Happy First Birthday Bradley!

One year ago today a beautiful baby boy was born. He was 7lbs 14 oz, 19 inches long, and absolutely perfect in every way. I cannot believe it's been a year since my baby boy was born, but indeed it's true. I figured I'd share some memories of the day.

This was me waiting to get admitted. As you may remember I had gone into labor several times already and was given a shot to stop the labor, and sent home. I was feeling optimistic, but afraid to be sent home again without my baby.

From Birth of Bradley

Bradley Ryan Canada -- 7lbs 14oz. Exactly one pound more then his sister. =)

From Birth of Bradley

Daniel, the proud father admiring his handsome son.

From Birth of Bradley

Mommy saying Hello.

From Birth of Bradley

Grandpa Terry and Bradley

From Birth of Bradley

An exhausted Mommy and Baby

From Birth of Bradley

Very proud big sister meeting her highly anticipated little brother.

From Birth of Bradley

Uncle Harry waving hello.

From Birth of Bradley

These are of course, only a few of the memories we have of his birth. There are many more on our picasa web album if you'd like to go and reminisce. =)

National Dance Day!

For those of you who don't know, Saturday was National Dance Day. We decided to go to Bridgestreet Town Center to check out the festivities they had going on. Brooke ended up dancing with the Viper Girls (which are the arena football cheerleaders) and our local news captured some footage. So here is Brooke getting "Footloose". =)

Exciting Things to Come!

Mr. Bradley will be a year old in 6 days!!!! It does not even feel like it's been a year since I was walking around, begging him to come out! It seems like 6 months, MAYBE. But in fact it is true, my baby will no longer be a baby in 6 days. It's an exciting time! Bradley is so, extremely close to walking as well. He has let go of the table and is standing freely when he chooses. He is also walking around very well with his walker. I think he is more than capable of walking now, he just doesn't know that yet. ;-) Once he figures that out, it's all over! Bradley has also discovered his personality. He's realizing what he has to do in order to get laughs, and that laughs get him attention. He's also learned how to answer questions... though every answer he gives is yes. You could ask him anything, anything at all, and he would nod his head yes and say "yeah". This is much better then everything being no, but it's still confusing. LOL

From July 2010

Brooke is coming up on some big changes as well. She's starting school on August 18th! She's so excited and can't wait! She'll be going to school 2 days a week, on Wednesday's and Friday's. I just know she's going to have so much fun. Last week she attended Vacation Bible School at her Papa and Bama's church. She LOVED it! She would come home every night singing the new songs she learned, and showing us her projects that she made. I love that she loves learning so much... I only hope this continues for years and years to come. Brooke completed her last week of TumbleTotz for the summer on Tuesday. I am amazed at how much she has learned and the things she can do! She does summersalts like nobody's business, she can walk a balance beam, and jump off of huge cliffs into piles of foam blocks with no fear whatsoever. The parents were able to go inside and watch on the last day, so I took as many pictures as I could. They are all posted on our Picasa web album posted below. Thanks to Brooke's Grandma Bonnie, she's going to be able to continue on with tumbling for the fall season. She'll continue to go once a week, on Thursdays at 3:30. Brooke is going to have a very busy schedule, packed full of fun! This also means a very busy schedule for Mommy and Bradley as well. =)

From July 2010

Daniel is now in his 6th week of Transition at Verizon and is spending more and more time on the phones, and though there are some bad calls, he is still enjoying his job. 6 more weeks and he'll be completely done with all training and his schedule will change. Hopefully he's able to get a good schedule, but we'll work with whatever he's given. He'll also have the opportunity to work overtime once he's out of transition. This will help us start to save up for a trip back home... though while we save, any and all are welcome to come and visit us. I know two little ones that absolutely LOVE visitors. =)

Woody 3 and 4th of July!

I've been trying to update all morning... and literally every time I sit down to start writing, something comes up. The phone will ring, someone will wake up, etc. etc. etc. Now then... June... where did you go? The month of June flew by and I'm not entirely sure why. All I know is that one month from today... my baby boy is going to be one. I don't know how that's possible. It really was just yesterday that I brought him home from the hospital. I swear. ;) Our plans for Bradley's one year birthday bash are still up in the air as of now. I know, I should have had this planned months ago. We're thinking that we'll probably have a small "cookout" style party. That's what these southerners call a BBQ. LOL Or maybe we just won't do anything at all... if we don't celebrate it, it just won't be true right? =)

The big event of June was of course... Toy Story 3! Brooke had been waiting to see it since I told her it was coming out way back when. She knew that it came out on June 18th... which was also her Auntie "Feather's" birthday. Also happening on June 18th, was Daniel graduating from his training class at Verizon. So due to the Graduation, we were unable to take the munchkin's to see Toy Story 3 on opening day... so June 18th, was actually on June 26th. Luckily she doesn't understand the concept of time yet. hehe. It was our first time taking Bradley to the movies... and probably the last for a while. He is waaaaay too active now to sit still for an entire movie. But Brooke... loved every second of it. She even got popcorn! The only problem.... she wants to go back again and again!

Brooke is still enjoying her Cheerleading every Tuesday. She goes and does her "exercises" with all of her "kids". She is now a champion jumper as well as being able to do all sorts of other things. Brooke is also all signed up for Mother's Day Out starting August 18th. She will be going two days a week on Wednesday's and Friday's from 9:30 - 1:30. She is so excited and so am I!!!! I will love to have some quality time with my Bradley bear. =) I know Brooke will love going to school, I think the only problem will be getting her to come home.

Yesterday was 4th of July and WOW... Alabama really knows how to celebrate! There were fireworks everywhere!!!! Not only were there 2 firework shows within about a mile of our house, but most fireworks are legal out here so people were shooting them off right and left! We spent the afternoon at Papa and Bama's where we BBQ'd and just hung out with family. We caught some of the firework shows on our drive home and Brooke loved them! I think if they weren't so loud, she'd love them even more... maybe next year. =)

Our place is pretty much up and running now, minus a few pictures and decorations here and there. There is a link below for our Picasa web album and it'll have tons of pictures!!! So enjoy y'all!

Crawlin' the Ground and Tumblin' Around

My original plan for once a week updates seem to have turned into once a month updates.... but I am still updating so that's the important part! I never thought that staying home with my little ones would end up being so much work! As you all know Brooke is very personable so she loves to talk... and talk... and talk. Lately her vocabulary has jumped through the roof! She's been saying words like exquisite and spectacular on a regular basis. Too regular if you ask me. LOL I'm not quite sure where she's been learning these words but I love that she's learning! I'd like to think I have a fairly decent vocabulary, but I don't usually walk around saying exquisite on a daily basis. I had hoped that we would have been able to get Brooke into a good preschool by now, but sadly, it's not looking like it's going to happen as soon as we'd hoped. Who knew you'd need to be on a 3 year waiting list to get your toddler into a public preschool? There are of course private preschool's...but they require a pretty penny that we just don't have. If any of you do have this penny... and would like to share.... we'd be MORE than grateful. =) Though preschool is sort of out of the question for moment, we did sign Brooke up for a tumbling class at TumbleBeez. She had her first class this morning and is now officially a TumbleTot! In the class there are 4 little girls (ages 3-4) and one little boy. The teacher teaches them how to stretch properly, go through obstical courses, summersalts, and jump on the trampolines. Brooke LOVED this. She had such a great time and cannot wait to go back next week. Bradley and I were able to watch through the windows and hang out with the other mama's and baby's. I was able to get a few pictures, though they are not the best quality since we had to take them through a window.

Bradley is now crawling.... fast! Full on belly off the ground crawling. He zooms all over the place!!! I cannot believe that my baby is already 10 months and before I know it, he'll be a year old. We plan to have a small party for him, hopefully at his Papa's and Bama's house with their new pool. =) And for those of you who would like to send gifts to the birthday boy... I have an idea to try and save you all from post office lines, and the cost of shipping as well. If you tell me a specific item that you would like to purchase for our handsome son, send me the money for the item... I will go out and buy it, wrap it, and have it ready for him to open at his party. I'll even take lots of pictures and video of him opening the gifts and send them to you, so you can fell as if you were there. This way you don't have to pay the crazy shipping fees, worry about it being damaged or delivered on time. I'm also thinking about registering at Target so you can have some ideas as to what he (or we) would like. So if this sounds like something that would work for you... shoot me a text, email, phone call, facebook message, etc., and I'll get it done. =)

I have been working hard to get our house into shape. I've put lots of decorations up in the kiddos rooms and now am working on framing, and hanging pictures up in the rest of the house. As soon as I am satisfied with the way the place looks, I'll take some more pictures and post for you all to see. Daniel is in his 5th week of training at Verizon now. He's got 2 more weeks until he enters his "transition" phase where he will be taking live phone calls on a regular basis. He's already started taking phone calls and even got surveyed on his first day! The result... a perfect ten survey and an award to go with. We are so very proud!

Picture time!!!!!

....and if I can get it figured out.... a Bonus VIDEO of our Mr. Bradley Ryan zooming across the room!

Brooke wanted a picture of her hair before she messed it all up tumblin' around.

As always, I have tons more pictures on my Facebook page. =) 

I know! I know!

Ok - So I'm a month behind. But let me tell you... a lot has happened this month. So the last I posted Daniel was up for a job... well, he GOT IT! He started his first day at Verizon Wireless on April 29th, 2010. This is THE job to have out here. He's only been there a week, but so far he is loving it. This job offers a lot of room for advancement which is going to be great for Daniel. And the benefits just go on and on and on. To name a few, 50% off Verizon Wireless services (so I expect we'll be switching very soon lol), a gym on site, a COLLEGE on site (with tuition PAID and books reembursed.), great medical & dental benefits for the whole family from day 1, and so so much more! Oh,and the pay's not bad either. ;) We are all so excited that he got this job!

Next up... we MOVED! We are now in our own beautiful apartment! We were so blessed to have my wonderful in-laws to stay with when we first moved but we could only share a room with Brooke for so long. LOL Our apartment is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom and 1275 sq/ft and it's only 7 minutes from Daniel's work. There is a beautiful pond (with ducks!) right downstairs that we can see from our rooms and balcony. The kids each have their own bedroom and Brooke even has her very own bathroom! She is so gracious and even shares it with her little brother when he needs to take a bath. Brooke has also graduated from her toddler bed and now sleeps in a big girl bed. She's done very well with all of the change that's occurred in the last few months... both of our kids have. They're troopers. =)

Bradley now has 4, count them, 1, 2, 3, 4 teeth! Newest location is the other bottom middle tooth. poor guy, as soon as one tooth gets situated he pops out another. At this rate he'll have a full set of teeth by his first birthday. Which is Aug 5th for those of you who like to shop early. ;)

We are searching for a Pre-School for Brookie right now. Another one of the benefits of Daniel working for Verizon is discounts on Pre Schools. We went and looked at one on Tue and it was really nice, but a bit out of our price range... even with the discount. We have a few more to check out and hopefully we'll find the perfect one... for the perfect price. =) We are also on a search for a good church, hopefully one close to our new home. We've checked out a few that we really liked but they're a tad far from where we are now. Brooke loves meeting all of the new kiddos every week.

Alright well, I think that's about it for now. I've got lots of unpacking to do and now that we have internet, I PROMISE I'll update more. =) Now for what you've all been waiting for... pictures.

Pantry!

The other side of the pantry which has our washer/dryer hook ups. Oh, did I mention that we need a new dryer? Turns out Alabama doesn't use gas... for anything. Fail!

Brooke's room and her new big girl bed. =) The door on the left is her bathroom.

Brooke's room again... and her window where she watches the Ducks swim in the pond.


Brooke's closet... big right?




Living room and dining area.


Kitchen and door to pantry/laundry room. The cabinets aren't pink either... I don't know why they look like they are. LOL

Living room from the dining area. Door straight back leads to patio. On the right is to our bedroom, on the left is to Brooke's.

Bradley's room... with Daddy and Bradley playing. =)

That's all the photos I have for now. Apparently I forgot to take any pictures of our bedroom/bathroom. Oops. Well, now I have another reason to update. Oh yeah, here's one more... just because.

Baby Teeth, Bunnies, and Bedrooms

Ok, so I really was hoping to update this a bit sooner, but hey, a week isn't too bad right? So I think the biggest even this week is Bradley, my now 8 month old son, is finally getting his first tooth! It's a top tooth on his left side. It's made it through the skin, and so far, he's not in that much pain. His nose is running a little, and he's chewing on everything in sight. This picture of him on the right was taken on Easter Sunday, and yes there is a reason why he's not wearing any pants. This jacket was given to us when I was pregnant with Brooke from Daniel's Grandma Pat. Grandma was so convinced that we were going to have a boy, she bought this jacket before we even found out. As you all know, we didn't end up having a boy (that pregnancy at least) but we held on to the jacket anyways. Sadly Grandma Pat was taken from us on Sept 11th, 2007 but her memories will live on forever. We decided it would be nice for Bradley to wear this jacket on his very first Easter, however, it was a big snug already. So we put it on for a few minutes, took some pictures, and packed it away in his baby box so we will always have the jacket, and the story that goes along with it.

Our Easter was wonderful this year. We got up nice and early, got all dressed up, took some fun pictures, then off to church. Now we did Easter a little differently this year. As I explained in the last post, Brooke LOVES going to Sunday School. So much so, it's a fight to get her to come home. So this year, we decided that the Easter Bunny should come while we're at Church to give Miss Brooke some incentive to come home.

While we ate our Breakfast and got ready to go, Brooke anxiously awaited the arrival of the Easter Bunny. We took both of the kids to visit the Easter Bunny while he was at the mall, however Brooke wanted NOTHING to do with him. Bradley was fascinated. We tried and tried to get Brooke to go and talk to him because we knew she'd regret it if she didn't, but there wasn't anything in the world that was going to make her go sit on that Bunny's lap. She did of course regret her decision but she's looking forward
to meeting him again next year. I'll tell you what, that Easter Bunny wasn't messin' around this year. With the help of Brooke and Bradley's Papa, Bama, Auntie Erin, Uncle Ben, and Grandma Bonnie, that Easter Bunny made all of their Easter dreams come true. Would you just look at that? Now tell me these kids aren't spoiled rotten. :) Brooke's favorite present was The Princess and the Frog DVD. Boy does she love that movie. She has watched it every night
since she's had it and I don't think she's stopping anytime soon.
Brooke also got 3 stuffed Bunnies, a Tinker Bell bathing suit and cover up, a Princess toothbrush and toothpaste set, bunny ears, sunflower hat, a Slinky, sunglasses, gloves, purse, books, and of course, a few pieces of candy! That's not even all! LOL Bradley got Toy Story 1 & 2 on Blu-Ray Combo packs (he's sharing this gift with Mommy of course), a new bathing suit, teethers, books, a new toothbrush, 2 stuffed Bunny's, and much more!

So remember how I said I'd post pictures of where we're living... I didn't forget. :) Up first are some pictures of the Craft Room which is where Bradley is sleeping. I wanted you all to see that I wasn't joking when I said it was literally floor to ceiling, wall to wall, craft supplies.

And then of course, Bradley's crib right in the middle of the room.
We did finally get Bradley in his crib and out of the pack-n-play and ever since, he's been sleeping much better. Next up, we need to get his crib toys put on the crib so he can play when he wakes up.

Next up are some pictures of our bedroom.

This is the room where Brooke, Daniel, and myself all sleep.

Please excuse the mess, but I figured it'd be best to show

you the way it actually looks most of the time.

Brooke has corner where she's sleeping on a crib mattress on the floor. She's got her own TV and DVD player where she watches her movies before bed. Then there is what Brooke calls her "Daddy's Boyfriend" Mister Dave Matthews. I hate this poster with every fiber of my being.... but hopefully soon, I'll figure out a way to hang my Brandon Boyd over Dave's ugly face. :) As you can see, Daniel insisted on making sure our TV's stayed out of storage, and in our lives... so we have a massive TV right in front of our bed. Also hooked up with it's own DVD player and Direct TV. We are also sleeping on our mattresses on the floor. There was no way set up our bed and still have any room at all.

I of course took a picture of the living room since this is where we all spend the most time. Bradley still loves his ExerSaucer and Brooke loves playing with him while he's in there. No, my kids don't usually look so miserable. I think they were just trying to prove me wrong. Figures.



Ray and Diana made sure to make room for Brooke's Kitchen that she got for Christmas so she doesn't fall behind on her culinary skills. She cooks for everyone in the house on a pretty regular basis. She loves having Tea Parties with her Uncle Brandon... on the days that she likes him of course. Some days... she wants nothing to do with him. LOL We try and keep things as clean as we can but with two kids it is sort of difficult.










Daniel has been interviewing like crazy, in fact he's off at one now. We've got our fingers crossed for a certain job, but if it doesn't work out then it's not meant to. I'll be sure to keep you all posted as to what's going on. Well I think I've written enough for this week... =)

You Say Goodbye... And I Say Hello.

On March 11th, 2010 the Canada family, Brooke, Bradley, Daniel, and myself, picked up and moved our lives to Madison, Alabama. For everyone besides Daniel, this is our first time living anywhere except sunny Southern California. We said goodbye to our home, our friends, and our family in order to start fresh in a new state. We are currently living with my in-laws (Daniel's Dad, Ray. His Step-mother, Diana. And his younger brother, Brandon.) who were gracious enough to make room for our family of 4. As any of you with young ones know.... it's really more like making room for a family of 6 with the two little ones. Well with all the toys, high chairs, bottles, sippy cups, books, movies.... you get the picture. Originally we were only planning on staying here until we could find a home of our own to move in to. Now our plan has changed a little. We've decided to wait until Daniel finds a job, and settles a little before we go out on our own again. Hopefully it won't be too long.... but it'll be for the best. Brooke is sharing a room with Daniel and I while Bradley has his pack-n-play (soon to be crib) set up in Diana's craft room. What is a craft room you may ask... well... Diana is big into scrap booking. I mean HUGE into it. So much so, she needs a room for all of her stuff. We were going to have Bradley share a room with us, and put Brooke in there, but she would absolutely DESTROY this room if she was ever in there alone for 5 mins! LOL So we figured it'd be best to have Bradley in there instead.

As some of you may know, Daniel's dream job is in the field of law enforcement. He has is AA in Administration of Justice and plans to go back to get his BA in the same field. The county's out here are much smaller than in CA so until the sheriff's open up to new hires, he's going to try to be a Correctional Officer and get his foot in the door. The testing for this isn't until the end of April and then of course there is the back round check which will take however long. So until then, Daniel is looking for anything and everything he can to support us in the meantime.

The kiddos are adjusting to the move much better than expected. Brooke is overjoyed to have so many people in the house to play with. She's been a great help to her Bama (Diana) in the kitchen making pancakes, and has even helped her Papa (Ray) and Uncle Brandon learn how to play the guitar. She has tons of room in the yard to play with her slide and to play soccer with anyone who can keep up. She's still having a little trouble understanding that we now live so far away from our friends and family. She especially misses her Best Friend Rhyleigh, and her boyfriend Landon. She does however talk to Landon every Sunday at Church. She likes to call him from the play phone in the daycare. LOL Yesterday Rhyleigh sent her a video message and she wanted so badly to send one back, but didn't quite understand that she couldn't play with her through the phone. So we'll try again today. Brooke loves going to Sunday School every week and playing with the kids. She doesn't know any of their names yet, but I'm sure she'll make some friends before long. We're hoping to get her into a good Pre-School in the fall and until then, she may enjoy a few days at Mother's Day Out. Mother's Day Out is a program offered through one of the churches out here. It's $10 a day, from 9:30 - 2. It's only offered a few days a week though. We haven't tried it just yet, but I'm sure we will before long. For those of you reading who didn't know already... Brooke is 100% Potty trained! She hasn't had an accident in over 2 months! I am especially impressed with this considering the hellish day we spent traveling out here, the 3 days where she thought her Daddy was sleeping (while he was really driving the truck out here), and the huge adjustment of living somewhere completely new. We are so very proud of our little Princess. =)

Bradley is doing very well with the move as well. His sleep schedule is still as it was in Cali, and he hasn't really been affected much by it at all. LOL He'll be 8 months already if you can believe it on April 5th! My how time flies!!! He is a strong sitter now, and is even starting to rock a little on his knees. I have a feeling he'll be crawling very soon. He is loving the time with his Papa, Bama, and Uncle Brandon who all make him laugh like crazy. The kiddos are both looking forward to the Easter Bunny hoppin' his way on over Sunday morning. Brooke is hoping he will bring her Princess and the Frog, and Bradley is hoping for anything he can stick in his mouth and chew on. LOL Mr. Bradley still does not have any teeth, but I'm sure they're not far from coming.

As for myself, I'm adjusting pretty well too. I get along wonderfully with my in-laws and am so thankful that we have them. I'm still worried about making friends, but I know it's still early. I'm sure soon enough I'll have someone I can enjoy a coffee date with now and then. Until then, I'll settle for calling my CA friends all the time, while drinking coffee out here. =)

My plan for today, after the cooking, cleaning, nap times, bath times, etc... is to take some pictures of our lives out here so you all can get a visual. I hope to get these posted tonight, and if not, hopefully by tomorrow morning. Until then....