Please Tell Me Tomorrow Will Be Better...

Let me tell you a little about my day today.

First, let's rewind to last night. After a great visit with my dad and brother and families, Brayden was happily playing with his new toys. And I start to smell something. No big deal...we've changed at least a million poopy diapers by now. I go upstairs to grab something and my brother yells up, Brayden needs his diaper changed NOW. I know, I smell him...no, he says now. Look at him. Oh yes, all the way up the back of his pretty striped shirt is a brown stain. Lovely. So I take him upstairs to change everything and into the tub he goes. Gross. But he seems perfectly happy and no fever. Later that night we are sitting around watching TV with Andy. I see the poop face starting. I warn Andy, he had a bad one earlier. What do you think is next? Yep, poop all over our couch because he was only wearing a onsie. So into the bath again with Daddy while I scrub the couch. Again, no fever. Now it's bedtime.

Wake up this morning to him happy as can be asking to eat. Bananas, he's chanting. So he gets his banana and we get ready for the day. He's really hungry, eating up the banana and a whole waffle right away. I figure this is great, he must be feeling ok and off to daycare and work we go. When I don't hear from the daycare by around noon, I'm guessing the day is safe and he's all better. I'm super busy at work and really can't afford to miss any days or time this week. But around 4pm I get the call. Brayden has had 3 runny diapers today. But is playing happily, so no big deal, just wanted to let me know. So I go pick him up and we head home. He's a little lazy, but a happy little guy.

We head home and hang out on the couch watching TV and eating toast with juice. My mom comes over to visit and play with Brayden so I can work on finishing up something for Christmas. So they are watching TV and I'm working on the table with some fabric. Brayden comes over and wants to see what I'm doing and then lays down on the fabric. I didn't think much of it and he was playing with it for a little while. Next thing I know, it's time for a bath. He's sitting in the tub playing and I'm doing all the little things, getting his clothes ready and stuff. I look over and his face is BRIGHT RED with PURPLE SPOTS!!! All over it. The only place that looked normal was right under his nose. I called my mom back over and from what we can guess, it looks like an allergic reaction to rubbing the unwashed fabric on his face! So now I have a poopy, purple spotted baby. And it's 2 days til Christmas. Just what I wanted! Off to bed he goes and I check him occasionally. Fast asleep and the spots are fading.

It's about 11pm and I'm getting ready for bed now. Turn off the TV and finishing some laundry. All of a sudden there is a loud rumbling. Now, I recognize this...it's the same rumbling we had last week when someone's carbon monoxide alarm went off and about 4 firetrucks were parked in my street. So Nibble and I go out to see what's going on. No firetrucks, but a large dumptruck and bulldozer are parked running right next to my house. At 11pm. On a Monday night. And my entire house is rattling and rumbling. I go out to ask what's going on. Oh, nothing major, they are just repairing a damaged underground line. SERIOUSLY?!?!? NOW?!?! I ask, are people without power or something? No, nothing wrong, it's just a bad cable line. And they have to heat the ground or something for at least 2 hours before they start digging. And he was nice enough to warn me...it's going to get way louder than the rumbling dump truck when they start.

So if you see on the news tomorrow that a crazy mom started attacking Comcast people in the middle of the night for waking her sick baby. It wasn't me...you never read this.

And It Begins...

Toys...lots and lots of toys are coming our way this year. The Christmas fun started yesterday when my Dad and Edie and my brother Mark and his wife Katie brought my niece over to have a little early Christmas celebration. Since we don't usually see my Dad and his family on Christmas day, it's just easier to have them over earlier. So they all came to our house for some yummy spaghetti bake and some presents! It was a lot of fun! Brayden got the Little People Farm Playset and Leah got a doll and a vacuum cleaner. Of course, Brayden was alot more interested in Leah's vacuum (shut up Megan, we don't need one). And then he opened this present from his Pap-Pap. THE MOST ANNOYING TOY IN THE WORLD...

A Handy Manny Power Tool Set. I already want to hide it away. Not only does it speak in Spanish to me nonstop, but it sounds very much like a real saw or drill. But this is the best part...it "breaks" on it's own every once in awhile. So that you can get out your niftly little toy pliers that came with it to "fix" it by tightening the screws. So here's how it goes...GRRRR...ZMMMM...GRRRR...ZMMMM for about 5 straight minutes. With random spanish phrases throughout to let you know you are doing a great job at sawing or drilling or chasing the poor dog around with it. Then CLANK, CLANK, CLUNK! UH-OH! Following by your toddler chasing you around yelling "Mama OFF OFF" over and over again until you tightened the dumb screw that is set to unscrew itself again in 5 minutes to "fix" it. And don't think you can watch TV or anything because this toy is LOUD and there are no volume controls. So, if I can warn you ahead and you bought this for your kid, you will hate it. Please give it to some other poor parent that you wish to torture because it's horrible and you will want to tear your ears off. Ours is going on 12 hours old and I already was trying to think how bad it is of me to hide it away. So let's see what we are going to get that can beat this one...lol.

If I don't have time to say it again...I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and lots of love to you all from our family!!

18 Month Check-Up

On Friday, we went to Brayden's 18 month check-up at the doctor's. We were a little late going (he hit 18 months a few weeks ago) but due to his shot schedule, we had to wait. But everything went well and he is doing great! When he was weighed, he is supposed to just sit on the little scale. Well, when he sat on it, it wiggled and he panicked! I guess he thought he was going to fall off, so he was then terrified for the rest of the appointment. Everything was a battle. But he only weighs 24 pounds, 4 ounces which is less than a pound more than the last appointment! So he's a skinny little thing, but he's just under 34 inches tall! That puts him in the 10th percentile for weight and the 85th for height. I wish I had that problem....lol. Then it was time for the shots and those weren't a big hit either. But overall, everything is going well and we're so happy. Now we don't go back until he's 2!

Only 2 More Weeks!

Is everyone ready for Christmas yet? I'm getting there. We have the tree up. I have alot of my shopping done. I have baked my cookies and we had a fun cookie exchange so I now have a ton in a great variety. And Brayden knows what Ho-Ho means! My mom got him a small, stuffed Santa Claus to carry around and he now points at any Santa he sees and says "Ho-Ho." But he whispers it...and it sounds exactly the same as when he points to the stove and says "Hot-Hot." But hey...we're getting there! We also have an outstanding (sense the sarcasm) light display outside our house. You'll have to see it to understand...lol. Andy was NOT in the mood to decorate the day I made him hang up the lights. We still need to take Brayden to see Santa Claus. I'm hoping to try and get that done this weekend. I can't wait. I'm guessing it's not going to be a pretty little picture like it was last year. Because I can tell you, we have stopped by to visit with Santa, just not sat on his lap yet. And while there is no tears, there is a lot of No-No-No's from him when we get close. But yes, I am going to torture my child and get a picture of him sitting on his lap, crying or not. So keep a watch for that one coming soon!

Here's a few pictures from our recent "photo shoot" with Brayden's Grandpa, Todd. I think they turned out great!

Don't Blink...

Many of you probably know of the song, "Don't Blink" by Kenny Chesney. If you don't, it's a country song about how fast time goes by. And I never truly knew exactly how fast time goes by until I had a child. Can you believe that Brayden is 18 months old? A year and a half old already. And it just flew by! My baby is no longer a baby...he is a toddler. There doesn't seem to be much baby left to him these days. He is doing his best to do everything he wants to do when he wants to do it and without any help from me. He is all over the place...climbing the stairs, trying to plug in the Christmas tree, unloading the dishwasher, climbing into his highchair, he's a maniac. I can't even keep up with him most nights. But then there's that moment. When he's crying in his crib after waking up...and you go get him and he will just cuddle in next to you. He'll lay in bed quiet with me and just snuggle and I can look at him like I did when he was just a tiny thing. Where did the time go...

Slacker

I know, I've been slacking lately. Again...lol. I guess it's just been an uneventful week! Andy has been working a ton of overtime lately, so he's never around. We are on a tight budget for Christmas, so Brayden and I have been staying close to home so we don't go crazy out shopping. I've started my Christmas shopping, but no where close to being done yet. I can't believe it's only a month away!!

This weekend we went up to visit with Megan at their new house. Brayden got to hang out and play with the other kids while I helped her family get some painting done. It's a beautiful house and I know Megan is anxious to get moved in so I wanted to help. Besides that, not a whole lot going on. I got all the stuff for my baking last night, so the rest of this week will be busy. I'm making a Buckeye Cake to take for dessert on Thanksgiving. It's a new recipe that looks sooo yummy. Watch the recipe blog for it to show up soon! Also, I have my big cookie exchange party in a little bit, so I have to get started on that. I'm toying around with the idea of getting up and going out shopping on Friday morning...I know...crazy! Especially in Robinson. But i love it! We'll see how tired I am...

I'll have a better update later in the week. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

No-No Dinosaurs!!

Have you seen this dinosaur toy? They sell it at Target, Toys R Us, pretty much every toy section has it....

How about this one? How cute! A big dinosaur you can ride on! When you pet it, it sorta purrs at you and if you feed it, it chomps on stuff. And you can ride on it too!!

Please don't get any of these for my child...lol. Apparently, we discovered this weekend that Brayden is DEATHLY afraid of dinosaurs! And he doesn't discriminate. Not only doesn't he like these giant ones, but little plastic ones, soft and fuzzy stuffed ones, cute and friendly looking ones...none of them. Let's add to the list BOOKS with dinosaurs. Because the toys r us big toy book that he had been playing with also scared the crap out of him and was thrown across the room last night when he came across the pictures! Ok...I'm laughing...are you?? Here's the background story...

We went out to do a little early Christmas shopping on Friday afternoon. We were wandering around the toy section at Target. Andy was pushing Brayden in the cart and I was a couple aisles over looking around. All of a sudden I hear this scream. Mom's...you know your kid's scream. And you know the difference from the happy, laughing one and the OMG one. This was the bad one. I seriously thought he fell out of the cart and cracked his head or something. I'm running over trying to find them. And they are right there with Brayden crying and Andy laughing hysterically. Apparently, they have the first one I posted in a big clear box thing and you can push a button to make it move. Brayden lost it. He was shaking and just screeching like someone was killing him. So we left it and walked around for a little while. Then decided to go back past only NOT push the button this time to see what would happen. Nope...as soon as we got in the aisle, same reaction.

Then my mom and I are at Wal-mart yesterday and I hand him this little, tiny plastic dinosaur and he's all "noooooo" and spends the rest of the trip thru the store nervously looking back and forth to see if one is gonna show up around the corner.

Well, the bad news is this thing is on the end of an aisle in just about every kid's section right now. I guess there are kids out there that actually LIKE dinosaurs...not ours! Of course, this is driving Andy bonkers. He is talking about buying a bunch of little ones and placing them all over our house. Because that is why you have a kid, right...to torment them?? lol!

Binky Update!

So it's been a full weekend. I started the NO BINKY on Thursday night and here it is Sunday already. So what do you think happened? Do you think we managed to do it? Do you think he cried all weekend long? Do you think we are suckers and totally gave in?

Well....it was VERY successful!! I guess it was just time, because it was WAY easier than I ever expected. Thursday night, whenever he asked about the binky, he was handed the cut ones. Which he would immediately throw. At bedtime, I handed them to him again, he threw them, picked up his blanket and went right to bed. With no fuss at all!!! None! I was completely amazed. You have no idea. I was so worried, I even had the real ones in my pocket to throw in the crib if it got ugly. But there wasn't a peep out of him. AND.....he slept in his crib ALL NIGHT LONG!!! This is an accomplishment in itself, as he has been ending up in our bed around 3am almost every night for the past month.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. We spent some time out shopping on Friday. He even slept in the car without a bink. But the car is the only time he has really been asking for them. He will chant Binky in the backseat for about 2 minutes before giving up and looking out the window. Saturday night Andy and I got to go to a Pens game while Brayden spent the evening with his Grandma Gagle. Apparently, she managed to get him to eat some cooked carrots...lol.

Today I did give him 1 (and only 1) while we were in the car on the way home from the store. I knew he needed a nap and wanted it to happen before we made it back to the house. But overall, he has been binky-free for almost 3 straight days! Can you believe it??

I'm A Mean Mommy

So I've been tossing around the idea of getting rid of the pacifiers. But it's going to be bad...and ugly...and involve lots of crying (probably both of us) and lack of sleep. I keep putting it off. But we're coming up on 1 1/2 years old at the end of this month (REALLY?!? Where did the time go!) and I feel it's time to at least start limiting it. So I've started looking into options. The problem is, I can't find the one that says, "Just pack them away and he'll never ask again!" And my mom and Andy are no help. They say, "Awwww...but he really likes his binky's!" Yes, I realize that. But I don't like searching for them and being bopped in the face with them and hearing BINKY BINKY BINKY over and over for hours. Also, he seems to be getting sick more, especially with cold and flu season here, and I feel like the less he is shoving in his mouth, the less germs. And he has completely given them up at daycare. They don't offer it to him and he doesn't even ask! So if they got it under control there, I figure it's my turn.

So...last night I started with a suggestion from daycare. I took 2 of his really old ones and cut the ends off. Just a little bit off the tip, but it doesn't get any suction anymore. And I waited for him to ask for it. When he did, I handed him one of the cut ones. You should have seen the look on his face. I wish I had my camera ready. He stared at it, he turned it around, he looked pretty worried, he stared at it somemore. Then he stuck his finger in the hole and looked at me and said "Uh oh!" and laughed hysterically. He carried it around repeating "Uh oh!" and then would burst out laughing. I was trying so hard to keep a straight face thru all of this. Then he tried putting it in his mouth. And took it out and stared at it, and put it in. Then he threw it on the floor and went to play!!!!!! For the rest of the evening, I didn't hear "BINKY!" once. Not ONE SINGLE TIME!!! A few times he would pick it up and look at it and just drop it again.

Then came bedtime. I wasn't sure how to handle this one. So I was prepared with both the cut ones and the normal ones. After bath, we headed into his room with him chanting BINKY at the top of his lungs. I layed him down and handed him the cut one. He threw it across the room and was not at all pleased. What was funny downstairs, we apparently not as amusing when it was bedtime. Then we had a little incident. While I was drying his face, he has a little blister on his lip. Well, the towel must have rubbed it wrong, and it started bleeding. Which caused him to majorly freak out. And I broke down and gave him the good binky. Actually, I gave him 4 of them. Go ahead...say it. I'm a sucker. But I had to work in the morning too! So we'll try again tonight. I'll keep you posted!

Look at this face...and tell me how to take away his favorite thing!

Because He's Just So Cute...

And I'm missing my baby boy at work today...

"She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along. " ~Margaret Culkin Banning

October Pictures!

I can't narrow down all the great pictures we have taken this month to share just a few on there, so I'm attaching a Shutterfly link to some of my favorites. We had such a busy month. We went to a Pumpkin Party with Megan's family, Janoski's to pick out a pumpkin, spent some pretty days at the park, 2 nights of trick-or-treat and Leah's first birthday party!

October Pictures!

Trick-Or-Treat!

We went to Andy's parents on Thursday to trick-or-treat with Brayden. He loved it! He caught on very quickly. And would get upset when he tried to go to the houses with no light on and we wouldn't let him. Apparently, he felt every single house should give him some candy!! But he really had a blast walking around. At one point, someone put a lollipop in his bucket and he dumped the whole thing in the street trying to get it out. He spent some time chewing on a snickers with the wrapper on it too.

Grandma & Grandpa Gagle's house was a little scary for him. He didn't care for things that made noises or smoke coming from the yard...lol.

Friday, we had trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. Andy had to work, but we still had a nice time. My brother came over with his little girl and we took them around to a few houses close by. My mom stayed behind to hand out the candy...all 10 kids that came.

It's Pumpkin Time!

The other night, we decided to try and carve the pumpkin. I was curious to see how Brayden reacted to all the goo inside. Andy isn't a big fan, but he was willing to help...lol. So we spread out the newspaper and got everything going. Andy cut the top off and I got the video camera ready. Then we gave Brayden a big spoon and let him try it out. At first he wasn't sure...but soon he dug right in. He was more interested in flinging it all over the kitchen, but hey, it's his first time and he was having fun! Then he wanted to help me pick all the seeds out (we like to bake them to eat!), but was doing too much flinging, so he was sent back with his spoon to the pumpkin. He was such a good helper!

Right now, he's laying on the floor watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! He really likes it!

ChaCha!

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Welcome to the World, Baby Boy!

Yesterday, my best friend Megan welcomed her 3rd little baby into the world. Miles Andrew was born at 5:17pm on October 23, 2008. He was 8 lbs, 6 ozs and 20 & 1/2 inches long. Not too big, considering he was a few days overdue! He gave his mommy a hard time this past week by not budging until he was given the official eviction notice. She went in yesterday morning to get induced. They gave the medication. She waited. She walked. No progress at all. So home they went.

When I got off work at 5:00pm, I gave her a call to see how she was doing. It didn't sound good. I had originally thought she said they were leaving for the hospital. I find out later that they were actually about to pull in the parking lot. And talk about cutting it close!! Later, we looked at our phone times. I talked to her on the phone at exactly 5:04. Look again above at what time he was born!! I got a phone call from her mom at 5:25 saying I didn't make it in time. I was shocked!

But both Mommy and baby Miles are doing great. When I was visiting with her around 7pm last night, I could tell she was already wanting to go home with her family. Both Gabi and Ryan (her other kids) came to visit and were so excited to meet their new little brother. Congratulations Greene Family! He's absolutely beautiful!!

10 Years...

That's how many years Brayden just took off my life...I'm sure of it.

He recently has started climbing on everything. E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. We have let him to an extent, but it is getting to be too much. The wipe container is used as a step to get him up on the couch. A little people play set is used as a step to get him on the coffee table. An upside down block container is used to help him reach on his high chair. Well, yesterday he discovered he could pull out our dining room chairs and climb on them as well. This is horrible news to me. Because now I can't keep him off of them. Andy was home with him all day yesterday and got so tired of fighting with him about it that he put them all up ON THE TABLE. So that's what I came home to last night.

This morning, while Brayden napped, I spent the time cleaning the living room and kitchen. That included taking the chairs back down to clean the table. So I didn't think much of it. But the one that goes in the back corner I left up there because it was hard to reach. A little bit ago, we went downstairs so I could do some laundry and Brayden could play in his ball pit. We came back up and I realized I forgot to change over the last of the laundry. So I went back down. I was probably down there about a minute and a half...however long it takes to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer and turn it on. I come upstairs and it's really quiet. And I don't see Brayden. Which is impossible because the gates are still in place. I look around...and there he is. UP ON THE CHAIR...WHICH IS ON THE TABLE...STANDING UP!!! And trying to touch the ceiling light!!!! Arghhhhhh....so there you have it. He's giving me gray hairs....lol.

And as I type, he is sitting in the center of the coffee table, eating goldfish crackers. I have no control.

Daddy's Boy

If you read my earlier post, you will know that Andy was gone pretty much all weekend. Well, Brayden certainly missed him! When he came in Sunday night, Brayden had just started to doze off on me on the couch. I didn't want him to fall asleep yet, so I took him with me out to walk the dog...which he LOVES to do because we let him hold the leash. A couple minutes after we come in, Andy comes home. Brayden went crazy! He started doing all his crazy dance moves, even though music isn't playing. Then he ran in and grabbed a toy and brought it to show to him. Then off to the kitchen to push his little fridge toy that plays music and more dancing. He was totally showing off and so excited. It was adorable.

Last night, I had got him to bed pretty early...proabably around 8:30pm. I did some cleaning and then took a shower and was about to get in bed when I hear him start whining. I go get him and let him lay down with me in our bed for a little while. Andy comes home about 15 minutes after. As soon as he came in the room, Brayden is up and crawling around...GROWLING and laughing like crazy. Yelling DADA and making sure Andy knows he is in our bed! He is definately Daddy's little man...

Long Weekend

Brayden and I just had a long and boring weekend. Andy was out of town at SRU for homecoming and working all day today, so we were on our own.

Friday night I went to play some bingo! It was a fun time...I met a new friend and we had a blast. Although we didn't win anything, we came close a few times and it was nice to get out for a little bit. I got home to Brayden in bed, but there was a little "incident." He was running around with his cup in his mouth and tripped and fell. Which split his bottom lip open. Apparently, there was quite a bit of blood...which I didn't see for myself, but was evident on the towel and his shirt. But he's just fine. There is a cut that is noticable, but not a big deal.

Did anyone else wake up FREEZING during the night Friday?? Brayden woke me up around 2am and I scooped him up and put him in bed with us with some extra blankets. He usually can't stand to be under the covers, so I knew he was cold when he cuddled in and went back to sleep instantly. Saturday we went out and ran some errands and got Brayden was warmer pajamas. He had outgrown all of his long ones from last year and obviously it was time. Then we took a ride out to Janoski's to get some apples. (See our food blog to find out how those turned out.)

Today was one of those days. I really was done being on my own. Andy works nights during the week, so having him gone on the weekend also made this a rough one. I feel like all I said today was "Brayden NO!" I'm sure some of you know...lol. I just would have enjoyed oh...going the bathroom without help...lol. We hung out at the house all day and haven't done a whole lot of anything.

AND....we're STILL waiting for a special little boy to be born...c'mon out Baby Boy Greene!!! We're ready to meet you!

Endocrinologist Appointment Update

Today we took Brayden to his endo appointment at Children's Hospital. We only go once every 3 months now, so it's not quite as big a deal as it used to be, but still a hassle. He has to have bloodwork taken at Sewickley Hospital about a week before and they send the lab results to Children's. So we went today and everything went great! He has actually been on the same dosage of the medication (Synthroid) for almost a full year. That's good news because even though he continues to grow, the dosage hasn't changed...meaning his body is picking up the slack and his thyroid is actually working enough to make a difference.

He was also weighed and measured. He's up to exactly 32 inches tall and exactly 23 pounds. My tall and skinny string bean...lol.

Besides that, we had a nice dinner at Andy's parents tonight. We forgot the booster seat, so improvised with some phone books and a scarf to tie him in. It was a nice, relaxing evening.

My Sweet Little Angel...

Just threw the absolute biggest FIT I have ever seen! Wow...I didn't know he had it in him! LOL! I think my mom and I were just amazed. We were watching him as if he were going to explode. We had just got home from shopping with Megan and her mom, where he was just perfect. My happy little man. We came home and I took him over to his Grandma's to show her some of the stuff we got. While I was getting it out of the car, she commented that he was a bear and I had no idea what she was talking about. He played around for a couple minutes. I can't even remember what set him off...but all of a sudden, he was throwing stuff and flinging himself all over the room, making this horrible screeching sound! He walked right over and purposely banged his head off of the front of his little quad. My mom grabbed him and told him he was gonna just sit til he relaxed. He continued screeching and I packed up our stuff to go back home. When I got back, he had calmed a little and we were visiting for a couple more minutes.



Then it started again. I actually had a pulling match with him over a full bowl of cereal that he was prepared to fling across the kitchen which turned into lots more screeching. At full volume. So we leave. I'm carrying him, kicking and screaming, back home with my mom following for the show. I put him down in the living room, only to have him run across the room and decide to repeatedly bang his face off of the leg of our dining room table!! At this point, it's time for a time-out in bed. His first one...but when we went upstairs, he managed to completely relax and was immediately back to his normal self.



I guess the full moon did it??

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere!

We had a fun and busy pumpkin-filled weekend!

Friday, Brayden and I spent a nice day together hanging out and picking out some new Halloween decorations. We found some great deals at Garden Ridge and got some sparkly, bouncy spiders that hang in our tree, some light up pumpkins for in front of the house and a strand of pumpkin lights for the porch. I'm working on getting Brayden to say pumpkin...right now he calls them balls...lol.

We were invited to a pumpkin party at Megan's in-law's house on Saturday afternoon. Brayden had such a good time...he never even looked twice at me the whole day! They had fun things that we don't...like ride-on jeeps and tractors and sliding boards and lots of rocks to play in! He was busy the ENTIRE time. Never sat down all day. There were lots of other kids for him to play with and he loved it. He rode on the jeep with Gabi all around the yard and wouldn't get out to give others a turn! Then we took a ride on the tractor to the pumpkin patch to get a pumpkin.

After that, we went home (he was asleep by the time we were out of the driveway!) and Grandma was coming over to baby-sit so that Andy and I could go to dinner. We have had a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory for over a month that we have wanted to use. So we headed out to a nice, relaxing dinner. Came home about 10:30 and guess who's still up? Yep, Brayden and Grandma are sitting on the couch watching tv. She's such a sucker...no crying in the crib when Grandma is over! But he went to bed easily for us after she left.

Sunday, we went to Janoski's Pumpkinland with Aunt Suzy, Uncle Alan and the kids. It was a beautiful day to be outside. We took Brayden here last year, and he was such a little peanut. Now he was much more interested. He loved playing in the hay jump. And visiting the petting zoo area was okay...he liked the stuff in the cages like bunnies and chickens...but the goats and baby cow were a little too close for his comfort. He would walk WAY around them if they came near him, and I couldn't even get him to sit near one with Andy for a picture. We rode the hayride out to the pumpkin patch and picked out a nice big white pumpkin to add to our collection.

Just to be sentimental...here's a photo from Janoski's last year...where did my little baby boy go??

Weekend Getaway!

This past weekend we took a trip to get out of this place for a little bit. We had been invited over and over again to visit a family friend in Louisville, KY and had never had a chance to do it. We finally took them up on their offer and made the trip! And I'm so glad we did...we had a blast!

It was a 6 hour drive and the car ride was pretty uneventful. This is the longest we have tried to keep Brayden contained, so I was a little worried, but he did a great job. On the way, he back addicted to Wendy's chicken nuggets. Usually he goes for the fries first, but he really liked these! And later we tried to give him Burger King and he refused...so he won and we stopped at a 2nd Wendy's in one day.

We arrived on Thursday evening and just spent the night relaxing. Cooked some burgers on the grill and had some snacks and just spent time hanging out and visiting. The house where we were staying was absolutely gorgeous. Brayden quickly discovered the huge pond in back and was completely entertained with finding rocks to throw into it and feeding the fish. They have alot of land and every evening a bunch of deer come by to be fed. We took buckets of corn out and spread it around and they would let you get pretty close.

Friday was our sight-seeing day. We drove into downtown Louisville and walked around for awhile. Then we went on a tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum and got a personalized bat for Brayden. They also gave us each a mini (14") bat with our tour. Believe me, these will be packed away for quite some time. Brayden immediately took one and attempted to kill everything within sight!

Saturday we got up and went to the St. James Art Festival. Apparently, it is the biggest of it's kind and I believe it! It was huge. I don't think we made it around the whole thing. It was extremely crowded and Andy was getting annoyed trying to get the stroller thru the herds of people. And everything was completely out of our price range, but it was fun to walk around for a bit. After that, back home to relax. But while Brayden and Andy decided to take a little nap, Carleen and I decided to try out the toys in the garage. She jumped on her dirt bike and I took the quad (I was terrified at first!) and we rode around the yard and into the woods. It was alot of fun...even for a sissy girl like me!! But I think that was Andy's favorite part. Every chance he got, he was out on the quad, zooming around the yard. Ask him about his re-enactment of a music video later...lol.

Finally we spent the evening out for dinner at kid-friendly Red Robin and driving around Louisville. The next morning we loaded up and headed home. It was a great trip...and I think we will be making it again!!

Welcome!

I'm trying out a new blog...the last one wasn't working very well. I hope to keep this one updated more regularly. I'm still figuring this site out, so hopefully we will have some pictures and other new stuff added also. Keep checking back!