Baby Smiles

I saw an article on a girl's blog that said that seeing a baby smile gives you a natural high. I definitely agree with that! My little Brady is so smiley and does such a good job at keeping me happy! I love him!

March of Dimes and Running with Angels 5K

Two Saturdays ago, we drove up to This is the Place Heritage Park to do the March for Babies. We met up with Brady's friend Caden and his mom. Caden and Brady were due just 3 days apart, but Caden decided he wanted to come about 8 weeks early. We're glad that he is doing so well and we were able to walk for him and other premature babies, as well as our angel Heidi.


Last Saturday, we did the Running with Angels 5K. It's a nice way that we could remember Heidi. We really appreciate Dave's mom and Cameo, Jeremy, and Logan for doing this race with us. We decided to just make bracelets for Heidi. They were friendship bracelets (yes, like you used to make in 5th grade) but they still turned out pretty cute!
I really do appreciate those friends and family that supported us in these 2 things. It means more to me than you think it does to have Heidi remembered. I still love her so much and wish that she could be here with us. I can't help but remember that tomorrow, May 30, is one year from her due date. I wish that I had my adorable 1 year old daughter here to chase around and watch her dig her hands into her first birthday cake. But at the same time, I am so glad that Brady is here right now in our family. I don't understand why things happened the way they did, but I know there had to be a reason. We love and remember you Heidi!

Tulip Festival

I love going to the Tulip Festival every spring at Thanksgiving Point. We were able to go a few Saturdays ago with Cameo and Logan, and Megan, Mike, and Christian. We brought picnic dinners and ate them on the grass. It was a warm, beautiful day--the perfect weather to be outside!

Me and my little buddy

Me and Cameo rolled down the big hill! It was so much fun!

It's fun that we all have little boys!

Brady loves pulling hair lately

Brady was pooped by the end of the night!

4 Years Later...

And we're still in love! Happy Anniversary Dave! All I ask is that you watch our wedding video with me today!

I had fun going through our pictures. Here's a few more of my favorites:
"Ummmm....Why is there a groom in the tree?"

4 Months Plus Some

This is a little bit delayed, but oh well! Yesterday Brady was 20 weeks old. The time has gone by so fast. Making it to 20 weeks when I was pregnant with him seemed to take an eternity! We love Brady so much and are so glad that he is part of our family. If anyone is ever having a bad day, just come see Brady and he will make you feel better! He has the cutest little smile. Everyone is always commenting to me what a happy baby he is and quite a few people have said he looks just like the Gerber baby. Most people think he looks just like me, so I guess the baby version of me is pretty darn cute! According to our Russian neighbors, if a baby boy looks like his mom, he is going to grow up to be a hippie--Dave and I better watch out!These are Brady's stats from his 4 month appointment:

Weight: 14 # 11 oz.--70th percentile

Length: 2 ft. 2 in.--90th percentile
Head circumference: 16.5 in.--50th percentile

We didn't realize that he was so tall!

Also at 4.5 months:
-Brady has been talking a TON lately. It's so fun listening to him babble and shriek.
-He is so curious and sometimes isn't happy unless he is standing up and looking around.
-He gets really distracted while eating sometimes because he would much rather check out his surroundings.
-He is starting to be able to sit with his hands in front of him.
-He can roll over, but doesn't do it a ton.
-He loves holding on to his feet
-He stares at me if I'm in the room and someone else is holding him, and does the same with Dave.
-His naps are finally getting longer than 40 minutes. For a long time he was taking four 40 minute naps a day, but he is finally staying asleep longer than that. I felt like I was putting him down for a nap all day long!
-He usually sleeps at least 12 hours a night with 1 feeding, although he slept without waking up until about 6:30 several days last week. He likes something soft on his face when he's falling asleep.
-He loves being read to. I have lots of picture books from when I was teaching, and he'll sit and listen to a story for 15 minutes.
-He's been putting everything he can into his mouth and slobbers everywhere!
-He has the biggest blue eyes.
-One of my favorite things is watching him interact with himself in the mirror. It's adorable!
-He had RSV about 3 weeks ago. Even though he sounded like he could barely breathe, he was still his regular, happy self throughout it!
-His nicknames are the Braidsters, Stinker Boo, Duddy, Duddykins, Dudders (any of Dudley's nicknames from Harry Potter), Bradykins, and Petey Pablo
-I'm afraid he's going to grow up thinking his name is every song. Brady is so similar to Baby, that I always put in his name instead of baby!
-1:00 church is getting harder and harder with him as he's getting older!

We love you so much Brady!

Easter

For Easter this year, we went up to my parents for the traditional egg roll down the drive way. We threw off the neighbors that have started coming over to participate because we had to do it a little earlier so we could get Dave to the airport. I don't think Brady cared too much about the roll though. Maybe next year.The Saturday after Easter, we did an egg hunt with Dave's family. With so many older cousins running around, Brady was only able to get 2 eggs!

I excited to get to start celebrating holidays with kids!


One more picture to show--we thought it would be funny to play a prank on my family, so when we walked in my parents house on Sunday, Brady was holding this egg. The look on my mom's face was priceless!*Note--if you can't read the egg, it says Big Brother. It really was just a joke, so don't get any ideas in your head!