Crazy Haired Grouch

We're staying at the Four Seasons in Georgetown this weekend (she said like it's a totally normal thing that happens all the time) and posting has been light this week... so I thought I'd end your Friday on a happy note.

These pictures don't really have an accompanying story--one day Braden woke up with crazy hair and a tude.

He made disgruntled faces at me.

And I just kept snapping.



Goober.

Happy weekend!

Best Buds

Braden and Finley are getting to the point where they can do more and more things together--and it's so fun to watch!  We moved them into a room together this weekend--and it's going pretty well so far.  I'll be blogging about that in a few days when we are a little more out of the woods.  But one of the cutest things they do together--bath time!





Seriously, they are a hoot together.  Other cute moments from bath time... squeaky clean Braden cuddling with his dad. (Finley was making us all wear medals from marathons, hence Sol's awesome outfit.)

Braden kind of likes to stick his face in the water--until his face is actually in the water.  He's a bit dazed from the dip.

Too cute.

BOYS

After Finley's bath (and unfortunately before we sneaked his pajamas on his skinny body) he grabbed my tripod and was playing with it.  I was holding Braden and only half paying attention to him when I realized he was yelling at me, "MAMA!  FALL DOWN!"

I asked him why I needed to fall down and his answer made me laugh--and then a little sad.  "I make you red, mama.  You fall down."  And I realized he was SHOOTING ME.  With my tripod.

He proceeded to lug the tripod around and shoot Sol and "make him red" and demand that he fall down too.  Sol and I can not figure out where he possibly could have seen people being shot, bleeding and falling down.  It makes me a little sad that he's been exposed to this scary stuff without me knowing it (likely in our own house!) but happy that he doesn't seem to have any understanding of what is happening.

Look at that form!  Sol thinks he looks like the little Indian shooting the bow and arrow on the Tootsie Pop wrapper.  Unfortunately, I think there's a lot more play shooting in my future... I think that's what happens when you have boys.  Oh dear.

Brady from the Block

It's been not the funnest (I know that's not a word) time around here... we're battling our first stomach bug.  So far Finley is the only victim, but I'm guessing the rest of us may follow.  Yikes.  Sidenote:  if your child keeps throwing up, don't feed him avocado.  And when he makes pukey noises and then wants you to hold him--you should probably point him towards a trash can.  Lesson learned.

Last week was a happier week--it was warm enough to go to the park!  Finley thinks the park is the best--I have a hard time taking him running because he always thinks we are going to the park.

Braden was less thrilled about the park.  But he was a trooper.

Braden was mostly excited that he was dressed in his cool kid outfit.  So excited that he made some sweet faces for me when we got back.

I can't help myself--when Braden wears this outfit I sing "Jenny from the Block." I just can't stop.  And unfortunately Finley really liked it.  So I had to teach him the chorus.

Whoops.  (He's kind of quiet, so you have to listen closely.)

Marathons and a Snowman

Well, I haven't been updating on the marathon training--not because I haven't been training, but because the marathon part is, sadly, not going to work out.  It turns out there's a decent chance Sol is going to be extensively travelling February through April, which would make it near impossible to train.  And the charity I was running for raised their amount to $5000.  I wasn't comfortable committing myself to raising $5000 for a race that I may not be able train for, or even attend--so I sadly decided not to go for it this year.

Sad face.

I'm still running as much as I can and if turns out Sol is in town, I'll pick something else to run in the spring.

So there's that.

And here are some pictures of Finley with his snowman.  It's been pretty warm and I'm not sure we'll get much more snow (knock on word) so Sol and Finley took advantage of the inch of accumulation to build this little guy.

This brought about many questions from Finley, "Where did the snow go? Is it snowing?  Is it snowing now?  It's snowing, mama?"  We're still figuring out snow.

9 Months

You know the phrase, "smile glued to his face?"  Sometimes I really feel like Braden has a smile glued to his face.  I'll look at him and he'll be grinning at me and then I'll eat some chips and look back--and he's still grinning at me.  Goofy boy.

Well Braden's best new trick is scooting a bit.  Finally right?  He's only three and a half months behind Finley... just kidding.  I'm a little nervous about our days now that the area Braden can reach is slowly expanding.  Finley often says, "No Braden! You might hurt yourself! That's not for you, Braden!" as he takes Braden's toys.  Apparently everything might hurt Braden.

Braden has his two top and two bottom teeth and likes to sharpen them while he's nursing... we're working on that.  He still nurses about 5 times a day and is about 50-50 on sleeping through the night.  Between new teeth and the holidays his schedule took a beating.  He goes to bed around 7:30 and normally sleeps until 8:30--although he's been known to doze past 10!  We're down to two naps, about an hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon.  He's a great eater--he loves blueberries and yogurt but will try anything we put in front of him.  We're loving the freedom that comes with baby led weaning!

Nine Month Stats:
Height: 29.5 in (85%)
Weight: 18 lbs 4 oz (15%)
Head: 18 in (60%)

Much like his big bro, his weight gain has plateaued. (At this age, Finley was an inch shorter and gained 10 ounces more!) He's gained about a half a pound in the past 6 months.  He eats well and after comparing his growth to Finley's, the doctor wasn't concerned.  It makes me feel MUCH better about Finley--I felt so bad about him not eating when I was working and it looks like I just have boys who stop gaining weight around 5 months.

Aside from clapping his hands and saying da-da on command, he also has a trick we like to call "crazy head" that I'm trying to get a video of because it is fun-ny.  He's also whistled four times.  Accidentally, but still.  That's four more times than I've whistled.

(This is Braden's "Brady from the block" outfit that he is borrowing from Edmund.  Work it B!)

Finley continues to be a hoot.  He's just hilarious to have a conversation with and remembers so much.  I'm gearing up for planning some birthday parties... I can't believe I'm only three months from having a one and three year old.  This is crazy stuff.

Lil Clapper

Ugh.  I think they grow up even faster the second time around.  I mean, isn't Braden still a little bitty baby? I'm fairly sure he is.

I didn't realize we were to the stage where Braden could follow simple directions--but sure enough, he loves to clap his hands when you tell him too.  It's so funny.  He works so hard and is just so pleased with himself.

A round of applause for Braden!

AND...  two exciting pieces of news today! One, we have a guest post up on I Can Teach My Child about party planning.  And, if you head over to Heartsy (it's like Groupon for Etsy) you can get a great deal on our shop!  We're so excited to be featured and be able to offer this great deal to... well, to the world.  Head over now!

Tired Braden

This is the thing.



Braden really doesn't have a very good poker face.  When he's tired, he just lays his little curly head down on the floor. And sometimes he's a little sad.  It goes one of two ways.  He other gets super sweet and cuddly--or he gets super mad and back archy.



Braden sucks his thumb a lot, when he's tired, when he's happy and whenever he feels like it.  But you know he's really tired when the thumb sucking is accompanied by grabbing his other arm.  He really likes to have both arms by his face when he's tired or nursing.  It's so cute.



I just can't get over how much of his own little person he's becoming.  We adore him.