14 Months and Happy Easter!!!

Since it has been so long since the last post, I will only be able to give you a glimpse of all the cool things going on at the Smith household. I figure a good place to start would be the words in Brady's vocabulary that continues to grow daily. Here are the words Brady has learned since the last post:

Otter=Oscar the cat
bumba or boon =balloon

tortu=turtle

wadur=water

duice=juice

doggy=dog

deener=dinner

bas=bath

sh=shoe

nat nat=night night

book

cheese

beans!!!

yuck-eeeee

daw=doll

nos=nose

eye

tar=star

ham (with a British accent)

baby=any child, himself included

hano=hello

Bath time is learning time!

Brady has also increased his horse back riding skills. As the days are getting nicer, I will be trying to spend more time with Icy. Brady and I set out one afternoon to help her shed her winter coat. As you may remember Brady has been up on her before. But this day after we posed for pictures...I had Icy walk around slowly with mom walking right next to us. Brady loved every minute of it. He smiled and patted her as we cruised around the ring. However, every time we passed the gator he would point and say vroom vroom...which makes me think he will be more into motorized things rather than horses.

Rusty continues to hang with us. He recently turned 15 this past March. Other than still being deaf and blind he seems happy just chilling out. Brady thinks that "Rubby" is his best pal. Rusty may not agree, but he puts up with it for the most part.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

Today was such a fun day. Brady participated in his first egg hunt at Grammy and Grampa's house with cousins Anna and Kylie. Of course he thought he was going on a "ball" hunt. He found quite a few and soon realized what he was supposed to do with them. On his outing he also enjoyed his first glass of lemonade and experienced his first scraped knee.

Brady's First Birthday (a week after the fact)

Due to the weather on Brady's actual birthday weekend, we made the decision to push his party to the very next weekend. We held our breath all week long as more winter weather was coming for the second weekend in a row. Either way, we decided we would have the party, no matter the weather. We did in fact recieve the icy storm, but luckily it was beautiful and travel worthy by Sunday.

The party was a total success. We had rented a club house in a neighborhood where some friends of ours lived. It was decorated in the Super Bowl spirit. Everyone that I can recall made it and of course Brady was the star of the show...or so I heard. Adam and I really didn't see that much of him other than present-opening time.

All the as-to-be-expected moments occured. He got more presents than we had room for, Brady ate up all the attention, and of course he smashed his face into his birthday cupcake.

Apparently we made off with a few extra bills too. I need to find where he stashed that!

As each month comes to a close, I like to look back at all the changes that have occured. Some months end with more changes and new acheivements than others. February so far has been the mac-daddy of new discoveries. As of the last day of February, these are all the things Brady can say and do:

Movements:

-Stand up in the middle of the room with no help

-Walk almost through the entire house without falling as long as he is paying attention

-Carry various objects while walking in control

-Bend down and pick up things from the floor and rise with them

Words

-mommy: mother

-daddy: father

-nanny:grandmother

-Deedee: a grandmother

-Poppy: a grandfather

-Rubby: Rusy

-Ditee: kitty

-Beau: Beau

-Baw: ball

-Uh-oh: I dropped something

-Buh-bye: See ya later

-vroom vroom: Car, truck, anything with wheels

-Hot: That's hot!

-Bobble: bottle

-Bah: bath

He tries to say most words that you try to teach him. He wants to talk so bad he can't stand it. He talks most of the day but of course you can only understand the few words. But that doesn't stop him. I can only imagine the non stop talk that is coming our way. As far as the walking, I woudn't be surprised if he was running circles through the house by next week. It just goes to show you can't not pay attention...there is so much you will miss in no time.

1st Birthday

The day finally came! Brady is now the big 1. It was hard to beleive that a year ago that day we had not even met Brady.

Due to the snow we had to cancel Brady's 1st birthday party which was a pretty big bummer. I figured it would have to be cancelled so on Friday after our early release, I headed to the grocery store to stock our kitchen for what we would need to fare the winter storm. I went ahead and bought Brady some brownie mix and ice cream. Even though he would not be getting cake with all his friends, he would get a Brownie Sundae with his mom and dad.

The weather men again made a good call as we recieved amost 8 inches of snow by Saturday afternoon. Brady's birthday was sure enough cancelled and postponed to Super Bowl Sunday. Luckily Brady won't know the difference.

So we snuggled up this weekend and enjoyed the snow.

That's One Small Step for Brady....

With Brady's 1st birthday just around the corner, I have found myself making a Brady timeline in my head. I think about the day he was born, the day we brought him home, his first bath, the first time he smiled, rolled over and laughed. For only being on this earth a short time, he sure has many accomplishments under his belt, and while they are small to most, they are those which I will never forget.

Now, I know many people think their child is a regular Einstein, as you here them say, "You should see Little Johnny do this", or "Little Suzie just catches on so quickly". You always find yourself just nodding your head usually thinking "I saw your child eating his own boogers yesterday". Well I am now one of those parents, but this time it's really true. Brady is a work of pure genius for his age. He does very well to make connections. As you will soon see, Brady does this trick where he will "love the baby". You tell him to do this and he will find the closest stuffed animal and snuggle up to it. I videoed him doing this. I then showed him the video. He watched carefully and saw himself loving the bear. He watched the camera, and then looked for the same bear in the room, and again, went to love on it. Not because I told him too, but because he made the connection between the video and the bear on the floor. Pure genius!!!! In the bathtub he has identified several of his bath toys by name, such as "Brady find the boat" or "find the turtle" in which he will usually stop what he is doing and find that toy and hand it too you. Need I say more...and that is not even all of it. What I'm trying to say is that my baby is intelligent, but please, if you see him eating his own boogers, call him out on it.

Now the moment you have all been waiting for...Brady's first steps!

Brady's First Christmas

Well, Brady survived his first Christmas as our child. He is still not old enough to realize what all a Christmas in our family consists of. It consists of moving from place to place every day for a series of at least 4 days or more.

Now Adam and I never once thought of ourselves as Christmas professionals (we may never achieve that), however we were accustomed to the hectic schedule and to the fact that we need at least 2 days to re cooperate from the travelling, food, and family stimulation (no offense to anyone). Now that we had an almost 1 year old to tote around, this was an entire different ball game all together.

For all of the different places he had to go, and meals he had to eat, Brady I feel did better than we did. Brady's first Christmas schedule was as follows:

Day 1: First Brady and I drove to McLeansville for a small get together with my brothers, their families and mom. After a few hours we all headed to Greensboro for lunch at Dad and Jill's. There Adam joined us after having to work a few hours that morning. All the cousins had a great time together which caused adorable chaos.

From there Adam, Brady, and I continued driving to Burlington to spend the night at Adam's Dad's house. On the way though we stopped back at Mom's house to visit with all of the Arnolds that had congregated there for their Christmas bash. Once in Burlington we had a wonderful meal at Ma's house before finally hitting the sack Christmas Eve at Ronnie and Denise's house.

Day 2: There, Brady woke up to his first Christmas morning. He enjoyed all of his gifts, but not as much as the Christmas trees.

Later that day, we headed off to Yancyville to Denise's mom's house (Adam's step grandmother). From there it was back to our own little house to regain our second wind. Christmas for us, was only halfway over.

Day 3: The next day we headed to Roxboro, for Christmas with the Bradshers (my Mom's side of the family). There, all six little cousins were all together for the first time. Again, there was much excitement as the little ones ran around, soaking up all the attention. Brady took a fancy to Jade and they spent a good bit of time on the fire engine together. Jade who is over a year old, let her 11 month old cousin push her around. Brady, who has just been learning how to walk behind something, was more than happy to push her around.

Jade has a brand new, 5 week old baby sister. Adam was dying to get his hands on her and she quickly fell asleep in his arms. Now, last time he held one of my cousins brand new babies (Jade to be in fact) I became pregnant with Brady. As wonderful as that was, I'm hoping this will not have the same effect as of yet.

After a long but good day, we headed back to our home, to prepare it for the final day. On Sunday all of the Hortons (Adam's Mom's side) would be coming for lunch. Why our one bedroom, one bathroom house got chosen to seat 14 people, I will never know, however it was absolutely wonderful, and I'm just glad everyone gets along. Katie and Deboranell were wonderful cooks and there was much entertainment with Izzy, Brady and Cy and Kristina's new puppy. Joe, was kind enough to come over and take a photo of our handsome crew. Unbeknown st to half the people in this photo, most of them were standing in dog poo.

Our Christmas was finally technically over (Brady and I had one more casual stop on Monday night). We survived our first Christmas with a baby. Although we were very tired and our pants felt a little tighter, we loved every minute with every person. Just maybe perhaps, we will host more Christmases at our house especially since Santa will come to see Brady next year. Until then we will rest and prepare ourselves for it...I have a feeling Christmas for us, will not be getting any easier. Happy New Year everyone!

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.