It's been a while

Hi Bracken!

It has been months since I have written and I apologize. I guess life just got carried away, which happens a lot. You have gotten so big!! You are still small, but growing up so fast! At your 18 month appointment your weight was 20 lb 14 ounces in the lowest 5%, way lower, so probably closer to 1%, Your height is 31 inches in the 15th % and your head is 47 cm in the 25th percent. Still such a small boy.

You are talking like crazy. You say at least 200 words and are obsessed with trucks and buses. Many times I say something and you will repeat it after me. You seem to love to learn. You also count. I say one, you say two and I say three. Then you will run or jump (well, try to jump) or do what ever we are doing. You refuse to say one or three though. It is quite funny.

You love to play with anyone of any age and love to be outside. You often grab my hand and lead me around the house to show me what you want. You like to throw things in the garbage and enjoy reading books. You have a vehicle book and an animal book and those two are your favorites. I often catch you singing or humming songs and you love watching your reading videos.

I'm off track from work right now and have been able to spend a lot of time with you and I love it! You go see your dad every other weekend and often don't like to go with him. It breaks my heart when you cry when I leave. I know you don't like a lot of change, but your dad loves you and wants to spend time with you. I'm sure you have fun with him and love the time you guys have together.

Halloween just passed. You dressed up as a lion this year. You were so adorable! You can say trick or treat and kind of had happy Halloween. It sounded something like appy owen. But very cute.

That is the basics of your life right now. I love you more than ever and enjoy spending so much time with you! I can't imagine my life without you, you are everything to me! I love you!!!

Love,

Mom

Words

Hi B!

I have been keeping a list of words that you have said so far. At 16 months old you are doing better than average and are quite the little talker. Here is your list of words:

mama/mom
dada
bath
binky
blanket
dog
kitty
keys
outside
popsicle
bird
juice
off
hi
bye
green bean
eyes
open
stinky
fish
cheese
crackers
ball
shoes
chase
kZ (girl at daycare)
peek-a-boo
balloon
yeah/yes
glasses (sounds like asses)
see
flowers
grandpa
nana
papa
hey
M & M
what's that

you also say some sounds. You say oh-oh when something is wrong, woah, pssst, mmmmm when you taste something good, and ew-ew-ew when you want something. You also know some animal sounds. I will say "what does a .... say?" and you will answer with the sounds. Right now you know dog says woof woof cow says oooo ooooo duck says quack quack and dinosaur says roar.

I love seeing you learn and grow. One of my favorite parts of being a mom is to watch you learn new things and understand the world around you.

Love you hunny!

Love,

Mom

24th of July

Hi B,

I had the best weekend with you! We went to the parade on Saturday and you loved it!! You watched everything that was in the parade and really loved the police cars and the marching bands. You clapped and waved at the people and just loved every second of it. You made friends with people sitting to the right of us when they gave you a capri sun. You even went and sat on the ladies lap for about 10 minutes. You also made friends with the people on the left because they kept spraying you with their spray bottle to keep you cool and you laughed and loved it. You are such a charmer.

Then we went and hung at at grandma and grandpa Maez's house. Then we went to Liberty park to watch fireworks. We sat across the street where they actually light them and hung out with Savannah, Nathan, Chase, Hailey, Daniel and some family friends. You were in such a great mood and did so good staying up late. I bought you a binky that flashes and that was your favorite thing of the whole day! You laid on me when the fireworks started and watched them intently as you started dozing off. Then there were some misfires and some knocked over and started flying straight at us! I grabbed you and ran as fast as I could as the fireworks were whizzing past my head. I couldn't think of anything but how to protect you. It was a huge story and 9 fireworks total flew into the crowd where we were sitting, but none of us got hurt, thankfully. By the time I found everyone, you were dozing off in my arms. All the other children were screaming and crying and you just went to sleep. It was quite funny.

You are at such a cute stage. You are saying new words every week and understand so much of what I say. I can tell you to go get your shoes and you will go find them. You said Chase this weekend and keep saying "off" over and over. You use it for up, down, on and off, but I can usually figure out what you mean. You are growing so fast and getting so smart. I love you so much and we are doing really great, the two of us. You are very entertaining and so much fun to be around. I am so blessed and thankful to be your mom! I love you!!

Love,

Mom

Love You!

Hi B,

I just dropped you off at the sitters. I am having surgery today, so I won't see you until Sunday night. 3 1/2 days. The longest I've been away from you. And I'm so nervous about these things. I just wanted to tell you that I love you so much! You are my world and the greatest thing that has ever happened to me! I love you more than you will ever know!!

Love,

Mom

Updates

Hi B,

It has been a while since I have written you. It has been a crazy month! It is summer and so nice outside and you absolutely LOVE being outside. You would live out there if you had a choice. This month you had your 15 month checkup. You are 30 1/4 inches tall - 25th percentile, your head circumference is in the 25th percentile and you weigh 19 pounds 12 ounces. About the same as you did at your 12 month appointment and you are now in the "less than 5 percentile" range. On your medical graph you are well below the bottom line, but you look healthy and your belly pokes out so I think you are doing just fine. You also got really sick for a week before your appointment and didn't eat much and lost some weight. You were sick this weekend too. Saturday you ha a fever of 104.6 degrees at one point. It scared me. I hate it when you get sick!

You are getting to be such a little man and I love watching your brain work and process things all the time. The other day you pulled your small booster chair all the way across the living room and put it by the wall so you could stand on it to try to reach our security system buttons, which you love to push. The fact that you realized you could stand on the chair to make you taller just astounds me! Such a smart boy!

You also do things now and you will remember it days later and do it again. Your brain is definitely growing and you are learning new things every day. I haven't stuck with the reading program at all lately. I am mad at myself but I feel like we don't have much time together as it is and I don't want to waste our time together, especially in summer doing it. Education is so important and I'm not setting a very good example and really want to get back into it. That will be our goal.

Well B, I love you. You are so amazing and are doing so great. You make me so happy and you make my life complete!

Love you tons.

Mom

Divorce

Dear B,

I wish you were old enough for me to talk to about everything that is going on. You seem to notice a change around the house and are probably picking up on my moods and behaviors. Your father and I have decided to get divorced. Everything is taken care of and completed. That doesn' tmean that either one of us love you any less. You are the best thing that happened to both of us and we both love you so much!

Right now we are still living in our house and you and I will be here until we can sell it. Then I hope to find a townhome for us to live in.

I am doing my best to be a good mom during this time. I have been super busy and it has been hard managing everything that is going on, but I want you to know that I love you so much and our lives will settle down soon. I try to spend eery minute I can with you and try to make you laugh often.

More than anything, I want you to know that you are loved and you always will me. By myself and by your dad. You are amazing and such a blessing to both of us!

Love you,

Mom

Teeth

Hi B,

You now have two teeth on the top that look like fangs, with no middle teeth, and one on the bottom in the middle! Keep those teeth coming so we can start feeding you more kinds of food! Looks like your other two top ones will be in soon!

Love Mom

Finally!

Dear B,

You FINALLY have a tooth! It is the upper right lateral incisor - simply, the second tooth over. Most babies get their front bottom teeth first, then their upper front teeth, but you didn't follow that order. I am so excited about your tooth though. Soon you will be able to eat all sorts of other foods! Your other incisor is also about to poke through. Maybe this explains the last 3 crappy nights of sleep. I hope so.

Love you so much!

Love,

Mom

On This Day

Dear B,

On this day, I am most thankful for you! You made me a mother and are my reason to celebrate today. I had no idea how much I was going to love you, or that it was even possible to love you so much. I am so proud to be your mom and so happy that you are in my life. we have quite the journey to take together and I wouldn't ask for anyone else to be there to take this journey with me.

You are my number one!

Love,

Mom

Mastered Stairs

Dear B,

Hi honey. I am proud to say that you have mastered going down the stairs! You figured it out one day and have just been going strong ever since! You also have been talking a lot. You say ball, papa, bye-bye, hi, mama, dada, kitty, dog (well you TRY to say dog) see, what's that, hello and have said many more words but a lot of times you only say them once then never again. Words like: bath, kiss, and thirsty. You play and walk fast and climb all over your bikes. You like to throw rocks and you can climb up on small chairs and toys. I often find you sitting in your toybox. I can't believe how fast you are growing!

Don't grow up to fast!

Love,

Mom

New Path

Hi B,

We are starting a journey together on a new path today. I think it will be a good path. Maybe a little bumpy but will lead us to a better destination. I am so happy that you are here to travel this road with me, I don't know if I could do it without you!

I just want you to know I love you more than anything and you are the best thing that has ever happened to me! I hope I raise you to be a strong, honest, trustworthy man. Remember to always treat women with the up most respect and tell your significant other that you love them every single day!

Love you B! And I promise to tell you that every single day!

Love,

Mom

Linus

Dear B,

We have decided it would be more appropriate to call you Linus, from Charlie Brown, because you have grown extremely attached to your blanket lately. Don't get me wrong, you have always liked your blankets, but now you love them! You won't put them down. It doesn't even matter which blanket, as long as you are holding one. If there happens to be two or three in a room, well then you are holding all of them. It makes it difficult for you to walk, because you trip over them, but you insist.

It was hard for you to find your easter eggs on Easter, so I took your blanket and you looked at me like I was the worst mom ever. Then you went and grabbed your blanket and continued walking around with it. There are times you won't even put it down to eat. Luckily when we take you places we can leave it in the car because you get so excited about being out and about that you forget about it when I take you out of the carseat. I'm sure soon that will change also.

Love,

Mom

Easter

Hi B,

Well Easter has come and gone and was a lot of fun with you! I had 5 days off work and loved spending it with you! We went to the Sand Dunes to visit dad on Friday, but it got too stormy and was way too loud for you to sleep, so we came home really late at night.

We dyed Easter eggs with Savannah and Nathan. That was fun, but you weren't really interested in it this year and you don't like hard boiled eggs. You did have a good time squashing it, just not interested in eating it.

On Sunday morning Savannah and I did your egg hunt with you. I didn't think you would really go find the eggs, but you did and it was so cute. You would find an egg, smile, hold it up in the air, then drop it. Then you would go find another one. Savannah followed you around, trying to catch the eggs as you dropped them, but you were successful in cracking almost every single egg. It was a lot of fun to watch. Then you went through your basket. You don't like the grass on your hands, but you loved eating some of the candy.

You make my holidays so much fun!

Love,

Mom

Catching Up

Dear B,

Hi honey! Right now you are down stairs "singing" head, shoulders, knees and toes along with the tv. So cute! You are getting so big and I wanted to catch up on a few things on here.

1 - You are walking like a pro and absolutely loving it. Actually you think you should walk everywhere, so it took us about 20 minutes to walk to the mailbox the other day because you refused to let me hold you. You also decided you should walk about half way through grocery shopping the other day. You are going to wear me out!

2 - You stood up 2 times by yourself this last weekend, without holding on to anything to pull yourself up on. YAY!

3 - We have stopped nursing as of 3/22 and you are doing great. You drink bottles fine, and you use sippy cups great, but you won't drink a bottles worth of milk out of a sippy, so we are working on you drinking a little more with the sippy.

4 - We just got your 1 year/family pictures taken two weeks ago. They should be done and back to us soon. I can't wait! We got one so far and you are so cute. It was so cold outside and windy that day, so I bet not a whole lot turned out great. You were such a trooper. YOu were so cold and shivering, so you probably have the same face in all the pictures. I will post some when we get them back.

5 - Finally, my favorite thing is that you have become cuddly. Not when you are awake during the day, but before naps, before bed and in the morning you will sit and cuddle with us or lay on our shoulder. It is so sweet. This morning you laid with me for about 7 minutes then dad took you and you laid with him and watched the news for about 10 more. Just hanging out. I love it. I also can lay you on the floor and let you watch your reading video in the mornings. I usually have to strap you in your car seat, but now you will just lay down and watch it.

I love you bud! Keep up the cuddling!

Mom

Happy 1st Birthday

Dear B,

Today is officially your birthday. I was very sad that I had to come into work today. I really wanted to spend the day with you. But you went to the sitters and you were smiling and so excited when we got there, so I am sure you had a fantastic day and were able to play with the kids and have fun on your birthday.

Your party was quite the success. We had about 40 people show up for your party. We had a BBQ did presents and cake and ice cream. My favorite part was giving you your smash cake. You were unsure about it at first and dad stuck your hand into it. You almost started crying when you couldn't get it off your hand. Then I gave you a bite to eat and you realized it was yummy so you chowed down. You mostly just ate it with your mouth and didn't use your hands, silly boy! Then we gave you a bath. You were super cute and I loved every minute of your party. You also had so much fun! Probably one of the best days we have had. You also are thrilled about the number of balloons in our house!

Love you!

Mom

BTW we are going to go get you a toy organizer tonight because your toys are overtaking our room! I am excited to organize them!

Birthday Boy!

Dear B,

Tomorrow is officially your birthday. The marking of the best year of my life! You have caused me so much anxiety over the last year, but also more happiness then you will ever know. I love you so much and am so happy you are here with us!

We are going to celebrate your birthday today. I admit, I went a little overboard. You don't always have to have a lot of "stuff" to have a good time, just friends and family. But I had a lot of fun planning your first birthday and shopping for stuff. I made your birthday invitations that turned out so cute! I bought a bunch of curious George decorations to give us a theme to our party and went a little overboard on the amount of money I spent on a cake, but it will be so cute and sometimes it is ok to splurge on things that make you happy. I am still waiting for your cake to arrive and I can't wait to see it. I got you a smash cake of your own! You will soon be in sugar heaven!

We currently have about 15 balloons in our house and you are very excited about that. YOu have one tied to the back of your pants, thanks to dad, so you don't lose it.

I am so excited to celebrate the day you joined us in this world!

Now if I could only get you to take a nap...

Love,

Mom

P.S.

By the way, you have slept through the night twice now!

Thanks!

Mom

First Haircut

Dear B,

Yesterday we took you go get your first haircut. We are getting family pictures in a couple weeks and we wanted you to look sharp. You do! You are so handsome with your short, even hair. At first you were very curious as to what was going on. You wanted to see what the lady was doing so you kept turning around. When she used the trimmers you cried. I think it scared you, but it was very cute. I apologise for laughing when you cry, but it was very cute. Then when she used the scissors, you just watched the kid next to you get his hair cut. You really did a great job and the best part was the balloon they gave you! Balloons are your new favorite things. You have had 3 and each time you play with them until they are completely dead. You always laugh and scream when you play with them.

You look very handsome son!

I love you,

Mom

11 Months

Hi B!

You have reached some great milestones this last month. My favorite is that you have started walking. You took your first steps about a month ago and have gone from 1 step at a time to 5 or 6. You have walked 12 or so steps on a few occasions, but not regularly. You are getting braver though and take steps almost everytime you are standing up, unfortunately you fall a lot too but that is one of the consequences of taking risks in life. I love that you always get up and keep trying! I can't wait until you are walking on a regular basis!

You also talk so much! It always sounds like you are saying words, but we aren't sure. For example you will say kitty and look at the kitty, but it only kind of sounds like the word kitty, but you sure try! It is so adorable.

You still do your reading program, but mom has been slacking big time. You dont like to read the cards with me, you just like to hold them and fold/bend them. That ruins them, so I dont use them much. The same goes with the book, since it is a paper book, not a board book, you just rip and fold the pages. Therefore, I don't think it is going to help much until you are older. You stillw watch the movies on a regular basis and I will be honest that I will stick to that because it is a nice break for mom to get some things done around the house. But you seem to love them!

You are getting so big! I love it!

Love you,

Mom

10 months!

Hi B,

You are 10 months old already! Wow, time flies! You are so much fun at this age! I have lots of things to tell you that you can do now.

1. First, you still don't sleep well! Why??? You got up 7 times last night!!!!! Some nights you only get up once, but usually 2 - 4. I don't know why, but we are going to have you cry it out again soon and get rid of your binky, so that might help. I hope so.

2. You can understand so many words now: mommy, daddy, water, truck, fan, point, bath, drink, and probably lots more that I can't think of right now. I will ask you questions like, "where is daddy?" and you will look around until you find him then smile.

3. You say: momma, dadda, yeah and once you said no. You also sometimes say bah when I ask if you want a bath, so I think that is what you mean.

4. You get so excited for baths, it is unbelievable. After I start putting water in, you crawl over to the tub and try climbing in, clothes and all! When we take you into the other room to get you undressed you cry until we bring you back. You also always cry when I get you out, even if you have been in there for 20 minutes.

5. You learned to clap your hands a few days ago.

6. You just started standing up for about 5 seconds at a time. You will be walking in no time.

7. You point at things you want or directions you want to go. Or if I ask you where something is, you point to it when you find it.

I love you! You are getting so big!

Love,

Mom