Swim Lessons!

Bradley had swimming classes during the month of July. Connor was also in the same class so it was fun getting to spend more time with him. Before the classes Bradley had never been in a pool, so he was a little stiff at first :) but he got used to it. He has this thing he does with his legs - he does it all the time laying on the floor and he did it almost every time in the water when he was on his back - he'd stretch them out and cross them - he looked like he was just lounging, we kept trying to uncross them and get him to kick but he didn't want to do that while he was on his back :)
Somehow he always seemed to end up playing with the same boat, he was so good - he'd really kick his feet and try to move towards the boat.
Daddy was able to make it to every single class with us - we had so much fun. In the first class they had us dunk them - I chickened out! I just couldn't do it. Every class I would try get up the courage to do it and then I'd wuss out and get scared. I wanted to so badly because I think the earlier you do it the more used to it they'll be. I stated my concerns to the teacher and he reassured me that it was not required at this level - so luckily Bradley still passed :)
At one of the last classes though Kevin finally did it, he did a couple of practice - almost dunks - and I was so tense! I kept reaching out to grab him :) Afterwards he choked a little bit but was totally fine. Kevin tried to get me to do it on the last class but I didn't want to ruin his last class for him, he was having so much fun! His favorite part of all was splashing, he'd get his face soaked but somehow it was a surprise every time the water hit him in the face - it was so funny! :)

Teething Baby

The best part of eating for a teething baby is rubbing the spoon across those sore gums. When Mommy's not helping out and doing it for you - improvise :)

We're sure seeing this head shaking motion a lot now - when anything is in his mouth he'll shake his head back and forth so that it rubs on his gums :) sweet sweet baby! (No little teeth bumps yet though)

4th of July - Part 3

Does let this picture fool you - Kevin might LOOK tired after all our 4th of July festivities but if it were his decision 4th of July would be a monthly holiday :) On the 5th of July we went up to Red Feather with Tammy, Dad, Jan and Grandma. We went to have a wonderful lunch and look around at their craft booths. Then we came back to Dad and Jan's house and had a great time, relaxing, chatting and playing games. Just thought I'd throw this little fact in - we all took a stab at shooting one of Dad's guns at a target. Dad taught me the proper Marine way to sit and stable the gun in my hands - the first 2 shots - not even close to my circle!! But what do you know it - I ended up getting a bulls-eye - best shot of the day! Hooray! :)
Then Mindy and the kids came up to spend the night and go to the fireworks show with us. We got there, got all settled in, and while we were waiting it got really windy! Kevin and I were trying to shield Mr Bradley from the wind but he was just getting more angry with us and didn't want blankets draped across him. So unfortunately we had to pack up and head back to the truck to watch the fireworks from there.
We actually had a pretty good view from the truck but we missed the company of Dad, Mindy, Tammy and the kids. Bradley loved the last show of the year just as much as the first. It was a very good show, especially for a small place like Red Feather - we were very impressed!
We had so much fun all 3 days - it was a 4th of July to remember! :) The best one yet - Mr Bradley somehow makes everything better than it ever was before! :)

4th of July - Part 2

On the 4th of July, Kevin, Bradley, Mom, Tammy, and I went to Olive Garden for a delicious lunch, then went back to our house. Bill came over and I thought we were going to play some board games, but Kevin and Tammy decided that there was something better to do on a hot summer day - water balloon fight! Everyone got soaked - except for me :) I wanted to get a little wet but not soaked, some say I was being a wuss - I say that means that I won :) Then we played volleyball in the backyard in the sprinklers which was so much fun. Then Scott and the kids came over just in time for the Ice Cream Man to come down our street! It was a perfect summer day!
Then, just like every year, we all met at Mom's house to walk down to the park for the fireworks. The weather was perfect and so was the company! Mr Bradley was all rested and in the best mood!
He wore the ear muffs for the first part of the show again but we took them off because it really wasn't that loud, and the noise didn't bother him at all. I'm so glad he liked them!! :)
Here is the gang :) It was a perfect 4th of July!!

4th of July - Part 1

So we had a long 4th of July - which we're very happy about :) Technically it started a week before with our 4th annual 4th of July party which was a blast, but it officially started on July 3rd when we went to the Rockies game. We went last year on the 3rd and saw their fireworks show for the first time and had so much fun and have decided to make it a tradition. They do the fireworks shows on the 3rd and 4th and we don't ever want to miss 4th of July at City Park because that is our main tradition, so going on the 3rd to the Rockies is perfect. They have great shows!
This year was odviously a little different with Mr Bradley. I was thinking that we could get him some ear muffs to block out the sound and if the sound didn't scare him then he'd probably enjoy watching them. I started to second guess myself the second we got to the game. We couldn't sit in our seats because it was very loud with all the cheering for the game and Mr B would freak out as soon as anyone started cheering, so we spend most of the game walking around the stadium and I was feeling bad for even taking him there.

But when it got close to the show we put the ear muffs on and he loved watching them! I love this picture because you get a good view of how cute his cheeks looked all squished up :)

Sadly I think that was our last Rockies game this year because Mr Bradley just isn't too into loud crowds, but at least the fireworks didn't scare him! Success!

6 Months!

We took Bradley to get his 6 month old pictures taken last weekend. On the way there I was telling Kevin that I learned my lesson last time and that I wouldn't go crazy and get so many pictures! We had a better idea of what we needed this time and last time we went we got WAY too many, they were all adorable but we don't have enough frames, or enough people to give pictures.

Yea - I ended up getting the exact same amount of pictures! It was so hard! Last time was adorable and yet we only got 1 smile - this time he was smiling the whole time! Huge, open mouth smiles! He was so so happy, and the guy was great and took a lot of different poses, so I couldn't pass up any of the pictures. I felt a little guilty for spending so much money, but ya know - if I'm going to spend money on something, pictures is a good thing to spend it on I figure. It was hard for me to even pick a couple to post, but I guess it would take me a while to post 76 poses :) These are my favorites! Man - how it is humanly possible to be SO DARN CUTE??

Solid Foods

I finally caved and gave Bradley some cereal for the first time on his 6 month old birthday. I have been putting it off, partly because I'm in denial about how big he is already and partly because I had finally come to a point where I felt like I knew what I was doing and knew what to expect, and now I have to learn something totally different and sometimes I feel lost again :) I guess I need to get used to change!!

Cereal went pretty much how I expected it to go - mostly icky faces with some excitement and happy thrown in here and there :)

What I did not expect were the feedings to follow. I thought for sure he would get better and better each time because he would get used to it - not really! :) It took him about a full week of trying until I finally got him to eat some and not spit all of it right back out at me - how did I do this you ask? Well, you know - all the books and articles I read on this subject stress that you need to promote good eating habits - eat at the same place every time, with little distractions, be happy but not too excited, be patient, etc. Well during one feeding Mr B was not paying attention to me or the spoon full of food, he was fascinated, however, by the tray. He would stare down at it and pat his little hand on it over and over, and this lead to bending down as far as possible and sucking on the edge of the tray. So what do I do? I pour some of the cereal on the tray and let him suck it off :) Yeah - that's a good, healthy eating habit if I ever heard one - just pour your food on the table, bend over and start slurping it up! :) Oops! (I wish I got a picture of it because it was really funny!)

In the past couple days he has gotten the hang of it now, he'll open his mouth and pretty much will eat whatever gets in there instead of pushing it out with his tongue. I think the main reason why he became more interested is the new spoons I found - a lot more rubbery than the others I was using and I'm sure it feels a lot better in his mouth - so yea! Oh - and he hasn't tried to suck on his tray again, so maybe I didn't scar his eating habits forever! :)