Fireman Brayden

We went to some friends' birthday party on Sunday at the Smithfield fire station!  Brayden LOVED it, as he is very into fire trucks.  One of his favorite shows is Fireman Sam that comes on the Sprout channel.  He went through a phase where that was ALL he wanted to watch for a few weeks, but he has finally added more shows to his list (thank goodness....mommy and daddy were getting tired of it!)  It is super cute when he does watch it because Brayden has a little song and dance he'll do during the intro song of Fireman Sam.  My dad recorded it at his house a few weeks ago...enjoy!  (notice that Brayden slides down the door casing in the beginning like its a firepole...that cracks me up everytime he does it!!)

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

And here are a few pictures from our trip to the fire station.

Museum of Life and Science

Last Friday, Greg, Brayden and I spent the day at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham.  A few friends of mine had recommended it, so we decided to check it out.  I'm glad we did because Brayden loved it!  We got to see dinosaurs, bears, wolves, snakes, butterflies, spiders, pigs, cows, and SOOO many other animals.  They had an insectarium that I was NOT very fond of, but Greg thought it was awesome.  Here are a few pictures of our trip:

 Playing at the park

 The entrance to the Dinosaur Trail....by far, Brayden's FAVORITE thing at the museum!

 A few of the dinosaurs along the trail

 Digging for fossils with daddy

 Watching the bears

 In the butterfly house...Brayden was scared of all the butterflies flying all around!!  Not the dinosaurs or the bears, but the butterflies  : )

 Talking to the cow at the farmyard exhibit

 Testing out the different sounds of the drums

Worn out from a long day

We also spent time in their kids exploration area inside that had lots of neat things for Brayden to play with.  He enjoyed the mini space shuttle in their space exhibit.  He would push all the buttons and yell "Blastoff" over and over again!  There were a couple of things we didn't make it to because we were too exhausted after so much walking, so we'll definitely have to go back sometime.  Brayden has asked to go see the dinosaurs again several times since we went!

Big News!

That's right....Brayden is going to be a big brother!  We are expecting our second bundle of joy in March 2012.  I think Brayden will be a great big brother...he loves to be around babies already.  I'm sure having one permanently in the house to share attention with will be a little different, but hopefully it will be easy for him (and us!)  The last few weeks have been a little hard for us, as I have been struggling with morning/all day sickness and exhaustion on top of a very busy work season.  Greg has definitely earned the title for "Husband of the Year". He has helped SOOOO much with entertaining Brayden, cleaning, cooking, etc.  I am feeling a little better the last few days, so hopefully the worst is behind me now.   We are very excited and can't wait to meet our new little one!!   

Happy Birthday Song

Today is my 31st birthday.  It was a mostly quiet day with a small family celebration this evening.  Brayden was very excited for my birthday.  He greeted me this morning with "Happy birthday, mommy!  I want to go to your party!"   Poor thing had to wait all day for my "party" when we could finally eat the cake he kept staring at.  My parents, brother and nieces came over to help us celebrate, and Brayden led everyone in singing "Happy Birthday".  He has quite the vocal "abilities" and loves to sing at the top of his voice, especially at birthday parties.  It always tickles me!  Below is a clip of him singing to me earlier today (this is a very sweet, calm version, not nearly as dramatic as he can be! )

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Callie

Callie had her amputation surgery last Thursday, July 14th.  Recovery has been pretty easy for the most part so far.  We had a few sleepless nights in the beginning, mostly for Greg and I because we were worried of what she might do during the night.  We solved that problem by putting the lampshade collar on her...she hates it, but its for the best for everyone!  Brayden has surprisngly been very accepting of Callie's new 3 leggedness (and the big "booboo" on her side) and didn't even ask questions.  He is really gentle with her now and asks us if he can pet her most of the time.  He loves his dog and is so happy to have her home...he asked for her a majority of the two days she was at the vet for the surgery.  

Below are some of our favorite pictures of our sweet, loving, crazy, neurotic Callie over the years : ) Greg and I got her from the SPCA shortly after we were married and she has been a big part of the family ever since.  Although she has taken a little bit of a back seat since Brayden came along, we still love her very much and hope we have many years left to spend with her.

 Our new puppy

 Pretty girl

Gradution from training classes (not sure how she passed!!)

Checking on her new baby brother 

 Where's Callie?

 Christmas card photo out-take

 Best friends

Last day with four legs

1 week after surgery

      Callie may not like the collar, but someone else does!

Beach vacation

We spent last Monday through Thursday in Myrtle Beach with Greg's family.  Skip, Bernadette and Luciana came down from NY for the week, so we all took a short beach vacation together, including Grammy and Grampa Parr.  We stayed at the Caribbean Resort in an oceanfront condo, which was wonderful!  Besides having the beach right there, the hotel had several pools, splash parks, lazy rivers, etc., so there was plenty to keep us entertained.  Brayden was not a big fan of the beach on the first day, but he warmed up to it on the second day.  He and Luciana had a big time digging in the sand, looking for seashells, and playing in the pools.  Besides enjoying the beach and water amenities, we also went to the aquarium one afternoon.  They had a very neat tank exhibit where we stood on a moving sidewalk through it and were surrounded on both sides and above by all the sharks, fish, stingrays, etc.  We also got to see and touch some stingrays and crabs, and saw lots of other neat sea life. We were in Myrtle Beach on July 4th, so we were able to see their fireworks display from the beach at the hotel.  It was really neat because we could see several other town firework displays in the distance to our left and right, and there were a lot of people lighting them off right there on the beach into the night.  Needless to say, we saw a lot of fireworks, which Brayen LOVED!  We had a wonderful few days at the beach with everyone, but it went by too quickly.

On another note, the day before leaving for our vacation we learned that our beloved dog, Callie, has osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in her right hind leg, which is a very agressive cancer.  We went ahead on vacation and tried to enjoy it the best we could, but she was definitely on our minds the whole time.  We met with our vet the day we got back and scheduled amputation surgery for this coming Thursday.  Even with surgery, it is likely that Callie will only be with us a few more months based on statistics.  It is a very difficult decision to make, but we want to at least try to give her more pain free time with us and not regret not doing anything later down the line.  Callie was our first baby, and despite all her "flaws", we love her very, very much.  Please keep both Callie and us in your thoughts as we try to fight the cancer.  Although it is hard, we are trying to be hopeful and think positively about her future.

Greg, the Triathlete!

Greg did his first ever triathlon last Saturday, June 18th!  My brother, David, has gotten very into running and doing all kinds of races over the last year.  So, he managed to talk Greg into doing the 3 Little Pigs Triathlon in Smithfield with him this year.  Greg has never done anything like this before.  He did a little training beforehand, but had a lot of troubles with the bike he was using (my father's old bike).  The same tire blew twice on separate occasions while he was out riding in preparation for the triathlon!  After taking the bike to a bike shop to get fixed the week before the triathlon, Greg was still very nervous about the big day.  The bike was his main concern, finishing the triathlon at all was his second  : )  He didn't sleep much at all the night before.  But I'm glad to say all of his worrying was for nothing, as he did great!  Greg even beat David's time by 2 minutes, which was a big surprise.  Brayden and I went out in time to catch both David and Greg cross the finish line.  I was proud of them both for doing the triathlon...it's definitely not something I would ever think of doing, especially as hot and humid as it was (even that early in the morning!)  Greg was pretty pleased with himself for doing the triathlon and plans to do it again next year, but right now he has no other races planned, especially NOT the half marathon David is trying to talk him into next!

 Ready to go

 Before the start

 David crossing the finish line

 Greg crossing the finish line

 Greg & David post triathlon

     Greg with his biggest fan (who was happy to have just gotten his face painted too!)