Our crazy day!

So....today was very interesting! I really don't even know how to start this post. I guess I'll just start by saying I'm very impressed with Braydon's elementary school, T. Clay Wood. Today really proved how well they work in keeping the children safe. Okay now the back story.

Today when Braydon's bus driver picked him up she told me the buses had to go to the middle school because his school was on lockdown. I decided to send him to school rather then take him off the bus, because I didn't think they would be on the bus very long. Well I was wrong! The buses sat at the middle school for an hour!! They then moved them to a nearby high school so they could off load the students. All students were grouped by their classes. Finally after another hour I decided to go and pick up Braydon.

The reason all of this was happening was very sad. Last night a man murdered his girlfriend in our neighborhood. He then fled the scene. This morning his car was found abandoned at the elementary school. A man hunt was happening for him and they didn't want the students at the school. Eventually his body was found at the baseball fields on the school property.

Today was pretty much a wash for the students. Braydon really doesn't know why his day happened this way. We just explained to him that a man hurt a women and then ran away and that the cops wanted him. He said he hopes he doesn't hurt anyone else.

Whats even sadder about this situation is that the woman who the man killed had two children. One was in 2nd grade and another in 5th grade. The children where students at T. Clay Wood (Braydon's school). I feel so bad for those children.

Braydon is in Kindergarten

This post is a week late, so sorry. Braydon started Kindergarten last Tuesday. He was so excited to go he couldn't wait to ride the bus. Chris took the day off so he could be there to see him to school and get him from school. Braydon had no problems getting on the bus, he didn't even kiss me goodbye! We decided to follow the bus to school and meet him there (lot's of other parents did this too). We watched as he got off the bus, lined up, and went to the class room. It wasn't until we walked away that I became teary eyed! Good thing I have Logan at home to cuddle with! When he got home he said he loved it!

The second day of school didn't go as well as the first. He woke up and said he didn't want to go. Finally I got him to get ready and walk to the bus stop. That's when the trouble started, he started clinging to me and crying yelling he didn't want to go. I had to put him on the bus with him crying and walk away. This just broke my heart! I worried about him all day. When he got home he said he had a good day. I believed him, until his Teacher called.

Apparently Braydon made several bad choices on his second day of school. He didn't wait his turn and then threw pencils, he threw his lunch box and was caught doing so by the principal. He then threw his lunch box again and hit two students. He also scratched someone, and called a girl fat. But the real kicker is that he pulled the fire alarm!

I was at a lose for words, he managed to make all this trouble in one day!!! We had a long talk with him and he lost a lot of privileges that day. The rest of the week he was better, well as far as I know because I didn't get any phone calls or notes!

Logan 3 month photo

Well I finally got around to taking Logan's 3 month photos. I might be a little bit bias but I think he is so cute! We call him our Gerber baby!

I'm still trying to get a photo of Logan and Braydon, but that is proving to be difficult! Braydon is at the age where he thinks it's funny to make faces when I try to get a picture.

Logan in his bouncy!

Logan hasn't liked his bouncy seat ever since we tried to put him in it. Normally all he ever wants is to be held. Here lately though he has started to enjoy being in his seat. This has been helpful so much! Now I can shower and dry my hair!!

Logan 2 months

Wow Logan is 2 months already! Time really does fly by. Yesterday he turned 2 months and today he had his Doctor appointment. He weighs 12 lbs. and is 23 1/2" tall. That puts him in the 50% for weight and 73% for height. He had to get 3 shots and one oral vaccine. Also the Doctor put him on Zantac because he has been doing a lot of spitting up and it seems to really be bothering him. Some of the things he is doing now:

• smiling a lot
• laughing
• doesn't like when his big brother throws a tantrum
• lifting head a little 
• sleeping about 6 to 7 hours at night

He doesn't seem to really like getting shots, but then can you blame him! He has spent most of the day since his appointment crying a little whine. Hope tomorrow is a better day!

On Friday Logan has to go to the Pediatric Surgeon for a growth on his belly button. This is nothing to really worry about. According to his Doctor his belly button didn't heal properly and the little bubble that is on the outside will just be burned off. I'm told it won't hurt him so I'm not too worried.

Welcome Logan!

Logan Gregory Hughes was born on May 13, 2014 at 10:29am. He weighed 9lbs. even and was 21" long.

At first he was an extremely relaxed and calm little boy. He waited until late the first night to show his true colors and really knows how to use those lungs!

Braydon is adjusting to being a big brother and seems to really love Logan. Even though he is scared to hold him because he thinks he will break him, he always wants to kiss and hug him!

We are adjusting to being a family of four! The first week has been pretty easy, but with Chris going back to work next week I'm a little scared to be alone with two boys all day! Plus next week Braydon finishes school! Luckily we have family coming in over the course of the next few weeks so that will help!

Braydon 5th Birthday and Doctor Appointment

Yesterday my little boy turned 5 years old! I really don't know where the time has gone, he can't really be this old, can he? It seems like just yesterday he was turning 3. We had his birthday party on Saturday and he had a blast. He kept changing his mind about the theme, but settled on a Star Wars theme.

He had his friends come and they played on his bouncy house and fought with the homemade light sabers I made. We gave them pizza and cake and they all had a blast, and the weather was wonderful!

On his actual birthday he had to go to school, but they celebrated there too. He brought cupcakes and apple juice. The teacher gave him a birthday crown and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. We also let him pick where he wanted to go to dinner. He choose BJ's Brewhouse and loved that he got a birthday dessert!

Today he had his 5 year old physical and also a physical for school. He weighs 49lbs. and is 44 3/4 tall (3' 8" 3/4). They did a vision and hearing check. This child has bat like hearing so don't ever let him fool you! He ended up getting two shots and was really brave about it. Afterwards I took him to McDonald's as a reward for being so good. We do have to go back to complete some more stuff for school and get a another shot, but no hurry.

Kindergarten

Today was a very emotional day for me. I registered Braydon for kindergarten! It's hard to believe that in September of this year I'll be sending my little boy off to school. He was so excited he wanted to start school there today!

Playroom

When we moved into our house I was so excited because we had a den that could be turned into a playroom for Braydon. This excitement quickly went away when I learned how a child views "clean" and how an adult views "clean". I organized the room and even gave him bins with pictures to put things away himself. He thought the bins were supposed to be used to dumb stuff out and carry around whatever he wanted in them. The lucky little boy also has a nice train table in his room, but he is more interested in taking the tracks off and creating his own layout throughout the house. I have cleaned up many of the messes in the room and even thrown toys away because he doesn't clean up. Today however, I don't know if its because of the pregnancy hormones or what, but I decided that the room needs to go away!

What drew me to this conclusion? Well he took a step stool out to reach a tall shelf and take something down. All I could see was the bookcase falling over and him getting hurt. Plus he hasn't cleaned the room in a week, and his version of cleaning is throwing everything in the toybox. He then cries when he can't find what he wants, because it's not in the labeled bins! He also has two bags of toys which he "lost" because he didn't clean up. These bags have been out of the room for almost a month and he doesn't seem to care. This makes me think he has way too many toys!

Our home owners association is hosting a garage sale in a few weeks. This seems like the perfect time to sell these toys that he doesn't seem to even notice are gone. Plus with his birthday in a few weeks, and the baby due to arrive soon I think a good purge is necessary. I'm also vowing not to buy him a single toy for his birthday!

Parent/Teacher Conference

On Monday, we had Braydon's first preschool Parent/Teacher conference. I went into the meeting a little nervous because Braydon has some behavior issues in class that I already knew about.  I came out of the meeting very pleased with my little guy! He has developed quite a bit since he started preschool this past fall.

Some things that he couldn't do when he started school, but is able to now:
* hop on one foot
* catch large ball using only his hands
* cut a straight line
* copy simple directional strokes (triangle, square, circle)
* efficient pencil grasp
* print first name

Also when he started he could only identify 2/6 shapes, now he knows all of them. In the fall he only knew 3 of his uppercase letters, now he knows 10. He knew 2 lowercase in the fall and know 6. Phonics show the most improvement with 1 in the fall and 14 now!

The only behavior issues he still has is that he takes toys or books from other kids. We are working on the sharing issue with him, so hopefully he will fully understand sharing by the time kindergarten starts.

Accident Prone

Braydon has visited the ER 8 times in his lifetime. Here is a list if you want to keep track.

1. Ear infection - 6 months old
2. Head wound - needed staples
3. Eye wound - cut his eye and the lid got infected and swollen
4. Ear infection - leakage because of tubes in ear
5. Cut on eye brow - needed stitches
6. Head wound #2 - needed stitches
7. Had bumps under arms - contact dermatitis
8. Cut near eye brow #2 - no stitches :) 

So when something happens to him I don't jump to take him to the hospital. I try to assess the situation to see if he really needs to go. He was jumping around yesterday and tripped over the dogs bed. He ended up hitting the corner of his little card table. Blood started rushing and so I called his Dr. and they told me to come in. Luckily he didn't need any stitches or anything. The cut isn't too deep and should heal on its own. This kid just needs to be put in bubble wrap so he doesn't get injured anymore!

Reality

Everyone always tells us how sweet Braydon is and that we are so lucky. But what they don't see is the struggle we fight with each and every day. Since Braydon started preschool he has had a few incidents with not being good in class. After much discussion with the teacher we decided to begin using behavior charts to show how he does every day. Since he started these charts around Thanksgiving he has only had a few with all smiley faces. Most of the problems stem from him not using his inside voice, or keeping his hands to himself. Today however we received the worst chart so far and it makes me not want to send him back to school. These charts reflect how we parent and just looking at it makes me not want to show my face at the school.

Today was a tough day to begin. Braydon was being a bully to me and knocked me over in front of the other parents, and wouldn't listen to me. So I was scared to see how his chart would look when I picked him up.

Usually on the car ride home we discuss his behavior, but today all he kept telling me was that he wanted a snack. I'm at my wits end with his behavior and worried it may get worse when the baby comes! Really wish they had a manual for how to deal with 4 1/2 year olds, because I'm at a loss!

Mother/Son Date Knight

This past Monday the Chic-Fil-A by my house was having their Mother/Son Date Knight. I figured this would be a good event to take Braydon to because Chris had just left on a work trip. We made our reservations and when we arrived were seated at a table near their play area. They even gave me a carnation, heart shaped cookie, and a mini stuffed Chic-Fil-A cow who was dressed as a Knight.

Braydon and Mini Moo

My heart shaped cookie

We ate our food and then Braydon got to play in the play area. Afterwards they had a free sundae bar for us. I applaud them for this idea and think I will definitely take Braydon again.

We are having a .................

I'm currently 19 weeks along in my pregnancy and today we had our ultra-sound. We found out a few weeks ago what gender the baby is because of a new blood test they do. However, we wanted to wait until we had our ultra-sound to announce it to everyone.

Girl or Boy?

Braydon's hands are painted

Placing on hands with paint on Mommy's belly

It's a boy!

In case you couldn't figure it out from the photos we are having a BOY!!!!

Here is his first picture!

Baby boy profile!

Santa

We have been slacking this winter and kept putting off seeing Santa. So today we decided to head to the mall and pay the old guy a visit. Since it is December 22nd it was packed!! We got in line at 10:30am and were told that we may not make it to the front of the line by 12:30pm, which is when Santa goes to lunch. So we waited since we really don't have another day to go. After waiting in line 1 1/2 hours we are told the line has been stopped, so Santa can have lunch. We now have to wait 1 hour and 15 min until the line will move again. To make it worse we were five people away from Santa!

So we wait and take turns standing in line. Braydon and I head to Panda Express and grab some food. Then Chris goes for a walk when we return. Braydon passes the time by playing games on my phone. Finally the line starts to move again and we get to see Santa!

Braydon was so happy and told Santa he was good, even though he told us he would tell Santa he wasn't good! He also asked for a Monsters University toy (Santa got him the move instead of a toy!) Then when I went up to pay for the photo and I was told someone bought it early! After all that it made me feel better and know there are good people out there!

Pulling my hair out!

Things here have been really crazy lately. Braydon is 4 1/2 and testing us all the time. Lately it has been because we ask him to clean up his toys and he refuses. Then I box them up or put them in garbage bags and he tells me I missed a few. It seems he doesn't care if he has toys or not! So that will make it very easy for Santa Claus this year, no toys for this child. When I told him Santa wouldn't be bringing him toys this year, he didn't seem to care.

I have tried all the discipline books and he just doesn't respond to anything. You can only put someone in time out so many times! He loses out on going to things with friends because he doesn't listen, but yet it doesn't seem to bother him. Both the hubby and I are at our wits end with this child. He is so stubborn we don't know what else to do.

Then when you get really mad at him he does something really cute and you want to just eat him up! I have friends with older kids who tell me it gets better when they reach five years old! I honestly don't know if I can make it till then!

First Day of Pre K

Braydon started Pre K today! It's hard to believe he is old enough for school, didn't I just have him yesterday? LOL! He goes to school in the afternoon session and couldn't wait to get there. When it was finally time to go he was out the door in a flash!

I was wondering if he would cry when I dropped him off, but nope not a tear! :( I actually got teary eyed dropping him off!

Chris came with me to pick Braydon up as a surprise. We got there a little early and they where outside playing. Each kid had art work in their cubby, we picked it up and him. He sat quietly and waited for the teacher to call his name to go home. He was so happy to see Mommy and Daddy and wouldn't stop talking about his school day. Can't wait to see how he does on Monday!

Preschool Orientation

Today Braydon had his orientation for preschool. He was a little upset because we only stayed for an hour! There are going to be 19 maybe 20 kids in his class with two teachers. I picked the Freedom Center Preschool because I liked how intimate the class was. We do swim lessons in the same building and the people are so nice it made me like the school too!

The orientation didn't have all of his classmates just half. There is already one boy who I can see as being an issue. This kid wouldn't listen to the teachers and his parents just ignored him and his bad behavior. He thought it was alright to run out the door, to throw pencils at people, and to dump all the legos out when the Teacher said not to. The kicker is that this all happened in a 30 time span!!

He will start this coming Friday. Crazy that he will be starting school on Friday the 13th! Is that a bad omen? Can't wait to see how that goes!

Water sliding fun!

Sunday is usually our rest day. We hang around the house and get laundry done and prepare for our week. But since Monday was a holiday we had other things to do. Some of our neighbors where hosting a little block party with the theme of bacon. Chris made his bacon wrapped jalapenos and everyone loved them! I didn't eat them because I would have been in way too much pain from them. They had an awesome inflatable water slide for the kids. Braydon couldn't wait all day just to get over there and go on the water slide.

I have to admit I was quite jealous of the amount of fun the kids seemed to be having on it. I didn't get a chance to stay and watch them play too long because I had a wedding to shoot.

My girlfriend does mostly wedding photography and she needed a second shooter for a wedding she was doing. I had never done photography for a wedding so I said I would join her. I have to admit that I was very nervous and prayed that I would do good.

The wedding was in Alexandria at the Carlyle Club and was absolutely beautiful. I enjoyed the experience of shooting the wedding, but I have to admit it may not be my cup of tea. I like having my weekends with my family. If I decide to do a photo shoot it only is a few hours not my whole day. That being said if I am offered the chance to shoot a wedding I will, but I'm not going to make it my life's work.

Evening at the ballpark

Last night we decided to go to the Washington Nationals baseball game. It had been since May that we had been to a game so we were due! The seats we got were the best we had ever had!! We sat in section 132 row M. To give you a better idea of this seat in relation to the field. We where 13 rows back from the first baseman. We also made sure that these seats where on the side that the President race would be on, because that is one of Braydon's most favorite things to see at the game.

 

There is a restaurant that has quite the cult following. It's called Shake Shack and is an East Coast hamburger joint. I've been hearing all about this place for quite some time. They actually have a location at the Nationals Park. I decided to finally try it! While I wasn't overall thrilled (it reminds me of Steak and Shake) I did enjoy it. 

We managed to see two home runs during the game and Braydon even got a foul ball. Well Chris actually caught it and gave it to Braydon. The foul came off of Ian Desmond who happens to be one of Braydon's favorite players. The other is Bryce Harper, that poor boy had a bad game when it came to at bats.

One cool thing they do at Nationals Park is offer after game concerts. Unfortunately the day before our game was Sammy Hagar, and the game following was Gavin DeGraw. However, we got to see some Fireworks and that just made my little man's day, well not as much as the foul ball did!

 

We are starting off our labor day weekend right. First the ball game on Friday, Soccer and the pool on Saturday, and the movie Planes on either Sunday or Monday.