Oops!

Today was one of those days that remind me just how tough little kids are. Most of the time Brady is pretty tough, he will take a fall and get back up and go. Rarely does he cry over it. I know it really hurts if he cries until I pick him up, then he is okay again. Well today was one of those days that challenged us all. Brady started the day off by taking a tumble off the couch (someone was suppose to be watching him, wonder who - Jamie?), he landed pretty much on his face and did not even cry. He just wanted back up on the couch again. Later in the morning he was in the bedroom with his Dad and somehow managed to run into the corner of the dresser as he walked by. Just a little cry again. Then the big one, Jamie and Dexter were wrestling and Brady wanted to join in, however Jamie did not know Brady had walked up behind them. He turned quickly and he and Brady smacked heads. Brady was flat on the floor. This time he cried for a few minutes and I can say that he finally got his first goose egg. Poor little man. He then was right back to playing again.

Two posts in one day for me, that must be a record.

Jailbreak!

We have had a jailbreak at our house - at least that is what I call it. Needless to say Christmas with a 13 month old is very interesting. I thought long and hard about how to decorate for Christmas with Brady. The first day that I set things out, he was into everything. I wondered how in the world would we manage a tree. There was no way we could possibly go without one or put a little one on the table. That is not Christmas (at least in our house). So we went out, picked out the tree, decorated it and placed some presents under it. I do not think that I was done putting presents on the ground before Brady was under the tree playing in the water. I managed to get him out of the water, just to have him tugging on ornaments, pulling off bows and tearing at wrapping paper. This was going to drive me crazy.

The solution for us was to get a gate to protect the tree. Yes you read that right, protect the tree. The gate now goes around the front of the tree from wall to wall so Brady cannot reach anything. However, he has found a new past time. Anything he can lift goes behind the gate to be opened on Christmas day. Sunday I could not find my strainer. Sure enough it was under the tree. The remote for the TV, under the tree. Who knows what else is under there.

So back to the jailbreak. We have had the tree up for 2 weeks now and the gate has worked perfectly. That is until today. Somehow the clever little man figured out how to sneak around the side of the gate and get to the tree. I found him pulling on more bows and throwing his treasures back out from under the tree. The look on his face was priceless. He knew he was not suppose to be back there, but he thought he had got away with one. That is until Mom found him.

I truly thought Brady was the only one I had to worry about with the presents and tree. I was wrong, that is what I get for thinking. Today we had to run a few errands and it was raining really hard (like usual), so we left Dexter inside. When we leave Dexter inside, I need to dog proof the house; put away anything edible on the counter he can reach, hide the trash and generally make sure things are out of his reach. We got home from our errands, I walk into the front room where the tree is and the gate has crashed down. Hiding around the corner is what Dexter was after. He found his 2 Christmas presents and had opened and eaten half of the treats. Will I ever win?

Happy holidays to everyone, we wish you well.

Living in the Northwest

I knew that moving to the Northwest again would bring days of rain. People would joke that there are 2 seasons here, rainy and not rainy. The first year I lived here it rained for 62 consecutive days, who would have thought that was possible. I had thought we were doing well this year, a bit of rain here and there but not much. That all changed in the last 3 days, we have had over 3 inches of rain. That is a lot of rain. Some days I think my fingers and toes are starting to web and for a minute today I thought Brady made some duck sounds. I wonder if you can buy a raincoat for a 1 year old? I enjoy the rain if it is a bit here and there on a day, but not a downpour all day long. But I guess that is why we have the beautiful green here.

We finally decided that Brady needed his first haircut. I absolutely love the curls in his hair, but it was getting a bit long over the ears. I figured I could handle cutting just a bit over the ears. So with scissors in hand and Jamie assisting (holding Brady still) I cut off the cutest little curls, of course I saved them for his scrapbook. This morning I looked at him and he looks like such the little boy now. Jamie still thinks he has a bit of a mullet, but at least it is a cute mullet!

No pictures this week, I will work on them for next time.

What happens when friendship is not reciprocated?

As adults we have all come across situations where either we want to be friends with or someone wants to be friends with us more than we do. The friendship is not equal, we try and try and then finally just give up chalking it up to a lesson learned and move on. Sometimes it is just too much work and figure efforts are better spent elsewhere.

The last couple of days I have been watching this with Brady. He so badly wants to be Dexter's best friend. For those who do not know Dexter, he is our 95 pound lab mix dog. Dexter is a very goofy dog and for the most part has learned to deal with Brady. When Brady was first crawling I would watch him start to crawl toward Dexter and Dexter would slowly get up and move to lay somewhere else, Brady would lose attention and move onto something else.

Well that has now changed. Brady wants his best friend and cannot understand why the feelings are not mutual. I will watch Brady run (not walk) over to Dexter and do his version of petting Dexter, which Dexter and the rest of us see as slapping or grabbing hair. I try to intervene, but sometimes Brady is just too clever. I watched him slowly walk up to Dexter yesterday, pat him nicely on the nose with his left hand then do a swift blow to the nose with the truck in his right hand. Dexter just looks back at him wondering what he did to deserve the treatment. We take Dexter's collars off at night to keep it a bit quieter around the house, he loves to shake his head jingling the collars. It is very cute, but now in the mornings Brady will get the collars and walk over to "detter" and try and put them on, Brady follows him around the house with the collars until I put them on. I then have to deal with a dog who thinks it is walk time - do I ever win?

The only time that Dexter is Brady's best friend is when it comes to eating. Not a meal goes by that Dexter is not either beside or under Brady's highchair. He catches every crumb that slips off the tray. Brady has figured out how to slip his hand over the side and feed Dexter, which he thinks is a great time for both. Come to think of it, I do not think I have ever had to clean up the floor after a meal, so I guess it is a bit of a bonus for me too.

Some day I truly think Brady and Dexter will be great friends. I remember growing up with my dog Kel-lee and how special she was to us and hope that Brady has that with Dexter. Until then, I guess I will have to deal with the little growls coming out of Dexter when he has had enough and try and play peacekeeper between the two of them to have the proper balance to keep each of them happy.

Oh yes, Happy Thanksgiving - be safe.

Happy 1st Birthday

This past week we celebrated Brady's first birthday. I am not sure if he really understood what was going on, but he sure enjoyed the celebration. As with most little kids, Brady really liked the wrapping paper and boxes. Although once we got the toys all put together, he really seemed to like them as well. It was fun to watch him go from toy to toy and back again.

He also had his first experience with dessert - birthday cake. Jamie insisted on the cake being chocolate, so I made him a bear cake (we will start with sports themes next year I guess). At first, Brady was a bit tentative with the cake, but then he dug right in. I am not sure if he ate more or had more on him by the time he was done, but he enjoyed it so that is all that truly matters.

It is so hard for me to believe that a year has already gone by. Brady is busy all of the time and keeps us on our toes. He is usually a very good little guy, but lately has started to throw a few tantrums - great. He has also figured out to give kisses, all open mouth kisses. He has not figured out though if he should suck in or blow out while giving the kiss. He really enjoys giving me kisses (which I love too), however I usually end up with quite a bit of slobber on my cheek or chin. Oh well, what a mother does for her child. I figure some day he will not want to give me a kiss, so I might as well get as many as I can now.

Until next time....

Look - a Turtle!

I am sure some day Brady will hate me for his first Halloween costume, a turtle. I could not help it though, it is just so darn cute. Every time I would put it on him I could not help but laugh and he seemed to really get a kick out of wearing it too, even the hat and mittens. And how could you not love the shell on his back.

We did not do the typical trick or treating although his Dad would have liked all of the candy I am sure. We had two different parties we went to with him and then he went to Jamie's work on Halloween to show off his turtleness. I am sure this is the only year we will get by without trick or treating though.

Jamie helped Brady carve his first pumpkin. It was actually just playing in the guts of the pumpkin while Jamie emptied it out and left me to carve the face. Brady loved it though and had to try and give it a taste. Everything now goes straight to his mouth.

If you did not get enough Halloween candy feel free to stop by for some more. For some reason I figured we would get more trick or treaters than we did. I bought 150 pieces of candy and we had 36 trick or treaters (yes, I counted). So we have plenty of candy to go around - maybe I will save it for next year (kidding).

Brady and I made a quick trip home to Utah to visit my family a bit ago. He played in his first snow and decided he would opt for the faceplant while on the sled, but he loved it. Of course, he had to try out the kid snowmobiles, he is still a bit young but in our family we start them young. He can almost reach the brake, so maybe next year. We enjoyed seeing everyone and spending time with them.

On another note, Brady is getting 3 molars. So that makes a total of 11 teeth. He tried to get rid of one by knocking it loose, but it seems to be hanging in there. How many 11 month olds have been to the dentist twice already?

Finally, I have a little tear in my eye. My little guy will by 1 in one week. It hardly seems possible. He is growing so fast, but is truly the light of my life and his Dad's as well. He brings so much joy to both of us and we are constantly amazed by what he can do. Look for pictures on my next post of his birthday.

Until next time....

Tag your it!

So two of my dear friends (and right now I use that term loosely - just kidding) have tagged me. Rachel and Laurel have decided I need to share a bit more about myself and Jamie - so here it goes.

From Rachel-
7 Random things about me.
These are 7 things about me that are most likely not known by the readers. I wish I could think of something more juicy, but I think lack of sleep is getting to me. Here I go.

1. I have bungee jumped, not once but twice. The scary part is not going down but the feeling of being pulled back up. We have all fallen, but few have been pulled back up with a bungee cord.

2. I secretly always wanted to be a race car driver. Now if you have ever been in a car with me driving, you would laugh at this one. I rarely go more than 5 over the speed limit and have yet to receive a speeding ticket. Yet I want to race cars fast someday.

3. Based on the above secret desire, sometimes I like to watch Nascar races, but mostly just for the crashes. I do not want anyone to get hurt, I just love to see them crash.

4. I really like to cook if I have the time and am in the mood. I am not sure if I am a good cook or not, I do know that Jamie has put on 20 pounds since we met though - probably not a good thing.

5. My worst grade in high school was in cooking. Imagine that. How do you not do well in a cooking class?

6. I never watched an episode of Seinfeld when it was popular, come to think of it, I am not sure if I still have watched a full episode.

7. Finally, I use to love to watch Dukes of Hazzard on Friday nights. My sister Shelly and I would argue over who got to marry Bo Duke and who got to marry Luke Duke. What were we thinking?

and now onto Laurel-
I have to complete the following survey about my husband. So here we go, Jamie and I would probably disagree on most answers though ;).

1. What is his name? Jamie
2. How old is he? 36 - he is older than me by 1 month and 9 days
3. Who eats more? He does, except when I was pregnant I could put some food down.
4. Who is taller? He is, by about 4 inches.
5. Who sings better? Wow, neither of us sing well. Although he loves American Idol!
6. Who is smarter? Depends, he would say he is, but we are both smart, just in different ways (I think that is the politically correct way to answer that - after all he does read this blog).
7. Whose temper is worse? We both have a bit of a temper, it takes a lot to get mine going but it is there, he on the other hand does not like to lose and has a bit of temper issues when it comes to that.
8. Who does the laundry? Me for sure, Jamie never would separate his clothes before I came around - everything was gray.
9. Who does the dishes? Again me
10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does.
11. Who pays the bills? Again me
12. Who mows the lawn? He officially does, but I have done it and have been told that the lines are not straight when I mow.
13. Who cooks dinner? Me, me, me.
14. Who drives when you are together? He does, see above my secret desire to race cars.
15. Who is more stubborn? We both are again, but I say Brady gets his stubbornness from his dad.
16. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Neither, we are both stubborn.
17. Whose parents do you see the most? Probably mine since they live closer, but we see his for longer periods of time.
18. Who kissed who first? He kissed me.
19. Who asked who out? He asked me out.
20. Who proposed? He proposed, finally after 4 years.
21. Who is more sensitive? Me for sure, no doubt about it.
22. Who has more friends? That is a tough one, I would say it is probably equal based on our friends around the country, but he has more locally.
23. Who wears the pants in the family? Well, it is a good thing that pants have two legs, because then we can each wear the pants part of the time.

So there we go, you have gotten to know a bit about me and Jamie both in one blog.

As far as someone else completing these, lucky Rachel and Laurel, you are the only 2 I know that have blogs, so I am tagging you to complete and pass on as well. Rachel, let us know about Chad and Laurel, what are 7 random things about you.

Hope everyone is well.

We are mobile now!

First, for those who read my blog regularly (not sure how many that is) I apologize for the delay in posting, I guess it has just gotten away from me. I also do not have any new pics to post, I promise they too will come soon.

Now on to the happenings. Brady has started to walk, yes my days of sanity are over (or did that happen when I met Jamie???). Brady took his first 4 steps on October 10, from his Dad to me. Each day we work on his walking, he is getting better. However, he tends to get so excited when he is walking over that he usually falls after 3 or 4 steps. He also likes to lunge for things which scares the daylights out of me.

It is hard for me to believe that in just over 3 weeks Brady is going to be 1. Time sure does fly. I guess I will have to get working on planning his birthday party. We will take lots of pictures.

We have also entered the rainy season up here. 7 day weather forecast is rain each and every day. Now those not too familiar with the pacific northwest, that is just not a few sprinkles, but a good downpour a couple of times and drizzling the remainder of the day. I am already looking forward to the end of the season in April and we are 2 days into it.

Rachel - I have not forgotten to do my 7 things people don't know about me, I just have to figure them out. I will post those later.

Hope everyone is well. Until next time....

Why buy toys?

This week, for several reasons, I have been wondering why we buy our kids toys. The first reason, every time I look at where a toy is made it says "Made in China." So am I letting my baby chew on a toy made with lead based paint or filled with antifreeze? What happen to regulations and protecting our children? It seems each day I hear about another recall on some toy or another. Just try and go through Target and find toys that say"Made in the USA."

Second, Brady prefers not to play with toys. Lately it has been the pots and pans, any shoe he can find (of course they are dirty), the plants, a spatula or wooden spoon and the phone. Oh yes, and the TV remote which we just got dried out after he thought it needed a good washing in the dog water dish. Maybe we have outsmarted him by giving him his own, not the lead filled kids version, but rather a remote from an old TV and a phone that no longer works. I am sure he will figure out pretty soon that these do not work and want the real version again.

Thank goodness Brady has no desire to watch TV, that is unless a commercial with music comes on. He pretty much drops what he is doing turns to the TV and does his little dance. It is so comical and cute. Then it is back to playing when it is over.

We are suppose to be starting the rainy season here in the pacific northwest. So if you have any sunshine pictures send them our way.

Hope all are well and until next time.....

Brady continues to amaze me.

It seems as though most of my posts are about Brady, I guess since I am home with him all of the time now that it just makes sense. He amazes me more and more each day. I have decided though that he has his Father's temper and stubbornness. When he wants something, he wants it now, there is not a patient bone in the little guys body. He also loves to play really rough, gentle has not yet entered into his vocabulary, I am sure that is from wrestling with his Dad. He is now called "Bam Bam" by the other mommies in my mommy group. If there is something he wants he goes straight to it, who cares what or who is in the way, he will crawl right over it.

The other day I was watching him play, he dropped the sippy cup in to his toy bucket. He could not quite reach it as it is pretty deep. I wanted to see if he would figure out how to get it or just move onto another toy. He was determined to get it, he rolled his dump truck over to the bucket turned it on its side and stood up on it to reach into the bucket to get the cup. He then got down, sat on the truck and took a drink. These are the times I wish I had the video camera rolling.

Life for us is slowly getting back to normal after losing Happy. I still expect to see her coming around a corner or getting me up to go out in the morning. She was such a special dog to us and we miss her greatly.

Hope all is well with everyone and until next time...

Losing Happy

So as most of you know, we love our animals in our house. Sadly, this week we had to put Happy to sleep so we are dealing with the loss. Happy was our 7 year old black lab who, if you knew her, you would wonder is there a better behaved dog? Never once did we have to worry about Happy running away or hurting anyone. She was always eager to please and willing to do anything. She was great with Brady and my walking buddy. She would often come into the bathroom on cold winter mornings while I was drying my hair to have hers warmed up too. She loved to play ball, Jamie could throw the ball forever and she would always go and get it and want to play more. If there was a ball in the pool, she would be in after it. She loved to ride in the car, her spot was the front seat next to me while I was driving, on cold days she would even have the seat heater turned on for her. Her tail was always going.

Happy started feeling poorly in early July, she was diagnosed with diabetes at that time. She endured daily insulin injections, she would come to me right after eating sit and wait for her injection, never flinching and wagging her tail the whole time. About 2 weeks ago, she really started feeling bad, lethergic and not wanting to eat at all. We took her to the vet and had multiple tests done and had her hospitalized to keep her hydrated while we tried to figure out what was wrong. Tuesday during an ultrasound it was determined that she had pancreatic cancer that had most likely spread to her liver and lungs and was infecting her lymphnodes. She was also starting to bleed internally. So as every pet owner hates to do, we had to make the decision to put her to sleep.

We are trying to adjust to living without Happy, Dexter often looks around for her and I know he misses her too. We miss our little girl, but know she is no longer in pain and running after a ball somewhere!

If you have a pet, love them and give them a hug.

New learnings for all.

Something new this week for Brady, he has learned to wave. He is constantly waving at anybody or anything. It is so cute, he even waves at the dogs and cat. I am not sure if he understands what it means, but he loves to do it.

We also were battling our first real cold. It looks like he is definitely his fathers son, one he whined a lot and two, how do you get colds in the middle of the summer? So we had a couple of sleepless nights and a bit of a cranky little guy.

Today I was reminded why you keep a diaper on a baby at all times. I am sure I am not the only Mom to do this but it was a first for us. So I thought I would let Brady crawl around a bit without his diaper on to air out. I was in the room with him watching him play, then all of the sudden he squatted down and did his duty. I guess in my old age I cannot move quite as fast as I used to and he made a deposit on the carpet. Brady just smiled.

Jamie has been busy golfing. He played in a tournament this weekend with his boss. They had fun, but did not bring home a prize. I am not golfing near as much as I used to, I guess my priorities are different now. Someday, we will golf together again though.

Otherwise our life here is pretty good. My parents are coming to visit in a couple of weeks, so it will be fun to see how much Brady has changed in their eyes.

Hope all is well with everyone, until next time...

Howe Family Blog

Since I have not yet quite figured out how to create a webpage to show pictures of Brady, I thought I would try my hand at a blog. It is much easier, at least I hope so.

Greetings from the Howe family in Vancouver Washington. Summer is flying by, we have made a few trips and Brady has so far been a superstar on each of them. I am hoping his calm attitude on the airplane continues, but we are sure one of these times we will have a bit of a tantrum.

Brady and I went for a mommy and baby trip to the Oregon coast with 4 other mom's and babes. We had a great time, Brady loved the ocean and sitting in the sand. Luckily he did not figure out that he could taste the sand.

Brady also loves to swim with Jamie in the pool. They both float around with Dexter and Happy watching close by.

I noticed tonight that Brady is cutting another tooth, yes that makes 8 and he is only 9 months old. He is moving around so quickly now, I never knew someone could crawl so fast. It seems as though I have barely got his hands out of the dog water dish and he is back in it again. He really does love water. He is also jabbering all of the time, I have heard dada a few times, but I don't think he realizes what he is saying, I have yet to hear mama though. I cannot believe how quickly these 9 months have gone, he does not even really seem like a baby anymore. Our little guy is growing up so quickly.

Until next time....