Where have I been?

Missing I guess, hiding under a rock, lost in the Northwest? No, just too busy (lazy) to update my blog.

It has been a busy summer for us. Brady is growing like a week and into everything he can possibly get into. Jamie has been traveling a lot for work as well as perfecting his golf game. And I am still incubating. Just over 4 more weeks and will I be glad. I now understand why women are younger when they have kids, my body is telling me it is done and punishing me for waiting until my mid-late 30 to reproduce. I blame Jamie.

Brady loves to be outside doing anything he can. I often see the devilish side of him when we go outside for our afternoon play. He loves to pull my flowers, climb up on the table or play in Dexter's water dish. He also LOVES to swim or jump into the pool with his Dad. This year we finally turned the heater on and the pool rests at 82 degrees, perfect for those of us who do not like to be cold. For me, it is nice to just float around - but without fail I am splashed by one of the boys - Jamie usually.

We are anxiously awaiting our new arrival. I am not ready at all around the house. I guess I will just wing it when it happens. We will keep you updated, but probably not through the blog as it would be Thanksgiving before you found out at the rate I am posting!

Sorry this is not much, but it is an update. Hope everyone is well.

What I have learned over the last month

Over the last month a lot has happened for us. Not much to the average family, but I take some of it as big milestones for us. So enjoy the list.

1. I really am not very good at blogging. My heart wishes I were better, but I just am not. No excuses.
2. Traveling 6 hours on an airplane with a toddler has its challenges.
3. A toddler can eat snacks for 6 hours straight if they are offered.
4. When you figure a toddler will fall back asleep on an airplane after getting up at 4:45 a.m., they will not.
5. Some people are very kind and understanding of families traveling with toddlers and some are not (yes I am referring to the woman who was already in an exit row, had nobody sitting next to her, was maybe 5 feet tall and insisted on fully reclining her seat the entire flight - and I was behind her with Brady on my lap). At that point I was not very good at keeping Brady from kicking.
6. I now know what an alpaca is and more importantly how expensive they are.
7. Teaching your toddler to blow bubbles in the bathtub is not such a great idea. Brady now thinks he needs to blow bubbles in the dog water dish and any puddle he sees on the ground.
8. Even if you think you have scooped all of the dog pooh out of the yard before play time, a toddler will find it and either mash in it his shoes or pick it up - yes pick it up.
9. Maybe a sandbox was not such a great idea (refer back to 7 - yes he tried blowing bubbles in the sandbox too).
10. Another boy, am I sure I can deal with it? Some days the two I have (Jamie and Brady) are already enough for me! But I still love them.

So there, the top 10 things I have learned over the last month. I will try and be better at posting.

Hope all is well.

Our little daredevil!

You know how it is when you are watching children play, they usually can be separated into a few different groups. The shy ones, the play nice ones and the daredevils. Brady falls into the last category. I will often find him at home standing in his wagon, on the seat with his hands in the air. Or he stands on the very edge of the couch. Of course there are tears when he falls, but he gets right back up and does it again. This past weekend we took him to a playtime where there was a slide. Brady has been on a slide before, but we have had to lift him to the top and give him a little push to get going. Not this weekend. As soon as he figured out how to get up the slide he went down his own way. Head first! I about died and of course Jamie thought it was great.

We also had our first Easter egg hunt. How fun is it to watch 50 1-2 year olds gather eggs! Nobody was exactly sure what to do. Brady's first step was yes, right on an egg. He fell down. I think he had fun. I estimate it took him 7-10 minutes to gather 12 eggs. It was pretty cold our, so we helped him along. Otherwise who knows how long it would have taken. I know years to come will be much different when he understands what the candy inside is for (instead of for Dad this year).

Hope everyone is well.

Not so good

I have decided that I am not very good at keeping my blog current. I faithfully go to my friends blogs and read theirs. Some update daily and some weekly, I am lucky if I update every 2 weeks. I cannot figure where the time goes most days. By the time I get Brady to bed I am ready to crash and the last thing on my mind is posting a new entry on the blog. Jamie often reminds me that I have not posted for a while. So to those who come faithfully to read my blog I apologize that I am so far behind and do not update often.

We have enjoyed a bit of sunny weather here in the northwest these last couple of days. This weekend was so nice that Brady and Jamie spent a good bit of time outdoors enjoying the sunshine. Brady managed to get his first fat lip and face road rash. I was inside, but the story goes that he was chasing after the basketball and fell down forgetting to put his hands down before his face slid across the driveway. He is okay, just looks a bit scraped. Some days I look at my child and think "what happened to you?" I really am a good mother. And as the mother of a VERY active boy I am afraid that I am going to see my share of stitches and emergency rooms. Great.

Brady also figured out this weekend how to climb up onto the couch and how not to get down. He tumbled a few times, but yet again survived. I think we move into a plastic bubble to keep the house baby proofed.

Hope all is well.

Communication

It often amazes me how we communicate. We use words, gestures and looks to get what we want or say what we need. I really wonder how we communicated long distance before email and phone, I guess maybe we did it the old fashioned way by writing a letter. I still try and write my grandparents once a month because they so look forward to the letter. I often think how much easier it would be to send an email, but they do not have it. How time has changed.

We are really dealing with communication issues now with Brady. He is trying so hard to get us to understand him. When he is hungry he walks to the cupboard where the crackers are and points and grunts or screams. He is getting his point across, I know what he wants. However, it is always not that easy with a 15 month old. Some days I strike out trying to figure out what he wants. We are both then frustrated.

I say now that I cannot wait until he can chat with me, but then I know what will come next. The series of never ending "why" questions. Oh well, something to look forward to I guess.

I will post more pics soon.

Snow day!

As a child growing up in eastern Washington I remember the words snow day! We loved hearing snow day. It meant no school and hopefully enough snow to sled. Snow was a big deal for us there. After moving to Utah, I remember the first snowstorm we had and sure enough we thought snow day. It snowed 15 inches and we knew there was no way there would be school. There was and we could not believe it. I cannot remember a snow day in Utah, we went to school no matter how much snow there was.

Today was a snow day here. I woke up this morning and saw the snow and immediately though "oh no." Now when I say snow, it was a skiff, less than an inch. Schools were canceled left and right and it was a huge deal on the news. I looked out and the streets were pretty much cleared off, a few patches of snow here and there. I went back and forth of whether or not to go to the gym, so I waited a few hours and then Brady and I ventured out. I do not worry about my driving ability in the snow it is all of the others. At the gym all classes were canceled - snow day. Brady and I did our work out and headed back home. It was snowing ever so slightly when we left. Somehow I managed to get behind the guy going 15 mph, I guess afraid of the snow. Now he should have stayed home.

It amazes me how snow does not phase one part of the country but basically shuts down another. I guess it is what you are used to.

On a good note, I loved seeing the snow. I just wish it would have been more and lasted longer. I miss the snow. The snow did not even last long enough for me to snap a picture.

Holy Tornado!

We do not live in the Midwest, so pretty much I figured we were safe from tornadoes. Guess I was wrong on that again. I thought that too living in Salt Lake, but we had one there about 7 years ago go right through downtown when I was working. Well yesterday we had one here. It touched down about 3 miles from our house and was on the ground for about 4 miles. I was watching the news, so I knew it was happening. Then the news said it was heading towards us. Do I jump in the bathtub with Brady or what? We don't have a basement, so I guess the tub is the safest place. I watched out the window to see if it was coming, luckily it did not. But it sure does scare the pants off a person. All I know is that I want no part of tornadoes. So I guess we will not be moving to the Midwest.