Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

These last two weeks of October have been super busy.  Jack has started to say some new words:  "All done!" "hot" and "bye bye Bappa" in addition to woof and the horsey noise (which he does to the cat).


Jack got his first haircut.
Jack's before picture


The struggle begins!
Just tryin' to tidy you up lil buddy!


Aww!  It was worth it.  So handsome!

The Rangers played in the World Series again this year, so that kept us all up pretty late a few nights.  We had hot chocolate treats to keep us awake though. 
We have spent so much time talking about and watching baseball that Brayden took a card that he recieved in the mail and bent it up so it can function as a baseball "gwub"!
Jack cheered for the Rangers, too.  He was just asleep while he did it.


Then, we carved pumpkins that we grew in the garden.

Everybody got to pick just which one they wanted.

  Jack really got into it!

Spooky, spooky!


Finally, the big night arrived and Buddy and the lil' elephant were ready to go!
Then we took all of the neighborhood kids out on a hayride through the neighborhood.
They came home happy and ready for the next adventure.

Which for us, is getting on a plane bound for Texas.
Yea!




Saturday, October 22, 2011

My Relief Pitcher

When Brayden won't share,

When Jack wont stop screaming or demanding idon'tknowwhat,

when the toys are stretched across every available space in the living room,

when Brayden is begging for another snack and I've dug 14 of something gross out of Jack's mouth,

when Brayden yells "I don't have to go pee!" even though he is holding on tight and doing a dance and Jack is fighting to keep the boogers he just smeared all over his face,

when Jack won't keep his hands out of the toilet and it's not even 8:00 in the MORNING YET...


I call in my relief pitcher.

And he shuts 'em down.  Maybe I should call him The Closer.


He lets them lay on him,

snuggle their faces in him,


 and play with his feet and tail (tickle, tickle, Gwizzwy!).





He lets them climb over him,




licks the breakfast off their pants and cleans the floor.


Every mama should have a Grizzly. 





P.S.  Not a single one of these pictures was taken this morning...all of them were taken last night (no chance of a photo op during all of that!).

Friday, October 21, 2011

Woof!

We have been spending more time with Griz lately. As it gets colder, he spends more time in the house. And now that the leaves are off of the trees and he can see through to the neighborhood he has been barking more.

One day we were listening to him bark and before I went about shushing him. We heard Jack say "wfff" "wofff". Brayden and I encouraged him with our own giggles and "woofs" and now whenever we hear Griz bark or first see him, Jack says "Woof!".

He walks now just as much as he crawls, all the way across the room, holding Brayden's hands and especially to try to get into the toilet (YUCK!).

He loves to snuggle and dives into your shoulder for a hug, Brayden's blankie on his bed or a pillow on the floor (it is very unfortunate if he misses! Ouch!).  He has a blanket that Auntie Kathy made for him (from my grandma's yarn, and her grandma's pattern).  He goes crazy for this blankie!  It is the same one that lined his carseat when he had to sleep in it at night...must have good memories for him, I guess.  He will crawl super fast to get to it, walk around with it on his head, he bites it, snuggles with it while he nurses and most of all...rubs his face in it!  So silly!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

COOLEST DAY EVER!



Today was the COOLEST DAY EVER!
We had full moon-itis, so we needed something special to do.
Good thing the fire fighter were having their open house!

There were hats and lunch and hand made old time fire trucks.

AND FIRE ENGINE RIDES!
WE GOT TO RIDE IN THE FRONT SEAT!

See that string hanging from the ceiling there?  That is the horn and...
BRAYDEN GOT TO HONK THE HORN!
and SAY GO RIGHT, GO LEFT!

He was so excited the whole time with the "woo woos" that he kind of had a awed look on his face.  It was seriously the high point of his little life.

Jack and I were super excited too!


Here he is, still in disbelief.
I mean, it was even the big ladder "woowoo"!

THEN THEY GOT TO SIT IN A HELICOPTER!

The crowning glory was when Brayden GOT TO PUT OUT A FIRE!



BEST DAY EVER!



Monday, October 10, 2011

The Moon and Stars

Tonight before bed, Brayden asked if he could see the moon and stars.  So after Jack went to bed (Jeremiah is still at work), Brayden and I slipped his "golashes-boots" on over his footy pajamas, towel dried his still wet hair just a little bit more and went outside to find the moon and stars.

We see the moon a lot when the sun is still awake and it is pretty exciting, so to see the moon when the sun was asleep was pretty dang neat.  The stars weren't very bright yet, but we did get to see a few.  We pointed them out to each other and he said a soft "wooow" every time he found a new one. 

Then we went back to look at the moon.  We got a pretty clear veiw in the back yard between the trees.  We talked, in the company of Rowdy, 'Mater and Grizz, about how the sun had gone to bed and it was time for the moon to be awake.

Then it was time for bed.  Brayden said "Good night moon.  Sleep tight."  Then he blew it a kiss and he held my hand as walked through the leaves ("from the tree tops, Mama?") into the garage.

:)

Climbing the Stairs

Jack's new favorite thing to do...climb the stairs.  No crawling though, just climbing hands and feet, hands and feet, up both flights of stairs and not taking any breaks.  Boy he is a strong baby!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

10 Months and Growing


 
Jack had his ten month well child check last week.  Technically, it was his nine month well child check, but I forgot he actually should have been scheduled for a full checkup, not just shots (whoops!).  So it was just a little late.  Here were the results:


WEight:  21 pounds, 15.5 ounces, 59th percentile.
Height:  30 1/4 inches, 89th percentile
Head Circumerence:  19 inches, 97th percentile




Yup. 97th percentile in head circumference. That means he is
 very strong in all of the "head" categories....you know, he's really smart. He's mentally very strong, or, um, well, stubborn. His temper is quick to flair and quick to heal back into delicious smiles. You can just see it all in these pictures of our struggle over the camera.
<
"Oh, the camera!"
"Give it to me!"
"Mamma, I'm getting mad, just give it to me!!"
Oh, mad face didn't work...I'll try happy face again!
He wasn't as "smart" at his 6 month check up...
Head circumference was only 96%. 
And height was 73% (19 pounds, 5 ounces) and he was almost 28 inches long (83%).

Brayden remains the kitchen's greatest helper!  We even made him an apron out of an old "diaper".
He worked on this apple shirt with Auntie Deandra; She knows how much he loooves apples! I can't wait for his three year well child check!

Since summer is still caught here providing us with 80-90 degree days, we've been playing in the leaves a lot.




Long live nice weather!
(But I wouldn't mind a little cooler with some rain to end our drought...)