Braxton turns 2

We can’t believe how big Braxton has become. Sometimes when we dress him in the morning, he looks (and acts) like a big boy who is ready to go to school. It takes seeing him next to actual school-age children to make us feel better that he is still our little boy. At his 2-year doctor appointment he measured 96% for height and 45% for weight. He is so tall and skinny that his pants are either high-waters or fall off his waist. Luckily, all the 2T shorts I bought have adjustable waistbands for summer!

His favorite phrases are truck (sounds like duck), ball, bye bye, Daddy at work, snack, Aye (with a head bob, his word for yes. We think it is short for ‘all right’), Nemo, and Cookie (for cookie monster, not the real ones). His favorite toys are little trucks, golf clubs, balls of any kind, and any outdoor toy with wheels. If he could be anywhere, it is outside. If he could be with anyone, it would be anywhere with daddy.

Since Braxton’s birthday was over Easter weekend, we had a little party for him the Saturday before with a few of his best friends. Here are some pictures from the party:

Impromptu Sword Fight

He was the best birthday boy with screams of delight for every present he opened

A chair all for himself when we hang outside

The birthday cake—yes I made it. It actually turned out better than I hoped. Gotta love those whoopee pies!

He even knew to blow out the candle.


Sharing with Daddy

Blowing bubbles outside with his best friend Kennedy after the party

A train table from Grandma Coombs

A plasma car from Grandpa and Grandma Foster

What a GREAT birthday! We LOVE you Braxton!

Our Baby Isn't a Probably Anymore!

After three ultrasounds and over a month of waiting, we can officially say that we are having a GIRL! I swear I have the worst ultrasound luck. With Braxton, the cord was in the way and we had to go back a second time. With this little one, she is so modest that her legs are always closed so tight they can't get a good look. At the second ultrasound the doctor got a glimpse enough that he said it is 'probably a girl but if you buy anything girly, keep your receipts'. We accepted that answer and waited until my next appointment to do another ultrasound, where we finally have photographic evidence of a girl. This time she was trying to hide behind my belly button, so the doctor had to poke and prod her to move enough to see.

I am so excited to have one of each, but also scared because I'm not terribly girly myself. I don't know how to do little girl hair or buy matchy accessories. It will be an adventure, but we are excited.

Brian turns 28!

On Sunday we celebrated Brian's 28th birthday. I can't believe we are getting close to 30--crazy. It was so nice for Brian to have the day at home since he has been working non-stop this busy season. He slept in (as much as you can with a two-year-old), got a 3 hour nap, some wonderful conference, and cake and ice cream with neighbors. All-in-all it was a fun day. Happy Birthday Hon!

He's a Big Boy Now

Braxton is such a big boy! He officially spent his first night out of the crib and in his new bedroom. It went better than we expected. He was dead silent just looking around for a bit, then slowly and calmly said ‘mama . . . daddy . . . scared’. It was so sweet and genuine, we of course went in and told him we loved him and there was nothing to be scared of. After that, he quietly rolled around and kicked his legs for 30 minutes before he gave up and fell asleep. No crying, no climbing off the bed, no fight—fabulous!

Today for naptime it took him almost an hour to fall asleep with repeated attempts to soothe and keep him lying down, but again no crying, no fighting, and no getting off the bed. I am sure once the novelty of the new bedroom has worn off, the crying and fighting will begin and then will come the hard part. So far, all is wonderful! Here are some pictures from this morning of him actually modeling for the camera on his new bed.

Our Last Snow Adventure of the Season—hopefully!

So, it has been a while since I posted. I feel like we haven’t done anything worth blogging about. It has been a cold couple of months with the occasional spring day and we’ve spent it mostly in the house. I honestly haven’t even taken a picture of my little boy since Christmas! That is how boring we are.

Brian has been working a lot with his busy season in full swing, even working on weekends as well. In his sparse spare time, he has built a shelf along one wall of our garage so we have a place to store more stuff. As happy as I am for the extra storage, I think Brian was happier to have a way to relax and use his tools.

I have felt very tired and sluggish with this pregnancy. I didn’t realize how yucky I was feeling until one day I started feeling better and then a light went on—oh yeah, I did feel sick! I am feeling better as the weather improves, but I am still extremely tired and fall asleep almost every time I sit down. I am also still pushing myself hard on our treadmill because we’ve decided to take Braxton to Disneyland in May and I need to keep my energy up.

Braxton is talking so much more now and it is so fun to have him answer questions and let us know what he wants. He has started paying attention to the TV and movies, which occasionally gives me a nice break. His favorite shows are Finding Nemo (or MO), Beauty and the Beast, Monsters Inc, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sesame Street, and Chuggington (or Choo Choo). Above all, he loves to be outside and can’t wait until the weather is nice enough to go out every day.

On Friday, Brian’s work hosted a sledding night up at Soldier Hollow in Midway. The boys had so much fun sledding and eating pizza in the lodge. Here are some pictures from what is hopefully our last snow adventure of the season!

Taking Life with the Good and the Bad

Two big things are going on in our life right now-one good, one bad. First, the good. We are announcing the arrival of BABY #2 sometime in late July or early August. We are excited for our new one to make his/her entrance into the world, but more importantly it will be good for Braxton to have a brother or sister to play with. I am feeling pretty good actually and my worst sickness is in the middle of the night—weird, I know. We are grateful for this though, since Brian has started into his busy season and works until 11 pm or later every night and I have become a virtual single-parent during the week.

On to the bad things of life. We found out last Wednesday that my mom has a tumor on her small intestine. The doctors did surgery on Wednesday evening with hopes of removing it, but were unable to do so without taking out most of her intestine. What would have been left to work with wasn’t enough for her to live very long. They also were able to tell that it was cancer and it had spread a little. We were very shocked and scared for her, but the following days have given us a lot of hope for her recovery. She has Stage 2, Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma. It can be successfully treated with chemo; however, it is not curable and may come back at anytime for the rest of her life. The doctors wanted to start chemo immediately, so I rushed down to St. George this weekend to spend a few hours with her before that started. The hardest part for me right now is that because I’m pregnant, I can’t be near her during chemo, which will last about 18 weeks. I’m so glad I went down, even for the few hours I got to spend with her, because it just reassured me how tough my mom is and I know she will fight this with all she has. So far, she has reacted to the chemo really well, with only a bit of nausea, and is recovering from her surgery well. Hopefully, she will be able to go home from the hospital this week where she can feel more comfortable for the remainder of her recovery. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers on behalf of my mom.

Holidays

Here’s a brief post on the holidays. For Thanksgiving we went down to St. George with my family. We had a wonderful time with good food and lots of family. Unfortunately, we didn’t take any pictures except on Thanksgiving morning we went up in the red rock and took family pictures for Christmas cards. Here are a few of the best ones:


Foster Family

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids

Clint, Amber, Sienna and Savona

Jessica and her boyfriend Brian

For Christmas we went to Idaho. Since we didn’t want to haul our presents for Braxton back and forth, we talked to Santa and he let us have ‘Christmas morning’ a little early this year—about 2 ½ weeks early! Braxton knew how to open presents pretty good this year, but he got distracted so easily that we opened presents for three days progressively. Then, actual Christmas morning we spent with Grandma and Grandpa Foster and the afternoon was spent with Grandma Coombs and Brian’s family.

Seeing our tree up for the first time—priceless!

The spread

He loves his kitchen

First time on Santa’s lap at our Ward Breakfast-oh dear!

New favorite toy

New Christmas Hairdo

First remote control car—thanks Uncle Brad! Deep concentration requires the tongue sticking out!

I love Christmas