I am kind of freaking out...

So my mother, the sweet mother that she is, mentioned how close we are getting to Brayden's 1st birthday. This scared me to death and made me cry at the same time!!! How can it be that we are only 3 months away from his 1st birthday??! That seriously cannot even be possible! Every time I think about this subject I get excited to plan a party and pick out all of the decorations and at the same time, I am sad that my sweet little boy will not be so little any more.
The past 9 months with him have been so amazing and challenging. Brayden has woken me up multiple times during the night which I ALWAYS slept right through before having him. He has made me realize that being a good example is one of the most important things I can be. Every time I do something now, I think to myself "Would I want Brayden to do this too?". I want nothing more then to be the best mother I can be and to provide a loving home for my beautiful son. I cannot believe the first year is approaching so quickly and that my little boy will begin to take after me and Chance even more than he does now. That's a scary thought!!
So let the party planning begin I guess! I can't wait to see my mother-in-law and hopefully my brother-in-law too! It has been WAY too long and I know Lisa can't wait to get her hands on the little guy. Now I just need to decide on a theme and start getting things done....yikes!

From this...

to this...in 9 months!

9 Month Stats

I am a couple of days late but lets be real here...when am I ever on time?!?! I think the correct answer is never. Anyways, Brayden turned 9 months old on the 11th and I can't believe it has already been 9 months. I know I say that about each month but seriously people, how does the time go by so dang fast?!
Brayden has changed so much in the past few months. He is such a quick mover so I can't ever have my eyes off of him! He gets to anything he wants within just a few seconds. In just the past two days he has actually stood up without assistance! He has been standing for quite a few weeks but he always had to pull himself up on something...apparently that is a thing of the past. He even blew our socks off the other day by taking a couple of quick steps to get to the edge of the couch! I am SOOOO not ready for him to start walking yet! I really think his grandma might start pushing him down...just kidding!

So besides the crazy new things he is doing, here are some of his current favorite things:
Elmo(still)
Super Puffs( similar to Cheerios)
Fruits and veggies
Sesame Street
Banging things together
Clapping his hands
Tickling fights
Spitting
Playing with his tongue
Bath time

I am sure there are many more things but that's all I can think of right now. Brayden has also been so great at going to sleep on his own. When I see that he is getting sleepy, I hold him for just a couple of minutes for him to relax and then I put him right into his crib. He usually sits right up when I do this but I just turn on his sleepy music and leave the room. It only takes him about 10 minutes, at the most, and he is asleep. This is WONDERFUL!!! I absolutely love that he goes to sleep on his own. Now if he could just self-soothe during the night then I would be golden! Don't get be wrong, most nights Brayden sleeps right through and we don't have any wake-up-calls. However, some nights Brayden will wake up and so of course I have to go in there and get his binky and hold him for a few minutes for him to go back to sleep. I know that we are so lucky that he is such a great sleeper but I think it makes those nights when he does wake up even harder because I am not used to it anymore. Oh well, when he wakes up in the morning with a smile on his face and the only reason he wakes me up is because he is giggling and playing, I can't even complain!!
Brayden has so much personality and it is getting bigger every day!! I absolutely love being a mom and it is so fun to see Brayden experience new things. I love to see his brain working trying to figure something out. I know we will probably have even more changes in the next month (hopefully walking is not one of those changes) and I can't wait to see what his new favorite things are in a month from now!
Here are a few favorite pictures from the past month!

Elmo makes him happy!

4 generations!

Haha!!! He tried lemon.

@Claim Jumper for Tip-A-Cop!

He loves bath time!

And blueberries!

Grandpa and a blanket...that's all he needs!

Let the chasing being!

Silly sleeper!

Finally, a place to organize his books and toys!