Merry Christmas

Brayden is the best present I could have ever asked for...

Aren't these some of the cutest pics you have ever seen?!? I scanned them in so, they look a little weird, but I have been dying to post them all. I had to wait until I gave them as Christmas gifts to the grandparents first! I loved Charly's pics of Brayden, but still felt like I needed some more of just him in his Santa suit that JaJa bought him. I LOVE them so much!:)

Anyway, I totally set this post to publish on Christmas & I sure hope it worked out okay! I hope you all had a VERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS with your familys & I can't wait to report how wonderful Brayden's first Christmas was!

Sweetness

I can't believe it is already Christmas Eve! Gooodnesss! Time just goes by way tooo fast. Currently Brayden is sleeping...

& Bailey is at work, so I am just blogging. I've already cleaned up the apt this morning, so I don't really have anything else left to do besides take a nap! My parents are coming in town this evening & then we will go to my Aunt & Uncle's house to do Christmas with them. Tomorrow we will do Christmas as a family of 3 & then head to Bryan to be with Bailey's family! :)

Anyway, I just wanted to share this sweet pic of Brayden cuddling with his bear. I really don't have a good reason as to why Brayden is shirtles. He is a boy on the move & has places to go, so sometimes getting him dressed is a challenge- HA! :)

Hope y'all have a VERRY Merry Christmas!! :)

Christmas Pics & Card

A few weeks back we went & had Charly take some family pics of us. Charly & I both started our teaching career together at Bonham in Bryan & it was so nice to see her again!! :)

We had to cancel the first session because of the rain & we were afraid it would pour down on us at any minute during our 2nd session, but she managed to get some great pics of us despite the gloomy weather! Here are a few of my faves...

Look at his little curl in the next two... :)

She also designed our Christmas card for us & I am so happy with the way it turned out. And since I have finally put them in the mail I figured I could go ahead & upload it here....

Wal-Mart totally boofed up the margins when it printed, but I still went ahead & sent them out eventhough it nearly killed me to do so. Anyway- Thank you again Charly! :)

Tomorrow is the last day of school & then I get 2 weeks off with my boys- I can't wait!! :)

A Little Treat ;)

Just wanted to do a quick update...Brayden is in bed already & Bailey is studying annnd none of my shows are on(sad)! Anyway, this past weekend while I was getting Brayden's bath ready for him- he crawled over to the tub & started banging on it(as usual), but then he said 'Bah!' really loud. I totally am thinking he was saying 'BATH'! Bailey thought I was nuts, but I really think he said his first official word aside from 'mama' & 'dada'. It was really cute- that little boy loves his bath time! ;)

Annnd Brayden has not done much walking at all in the past few weeks. Just a few steps here & there when I am far away from my camera. BUT this weekend we were at the mall waiting for Bailey to come meet us at a store & this very nice lady started talking to him while we were sitting annnnd he walked to her! He walked a good 5-6 steps to a complete stranger- go figure! I just had to laugh- my little turkey!:)

Also, this weekend he would NOT nap for anything. 30 minutes here or there IF we were lucky...here is a video I got of him when he was SUPPOSED to be sleeping.

I turned the light on in the video just so the camera would actually pick up what he was doing. Before I walked in he was kicking his foot on the mattress & just talking & laughing away, so I had to go see what he was up to! :)

I have 3 more days until Holiday Break & I can't wait. I plan to play with Brayden as much as possible, sleep when I can, work on Brayden's 1st birthday some and of course blog- so make sure to check back! ;)

Most Wonderful Time of The Year

I LOVE Christmas time & this year it is so much more special since it is Brayden's FIRST Christmas! :) I have been going nuts trying to make everything as perfect as possible for him. I know he wont even remember this & that he doesn't even know what is going on, but I still want to make sure it is extra special this year. I posted a few pics of what our apt is looking like now. I ordered 2 ornaments for B & have gotten one in so far. One is his 'First Christmas' ornament & the other I just thought was too cool & had to get him. Have you found Etsy yet? I have & am addicted to it...it's where I ordered both of his ornaments from. Anyway, our tree is a little 'slim' this year because I forgot that we sent an entire box of ornaments & such to my parents & we wont see them until Christmas, sooo- we just made do. It kind of worked out for the best anyway, because now maybe Brayden wont be so drawn to the tree. So far he hasn't really paid much attention to it, but the tree skirt- he LOVES! :)

Our Stockings!:)

That is 1 of the ornaments I ordered- the pictures do not do its cuteness justice. It has his name written on it spelled with different 'Christmasy' themes. Anyway, I absolutely love it! I also put a little tree up in Brayden's room & hung little bear ornaments(thanks to Jah-Jah). We still are looking for a short string of lights to hang on it, so as soon as I find those I shall post a pic!

Oh & here is a picture of Brayden playing with the box that is holding his Christmas present in. If he only knew what was in there- haha!! :)

I am pretty sure that Christmas morning he will be more excited about the fact that he will finally be able to get inside the box than play with his new toy!

Anyway, this afternoon I picked him up from Mrs. Sandy's & he crawled as fast as he could over to me, I picked him up & he kissed me!! My heart melted & it warmed me up so much! Normally, he could care less when I pick him up- it is Bailey who gets the star treatment, but today it was me & I loved it! Also, I am the only one so far that he has been giving out kisses to! ;)

Well, this weekend we are planning on staying close by & picking up the last few presents we need to buy, mailing out Christmas cards & hopefully making a trip to the park if it is not too cold! My trashy reality TV shows are just about to start, so I better go....but aren't you so proud that I was able to blog again?! It's a Christmas miracle- HA! ;)

Big Ol' Blog Update :)

I can't believe I have been MIA for a month! Work is ruining my blogging life! :)

This year for Thanksgiving we went to Austin to go visit my parents & had a great time! Brayden loves spending time with his cousins, Aunt Lynn, Uncle Matt, Maw-Maw & Paw-Paw! In fact, he loves it so much that he refuses to sleep very much when we are in town visiting them- ha! :) We spent the time just being together, laughing & watching the cousins play together. Thursday we had a ton of family over & ate sooo much yummy food! I LOVE Thanksgiving & all the food that comes with it! :) Brayden took a 3 hour nap as soon as everybody got there & it was kind of nice because that meant we got to actually sit down together & eat!:) Normally me and Bailey eat in shifts since he is so much on the go, so this was a nice treat for us! We also let him enjoy some of the yummy food as well. Although, his most favorite thing was an Oreo! He nearly took us down to get another bite of it.

Uncle Cody came over & Brayden instantly fell in love

Brayden loves all his cousins- Matalyn is so great with him & Brayden just adores her! Aunt Lynn introduced Brayden to banana pudding- yum!
Uncle Matt is the best tickler out there!
Brayden LOVES his baths & literally would stay in there all day if we let him. His most favorite thing to do in the tub is to stick his face in the water!

We came home Thursday night because Bailey had to work black Friday & spent the rest of the weekend getting ready for Christmas. We put up our tree, hung the stockings & got Brayden's 'big' Christmas present! We aren't planning on getting him tons of things, but would like for him to enjoy opening a few presents Christmas morning. I know he will LOVE playing in the wrapping paper & the boxes more than anything else. I also plan on getting him a little box of his own tupperware, so I can get mine back! :)

Brayden will be 10 months on Saturday & I wish I could 'freeze frame' time! These past 10 months have flown by & I can't believe in just 2 short months he will be 1 & that means I am going to be planning his FIRST birthday here soon!! :(

Here are some things he is doing...

- took his FIRST STEPS 2 weeks ago & has done it a few more times since- I am hoping he doesn't really start until after Christmas...with all these decorations/trees up- I need him to be limited in his movement :)

- babbling non-stop & starting to use ma-ma & da-da in the right context

- attached to his pacifier BIG TIME

- his 'death grip' has gotten stronger & trying to pry anything from his hands is nearly impossible

- standing up on his own without holding onto anything for a few moments at a time

- cruising along furniture & crawling faster

- taking things out of containers & putting them back in

- drinking water from a sippy-cup

- banging on anything & everything he can- such a boy :)

This is right after he took a few steps to get the cell phone....

And here is his latest trick...he pulls open the ottoman & crawls inside. He was so proud of himself the first time he did it! :)

This is my most favorite pic of Brayden & Bailey! They both warm my heart so much & fill it up with so much love & joy! They are the 2 things I am most thankful for & the only presents I need ! :)