Saturday, April 30, 2011

Bowling Night

The night before we left for California we went bowling with some of Jeremy's coworkers and their families. It took Brady a while to warm up, but by the end of the night he was running around chasing another little boy his age.
He loved to bowl, and had to do it all by himself. We will need to take him back and let him play with the bumpers and I am sure he will do so much better. Cutest little bowling shoes ever!
Of course Daddy won, and even when I tried, I still could not bowl very well. I am blaming it on the big bowling ball in my belly.
A fun family night, and we will definitely have to try bowling together again.


Thursday, April 28, 2011

Easter

As Brady is getting older it is so exciting to share Easter with him. Of course he still gets confused about a lot of things, but he is starting to understand more and more about God and Jesus. On good Friday we talked about Jesus dying and being placed in a tomb, and of course that brought up the question of what was a tomb. After trying to describe it to him, he kind of understood. Although he did say he was going to pray to God for some candy. Thankfully he got a new big boy bible for Easter so his visual mind could grasp it clearer.

For Easter he had 4 Easter egg hunts. Lucky kid. The first was at our gym.
With the Easter Bunny. Who we have decided we do not believe in, not that Brady really cares yet, but next year should be interesting.
Petting a real bunny. Who pooped everywhere.
Sliding down the huge slide
Hunting for eggs. He would shake them, and only take the ones he thought had candy in them, he loves candy.
The second egg hunt was on Sunday morning once he woke up.

The third was at church, Sunday morning.  He is so handsome!
And the last was at Aunt Jenn's with his cousins.
It was a wonderful Easter, and I am so grateful for the sacrifice that was made for me!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Our Trip - Day 4

Well Day four was our last full day in California. Thursday we packed up and flew home, so I won't blog about that, but Wednesday was a full day so I will tell you all about that.

We started off early once again, but the California Adventure park did not open until 10 a.m.. We could have gotten to Disneyland at 7 and then headed over to California Adventure at 10, but we wanted a little bit of leisure also. So we got to California Adventure at 9:30, and they let us in early even though none of the rides had started. We headed straight to get fast passes for that nights show, World of Color. It was a very good decision because we loved that show and it was one of our favorite things on the trip.
Next we joined the hundreds of other people waiting in line for the Toy Story ride. At this point the park had not even officially opened yet. Even though we were some of the first in line, we still waited for over 20 minutes. It was worth it though, Brady loves all things Toy Story, and this ride was fun. It was almost exactly like a Wii game we once borrowed from the library.
After the ride we met Woody and some of the Toy Story soldiers. 
Next we walked around some and saw a neat 4d movie from It's a Bugs Life. Very cool.
We talked with Crush the Turtle from Finding Nemo, and at this point Brady fell asleep. Jeremy and I had a quiet lunch while Brady slept, and we headed back to the hotel for a nap.
After Brady's nap in the stroller, we could not get him to go back asleep, so we tried to rest until we headed back to the park. Brady loved all of the bus rides we took. On this one we were the only ones on the bus, so Brady was a little crazy.
We felt that we had seen quite a bit at California Adventure that we could all ride, so we went back to the Disneyland Park to ride some rides we knew did not have long lines. We chose the Jungle Cruise ride, which I think is one of the original rides.
It was so nice that the Disneyland and California Adventure parks were so close to one another so we walked back to California Adventure to see some more things.
They had an area for climbing, which we played on. There were some things that Brady could not do that he was disappointed about, but I made a big deal about measuring him, and showing him he was tall enough to other things. He enjoyed going on the big boy things.
After walking around a bit more we got Brady something to eat since we knew we were going to eat a late dinner. I love how Disney has a lot of good healthy snack choices like fresh fruit and veggies. Thanks to our fast passes we got great seats to the World of Color Show. Pictures would not have done it justice, but it was awesome. 
After World of Color, we walked to Downtown Disney to have dinner at Rainforest Cafe. We really wanted Brady to see the restaurant, but of course he fell asleep on the way there, and we could not get him to wake up. After a expensive, not very good dinner, I did a little more shopping and we headed back to the hotel.
The next morning we woke up and were all sad to get ready to leave. Brady never got to say good bye to Disney because he fell asleep, so that morning he was very sad that he would not be going back. Thankfully the plane ride home was uneventful, but a little sad.
It was an amazing and memorable vacation. We are already looking forward to going back once the baby is older. We all had a great time, and I cannot think of much better than a vacation with my wonderful family. So blessed!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Our Trip - Day 3

Our third day in California was once again early due to Brady and his non sleep on vacation, but we were all eager to get to Disneyland early. We decided to spend the day devoted to Disneyland. We were expecting some crowds, but not too many people. We quickly found out that it was spring break for southern California. So it was packed! I was a little disappointed, but we just did as much as we could.
It was an amazing day so I could not blame everyone else for wanted to spend it in such a magical place. First was a ride thanks to Holly the horse down Main Street. A quick ride, but still fun.
We then got some cute photos in front of sleeping beauty's castle, and walked through her castle.
We headed to a ride to get fast passes. (They allow you to get special free tickets to come back at a later time and skip ahead in line, really much quicker.) We then found the Buzz Lightyear ride. It was lots of fun, and Brady loved it. 
Next we had reservations for breakfast with Minnie. It was quite overpriced, but really I think it was worth it.
Such a nice way to meet many of the characters, and Brady loved it. 
I was pretty excited too! 
After breakfast the  boys went back to use their fast passes on the autopia car ride. I was not able to ride this one, but that was fine because it looked really bumpy. Brady was so excited that he got to drive.
Next we waited in our longest line of our trip, for the finding Nemo Sub ride. About 45 minutes.
It was worth it, but we all started to get a little restless. Pretty amazing ride though.
Next was one of my two must do's. The teacups. Jeremy decided to sit out and take pictures instead. We did not too much spinning, but still enough to have fun!
We did a storybook boat ride that was a little boring and at this point Brady was sleepy, so we thought we would skip lunch since we had a large late breakfast. We were going to get ice cream and head back to the hotel for a nap. Brady was so tired that he fell asleep while in line for ice cream. We skipped ice cream, I did a little shopping, and we went back to have naps at the hotel. 
After naps, clothing changes, and an early dinner at the hotel, we were back to Disneyland. First stop was the Dumbo ride. This is the one thing I had to do. I have wanted to ride that ride since a was a little girl. It was even better than I thought it would be. It was at sunset, it was with my most favorite people, and it was awesome. I got pretty teary actually. Blame the crying on the hormones, but it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. 
The night ended with Pirates of the Caribbean (awesome ride), ice cream, Fantastmic show, Haunted Mansion, and fireworks. I was so awesome, and we only got to do a little bit of everything. We could spend so much more time there, and we can not wait to go back!




Sunday, April 17, 2011

Boy or Girl ?

Only 5 more weeks until my due date! That means only 35 days! In just 35 or less days we could have our baby! I have been getting baby stuff ready, and I am so super excited. The baby things are washed, the car seat is adjusted back to infant size, and tomorrow I will put the car seat base in the car. I have started gathering things for my bag and baby's bag. The swing, bassinet, bouncer, are all out and ready. I even opened up a pack of newborn diapers. They are so tiny and cute. I love the way that pampers swaddlers smell just like baby powder. Brady has had fun putting his bears and buzz in diapers and then for naps in the swing.

We are all so ready for Baby. Of course there are quite a lot of things that I want to do, but crucial things are done. Only thing we are missing are names! Well really just name. I have always known I would have a little girl named Abigail Lynn. Thankfully Jeremy loves it also. The boy name is a bit trickier. We really like Bryce, but we are not completely positive. And we are still very stuck on a middle boy name. Hopefully we will have a name by the time he is born. I have called the baby, little baby for so long I can not wait until I know who it is!

I know I have waited this long, but I am starting to go crazy about not knowing what the baby is. It will be such an amazing surprise, but it also feels sort of like it is not real because I do not know the most important thing about it. Silly considering how much I feel it constantly moving around, and even right now kicking the laptop on my lap.

I feel like I am having twins, one boy and one girl, because I am preparing for both and want both. I imagine two different babies, and I feel like I will be sad when the one doesn't show up. Strange huh? If I have to pick I say it is a boy just because it seems like my pregnancy has been so similar to when I was pregnant with Brady. Jeremy thinks that it is a girl, mostly because of getting sick with this one and not Brady. Brady is convinced that the baby is a girl, he has been since the very start. We have to remind him of how it may be a boy, and how much fun baby boys are.

So what do you think? I have a poll going on to see who everyone thinks the baby is, boy or girl. Make sure you vote, and leave a comment to tell us who you are. I think it will be neat for the baby to see one day, so I will print it out and put it in the baby's book.

Are we having a boy or a girl?
Are we having a boy or a girl?
Either way, I win! In 35ish short days I get to hold and meet our baby!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Our Trip - Day 2

I'm back. This pregnancy is kinda kicking my bootie. I love being pregnant, but I definitely have to be strategic about how I spend my time. When pregnant with Brady I could rest when I needed to, and when I had energy I was able to get things done. But don't ya know, my sweet little boy has energy whether I do or not! :) 
Proof Baby has been to the Pacific Ocean

After a late night at Disneyland on the first day of our trip, we hoped Brady would sleep in a little. At 5:00 a.m. we realized that was not happening. We tried to get him to go back to sleep, but we ended up letting him watch a show while we slept a little longer. He never seems to sleep on vacations.

Jeremy had gone to a store the night before to get some bottles of water, milk for Brady, and a few snacks. We were able to have breakfast in our room, and this saved time and money. We loved our room because it had a separate bedroom, and a living room area with a little fridge. We have decided suites or condos are the way to go when traveling with Brady, it really helps with everyones different sleeping schedule.
After getting ready and having breakfast we headed to the beach.
We drove the long way to Laguna beach, hoping that Brady would take a little nap in the car.
The Pacific Coast highway was beautiful and we ALL enjoyed it, no naps for us.
Even though it was a little cold and windy that day, we loved playing in the sand and walking along the beach.
It was just a little better than the Galveston beaches I am used to. I could get used to those views.
My sand castle
Brady was hilarious because of his fear of seaweed. He would run as fast as he could from the seaweed, and we heard some pretty girly screams coming from our boy. 
Crushing my sand castle
After playing at the beach we headed to Newport beach to have a little lunch. It was really nice and relaxing to have lunch on the beach. We headed back to our hotel and we all took a nice nap. 
After our nap we relaxed by the pool for a bit, got cleaned up, and headed out for dinner. We found an In and Out burger, and it may have been our best and cheapest meal.

Brady and Lego Woody at the Lego store
After dinner we went to Downtown Disney where we explored and shopped. We had some dessert and watched the Disneyland fireworks. It was another great day of our vacation, but we were all exhausted, and happy to head back to the hotel.   
Brady with his ears, and his Mickey Mouse Cookie


Monday, April 11, 2011

Our Trip - Day 1

We had such an amazing time on our vacation last week. Hard to believe it is over, but now we are starting the baby countdown so that is exciting. (6 weeks, or 42 days!) It was so much fun that I wanted to blog about each day of our trip, so today I will start with the first day. To see some more pictures check on facebook.
We woke up early, and headed to the airport. It was kind of a crazy start due to airline problems. The computers shut down as everyone was checking in. They started writing paper boarding passes, and we were on our way to security. Once at security, they realized that the boarding passes said 3/4 not 4/3 for the date. So most everyone in line had to run back to the ticket counter and get their fancy boarding passes fixed. Jeremy walked back for us, while we waited with all of our stuff. Most of the passengers were afraid the flight would leave without them, but we knew that our flight was the only flight of that airlines that morning, and we would be fine. Once on the plane everything was fine, I get a little motion sickness due to turbulence, but with Jerm's help I pulled through. Brady watched a movie on the ipad while we chatted.
About 20 minutes from the flight landing, Jeremy smelled smoke, and heard an alarm going off. I quickly tightened Brady's seat belt thinking something was wrong with the plane. Turns out someone was smoking in the bathroom. The whole plane was shocked, and kind of mad. Once we landed, the man was escorted from the plane with police. I googled it later and the fine is a minimum of $3300, some expensive cigarette.
After arriving safe and sound we got our rent car, and found some mexican food. It was okay, but nothing special. We went to the hotel and tried to get Brady to take a nap, but he was so excited, he refused to sleep. Sadly that was the trend of the whole trip. Since he wasn't sleeping we walked the mile or so to Disneyland. So exciting for all of us, but Brady was amazed.
There were a ton of people, but we kind of expected it on a Sunday, and thought as it got later the crowd would die down.
After walking around for a bit, we rode the train. It took us through the grand canyon, and we saw dinosaurs, before we got off in toontown.
We played around some, and went to Mickey's house for a visit. 
I thought Brady might tackle Mickey. He was so excited. After Mickey we rode the "It's a small world" ride. That song is still in my head. 
After that we walked around, and Brady fell asleep. Poor guy was so tired. We thought that the lines would be shorter when we came back Tuesday, so we all decided to call it a day.