It Starts

Well we broke out our swimming suits this week in spite of the freezing cold water. The hot temperatures and my desires to hold out on turning on the AC inspired our first swims. Today, 5 days of swimming in, and a now heated pool, Braden has taught himself to swim from place to place under water. I mean literally the kid can swim. He can barely barely get his head above water to take a breath, but nothing a few swimming lessons won't take care of. I thought he was drowning himself when he jumped in to the deeper end of our pool without floaties, but after I jumped in and got my pants wet tonight to save him, he did it again and made it to the shallow end in no time. The little stinker. He is quite the little fishy. Meanwhile, he is still a two year old. I think its pretty impressive.

Friends Are the Best

Braden is the best friend ever. He was at Zacks the other day and had to go potty. Zackary wasn't potty trained, but his mommy had sure tried to get that ball rolling a few times with no success. When Braden was there using the bathroom, Zack decided it was time, and his potty training journey began that very minute. Thank you Braden!!

My Favorite Things

I use this blog kind of as a journal/ scrapbook for our family. I know I am not incredibly diligent, but I am trying and I post at least once a month, and I definitely catch up, so Id say, Im doing my best. I just went through my posts to delete drafts that didn't need to be posted, and came across a post from over a year ago, that for some reason never made the cut. It was called "My Favorite Things Today". As I read it over, I loved what I read. It was a joyful post with a list of 5 of my favorite things for the day. I think I might start a journal that way. I have only done well in a journal for maybe 6 months straight, and if I just hone in on 5 things, I think that might be do-able. And if one day I write more in it, then thats great for everyone! So here's to my 5 favorite things of each day.

1) Traegan slept last night until 6am! It was delightful!!
2) Braden had a play date at his friends this morning and I got to work on a few blog posts and go to Costco. Traegan also took a killer nap while Braden was gone and my house looked a million times cleaner that it did when I woke up this morning. My house always looks like a tornado blew through on Monday mornings. Oh well.
3) I ran into one of my favorite friends tonight at an unexpected event. It was fun to chat and laugh together.
4) I am pretty sure that I did like 12 blog posts to update my sis during her trip to Ghana.
5) Braden went swimming today, even though the pool was pretty dang cold, and he was in heaven.

Today was a great day. Tomorrow will be great too!

Traegans Blessing

We went to Rexburg to bless Traegan. We had a wedding to attend and Devin had business in Southern Idaho and Utah so we decided why not? It was so much fun. My siblings came from Utah, and Devins sister came from Utah, and then Devins brother and parents from Rexburg were there. It was such a party!

 Braden was so happy to see Auntie Chantel again. He misses her in between visits.

 Our little angel in his perfect, borrowed, blessing outfit.

 What better time to take a nap then when you have a sleeping baby in your arms?

Our entire blessing party. We felt so lucky to have friends and family with us away from home. 

All of Bradens snow pictures are somewhere still. I think on Devins work computer or on someone else's camera. I didn't take enough on my camera and maybe even misplaced a memory card from that trip. Who knows. 

Growing Up

Braden is pretty good at doing things when I ask. It took a while and he had a listening chart and had to get 100 stars before he could get a new bike, but he did it. He has gotten so good at picking his toys up in fact, that I decided he was probably old enough to do some little designated "Braden Chores". For now he thinks it is cool. Almost every time the dishwasher is clean, he gets to unload the utensils. He has even started wanting to help me unload the dishes. He is great!

A New Addiction

Our shoes. Braden takes shoes out of our closet all day long and tries to go places in them. One day Braden had his friend Matthew over to play and I could tell that they were in the closet so I listened in to what they had to say. They are so funny.
B: Here. You should try these shoes on. They are great.
M: They won't fit me. I like these.
B: These shoes aren't cool enough for me. (WHAT? Where did he learn that? ha ha)
M: They fit!! Lets go. Ive got my flashlight. (no flashlight) Theres a storm.
B: No. The storms outside. Hurry lets go see it.

At this point I dashed out of my room and tried not to laugh out loud at the two of them walking down my hallway in Devins sz 14 shoes. They each proceeded to find a push toy and tried getting up the stairs in the shoes. I think they ditched them about 3 steps up. Cute boys! I am a huge fan of play dates especially now that my role has significantly decreased. Its not babysitting Bradens friends anymore. Its just a party for B and a break for me. LOVE IT!!

Bath Time

We love bath time around here. Its a good thing too probably with stinky boys taking over my house. These boys get one or two baths a day, sometimes more just cuz they like em!! Really its just the water that counts. Nothing else matters.

 Braden decided if his action figures needed a bath, then so did he. He turned the water on and got in all by himself. Genius!

 We have tried this a few times. It is always much harder than I think it will be and I have nixed it all together. Bathing an infant isn't as easy as bathing a child. I look forward to Traegan being able to sit up in the bath and be able to defend himself against the villainous big brother.

 Just a quick wash of the face before bedtime. No big deal. The soap was there right?

 I heard a ruckus in the bathroom one night and found out that Daddy had poured the bubbles in and they were taking over. Braden loved it of course!

 Id heard of adding food coloring to the water, but since Braden had stained his hands a few times, I was a little wary of trying it. But, it worked out great and he loved it! My tub and Braden skin turned out as usual.

This little monkey adores bath time. He is getting a little big for this cute little whale tub and gets water everywhere when he kicks his feet and flaps his arms like crazy, but even if he is super grouchy, a bath will always calm down. It is one of the few Traegan tricks that actually works. Thanks heaven!

Oakland Zoo

Way back in February we went with my mom, and local siblings to the Oakland Zoo. It had been a while since Braden had been to the zoo and it was nice to enjoy the outside air and the beautiful zoo grounds. Not to mention it is great exercise. Every exhibit is up one hill and down another. It was great. We also made a stop at Fentons where we got to chow down on insane amounts of ice cream until we were sick. It was a blast. No need to talk about the amount of crying Traegan did on the way home. Poor kid. 

The Easters

We had a fun Easter. Braden and I play egg hunt for a few weeks before Easter and by the time the real thing came around he was ready to go and new exactly how to look for them. Braden got a new bike helmet since his old one from two summers ago is now way too small, and the Easter bunny forgot to bring the bike to go with it. Lucky Daddy got that one all figured out and the bike came a few days later.

I made the boys these super simple matching bow-ties. Devin didn't want in on the action. Im not sure why.

A Fish Named Water

We have gotten our first family pet. A goldfish. He was a gift to Braden from a friend. Braden was super excited. He even gets to help feed his fish sometimes when he is being extra good. It was a few days before Braden could come up with a name that he liked for his little fishy. He named it Water. Great right? Such a funny guy. Water has added a great vibe to our kitchen counter.

Whose kid is that?!

A while back I think in March we had some friends over for a swim in the "hot pool". It was way too warm that day and none of us lasted long out there. But Rozzi and Braden had a blast. 

 As we got ready to leave the pool, Bradens attire quickly went from this, 

 to this, as we arrived home. Oh well. He is three right? Why do boys love taking their clothes off? I keep finding Braden shirtless here and there with the claim that he is hot. He has started taking his shoes and socks off at church and has even been caught trying to unbutton his shirt during sacrament meeting. Whose kid is this?

Braden and his buddy Ryder shirtless at the park because they got their shirts "wet". Right!!

Workin at the Car Wash

For Devins birthday he got a carwash kit, complete with a hose. He has talked for a long time about how he hates when I pay someone else to wash our car and that he wants to wash our cars every Saturday. Did  I say cars? Yes I did. After 4.5 years of being a one car family, we got ourselves a family car. Having two  cars is the best, although having a car payment after 3.5 years of having our trusty '98 Accord paid off may not be. However, I am loving the free carwash I get every Saturday. And Braden loves it too! So Braden does the fun part of spraying the cars down, and then lets Dad do the dirty work. Funny boy. And yes Braden does sing the carwash song as he goes along which he learned from a movie called Shark Tale, that I told him is broken cuz he started wanting to watch it every day.

Mr T

Well almost four months in and I have not posted any of T Moneys month to month shots. Whoops. So here are a few for your enjoyment Lilo. (a nickname for my sis in Ghana). I'd say Traegan is a delight, but sometimes he isn't. Ha ha. He is way more difficult than Braden and I am sure all of my babies will be. Braden was sooooo easy. The poor guy has colic bad, and acid reflux, and he HATES being in the car unless my little sister Emily is in the back seat with him. He could care less if I try to sit back with him. He cry anyway. No fun for him and for us. Things are beginning to look up. I tried to ween him off the special formula he takes (I don't breastfeed because of the seizure medicine I take), and the Colic prescription, but after about a week and a half when he was around 13 weeks old, we realized he probably still wasn't ready. The poor little guy is having digestion problems up the wazoo. Luckily for the time being, everything appears to be normal with him, other than the infant digestion issues. He is super alert and loves being able to see the world around. Just like Braden, he doesn't really want to be cradled unless he is really tired. He wants to be in on the action. Thank goodness he is strong and I can carry him around in the Bjorn. He is super adorable when he is feeling good and is talking and being responsive to us like crazy and we are eating it up. Braden loves it when he can make Trae, as Braden has started to love making Traegan, smile. Braden is a great big brother and loves his baby so very much. Traegans favorite spots are his swing, when he is tired, his bed tucked in between two fluffy pillows on his side with binky in tow, or tucked in between my arm and armpit. We will have to get a pic of that one. Its the surefire way for him to fall asleep fast, if he doesn't have a tummy ache. Its about two seconds all snuggled in and he is out. He is definitely a snuggler when he is tired. He also loves being outside. If he isn't feeling good even if we are outside, he will grin and bear it. We take lots of walks now. We love this little one with all our hearts and are really enjoying watching him grow along side Big Brother Braden!

 Look at this little angel. These were the days. I enjoyed waking up with him in the middle of the night, thinking it wouldn't last long and that he would follow in big brothers footsteps and start sleeping through the night on his own. I was wrong.

 This is the furrowed brow we have come to know and love. From the beginning little mister has had a fairly serious demeanor. It will be interesting to see how these serious faces play out as we watch his personality develop.

The first time Traegan smiled was the best ever. With these serious faces he is always making, nothing beats a smile from him. He has the funniest smiles too. I guess he just has animated facial expressions. My siblings are always getting a good laugh just watching the faces he makes. :) He is a funny character. You'll notice he is not wearing a matching 3 mo onesie. It didn't fit at all. Oh well. I guess I will scrap the cute onesie idea and just do these diapered pics. They are cuter anyway right?

Masks, Hats and Helmets OH MY

First off. THANK YOU BLOG SPOT for finally becoming user friendly. After 5 years of blogging and hating the process, it finally isn't all that bad. And just in time, because with my little Sis Lauren in Ghana for the summer, I promised her I would update my blog since we can't Skype or send picture messages anymore. So plan on seeing this little ol blog updated once a week. Thank you Lauren. And who knows, maybe I will start liking blogging since the format makes sense now. THANK YOU BLOGGER!!!

 Braden has a helmet and mask obsession. Every time we go to Target we make a pit stop at the toy section, and a helmet or a mask gets put on and then brought with us around the store and then after Braden puts it on the belt to "pay it" I just tell the checker that we aren't getting it and they are super sneaky and they put it away. Its the best. He is so happy at the store and lots of times, he will just forget about it afterward, until we go to Target again and he knows exactly where the masks and helmets are. He really wanted this helmet when we were helmet shopping for him, but he has such a giant noggin, that we decided it wasn't the best fit since it isn't adjustable.

 Does anyone know where these goggles came from? Braden always gets them off the shelf in the garage, one of his favorite places to find new toys, and wears them around for a little while until he gets sick of pushing them back up on his nose.

 My very own Handy Manny. Braden loves going to work these days and thanks to a Bob the builder tool belt someone gave us, construction hat from Devins work, and tools from someone else, he gets to work in style. Lucky kid.

 This is a fan favorite this week. We have taken this mask pretty much everywhere we have gone, and if we don't take it with us, he looks for it the second we get home. Its not even ours. We are borrowing it from some big boys down the street. The best part about the Star Wars mask is that he can't really see out of those tiny eye slits so when he walks around he just flips it up on his head like a welding mask and does whatever he needs to do. Then when he is ready for some more Star Wars action, he flips it down again. I think I see a mask in this boys future. Also Braden is standing on his skateboard/ snowboard/ surfboard, whatever he sees fit for it to be at the time, a pad from a bench in our bedroom. I think it makes it onto the floor at least once a day.

 Braden and his best buddy Zack had a blast at the store the other day. Guess which one Braden is?! Oh did you guess the one in the pink hat? You are right!

Ay ay ay!! My little muchacho riding away into the sunset!

Braden and Ryder snacking in helmets. Everyones doing it!

 And if all else fails, Braden always has paper bags to make hats and masks out of. This kid just has it made.