The big O-N-E!!!

Ahhhh!!! My baby is ONE!! Clearly this day was going to come, but it just came so fast this time around!

First the stats: Weight 23.2lbs (50th percentile) and 31.5 inches (93rd percentile).

We are so thankful to have been blessed with this kid and all that he is.  Brayden was a much easier baby than Tucker, but is proving to be even more active that Tucker was at this age! I wouldn't have thought that possible. Maybe it just seems that way because there are two kids to chase now.

Brayden seems to love life. He's not a huge talker, but in no way is he quiet...just quieter than Tucker (which isn't hard to do!) He loves to climb-into the bathtub, up the stairs, on anything he can. He still loves to play with Tucker, trucks, jump on the trampoline, put things in and take things out of bins/boxes/etc, go on the swing, go down the slide, ride the ATV, ride in his car outside, play outside, get into everything, pull his socks off, throw stuff on the floor, laugh, give big slobbery kisses, make "lalalalala" noises and stick his tongue out.

He is a pretty content kid, but if you make him mad...he screams like a banshee and cries and gets red and splotchy. He has such a sad cry and looks right at you with those big blue eyes...and if he gets what he wants, he turns it off immediately:) 

He LOVES meatballs and pizza and cereal bars and yogurt bites. He'll eat until you stop feeding him. If he doesn't want what you're giving him he'll push it away from you adamantly. He has no problem drinking milk, water, or juice. He likes to drink from a zippy cup, but still gets a bottle before bed.

He naps in the morning from 9:30-11 and from 2-4 usually:) At night he sleeps from 8-7. He's been a pretty good sleeper.

He's pretty mellow but can easily be excited. He has some crazy red hair that seems to be from my great-grandfather on my mom's father's side. Wow!

He finally got his first and second tooth this past month too!

Annndddd on October 20th he took his FIRST STEP! He has repeated it about 4 times so far, but only ever with one step. Can't wait for him to be able to walk on his own!

From this at birth...

to this at 6 months...

to this today:)

Brayden got a John Deere ATV for his birthday from us. It's not motorized but has lots of sounds and he can walk around with it so he loves it! Tucker does too:)

 Boys on each other's First Birthday ATV's

 Our adorable one year old!

We celebrated his birthday with a couple parties with friends and family the weekend before his birthday...totally different post:)

But we celebrated with just Brayden the day before his big day, since I had to work on his real birthday. Tucker had school so Max and I took Brayden out to breakfast for pancakes at Chip's and then to Wolfe Park for some fun before we had to go back and get Tucker. For dinner he had his favorite, pizza, and tried to get him to eat some cake again, but he still wouldn't have anything to do with it:)

Breakfast at Chip's!

We have had so much fun celebrating your first year Brayden! What a gift you are to our family and everyone you meet with your big smile and sweet personality. We love that you cuddle and tilt your head to the side to make your sweet face, and you give the best hugs of any one-year old!  We can't wait to see what this next year holds for you!

Trucks!!!!!!!!!

It is no secret that Tucker has a huge obsession with Trucks. When we drive in the car, he points out every truck. I love his excitement each time, as though he's seeing it for the first time! Sometimes it gets a little annoying to have to respond to the pointing out of EVERY SINGLE truck on 95 or 25!

He only plays with trucks (for the most part) and all he ever wants to watch, besides bubble guppies, is the garbage truck and dump truck videos on youtube.

My dad is in construction and started a new job recently and there is ALL excavation going on now.  So we took a little trip with just Tucker, me and Grandma to visit Papa at work.  To say that Tucker was in heaven/awe is an understatement.  He was so in awe that he barely said anything! This is a tough thing for this chatty little boy:) Here's some fun pics from the day.

 In the bulldozer with his new buddy John. Whenever he sees a pic of the dozer now, he points out that John is in it.

 Tucker was enamored with this excavator with a ripper tooth (he corrected me at home that its not a claw, it's a tooth!). It wasn't running so I told him it was broken and needed new batteries.  20 minutes later it was going! Someone found some batteries fast!

this thing was ENORMOUS!

watching the tooth in action

do we really have to go???

yeah it took 20 minutes to leave...

 Shout-out to Tallman Excavating for always making my son's day with their trucks:)

Fall Happenings

All of a sudden it is the middle of October. Fall has been flying by and been very fun. We've ha just enough warmth and light to be able to hang out outside after naps and after I get home from work! I've really seen the benefits of being able to be home with the boys and do things with friends during the week. They/we wouldn't get to see people without these days, so I am trying to use them all up while I have them this year! Sometimes I find myself still so sad that I am not at JRMS. I miss the people, I miss the kids, I miss the age of the kids, I just miss it. But today I had a few things happen that made me so happy to be where I am.  I don't know if it's a forever thing for me, this age group, but it encouraged me that I don't totally suck at it either:)

In one of my classes this morning, the teacher of a student who has had terrible anxiety about coming to PE came to chat. I've known that this adorable way-too-young-to-have-anxiety-about-things-like-gym little girl has had issues, but I've yet to notice them. Anyways, her teacher was coming to tell me that after a meeting with her parents' yesterday, the parents said how glad they were that their daughter was in my class, and how her anxiety about coming to gym when she has me is virtually zero.  That was so encouraging.  Then, an adorable special needs child, came up to me and made a heart shape with his fingers and said, "you make my heart very happy!" I wanted to say, and you just made my heart melt!  I am encourage by my choice to work at this level and be home as well.

Brayden might have more energy than Tucker did. He is/is going to be a handful for sure!

And this guy never stops moving...and today was a day for duck whistles!

We got Tucker to put part of his Halloween costume on...can't believe Max got him to wear the goggles!

The full outfit!

Fun times with his buddy Addie:) They dug up this huge rock and brought it over to show me!

In his Sunday best

These two boys were all decked out too!

We have a couple of happy kids-yes that's Tucker playing in a beer box...it became a mask:)

This is what Max found growing in our yard!

We celebrated Sienna's birthday and three of my cousins' birthdays on Sunday. Brayden LOVES all food, but especially ice cream.  Uncle Jim is his new fave, shoveling it in his mouth:)

On Monday we discovered my new favorite place! A farm with lots of FREE activities.

This pit filled with corn provided TONS of fun for the kids and our friends.

Then there was a giant pyramid of hay for the kids to climb on and tunnels to climb through and slides to go down! Great stuff:)

The boys loved looking at the fountain and the TONS of ducks that flocked to it.

The kids playing with the water pumper toy thing

This is what happens when you skip your nap and have too much fun at the farm...cute baby sleepy face in the car on the 10 minute ride home.

Per my request, my amazing husband (despite not really wanting to) made a huge leaf pile for the kids. We put chairs up for them to jump off of, Tucker got thrown in, Brayden got plopped in...bottom line, they loved it! It is here to stay for awhile:)

Yeah he was done...i kept taking pictures...oops!

Love the fall:)