Braden's Bedtime Game

So within the last week or so, Braden has taken to singing. He sings ALL.THE.TIME! I love it, though. Jay usually puts him to bed and they have quite the routine. They sing about 6 songs together...and this is what it looks like. Braden put Jay to "bed" earlier this week!


So you caught "Twinkle, Twinkle", a bit of "The Elephant Show" song, "Thomas & Friends", a grace song "Johnny Appleseed" and "This is the Day". Aaaand Ethan grunting at the end!

Hope you enjoy as much as we do! Happy Sunday!

Schultz Farms 2012 Seeding to Harvest Video

This takes Farming 101 to a whole new level! Enjoy a video put together by local filmmaker and friend James Westgate Snell. He's been filming since May and just put together this amazing heirloom of farming. I'm so blessed to live in this beautiful land and have grown to love this farming life so much. And to answer your question, yes it really is that beautiful where we live!


(And single ladies...Travis, our dear friend helping with harvest this year, is also single!)

That Time I Found My Doppelgänger!

Firstly, allow me to enlighten you, if you don't know what a doppelgänger is. As defined by Wikipedia:

In modern vernacular it is simply any double or look-alike of a person. It also describes the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have been a reflection.

 Some of you who watch CBS's How I Met Your Mother will also be familiar with the term:


Well, now I can officially say I have found mine too! My long time friend Casey tweeted this picture to me on Saturday:

After I was done laughing my arse off...I began to examine it more closely and started to get a little freaked out! Very similar teeth, mouth, and nose...eyes are different (I have a wonky left eye that closes more than my right when I smile - hers is opposite!), but the eyebrows are all off. Oh, and the fact that I have never had my hair that long (or thick) and I never have ever worn a beret or an ascot either!...or modeled, especially for a Sketch Express photobooth!

Have you found your doppelgänger?

Big Brother Boot Camp

A lot of people having been asking me lately "is Braden excited about being a big brother?" and "so what does Braden think of the baby?" Well, Braden is only 2.5 but he's a smart little guy. He loves his little baby cousins Abby & Blake and he does know that there is a growing baby in my tummy. What he doesn't know, which would be impossible to explain to him at his age, is that one day, in about 11 weeks or so (ACK!) the baby will come out of my tummy, mommy will disappear for a day or two [insert tears here], and then mommy will come home with this baby. And then we'll keep it. And then it will have mommy's (almost) undivided attention for quite some period of time! Braden has never had seperation anxiety from me or really shown any signs of jealousy towards me spending time with other (especially younger) children. But, I guess we'll see!

In the meantime, Abby has provided us with almost 2 weeks worth of Big Brother Boot Camp in 2 separate visits! Jess was so amazingly patient with Braden, I really appreciated that. In training Braden is learning

• Not to slam doors
• To be quiet when baby is sleeping (even to this day when I tell him to be quite he responds "Baby Abby is sleepin'!")
• To be gentle
• Not to pick up babies - also no hitting, kicking, etc even if babies are kicking their legs around!

I'm sure there's much much much more things that we need to address...but he'll learn soon enough! Abby reeeeeeeeeally makes me want a girl, but then Blake reeeeeeeeeeeeally wants me to have another little baby boy! Braden was so gentle and sweet when he met Blake at the hospital, I can't wait for him to be a big brother!

Here's a video I took of Abby & Braden when Jess & Abby were here staying with us a month ago. Braden and I taught her how to imitate us, didn't happen to catch it again on camera, but I just love the way he interacts with her. he really is a sweet little boy!

Aaaaand one more for those of you whose ovaries are aching for a baby girl!

Also, I'm 29 weeks pregnant today...and I only have 2 more shifts left...and I will be done work on Wednesday morning...and I am SO happy! Braden's been under the weather which means extra snuggles for me...and I ain't complainin'!

That Time I Wanted to Stand Up & Slow Clap

You know what I'm talking about right? There are moments when someone does or says something that TOTALLY clicks and makes sense and you want to stand up in awe and appreciation and start a slow clap. You know, like these guys:

Well, at my appointment last week I wanted to stand up and slow clap to my doctor. Our conversation went like this:

Dr.: So was it you that they wanted a 3rd trimester ultrasound for?
Me: Yup, that's me because of the 2 vessel cord, they want to make sure baby is growing.
Dr.: Well, even if baby isn't growing, there's really not much we can do about it anyway.
[Insert potentiation for said slow clapping]
Me: YES! I figured if you reeeeeeeally wanted me to go I would, but trust me - I am growing and so is baby. Plus [as I pick up the measuring tape] my belly is proving that baby is growing anyway.

I get absolutely infuriated when doctors make their maternity patients worry unnecessarily! One of my best friends was going for ultrasounds every other week or every week at the end of her first pregnancy as they were "worried" about something and she gave birth to a beautiful, perfect baby girl. They told my sister-in-law that she had a narrow pelvic arch and might not be able to deliver vaginally. I, personally, believe this just causes worries and anxieties to our pregnancies that we do not need. Don't we worry enough? Maybe some of you would want the warning. Maybe to be better prepared for a lower birth weight baby...but that doesn't change ANYTHING on how you would care for this baby. You still love her, feed her, and change her diapers just the same. If there were birth defects, or surgery needed for your newborn, or you're at risk for preterm labor and an NICU stay - yes. I would want to know and be warned and be prepared. But just for a healthy low birth weight baby or the potential for a c-section? Keep it to yourself, methinks.

Wanna know something crazy? At this point in my pregnancy with Braden I was up 26 lbs. With Squishy I'm up 24 lbs. Who woulda thought? I estimate I'll be about the same weight gain more or less. Also goes to show that going on a stupid "diet" and trying to exercise like crazy doesn't really do anything in pregnancy...for me, anyway. My friend Carley said "eat what you want, your body is telling you that you need to EAT for this baby." I'm glad she did. It's all about within reason, I get that. I'm not chowing down on chicken wings and other deep fried delights all the time. I'm eating a lot of veggies and fruits but if I have a chocolate bar or ice cream? Not a big deal. Nope!

And lastly...I had to share this video, I can't believe I caught it on tape. (Haha, "tape" in a digital world!) Squishy was going CRAZY and having like some sort of dance party. By the way, I tell Braden that the baby is "dancing" versus "kicking" as it makes him also want to kick my belly. Smart mommy move, if I do say so myself!

So, my pregnant friends...let us not worry about these little things and enjoy the rest of our pregnancies, shall we?

August Long Weekend

Laura was 1 day overdue and was bound and determined to enjoy her last pregnant weekend, also celebrating her 5th wedding anniversary with Craig, at the lake. So all but a few family members joined us at the lake for an absolutely gorgeous day. The kids had fun in the dingy and of course on the real boat and in the tube!

I went on the boat just once and took a few pictures of Braden in the tube with cousin Luke and Uncle Craig. They all just had a blast and I'm so glad we get to make these memories with such wonderful people!




We had a nice, big picnic with great food. The kids wore themselves out silly and it was time to head home. But not before a few family pictures...of whoever was around!

And then of course there's the two pregnant sisters! Better late than never to take a pregnancy picture together!

We are waiting to hear some exciting baby news! Laura went into labor/was induced last night! Good luck Nelson family!

Our BC Summer Vacation Part 2

The next day took us to Kelowna to visit my cousin Amy and her awesome little son Kingston. Kingston is about a year younger than Braden and he looks JUST like Amy did as a kid! Amy and I were very close growing up, I went to go visit her a couple of times when I was a teenager and she lived out at the Okanagan, we lost touch for many years and thanks to the power of social media...we're close and keep in touch regularly! I'm so happy we'll be able to see her and her family (hopefully!) every year that we go out to BC!


They had an awesome spray park, so we made an impromptu visit there before the time ran out on our parking meter as we met Amy in Kelowna for lunch.

Braden had a BLAST running around with Jay at the spray park and the weather was in the high 20's so it was just perfect! Since he had so much fun there...we knew he'd have a blast at Atlantis Water Slides in Vernon the next day...

And boy did he ever! I was a grumpus and didn't take my DSLR camera with us...plus I didn't want to guard and protect it or carry it around with us while we were there. We got a nice picnic table and Jay took Braden around all morning down the slides! They had 2 little kid slides which Braden could do "all by 'y self!" And he LOVED it. I would be at the top to help him wait his turn, then Jay would be at the bottom to catch up  and set him on the ground so he could do the cycle over and over again! Even though he had to push himself all the way down this slide...Jay said he was ear-to-ear smiling the WHOLE time!!

I LOVE on this video you can hear the joy in his "weeee!" as he pushes himself down the slide. He had the time of his life - bar none!

And this video is why I'm so glad I put Braden in swimming lessons for the next 2 weeks! He's just thrilled and loves to swim!

I think that day was the best for all of us! Just seeing the joy that the water slides brought Braden...amazing. I hope to provide joy like that to our kids for all their lives...or at least I can hope! Later that day, we took Braden and Kihei down to the park, as we do every afternoon. Jay was playing with Braden in the park, and I took Kihei on a walk through the woods around the park. She was tracking something...and then I found out what. It was a deer having a nap in someone's front yard! She was interested (of course) but not "excited" about it nor wanting to chase it. She was very calm. So I let her look at it for a few minutes and then started walking back to the park. Then Jay said "she's following you!" I thought he meant the dog, "well, duh, Jay! Of course she's following me she's on a leash." But nope...the deer was! The deer was VERY curious about Kihei! I'd walk a bit and stop, and there she was.

The next day we would find out from a neighbor, that while we were gone in the morning and had Kihei tied up in the front yard, he would see her having a nap with 2 deer! He does have a picture of it, but we didn't make contact with him in order to get it, so I hope he saves it and Ray can get it next time they go there!

Once Braden was in bed, for dessert I sliced us up some fresh BC peaches. This picture was quite a buzz on my Instagram and had many a girls salivating...as I find myself doing right now! The answer is, yes...they are as good, and BETTER as they look!!

One more BC post and that's the end of our summer vacationing for this year!

So, Video Monitors are HILARIOUS!

...and a necessity for toddler bed training! I never used a video monitor up until this point. Just for me and my family, I didn't see the point of one...really ever. When they're newborn all they do is lie there and cry, you go in. As they get older, I can see why it would be neat to have one, to see if they're actually awake or if they're just unsettled, to see if they're standing up in their cribs, etc. But I still didn't see the need to buy one. Well, God must have known that I would need one one day, and it just so happens that last year I won this awesome Tommee Tippee monitor from a blog giveaway, and I can't see getting through toddler bed training without one! And this is why:

EPIC. NAP. FAIL.

I was SO MAD when I found this. This was "nap" time on day #2. I knew he wasn't going to sleep but he wasn't being that noisy, so I didn't think much was going on. Plus, day #1 he took about 6 books off his shelf and quietly read them for the hour of quiet time. Well I wasn't prepared for the above, that a Toddler Tornado would take over my son during his supposed "nap time". I know I got tons of belly laughs from the people I shared this with. My I can just picture my brother Ben and my best friend's husband Steve with big belly laughs saying "wayta go, buddy!" And I do laugh now, I even laughed an hour later, but mommy lesson learned!

So I set up that video monitor pronto and used it for the first time for the designated nap time the next day. I gotta admit, looking into the screen I kept waiting for one of those scary ghosts to pop up and scare me.

The really cool thing about this monitor is that you can talk to your child through the baby unit. It worked really well! Laura was over that afternoon and she caught him climbing up on his change table. So I spoke to him through the monitor for the first time and said "Braden! You get down from there please!" He suddenly stopped, looked around and had this "how did she know!?" look on his face. Then he figured out that my voice was coming from the baby unit. Actually....he didn't think it was my voice at all....



He totally, 100% thinks that it's my mom when I talk through the video monitor! It's quite hilarious and we're all getting such a kick out of it! I'm really enjoying the monitor and I can calmly reassure him in the morning that "Mommy's coming soon!" so he knows it's okay. It was time to start sleep training again, this time for the toddler bed.

Daddy read him stories last night and I came in to sing a song with him. I told him that he had to go to bed by himself tonight and that I loved him. He cried not even the 30 seconds it took me to leave his room and go turn on the monitor. It took him quite awhile to even get out of his bed, he was so distracted/entertained by his new Thomas decals we put on his wall yesterday I could hear him talking to his trains. He ended up getting out of bed twice, running to the door, but all the while remaining calm and happy. I think it took between 1/2 hour and 45 minutes for him to settle and fall asleep. My boy has ALWAYS liked to be very comfortable, so I couldn't imagine him falling asleep in front of the door or or on the floor anywhere....this is how I found him:

How did I get so lucky? I was so nervous and anxious about this transition, but he has made it so easy on not only himself, but on me too. I'm so proud of him! I think with his history of sleep training, he just knew it was bed time and that he'd eventually have to fall asleep. There was no crying, kicking, screaming, he didn't fight it at all. And as my Mom says, I think the novelty of the freedom of the toddler bed will soon wear off and he'll just want to sleep there.

I know nap times will take awhile, as he was pretty inconsistent with them before the bed, as my friend Katie told me, it takes awhile for them to learn the toddler bed nap! But at night, I couldn't ask for better. He sleeps his usual 12ish hours a night, straight through, we did decide to keep his door locked, he knows he needs to stay in his room when the door is shut and there's no fussing, crying or fighting it. He just calls out for me when he's done and that is that! Thanks for all your support and kind words this week!

*Note: This was not an official review for Tommee Tippee, nor am I affiliated with them, I do love their products though!*

Braden's First Night in his Toddler Bed

Before I get to talking about how bedtime went, I'll talk about nap time. Firstly, my boy who usually gets 12 hours of sleep per night, only got 9 the night before. We went to church and he was more fussy and impatient than usual, but stayed awake on the ride home. We let him play a bit on the deck outside, while I scrambled to get his "big boy" room ready! He helped get his crib out of his room, and I'm so happy that he wasn't mourning the loss of his crib at all. I know that he loved his crib, but I'm very happy that he obviously didn't form a special "bond" with his crib and wasn't sad to see it go at all. We enjoyed playing in his room, I said excitedly "look at your big bed in your room! Wow!" and he seemed truly happy about it!" Look how big his room is without that crib!

"So much more room for your activiites!" Said Jay (for all you Step Brothers fans out there!) We spent extra time in his room and read extra stories. Had our snuggles and I sang to him and rocked him. I told him I was going to sing to him one more song, and then it was time to rest in his big bed. He seemed fine with that. But...then he didn't like being in his bed at all. Great! I sat on the floor by his bed, encouraging him to lie down and rest and Mommy would stay...but he started kicking his feet in protest. After about 10 minutes I told him Mommy had to leave now, but it's time to stay in your room and rest until Mommy comes to get you. I left his room, locked the door, and he cried/fussed for a few minutes and then there was complete silence. He was quiet and babbled at times off and on, I left at 2:30 and planned to go get him at 3:30. I got a bit caught up in my PVR episode of Grey's Anatomy, looked at the time and it was 3:37, he was starting to knock on the door and get a bit ticked. So I went it, told him he did a great job staying in his room! Then came bedtime routine.

He had tub time as per usual...and then he read stories with me...(I was too lazy to use my good camera, bear with the cell phone pics!)
And then we had some nice snuggles...Mommy was very tired too! I rocked him and sang to him one song, and unintentionally on my part he fell asleep. poor little guy was so tired. I really wanted him to fall asleep on his own, but on the other hand, putting him down asleep in his toddler bed wasn't such a bad thing because he would wake up in it and hopefully realize that it's not such a scary change afterall.

So there's my big boy in his big bed. It was a rather heart melting moment seeing him there all snuggled into his bed. He did stir and start to whimper at about 10:30 last night, but settled himself and slept right through until about 6:45 this morning! Yay! Almost 12 hours straight through! I couldn't ask for a better first night. I am not going to get in the habit of rocking him to sleep every night. It's not our style and it's just not feasible for me with a baby on the way, and plus he will not be that tired every night to just fall asleep on me. So I just hope that now that he's slept in and woken up in his bed, that he will be able to settled on his own.

I feel really good about locking him safely in his room, and by your comments here and on IG and FB it doesn't seem that I'm alone in doing that either. Thanks for all your support, it sure means a lot to me!

I just showed Braden that picture of him sleeping and I said "look, Braden! That's you sleeping in your big bed last night, you did it!" He was so proud, tapped his chest and said "'Den! I did it!" And here's a video I took this AM about going in to get him:

And no included for your weekly TAT read! This is our same bedtime routine...there is just actually a bed involved! Thanks for stopping by, stay awhile!

Wordless Wednesday: The Thomas & Friends Intro

My Child NEVER Shuts Up

And I love it! I really do. He is such a little blabber mouth. Still half toddler babbling, which I will miss so much, but half real words, & bonafide sentences! He can easily string together 6 word sentences now. Such as:

"Braden, do you want some Yop?" ~ Me
"Yes, I do! In a cup." ~ Braden

No big deal. He's just talking and telling us what he wants. He is getting to be so interactive with his trains and cars and tractors, it's super nice to be able to enjoy my morning blog reads or do whatever I need to do in peace and quiet before I make him breakfast while he plays with his toys.
 
He also really loves to dance and to sing. He's starting to hum to songs and sings along, mimicking sounds of words. Most of the songs he likes are way too fast for him to follow along 100%, but he shouts out certain words and phrases like nothing. At the end of the Veggie Tales theme song, he closes his eyes and shouts "Taaaaaa-aaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaLES!!" then laughs along at the end, for those familiar with the song.

He also loves to be silly and laugh. And is a bit OCD about having things closed:


Eating
Here is a video from today at lunch. His eating has improved so much since we took away his booster seat so he can have "his own chair" as he likes to say. Yes, especially at supper, there can be a lot of up and down, but he's also understanding a lot more that he has to come back and eat to finish "x" amount of bites.


Don't you love the "I don't know" at the end? *swoon* He is eating more meat now, still loves his fruits and veggies, and never turns down eggs or breakfast foods. Eats most at breakfast, lunch is touch-and-go, and so is supper. It seems to be getting better every day! Here's another "I don't know" from our trip to Poppy's last weekend!

Clothes
Wearing 2T shirts and mostly 2T pants. I have to roll up 2T jeans, it seems like they'll fit him forever, he's still REALLY long in the body and yeahnosomuch in the legs! Will be wearing mostly size 6 shoes, but size 7 Toms & sandals this summer!

Potty Learning
Um, yeah...not so much. Actually, I know he's ready. But I plan on doing a post about that soon, so I'll leaving you hanging in suspense until then!

One other milestone looming in our future is the move to the toddler bed. All that have done it before me say it's not so scary, but I'm just not ready yet. I'm thinking we should do it before baby comes, because it's a big enough adjustment for him to be a big brother as it is without having the comfort of his crib to rely on!

Anywho, that's about all I've got for Braden for now! Ever since I stopped his monthly updates, I've been slacking on remembering to blog about him period! Bad mommy!

Sunday Blessings

I love going to worship on Sunday. Now that Braden is in Sunday school, one of us gets to pay attention to the sermon every other Sunday while the other takes Braden to Sunday school. It's really very lovely! I'm so blessed to have my church family in my life, and when a group like this is leading the service...how do I not share a verse of these songs?

Be Thou My Vision


I love going to church in such a musically talented community, it's such a wonderful, wonderful thing! Hope you had a wonderful Sunday! Many new posts to come this week!

A Silly for Sunday

I haven't been blogging about Braden much. I've been working too much, to tell you the truth. Feels like I'm never at home. No new pictures, no new videos. Well, except this one. This is how I woke up 1 morning last week. To Braden singing on the monitor... (You REALLY have to crank up the noise!)

I wish I woke up this happy! Happy Sunday, everyone!

"Yes, I do!"

I do not know where Braden picked this up, but it's about the cutest thing ever and it makes me smile every time he says it! When you ask him a question that he's going to answer "yes" to, for some reason he always adds "I do" to it. Here's a little video of him playing on the iPad and he wanted my help. He asks me for help many times, "help me, Mommy!" often sounds like "yummy, Mommy!"

Happy Sunday!

Wordless Wednesday: There Really ARE No Words!