Welcome Landon Theodore

After taking a break from blogging Andrew has pursuaded me to update since we like being able to look back at what we have done with Brayden.

So here goes nothing...

What do Iowa weather and pregnancy have in common?  They are both unpredictable.  There was supposed to be a snow storm on its way and with my due date approaching my mom decided to come stay with us so when Baby #2 decided to make his/her arrival she could watch Brayden.  So she came on Wednesday.  Thursday morning I had a doctors appointment where my doctor stated I was not making much progress and asked if I wanted to be induced.  I let him know since everything looked good I wanted to see if baby would come on its own.  He politely let me know that we would schedule a non stress,ultrasound and office visit for the following Tuesday and most likely they would induce labor after that.  I left feeling like my body would know when it is ready.  Thank goodness my mom was here as I was tired and didn't feel very good the rest of the day.  I wasn't having contractions though so I chalked it up to being 39 weeks pregnant.

10:00 P.M. Things got interesting and the next few hours flew by.  Andrew had been downstairs watching a movie and when he came up I left him know I was feeling like I did the night before Brayden was born.  Andrew reminded me the hospital was a 15 minute drive and we were in a storm watch so he said we were going to go sooner than later.  I said I didn't want to risk it so we would wait till 11:00 to see where contractions were.  Sure enough they were 6-7 minutes apart.  We woke Grandma to let her know we needed to go and Andrew packed up the car.

On the way to the hospital Andrew was kind enough to listen to country rather than NFL network and on the way to the hospital we heard our wedding song.  It was a nice comfort in between contractions and something to think about instead of the snow covering the road.

We got to the  hospital shortly before midnight.  Once checked in they took us to our room 3014.  Here is where things got a little blurry literally I took my contacts out :)  There was a steady stream of nurses in and out.  With the change in weather there were lots of other moms in labor too.

At 1:49 A.M  they placed all 6 pounds 14 ounces of my sweet baby boy on my chest.   As soon as Landon was born he let out some big cries to tell us he was ok.   It was amazing how quick and smooth everything was.  Andrew had mentioned a few weeks prior that his Papa had passed away on 2/22 and that was also Brayden's baptism day and I said I have a feeling that is the day our baby will be born.  Sure enough it was.  Papa was watching over us and reminded us of that by showing us new life.

Showing off his cry to the nurses.

First family picture with Landon.



Happy Mama and her new baby boy!

What Brayden wants to be when he grows up...

Lately Brayden is really into pretending.  Grandma Becky had bought him some costumes and different kinds of hats and he loves them.  He used to love to play doctor.  He would carry around his bag of medical supplies and pretend to be a doctor.  My favorite was when he would come up with his stethoscope and say I need to listen to your heart beep (always thinking about cars huh).  He would take your temperature, check your blood pressure, and listen to your heart beat.  It is so fun to see him use his imagination.

He also loves to pretend to be a firefighter, a construction worker, a chef, a rock star, and a baseball player.  If you would have asked Brayden about a month ago what he wanted to be when he grew up he would say doctor.  I would ask Brayden what kind of doctor and those of you who see Brayden often can probably imagine his next response, " I don't know. Can you tell me".   I would tell Brayden he can be whatever he wants to be when he grows up.  Well lately his career path has changed.  If you ask Brayden what he wants to be when he grows up he will say a baseball player.  The other day Daddy went to work out at the Y and Brayden and I went for a walk by the high school and went over by the baseball and football fields.

I say this time and time again but I love Brayden at this age.  We have been having such a fun summer and I love watching him learn and grow!  And of course what post is complete without pictures!

Fun in the Sand

Before we got this heat wave we decided to get some sand for Brayden's sandbox and put it on the deck.  We went out on morning to play and Brayden had a blast.  We were playing with our buckets, shovels, and sand molds when Brayden said, "Hey Mom can I play with some cars in the sand."  I thought that was a clever idea since Brayden has some dump trucks and other cars.  We went inside and brought out 5 cars that we could put in the sandbox.  He had so much fun and even learned how to make sand castles.

I-Cubs Game

I can not believe how fast this summer is going.  I have loved every minute of it.  I need to get back on the blogging bandwagon so I can remember all the fun activities we did this summer.

One Saturday night we headed to the I-Cubs game.  Thanks to Andrew's work we had some great seats right behind the home dugout.  The weather was a little chilly for a June evening but all we needed was a coat.  Apparently others did not approve the weather because the crowd at the game was small.   There were plenty of seats in our section. 

Brayden took his glove with him in case we got a foul ball.  He was sitting wearing his glove for a few of the innings.  It was so sweet to listen to him talk about the game.  We noticed that in the 3rd inning the Cubs ended the game with an out so the catcher came back to the dugout with the ball.  A young boy ran down and the catcher threw it up him.  Andrew and I thought that would be fun for Brayden to catch a ball.  So we continued to watch the game and after the 2nd out in the 4th inning Andrew and Brayden went down to the first row behind the dugout.   Unfortunately the 3rd out came from being caught in the outfield.   The players came into the dugout and the catcher saw Brayden sitting there with his glove and told him to hang on a minute.  He went into the dugout and grabbed a used ball and tossed it up to Brayden.  He turned around to me and showed me he had caught a ball.  He was so proud when he came back to his seat.  Andrew said he even told the catcher thank you for the ball.

When he got back to our seats he would not let go of that ball.  He held onto it for most of the night.  I asked Brayden where he got that ball and he said, "that catcher threw it to me". 

That night when we got home Brayden decided to sleep with his baseball.  Sure enough when he woke up the next morning Papa and Uncle Dustin were here and he decided to go get his baseball to show them and it was still in his bed. 

Happy Easter!

I know this is a couple of weeks late but here is a recap of our Easter.  Since I have been working so much our trip home was quick but we made sure to make the best of it.   Auntie Jill and Cousin Parker came home from Minnesota so it was fun to let Brayden and Parker play together. On Saturday, we had an Easter egg hunt at Grandma Becky and Papa Marc's house.  Oma, Papa, and Uncle Dustin came out to enjoy watching Brayden.  We had done an Easter egg hunt at home so Brayden already knew what to do.   He had so much fun finding eggs and even more fun opening them and finding candy.  Brayden was even nice enough to share his candy with Daddy and Great Grandpa Norbert.  In the afternoon Great Grandma Grace hid some more eggs in the basement and we had round 3 of egg finding. 

On Sunday we spent the day with Oma, Papa, Tic Toc Oma, and Uncle Dustin.  Oma hid some eggs outside so we went out to find them.  Oma had easter eggs that looked like basketballs, baseballs, and soccer balls.  Brayden took a great afternoon nap at Oma's house so we weren't sure how the drive home was going to go but Brayden kept himself entertained the whole time with his Easter basket and eggs.  We were all tired on Monday but it was well worth it after such a fun weekend.

 Great Grandpa Norbert and Brayden relaxing on Saturday.

 Cousin Parker likes when  I take pictures of him.

It was a chilly afternoon for the Easter egg hunt so Brayden bundled up but had a great time searching for eggs.

 Happy Brayden with a pail full of yummy treats!

 An action shot of Brayden finding some eggs.

The weather on Sunday ended up to be beautiful as we needed sunglasses but were able to not need our coats. 

Growing Up

Have you you ever heard people say why change something if nothing is wrong?  That was our exact thoughts with Brayden's crib.  Brayden had been sleeping all night in his crib and never attempted to climb out so he thought why make any changes.  A couple of weeks ago we decided to change Brayden's crib into his big boy daybed.  Before Andrew started converting the crib I asked Brayden if I could take a couple of pictures in his baby bed.  I have to admit I kept asking Andrew if it made him sad to think that Brayden is ready for his big boy bed and he kept looking at me like I was crazy.   I chalked it up to being a mom thing to get sentimental about things like that.   Once his big boy ready he was very excited to climb in himself.  He wanted to get books and toys and bring them in his bed.  It is quite funny to see Brayden come walking out of his room when he wakes up.  A few times he has woke up in the middle of the night and come into our room but really he has transitioned quite well. 

Although he does look like he could probably climb out if he wanted to he never did.  Thank goodness!

Look at my big boy in hi new bed! 

 He climbed in and covered himself to go night night.  Don't let this picture fool you he laid down for 30 seconds before he was up and ready to play.

Love that smile!

How do we spend Spring Break?

By doing special fun activities.  Our first day we spent at the zoo.  Not all of the animals were out yet but the animals we did see were very active.  I took my camera along but I was too busy living in the moment to take pictures.  Brayden and I had so much fun together.    He loved looking at the lions and the tigers.  The lions were resting right next to the window.  Brayden counted the lions and informed me there were 3 lions.  After the lions we moved onto the tigers.  We only saw one tiger but he was busy getting his exercise.  Brayden told me, "that tiger is walking mommy".   He was correct as he was just walking around.   He kept walking past the window and Brayden would get so excited.  Here are a couple of pictures that I did take.

"Hi Birds!"

See the tiger in the background.   He was exercising and walking laps.

The tiger is on his way back to come by the window.  Brayden's nose was glued to the glass as the tiger got close.