Happy Mother's Day!

May 8, 2011

I had a great Mother's Day weekend. We did tons of fun things and saw both grandmothers, which was really nice. However, I did manage to get NO pictures of anything. Not even one of me and Noah together. I did take a picture of the crafts that Noah made for his grandma's. They were canvas squares that had magnets on the back with his handprints. It was a little difficult to do since Noah just wanted to play in the paint, but we managed. They loved them so I guess it was worth it.

First, I celebrated at Mother's Day Out Mother's Day Tea with Noah and all his little friends on Thursday afternoon. It was really fun and Noah gave me his present which was a little bag with his handprints on it. Very cute! That night they also had a game night with all the kiddos. I actually had some pictures from that so they are below :)

Then, Matt's mom and sister came down on Saturday to spend the day with us and Noah had a lot of fun with them. He was a little shy at first but he warmed up quick, like he always does, and was soon dragging them all over the house to play with his toys. They watched him for us that night so Matt and I could actually do something together. The next day my mom and sisters came over to grab lunch and ice cream. We had fun as usual but Noah was having an especially crazy day for some reason so he was a bit of a handful. Anyway, it was a very busy but fun weekend! I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful mom and mother-in-law, and VERY thankful to be a mother myself. Noah is my whole world and I can't wait to meet his little brother so he can become part of that world too!

Noah packed up all his books and carted them around the house. I still haven't found them all...

He figured out how to drag his chair into the bathroom and reach the faucet. Not so good for me. He got into the shaving cream here and made a huge mess!

Game Night at Mother's Day Out:

Planting a seed - he was pretty much only interested in playing in the big bucket of dirt.

Painting! He ended up with blue paint EVERYWHERE! Even in his hair!

When he got his face painted, they held up the big sheet with all of these really cute pictures on it and asked him which one he wanted. He picked out the OSU emblem and that was what he wanted. The girl kind of looked at him weird when he picked that. It was really funny! It's smeared because he wouldn't stop touching it.

Big Changes!

May 2, 2011

We had a really fun (but exhausting!) weekend! My 32nd birthday was on Friday so my mom, Kelsey, Noah and I went out to do some shopping Friday evening for the boys' rooms. I told them what I wanted for my birthday this year was to get both Noah's room and Jakob's room done and organized. We ended up staying out until 11:30 pm on Friday. Noah was a trooper but he was one tired little boy! He always ends up shopping with the girls! We got a ton of new stuff but the biggest purchase was a new toddler bed for Noah. I let him pick it out (sort of). He wasn't too excited about the nice looking wooden beds. He wanted the "buzz" bed! I broke down and got it for him. Although, I didn't put the stickers on it so it's really just a red bed which ended up matching perfectly and looking pretty cute. I did let him get the Toy Story bedding also and he loves it!! He sets in his bed and names all of the characters over and over and over.

Anyway, we spent the entire day on Saturday moving furniture, unpacking boxes, hanging up stuff, and putting things together. Both rooms turned out awesome and I can't wait to do all of the little final touches that will really make them cute.

The first night with Noah in the toddler bed went pretty well. Probably just because he was so exhausted after a busy day. He went down about 9:30 and slept until 4:30 which is when I had to go get into bed with him to get him to go back to sleep. Being 8 months pregnant and trying to fit into a TINY toddler bed with a wild toddler is not really my idea of fun. He didn't go back to sleep until 6:00 am but he slept in until about 9 so I survived. However, the last couple of nights weren't so easy. He wouldn't go lay down in it without me in there, and when I'm in there he doesn't want to sleep. He has ended up staying up until 10:30 pm the last couple of nights and still waking up at 4 every morning. I'm a little exhausted from all of it but I'm sticking with it. My plan is to slowly get him in there earlier and only lay down with him for about 15 minutes to start with then less and less as he gets more used to the new bed. As for him waking up, I'm not too sure what to do about that yet. Maybe just get him up for a few minutes then put him back in it without laying down with him. We'll see! I'll let you know how it goes...

31 weeks pregnant and HUGE!!

Noah in his new bed!

More pictures of the rooms once they are completely done!!

The reason for the season...

April 27, 2011

I don't typically get too deep on here, but in reality that's who I really am, so, I can't help but take a minute to remind everyone why we even celebrate Easter and what that really means for those of us who call ourselves Christians or followers of Christ. I won't rattle on repeating everything we heard a so many times that it ceases to really have much on an impact on us, but I was listening to this song by Downhere today and I just love it. What it says always hits a nerve with me and reminds me how MUCH God loves us even though we are so unworthy. He sent his only Son to become the least for us. To die for us. So that He could be with us. That doesn't even make sense does it. What does that mean to you? Does it even register? Would you give up your child to save someone that didn't even know you or love you? I wouldn't! But that's what God did. That what Jesus did. He chose to become our sin for us because he loved us even when we didn't know him or even want to know him. If you haven't taken the time to get to know him lately, why don't you?

Here's my favorite part of the song:

How many kings stepped down from their thrones?

How many lords have abandoned their homes?

How many greats have become the least for me?

How many gods have poured out their hearts to romance a world that is torn all apart?

How many father's gave up their sons for me?

Only one did that for me.

God gave me everything I have. I am eternally thankful. And that's why I am free to enjoy my life and have some fun on Easter. Enjoy these fun pictures from Easter morning. Noah got lots of present from Grandma and Grandpa and loved every one of them.

This is random but funny! Bath time with Aunt C before church!

First Annual Easter Egg Hunt at the Burch's!

April 27, 2011

We had a fabulous Easter weekend this year. Noah had an absolute blast and didn't want to come home on Monday. Last year I had the idea of having everyone over for an Easter Egg Hunt. We were dragging Noah around the yard by himself to hunt eggs and I thought, "All of my friends around here have kids and are probably doing to the same thing by themselves, we should have one big hunt!" So this year we did just that, and it was so much fun! The weather wasn't that great but it could have been much worse. It was Easter so what do you expect... Enjoy the pictures!!

Bunny Cake I made at my mom's request

Noah and Kiki waiting for everyone to arrive

Noah and Carter

Kooper and Keaton (Krissi's little boys)

Mikal and I have a picture together when we were about 4 or 5 holding our cabbage patch kids. Now, here we are, almost 30 years later, holding our own babies.

All the kiddos ready to hunt!

Noah and Carter got to go first but they each picked up one egg, opened it, ate the candy, then stopped.

Counting all the eggs...I think they each got between 40 and 50. They were pretty excited!

Bunny hat Aunt C made!

Finally, Daddy got there on Saturday afternoon so Noah and Matt had their own Easter Egg Hunt.

Jakob Dawes Bradshaw

April 21, 2011

Yes, that is now officially his name. Matt and I switched roles this time and he was (sort of) in charge of picking the first name while I got to choose the middle name. We both got to veto anything we didn't like though to be fair. Jakob was one of Matt's favorites from the beginning but I wasn't completely on board with it at first. When we decided to spell it with a K instead of C I decided that I did really like it after all. Dawes is a family name. It was my PaPa's (Dad's dad) middle name and I have always really liked it and wanted to use it for a baby. The only stipulation with this name is that we never, EVER call him J.D., I despise that! I have already threatened Matt and pretty much everyone else, so just keep that in mind ;)

I had to have another ultrasound this week to check on a blood vein in the placenta. They thought that it may be a little weird looking so they wanted to check it again. I was a little worried at first but my Dr. is just SO laid back she totally blew it off so I was just excited to see the little one again. Everything turned out to be just fine and Jakob is right on track with everything. His heartbeat is always around 150 or so and he weighs about 3.5 pounds and is 18 inches long. He was a little harder to see than Noah and his head is already very very low. I already knew that though since I have to pee 6 million times a day. A lady at Kohl's came up to me and said "You're having a boy!" I was like "Yes, but is it that obvious??" She said "Oh yes!!" Very, very low baby! However, I am still getting the vapors as they said in the old days. Breathing is becoming a challenge already. 10 more weeks???

Sweet baby face

This was the best profile shot they could get since his head is so low.

22 Months Old

April 8, 2011

We are officially on the downhill slide with Noah about to turn 2 and me in my third trimester already. Both kiddos are doing great and we are praying for a healthy, full-term baby boy. Noah still isn't really aware of the new baby's existence yet but he will be soon! We are in the process of moving baby furniture around so that Noah can get his new toddler bed and the baby can have his crib. I'm a little nervous about the transition so we will see how that one goes over. I'm also getting geared up for another run at potty training. I'm going to officially start trying with Noah as soon as Mother's Day Out is over for the summer so he'll be home everyday. If it doesn't go well, we will try again after the baby is a few months old. I don't want to overwhelm him with too much new stuff all at once.

Noah is really starting to develop a preference for certain things and he knows what he wants and doesn't really settle for less. He's always been determined, stubborn, willful, and pretty much his own little person since I can remember but lately he is getting VERY assertive. He loves to watch certain shows at certain times of the day. He watches OETA in the mornings until Sesame Street is over, then he either watches Itsy Bitsy Spider (a sesame street episode) or "buzz" aka Toy Story 1, 2, or 3 in the afternoons while he has his snack. Then at night we have to lay in mommy's bed and watch "mel-mo" (which is specifically Elmo in Grouchland). If you haven't seen those, I could probably act out all of them for you from start to finish no problem.

He has started doing little hand signs for certain things also. He can say the words but for some reason "itsy bitsy spider" is doing the motions for the spider crawling up the waterspout, spoon is saying "spoon" while doing a stirring motion in mid air, drawing is "draw" while doing the same stirring motion, and all done is saying "done" while putting both hands up like "I don't know". All done is a favorite while I'm trying to get some food shoved in his mouth since he HATES eating. He does "all done" the entire time and screams when he realizes I'm not falling for it.

Other things he is particular about are the books we read and the music we listen to in the car. I'm really really glad he is finally starting to like reading books but we only read a few of them. His favorite by far is the very hungry caterpillar. Although, he really only likes the page where the caterpillar eats all of the junk then feels sick. He flips to that page and we read it about 10 times. In the car, he only likes to listen to The Itsy Bitsy Spider (of course) and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Everytime he hears them he yells "YEA!!!" and claps his hands then when it's over he starts yelling "MORE" "MORE "MORE" over and over until it starts again. He can do all of the hand actions with Itsy Bitsy Spider but I have yet to get it on video because he refuses to perform for me....ever!

He got this out of the bag from Braums on the way home and this is what I found when I went to get him out of the car seat. I thought he was being awfully good and quiet....

I thought this was really cute so I got the camera out. Then about 2 seconds after this picture he proceeded to poop all over the floor!

29 weeks along --- I always look less huge when I take the pictures myself :) Baby is now around 17 inches long and weighs almost 3 pounds. He is starting to fatten up now so my belly will probably double in size as he gains another 3 to 5 pounds in the next 10 weeks. This week his permanent teeth are forming behind the baby teeth buds that formed weeks ago. Hoping for some straight teeth!!

Going to school! He loves his backpack!

Happy Birthday Aunt B!

March 30, 2011

We had Abby's annual birthday fiesta this year at Aunt Kelsey's (aka Aunt C's) house. Noah attended and kept everyone pretty busy all day and night. Luckily Grandma and Grandpa were there to entertain him. They took him to their hotel during the day so we could get everything set up and he had a blast "swimming" in the giant tub they had, while eating cookies, while watching Sesame Street. Sounds like a toddler's heaven to me. I have a really cute picture of him in the tub but it's on my cell and I don't know how to download it.

He actually did pretty well with all the activity considering he wasn't feeling too great. He crashed about 9:30 in the pack and play so we headed home around 11. Late nights and us don't really go together anymore.

Plus, I am now 27 weeks pregnant so I'm ready to go to bed myself around 9. Staying up till 11 was a challenge. You can see in the below picture just how huge I really am. The baby is now around 15 inches long and weighs a little over 2 pounds. He is very active (even more so than Noah was) and I can now lay down and watch my belly move around. This week he is developing the ability to taste so I guess I need to be a little more careful with the spicy food.

Getting ready for the big party!

Aunt B getting herself another birthday drink...

27 weeks preggo!