Another late update

OK, so it turns out I did not have as much time as I thought I had this summer to keep everyone up to date on the Smith family comings and goings this summer. Between keeping a 1 and a half year old entertained during a summer where outside activity was very limited and being gone almost every weekend, it just never got done. Needless to say, yet again, there is a lot of catching up to do. I think I will start with the most recent and work my way back. It will be like a journey though time. Enjoy!!

I am back in school of course and relived that this year's class will be the complete opposite of last year. I really enjoy my kids so I may actually make it through 180 days of them. I could not have done another year like last year.

Brady is so excited about his first Halloween where he will get to participate. OK, so maybe he still won't know what is going on, but mommy is supper stoked about Brady getting to dress up and go trick or treating for the first time. As I was shopping for a baby shower I stumbled upon the newest Halloween costumes for this year. As I flipped through the usual candidates of doggies, bears, cows and lions, I knew exactly what Brady was going to be as soon as I saw it. A 3 eyed, 4 armed monster would be the perfect choice for Brady's first Halloween. I scooped it up and quickly purchased it with my other items. Upon returning home, I showed Brady his new costume. I asked Brady if he knew what it was. He quietly replied "monster". I was so excited that he recognized the blue creature and he was showing interest. My heart sank briefly as his next comment, also spoken quietly was "mommy, scared monster". Oh no, how would he wear the costume if he was afraid of it? This had to be remedied right away! I told Brady how nice this blue monster was and that he likes to give kisses. Brady then asked me, in a little braver octave, "Cookie Monster"? I saw my way in. "Yes Brady! This is the Cookie Monster. Do you want to try it on?" He shook his head yes and we quickly got him dressed. OMG! Too cute for words is all I can say. Unfortunately, it was a little too small and I knew I would have to exchange it for a different size. Upon returning back to the store, I was disappointed that there were no more sizes of this particular costume. I would have to choose another critter for Brady to be this year. Luckily I found a somewhat equal replacement. Though it is no where near as cool as the blue monster, Brady will be a green alligator this year.

Some of you may have heard of the passing of Rusty, my best bud for 15 years. He passed the day before school started. I had to make the difficult decision to put him to sleep after several days of not eating. He was skin and bones and he was beginning to become disoriented and weak, constantly falling over. It was so hard to carry him through those doors when I knew I would not be coming back out with him. Because, this was Rusty, he went everywhere with me, but I knew I would be going on with out him. He was with me through middle school, high school, he went with me to college, he saw me married off and he let my first born lay on him. He had been in my life longer than he had not. He cuddled with me during those trying teenage years, he went to the barn with me every day, he pulled all nighters with me in Raleigh, he co-hosted "get togethers" in my apartment in Greensboro, he protested having to coexist in the same house with Adam because he was a jealous dog, and accepted Brady even though I thought he wouldn't. He wasn't just a dog, but a piece of me. No dog will ever replace him.


For our final hoorah this summer, Brady, Dad, Jill and myself spent a lovely weekend at Ben and Amanda's new house at the beach. Brady and Johnathan had a great time together. We went to the beach, the pool, and we spent a morning at the aquarium. This was the highlight of the trip. Watching the boys was quite an experience. They were both mesmerized by all the sea life they got to see. The main attraction was the huge shark tank, where a diver went in and talked to us about the animals in the tank. As soon as Brady saw him, he immediately turned to me and said "Mommy! Diver!" He recognized this man from a first words book that he reads constantly, and because Adam and I brought him back a wind up diver for the bath tub on our own visit to the same aquarium weeks before. He told me about the diver every day and even on the ride home. He was also able to tell daddy about it when he got home with little help from mommy.

Brady continues to out talk his peers. At his day care he is the only child his age that talks as much as he does and Ms. Shannon says how she has conversations with him all day long while the other kids just sit and listen.

The moral of this picture:
Parents should always watch where they are walking, because their children are following right behind them.

Summer Adventures!

we are coming to the end of July, thus the end of my summer vacation. As I was browsing for Adam's anniversary gift someone asked how old Brady was. His size still throw a lot of people off. I guess I would be more than amazed too if I saw a child who looked 6 months old was talking like a 2 year old. It was then that it hit me-he is almost 18 months old! I went through these pictures and realized how much older he is starting to look. I credit it to his mouth-full of teeth.

Brady has been quite the little traveller this summer. We spent a little over a week vacationing from the Atlantic coast to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The beach trip was a very special one for my mom, myself and some of the cousins. We revisited a place of our childhood summers, Ocean Anna Hotel. Growing up, this run down beachfront hotel was the highlight of our summer. What a perfect place for kids! Going again as an adult was a totally different experience for me, but we whole-heartedly enjoyed watching the kids fall in love with the same Ocean Anna that we remember from our own childhood.

After a quick regrouping at home, Brady and I ventured back out the door and headed to the mountains to stay a few days with Dad and Jill. We were even able to stop near Ashville and pick up my niece, Peyton. It was a relaxing trip spent by the lake, the playground and on the back porch.

Our favorite time was meal time with lots of fresh veggies from Dad and Jill's garden. Any time corn was presented, it was quite a gruesome scene. Viewer discretion is advised.

Brady has had a fab summer, and I have had just as fun working on the house and spending time with my boys. Soon there will be a home make-over post once I have finished a few other things. Until then, Brady is at Poppy and Dee Dee's and Adam and I are heading out Wednesday for the beach to enjoy our 3 year anniversary!!! Whoot Whoot!

Little moments with an angel

Moment #1: I was on my hands and knees, scrubbing the kitchen floor. I was getting so frustrated because our floor is so scratched and knicked up that no matter how hard you clean, it still looks dirty and grungy. I reached around to retrieve my scrubbing brush only to find it was not where I placed it. I looked over my shoulder to see Brady about a foot away from me crouched down. He had the brush in his hand and he was scrubbing back and fourth. He stopped and looked at me and said "help....mommy".

Moment #2: Brady and I were playing on the floor this week with his new Little People's Garage. Very suddenly he stopped playing with the blue car. He looked at me, and then charged. He wrapped his tiny arms around my neck and squeezed as hard as he could manage. He quietly said "hug" in my ear. After our hug he released me and smiled his perfect smile.

Moment #3: Last week mom and I took Brady to spend the night at Marcie's or "Marney" as Brady calls her. About an hour after arriving Brady was doing another inspection of Marcie's den. He found Pop B's photo on her table. Marcie sat next to him and explained that he was holding a photo of Pop B and how Pop B would have loved to have known him. Brady looked very carefully at the picture and then exclaimed "Pot B....hug". Then he took the photo to his cheek and gave his great-grandfather a big Brady hug.

A much needed update!

I sincerely apologize for waiting this long to get an update on the site. It was a rough last few months and weeks of school and EOG's were my priority. But school is out for summer...how do we feel about that???

AND momma has time to blog all she wants...yeah baby!

Speaking of baby, perhaps you are wondering about our 16 month old Brady. He is doing so well and he is the best part of every part of my day. I have already enjoyed my little bit of summer with him. Our day consists of reading, going outside (he LOVES to be outside) reading, eating, reading, going outside, nap time, reading, playing with cars and then waiting for daddy to come home.

We just spent a fantastic weekend at Smith Mountain Lake. Brady was not much for swimming in the lake, but he really liked the boat and the swimming pool. The older folks had an absolute blast tubing, wake boarding, and "cliff jumping" if you can call it that. While we were out playing on the lake, Brady was learning how to jump into the water off the side of the pool into Poppy's arms. Sometimes, his fearlessness can make me feel proud, but then very nervous. He's definitely not one you can let out of your sight, as he will be cliff diving the first chance he gets.

Brady loves to read more than he loves anything. He wakes up in the morning asking for his books. He will read as long as you will sit there. He impresses everyone for his repertoire of words he uses on a daily basis. This is because he loves to be read to. He can identify so many pictures and he is slowly beginning to use 2-3 word phrases to tell you what is going on around him. He continues to dictate very well and it is very seldom that you can't understand what he is trying to tell you.

His favorite animal right now is a doggy and he is getting very much into trucks. He can even identify fire trucks, vans, tractors, bulldozers, and I think he's even figured out monster trucks ( I know, random). He even saw "Cars" for the first time. It was the first time he stayed engaged in the TV. It was only about 10 minutes, but he still watched it. He was very aware that the character he was seeing was the same "Lightning McQueen" from his books and his ride on car. He has been more interested in Lightning (Sightning) since the movie viewing.

Brady is slowly weaning off the nap time bottle. Today was the best day yet and he only whined for about 5 minutes before just sitting in his bed and saying "mommy" all the different ways he could think of. But after about 10 minutes of that he was out like a light. We are on the way for a bottle-less nap and night time.

So as I close this blog out (since I will be blogging more often during the summer) here are my thoughts about Brady and where certain behaviors come from:

His impatience and whiney behavior: Adam all the way

His ability to remember anything you tell him or that is read to him: my dad (Grandpa) and Uncle Ben

His love for laughter: Adam's dad (Poppy)

His love for reading: my mom (B), myself and Nana Tex

His love for trucks: Adam

His love for animals: me

His attention to those around him: Adam's mom (Nanny)

His snuggle-ness: Uncle Andrew

His laid back attitude: Grand daddy

Brady is not just a mix of Adam and myself. I see so many of those who raised us or those we grew up with within this small child. Right now I feel he got the best part of each of us. What a cool kid to be around!!!! He will do great things in his life and I hope as he gets older he remembers why he is so great...because of the great people before him.

The Dead Bunny Book

For any recent parents out there, you will remember the lovable and interactive children's book Pat the Bunny. Brady has really gotten into books lately. He will pull every book off the shelf until he finds the one he is looking for. He became very interested in Pat the Bunny when he discovered the little boy will play peek-a-boo with you. He will smile and laugh at the book until you get page where Janie lets you read her book with her which is a small little book within Pat the Bunny. He begins looking concerned as Pat eats his dinner because he knows what the next page will reveal. The page reads "Shhhhhh, the bunny is sleeping" and it shows a picture of the stuffed bunny lying on the floor. When Brady sees the lifeless bunny his bottom lip pokes out and he begins to wail. As much as I try to reassure him that the bunny is just sleeping, Brady still gets upset every time he sees it.

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!