NO BRADY!!!

So last night Brady went to his first official sleep over!!! My wonderful friend Margi agreed to babysit Brady while Jim, Sherry, Alan and I had a fabulous dinner at Chez Francois. When we initially planned this we weren't sure if Margi's husband Mark would be in town or not, so we just decided if need be Brady would spend the night at their place. We've spent a good deal of time at Mark and Margi's and even stayed there during our house hunting days so Brady is quite comfortable there. Besides they've got two boys who are 5 1/2(Ty) and 2 1/2(Blake) so he'd definitely be entertained!! As it turned out Mark was out of town so off Brady went!

We decided to take all of the kids (Kristi joined us with her kids too) to a performance at a local park in the morning. It was quite cute although it was a bit geared more towards the kids in the 4+ range since it was about junkyard pirates who "reuse, repair, and recycle". After the show we played in the field, threw rocks in the creek and then had a picnic lunch! After lunch Brady and I headed out to Margi's house so that I could put Brady down for a nap and slip out.

I'm happy to report that Brady did GREAT!!! Margi got him up after he never really fell asleep(because he had been sleeping in the car on the way there) and all the boys proceeded to play together. Ty and Blake showed Brady the ropes and Brady loved watching the "big boys" play! He ate a good dinner and then conked out at 7pm!!! He slept well and didn't get up until about 7am with a smile on his face. Margi and Brady were outside playing when I showed up this morning and I was greeted with "MA" and a big smile!!!

It's nice to know that we have such great friends who I trust COMPLETELY and feel comfortable enough to leave Brady with them overnight. It's also nice to know that Brady adjusts so well and just goes with the flow. THANKS Margi, we certainly appreciate it and now we owe you and Mark a night out!!!

Brady in the field after the kids performance.

A self portrait of Mommy and Brady!

Brady loved just walking around in this field and most of the time was giggling while cruising around. He tripped a lot though because the grass practically came up to his knees!!

Jim, Sherry, me and Alan in the courtyard of Chez Francois after our fabulous meal!!

Sherry and me

HANGIN' OUT!!

Our good friends Jim and Sherry are here visiting for the week and so far we've had a great time. They got in on Sunday, but unfortunately their flight was about 2 hours late so we didn't get to go to the baseball game like we had planned...instead we just chilled at the house and grilled out. We didn't do too much on Monday either as Sherry had a bit of work to do and then Brady needed to nap (along with the adults) so we just went out to dinner at a great pizza place. On Tuesday Jim and Sherry headed into DC to do the tourist thing and ended up spending most of the day at the Smithsonian Holocaust Museum and then the adults went out to a FABULOUS dinner(see above post). Today they are back in DC at a Capitol tour. Not sure what the rest of the week has in store, but I'm sure it'll involve some drinks and good stories!!!


Brady and Jim chillin on the couch....notice who has the remote!!

Brady has got this "man thing" down already!!!

SUMMER FUN!

Last week my friends Margi and Kristi, and I took the kids to see a puppet show at one of the local parks. It was really pretty cute and kids seem to enjoy themselves. (the puppeteer looked like he had a rough night though!!). There were lots of different puppets doing different stunts and dancing. After the puppet show we played on the playground, watched the ducks, had a picnic lunch and played on the playground some more before heading home. I know Brady had a good time because he feel asleep within 5 minutes of leaving!!

The penguin "couple"

Margi's boys...Ty in back and Blake in front.(for the record, Blake is not sticking his tongue out at me, I just happened to snap the picture as he was getting ready)

Kristi's kids....Kyle standing and Kayla

Brady clapping after one of the "acts"

Brady had lots of fun climbing in the tunnel.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

I think Alan had a good first Father's Day!! The day started off with me having a soccer game. (the league didn't schedule games on Mother's Day, but did on Father's Day...kind of funny). Brady had tons of fun running around, carrying my water thermos, pushing his stroller and kicking his soccer ball. Needless to say he was exhausted and feel asleep on the way home. Once home we had lunch, then Brady napped while Alan mowed the grass...HIS choice!!! When Alan was finished with the lawn and Brady woke up we went to Sam's Club, something we actually like doing. Alan especially liked going today since he bought himself a new 50 inch tv!!! I have a gift for him but it's at my friend Vivianne's house becuase I ordered it online and I knew it would be delivered while we were in Florida so I had it shipped to her house. At this point it doesn't really matter what it is anyway because the tv TOTALLY trumps ANYTHING I would have gotten!!! I think Brady really likes Sam's Club too becuase he got to sample his way through the shopping excursion, so he was happy!!! Then we got home and had dinner and played with Brady before putting him to bed. The evening ended with us setting up the new tv!! A very busy day, but a good one, I think! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY honey, I love you!!!

PLAYING IN THE POOL!!!

Brady and I spent time in the pool everyday except Wednesday and I think he had a really good time. He even started to go stand by the back door when I said we were going to go swimming!!

Playing with Grandma
This looks like it might be right before a sneeze...(didn't notice that until I saw it here on the blog).
Playing with Grandpa
Playing peek a boo with the towels is fun too!
This HAS to be one of my ABSOLUTE favorite pictures of Brady!!! Both Daddy and Grandpa got a 5x7 of this for Father's Day!!!

FLORIDA FUN!!

Here are some pictures of the fun that we had while we were at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Brady thought it was fun to take ALL of Chelsea's toys out of her basket and give them to her...

She didn't seem to mind!!! I'm happy to report that Chelsea will FINALLY be coming "home" to Virginia in July. We had planned on flying her up here but it was ridiculously expensive so I'm going to fly home and my mom and I will rent a car and drive up and then my mom will fly home. I think my parents were secretly hoping we'd decide to leave her there, but our house feels empty without her, so we're excited to get her here!!!

Brady ready for bed, sporting the firefighters hat he got from Firehouse Subs.

At dinner Friday night with my parents and several of their friends.

Brady and Grandpa waiting for their "chariot". They were disappointed when I told them I wasn't bringing the car around!! : )

BEST TRAVELER AWARD!!

Brady and I are in Florida visiting my parents and friends for a few days while Alan is in Switzerland. We always fly Southwest because we can get incredibly cheap direct fares and until this past Tuesday we've never experienced any real delays. Anyhow, our flight was scheduled to leave Dulles at 6:40pm so we arrived at the airport at about 4:30, which is a bit early, but you never know what traffic is going to be like and it's not uncommon for the security lines to be a mess, so I'd rather be on the early side, especially since it was just me and Brady. When we checked in at the counter to check our bags we were told the flight had been delayed until 6:55pm, which was no big deal. So we sailed right through security (of course, because we had extra time)and went to our terminal. We hung out for awhile at an uncrowded gate area near ours so that Brady could "run around" before being forced to sit for the 2 hour flight. Just after 6 we went over to our gate to see what was happening(after a bathroom break/diaper change)....the board still said that we were still leaving at 6:55pm, good news!!! Well, at 6:40pm we still had not been told to line up for boarding, so I knew there was no way we were leaving at 6:55. At 7pm we were still in the gate area....7:15pm still in the gate area...7:30pm still in the gate area, only now we are in the line at the counter so I can try and find out what is happening with our flight, and by now Brady had fallen asleep in his stroller( I was SERIOUSLY considering not going at this point because I had overheard that we might be waiting for up to 2 hours!!!) Also at this time I received a text from my friend Vivianne, who dropped us off at the airport and had our car and had driven out to Purceville, to tell me that she had just gotten caught in a hail storm!! She wanted to know if Alan liked "dimples"!!!....7:45pm I was about 3 people from the front of the line at the counter and we were told to line up so we could begin boarding, so we line up. Of course I had to wake Brady up at the end of the jetway to get him out of the stroller so we could find a seat on the plane....8pm the plane is just about fully boarded (we had an empty seat next to us) and the pilot comes on to tell us he has bad news.....there are thunderstorms in the area and the FAA has grounded all fights but they wanted us boarded so that we could leave at a moments notice!!!.... 8:30pm the flight attendants start playing games to keep the passengers occupied i.e. ladies, who has the most lipsticks in their purse? (someone had 6!!!) Men, who has the most business cards other than his own? (some had over 20)Left side verses right side in a toilet paper race;which side could get it furthest from front to back without it breaking? (left side won) All of this would have been amusing if it wasn't 8:30pm and if there weren't A TON of little ones on the plane who SHOULD be sleeping at this point!!! Brady was clapping for the winners so I guess he wasn't bothered by it! We were spending most of our time looking out the window, reading books and trying to get him to fall asleep....9pm our plane needed to back away from the jetway because another plane needed it to unload passengers; pilot felt pretty confident that we would be able to takeoff within the hour; all passengers with connecting flights to New Orleans and West Palm would officially miss their connections, they were free to get off the plane before we moved back from the jetway to rebook for the morning; Again I SERIOUSLY considered bailing at this point, so I call my mom to see what she thinks...she was no help!! :) I call Viv to see if she's eaten dinner/can she come get me? She says it's up to me. I decide to wait it out til next available bail point because Brady is still being remarkably good and is still in great spirits despite being tired; All the N.O. and W.P. passengers come back on board which caused a near riot because people had taken their now empty seats and then the N.O. and W.P. people wanted their original seats back!!!;Brady and I read Baby Einstein 'Neighborhood Animals' and 'Baby Noah World Animals' for the 3rd time each!...9:30pm we finally moved back from the jetway and waited on the "roadway" at the gate area; Brady's still happy and being amused by the nice lady sitting behind us....10pm pilot says FAA still has everyone grounded but thinks we will depart within the hour (DUDE, you said that LAST HOUR!!!!);Brady's STILL awake and happy and we're reading the Baby Einstein books AGAIN!!.....10:30pm "Flight attendants please take your seats we've been cleared for takeoff";clapping ensues; someone yells "we haven't taken off YET"; Brady's STILL awake but fading fast....10:45 LIFTOFF!!!! Brady falls asleep IMMEDIATELY!!!!SHHHEWW....12:35am we land in Tampa; Brady wakes up with a smile!!!....1:30am we finally get to my parents house after getting our luggage which took forever, probably because no one was working!!....1:45am put Brady to bed!!! Holy Cow, what a long night that was but I couldn't be more proud of my son for lasting 2 hours and 45 minutes sitting on the plane and then another 2+hours of actual flying time and being happy the whole time!! I also have to give a "shout out" to all the other little ones on the plane because it could've been a disaster but they ALL were troopers. Also a BIG THANKS to nice lady sitting behind us who knew just when to get Brady's attention!!!

I have to say that Brady has flown quite a bit since we brought him home 8 months ago and he's been an AWESOME flyer for every flight except one, when we were "that family" that no one wants to be. We are very blessed to have such a great little boy who is literally smiling 90% of the time!!! WE LOVE YOU PUMPKIN!!!!

7:30pm... Brady fast asleep while I'm in the line at the counter trying to find out what is going on. How sweet is he?? Notice that Mr. Bear is keeping him company!!

THANKS SO MUCH!

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to YMKN (and Gayle) for arranging to have the dozen roses sent to me in Virginia so that I could enjoy them for more than one day!!! I really appreciate the extra thought that went into the decision. It is truly one of the most beautiful bouquets I have ever seen. Even Brady said, "WOW" when he saw them for the first time!!! : )

MORE SWIMMING!!!

I had too many cute pictures so here are some more from our fun time in the pool!!

This is fun!!
Will someone please throw the ball for me??!!

Hi, Mr. Frog....Brady was very interested in this frog...it was really cute!

The best part was getting to run around naked after I got out of the pool!!! You can see in the background that Chelsea was not ready to get out of the pool!

Cuteness!!!

SWIMMING!!

On Sunday morning we went for a swim at Grandma and Grandpa's pool, which was Brady's first swimming experience!! I have to say that he had a great time swimming with mommy, daddy and Chelsea (even though daddy wasn't feeling his best!!!).

Brady Chillin'!!!
Brady, Daddy and Chelsea

Hi Mom!
Yep, I'm cool and I know it!!

Grandma helping me get all dry!

CHANGE OF COMMAND

So as I said in the previous post, we flew home this past weekend for a Krewe of Neptune function: Change of Command. COC is to honor the outgoing Captain(Alan) and to introduce the incoming Captain(Gary) and the new Board of Directors for the upcoming Krewe year. Alan and I were both blown away by the effort that went into the event to honor Alan's heritage. The decorations were out of this world!!! (thanks Suzanne and Gary for all of your efforts). They even went so far as to "borrow" (or rent, I'm not sure) a dragon to do a dragon dance of sorts...TOTALLY COOL!!! Alan and I can't say enough and I know he was truly touched, so we just want to say THANKS to everyone that played a part in making this a very special night for Alan and myself!!

In a strange coincidence, the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce(from Orlando) was having an event in the room next door!!! Even stranger....one of our friends, Bonnie, was outside and started talking to one of the women and she told Bonnie that she helped with an adoption for someone in the area...turned out it was us!!! The lady recognized our names when Bonnie mentioned us!!! SO...I had this idea....let's walk next door and see if we can find this lady and tell her we're on the list for #2 and see if she can "pull any strings"!! We did go next door and met the President, but unfortunately she didn't know who that woman may have been, so no luck there...but at least we tried!!!

The funny thing about this is that the people from the Chamber of Commerce were coming in our entrance thinking that it was their party, so they had to post signs out front with an arrow pointing them to the correct door. And, I know that some of us from the Neptune group were thinking, WOW, they got Chinese entertainment!!!!

Again, thanks for a FABULOUS event, we had an amazing time!!!!

The tables were decorated so nicely!!! The vases in the center were raffled off and we ended up with 2 BEAUTIFUL ones!!

The beginning of the dragon procession

Up close and personal with the dragon!

Alan at the podium getting the microphone for his speech.

Alan and Past King (and our very good friend) Donnie having a good time!!

AIRPORT FUN!!

This past Thursday we flew to Tampa for a Krewe function: Change of Command, which was in honor of Alan as his term of "Captain" is over. (more on that in another post). This time we decided to get Brady his own seat so we took his car seat for him to sit in, which we thought would be a good idea. We even got a thing that attaches to the car seat which makes it a stroller (it's basically like a dolly), which was great until we got to security and they asked us to take it apart so it could go through the xray machine! So we put it back together so Brady could continue to ride in it until we got on the plane. Then once we got on the plane it had to be taken apart again so it would fit in the seat...UGH!!!!! The actual attaching to the plane seat wasn't easy either as the seat belt barely fit through the back, but Alan finally got it all set for Brady. Brady did a great job on the flight and slept through most of it. The only good thing that came of this ordeal is that it made me realize that there is no way that I'll be able to do all of that when Brady and I fly home next week without Alan, so I guess he'll go back to being a lap child!!

Here's a few pictures of Brady playing on the airplanes at the Tampa Airport after we arrived.

15 MONTH CHECKUP

Okay, so Brady had his 15 month check up on May 5th and I just realized I didn't post the details, so here they are: He is now 31 inches long, which puts him in the 50th percentile and he is about 23lbs which puts him in the 25th percentile. Brady continues to eat well and try most things, and I have to say that I think he has a pretty good appetite and eats a good variety of foods. He likes pizza, chicken, ribs, broccoli, corn, carrots, cheese, applesauce, yogurt and pretty much anything sweet!!! Brady is talking quite a bit these days saying things like: balloon, dog, mom, dad, ball, and milk to name a few. He's also very good at identifying things in picture books and never ceases to amaze me how quickly he learns new things. He's walking all over the place now and I'm thinking running is not far off!!! Brady is growing by leaps and bounds and is getting to be a big boy now which is both exciting and sad at the same time. He's really a happy boy most of the time and very sweet, giving kisses 90% of the time we ask. To my surprise this morning when I picked him up out of his crib he gave me a kiss all on his own!!! How sweet is that??? : ) We just love him so much!!!