New kickers! and pics from our weekend vacation in Avila!

We are excited...but kinda sad too. Sad because my baby is growing up...he is now 21 months! Where has the time gone? I just don't know...but we are excited that he is ready for "walking" shoes...he LOVES to be crusing and walking with assitance EVERYWHERE! So, his PT definately said he was ready for his orthotics and what a better time than for a team of therapists and owner of the company from Leap Frog to come to our PT's office for a clinic for parents and children needing orthotics...because we volunteered to meet them, we walked away with a free pair of orthotics...these little things are not cheap. We are grateful to them. Brayden doesn't seem to mind them and feels very big when he is wearing them. Of course we had to venture out and find some great shoes to fit our orthotics. I stopped by Roxanne's Birkenstock to see if they may have a great shoe before going to Stride Rite...and we found some great shoes that are extremely lightweight, MACHINE washable, easy to put on with the orthotics on, so we got them! We will see what is to come, but I think we are one our way to having a little walker on our hands...

These are so flexible, and are called Leap Frogs.

Avila Beach Getaway...with Grammy and Papa

We had a fabulous weekend getaway with Grammy and Papa at the beach 2 weekends ago... Friday and Saturday was beautiful, bright sunny skies! We swam at the pool, played tennis at the courts, played some basketball, went shopping, ate at some yummy restaruants, and played some games. Sunday was overcast, and drizzly...but we still had some fun in the rain before heading home.
We definately have a little fish on our hands...Brayden LOVES the water.

Had an awesome dinner at good 'ole McClintocks...

Kids enjoyed every bite of their food, down to the last bite of dessert!

A pic of Papa and Brayden sacked out while the rest of us played some Yahtzee before going to bed...what a fun weekend and memories we will have for a lifetime!

Before heading home we stopped in Arroyo Grande...the Village. A historical town, didn't even know they had this here and we have been going to Pismo/ Avila Beach since I was in high school. They were closed when we got there and didn't want to wait in the rain until they opened so we took some pics outside of the old school house.

They have an old swinging bridge...last one in CA that you can still walk across...so we had to check that out!

Thanks for going with us Grammy and Papa! Can't wait for another fun weekend like it!

Brayden has been busy!

Brayden has been doing some fun things...getting more and more independent everyday. He continues to amaze us and we just love him so much. Just wanted to share a few pics from some of his therapy appointments we have had in the last couple weeks.

This is the waiting room of Occupational Therapy...she has a safari theme and Brayden just loves wrestling with the animals...

I was in kitchen the other day when I heard some yelling coming from Brayden and it was an "I'm stuck!"yell...yep he had crawled in his sisters babies playpen...too funny! He also surprised us the other day by pushing his rocking chair against the couch, climbing into the rocking chair and then climbing up to the couch and just sat there reading a book. Again, I was around the corner and found him in position after the fact...I think I have a climber!!

We had the priviledge of meeting with a team of therapists from WA last Friday to get fitted for some FREE orthotics...I am so thrilled as these little things can cost a pretty penny. Brayden did so good and they were quite impressed with his capabilities...so we should be getting them within 2 weeks and then we will be buying our first pair of REAL walking shoes...they recommend Dinosoles...and they are pretty cute.

I have downloaded a video of him in the orthotics at the end of this post...

VISITING our playgroup center...Brayden is officially ready for playgroup twice a week...Mommy isn't so much just because it is two more appointments, but we will do it because we love this program and he does too! Here he is last week checking out the swing...his speech therapy is also at this center and we started that last week too...

He loves cars as you can tell, he was checking out the car station. We are so blessed to have so much available to Brayden and he enjoys every moment of every therapy / service given. We love all our therapists and they love Brayden. We are heading to the beach this weekend for a little get away, so I will hopefully have some sunshiny pictures to post next week.

Little of this and a little of that!

We had a fun New Years Eve...My in-laws came over and since my brother and sister-in-law had to work we decided it would be fun to invite some cousins to spend the night with us...so we ordered Olive Garden to go, so yummy...played some games...ate some cake...drank some soda so we could all ring in the new year together! Kids had lots of fun and so did we!

Papa getting the first game of the night started...UNO spin!



Brayden being sneaky in the action...he loved it! He even stayed up until 9:45pm...which is late for him, usually goes to bed by 8pm.

Brayden telling Papa the game plan...

Brayden has been very helpful lately. His favorite thing to do is empty the dishwasher for me and the dryer...and the toilet paper, drawers, cabinets...but so fun to watch his independence and curiousity...

He is doing some fun things...he has been cruising furniture for about a month now...he loves to climb into small chairs, climb stairs, stand all by himself for 5-10 seconds at a time and will repeatedly practice this in the middle of the room looking for praise and lots of claps! He loves to walk with assistance from whoever is willing to practice with him. He is going to be fitted for some small orthotics tomorrow with a team of therapists from WA. We are excited as this will give him some extra stability with walking.
Below are some pictures of his FAVORITY time of the night or day...breaking and entering while his big brother is taking a shower...I prefer end of the day, so we can strip down and put him in a bath right after. He LOVES water! As you can tell...LOL..

And GUESS WHAT? Our Kaylee girl lost her first tooth this past week. She was so excited. It had been loose for about 3 weeks, so after rollerskating last week...MOMMMY got to pull it out with my method of pulling teeth. She was a little trooper...she is growing up way to fast!

On to me for a change...I never talk about me, but I have joined the gym with my husband this past week and we have changed our eating habits...I do not like new years resolutions, because 9 out of 10 times people tend to go back to their bad habits...I am hoping we are making lifetime changes and going to be able to stick through these new habits together. Jared is my rock and has been there for me for 18 years...I want many, many more years with him so we are on our way to a healthier lifestyle...YAY me!