full of blessings!

I know, I have majorly slacked at blogging lately...it has been a crazy season & there really hasn't been a moment to sit & upload pics & update blog. I am excited to finally get my pics uploaded & see my baby boy from this Fall season :) I cannot believe Thanksgiving has come & gone, crazy crazy. I know that Jesse & I feel very blessed for all that the Lord has provided us with and for blessing us with our sweet little man and another one on the way. I hope we are all able to take some time to count our blessings this year. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving watching our little boy & enjoying time with lots of family! (pics will be here soon!) As you can imagine Braden LOVED Thanksgiving dinner - he ate everything & enjoyed EVERY MINUTE!! We are now home & I have been cleaning like a mad-woman while Braden naps
...now a little break to catch up on our blog :)
...OH! Real quick, I am BEYOND STOKED that my Christmas cards are done before Dec. 1!!...yup, I totally cheated this year - I ordered them online today...our first Christmas card in 9 years that I have not made by hand...I have realized I just do not have the time this year & I really want to soak up every spare minute with my boys!! I feel a huge load of guilt, but am trying to get past that.

Where do I start? Well, a few weeks ago Braden & I were down for the count with the flu for 2 weeks. It hit all of a sudden just a few days after Halloween and it hit me first and it hit me LIKE A ROCK! It started with a pounding headache, soon the cough picked up, followed by chills/fever/aches all the good stuff. I couldn't believe it. I am SO RIDICULOUSLY anal when it comes to germs and I still for the life of me cannot figure out how the heck it got us!! All I can say is I am so very thankful that the Lord took care of us, my wonderfully amazingly selfless hubby worked his crazy work days to come home & work until about 10PM or later at night taking care of his fam, we were beyond blessed with more food/meals from friends than we knew what to do with - and I tell you that was a LIFESAVER!! I don't know what we honestly would've done without that because I was down for the count & the last thing Jess had time for was to "prep" meals. My OB had me immediately rushed to the doc to get diagnosed & there they confirmed that I had h1n1, thankfully I was in the time frame of being able to take Tamiflu which I believe truly healed me days sooner than I would have if I had not gotten the drug. I at first took it very apprehensively, but thanks to an amazing doc taking my calls with me on the other line in tears because I was SO WORRIED ABOUT OUR BABY assured me it was completely safe, thanks to friends that helped me research the drug to confirm that...I have never felt so comforted & like such a family as I did with our friends during this time. It's times like this that I really miss my family. I wish they lived down the street so they could pick up Braden for the day & entertain him so he didn't have to catch it. They are awesome & offered to come up and help out, but I just knew they would all come down with this nasty flu if they were to come around our house. Braden sure enough came down with it about 4 days later...poor guy had the nasty cough & super high fever. He had his Mommy & Daddy quite worried - but thanks to our awesome Ped they helped us through it. We are very lucky that he had what they consider a mild case of it. He was never actually tested for h1n1, but we are assuming that is in fact what he had as well. Jess unfortunately got a taste of it himself, but just the cough part. He pulled through & is all better now as well. Please keep our family in your prayers as both my OB & our Ped are extremely nervous for both Braden & I during this nasty flu season. My immunity is pretty much non-existent when I'm prego, which puts me at extremely high risk should this virus mutate as many experts are predicting. And well Braden being so young is very susceptible as well.

So , that is what has been up with us lately :) It is nice to finally be back in the "groove" seeing friends & watching my little guy play. I can't stand being a sick Mama, let alone being a sick & prego one! :) So pray for no more sickness!

Here are some fun halloween pics! What a crazy & fun day we had! We started off the day at our friends for a halloween/birthday party for their 3 year old, then home for nap and then off to the downtown bash & then trick or treating - we didn't get home until after 9 and I must say our little man did awesome with all the festivities! Our little guy was the CUTEST penguin EVER! Pretty funny last year he had the cutest outfit, the lobster, and this year I got him a cheetah costume, then a pirate costume and both of them were SO LAME in my opinion & I was SOOOO frustrated because I wanted him to be unique/cute!! About a week before halloween my girlfriends costume she had planned for her son, who is just a few months younger than B, offered her adorable penguin costume since it was too big on her little guy! I was so excited, especially since this is my Mom's favorite animal & we knew she would get a kick out of it!! So, he was the cutest penguin ever. We did a little hanging out downtown where we saw friends & just cruised around, but it wasn't really meant for 17 month olds...so we then grabbed din-din & hit our neighborhood with our dear friends/neighbors who are like Braden's Auntie & Uncle. We had SO much fun & it was hilarious watching Braden go from door to door. He totally got the concept!! The first door we went to didn't answer (although there light was on, lame people!!) and he just sat there & knocked & knocked & knocked...we thought it was hilarious!! We got tons of compliments on how cute he was, they got a kick out of his costume.

this below pic CRACKS us up because he seriously stood there knocking wondering why there was no answer...this was the 1st house mentioned above :)
For Braden's 16 month bday back in October we took Braden to the Monterey Bay Aquarium & then to Dennis The Mennis Park and we had SUCH A GREAT time!! Braden LOVED the aquarium, which we knew he would since he loves fishies. He had a blast running around & seeing all the different animals.




Pumpin patches, pumpkin patches...I think we hit every pumpkin patch in the county - and one in particular we hit up about a million times. We had such a great time!!




The latest update about our little man is he got his 1st hair cut. Oh, how I've been dreading the day to cut his beautiful hair. This past week was the last straw when a random stranger once again said "what a beautiful little girl" when he was in khakis & a striped thermal, but whatever we finally realized he needed a little trim. We don't want him to be "pretty boy" so we searched high & low for an awesome stylist & my girlfriend came to the rescue when she told me about her son's stylist. Like my brother said "I never knew a 1 year old needed a stylist, I thought you just put a bowl on their head & chop!" hahaa. Well, it was a family outting and he got a kick out of the salon & our hairdresser was WONDERFUL with kids! Braden did great just sitting on Daddy's lap & chilling out :) It was pretty cute. His hair looks adorable & they even are sending us a "first hair cut" certificate for the baby book - which they should by the way, for what we had to pay...they should frame it too for us! Haha. Totally worth it for me not risking completely ruining his hair!
before pics:
during pics:
I love this one below - so precious :)
after pics:
being silly in the car :) LOVE this lil boy!

Some random photos from this Fall season...
my parents got him this little table & he LOVES it! he eats there, reads and just hangs out at it! here he is one morning (in his awesome morning outfit that he put together!).
he loves his hats!
a few weeks ago he wanted my fork & insisted on using it...and ever since he won't eat without a fork - even his sandwiches. silly kid! yes, we have yet to get kid utensils, but these seem to be working out just fine ;)


Sunday's have become "football day" in our house. Braden & Jess love to watch Sunday Night Football and Braden will lift his arms over his head for "touchdowns", it's pretty darn cute! and of course beer is beverage of choice. I just love this pic because it just captures my boys!
Last, this is a pretty cute video of Braden trying to "catch" Sawyer, our cat, in his playroom. Sawyer is one of Braden's most bestest friends...he LOVES his kitty! He gives him hugs, kisses and snuggles with him...thankfully Sawyer puts up with anything & is wonderful with him. Braden gets so excited when Sawyer hangs out in his play room - so he will shut the door so he can't get out! He also does this with his bedroom & gets so excited. It's pretty hilarious! Funny because you would think it would be our dog that would be the "playmate", but no he has issues we have discovered & actually runs AWAY from Braden...I guess it doesn't help when Braden runs after him! Of course, Kona is his BEST FRIEND when food is in hand.


Fall fun playing in the leaves!



And last, but definitely not least ~ the tiny tot! We are now almost 22 weeks along and we had an appt this past Monday for our regular check-up & to make sure all was good to go with the babe after getting sick...and sure enough heart is strong & baby's measurements are right where they should be! Yeah! Definitely something to be SUPER THANKFUL FOR!! Here is the baby belly @ 21.5 weeks along.
another fun video clip from about 6 weeks ago - he is such a kick!!