10 Months Old

This is what our little guy is doing:

-His scoot has become a proper crawl
-He loves to clap and scream (at the same time)
-Bradshaw always watches me shaking up his bottles before giving it to him. (I shake it up to mix the formula with the water.) The other day, Bradshaw was drinking his bottle when he stopped, looked scornfully at the bottle, shook it several times, then returned to drinking.
-Also, Bradshaw does a funny thing whenever he sees food coming. Without taking his eyes off the food, he lowers his jaw and let's his binkie drop out of his mouth.
Don't most kids pull the binkie out with their hand? We don't know whether to praise him for his efficiency, or have concern for his laziness. Regardless, it makes me laugh.
-Moving (state-to-state & hotel-to-hotel) for the past month has destroyed Bradshaw's schedule and sleep habits. At night, he falls asleep in his crib, and ALWAYS ends up in our bed.
-From the ground, he can push himself to standing
-Last but not least, Bradshaw is showing a little verbal comprehension. For example, we say "Clap!" and Bradshaw claps...(we are not modeling how to clap or gesturing anything!) If I say "Kiss!" He'll usually give me one.
He also is using a few words. When I'm preparing a bottle he'll whine "baba baba baba." Also, he will crawl over to me and say "Mahm" and wait until I look at him; then he'll smile and crawl off. We are so proud of him.

Life in the District

At Lincoln's Memorial, the walls are engraved with his speeches. Our favorite quote comes from a speech given during the Civil War:

Both [sides] read the same Bible and pray to the same God and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any man should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces but let us judge not that we be not judged.

On a lighter note, here's Bradshaw lovin the roll-away hotel crib. And...

WE SAW AIR FORCE ONE!

(Note the 3 specks in the picture.)

home SWEET home

Sweet relief! We found an apartment.

The majority of our apartment-searching took place during a heat wave. Everytime I pulled Bradshaw out of his carseat his hair and back would be soaking wet. Then he'd start crying when I had to put him back in the carseat 20 minutes later. Repeat 30 times...and this is how he began to look:

The apartment is in Northern Virginia, just a 15 minute bus ride from Dustinn's work. It's a wooded suburban community with playgrounds, pools and a fitness center. The buildings are older but bright and spacious. And (drumroll please) our family has graduated to a 2-bedroom apartment!

We move in September 1st.

Scooty-Booty

Sadly, between several rental cars and several hotels and walking all over the city, my camera has gone missing.

Since we've last posted...Bradshaw has ridden the metro dozens of times, seen thousands of fireflies, got to visit his Grandparents over 4th of July weekend, received many kisses from an older woman (toddler) at Barnes & Noble and has been to the White House, National Mall, Arlington Cemetary, Smithsonian (dinosaurs, hope diamond, Betsy Ross's flag), Iwo Jima, WW II Memorial, Abe Lincoln, etc. This Saturday, Bradshaw's taking his dad on a whirlwind tour of possible apartments in the District and Alexandria. Yeah!!

Bradshaw has also gotten the new nickname Scooty-Booty. Still no official crawling but I was telling my sister Kate that I can stand in another room and call out "Bradshaw...Bradshaw" and then Mr. Scooty-Booty himself will appear at my feet.

Forgive the quality of these, I'm using my cell:

MEXICO

I'd be remiss if I didn't post pictures from Mexico!

Bradshaw & I went to a family reunion in San Carlos in the middle of June. My grandparents have 10 children & 80 grandchildren. So...there were a lot of us.

We played on the beach, swam, collected shells, shopped in the market, went sailing & snorkeling, the cousins exercised together in the mornings and played games late into the night and (my favorite part) each night a different family hosted dinner & a program. Sunday was Father's Day and the program was a tribute to my Grandfather. Monday we did Book of Mormon charades and fireworks on the beach. Other nights included games, skits, and latin-dancing.

It was incredibly fun.