Mommy's Little Poser

......................................................Braylon can be quite the poser when he wants to be. One morning, I got his hair to actually style for once so I just had to run and get the camera to document that it can be tamed with hard work and determination!!! (Or just pure luck because I have tried so many times and this is seriously one of the only times I could get it lay down.)

He T-O-T-A-L-L-Y got his daddy's hair!

Braylon hammed it up for me that morning and I got so many awesome pictures out of it. He finally started to get tired of the flash, but not before I got some really good ones in.

The one of him posing with the toothbrush is hilarious. I think I should ask Crest or Colgate if they're looking for a baby model. :)

P.S. Check out the shirt he is wearing. I had that made for John's Father's Day gift. It says Braylon the Incredible Bubby Boy. John has a matching one that says John the Incredible Daddy. Yep, I went there... and I love it!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

Braylon's Grandma celebrated a milestone birthday today. To celebrate, the whole family got together and went camping at Sterling Reservoir for the weekend. This was Braylon's third camping trip, and we all agree that is was MUCH easier than his first and second. As you may recall from previous blogs we took him tent camping at Turquoise Lake when he was about five and a half months old, and then the following weekend he went cabin camping. While the cabin camping proved much easier than the tent camping, it was still really difficult with the needs he had back then.

This trip was a lot of fun which you will see in all the pictures. John and I took about 275 pictures, and the rest of the family has quite a collection as well. This was Braylon's first experience with a lake and he had a lot of fun. He was definitely skeptical at first and primarily preferred the shallow water because it was warmer, but he still experienced the deeper parts and enjoyed it. Every morning that he woke up his little face would light up, he would run to the door of the RV, point at it, and yell "Outside! Outside!" It was enough to make your heart melt every time. Living in a condo we have to make special trips for him to go outside so he was having the time of his life being able to go outdoors every chance he got.

He was so determined to fully sit inside of the bucket, which as you can see, he accomplished. He absolutely loved climbling up and down the stairs of my parents' RV, which is no shock from the norm. Grandma and Grandpa got him a little swim pool to enjoy. We all had a good laugh when we saw the size of it. Braylon still had a blast playing in it though and then played in the water even more in the lake again.

Bralyon's other obsession of the trip was dog food. He continuously went over to the dogs little area we set up for them under the tree and got into their food whether he fed it to them, put it in their water, or unfortunately had a little nibble himself here and there.

RV camping is definitely the way to go when you have a little one to tend to.

Happy Birthday Mom. We hope you enjoyed your birthday.

Happy Birthday Grandma part two!

A Love of Dogs

Braylon absolutely loves doggies. He especially loves his Uncle T.J.'s dog Moose. Moose is such a good dog, and is so gentle, loving, and patient with Braylon. They have become best buddies.

Zoo Visit

Braylon went to the zoo with Mommy and Grandma a couple of weeks ago and we had a really great time. He got to see the peacock above really close, even a bit closer than it looks in the picture. He thought that was pretty cool; mommy and grandma thought so too!

Grandma showed Braylon lots of fun animals and chased him around the park. He reluctantly held her hand briefly until he was off an running again.

Mommy just had to buy Braylon a zoo sippy cup. He is going to the zoo again soon with the daycare so I wanted to send him style. He thought it was cool because this sippy has a straw. He did ok drinking from it, but he still needs some practice.

Mommy and Braylon in front of a rhino.

Braylon pointing at the orangutan in the swing. He thought was pretty neat. Grandma said that he liked him so much cause he looks just like Grandpa. :)

We gave the carousel another try, but he only liked it when he was watching it go around and when he first got to sit on the cheetah. Unfortunately, once it started moving up and down, he no longer liked it. Next time Mommy will have to sit on it with him abd see if maybe he likes that better.

Update

Hi Everyone,

Sorry that our posts have been so few and far between. We don't currently have a working camera so we have been doing a lot of video recordings and posting those takes a lot of time and patience. I thought I was a pretty patient person, but when it comes to waiting for technology, I am not. We finally ordered a new camera though so we should have some new pictures soon!! :)

I do want to give everyone an update about Braylon though. He has been doing so many wonderful new things and keeping John and I happily entertained while at the same time on our toes or at our wits end with how to contain him.

He is running at about 200 mph these days. He is like a little sponge, soaking up every little bit of knowledge he can. He has been saying eye and nose and correctly pointing to each, on himself and others, for about two months now. At first it was really hard to keep him from poking himself right in the eye, but he is doing much better at it now! He has been responding to "high five" for the past few weeks as well, and every now and then he tries to say it. Next time you see him ask him to give you five. :)

He says peek-a-boo in the cutest way ... "peetboo" and he he puts one hand over his eye then pulls it away. He calls his babysitter's dogs by name - Daisy and Nina, and he loves to say doggie. We think he might say her name too, Heidi, but we can't tell if he is saying her name or "hi". It comes out, "Hi-yee". We tend to exaggerate hi when we say it to him, so it could either be him mimicking it exactly as we say it to him or he is trying to say Heidi and can't pronounce the "d".

His new favorite word to say is shoe. He knows exactly what it is too. If we ask him where his shoe is, he will point at his foot or go and grab the nearest shoe and bring it to us. The best one though, is guitar. As of right now, it is actually "Ta-gah" for him; whenever he sees Daddy's guitar for Guitar Hero, he points at it and says ta-gah. There is a hint of the r sound in there too but not quite. Braylon absoultely loves it when we let him play with the guitar. He has two of his own toy guitars, but his face absolutely illuminates with glee when he gets to hold Daddy's guitar. He looks like a little pro playing it.

Braylon's other big thing now is climbing everything. He climbs up on the couches, climbs on his chairs, and pretty much anything that will elevate him off the floor - even if it is less than an inch. A few weeks ago, his little train that he can ride was parked next to his playpen. Next thing I know, Braylon had climbed onto that and was launching himself over the side of the playpen to get in. I saw him in the knick of time though and caught him just before he fell in. Needless to say, we have to keep one eye on him at all times. We try to keep anything that can be used as a step stool away from certain areas, but he is already too smart and will move them to whereever he wants to climb. Is this supposed to be happening at 15 months? I thought we had until the terrible twos before we had to start worrying about this sort of stuff. Hahaha.

We are having the time of our lives chasing the little stinker. I have to admit though, the nights he decides that playing quietly with his toys is all the entertainment he needs, John and I are happy as clams and welcome the break from chaos.

Jumping for Balloons with Daddy - Apr23

As I have mentioned before, Braylon absoultely loves balloons. He calls them balls. Balls are still by far his favorite toy, but balloons are even cooler because they are balls that float!! This was a few days after Jen's and my 30th birthday bash. Braylon was in "ball" heaven next few days.