Braydon turns 1: morning outing with friends ~ 6-17-11

Our baby turns 1! It's hard to believe.

We wake in the morning to this. I thought for sure we might be in trouble for the day.





But as he ate breakfast his mood lightened and we were having a better morning.









We planned to meet friends at a local blueberry farm and pick blueberries. It was quite warm as you can tell from Braydon's face.












Cameron shared blueberries with him. And while he wasn't in a happy mood he was content sitting in his stroller watching us work hard for some blueberries.




Braydon needed some milk to cool off. So Cameron helped him out with his new cup that he's recently started using. Then Cameron decided that he was thirsty himself and needed a drink. Silly boy.













We had a great time with friends. Thank you Debbie and Sierra for sharing Braydon's special day.





After we payed for our blueberries we decided to get a snow cone and talk for a bit. Braydon had fun playing with a water bottle and staying cool.

Braydon drinking whole milk for the 1st time ~ 6-16-11

In an effort to keep things equal (yes I know that will not always be possible) Braydon had whole milk for the first time. Cameron got whole milk for the first time the night before he turned 1 year, because my milk supply was way low and I didn't want the babysitter to give it to him for the first time on his birthday. Even though I had plenty of milk for Braydon, I went ahead and started transitioning him to whole milk since my body and mind are ready to start the weaning process.

I'm proud to be able to breastfeed Braydon for a year like I did Cameron.

We had to try a few cups but the ultimate look on Braydon's face seemed like "What have you been holding out on me for?"

Do you ever look this happy after lunch? ~ 6-15-11

The picture says it all. Braydon is starting to eat more finger foods and spaghetti and noodles are a favorite hit.

Dental work for Cameron ~ 6-14-11

So Cameron had to have some small cavities filled. I think it was more traumatic for Mom than Cameron. I had a lot of problems/concerns with the office we went to and how UN-friendly there were towards families and kids. Even though we saw a pediatric dentist she just borrowed the facility. And of course it is a chain dentist so do they really care?

Any way, since we did the fillings we also paid the extra to get sealants done on his molar teeth as well to try to minimalize future problems. They used gas and some pain meds to get things done. He was cute and such a big boy. He didn't really want to wear the sunglasses, but after some coaxing he agreed. And the thing that kept his mouth open he really didn't like.

The dentist kept trying to talk to him and of course he wanted to answer her, but couldn't. She finally realized he was a child who wanted to talk back to her so she should stop asking him questions.

He got a popsicle to eat but of course by the time we got to the car it had melted in the almost 100 degree weather. Cameron couldn't really feel his lips in order to eat it, poor thing. After we, yes we, ate the popsicles I gave him the popsicle stick to chew on in hopes his lips would "wake" up before he started chewing on them because he couldn't feel them.

Unfortunately, that wasn't quite the case. We went over to our friend Christy's house to pick up Braydon. Cameron was feeling good and playing. The next think I know he comes downstairs when we got ready to leave and had blood running down his chin...from chewing on his lips.

The next day they looked like this. Poor baby. Next time, if there is a next time, for dental work I know to give him something to chew on and make his continue to chew on it for at least the rest of the day so he doesn't look like this again.

Lesson learned. :(

At the hands of Cameron ~ 6-14-11

Cameron took a turn at taking pictures of Braydon eating noodles with spaghetti. If I showed you all 10 of the pictures you would be laughing at the angles and pictures that he took. Sometimes it's just an ear that he captures or feet, but its fun because you never know what you are going to get.

This is what I found when I went to bed ~ 6-12-11

When I headed to bed I found Cameron at our bedroom door...asleep. I'm not sure why he decided to lay down there. Somethings I'll never figure out with this little dude.

Mac and Cheese with a side of burrito ~ 6-11-11

Braydon got some mac and cheese tonight and had some burrito as a side entree. It was yummy and fun!

Zoo with Friends ~ 6-10-11

We headed to the Houston Zoo with our friends Cheryl and Caitlin. It was hot but we had a great time. Cameron wanted to see the giraffe's which are part of the new African exhibit. We explored most of the zoo, got to ride the carousel, and pet a snake! We headed home after eating lunch and all of us were exhausted.



Cameron pointing out the fish to Caitlin.



Crawling through the fish tunnel









Cameron was not sure at all about getting next to this gorilla. It took some convincing.






Braydon all smiles looking at the animals.







Cameron getting a drink from the lion.







Cameron got to see the giraffes










And he even got to have his picture taken with one.











AND ride on one!








We saw the new African exhibit. In the exhibit is the primates. I'm not sure which type these are but they were interesting to see up close. And as you can see, Braydon enjoyed them also.







Outside the entrance (or our exit) is the bongos. Cameron enjoyed climbing up and banging on them.





Cameron showing longhorns after seeing the longhorns.







The adorable elephants.







The best family picture of the three of us. It was hot by this point and it was getting close to time to leave.





We stumbled upon a lady with a snake. If I remember correctly it was a sand snake. I couldn't believe that Cameron actually touched it. Michael and I HATE snakes so for Cameron to go "pet" them gave me chills.






My little monkeys!

Yum Yum Grape Toast ~ 6-7-11

The boys enjoyed grape toast

this morning. Braydon was cute

eating it and Cameron was quite

the ham himself. I love the

intensity on both of their faces

and I LOVE my little guys!

Starting the summer with swim lessons and library summer reading ~ 6-6-11

We've had a tradition of doing swim lessons every summer since Cameron was a 14 months old and Braydon started this summer. In addition, we have been doing the summer reading program at the local library last summer.

In order to try to get in the groove of things and get timing down we headed out to the library. We have swimming lessons on Mon-Thurs at 11:15 and library at 10 on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Since that's right in the middle of Braydon's first nap and I was still pumping I had to try to figure out timing before Wednesday.

We filled out our paperwork for the summer reading program, got our reusable bags and Cameron enjoyed a sucker. :)

Can you see Braydon's face in the background. He SO wants to eat what his big brother has these days. Only a matter of time...

I didn't get any pictures of our first day of swimming. It's a little difficult when you have two in swimming plus I got in with Braydon. Oh well!

Did I do that? (with Steve Urkle voice) ~ 6-5-11

The look on Braydon's face says it all. Pretty sure we are in trouble with this boy.

Totally done and ready for summer ~ 6-3-11

Braydon crashed after Moms last day of school.



Cameron "taking a nap" on his school mat when we got home from school.

Arrrr, matey! ~ 6-2-11

Such a silly boy! We finished the last day of school for kiddos! Let summer begin!!!!!!

Into the good stuff ~ 6-1-11

Cameron had a picnic at his 2nd school (daycare) and they gave the few "school" kids a sack lunch because they forgot to tell the parents they would need a sack lunch for the picnic. I'm not sure if Cameron was too busy at the picnic or what the situation but he didn't eat his lunch. So he brought it home. When we got home Braydon found the lunch that Cameron sat down and dug in. Unfortunately I had to take it away because it was a peanut butter sandwich, chips, and cookies - none of which he has had at this point. I hear some of you saying, "it didn't kill us!"

Doesn't he look like he is enjoying it?

Happy Memorial Day ~ 5-30-11

Do you know the real meaning of Memorial Day? Take a look here and check it out. http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

A big Thank You to all the families who have lost members of their family to a war for our freedom or fighting for another countries freedom across the globe.