Thanksgiving!

We had such a fun kick off to our holiday season!

Auntie Julie and Uncle Jacob (and Sydney) spent the night on Wednesday night. We woke up on Thanksgiving morning and Greg came over. We had a big breakfast and then everyone seemed to practically roll into the living room and doze off for a couple hours! Everyone except for me. I even had Brett go put Brayden to bed and when I checked on them about ten minutes later they were both sleeping!

We hung out the rest of the day and then headed over to Brett's parents for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner! Great Grandma Laura was up visiting from California too. On the way home we thought we would swing by the Putnam's to say hello, but ended up staying till almost midnight. Needless to say, Brayden slept in till 11am the next morning... =)

Brett continued the weekend with the ultimate guy trip! A bunch of guys (family) went skiing, saw a guy movie, spent the night in the motorhome, then woke up and went bird hunting all day Saturday and then caught a football game that night. It was wonderful timing because, although Brett was missed, I was able to get the whole house decorated, presents wrapped and Christmas cards ready to be sent out! I also spent the evenings with Mom and Kristina so that I could have some conversation with someone over the age of 13 months... =)

Dada and Bray Bonding Time...

Over the last week Brett and Brayden have a a few days of bonding!

Last Monday I had a fun home party to go to. Then on Friday night another night out with some girl friends for a friend's birthday. Saturday was an all day family shopping excursion (we were gone over 12 hours!) with my mom, sister, aunt and cousin.

This was a huge step for Brett! He LOVES spending time with Bray but is not so comfortable feeding him and keeping him on a schedule. I had post it notes everywhere to assist him throughout the day... =)

Below is a picture I got from Brett Saturday morning, after breakfast.

Another picture that was sent to me in the afternoon.

Seriously, such a cute picture of the two of them, but my first thought was,

"Oh good, Brayden's not still in his jammies!" =) Good job Dada!

A picture of us girls on our shopping day

Swim Time!

Brett came last week to watch Brayden's swim lessons.

He snapped some pictures while he was there.

Kick! Kick! Kick!

Blowing Bubbles...

Paddle, Paddle, Paddle!

The need for speed!

So for Brayden's Birthday he got a couple push toys. One was a "dump truck push toy". We have been trying to show him how to walk and push the toys. He has mostly been interested in putting toys in the dump truck part and taking them out and playing with them. However, a few days ago, he got behind the dump truck push toy and took off! Not walking, but running!

Brayden has always been such a busy boy! When he is going somewhere, he does not waste any time! Whenever I pick him up from the nursery at church the report is always that he was very happy and very fast! I volunteered the other Sunday and realized that sometimes babies will just sit and play with one toy for more than two minutes!

He is such a funny little love bug and we are enjoying watching him and new things happen every day!

(I am trying to catch a video of the speed racing around the kitchen with the dump truck)

Baby B and some Breadcrumbs...

Hello!

I'm drifting away from the typical blog post (writing and a few pictures)... I LOVE using the iMovie on my mac so I did a quick little collage of a few (of the many!) videos we have of Brayden.

The first video just cracks me up! Today I had a lunch to go to for the Tacoma Rescue Mission, so I went through my extra fridge this morning and put together some food that we could get rid of... You can find out what happens when you watch the video... =)

The rest of these clips are just ones over the last few weeks.

(Please try to ignore the typo in the first sentence! I put it together really fast...)

Halloween Weekend

Here are some pictures from our busy halloween weekend...

We had so much fun at a little pumpkin patch farm out in gig harbor with our MOPS friends! MOPS is a group mom's that have children as young as one day old to preschool age. It's so nice to show up to a huge breakfast, childcare and good conversation with other moms at the same stage in life. We meet on Thursdays at Life Center and also try to get together once a month for playdates.

The pumpkin patch was a PERFECT place for the little ones. It was all covered and pretty much baby proof. It was fun to watch all the little ones interact and have a good time.

From left to right there is Riley Angelo, Brayden, Jenn Rupp, Cora Huff and Caylen Huff

Brayden LOVED crawling around in the hay! Caylen had decided he should stay put though and built a "corral" to keep the babies in one place. That's why he is surrounded by pumpkins.

Going for a hay ride!

The night before halloween we had a fun party at our home with our church small group. It was a murder mystery dinner! This is our 3rd time doing a murder mystery dinner in costume with this crowd. It was so funny to dress and act the part! There was a lot of laughter and really yummy food that everyone brought!

I was "Carrie Coffins" (a struggling actress playing the part of a maid in the upcoming film) and Brett was "Drake Yewlarr" (a vampire)...

The day of Halloween didn't really feel like halloween because we went to a gorgeous wedding in Snoqualmie! One of my good friends from APU who lives in Bellevue now. It was also nice to catch up with other friends there.

After the wedding we went out to Gig Harbor to wind down and hang out with our friends the Kemaks, Putnams and Rodys. We all dressed up so we got to re-use our outfits! I don't have any of the pictures that night, so those may come later...

Not a baby anymore...

Brayden is officially not a baby anymore... per the kid at the YMCA.

Funny story, we were at the YMCA this morning. There was a little girl about three years old next to us in the locker room after swim class. She said to another girl, "Look, there's a baby!" and the first girl said, "No, he's not a baby, he's just a boy." It was adorable and then I realized he is becoming more and more of a toddler and less of a baby.

Swim class is going great and Brayden is enjoying his "Super Shrimp" class (level 2)! He is standing quite often and took three steps in a row today! He is getting more of the toddler independence. For example, yesterday after he woke up from his nap and had lunch I went to put him in the car. We were on our way to go visit Brett at his new office. He was a little fussier than normal and as I put him in the car he decided to arch his back and cry. I literally could not straighten him out to buckle him in! Normally if he is rested and full he will never fuss, so of course he had to be sick, right? Swine flu, eek! So I run inside, take his temperature and he is fine, just turned out to be a small tantrum... I gave him a toy to distracted, belted him in and off we went. He kinda complained off and on throughout the day about the errands we were running. After reading about their different stages I am researching the theory Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt I am realizing this is normal...

He is also has other things that he is getting good and communicating with me about. Like what he wants to eat, pointing and "talking" about different things that he sees. He loves doing things that we do. When we walk out of a room he will remind me to turn off a light and want to do it himself. He gets the biggest smile on his face after the light is off and I say, "Off! Good job!" It is so cute to see how proud he is!

We are also realizing, although he doesn't use a lot of words, he understands quite a few things. We can say, "Brayden, where's your doggie?" and he will find her and point. He also LOVES high fives and raising his arms to the sky when we say, "How big is Brayden?" He is starting to nod his head for yes and shake his head for no. Especially around meal time. Yogurt is his favorite treat and I get a big head nod and sometimes clapping when he sees it! When I try oatmeal he will shake his head no and wave his arms. (Brayden and I have learned to compromise with half unsweetened applesauce and half oatmeal)

Brett and I are having a blast, he is seriously such a fun little man! We can't imagine loving him more than we do now.

I have some pictures to post when I get some time, he was a cute little puppy for halloween!