dog days of summer coming to an end

As summer starts to come to an end I can name at least two people in this house that will be happy. Hopper and I are not ones for the heat. We can't speak for Brady but I would have to say that he should be happier that the weather is getting cooler. It means mommy can stand being outside for more than five minutes, more play time at the park for you little man! I can't believe how good Hopper is with Brady. Lately this stopping to take a rest on the dog has become the norm and I can't say that Hopper minds to much!

bye bye

Today at the grocery store, Brady found it necessary to tell everyone in the store bye bye on the way out. Let me start by saying before we entered the store today I had never heard him say bye, bye. Not to say that he was not trying to say it at some point and we did not understand because there are a lot of those kinds of words. After we checked out he said bye bye to every checker, bagger and customer leaving King Soopers. He then preceded to tell every car in the parking lot that was driving by as I loaded the groceries, bye bye!

amazing lifetime memories

Very few people have the opportunity to have their Great Grand Parents grace their life. Brian and I were talking the other night and are so blessed that Brady has had the opportunity to meet four of his. Neither Brian or I were lucky enough to have met ours. It is absolutely amazing to see how much love and happiness those four people bring to his life. In turn it is amazing to see how much happiness Brady brings to them when he is around. Brian and I have learned so much from them as we grew up. Their stories, advice and love will last for generations to come. We hope they are around for years to come to share their life experiences, knowledge and love with him and his little brother. We love you guys!

Such a ham for the camera

Now whenever we hear the flash go up and the beep beep of mommy's camera, this is the lovely smile that we now get to share with everyone! He thinks he is Mr. Funny man and well he is!

Our little engineer

If there is one thing this kid absolutely loves, it is to play with his blocks. He also finds it really fun to sit inside his toy storage bins, it is extra cute to watch him crawl in and out. He recently learned how to stack his blocks instead of just knocking down whatever mommy and daddy just built. He also enjoys setting blocks on any piece of furniture he can, the floor is simply not good enough anymore. I wonder what is going through his mind as he carefully places each block in its specific place and then sometimes stops and thinks and then picks up the same block and moves it to another location before he grabs the next to add to his creation. He definitely has an idea of exactly what he wants and if mommy or daddy helps he will often remove or undo whatever we have done. Jelly, you are building the best block creations we have ever seen, we can't wait to see what you build tomorrow!

No sleeping at the table!

So we normally have a huge issue getting this kid to go down for naps or bedtime. Lately he goes down really easy at the dinner table! Is there a such thing as counting chicken nuggets instead of sheep? He is eating one minute and out the next! 15 to 20 minutes pass and then presto he is awake and just starts eating again like he never fell asleep! Sweet dreams little man!

Can you be jealous of a cat?

Today my cats were all curled up on our bed sleeping at 3:30 in the afternoon. I couldn't help but look at them and think about what my life used to be like pre Brady. After a sleepless night, not due to Brady this time although he did wake a couple of times, but mostly due to a huge amount of discomfort from pregnancy, I was tired. I would have given anything to be curled up in my bed taking an afternoon siesta, but then reality snapped back as Brady started tugging at my leg and crying for his afternoon bottle, in the middle of me putting our laundry away. A girl can dream can't she? Maybe not today, because there are many things to do around the house and a little man to take care of, but someday again I will be able to curl up with my cats and take an afternoon nap on my schedule!

Brady is welcoming a little brother!

Well the news is out and here are the pictures of the newest Smith! No suprise to mommy, who has had the feeling all along, it is a boy! As I have told many people I will have to get a female dog for some estrogen compainionship in this house! The baby looked completely healthy and normal! We are so lucky to have this little miracle in our lives! Truth be told I am a little sad I don't get to go buy a cute little pink outfit today, Brian is happy because he thinks this means we get to have 3 kids now. I told him not to hold his breath! So the secret is finally out on the blog, the 2nd Smith baby is due January 1st. We will keep you up to date as to any new developments, but those of you in the family hoping the ultrasound tech was wrong, I have to say I saw it clear as day with my own two eyes, there is no mistake here people!

how many miles are on the pooh bus?

Grandma Smith asked the other day on the phone how many miles are on the pooh bus? I wish it had odometer, we would probably be shocked. We call our house the Smith Raceway. Brady no longer walks with it, he runs. He has gotten so good at turning it and hardly ever wipes out. It is quite amazing. Brian and I were questioning the other night whether to take away the pooh bus, if it was slowing down Brady's confidence for walking? Of course he still has it because we are huge suckers and just can't do it. He loves it so much, it is the first thing he does in the morning when he wakes up and if we would let him it would be the last thing he would do before bed. Nothing gets in his way either, not rugs, dog beds or dogs for that matter, he finds away to go over them and if that does not work he eventually learns to go around. Let me say again, Hopper than you for being such a patient and good dog! Go pooh bus go!!

cutest little man with the cutest little words

Well this kid could have definately given Huck Finn a run for his money back in the day! He is not a big fan of feeling the grass on his feet or knees for that matter. As you can tell in this photo he is holding his foot up out of the grass. When he crawls around in the grass he does the "bear crawl". I can't say I blame him I never have been a big fan of the feeling of grass especially when it is wet! This week he started saying "ups", his cute little version of "up". He says it all the time latley because he is sick and wants to be held.

He also started saying "hops". As most of you all know that is his beloved puppy of whom lately he loves to torture with his pooh bus. It seems that no matter where Hops finds a place to lay as out of the way as she thinks it may be, Brady makes it in his way and runs into her. He also finds it fun to crawl all over her and pull out tufts of hair. Hops doesn't seem to mind the crawling or any of it for that matter she is a great family dog. We all know she has plenty of hair to lose, so thanks for your help with that Brady.

going to the doctor

sleeping this week has been a challenge in our house to say the least, but yesterday upon noticing brady was carrying a feaver of 102, i decided to take him to the doctor, as any parent would do finding a temperature of that degree. i knew that they probably would not give him any medicine as it was a virus, but i needed some piece of mind and some sleep! we found out he has some congestion and a severly sore throat which is most likely causing him to wake frequently in the night. the doctor advised to hook up the humidifier and start to give motrin, and not to worry about him getting addicted to it, as i do. guess what only two wakings last night and the first one wasn't until 3:30 am. i feel like a princess today!!!!! it is amazing what a good nights sleep will do for everyone in the house. even the dog seems extra spunky today! moral of the story, just go to the doctor, it offers piece of mind and usually seems to fix whatever ailment you are having. it seems advice may be the best medicine some times!

A day at the lake with friends

Nothing says fun and relaxing like a day at the lake with friends. Well it used to be super relaxing but with three kids under the age of three, maybe not as relaxing but still a whole lot of fun. Kids sure do love sand and water, especially our little Brady. His friends Carter and Will were right there with him splashing and playing. We can't wait until we do it again!

Twelve Months

Brady- Happy Birthday little man! You are such a big boy! We had your birthday party. The theme was frogs all the way down to the green cupcakes! You were quite a mess when you were finished. I have a confession to make. With all of the birthday excitement I forgot to take your picture with the teddy! So I thought the next best thing would be of you in your high chair complete with green frosting! You are furniture walking this month and walking with assistance. You use your pooh bus but get mighty frustrated when you hit the wall or any other object and can go no further. You scream and fuss until we come help you re-direct so you can keep going. You love to play blocks with us, you find it especially fun to wreck all of the ones that we have stacked. Sometimes we build a pyramid of bricks and then start you from across the room. You crawl as fast as you can into them to make them fall. Daddy and I like to call it baby bowling. You absolutely love to watch the commercials when they come on, but when the regular show starts again you go back to playing. Your favorite book right now is baby peek-a-boo. You love to help turn the flaps! You hate to have your knees in the grass so you bear crawl most everywhere outside. You still love to play in the water, you could stay there for hours if your wrinkly skin would let you. Happy Birthdy again little man and we sure do love you!

3:00 am driving...... who needs sleep?

Last night was a rough night for our little man, well for all of us. After numerous wakings and going back to sleep for 20 to 30 minute intervals at 2:15 there was no going back to sleep, after trying everything from changing the diaper to mylicom, motrin (he's cutting a 2nd molar), to a bottle, endless rocking and watching music videos, I finally resorted to the car, just to stop the crying. It worked, we drove for about 30 minutes when I looked back and realized that the endless chatter from my son was a sign he was not going to go to sleep driving I relented and went home who can afford to drive any longer with no results!. After two episodes of Scrubs we were finally out again, never mind it was 4:00 am. Do the sleepless nights ever end????