Benson Matthew Brady

Benson is two years 4 months.  I actually had to count that on my fingers just now.  Someone asked me a couple weeks ago when he turned two.  When I told them September they said, so he's a young two.  It caught me by surprise.  I seriously forget, on a daily basis, that this child is two.  And a "young two."  He's not two and a half, or almost three.  He is closer to two than three still.  It's probably unfair to him but I find myself expecting much the same of him that I expect of Vanessa.  
Benson has a great memory.  He has a gift for remembering people's names.  He is slightly shy, but when he warms up to someone, he knows them.  He knows their name, he'll remember things they say and do and what they like to play with.  He will tell me things someone did weeks later while he was playing with them. 
Benson is an extremely picky eater.  But he has a sweet tooth like his mommy.  He loves candy.  I can bribe him to do almost anything if I give him candy.  I say almost because I bribed him with a candy cane if he would drive his powerchair and he wouldn't touch it.  So we'll stick with the almost. 
Benson likes to do things Vanessa does.  His favorite toy from Christmas is actually the ponies she got.  He likes to be where she is and play with her.  He is also the est of all three at playing by himself.  He can entertain himself for quite awhile.  He is also learning to have amazing patience, as he often has to wait for me to finish doing something to get him a toy, move him to a new position, get a new activity, a drink, etc.  I was worried this aspect of his life would cause many tantrums, but I am amazed at how good he is about just waiting, as long as I tell him I heard and I will do it asap.
Benson is having a rough time sleeping right now and we haven't quite figured it out.  Some nights are better than others.  But he is waking 4-20 times per night.  Yes, we are quite exhausted at this house.  I think he will probably always wake at least 4 times per night to be turned.  But I have not quite figured out why he sometimes has nights when he is waking up 20 times.  Ya, that equals about every 30 minutes.  No one really sleeps when it's that bad.  Not even him.  It's something we are working on and hope to not have nights like that anymore by the time he really is three.
Benson loves to play with cars, trains, and ponies.  He got an iPad for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Purdy.  (Seriously, this kid is spoiled!)  We call it a family a iPad.  He didn't want to play tons at first but now he is all about it and getting really good.  His favorite activity right now is probably the puzzles.  He is quite good at them.  It works as a great distraction while he does time in his stander.
He still won't go to nursery without mom or dad there as well.  We're working on it.  But we still think this pretty handsome dude is pretty great.

Vanessa Brady

It's tough to get a cute picture of this girl right now.  Her favorite thing is to make silly faces at the camera and then ask to see them.  I love this girl to death.  She is growing and learning so fast, I can hardly believe it.  We are working on learning her letters.  She isn't such a fan of me teaching her.  She likes to insist that she already knows them and doesn't need to learn them.  But she is slowly realizing that she does have to learn them and it's okay for mom to teach her.  The other day she told the PT (here for Benson) that she wasn't born knowing her letters.  Haha, it was something he had talked about the day before.  How we have to learn our letters because we aren't born knowing everything. 
This little lady loves to be the second mommy.  I think these boys have a long life of this.  Vanessa has had her third class of gymnastics.  She had a short lived debut with ballet and decided it wasn't for her.  Who needs choreography?!  She is more of a free spirit daner, and wasn't enjoying being told how to dance.  The kicker was when she realized she would have to perform.  That definitely put ballet out of the game, despite her bff being in the class.  So far, she loves gymnastics.  The class is pretty simple, they rotate on beam, swings, sometimes bars, and different activities on the floor like forward rolls, backward rolls, and headstands.  I can't believe how fast she is improving already!  I think she could definitely be an amazing gymnast if that is something she chooses to pursue.
Vanessa is a techie junkie.  She loves the ipod, ipad, TV, and playing computer games.  She asks to do them all day.  However, on the occassional day when she gets too much of them, she gets pent up aggression and turns crazy.  So we try to keep them limited and get her some exercise.  Some warm weather will make that so much easier.  Darn this cold! 
Vanessa is very loving.  She loves to cuddle.  She gives hugs and kisses all the time.  She loves to learn about Jesus and watch the Bible Videos about Jesus' life.  She is Benson's helper all. the. time.  She loves to push him in his wheelchair.  The other day we got a loaner powerchair and Benson didn't want anything to do with controlling it.  But Vanessa was happy walking alongside and doing it for him.  They are finally playing together pretty well most of the time.  I love to see their relationship growing so they can be best friends.  I hope the three of them always look out for each other and love being together over anyone else.

Brigham Robert Brady

I can't believe he is already ten months old.  This kid is spunky, crazy, funny, happy, opinionated, teething, crawling, standing (but not on his own).

I feel like I haven't dedicated as many posts to Brigham's growth and development in his first year.  So many changes go on in such a short time.  I have hardly done them justice in documenting.  He started crawling at nine months.  He did a scoot for about a week and then was on hands and knees.  He just started teething this past month and that has been rough.  He now has the two bottom teeth in but is getting two more on top.  Though not the two front ones.  Haha, hopefully they are soon behind.  Brigham is a mama's boy.  He wants to be held, a lot.  He wants me to put him to sleep and comfort him when he wakes up.  He kind of goes crazy when things aren't like he expects them to be.  Don't get me wrong though, he loves his daddy.  He gets super excited when Jon gets home.  He kicks his legs, scrunches his nose and growls; that's when you know he's pumped.  He wants to play with Vanessa and Benson like his one of the crew.  The call him "the destroyer."  Vanessa will ask me all the time, will you just hold the destroyer? 
Every once in a while, this kid will bust up laughing, for what seems like no reason.  His laugh is contagious and soon we are all laughing about nothing other than laughing.  He loves to play peek a boo.  Anytime there is a blanket in reach, he throws it on his head and waits for us to look for him. 
He is still pretty rough with Benson, but Benson is a good sport.  We assure him Brigham is still learning to be soft and doesn't mean to hurt him.  They do love each other and I love watching them when they laugh and play together.

Jumpin Joeys

I went with a couple friends to Jumpin Joeys, a local jump place.  It ended up working out perfectly since Brig fell asleep on the way, I was able to climb up some slides with Benson while he slept.  When he woke up, Benson was happy chillin in his chair and watching everyone.  As well as eating snacks off the super clean benches.  I'm sure it will somehow build his immunities and make him stronger, right?!

Momarazzi

 

I realized the other day that I have been seriously slacking on family snapshots. So I stalked the kids a bit.  I also have a New Years Resolution to take more and better pics of them.  I have a bunch of other New Years Resolutions, but that may or may not be a featured post.  I'm still debating :)

Closets!

Just about the only thing I am not a fan of about this house is the storage.  So my plan is to slowly fix that. The mud room is now mostly completed, I finally sewed the cushion.  And we added shelves into the playroom, boys room, and Vanessa's room.  We haven't painted the toyroom closet or the boys room closet.  But the boys room is currently being painted so it'll get a coat during that process.  We painted Vanessa's closet pink since she really wants a pink and purple room.  The closet is about as much as I am willing to paint pink.  Granted, the pink in there is VERY pink.  We could do a more subtle pink on the walls.  Maybe one day.  For now she is going to have to be happy with a pink closet and a purple bed.  Here are some pics.

*i feel like I should give credit where it's due.  Jon does most the work.  I try, but most the timeigetintrupted by crying, whining, and otherwise demanding children.  I am the mastermind behind many schemes, but Jon deserves credit for the majority of the manual labor :)

The Big Three-O

I kind of feel like I blew this birthday for Jon.  I was a bit delirious in the wee hours.  Getting up 10 ten times with the kids and then waking at 6am with Brig will do that to me.  I was laying down with Brig around 7, thinking he was ready to go back to sleep when Benson woke up.  I asked Jon to get Benson, but next thing I know, Brig and Benson and Jon are gone.  I slept til 9.  Happy Birthday Jon!  Geez.  What a crappy wife.  But I won't lie, I thoroughly enjoyed my sleep :)

Our church schedule just switched to 11-2, which happens to work out perfectly...for Jon's birthday.  Since Jon was born at 1:37pm, I told him we should open gifts at 2:37 (adjusting for the time change since he was born in Utah).  The kids and I got Jon a safe, a wallboard saw, and an electricity kit.  His family got him a new party game and The Batman DVD series.  My parents sent cash.

For dinner I made his request: Mongolian beef.  I thought I had all the ingredients but turns out I was lacking on the green onions.  Sheesh.  Seriously?  He was nice and said he still liked it, but the green onions are a favorite part.  It also wasn't quite as spicy as he likes.  I made up for it by making pork the next night and making it way spicer than usual :)

 

That's right folks. Don't be fooled by the candle.  He is 30.  No longer a kid.  And it only goes down hill from here. 

 Jon isn't a huge fan of cake so birthday "cake" for him usually consists of brownies or cookies or any yummy combination I feel up to trying off pinterest :)

 They were thoroughly enjoyed by all.  As were some tickles :)

 And then Benson got kind of sleepy so it was time for bath and bed.  Don't you wish you could fold in half and lay on the floor, between your legs?

We are sure glad Jon was born 30 years ago.  And I am glad that he wasn't born on Christmas Eve or New Years Eve like he tried to do.  Only because I would probably drop the ball even worse if either of those were his birthday.  I'm just not as organized as I like to pretend.

My Life with The Hubs

There are a million love stories, but I like ours the best.

Jon and I met in a fairy tale like story.  We met on June 19, as he was boarding a plane to propose to his girlfriend.  I took his ticket.  He never proposed but came home and asked me on a date.  June 26 was our first date.  And on August 1 he put a ring on my finger.  Our engagement was a bit longer, so we could wait for a school break.  December 29th we sealed the deal and became Husband and Wife.  It was an easy decision just eight months later, September 2008 we were pregnant with our first baby girl.  Vanessa Brady was born on May 20, 2009.  Imagine our surprise when we found out we were pregnant again just seven months later!  We moved to Florida in May 2010, It was just four short months later, on September 15, 2010 that Benson Matthew Brady was born.  Loving having the kids close in age, we decided to have another and were pregnant just nine months later.  We moved around a bunch the next year, following Jon from state to state as he did clinicals.  Benson was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2 in February 2012.  Brigham Robert Brady was born March 20, 2012.   We finished all our galavanting around and  finally settled into Springfield, MO.   Jon officially became my sugar daddy and we bought our first house! 

I can hardly believe how much has happened in just five years.  I can hardly wait to see what the next fifty will bring.

Jon is such a amazing person. Lets be honest, you pretty much have to be to survive living with me :). Jon has spent the last 4+ years studying like a wild man.  He has put in long hours, for us.  Because really if he didn't have the responsibility of family, he would probably make his living fishing in Alaska.  I'm glad he likes us enough to stick around :) the last few months have been a breath of fresh air, being done with school. But they have been intense.  Work had a pretty steep learning curve getting used to the way they run their OR.  He has been exhausted and still has to come home to  all the responsibility that awaits him here. I feel so blessed to have him and all that he does for our family.  He works so hard for us, but he doesn't see working as what defines him.  He would rather hangout with us any day.  He takes extra shifts when he can, but he isn't a workaholic.  I love that he values his time with us more than money. Especially while the kids are little. They love playing with us now, but it won't last too long.  
I love Jon's spontaneity.  It is a good balance for my lack of it and reminds me to lighten up. I love his humor, and all the movie quotes that I never guess.  And how about all these carpenter skills I never even knew he had!? He is a many many talents and I'm still learning about all of them.
Jon has amazing understanding and insight into the gospel.  He has a very strong testimony and continues to teach me new things about the gospel all the time.  Jon is also one of the least critical people I know.  He rarely criticizes me or friends or family.  He is an amazing example to me and makes me strive to develop this quality better. 
I'm also a  big fan of his butt :) 
I'm sure glad this guy has managed to put up with me for the last five years and even plans to stick around for eternity!