Brady, you turned 15 months old at the end of January! My, how time flies! You are really blossoming into a little boy lately – it’s so much fun for us.

On January 1st, Brian (dad) headed back to Midland for his second 2 week stint working on an oil rig. You and I headed to Katy a couple days later to photograph and celebrate a friend’s baby shower. I’m so glad we were staying at Rara and Dougie’s that weekend, because Dougie was not doing very well. His health was declining rapidly. You and I stood in his bedroom Saturday night as he slept in his recliner and basically said our “goodbyes” as I held you tightly in my arms. You watched intently as if you knew what was going on. He woke up for a few moments and tried to walk around with help from Rara and Mina (his oldest daughter) and Collette (his granddaughter). You leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek and he enjoyed it.  A little bit later we went back in his room and tried to talk to him, but mostly we just watched him. I told you to wave to Dougie and you did. He amazingly raised his arm and waved back to you – we hadn’t seen him express that much energy in a while – it was very sweet.   The next morning (Sunday, Jan. 4th), Dougie passed away.  You and I stayed in Katy for a week to help Rara with arrangements. She was so happy to have you and George around to keep spirits high. You bring her so much joy!  It was very difficult not having Brian with us when we needed him most, but he couldn’t leave work in Midland. His grandma also passed away the same weekend as Dougie and sadly he couldn’t make either funeral. We persevered with the help and support from our family and friends. We are truly blessed and surrounded by SO much love.

We left George in Katy with Rara to keep her company and you and I returned home a few days before Brian returned home from his hitch. It was so good to have him home – especially after a very difficult week (physically, mentally, and spiritually). Not two days after he was home we got a call that he had been laid off. I like to think I’m a strong person, but it was difficult news for me to bear. Just coming off from an incredibly exhausting week after losing a parent we had to face a second lay off in less than a year. Your dad was so strong for the both of us. The Lord surely provides for us in so many ways.  It only further enforces that we are to trust in the Lord and find joy in Him no matter our circumstances. We have such a tendency to be short-sighted in life, which can hurt us. He is with us always… we are His children. He’s got this.

You signed “more” for the first time (after teaching you for almost 2 months) when we were in Katy (Jan. 6). You also blew me kisses in return to my blown kisses to you (Jan 8). I was sweeping Rara’s porch and popped up in the window next to your high chair and blew you kisses when you surprisingly blew me kisses back!!  You must have seen Rara walking around with the cordless phone between her head and shoulder because you started imitating it with one of your toys- haha!

You constantly hold your arms up in the air (like the sign for touch down) and tilt your head back and make a long drawn out horsed-voice sounded “daaaaahhhhh….Daaaaahhhh” and walk around in a circle – especially when outside. It’s cute and weird.   You’ve had a horrible cough (mostly at night). You wipe (blow) your own nose (or so you think you are) and suck your own nose with the blue bulb. Sometimes you try to suck my nose with the bulb, too.  You are learning so much lately! You try to put on your own socks and shoes, as well as, other’s shoes and socks. hah. Sometimes you bring dad his house shoes or you try to put them on your own feet.

You must be teething, because you’ve been attack-biting odd things like furniture or the ground.  During bath time, which you’ve mostly enjoyed lately, you rinse yourself with the cup. You also try to drink water from the bath cup. Gross.

The day before we left Katy to head home, you had a decreased appetite (very rare for you) and became pretty constipated (distended belly). When we got home to Dallas you barfed during dinner, which you’ve never done. You spit up as a baby – ok, A LOT, as a baby (for nearly 10 months), but this was definitely puke. Poor baby. It scared you and you cried afterwards.  You must have had something wrong with your tummy, but after that you were ok. Your appetite returned the next day, but poop did not. After not pooping for nearly 4-5 days we went to see Dr. Karen, which resulted in me giving you baby suppositories. You handled it ok. We did it two days in a row, which helped move things along.

You said “ball” three times on Jan. 13th without any provoking! It was more like “Bah!” but close enough  – you were throwing the ball while you said it.  You started signing “please”, as well! It began with you rubbing your belly with both hands, and now you mostly do it the correct way with one hand swipe across your upper chest. You say “all done” (ah, duh) while signing “all done/finished” with both hands whenever you finish a meal. Sometimes you even hand me your plate.  I got you some new Sesame Street plates, which you really love. You get so excited when you see their faces under your food. You point (through your food) and high-pitched mumble something.  Apparently you LOVE yogurt. You point and get so excited (kicking legs, raised arms, giggling, yelling words we don’t know but think mean yogurt) when you see me remove the small yogurt cup from the fridge. When we ask you if you want yogurt your response is comparable to a child’s reaction to being told they are going to Disney World!

You are beginning to throw some full out toddler tantrums when you don’t get your way.  If we don’t get a tantrum we get the super frustrated facial expressions. You’ll throw yourself onto the ground (while you’re still dangling from my hand, because I can’t let you go all the way since we have wood floors) and throw your head back while whaling. Sometimes I just have to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. You’re quite emotional and it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out in the next few years.

Dad set up a tent in the living room for a couple days and you loved it. You’d get inside the tent with us and get so close and chunk the ball at our faces (of course we couldn’t help but laugh, which only encouraged this continued action). haha… You LOVE to play outside. You love to help dad with anything outside. Sometimes you sneak into his shed when he’s working in the yard (of course I’m right behind you, though). You and George both like playing with the old coffee cans used for compost that we leave on the table by the backdoor. Dad likes to teach you about new things like power tools. Each time he gets one out he bring you over to it and turns it on and lets you watch while he tells you about it. Sometimes I’ll bring your toys outside and of course  you’re more interested in the leaves and sticks to play with. Such a boy!

You still take two naps a day (10-noon and 2:30-4 pm). You are also sleeping good a night (10-12 hours) but sometimes wake up coughing and frustrated b/c of the coughing. Thankfully it’s slowing dissipating. You still nurse briefly in the morning and at night. Brian jokes that I’ll be nursing you all the way in to Kindergarden.

Your 15th month check up with Dr. Karen went well, except the poop issue. Your little belly is so full of poop we had to take you to get an ultrasound to make sure that it was in fact poop. The ultra sound came back clear (of any masses that weren’t supposed to be on any major organs), thank God. We were instructed to “hit you hard with the Miralax and pear juice” – which we’ve been doing and it’s helped. Your belly goes down a bit after a good bowel movement, but I think until you get much taller it’ll probably always stick out a lot. Dad calls your big poops “cutters”, because sometimes they’re so large that he’ll use a plastic knife to cut it up in the toilet so it’ll actually flush. No joke. You have a good dad, Brady. (We put the poop in the toilet A) because we use cloth diapers and B) because we don’t want it to stink up your room.)

Weight: 21-22 lbs (gained a couple lbs since 12 months)

Height: 31 inches (you grew almost 3 inches since 12 months!)

Head: 18.5 inches (grew a 1/4 of an inch)

 

Here’s a video of Brian and Brady playing football outside one semi-warm day in January.  🙂

 

Here’s a video of Brady and Plax playing at the Arboretum. The parenting award will not be given to me due to the amount of laughter I produced while making this video:

 

 

BRADY ON INSTAGRAM