First Thanksgiving Dinner

We discovered that Bradyn's favorite holiday (so far) is Thanksgiving...this makes sense, since this holiday involves lots of food. And if you have learned anything about Bradyn, it is that he loves food! Not only did he love the food today, but he wanted to feed himself! Actually, there was one thing he didn't like and surprisingly that was the turkey. The meal ended with Brady licking his plate clean. 2 hours later? Nananana...yep, that means more food!! Grandma and Grandpa Taresh got to join in the fun! Definitely a day of Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we have SO much to be thankful for! We are so blessed to have Bradyn in our lives. We are so blessed to have a loving family that supports us! We are blessed to have so many friends that cheer us on! Yes, we are so thankful for each and every person that has touched our lives and that includes everyone that reads this blog. So, please know that we are so thankful for all of you...many blessings to you!

First Zoo Experience!

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Bradyn loves animals, so we thought we'd take him to his first zoo experience...he loved it! He really loved the monkeys and made "ooh ooh ooh" monkey noises. We thought we'd have to make it a quick trip, trying not to overwhelm him too much. But that wasn't a worry at all, we ended up seeing all of the animals. He even stayed in the stroller! Grandma Lee was able to enjoy the experience with us as she flew out from Wisconsin for her first visit with him. They have really enjoyed getting to know each other. My only disappointment of the day was that there wasn't any Kettlecorn available!! It will be fun to take him to the zoo again next year when it is warmer and he's a little bigger.

SuperDad!

I always knew that Mike would make a wonderful father. Kids are always drawn to him! Now that he IS a father, he is everything I thought he would be AND more!! Brady adores him and gets so excited every time he sees him! In addition to having fun with Bradyn, he's also willing to get help out with the not so fun stuff! He changed 3 poopy diapers in one day and this was unsolicited from me! He helps with the meals and bathtime, too and always knows when Mama needs a few minutes to herself! Yep, Brady and Mama love our Mike!

We made our first road trip venture to meet aunts, uncles, and cousins! The 2 hour road trip there went smoothly. Then meeting my very large family went well! He was the center of attention and he absolutely loved the spotlight! We were worried that he would be overwhelmed and overstimulated, but he wasn't! The difficult part was the road trip home. He was great the first 15 minutes in the car and then screamed and cried the remaining hour and a half. We tried everything to console him, but it didn't work. When we were 15 minutes from home, he fell asleep. Needless to say Mike and I were the ones that were overwhelmed! When we got home, he had a big smile on his face and went and greeted all the animals, as if he hadn't cried for an hour and a half straight! All in all we were very pleased with the way the day went. I think he stole a few hearts that day!

Transitions…

While we were waiting for Bradyn to come into our lives, we had lots of time to dream about parenthood. Our head was filled with Kodak moment images of big, happy smiles, and being dressed to the hilt in the cutest clothes. A Martha Stewart-esque home with big bouquets of flowers everywhere and beautifully presented gourmet meals. You know…the picture of the beautiful family in the photo frame that you bought at the store.

Fast forward to reality…yes, we have Kodak moment images of Brady, but heaven forbid a camera to be pointed in my direction! A shower is a coveted act now and if a shower does happen, my hair still looks a mess! No such thing as a Martha Stewart home when you have a layer of dog fur on the floor because you don’t have time to vacuum. And the beautifully presented meals? What was I thinking…I couldn’t even boil eggs before Bradyn, why did I think I would magically turn into a gourmet cook once we had a baby?

Yes, reality…it is actually more beautiful than what we dreamed. Despite the lack of personal care, Bradyn still comes to me and Mike still loves me. The dog fur…Bradyn likes to pick up little piles and bring them to me, so little by little that is being taken care of. As far as the food goes…I’ve actually cooked meals every night this week, it may not look good or taste good, but we are all eating! The best part is laying my head down at night, seeing a precious little face peacefully asleep, and Mike and I looking at each other with nothing but gratitude in our eyes. The added bonus…hearing my boys snoring in harmony.

AND...this photo is proof that not all perfect Kodak moments have to be big smiles...isn't he beautiful?

A Week In Review

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I don't quite remember a whole lot from our first week home as I was suffering from jetlag and extreme dehydration or I may have caught a bug. So, everything was a bit of a blur the first few days. I don't know how I would have survived last week without Mike and my Mom, but I'm feeling much better now.

We were finally able to bathe Bradyn once we got home. In Moscow, our hotel room didn't have a tub and the sink was too small for our hefty 23 pound, 16 month old! So, we had to wait until we got home to brave the bath ritual. We feared that he'd scream constantly like he did with the last bath, but the kid has got to be cleaned! So, Mike came up with a great idea to let him play in the tub without water and make it really fun. Genius! It worked! We spent some time playing in the tub during the day and then that evening we filled the tub with toys and bubbles. We played with the toys before we got in and next thing we know, he's wanting to get in! He splashed and laughed and tried to slide around! He loves it!! Yay!

The next day, while Mike was at work, Bradyn filled his pants with, you guessed it, poopka!! Poopka was everywhere and he decided he'd help me by grabbing at himself! Oh boy! My solution was to give him a bath...especially since he loves baths! So, I had my mom hold his hands while I ran and filled the tub. Well, we have one of those handy plastic tub spout covers that go over the water spout so he won't hit his head. I failed to notice that it had turned and the water spout was covered, so all the water that was supposed to be going in the tub, was shooting backwards and pouring all over the floor. It took me a second to realize what happened...which added more water to the floor. My wet socks finally made me realize what was wrong! Finally the tub was filled and I ran to get my poopy boy. He was thrilled to see it was bathtime and all was well again...until, he started crying to get out within minutes. So, I got him out started drying him off and then he started peeing all over the already wet floor!! Once he finished he wanted to get back in the tub...I guess swimming pools will love us!

Other special moments...Papa had to start back to work and we said bye-bye to him in the morning. The rest of the day, whenever I would talk about Papa, Bradyn would wave bye-bye. Once Mike got home from work, he was SO excited to see him and practically leaped out of my arms to get to him!

Neenee, our cat, is the big obsession. He talks about her while he's eating, when he wakes up, while he's playing and so on. Luckily, Neenee is really great with him and puts up with the obsession.

Machinas...boy does he love cars! We were worried that he wouldn't like the car seat, considering he had never been in one before. He loves it though...I think just the fact that he gets to be in a car, he'll put up with anything.

He experienced our backyard for the first time, and we believe it was his first experience with grass. He was thrilled! He ran and ran and ran and giggled and giggled some more!

Papa taught Bradyn how to do high five for his first Packer game. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do it very often during the game, but he's got it down! He looked so cute in his Packer jersey!

Now, it's on to week 2 and so far so good! Life is good!

Home Sweet Home

There's no place like home! We arrived home last Sunday night to a nice clean house that was decorated for our arrival and a home cooked meal! Thanks to Mom, Dad, and my sister Tami. Our day of traveling was long and exhausting...during our 29 hours of travel and layovers Mike got about 10 minutes of sleep and I got about 30 minutes. Bradyn did pretty well for it being such a long day, but there were quite a few tears, mainly when we tried to change diapers! We discovered that he will only go poopka in his diaper if it is clean and dry. We learned this on our flight to SLC from Chicago on a tiny airplane. He had a wet diaper, so I walked down the narrow aisle knocking people in the heads, finally getting to the bathroom only to learn that there wasn't a changing table tray. He was screaming and crying as I tried to figure out what to do, alas, we changed the diaper standing up! We made the trek back to our seats, got buckled in, and you guessed it...poopka! Back down the aisle! Oh well, at least we were on the flight and it was our last leg home. Our layover in Chicago was only 2 hours and we had to go through customs, recheck our luggage, immigrate Bradyn as a US citizen (which we were told would take at least 45 minutes), and make it to the domestic terminal! It was a close call, but there was nothing that was going to keep us off that plane!

So, the big question has been "How will Bradyn do with the dogs?" I think this picture answers that question...


He was SO excited to see the dogs and continues to be! He really loves the cat and spends his days saying "ow, ow"...which we think means "meow". The dogs were a little jealous at first, but now they've learned that Brady is a walking treat dispenser and they follow him constantly!

Our transition home has gone fairly well, although we've hit a few bumps in the road. My Mom stayed with us for the week, which was a HUGE help for me, especially since Mike went back to work. Thanks for everything Mom! Oh, it is so nice to be home!

Somebody's Ready to Come to the USA!

Yes, that's our boy inside the suitcase!! While Mike and I tried to pack our bags, Bradyn decided he would help by unpacking and climbing inside the suitcase. We had another busy day today registering Bradyn at the Russian Consulate. Then we went to the infamous Arbat Street for some shopping. Obviously we looked like tourists, because we were suckered into buying a drawing from an artist. We were fussing over Brady and the artist walked over and started drawing a picture of him. Yep, we are new parents, we spent WAY more than we should have for the drawing but it was just SO cute! Well, tomorrow is the big day, we leave our hotel at 4:00am and fly for 3 hours; layover for 4 hours in Frankfurt; fly to Chicago for 9 1/2 hours; 2 hour layover in Chicago; and then fly to SLC for 3 1/2 hours. Chicago will be the official place where Bradyn becomes a US citizen once the plane lands on US soil. It will be pretty hectic to make our connection. We have 2 hours to immigrate him, as well as going through customs ourselves. We are praying that we can do all that and make it to our gate in time. Needless to say, we look forward to seeing our family, friends, and our animals! We are also longing for some good american food and our own comfortable bed!