Let's party!

We celebrated Brady's first birthday on Saturday with a party at the park.  We had blue skies, sunshine, and we were surrounded by our family and friends.  We could not have asked for a better day!

Brady arrived in style on his brand new trike!

Checking out the balloons with Great Uncle Frankie.

Chris, Suzy, & Allie

Made with love by Meredith



Sophie, Meredith, and Steve

Brady was not sure how it happened, but he was happy to find some of his favorite toys in the park

Party's here!

Mommy and Aunt Casey

Mike, Elena, Mark, Jessica, and Lilliana



Playing with Lilliana and Shannon

Cake time!

What the heck is this?

Let's have a taste...

Can I get a napkin over here?

The big kids- Jamie, Noel, & Chris

We love to see this group picture grow!

PopPop, Nana, and Mammaw

Uncle Rene the Great

Denise keeping a safe distance from those sticky fingers



Suzy and Allie seize a photo op

"Hold on, sugar"

First kiss... already?!?

"Thank you for making my first birthday very special!"

The Big One

Holy cow, it's here.  Brady is one!  He's a toddler!  Oh my, I can't believe it.  I don't know where the time went.  It seems like yesterday when we were at the hospital, so happy and so scared.  Our lives have changed so much this year.  The little monkey has filled our hearts up in ways we never knew were possible.  We are the luckiest parents in the world (in our humble opinions).

We celebrated by going to the pediatrician, the grocery store, and Lowe's.  Yep, a real special day!  Not to worry, we're going to party it up this weekend.

For those of you interested in his stats, Brady weighed 22 lbs (50th %ile), measured 30.25" (75th %ile), and his head measured 17.75" (almost 50th %ile).  His fine motor skills seem to be his strongest area right now.  And it will come as a surprise to no one that the doctor said his attention span is rather short ("Usually one year olds are a little easier to examine," HA)!  Calling him a wiggle-worm is putting it mildly.  He got three shots, this time in his arms.  I guess he's really a big boy now.

His climbing skills are improving.  Today, he started climbing into the dishwasher.  I'd have taken a picture if I thought it was safe to leave him there!  Pete found him sticking out of the laundry basket legs-up yesterday.  And he's made a couple mad dashes for the TV stand lately, but fortunately I've been able to catch him first.  We'll see how long it takes before everything in our house is bolted down.

Playing house

Fun on the exam table

Striking his best toddler pose

Party! Party!

"Guess how old I am?"

The Last First Holiday

Otherwise known as Brady's First Easter!  We started off with a fun, happy day, beautiful weather, and the Easter Bunny.  Unfortunately it did not end quite as well.  We were invited to Suzy's family's house for dinner.  We got there without incident, and Brady was even able to get some quality play time in with the dog.  But about 20 minutes after we got there, Brady threw up.  Afterwards he seemed fine- no fever, acting like himself.  Other than the fact that he had no change of clothes and had to hang out in only his diaper and a smile, he seemed perfectly fine.  We chalked it up to his lunch disagreeing with him.  Then he threw up again.  And again.  Ok, time to go home.  Suzy's mother-in-law was kind enough to pack us a doggie bag and we headed home.  Again, Brady seemed fine.  We fed him dinner, but 5 minutes later he threw up again.  Poor baby, this is really the first time he's been sick other than a cold.  He went to bed early, and hopefully he'll be able to sleep through the night and wake up feeling better tomorrow.

The happy boy after Gymboree class.

   

A visit from Allie

What a cutie!

More cute!

Ready for his close-up

Helping Daddy with the dishes

"What's this?"

"The Easter Bunny knew my favorite things!"

"Now I'm ready for the pool!"

"But wait... there's more fun stuff in this basket!"

Woooooooo!



Hooray!

  

Mommy and me (before I ruined both of our Easter outfits)

"Nana made this?!?  I'm so impressed!"

Too adorable... Must... Cover... Eyes

Finally a picture where you can see his top teeth!

A few pictures

Not much new to report, but I wanted to give you some pictures that I've taken this week.  We've had quite a few rainy days, but you know what they say about April showers...

Our spring chicken

"Rain rain go away, so we can go outside and play!"

 

Got drool?  Brady can now blow bubbles with his spit.  We are so proud.

Eight more days until I'm one year old!

Lucky

We said goodbye to our sweet Lucky boy this weekend.  He was 13.  He was the most wonderful dog we ever could have asked for.  I got him when I was 20- just a kid myself.  He was in a box full of puppies, and he winked at me, so I knew he was special.  He literally watched me grow up: college graduation, grad school, getting married, moving and starting my career.  Most importantly, he was here for me during our long and sometimes dark wait for Brady.  Some of you know that Lucky has been sick for a while, probably cancer.  I was told that he had six months to live back in 2009.  I know that he hung on because we needed him, and he stuck around long enough to see Brady to his first birthday.

He was so smart.  Most of the time I think he thought he was a person.  Our vet once told me he read a study that showed that border collies were as smart as 5 year old humans.  I believe it- he was very aware of what was going on around him.

He loved people, even into his grumpy years.  He would follow you around from room to room, even when his joints made it nearly impossible to do so.  He loved to sit right under your feet, but he hated it when you'd step on him as a result!

In his younger days he loved to run.  He would drag you up hills with so much energy.  Tug of war was his favorite game, and he always won.  He was never a big fan of playing fetch, though- he preferred that you chase after him once he got the ball.

I hope that he is able to run and jump up on the furniture again wherever he is now.  And I hope he has found Uncle Jimmy, and that they are sitting on their front porch together watching the cars and eating popsicles.

I read a quote by Anatole France the other day that said, "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."  While I don't know if that is true, I do know that I am a better person for having loved Lucky.  Rest in peace, Luck.  You are terribly missed.

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Play time

My sister gently reminded me the other day that it has been a while since I updated the blog.  Well, here you go, Sis!  Brady and I have been going out somewhere almost every day, and since we've had some warm weather lately we've been taking advantage and going for long walks around the neighborhood.  Brady is spellbound when we are pushing him outside in the stroller- it is literally the only time he will sit still!

We have also started classes once a week at Gymboree.  It's a play center that uses music and exercise to encourage development and of course fun!  I'm also doing it to get Brady used to being around a large group of kids since I'll be going back to work in August and he will be starting day care.  So far he's been pretty overwhelmed, and the only thing he really wants to play with is a beach ball (Seriously?  All this equipment and you want to play with a $0.99 beach ball!?).  Oh well.  We're working on it.

He's doing great with his eating these days.  He'll try anything that I cut up and put on his tray.  He likes to feed himself, and he also likes to store things in his cheeks for later.  We've found peas in his crib, toast on the floor of the living room, etc.

He is pulling up on everything and has been practicing balancing by holding on with only one hand.  Yesterday I saw him squat to get down for the first time- usually he just plops down on his rear end or yells for us to help him down.  And he loves to walk around like a big boy when you hold his hands.

The socks are off and he's ready to go!

Cooking up something good.

Pat-a-cake

It's music time!

"This is the biggest ball I've ever seen."

"That's more like it!"

"Crawl into a tunnel?  I don't know about that one, Mom."