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A few pics of Brady from today.  I usually don’t post blurry pics but the last one, I just couldn’t resist.

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For lack of something else to post about, I’ll post about words. I’ve been trying to encourage Brady to use please for awhile now and now I’m trying to get her to use please and thank you. I think she’s tried two other times to actually say it. But other times (mostly when she’s in her booster seat) she’ll do this sign of her own creation. She was consistent with it for awhile so if we said say please, she’d do the same thing every time. Well today she was reaching for a cup and I asked her to say please and she just kept opening her hands and reaching for it (not her “sign”) and finally she said pees! Baby steps! Then she was reaching for Casey’s sunglasses tonight (she loves to wear any sunglasses because we tell “you’re so cool”) and we kept saying say please and she said something starting with a p so we praised her. Don’t know if she actually said it though but it’s a step in the right direction!

My attempt at weaning Brady from her morning nursing session was a nightmare. She slept for about 10 minutes and then starting screaming and crying. She didn’t want me to even pick her up and finally she started nuzzling and trying to lift my shirt. I nursed her put her back down and then she only slept 20 minutes. This is after getting up at 5 yesterday. She did pretty well after the initial wake up fussiness but in the late afternoon she started melting down and was just not fun to be around. She was overtired and in need of sleep.

This morning she slept til 6:30 so I’m hoping yesterday’s change of schedule rebooted her system. She’s been down for a little over 2 hours now and hopefully she’ll be in a better place the rest of the day.

Brady still nurses twice a day.  I was originally planning on doing the child led weaning but I don’t really want to be nursing past two.  I know that sounds selfish since I rarely nurse in public anymore so that’s not a huge deal.  She’s only nursing twice a day now – nap and bedtime – but she’s getting closer to 2 and I don’t know how long the weaning process will take or if I should just continue to do the bedtime one til she is 2.  Agh, I don’t know what to do!  I tried dropping the nap session once last month and she would not take a nap so I caved and just haven’t tried stopping again.  Brady just went down for her nap (she’s been up since 5) and she cried for about 5 minutes but I think she might be asleep now.  Maybe getting up so early helped this time?  We’ll see how the rest of the day goes and if I feel I can cut out the sessions and be okay with it.  Writing it all out now makes me feel terribly guilty since there’s no real reason to wean.  I guess only time will tell.

Brady’s 20 months today! It’s so crazy to think we’re going to have a 2 year old soon. At 20 months Brady picking up new words every day. It’s amazing how much she remembers and is aware of. New words (that I can remember) from last week are snow, seal, and Meme (when looking at pics of Memaw – Casey’s mom). She also seems to be following along with other friends her age and saying no for everything. “Do you want to get some ice cream?”. Nooo. “Do you like Obama?”. Nooo. It’s entertaining and frustrating at the same time but overall I have to say this is a really fun age!

I think one of the more stressful parts of parenting right now is eating.  I didn’t watch what I ate during pregnancy or breastfeeding and I hoped this would expose Brady to all the flavors and foods that Casey and I eat.  When she first started eating solid foods, she was at least willing to try a bite of whatever we’d offer her.  Now we’re lucky to get foods we know she likes (liked?) in her.  One of the things she likes to do right now is when eating yogurt or cottage cheese she’ll try to clap her hands on to the spoon and get food everywhere.  What she wants you to do is grab both of her wrists with one hand and then she’ll open her mouth and eat.  She laughs and carries on like it’s the best game ever.

There is just very little consistency in what she’ll eat.  She’ll drink milk, juice (V8 Fusion so at least she’s getting a serving of fruits and veggies), and sometimes water.  Foods she will always eat are Goldfish and ice cream.  She goes through phases where she won’t eat yogurt – right now she is which is a good thing since she isn’t eating much else (another fruit/veggie yogurt blend).  She refuses to eat raw or plain cooked veggies (unless you count french fries as a veggie, I don’t).  I did manage to cook up some zucchini muffins, carrot spice muffins, and blueberry waffles and she has been eating those for the most part.  Let’s see, she’ll also eat baby oatmeal, applesauce, dry cereal (Chex or Cheerios), fruit (bananas, strawberries, grapes, apples, oranges, peaches – no pears, cantaloupe, or watermelon), and sometimes faux chicken nuggets.  I’ve tried buying some new foods recently to switch things up on her and for the most part it hasn’t helped.  More no’s are turkey, turkey hot dogs, cheese, bread, tortillas, ham, and pasta.  I think the only thing that was a success was bringing yogurt back into the rotation and getting her to try a new flavor of crackers.

I do feel better now that she’s eating the muffins (we tell her they’re cupcakes) and gummi vitamins.  She acts like everything is fine and we just leave food out for her to graze at her leisure – she does not want to be strapped down to eat.  I’ve weighed her in my concern for her eating and she’s gained since her last appointment in June (over 27 pounds now) so I probably shouldn’t be too concerned I guess but I can’t help it!

First things first.  Happy Belated Birthday to my Dad!  Thank you to the grandparents that have been sending care packages for Brady.  My parents sent the super cute dress Brady is wearing in several of these pics.  I don’t know how well it shows up but there are ladybugs all over them (Brady’s favorite) and she says bug bug bug whenever she sees the dress.  Then Casey’s parents sent her this big, soft Winne the Pooh!  She already knows who Pooh is and will go get him if you ask her to.  She also has this Fisher Price dog on a string that Casey’s parents sent her a few months back that she’s  really getting into.  When I chase her I pull the dog with me and let the dog get her.  She loves it!  But I’ve created a monster and if she’s ready to have me run after her she’ll go pick up the dog and bring it to me or if I’m not responding quickly enough she’ll throw it at me.  I’m trying to get her not to throw but it is a little funny to watch right now.

Today we went over to Casey’s coworkers house to go swimming.  Zack has a 10 month old little boy and Brady had a lot of fun giving him kisses and playing around in the pool.  I don’t know if it was the time of day, or her mood or what, but Brady seems to be getting over her stranger anxiety.  We ended up having a lot of fun and am glad to know more people in the area – especially those around Brady’s age!  I fear staying at home with her sometimes she doesn’t get enough socialization with other kids but hopefully that’ll change or be a non-issue.

I’ll leave this short in hopes that I’ll have enough content for another day.

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Well sorta. We didn’t leave the house today but I think we got a lot done. Casey got the front and back yard mowed before Brady went down for her morning nap and was able to beat the heat.

Today I got a bunch of freezer cooking done. Last night I acted as my own sous chef and chopped half the veggies for today so I didn’t have quite as much time as I could have had. I did 2 meatloaves, 4 batches of chili, 6 black bean veggie burgers, taco meat, and red beans and rice. Earlier this week I got Brady’s waffles made up so I’m considering that part of my weekly count. And tonight for dinner we had Chicken with Black Bean Mango Salsa – yum! I only wish all the veggies were from our garden! Hopefully next year it will be. Well, except for the mango although I’m hoping we might get an apple tree planted this year!

Brady has some new words this the last couple of weeks that I figured I’d share with you. I know lots of parents probably think their child is so smart and advanced but I am amazed by things she picks up and does everyday.

She’s still in the stage where she can’t always pronunciate the entire word but she tries and you can figure out what she’s saying.

-rhino
-rocket
-whale
-spider
-star
-tongue
-pepper
-boat

They might seem a little random but we try to point out stuff around the house and in all her books so she picks up a little here and there.