Child's Favorite Toy

Suppose you find an incredible toy that your child loves and loves to spend a lot of time on their own playing with so you can get stuff done every now and then. Now try to imagine what this toy looks like. You might be thinking of something flashy, bright, that makes noise, or sings songs. You might be thinking of something that makes realistic truck or tractor noises, makes all the animals sounds even the ones you've never heard of like an egret. Now that you've thought of whatever toy you think accomplishes this goal the best, please look below.

What they don't teach you in Parenting 101, but perhaps should is that among all the toys that your child will love, nothing quite compares to the cardboard box.

Hospital Visit

Tuesday, March 13, 5:30 pm. At 2:30 we had a doctor's appointment, and the doctor said that we needed to schedule a day to get induced if the baby didn't come and the options were right now or Thursday. We originally decided on Thursday, but as we were driving home, changed our minds and called the doctor and he said come on in, so rushed and got our stuff together with some timely help from Uncle Jeremy, dropped Bradley off with Preston and Amanda and drove to the hospital.

And about 5 and a half hours later, Noah Chris was born weighing 7 lb 15 oz, 20 in long, who was generally unhappy with the immediate attention of the doctor and nurses and let them know promptly. Not too long later though he calmed down for a little snooze.

We had many visitors at the hospital, the first of which was Kim's mom, arriving 15 min before the baby was born.

Next was Aunt Megan, who watched Brad while we were at the hospital. Thanks again Megan!

Bradley came the next day and here we have our first family picture including little Noah.

Just barely born and already getting a head rub from his brother.

My family also came up to visit (we missed you Daniel), Grandpa and Grandpa, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Jeremy, and Aunt Mary.

While at the hospital, Noah got a little monkey to get wheeled around with just like Bradley's. It also served as a good way to keep track of Noah in the Nursery. Many nurses smiled as Noah and his monkey went around.

Uncle Ty and Aunt Ashley also came by.

And on Thursday, March 15, Noah takes his first venture out into the big wide world.

This is not an advertisement...yet

I almost think I should get paid for posting this, because Jif may never get a better cover picture for their advertisements than this. Besides, as a father and son duo, we may be Jif's best customers.

Life of an 18 month old

From the above images, one can see just how much an 18 month old can ransack a home in less than 15 min. As you can see, he started in his own room and moved steadily and determinedly through the house hitting all of his favorite spots along the way, reorganizing his toys and books, reorganizing the shoe holder, reorganizing the dvd's and finally reorganizing the kitchen drawers. As you can see, Titan helped a little.

Before making too harsh a judgement however, this is the same said child assisting his father in doing the dishes, and with a sweet face like that, you've probably already forgotten, as his parents have the damage created above, because such a cute little guy could never have done that. Hence the blame all falls on the cat. Sorry Titan :)

Bradley?

I just found this picture and I couldn't help but think it looks an awful lot like Brad. But this is not a picture of Brad. Or of his mom. Or of his dad, but in fact, his Uncle Tyler. C'est la vie. But I thought I'd post it. At least it shows that Bradley does in fact have some of my genes in him. :)

Uncle Ty getting his haircut, 14 months

**Update: This was tripping my dad out a little bit, because he thought it was Bradley. So, he asked me if I could post an actual picture of Bradley so that he can see the differences. So here are two pics of Bradley as per Grandpa's request.

Bradley getting his haircut, 13 months

Bradley at 15 months

The Perfect Day

I just have to say, today was pretty much a perfect day. And so, I will post about it, with the disclaimer that this is not my typical day. But it was great. Woke up, worked out, showered, read/studied, prayed (those two things were probably the key), wrote in my journal, and looked at pinterest and email, all before my baby even woke up!!! A day that starts like that just can't go wrong.

Bradley woke up about 8:30, and we ate breakfast. Then I re-configured our living room. I love, love, love, rearranging furniture. So that was the beginning of a great day. Part of rearranging the room means I vacuumed under all the couches, under cushions and the couches themselves, moved blankets upstairs, and washed the blankets that stayed downstairs. Bradley and the kitties loved rearranging this room almost as much as I did. Bradley helped me push furniture, and he loves to run from the vacuum. And because he was entertained with the whole process, it didn't even take that long. Then I folded laundry, played with Bradley, gave Bradley a snack, vacuumed his room, dusted his room, ate lunch with Bradley, put Brad down for a nap, cleaned the bathroom (like, deep-cleaned), spent some more time on pinterest (I haven't been on for like, 2 whole days, so I had a lot of catching up to do :), made a meal planner, got Bradley up from his nap, vacuumed our room, cooked and froze some cut up chicken breast, and then Mike came home! We had an easy dinner (french toast), which was easy to make, delicious, and easy to clean up. Can't go wrong there.

Then, Mike and I decided to be spontaneous, so we took Brad to the fun park here in Logan. They have a big, soft play jungle thing. It was so, so fun. Brad LOVED it. And it was super cheap. They must have had a deal tonight or something because it was only $3 for all three of us. (Brad is free, cuz he's under 18 months), but still. Super cheap, and way fun. Here are some pics from that:

Brad going down the slide with Dad.

Mike let him go down the slide BY HIMSELF. And it was a big slide. Not sure how I feel about that, but he loved it. I guess that's why kids need their dads. So they can do adventurous things that their moms would never let them do.

Anyway, we had a great time. It was hard to get any pictures because that boy did not want to stop running long enough to get a picture, but we did our best. After that, we came home, put Brad to bed, and Mike went out to help the young men clean the spectrum, leaving me alone in a spotless, quiet house to blog to my heart's content. Does life get better? I submit that it does not. :) Anyway, it's been a great day. I must say, I'm amazed that I am so happy with a day that involved so much cleaning. I don't love to clean, but I do love a clean house, and this late in the pregnancy, it just feels awesome that I have actually had the energy to do as much as I did. I normally don't. I am just so grateful to have days like today every now and again. And I have nothing else to say.

***UPDATE*** For those of you that may be feeling a little down after reading this post, thinking maybe I have the perfect life, please read "The Not-So-Perfect Day". Thanks. :)

Still Growing

Well, Bradley is still growing like a weed. (or a really pretty, useful plant, if you prefer that...) Needless to say, he's growing fast. He now likes to climb the stairs standing up (I am just sure that he is going to topple backwards one of these days, but I cannot for the life of me get him to crawl up them anymore.) Basically, he loves to climb everything. Here's a movie of him climbing the stairs, and some other random pics.

 

Just love this picture

He climbs on EVERYTHING!

He loves his new horsey

Bradley is not the only one growing...