Since he's turned two

Time for an update on the little two year old! Lots of new things are happening with Brayden and we love to watch him grow and learn new things and this is beginning to be an everyday occurrence! Let's start with some new pictures we had taken of his during his Red,White and Blue Session. It was a little difficult to get a good picture of him because he wanted nothing to do with sitting still (a typical two year old!), but she was able to capture two cute photos.

What's happening at two you ask? Here we go....

• Words are flowing. He seems to be picking up two-three new words per week. Amazing! Some of his new words are: cat, car, balloon, pool, scissors, Eli, dirty and just today jacket!
• If you ask him to jump, he'll jump for you!
• He's learning to take his clothes off. All of a sudden he'll have his shirt and shorts/pants off. Luckily he doesn't take his diaper off yet. He tries to put his clothes back on but hasn't mastered that yet.
• He's a PICKY eater. Breakfast and lunch he has a variety to choose from that he will eat, dinner is ONLY chicken and he loves fries. This week I will be making homemade chicken nuggets and homemade french fries, sweet potato too! If that's the only thing he's going to eat, I'm going to make it healthy. We always try to give him different things to try but he refuses to eat it, well he won't even give it a try! He also loves strawberry milk. When he wants more milk he makes sure he grabs the strawberry milk mix out of the refrigerator and hands it to us so we can mix it.
• He loves trains! We got him a train place mat and he insists on eating on it every day. He makes sure he has it. Trains have definitely taken over our house.
• He is already so sweet to his brother/sister. When you ask him where the baby is he will point to my belly and he will kiss it too! It really melts your heart.

Things are happening so quickly around here. It's such a fun ride to be on. :)

Rare Beach Day

Today was going to be like any other Jungle Hut Beach Play date but Brayden decided to have it otherwise. We met up with Christine, Darla, Noah, Ethan, Harrison and Brooks for some fun in the sun but it didn't go as planned. Christine was going to take some two year pictures of Brayden for me and I can't wait to see them! I'm pretty sure everyone is him crying, running away or screaming.  I think Brayden has his two year molars coming in which caused him to be irritable. He wanted to be held the whole time, didn't want anything to do with playing in the sand and little to do with the water. The others boys had a great time building sandcastles, boogie boarding and playing with Christine's dog JoJo. Hopefully next time will be better!

Tough Guy

It has been a weekend of boo boo after boo boo! Brayden can just not catch a break and of course everything happens in threes. It started with a bug bite on the face that swelled up. He is very sensitive to bug bites. Usually every time he gets bit we usually have to give him Benadryl because it forms a big red puffy circle around the bite. This time with it being on his face it immediately swelled up. Next came a skinned knee from running a little too fast and falling. Last, came a hurt thumb from playing with Daddy. A little ice and some Ibuprofen took away the pain and swelling. Even a couple bruises doesn't slow down this boy!

Father's Day Weekend

We had a great weekend celebrating Dad's! Unfortunately for Daddy and Papa, this weekend started off with work. We were determined to get our new addition to the house completed with the last step of grouting the tile. I'm happy to report that it is finished! Now it's my turn to step in and decorate and get the playroom moved. Brayden gave Ian part of his Father's Day present early so he could enjoy his Saturday morning coffee in his new cup.

Sunday we headed out to breakfast with Daddy at Cracker Barrel and then headed over to Papa and Babci's for some afternoon pool time. This was the first time Brayden really enjoyed getting into the water. He has been very hesitant and never brave enough to try it. Today, he was jumping in and splashing all around.

Brayden is so blessed to have such an amazing Daddy. We're thankful for everything that he does for our family. Ian and I are very lucky to have such amazing Dad's in our lives too.

"Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad"



It's What I Do

Almost a year ago I made the decision to be a stay at home mom. I knew that the money would be tighter and that we would need to tighten up on spending our money on "wants" and not needs but it was a choice that worked best for our family. It all came down to two reasons. One I knew that daycare was not an option for me and it wasn't something that I wanted to do. I didn't want someone else to spend eight hours a day with Brayden and I get the rushed two to three hours at home. I wanted to be the one to spend all day with him. To watch him learn, play with him and teach him. Second, I knew that getting a job and paying for daycare wasn't going to be practical. If you ask me, I have the best job in the world. Yes, my days and crazy, sometimes frustrating and definitely exhausting, but the benefits outweigh all the bad. I have been able to watch Brayden roll-over, sit-up, crawl and take his first steps. I've spent countless hours reading books, playing trains and motorcycles, learning shapes, animals and body parts, playing outside, learning and exploring new things, coloring, making breakfast, lunch and dinner. I've also spent countless hours, changing diapers, wiping up snot, being spit up on, giving baths and listening to constant whining. But all of these moments- the good and the not-so-good are what our life is made of. These are the moments that I will never get back. My kids will never be little again and I can not imagine not spending to this time with them. My job never ends. I don't get weekends off, I don't get to leave at 5pm and I don't get sick time, but I'll never get these years back. So while some people may frown upon the stay at home mom lifestyle, I just have to disagree with their opinions. I may not leave my house for morning commutes. I may not get a weekly paycheck, but I like to think my job is more fulfilling than anything I'd find outside my door.

Friends

Right now Brayden can only say our friend Darla's name so are all his friends names are Darla right now. He's actually getting to the point where he will say Darla when he wants to play with them, which is often! We all try to meet up once a week in the afternoon at one of our houses. Things can get busy during the week but that once a week play date is so great for the kids and especially for us moms. We can catch up on the weeks happenings and just chat and relax a bit.

I say relax, but these things can get CRAZY! These kids definitely know how to have fun. From playing superheroes, to riding on outdoor toys inside, there is never a dull moment upon us.

Ethan, Noah, Harrison, Anna, Lexie, Brayden and Brooks (who will soon be joining in on the action)! This is the start of a beautiful friendship!

S.W.I.N.G PARK

Yesterday we headed to St. Augustine with our friends Darla, Ethan and Noah. We were hoping that we would be able to get away from all the smoke due to fires in Flagler County but we were not so lucky. The smoke followed us! We played at the park for a little while, ate lunch and decided the heat was too much so we headed to Barnes and Noble for a little indoor play. The boys got to play on the train table and read/look through some books while Darla and I got to chat for a bit.

Silly Glasses

And the love of glasses continues! My friend Christine got Brayden silly glasses for his birthday and he has enjoyed wearing them around the house. Although I can never seem to grab my camera quick enough to get a picture of him wearing them he also likes to see everyone else sport a pair also!

Muppets From Space

Our local movie theatre runs summer movie specials for $1 every Tuesday and Wednesday during the summer. I probably would have waited until Brayden turned three to actually take him to a real movie but I figured for $1 even if he only lasted for ten minutes it would be okay. Well he lasted thirty minutes until he wanted to get loose and run up and down the stairs. I'm going to go a few more times over the summer to check out some other movies just to try to get him used to it and to sitting still!

Brayden Turns TWO!

Happy 2nd Birthday today to my sweet, loving, feisty little man!

Looking back on the last year I can't believe Brayden is already two. It has gone by in the blink of an eye and has been filled with so many special and fun memories.

Not only has Brayden had one to day to celebrate his birthday I like to think of it more like a "birthday week"! We started off the birthday celebrations with a train themed party with some of his best buddies, Noah, Ethan, Harrison, Addison, Cooper and Bailey! We had a ride on train outside, cake and ice cream and every one left with a goodie bag filled with Thomas the Train goodies! I also attempted to make my first cake. It was a little difficult at times and thankfully I did it a few days early and while Ian was home because he was able to help me at times that I wanted to throw it away! The look at Brayden's face when he saw his choo choo cake was priceless and made all the work worth while! He had a great day celebrating with his friends!

On Saturday we continued the celebration with some water park fun at Daytona Lagoon!

On Sunday we had a family party. Grandma and Grandpa Barrette came over and Grandma and Papa McDonald. You were overwhelmed with many more birthday presents. Your favorite were the motorcycles Daddy bought you that morning. We were talking through the store and Daddy saw them and said Brayden needs these for his birthday and they were your favorite. I think you played with them ALL day! We ate more cake, this time cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday again! You loved clapping along and blowing out the candle. We lit the candle twice so you could blow it out!

Excited to see what the two's have in store for us! :)



Our family's growing!

We are happy to announce that our family of three is growing by two feet! Baby Barrette #2 will be making it's arrival on or around December 27th! Yes, very close to Christmas and could actually share a birthday with me, 12/25! I'm feeling great except for the occasional nausea and being more on the tired side. We hope to find out the sex of the baby mid July! We can't wait to meet him/her! Although Brayden is still a little young to understand that he is going to be a big Brother, we will ask him where the baby is and he will touch my belly and give it a kiss. I have no doubt that he is going to be an amazing big Brother!