Busy March and 19 months old

March has been a very busy month. Between my basketball league, Ryan's basketball league, Ryan taking classes, me teaching a class and everything else, we finally had some time to relax. A few weeks ago, Ryan's Uncle Merle passed away. Merle and his family live in Alaska, so we did not see them very often. They had a service for him in Alaska and also one in Iowa. So we were able to get the entire family together and spend some time together remembering Merle, but also just some family time. We even got an updated Murphy family picture and Braydon got to hang out with his 2nd cousins





We were also lucky to have Aunt Dani spend Spring Break with us! She spent the whole week babysitting Braydon and teaching him - that he really doesn't need his binkie! It was fun having Dani around and I think Braydon really like the attention. Ryan and Dani also look Braydon to the St. Patrick's day parade. Braydon also got to go last year. We have no pictures of the parade this year because someone just wanted to play in the parking lot! But he does look good in green!









Braydon has turned 19 months old. He has been healthy for a few weeks (no more runny nose, cough, etc - knock on wood) so his personality is really shining.

what he has been doing:
- Finally likes the bath again - yes that is right, he will take a bath by himself and likes it! Just don't get water in his eyes.
- loves the play areas at the mall - thinks riding the escalator is really fun
- Will usually hold your hand in public, as long as you are going where he wants to go
- loves being outside


- likes to relax on the chairs outside.


- loves to hug Wrigley (I think he even tries to say Wrigley)
- no more highchair - the highchair is officially boxed up
- After he has his pajamas on at night, he usually gets to watch a cartoon for a few minutes before going to bed - so last night, I was in his room and when I went to living room, he was on the couch, with the blanket on his lap and pointing at the seat next to him for me to sit down, so we could cuddle and watch a cartoon.


- Loves having his dad push him around the house on his 4 wheeler
- loves going to the park. Has decided he can go down all the slides by himself!

- loves taking pictures of himself, then looking at the camera. I think we have him trained to say cheese!




- he even got his 2nd haircut! This is a pre-haircut picture!




I will try to get some videos up soon and I still have to scan his 18 month pictures.

Wedding Fun

On March 5, Our good friend Tony got married to Crystal. Tony and I met in kindergarten and went to school together all the way through high school. Ryan was a groomsman, so that meant we got to be really involved in the wedding. Saturday was the wedding at 1pm. Using better judgment, I decided it would not be the best time for Braydon to try and sit still during his nap time. So Grandma Marcia took him during the wedding. After the wedding we headed to Panora for the reception and I was determined that Braydon had to go for some dancing! Once we got him to Panora - Grandma Pat and I got him all dressed up. He had a shirt and a baseball tie to wear. I thought there was no way he would let us put a tie on him, but he did and didn't bother it once. He even let Grandma tuck his shirt in.


I thought he looked a little too nerdy, so we went wth a more casual look.



We got to the reception and they had a little kid coloring table to occupy them. He thought this was pretty fun and he didn't even try to eat the crayon like he usually does!

After coloring, was dinner time, then it was Braydon's time to run around everywhere pulling his mom's hand. He was quite the social butterfly. Once the music started he headed to the dance floor. He did his famous, one legged stomp. He also thought he should push all the other kids. Who doesn't dance with there binkie and blanket.







Then it was time for mom to have some fun. So Grandma Marcia and Aunt Dani came and picked him up and took him home to stay the night. He looked so cute sitting in the car with his tie on
.
They said he talked all the way home. When they went to put his PJ's on, he refused to let them take his tie off. It took 2 of them to get his tie off and once it was off, he wanted it back on.

18 months old - weeks ago!

Wow Braydon is almost 19 months old and I haven't posted his 18 month do's and don'ts. So I will do my best to remember:
- loves to tackle Wrigley, Dad and Mom
- loves to play downstairs on his basketball hoop - he can dunk it with a little help from Dad
- loves to dance with the musical frog that sings the Cha-Cha
- highchair is still overrated and probably going away soon - he needs to sit at the table with the rest of us
.
- Words are: Mom, Dad, Go, please, more, milk,
- if he needs something, he grabs your hand and leads you where ever he wants you to go.
- likes to build with his blocks, loves to knock them down
- He knows who mom, dad, wrigley, grandma (times 2) , papa and Aunt Dani are. He will point to them. He will also point to people in pictures
- He knows where his feet, belly, head, mouth, nose, elbow and sometimes his ear are.
- After his bath (after Ryan gets in, did I mention he hates bath time) we go in his room, I put his towel down, he sits on it and waits for me to put lotion on him and put his PJ's on.
- He likes to grab the remote control and give it to you, so you can turn it on.
- Movies he loves - monsters inc, toy story, cars and despicable me
- tv shows - super why and the cat in the hat.
- he likes to climb everything - including the back of the couch (its the perfect place to read a book)

For his 18 month birthday - I decided pictures would be a fantastic idea, I don't think I have ever been more wrong. This was during his clingy phase, so I had to be cropped out of every picture. The 2 that we got! I guess we saved money. I will post these later.

The shot

This weekend we loaded up in the van again and headed to Kansas. It was Pat, Lumpy, Joey, Braydon and I (Ryan and Wrigley stayed home). We left Friday night after work and knew we weren't going to get there until late, but when Tyson said 1:00, we laughed, well we ended up there at 12:45am! Tyson has a way of predicting these times - pretty close. The drive was good, we just had one small issue outside of Kansas City when Braydon got sick. Luckily we found the cleanest gas station in Missouri and Lumpy was able to get everything cleaned up. Once we got to Kansas, with the help of a glade can, Bryadon decided it would be fun to stay up until 5am!

Saturday Braydon got up at 7:30am, so a sick kid with no sleep, meant for a long day! We first played outside, in the snow. Tyson and Charlie like the sled and Braydon even tried to pull them around himself.




We then played inside for a little while. Braydon wants to do everything that Charlie does, so they both decided to ride the little kid exercise bikes.


Then it was time for Tyson's basketball game. We loaded everyone up and headed to the gym. The first 2 quarters were nothing too exciting. Tyson took a shot from the corner and had it blocked. In the 3rd quarter, Tyson received a pass on the lower right corner. He took a few dribbles in and then shot it, we all held our breath and then swoosh! Nothin' but net! There were some big cheers from the sideline and of course a very excited Tyson running down the floor throwing his arms in the air because he was so excited. Luckily I caught it on camera. This shot made the trip worth it - it was so much fun to see him so excited.

Of course after the game, allowed us to take a few photo's with the Nuggets leading scorer!




After the game, we headed to the ice arena. Tyson did great. He was really figuring it out. After a few laps with the safety bar, he let Joel and I take him around without it. Charlie had a blast, but he just let you push him around, so it was quite the workout.



Braydon was going on no sleep and feeling sick, so he wasn't much for ice skating. But we did get him out on the ice once.







After ice skating we headed back to the house. We celebrated Charlie's birthday (which was on Tuesday) and had cake and opened presents. He thought singing happy birthday to him was pretty fun, so we had to do it twice.


It was a good weekend despite a sick Braydon. I am so glad that we got to see Tyson play basketball and I am so proud of him.

Snow fun

A week ago, it was finally warm enough to go outside. Braydon was pretty excited. So I got him all dressed up and he patiently waited while I got all of his stuff on. First we did a little sledding around the back yard.




Then we threw snowballs to Wrigley to catch. Since he throw the snow, he decided it would be fun to put pile after pile of snow on Wrigley's back. He did this forever and Wrigley just just stood there and let him do whatever he wanted to.






Finally, Braydon wanted to help his Dad shovel. He first tried to use the big shovel, then we got him one that he could handle. Hopefully by next year, he will be able really help Ryan shovel.

video time!

Some videos from the last couple of months.


One day I caught Braydon in the kitchen having a blast. It turns out he thought seeing his reflection in the dishwasher was just hilarious. Maybe I should use windex on the front of the dishwasher more often.






We have decided that Braydoni s not going to be big enough to play football, so we have already been practicing being a kicker. Before he kicks in the video, he has to hydrate by chugging a little milk.





Where's your... ?? The last video is Braydon's newest trick - he can show you where his nose, head, feet and belly are.

Random fun pictures

So on Saturday Dani and Marcia came down to go to the Drake vs UNI game. Drake ended up winning in the end and it was a good game. I didn't get any pictures because I was too busy with a sleeping Braydon on my lap! Yes he slept for about 30 - 40 minutes of the game. I tried to keep the crowd at a low roar.

After the game, we went out to eat and then back to our house to just relax. We got a new ottoman and Dani decided to lye down on it. So Braydon wanting to be just like his Aunt Dani got right next to her.






Since Ryan has class on Friday nights, Braydon and I have been having date nights, just the two of us.



nothing says a good Friday night like a good cup of milk and hanging out in your diaper. Look Grandma - at least I have my socks on!