Rice Cereal!

Braden is now six months and due to start rice cereal, so we tried it today. He wasn't so sure at first and prefered to spit it out and suck on his bib. I think towards the end I actually got some in that stayed in. He seemed to enjoy it in the end but I am not sure if it was the cereal or the spoon that won his affections.

Helping Daddy "In the Shop"

We have a fancy new ARB bumper on our Landcruiser. It is something that Kevin has wanted for awhile. We finally found a good deal on one. Kevin spend part of spring break attaching it to the truck and installing our massive winch to it. Grace was there to help. Grace is hilarious, she loves dirt and being outside in any capacity, gardening or working with daddy's tools. Here are some pictures:



I think she helped Kevin by reorganizing his bolts and washers.




Braden watching from the stroller.



Notice there is a little bit of "RED GREEN" happening here. Is that Harold?

Yes, A Tooth!

As you can see, there is still lots of drool but Braden has cut his first tooth. Last week I happened to take a peak and discovered the pearly white just barely making its appearance. The debut of teeth always makes a baby look so much older. Sigh...my little baby is growing up and I don't want him to...not yet!

And there is more....

Braden is also starting to sit on his own, but he has shown no signs of wanting to roll over at all. I guess he is too content and layed back to move! The chubby little guy is the size of a 1 year old! He is a big baby and such a pleasure. He loves to smile and wiggle and he has an adorable laugh. He is very social and enjoys talking and playing with his voice.



Grace and Braden are starting to enjoy each other and interact more (in both good and bad ways). Today, Grace decided that Braden should have his head adjusted with some water pump pliers, so now he has two red marks on either side of his head. Braden didn't like it too much, poor little man! It is tough when you can't get away! I also caught Grace and Braden turn taking in a baby conversation. Funny, how Grace knows to speak his language! It was VERY cute!

Trip to Apex

Braden cosy and warm in the stroller! Note pushing a stroller through snow at Apex is not for the faint at heart!






It didn't take Grace long to fall asleep looking at her book on the way home.



Yesterday we ventured up to Apex to check out the snow. We enjoyed two of the local resturants. Yes, two of them! We intended on sharing our sandwich with Grace at the first resturant but, to our dismay, they put a hot and spicy relish on both sandwiches and they only took cash (we had about $1.13 cash left) leaving Grace lunchless. So we embarked on a trip to find a small bowl of soup for Grace and a quiet place to feed Braden. This took us to the hotel resturant. Needless to say Grace enjoyed some Homemade Mac and Cheese for $9 (it was that or Parsnip and Apple soup for $7).

Once we had lunch in our stomachs, diapers changed and ski clothes on, we headed to the slopes to check out the tubing. By now, it was 2:15pm, snowing and had turned quite cold and windy. We decided to check it out anyway. We discovered that the tubing would cost $16/hour for both Grace and Kevin to enjoy sliding on the snow and seeing that we only had 45 minutes left before they closed we decided against trying the tubes. We did enjoy the adventure and will be better prepared for next time. It is not easy carting a 2 year old and a 5 month old around, especially in that much snow unless you are totally organized and have a plan! I think.

TEETHING!!!

Braden is just over 5 months and teething up a storm. I have forgotten how unpleasant this experience can be. Poor boy, not usually a crier but certainly has his moments now. He sleeps well at night but during the day has at least one or two episodes of crying and needing mommy. Along with the experience comes the drool, his wet face and my wet shoulder, and also a hunger strike! The little guy looses his appetite and has gone 6 hours without feeding. One day he only fed 2 times in 12 hours! Ahhhhhh, I am learning what to expect from him now and I am more relaxed about his refusal. I look forward to him cutting his first two teeth because it is supposed to get easier after that.
I am crossing my fingers!

On the Phone With Grandma

"Hi", "Good girl", a lot of "yeah", and "Braden" (and "cheese when she saw the camera. This was Grace's conversation with Grandma Bond yesterday. We have gotten several new phones recently (new cordless and cel phone) and she has been delighted with the new cordless phone, so she was very excited to hear that she had a phone call. I watched as she walked around, imitating Kevin and me, with the phone to her ear and chattering; I got a glimpse of the future...I am sure it will not be long before she is sinking into a chair or her bed with the phone for hours.

The Dream of a Two Year Old

....goes something like this:

NO! NO! Mine, Mine, MINE, MINE!

or at least as far as we could tell.