Glasses

So, today Braddock and I went to the eye doctor. Our appointment was at 8am. I thought this was perfect because he usually naps at 9...I figured we'd see the doctor at 8 and make it home in time for a good long nap.
What was I thinking?!
We finally got taken back at about 9:30am (I seriously think the people in the waiting room were cheering because we had a super fussy kiddo on our hands), they sprayed a new mist in his face to dilate his eyes, and then sent us back out into the waiting room. Needless to say, he was not very thrilled! We waited another 20 minutes for his eyes to dilate, and he finally fell asleep...just in time to be called back to see the doctor. The poor doctor seemed to really know what he was doing, but he kept calling Braddock "William" even after I tried to correct him, and he was doing a combo of baby talk and whistling at him to get his attention. The whistling scared him even more, so here's this strange man talking strangely to him (we don't so much do the baby talk thing to help him with his growth/development) with a ginormous headlamp on his head trying to shine light into his little eyes....have mercy did the little man let the entire office know he was NOT a happy camper!! Poor little guy had these big ole' crocodile tears just pouring down.
Finally, what Braddock saw as a torture session was finished and I got him calmed down. The doctor said that Braddock is moderately farsighted, so when he tries to see things close up, he has been accommodating for his lack of clarity by crossing his eyes. If we notice it getting worse, we go back for glasses. We do our followup in February and if there is no improvement, to baby glasses we go!
Is it bad that I think he would look super cute with little glasses? Poor little man...

Visit with Blake and Haylee

For Braddock's first Halloween he had some very special visitors!! Haylee and Blake came down to visit us all the way from Utah! Blake is 13 months old and the last time we had seen him was when he was Braddock's age. It was so great just to hang out with them and to catch up. They are the kind of friends that you can pick up right where you left off without missing a beat...they became like family to us over the past few years and we miss them terribly!
Braddock and Blake were both monkeys for Halloween! We only made it about half a block, and then came back to knock on our own front door to "trick-or-treat" (we figured it would be really obvious who would be eating the candy if we took them to the neighbors and asked for chocolate!), but we all had a great time! I think Braddock really enjoyed watching and listening to Blake. He has an AMAZING vocabulary for such a little guy, and narrated the day for us as he saw things he recognized! TOO cute! We also went to the pumpkin patch down at the church...it was a little bit picked over, but the kiddos still seemed to have fun. Blake was walking about saying, "pun-kin! pun-kin!" and seemed excited.
I think one of the most precious things I have seen in a long time was when we Skyped with Nate (Blake's daddy). Blake only got about half of his costume on and then went running for the laptop as fast as his little legs would carry him saying, "DAD! HI!!! DAD! DAD!!"
Braddock was so inspired by Blake's mobility that he took it upon himself to try to crawl! I just keep thinking...isn't this a little bit too early for this? Where is my little baby going?!

6 Months Old!

Yesterday was Braddock's half birthday!! It is amazing to me just how quickly time is flying by. I will always cherish this amazing privilege of being able to spend all of this time with him. Over the past six months he has really started to come into his own. He has a smile that overtakes his entire body, and a giggle that will just make you melt. Just this past week he started trying to crawl!! Where did my little baby go?
I still remember the day he was born just like it was yesterday. His birth did not go anything like we had planned. I always had a feeling that he would be born in the middle of the night, but none of us expected for him to come as quickly as he did. We arrived at the hospital around 12:30am on May 3rd, 2009, and by the time Michael had come up with the luggage Braddock was well on his way and the room was swarming with nurses. Luckily, the nurses who delivered him (the doctor did not even make it in time it happened so fast) were amazing and were able to help him breathe again (the shot they had given me to slow things down ended up going straight to him, and between that, having the chord around his neck, and being about 6 weeks early, he was born in a state of respiratory distress). Two amazing nurses from the NICU at a neighboring hospital came and got him, and Michael and I were transported several hours later.
Later that afternoon we were able to go in and hold him. He was so tiny, so fragile, and had wires and tubes everywhere, but he was perfect. A handmade creation of God, a soul that would bring an unfathomable joy and meaning to our lives. What did we do without him?

Here we go again!

After just about a year, we are back (and will hopefully stick with it better this time!). With the strong possibility of an 8 month deployment ahead of us, keeping up with one another is going to be more important than ever.
More to come!