Six Months Old!!

I know that every month I am shocked by how old Brayden is turning, but there is something special about a baby turning 6 months old.  I feel like it marks a milestone that he is no longer a newborn and that he is well on his way to toddler hood. It becomes even more apparent everyday because he is physically doing something different everyday.  This happy little munchkin melts my heart every time he squeezes my face and sucks on my nose!! (I have the face scratches to prove it!)

• He is so close to crawling!!! He gets on all fours, sways back and forth, and then face plants!! LOL Jacob is working hard on trying to get Brayden to crawl.
• He LOVES food!!! I know big surprise that yet another child of mine loves food. He has had, apples, pears, carrots, banana, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes. 
• He is sitting like a champ!! He is even pushing himself up to it!! 
• At daycare the other day he pulled himself to standing!!! I think we may be in trouble!! All he wants to do is stand.
• He is such a happy baby!! He is constantly laughing. Of course he laughs his hardest at Jacob. Those two brothers are bonded!!
• He is sleeping okay. He is still waking up 1-2 times a night on average.
• He loves being naked and being in water!! We are hoping to get him into a pool this summer!

 I just love this little man!!!

Here's his  sixth month stats:

Weight: 18lbs 8 oz

Height: 28 inches

A month to Catch up on!!

WOW!!! This past month really flew by!!! I was reminded the other day that I had not blogged in a while...and man has it been a while!!! Things around here have been crazy busy!! Mike just finished up the school year and is starting a basketball camp this week (surprised I know lol), I have recently started in a new business venture, Jacob is crazier than ever, and Brayden is starting to be on the move!!! Needless to say, we are running around like crazy!! So what exciting stuff has been happening?

Jacob is in full soccer mode!!! He is loving his new sport!!! Although basketball continues to be his favorite, he is enjoying expanding his horizons. It is nice for him and Melo to have something to bond over. As they are getting older the boy/girl differences are showing. For example, Melo wants to play princesses and Jacob likes to juggle the princesses. When the princesses inevitably fall to the ground, Melo starts saying to Jacob "You broke it!!!!" LOL. So soccer is a great way to keep their friendship intact!! As for the babies... well they are not as impressed with the siblings soccer skills...

They are very patient watching them play, but as you can tell by the look on their faces, they think they can do better.

This month there has been a couple trips to the Children's Museum. As always it does not disappoint! Gabby and I tread the water by ourselves, and it honestly wasn't too bad! It's nice to have a place to go where the kids can't escape! Is it weird that we try and pick places that have locked doors or fences? I guess their are different priorities of being a toddler mother now! LOL

Jacob has been way into singing lately...it's probably the cutest thing that he does!

We have recently discovered a new place that is totally amazing!!! It's called Wacky Tacky! It is basically an indoor crazy house for toddlers!! There's jumpy houses, mazes, giant slides, ball pits, and a whole giant ballapalooza!! I know I am explaining this really well, but it's definitely one of those things that you have to see in person.

All the kids had a blast!! And yes, there was some major crying when we left. However, that crying turned into about 3 hours of silence...it was a major nap time after that! That carries me into the next and last topic.  There has been many naps in this house recently, seeing as we are always on the go. Brayden has turned into an excellent napper! He may not sleep long, but he can sleep anywhere!! In true Shadd fashion!

Bouncer Fun!!!

Recently we decided to bring out the jumper for Brayden because he started jumping in our laps ALL the time!! So, to save our arms from being sore every single day, we decided he is at that age to enjoy jumping on his own. It's crazy to think that he is old enough to do this already!! I must say that the jumper could be my new favorite thing to watch Jacob and Brayden do together. It is hilarious!!

I can't help but laugh at this video! Now, I want everyone to know that I do tell Jacob that Brayden needs breaks from jumping with Jacob. I recognize that this could get out of hand pretty quickly, so Jacob always asks before he "jumps with Brayden." Brayden just loves his jumper!! Almost as much as his big brother!

 Jacob likes the bouncer for another reason... it allows him to have Brayden's full attention!! This is often the time that Jacob decides to read to Brayden.  In this photo, the story went as follows, " Pooh bear goes to work. Brayden jump. Jacob jump. Mama jump. That's a good story!!" LOL Jacob's vocabulary is just cracking me up lately!!

Easter Festivities

With our mellow Easter Sunday, we somewhat forgot to do a lot of the Easter traditions before hand. For example, dying eggs!! We waited until Easter morning to do that!! LOL I must say though, it was one of my favorite experiences with Jacob. He thought it was the greatest thing in the world, that the eggs would change colors...almost like magic!! He only broke a few eggs... and I walked aways giving Mike and I an A+ on the no mess making and inventing colors (oh another thing when you dye eggs on Easter Sunday... you shouldn't wait to buy the dye until that morning because no one carries it!)

We had so much fun dying these eggs, that it makes me want to do it again just randomly through the year!!  Jacob was very proud of all his eggs.  He was sad when they had to take a "nap" in the fridge until dinner...LOL.

The Easter Bunny made a visit to our house too!!! Jacob was very excited to see all the stuff he got!!  As Uncle Matt Matt said, "Why is Jacob dressed like he's going to a rave?" LOL I guess the Easter Bunny got a little crazy with accessories this year! The Easter Bunny even got him underwear, so we'll see where that takes us!!

I had to share a couple of my favorite pictures from Easter... they just don't get any cuter than this!!
(And yes Jacob is trying to eat the egg with the shell on it!! LOL)

5 Months

Yet another month has come and gone!! This past month he has really moved from the newborn stage. He isn't just satisfied sitting being held or fed anymore... he is completely aware of his surroundings and constantly wants to move or look.  The other great thing about him moving beyond the newborn stage, is that he and Jacob are actually interacting a lot more!! In fact, Brayden laughs his hardest when Jacob is the one entertaining him. The phrase "Jacob go make Brayden laugh!" never gets old!! He has really accomplished a lot this month...

• He had his first food! Rice cereal!! He seems to really like it!!
• He found his toes!! And boy does he love them!!! He may be the soccer player out of our two boys.
• He can be carried on my hip. Now, this may not seem like a huge accomplishment, but those who tote babies around know what I'm talking about! My arms get a little break!! LOL
• He is waking up 1-2 times a night (minus one night that was every hour, yikes!!)
• He's becoming a champion napper at daycare (finally!)
• He LOVES his big brother!!! I can already see the future in that Brayden will want to do every thing Jacob wants to do! 
• He is gnawing on anything and everything (watch your fingers people!!)

I have taken a lot of photos, but I again reduced them to the special few!! LOL

Easter

A couple of weeks ago was Easter Sunday!! Since we have been traveling so much lately, my suitcase just rotates clothes in it, we decided to enjoy a weekend home as a family of four! It was actually a really calm and nice day!! We spent the morning at the park, dyed eggs, took naps, and then ate a great dinner with Gabby and the girls! I will post about dying eggs separately because Jacob just had too much fun and I took too many pictures!! LOL Anyways, Melo and Jacob's favorite thing was the Easter egg hunt!!  They had so much fun looking for all the eggs and not one fight happened either!! Jacob and Melo loved eating everything inside the eggs... Jacob kept saying "More Monies?" LOL

As for the little ones... they actually had a really good day too!! They hung out and took the most hilarious pictures together!!

 

Earlier in the day, Mike took Melo and Jacob for a bike ride... they totally loved it!!

Our dinner was really good, especially since we were away from everybody that normally cooks for this holiday. Gabby made an amazing ham! 

Here's our little hams at the dinner table...

Mike loves this picture of Tessa, so I had to post it. As you can see by the amount of rolls on the table, we did not go hungry!

Although we missed our families, we did have a really wonderful Easter!

Jacob's Birthday Party

I can't believe it has almost been two months since Jacob's 2nd birthday party.  I have been so busy that I didn't even realize I didn't blog about this wonderful event until today!! Anyways, since almost everyone who reads this blog was at that party, I just want to start off saying thank you to everyone who came and a special thanks to everyone who helped! It really would not have been done without you!! Before the party, Jacob's favorite show was Jake and The Never Land Pirates.  I'm glad I did this party when I did because his interests have definitely changed. He is now all about Thomas and Bubble Guppies, which are both good shows. However, Pirates will always have a special place in my heart because it was the very first show he ever showed remote interest in.  Pirates made for a fun party theme with the decorations... 

The decorations could not have been better!!! Thanks to Tori, my mom, Debbi, Dayton, and my dad!! The house looked awesome!!! The two above pictures were my favorite!! And of course the cake tasted as good as it looked!! Tori made treasure chest party favors filled with gold coins. She made like 50 of them!! I still have some and have been eating gold coins for almost two months straight! So, thank you Tor!! We had great food, thanks to Chris and Sue!! It really could not have been a better BBQ, especially for a March party!! 

The first part of the party, the kids spent some time at our local gymnastics place just running around and making crafts. The kids had a blast!!! Jacob got so worn out that he took a two hour nap, after falling asleep on the 5 minute car ride home. 

Although I said no gifts, of course people got him gifts.  Jacob loved opening every single one of them!! He also became good friends with Logan during that time. I really think Logan is more responsible as an 8 year old than I will ever be in my life!! Jacob LOVED his new friend!!!

I love this picture of him! He could not be happier to have his cupcake!! I think we had a banana cupcake everyday for a week after this party!! He is a very special 2 year old, who astounds me every day.  I could not be more proud of him!