My first week back to work went pretty well. I am SO happy that I am only back for 3 days a week because that was long enough! Tuesday and Wednesday the kids got to stay at our house with Gramma so that helped all of us out a lot, I got to call as much as I wanted and talk to them, which I did of course. Thursday was Braden's first day at daycare and it also went very well. He got to meet lots of new friends and play with lots of new stuff. I made sure to peek in on him as much as I could on the cameras and he always seemed to be rolling around doing something different. After 2 phones calls and hearing him talking in the background, I knew he was in good hands. I forgot how fun it was to end a work day and be able to go get them and have a best part of the day. I obviously love being home with them but the smiles and hugs you get when you pick them up after not seeing them all day is so great! Of course I get tons of kisses and hugs all day when I'm home which I miss on those days but picking up Alexa and hearing her say "Mommy, I missed you SO much!" and Braden grabbing my face and giving me huge smiles....it's the best! Being a stay at home mom as been wonderful but I am happy to have a little time away to miss them and appreciate them so much more!! And it's even better that I get to have nice long 4 days weekends!

Now I can get excited to come home to this.....
































































































And this.

Man, I love these two!

Time outs and Hair Dos

What did we do this weekend? A whole lot of nothing. Actually that's not true. Actually that's not true at all, we had a pretty busy weekend. Alexa started the weekend out in timeout. Normally we don't have to use it that much, but the past week or two she has just been a crazy girl and definitely testing mom and dad. We are hoping this is a short phase and we can have our sweet little girl back. Actually she IS a very sweet girl, she is constantly kissing all of us and says the cutest things like "I so glad to see you" and "I love you so much" but she has her moments throughout the day when she just flips out. I guess we are lucky it's only for a couple minutes at a time and normally after a warning or a timeout she is over it and back to her sweet self. Anyway, short phase...is that possible? Maybe, but then we probably just move to another phase of some sort.

Matt and I also got to get out AGAIN for like the 3rd time in the past 4 weeks, we have felt so spoiled thanks to Gramma and Auntie Alaina! On Friday night we got together with our friends Brian and Sarah who just got engaged! YAY, congratulations! So we went the Shout House. Such a fun. It's an sing along, interactive, dueling piano bar. They have a small menu but what we had was good and you don't have to actually do any interacting if you don't want to, but would be a fun place for a group to go for a birthday party or bachelorette party.

Saturday we woke up and did the usual: breakfast, swimming lessons and a trip to the grocery store. Then much of the rest of the day was spent doing a lot of cleaning and organizing, we are doing some rearranging and the house is a mess and we wanted to get as much done before I went back to work this week. Yes, I am finally being forced back into the work world. :( Fortunately I am able to go back to my old job and even better is that I get to go back part time. It's been a tough week for me thinking about going back but it will be nice to shower and get out of the house a few days a week and I will also still get lots of time home with the kids. I keep telling myself this hoping it helps but man am I going to miss my babies on those days!
Speaking of my babies, aren't they adorable?

Braden had some REAL solid food this weekend. We tried a piece of Zwieback toast which he really liked but then he actually got a chunk off so that was the end of that and we moved on to baby fruit puffs which he is now in love with!

Braden also got his first hair do this weekend. I have been dying to get some gel in his hair and spike it up and I finally did it.....and he looked so cute. Here he is with Daddy showing his hair off, it's kind of hard to see.

It must have been a busy weekend because Alexa crawled up on Matt's lap Sunday night and cuddled and almost feel asleep which she never does anymore. Matt was in heaven! :)

Braden-6 Months

This past Thursday I brought Braden in for his 6 month check-up (yes, all by myself for the very first time, can you believe it?) This is only because it was a very busy week at 3M and there was NO possible way for Matt to go in late or leave early. So I put on my bravest Mommy face and brought him in, it worked out well with Alexa being in school that day. Anyway things went great, besides the fact that we were sitting in our tiny little room for about 1 1/2 hours. I always try to make our appointments for as early as we can to avoid the waiting and back-ups which has always worked until this time. Braden did very well and waited oh so patiently, well for the first 45 minutes. After that we were getting very close to nap time and he was getting completely bored with the one toy I brought with. Our doctor finally came in and we once again had a happy baby while he played with him. Everything check out great, right on track developmentally and no problems. YAY, that's what every parent wants to hear, well that and "The nurse will be right back in to give the shots." Once again we were pacing the 10 foot long room back and forth for a good half hour, finally Braden stopped complaining and fell asleep on my shoulder....of course just in time for the nurse to actually come back in. Every second that passes I get more worked up about the shots, I debated on making another nurse come in and help hold Braden. When the time came I laid him on the table and actually held his little arms and buried my face in his neck. I know, amazing huh? What is more surprising is that he cried for about a whole 4 seconds and I think that was more because he got woken up than anything.

And here is where our little (BIG) boy falls on the growth charts:
Height - 27 inches (81 percentile)
Weight - 23 pounds 1 ounce (99 percentile)
Head Circ. - 18.25 inches (98 percentile)

Yup, he's a big boy....and gets cuter by the day too!

Just a few pictures

Just some random pictures of the kids that I thought were cute

Our back yard friends

Yesterday Alexa and I went out on a little play date all by ourselves. We went to the MOA for Toddler Tuesdays and Alexa was very excited because this week was called 'Breakfast with the Backyardigans' and boy does she love them! We got to sit and have oatmeal and juice and listen to some songs then we got in line to actually meet 3 of the Backyardigans, Tyrone, Pablo and Alexa's personal favorite, Uniqua. (She's the pink one of course.) She was very excited and waited very patiently in line until it was our turn. It was kind of cool because each kid got to go in one at a time and give them hugs, high fives, kisses and take a few pictures. It was so adorable watching some of the kids when they finally had their turn, I think it was the highlight of their short little lives. So anyway, we finally get up to the front of the line and the girl came over and said that it was our turn to go say HI and Alexa FREAKS out. There was no way she was going to go touch them. How did I know this was going to happen?! She does this all the time! Horse rides, santa, etc. She gets so excited and says Yes Yes Yes I DO want to go do this or that then when the time comes or we actually get close she totally refuses. The Backyardigan "helpers" were very nice about it though, they let us kind of just move to the side and watch another girl go and see if Alexa wanted one more try. I finally told her that this was the last chance and if she wanted to say HI then she has to go now and take her turn. I asked if she wanted me to come too and she said she would go if she could sit on my lap. So we finally got to see Uniqua and give them all high fives and we even got a couple pictures too. It was very cute, all she could talk about on our way out was how cool it was to see them. After the MOA we stopped at IKEA to grab a couple things and have lunch. By the time I got of the parking area she was fast asleep and after sleeping the whole way home she STILL took another 2 hour nap. Those Backyardigans, they sure do wear a kid out!

This is when we were hanging out on the side area. Alexa was checking things out and making sure it really was okay to go over. I think seeing that little girl give them big hugs helped a little! :)

We finally got the picture.....then she didn't want to leave. :)

Welcome to our blog

I finally decided to start a blog! Thanks to my new friend, Jessica (who has a daughter around Braden's age), she has finally convinced me to start a blog.

So, let me introduce my self. My name is Laura. I'm married to the greatest guy ever, his name is Matt Bignell. We have two AMAZING kids. Our first is Alexa Jolene. Alexa is 2 yrs old, and around the house she's known as "sassypants", and she sure does a geat job at living up to her name! She is now a big sister, and is absolutely in love with her brother. I can just picture her bossing him around in a few years! She loves to be a "second mommy" to her little brother.

Which brings me to our second child. Braden Matthew. Braden was born on August 13th, and he is such a joy, and a great additon to our family. I love watching him grow and change.

And, well, this is my blog!