Chatterbox

Some cute (and otherwise) things Brady is saying lately:

-Freshy milk
-Lucky milk (yucky milk)
-Big head (whenever you pull the shirt over his head)
-Emma leeb it (leave it). Also Emma go 'way.
-Dammy (Grammy)
-Go' dammit!
-Racoony (raccoon movie, a.k.a. Over the Hedge)
-Tim!! (calling up the stairs to his dad)
-Baby seeping, shh!
-Way home (go home, stay home derived from "this is the way home")
-Daddy way! (go away)
-Cheese pups (puffs) a.k.a. Pirates Booty
-No, no, mommy, hush!
-Winpoo (Winnie the Pooh)

He's also counting to 20, counting to 10 in Spanish, saying all his colors in English and primary colors in Spanish.

Baby Cate is also talking up a storm, but we're not quite sure what she's saying yet.

FRIDAY!

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Friday is by far the best day of the week right from the start! It's the day that the weekend begins, it's "jeans day" at Mom's office, it is a slightly shorter work day and Mom gets to play the hero by picking up the kids from daycare! And Friday just got even better as we've introduced a couple new events: pizza and movie night!

Since our visit to Aunt Ronnee & "Un Matt's" house, Brady loves to watch Toy Story in the big bed on the portable DVD player that Poppie got him. So even though we're not on vacation, we're bringin back the fun for one night each week! Our first movie night was a massive hit as we managed to fit all SIX Wrights in the bed. That's right! The dogs joined us, too! I'm already looking forward to next week!

Here are some pictures from our weekend.

First Day of School / Back to Work

Everybody did great today! It was Cate's first day in the infant room, Brady's first day in the Early Preschool class, Daddy's first day with an employee on maternity leave, and Mommy's first day back at work. Cate reportedly napped and ate her bottles. Although he got off to a rocky start, Brady stopped crying and started having a great time in class. Dad did, in his own words "ok, it was kind of hectic to begin with." And Mom received a lovely "welcome back" from her colleagues. I was so busy, I didn't have time to be sad!

It was a true comfort to see Ms. Jen in the infant room. It felt great to hand Cate off to her. It was also helpful to see little Grant and Carter happily kicking around in class.

We dropped off Brady in his new classroom first. I held it together despite the fact that Brady's tears started almost immediately and he reached up for me and cried "mama!" It was a little harder in the infant room as I put all Cate's supplies away and asked Daddy if I could hold her before we left. I didn't want to, but I also held it together through the Starbucks drive thru window. The flood gates opened promptly after that. It didn't last very long, and I proudly wore Cate's drool spot on my shoulder the whole way to work!

Time Still Flies

It feels like yesterday I was typing the last blog post of my Brady maternity leave. Here I am again, but it's Cate going to school for the first time tomorrow. Again I have the framed pictures of my babies packed up in my work bag. Again I have the baby's school bag packed up with her name labeled on everything inside. Again I'm wondering how I'm going to get everyone dressed and ready and still get to work on time. And again I'm planning to reward myself for this emotional turmoil with a big, fat Starbucks coffee.

Maternity leave was a gift! Despite the logistical and emotional challenge of adding a child to the family, the days were joyous. I will always remember the one-on-one time I spent getting to know my little girl, spoiling her with perhaps too many cuddles and kisses. I will remember fondly the days I opted to stay in my jammies and hold Cate on the couch as she slept - while Emma used my hip as a pillow. I will remember the excitement as 4pm approached, not only because Ellen came on TV at 4pm, but because I would soon be picking my boy up "early" from school.

The second time around I planned to slow down my maternity leave by refraining from too many errands and housework. I was successful in self-management but it turns out this did nothing to slow down my leave. Time still flies. And I still feel like I could have squeezed in a couple more cuddles and kisses. But I don't regret skipping all the naps I was told to take. I much more enjoyed keeping my eyes wide open and marveling at my little Cate.

Life is a Beach

GeoTagged, [N32.20569, E80.68192]

It's a beautiful day at the beach! Hot as Hades, but lovely. Brady just finished eating the goldfish crackers (pronounced "goldpish") he dropped in the sand. I can't wait to see that come out the other end! There will be no mistaking where he's been spending his days!

We are visiting Grams and Bubba in Hilton Head this week. Uncle Andy, Aunt Hunter, Sawyer, Bennett and Georgia are here, too! We've been busy biking, beaching, boating, swimming and playing with this great Lightning McQueen car Grams picked up for Brady. Cate has been kicking and squirming, cooing and LAUGHING! (She started laughing last week when Grammy was cleaning her hands.)

Today at the beach Brady wanted to hold Mommy's hand and play in the surf. He also enjoyed counting pelicans, splashing Daddy and throwing his shovels in the water for Dad to fetch! That Daddy is so trainable.

Now we're off to get smoothies before we go home to cuddle and kiss Baby. Ciao! - or as Brady would say "goo-bye!"

Good Little Travelers

We just returned from a week-long visit to Aunt Ronnee & Uncle Matt's house in Scottsdale, Arizona. We were so excited to meet Cousin Layla! What a sweet (and spicy) little peanut! We loved her. And Brady loved saying her name "Baby Layla."

Both Brady and Cate were perfect little travelers. Our outbound trip got off to an exciting start when in the midst of our Brady-energy-burn in Concourse C of Hartsfield Jackson Airport, we heard Mommy being paged to gate C21 for immediate departure. Ahhh! Brady was not happy to be thrown into my arms as we raced to our plane. Can you believe they nearly left without us?! Cate was an angel on her first airplane ride. Grammy came to town to help me out with the trip, since Daddy had to stay behind to work (bummer). Cate contentedly slept in Grammy's arms the whole way to Phoenix. Brady was a champ, too. He talked about everything he saw out his window, had a couple snacks and then passed out before take-off. He slept for a good 2.5 hours. When he awoke he made a huge mess eating a yogurt parfait and played with his new Matchbox cars. We had some turbulance on the descent but Brady weathered the fear well by singing through it with a little "Brady on the plane goes up and down" (to the tune of Wheels on the Bus).

Our visit absolutely flew by! It didn't help that I came down with a case of mastitis and spent the first two days shivering, sweating, getting sick and writhing in pain. Antibiotics to the rescue! The rest of the time, Aunt Ronnee and Aunt Holly took Brady on early morning stroller walks, we watched Hoda & Kathie Lee, Ellen and lots of exciting Food Network programming. Brady sprouted fins and spent the rest of the time swimming in the pool. He learned to say Uncle Matt ("Un Matt"), Holly, Ronnee, beer, cactus and Baby Layla. He quickly picked up on the rules of the host house and he made fast friends with the house pup, Tyra, thanks to gifts of green beans, pizza, fruit, etc. We also introduced a new vacation tradition of settling into bed by watching Toy Story on the portable DVD player. Mama must admit that she loves this new tradition and looks forward to our next opportunity to enjoy it.

Cate was her sweet little self - smiling, cooing and talking. She greeted her Uncle Matt with a big fat spit. Aunt Holly enjoyed her quiet cuddliness. Cate dwarfed her cousin Layla, though she's only 2 weeks her senior. But it was darling to see the two of them kick around together on the floor or in the crib.

We were so sad to leave, though we did miss our Daddy. Cate again slept in Grammy's arms. Brady was awake through this return flight's take-off but fell asleep again after we leveled off. He slept for a couple hours then listened to the inflight music entertainment while jammin' on his paci and playing with his cars. It was an amazing trip and I wish we could do it again! Both kiddos are nearly back to their regular bedtime schedule - just in time for us to go on vacation again! This time we head to Hilton Head Island to reunite with the Wrights. Luckily this trip is on Eastern Standard Time, so jetlag shouldn't be an issue.

A Change in Ownership

What's been going on in Brady's Crib lately? Baby Cate! After a week of the new bedtime schedule we can officially say that it's Cate's crib now! And it sure seems like Brady is happy to turn it over to her.

Cate visited the doctor today on her 9-week birthday (and Daddy's 35th). She did great! She weighed 12 lbs 9 oz (88th percentile), she is 23 1/2 inches long (87th percentile) and her head is 40 cm (79th percentile). Doc said she's old enough to sleep in her crib all night long. Not sure Mom is ready for that but perhaps we'll move in that direction soon.

Cate is smiling and cooing a lot lately. She kicks her feet and moves her arms around when she's awake. She is able to hold her head up when you're holding her upright and she's held onto every last piece of hair on that head! She has grown out of her newborn size clothing and is wearing her 0-3 mos and 3 mos gear. She still eats every 2-3 hours during the day and 3-4 hours at night. Last night she slept from 1:30 am to 7:00 am. What a champ! It worked well for Mom, too, since she was busy "sleeping" in the glider with Brady. (That chair remains the BEST thing I ever bought for the kids).

Cate is pretty sleepy now after the FIVE vaccinations she received today. We're just going to sit here and snuggle until it's time to celebrate Dad's birthday!

Enjoy It! and Hang in There!

I've learned two things in my short tenure as the parent of an infant, now a toddler:

1) If something is going well in the life of your child, "Enjoy it!" because it will probably only last a week or two.

2) If something is not going so well in the life of your child, "Hang in there!" because it will probably only last a week or two.

As I mentioned in my last post, we transitioned Brady to a toddler bed. He took to it like a champ and bedtime had became both predictible and smooth.

Step 1: Bath and/or jammies.
Step 2: Read three books in the glider and enjoy a sippy of cold milk.
Step 3: Turn off the lights, turn on Twilight Turtle and listen to three "mama" songs while settling down for sleep.
Step 4: Lay in bed and get back rubs from mom for three minutes.
Step 5: Drift off to sleep after mom leaves the room.

This lasted about two weeks and it was glorious. We wondered to ourselves this weekend when bedtime became so easy. And that should have been our "heads-up" that things were about to change.

The past two days, bedtime has been anything but smooth. Brady doesn't want to go upstairs for bathtime. Brady doesn't want to climb up in the chair for books. Brady doesn't want to lay in his bed for back rubs. And Brady definitely does not want to drift off to sleep after mom and dad leave the room. Instead, Brady is sitting up as soon as we get up from the floor and he's out of bed as soon as we leave the room. He comes to the gate at the top of the stairs screaming and he continues to cry as we walk him back to bed. Last night I gave up and rocked him in the chair until he fell fast asleep. Tonight, Tim gave up and put him in his crib. We are going to try to put him back into his toddler bed. We'll see how the night goes. Sufficed to say, I'm not planning on getting a lot of sleep. It might have to be a Starbuck's kind of morning!

So now I am hoping that the old lesson holds true yet again - and this stage in Brady's life only lasts one week versus two.

Oh The Shame!

SEVEN MONTHS AND NO POST!? Shame on the mama! Now how on Earth can I update the past seven months in one post? Well I suppose I can just tell you what kind of little boy our Brady has grown into. It is certain that he's no longer a baby!

On The Move
Brady is running, climbing up stairs, scooting down stairs, climbing up on the couch, closing doors and trying to open them back up. He's still pushing anything that will slide or roll across the floor - especially the trash cans and laundry baskets upstairs. He still enjoys his school and is now in the toddler classroom with Ms. Cheree, Ms. Luciana and Ms. Nadine. Many of his friends from the infant room are still in class with him.

Chat Stew
At school and home alike, Brady can be found reading, singing, chatting and laughing. His favorite books still include Little Quack and The Pokey Little Puppy. But he's added to the list One Hungry Monster, Are You My Mother?, Little Quack's New Friend and There's A Wocket in My Pocket to the list. He loves to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "The Itsty Bitsy Spider" and "The Wheels on the Bus." I think he tries to sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" on his own, too. The first word he says in the morning is 'eat' and I think his favorite word is 'exit.' He also says car, bye bye, more, eight, spoon, Emma, lights, book, ball, blue, green, yellow, no, uh oh, turtle, beep beep, 'what's that?' and 'I've got it.'

Bedtime

Brady is about to be 18 months old. He's in the process of moving from his crib to his toddler bed. We're currently reading books and napping in the toddler bed quite comfortably and peacefully. He's still got that darn paci, though, and we're not even trying to take it away. He doesn't need his pacifier at school and we're just fine with that arrangement for now. He's not ready to give it up at home and we're trying to move along at his pace with both the paci and the bed.

Helping Hands

Brady is also an excellent helper at school and at home. He helps his teachers pick up books and toys. His teachers report that he appears to help his friends read books at school, too. At home he goes to get his highchair when it's time to eat and he pushes it back in the corner when he's done. He throws trash in the garbage can and closes the safety gates on the stairs. He also likes to help put his dirty dishes in the sink and he feeds the dogs their dinner. He also brings the dogs their toys. He's still learning that he can't take them back afterward, though. Billy does not help with this lesson. He lets Brady do just about anything he wants - including sitting and bouncing on him.

Some new developments include swim class and a couple new teeth.