Top weekend

Last post I mentioned that half the kids came down with a pretty nasty virus at Kids Klub, we were touching wood, literally, hoping Sophie wouldn’t pick up yet another bloody bug - and thankfully the anti-bug-gods were looking down favorably on us, as Sophie has spent the last five days or so, in top form.

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Hanging out at the first beach...2 hours of chasing the ball around and providing hours of entertainment for us!

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It was a scorching weekend weather wise, so the three of us were out for the entire weekend making the most of it! We made a shit load of trips to her favorite park, played on the swings and slide, spent a load of time at different beaches around Auckland, had a nice vist from Auncle Steve and Aunty Maria...and we even managed a sneaky late afternoon beer at the local pub outside in the graden bar, Ingrid and I drank, while Sophie shared her rasins with the wildlife hiding in the grass.

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The cool part these days is, you can now say to her, ‘come on Sophie, lets jump in the car and go to the park” – within seconds she is squealing with excitement and running around trying to find her shoes yelling out ‘car, car’ over and over!

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Running a marathon down the beach

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A quick stop to build some sandcastles and bury her rasins in the sand

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A quick wave to the invisible people swimming in the ocean

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Even smart enough to apply her own sun screen now...clever girl

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Sophie's appetite has been nothing short of ferocious this weekend too…I’ve never seen a kid demolish plates of food in that short of time!...she’s obviously going through a major growth phase at the mo, as her energy levels have shot through the roof...she's eating like a horse, having great sleeps and talking like nobody’s business…yes indeed, it's a pretty cool time to be a parent.

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Her favourite past time, climbing up the ladder, walking over a draw bride and then sliding down the twisting slide!

- "Yeah..this is slide is sweet"

Brad

Sophie gets suspended from Kids Klub!

Wagging Kids Klub and playing on the deck

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Thursday morning, Ingrid took Sophie along To Kids Klub like any other normal day – but when they arrived that morning, the two of them were told to return home…apparently a nasty bug had swept through the place and half the kids were down with nasty diarrhea and vomiting... thankfully, Sophie didn’t pick anything up; instead, she got to have an extra long weekend hanging out with her parents. We both took split shifts on Thursday and Friday and got to spend loads of time playing at the park, running around, going to the hairdressers with mummy and chilling out at work with daddy for a while.

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I mentioned the word "Park"...and Sophie went spazzo!

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Brad

18 months and growing fast

Sophie is now 18 months old and is growing quicker by the day. She is saying a handful of words like Hello, Ball, Flower, Bottle (which translated sounds like "hawoe, bawl, fower and bopbil) but most of all, Sophie understands almost everything you say to her now.

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Sophie also had extra attention this weekend while Grantz was up visting her, which also meant Ingrid and I got to have a boozy night out on Saturday which was cool!

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"Hawoe!"

"Aren't I the cutest with my new hairclips"

"Daddy's bad attempt of trying to put my hair up..."

"Another photo of me looking all cute..."

Check this out mummy...this slide Rocks!

"Crikey...are you OK mummy?"

About bloody time...

…and for once I’m not referring to how long it has been since my last post…

It’s about time that Sophie is finally back to better health…and thank god for that!

Last weekend, Ingrid and I went to a wedding in Gisborne. Nana King and Aunty Nicki kindly came up for the 3 days to look after their niece and Grand-daughter. All three of them had an absolute blast over the weekend and Sophie of course, was on her best behaviour for them and didn’t miss her parents at all. Ingrid and I on the other hand, missed her terribly but managed to have a great time too…actually, it was the first time the two of us have been away together since Sophie was born.

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Fun at the beach

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Anyhow, the day we got back home, was the day Sophie started getting sick. Ingrid ended up taking the next 3 days off work to look after her, which wasn’t easy…all Sophie wanted to do was grizzle, cry and latch on with her head buried into you. She hardly ate a thing all week and didn’t sleep well either. The nasty virus she picked up lasted a good six days, and it wasn’t until yesterday afternoon that she finally cracked a long overdue smile. The worst thing about a virus is the fact that you can’t do a bloody thing to make it go away…

A soon as she felt a bit better, we went for a drive out to one of the beaches and to let Sophie run riot - she loved the fresh air and even found a couple of ducks to chase around and around….and around, giggling like crazy as she ran after them…I even gave her a little bit of my ice-cream on the way home which she proudly displayed all over her face.

Today we headed along to the Parents and little ones exhibition at the Auckland Showground’s…Ingrid and I went there a couple years ago while she was pregnant, so it was pretty cool going back today with a cute little 18 month old, who was treated to clowns, balloons, dancing mascots and free baby food everywhere you look!

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"Yay!...my virus is gone...you beauty!"

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"I'm started get a little dizzy chasing this thing around all day!"

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"Do you think anybody noticed I got food on my face?"

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So, the virus finally gone and our baby daughter back to normal…and just in time for her parents to pick up bloody colds…

Ps. We had our ratings results on Friday…and The Rock had a blinder! Click here for the official press release.

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Sophie's pissed parents at Roger and Lisa's wedding
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Funtime with Nana

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More funtime with Aunty Nicki

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Yip, trying to bribe her after we went away for the long weekend...

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Brad

Weekly Wrap

Another busy week in the King household. Sophie has been enjoying herself playing outside on the deck after Kids Klub each day and we’ve made countless trips to the park, beach and even spent a few hours at Western Springs playground and park last weekend too.

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Fun on the deck

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Lately, Sophie has been trying really hard to talk too. She’s saying the odd word like ‘ball’, star’ and 'naa-na' (for banana) – and a few others which all sound very cute, but the biggest change I’ve noticed, is the fact you can now talk to her, and she appears to understand most of what you’re saying. E.g. The three of us were playing around in our bedroom upstairs this morning, and then I said to Sophie “go and get your camera Soph…it’s down stairs in your toy box” – Sophie then gives a huge smile and goes racing out of the room, clambers down 3 flights of stairs, talking out loud (but making no sense at all) – then two minutes later she runs into the room, proudly displaying her little baby camera…and then yells out “YAY!” and starts clapping her hands wildly!

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Running a million miles an hour around Western Springs

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Daddy telling Sophie a funny joke...it consisted of me simply saying "boo!"

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Next weekend, Ingrid and I are off to a wedding in Gisborne. Nana and Aunty Nicky are coming up from the Naki to look after Sophie. This will be the first occasion that both of us have been away from Sophie for longer than a few hours…hard to believe. It will be sad obviously being away from her, but she will be in good hands, and both Ingrid and I are looking forward to spending a couple of relaxing days to ourselves too.

Brad

A Beautiful Saturday

The weather took a fantastic turn for the better with the sun coming out and the air nice and warm, so with Sophie and her snotty nose (yet another cold) we decided to head out for the day, as she needed to get some fresh air. We started off this morning around the house, sweeping the deck (Sophie’s newest favourite game) reading books, playing race up and down the stairs and then a spot of supermarket shopping where Sophie loves to eat an apple around the aisles.

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The King family enjoying their day at the beach

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After a nice big sleep for Sophie and a bit of lunch for us all we decided to head off to the park for a swing and slide and run around. After soaking up some sun there (with sunblock of course) we then went to the beach, which luckily for us in Auckland is never a big drive away, and enjoyed a few hours of walking in the sand and inspecting almost every rock, shell and piece of rubbish along the way.

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Sophie spots some birds...a second later she was off to chase them!

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Opening her lunch-box to feed the birds...

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We stopped in the nice grassy area at the beach for a bit of afternoon tea which was basically just an excuse for Sophie to feed the seagulls her food and pick up every nasty bit of rubbish lying around! I can’t understand why people find the need to drop their rubbish everywhere when there are perfectly good bins everywhere…but anyway ranting aside we had a fantastic day as a family and just enjoyed having the day with each other. Sophie is now tucked up warmly in bed for a big night sleep and we hope to have another wonderful day tomorrow soaking up the sun and spending time together.

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Brad and Sophie striking a pose in front of Rangatoto Island

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Mother and Daughter enjoying the sun
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We finished off the day at a different park, Sophie took her first slide down the BIG Slide...and loved it!

Ingrid

Clever little Sophie

Sophie enjoyed herself out in the sun yesterday. It was a cracker day so the little rudie ran around the house with her top off!...actually she spilt the entire bottle of pump,all over herself in the car and she was drenched!

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Dad and Marc surprised us yesterday which was nice, so we picked up some Subways and all headed to the park for a picnic. Sophie normally always sits in her highchair or little portable chair when she eats, but yesterday she simply sat with us all on a blanket quite content and ate her lunch while checking out all the kids running around in the park.

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Sophie enjoying the sun on her back on a beautiful day

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The past couple of weeks Sophie has really started to try and talk...she's still making no sense at all, but at least now, she's saying saying more than just 'Mumma' and 'Dadda'! Every now and then she'll blurt out a hundred different noises all at once and then get really excited, It won't be long now before words start forming properly.

Click here to see a little video showing how clever Sophie is. She's is a book fiend and makes us read books to her more and more but it's paying off, she might be a little brain box this kid I reckon...

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Brad

Housework?...Na, that's what kids are for...

We're all feeling a lot better today, so it was time to do a bit of housework...I mean, it was time to show Sophie how do to all the housework...and the best part...she bloody loved it!

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She didn't want to stop sweeping!...we even bought her a little baby broom, but all she wanted was the big grown up one!

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The vacum cleaner used to give her the sh*ts...but now she can't get enough of it...good work Sophie!
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"Sophie, you can do the vacuming and housework from now on OK...what do you say to that?"
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Brad

The Sicko's

I normally start off by saying we've been slack and haven't got around to updating, but this time we've all had pretty good excuses...the entire King house-hold has been as sick as dogs.

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Last weekend I thought I was simply feeling the effects of playing rugby from the Friday before...as it turned out, I was starting to get bloody shingels!...it's a nasty, hideous thing to get, and I've spent more time at home this week than at work. I was going to post a photo of what it does to you, but I didn't really want anyone black-mailing me with the photo later on in life...lets just say it looks like really bad acne mixed in with blistering sunburn...and the shitty thing is, it feels a lot worse than it looks!

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Anyhow, enough self-pity, Sophie's cough hasn't quite gone away either and to top it all off, both Ingrid and I picked up bloody colds mid-way through the week...and becasue Sophie didn't want to miss out, last night she developed one of the worst cases of nappy rash I have seen...which kept her and Ingrid up all night long...thankfully the cream you get for it these days is pretty good and the good news is, it's healing up at a quick rate.

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We did (just) manage to get out and enjoy a bit of the sun today in between our sneezes, coughs, aches and burns...(yes this is where you say "ohh you poor things...)...lets hope next weekend is better!

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A cute photo of Sophie sitting outside with her beloved toothbrush and ball...although it took almost half a day before she could could sit down properly...

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Little Video of Sophie...again with her bloody toothbrush and ball!

(you my need to hit play twice to start)

Brad

Beachtime and Rugby games

Mummy and Daddy are too slack to update, so I guess it's up to me then...

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Daddy pretended he was an 'All Black' on Friday, and went along to play a rugby tournament with his work buddies...they lost (surprise!) and then I had to listen to him moaning all weekend about how sore and unfit he is...(as if I didn't already know that daddy...)

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"Ohh come on Mummy - I don't need a jacket...I'm outta here!..."

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When daddy finally got off the couch this weekend (and he wonders why he's so unfit...) we all went along to the beach and I got to run up and down for ages, screaming at the top of my lungs at everyone! then, I got to eat my favourite food in the world...SAND!

I had a pretty cool time at the beach on Saturday and I even got to play qt the park that afternoon too...you beauty! On Sunday, mummy took me down to another park by the sea (while Daddy watched some more rugby on TV and pretended it was him playing...) and I got to play with some friendly dogs, and then got really soaked from jumping up and down in the water!

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"mmm...I spot some nice wet sand over there...all of a sudden I'm hungry again! "

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Last week I picked up a pretty nasty cough from one of my buddies at Kids Club, and I haven't managed to shake it, so I had to pop along to the docs yesterday to get some cough medicine (Mummy some-how forgot to tell the nice Doc, that she let me play in the cold water that morning by the way...), but anyway, I'm happy to say the medicine is working, and I'm feeling a lot better today!

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Thats enough from me now...lets hope Mummy and Daddy don't forget to update this again in hurry, otherwise, I'll jump back on and tell more stories about them...

See ya!

Sophie xx

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Daddy's Rock Rugby Team...That's daddy in the 2nd row right in the middle...pretending to be an All Black...

Museum (and Ingrid updates!)

We have had a full on weekend. After Brad got over his hangover on Saturday after a big night in the corporate box on Friday night supporting the Warriors, we got it together to take Sophie to the park where she had fun on the swing, the slide and playing with the other kids. After a stop at the supermarket to get supplies for the next week we went home for a play in the sun. When Sophie went to bed we had a long wait to watch the All Blacks take on Italy at 11.45pm! I am too much of a softie these days and had to have a nap for a couple of hours before the game started and then fell asleep before it finished, but am happy to report that we kicked ass!

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Getting ready for a big afternoon at the Museum

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Sunday was another busy day. It was typical Auckland weather with the rain settling in for the day, so decided that a trip to the museum after Sophie’s sleep was a good way to spend the afternoon. Its such a great big place that it was easy to let Sophie take off and run around, although she isn’t the best at looking where she is going and managed to make a few people take a few quick steps sideways while she ran full tilt around the place yelling 'dada dada' – her favourite word these days. I don’t get a look in, I am also called 'dada', as are her toys, the cat, the car, books and anything else she sees – talk about a daddy’s girl!

Sophie oblivious to the scary polar bear about to eat them!

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"I'm lost...Where's my mummy and daddy gone..."
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"mmm that crab looks good enough to eat!"
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After running riot around the Museum...daddy tries a different trick to keep Sophie in one place!

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Speaking of big weekends, Brad took Sophie to New Plymouth for a visit with her nana and aunties and left me back in Auckland for a weekend of ‘Ingrid’ time. Although I missed them both terribly and spent all my time thinking about them, I also made the most of it and had a very busy weekend. I shopped, which is a luxury these days as it’s very hard to try clothes on with Sophie around who HATES shopping (as does her daddy – see how similar they are). I was looking for a dress to wear to a wedding next month and found something lovely. Bit summery though, so here’s hoping for a nice sunny weekend for the wedding. I also booked in for a massage and facial which both were absolutely divine and very decadent. On Saturday night, Katie came over, so we headed out for a nice dinner and bottle of bubbly at the local pub, where we gossiped and caught up on what each other is doing, although seeing as I don’t get out much, I probably bored her silly with stories of Sophie – I try not to but I can’t seem to help myself! We came home and cracked another bottle of wine and watched lots of mindless crap on TV and then crashed fairly early! Gosh I remember the days when I would have just been going out on the town by the time we went to bed. Sigh.

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Sunday was another busy day where I made the most of being on my own and did the groceries, tidied up all the leaves outside that we get inundated with from the bush around the house, patched up some holes in the walls in the bathroom (another drunken night thanks to Brad) and did a good spring clean around the house. It was meant to be a relaxing weekend and I was even busier than normal! But it was great and I felt very refreshed come Monday where I got up early and met my family at the airport. Sophie was happy to see me and she looked like she had had a great weekend with her extended family. It was so lovely to see them and a big thanks to Brad for giving me that time to myself and to the extended family for looking after Sophie so well, she loves hanging with her nana and aunties and Grantz and its so nice for her to spend time with her family when we live so far away.

Bath-time on Sunday night after a BIG day

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Ingridxx

New Plymouth: Day 3

Sophie woke up pretty early this morning and nana kindly did the honors of getting her up out of bed at the ungodly hour of 6:30am, and I got to have a nice fathers day sleep in…Thanks Nana!

We hung out at the park this morning and then had a lovely lunch with Sophie’s Great Nan and Ray. I think all the excitement of seeing lots of new people and running around outside has knackered out the wee thing, as Sophie’s ended up having two monster sleeps today. We did manage to pop around and see Grantz today also which was nice.

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Sophie getting a little bit big for her boots...or is that too small for her shoes...?

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Nana and Sophie playing catch!

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It’s been great having a break here in New Plymouth hanging out with the family, Sophie has had an absolute blast with her nana and aunties, and I know they’ve loved having us here too. Sophie has missed her lovely mumma though, as she keeps pointing to an old photo of Ingrid and I hanging on Mum’s wall and getting all excited saying ‘mumma…mumma' over and over again’
We fly back to Auckland tomorrow morning and Ingrid will meet us at the airport…I know she’s missing her darling terribly…and Sophie too of course.

Aunty Nicky and Sophie playing at the park.

Brad

New Plymouth: Day 2

Sophie had a full on day in New Plymouth today.

She slept really well over night (apart from when mum woke her up singing in the passage at 12:30am after a few wines and a long game of cards in which Sophie’s daddy kicked arse…) anyway, Aunty Nicky stayed last night and she got the honors of getting Sophie up this morning. It is Nic’s birthday today and even Sophie gave her a lovely present to start her day…a present that she had been saving up all night long for…

After a long play outside and a couple of trips to the shops, Sophie had a monster sleep and then we all headed out to Kauri Cottage where Aunty Rochelle works as a pretty mean chef.

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Aunty Nicki on her birthday feeding her lovely neice

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We had a great birthday lunch with Mum, Nic, Rochelle, Sophie, Dad and Marc. Sophie was well behaved (of course) and even got to run around inside the restaurant and play with the house pussycat called ‘latte’

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Aunty Rochelle and Aunty Nicki pissing themselves over something...

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After lunch, Sophie and I popped off to Dad and Marc’s place and Sophie hung out with Bob the Dog and the rest of the zoo around their place! We then bolted home, had a quick play again outside and another go on her new favourite toy…The TRAMPOLINE! then a quick dose of Hi Five, dinner and then into the bath…that’s where she is at the moment, her nana and aunty are having lots of fun washing out all the food from her hair!

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Sophie sitting in her little high chair charfing out...you should have seen her 10 minutes later with her pasta and sauce...what a mess!

Brad