Long over due 11 month update!

Bradley turned 11 months old on August 14th. He is an official walker could almost be a runner now!! He started officially walking everywhere the week after he turned 10 months. I think he is much happier being able to really keep up with brother now. He is eating most everything we offer him, this past week he has dropped a bottle feeding and is beginning to drink whole milk, he loves Elmo, Mickey Mouse, Little People toys, trains and cars, he waves hi and bye, is starting to say more "words" like dog, ball, mama, dada, and that. He is so loving! He loves to give hugs and pat on you. He is extremely ticklish and loves to giggle. He is down to one nap a day with an occasional power nap in the morning or late afternoon. As I am writing this it is becoming painfully obvious to me that he is moving into toddler hood and is leaving his sweet 1st year behind :(

We are celebrating his first birthday a week early. For his actual first birthday we are taking the boys to Arlington to watch the Braves play the Rangers. Since his nursery theme is dinosaurs I decided to stick with that for his first birthday theme. Carson is pretty pumped about that and loves getting to help pick out the decorations!

Since the last post this family has been pretty busy. I took my trip to Colorado, the following weekend Kyle went out of town for his buddy's bachelor party, the boys finished up their summer MDO program, Carson met the Sooners for Sooner Day, had birthday parties, Bradley's first hair cut, Bradley's 1st year pictures, Kyle and I went out of town for a wedding, and had new carpet installed. All the while the boys and I have spent the entire month together with no MDO so we been having lots of daily adventures inside and outside the house.

Next week Bradley starts back at MDO once a week and Carson starts at Warm World two days a week, which is at the same church he went to MDO but the program for the Fall and Spring is more of a preschool environment. As I was sitting at Parent Orientation for Carson last week listening to the procedures and other preschool information I became a little emotional! I couldn't believe that I was sitting on the other side of this lecture since usually in the Fall I'm letting my students' parents know very similar information and the fact that our oldest child is getting old enough to prepare for real school, brought on more feelings than I expected! Thank goodness we are not quite there because clearly I need more time to accept this and thank God I have been given this opportunity to be at home with the boys! We also met Bradley's teachers the same day and he seemed very comfortable with them and in the new classroom. He visited the room and teachers a couple of times during the summer since he was starting to walk they wanted him to have more space with the "bigger" kids in the bigger room so I think that will help with his transition this time. (Fingers Crossed)

Its been very bitter sweet this August. Usually by this point I would have already been working about a month with my new students and getting back into the school year swing of things. I have always enjoyed setting up my class and meeting all my new school children and it was a weird feeling after 6 years not to be doing that. But I know I am where I should be this year!

Till next time....Boomer Sooner!!

Meet the Sooner Day, Aug 2nd. He got to meet and got the autographs of the Sooners, Coach Stoops, Boomer & Sooner, and he tried to avoid all Cheerleaders ;)

10 months

Our little Bradley turned 10 months old on Monday! Our little man is able to take three steps without holding on, go from sitting to standing, has 8 teeth, loves table food, playing fetch with CJ,  playing in the water and all the exciting tricks from last month. We've started making plans for our little guys big birthday too, and we are all getting very excited to our little man become a toddler!

Finally got that sweet face!

This past month has been very busy. Kyle went out of town for work, we celebrated my Mom's fifth birthday, celebrated the 4th of July, took a day trip to see Kyle's dad, celebrated my Grandpa's 80th birthday, and tons of fun outing during the week. The boys have done great with every single activity (of course they occasionally act their age ;) They are sure making this summer memorable and a lot more fun.

 Carson making Grandmas wish :/  6/28

4th of July  

A trip to the OKC Zoo

They both have become well adjusted to Mother's Day Out and Carson looks forward to seeing his new friends on Mondays and Wednesdays. Which is a big sigh of relief for me! We have about three more weeks left and then a month break before they start back in the Fall. So August with no childcare should make for an interesting month ;)

I leave tomorrow for Colorado to see my sweet friend Katie and her precious little girls. It will be my first trip with out any of the boys and the longest I've ever been away from Bradley. I am so excited to have a girlfriend weekend but I am anxious for my boys (all three of them) and how they will survive without me!! Please say a prayer for Kyle!

A 3 year old and a 9 month old...we're busy!!

 

Carson is the big 3!! His little party was on the 1st at Hafer Park in Edmond. Carson really enjoys going to that park and feeding the ducks and playing so we thought it was the perfect spot for his celebration. Some of our friends and their children came out to help celebrate by feeding the ducks, sliding, and of course eating cupcakes!! Carson had a great time, thanks to everyone who took time out of their weekend to help us honor our big guy!

 

Grandma Lynch and Bradley

Gary, Joey, Carson, Brayden, and Rhys feeding the geese.

Brayden, Ben, and Carson

The face says it all!!

 

Both the boys had their wellness checks on the 16th. Carson weighs 37 lbs. and is in the 90th percentile for his age. That is about 6 more pounds than at his 2 year check up. He is 39.5 inches tall and is in the 90th percentile for his age group. Which is 4.5 more inches than a year ago. So he is a big boy!! Doctor had him count to five and identify colors, and did great! He told Carson that he needed to work on eating more meat so he could get bigger muscles, so we're hopeful the doctors orders will work to get our little guy to eat more protein. He got to pick two stickers this visit since he did so great and because he is totally potty trained!! We also went to the eye doctor for the first time this month. Carson did fantastic. He was just in awe of all the instruments and things to look at. He has a little farsightedness and a little astigmatism. Neither things concerned the doctor at this time so it's just something we'll keep our eye on as he grows closer to school age.

Carson currently loves peanut butter and jelly, applesauce, fruits, and almost all sweets and snacks, he also loves elephants, the zoo, all transportation vehicles, Disney Jr., books, sports, telling stories and talking up a storm, music, and his brother.  He is all boy and I enjoy watching him continue to grow into the person God has planned him to be!  

 

 

Happy 9 months baby boy! ( Look at all those teeth)

Bradley turned 9 months on the 14th. He weighs 17lbs and 13 oz, which is the 18th percentile for his age. He is 28.75 inches tall, which is the 67th percentile. So he is still tall and slender. Doctor said he looked great and was doing well besides the ear infection he discovered (ugh!). He now has 6 teeth, he can wave, cruises all around the place, can walk behind a pushing toy, and can stand alone for a short period of time. He is still eating baby food and occasional table food. He loves to follow Carson's lead, feeding himself snacks, he can be quit the giggle box especially if brother is playing with him, he enjoys music, his head being rubbed, and his mama :)

Bradley also went to see the eye doctor this month. He also has a little  farsightedness and his right eye is a little weaker than his left so we are working on strengthening it. The doctor recommends we help him go cross eyed while playing with him which will help the eye. She will need to see him in a year to check in on the eye.

He is the sweetest little guy and I really can't imagine our life without our baby brother!

 I of course got another amazing picture of my three guys :/ This is Father's Day morning before church. We did however have a nice Father's Day honoring our sweet Daddy!

 

This past month our family has went through a few changes. I said farewell to teaching for a little while so I can stay home with the boys. It was a bitter sweet decision. I truly love teaching but with the desire to be with the boys, the cost of childcare, and the stresses of the education system right now it was the best thing to do. I am thrilled that we've been blessed with the opportunity to do this and are so thankful for the job Kyle has been blessed with to make it all possible. But because I am staying home the boys no longer will be going to daycare, which Carson has taken a little harder than I thought. He has been with many of those kiddos since he was just an infant and he misses many of them often. We are sending the boys to a Mother's Day Out twice a week and the transition has been a little rough. Kyle thinks once Carson makes a friend he'll adjust and be more excited about his new "school." I pray he is right because I really want him to like our new routine. Bradley has some separation anxiety so I am hoping with age he'll get past the crying when I leave. It really pulls at my heart strings to see them get upset when I leave, especially because its all because I changed our old routine and quit working! Other than that as of right now it feels like I am on our usual summer break and the boys and I are living it up with play dates, pool time, fun outings, and establishing our new daily routines.   

 

We are looking forward to a great rest of the summer full of fun and wonderful memories!!

8 Months

        Our little man is eight months old!! I honestly am in shock that in about 4 months we will be celebrating another first birthday!!! Where in the world does the time go?!?!? Bradley has four teeth, two front bottoms and two top fangs as I call them. One of the front top ones is trying to come through and I am praying it hurries up because the vampire baby look is a little alarming! He is still enjoying baby food and is now enjoying more snacks and slowly more table food, as you can tell from the pick he is getting a little more meat on his bones so food is something he enjoys! He is a crawling machine and has gotten pretty fast at it. He is still pulling to stand up while holding on to something and this past week he cruised around the ottoman. Kyle feels pretty confident that he'll be walking by 9-10 months. He continues to be madly in love with brother and everything he does, he loves playing the drum, putting everything in his mouth, music, bath time, and Carson's toys ;). He is talking more (babbling) and we feel like he may actually be saying mama, dada, and bubba, but he doesn't do it all the time so we aren't sure if he is really saying what we think he may be saying, lol!

       Carson turns 3 on June first so we are busy gearing up for his celebration and finishing up this school year! All four of us are anxious for summer to begin!

Look at those eyes! And if you look very carefully at his bottom lip you can see the tops of his teeth. I haven't been able to get a good pick of our vampire baby teeth I am hopeful I will before more come in!

Happy 7 months!

This past month has been full of changes for Mr. Bradley!! Our little man has had three teeth come in (one on top two on bottom), is crawling, goes from laying down to a sitting position, and occasionally pulling up to stand!!! Of course he decided to show us all his new tricks in a two week period so it was a whirlwind! He is still having three meals a day and has started little finger foods, we've introduced the sippy cup but he would rather have brothers cup of course. He is madly in love with brother and playing with anything he can get his hands on (especially brothers things :(.

 

He is a very determined crawler! 
 

(This is a picture of Carson at 7 months.)

 These pictures (one above and below) were from Bradley/Family's 6 month photo shoot. Bradley was a great model...big brother was a tough little one to work with that evening but I am glad we were able to get a few keepers!

 
 We had a wonderful Easter as well. After church and nap time we went to my mom's for a yummy ham dinner and watching the cousins run wild for the Easter eggs. Carson did three different egg hunts, one in our neighborhood, one at daycare, and one at my moms, so he was deeply saddened when Easter time was over.

 Above is a picture from our neighborhood egg hunt below is a picture of Easter morning.

 I have exactly one month from today left for this school year. So it is going to be a very quick and busy month as usual but I am super excited to begin summer and to make some more fun memories with my boys!!

Bradley's 6 months old!!

   Bradley turned 6 months old on March 14th. It really blows my mind that 6 months have already come and gone and we only have 6 more till our baby is one!! Why must it go so fast?!?! We had his 6 mo check up on the 14th as well. He is now 27 inches long (69th percentile) which is that exact same as Carson at that age, 15lbs 8 oz (14th percentile) which is skinner than Carson at 6 mo., and 43 in. head circumference (above average) which is also the exact same as Carson's at 6 mo. The doctor says he looks great and showed us his two bottom teeth that are trying to make their appearance. He sits up on his own now and recently has been trying to pull up on somethings, he even tries reaching for things in a beginning crawl stance, and has begun eating baby oatmeal, veggies, and fruits everyday! He is a very smiley baby, loves watching brother, playing along side brother, being held, yelling and chatting, and toys that make sound.  

 Bradley at 6 months (please excuse the snowmen pjs in March)

   Carson at 6 months

Carson continues to amaze us with his large vocabulary and knowledge and recently has become a big sports fan. Kyle took him to his first Thunder game a month ago and now he is hooked! The other night he told me he couldn't take a bath because "I gotta watch the Thunder with Daddy!" He is now asking to go to all sporting events and when its warm out his wants his t-ball set, basketball goal, and golf set out! Needless to say Daddy's excited! He is also becoming more and more of a big brother with Bradley. He wants to help him do everything!! 

I'm on Spring Break this week so the boys and I are enjoying our life of leisure with playing, picnics, zoo trips, and napping!!

Carson's 1st Thunder game!

 

Happy Spring!

Bradleys 5 months & Carsons potty trained!!

So our family was finally getting back to normal and then sickness got us again! A couple weeks after RSV and ear infections, Kyle came down with strep throat. Then the stomach bug hit the entire family! Needless to say we are all over this winter season and getting sick! 

However, through out our sickness our boys continued to grow and change! Bradley turned 5 months on Valentine's Day. This past month he started trying out cereal and is now eating it twice a day. He loves watching brother, playing with his toes, and bouncing. He rolls everywhere!! If he sees something he wants he'll roll to get it. We were sure hoping he'd follow Carson's development pattern and become mobile later. If you leave him on the floor don't walk too far because he will not be in the same spot when you return.When feeling well, which has been rare the last two months, he is such a smiley and content baby.

Carson has now been wearing his underwear and potty trained for almost a month. We've been working on this for some time now but weren't really getting anywhere. Then one day he woke up saying he needs his underwear and hasn't looked back since! We of course are still working on a couple things, public, nap, and night time, etc. but he is doing great and we are so proud of him!! 

Due to the cold weather and sicknesses it was a pretty uneventful month but our family is looking forward to the warmer weather and all the fun Spring has in store now!

Bradley's first taste of cereal

Bradley at 5 months and our two sweet Valentines!