Broyles

A quick update: Where do I begin? The past two months have been completely crazy. We successfully sold our house in Mountain Home (hurray, hurray!!) and moved to Boise! Todd is out of the Air Force (as of the end of June) and purchased a dental practice on the east side of Boise. We bought a home in Boise, close to the office, and are finally settling in. It all sounds so simple now in three little sentences -- the stress of buying a business, the unknown of where we were going to live, the hard work of getting it all done in a short amount of time, and the uncertainty are behind us. But the one constant throughout all of it is simple: God is in control and He continues to bless our lives. There is no other explanation for it coming together and working out.

Our miracle baby boy is a year old. Where o' where does the time go? Konor is a happy boy and loves to "tell jokes". Okay, they aren't really jokes, but he will mumble some jibberish and then laugh when you ask him to tell you a joke. The fact that he gets the concept is just as funny as the jokes. As you can see, he still looks like his Daddy -- and loves him just as much -- as soon as he hears the garage door open around 5:00, he will say, "Hi, Daaad". He is so grown up and hardly a baby anymore. Konor loves music. He dances to the beat with his left hand in the air and loves to play the piano with Grama.

Konor is seven and a half months old. I find myself feeling like repeating what I wrote on my last post – “Wow, time is flying by. . .and yet it seems like he’s been here forever.” It is so true. Konor is growing and changing each and every day. One thing is still the same -- he is full of smiles.

Bath nights remain big fun at our house. Konor has “graduated” to Momma and Dad’s soaker tub and still manages to splash water on the walls.

Konor says, “Da”, “Dad”, “Daddy” and all other forms of the word for the guy he looks so much like. And it just melts Todd’s heart. He sits up like a champ, loves to play with toys but still hates being on his belly. To that end, he won’t roll over on a consistent basis. He is able to but as Aunt Stacy says, “It’s a matter of want. . .and he just doesn’t want to.” What a kid.

Konor has developed an infectious laugh. In fact, his Dad can get him to all out belly laugh when they play. You can't help but laugh just listening to them.

Here is Konor at six months. He fell over while sitting on our bed but was not in the least bit bothered by it and continued playing. He is such a happy baby.



Reading books. . .Konor loves to be read to. I read him stories before every nap and at bedtime. It is incredible how he responds and pays attention at such a young age. Some people say it makes your kid smarter. Who knows? I do it because he likes it and it helps to prepare him for sleep. Todd would say something smart like, “no state school for you, think Ivy league”.

When Konor was almost five months old, we started feeding him rice cereal. What an adventure it has been! For those of you that have seen his Buddha legs (as PopPop calls them) you know he doesn’t push away much food but learning to eat from a spoon was sure fun. And as you can see, he doesn’t mind eating straight from the bowl if we would only let him. Once he had the rice cereal conquered, we slowly added fruits and vegetables – the first being sweet potatoes. I’ll say this, Konor loves sweet potatoes. In fact, he cried when he realized they were gone and I had to capture his response to the last bite with a picture.

A quick update on the Disney Baby Einstein activity center: It has now been dubbed “Konor’s Poopin’ Stool”. Konor conducts business on a regular basis while playing in the chair. One day I texted Todd at work to let him know things had gone a bit far -- Konor figured out how to use the handles for leverage. It is actually quite funny to watch.

Konor is four and a half months old. Wow, time is flying by. . .and yet it seems like he’s been here forever. He is such a fun, happy baby who loves to laugh with his Daddy. Todd calls him “his little clown”. Konor does, however, have his Daddy’s temper too – which rears its ugly head when he’s overly tired. Not so good.

Konor sports the “Eat, Sleep, Poop (isn’t life great)” shirt Uncle Cody got him with pride. And as you can see he is not starving – in fact quite the opposite. He has turned into a chuck. He is growing up so fast and looking more and more like a little boy every day. He has so much to say! New sounds emerge all the time, but my favorite is his soft, “O” mouth that sounds like a cooing pigeon.

We have started putting Konor in the Disney Baby Einstein activity center and he loves it. He’s a little wobbly in it but shoving a blanket behind him does the trick for now. It is funny to watch him discover all the buttons and bright colors. His favorite seems to be the yellow bird. His facial expressions crack me up each time he looks the bird in the eye.

Konor loves bath time. Todd and I bathe him in our bathroom (more room),on the counter, in his little tub. It doesn't have to be a two man job but we all enjoy it - so why not? So every other night is bath night. I undress him while Todd gets his water ready and the fun begins. Konor tests the water with his toes and then I lower him in. His facial expressions are hilarious. He has started to kick, which splashes water EVERYWHERE, so the baths on the counter may be short lived. I keep his head out of the water and wash his top half while Todd takes the business end. Todd wraps him up in his towel to get him warm and dry then we both lotion him up. Wouldn't that be nice? Then it's jammies and Konor is squeaky clean.

Let me start by saying Konor is a ton of fun. He is so much more expressive and his personality is emerging more every day. Todd props Konor on his legs shortly after he gets home from work and Konor "tells" him stories of the day. He is grabbing at toys and chewing on his hands. His smiles warm your heart and we have heard him giggle twice. Todd and I both laughed so hard - Konor looked at us like, "Why are you laughing at me?" He loves to snuggle into his blanket and Todd thinks it's never too early to show him how to ride a bike or be a Colts fan.

College Game Day came to Boise! Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, and Desmond Howard set up their ESPN desk in the middle of Boise State’s blue turf. Over 13,000 people showed up early Saturday morning for the event. Some fans were already tailgating for the evening game against Oregon State. Todd and I were crazy enough to wake up extra early (which included taking Konor in his jammies) to drive 45 minutes to check it out. We parked far enough away to avoid the crowds and walked along the Green Belt to the stadium. It was a beautiful morning. We bundled Konor up in his stroller and we were off!

Todd had a grand plan to use his cute son to con a picture with Erin Andrews but once we got close and saw all the people it was obvious that was not going to happen. Sorry about your luck Todd. The stadium was completely open and people were EVERYWHERE. The ESPN desk was facing away from the crowd but they had a huge TV screen facing the opposite direction so you could see them. It was cool to see all the support people and equipment that allows it to look so seamless on TV. Todd was even lucky enough to go to the game that evening. BSU won! All in all, great exposure for Boise.