how brady gets a bath in the treehouse

it really is lots of work, trust me. The really really hard part is after his bath, when I have to take on too! This tub ROCKS!

we call my parents grandma and grandpa who live in the treehouse because they have a log and stone house.

Brady's 2nd Christmas

I think Brady had a good Christmas. He really got into opening gifts to our surprise! It was way cute! We had x-mas with my side, the whole gang, on x-mas eve. Our tradition is to have crab legs and prime rib. YUMMMM! On christmas day we took it easy. Highlight was the pizza party at my sisters. We made our own pizzas, then had sundaes, and played Wii.

We arrived at my parents on monday, were intending to leave today, but we are now staying for another night or 2. My dad acquired a 1950 dozer, and they are tinkering on it. No biggy..... but this house is SO NOT baby proof, and it is impossible to really baby proof it (dont tell the building inspector about the gaping opening under the railings that I can fall thru!) so we cant take our eyes off him for long at all. I am constantly chasing saying "off the steps!". My parents have this weird heating system, geothermo heat with high velocity airflow, so they have these vents in the floor, it is basically a hole the size of a golf ball, to a 1 yr old, it is a fabulous place to put things into! Yeah... it's a lt of work hanging out here! not like our basement at home were it is so baby proof we rarely have to get up! I am hoping daddy will let me spend plenty of time sewing when we get home, undisturbed by baby of course.

unfortunate update

Baby girl Kennedy (sp) was delivered this afternoon. Please say a prayer for Chance and Kennedy's mom and dad for strength during this difficult time. There is still plenty of risk for my SIL, I pray she recovers well.

so many emotions

A year ago today we brought our little miricle home from the hospital. Chris and I are spoiling him with tight hugs and asking him for lots of kisses.

My SIL went into labor last night and delivered thier little boy, Chance. Her and her husband said he was beautiful and perfect. He was just 1 lb, and was stillborn. Thier little girl was not delivered and is doing well. There are huge risks to both mom and baby for infection.

new picture blog!

link is on the right to our family picture blog! check there as often as you wish.

prayers please

Last week wednesday my SIL and her husband had an ultra sound, and it showed 2 perfect babies at 21 weeks. A boy and a girl. (they had 2 1sr tri miscarriages prior to this pregnancy) Then on sunday her water broke. Turns out it was the sac around the boy. He is strong and hanging on. The girl is doing well at this point. We hope these babies hang on for as long as they can and keep growing.

Happy First Birthday, Brady!

Because I have dial up at home, I am not able to post all the photo's I would like to. So you are gonna have to wait! In the meantime, here is a classic first birthday shot. ;-)

We had a party for Brady yesterday. Because of the the weather my whole family did not make the 2.75 hour trip (they had 4" of snow by 5pm last night!). And Chris's parents couldnt make the trip either. Chris's 2 sisters and thier families were able to join us. We also called a few local friends last minute and asked them if they wanted to join us. (didnt invite them originally because with just our parents and siblings and their family.... that makes 23 people, a full house). So, Tony and Andrea from across the street joined us (they are expecting thier first baby any day now. Brady would love to share his birthday with him!). And The Swens joined us too. We kept is casual and fun. And it was! Thanks to those that were able to make it! It was nice to be able to celebrate with you! Those that couldnt make it, you'll get your turn!

Highlights.... the cake on the face! Cousin Lydia helping open gifts. Brady debating giving Lydia a black eye (hahaha, just kidding! but watch out lydia at your next party!) Chris's top notch bloody mary's. good friends and family. Lots of laughs and smiles!

Last night Chris and I were chatting about the day and the fact we have a 1 year old. First, fabulous day for all of us! 2nd, we have the most wonderful little boy. Way more amazing then we ever imagined. The first year of a baby's life is incredible, all the changes they go thru, and watching them become who they are. We are so much in love with this little boy!

Brady's first Christmas program

Last night was Brady's first christmas program/party. It was so cute, the kids were all so good. Santa even came! They were all excited to see him!

Our daycare is a family, in home daycare- so these are all the kids! Yeah, there is lots of boy stuff going on there! Brady is still the baby. Tracy (the daycare Mom) did a great job putting it together. We feel lucky to really like Brady's daycare. The whole family is so involved with the kids and pitches in. I have never experienced a daycare center, but so far I am very pleased with the in-home daycare setting.

Brady's job was ringing the bells, he did great.

Brady's first gift from Santa! And his first present he ever got to open! Lucky for him, santa was willing to help him open it.

Brady was in aww of Santa, he LOVED Mrs. Clause!

He and I are so intertwined

I think I mentioned recently that this is the BEST I have felt in a long time in reference to my post partum depression (PPD). Lately I have been thinking about my journey in the last year, and have realized it is so intertwined with Brady's sleep patterns.

In the first 8 weeks or so, things were the worst for me, he didnt sleep worth a hoot and woke every couple hours and was clingy. Then I hit a milestone w/ PPD, started liking and bonding with Brady and he then started to sleep better.

Then thru the next 8 months or so my PPD weaved up and down giving me hard times and good times and Brady's sleep seemed to weave with it. There were times when my attitude and love towards him was high (that has been constant since about 8 weeks), but my self worth was in the dumps and he would become clingy and not wanting to sleep.

In the last month I have made huge progress, and in return Brady has started sleeping nicely in the last couple weeks.

It is just crazy how the 2 of us are so connected in ways that I will never understand.

HAHAHAHA

I have the weirdest dreams, and am a strange sleeper! Last night I went to bed at 8 in the spare room because Chris was watching TV in the bedroom. Around 10:30 he woke me up and said I was screaming. I must have been loud because Chris never wakes to Brady's cries and the doors were closed. I dont know what I was dreaming, but my cousins Nikki and Kelly were involved.

I told chris there was no way I was screaming, but then realized my throat hurt really bad. Then I got a case of the giggles, and I could not stop giggling!

Brady fell asleep in his highchair during dinner last night. He was OUT! So I put him in his crib, he was just in a diaper and got really mad when I tried to put PJ's on him. I bundled him up in a blanket thinking he would wake soon. But no.... So after chris and I were up from me screaming we put PJ's on brady, he woke but took a bottle and went right back to sleep. I didnt wake him up till 6:30 this morning! (he went to sleep at 6 last night). He has been playing so hard lately.

my update for the week

I have been a little MIA this week, I normally blog almost daily. So here is all what is up......

Mom and Dad came for dinner last night. They were in town for a meeting. It was nice to see them, and they spent some time with little B too. Just a couple more weeks we will see them again! The month of dec. is nice, we get to see my family a lot!

The economy is absolutly freaking me out. Combine that with Christmas and I have to consciencely make an effort not to have an anxiety attack. I feel the anxiety start to creep over me, however I am proud to say I am coping well and not letting it get out of hand.

This morning I saw my pshych dr. So I got to take some time and evaluate me and my ppd. I am happy to report that this is the most ME that I have been in a long time. We decided to stick with my currant dosage of Zoloft and re-evaluate things in 3 months, maybe then I will be ready to decrease the dose, not quite ready yet. Finally I am enjoying things in life like I used to. Sure, I am a different person then who I was b4 brady, but I am once again that positive, spunky, happy person that I really am. Hmm... it may be time to change my "about me" paragraph for this blog.... things are starting to come together. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

I also got to see little Miss Erin today. She is so cute and chunky! I had to borrow her bottom to try my diaper on her. She is about 4 months I think..... and cooing and smiling. precious! Anywho, I do have to make some revisions to my diaper to fit a smaller baby.

recent photo's!

Brady loves his rocking chair! But he smacks his head back trying to make it rock, so we have to help him. (ok, maybe he does need a haircut).

Brady and his cousin Olivia reading thier book! This book is so cute, is a a big stuffed Golden Book! adorable! it is all so soft. Brady loves it.

Our freshly cut Christmas tree! Brady approved.

This toy, Ollie the Octopus was supposed to be a stocking stuffer, but dada could resist trying it out. It is so cool! He spins and shoots water up in the air. Not sure who liked it more.....

My diapers!!!!

Getting this images were nearly impossible with an active 11.5 month old! As you can see in the top picture someone is rolling to get up, and in the bottom he is kicking towards me. I gave him this bottle of milk thinking "this will keep him still", it didnt work. (with that said, he has gotten the OK to drink whole cows milk)

I am so proud of this diaper I made yesterday. Look at that fit around the theighs. There is room to grow too, he is wearing it on the medium setting. I love the trim fit. And it has been tested too! First time wearing it (just after this photo shoot), he had the runs and it was contained! (an antibiotic is giving him the runs) I like the metal snaps, we found with our active boy the plastic snaps were not holding.

This diaper is a ONE SIZE POCKET DIAPER. No cover is needed, the outer is waterproof. The inside is a microsuade material that keeps Brady feeling dry.

(in non-technical terms, this one size diaper should fit a baby from birth to about 35/40 pounds I would guess, see the snaps, that is how they get adjusted, it is so simple. You need to insert the absorbant material. I like to use a hemp douler with a terryclothe insert. The insert allows you to customize were absorption is needed, for Brady- he likes to hold his pee then let it all go at once, so we need something to catch it fast and absorb it all and lots of it.)

I am learning that with prints in the waterproof fabric you do not get such a trim fit (I have noticed the big diaper makers usually use solid colors and few prints). I am trying a few different materials to see what we like best and what sews the best. still a couple flaws to work out, but I have a whole diaper stash to make so we should get this perfected. Brady's friend Erin who is 3 months old will be testing some of my diapers for me.

More photo's to come later! as I keep making more! this is so much fun. :-)

dancing in the kitchen at 5am

Brady and I had some fun this morning dancing in the kitchen to some Bon Jovi. He is the cutest little dancer, it is so precious!

We were dancing because he slept from 8-4:45!!!! without waking! This is huge! SO HUGE! He has never slept over 6 hour stretches, and the norm has been waking every 4-5 hours. I hope it is not a coincidence. Hopefully it is the effects of our "teaching brady to sleep".

We seem to be naturally weaning- I realized that yesterday. It is bittersweet. Awesome that he is ready and doing it on his own, isnt that a nursing mom's dream? Sad because my little baby is growing up, but happy because he is becoming an independant little man.

Rashes, vomit and inside out panties.

The last 24 hours have been crazy! Brady has the worst diaper rash ever. He is on a antibiotic that gives him diahrea a few times a day. It is obviously quite painful. Hopefully it will be better really soon, I have never seen such a huge area covered in a rash.

Chris is home sick today. Hope brady doesnt get it, I dont want to experience a baby vomiting.

As always I rushed to get ready for work today. I do wake 1.5 hours B4 I need to leave, but getting me ready, brady ready, lunches made and breakfast, the time flys by. Anywho, I have discovered that my undies are inside out.

a baby changes everything

Pre-brady I figured a baby would change things, but it really changes everything. Your sence of normality changes, there really isnt a normal anymore. Who you are, and who you think you are all changes. Relationships change too. You look at your mom and dad from new eyes. Everything that had been ~just the way things go~ with your spouse changes too. Your basic needs go to the wayside for the needs of someone else who is completely dependant on you.

I dont think anyone can truely understand how a baby changes EVERYTHING until they live it. It presents a whole new challange in your life.

I made a diaper!

It was so much fun yesterday, having some Sarah time and sewing. I made a diaper for Brady! It is so cute, cant wait to post a picture. It took a long time to make the pattern, and figure out what steps go in which order. Good thing I bought a new steam ripper. ;-) Brady tried it out, so it is dirty- but I promise a picture this week!

My Sarah time wasnt uninterupted of course. Daddy isnt so good at getting someone to take a nap, probably because he is all tense, rocking brady like a maniac saying "fall to sleep dammit". With momma to the rescue, he was sleeping soundly in his crib within 10 minutes. There are some things mom's are just better at.

We are teaching our son to sleep. Seriously, who would have thought getting a baby to sleep was something you had to teach, for this kid it is. Daddy is on board, and helping me, which is fabulous, because Brady is content not getting out of his crib at night for dad. So far it seems to be working and he is starting to sleep longer stretches.