Captain Adorable!

Leaping from tall buildings (couches) in a single bound, lifting heavy buildings (tents) with no effort, flying (running) faster than the speed of sound, melting peoples hearts with a smile full of dimples..is it a bird?  a plane?  no....it's CAPTAIN ADORABLE!

These are Bradyn's new FAVORITE pajamas!! 

A Birthday Blast!

We had a Toy Story 3 Water Birthday Bash for Bradyn!  He really enjoyed his birthday party this year!  From running through the rocket sprinkler...

 

To slippin' and slidin'...

 

Having a water gun fight...

To falling in the pool from excitement and exhaustion...

Fun opening presents...

 Enduring the birthday song...

 And finally enjoying the cake....

 Happy 3rd Birthday Bradyn!  You are our pride and joy!

Golfing with Papa for Father's Day

Bradyn's first golf outing. 

Putting on the green.

Sinking his putt.

 Bradyn had a great day celebrating his Papa!  He started the day by making Papa breakfast...well, he tried to help, but got distracted and Mama had to finish.  Then he gave Papa his presents (which he had already told Papa what they were 3 days ago).  He "helped" papa screw some screws with the power drill.  Then it was off to golf.  He had a blast, he is quite a good little golfer! 
   I'm always in awe at the relationship these two have.  Bradyn adores Mike and vice versa.  They definitely have something special and sometimes they are in their own little "Bradyn and Papa" world laughing about some silly thing!  Bradyn doesn't need a "designated day" to let Papa know that he loves him....he lets him know that everyday. 

2 Years Ago...

It is hard to believe that it was 2 years ago today when we first met this precious soul!!  It seems like he has been in our lives forever!  I can still remember sitting in the director's office waiting with anticipation and excitement to see his sweet face.  We had spent countless hours staring at his pictures, knowing this was our child.  Then we finally got to meet him and every moment together confirmed that he truly was meant to be in our family. 

Big Boy Bed

Well, it was time for us to change the crib into a toddler bed, mainly because I am not strong enough to lift our big guy into his crib, but also because he was ready.  The excitement began on Monday when we started talking about it and we made small changes to the room.  We added a cute lamp that he loves to turn on and off and on and off and so on...  Slowly each day we moved the furniture around and then Friday night was the big night!  Bradyn kept saying "I'm so esscited!"  He even "helped" Papa change the screws (as well as grabbing the wood with a pair of pliers...uh, that part was not so helpful).  Once the change was made we "practiced" when to get out of bed.  Then the big moment came...going to bed.  He truly was SOOOO  "esscited".  Mama and Papa were a little concerned that it may be a long night with him getting in and out of the bed.  But Bradyn shocked us, as always!  He stayed in his big boy bed until we went and got him up this morning!!  Naptime was as equally easy, Bradyn stayed in bed the whole time!  I wonder how long this will last?

Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

Yes, Easter is over but Bradyn loves this song!   He sings it when going to sleep, when he wakes up, and throughout the day.  Our favorite part is when he says "hoppin down the bunny chwail".  When we ask him what songs he sang at daycare, he inevitably says....Peter Cottontail.  I guess the thrill of Easter can last a little longer, especially since Bradyn still talks about Frankenstein, even though Halloween is long past!
We had a lot of fun this Easter.  It began with the Easter Bunny visiting Bradyn's daycare.  Reports indicate that the door opened and all the toddlers in Bradyn's class ran towards the Easter Bunny...except for Bradyn, he ran the other direction and started filling his Easter basket with goodies!  He collected so many goodies, that his teacher had to divide them up with the other kids. 

We celebrated Easter at Grandma and Grandpa Taresh's house.  Bradyn said that the Easter Bunny brings money...what?  How does he even know what money is?   Well, he was right the easter eggs were filled with lots of coins!  Bradyn loved looking for the eggs, but in true Bradyn form, he was really excited to find a basketball that was laying in the yard...and better still...Grandpa's riding lawn mower!

What Happened?

The title of this post is appropriate for several reasons...
1.  That is Bradyn's FAVORITE phrase!!  Not only does he ask it once, or even twice, but MANY MANY times per minute, per hour, per day!  It doesn't really matter what happened...he just has to ask it.  And then when something REALLY does happen...he is thrilled that his favorite question works!
2.  What happened to blogger world?  It's been so long since I've created a post that I had no idea what to do because the formatting of things has changed!
3.  What happened...or what's been happening in our world that has kept us from posting?  Well, many things, but one has been laundry!!  Yes, laundry duty has turned into a 24 hour cycle.  One of the biggest reasons is that Bradyn just keeps growing!!  So, we are constantly in need of longer pants!  I am not a summer person, but I look forward to summer so B can wear shorts!!  Also, daycare has said that Bradyn is ready for full-time potty training.  So, we are full-time in cute boy undies.  With the accidents, the washer is constantly going.  He is doing really great though!!  He rarely has accidents and has decided that he LOVES standing up to pee!
   The lastest thing... We put Bradyn on skis!!  He LOVES it!  He was a little frustrated that we wouldn't let him go to the TOP of the mountain or off the edge of the little hill we were on!  He calls himself Shaun White.  He wants to do flips and twists like Shaun, so Mike has to hurdle Bradyn in the air with little skis kicking him in the face!

We went to Mexico again this year.  Bradyn had a blast and remembered the ocean, beach, and sand.  This year was much more relaxing though...Bradyn realized that you can sit and play in the sand, instead of running up and down the beach like he did last year.  (It was also probably more relaxing for mom and dad, because we have 15 months of parenting under our belts!) 

We also made a trip back to Wisconsin to see Grandma Lee...she broke her ankle/leg!  Now both Grandmas are having a hard time walking!!  It was nice to get back there, since we didn't go at Christmas!  Luckily both Grandmas are healing well and will hopefully be chasing Bradyn again soon!

Santa Claus or the Big Balloon Bear?

Bradyn got to enjoy his first hockey game with Oomba and Oompa Lee...well, he enjoyed the "hockey" part of the game, but not the opening of the show. When we arrived at the game, he was SO excited (as most of you know...he's obsessed with ALL sports), he could hardly contain his excitement. They started preparing for the opening of the game by inflating this large bear that the hockey players would skate through. We sat and watched them inflate this thing and Bradyn was so excited and then...he started screaming and crying uncontrollably when the bear was about half of the way inflated. We had to take him out of the arena to try and settle him down. Once the bear was deflated and off the ice, we were able to return and he loved watching the rest of the game. This all happened around Thanksgiving...still to this day he continues to talk about "The Big Balloon Bear" with concern! So, we were very concerned when we found out that Santa was coming to visit Bradyn at his daycare...we figured if a Big Balloon Bear got that kind of a reaction, Santa may bring on the same fears. When I picked him up from daycare, I asked him if he saw Santa and he said, "Yeah...big guy." Oohh boy, I thought I knew where this was headed and then his teacher said, "He LOVED Santa! He RAN to him and jumped on his lap, and grabbed his santa hat and wore it!" Yes, I was floored, he loves the "big guy". So, this weekend we headed out to see Santa again and get his picture taken with him, something we never imagined we'd be doing this year! When we got there, he was so excited to see Santa again, but even more excited to see the 3'x3' bag of candy canes next to him! Santa really made Bradyn's day when he asked Bradyn about Mater...one of his favorite "Cars" characters! Ho Ho Ho!

A Little Behind on Posts...

Wow! So much has happened since my last post, so get ready for updates:

Gotcha Day!
We celebrated our "Gotcha Day" with Bradyn on October 28th. Hard to believe that it has been 1 year since we have been blessed with his presence. We decided we would go out to dinner for our celebration especially since Bradyn does so well in restaurants. Well, that didn't work so well, he showed his true 2 year old colors and made for a very fast dining experience. We had cake when we got home and he opened a gift that we got for him in Russia. We also put together a package to send to the baby home.

Our 5 Year Wedding Anniversary!
We spent the weekend in Park City with great plans to play in the snow with Bradyn. Well, it didn't snow and the ground was completely bare! Plan B...we enjoyed ourselves in the swimming pool and did some window shopping.
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Thanksgiving!
Oompa and Oomba Lee joined us for Thanksgiving this year! Bradyn got his usual "A Present A Day" gifts from them. We had lots of fun with them and even took Bradyn to his first Hockey game. He LOVED the hockey but didn't care for the large inflatable Bear that the hockey players skated through at the beginning of the game. We also went to the zoo and Bradyn showed Oomba and Oompa around.

My Dad's 75th Birthday Celebration!
Our whole family surprised my Dad with a birthday party for his 3/4 of a century celebration! Everyone in the family wrote letters to him on their memories with him, then compiled it into a book. We succeeded in surprising him and spent the time reminiscing about good times.

Now here we are in the midst of the holiday season and counting down the days until Santa comes. Bradyn has become obsessed with the characters from Toy Story and says that Santa is bringing him a Buzz Lightyear. He has enjoyed getting ready for Santa with our daily advent calendar countdown. We've also made cookies and gingerbread houses. And Bradyn has even helped wrap the presents...well, he has added about 5 or 6 gift tags to every gift. We are so excited for Santa to get here...he comes to Bradyn's daycare on the 18th and he says he's going to sit on his lap...we'll see.

Potty Time

Well, we are knee deep in potty training...not because Mike and I wanted it, but Bradyn has been SO excited for it! So, we went out and bought him a potty chair. Bradyn picked it out and it is, of course, a baseball chair! The chair is equipped with a baseball "flusher" that cheers for you when you push it. Well...we pushed it and the sound scared Bradyn SO badly that he started "shushing" it and telling it to be quiet. After that he wouldn't go anywhere near it. So, during naptime, Papa dissassembled the baseball flusher and now we have a potty-loving baby! We had plans of keeping him in diapers for quite awhile, but he kept showing such an interest, that I guess we are now full on potty training. He is so proud of himself when he uses it and then we get to do the potty dance! Even Eiger joins in the dance, and when Papa is at work, he gets to listen to us do the potty dance on the phone! Such exciting stuff!

1 Year Post Placement Completed

When you adopt from Russia you are required by their government to give the courts reports on how your child is doing. We had to do a report at 1 month, 6 months, and now at 1 year. This isn't just a report that you write yourself, but you have a social worker come into your home and assess the conditions of the home, child, etc. Then the social worker writes the report and sends it to our adoption agency, who in turn sends it to Russia. Well, our 1 year report is done! Woo Hoo! Our social worker was amazed at how well Bradyn is doing and how he fits into our lives so perfectly. His comment was "You guys really do have a perfect family". We agree!

Not only have we been working on our post placement report, but we've been very concerned about Bradyn's Oomba (Grandma Taresh). She wasn't feeling very good and then got progressively worse to the point where her foot went numb and she was in great pain. She ended up being admitted to the hospital and was there for 9 days. They finally figured out that she had vasculitis. Luckily they were able to catch it in time and she is on the mend, although she is taking some pretty serious drugs. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers so that she is back to chasing Bradyn.

The Dog Days of Summer

It's hard to believe that summer is coming to a close, but Bradyn has thoroughly enjoyed this season! He loves the great outdoors and can't seem to get enough of it! From playing golf or baseball to exploring ponds and the ducks that reside there, to playing in the dirt while camping! Bradyn also took swimming lessons with Papa this summer and he LOVES the water! It's hard to believe that less than a year ago, we couldn't even get him in a bathtub and now we can't get him out of the water! Bradyn enjoyed swimming lessons, but I think Papa enjoyed that time with Bradyn just as much, if not more! Their swimming lessons are over now, but both of them still play the games and songs they learned... "5 Little Monkeys", "Motorboat", and more!

Bradyn's vocabulary seems to increase daily. He has started saying sentences...granted, his sentences are a conglomeration of the words he knows, so they usually don't make much sense, but nevertheless, he's trying to string words together. His other great speech accomplishment this summer is saying the "s" sound! He likes the sound so much that he puts it at the end of everything, "Papas", "Mommys", "Bye Byes". Not only does it sound cute, but he looks so cute when he says them...he uses his back teeth to make the sound, which means his adorable dimples take center stage!

With summer coming to a close, fall is approaching quickly. That means the mark of our 1 year anniversary of Gotcha Day is close at hand!! So much to celebrate!