Napa Trip

So this is the most pictures Brian and I have taken by ourselves since little B was born!!!  We went with our great friends the Papes to the California "wine country" to do a little wine tasting and have some couples fun minus the babes!  Brayden stayed with his Grandma and Papa Barron and couldn't have done any better. This was our first time to ever leave Brayden overnight so it was a huge step for us. We were definitely nervous/sad to leave him and the whole time we were there I think Brian was waiting for me to break down and cry!  I am very proud to say that I did not but I think we were just so busy that we didn't have much time to sit around and be sad!  We were advised by a friend to hire a driver and they recommended a great one to us.  She drove us around for two days and it was awesome since she's a local she knows of all the great spots to hit!  We got in Thursday evening, just in time to go into town for dinner.  We went to an Italian restaraunt called Bottega which had great ambiance and wine!  Here are a couple of pics from Thursday night

1st glass of many from the trip!

Our first full day, Friday we spent the whole day in Napa Valley. It was Meredith's  30th birthday so we definitely had an excuse to start drinking at 10 in the morning!!! The weather was absolutely goreous!  Seriously 75 degrees, sunny, and perfect during the day and a little cool in the evenings and mornings- couldn't have asked for better.  After a couple of glasses of wine Brian and I actually contemplated selling everything we own and moving to California-it is seriously that fabulous! First stop, Robert Mondavi for a tour, a little bit of wine education, and of course wine tastings!!!

10:00 AM, first stop Mondavi

Row upon row of wine barrels
Everything about this place was stunning

First tasting of the day!

After an hour tour, we earned some wine!

Next stop, Cakebread winery.  Very pretty and great wine!

Buddies even have on the same shoes! :)

 

Defintiely not listening to a word our host is saying-oops!

Stop #3 My favorite of the whole trip Frogs Leap, beautiful property and a great big porch to enjoy delicious wine and cheese!

Such a cozy place, could have spent the whole day here!

That's a lot of glasses!

And leave it to our guys to find a game of corn hole!

 The next place we went after lunch was definitely the most unique of our trip and Brian's favorite.  We went out to this guy's property/vineyards and tasted his wine at a patio table in the middle of the field beneath some beautiful shade trees.  He started up this winery-Trespass and is still in the process of building his tasting room.  It was really cool to hear his story of starting up a wine business and to taste his delicious wine.  We loved supporting this small/startup business and definitely brought some of his wine home with us!

Can you tell the guys were really interested in what he had to say???

I love this pic, he had stunning views!!!

 We went to one or two more wineries on Friday but the pictures started getting a little sloppier :) so I am going to go ahead and omit those!  So on to Saturday!  We spent all day Saturday in Sonoma which had a totally different feel than Napa.  We were all dragging a little bit Saturday morning but our first stop was definitely a pick-me-up!  These pictures don't do this place justice, it was seriously like a castle and had the most beautiful views.  And the best part about Domaine Cardonas was that their specialty is champagne-yay!!:)

Made a few more stops at some small local wineries and then on to another winery that also resembled a castle!  This was the perfect place to stop at lunchtime, they have a deli and massive grounds to picnic.  

Naptime!

By midday on Saturday, every wine started tasting the same and we were all done drinking and tired!  We had a super casual dinner and got to bed early for a long day of travels on Sunday.  We all definitely missed our little ones but it was so great to get away and have some time for ourselves!  Brian and I are definitely "wined out" right now but would love to get back to Napa one day!

Zoo Train

Some friends and I took the kiddos to ride the zoo train last week and they had such a good time!  Brayden was such a big boy and sat down next to me instead of on my lap.  He didn't really show very much expression, he was just being observant and taking it all in.  After the train ride we had a picnic lunch.  Most of the boys including Brayden were much more interested in chasing the ducks and birds than eating their lunch!  Brayden had such a good time and was super hot and tired when we got in the car he slept the whole way home.  Can't wait to go back!  Wish I had taken more pictures but here are a few:

Got a pic of most of the kids, even the babies!  Just missing a couple I think!

Bird catcher!

Brayden at 13 months/May 2012

This sweet baby is changing so much everyday and I want to make sure I document it all so we don't forget a thing!!!  Brian and I both agree that Brayden is getting more and more fun everyday, he is able to do more and now that he is walking he is a very happy baby!  Here is a little of what Brayden is up to at 13 months+:
*We are down to one nap a day now.  I was dreading going from two naps down to one but now it is so much easier.  Brayden generally goes to bed about 7:30 and wakes up between 6:30-7:30 and he takes about a three hour nap right after lunch around 12:30.  It is so much nicer now because we are able to spend longer periods of time away from the house so we are able to do more!
*This boy is  a GOOD eater!  He will eat pretty much anything you put in front of him and eat and eat and eat!  He has also done great switching over from the bottle to the sippy, we are down to one bottle a day now (before he goes to bed at night) but that will soon be gone as well.
*His favorite thing to do these days is WALK!  All he wants to do is walk around the house, pick up toys or other household objects and walk around holding them or hitting things with them.  He will make circles through our house, stopping along the way to empty out a drawer or laundry basket.  The other day he came walking into the living room carrying my body wash which was indeed open and being held upside down, he definitely made a little trail as he went-totally my fault I know!
*Brayden loves to play in any water, whether it be the dog bowl, the bathtub, a puddle, or the swimming pool he loves to splash splash!  When he is in the swimming pool half the time he spends trying to drink the water and in return lots of coughing and sneezing!
*He is still in LOVE with his sister (our dog) Mia!  He deliberately picks up her bone and walks around the house with it because he knows that she will chase him barking.  He also loves to pet her and lay his head on her (when she allows it which is pretty rare!)  We think that Mia secretly likes it when Brayden "plays" with her because she will put her bone or ball right in front of him to grab and then barks her tail off!
*He loves his car (which we call the "crazy coupe" round here!) and love, loves his chair which he climbs all over!  He also really likes to play with his plastic golf set, he even hits the ball sometimes (whether its by accident or not, we aren't sure!)
*He babbles all the time but we really don't have any idea what he is saying!  He isn't saying any new words that we know of and his favorite word is ball.
*Brayden loves to climb things especially up stairs, his chair, and up on the fire place

Here are some pictures of our sweet Brayden from this month :)

Pure sweetness 

pushing around the crazy coupe!

This was the day he started walking

Daredevil!

LOVES his own chair

Loves his Aunt Sarah and Cousin Choe

After digging in and proceeding to eat dirt

What?

Oh!  And he figured out how to take off his diaper-uh oh!!!

Nothin cuter, naked baby booty!

Our little fish, look at that SMILE!!:)

There's that cheese face :)

Brayden is walking part 2

This video was taken last night.  It is absolutely amazing to me how quickly Brayden has picked up walking!  My friends tell me that he will be running soon, and I don't doubt it!!!  We have definitely noticed that Brayden walks better when he is holding on to something-maybe to distract him?  His object of choice most of the time has been one of these golf clubs that he swings around as he walks.  He is getting REALLY really good!!!  Be patient, this video is slightly over a minute but once he falls a time or two and really gets going his walking is impressive :)

Brayden is walking!!!

Brayden has been walking for about a week now!  He started out with several days of taking 2-3 steps, then a couple of days taking 5-6 steps and he has progressed more and more each day!  It was so adorable for the first couple of days, Brayden would take a couple of steps, fall down and look at us, smile and clap his little hands. Every time he took some steps, he would look at us expectantly waiting for a round of applause which we eagerly gave!  I have spent most of the afternoon with trial and error trying to figure out how to download videos and have FINALLY figured it out-yay!!!  Here is a video from late last week and some of Brayden's first steps.  Watch the whole thing so you don't miss him clapping for himself at the end!!! Enjoy :)

Brayden's first haircut!!!

I have been told twice in the past week how beautiful my baby girl is and how much she looks like me... After the second time mama realized our baby BOY was ready for his first haircut!!!  It was pretty quick and painless, he cried, I didn't and I now have a ziplock bag filled with some of Brayden's original hair that I'm not sure what to do with!  Just to give you an idea of exactly how long Brayden's hair was, here is a picture of him this morning:

See all the curls flipping out in the back?  His hair is moved to the side because it had gotten so long it hung in his eyes!

 Got to sit in a cool car, the weird robe is okay...

What in the world is going on???

And now I want out!

And he pretty much cried the rest of the time!  All I gotta say is thank goodness for cheerios-they are the only thing that calmed him down!!!

We made it!

Little boy haircut, makes him look SO different to me but I am sure I'll get used to it!

So, 10 minutes and $19 dollars later we are done with a big milestone :)  Maybe I should learn to cut hair!

Brayden's one year well check/immunizations

Mama got a new computer (thank you Brian, Eddie, and Debbie Barron :)) so uploading pics and blogging is now a breeze! It is so much faster and easier to jot out a quick post than it was on our ancient computer which I may or may not have spilt a smoothie on several years ago...

Anyway, I didn't include Brayden's one year stats on his 12 month post and since I don't want to forget how much our sweet boy has grown in one short year here we go!  

At birth Brayden was 6lb. 11 oz and at 1 year he is 22lb. and 10 oz *he is in the 48% for weight
Brayden was born 19 7/8 inches long and at 1 year is 29 1/4 inches long *he is no Shaquille Oneal at 33% for length!
Well we know this baby has a big brain with a head circumference at 84%
Everything looks good, Brayden is a healthy, growing boy and we are so blessed!:)

Brayden's birthday April 18, 2011

At 1 year April 19, 2012-Isn't it just amazing?!!

Poor Brayden, he was having so much fun at the doctor exploring and playing with no idea what was coming next, 3 shots and a toe prick-ouch!!!  Buddy had a rough time but was calmed down by the time we got in the car and headed home.  Here are some pics of Brayden at his 1 year appt. the day after his birthday on April 19:

Being the needle-phobe that I am, I used to have a tough time watching Brayden get his shots.  I must say that I have gotten much better and can pin him down like a professional now!  We go back again in 3 months for MORE SHOTS-yuck!  I can't wait till he is old enough to take him to get an ice-cream after going to the doctor :)