matter what.
  
  
  

Brayden's 9 month appointment went smoothly. He just has a lot of dry skin around his nose and eyes so we need to keep an eye on that. He got one shot and had a very delayed cry but it didn't last long. He is meeting all his milestones and is doing just great!

Brayden's Weight: 19 lbs 7 oz (33%)

Brayden's Height: 29 1/2 in (95%)

Head: 95%

That's what our tall and skinny boy has been up to the past month! As always, we love him and just can't imagine our lives with out this little boy that brings a lot of noise (and love) to our family.

Santa!

This year Santa has become more real to Jackson. We have been talking about him and then we finally went to meet him and ask him for a gift. Up till the day we went, Jackson was going to ask Santa for a plane but then last minute changed his mind to dragons and has been sticking to it. Hopefully Santa can come through....dragons are hard to find.

The yearly Santa picture.

Jackson was in awe with Santa and actually told him what he wanted when Santa asked him and Brayden didn't really seem to mind him....this year....

As we have done every year, we went to see Santa with the Uberts. Here is Jack and Tyler checking out their height compared to the polar bear. They have a lot of growing to do.

They let you into the 'snow room' right before you meet Santa. Why? They were covered with all this fake snow that was impossible to take off. But hey, they had fun.

Brayden tolerating the 'snow.'

We also have to note that this year Jingle the elf made his appearance at our house. Jackson enjoys finding Jingle every morning and we love to remind Jackson that Jingle is watching him and reporting back to Santa at night!

Jack is 2.5!

Jackson is 2 1/2! Boy how time flies when you are a kid. He seems older (and smarter) by the day! We love him to pieces and he never fails to make us laugh on a daily basis. Seriously, how could it get any better than this?!?

At 2 1/2 Jackson....

LOVES: Dragons, dinosaurs, trains, cars, bugs, eating (sweets and snacks), holding his brother's hand, playing with his dad, being outside, playing doctor, babies (real and fake), watching movies or shows (his favorite being Curious George,The Cat in the Hat and Super Why), playing on the IPOD, swimming and taking a bath, helping us with anything we do, walking Bella and hunting for dragons on our walk, playing monster when he gets out of the bath, daddy's car, playing hide and seek, and the word WHY? Oh how he loves to ask "Why?" over and over and over and over.

EATS: BALONEY AND CHEESE. If he could have this at any and all meals he would be one happy camper. He also loves all breakfast food and is lately into breakfast burritos. He is slowing enjoying more vegetables and will eat cucumbers, carrots and cauliflower. He loves all sweets and snacks especially fruit snacks. He would drink milk all day and can't go to be without his water. Dinner is still not his meal and most nights only takes a few bites.

SLEEPS: From about 7/730pm to around 6ish in the morning. He take a nap every day for about 2 hours but has been known to play in his bed before naps for over an hour. He can go without a nap and would want to every day. We are not ready for that yet. He still does not get out of his bed and will call for us in the morning or wait quietly until we come and check on him.

IS GETTING SMARTER: He knows the whole ABCs and can recognize all the letters and most of the sounds. He can count to 20 but will always leave 19 out. He knows most of his colors (he gets black and brown mixed up) and knows what a circle is and maybe a few others? He is starting to color more in the lines but can't cut with scissors. He LOVES books and wants us to read and read and read to him every night. We pick out books from the library every week and recently they have been dragon books. He really wants to go to school but I think it is partly because he thinks he will be riding a school bus there. He knows what a stop sign is and knows to stop at red lights and go at green. He is becoming more and more aware of things and places we have been and will often tell me that we have been there before or that he likes that place. Most of the time in the car he will point a direction and tell me that we need to go that way to the place we are going. Most of the time he is right!

ATTITUDE: Jackson is mostly a very happy kid. He will always tell me that "he likes this place" or " that (insert food/toy/person) is my favorite." He absolutely adores his brother and wants to play with him all day long. He loves to go and get Brayden when he wakes up from his nap and it is so fun to walk in Brayden's room and see them just having fun together (Jackson is often jumping in Brayden's crib and Brayden is just going along for the ride). He will give us kisses and hugs when we ask him for one and always wants to snuggle up on our laps when watching a show or movie. He is the most outgoing little boy. He will go up to anyone and talk to them and tell them that Brayden is his brother. He is so proud! He is known to go out to people that I know and that he has just met and sit on their lap and give them a hug. He loves all kids and will seek out playmates anywhere. He loves to have play dates with friends and looks forward to them now. Just recently Jackson has started to defy us a little more. He will tell us no and will definitely let us know when he doesn't like things. We have had a few meltdowns when trying to leave somewhere but this has happened when he was tired. He knows where timeout is and will go there when you say timeout to him. Although he loves his brother, he does often hit him and push him down, among other things, but will often run up to tell us right away and then off he goes to time out. The other day I walked by and he told me that he stepped on Brayden's hand and began to show me. Off to time out he went, not understanding why that was a bad thing to do. After his timeout I told him that that hurts Brayden and he asked "why?" I said, "do you want me to show you?" And he said yes and I stepped on his hand. He was not too happy about that but I don't think he will be stepping on any more hands lately.

HATES: Taking pictures (unless its with Brayden), eating veggies, eating dinner, dark rooms, sitting still, taking naps, and not being able to play with his brother because he got in trouble.

I don't have many pictures of Jackson because that is one of the things that he hates but here are a few recent ones.

Jack helping me celebrate my 29th birthday!

Jack and his pal Tyler waiting to see Santa.

He sure does love his brother!

I had to throw this one is since this is something that he does ALL the time. He loves to hold baby hands and he l0ves to put them up by his mouth. Don't ask me why but this is something he has done since we brought Brady home. He has yet to bite them. I think he is just trying to kiss them?

His smile. Always with his eyes closed. A problem he gets from his mom.

This is an example of most of the pictures I try to take of Jack these days. Angry faced or trying to cover up his face because he hates his picture taken.

Jackson on a warmer day.

Well, that's our big guy at 2.5! It is so amazing how much he learns every day and how happy he is in his little world! We are sure proud of him and love him more and more! How did we get so lucky?

29 before 30

Today is the first day of the last year in my 20s! Not only is it my birthday, it is my sister Kristen's too! We have shared every birthday together and so much more, but this past year was extra special because we shared having our little miracles together. It was so fun being pregnant and having our kids only 10 days apart! I will miss giving her a hug on her birthday but we both know that I will give her a nice wake up call at 6:10AM (my time!) to be the first to wish her Happy Birthday the minute she turns 29! Happy Birthday Kristen!

A few weeks before we met our little nuggets

Kristen with my newest love bug.

And me with her little love bug!

To celebrate my LAST year in the 20s I have put together a list of things I want accomplish before I hit that big milestone in my life....30!

1. Hopefully have another little miracle....maybe a girl this time?
2. Run a half marathon. This one might be hard if #1 happens.
3. Find the perfect new car.
4. Learn to knit.
5. Read 12 books and read every night before bed.
6. Turn the tv off for a whole month. This will most likely happen in the summer.
7. Organize my Ipod and listen to music more often.
8. Take the dogs for a walk everyday for a whole month (which will hopefully start a habit)
9. Paint all the trim in the house. (I know this is a no fun one, but I will feel MUCH better after it is done.)
10. Join a farm share.
11. Redecorate one room in my house....possibly the dinning room?
12. Pray.
13. Do something out of my comfort zone...TBD.
14. Visit one place on my travel TO-DO list.
15. Make two DIY projects a month...probably should start to make a list for this one...
16. Complete my very own Project 365 book (which very well might turn into Project 52).
17. Date my husband every month...just the two of us.
18. Plan Brayden's 1st birthday.
19. Create a family mission statement and hang it in our home.
20. Go one month without being negative. Think positive! I'm going to be YES girl!
21. Friends Friday!
22. Get dressed everyday for a month...hair, makeup, the whole shebang! Make it a habit?
23. Have our family portraits taken.
24. Do one special thing for my kids everyday.
25. Vist the Hoffmans in Colorado!
26. Be healthy. Fit is not a destination, its a way of life.
27. Start a new holiday tradition every holiday.
28. Visit my Grandma Heil in Georgia.
29. ????? (any suggestions?)

There you have it! Maybe when I complete one, I'll repost it checked off and with a little story just to keep me honest. Here's to my last year in my 20s!!