One-Year Photo Shoot

We had Braden's One-Year photos taken Sunday. We found a photographer through Cody and Devon- Jenny Miller. She was great! She is breaking into the business and I have no doubt she has a very successful future ahead of her in the photography world. Braden took to her right away. He put his arms out and wanted her to hold him as soon as we walked up to her! We stayed in the Woodlands, near the Market Street area, for the photos. The hardest part of it all was arriving there in one piece for the 8am appointment! Braden lasted for about an hour. Really, by 30 mins he was totally over it, but we made him keep going! Here are some of the "sneak peek" shots Jenny posted on her blog.


Please visit Jenny's blog to see more of her work. www.jennymillerphotographyblog.com

One-Year Check Up!

This morning at 8am we had a check-up at Dr Flanagan's, because Braden is one! It was a good visit. Braden was a little cranky, but we entertained him by showing him these little wall stickers of fish they have on the wall in the room we were in. When Dr Flanagan checked him out he said his ear tubes looked great and he looks great. But, he did tell us Braden has a molar coming in...that would definitely explain why Braden hasn't been sleeping through the night. He keeps waking up screaming, so that must be why. Braden received three vaccines. He also told us we could switch Braden to regular milk. He said the new recommendation is 2% percent, instead of whole milk. So, Mike and I are going to attempt to make the switch and we're going to begin working on getting rid of the bottle. We'll see how that goes. ;) We also want to begin teaching him body parts, such as nose and belly button. So, here are some of his stats at one-year:

Weight: 21 pounds 12.6 ounces (25.50 percentile)
Height: 30 inches (50.75 percentile)
Head Circumference: 18.5 (50.75 percentile)
Favorite Things: Daddy and Winnie the Pooh, and he does love his dogs and cats
Favorite Toys: Lawnmower, hockey stick, and xylophone stick
Things He "Says": dat, bubbles, da da
Silly Things He Does: unravels toilet paper is our favorite
He's also walking like a pro!!

We've also begun implementing "time-out" with Braden. He unfortunately has begun hitting the TV, and mommy and daddy. So, when he does this we tell him he's going in his "time-out" corner. I really thought he wouldn't be able to make sense of what "time-out" is, but he is starting to react to it. We want our little boy to be sweet and well-behaved, so we are glad this is helping.

Our next appointment will be in a month, for the second shot of the flu vaccine, and then after that will be at 15 months.

BRADEN IS ONE!

Oh my goodness....where has the time gone!? Braden turned one on Saturday. We threw him a big party to celebrate the big day. The planning started months in advance. I made him his invitations, with a "logo" a friend from work designed and used that as our theme. Everything was blue and green stars. I also decided that I wanted to make Braden's cake myself, instead of ordering one from a bakery. So, as many of you know, I enrolled in cake decorating classes and spent MANY weekends in class learning how to make a perfectly decorated cake! For weeks I made royal icing designs to put on the cake. I chose a homemade vanilla cake recipe and homemake strawberry cream filling, that was sooo yummy. Braden got lots of toys and some cute little outfits. He's particularly taken a liking to the lawn mower his Aunt Amy gave him. We really appreciate everyone coming out to celebrate Braden's birthday with us. We hope everyone had as great of a time as we did!

The front of Braden's invitation



Braden and his Great-Grandma Florence with his "smash cake"


Braden Opening His Presents


Pushing the Infamous Lawnmower


Braden's Highchair


Braden's Cake, Smashcake, and Cupcakes

Did Someone Say Bubbles???

So Braden has recently developed an obsession with BUBBLES!! I knew he liked them and would get very entertained by them when Mike and I would blow bubbles. But we didn't know just how much until he started actually saying BUBBLES! We've tried getting him to say dog, cat, mama, dada, etc because the animals and mom and dad are always around him, well he never quite picked it up. He says "that" (sounds like "dat") all the time and I am pretty sure he says "dada" alot since daddy is his favorite person EVER...but with bubbles not being around all the time, we were just so surprised to hear him pick up this word. Guess we know what he likes! If I can catch a video of him saying "bubbles" I will defintely post it!