The Braden Household...

Well we haven't had this baby yet. This little one is a big prankster. With Bails once the painful contractions started they progressively got worse and closer together and then we went to the hospital and she came. This one thinks its funny to throw painful ones in for awhile, and then just stop and have everything go back to normal. It is pretty much driving me crazy considering Sam's finals are coming and he is getting nervous. She will probably come on Monday considering Sam has his anatomy and histology tests that day, followed by his Tuesday morning OSCE. Sounds about right. It is also Rachel baby's birthday and I am going to try to set a trend and have all of my kids on one of our siblings' birthdays.

Sam's intramural basketball team made it to the championship game. It is tonight. If they win he gets a free t-shirt. This could possibly make Sam happier than the birth of his child. There is nothing better to Sam than a free shirt. Pretty sure his closet his living proof of this. Too bad his game is way too late for Bails to attend. She loves trying to sneak onto the court and join the boys. I guess his games prove that it is possible for me to go from sitting on the ground to standing in approximately 1.25 seconds without going into labor or peeing my pants. Just don't tell Sam. I like to play the damsel in distress card as much as possible.

Bailey watched Barney for the first time ever this morning with Uncle Robby. Pretty sure it was the funniest thing in the world. Whenever Barney broke out into song she was compelled to stand up and start dancing. She even tried to copy their dance moves. Oh Barney the dinosaur. If this becomes a favorite I may have to kill Robby for introducing it to her. He already got her hooked on Elmo you tube videos. I am not sure if I could handle another brightly colored, singing monster in this house.

In primary on Sunday the lesson was about honoring the name's of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. This led to a discussion about the new baby's name. We've still got nothing; only arguments about what we each think it should be. One of the five year olds told us to name her Rosie. That was a different five year olds dog's name. Bailey is the name of the dog up the street from my parent's house. Maybe we should just go with a dog name theme.

The big December Costco trip has taken place, stocking our bare shelves with hopefully enough food so we don't starve after bringing this baby home. The Christmas shopping is more done than I even thought possible for a couple of horrible procrastinators like Sam and myself. The hospital bag is not packed, but I've thought about packing it multiple times so...hopefully she can just come so we can stop worrying about what we will do if she comes on each individual day and we can just wing it the best we know how. Good luck to us.

Ward Christmas Party!

I figured we wouldn't really make it to many Christmas parties this year considering it usually takes me an eternity to recover from a baby delivery and taking a new born outside in this freezing cold weather is kind of scary. But the ward party was nice and early this year so we decided to go. Bailey loved watching the primary kids on the stand singing their Christmas song. She also enjoyed eating the dinner. Blueberries dipped in yogurt are pretty much her favorite.

Not her favorite thing? Pretty sure it's Santa Claus...
She was holding on to me so tight she wanted nothing to do with him. For some reason the kids weren't sitting on his lap, which was probably the answer to Bailey's little prayers.
Here she is trying to run away from the jolly old guy and his elves.
And then he pulled out a candy cane. That caught her attention for a few seconds. She is willing to stand next to strangers for a little while if it involves her getting a piece of candy. That's good news for us. Not.
And then her four second turn was over because some older kids moved in on Santa, blocking the camera. Oh well. Maybe next time.

O Christmas Tree...

I can't believe Christmas time is upon us. I have been looking forward to it a little extra this year because it also brings the end of this pregnancy; which of course made it seem extra far away.

And now here we are setting up the tree. Which is especially nice considering even my maternity clothes are getting a little too snug on me.
Bailey was quite the little helper this year which made it sort of fun, sort of stressful. Our tree gets to be pretty top heavy considering she loves pulling the bulbs off the tree and just throwing them around the room and chasing after them.
At least she thinks she is helpful.
Let the Christmas Season begin!

Bye Bye Reno

Long road trips home are so much easier when Uncle Craig sits by you. They are extra fun when he falls asleep with his face close enough to you so you can poke him with your chubby fingers.

Good thing he is such a good sport.

College Football Saturday...

Saturday was spent doing a little more shopping at the mall. It was like a night and day difference between the two days as far as crowds went. Bailey liked watching the big ferris wheel. Unfortunately she was too short to ride so she just got to look at it and point.

After some morning shopping we headed back to my Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim's for some hot dogs, chili, and college football. We once again ate so much that even the boys were full.
Our evening ended with a little bowling and dinner in the hotel's cafe. Sam wanted to break 100 so bad so it was a little extra funny/sad when he ended with a 99. Craig took the cake. He kept saying how bad he was at bowling the whole time and then he through 4 strikes at the end making the come back of the century. Hurrah! I guess little brothers can win after all.

Black Friday in Reno

There was no early morning black Friday shopping for this family. Instead we slept in and then headed down to the arcade after everyone was done working out and getting ready for the day. Bailey showing off her dance dance revolution moves...

We all quickly became obsessed with the Deal or No Deal game.
I played it first and won a whopping four tickets. You would think that would make me the worst suit case picker in the family. Wrong. I definitely beat both Rachel and Connie who got three and one ticket.
We all did such a bad job the first day that when we went back to the Arcade my Dad, who had actually picked the five hundred ticket case took a 52 ticket deal because comparatively that was a lot of tickets. Wah Wah!
After the arcade we hit up the all you can eat Round Table Pizza buffet. We all stuffed ourselves to the brim. Everyone was pretty much full the rest of the day except for the two boys of course.
Then it was off to the mall to collect some of Craig's mission supplies. Apparently Sapporo, Japan is an icy tundra and Craig may just die of coldness. You get way colder when you don't have an ounce of meat on your bones. Good luck with that skinny Craig.
Happy Black Friday!

A Reno Thanksgiving...

We thought a family get together this Thanksgiving was going to be impossible considering I am about to pop. But who doesn't love piling into the car for a seven hour road trip to Reno at 37 weeks pregnant? After many prayers that I wouldn't go into labor on that lovely Nevada stretch of nothing and for the four days in Reno, we were off to go see family. Craig and Robby drove down from Idaho Tuesday night, Sam finished up class on Wednesday around two, Bails was awakened from her nap around 2:15 and then we hit the road.

We met my Mom, Dad and Rachel in the hotel. We checked into our rooms and then hit the hay. My Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim generously upgraded our room to a suite which joined both Connie and Brandon's room and Robby and Craig's. Lets just say Bails was in absolute heaven running around finding and playing with everyone. She would wake up in the morning, sit up and get her bearings, and then gasp and start pointing and running towards the door that joined us to the boy's room asking to go in and wake them up to play.
Thanksgiving morning we headed over to my Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim's beautiful house. We got spoiled just as much as Bailey with football games all day that involved prizes, the best snacks and food, great company, and the most delicious dinner.
Bailey is officially obsessed with Grandpa. She would gladly choose him over anyone, including me. She also liked chasing around Rex and Bobby and only cried a few times when they started barking up a storm. I guess she is still a jumpy chicken.
There was also a lot of sitting around which is just perfect for my large pregnant body. The only bad news was I forgot my lazy sweat pants and lounging around in jeans was not as comfortable.
There was little lounging for Bailey. She would go from one person to the next bossing them around; making them take her places and feed her delicious treats the whole time.
I wish I could say this was a really bad angle and I am not really that puffy, but that would be false.
Just looking at these pictures is making me crave that dinner again. What I wouldn't give to go back in time and eat it all again right now. Yum Yum.
Every time I am around these two brothers of mine I am always surprised how much they can eat. It is ridiculous. And also the fact that everything is a competition with them. Who can eat more, run faster, be stinkier, win the game, grow taller, etc. You name it they can turn it into a contest.
During dinner Bailey followed the growls of her stomach. Anyone she could mooch off, she would.
She stole Robby's mashed potatoes and turkey first considering that Robby and Craig were the first two in line and practically done with their first round before everyone else had even started eating.
The rest of the gang getting their food before Rob and Craig ate it all.
And the reason why I am so puffy? Pretty sure I ate all of that and then I went back for a little more. So delicious.
Bails making her continuous rounds to mooch some more. I think she ate all of my Dad's green beans. At least we got some vegetables in her that day to counteract the M&M's, chips and cookies she kept sneaking off the snack tables.
Here is table #1. Sam was too busy taking pictures he forgot to get a plate and sit down to eat so he ate at the adult table with my Aunt, Uncle, and their friend Mike.
And to end the evening the dancing game on the wii got pulled out to burn off some of those calories. Bailey is a master dancer. She has got some serious rhythm. Dana, I hate to say it, but I think she may dance even better than you. Not to mention all the new and exciting moves she learned to add to her collection.

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. It was so fun being around family; the drive was totally worth it. We missed you Janet, Dana and David. Thank you so much Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim for everything. Dinner was so delicious and we had such a great time. Love you all.
Happy Thanksgiving!