Brady just keeps on going. He doesn't walk on his own yet, but just started taking shaky steps holding on with only one hand. He loves to pull himself up between my legs and walk just holding on to my legs. He has gotten pretty good with it so I can manage to make dinner entertaining him that way without having to hold him. We went to go visit Santa with a free photo at BassPro Shop, he didn't cry, but didn't smile either. We went to the mall to play in the kids play place with a friend and he LOVED it! I forgot my camera :( His favorite thing was climbing inside a log. He would just chat/yell to himself and crawl around in it. The bigger kids would start to go in then see him, talk to him and wave, then leave. He was the king of that log for a good 15min. Brady still loves to smile at everyone when we go anywhere, but if he is tired he will smile, but if you act like you are going to take him from me he freaks out! Only when he is tired though... we are still working on his sleeping. Oh, he also started to read books. Before he would just pull them all off the bookshelf then crawl away. Now, he will go in there and I hear him just talking, and he is looking through a book. Sometimes he has a hard time opening them so he starts yelling at it to open up... but it doesn't work. We love our little boy!
Things are going good on the Merrill side. Will says work is still work, and he hasn't frozen yet from him 10min walk each morning in below freezing temps so he can get free parking. It's snowed a couple of times, so we got the joy of shoveling our driveway once... It's flurrying now, which is my favorite! Other then being cold, we are enjoying life!
Friday, December 20, 2013
Friday, November 29, 2013
Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays! This year, Will was kind enough to let me invite the family, plus 2 other families over for Thanksgiving (sorry, I didn't take any pictures!)
We started off the morning preparing our yummy turkey, then Will was a sport to watch Brady while I ran a 10K in the FREEZING Cold.... Yes, our toes were numbed and burning BEFORE the race even started! We were lucky enough to park pretty close to the start line, so we just sat in the car waiting for the last ten min. I ran it with a friend from church, she was AMAZING! Since it being so cold here... I have been terrible with running and training for the 10K.. excusses such as, It's too cold to run with Brady outside (hasn't gotten above 40 for like 2 weeks), after he goes to bed, it's too cold (like under 32)... totally legit reasons from an Arizona girl right? Needless to say, I defiantly felt the affects of not training well during the whole race and even today some... but yesterday NOT ABLE to MOVE WITHOUT PAIN!! HURT SO BAD! But thanks to Lily, we finished it with running most of the way.
After heading home and taking a boiling water shower to warm up, Thanksgiving preparations were almost done! Will and I cooked our FIRST turkey! Not only that, but it was the secret Merrill Goosock turkey, which turned out AMAZING!!! We managed to fit 17people over for dinner. All the food was AMAZING! Brady loved my sisters rolls. In fact, while eating leftovers today for lunch, he managed to pull the table cloth, tip over a full cup of milk all over just to reach a roll... I should have taken more from my sister :) After eating, the kids had fun playing in our partially finished basement and we played games and chatted. It was VERY noisy, but lots of fun! We went to bed VERY early last night.
I am so thankful for Wills job where is is able to support us so I can stay at home, only needing to work occasionally. I am gratful that we were sent to Omaha, where I do some some family and friends instead of another state where we knew no one. I am especially grateful for all the new friends I have met, and of course for Brady and Will.
Brady is now 9months. No walking yet... which could be good and bad :) He has managed to have his two bottom teeth break through the gums. He still crawls everywhere. We are continuolusly working on his naps... he either doesn't want to take one, or plays for over an hour before falling asleep for 30min... needless to say, this means he has gotten more grumpy and needing a lot more attention :( It is something we have been working on for months. Maybe by the time we have another child we will figure it out :)
We started off the morning preparing our yummy turkey, then Will was a sport to watch Brady while I ran a 10K in the FREEZING Cold.... Yes, our toes were numbed and burning BEFORE the race even started! We were lucky enough to park pretty close to the start line, so we just sat in the car waiting for the last ten min. I ran it with a friend from church, she was AMAZING! Since it being so cold here... I have been terrible with running and training for the 10K.. excusses such as, It's too cold to run with Brady outside (hasn't gotten above 40 for like 2 weeks), after he goes to bed, it's too cold (like under 32)... totally legit reasons from an Arizona girl right? Needless to say, I defiantly felt the affects of not training well during the whole race and even today some... but yesterday NOT ABLE to MOVE WITHOUT PAIN!! HURT SO BAD! But thanks to Lily, we finished it with running most of the way.
After heading home and taking a boiling water shower to warm up, Thanksgiving preparations were almost done! Will and I cooked our FIRST turkey! Not only that, but it was the secret Merrill Goosock turkey, which turned out AMAZING!!! We managed to fit 17people over for dinner. All the food was AMAZING! Brady loved my sisters rolls. In fact, while eating leftovers today for lunch, he managed to pull the table cloth, tip over a full cup of milk all over just to reach a roll... I should have taken more from my sister :) After eating, the kids had fun playing in our partially finished basement and we played games and chatted. It was VERY noisy, but lots of fun! We went to bed VERY early last night.
I am so thankful for Wills job where is is able to support us so I can stay at home, only needing to work occasionally. I am gratful that we were sent to Omaha, where I do some some family and friends instead of another state where we knew no one. I am especially grateful for all the new friends I have met, and of course for Brady and Will.
Brady is now 9months. No walking yet... which could be good and bad :) He has managed to have his two bottom teeth break through the gums. He still crawls everywhere. We are continuolusly working on his naps... he either doesn't want to take one, or plays for over an hour before falling asleep for 30min... needless to say, this means he has gotten more grumpy and needing a lot more attention :( It is something we have been working on for months. Maybe by the time we have another child we will figure it out :)
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Kitchen- lots of pictures
Yay! Our kitchen is mostly finished! Well, the cabinets are finished. We still have some trim to paint, curtains up, some baseboards left, and decorating, so don't judge me :)
Before:
During:
The overall process was simple, it just took A LOT OF TIME. Do I like it? about 90%. I love the clear hard coat on the outside, and the degrees er to save lots of sanding. The bond coat (middle coat) says you only need to do two, and then they (Rustoleum) has an option glaze. We didn't want to do the glaze, and since we didn't we needed a 3rd bondcoat. To save paint we only did it on the outside. On some of the cabinets, after putting on the final clear coat, some yellowish stuff came through... but since it did that in random spots on about 1/3 cabinets, we felt it was ok, and didn't re-do it all over.
After: Please excuse the messy counter tops.
Before:
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| North |
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| East |
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| South |
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| West |
The overall process was simple, it just took A LOT OF TIME. Do I like it? about 90%. I love the clear hard coat on the outside, and the degrees er to save lots of sanding. The bond coat (middle coat) says you only need to do two, and then they (Rustoleum) has an option glaze. We didn't want to do the glaze, and since we didn't we needed a 3rd bondcoat. To save paint we only did it on the outside. On some of the cabinets, after putting on the final clear coat, some yellowish stuff came through... but since it did that in random spots on about 1/3 cabinets, we felt it was ok, and didn't re-do it all over.
After: Please excuse the messy counter tops.
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| North |
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| East |
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| South |
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| West |
Chicken!
Last week I received my 80lb order of chicken from Zaycon foods. With the help of a friend, who watched Brady for a couple of hours because he wasn't feeling well, this is what I accomplished from 10am - 7:30 pm. There was lots of preparation for the freezer meals and bottled chicken.
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| 23 freezer meals |
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| about 15 1/2 quart bags of extra chicken for other meals. |
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| 32 pints of bottled chicken. |
Monday, October 21, 2013
8 months!
Brady is 8months! I can't believe how fast it has flown. I LOVE every minute of it! Sorry, but there aren't any pictures :( I already posted the ones I have of him from 7months... and he has had a cold the past week, so he looks really sad, tired, and hungry (cuz he doesn't want to drink his bottles :( )
What Brady has accomplished during his 7month phase:
* He crawls anywhere and every where... fast! When he crawls on wood, you can here him coming from a mile away.
* He plays by himself in his bed room for about 10-15min, then makes his way down the hallway...long living room... to find mommy in the kitchen
* He likes to try to attack the dishwasher no matter how many times I tell him no
* His stand alone record time is 3sec.
* He loves walking with people helping him
* He will crawl up to anyone and everyone and use them to pull himself up. I mean ANYONE! We have been to multiple 1st birthday parties and he will just crawl on up and start climbing on people.
* He blows bubbles, whatever you call them ALL. DAY. LONG.
* He likes to talk to dogs
* He still loves putting EVERYTHING in his mouth... including bugs... even though he gags/chokes every time. I am still waiting for this phase to end.
Three days a week I watch my 2 1/2 yr old nephew, and 3mo old neice. He LOVES having people to play with him. His favorite thing is to crawl around the house following his cousin. He also likes to try to attack his little cousin, but we are working on that. That's pretty much what he has been up to. Next post... our kitchen!
What Brady has accomplished during his 7month phase:
* He crawls anywhere and every where... fast! When he crawls on wood, you can here him coming from a mile away.
* He plays by himself in his bed room for about 10-15min, then makes his way down the hallway...long living room... to find mommy in the kitchen
* He likes to try to attack the dishwasher no matter how many times I tell him no
* His stand alone record time is 3sec.
* He loves walking with people helping him
* He will crawl up to anyone and everyone and use them to pull himself up. I mean ANYONE! We have been to multiple 1st birthday parties and he will just crawl on up and start climbing on people.
* He blows bubbles, whatever you call them ALL. DAY. LONG.
* He likes to talk to dogs
* He still loves putting EVERYTHING in his mouth... including bugs... even though he gags/chokes every time. I am still waiting for this phase to end.
Three days a week I watch my 2 1/2 yr old nephew, and 3mo old neice. He LOVES having people to play with him. His favorite thing is to crawl around the house following his cousin. He also likes to try to attack his little cousin, but we are working on that. That's pretty much what he has been up to. Next post... our kitchen!
Monday, September 30, 2013
Whats been up...
Family: Brady crawls all over the place (half the time with a toy sticking out of his mouth) He loves pulling himself up to the couch, boxes, chairs, anything and everything. He likes to walk around holing on with both hands, and takes HUGE steps like a robot. It's really funny. Here are some pictures to show you his favorite things...
Will is still enjoying his job. They switched ward boundaries so we have had fun meeting new people in the ward.
House: We finished installing the snap in wood floors and have been slowly organizing the closet. We started painting the kitchen cabinets. We are almost finished with the final coat, then we have to hang up a couple, and instal some counter top before I put up some pictures. We are using the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation kit, so if any of you want some tips, just ask.
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| Loves being outside and eating leaves/grass |
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| Stand up with almost anything |
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| Reaching for Daddy's tools |
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| Crawling with stuff in my mouth |
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| Yep... climbing on top of boxes Except He can't get down, so we have to teach him or he goes head first |
House: We finished installing the snap in wood floors and have been slowly organizing the closet. We started painting the kitchen cabinets. We are almost finished with the final coat, then we have to hang up a couple, and instal some counter top before I put up some pictures. We are using the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation kit, so if any of you want some tips, just ask.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Soon to be 7 months!
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| Watching Dad and Grandpa outside |
Brady has accomplished SO much while he has been 6months.
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| My favorite hiding place |
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| I love climbing up mountains |
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| Brady was looking handsome so I took some pictures |
* Favorite foods Peaches and sweet potatoes
* He has maxed at out 15lbs and 27in long. Long and skinny
* He can pull himself to standing position with the chair or couch; he turns around so fast he needs someone by him still or he will topple over
* Still LOVES when people talk to him or smile at him.
* Favorite toys are shoes
* Likes to play under the piano bench, and play the piano.
* He will take really awkward HUGE steps walking while holding on to us with both hands
* he loves to CLIMB OVER EVERYTHING! He will climb over legs, big and small toys, couch pillows
* Brady loves just being outside
* He gets himself into the sitting position by himself
* He loves wrestling with his daddy.
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| I love dad |
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| Chillin outside while mommy and daddy do yard work |
Monday, September 9, 2013
House... What we have done so far
A lot of people have been asking me about the house to see pictures. Here are lots of pictures some with the before and now picture, and others of just the origional because we haven't done anything. I posted some at the beginning so it might be a double, so bear with me.
Now the Basement... The basement was all put aside (except the laundry room) until we moved in. This will be our next main focus (Until we finish finding cabinets for the kitchen so we can paint them). We are going to start with the office to do lots of painting, and can double as a Guest room until the Guest room is finished. Right now the Guest room is storing EVERYTHING, so it's pretty messy. It will be nice to have an office so I can organize my other side of the brain :) Then we definitely need to tidy up the bathroom so our guests have a place to go. Next the livingroom/all/stairs/guest room/ ceiling... ect. As you can see from the pictures, we still have a lot more work to do :)
Although it is a lot of work, we really like the house! I will be really excited when the cabinets are finished so I can organize my kitchen; and when we build some book shelves so I can get rid of my boxes of books lying around. Once those two projects are finished, upstairs unpacking will be done. We are so grateful for being able to get this house and all the help we have had from family and friends.
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| Before: Front of the house After: not picture, My dad chopped all the weeds down, and put up a dirt brim to keep the water from going to the basement |
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| Outside, We have only mowed. As you can see it needs A LOT of yard work. It's a panorama picture so it doesn't show the weird angle of the yard from living on a circle It is bigger then some and has a short steep hill from sledding in a year or two. |
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| Bathroom |
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| Dining Room |
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| Kitchen |
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| Living Room |
Now the Basement... The basement was all put aside (except the laundry room) until we moved in. This will be our next main focus (Until we finish finding cabinets for the kitchen so we can paint them). We are going to start with the office to do lots of painting, and can double as a Guest room until the Guest room is finished. Right now the Guest room is storing EVERYTHING, so it's pretty messy. It will be nice to have an office so I can organize my other side of the brain :) Then we definitely need to tidy up the bathroom so our guests have a place to go. Next the livingroom/all/stairs/guest room/ ceiling... ect. As you can see from the pictures, we still have a lot more work to do :)
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| this and the next picture are of the room we will be turning into an office Ceiling and walls need painted and floors laid down are the top priorities. |
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| Our very sad looking downstairs bathroom We can only imagine how much work this is going to be... Good news! The toilet works though (if you don't mind an open creepy ceiling above your head) |
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| Stairs... yep, lots of work too. |
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| The downstairs family room... the carpet as been ripped out. It was the first thing because it smelt so bad. As you can see we will need to tear out the ceiling in here, paint, base boards, flooring... you know the usual :) |
Friday, September 6, 2013
Brady
We finally got internet in our new home, so I can blog. I will put up some pictures on the house soon. For now, It's Brady time. He has GROWN so much! And today, he has been doing the little-est cute-est things EVER! I am sure by 7months he will be crawling.
With the new house, he has mastered scooting. It took him about a week to get used to the wood floors, and by then we had laid some area rugs down both don't phase him. He has gone from room too room following me. It is the cutest thing ever! He can crawl about 4 "crawls" then plops and scoots because he is SO much fast that way. He is such a big helping in finding every little thing on the floor, and LOVES all the little carpet pieces and tearing the plastic strings. Here are some things I have captured him doing today... all happens within 1 min of putting him on the floor, all places are about 15ft away.
We also got a new rug for the back door and I hadn't taken off the sticker yet, Brady found that and took it off for me. This was his first time scooting to the backdoor which is by the stairs, I guess I have to get a gate. He is a busy busy boy!
With the new house, he has mastered scooting. It took him about a week to get used to the wood floors, and by then we had laid some area rugs down both don't phase him. He has gone from room too room following me. It is the cutest thing ever! He can crawl about 4 "crawls" then plops and scoots because he is SO much fast that way. He is such a big helping in finding every little thing on the floor, and LOVES all the little carpet pieces and tearing the plastic strings. Here are some things I have captured him doing today... all happens within 1 min of putting him on the floor, all places are about 15ft away.
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| Got this out for his cousin the other day, Brady's toys are behind that. I guess he didn't like the ones I put out for him. |
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| The Bathroom is his FAVORITE place to go to! He must like the monkeys. |
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| This is his favorite place to pull at the carpet. He is doing his morning planks. He also loves to do the yoga pose downward facing dog, and rock back on his hands and knees to put himself to sleep. |
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| I went out to bring in the groceries and kept the door open. I walk up to Brady by the door saying "mamamamama" LOVE This little guy! |
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| Freedom! |
Monday, August 12, 2013
Brady- Almost 6 months
Wow, Brady keeps learning new stuff each day! I have decided this is one of his most exciting months yet, besides being born of course :)
* He can scoot forward now! The first few days he would ONLY scoot to get to car keys, but this afternoon is was so fun watching him try to play with a small ball, only for it to roll away from him and then for him to try to chase after it. It's funny because he looks to see how far it is, then searches around for a toy closer to see if it's actually worth going after the farther toy sometimes it is, but not all the time.
* He has mastered sitting and playing with toys, but isn't able to move to that position by himself. Mom loves it when he does because she can get a lot more stuff done when he plays for 30-45min by himself.
* He got himself a high chair and defiantly misses his freedom of twisting around in his bumbo. He goes "What, I can't move in this thing? I am done eating" and wants to get done as SOON as he is finished instead of sitting at the table and chatting like usual.
* When taking a bath is favorite thing to do is take the rag and shove it in his mouth as FAR as it can go, then keeps it in there while he splashes around. He now gets his own rag while I use another for him. I will have to get a pic of it...
* Brady does NOT like nap time any more, mom doesn't appreciate that very much
* He has mastered jumping... my videos won't download of him jumping or scooting :( sorry
* He still loves being outside
* I think his favorite toy is his friends. After I go running with my friend, we let our kids play together for a bit while we stretch and drink water, Brady will play with this big block toy for-ev-er and be completely content.
* HE is a big eater and will eat a 4oz jar of baby food for each meal
* He loved playing with people, and will give almost anyone a smile if you show him a little attention.
* HE holds his bottle (I think mainly because mommy is to slow with giving it to him, and keeps taking it out because he hasn't learned about the importance of bubbles yet)
* He is working on getting better with pulling himself to a standing position and standing at the couch
* he gets on his hands and knees so easily and loves to rock back and forth, and sometimes hops with both his knees forward. He hasn't figured out how to move his arms without toppling over yet.
I LOVE being his mommy and watching him grow and learn. I continue to be amazed with how quickly they learn and grow. We think he is the CUTEST thing on earth! (We are betting that he will be crawling by the time we move into our new house in 2 weeks)
Wood Floors
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| our new restored kitchen floor! |
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| Right: Sanded kitchen Left: the warn out brown kitchen and not so warn yellow kitchen |
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| Pre/post sanded living room floor |
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| This is what the bedroom and living room floors look like finished. I can't wait to add the new baseboards! |
Last Thursday Will took off work, and we sanded all of our upstairs wood floors except the dinning room. It only took us 6 1/2 hrs with both sanders running almost the whole time. We are so grateful for my mom watching Brady so we could spend all day working on it. On Saturday Will started early and was able to finish 3 coats of Polyurethane. We didn't want to stain it, and LOVE all the different colors in the wood that have shown up. We both thought the kitchen floor was hideous, and I was tempted to top it with tile or something else; it has become our FAVORITE after sanding and coating it! I am so excited to paint the kitchen cabinets white and have a nice shining NEW kitchen of my own to cook in again! Hopfully withing 2 weeks we will be living in our new place. My mom and I have been going over 3-4 times a week during the morning to work on it, while Will goes after work and in the evenings. It will be much easier to work on it without having to drive over each day.
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