Swim Lessons

I enrolled Braedon in swim lessons for the first time this fall and he loved them so much I decided to enroll him in them again in February.  I love how excited he gets about swimming and being in the water.  He is always bringing me swim diapers out of his bedroom when we are home.  I wonder what he is trying to say!?  Yesterday we were lucky enough to have Derek come with us since he didn’t go to his classes.  Lucky for me because I didn’t have to get in the cold water, and lucky for Braedon because it’s always exciting to show dad your new skills.  I took this opportunity to take some pictures instead!

They were able to play around a little bit before swim lessons started.

Braedon loves playing with the noodles and the balls that they always have floating around.  He is getting really good at kicking his legs too!  He has also mastered the whole bubble blowing thing.  He gets a lot of practice with that in the bathtub!

So excited!  Splashing is one of his most favorite activities and my least favorite.  Although, I love how happy he is! 

We do lots of little songs during the lessons.  Derek handled them like a champ along with all the other moms.  It was actually a little fun for me to watch!!

Braedon is also learning to come into the pool from off the wall.  He is still a little hesitant with this, but I am seeing so much improvement with his abilities in the pool!!

Get Ready… For Baby Peterson #2

(I know, it’s a horrible picture, of a picture.)

He/she will be making an appearance sometime around September 10th.  Or, if this one is done cooking a little earlier like Braedon was, maybe even late August/early September.  (FYI, it’s a girl…Derek “knows”.)

A little message to Braedon as I know he will read this one day:

Braedon,

I have to say that you have been the best surprise God could have given your dad and I.  We feel so blessed to have you in our lives and cherish every day with you.  You never fail to make us laugh everyday with your cute, outgoing personality.  You have gone from baby to little boy that has a heart filled with compassion, love, and generosity.  I love your little hugs, kisses, and cuddles and am definitely taking advantage of them these days because I know the day will come when those won’t really be cool anymore. I am so confident in the fact that you will be a wonderful big brother, and am looking forward to the day when I get to see you two together. Braedon, your dad and I love you very much and couldn’t imagine our lives without you!

Your next challenge is to be as good of a big brother as you are a son which we are confident you will do very well.

Love,

Mom and Dad

How do you feel?

Yesterday Braedon woke up with a nasty cough and stuff in his chest.  I thought it was a little strange because it came out of nowhere.  I kept an eye on him and he didn’t seem to get any worse throughout the day.  This morning he woke up and his cough was a little tighter and his voice was almost gone.  We put him down for his nap at about 12:30 and he slept for almost three hours!  That is about twice as long as his normal naps so I could tell he still wasn’t feeling very well.  Well, he woke up from his nap way worse from when we put him down.  He had a fever, his cough was very tight and he was breathing fast and funny.  I decided it was time to call the doctor and get him in to see what was going on.  He had pneumonia this summer so I was a little concerned because it seemed to have come on the same way.  We ended up taking him in to urgent care and he was a champ through the whole thing.  I hate it when my baby is sick!  While we were waiting for the doctor in the exam room Derek saw this sheet.

Derek asked Braedon how he was feeling and he immediately pointed to the red sad face.  According to Braedon, he “hurts as much as you can imagine,” or else he just likes the color red.

Either way, I hate it when my baby is sick!!  The doctor gave him some antibiotics because there is definitely something going on in his chest.  He’s sleeping away in his crib right now and I hope he wakes up feeling better tomorrow!

Extreme Irony

Lacie has been craving a nice juicy hamburger so we went to the local hamburger dive restaurant that is known for their extensive list of fried items and their 4 1/2 lb. burger challenge.  We sat down, got comfortable, ordered our food and then proceeded to wait for the juicy deliciousness that is the Pines Burger.  It was about that time that I noticed two people at the table next to us wearing Moosewood Restaurant t-shirts.  Moosewood Restaurant is the local vegetarian/vegan restaurant so we then had to pay attention to see how things unfolded.  Their conversation then turned to the Moosewood Restaurant and we quickly learned that these people were managers, if not owners, of Moosewood…and they were at a place known for heavy food and a lot of meat.  What the heck would these people be doing frequenting a restaurant such as The Pines?  Turns out it was to enjoy the juicy and delicious Pines Burger cooked medium rare.  We were left thinking “what the heck”?

Winter, winter go away

Come back again when we are on the west coast.

It was actually warm this morning.  We woke up to 46 degrees!  I had to double check because I didn’t believe it at first.  I actually sweated a little during my run this morning.  Don’t let it fool you though.  I’m not going to let it fool me.  The low tonight is somewhere around 9 and the high tomorrow is in the upper teens/lower 20s.  Did you know that I’m very sick of winter.  I have thought about turning the heat up really high, throwing down a beach blanket in the living room, putting on my bathing suit, making a margarita and pretending it’s summer.  I haven’t though because I’m sure Braedon would think that would be weird.

Anyways, so we haven’t spent a lot of time outside.  In fact today was the first day since we’ve gotten back from break that I actually took Braedon and Peyton out for a walk.  Braedon managed to find every mud puddle and collect every leaf from the sidewalk.  It took about 25 minutes to go around the block.

Since we haven’t spent much time outside I have been finding ways to keep Braedon entertained inside.  I went out and bought some Play Dough a couple of weeks ago and Braedon absolutely loves it!  He only tried to eat it the first time I introduced it to him, but hasn’t tried since.

Look at that concentration.  This is serious business folks.

He’s also been working on mastering his motorcycle skills.

Check out his position.  Feet up, bent over…he’s going to be a pro.

Other days we just sit around, color, watch movies, do a little dance, sit in our box of Lincoln logs…

Whatever keeps you entertained, buddy.

Socially Awkward

Last Friday Derek was out of town so I decided to take Braedon to the weekly movie night at Borders for kids ages 2-5.  We have taken Braedon to this about 2 times in the past and he will sit still until his popcorn runs out.  It’s actually a pretty cute little set up.  Each week they play a kids movie, or short film of some sort, and have popcorn and sometimes warm cocoa for the little ones.  Braedon will usually sit on our lap, eat his popcorn and then once he is finished he will get up and wonder around the bookstore.  Not this time.

Things started out as they usually do.  We sat down, Braedon got his popcorn and Pete’s a Pizza came on the TV.  Braedon sat on my lap, ate his popcorn and laughed hysterically on and off.  Then this is where things started to get a little entertaining…

Braedon hops off my lap with popcorn in hand and heads over to the carpeted theater style stair seating where most of the older (3 and 4 year olds)kids sit.  It was pretty crowded but he decided he was going to sit down next to this little boy who was about 3 or 4.  Not before walking right up to him, staring at him, waving with his hand right in front of his face, and then wiggling his little booty to make room for himself.  The reaction on the little boy’s face was priceless as he looked a little freaked out and tried to scoot as far away from Braedon as he could.  Which then Braedon would just scoot closer.  I was trying so hard not to bust up laughing as I have never seen Braedon do this with other kids before.  I didn’t know if I should intercept and say something or just keep watching.  So, I just kept watching.  Braedon sat there for awhile shoving popcorn in his face until he got bored in that spot.  He then set out to look for his next victim.  A little girl of about the same age as the boy sitting on the step above.  Braedon turned around, crawled up the step, sat down next to this little girl, patted her on the shoulder a few times, which then caused her to give the same reaction as the boy.  She scooted…Braedon scooted.  Braedon started chowing down on his popcorn again and one of his pieces ended up falling into the little girl’s snow boot.  I saw this happen and started thinking to myself, “Braedon, just leave it be….you have more popcorn in your cup….”  But no, Braedon can’t let a morsel of food be left unconsumed so he went for it.  He knew it had fallen into the girls boot so he looked at her, looked at her boot, looked at her again and then went for it.  He put his hand down her boot to try to find the popcorn, which freaked the little girl out even more.  I stepped in at this point.  

I have decided that Braedon needs to be around more kids more often.  We have started taking him to the gym again and so he is going to daycare 2 days a week, which he isn’t crazy about but I think it is good for him.  Right now, I just have to accept the fact that he is the socially awkward kid that all the other kids’ think is a little weird.  They make think he is a little weird but I think he is awesome and a total crack up.

*Derek is just trying to convince me that it is all part of growing up  and is not weird, although funny.

Portraits of Braedon, by Braedon

A few months ago we gave Braedon our old camera and let him play with it.  Derek did a post about it awhile back.  However, I can’t seem to find it, which is a bummer because it is pretty funny.  Anyways, I hadn’t looked on his camera in awhile now so yesterday I decided to turn it on and look through the pictures that he has taken.  I couldn’t help but laugh.  Here are a few of the good ones.

Hey ladies!….This would have been totally Myspace worthy back in the day.

 

Blanket, foot, cord…there were a few of these.

Cute baby feet!

 

Another self portrait.

and another

how about a couple more…

That flash has got to hurt his eyes.  I’m surprised I don’t see him walking around running into things more often from being blinded by the flash.