Where has the time gone? I can't believe our little guy is 10 months old already! Time really does fly when you're having fun! We're only half way through May and already this month has been very eventful for Braden! It seems like he's learning new things every day!
Braden loves music now! Of course most of his toys has lights and music. He has a little farm thing that sings different songs. You open the barn door & the music starts, you close the door & the music stops. He loves to play with that thing and bounces when the music is going. I also downloaded some toddler songs to my iPhone/iPod and started playing them for him. He smiles & laughs and now bounces to it as well. It's good fun. Whenever he starts to fuss a bit because he doesn't want his diaper changed I sing a song to him and he immediately quiets down & smiles. It's great!
May 9th: So, I'll give the best news first. On Mother's Day, Braden started saying Mama!!! :-) From what I've read & what others have told me, babies usually say Dada first because the "D" is easier, etc. I fully expected it. HA! My smart boy said Mama first! He's been saying it A LOT since then and it makes my heart sing every time! LOL. The things that make me happy anymore.
May 10th: Braden FINALLY got another tooth in. He's been working on 2 more FOREVER. As usual. The one on the bottom to the right of the middle 2 teeth finally came through. He's still working on the one to the left but it hasn't quite shown up yet.
May 13th: Every day I leave Braden at daycare I give him a kiss & say bye-bye and wave. Michelle at the daycare grabs his arm and helps him wave. I knew one day he'd finally get it! On the 13th he waved bye-bye! Yeah! He did it again the next day and today the 17th also. Too cute!
May 14th: Braden learns how to clap! It was bedtime so B & I were in his room rocking & relaxing while he drank his last bottle of the day. He usually falls asleep before or right after the milk is gone. This night, he was still bright-eyed but just hanging out in my arms looking at the animals on his walls. All of a sudden he starts clapping. Then he realizes he's making sounds while he slaps his hands together and it's great fun! I've played pat-a-cake with him quite a bit and I also say "YEAH!" and clap when we're playing. Obviously the light came on and he realized what he was doing. It was pretty funny. Fortunately, he just relaxed after that and went to sleep. The next day, he was smiling and clapping A LOT! I would say "YEAH" and he smiles & claps. He's been doing it all weekend! It's really cute to watch and was fun to show dad our new trick when he got home from globe-trotting on Sunday.
Marty:
So, Dad has been globe-trotting quite a bit the last couple of months. He left for South Africa on 5/4 and got home on 5/16. He flew in to Johannesburg, then drove out to Lephalale to the Medupi Power Station. He worked on a few cranes there and left a couple of days later back to Johannesburg. He was able to go to a wild game reserve which sounds like it was a lot of fun. He has some great pictures which I'll get posted shortly. He was able to see lions, tigers, zebras, wart hogs (boy are they ugly), rhinos, hippos, impala, deer, weird birds that he doesn't know the name of, panthers, cheetahs, cougars, meerkats, lizards (or whatever they were), water buffaloe, etc. He got to go to the nursery and pet lion cubs. I'm totally jealous! They look adorable, you'll see the pics. And then he was able to pet full sized cheetah's. Way too cool!
So, he had a nice, relaxing weekend. Then it was off to Tete, Mozambique on Monday! So much for relaxing! The airport has a tiny, 2 lane short runway. I looked it up on the satellite maps. He headed SE to the Moatize Coal Mine. It's supposed to be one of the biggest when it's done. Right now, there isn't much there and it's definitley 3rd world. The accomodations weren't much to say the least. The guys at the mine warned him that everyone that had been there gets sick for 2-3 days. So far, Marty hasn't gotten sick. We're hoping for the best! If someone takes a shower, there is no hot water left for anyone else to shower. Marty got up at 3am to shower before he left. I told him he was going to be the stinky guy that you get stuck next to on the plane! The public restrooms are on the side of the road....people go anywhere and everywhere. Yuck! The locals bathe and wash clothes in the river. Occasionally a crocodile gets one of them. The camp has a kitchen that feeds 3000 workers, the food isn't good and you have to wait an hour to get it. Fun, fun! But, one of the crane guys, Stan, took Marty down to a shack one evening and bought him a cold beer. :-) Who knows how they get it and the fact that it was cold was surprising but Marty was pleased. Marty repaired the 2 cranes he went there to fix AND was able to put together their biggest crane yet in a record-breaking 2 days. Well, they had a couple small things to do after he left but it was nearly complete. The guys at the site were surprised and happy. Friday morning Marty was headed back for Johannesburg. He got stuck somewhere else along the way, sorry I don't know the name of the city. It was supposed to be a quick stop in which he ended up waiting 2 1/2 hours to leave again. He arrived in Johannesburg late and ended up having to meet with several people at Kentz (the company that purchased the cranes he's been working on). It was decided that he need to make the 3 hour drive BACK to Lephalale to work on one of the cranes again as it had a bad computer chip. So he was up at 4am Saturday morning and headed back to the Medupi power station. He got the crane running correctly and had to make the 3 hour drive BACK to Johannesburg to catch an evening flight to Atlanta. Fortunately, he made the flight! But, he arrived in Atlanta and was a bit late to make his connection to Denver. Luckily, the next flight was only an hour or so later so he didn't have to wait long. He finally made it home around 11:15am Sunday.....after about 26 hours of travelling! Ugh! Anyway, he's glad to be home and has some wonderful pictures and memories. Oh yeah......he brought home diamond and tanzanite earrings for me!! Woo-hoo! Tanzanite is a gemstone more rare than diamonds. It's found only in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Due to export laws, etc., it's difficult to find quality tanzanite in the US. So, I guess Africa is the best place to get it. I thought it was pretty cool to receive something so special and unique.
I tried to keep this post as short as possible while giving the important details but, as you have read, a lot has happened in the last 2 weeks! I hope this post finds everyone well. I'll get the pictures up soon...promise. :-)
If Braden can't crawl with it in his hand, he puts it in his mouth and crawls/climbs everywhere!
