My 10 and 11th month old baby

(yes he will eat all of that, and he did and then hollared for more)

So I admit I have been on a blogged slump!!! Just super busy and dont really have the "energy" to post so I missed Braddocs 10 month shout out and now since he is almost 11 months I figure I should get caught up so here we go!!

Reasons we love Braddoc:

He is my little chipmunk! He is so funny, he stores/ hoards food in his cheeks. Saving up for winter? Its not like I dont feed him, he would eat all day if I let him. Any time I feed him anything he will store a bunch in his cheeks and an hour or 2 later I see him moving something around in his mouth so I go to check on him and make sure its nothing crazy (see last post) and most of the time its just left over food from his last meal that he is moving around from one cheek to the other example: potatoes, bananas, crackers, apples, cereal, grapes, meat.... basically what ever he is eating. Such a goof!!!

He loves bananas, apples, and pickles. Basically anything big he can hold and eat by himself with his big brother. He wants to be one of the big kids so bad and he loves to sit with Landon and do what ever Landon is doing. They will sit on the couch and both watch a movie or read books together while eating apples. He eats the whole apple core and all, Landon did the same thing and I think its so funny!

We found out that he has really bad ear wax build up and its been making it hard for him to hear, they got him cleaned out and so he can finally hear and I can tell the difference its just astounding. For the longest time he would say a word once but then never say it again, stuff like UH OH and Mama! and Opps! but then I would never hear it again, (still have not) so he has resorted to grunting at me. He is really trying to communicate but when he gets made at Landon for something or he sees someone with food, he starts grunting, I should record it and play it because its like a cross between a grunt and a squeal.

He eats like there is no tommorow and if you have food and he does not he will yell at you until he has some too. His little arms and feet start spinning and his toes start wiggling and he lets you know that he wants some food too.

He is still not crawling and is going to start physical therapy for it in about 2 weeks but he has his own little ways of getting around. When sitting he will put on leg straight out and pull one leg in and then kick it out really fast sort of like a propeller and he spins himself in circles, its really funny to watch, he is so fast at it too, he will be facing one direction and the next second he has done a 180 and is facing the other direction. He rolls from his back to his stomach or his side almost immediately after being put on his back and then he sort of swims on the ground and moves backwards he hollars at me when he gets stuck because he cant go forward and he can on swim backwards. But hey at least he is moving.

He loves the water he is like a little fish. When we go to the pool I put him in his little swim floaty and he just takes off, he gets his little legs going and just shoots across the pool. He also will just lounge and fall asleep hunched forward with his face smooshed into the floaty. He just loves the water and is so at home in it. He loves to splash and kick and just float around by himself. He is so big and grown up in the water, Landon has to hold me and Braddoc is like "see yah" and just takes off.

He loves to dance. Any time he hears anything that has some kind of beat he will start boping up and down and just jammin. Landon and be hammering something on the wall with his little hammers and he will just start bopping along. Its just precious.

He is finally starting to play with Landon. He will wrestle with him and just laugh. He will just chill with him on the floor. Landon has a jump rope that he gives one end of to Braddoc and he holds the other and they swing it around like some one is jumping. If Landon is making music and dancing Braddoc will start dancing banging toys together and hollaring right along with him.

He is my squealer. I call him squeeker maleker. (Landon called him that one day and it stuck) because he just squeals and squeeks all the time, sometimes its overwhelming and think glass is about to break, but most the times its really cute.

Braddocs nicknames are: B, BB or Beb's (baby braddoc and baby brother shortened, being an air traffic control family we like our acronyms. :O) ) and Stinky Poots (also one from Landon, because when Braddoc poots the whole house smells, according to Landon and he is right!)

When he is in his bed he loves to pull up the bumper and look out, he will reach out to get it almost immediately after being put into the bed to look out at everything you are doing before you leave his room, and as soon as the door opens for me to come get him he will put it up again to look out. If he does not I know its because he is stuck up in the corner with his head under the bummer..... its so crazy to me because Landon never even toucher the bummer and Braddoc is constantly getting himself stuck under it. If I hear him crying or yelling in bed its only EVER because he has gottten some limb stuck in the bars (or multiple, that one was fun) or because he is stuck under the bummer and I dont want to take it off because Im afraid even more limbs will get stuck then there already have been.

And of course he still adores his big brother and they love to play and wrestle all the time.

He has started reaching for me when I come over to him he will put out his arms and grrrr at me like a little tiny tiger. Its so cute and I cant help but want to pick him up and hold him.

Mostly we just love him because he's him and he is perfect!!!!

I LOVE Landons nursery!!!

(Landon refusing to let me take a picture of how cute he looked in his church clothes, and saying that he had to wear the hat to church)

I asked Landon what he learned about today, like I do every week and usually I have to do some probbing and hinting about what I know he learned to get him to tell me what he learned, but the last few weeks have been a different story, he can tell me what he learned and is excited about it, and today when I asked him he said "About the prophet." "What about the prophet?" And my beautiful sweet little angel breaks out into song and starts singing "Follow the prophet!" It just melted my heart, I have been working with him on songs, but we have not really worked on that one yet, so I know thats all his teachers doing!!! It was just perfect. The spirits of these little ones just makes my heart rejoyce. Someone once told me that nursery is just babysitting and I told them that they were very wrong about that. Nursery is so much more, and these kids are at that age where they soak up every thing like a sponge, even if you dont even think they are paying attention. I am so greatful for this gospel and am thankful for the fact that my child has wonderful teachers who are committed to their calling and take it seriously. I am greatful that they know how important it is. To me nursery is one of the most important callings, the kids learn so much and these teachers have a sacared responisibility (just like us as parents) to nurish these children and teach them the gospel. So thank you to all who do magnify their callings, Landons singing this afternoon is very living, spiritual proof that you do make a difference and what you are doing is VERY important in the eyes of the lord (and in the eyes of me as the mom. :O) )

Treasures? From a little scavanger

Braddoc is my little scavanger. He eats like crazy and always seems to find EVERYTHING on the floor that you dont want him to find. Sometimes he will find something right after I vaccumed. He is always finding little things to put in his mouth. Im sure its alot easier to find things when he has a big brother who leaves things everywhere.

I was thinking about it the other day when I was vaccuming. I never had to watch out for Landon to make sure he did not put things in his mouth. He would just play and if he went toward something he was not supposed to have all I had to do was tell him no and he would move away from it. Is Braddoc so different? And then it dawned on me, Braddoc has Landon.... and Landon had no one to leave little treasures laying around. I suppose having Landon makes it lots easier to find little things to put into his mouth. :O)

Here are just two examples. I went to feed Braddoc the other day and he kept trying to latch on but pulling away and running his tongue all over in his mouth. He hoards food in his cheeks so I thought it might be that and I stuck my finger in there to get the food out. Nothing in there!!! He does it again so I try again and this time my finger hits something on the roof of his mouth. I pull and pull and pull and finally this comes out........

...... a band aid!!!??? Lucky it was not used, Landon likes to get into them and play with them and calls them stickers. So some how my poor baby got ahold of a "sticker" and a"ate" it.

I was changing Braddocs diaper the other day and found this little treasure... (dont worry I did not touch it with my fingers and I washed it) First time this has ever happened with either of my kids.

I always hear stories about finding stuff in the diapers but it had never happened to me until I found the paper clip. Now I really dont know where he got that since I dont have any in the house.... hmmmm probably church!!! What a silly boy!!

Tis my life now!

It seems I live my life playing catch up. And I tell myself when Noah gets home that I will be able to get caught up, but Im not really sure whether or not that will happen either. :O) Oh well! So here it is, sorry there is so much!!

One upon a time: This is what Landon says anytime he opens a book, a magazine, a pamphlet, a coloring book, anything paper. He reads a story and always starts with "One upon a time....." Its so fun to watch him. He then looks at the pictures and tells a pretty good story. He has a good bit of his books memorized, maybe I should read with him some more so he really knows them.


Tip Toe: He came home from church one day telling me to TIP TOE, everywhere I went. I told him baby was sleeping and so he had to be quiet and so he told me, "Oh I just walk like this" (tip toeing across the room) "I be very quiet and tip toe, okay mom? okay?" I laughed and said where did you learn that. He told me he learned it in nursery and thats how we walk to be quiet and reverent. Too precious. He does it all the time now when we need to be quiet.

He has been waking up to nightmares almost every night now. He has had a good week this last week, but for awhile I was getting up almost 10-15 times a night literally every 20-30 minutes. Talk about no sleep! And it was all because of these nightmares! We have been saying prayers every night to ask that the ghosts wont get him and that the angels will watch over it, it really seems to be helping. First time it was a nightmare about our neighbors dog Moose. He is a weimeriner (sp?) and really is one of the most well trained sweetest dogs you will ever meet. When Landon was a baby he would curl up and lay around Landon and give him kisses and Landon loved it, now for some reason he wont get near him and if we go to there house he cries. Im not sure why.... anyway he woke up screaming so loud that he woke up Braddoc, "Moose get me, dont get me, moose dont get me." I ran in there and he was in the corner of his bed shaking so I picked him up and held him and he just cried into my shoulder for a good 5 minutes and then told me he needed to lay with me. I brought him to my bed and layed him down and anytime there was a noise, the house creaking, the train, a dog outside, my cousin coughing, he could pull himself into a tight ball and start rocking and crying that moose was going to get him again. So I layed with him just holding him for about 3 hours both of us wide awake. Every night almost since then has been ghosts, red, blue, green, pink, yellow ghosts, any color he can see ghosts and they are all going to get him and are scary and yell at him, so I have to clean them out of his room. It scares me abit because I know spirits are wandering around and I wonder if he is really seeing some of them. Poor baby!

Glasses: On a happier note, I really needed to get my eyes checked again, even with my glasses I was still squinting to see the tv. So Landon kept telling me that his eyes were hurting and that he needed glasses too. :O) So we bought him some sun glasses and he wears them all over now, I can hardly get him to take them off. If he is looking at something he tells me, oh I need my glasses. And he will squint at whatever it is till he puts on his glasses. So silly!!!




It be fun: Everything is IT Be FUN!!! He wants to go downstairs, upstairs, take a bath, go outside, eat snack, play cars, go in the car....EVERYTHING and ANYTHING is "It be fun, okay mom, lets do it, it be fun really!!!" and then he gets excited and giddy and puts his hands up by his face and shakes them.


We were at the store the other day and he saw some princess shoes, the following conversation in sued:

L: Mommy I want these. There beautiful.
Me: Honey those are princess shoes, they are for little girls.
L: I a little girl.
Me: (trying not to laugh) Honey you are not a little girl, you are a little boy. Boys are princes and girls are princesses and you are a prince.
L: I not a prince, I not a boy, I a girl. I a princesses like Stinkino (Pinnochio)
Me: Pinnochio is a boy, he is a prince.
L: He not, I not! I NOT A BOY I A GIRL! (he is getting mad now, and really throwing a fit and everyone who walks by is trying so hard not to laugh)
Me: Honey you are a boy, boys have cool toys too, lets go look at some of the boys toys.
L: I want these for girls, like me.
Me: Honey you are not a girl. (we have been working on whose a boy and whose a girl, and privates) Sweetheart, you have a winkie right?
L:Yes i have a winkie, boys have winkies
Me:Thats right boys have winkies and you have a winkie so your a boy right.
L: (he looks at me for a minute thinking really hard, stops crying and says) You right, I have a winkie, Braddoc and Daddy have winkies, they are boys. You dont have a winkie you a girl, Here mommy these for you. (hands me the shoes and walks away)

We still have this conversation quit often but I think it is finally settling in. :O) I dont mind him playing with princess toys when he is at friends houses, I would not mind if he had a sister and wore here princess stuff.... I am just not going to buy it for him. :O) He loves to wear my jewelry and my high heels, and thats great, but Im not going to go and buy him some of his own. :O)

We went outside to say goodbye to some of our friends the other day and landon came out on one of his riding toys. He went to the top of the driveway and pushed off. I look at him just in time to yell "Look out" I ran dove as best I could but I was too far away to stop what was about to happen. Our friend had his car door open and Landon was heading full speed down the driveway right towards it. It was one of those moments where in a split second a million things run through your mind. Like: He is going to broke his nose, knock out all his teeth, be bleeding everywhere, probably break most the bones in his face, get knocked out, how am I going to get him to the hospital, how am I going to help him and take care of him, but at the same time there was not enough time to stop any of it. My friend saw him coming right as it was too late to shut the car door and in literally a millisecond before he smacked his face right on he car door he turned his head and leaned to the side and zoomed right under the part of the door that curves up to meet the tires.....oh my gosh, I about had a heart attack. I still can picture it over and over in my head and I have no idea how it did not turn into a huge accident. Even watching it I dont know how he managed to turned his head that fast and not get hurt. One of those "scariest mom moments" ever.

He fell outside about 3 weeks ago and keeps telling me he needs a sticker (band aid) on his leg. Its is not part of the bedtime routine to get a band aid. Little did I realize though (bad mom) that the band aids are latex (Even after knowing he had that allergy for a yr I am still finding new things that he cant touch) anyway anywhere he has had a band aid has now broken out in a huge rash and he thinks that he need a band aid there for the rash, he blows through his mouth, sighs and says "Shooo Im really hurting I need a sticker." And I am trying to explain to him that the "sticker" is what is causing the rash. Thankfully I finally found a band aid brand that is latex free!!! YEAH!

I was taking a shower the other day and Landon comes in to the bathroom and tells me "Mommy I need the little brown chocolates" What little brown chocolates I ask "The little brown ones in the bathroom downstairs." WHAT!!!! (what little brown chocolates are in the bathroom downstairs) so I tell him Dont touch any of those until mommy getse out and you can show me. He seems to like that and leaves, only to return a few minutes later with a bowl full of chocolate chips. "these little brown chocolates in the bathroom." Okay showers over! I get dressed and run downstairs sure enough the chocolate chip container that WAS on the third shelf in the pantry in now on the counter in the bathroom. Lucky they were not all over the floor, but it appeared to be that he was eating them while going #2, needless to say that whole thing went into the garbage. YUCK!!! I was still wondering how he managed to get those down from up so high so I go into the pantry and find all the pillows from the couch stacked up to make a tower....Awww kids!




Landon has big stuffed ninja turtles that he carries around and calls his big brother. He thinks he is a ninja turtle too and fights all over the house like them, getting the bad guys. He also says the ninja turtle movies are his favorite movies.

I was tickling him at bed time the other night and through his laughing he manages to get out "THATS NOT FUN" Hahahaha poor guy takes after his mommy, I hate tickling, its like torture. I am laughing but on the inside really crying and miserable. So I guess thats Landon too! However he asks me to tickle him all the time....hmmmm maybe he is more like his daddy who HATES to be tickled under his arms and thinks thats pure torture. At any rate all of my boys(men) are VERY ticklish.

Where does he come up with these things?

I was taking Landon to bed and he wanted me to carry him, Since I had the kidney problems I have not been able to carry him without it really hurting, so I told him we would have to walk this time, (usually he is okay with it sometimes he wimpers but holds my hand and walked with me anyway). However tonight was a first, he said "I cant walk mom, my diapers on and I cant walk" (he is fully potty trained except at night, so he wears a diaper) I look down at him and he is limping ,dragging one of his feet, "Its hurting, makes me not walk mom." Such a goof, he is now playing games to get me to carry him. Silly boy!

Then if that was not enough to give me a good laugh for the night, we are saying our prayers and I tell him, "Close your eyes!" and he looks at me and very seriously says, "I cant I have to look at all my stuff." and points to his walls. He cracks me up!!! Always always always a good laugh with Landon. I love that kid so much he makes me smile and laugh and being a mom to him and Braddoc is such a rewarding thing. I am so glad that I have been blessed with such wonderful kids. And I am very greatful that I stay at home with them and be with them every day.