Brayden the Show Off

Brayden has slowly embraced his role as a big brother. He now likes to show off his skills for his baby sister and all babies alike.

We had some friends over for dinner last weekend and they brought their 8 month old daughter Emmy. Brayden has met her before and has always been sweet around her, but nothing like this. He tried to get her to watch his every move and when she responded to his actions with full belly laughs, he thought it was the coolest thing ever. He kept the show going all night and whenever he would disappear she would look around like "Hey, where did that guy go?" It was too cute!

This made Brett and I a little more relaxed and we think that once Barrett can move around and respond to him, he is going to have a lot of fun with her.

I think she already is obsessed with him. I swear that when I put her in her bouncy seat one morning to watch him play trains, she only fussed when he was out of her sight. He would come back to her and bounce her a little and she would stop crying. She would stop crying when he was near her even if he didn't bounce her!! I swear! Too cute!!!

* Showing off for baby sister by practically jumping on her! (I LOVE this picture...to funny!)
* Putting on a show for baby Emmy

Miss Barrett

I have been getting "hate mail", as I like to call it, about not posting any pictures of Barrett! HA! I know, I documented every waking moment of Brayden's life and now this kid gets the shaft! I have my hands full most days that I forget to take my camera places. Maybe I just don't think they are cute anymore...HA! Just kidding!!! Here are some cute/ funny pictures of Barrett over the past couple of days.

*Watching Mommy get dressed
*Checking out life in the front carrier

* She liked the point of view this gave her

*Taking one of her "vibration" naps in her lounge chair!

Cute Pictures

Here are some cute pictures of Miss B taken with my cell phone throughout the past few days. She is so cute!!!!

He Has Come Around!!!

It took a while, but Brayden has finally come around! And no, these were not posed!!!

Carolina Hurricanes

For those of you who don’t know, Brayden is obsessed with hockey.

He plays it every chance he gets and talks about it all the time too. Brett plays with him on weekends and has worked really hard with him to the point that Brett said to me the other day “I think he is going to grow up to be a professional hockey player! No, I am serious, I really do!" So the chance to meet a real hockey player and see some hockey played in person was a dream come true to him.

We were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. We were over at Heather’s house for our regular get togethers and her neighbor happened to drop by right when I was getting ready to go home and told us that some of the Carolina Hurricane players were coming to play street hockey with her kids and the other kids in the neighborhood. She and her husband had won this event in an auction and she invited us down to watch.

WELL! I was not going to miss this! I was so excited for Brayden that I called Brett and told him he had to come and see it too. Luckily Brett was working from home that afternoon and was able to come down for a bit and watch.

Brayden was so happy and wanted to play so badly. He kept asking me to get in the rink while the other kids were playing. It was so cute to watch his eyes light up and cheer every time one of the kids would get a goal. I was such a proud mother too when he had a chance to meet one of the players and he asked him to show him his swing and Brayden gladly showed off his skills. It was so cute!!!

Brett and I have talked about taking him to a real game, but as much as he likes hockey, he does not like loud events and always ends up getting freaked out at them. So until then it is hockey in the front yard with Daddy and watching it on TV.

* He would do this all day if I let him!

* Watching the "big kids" play...he wouldn't let the stick go for a second

* He kept saying "Brayden go in there?" He wanted to play so bad!

* Meeting Ryan Bayda or "a really hockey player" as Brayden said

Snow Day!

Here are some cute pictures of the snowy day we had a few weeks ago. I was so happy Brett was able to be home because Miss doesn’t last very long out in the cold and Brayden LOVES being out there as long as he can.

Getting Out and About

One of the first outings Brayden, Barrett and I took was to a play date at Heather’s (a.k.a Ha Ha) house. She was nice enough to get everyone together to play with Brayden and meet Barrett for the first time.

This too was during a time when Brayden was not into Barrett at all and was having a really hard time. He was so happy to be reunited with his buddies, but still not thrilled that people were more interested in her than him. It was so fun to be around our friends again and to have everyone be really excited about Barrett. All the boys could have cared less about her and when asked if they wanted to see or hold her, they would always say firmly, “NO!” HA! We would soon learn that this is totally a boy/girl thing, because all of Brayden’s girlfriends were totally into seeing and being around the baby. Boys!!

The next outing I dared to do was story time at our local mall. Brayden and I attend this quite often when there is not much to do around the house and we need to get out. This was funny because it was my first time out with the two of them and it took everything out of me!

I came home and was so exhausted from not being used to lugging two kids around that I literally passed out. Good thing my mom was still here to help me because my stamina was not back to normal and the outing made me feel like a bus had hit me!

Needless to say I am feeling much more like myself these days and we regularly get out of the house, but looking back at the first time makes me laugh because it was so new and strange to me.

- Sue -

* Auntie Robin

* Auntie Heather

* Not interested in B at all, more interested in feeding Brady's horse

* Little Miss B

* He loves to go to storytime and read with his Nana

* Cheese!

* Barrett enjoying storytime as well

Cousin Ben Visits!

My sister and my nephew were able to come and visit over Valentine’s Day weekend and Brayden was SO happy to see his awesome cousin! This was during a time when he was not at all happy about having a new member of the family and having someone come and visit just to play with him was exactly what he needed.

It was so cute to see Ben holding Barrett and it makes me so happy that the boys can see each other more often than not these days. We had a great time; played games, played outside, watch movies and just enjoyed having family in town.

- Sue -

* The two goof balls together at last!

* Miss B enjoying herself

* Miss B getting to know her cousin Ben and Auntie Gretchen

* He was so good with her and very gentle