The B Life

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I’m so close to finishing up the year and getting so far behind each week! I am still posting the photos on a daily basis on my tumblr page here.  And of course, if you are a friend on facebook, you see them pop up every day. I’m undecided if I will stay on tumblr or move somewhere else. But regardless, when this project is done, I will be on a brand new site still posting dailyish photos of our adventures. Just without all the stories and such..So much easier for me to stay on top of each day! 

ok, onto the last almost 20 days!:

day 325: happy at the park.

this boy LOVES the park.. and he loves being chased… which is what Ryan was doing when I decided to get a grinning picture of him. This was actually the first try.. He was giggling and ‘running’ away from ryan with his giant ear to ear grin. So much fun!

day 326: a moment of stillness to watch the planes go by.

At the park again, this time kits beach, and watching all the planes flying by. He loves to point at them and say ‘dat dat,;,, “look at that mommy” is how I interpret it.. Sometime I don’t even hear the plane engines but he always does and always looks up, points, and watches them fly over head.

day 327: playing with cars

At my parents place and heading outside to get some fresh air. He just got these new car toys from his grandma and grandpa and was enjoying making them go ‘room room’ Which means vroom Vroom for those that don’t speak toddler..

day 328: window light. 

Nothing too special about this photo. He was playing by our front window (which he does a lot of.. I realize i have a lot of window photos and might do a post just on that!). and I thought the light was nice, so stood up above him to take a photos. I’m sure he’s thinking ‘mom, why are you standing on daddy’s piano!?”

day 329: loves to cuddle.

He loves to cuddle! It is the sweetest thing ever! I just have to lie down and he’ll come crawl up on me, wrap his arms around and look up to give me a big grin. Not going to lie, I will often just randomly lie down on our floor throughout the day so he’ll come and cuddle with me ;). 

day 330: Happy Valentine’s Day.

I am amazed that I got a picture with him holding the heart right side up. Out of 10 pictures I took, the rest were upside down, him looking at his feet, trying to eat the heart, stepping on it.. etc etc.. I actually was thinking beforehand that I didn’t care how he was holding it, it would be cute regardless… but there was 1 with it just right! Such a sweet little valentine! 

day 331: beach walker.

We headed to the beach in the afternoon with some friends. Being obsessed with water, all I had to do was put him at the top of the sand, and watch him toddle all the way down towards the waves. I’m positive he would walk right in, if I weren’t there to swoop him up before he got there! 

day 332: moose on the loose!

I love his moose hat! He wore it to the park in the morning and I took a few pictures of him exploring and playing!

day 333: duck duck

At maple wood farms for the afternoon, his favorites were the ducks. We bought seed for them and he enjoyed taking it out and throwing it for them so they would all come near.. and then he’d try and pet them and they’d scatter about again. 

day 334: I wear my sunglasses.. inside.. while jumping on the couch.

such a goof! He thinks his sunglasses are hilarious! Every time I put them on he giggles and jumps about. I love the last one as well. After tiring him self out by climbing and jumping all over the couch, he plopped down with a big sigh of exhaustion!

day 335: afternoon shadows.

Going for a walk during a sunny late afternoon we stopped to play (which involved me chasing him..). I loved how his shadow looked in the late afternoon sun so took a few pictures. 

day 336: a place to sit.

While making dinner I turned around to see him sitting on his blocks while playing with his other toys. I thought it looked pretty funny so took a photo!  

day 337: running to greet daddy.

He loves to run down the hallway to greet daddy when he gets off of work. All I have to say is ‘daddy’s here!’ and he’ll get up and head towards the front door, and then taking of yelling happy yells all the way down the hallway. Pretty cute!

day 338: rarrr

another window photo.. this time playing with his dinosaurs. He loves to say ‘rarrr’ as plays with them. They are always sitting in are window (or on the floor) and seem to be his ‘spot’ to play with them!

day 339: teething boy.

Teething boys, make for not very happy boys. All his molars coming in, and up lots during the nights; I thought some fresh air might help a bit. It did, but you can still see in his eyes how much they must hurt. Poor little boy! I love this photo though. Even though he’s sad from teething, I love the emotion I can see in his eyes. Good news is that they’ve all come in now - yayy! 

day 340: Happy Birthday daddy!

two pictures for today! One of a little sign we made for him (Brayden was practicing his letters all week..), and another in the evening of them blowing out birthday cake candles together. Although I’m sure he’s wondering just who this celebration is for anyways.. ‘what!? what do you mean it’s not for me!?’

day 341: little boy, big forest.

We spent a few hours in the afternoon at princess park. And as he was walking and exploring about, I took a few pictures of him. The first one was one of him eyeing up a big pond to his right that he wanted to go to and take a dip in. I was saying ‘no brayden, you can’t go that way, come this way’.. and he was debating what to do.. He ended up deciding a dip in a muddy, slimy pond was not that appealing after all and came back towards me.. smart boy.

day 342: peek-a-boo

A popular game around here these days! 

day 343:  puddle splashing.

At ambleside and in search of mud puddles to splash in. There is nothing this boy loves more then splashing in mud puddles.. No matter where we are, he can find the smallest amount of water on the ground to splash his feet in. These ones were actually quite deep and as he got closer to the deep parts, I would have to pick him up and bring him to the beginning of the puddle where it was more shallow ! Now we just have to find him some rubber boots in his size and the deep ones will all be fair game! 

Over 2 weeks of missed posts! Can I blame a non sleeping & teething 1 year old? Making a very tired mommy these past several weeks. no probably not ;).
Ok, lets get started and I promise I’ll try and keep up to date for the remaining few months of these daily photos. Afterwards I’ll be posting just images onto my tumblr account. This is where I’ve been putting the photos up on a daily basis since the beginning of the year if you’re interested in having a look: http://the-b-life.tumblr.com/ . 

 day 309: found you!

He loves this mirror in our bedroom that has just enough space between the back for him to poke his head through. He’ll laugh and giggle at me when I poke my head through the other side.. and I’m sure it won’t be long before he’ll be too big to fit! 

day 310: science world.

we met up with some friends to spend the afternoon at science world. Which for a 1 year old means toddling around and causing havoc with all the displays by stealing all the props (ie: big blue beach balls) from all the older kids. But we had a great time and it was fun watching him get excited over all the fun stuff to do! His favorite  was the marble display outside - where you could watch the marbles go through all the parts and machines to make their way from the top to the bottom. 

day 311: tablet

Ryan got this for work a few months ago and brayden of course loves it! 2 apps we downloaded for him - baby piano & baby drum, are pretty neat and he loves to play! This was taken early in the morning as we were getting ready and he stole it off the shelf to play with. 

day 312: reflection

At grandma & grandpas for my birthday dinner and having some fun with the mirrors. 

day 313: rainy days.

It’s rainy season here in Vancouver.. but he doesn’t seem to mind. We still head out to the park and play outside (he better get used to it now living in this city!). Here he had just woke up from his nap and was wanting to head out onto the deck to watch it rain.

day 314: where’s your belly?

a favorite game here is asking ‘where’s your belly’ and he lifts up his shirt to pat his belly.. so so adorable! Just looking at this picture makes me smile!

day 315: a very serious water break.

we were at the park and he was wanting to go up and down the stairs. This boy is obsessed with stairs!! After spending about 20 minutes walking up and down I could tell he was thirsty so we stopped for a water break. A very serious one..

day 316: dinosaurs & waffles.

all good mornings start with dinosaurs and waffles.. preferably eaten on a window sill so he can look outside at the birds  at the same time.. and play with his dinosaur. Such a multi tasker! 

day 317: red pants

His little red pants are so awesome. And almost too small! I may have to take some more photos with them next week! I thought he looked pretty cute walking down the lane past this wall so took a photo.

day 318: stick boy

so it begins! fascination with sticks.. At the park, he found this one and didn’t want to let it go!  So of course I had to take a picture! 

day 319: sleepy

so tired and not wanting to nap.. 2 minutes before this was taken he was being really funny and hyper in his crib (hence why I had the camera there).. and then he gave me the telltale sign of a very sleepy baby.. the eye rub. So a story, off with the lights and he was out for his nap :).

day 320: should be sleeping.

did I mention above that we haven’t got a lot of sleep these past 2 weeks? Not a good sleeper on the best of days, and having his molars coming in - the days have been starting at 4:30 or so.. I try and hold him off a bit but usually we’re up by 5am. Although today he slept in all the way until 6am ;).

day 321: phone talker.

this boy loves to talk on the phone! Neither Ryan or I are big phone talkers. Our phones are usually up on the counter in the chargers with the ringers/beeps off.. but he obviously picked it up from somewhere… and it’s hilarious! He walks around and babbles away, giggling and pausing. He must have a lot of girlfriends! I already did a post on my photography page here if you’re interested in having a look. These 4 images were a few of my favorites though. 

day 322: tarantula exhibit. 

We headed to the aquarium with a friend and had a really fun time. He loved the parrots and ‘talking’ back to them, watching the whales, running up the ramps and being chased, staring at all the jellyfish and turtles..  and all the spiders in the tarantula exhibit.. I on the other hand was not as excited about this one so stood back to get a photo! 

day 323: trespassing

heading back from the park, I saw a fantastic lawn bowling field with the sun shining through the trees to make really neat shadows.. so we found the gate and had a great time running around (he loves being chased right now), turning around in circles (another favorite thing to do), and of course snapping a few photos.. I think it was worth it and loved how these turned out!

day 324: night light v2.0

This twilight turtle was supposed to help him sleep.. and I think it did for the first few days. And then he would  just get frustrated because he would want to play with it.. I mean, it makes really cool light patterns on the walls, so I don’t blame him! This was taken early one morning and he was pressing all the buttons to make the lights come on and off and make it make noises.. so I turned the lights off and took a quick photo!
And version 2.0 because we did another night light photo a while back :).

We got back from our mexican vacation several weeks ago and I’m finally finding some time to go through all our photos!

We had so much fun while there! We went down for our good friends, Travis & Alea’s, wedding - which is a pretty good reason to head down to mexico in January!  Destination weddings are the best. It was so great to get to hang out with friends for the week, be outside in the sun, spend time in the water.. a LOT of time in the water… That’s pretty much all we did was hang out in the pool as a certain little boy loved the water and could have easily spent ALL day being thrown ‘up up’ in itl! And of course we partied with an awesome ‘just married’ pair on their wedding day! Brayden even made friends at the wedding.. they ate sand together, and then fell asleep in their matching strollers on the edge of the dance floor (too cute!). 

Overall a pretty awesome week! I’ve included a LOT of photos.. and yes, they are pretty much all of Brayden but I promise I was there as well (Ryan even took a few pictures to prove it!).

We miss your warm sun and sandy beaches mexico and can’t wait to go back one day!

There are so many little things about this time that I want to remember.. I’m afraid I’ll forget them all! Which is one reason why I keep this blog and take so many photos. I know I’ll love looking back on all of this for years to come.

This little book is one of those things. I don’t know what it is about it, but Brayden loves it! He doesn’t enjoy when I try and read it to him.. (it’s a long one and he lasts about 2 pages) so it’s not the story itself. But over the past week or so, we’ll often look over to see him walking around our apartment with the book opened up & flipping through it.. while he’s walking.. and running into walls because he’s busy ‘reading’ and turning the pages. When he bumps into something or us, he’ll look up, move out of the way, and continue ‘reading’ his book while toddlng around. Or he’ll climb up on the couch (like he was in these photos  this morning) and roll around while ‘reading’ and giggling to himself. I’ve tried replacing it with other books (this one has paper pages and is starting to tear and be crumpled from his insistence on taking it with him everywhere). But no other book will do! It’s pretty cute..and fitting that it’s dr. suess’s ‘Oh The Places You’ll Go!’. 

And like most things, I’m sure in a few weeks,the book will be forgotten - to be replaced with something else. But for now I captured him and his favorite book. So I can remember for years to come all the lovable and funny little things about this time with him. 

day 304: puddle reflection.

We were heading out and I noticed the puddles on the sidewalk. I showed him how to stomp his feet in the water so it would splash and he thought it was hilarious. Of course he wanted to try and was loving it! I wanted to take a photo of his reflection and needed him to stomp puddle splashing for 2 seconds and hold still (HA!).. so I gave him my keys to hold (what you see him holding) and took the picture.. 

day 305: tunnel

at a park close to where we live.. climbing through the tunnel and peeking thorugh all the windows along the way! 

day 306: foggy afternoon.

It has been so foggy here in vancouver. At least it’s not raining (or it wasn’t! it is now!) so I wasn’t complaning. Besides it made for some pretty cool pictures. We were heading to the park to play when I put him down to take a few photos.. in the 2nd one he was making a run (or more like a fast toddler toddle) for the swings.. so I only got a chance to snap a quick one! and after we got to play on the swings & the park :).

day 307: dr.jekyll & ms. hyde.

I’m pretty certain these two pictures sum of the personality of every 1 year old. Especially since they were taken no more then 2 seconds apart! so serious and sooo crazy! And so much fun! He was being a goof in the hallway of our apartment building after Ryan went to work. So I got my camera and took a few pictures of him just being silly. In the 2nd picture he was about to attack me with giant slobby baby kisses.. like I said - so much fun! 

day 301: loves his cat.

Brayden loves Jasper. He loves to follow him around and give him ‘kisses’ and to pet ‘gently.’ And Jasper loves Brayden too. Following us around, and always hanging out in the same room as us. He’s so good with Brayden and so tolerant when he sometimes is not that ‘gentle.’

I wanted to take a picture of the two of them playing to capture their ‘cat & baby’ relationship because we just found out that Brayden is allergic to cats.. It seems funny that we’re only finding this out now, but I guess the allergy starts off as just a bit of a rash and skin irritation problems. We knew there was something that was making brayden rashy, runny nose, etc.. but we figured it was food. We tried different things with dairy, wheat, eggs, etc.. and eventually were able to get an allergy test to see which food it was. I was not expecting it to be cats. I basically burst into tears when the doctor told me that the big welts that showed up were the ones that tested for cat. We all love our cat. I am thankful he’s not allergic to any foods, but sad still that we’ll be giving Jasper away. The allergy right now is basically just rashy skin and a runny nose.. but it will get a lot worse as time goes on (especially if we keep Jasper around). And it seems so obvious now that we know what it is.

BUT the silver lining is that he gets to go to my parents house to live. They already have a few cats and Jasper loves to play with them all when we bring him over to visit. I know he’ll fit right in and we’ll be able to still see him when we go over. I really could not imagine giving him to a stranger, so I’m so so happy that we’re able to do that. I’m also so happy that Brayden was able to grow a love for animals through his cat (seriously this kid vibrates with excitement around any animal). And he’ll always be our cat.. just one that lives somewhere else :).

day 302: chasing birds.

As mentioned above, this boy loves animals! Birds apparently are not an exception. When I first put him down on the patio area at granville island, the birds flocked around and he seemed a bit scared. I went to pick him up, but he protested, so I put him back down. He then spent the next 45 minutes with a giant grin on his face chasing them all around (and I followed behind him with my camera!). He would get close and scream with excitement (which would scare them all off!) and then continue chasing them. It was quite funny as more people were showing up to feed them bread crumbs and Brayden would just toddle into the center of them all - not bothered at all by them flying all around him. Crazy boy! I’ve included quite a few pictures because I couldn’t decide which ones I liked best!

day 303: snow globe.

He’s fascinated by this snow globe. He loves to shake it up, stare into it - trying to figure out how it works. He even puts it in his basket on his little scooter to take with him around the apartment - pretty funny! I’ve wanted to get a picture of him playing with it for a while, and was able to today :).

Skipping a week or so while we were in mexico of daily photos because I want to do a separate blog post for those ones.  There are sooo many that I really like and I haven’t had time to go through them all! Hopefully in the next day or two. Plus we had such an amazing time, I think it deserves it’s own post :). 

So on to the previous 3 days since we’ve been back & the day before we left.

day 289. smooshed.

being a goof on our patio window. I was on the deck watering our plants.. which NEVER happens by the way.. usually they are half dead before I remember.. don’t worry, I’m much better at taking care of babies ;). And I looked up to see Brayden smooshing his face up against the glass window at me. Of course I had to go get by camera and crossed my fingers he would keep doing it! I was laughing at him and he was enjoying entertaining me.

day 298: up sooo early at 5am after getting home from mexico super late. I think he must have just missed all his toys and couldn’t sleep any more! This zebra he got for Christmas and he loves it! He was playing with it all morning so I decided to take a quick photo of it. His long lashes are my favorite :).

day 299: snowy walk

This boy loves the snow.. As soon as he woke up from his nap, I opened the blinds in his room and he grinned while staring outside and watching the snow fall. I thought we could get ready fast enough to actually enjoy the snow falling (his favorite!) but was slightly off in my time estimate of getting a one year old fed lunch, changed, in warm clothes, etc.. so.. 2 hours later we left the house and it had stopped snowing long ago. But there was still lots left that we got to enjoy it on our walk.

day 300: flying

I took him with me this afternoon to location scout a park I’ll be using for an upcoming session. While strolling by the swing section, he all of a sudden started saying ‘up up’ and pointing towards the swings. Obviously we had to stop! He was grinning the whole time and loving it! And I thought the background would make for  a pretty cool picture! 

duet.

Brayden - you LOVE to play the piano. All day long you are heading over to the one in our living room and reaching up on your tippy toes to play the keys. And when daddy is home (the piano player in the house) - you like to crawl up on his lap and play along with him - grinning the entire time!

We bought you your own little mini grand piano for Christmas but they were back ordered so it hasn’t arrived yet! Good thing you’re too young to realize that.. it’ll come in a week or so and I have no doubt you’ll love sitting on the little bench and playing. And I know daddy can’t wait to teach you songs one day.

I love you my little pianist!
xo 

day 285: sleeping buddy

He loves this little elephant & sleeps with it every nap & night. We even brought it to mount washington with us. Often when I go to check on him he’s got his arm cuddled around it or is snuggled up against it. And no matter where he moves to in his crib (he moves around a LOT at night), he brings this elephant with him to his *new* sleeping spot. 

day 286: new years day morning walk.

On New Years morning we could see the fog & a nice sunrise down at the quay. We decided to head down, grab coffees & walk around. It was gorgeous out and fairly quiet so we all enjoyed it. Brayden has been walking for some time by holding onto one of our hands so we all toddled around slowly together & enjoyed our morning walk… He’s wasn’t into walking by himself yet..and much prefers to just hold one of our hands.. until today! see today’s photos below!

day 287: walking

He’s walking! As I mentioned above - he’s much preferred to hold onto one of our hands while walking around,  but today he took his first steps on his own! Ryan has been off of work for the Christmas holidays for the past 2 weeks, and not 15 minutes after he left this morning, I turned around to see Brayden just casually walking across the room! I clapped and ‘yayyed’ for him.. to which he promptly stopped walking to also clap for himself! Later in the day we went out in the hall so I could take a photo and hopeful video. Photo went well & video not so much.. he was much more interested in the light and shadows instead.. which also  made for fun photos (the last 3). And in the evening he got to show off his new skills to dad. Turning into such a big boy!