In case we have a girl...

Since I have all little boy blankets I thought I'd make a baby girl blanket just for in case...and I love how it turned out!

In fact, part of me is hoping for a girl just so I can use the blanket

Only 2.5 more weeks!

Tough Kid

Bracken is all boy. He's adventurous, crazy and fun. Of course, when chasing balls, flipping into his crib, jumping off the couch and other things kids this age like to do, he also gets hurt sometimes. Here are some of his reactions:

He runs to me for a quick kiss better or kisses his hurt himself, then says, "all better!"

He asks Brian to fix it...with a saw, hammer, or pliers. "Daddy, I need the pliers!" is something we hear a lot. Brian saws or pounds on Bracken's bumps for a minute and it always fixes the problem.

Bracken showed me a tiny scratch on his ankle that he got from who knows where and said, "Mom, look at my owie." I asked what happened, and he said matter-of-factly, "I got attacked by a lion." So I asked what happened to the lion. He shrugged and said, "I beat him up."

One day we were playing ball outside and he tripped over the ball and scraped his knee. He cried for about a minute while I held him. Then all of a sudden he stopped crying and said in an astonished voice, "Mom! Look at my cool red knee!" It was all bloody, but he just thought it was awesome that his knee was red. He hopped up to play, and his knee never bothered him again.

Bracken was reading alone in his room when I heard, "I hurt my finger." He'd gotten a deep paper cut that wouldn't stop bleeding on its own, so Bracken got one of his first bandaids. The next day in nursery he lost his bandaid and fell apart. His nursery leader had to bring him to me in Relief Society. When he saw me he announced, "Mom! I lost my bandaid." As soon as we found another bandaid he happily went back to nursery.

His most typical response to getting hurt is not noticing it. We built a little fort for Bracken to play in. After he got tired of playing inside of it he jumped on top of it. The entire fort swayed forward and dumped him on the floor--right on his forehead. We were ready for some crying after that, but he looked up at us, grinned and said, "Wow! That was pretty crazy!" and went off to try it again with a big red mark on his forehead.

Bedroom Trampoline

Bracken loves to get in his crib (He climbs on a box of diapers and then front flips inside) and jump like a maniac. I always hope our downstairs neighbors aren't home when I let him jump because it probably sounds like the floor is going to cave in.

Bella came over to play and she thought using the crib for a trampoline was a great idea too. Sorry Nat and Charles if she thinks it's okay to jump on the bed now!

Tap, tap, tap

Storytime at the library this week was about ducks. One of the stories was about a little duck waiting for her brother or sister to hatch. When she put her ear up to the egg she heard a "tap, tap, tap" and soon the new little duck came out of the egg.

A couple of days later Bracken came up to me, put his ear against my belly and listened. Then he said excitedly, "Mom! I heard 'tap, tap, tap,' the baby is trying to get out!"

Happy Birthday Bracken

Happy 2nd Birthday Bracken! We had some of his friends over for a little party and they all had such a great time!

Brian gave Bracken glow-in-the-dark stars for his birthday. I realized Bracken had disappeared a little while after opening his present, and we found him and his friend in the dark bathroom in the tub. When I turned on the light Bracken said, "No light mom! The stars are glowing!" They are all on his ceiling now, and he is so excited to turn the light off each night before he goes to bed so he can see the stars. It makes bedtime even easier!

Happy Birthday Bracken, we love you! Thanks everyone who come to his little party, and just for being such great friends.

Left: Daddy, Bracken and Mommy Right: Kevin, Andrea and Bracken. Bracken adores these two. He loves to go knock on their door when we're outside just to say "hi" or raid their dominoes, and to play with them on Sunday afternoons.

Around his little finger...

After a rough day Brian decided to scrap a late night of studying in exchange for a redbox and ice cream. He thought he'd take Bracken with him to get the movie.

Brian: "Do you want to come with Daddy to get a show?"
Bracken: "YEAH!"
Brian: "And we'll get a treat!"
Bracken: "I love you a hundred billion!"

No wonder Bracken often comes home from grocery trips with Daddy with a donut covered face.