And we have another walker!

Brayden's 1st haircut

Brayden got his first haircut a couple of weeks ago! He was very tired from skipping his morning nap while we were out, so he wouldn't sit in the car by himself and lost it at the end. Thankfully yogurt bites can make anything better for this little guy:)

Potty Training

Oh my. Deciding to potty train the weekend that Max went to Virginia may not have been my best idea...but I'm glad we did it.  The rough part was being cooped up for a few days with no other adults around, and having to be the only one making him try to go pee....he needed to hear it from someone else.
We went cold turkey and did the naked butt experience for the first day and a half.  Three weeks later, he's done a very nice job.  He was pumped about all of our sticker charts (one for when he tried to sit and go, and one for when he actually went) and his 2 m&m's whenever he actually peed. Thankfully we've finally weaned him off the m&m's...we went through a lot...and his favorite color are the brown ones...random!
We have had minimal accidents (although he pooped his pants twice yesterday while Max was watching him! Lucky dad!) and has finally started telling us when he has to go the past few days. Today we went to get our Christmas tree and he even made it through the tree farm and lunch afterwards without going in his pull up!  We're definitely getting there. Now I just have to remember that he needs bathroom breaks when we're out!

Sticker charts...clearly I'm a teacher-you shoulda seen the array of stickers we had to choose from!

He is definitely most in love with his Mater underwear

 Who woulda thunk that potty training=underwear on head excitement?!?! #imoutnumberedbyboys

The past few weeks!

This is now the second time I've written this post...ughh!

We've had a busy/random last month or so of silliness and funness around the house and town.

This goofball was walking around the house with a bowl on his head-definitely couldn't see for awhile because he kept walking into things...including this corner. He's such a ham!

This pile of cuteness soaking up the sun...both of them:)

I ran a PR 5k on a very hilly course of 22:50 a few weeks ago. It was the weekend after the half marathon we did so I was a little excited.  Then I found out today that one of my 4th grade students ran a 22:24 5k this weekend...it was a flatter course:)

This little guy alternates between being lazy and wanting to crawl or be held (he's been quite "cuddly"/clingy lately) and cruising! He's an expert cruiser on furniture etc. as he's been for awhile, but he has taken multiple steps. We're just waiting for him to put them all together to into more than 2 or 3. He did take 4 once last week, but it was the only time so far. I guess he'll do it when he's ready:)

Max was away a lot during October so we had to entertain ourselves with a few photo shoots. These are from one particularly cute night.

His new "eye trick". We laugh and think it's cute...and he knows it!

My clearly not distracted parenting resulted in B learning how to dive off the couch a little earlier than Tucker...like I said...Max was gone a lot!

Festive Fall shirts

This was the beginning of a "climb in the ottoman together" phase that is still going on. It was also a night of extreme cuteness at my parents' house.

I love that Tucker can have a relationship with his great-grandma. My Nanny was alive until I was almost 14. I'm hoping Tucker can experience the same with his Nana. He asked to sit with her:)

More ottoman shenanigans.

I had a bunch of appointments lined up for me and both boys over a 2 week period. I try to get a sitter or someone to watch whoever doesn't need to be there just to make life easier. Yeah, well, I totally flaked on getting a sitter for Tucker for Brayden's eye appt. at Yale.  This was the worst one to forget!  The time it was at mean waking him up after a VERY short nap (cue potentially cranky 2.5 year old), and the appointments take on average 60-90 minutes, if not longer.  Well we got up there and found a parking spot in the garage with seconds to spare. I had put T in the car basically still asleep from his nap and without shoes that I planned to put on him when we got there.  The spot I pulled in to was extremely small and I had more room on B's side so I decided to get him out first. When I put him in the stroller, the whole thing fell forward! One of the wheels had mysteriously come off while it was in the garage and I had just put it back in my car and didn't notice.  I put B in the trunk while I put the stroller back in.  The car next to me on T's side was so close I could barely open the door to get him out, so there was no way I was putting his shoes on then. I got him out while holding B and then sat them both down on the floor of the garage between two cars to put his shoes on.  After lugging the both of them in to the building and finally getting to the office, they were over all pretty good for the HOUR AND A HALF that we were there! Thankfully I came prepared with lots of snacks, drinks, and even some toys of their own. Since It's a pediatric specialist too they had their own little waiting room for the kids.  Tucker was so interested in what all of the doctor's were doing, and let them know by constantly asking them,  "what's this guy doing?". Brayden just wanted to crawl everywhere but was at least distracted by puffs.  After seeing three different people we finally got to see the doctor (who we love so it's worth the hassel), we were greeting by the doctor and her entourage (it's a teaching hospital!). Brayden's eyes/lids look great so far and should continue to stay that way so it was worth the trip! Whew!

He didn't get to even notice on the quick walk in, but Tucker was quite taken with the skybridge over the road to the parking garage on our more leisurely walk back to the car.

We carved our first pumpkin since having kids! Tucker seemed to enjoy it.

We had a fun night trick or treating on Halloween with my cousin and her two sons. My parents also stopped by to see the kids in costume:)

The little dinosaur who shockingly left the hood on the whole night!

 All of the boys:)

Bob the Builder/Construction Dude

Buds

 Fun with Addie and Sienna in the leaves

 We've been trying to be festive with some fall crafts and sandwich shapes.

 Tucker and I had our dentist appointments! It was his second one and he did awesome again! He likes to wear the glasses and this time they even let him hold the little sucker tool. 

We had some beautiful weather the first weekend of November so we went to my new favorite free farm to play in the corn pit, climb the hay bale mountain, see the animals, and enjoy some "free" punkin-chuckin!

Tucker and I also had a special treat late-night out last week to watch my brother's team play a night game in the State playoffs.  They played awesome and won 1-0. Tucker barely sat still (shocker) and was totally enthralled with the announcer's voice...he had no clue where it was coming from!

Brayden's First Birthday Parties

We celebrated Brayden's First birthday a few days before his actual birthday. We were so excited to have so many family and friends come and celebrate with us!  I didn't really have a huge theme with his, but we went with the colors that were on his super cute invitation that I got from etsy, of course:)

Brayden was so great and so happy to have everyone around:) He hated his cupcake-still hasn't had any cake-I should have just gone with ice-cream or a cookie-he devours those!  Tucker had a lot of fun playing with all of the friends who came to play also.  It is always so fun for me to look around and see all of the people from so many different areas of our life, interacting with each other, but mostly just seeing how blessed we are by the people in our life. And then to see how much everyone's lives have expanded: wives, husbands, babies, preschoolers, elementary schoolers, pets, etc.- it's just so cool for me to see! One of my favorite things of every party for sure!

My photo wall-one from birth-11 months...I hadn't taken the 12 month one yet...and yes the "y" is backwards...thanks to NONE of my teacher friends for noticing:) Max noticed in between parties!

 Grandma/Nama came over to help us get ready while Max went to get the pizza. Brayden loves his Nama cuddles:)

 Pre-gaming:)

Many of our baby friends who are Brayden's age. I didn't realize there were really so many his age until I saw everyone together! So fun:)

 The bigger kids had fun outside:)

Some cousin time for Tucker!

This kid LOVES to eat! He'll pretty much keep eating until you stop giving him food-especially pizza!!

My attempt at an activity for the older guy actually kinda worked! Foam pumpkins and leaves with fall themed foam stickers to decorate:) I was so thankful it wasn't freezing and we could go outside!

As usual we had WAY too much food-including the colored cupcakes (didn't make them), colored rice krispy treats (made those), tons of m&m's (which tucker will be reaping the benefits of as we begin potty training tomorrow!), and a tie-dye cake with sprinkles (made that one too!)

The cake!!

He liked when everyone sung to him...he had practice listening to it because Tucker was singing it for awhile before the party!

And then he hated the cupcake...never seen a kid react like this to a cupcake before! Very funny though.

 We love this little red meatball so much!!!

And there is such love growing between these two:)

A rare family picture!!

We even had a party appearance by Ron Burgandy! B wasn't interested but Tucker was a little confused I think...

Our buddy William with his mom, Sarah, checking out his goody bag full of colorful items:)

After a quick clean up and some short naps, we had our family over to celebrate. The boys were just so pumped to have so many people to play with all day, and night!

Tucker and his second-cousin Robbie. They are a year apart.

It was a little tighter at the family party because everyone was inside since it got dark and was a little chilly.  Kids had fun playing with the balloons though:)

These two...so cute:)

 This guy was SO excited to have everyone sign Happy Birthday to him-he clapped along the whole time and totally squealed with joy.  So glad I caught this picture, and the whole event on video. It was classic for me.

Towards the end of the video you start to hear 4-5 different family members start to yell at Tucker...he had walked behind where everyone was (and opposite of where everyone was facing) and starting putting his fingers in the cake and licking the chocolate frosting off of them.  It was hysterical, but gross at the same time.  This is him caught in the act:)  Just a classic picture of who he is!

Grandma and Papa with the birthday boy (one of the few good ones since the ADULTS were having trouble looking at the camera...dad!)

 Tucker and GG too!

The boys always have the most fun with these guys:) I am still in shock that we got these 5 all looking at the same time! Ashley, Lauren and Alex are all my first cousins but they are closer in age to my kids. Ashley was born the day after we got married. They are so sweet to love on the boys and play with them. T is a big fan and Brayden loves to cuddle with Alex..check out the next pic.

I guess he was wiped from the party.  Max and I were cleaning up and we came out from the kitchen to see B & Alex cuddling...then Ashley wanted in too:) So cute!

Happy Birthday little meatball! That was a fast year and you've grown and changed so much. You are the most cuddly little boy and we love everything about your feisty self!  We love you lots!!!