Grams and Gramps visit!

We had such a great time with Grams and Gramps Overly here. I'm afraid I worked them too hard and they will never come back again. It was so nice seeing Brayden get to know them better. I'm sure he will be excited to see them again in July at the family reunion.
























I know it is not clear, but it was too cute!


























Silly looks!










Fun times with Grams...

























































A picture with sick Mommy. I am 12 weeks along now (and still sick, sick, sick) and found out the baby is due Dec. 1st. We had an ultrasound to date the birth and got to hear its heart beat!










Brayden and Gramps planted strawberry plants and a tulip for his birthday present from Mom
and Dad and Elise. Brayden loves watering them every day!












Oh Gramps, let me think about this a minute and make sure we are doing it right!


























Brayden loves Bagels and Cream cheese for breakfast!!!
















He loved playing with Grams! Look at that face!











Being silly with Daddy after Grams and Gramps left...









































Now that looks like a 2 year old!!!

Fun Times!!!

Its the end of April...

Last night after Daddy came home from work he stopped off to say his helloes to Brayden and headed for the bathroom. A few seconds later Brayden realized that Daddy was no longer on the floor playing with him so he ran to the bathroom door and yelled, “Daddy I miss you!!!”

Brayden often has trouble counting to fully to 10 these days. He gets to 5,6 and says, “Pick up sticks!” Maybe I should have waited on teaching him that rhyme.

Two words Bray loves to use to start a sentence are “Maybe…” and “How about…”

Brayden is getting picky about his food and how it is prepared. He avoids bread crust and picks off anything brown or black from toasting. He also thinks quesedillas have crusts. He stays clear of the last bit at the end with no cheese inside.

Sometimes he sees his cracker and sandwiches and finds shapes in them. He has noticed hearts, circles, and tractors.

Brayden is already such a great big brother. He loves his baby right now. He walks her around in his arms and rubs her head gently. He rocks her in the rocker for 10 minutes and sings songs to her. We got a baby stroller at a garage sale for $.50 this morning so he can walk her in that.

He is showing signs of playing more make believe and using his imagination with toys. He loves, loves, loves trains and trackers right now. He got a Thomas train from the garage sale that he is all over.

When we are playing blocks Brayden takes to bridges and puts them together to make a circle inside. I think that is pretty cleaver.

Brayden now wants all his sleep animals on his back before he can fall asleep. He lets Daddy rock him before bed now also.

We have so much fun and the pool these days. He loves jumping at the edge and doing “head dunks.” We play chase as we walk the edge. He loves to wear his safety backpack floatation. It makes him feel very secure. He jumps in the water so quickly, sometimes before I am even ready. He also loves to blow bubbles.

Brayden thinks it is funny for Mommy teases him.

He loves to jump on the bed and roll all over it.

Brayden thinks it is so funny when someone burps and hiccups.

He likes to make up games and say, “Fun game!”

Look how the boys have grown up!











We are at 10 weeks now!

News for the week

April 15^th

I am sorry to not have posted for a while. They will probably be few and far between these days. I am not feeling very well with pregnancy sickness and feeling tired all day and night. I just can't seem to keep up with things as I used to.

Brayden was just getting out of his bath and I was yelling out to Ben what to get at the store. I told him we needed more “Apples and bananas, hun!” Brayden followed with, “Strawberries, hun!” TOO CUTE!

Brayden loves giving kisses and hugs. He is saying, “I love you, Mommy!” and “I love you, Daddy!” without prompting and just when he feels like it. It is the best!!!

When Brayden was hunting for eggs last week we kept telling him to find the eggs and he would. He would walk around to each one and say, “They it is!!!” He would put his hand behind him, lean over, and get all excited he found it, but never once tried to put them in his basket. It was fun anyway. He got a chalk walker in his basket and loves it, as you can see!

Brayden loves to make up his own songs and tunes throughout the day. He will just brake out singing about his day and all the things he is doing. The other day he sang a song about loving Jesus. It was very sweet.

Braydenisms for the week: “Good job,” “Way to go,” and “Good idea!”

Here are some cute videos of Brayden in a talkative mood. Enjoy!

"There's my basket!"

































"There it is!"






























Man, this is hard work!
























































Brayden still loves his toe fuzz...

Ahoy!

Here are some cute pictures of Brayden reading his favorite Pirate book Gramma Overly game him. He loves to pretend he is a pirate and talk is a funny pirate voice.

















He takes reading very seriously. He is reading me his book as I fold laundry, in his pirate voice of course.


The other day at the library Brayden sat down at the reading table and found his favorite book to look at. I told him to read it to me as I pick out new books for the week. He sat right down like a big boy, opened the book, and began reading from memory. The librarian walked by as she was returning books to the shelf, looked at him, and said, "Really!?!" to me. I said, "Yes, he reads all his favorite books to me. He has an awesome memory." She was amazed as he was reading words like "hairy sloth", and "kinkajou."






There is that pirate face as he says , "Ahoy maity!"


















"ARGGGG!"


















What a beautiful face!

















Brayden's other favorite book right now, he has tons of favorites like him mommy, is about a volcano. We had to read it 6 times today. He acts out the whole explosion of the volcano and talks wildly about the fire and how it is hot.

At night Brayden has a new ritual of putting teddy in the corner of the crib to watch over him and then he stuffs the other 4 bedtime buddies (teddy, rabbit, doggy, and baby) under his belly and rolls on top of them with his butt high in the air. Then he requests his blankie be laid just right over his back. Then and only then will he settle in to singing and talking himself to sleep. Sometime he will repeat the situating process 3 times before going to sleep, but we are no longer nursing. He is growing up to fast!

He seems to be okay with it. He has not asked much and is fine with a snack if he does. I do think he misses the closeness, mommy does too. He has been really whiny and yells about a lot of things. His patience is thin right now.

Brayden loves to be on Daddy's shoulders are being held upside down.

He loves to build sand castles or block towers and smash them to the ground, "Crash!"

He enjoys racing cars, building tunnels and ramps for them, and slide them down the slide. He is all full of sound effects.

He is learning to recognize some of his ABC's. He definitely knows B and O.

I'm sure by now you all saw the video that says we are pregnant again. The baby will arrive some time in Dec. I would guess mid Dec. but your guess is as good as mine. It was a surprise to us all.

The day we found out I told Brayden to tell Daddy what was in Mommy's tummy and he proceeded to tell him, "Baby in Mommy tummy, Daddy!" The comical part was when he continued with a big, boastful, "Good job, Daddy!" It was too funny.

You have to see this one! Surprise!

22 Months Today!!!

March 31st

We went to eat breakfast with the Easter bunny this morning. It is not the best picture. Maybe we will have to try again next weekend at the town Easter Egg Hunt. I don't think I can get him to smile with all the other children around trying to push their way in line.

We are two months away from being 2 years old. I can't believe it! Of course, if you ask Brayden how old he is he will tell you, "I 3 mons ol!" Auntie Jen asked him that last weekend and that is what he came up with. How knows where he came up with that, but it is sure cute.

He will tell you who he is if you ask. You can see it in the new video. If he sees a B he knows it stands for Brayden, an M is for Mommy and a D is for Daddy.

He is using "And...", "Um...", and "How about..." as his waiting and thinking words. The other night he did not want to go to bed after we gave him his pile of bedtime buddies, so he kept pointing around the room saying, "Um...Um....Um," until we finally said you have everyone and it's time to go to sleep.

Speaking of sleep, Brayden is sleeping all through the night now days. He goes down around 7-7:30 and doesn't start stirring until around 5:30-6. At that point he is very restless, but often goes back down until 7:20ish. It is great! After 2 years I am finally getting some much needed sleep. Every once in a while he wakes in the night, but I just give him a drink of water and he lays right back down on his own and goes to sleep. He is also putting himself to sleep at night and for nap time. I takes him about a half an hour to settle down and fall asleep (it takes an average person 20 min. anyway), but I am so happy he is not dependent on nursing any more. We will be completely done nursing in about a month. Now I can work on getting skinny again because I don't have to keep nutrition up for Brayden.

Bray is using the word "too" in sentences. The other day he wanted me to play music so he gave me an instrument and said, "Mommy play too!" I am noticing a lot of words like that to make his sentences more complete. He also loves to add peoples names to his sentences. Just so you know his comment is directed to you. Today on the phone he was asking Papa, "Papa, Papa, Papa, how are you Papa?"

He is pretty cool! Check out this video of him reading his fav. book Noni got him. He is saying, "Never put a frog in the doggies bowl, the doggies bowl, the doggeis bowl, Never put a frog in the doggies bowl or the doggies gonna yell!" Can you hear it!