Our Growing Boy

Time for another update. Not a lot has happened this week so a lot of these pictures are kinda random ones.

Brayden is 3 months old!

He was wiggling which is why

it's a little blurry.

Brayden reaches for his toes!

We were sitting on the couch and Brayden

was talking so I got the camera out and Bryan

noticed that Brayden was reaching for his toes

and i was able to get it on video. (Sorry it's

sideways and fuzzy-it's a lot better on our

camera).

Brayden loves to stick his feet in the air.

Bryan was trying to get a picture

with Brayden and this is how it

turned out. The expression is

priceless.

Here is a video of Brayden talking. He talks

a ton more than what is shown. Every time I

get the camera out to record him he stops

talking. The little stinker.

We had a ward BBQ and there was a lake and

a playground (on base). Brayden going down

the slide.

Bryan and Brayden both going down

the slide.

Bryan made some filet mignon with some red

potatoes, and asparagus.

Me dying to eat it.

Bryan showing Brayden the storm outside.

So cute.

Military Life As A Military Wife

I thought I would make a post about what it has been like so far being an Air Force wife. We've been here for almost 3 months now and are enjoying it.

At 7 AM I can hear the reveille song (I was going to play it but it wouldn't download) being played telling everyone that it's time to wake up. I'm not really sure why but I like hearing that in the morning. Maybe it's because it reminds me of camp and when I think of camp I think of a full day of fun activities, either way, I like hearing it. Don't worry, it's not loud enough that it would wake you up-I can only hear it when I'm listening for it. Although Bryan says that it's really loud over by the dorms (where the single people live). Ha ha.

My Air Force man with our Air Force baby

At 5 PM the retreat song is played which means they are taking the flag down and then they play the National Anthem. If you are outside during this time, you are to stop what you're doing and stand and face the direction of the music. If you are driving, you are to stop-you don't even have to pull over, you can just stop in the middle of the road. I think that if you're in uniform you have to salute while this is being played. I like hearing this too. I've never really been very patriotic and hearing the National Anthem and standing to it, helps me appreciate it and I hope that by doing this, our kids will learn the importance and have a more meaningful love of our country.

At 9 PM they play another song and I think it's the music they play at military funerals. This one tells everyone that it's time for bed.

Here they are again. Bryan looks hot and Brayden

looks cute.

I don't really understand why and I'm not a big fan of it, but the military wants everything on base to look the same. All the buildings and everything with it are brown. Even the fire hydrants! This is an older base and so it's an ugly brown too. Luckily the housing isn't brown but your neighbor's house looks the same as yours, inside and out (like an apartment complex) but maybe with a different color of trim (the doors are the same color as the trim). Ours is white and blue. I like the ones with red doors and also the ones with blue and yellow. Anyways.

Our ugly brown fire hydrant.

Our house, which is part of a fourplex.

A lot of people say that military doctors are horrible. Well you can't say the military doctors are horrible if you haven't experienced the military doctors. There are horrible doctors outside of the military too so don't jump to conclusions. My experiences with them so far have been just fine. One thing I don't like is that to make an appointment with pediatrics or with the dentist..., I have to call an appointment line which is some weird number and you have to listen to options before you talk to someone directly. The good thing is, you only need to know one phone number instead of a million. Something that I really like is that a lot of the doctor appointments and such (except for maybe dentist and optometry), are in the hospital. Brayden goes to pediatrics, they prescribe him something and we walk up a flight of stairs to the pharmacy, wait 15 minutes and it's ready. We don't even have to pay for it. No driving to Walgreens on the other side of town and waiting an hour or longer and paying a fortune for it. Everything is done in one location.

There are a lot of resources and programs here on base for me to attend. They do all they can to support families. There's the BX which is like a Wal-Mart but a hundred times better. No tax. The Commissary for groceries. No tax. Unless you go through the self-checkout, people take your groceries out to your car (even if you can do it yourself) and you are to tip them. Sorry, but I think it's stupid. There's a bowling alley, movie theatre, bank, gas station, places to eat, a place to rent movies, a library, an airman's attic (like DI but it's free and is only for ranks E5 and below), they have child care services, playgrounds everywhere, gyms, everything. If you have problems with addictions, abuse... there's a place to go. If you need a parent's night out child care is provided for free up to 20 hrs (not all at once)... you name it, they got it. If your spouse is deployed they have a ton of things for you to help you out. There's a million more other things some of which I'm still learning about. Even though Bryan is the one in the military, there are plenty of things/programs and such that I can do and be involved in. It's great.

This is the playground that is right across the

street. (I'm standing in our yard). Occasionally

Bryan's squadron will run on the track and I'll

walk across the street and meet him there.

As we are living on an Air Force base, there is the constant sound of airplanes, helicopters, and jets (day and night, rain or shine) flying around. I thought it would be annoying but it's really kinda cool. We live across the street from the hangar (where they park planes) of Air Force One. We saw it take off once and that was pretty cool. Bryan got to see the President, and got to be in some really cool and important airplanes (he'll have to tell you about that).

Here is the Air Force One hangar. Again, I'm

standing in our yard. That car is parked in the

playground lot to the left.

We are in a family ward and a good chunk of us are military. It's fun because we all live so close, close enough to walk, that we hang out all the time. Living on base is a safe place to live, and they take very good care of you. It's culturally rich out here and the people Bryan work with are so much fun. They are always laughing and joking around. It's fun being around them. Bryan has to work out twice a week so he gets out of work early (and still gets paid) to do that and sometimes I go with him.

Bryan just got done playing ultimate frisbee

with his squadron. I came along.

When driving, you cannot talk on the phone or you'll get pulled over. If anyone in the car doesn't have a seat belt on, you'll get pulled over. If you go over the speed limit you'll get pulled over. You have to show your military ID to get on base and you can vouch for and escort others on to base (which is what we do when we have the missionaries over for dinner). Your vehicle, at random, may get searched when you enter the base.

It's only been 3 months, but the experiences here have been mostly good ones. There are some things I don't like and I've mentioned them earlier, but so far military life has treated us pretty well.

Any questions?

Happy Easter!

This time last year, it was just Bryan and I and we were managing apartments. This year, there are three of us! and we live on the other side of the United States on an Air Force base. Like last year, we decorated eggs but this time we used a little different technique to make really cool patterns. We made Bryan's traditional Easter egg nest and we also made and decorated cupcakes, and this year I made a little Easter basket-for Brayden. We didn't want to get caught up in Easter without taking time to remember the true meaning of the beautiful day, so we had a little Easter lesson which was very nice.

The Easter nest with Brayden

staring at it.

The top three eggs we wrapped in silk and then

were boiled to get those cool patterns. We also did

the traditional egg dyes. Bryan had fun with those

as he colored all of our eggs.

Here are our Easter cupcakes.

Here is Brayden with his Easter basket.

Here is Brayden in his new suit

and his handmade booties.

The Bryan, Rachel, Brayden Winston Family.

Our little happy family.

Mommy and Brayden.

Daddy and Brayden in their matching

clothes. My two boys.

Cherry Blossoms in DC

Well it's been another week or so, so it's time for another update. This last weekend, we went to DC with some friends to see the Cherry Blossom Festival. But before we show pictures of that, here are some pictures of Mister Brayden.

Here he is with his hands folded.

When I get around to it, I'll make

a post about the red mark on his

hand.

MSgt Williams gave us a bunch of

baby clothes, this is one of his many

cute outfits from her. When the jacket

is zipped, there's a whale on it with

words that say, "save our ocean friends."

It's really cute. And people say you can't

have fun with boy clothes. Psh.

Here's the DC venture we went on.

We had Brayden in a little backpack

thing. Bryan carried him around like

that for 9 hours and claims to know

what it feels like to "carry" a baby

(because it was on his tummy).

I don't think so.

Here we are in front of Lincoln.

That thing is huge and pretty amazing.

Here we are in front of the cherry blossoms.

They were so beautiful and it was so enchanting

to walk underneath all of them.

Bubbly baby Brayden

I set Brayden on the couch and he just kept

looking up at his dad, I had to take a picture

of it. Sorry it's a little blurry.

Bryan has Brayden hooked already. What am

I going to do? (You might be able to see his

big eyes wide open, and a little drool).

Brayden is 2 months old!

Pregnant Again?

Well here we are with another post for our blog. Brayden is now 9 weeks old. Looking at pictures of when he was born and looking at how he looks now, he has grown quite a bit but is still as cute as ever (even with his 3 chins).

Well since it's week 9, could we be pregnant again? Maybe.

But this time.....

...it's Bryan!

In a previous post, I said that Bryan

is always carrying Brayden in some

creative form or another. Well, this

is one of them-this is how he carried

him upstairs-hidden in his shirt.

It's just Brayden! Here he is 3 weeks old.

Bubba

Well it's time for another update with Brayden pictures. We have a lot to post. He is now 8 weeks old and growing fast. He is a happy baby, loves to cuddle, and loves to smile and laugh. He's been able to hold his head up for quite some time along with being able to stand. And he is finally starting to sleep better at night (knock on wood). A few nights ago, he only woke up twice. Oh, if you only knew how exciting that is for me! Anyways here are some pictures. The order is recent to not so recent if that makes sense.

Here's a video of Brayden smiling. We were

trying to get him to laugh like he usually

does but I guess he was a little camera shy.

Our little man just loves to stretch and stretch

and stretch.

Before church.

Getting ready for church. Brayden absolutely

loves baths. He kicks his little legs, flails his

arms, and splashes the water. We're in the process

of getting a video of it.

All dressed for church.

After church. This is his modeling pose. He

got in that pose himself. Bryan is just holding

his head up.

Bryan got to see the President. He's waving

from Air Force One.

Bryan is always finding new ways to

carry Brayden. This is the latest.

Our little Air Force baby

Bryan swaddles Bray so tight that

you can see his arms. He looks like

a little mummy.

This is a naked photo shoot taken about a month ago.

This is one of my favorites of him.

Well, the purpose of this entry is to show off videos of Brayden's first bath. In this first video Brayden isn't in the tub yet, he is just being prepped to get in. He didn't think he was dirty enough so he decided to surprise dad and pee all over himself and the bed. You can see a few drops on the sheets next to his head on the left. In the second video he is on his way to the tub. He may not look too excited to get in the tub at first but after the camera went off he had a lot of fun. The picture here, illustrates how he was and is now when it comes to bath time.