Ryan and I were playing the "one year ago today" game on the way home from dinner. We both have such sweet memories of Brady's real first birthday. Things went so smoothly, and we both had such a feeling that everything was exactly how it was supposed to be. Brady's fit into to our lives just as smoothly ever since.
I also remember about one year and 8 months ago- when I was still somewhere between denial and freaking out (!). I anxiously read "two under two" blogs and articles. The overwhelming opinion I found was that the first year is so hard, but it'll be so worth it in the end. That was both reassuring and very scary all at once. Not that everything's been perfect, but (with a lot of help from family!) this first year with my 2 baby boys has been such a pleasure. Rare have been the moments that both boys are crying and I need 4 arms. Anderson's embraced his role as a big brother like such a champ! He's never acted envious of Brady. Jealous over his toys, sure. And that is just gearing up (commonly heard around here, "BRADY! You do not touch ____. Find another toy!") I feel like 2 toddlers are going to bring a whole new set of challenges, but I'll worry about that another day.
Brady is so wonderful. He came into this world with such a sweet, agreeable spirit. As long as he was swaddled and rocked- he'd sleep. Nursing- took him a minute and he was an old pro. Now I drink a bottle while you're at work? Cool. Drop me off in the church nursery? Hellooo Ladies.
As much as I have loved and appreciated Brady's easy-goingness, I am loving his spunky attitude that is emerging. His facial expressions crack me up. I am hoping to capture a lot of them on my camera because they are too good to miss. There's definitely a "What is Anderson doing?!" look, among others.
I worry he will be bossed around too much by my other beloved son, but Ryan assures me that Brady already does well holding his own. He will crawl right over Anderson in the bath to his preferred spot (by the faucet, of course!). Other times he will just scream or burst into tears at Anderson if he doesn't like what just happened. While consoling him, I have a hard time not smiling.
Just a little side note, Brady is finally over (I'd say 90%) a bad cough turned ear infection. While I HATE seeing my boys sick, Brady has been soo cuddly the last week or so. At this point he seems to be feeling much better, but the cuddling is sticking around, at least for now. Like this stolen evening nap in the rocking chair today:
I loved this. One more note on Brady's "spunk." It seems to be accompanied by an independent spirit. I love it, but already I am struggling with it. At 11 months old, Brady was nursing 4 times a day. I would say, "I don't know how I'm going to wean him, he doesn't seem like he'll want to cut back to 3 anytime soon."
At 11 1/2 months, Brady gave up nursing- cold turkey- with NO warning for his mommy, who was very unhappy with his decision. After several days of my continuing to encourage him to nurse, and Brady consistently biting, fussing, pushing away, I gave in. I couldn't see the point in fighting that battle to then begin the weaning process within the next month or two anyways. So I whined and cried for a couple days. But I just wrote all of that ^ with no tears, so that's progress for sure.
Here are some more fun Brady updates.
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Brady's hair is getting long and curly! I already dread cutting off those sweet curls one day.
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We took the boys to have portraits made:
Vertical!
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| Brady can pull himself up to a stand, and he'll go from one toy to a nearby toy. He doesn't do either very often. He does love for us to stand him up at a toy, and Nannie and Papa just gave him a spiffy walking toy. We tried it last night, and he could do it! |
Brady really enjoys looking at books. He loves to be read to and sung to. He prefers to read upside down books.
And one more good and snuggly picture:
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| Blurry phone pic, but so good :) |
Last, Brady says: "Uh oh!" "Hi" "Bye (with two or three syllables)" "Mama" "Dada" and after bye, he usually makes a sincere attempt at "See you later." You go for it, Brady ;)
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