10 months.

In honor of Brayden being 10 months old (gasp!) today, here are my top 10 favorite things about him:

I love...

1. how I can make him laugh at any given moment, even in the middle of a meltdown.
2. how he buries his head on us while he's crawling on the floor.
3. how he smiles at everyone he meets.
4. how he dances every time he hears music.
5. how he loves me singing... even though he is the only person in the world that would ever admit to it.
6. how he always needs to hold my finger while he nurses... it's so precious.
7. his eyes.... Oh his eyes...
8. how he chases Leah around the house... she will run away, and he will crawl as fast as he can after her.
9. how he loves hanging upside down, although I don't understand why!
10. his spirit... he is going to be an amazing man someday.. I am so proud of him.

There are many many more things I love about that boy.  He is a wonderful addition to our family and I wouldn't change a thing about him.

Gumballs.

Leah and I went on a gumball hunt today while Brayden was napping.  I wanted to get them all picked up from our yard because when we run around barefoot and step on one, they hurt!!!  Leah thought it was great!  We counted them as we put them in the bucket and ended up with quite a few.  She really had fun doing something with me without Brayden.  I think she felt really special.

We went to the beach this morning with Aubrey and Casandra.  The girls had a blast.  Leah went into the water a little bit.. she had a very tight grip on my hand my fingers actually turned purple.. but she had fun!  Aubrey was a maniac... she just runs into the waves without flinching.  Casandra was chasing her the entire time, and did such an amazing job at making sure Aubrey didn't hurt herself!!  Leah ended up taking a nap 2 hours early because she was so tired.

I went to the farmer's market and the fresh food market today.  It was so hot out it made it a little more difficult.  Wednesdays are always so tiring yet productive.

Ice Pop.

Leah loves her ice pops.  She mostly loves frozen herbal tea, Mercola's protein shakes, and a new favorite.. pureed watermelon.  She gets an ice pop a couple times a day and loves it.  Brayden hasn't been a huge fan.. I think it's just too cold for him... until he had the watermelon one.  He loved it!


After he was done eating his watermelon ice pop Leah went down for a nap.  He was just crawling around in the play room playing with the wide assortment of toys scattered across the floor.  Cavan and I were relaxing in the other room when I told Cavan he was being too quiet.  I was right... haha.  He decided to suck on one of Leah's blue crayons and got blue everywhere.  The carpet is blue, his face is blue, even Bailey has blue on her.  He's too funny.

We went for dinner over at Dad and Mom Carlson's house.  Brayden was super tired, so we decided to go for a golf cart ride to keep him occupied (and because Leah was begging).  Bryan and Aubrey went with us. It was so much fun and so relaxing.  The kids did wonderful.

Since Brayden has been sleeping terribly the last few days, I am really looking forward to him feeling better.  Between teething and lack of sleep he has been awful.  Tonight is the first night he went down and stayed down for more than 20 minutes!  We're going on an hour and a half already... I have a feeling he'll sleep well tonight.  Enjoy the pictures!!

click!

Brayden learned how to click his tounge.  He does it constantly now and laughs almost every time.  I just love it. It's super cute.

He was awake yesterday while Leah was napping, so we went outside and hung out with Daddy in his office.  Brayden had fun learning how to work with Dad.  He is such a sweetie. Check out his teeth!!!

Shake Shake

I have a couple cute stories to tell...

I taught our kittens to come every time I shake a can of treats.  I do this mainly because they hide inside of my dresser and I normally don't have 10 minutes to search and grab them so I can shut the door.  Today, Leah grabbed the can and started shaking it.  She said, "Come here Bailey, come here Penny."  hahahaha  She remembers everything!

I took both kids grocery shopping today.  I put Brayden in the kokopax and Leah insisted on walking by herself.  She helped me count 10 limes and 8 lemons all by herself.  After 10 she normally counts 16, 18, 19, 20!!!  haha, we are missing a few but she's doing amazing!

She took a few things off shelves and placed them in the cart because they were, "Leah's yummies".  She did listen to me when I asked her to put them back.  She really enjoyed being a big girl and helping Mommy out while grocery shopping.

She was jumping on her little trampoline last night in the play room and was yelling, "Whooopie!!!" every time she would jump and fall on her bottom.  She laughed and did it over and over again.  I asked her who says whoopie a lot, and she told me, "Papa says it!  Papa says Whooooopie!"  My dad (Papa) always says whoopie with the babies... Leah loved it!  Papa and Grandmo got Leah a bear when we went to the zoo... she sleeps with it every night and calls him "Papa Bear".  It's so cute.

Happy Father's Day!

This is Cavan's 3rd Father's Day since Leah was born, but it was his first Father's Day as a Daddy of two.  He is such an amazing Daddy.  I just love watching the kids interact with him, they truly adore him.  I asked Cavan what special thing he would like to do for Father's Day... he said he wanted us to go to the beach!

We packed up what seemed like everything we owned, and loaded up the golf cart.  I couldn't believe how much fun Leah had in the waves with Daddy, Uncle Bryan, Aunt Cassie, and Aubrey.  She was laughing so hard.  It was so cute to see.

We have been very much enjoying the summer so far.  We are constantly outside.  We play outside in the pools, in our back yard, or at the beach.  It has been wonderful and so much fun!

Brayden has 3 top teeth, and working on number 4.  He has 2 bottom teeth (from a couple months ago) and on each side of those 2 teeth he has some very swollen gums.  I hope after these 3 are through, he will be done for a while.  He has been sleeping terribly, chewing on everything, and all around more crabby.  Teething bites!!!

Leah is awesome.  She is putting so many more sentences together.  I went in her room last night after I put Brayden down to say goodnight again.  She gave me hugs and kisses, and I started walking out.  She said, "Mommy, huggie please."  I smiled and said, "Mommy already gave you 2 huggies, it's night night time."  Then she said, "Mommy, huggie, one more time, please."  How could I say no?!?


We had our friends David, Paula, and Miles over last night.  Leah and Miles had so much fun together.  They had a blast jumping on her bed, playing in the balls, kicking the ball outside, and running around together.  It was so much fun watching them interact in their own little language.  She wont stop talking about Miles today. It's so cute.

Look who's standing....

Oh goodness.  I am not ready for this.  But it doesn't really matter if I am ready or not because Brayden has decided to try and pull himself up on everything.  He is actually quite coordinated.  He has successfully pulled himself up just a handful of times, but he is very ambitious.  It's hard to believe my little guy is standing already.  I know the next step is walking... oh walking.  Wow.

He is still teething like crazy.  He has 2 top teeth cut through, 2 more with little circles and white gums.  Then he has 2 very swollen spots on his bottom gums, so it looks like we are waiting on 4 more.  Poor guy just wants to chew on everything.  He is a drool machine as well.  I can't wait until he's not uncomfortable.

He knows how to wave now.. it's super cute.  He started doing it when we were in Michigan, but he will now do it on command.  I love it.  He also can dance.  It is the cutest thing ever.  When he hears music... he'll dance.  He's pretty good about keeping the beat too... don't know where he got that from.

Brayden and Leah are really starting to play together.  Now that he is very mobile he can try and keep up with her.  They were playing around in the ball pit tonight and both were laughing and giggling.  I even caught them hugging a few times.  Leah is a very good big sister.

Leah loves playing with the kittens.  She pushes them around in her baby stroller, carries them all over the house, hugs them a little snugly, and they could care less.  They never stop purring.  She also loves playing outside in her water table and pool.  She has a blast.  I love having a great yard for her to play in.

Leah locked herself in our bedroom.  We thought we could just open it with a butter knife, but quickly realized it needed a key.  A key we didn't have.  She started getting upset, but we tried explaining to her how to unlock it.  It took her a minute, but she unlocked it herself.  Ha... crazy girl!