Happy Holidays!

An update is long overdue and with all the unfinished projects I have that need to be done (that take forever doing) this is going to be a short post with some things excluded because I don't feel like downloading the camera right now.

Brayden is 10 months old-he'll be 11 on Christmas day. He's finally older than the amount of time he was in my belly, and that also means that that's how long Bryan has been home. This time last year was something I don't want to go through again so I'm extremely grateful that Bryan and I got to have Thanksgiving together and that we don't have to worry about moving during Christmas. Last year all I wanted for Christmas was for Bryan to be home and I want to remind everyone that one of the important things about Christmas is who you spend it with -not what you get to unwrap and to not get caught up in presents. (That wasn't worded very well but you get the idea).

We were able to go to my parent's house for Thanksgiving this year and it sure is nice that we live close enough to drive! If only we could make it there for Christmas...

My little brother Chase and Brayden played along with each other well. Here they are playing with one of my favorite toys-the doll house.

There was also a kitchen area that Brayden

loved to play in as well.

There was a competition for a Christmas card

and this is what Bryan's squadron turned in.

Bryan and I helped paint this. Helped is the

key word.

A lady from Bryan's work gave Brayden this

toy and here he is playing with it-it's gonna

be his Christmas present even though he's

already seen it (and is still out...)

Bryan's squadron threw me a baby shower, which

was really nice because 1) I'm not a part of the

squadron in the same way Bryan is and 2) we already

have boy stuff. It was a lot of fun. The guys were

invited as well and boy were they a crack up!

The cute cake. Brayden loves that little bear.

Brayden and Laila liked each other. They are

only a few months apart (Brayden is older). They

were so cute!

Here is a little video of our crazy little man.

ok that's not the one I wanted to post. (He shakes

his head back and forth like a crazy man which

is what I was trying to get him to do but of course

he wouldn't). Here's the one I wanted to post:

The pregnancy is going well. I'm tired and have no energy which won't improve until who knows how long after the baby is born. It's as uncomfortable as ever and sleeping well through the night doesn't really happen. I'm 3 weeks away from the due date. I look forward to the day when I can be normal again which still won't happen right after birth but it's a step closer. Even though I did this a year ago, I'm terrified to do it all over again. Brayden loves other kids so hopefully he'll love his little brother too. :)

Halloween, Something Unexpected, The Petting Zoo, Brayden Updates, and Anniversary

Since it has been a long time since I've updated, there are lots of updates and pictures to share.

Here, we are at Joanne's looking at the Halloween

and Fall stuff and Brayden was not afraid of the

masks in fact, he liked them. :)

Here is his 9 month picture. It's so hard

to get him to cooperate sometimes.

He has been so attached to Bryan. When

Bryan sets him down he has a fit, or if Bryan

gives him to me, he has a fit. He isn't satisfied

until Bryan is holding him. He just loves his

daddy!

Brayden can clap his hands together, pat his foot

(from playing the game "shoe the old horse"),

can push unwanted food/drinks away, can walk

along the couch and walk while pushing something,

he loves drinking out of a glass even if it has grapefruit

juice in it, and has to touch and play with absolutely

EVERYTHING-when washing his hands he has to grab:

the soap, the lotion, the faucet, the stopper, stick his

finger through that little hole, grab the water, touch the

mirror and starts all over again. He loves playing with

toilet paper too.

Here he found some candy-a tootsie roll. The

position he's in is pretty cute and if you look

closely you can see a long piece of drool coming

from his mouth.

Here is our little Brayden with his first pumpkin!

He loved it.

He's enjoying the leaf too.

Brayden will play with his toys for a minute but

he will play with the electronics for quite a while.

He's just like his dad.

Here we are at the trunk-or-treat. Brayden was

a little caterpillar/wiggle worm. Bryan was a black

bird and I was a butterfly (which there are no current

pictures of yet).

Here's a close up of Brayden in his

costume. He was so cute.

We were pretty much the only ones

who dressed up-there were two other

couples.

On Halloween, we did a little trick-or-treating.

Trick-or-treating on base is so awesome. If you

want kids to come, you leave your porch light on,

and if you don't you leave your light off. We live

across from a parking lot so we got tonz of kids

and our candy was gone in about an hour! There

were kids everywhere! It was really dark out (at

6 p.m.) but we felt really safe. Security forces people

were walking around to make sure everyone was

safe and that sort of thing. People had their houses

decorated and even though Brayden couldn't walk, it

was fun to be out and about and see all the kids in

their costumes and the halloween decorations. It

wasn't just a neighborhood thing, it was a base thing.

It was so much fun, we felt safe, and I can't wait to do

it again next time! Trick-or-treating on base was

pretty much the best!

Here is Brayden asleep in his high chair. It was

hilarious watching him fall asleep. His head kept

bobbing back and forth!

Brayden was watching baby einstein

and he was trying to get at the TV or

something-although this is something

he's starting to do anyways.

The day before Halloween, we received

some horrible news about Bryan's grandma

Barnes. She was having a hard time breathing

and went to the hospital where we thought she

might not make it through the night. Her death

was very unexpected and she was only in her 70's.

She was healthy and happy and we will miss her

greatly. We were able to fly to Washington for

the funeral. One of Bryan's bosses was willing to

help get paperwork done that night so he could

go. His squadron people were very supportive

and bent over backwards to make things possible

for him (and me) to get out there. It was so good

to see his family-we just wish it was under different

circumstances.

Here are Bryan and Brayden giving a rose to

Grandma Barnes. (Sorry about the picture-

people kept walking right in front of me).

Brayden was absolutely horrible during the

funeral service. We wonder if he could sense

something.

Bryan and his brothers. His "adopted" brother

just got back from Iraq.

While we were there, Bryan, Jared, and their

cousins loved playing the x-box. Brayden joined

them many times.

Ella (cousin) and Brayden. It was so cute to

see them interact.

Bryan and the boys flew this kite-well it's more

like the kite flew them. I'll let Bryan talk about

that one.

Brayden making a cute funny face.

Brayden got behind the couch to

play with the electronics (that were

plugged in).

Bryan and I have the great privilege of being

a part of the petting zoo and feeding the little

monkey on a daily basis.

Here is the little monkey we feed and pet at the

petting zoo. The "gate" (made from crib parts)

blocks him off from the kitchen. He does this

every time I'm working in the kitchen, when he

isn't high pitched screaming.

On the 18th of November, Bryan and I celebrated

our 3 yr anniversary. We spent part of the day in

Annapolis and enjoyed part of the marina, ate lunch,

had some yummy gelato, and walked a little through

the town. It was very enjoyable. Thanks Charla and

Chris for watching Brayden!

Bryan got me a dozen beautiful roses and we

enjoyed a nice meal together the night before.

I'm grateful that we were married and sealed

in the temple forever so that I can be with him

FOREVER. In one of my YW lessons, I told my

beehives that temple marriage is not happily

ever after-it's happily ever beginning and forever!

Last night, I went to mom's night out (aka girls

night out) and I wasn't sure if I should go because

I had a ton of cleaning and chores and packing to get

done before our trip to Indiana for Thanksgiving. I

didn't get much done during the day due to errands

and later my legs and pelvis were hurting so I had to

lie down because it hurt to stand. Anyways I went and

when I came back, Bryan had cleaned! What a wonderful

husband! Thanks babe I love you!

Now that Brayden is almost 9 months old, here is his 8 month picture!

He has gotten so big and so tall! Lately we haven't been taking a lot of pictures and I don't know why because Brayden has been learning and growing a lot! Here's what he can do:

• climb stairs-I discovered this the other day when I set him down on the stairs while I was sitting there, and he just started to climb them-I have no idea how he know how or for how long because it was his first time being on them.
• pull himself up on anything and can get back down.
• crawl on his knees
• completely soak a diaper (and anything touching it) in 30-45 minutes
• feed himself cheerios (that was fun watching him learn that)
• walk if you hold his hands (he probably won't be doing that on his own for awhile though)
• discovered the electrical outlets
• play in the dishwasher
• follow people around-even other kids
• play the "I'm going to drop the toy and you pick it up and I'll drop it again and..." game
• has two (dangerous) teeth
• crawl away while changing his diaper

There's more stuff but I don't want to bore you with lists so here's more pictures!

Anytime he sees the dishwasher open (even from

around the corner), he comes crawling as fast as

he can and there will be nothing that stops him.

Oh, his favorite toy is a black measuring spoon.

We went to check on him shortly after we put

him down for his nap and this is what we found.

This is what his bottle looks like when he's done

eating. He tries to get every last drop...

You can't really tell but the base of the nipple

is all shriveled up. He does this every time.

Here he is with his cute little hat on! You can

see his two little teeth!

As far as the pregnancy goes, I have not been

as sick as I was with Brayden (thank goodness).

I've only thrown up a few times and none of them

were recent. It is hard being pregnant and having

a baby to take care of. As many of you know, being

prego is very tiring and so a lot of the times I feel

like I have absolutely no energy. I feel like a big pile

of mush because of it. My acid reflux is bad-it wakes

me up at night (even with medicine) and I'm at the

point where, if it existed, I would have surgery

done to fix it because it is so miserable.

I'm in Young Womens and teach the Beehives-I don't

like preparing lessons but I love my cute little beehives!

Bryan just finished his end of the year stuff at work and

we actually get to eat dinner together now. This week

he is doing honor guard and he says it feels like boot camp

because of the dumbness that goes on so he doesn't really

like it but he has to do it (for a year).

Well that about sums it up. Once I get the energy to do it,

I'll have to have the whole house cleaned (all at once) and

take pictures because we still need to do that (even though

our decorating isn't finished).

Answers!

Ok so I think everyone has been dying to know how far along I am. Drum roll please......

The first picture (me pointing to my belly) I was about 20 weeks along and just for the record, we didn't know what we were having yet. At about 24 weeks, we found out what we were having -the ultrasound blog. As of right now I'm about 27 weeks, which puts my due date in January. The due date they gave me, I don't really believe so we'll see when the baby comes although that's kinda how it is anyways. And for the final answer (drum roll please.......) Brayden is going to have a little baby...... (drum roll please.....)

BROTHER!!!!

Sleepy Brayden

So the other day I put Brayden down for his nap and a few minutes later I went to check on him. This is what I found:

If you look closely you can see he's holding a

bottle. The bottle next to his foot is the one

that I gave him.

He was snoring and because he was sleeping like

this, it made it sound/look like his face was

pressed up against the side and couldn't breathe

but it was just him snoring.

The crazy thing is, I laid him on his back and

he ended up like this, which means that he

went from laying down to sitting up (which

we haven't seen him do). Later on that day

when he was in his crib, he was able to hold

on the crib railing and pull himself up and

take a couple of steps forward. It's so fun

watching him grow and learn new things!

My babies

Well it's what you all have been waiting for! OK maybe not quite yet but this time we do have ultrasound pictures. Based on the picture, you can change your guess if you so desire or you can keep your guess the same. When we tell you the answers, we'll tell you how far along I am in the first picture, how far along I am/the baby is in the ultrasound, and how far along I am at the current moment of the new post with all the answers. I hope that made sense!

We JUST found out what we're having. Can

you tell what it is by the picture? :)

Brayden's accomplishments:

1. He can say mama and dada although his "mamas"

are said when he is crying.

2. He can speed army crawl.

3. He can turn onto his tummy while reaching for the ground

over the swing while he is buckled in it.

4. He gets all the girls at church.

5. He recognizes his bottle and gets excited when he sees it.

6. There's more but I can't think of all of them right now.

As you can hopefully see, Brayden's

first tooth is coming through. The

one next to it is coming in as well

but you can't see it in the picture.

Brayden is like his dad already. He loves

electronics-especially the laptop and its cord.

Brayden wet his clothes so we were drying

them and him off at the same time.

Brayden enjoying his bottle. He looked like

a little elf. Isn't he so cute?!

We went across the street to a little playground

and we put Brayden in the swing for the first time.

I think he liked it. A couple of times, when he

was coming towards us he made a face where he

might of felt a little nauseous or something. It

was pretty cute.

Big Brother Brayden

As you have probably wondered from reading the title, Brayden IS going to be a big brother! And NO, we aren't adopting. Now, I bet the next question you have is... WHEN? But we are not going to answer that question. We are going to play a little game you might know as "The Guessing Game!" The prize is... you get to buy diapers for the little bundle of joy. Not really but you are more than welcome to if you feel so inclined. Here are the rules:

1. Look at the pictures posted.

2. Gauging by the pictures, guess how far along I am AND the due date.

3. Are we having a boy or girl?

3. Tell me the logic behind your guess.

You have to guess STRICTLY off the picture of my belly. Don't go by what you think would make sense calculating Brayden's age and blah blah blah. Guess by the picture. I am giving you a chance to judge me by my looks! When you have made your guess put it down as a comment. Remember, this is how I want your answers.

1. How far along I am.

2. Due date.

3. Are we having a boy or girl.

4. Logic behind your guess.

How far am I?

Now for some Brayden updates:

Brayden loves playing with the vacuum.

Brayden is 7 months old!

The last time he was weighed, he weighed

15 lbs. We are trying to get him to gain more

weight. Hopefully at his next checkup, he'll

have gained enough.

Our friends let us borrow their exersaucer and

when he's crawling around on the floor, he loves

to play on the bottom of it. He is also playing

with the DVD remote. He already loves electronics.

Out of all his toys laid out on the floor, he goes

for the laptop chord and other electronic things.

Bryan's Birthday present:

Bryan got a camping grill for his birthday and

here he is using it! He made some really

amazing Jamaican Jerk chicken.

Brayden is watching him grill and enjoying

being outside.

Since we found out we were expecting, Bryan

went out and got this for me!

Just kidding. It's really the Hope Diamond at

the Museum of Natural History.

Vacation in Georgia!

This last week, we met up with my family in Georgia and stayed in a condo by the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was so beautiful there. There was nothing but trees with winding roads which made feel sick after awhile. There were 2 outdoor swimming pools and one of them was connected to a lake where you could go rock sliding, canoeing, and paddle boating. You could also just enjoy the sandy beach (the water was really gross so I don't know why anyone would want to). The name of the town that our condo was in is called Big Canoe.

Here is a turtle we found on the side of the road.

It hissed at me when I picked it up.

The swimming pool by the lake:

Group photo.

Little Brayden loved the water.

This was the other swimming pool and even

though you can't tell, the boys are in the kiddie

pool that had fountains and buckets-we should

have taken a picture of it.

We didn't have Brayden out in the water or the

sun for very long so my dad enjoyed holding him

and occasionally napping with him.

On our hike to find the waterfalls.

Kaitlyn and Brayden.

We found them!

These are the Lower Falls. It was very beautiful.

Now we are at the Upper Falls.

Bryan and Brayden playing in the water.

Bryan was carrying Brayden in his arms

instead of in the carrier. He was walking

back down and slipped and was sliding down

the waterfall. I saw the end of it right before

Bryan caught himself. I'm pretty sure my heart

skipped at least 2 or 3 beats.

Later on, my mom had pulled out sheets out

of the drier and were nice and warm. Here is

Brayden with those sheets.

The day before we left, we went to another

waterfall. This one was in the state park vs

condo grounds. (It's similar to Mesa Falls

where there's a board walk and a lot more

steps. It's also a lot bigger waterfall).

Brayden does not have any clothes on because

on our way up he decided that he was going

to poop out of his diaper. It got everywhere

and since it was going to be a short visit, we

didn't bring wipes so we had to use a beach towel!

His business got everywhere.

Here we are at the pool again.

The shallow end had a beach entry. Brayden loved

to kick and splash the water.

Here I am going down the rock slide.

On this paddle boat venture, we saw a huge

turtle. We think it was a snapping turtle.

Kaitlyn and Brayden.

Family photo (without my dad (he's taking the

picture) or my brother (doing an internship)).

When we got home, we celebrated Bryan's birthday

(on Sunday).

It was funfetti cake with homemade frosting.

Brayden kept grabbing at the candles.

Here is Brayden babbling while we were eating

Bryan's birthday dinner.

Here is Brayden's 6 mo picture.

He misses all the attention he got

so he wasn't cooperating very well.

Here is a video of Brayden crawling

to Bryan for some birthday cake.

(Bryan is going to try and put it on youtube

so you can watch it in HD).

At first, he was using just his arms-army

crawling. As of yesterday he started using his

right foot.