Proud of my Boy!!

Maybe I am just a proud momma, but I was rather impressed with Brayden's coloring ability when I saw this picture on Friday. I asked his teacher & she confirmed that he actually colored the bubbles all on his own. He is also really into drawing circles & loops these days which is what most of the rest of the drawings are :)

Brayden's Tree House

When I was little, my dad built me a tree house. It wasn't actually in a tree, but rather a fort type structure that was up in the trees. I spent hours up there as a kid "cooking for the governor" and just playing. We made "monkey grass" berry juice, fermented the corn growing in the field behind the house, and mud pie cakes served on red bud leaves. It was great!

The biggest problem with the tree house was the steps. They were really steep (think ladder) & it was not very safe to climb up/down especially if you were carrying something. Enter Brayden into the picture...

My dad decided to redo the tree house & make it safer to get into, but to also add to it. He replaced all of the railings, completely redid the steps going up/down & added a slide & swing. Here is the finished product. It looks AMAZING & Brayden LOVES it!! He can spend hours going the stairs & down the slide!

As Brayden & Lilly grow up, I hope that they enjoy the tree house as much as I did when they visit Grammy & Paw!

New Favorite Activity

A few weeks ago my parents bought Brayden a sand & water table and I finally got it put together last Saturday. I had been looking for a cheap used one, but hadn't found one yet so I am really glad that they got this for him. He LOVES it!!! I can actually move the table on the deck so that it is in front of the kitchen door & see him from the entire kitchen. It is really nice because he can play outside and I can still cook, wash dishes, etc in the cool comfort of the house :)

Just some photos

I had another ultrasound last week at (23 weeks 6 days). Lilly measured right on track or slightly ahead this time around! Here are a few shots of her sweet little face :)

Belly shot @ 20 weeks 3 days...I think I am MUCH bigger now at 24 weeks!

This week, 2 of our good friends from church have had their little girls! I went & met both girls last night...they are so sweet! I think Lilly must have known that her future BFFs were being born because she was moving ALL day on Monday & Tuesday! She was excited too!

I am the "bad" mom & never seems to remember to take photos of Brayden any more. Maybe it is the pregnancy, but I don't think so. I even remember to take my camera with me most of the time, but I forget to pull it out! I did ask Matt to take a few photos of Brayden & I together a few weeks ago before church. Brayden was not in the mood to smile.

We held a HUGE yard sale at our house 2 weekends ago to raise money for our missionary friends in Papua New Guinea. We asked our church for items to sale & boy did they respond!! It was amazing! It took about 3 weeks to sort, price and organize everything and then about 2 hours to set everything out on the day of the sale. Of course, being me, I forgot to get my camera out during all of the yard sale prep so I don't have any photos of everything. Overall, it was a big success but exhausting for everyone involved!

Lillian Grace update

Everything is going great with the pregnancy these days! I feel great most of the time, other than some minor back aches which I probably wouldn't have if I would stay on my sides when I sleep!

I still have not gained a lot of weight, but slowly I am inching upwards. I guess, the less I gain now, the less I have to loose afterward! As long as Lilly is growing like she should be it is all good!

I promise that one day I will remember to take a photo of my growing belly. We were so good about doing that when I was pregnant with Brayden. That is what happens when you have another child(ren) to chase after all the time!

We go back in about 2.5 weeks for another ultrasound so I will try to post new photos of Lilly then :)

March of Dimes

This morning, my parents and Matt's parents joined us for the March of Dimes walk. We have walked for the past 3 years in memory of Taylor (Team TBE). This year our team was much smaller than last year, but we still had a great time & raised a good bit of money for a wonderful cause!

Here are a few photos from the morning:

Brayden getting ready to drive his car in the walk

Just getting started

At the end of the walk

One day, I will learn never to stand beside my FIL in a photo!
Do you see the rabbit ears he is giving me? Ha Ha!

Afterward, we all went to lunch and then to the farmers market! Brayden ate lots of fresh strawberries and we came home with local honey, lots of strawberries, and fresh asparagus (my favorite)!

We had a great day and I can't wait for next year's walk!

It's a....

We had our big ultrasound last Wednesday and found out that we are having a....

GIRL!!!!
Her name will be Lillian Grace (Lilly).

I am totally trusting the U/S tech on the sex...I really can't tell much of anything myself. The good news is that we get to have another ultrasound this Wednesday, so hopefully, we can better see everything! This girl would NOT cooperate for the tech to get all of the photos that were required for a Level 2 ultrasound, so we get more photos done!! Let's just hope that she will cooperate a bit more this time around :)

Here are a few of Lilly's first photos.

I think this one looks a lot like Brayden at his 18week ultrasound.

She was waving at us (and poking me the entire time!)

All of Lilly's measurements were exactly on track for where they were supposed to be. I was 17 weeks 6 days when the ultrasound was done & she measured right at 18 weeks!

In Brayden news, he has started potty training and is doing OK. I don't know that he really '"gets" it, but maybe he does & he just doesn't care one way or another. The other big change in Brayden's life is that he suddenly (almost 2 weeks ago) decided on his own that he wanted to sleep in his big boy room. It was a Wednesday night & I figured it couldn't hurt, so I moved his radio, "friends", and humidifier to his new room and put him in bed figuring he would be out in a few minutes. Nope...he slept all night like a rock! He has been sleeping in his bed ever since & has only gotten out of bed once during naptime (that we know of) and made a mess!

Some of our friends were looking at the ultrasound photos the other night at small group. Brayden saw the photos & immediately ran over and said "that's my baby"! Someone asked him what his baby was going to be & he said "baby sistah" with a big grin on his face! I really don't think he understands the difference yet about sister & brother, but he is happy either way at this point! It is so cute!!