10 months and 2 weeks

Hold on to your butts viewers, you have a lot of catching up to do. This by all means it not a result of you not checking the blog out...it has been my hectic schedule that has prevented from posting regularly. However, I am about to fill you in on everything...this may be a long one, but here we go!

The most obvious fact, is that Brady is now 10 months and two weeks. His size still makes hime look about 4 months, but he is doing everything a 10 month old is supposed to be doing. He is crawling, pulling up, taking steps while holding onto something, eating just about everything, he has two teeth, he is clapping his hands, loves playing hide and seek, and learning things he is and is not allowed to do.

He is now pointing to things he wants such as toys, noise makers, food, and this morning he woke up to a decorated Christmas tree. Most of his waffles ended up on the floor as he was continuously pointing to the ornaments on the tree.

Brady really enjoys crawling over anything he can get too. If you sit on the floor with him, he is going to want to crawl over your legs. If you leave something on the floor, it is just his newest challenge of something he must scale. And as Beau learned the other weekend, he will even climb 113 pound animals. I thought the video would not be postable when he face plants on the the kitchen floor, but he got up and was good to go. Parents, beware of "agressive" dog breeds. This may be disturbing to some...viewer discrestion is advised.

Brady is working to become a softball legacy. Adam has never been more proud of the child. I know where I will be spending my Saturday afternoons every fall and spring!




Vroom, vroom!!!! We are all boy. Brady has discovered he can make things roll. He will roll or slide just about anything across the floor. Cars, remotes, cell phones, pots, boxes, or books are all a possibility for a short game.




For a physical update, Brady is still under the wait norms for a 10 month old. He will be going again next week for his H1N1 booster and a weight check. If he has not gained enough weight, he will have a few tests done. However, we are not concerned as Adam was exactly the same when he was this age. If you have seen Adam before, you can assume Brady will be a bigg-un as well.

We are preparing for Brady's first Christmas. We are glad that he does not yet know what the mass chaos is all about since we are not doing much big for him this year. I was not even going to do much decorating. Much to my surprise, I came home one afternoon and Ma and Poppy had decorated the back porch for us. It was quite a site and it got me into the Christmas spirit. We broke out the decorations and got the house ready for Brady's first Chrismas...even if he won't remember it.

Brady is good at sharing!

So now that Brady is eating real people food, he realizes that this is something everyone likes. His mommy eats it, his daddy eats it, he eats it, and all those around him eat it.

He is already getting the concept of sharing. He will take a bite of his cracker or bagel, and then offer it out to you for a small bite. Sometimes he is serious about it, other times it's more of a sike game.

Some of the animals (mostly Rusty as he is the most resourceful begger of the bunch) have also realized he has real food and that small morcels sometimes rain down from the baby above. Brady has also taken notice of Rusty, voluntarily hanging around him during feeding times, which was a new concept as Rusty does his best to be anywhere BUT close to Brady.

As Brady was eating some fruits and some bagel bits the other morning, he as usual, noticed Rusty circling us. I could almost see the wheels clicking inside his head...."if I like it, and mommy and daddy like it, why wouldn't doggy like it?" And with that, he learned how to share with the dog, and the dog learned Brady isn't such a bad idea after all...but only during meal times.

9 Months

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As of October 31st, Brady is now 9 months old. What an enjoyable month! Brady has done it...he is now crawling. He is also eating real food and not just baby goop, and pulling up on furniture. He is actually only good at pulling up on his crib. He greets us every morning, peering from over his crib railing. Adam had to adjust the mattress height due to our fear of Brady peering over a little too far and toppling onto the floor. He is a little top heavy with his large head.
Since Brady is now enjoying freedom of mobility, we had to break out the baby gates. He is no longer a free range baby. This was decided after an incident this weekend in which over at time frame of about 30 seconds, Brady was able to crawl from his bedroom to the kitchen, where he helped himself to Jetta's breakfast. He is a little frustrated at the moment about the barred doors placed is stratigic locations, but he will get over it.

Rusty and Jetta are not as excited about the crawling as Brady is. They have figured out that they are more accessible, and are considered fair game. Nothing can stop him from approaching them, if they are within sight. Jetta has been pretty good about getting herself to safety...however Rusty's inability to hear and see well make him a prime target.

Blogging has been rather difficult as I am trying to learn a new computer. We have downsized and gotten a lap top. I have been very excited about this, however learning some new programs and how this one works, has made it difficult to perform my usual tasks. I think I'm going to need some help to get everything just the way I like it. Thank goodness Ben is coming in December (Ben if you read this, just a heads up, you are going to come and work on this thing).

This blog is dedicated to Adam's Granny who passed away peacefully earlier this month. We are glad she was able to meet Brady, and even spend an entire Saturday with him the weekend before she passed. She was a special lady who has been missed.

Happy Halloween!!!

8 months old

Oh how time does fly. Brady is now 8 months old. It is easy to believe because of all the things he is learning and trying to do. Last month he had just began to keep himself in a sitting position. Well, he is leaps and bounds past that! A little tooth is even starting to pop out. Here is an update on Brady's new tricks and what he likes or dislikes.


Trick#1
Brady can now get on all fours. He is still not quite crawling, but he is moving backwards and rocking back and forth. He is not far from success!

Trick #2
The steamroll. Though not a new trick, I just thought you would want to see Brady's primary mode of transportation.


Trick #3
Brady can get himself into a sitting position from his belly.


New Sounds:
So you have heard him saying mom mom if you have kept up with all of the blogs...well he is finally learned some other consonants such as ah-dah...dah dah dah dah DAH DAH DAH DAH DAH dah dah (all capitols emphasizes volume). All his sounds include: mah, yah, dah, bah, and nah.

Like #1
Brady loves to play with his spoon after meal time. He is also experimenting with gravity. Little plastic spoons and baby food cover our floor by the end of meal time.

Like #2
For some reason, Brady has taken up head butting. Watch your face! Your nose is his primary target. Also good targets: a window, the table leg, toys, the cat.

Dislike #1
Being left alone. Yes, he is finally getting into that clingy phase. Luckily he's not that bad as of yet, and usually he gets over it pretty quickly.

Dislike #2
Having cell phones and TV remotes yanked away from him. Call him a boy, he loves anything with buttons. To help us out, we have provided him with a sterilized old cordless phone. He seems satisfied with it now, but I have a feeling he will soon realize it is a decoy from the real deal.

Dislike #3
Having anything near his face that could be possibly used to wipe something off of it.

All in all, Brady continues to be the best baby ever. He sleeps well, travels well, chills out well and plays well. He is the hit wherever he goes and we continue to be proud parents!

7 Months old and a Birthday Celebration with all the cousins!

Now that I am back in the classroom, you can probably tell that I have not had a chance to update the blog in the past few weeks. Well folks, you can get off the edge of your seat and stop wondering what Brady Smith has been doing. I am about to answer all of your questions!
Brady is now 7 months old and here are the things he can add to his lists of tricks:
-Brady can now sit up on his own. He still needs help getting up, but once he is up, he can keep himself in check. Once he figured how to stay a little forward and to keep his large cranium from going too far backwards or forwards he was in the money

-He is no longer nursing except for right before going to sleep. He has replaced mommy milk with formula, fruits and veggies (I have not felt this free since the day I moved to college). His favorites are all fruits, sweet potatoes, squash and carrots. We are working on green foods.
-He has mastered the roll
-He can go from sitting position to belly without face-planting
-He can almost hold his own bottle
-Don't turn around because he can roll out of a room before you have even realized he is no longer there


His favorite new evening activity is sitting up and going through his basket of toys.


Along with Brady learning new skills (because chicks dig guys with all kinds of skills) Brady has also spent some time with his cousins the past few weeks.

Last weekend he finally came face to face with his outgoing Californian cousin Johnathan. They had a good first meeting, but I don't think Brady's eyes can move fast enough to keep watch on Johnathan. He also had a visit from his second cousin, Jade. The objective was to have all the little darlings in one space in at the same time. I was not entirely successful...at least to have them all smiling in the same place at the same time. I set the bar too high, but did manage to get them all in the same frame. Not even a fraction of a second later, they had all split in 4 different directions...even though there was only 3 of them.



This past weekend was Dad's birthday. We got together for a fine lunch and had all of the grand-babies together. Anna, Johnathan, Kylie Peyton, and Brady all had their pictures taken by a photographer that awaited us at the house. She got some good individual shots and some shots of the kids playing. But when it came time for all the grand-kids and the grand-parents to have their picture taken together on the ground...I had never seen such semi-controlled chaos in my life. Two would be screaming while one was crawling away and two others were giving the perfect cheese. Every 3 seconds, the rolls would switch. When it was all said and done, the photographer had several shots that could make the scene to have looked like perfect harmony the whole time. I don't know how she did it.

Even without naps, all the kids had a great time. They enjoyed cake (except for Brady, who enjoyed some Gerber fruit mixture), ice cream and balloons. I don't know about the other kids, but I know mine came home and totally crashed!



Brady's personality comes out more and more every month, but some things stay the same. He continues to be one laid back, happy guy. He has his moments of course, but for the most part his favorite look is a smile on his face and a "go-with the flow" mentality on the busy weekend run arounds his mommy and daddy get him into.

All things considered

OK, so it has definitely been a little too long since our last post. You have a lot of catching up to do. To make things easier, I just decided to post everything I have, In one combined "mega" post of all the happenings with the Smith family.

Adam and I had our 2 year anniversary. It was so nice because this time I wasn't pregnant! I was able to go out and enjoy myself as much as Adam did...and boy did I!
We had a very nice small weekend getaway. Nana Nell took over the Smith house, including our son and our small pack/pride of dogs and cats. We didn't go far, just to Greensboro, but where we went was very special. We were staying at the Greensboro Biltmore Hotel. That's the same hotel that we stayed at the night we were married. We even stayed in the same honeymoon suite. We also had reservations to dine at 223 S. Elm, which is where our Rehearsal Dinner was held.

As soon as we checked in, around 3:30 that afternoon, we hit up the town. First we visited McCouls for some cocktails, then we skipped over to Natty Greene's for Happy Hour and a snack. We were wondering what we were going to do after supper later that night. At Natty's we learned of a block party that was going to be held just outside. Sam Bush would be performing. We had no idea who Sam Bush was, but we decided an evening concert would be perfect. We went back to the hotel, got ready for supper and made our way down the block. As soon as we walked in at 223 S. Elm, we ran into Mike, the head chef from the Rehearsal Dinner. No sooner had we sat that complimentary champagne was sent our way. This is also after we had enjoyed our complementary bottle of white wine that came with our room, our warm up drinks from McCouls and Natty's and after we had already ordered a bottle of wine for our table. We didn't waste a drop. Dinner was so romantic!

Afterwards we walked down the block towards the concert which was phenominal! If you have never heard of Sam Bush, you need to get some of his music. We had a fabulous time until we just couldn't do it anymore. We slowly walked back to the hotel and crashed. I was hoping to sleep in the next morning with no Brady getting me up, but I just couldn't do it. Our little honeymoon was over and it was time to head home.

So this anniversary was much different from my last where I was allowed a sip of wine every night, and during the day I dug a small hole in the sand for my baby bump so I could lay on my tummy at the beach. Both very special, and tons of fun in different ways!


This segment of the blog is brought to you by the letter "M"
What will Brady's first word be?


The Smith's at Smith Mountain Lake
Ronnie, Denise, Brady and I, being the only ones not working through the summer, were able to spend 2 quiet days at the lake. Brady did his usual things such as playing in the pool, driving the golf cart and learning new tricks (taking people's glasses off their face). He also experienced his first boat ride. I don't think he remembers ever being on the boat, as he slept peacefully the entire time.



A visit from Auntie Erin
Erin was able to come up from Florida to visit her bestest and Brady. We had a great visit and I told Brady that he had to be on his best behavior if Erin was going to go home with baby on the brain so he could have a little friend. Unfortunately Brady was teething and not all went as planned. But I have to remind myself that Brady is not a fussy baby, and what would appear very fussy to me, is nothing compared to a normal day of other babies.

Erin and I even hit up Greensboro for old times sake. I figured for sure that since I am used to getting in the bed between 9 and 10 every night that there would be no way I could hang with her like the good ole days. Much to my surprise, we were the last people to walk out of the door at 3am. I knew I would pay dearly as Brady would probably wake up around 7 or earlier. He did wake up super early, but then took a very long nap later that morning, and we caught up on all the sleep we missed out on.


Brady's 1st pony


I'm 6 months old!

This is what I can do:
Eat solid food 3 times a day
Babble constantly
Better hand/eye coordination
Grab Rusty's hair and Jetta's tail
I'm Teething
Almost crawling

The Traveling Baby

Well, it has been quite a busy 2 weeks with all of our travels. Brady has been from North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains in the west, to North Carolina's coastline in the east.

We spent some relaxing days at Dad and Jill's time share in Sapphire Valley. We came as close to becoming vegetables as you possibly can without actually turning into one...but we all know that's just silly. We took a lot of naps, read a lot of books/newspapers, and Brady spent a lot of time in the indoor pool. It was way too cold for any outdoor pool experience. He liked it all the same and I am now thinking of getting him enrolled in some kind of swimming lessons. This boy has no fear of water!

On the way home, we were lucky enough to be passing through during my niece, Peyton's, 1 year birthday. It was good to see Andrew and it was so much fun watching Peyton run around.


The beach was quite the opposite pace we experienced in the mountains. This was a rather large family reunion on Adam's side and there were many fun loving cousins that came to visit from Texas. There were a lot of people to meet and I thought Brady did very well as he continued to flash that innocent boyish smile as he was passed from person to person well into the night.

There was much fun to be had as cousins were reunited after many years. I like to think I met many new friends and I enjoyed watching old friends spend quality time together.


It was also good for Brady and Adam as they get to see a lot of each other. I feel privileged that I get to spend so much time with Brady, and I know that Adam wants to do the same. Brady loves his daddy so much, that I think Brady's time with his daddy was better than any pool.

Much to my surprise, Brady did not take to the ocean the way he took to the pool. I suppose it can seem rather intimidating and loud compared to a calm pool where water does not rush towards you with a roar. I guess that could seem scary to a baby. Nonetheless, Brady found himself a pool and was so wore out by his introduction to the ocean, that he fell asleep in his float.

After a long 2 weeks abroad the state, Brady, Adam and I were happy to get home.

5 months old

Brady is now 5 months old. Every day he amazes me as more and more of his personality blossoms. He is a little person with wants and needs and ways to express them to you. He is rolling over both directions, blowing bubbles, screaming, laughing, babbling, eating cereal, has an obsession with kicking his legs and every item that makes it into his hands deserves a taste test.

The boy smiles non stop but especially at women. I wonder who he gets that from? He hasn't met a stranger yet and he continues to be an easy keeper.

Things he wants to do so badly but he can't are:
stand
walk
talk
play with the pets
fly

Things he is working on:
The next Michael Phelps


A Cowboy


Next week he plans on trying out surfing and sand castle construction/destruction while at the beach.

First day at the pool

Well, Brady had his first summer adventure today. I figured that since Brady now loves bath time so much, that he would love the pool...since it would seem as a very large bath tub for him.

I joined Nana Tex, Deboranell, and Cynthia for a short day at the pool. As I figured, Brady took to the pool like a duck to water. He wore is brand new, very expensive Swimmer Diapers, and his fishing cap. He kicked and splashed and stayed happily in the water until he was almost pruny.

We will definitely be returning to the pool!