Picture Fest

So, I've been taking lots of pictures since the arrival of my new toy! So I thought I'd do a big post of pictures.

First off, here's some of my little man. Isn't he just a doll! And the hair! He woke up like that and it was too cute for me to brush out.







Clint came over yesterday morning and we spent the entire day working on the nursery. We got all the trim painted and everything else touched up. And we got the new carpet cut and into the room. Tonight we'll hang the border and secure the carpet and I can move in furniture! Here's some shots of our work yesterday.











Once we got the carpet in the room I let Brayden in to check things out. I got several cute shots of him toddling around his new bedroom!











And finally one of him with Clint. We love our Paw Paw!

Brayden's Walking!

I know I said that a couple weeks ago, but he's given up crawling as of tonight. We were at my Mother's when he started walking around like it was nothing. And he didn't crawl at all for the three hours we were there! He was even carrying around big boxes as he walked. Yay little man!

Über Funny Moment

So, this morning Brayden decided that he wanted to wake up early. Mom was so not ready to get up yet. So I took him into the living room and put on a movie and went back to sleep on the couch. I woke up 40 minutes later to a mess. I had [stupidly] left his oatmeal cereal on the coffee table. Well, Brayden found it and took the lid off and dumped it all out onto the floor. When I woke up, I found him sitting in the middle of a pile of cereal, grabbing little fistfuls and sticking it in his mouth. He just looked at me like "Don't worry Mom, I found my own breakfast." It was too funny. I got video of it, but I really wish I had thought to grab my camera before I cleaned it all up.

Romantic Getaways

Eli and I have decided to take a mini romantic getaway. Note that this is the first time we've ever done anything romantic like this in the nearly four years we have known each other. It's actually kind of sad that we haven't. But now is the perfect time. Brayden is very nearly at a stage where I can feel comfortable leaving him for a night and knowing he won't feel abandoned and our tax return is coming in soon, so this will be the only time we'll have the financial resources to do something for ourselves. I actually got the idea from Erin's blog. She got a comment from a lady who runs a b&b in Virginia, and that got me thinking. So I went online and found a charming historic little bed & breakfast nearby. So we'll drop little man at my mother's one Saturday afternoon in a few weeks and go out for the evening and spend the night at this little b&b. Then we'll spend the next morning lazing around and then head out to do something together until we have to go get Brayden. I'm really excited! The house is absolutely beautiful and it's not terribly expensive. We may actually make a thing of it every few months. Here's a link to the site. Kate Shepherd Bed & Breasfast

More Milestones and Mom's New Toy

So, first the new milestone. Brayden has put himself to sleep the past two nights in a row! This is really exciting for us. Especially if he can keep it up. I still have to be there for half an hour or so to help him wind down, but that's fine with me. We can just sit in his crib and play or read until he's ready to go to sleep. It's really good quality time. But I cannot tell you how excited I am to not have to stand there leaning over his crib while he drifts off. In fact, night before last, I went in there to check on him expecting him to still be awake, only to find that he'd pulled the blanket up over himself and fallen asleep! It was too cute. The night before that he would have fallen asleep on his own, but when I walked in there he had the pillow over his head and it just made me too nervous to leave him like that.

I'm finishing up Brayden's room this week! I have the chair rail hung and caulked. I'm going in there in a little bit to sand everything down and touch up the walls where the caulk smeared. Later I'll go get some painter's tape so I can paint the rail and the baseboards. Then all that's left is the border and the carpet! Yay! The end is in sight.

So, Mom's new toy. My FIL has been in Florida for over a week and is on his way home today. On his way through Mobile, he stopped and dropped this off for me.



He bought me a camera! I'm going to sit down with the manual tonight after baby's in bed and learn how to use the thing. I'm really excited. It'll be a while before I can start using it to make any money, but it's a big step in that direction!

Another Milestone!

I know I've posted more in the last week than I have in the last month, but so much has been happening. I went to the bookstore last Thursday night and, on a whim, bought a book on Baby Sign Language. After reading through it I realized what a wonderful thing this would be for us. So Friday we started working on about a dozen signs. They say that a baby his age just starting to learn will sign their first sign in a week or two. Sure enough, tonight he made his first sign! I am so proud of him! We were at my mother's house and he grabbed Clint's vitamin water. He tried to take the cap off to drink it, and when that didn't work, he made the sign for MORE. I wasn't too sure at first that it wasn't a coincidence. So I gave him a sip and put the lid back on. Immediately he said MORE. And he kept doing it each time he wanted another sip. Yay Brayden! I'm so excited. Hopefully more signs will follow soon. I'll be sure to keep you all updated!

~Liz

Little man is walking!

I know it's a little after the fact, but he officially started walking on Monday. Not that he hasn't been taking steps for some time -- since November to be exact. But it's always a couple steps here, a few steps there. Usually between the couch and coffee table. Sometimes he'll start off into the middle of the room only to realize, three or four steps in, that he'd get there faster crawling and that would be that. But no, Monday he let loose and walked! He was standing at the coffee table and headed for his little house. He just let go and toddled on over. It was probably a good ten to fifteen steps. He was so focused on his destination that he never realized he wasn't using his preferred method of travel. So there it is, my baby is walking! Heaven help me when he gives up crawling. Note to self: must buy more baby gates.