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Project 365

This is it! The last Project 365 post! I have to admit-- I'm a little relieved. Trying to take a picture every day was starting to feel like a lot of pressure, and may have been taking the some of the joy out of taking photos. I still fully intend to take and post a lot of photos... but every day? Not a chance.

I do, however, love having a year's worth of photos to look back on. You can find all my Project 365 posts under the "Project 365" category in my sidebar.

Anyway, here we go!

12/28/09

I had Monday and Tuesday off of work, so decided to take full advantage and get Brady out as much as possible. We spent Monday morning at Lost in Fun... and yes, I do let my kid play in the Evil Pit of Germs (aka jump in the balls). I know they're nasty, but what can you do? Brady loves it, and I choose to tell myself that it's building his immune system.

12/29/09

Among Brady's Christmas presents was his own little desk for sitting and coloring. It makes him appear very studious.

12/30/09

A very serious little "I'm playing with trains" face.

12/31/09

So... I'm totally cheating on the last photo of the year. I actually took this photo last New Year's Eve, but it's still one of my favorites. Our New Year's this year (which again, only took place after I got home from work at about 11pm) looked pretty much the same... if you took out the fire, replaced the champagne with non-alcoholic sparkling cider, and moved the location to my bedroom, about 90 second before I fell asleep. Pregnancy turns me into a party animal.

Happy picture-taking in 2010!

Project 365

12/22/09

With all the impending snow, Julie and I decided that a trip to the museum to let Brady and Bella burn off some energy was a good idea. I think we were right. 

12/24/09

While I was at work on Christmas Eve, Paul spent the evening as any good father should... putting together a crazy intricate toy that (literally) takes 4 hours to figure out and assemble.

12/25/09

Brady was all about Christmas morning. Once he understood that he was allowed to rip the paper, there was no stopping him.

For probably the last time ever, he actually took the time to play with and appreciate each toy before getting totally distracted by the next one.

And then there were the trains. We saved the train table for last, since it was already all assembled in the basement. After we opened presents and had breakfast, we told him there was one more present waiting downstairs. He literally gasped, squealed, and ran when he saw it.

We think he likes it. (Thanks, Grandma Carol and Grandpa Bill!) 

12/26/09

And did I mention that it snowed on Christmas?

Well, it did. And the next morning, we saw just how much.

There was a lot of snow. About a foot, all told. It shattered the old record for Christmas Day snowfall, and put this month over the top to be the snowiest December in Lincoln's recorded history. We pretty much couldn't leave the house (after watching car after car that tried get stuck in the snow) all of Friday and Saturday.

We played in it for a bit (after the ordeal that was getting Brady in his snowsuit-- he literally fell over like the kid in "A Christmas Story")...

...but Brady wasn't having much of it, and we didn't last long before he started chanting "Go inside! Go inside!" Oh well. We tried.

12/27/09

He likes playing inside the heated house much better anyway. Can you blame him?

 

Project 365

12/14/09

Ice falling from the sky is definitely inconvenient... but it sure makes for beautifully decorated trees! (This picture was taken from inside the house because it also makes for ungodly cold temperatures.)

12/15/09

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

(Although not enough care, apparently, to get Brady a new stocking. Next year.)

12/16/09

I love the Lincoln Children's Museum. I love it even more at 10am on a Wednesday morning, when we practically have the place to ourselves. Brady loves giant fireman boots.

12/17/09

Paul has a friendwho is a crazy good artist, and has started a new venture sketching live online. Paul gave him a picture of me and told him what I did for a living, and this is what he came up with. Pretty cool!

12/18/09

One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is going through the mail everyday. I love Christmas cards-- especially the ones with adorable kids on them!

12/19/09

It's no secret that we love the Peanuts characters around here. So it warms out hearts that Brady can now name the Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and Lucy hanging on our tree! He demonstrated his skill for my friends Barb and Summer after we all went out to lunch on Saturday, and I think they were suitably impressed.  

12/20/09

Thanks to a fabulous Christmas present from Julie and Bella, there has been a lot of reading of tiny Sesame Street books around our house lately.

 

Project 365

12/7/09

(Since we're currently scanner-less, I had to take a picture of a picture here.)

On Monday morning, we found out that our baby is a boy... and that he apparently enjoys poking himself in the eye with his thumb. I must be blinded by love, because I find this somehow irresistibly adorable.

12/8/09

We were actually given this ornament when I was pregnant with Brady, but it's suddenly appropriate again. Let the hand-me-downs begin!

12/9/09

Poor Paul. There was a LOT of snow out there on Wednesday morning, and somehow it all seemed to blow up against our front door. Plus, I think it was literally about 4 degrees out while he was shoveling. He's a braver soul than I.

12/10/09

Daddy has fun boots! They almost fit... right?

12/11/09

Brady got a haircut on Friday morning, complete with a spiky new 'do in the front. I can't get over how old he looks in this picture! Where did my baby go?

12/12/09

We visited Santa on Saturday. Brady was all excited to tell Santa that he wants trains for Christmas... until it was actually his turn, at which point he started screaming in abject terror. He didn't calm down until we were completely out of the building and safely removed from Santa. Oh, well. Every kid has to have one of these, right? 

12/13/09

I believe the technical term for this is a 'crap-ton' of Christmas cookies. There are over 150 of them, and it took me about 3 hours to bake them all. They go out in the mail to various family members tomorrow. This pregnant lady's back hurts. 

  

Project 365

11/30/09

Everybody kept talking about how Monday would be the last nice day, so I figured we'd better do something outside. I'm glad we did, because they were right-- it's been freezing ever since.

12/2/09

Someday, I will learn to go online and check the schedule before I promise Brady that we're going to storytime at the library. This is literally the third time we've tried to go only to find out that it's been canceled for some reason or another, which means Brady will ask me "library closed?" no fewer than 846 times over the course of the afternoon (and no, the library was not closed-- just no storytime). Fortunately he likes the toys in the children's section, so it wasn't a total loss. We picked out some books and played until a little girl with snot pouring down her face decided she wanted to be friends with Brady and kept trying to hand him things. At that point, I suddenly decided that it was time to go.

12/04/09

I could be wrong, but this week may have been the first time that Channel 8 has ever had a two-woman anchor team on the desk (Rod was on vacation, and the weekend anchor filled in for him). Vanessa and I felt very liberated.

12/05/09

This year, Brady was all about helping to decorate the tree...

(Please ignore the awkward crotch-grab. How else was Paul supposed to hold him up over his head?)

Men at work.

12/06/09

Cozy Christmas house (So it's a little dark-- the good camera had a dead battery. Sue me.)

 

Project 365

11/23/09

We're being brave and once again attempting to move Brady to a booster seat at the table rather than the high chair. Last time, it didn't go well. Now that he understands the concept of "do you want a time-out?", the whole transition is going much better.

11/24/09

The turkey I cooked on Tuesday. Sigh.

11/26/09

I made a pumpkin spice cake on Thanksgiving, and despite what it looks like in this picture, it actually turned out pretty well. I am apparently not the world's greatest food photographer.

11/27/09

A real friend brings you dealcoholized wine (who knew such a thing existed?) when you're pregnant. Thanks, Barb.

11/28/09

There was a surprise party going on for Julie's birthday party on Saturday night, but Brady and Bella didn't seem to mind. It's always the appropriate time for an art project.

11/29/09

I'm really, really glad that Paul has good friends like Brent, because otherwise there might never be Christmas lights on our house. I am somewhat short on patience when it comes to the whole light-hanging process. The older I get, the more I understand why my parents sometimes skipped them altogether.

 
 
 
 
 

Project 365

Given that I was pretty wiped out from my whirlwind trip to LA that ended with getting home from the airport well after midnight on Sunday, it was a fairly slow week. As evidenced by my less-than-thrilling pictures, there was lots of playing inside, reading, and building with blocks. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

11/16/09

A few favorite books of the moment...

 

11/17/09

He was pretty proud of his very tall tower.

11/18/09

It was apparently too dark in the restaurant for a picture, but the way Brady stares intently into the camera now cracks me up. Well, he stares in between his exclamations of "cheese!" and "smile!". Clearly, he has been subjected to a few photo shoots in his life.

11/19/09

Barnes & Noble. Trains. Obsession.

11/21/09

I bought a few hand-made wooden toys from an adorably crass little old man at a craft fair this weekend. I figure since they look like they came from a workshop, they can be from Santa.

11/22/09

Thanks for the new magnet books, Grandpa Ken!

 
 
 
 
 
  

Project 365

Delayed by my trip... but better late than never! A full post on my jaunt to LA is coming soon!

11/09/09

Hopefully this is not indicative of his real feelings on the issue.

11/10/09

I just can't get enough of the bath time pictures. I'm sure he'll love me for this later.

11/12/09

It has been a very long time since I was able to travel with just a rolling carry-on and a backpack. It felt goooood. (Please ignore the giant tub of maternity clothes. I'll put them away at some point, I swear.)

11/13/09

At the MHS homecoming game, with pretty much the same girls I would have gone with in high school.

11/14/09

Reunion!

11/15/09

Before I left for the airport on Sunday, my dad and I stopped at Paul's parents' new house to see all the work they've done. It's beautiful!

 

Project 365

11/3/09

Brady's new "CHEESE!" face.

 

11/7/09

It's hard enough to get Brady to sit long enough to get his own hair cut-- forget about getting him to sit through Paul's haircut as well. Fortunately, there's a Petsmart next door to the salon. I am not above saying that we totally use it like a zoo. Come on-- there are fish, birds, kittens, frogs, and even dogs getting their own haircuts-- what's not for a kid to love? 

11/8/09

We are finally getting some real fall weather, and we're taking full advantage. This morning we rode our bikes to a beautiful park that's about 3 miles from our house, and Brady explored his newfound love of crunching the fallen leaves.

I love that this park is big enough that he can just run and run... but flat enough that I can still see him. Be free, little runner!

Fall is happy.

 

Project 365

Ok, so it's bee way too long since I actually just sat down and did a Project 365 post. I'm not declaring the project a failure, through-- I'll soldier on! I pretty much took zero photos while we were all sick, so there are quite a few missing. I think I'll just pick up where I left off last time, put up what I have, and then move on from there, k?

10/12/09

The kid enjoys his apples.

10/15/09

Paul is particularly proud of this photo. Look at that form!

10/18/09

The obligatory, "Just sit nicely with your father so I can take a heart-warming holiday photo, darn it!" The was the best we did. As you may be able to tell, Brady was a little squirmy.

10/19/09

I LOVE the fall colors here. For some reason, we just didn't seem to get that in L.A. :)

10/22/09

Hanging out with Brady and Baby Jude. Look, Ma! I can watch two at once!

10/31/09

Happy little trick-or-treater.