Picture Update!

Here are some pictures I took yesterday!! I love all the new expressions and funny faces he is starting to make, and he LOVES his mirror when he's on his tummy. He squeals every time I turn him over and he sees himself! (Notice I said when I turn him over, as he doesn't do it by himself!!) Enjoy!

Whew.....

Last week was crazy, thus there are no new pictures!! Brady was especially needy last week, and wanted to be held so much! Usually, I can put him down to play and I don't necessarily have to be right there for him to be happy and make noise and play with his rattles, but last week this was not the case. Sunday he didn't nap at ALL!! We were thinking maybe it was being in the nursery that messed him up, but sure enough, Monday was the same way. He would cry almost the whole time during his naptime. Finally in the afternoon when I KNEW that he needed to take a nap, I held him until he was asleep. (A Baby Wise no-no, but oh well...). He slept alright... and then Tuesday he was a bit better.

I had been noticing his hands in his mouth an abnormal amount lately... and he's starting to produce some drool (although it's hard to see in the midst of all of the spit-up). And I kept wondering what was going on... and then there it was... an "a-ha" moment for me... He's TEETHING!! I would feel and feel around in his mouth and not feel anything, but he would chew and chew when I put my fingers in there. Jeff called the doctor and although I thought it was too early, he said that he very well could be teething... and on Sunday, I felt a little poking out up top. So yes... I think that's what it is!! I have to say that I'm kind of sad when I think about my gummy smile leaving forever!!

We also had a two-bath day last week. On Wednesday, I was playing with him in my lap after I fed him because I could tell he was going #2. When I notice that this is happening, I tend to wait until he's finished (or try to, anyway) before I change his diaper. That way I don't have to do it twice, AND it's more unlikely to get pooped on! (Yes, I have gotten pooped on.) But when I went to change his diaper, I noticed poop all over the changing table! Then I lifted him up and it was all over his back and everything... and I couldn't lay him back down or the poop would multiply again!! So I just grabbed him and took him right to the sink and basically hosed him down. He of course thought it was funny... but seeing as I had already given him a bath that morning, it was kind of a mess of soaps, bath toys and washcloths!!

Jeff and I did get to go on a date on Friday night while Papa Ron and Mimi kept Brady overnight. We were so looking forward to going to dinner AND a movie! Too bad I was an idiot and picked a fight with him after the movie was over and now I can't even remember what it was about. But the movie was great (in MY opinion!) and dinner was good, and of course we slept in on Saturday morning but I woke up around 7 anyway... I went back to sleep fine though about an hour later!

Anyway - I'm going to try to get some new pics of my little bug later on today... I think he looks even bigger than last time I posted pictures! I weighed him on the scale we have today and it said he was 14 pounds!! Man... he's a hungry hungry hippo!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!!

Another Week Old

I don't think you're even supposed to think in terms of weeks anymore.... I usually just say that he's 3 1/2 months, but then I think that the 4 month mark is right around the corner! Geeze! I never EVER thought I'd get here when we were waking up every three hours at nighttime to feed him, but here we are. Getting a good night's sleep almost every night and moving on with life! We survived!

Last week, we went to Tyler to take Brady to meet his other great grandparents. It was just a day trip, but Brady did great. Unfortunately, he slept the WHOLE way on our way back so he woke up a few times during the night, but it wasn't anything that we couldn't handle.

Brady is now officially out of all of his newborn stuff. I actually was quite sad when I packed up his onesies and jammies that he's already grown out of. His head is too big for them and they were getting tight on his diaper. I'm actually discovering quickly that the 3 month stuff isn't too much bigger than the newborn stuff... as I've gotten some of that out and it seems to fit only slightly better.... so....This weekend, we went to the outlet mall in Allen. I was going to try to take Brady by myself on Friday, and I am soooo glad that I didn't! It was completely overwhelming, but we got some great stuff at the sale at Osh Kosh B'Gosh (it's so much fun to say) and a few things at the Polo outlet.



After the outlet mall, we went and had some fun at the pool at my parents' house! We are trying to gear up for a trip to the beach! Jeff got Brady one of those little floatie things... and it's WAYYYY to big for him still... but I decided that I could hold him up in it and kind of kick around the pool. He LOVED it! He was doing what they call the "full body" smile where he was flailing his arms and kicking his legs like he wanted to go faster! We had fun! Sorry there are so many pics.... I just couldn't choose.















Brady's pushing up real good and sometimes rolling over from his back to his tummy... the same as last week... no new development there. He's getting great at the Bumbo seat and he is great at following people's voices and movements around a room. He loves watching cartoons. I just had to increase his ounces today because he was getting fussy after ever feeding ended the past few days... so now he's up to 7 ounces. It actually may be considered 8 because by the time I put the formula in the bottle, it goes up to 8. He's taking this entire amount every SINGLE time. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when he gets hungry again because I don't want to be feeding him two bottles at every feeding!! Whew!











He's laughing more.... on Friday we heard his first 'belly laugh'. I think Jeff was making some weird noise or face at him and he laughed a few times in a row, making it sound like a real person's laugh. He's getting to be such a ham with the ladies. If you smile at him, he gets this really big gummie smile and batts his beautiful eyelashes at you.... it seriously makes my heart melt!

Football Season

I just HAVE to blog about this because every time it crosses my mind, I get so excited that I feel like I could pop! So what better way to get out my feelings than to blog about it?

So I just realized that we're halfway through July. More than halfway actually. Do you know what that means? That means that it's almost August.... and THAT means FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!! The countdown has begun!! I LOVE football season! It is my absolute favorite time of the WHOLE year!!! It's not just the actual football that I love... the saturdays full of college football games, bands and commentators; the Sunday afternoons spent laying on the couch figuring out which games we're going to watch and when we can take Georgia to the dog park in between the ones we REALLY want to watch; the Monday nights that are spoken for with the big Monday Night Football Games.

No, it's the fact that Football Season means so much more than football. Football leads to cooler weather, falling leaves, the state fair, homecoming, halloween! Halloween leads to thanksgiving and that leads to Christmas! Christmas leads to the bowl season and then of course PLAYOFFS! Man, I just ripped my way to February, didn't I? And don't you worry... this year the Cowboys WILL make it past our first game!

Anyway... just had to share my utter excitement for the coming month! Yay! I guess I better decide what Brady's going to be for halloween? :)

Party Party Party! (literally)

This weekend we had an 'event' every night! Whew.... it was fun, but it certainly was busy. Thankfully, the little Brady Bug did great!!

On Friday night, we had a birthday party to go to at this awesome Splash Park in Allen. Jeff attempted to take Brady through some of the Sprayers, but it was really cold and was spraying a lot harder than it looked, so Brady didn't like it AT ALL! (See pictures... I love the one of his pouty face.... because that's the cute face he really makes when he gets upset!!) The older kids really had a lot of fun, and next year we think it will be a lot more fun for Brady!!






On Saturday night, our Sunday School class had a catfish fry! There were hushpuppies, fried catfish, french fries and a ton of it! Kristin Cameron's dad came up from Longview (outside longview really) and fried it all for us! I had never been to a catfish fry before.... and I must say it was very fun! Brady went with us on Saturday night too... he even stayed up pretty late with us!





On Sunday night, we threw a party for Judd, a long-time friend of Jeff and I's. He graduated top in his class from UT law school and is currently studying for the Bar.... he's moving to D.C. the day after the Bar is over, so it was a combo congratulations and going away party! For this one, Brady stayed at home with our friends Becky and Isaac. My brother cooked all the food for us, Kaytie, Jocelyn and I were just his little helpers! We decided that he needs to start a catering business and we could be his helpers! He went to culinary school and his food really is amazing! (If you ever need a personal chef, let me know!)






Anyway, it's Monday morning at 11:30 and Brady and I are still in our jammies. We are just going to lay around all day to recoop from the busy weekend! The non-swaddling is going.... well, it's just going. Sometimes he's perfectly fine and sometimes he cries for a bit.... and then settles down. Jeff's not as strong as I am on it, he gives in and swaddles him! As far as dropping the 10:30 feeding, he's done that great. On Saturday night, we didn't get home until 10:30, so he was wide awake when I put him down and he didn't go to sleep, so I went ahead and fed him and he went straight to sleep. Other than that, he's slept completely through it, without waking up at all until we go and get him at 7 a.m.! It's amazing how that works!!

Brady's 3 Months Old!

Sometimes I cannot believe that Brady turned 3 months old on Monday. Sometimes it's that I don't believe it's already been 3 months, and sometimes it's that I don't believe it's only been 3 months. People often ask how motherhood is, and I answer with "At first it was boring and hard, now it's fun and hard."

When he was first born, I had a ton of hormones running through my system... enough that I actually could FEEL the rush of them. I know that sounds weird, but if you've had a baby, most likely you can identify with what I'm saying. So I would be sitting at home, feeding and changing Brady around the clock and trying to get some decent amount of sleep in there. He didn't laugh, he didn't smile, he couldn't hold his head up. I was thinking about it today, and I don't think I spoke one word "TO" Brady for the first two or three days we were home. So yes, at first it was not only hard and overwhelming, but I was bored... and lonely.

But now... just a mere three months later... he's full of life, energy and love. Even though he can't say "I love you", every time he smiles he says it. Every time he makes eye contact with me, he says it. Every time he coos he says it... and every time he reaches for a toy and hits it, he says it. Every day I think that I love him as much as I possibly could and the next morning I wake him up and my heart is even more full than it was the day before. It's just like when you get married and you think you love your husband as much as you possibly can... and then a year later you look at him and love him even more... and in new and unexpected ways and for new reasons.

It's so unexplainable... the love for a child. It's an absolute miracle that God created the bond between parents and children. It's such an incredible picture of God's love for us. My friend Julie said that her first Easter after having Sydney was so overwhelming because she viewed the cross differently because of being a mom. How in the world did God give up His ONE and ONLY Son to die for the world.... the SINFUL world? I could never do it.

Anyway... sorry for the Sappiness... onto the fun stuff that Mr. Brady Bug is doing....

He is "talking" so much now... and yesterday I heard his first REAL laugh... where he actually took a breath and laughed.... before this, it's been more of a giggle noise that he does when he's excited. But yesterday I believe it was a real laugh. I have to put talking into quotes, because this guy at my old office would ask me what words he was saying when I told him that Brady's talking a lot more. So, I just want to clarify that when I say TALKING, it's just really lots of noises... and he even does it in response to me. (I read in a magazine that you're supposed to talk to them and wait for an answer. It doesn't work all the time, but when he's in a "talkative" mood, it works well.)

He has rolled over a few times... from his tummy to his back. He definitely does not do it consistently yet or even a lot... sometimes when we put him on his tummy, he just lays there and coos. I think he'll eventually be a tummy sleeper.

He's definitely discovered his hands. He likes to try to put his whole fist in his mouth now... and the other day I found him sound asleep with two fingers in his mouth... I'm not sure it was on purpose, but we'll see if that continues. I can't wait for him to find his feet!!!

He takes 6 ounces in his bottle now and according to our method of weighing him, he's almost 13 pounds now. We're going to try to drop the 10:00 feeding tonight. He's only been taking about 1 ounce the past few nights, as he won't ever fully wake up. It almost all ends up all over his jammies anyway because he'll take it but won't swallow it. So we'll see how it goes tonight.

I'm trying to drop the swaddle too. He's getting too long. We're tired of going in there and re-swaddling... so I'm trying to drop the swaddle thing all together.... that has made for a LONG day. :)

We took these pictures on Sunday, after bath time! He's getting so big!

Happy Fourth of July!

This weekend we took a quick trip to Lubbock so that Brady could meet his Great Grandparents and our Aunts and Uncles!! We left at 2 a.m. on Friday morning and drove to Dickens, Texas where we stopped to feed Brady (and get a picture of Jeff and Brady by a John Deer Tractor). We got to Lubbock just in time for the parade! In Lubbock, the parade is an all-town affair! This was my first time to go, but Jeff grew up going every year.



Brady seemed to like the parade pretty well until the fire trucks came by and turned on their sirens.... he started wailing and it took forever to get him to settle back down... and once he settled back down, here came an ambulance with his sirens. Is it really necessary to turn on the sirens when we're standing right there? What if there really was an emergency? No one would move because they would think that it was just because of the parade!


Jeff's Grandparents --- Mamaw and Pops




Anyway, after we went to the parade with Jeff's side of the family, we went to my grandparents house for lunch. Brady had a great time playing with Megaw and Big Daddy and then he met my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle John too! We went over to Jeff's grandparents' house for dinner and had some good playtime after dinner as well (which is unusual for him, but he did pretty well!)


My Uncle John

My Aunt Carolyn

Jeff's Aunt Denise

Papa Ron

Our Little Firecracker

On Saturday, we all had breakfast together at Jeff's grandparents' house.... our grandparents actually go to church together and have Sunday School class across from each other. It was great fun and we sat out on the front porch chatting for a long time afterward! Brady had such fun visiting with his great grandparents!! On our way out of town, we stopped by Aunt Sharon's house (Jeff's aunt) and saw all of his cousins. We didn't get to stay for too long, but everyone got to see our little Bug.


Mimi


The Great Grandparents

My Grandparents --- Megaw and Big Daddy

Jeff's Cousins

It was a quick trip and it was a lot driving but it was such fun, and our little Brady Bug did so well. Today we missed church and have laid around the house as a family all day. I actually think that Georgia's more tired than any of us.... she's only left the bed a few times to go to the bathroom. Brady Bug has had a fun time playing on his boppy on our bed and watching movies with us all day.... Although having a little one means no sleeping late, it doesn't mean you don't get to nap all day long. Jeff and I have been taking turns feeding him so we get to nap in between. What teamwork! Here are some pics from this weekend!