Daycare

This week has been absolutely CRAZY! It was my first week at my new job and Braeden's first week at daycare. The first day was not easy at all. I didn't have to be at work until 4:30 that day because my normal work time will be 11:30am so I decided to try and get Braeden on that schedule. We got up to the daycare at about 12:00 which is the time that the kids there take a nap. I went inside and was talking to Braeden's teacher about allergies and such when all of a sudden I burst into tears. As soon as I gave Braeden to the teacher he started screaming so the both of us were crying as I walked out the door. I cried for most of the day until I went into work. Later I called back up there just to check on Braeden, and they told me that after his nap he was a lot better. Early in the week he was refusing to eat lunch and snack but as the week went on he decided that it would be in his best interest to eat. He and I have gotten a lot better about the crying. Now he is the only one that sheds a tear as I walk out but by the time the door closes he is fine. I am not sure if this is related or not but now we are having serious problems with Braeden at night. He will not go to bed in his room by himself. He wants to sleep in the room with me or on the couch and then I can take him to his room after he is in a deep sleep. If I put him in the room to go to sleep like he used to he just stands there and SCREAMS his head off. Hopefully this doesn't last very much longer.
Other than that my week has been pretty easy. I started a new job at Victoria's Secret Direct on Monday. I have to say that so far it seems like it will be a pretty nice place to work. It is one of the easiest jobs I have ever had and I get a sweet discount. I get 30% off at Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, White Barn Candle Company, Limited, Express (men and women) and Henri Bendel (in New York and Columbus). Who could pass up a job where all you do is sit on the phone and look Victoria's Secret underwear. It is awesome! I want to warn you to not be surprised if you get something from one of these stores on your birthday or Christmas.

Check it out!

While I was on my trip, Travis and his family had a little cookout to celebrate Mother's Day. Here are some pictures of their day...


Travis's nephew little Travis flying through the air!


Travis's sister Carla with Travis and Tanner opening mother's day gifts.


Travis's Mom opening her card from the grandkids.


Tatum and Travis chillin' with their dog Buddy.


Krista and Tatum hanging out.


Teagan having a little drink!

Home Again

Finally Breaden and I are home again! Wooohooo! Let me tell you that I HATE long road trips and I am so glad that I am home. We had a great time while we were gone but man can I tell ya my behind is sore.


The last portion of our trip we were in Georgia visiting Grandpa and Grandma Chasteen.


Braeden had an awesome time following Uncle Phillip and trying to copy everything he did. It was really cute watching him run around the yard behind Phillip. He also had the chance to go swimming again this year. It went about as well as it did last year, he just screamed his little head off.



Dad, like last year, tried to get him to swim by blowing in his face and placing him under the water. He REALLY hates that! Kathy had to save him once again from mean old Mom and Grandpa. After he got over his anger he did sit on the side of the pool and played splashing games with Grandpa. He had sooooo much fun splashing around the side of the pool but if he thought for one minute that you were going to make him get in he let loose.


We also got to see Aunt Danielle while we were down visiting for an hour or two each night. He had a ball hitting her in the head with a paper towel roll, coloring and giving her lots of kisses. The road trip back home was far less exciting as all my tires stayed inflated. Thanks to my dad I now have 4 lugs holding my tire in place, since those jerks from Pep Boys didn't fix it.
While we did have a good time on our trip I did miss my main man Travis. I was so excited to be able to see him again. I totally forgot that before I left he had been trying to grow a mustache and when I got here there it was. I hate that stupid thing! Luckily he is just growing it to try and save his top lip from being cut off by the guy he is being a board model for tomorrow. I won't have to deal with that thing for long!!!! Braeden was also excited to see Travis again. He and Travis are great playmates and spend a lot of time on the floor with blocks or coloring books. We are all glad to be back together again, and I am not planning any new road trips soon.
I was also surprised with a gift when I returned home today. Travis's sister, Krista, sent me a belated birthday gift. For those who didn't already know I am a picture taking freak. I love pictures, frames and scrapbook supplies. Krista gave me a new black picture frame with white matte that holds six separate 4x6 pictures. It is freaking sweet! So here is a big old THANKS KRISTA for the birthday gift. I absolutely love it!
Well it looks like tomorrow I get to go to work and Braeden has his first day at daycare. I am sure that I will have more stories very soon so stay tuned!

Trips

Braeden and I are on a trip across the US to visit all the Grandparents before I start my new job next week. Friday we started down to South Carolina so that we could see my mom and John. The trip began pretty well, Braeden sat quietly in the backseat watching Blue's Clues and eating goldfish crackers until we got a flat tire. I tried to remain calm as I got out of the car and began to unpack the trunk to get to the spare tire. Once I got down to the spare I couldn't find the lug wrench and I was having a heck of a time getting the jack out. Just when I was about to give up I saw a truck backing up towards me with a bunch of tires in the back. Wooohooo!!! Someone to help me out with this dang tire. The guy was really nice and it took no time for him to get the spare on. In my life it couldn't be that easy and believe me it wasn't. The spare didn't have any air in it at all. The nice dude that helped me out took the spare back off (breaking one of the lugs) and went to put air in it. When he came back he threw the tire on with a quickness and we were on our way again. Well not really on our way because I went to Wal-Mart to get the tire fixed but they wouldn't touch it because of the broken lug. The guy at Wal-Mart did give me directions to a Pep Boys which is where we ended up going to have the tire fixed. We didn't end up getting to my mom's house until Saturday morning about 12 hours after we had planned to be there.
When we finally made it to mom's Braeden was ready for a quick run around and then a nice little nap. I was ready for the nap as well since I only get a few hours sleep the night before. After we both got some much needed rest we did get some playtime in with Grandma and Grandpappy Compston. Here are some pictures of our time in South Carolina.

Braeden and Grandma taking a little rest on our walk around the golf course.


Braeden and Grandpappy playing with the blocks.


What could be more fun than playing in a sand trap?

We are now in Georgia visiting my dad and Kathy for a few days. Make sure to keep checking on my little blog in the next few days I am sure we will have more exciting stories to share.

Congrats!

Travis took the trip to Columbus yesterday to take the board test to get his license. When he got home he did seem pretty confident that he had passed the test but he would not find out until today. The results are in and........HE PASSED! WOOOHOOOO! Now he can start working at any time. His plan is to start on Tuesday at Jim's Barber Shop in Kettering. So if you need a good haircut come on in and see him!!! Congrats sweetie, I love ya lots. Now make me some money!

Travis and Ron working on Braeden's haircut.

First Haircut

Today was the day we all have been waiting for....Braeden's first haircut! He doesn't really have a lot of hair but what he does have was getting out of hand. Braeden's hair seems to only grow in a mohawk pattern (Travis says it is more like alfalfa) and is very hard to get to lay down. The back also began to look a little rat tail-ish so today I decided that it had to go. Our master barber Travis was the man given the difficult task of figuring out what the heck to do with that mess. Braeden loves to go to the barber shop so I thought that he would be fine...guess again. Here are the pictures to illustrate what we went through in order to get a tiny bit of hair cut.

Here is our big boy before the haircut.


Yes that is a french fry in hand, it didn't seem to keep him from screaming.


It took Ron (barber college owner) and Travis to cut Braeden's hair.


He thought we were done...haha not yet little man.


Travis and Ron traded roles to try and calm Braeden down. Didn't work!


We're Done! Woohoo!
The hair that was cut was so fine that we didn't get to keep any for his baby book. Maybe when he has more hair I will get a cute little lock.

He's back!

My baby finally got back to Ohio on Friday! I am not sure how much longer I could have gone without him. It does seem that he had a good time while in Kentucky. He spent time with both great-grandparents and he got to take a little trip up to the Mountains to see my great-aunts and uncles. Here are a couple of cute little pictures and video that Mom took while they were gone.

Braeden really wanted to pet the horse but it was busy eating.


He did stop from time to time to kick it in the grass.


Here is a sweet picture of Braeden looking down into the creek.

Kentucky

My baby is gone for a week! This week my mom and Aunt Donna decided that to surprise my grandmother for her birthday they would take Braeden to Kentucky. My mom asked me a few weeks ago if I would mind if they took Braeden for a few days. At first I thought she was talking about leaving on Monday and back on Wednesday but I was wrong. They left today and will be back on Friday. When she first mentioned it I was not sure how well it would work out because Braeden does start to miss me after a day or so of being away. Since Mom and Donna were going I decided that the two of them should be able to handle that little ball of energy. So far I am doing well. I have yet to have any uncontrollable crying fits, however it is still early in the week. So here's to Braeden, Mom and Donna having a great time in Kentucky and as for me...maybe I will get the house cleaned up.