3 Year Toddler Update

The fastest three years of my life have come and gone! I can't quite believe it, but my little squishy baby is now a 3 year old toddler!

Clothing: 2T and 3T on top and mostly 3T on bottom, although some 2T's still fit. He's just SO tall!
Diapers: Size 5...and not long after he turned 3, we started officially potty training. It's actually going remarkably well (he's wearing "big boy underwear" 90% of the time)...but more on that later!
Shoes: Size 7 and some 8's
Weight: 36 pounds (estimated)
Height: 38 inches (estimated)

Over the past 6 months, I've seen even more growth in Brayden. Where he used to be a little shy and reserved, he's more bold and willing to speak out now. His knowledge base has also grown and he remembers things I can't even fathom...it seriously blows my mind sometimes!

He still wants Madalynn to be his BFF, but she's not too sure of him. They do continue to share their love of food, though. Brayden did hit a "picky" eater phase and the thing I absolutely cannot get him to eat are vegetables. I do try to hide them in dishes which works out well but ya'll, this is seriously one of our biggest struggles. Other than that, some of his favorites include pizza, fruit, tacos, chicken nuggets, french fries, "orange" fries (aka sweet potato fries), chips, grilled cheese sandwiches, cereal, waffles, grilled chicken, spaghetti, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something because this kid does love to eat!

I always wondered if he would get "attached" to an object like a lovely or a stuffed animal and it has officially happened! As an infant and early toddler, he had two wubba-nubs...red dog and a giraffe. Well, after he was too big for the pacifier parts, we cut them out and let him just hang onto the stuffed animals. He would carry them everywhere he went if I let him, but they get lost too easily, so he only has them at night.

Christmas was so magical this year. Seeing the sights and sounds through Brayden's eyes was truly incredible and definitely my favorite Christmas with him thus far.

He loved loved loved the Grinch. That included watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas, meeting Mr. Grinch after our church Christmas production, listening to the music, etc.

Funny (and true) story - he was super hesitant about Santa this year. After I told him that Santa was friends with Mr. Grinch, he had no problem taking a picture with him. Whoops. I mean, it's kinda true...

One of my favorite memories (and will be forever) was how excited he got over the "Grinch cakes" at IHOP. They offered a green Grinch pancake dish this year and Brayden seriously talked about it for weeks!

From then on, every pancake became a "Grinch cake"...silly boy!

Visiting the local park is still a favorite. He loves anything with swings and slides!

Also, ride on toys have become a recent thing around here!  He absolutely loves them!

He also still loves to go on a run with momma. Sprint workouts are his favorite because we get to run fast!

As any normal toddler, temper tantrums are still there. He gets super frustrated if he can't do something himself, but is easily redirect-able in the end. 

At the end of February, we took Brayden on his third trip to Walt Disney World and we had a BLAST! This was by far my favorite trip of them all! He did great on the plane ride there and loved meeting the characters.

I'm seriously awed at the things he still remembers about Disney World. His favorite parts of the trip included the elevators, riding the bus, riding the boat/monorail, and playing with the trash cans. Gross.

However, he still to this day talks about how he saw bunny rabbits and ducks in Disney World, and riding the boats/monorail. His memory blows my mind!

As per tradition, he also had a haircut on our trip and I LOVE it!!

Mickey was a huge hit this time, too!

Some of his favorite shows include the movie Cars, Puppy Dog Pals (still), Mickey and the Roadster Racers, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Lighting McQueen (aka "Bobby Ween") has been the latest favorite over here!  He also still loves YouTube Kids but we definitely limit his time there.

One of Brayden's favorite rides at Disney World was the Carousel. This little dog carousel (as shown above) is the closest I can get to a true carousel at home, so I take him to the mall on the occasion for a ride. So fun!

Brayden loves going to school and playing with his friends! He can also now count to 30, knows his ABC's, has several of the books we read at night memorized, and he knows the lyrics to several songs. He's also memorized several scriptures which makes this momma's heart so happy. The pledge to the American flag is also something he learned which is so cute to hear! Every single day, he amazes me with how quickly he is developing and growing!

I absolutely love seeing his personality come through! He is loves to laugh at himself and will definitely be goofball like Jason, I can see it already!

...and just like that, we have a big three year old!

Happy 3 years, Brayden! I hope the next year is just as much fun as the last!

Thanks for following along in our journey! I so appreciate each and every one of you!

Easter 2019 Festivities

Easter weekend has come and gone and just like Christmas, I'm sad it's over. Easter is my second favorite holiday (apart from Christmas, of course). I've mentioned in before, but back in 2006, Jason and I were engaged over Easter, married the following Easter, had Brayden around Easter time in 2016, and I just love the overall special time this year brings, not to mention the significance of our risen Savior. The promise of spring, the colors and blooms, new life, new possibilities...it's all just so exciting!

We had so much fun during this Easter holiday and I hope you did as well!

It all began with our church's annual Easter Egg hunt last weekend. We had a "practice" run of hiding eggs in our living room the night before and lemme just say, it was a disaster. Brayden was throwing his basket, throwing the eggs...he just didn't want to "hunt eggs" the way we wanted him to hunt eggs and it was quite comical. I decided that I was just going to let him go to the egg hunt, have fun, and see what happened because...toddlers!

So, imagine my surprise when they called "GO" at the Easter egg hunt and he began running to the eggs and putting them in his basket!

 He racked up with quite a few....then he wanted to eat all of the candy inside, of course!

They also had horses and a train at the egg hunt and Brayden loved them both!

He had a chance to ride the horses twice and the train three times! So much fun!

Over Good Friday and this weekend, we spent a little time dyeing eggs. We had fun choosing colors and placing stickers all over the eggs!

After a birthday party for a nephew on Saturday, we decided to try the Easter bunny at the mall one more time. Remember the Santa incident from Christmas where it took three tries and we finally got a picture? Well, the bunny took two. I didn't warm him up enough on Thursday after picking him up from school and needless to say, he wanted nothing to do with the Easter bunny!

On Saturday though, it all came together and he was totally ok with seeing the Easter Bunny! Toddlers are funny creatures.

We also spent time at my parent's house on Saturday afternoon for a crawfish boil! My dad also set up Brayden's new swing set in the back yard and he had a blast playing on it!

On Easter Sunday, the Easter Bunny visited us and left a fun Easter basket as well as a few "hidden" eggs. Brayden also enjoyed a leftover breakfast of bunny cinnamon rolls!

So yummy!

We attended church on Easter Sunday morning followed by dinner at Jason's Aunt & Uncle's house.

The kids loved having an Easter egg hunt and checking out all of their goodies!

Brayden also had fun playing with his BFF, Brody. He LOVES this dog!

I hope you all had a blessed Easter and enjoyed your weekend! He is risen, risen indeed!

Playing Catch-Up

Hi everyone! Over the past month or so, it's been super quiet here around the blog. This was not intentional and just happened because of...well, life. Brayden has gotten so active and it's hard to focus time and attention on writing a blog post instead of paying attention to him. Working full time doesn't allow for much extra time at home, so I love to soak it up when I can.

Added projects on top of my at-home time (like birthday party planning) leaves for even less blog time and although it makes me sad, I know the blog will always be here to pick back up where I left off.

So, I'm writing this to say that I'm behind on several posts, but those are definitely coming. I finally finished the vlogs from our last Disney Cruise Line vacation last night, which now means that Princess Half Marathon vlogs are coming, along with vlog footage I took of the remainder of our time in Walt Disney World!

Also to come on the blog are spring race recaps, posts from our recent WDW trip, Brayden's birthday party recap/video, and a three year update on Brayden! In the mean time, you can definitely find me hanging out on Instagram!

Thank you for being patient and sticking with me throughout this time! I know these days with Brayden as a little guy are short and numbered and I want to soak them up as best as I can. I wish I could add more hours in a day, but I know that would only leave me wishing for more hours in a day! :)

Have a happy Wednesday! :)

Only 364 Days To Go...

Christmas this year was unlike any other we'd shared thus far and I loved it! Looking back, we laughed about how Brayden has changed so much from his past three years of Christmas celebrations. 

On his first Christmas, he was only 10 months old and not very interested in opening presents at all. Last year, he was a year and a half and ok with it but didn't really care much about the opening presents part. This year though...he LOVED ripping paper and opening presents! Such a huge change from previous years. It really is amazing to see how much they grow, develop, and change as time passes by!

Anyway, we celebrated our little family Christmas on Saturday morning because our plan was to spend Christmas with my brother and family in Texas. Hauling all those presents to and from Texas didn't sound like a pleasant idea!

After we finished opening presents, we decided to take Brayden to Ihop for Grinch pancakes, which he then decided to call them "Grinch cakes"! His excitement over his "Grinch cakes" was hysterical!

On Sunday, we loaded up our vehicle and made our way to Texas to see my brother and his wife. No trip to Texas is complete without a stop at Buc-ee's!

Or seeing the Buc-ee's mascot for that matter!

That night, my brother took us to Wimberly, Texas to look at the trail of lights! These lights were gorgeous and so neat to see! Brayden LOVES Christmas lights, so this was a delight for him as well!

We made so many fun memories over the weekend and really enjoyed the time we were able to spend with my family! 

This giant gift bag was almost as tall as Brayden!  I couldn't resist putting him inside! :) 

Now, the saddest day of the year for me has arrived...the day after Christmas. I absolutely hate when everything is over, all of the presents are opened and the family gatherings are through. It just all goes by so fast! Oh well, only 364 days to go....

2.5 Year Toddler Update

I might be a month behind on this one, but better late than never, right?!

Last month, Brayden turned 2 1/2 years old and has grown, developed, and changed so much in just 6 short months! I'm not going to lie, I'm super sad that his baby features (chubby cheeks and thighs) are slowly fading away.

Clothing: Mostly 2T and some 3T
Diapers: Size 5 - working on learning to use the potty has been an interesting time!
Shoes: Size 7 and some 8's
Weight: 34 pounds (estimated)
Height: 36 inches (estimated)

In his last update, I mentioned that he hit a "word explosion" right before turning 2. Since then, those words have turned into more words which turned into phrases and he hasn't looked back for a single second. His current favorite phrase is to say "I want _____"! It's also hilarious to hear how he mispronounces things. Take orange pumpkin for example - "ooo-range pun-kin". I just love it!

His favorite place ever is the park. He also still LOVES the splash pad! Anywhere water is, that's where Brayden wants to be. We keep a pair of boots at both my house and my mom's house so he can splash in the puddles after it rains.

Like the rest of the country, he’s super obsessed with the “baby shark” song and it’s so cute to see the look on his face when the song starts. We’ve listened to it at least a million times!

He also LOVES his momma which of course melts my heart. I've heard before that there's just something about the bond between a little boy and his mom and "they" were right!

As far as food goes, Brayden loves it, especially "ice cream" aka frozen yogurt. Other favorites of his include pizza, spaghetti, tacos, waffles, chicken nuggets, cereal, chips, refried beans, french fries, fruit, and of course, candy (which is totally limited). He's not always open to trying something new, but once you convince him to take a bite, he will usually want more.

Favorite TV shows include Puppy Dog Pals and Mickey Mouse, but he now asks for Little Einsteins by name as well as "Paw Dogs" which is also known as Paw Patrol.

Landmarks are something he's picked up on as well. For example, he knows when we've made the turn to go to the park, my mom and dad's house, the frozen yogurt place, school/church, etc. 

Over the summer, we had all kinds of exciting adventures like swim lessons...

...seeing the 2017 World Series trophy on its tour...

...feeding the giraffes at the San Antonio Zoo...

...an Astros game...

...and Sea World in San Antonio!

Brayden travels really well in the car and we love going on new adventures and exploring new areas!

He LOVES animals of any kind, especially dogs! My dogs still aren't super agreeable to allowing him to touch, but we can convince them every once in a while with a little snack or treat!

Just like any boy, Brayden loves playing in the dirt. I ended up purchasing a giant plastic container that I keep topsoil in for him to play with. He loves using his shovel and bucket to repurpose the dirt (aka put it all over the backyard)! Another new fascination as of late has been dinosaurs. Being a boy mom sure is interesting!

Since moving up to the two year old class at school (where we also added an extra day), I've seen a huge change in the information Brayden absorbs. He knows his numbers of 0-10 and even surprised me the other day by counting to 10! He also knows his colors very well. We are currently working on letters and shapes, too! He's come a long way in just 6 months and I love seeing the new things he says and does every day!

Personality wise, Brayden is still a pretty chill, happy, and sweet kid although he has his moments/days just like most toddlers. He's easily redirectable when he's upset by reminding him to use his words and asking what he wants. We are loving and cherishing this time with this sweet kid we've been blessed with!

Thanks for following along in our journey! Stay tuned for his next update at 3 years old! :)