We have a 1 year old!!! Brayden's 12 month update

Well the inevitable happened...our sweet baby boy has turned a year old!!!  I never understood it when people would tell me "enjoy this time, it goes by so fast!".  Well I totally get it now and I seriously don't know where this year has gone!!! I think I am speaking for both Brian and I when I say that this has been the most amazing year of our lives.  We never dreamed we could love a little person as much as we love our darling Brayden.  He has brought endless amounts of love and laughter into our lives and we are so thankful for him and his silly smile everyday :)  Here is what little B is up to at 12 months:

*He claps all the time!  It is so cute, he will clap randomly but also claps when others clap.  When we say "yay" Brayden will also clap his little hands

*He continues to be entertained by cabinets, drawers, utensils, and recently has become obsessed with the open refrigerator and dishwasher-both not very conducive for a 1 year old to play in!  The good thing is that we don't have to spend a lot of money on toys because he could spend hours playing with an empty wrapping paper roll!

*A lot of people have asked, and no he is not walking yet!  He likes to walk behind things and will push anything around the house, boxes, chairs,his highchair, any of his toys, pretty much anything that will move he likes to push but no walking on his own yet!

*Here are the words that (we think) Brayden is saying:  Dada (this happens to be his favorite word and he babbles it all day long!)  Mama (usually only says when he is crying or hurt, still melts my heart!) Ball, Dog, and Yes.  He is getting good at mimicking you and when we make a sound or say a word several times, Brayden will say some version of it as well.  He also tries to mimick things that we do, he loves banging his hands on tables and really any surface that makes noise, a future musician on our hands maybe??

*The teacher in me is so proud that this baby loves books!  He gets a story before each nap and usually a couple more throughout the day.  I am so impressed that he sits still through them and that he actually seems to be interested!  He will go over to his book basket and pull books out on his own and flip through them, I love to see this and hope that we are building a lifetime habit here!

*Brayden is SO FUNNY!  He loves to laugh and is seriously always smiling.  It is SO easy to get him to laugh and smile which is so much fun.  He likes funny noises, funny faces, still likes being startled and tickled, he likes it when you play a little rough with him as well.

*He still really loves his baths and splash, splash, splashes, soaking whoever is giving him his bath!

*I thought that giving up nursing was going to be kind of difficult and that Brayden would cry for me and be so attached to his mommy... Not the case at all!  I had it all planned out to nice and gradually drop feedings so it wouldn't be traumatic on baby, ha!  In less than a week we had dropped all but one feeding and I was just holding on to the morning feeding for my sake not his!  He couldn't have cared less, took the bottle so easily, and never asked to nurse again!  It was kind of sad for me at first but now that we are able to give him regular old cows milk feeding him is so much easier.  I swear this baby is just so easygoing (I hope this gives us a clue to what his personality will be like) because he even transitioned from formula to milk seamlessly like he didn't even notice the difference!

*Brayden is still a great little eater and will seriously eat anything we put in front of him.  His favorites seem to be:   bananas, waffles, mango, cheerios, grapes, chicken, and now Cake!  Yes, we gave him cake for his birthday and he definitely has a sweet tooth like his mommy and daddy!  He loved shoving the cake in his mouth, it was hillarious!  Pics to come soon of his cake smashing sessions! 

Here are some pics of Little B from this month up until his first birthday:

I told you! And I think we have a new problem on our hands, he figured out how to open the refrigerator yesterday!

playing with the Barron's

With his Aunt Christi :)

I can't get over how big my little baby looks here.  But seriously though is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby? :)

terrorizing Mia!

All we are missing here is Daddy!  This chair is where me and Boo have spent countless hours rocking and eating :)

Look at this CHEESE smile!!!  Taking a bath in Grandma and Grandpa Barron's kitchen sink!

LOVES the water!

Sweetness

Okay now we know this baby is definitely his mamas son... He has gotten really good at smiling for pictures and lately he has been doing this awesome eyes closed huge smile that is hilarious!!!  I'll leave you with a couple of my favorites of him and his funny pose :)

Weekend in Port Aransas

We headed down to the coast this past weekend, it was our first time to go back down since the weather has been nice.  This wasn't Brayden's first trip to Port A but it was his first trip to be old enough to enjoy some of the great things the coast has to offer!  I hardly took any pictures.... Ha, ya right!  Looking at all of the pictures that we took you would think we had been there for a couple of weeks instead of just a short weekend!!!  We had planned on taking Brayden over for his first trip to the beach but it was SOOO WINDY and decided against it this time, I am sure we will go back down again soon.   Here are some great pics from the weekend :)

Can you tell how windy it was??  I love the look on determination on his face and the wind blowing all of that hair!!!





We headed over to the pool both mornings and Brayden had a blast!  There is a huge area that is only 4 inches deep and Brayden crawled all over the place.  As you can see, he especially loved playing in the fountain!  He would get water all in his face, crawl away for just a second to catch his breath and then crawl right back over to it and do it all over again!  

Brayden got to spend lots of QT with his Grandma and Papa Barron this weekend.  I just love that this boy loves books so much :)

Brayden is really fascinated with birds.  He loves to watch them fly, and always notices when he hears a bird singing.  He even says "tweet tweet" (or his version of it!)  So we decided to take Brayden to feed the birds.  This was by far my favorite part of the weekend.  Brayden laughed hysterically and had such a fun time watching the birds.  For some reason he thought it was so funny everytime I would throw a piece of bread in the air (I know my dear husband and mother in law are laughing right now because they think Brayden was laughing at the way I throw, haha!:) Anyway, we had a blast and we all laughed alot! 

Look closely at Brayden's face here, he is laughing so hard, it was contagious!!

This last picture is one of my favorite pictures of all time, it really captures sweet Brayden's personality...LOVE :)



Tomorrow this sweet baby will be 1 year old, amazing!!!

Easter 2012

Technically this wasn't Brayden's first Easter but since we weren't really planning on him so early last year, this is his first year to partake in all of the Easter fun!  Brian got to go to Georgia for the masters with his dad and brother so little B and I got on the road and headed up to Dallas.  We stayed with my mom and stepdad for a couple of days and had such a great time!  I have to admit I was a little nervous doing this drive alone with Brayden.  He usually is not a big fan of the car and in the past he has cried and cried on car trips.  Well we had the best trip yet!  He slept most of the way there and back home.  We stopped halfway both times at a chic fila in Temple and Brayden ate chicken nuggets and had a blast playing in their playroom. I am so relieved this trip was such a success and feel a whole lot better about traveling with Brayden now. 

Grandpa took Brayden for a wagon ride!

Who needs toys?!  Not this kiddo!  Being silly with Grandma :)

 While we were there we got to go over to my sisters house and see her and her family.  Brayden had so much fun seeing his sweet and adorable cousins Halley and Carson.

Everyone was excited for Brayden to open his early birthday gift!

Halley wasn't so excited when Brayden decided to put her headband in his mouth!:)

Brayden sure loves pups!  Their dog Bailey is so sweet and let Brayden abuse her!

Brayden and I drove home on Saturday and Brian flew in later on Saturday evening.  We were all so happy to be home together for Easter.  We went to church on Sunday morning, stopped by to see Grandma Barron, and then got to spend the rest of the afternoon with my dad and his side of the family at my Aunt Sarah and Uncle Tom's house. 

Brayden's first Easter basket

Daddy helping open Easter eggs, Brayden was definitely a fan of the yogurt covered raisins!

Sugar high!!!

Grandma Barron

Grandpa Rehkopf

Brayden had fun playing with all of his extended family :)  Here he is with my Aunt Sally, Dad, and cousin Kristen 

Goes with his Aunt Sarah everytime!

 After a long day of traveling the day before and a busy morning on Easter, all three of us were beat and ready to spend some time at home!  It was wonderful to get to see so much family over the past week and we are truly blessed to have such loving and involved families :)