Saunder's 1st Birthday!

One of Bradley's best friends turned 1 and we had a blast at his birthday party. Pony rides, tractor rides - it was so much fun!! Truthfully, no matter what we do with Grady, JK and Saunder we have fun! :)

Kerr State Park

Our friends Grady and JK wanting to go camping one weekend and we suggested a great place nearby - Kerr State Park :) In years past we had camped out in the backyard in tents but hadn't done it yet this year, so it was perfect timing. They brought over their (massive) tent and we camped out, smores and all :) I knew it would be interesting to see how Mr B would go to sleep - the tent was making so many crinkling noises when we moved around and tried to put him down and he just wasn't going for it, so he ended up sleeping in the comfort of his own crib inside, while all of us were outside, we just brought the monitor out with us - which Kevin was happy about because he has problems sleeping without his fan so that was the substitute noise that night :) It was a lot of fun!

Boats

Here are some pictures from our day out on the boats at City Park and playing in the playground afterwards (back in July - sure doesn't seem like it was that long ago, I still have a lot of catching up to do :) )

4th of July

The day Kevin counts down to every year :) and one of my favorites as well! We had a nice day, hanging out together and playing games - and watching the weather. I NEVER remember the fireworks being cancelled due to rain - never. But as the day went on, it was raining, and kept raining. But we stuck to our plan to go over to Mom's house and walk to the park like we do every year and we just kept hoping that the rain would stop in time. And - just like every other 4th of July - it was perfect. As soon as we pull up to Mom's house the rain stopped and 2 beautiful rainbows came out - just in time!! It was such a nice walk to the park, we got a great spot next to the lake and had a great time. No earmuffs for Bradley this year :) He loved them - and he managed to stay awake JUST long enough to see the finale and then he was out like a light! He slept the whole way home in his stroller even though there were people all around us, walking, screaming, yelling, and setting off fireworks - he was a sleepy boy!

Ups and Downs

Well, now for a little story :) Kevin and I had been trying to get pregnant again pretty much ever since Mr Bradley was born. We had no idea how long it would take this time, seeing that last time it took 2 1/2 years and several procedures before we were blessed with Bradley. However, we thought maybe that last surgery I had right before I got pregnant with Bradley had 'fixed' me for good :) I started weaning Bradley off breastmilk after he was about 13 months, hoping that that would help me get pregnant, and I spoke to my doctor about it at Bradley's year appt and 15 month appt, wondering how long we should wait until we started to take more medical steps. Then - almost right after I completely stopped breastfeeding - on April Fools Day, I took a pregnancy test and was VERY surprised by the results. It was definitely positive and we went in to the dr right away to get it confirmed and we were so happy we started spreading the news. I had a very uneasy feeling in my stomach that something bad was going to happen, and low and behold at about 5 1/2 weeks, I miscarried. I know that a lot of people have to go through something like that and I'm sure I don't need to explain how it felt. It was very depressing and sad, but looking into the eyes of our little angel every day and thinking about how - for a while there - we thought maybe we'd never be blessed with a child at all - it was hard to stay sad for long. We mourned that little baby and counted our blessings. We thank God for Bradley every day and sometimes I almost feel like it would be selfish to ask for more when we already have so much.

The doctor told me to wait 2 months before we could try again, I must have made a face because then she smiled and said "well, at least 1 I guess" :) And, what do you know - on June 6th I took another pregnancy test. I was due the day before and thinking about it all day long, I even told my mom that I was due and hadn't gotten it yet (which is very unlike me to even make it to that day) and she said "just don't do anything, just wait...". But - I am impatient and can't wait, I was never able to, I think I took a pregnancy test every single month we were ever trying :) But at least I made it until the next day. Then Mom and Tammy came over to play games. I decided we would tell them while playing Taboo - so Kevin and I were on a team against Mom and Tammy. I was reading and Kevin was guessing (and we planned this ahead of time). Mom was watching my card to make sure I didn't say the words and Tammy was just listening - so a couple cards into it, I turn one over and say "I am this" and Kevin says "Pregnant" and I said yes, turned over the card and kept going. Tammy said "Is this a joke?" and Mom said "That's not what's on the card!" It was very funny :)

So, this pregnancy is going great. Seems to be the same as Bradley, I was sick in the beginning until the 13th week, then I have felt much better. I seem to be a lot bigger than I was last time and the belly popped out right away, which I was kind of expecting being the second pregnancy. These are the first pictures I have of us after we found out - I would have been about 8 weeks at this point. With Bradley I didn't even start taking pictures of my belly until the 14th week because it wasn't there - but as you can see - there's no denying this belly!!

Finger Painting

Bradley and I decided to try finger painting one day. It took a LOT of coaxing to get him to try it - he does NOT like his hands (any of part of him for that matter) to get dirty - he'll look at me with his hands turned up and say "mess" :) But I finally got him to get into it, although most of the time he was very careful to only use about 3 fingers and keep one clean hand back behind his back :) It turned out to be a beautiful 1st painting! :)

Outdoors and Painting

Here are a couple pictures of Mr Bradley and I enjoying our wonderful backyard on a great summer day. You'll notice the house in the background is in the process of getting painted at this point. Ever since we moved into our house - 5 years ago in March - we have HATED the colors on the outside. As soon as we bought it we swore that would be the first thing to go. However, seeing that the whole inside was yellow - indoor paint is a whole lot easier and cheaper than outdoor, and we spend a lot more time looking at that than the outside of the house - the outside painting got bumped back. Then over years, other things always came up, and the time was never there. Kevin was always planning on doing it himself, but it was just a question of when he'd actually get the 'extra' time to do it. We got a bid from College Pro Painters, we told them our budget and time constraints (we wanted it done before 6/27 because of 4th of July coming up), and when they agreed we decided to go for it. I will take this time to tell everyone NOT to hire College Pro Painters :) They were very unprofessional, didn't finish close to on time, didn't start on time, didn't clean up around the house or be sensitive to Bradley's nap times like they promised - and worst of all, they never TOTALLY finished the job. They finished the main house, got their main check, said they'd be back for touch ups and we didn't hear from them for over a month. So Kevin ended up finishing it himself, which I guess saved us more money which is fine - but I would never recommend them to anyone. Anyways... :) I do like how it turned out and the house definitely needed it (it was not only cosmetic reasons).
And here's a cute little video of Mr Bradley scrunching his nose like I just love :)