Christmas Festivities

We kicked off our Christmas celebration with a relaxing day and then headed to church on Christmas Eve. Keeping up with our 20+ year tradition, we headed to my parent's old neighbor's house and great family friends the DiNuzzo's after church. We had a great evening and Brayden was an angel!! He slept for a few hours at their house, stayed asleep on the ride home, woke up briefly when we got home for a diaper change, and then went back to sleep easily, and even slept a little later than normal on Christmas morning (8:30ish)...so we couldn't have asked for anymore. 

last minute picture attempt before taking Brayden up to bed

Christmas morning my parents and brother headed over in the morning for a great breakfast and  opening gifts. We all had a wonderful and relaxing day together! We even deep fried a turkey later for dinner...which was amazing (thank you Daniel and Dad)!

 playing with Grandpa

work bench from Uncle Bryan

 tent from Nana and Grandpa

playing with Uncle Bryan in the tent

Then around nap time on the 26th, we headed down to Dan's parents for the day. Dan's mom had his side of the family over for dinner, so we got to visit with everyone and open gifts! It was another great day!!!

new power car from MomMom

We had a great few days celebrating Christmas and spending time with family! Now we are spending the next few days relaxing, playing with new gifts, and getting ready for the New Year!!!

Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

We are in full Christmas mode this week. We started the week off making Christmas ornaments, a visit from the neighborhood Santa, going to visit Santa at the mall, and making a gingerbread house. Brayden really seems to be understanding what we have taught him about Jesus' birth, Christmas, and Santa (at least as much as a 16-month old can). He definitely recognizes Santa and will also go get his Christmas book, flip to the back, and point to the baby in the manger when we ask him where baby Jesus is. I love it! 

Making ornaments

Neighborhood Santa that came door-to-door for visits.

Visiting Santa at the Mall.

I love this picture...

Making our Gingerbread House with Kristina

The finished product...which even has Brayden's initials on the roof!

We are looking forward to our traditional Christmas Eve tomorrow - making cookies, Church, and then spending the evening surrounded by family and great friends at the DiNuzzo's house! Then Christmas Day will be spent with my family and the 26th with Dan's family. We are beyond excited and can't wait!! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Inside Fun

So given the cold and somewhat wet conditions lately, playing outside has just not been possible! Well for an active 16 month old who loves the outdoors, we had to come up with some other options. This weekend we decided to clean off Brayden's outdoor slide, take off the top, and bring it inside. This was a huge hit and Brayden loves it! He spends many hours going up the steps, pushing toys (typically puzzle pieces or little people down the slide) and then going down after them. I love sitting back and watching him play! It is too cute!

Oh, and yes, we did put the slide into his tunnel! Added entertainment!

Brayden playing yesterday while I made dinner.

Helping Mommy clean..

16 Months

Brayden turned 16 months today! I feel like he hasn't changed that much over the past month, but then I look back at his 15 month pictures or step back and think about the new things he learned this month and am amazed. Some of the changes are small, but to a mother/parent they mean the world!! 


For the most part, Brayden's stats and schedule have pretty much stayed the same. 

This month:


-Brayden is loving the following things right now: his music, his books (and lots of them), his little people toys, playing with Bailey, his milk cup, puzzles, dancing, singing "if your happy and you know it" and stomping his feet, his hats, vacuuming, his blankies and teddy, bath time, and the Christmas lights and decorations. Oh and today we took the roof off of his outdoor slide/playhouse and moved it inside for the winter..he loved it  and it kept him entertained for close to an hour! Seriously!


-Brayden's vocabulary now also includes the words mop and more. He is also getting better at using the words he says at the correct time. For instance, he will walk up to the stove and say "hot", or reach for the Christmas tree and say "help" (for turning the lights on).


-Although we are in a bit of a "screaming phase", Brayden can now say "help" and "more". He has been able to sign "help" and "more" for a few months now, but once he started saying them, he has kinds stopped signing them and just started this little scream thing. So we are working on encouraging him to say "help" or "more" when he needs something! It has taken about a week, but we have seen a drastic improvement in the past two days! The screaming is slowly fading and "help" and "more" are being said more often instead!

Other Updates:

-Brayden now has 8 teeth and is cutting his first two bottom molars! I wonder how long it will take them to come through. You can see four white dots/points, but that is about it. 


-We also gave Brayden his first try of peanut butter this past weekend and to say he loved it was an understatement! 


-This past week, we cut out Brayden's night time milk cup. Last month we had cut it down from about 6 oz. to 3 oz, which temporarily helped with him leaking through his diapers at night. However, after close to two straight weeks of Brayden waking up at 6 or 6:30am soaking wet, I decided enough was enough! So we started giving Brayden a little bit more milk during snack time after his nap and then give him half a cup of milk at dinner instead. So far, so good!

16 Month Pictures:

Happy 16 Months Brayden! We Love You!!!

Updates for all...

It seems like December is just flying by! First up, make 12 dozen cookies this weekend for two cookies exchanges that I am participating in this year. One is with my girlfriends from high school and the other is with my moms group...both of which are next Friday! So I am going to start baking this weekend! Sunday we are also having my parents and brother over for family dinner, which will be a lot of fun as always! Dan also submitted his final paper for his last Master's class this week! Now we just have to wait for the results! I know that we both can't wait to say that he has officially completed his Masters! 

Brayden, well he is doing great and keeping very busy as always! This week he enjoyed his new ball pit while working out with Mama, playing with the latch on the fence (seriously entertained him for 20 minutes while Dan hung Christmas lights), and taking long naps with Teddy (pictures to follow). Some new things (pictures also to follow) - we have now moved his "quiet play time" while I make dinner from the pack n play to a blanket in the kitchen! We have been working on teaching Brayden to stay on his blanket and play during designated times for a few weeks now. He seems to be getting the hang of it, so I thought we would officially try it out this week! Brayden has done great and plays for a good 30 minutes on his blanket while I cook dinner or at least get it started! Also, Brayden's new favorite game which we play every night after dinner is hide-and-seek. The last picture is off him covering his eyes while Dan is counting to 5 and I am supposed to be going to hide. Don't worry, I was able to take the picture and go hide before the time was up! And yes Brayden has Dan's t-shirt on....no idea why, haha! We are all loving this game after dinner! It never gets old seeing your son soooo happy to "find" you!

December

My oh my, where does the time go? December? Really? I love the month of December, I just can't believe that it is already this time of year again!

I am really looking forward to the month of December and all the activities that we have planned! It also helps that I am off work from the 19th of December until January 2nd, so no working early mornings or while Brayden naps!!! Ahh that makes me so happy! Dan has also used up his vacation and took off a decent number of days, which also makes me very happy! Plus I am really enjoying the holiday season with Brayden and teaching him about Jesus and Christmas. He doesn't necessarily understand what I am talking about, but he listens. However, as Dan told me the yesterday, he probably is learning more than we think! Makes me smile just thinking about it!

We kicked off the month of December by putting up our Christmas tree and decorating over Thanksgiving weekend. Most of this was done during Brayden's nap, but he did enjoy looking at the Christmas lights, putting a few ornaments on the pulling a few ornaments off the Christmas tree, and playing with some durable decorations. I also crafted up a picture/poster of Santa's face (see picture below) and each morning we put a cotton ball on Santa's beard to countdown to Christmas morning. After 25 days/cotton balls, Santa's beard is filled up and it is time for Christmas! We also have several more crafts/fun activities planned throughout the month, which I can't wait to do with Brayden and share!

Here are a few random pictures...

Brayden signing more. What is so exciting about sitting in a box?!

That's right, bouncing on the bed with Daddy! 

Mr. Mohawk 

Just for fun, this time last year Brayden was only 4 months old...