First Thanksgiving

Braxton and I flew to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving with my sisters (Braxton's first airplane trip!) It was a really fun, tiring, hilarious, memorable trip! I'll walk you through some of my favorite photos and videos. Here I am with my sisters Dori and Denise. Aren't we cute?The trip started with Braxton and I staying at Denise's house with her husband Brandon, nephews Devin and Konnor, and niece Brittney. The kids loved playing with Braxton. Here are a few shots of us relaxing at the house (Braxton loved hearing Brandon play guitar!)

Braxton's favorite part about being in Missouri was playing with the animals. He loved watching, touching, and chasing them (Denise has a cat and a dog, Dori has two cats). Here are my favorite two cat videos which were taken at Denise's house (Dori's cats ran away from Braxton too quickly so I could never catch them on video).

As the boy's got ready for their Basketball game, Dori came to pick Brax & I up and take us to her house. At Dori's house, Braxton loved banging things on her coffee table, playing the piano and watching her cats [or rather, watching the cats run from him]! Isn't the video of Dori & Braxton playing the piano great?

Dori had to work on Thanksgiving so after spending two days with her we had Thanksgiving with Denise & Brandon's family. The Cunningham's tradition is to have their 20+ family members celebrate in the party room at a local hotel. Here is a video of Brax playing with the bellhop cart at the hotel and a video of Brandon airplaning Braxton around in the party room after clean-up was complete.

On our last day in Missouri we all hung out at Denise's and Dori came over for the day. We had a blast playing in the backyard with the kids. Here is one last video of the sister's singing together while the boys played in the field and girls played in the yard. What a happy Thankgiving week we had!

Racecar Stroller

Have you never heard of a racecar stroller?

Playing

It's been a busy week as Braxton and I prepare to fly to Missouri for Thanksgiving (a good substitute since Brock has to work through the holiday). Here are a few photos of the boys swinging at the park this week. Also attached are two videos of Brock and Braxton playing in the house (every night Braxton gets a lot of exercise playing with Brock and climbing the stairs). These guys make me smile!

4 lessons

4 lessons we have learned since Braxton was born.

1.) If you are buying a present for a baby shower--- never, ever, ever buy an outfit that has buttons. Why? Because at midnight while you are carefully trying to change the baby without waking up the whole house-- all you want is an outfit with a damn zipper!

2.) Babies know when you are trying to do the quiet and delicate lay down in their crib. Just put them down, save yourself the humiliation. Just let the baby cry. Stand on the other side of the door for 20 minutes and the kid will eventually fall asleep. The next time you do it, the time will be shorter. After a week – the kid cries for 2 minutes and sleeps like a baby all night long (at least thankfully this was our experience!)

3.) You thought you knew what tired was before you had a baby. Now, you realize that you had no freaking idea how tired you could be (this is especially true when the baby is less than 6 months old!). You will find strength you never knew you had to haul yourself out of bed and rock and rock your newborn baby until the baby finally falls back asleep.

4) The secret to ever-so-baby-soft-skin is to put on baby oil after the bath and then baby powder on top of it! My genius husband figured this one out!

Zoo Trip

We had Braxton's first trip to the zoo today with Brittney, Devin and Konnor. You can tell we repeated the rules for the kids a few times prior to leaving the house (check out Konnor's video!)

Kids Visit!

My sister Denise flew up from Missouri this weekend with Konnor, Devin and Brittney. Braxton loved having the extra hugs and attention! Braxton loves to swing...he just lays back and reclines and will stay happy swingging for up to an hour!

At the Park

This week Avery came to visit. The weather was semi-warm and Brock and I both had a few hours off of work so we bundled the kids up, put them in the bike cart, and rode to the park.

All Terrain Vehicle

Today Brock babysat Braxton for the day while I was at work. Here is a video Brock took of Braxton and his new "all terrain vehicle".

Anniversary

Wow... can you belive that today marks our sixth year of marriage! Happy anniversary, honey! I love you just as much today as I did all those years ago. It amazes me to think of everything that we have done (and faced) together. Brock, you are remarkable... and I am so lucky.

Horse Play

This week Braxton had his first "horse ride". He LOVED it (and Brock was having fun too). Then Brock and Braxton started crawling and racing around the house. Here are the photos and video.

Newspaper

Brock and I bought a newspaper. After we were finished reading it, we decided to let Braxton play with it. Here is the photo and the video that resulted.

Minnesota Sunshine

Our house got hit by H1N1 this week. Thankfully everyone is feeling much better (and Braxton never got sick!) Today, we enjoyed a few minutes playing on the deck in the 64 degree Minnesota sunshine. Here are my favorite photos from today (check out the one with the perfect Braxton profile shadow).

Halloween 2009

Travis and Lauren came over to our house last night with their 16 month old Avery to go trick-or-treating. Avery was a "Garden Gnome" and Braxton was a "Rocker."

Grandma's Roadtrip Visit

My mom came for a visit yesterday as a first stop on the roadtrip she is taking with my Aunt Jan from Minnesota to Phoenix. Mom brought us a fabulous and beautiful gift--a king sized afgan that she made for us. We love it! Oh, and here is another video of Braxton practicing walking around the house.