Fall Activities!!

We have been soaking up the fall weather lately!! I LOVE that it is starting to look like Christmas and I play Christmas music every chance I get. I have watched Elf twice in two days, taken about 100 boxes of Christmas decorations out of storage, splurged on some tasty desserts and spent some quality time with Brayden doing new things!

It has been a bit wet around here and we had been stuck inside all day with the rainy weather. When Brayden woke up from his nap, I decided we needed to get out of the house or we were both going to go crazy. We got dressed and headed out the door to Barnes and Nobel! Brayden had never been there and I just knew he was going to love it. (*The fact that he says book and points to his stack of books every time he is in his room sort of gave me the feeling that he would love a whole room of books!) We made a beeline for the kids sections, before I got to looking around and decided I NEEDED something, and Brayden was in love. I'm talking huge-smile-on-his-face-for-an-hour in love! He immediately pointed at all the kid-friendly books on the lower shelf and repeatedly said "book" for about 10 minutes. 

We looked at all the books, took some off the shelf, played the book with a piano, and then headed to the little table with blocks on it. 

Brayden loved that little table too. The kid couldn't get enough of our fun little outing! We played with the blocks, looked at toys, played with toys and then we were on our merry way. Brayden still needed to eat dinner and take a bath so we didn't get to stay for very long but we were there for about 45 minutes. Oh and the best part is that we are now part of the Kid's Club! I hope to take Brayden to a reading soon but I need to find a reading that he would actually be able to sit through. They have "The Polar Express" coming up but I tried that the other day and we didn't even make it through a page. Maybe next year. Until then, we will be visiting Barnes and Nobel WAY more often!!

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!