Some Like it Hot...

............Some Don't..................

Poor little Braxton, his tiny baby body isn't meant to handle such heat. Last week when it was in the mid-high 90's he was miserable. He passed out like this on the floor in front of the fan.

If I couldn't hear him breathing, I would have thought he was dead.

He seemed to be pretty content to sleep like this for his short 20 minute nap, even though I thought it looked uncomfortable.

And speaking of miserable heat and babies.... Braxton devloped a little case of 'prickly heat' or 'heat rash'. It was awful.... little red bumps all up his back, under his chin, on his chest, in the creases of his elbows and on his neck. Poor little guy. He spent a good 24 hours naked--or close to-- took a nice cool baking soda bath, and spent time indoors with a cool fan. Luckily we managed to let it run its course and it was gone in 48 hours.

This little guy does NOT like the heat. Part of me doesn't blame him one bit.

Our little B is Growing Up

Something else that Braxton is doing that's new is that he's starting to crawl... he's still in the pre-stages of crawling though. He has figured out how to scoot in a circle while on his tummy, how to move his legs and bum up and down, and how to stretch with his arms.... now it's only a matter of time before he figures out how to put it all together.

Even though this picture cut off part of his head I couldn't resist posting it because of his huge smile.

Braxton is one happy baby.

Our Boys.

I love this picture of all my boys.

I especially love that they are ALL smiling.

Count them: one...two...three smiles!!

One of the rare occassions that I get to have a picture with my both my boys in it.

Aren't they cute?

It amazes me how big Braxton is getting. Shees....pretty soon he'll be as big as his older brother!

A Daily Occurance in Our Home....

Quincy's favorite toys are his beloved cars... EVERY day this kid brings his cars out to play. It doesn't matter that he has books, animals, balls, blocks, games, coloring books, sidewalk chalk, play dough and tons of OTHER toys... he always prefers the cars.

Braxton hasn't quite caught on to the car obsession, but I'm sure Quincy will point him in the right direction when the right time comes along.

Quincy intently focused on his truck....

Braxton wondering what the big fuss over the cars is all about...

I often wonder if my future will only be filled with cars........

What do We Do in the Summertime?

Since the weather has finally gotten warm... we've been taking full advantage of it. A couple of weeks ago we went to the Happy Valley park and played in the splash fountain. We thought it was the perfect activity for a hot sunny day.

Quincy agreed entirely.

He met a new little friend who was generous, or more likely that his mom was generous enough, to let Quincy play with his watering can. Quincy had lots of fun filling up the watering can in various parts of the water fountain.

Since it was pretty hot out, Braxton enjoyed the shade of his stroller.

Even though it was a hot day, the water was pretty ice cold; After a while I noticed Quincy was shivering. Despite the goosebumps on his arms he played to his little heart's content in that freezing cold water and couldn't have been happier. It took a lot of coaxing to persuade him out of the fountain to warm up.

Tyler did take Braxton out in the fountain to splash his feet around in the water. As you can tell in the picture above, he wasn't too impressed with it.

Because of all the fun we had at the Happy Valley Splash Park we plan on spending Quincy's next birthday there. He's already excited to go back!

The Fun Parts of Summer...

Our summer hasn't been entirely eventful.

True, we have taken a little 'vacation' to Fruitland and Tyler's had a little time off.... but mostly we've just enjoyed spending time together on the weekends. We've also had some strange summer weather, like rainstorms and 55*?!

Seriously, I can deal with rain and mild weather for 9 months, but please don't cut into my glorious 3 months of summer sunshine!

Luckily, it has warmed up and I am reminded of things I enjoy about summertime....

We love going to parks!

Braxton loves going out for a stroll in the park and Quincy loves having some freedom on the playground equipment.

We love fresh fruit!

A few clients at Tyler's bank in Damascus have brought in some fresh produce and so we've had the pleasure of fresh peaches and strawberries.... there is nothing better than fresh fruit in the summertime!

We love the outdoors!

I love that my flower pots are in full bloom. There's nothing like looking out our sliding glass window to see some fresh flowers growing.

We love the warm weather!

Quincy has discovered that he enjoys being able to take off his underwear and pants to 'live on the wild side' and pee outdoors. He discovered this new activity while at the Pickett's house, when Karen jokingly said "Go pee out in the yard Quincy." He took her advice, and Tyler's -- that he should ditch the bottom half of his clothes to avoid getting anything on him-- and went.
Needless to say, Quincy had a great time peeing in the yard and was highly disappointed that he can't pee off our patio-- we informed him that the neighbors below probably wouldn't like getting pee on them.

Isn't summertime wonderful?

Happy 4th of July... A Few Weeks Late...

(Sorry... this post is a little late....)

Our Fourth of July was great. Although it happened to be on a Sunday we managed to have a great time celebrating our Nation's Birthday. We headed up to Vancouver to visit my family and later enjoyed a yummy BBQ at the Pickett's house.

Karen Pickett does not dissappoint when it comes to get-togethers! We ate dutch oven potatoes, steak shish-ka-bobs, BBQ chicken, fresh raspberries, and more.... needless to say we were all stuffed afterwards!

This was our attempt at getting a little family photo together. Quincy wasn't really diggin' it-- thus the grouchy face. But don't we look cute in our patriotic colors?

After the Pickett's BBQ we headed back over to my parents house where Quincy was able to do some sparklers....Grammie specifically got them for Quincy, knowing that he doesn't like loud fireworks. At first he was a little nervous to hold it, but after doing a few he started to get the hang of it.

Our Fourth of July fun didn't end there.... after getting warmed up with some little sparklers at my parent's house, we walked down the street for the Eisenhower's Annual Fourth of July Firework show. I must admit, my parents and the Pickett's tried to describe how crazy this neighborhood show was, but I remained doubtful. Despite my lack of faith... the show was PRETTY amazing... at least 20 minutes worth of constant fireworks-- the big ones.... ones you probably would watch at a county show..... needless to say we all enjoyed it.

The weather was pretty chilly later that night when the Eisenhower's put on their firework show, which is why Quincy is bundled in my mom's jacket and beanie. He was SO tired, as the firework show didn't start until 11:00PM, but he held out until it was over and was promptly asleep when we made our drive home at 12:30AM.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful, and safe Fourth of July....

God Bless America!

What's new with Braxton....

... He is now eating Rice Cereal.

YUM!

Actually he didn't quite know what to think about it at first, but has since the first trial learned to enjoy it. He eats it only once a day, during the time when we're eating dinner, and I think he feels pretty important-- not to mention included in dinner-- in his latest accomplishment.

Quincy as a baby was always content to let us feed him, even as he got to be an older baby. Braxton, however, enjoys grabbing the spoon and trying to do it himself.

I will be forever amazed and reminded that all children are different!

Braxton has also tried sucking on a peach, which he thoroughly enjoyed, but it probably won't be until next month when we start him on fruit and vegetable purees.

In the meantime, Braxton loves him some rice cereal!

Just hanging out

It's crazy how much Braxton is changing these days.

It seems like he's learning something new everyday. I am amazed at how BIG he is. Braxton is practically as big as Quincy was when he was 1!! I love Braxton's sweet little spirit though.... he's just a happy little camper who LOVES his Mama, adores his Daddy, and of course, thinks his older brother is the funniest and coolest person in the world.

Kent and Teesy got this little camping chair for Quincy last year and it's funny that Braxton, at only 5 1/2 months old, seems about the right size for it.

I love my Happy little Camper!