Welcome to The Daniels Family

Marty, Diane & Braden


Monday, August 23, 2010

13 Months!

Okay, so I'm finally posting Braden's 1 year pictures. They turned out pretty good! Of course, how can you get a bad picture of such a cute kid?

He's been running around for quite a while now and is getting better. Falling a little less often and does better when transitioning to new surfaces, such as walking from the concret driveway onto the grass in the front yard. :-) He LOVES to climb. I've been working on putting new floors in the entire downstairs. Boy, what a job! I'll warn everyone right now, don't EVER take on a huge home improvement project with a 1 yr. old unless you have someone to watch him/her a lot! I've had a step ladder downstairs that I've been using. I swear, Braden tries to climb up that thing 100 times every night. He just thinks it's great fun!

He's starting to talk more too. Of course, it's tough to understand him most of the time and he's not really annunciating well yet but there are some things that he repeats often. He says Hi and it comes out I. Says Bye and it sounds like Bah. I was taking him to daycare and all of a sudden I hear him say BAH! Then I look back and he's waving at me! Too funny. So, he likes to play the Hi & Bye game by opening and closing doors. He says uh oh, whoa, and vroom when he plays with cars, etc. Of course, there is the usual chatter that he doesn't say anything but he changes the tone of his voice to sound like he's really telling you something! We just keep talking to him and carry on a conversation.

I'm proud to announce that he is still the happiest kid I've ever been around. I know, I'm biased. But he truly is a happy guy. He just cracks himself up. He'll be sitting there and all of a sudden just laughing like crazy; which of course gets everyone else going. He's just too much fun!

I need to tell everyone that Braden received a very special gift for his first birthday from Jonnie & Roy Dilsaver. They gave him his first rocking horse. Roy passed away from cancer recently so this gift was even more special to all of us. Braden really likes the horse so we thought it would be really cute to have it in the pictures. Unfortunately, the woman taking the pictures said we couldn't have him sitting on it because he was a little small for it; even though he sits on it great. She said she could get into trouble because he could fall. But, we were still able to get some really great pictures with it! So, without further ado, here are some of his 1 yr. pictures!

















Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The Evolution of Braden

So, the blog has FINALLY been fixed and I can post videos! Yeah! I don't have the more recent ones downloaded yet. I'm working on it, ha, ha. Thought I would post some older ones to show how much he's grown & changed along the way! Enjoy!


December 2009


Braden blowing carrots on mom and then cracking up when I repeated the story of what he did to Rick & Marty.


January or February 2010

Braden trying to figure out how to crawl



February 2010



Friday, July 23, 2010

Walking....and Running!

Learning to Walk

Author: Sharon Froese

Learning to walk
is not easy at all
I must get back up
every time that I fall

I get up when I'm down
That's how I'll learn to walk
Now if only
I knew how to talk...

There's no turning back now! Braden is definitely walking everywhere now. He rarely gets down to crawl anymore. As soon as he had it figured out....he started running! I picked him up from daycare on Tuesday. He was in the far corner of the room playing. He see's me, stands up and starts running toward me. It was so awesome! He gets 3/4 of the way across the room, steps on a tennis ball and does a nose dive. He hurries up and looks around like, "did anyone see that?" It was too funny. What a character. He gets so excited, it just warms your heart to see him!

He has also really taken to climbing. He's trying to climb on tables at daycare. I took a picture while watching him on the web cam! You can see him in top left portion of the picture.


He's also trying to climb up on the couch & chairs at home. He FLIES up the stairs already. I tried to teach him how to turn around & slide down on his belly. Well, his shirt rode up & the carpet was "tickling" his belly. He wouldn't pay any attention to what I was showing him, everything was just too funny! Crazy kid. I told Marty that we will one day find that kid on top of the refrigerator! I'm certain it's going to happen.
Let's see.....he has one of his molar teeth through now. He's still working on one on the other side. He's starting to say Daisy when he see the dog...he calls her Dais. We say uh-oh when he drops stuff & he says uh-uh. His friend Jessica has been saying that for a while. It must be hard to transition from the "uh" to the "oh!" :-) I try to get him to say hi, and he says "I." He's waving hi & bye and starting to wave with his fingers.

We're taking him to get his first hair cut tonight! That ought to be an adventure! :-) Tomorrow we're finally doing his 1 year pictures.

Well, I think that's about it. I'll gave to get some video downloaded & share. Some of them are pretty funny! Hope everyone is doing well. Talk to you all soon!

Friday, July 16, 2010

1 Year Old!!!

I can't believe we have a toddler already! This year has certainly had it's ups and downs but I can easily say it's been a lot of fun. Braden's personality is sure coming out. He's so much fun, Marty and I laugh with him ALL THE TIME!

He is walking quite a bit these days. He frequently walks across the room at home but still uses crawling as his main form of locomotion, especially when he's in a hurry. I don't think it'll be too much longer before he foregoes crawling all together.

He is STILL teething! I don't think it's ever going to stop. He still has 8 teeth right now but is working on a couple of molar teeth on the bottom. So far he's been really good about it....hopefully it stays that way.

His ear tubes are definitely doing their job! I didn't think it was possible but our happy baby has actually become even happier. The kid cracks up at absolutely nothing! Of course, the laugh is contagious so we just keep him going after that. But, no runny nose, cough, etc. since the surgery. Hopefully we'll be staying healthy for a long time now!

We went to the doc for his 1 year check up. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get any of his shots because he had the blood transfusion in March. The antibodies in the donor blood could result in an allergic reaction to the vaccinations if given too soon. Good news is, he didn't have to have any shots! Ha, ha. Anyway, all the vaccinations he needed can be safely held off until 15 or 18 months. So, we're going to split them up over the next 6 months. Everything else went well. He is growing like a weed! He has shot up in height big time! He's grown almost 3 inches since his 9 month check up!! He went from the 50th percentile in height to the 95th! He now weighs 22 lbs and is 32" tall. Getting to be a big kid! Yeah!

We celebrated his 1st birthday...twice. Once in NE at the lake and once at home with friends & family. Braden did a GREAT job with both of his cakes! Great Grandma gave him a little help getting started on the first and he was digging in like a champ. There was no question how to handle the second one, he's a pro now! After a bit of cheering, he realized it was time to show off!

Great Grandma Beverly was celebrating her 80th birthday with us at the lake as well. Unfortunately, a pretty good storm rolled in before we were able to sing and cut cake! We owe you a birthday song!!

It was awesome to see family over the 4th of July. We had such a great time playing in the water spending time with everyone. Dominick and Tanner are just way too cute! Those boys sure have grown. It'll be fun to see them all a few years down the road. I think we're going to have our hands full!

I wanted to say thank you to everyone for all the wonderful birthday gifts and for sharing such a special birthday with us! We love you all and appreciate everything!

Now for all the pictures I've delayed in posting!

I wanted to be sure to take a few pics of Braden in his duck...in the bath tub. Before he graduated to just being in the bath tub!

May 25th
Braden being a ham

He sure does love his baths!

Oh! You're taking pictures? Here, let me give you a BIG smile!

Memorial Day Weekend
Braden's 2nd camping trip....but the first one where he was old enough to actually have fun!
No step is too high! I'll crouch down and spring up like superman!

Braden & Dad hanging out

Braden, Dad & JR hanging out by the fire. Nice hat JR!

Braden & JR having a good time!

June
Braden played with Jessica's water table at her 1st birthday party. He had such a good time we had to buy him one! This kid will stand and play here for an hour!



This is how Braden sleeps all the time now!
Braden & Jessica playing on Father's Day. Can we really share a push toy?


The answer ended up being NO!

July


My first dip in the lake!




Kevin, Tami & Dominick


Braden in his cool sunglasses


Kandi, Great Grandpa PH, Dominick & Great Grandma Beverly


Braden & Grandma dancing







A little help from Great Grandma


Yummy!!! Thanks Great Grandma! I'm gonna hang out with you more often!




Yeah! Being a ham now!

What'd I do?


Check out my muscles! Cake makes you strong!!!



I have a goatee....like dad. Only better!


Kandi & Mom cleaning up the cake-monster!



Braden on his birthday, opening a present in his new wagon!




Braden's birthday party at the house



Braden & his cool new battery operated 4 wheeler from Angie, Bill & Trevor


Just push the button & go?


Braden & Jess going for a ride!



Ahhhh! Fire!!!