I just wanted to pop you a quick blog and let you know that our growing little guy over here is doing fabulous after going to his 2 month appt. We were so excited to see how much he weighed and his size, NOT SO EXCITED for the 2month shots that the poor guy would endure :(. He is growing very well and is now weighing in at 13 lbs. 9 oz.! What shocked me was his length, he is now 23 ¼ inches long!! I knew he was getting longer from outfits that are no longer fitting because of their length ( I mean sometimes you would think that his little toes are going to press right out of outfits! We are now in 3-6 month clothes!) but wow, I didn’t realize he would have grown that much in LENGTH from the 19.5 that he was at birth! He is 50th percentile for his head, that was shocking as well as to me! He doesn’t look like he has a huge head as we have always joked about, but just knowing his momma and daddy I was expecting bigger from our big ol noggins! He was in the 75th percentile for his weight and 50th for his length :)….

He was a trooper with the shots… I wanted to try all I could to help him with his pain because it stinks that there is not much you can give them at this age! I remembered that sugar water was used when he got his circumcision as it is suppose to help soothe (I know a big fat Butterfinger has "soothed" me MANY A TIMES!)? Well I figured I could give that a shot and when we got to the doctor I asked him if it was ok and also to see what the ratio of sugar to water was, he said it was fine. So he had a few ounces as we were talking to the doctor, asking all of the questions that had piled up in the month and a half since the last appt. (I can’t believe that the span is so far apart, you go from 2 weeks to TWO MONTHS!). He was so happy when we were talking to the doctor, smiling at me as he was facing me watching me talk to the doctor… I was like man, you are fixing to hate my guts! I received some awesome advice from a friend to have a bottle ready right after the shots, I can say that that was probably the best idea and who knows if I would have thought of it with my franticness! He had to take a vaccination orally and of course did fine with that as he doesn’t mind much that goes in his mouth (is that food??? :)), and then had to get 3 shots in those poor sweet thighs. We had to hold him and his arms down and we were right there in his face telling him it was ok and gave him his paci… Bless his heart when that first needle went in he turned red as a tomato… couldn’t even get the cry out. By the time he caught his breath to let that HUGE WAIL out, it was over… we were able to give him the bottle immediately and console him. His cry maybe lasted 10 seconds once we got his outfit zipped up (we already had it half way on since he was naked for the first part of the checkup) and he never cried again! He was so tough, I just love that sweet baby!

We have also found our enjoyment with “the sling”….. Brady loves to be cradled (ok sometimes, sometimes he is like STOP SQUISHING ME :) ) and held close, holding his arms and legs as close to you as you can… well as he keeps putting on those pounds, by no help of that appetite of his :), it’s harder to find the “muscles” to walk around with him cradled as he loves. He likes it even when he isn’t sleeping.. just to walk and bounce and be there with you… so I have a wonderful friend that offered me her sling that she had! I have been hesitant about buying one as they are made for people that have no limited amount of dollars :), just in case he hated it. Well… I think we would have spent 100 bucks on this deal because not kidding… I thought I would try it yesterday to see what he thought as he was getting sleepy.. LESS THAN 5 MINUTES that kid was curled in a ball against me snoozing.. no fussin’, nada! Brad and I looked at each other like we had just found the winning lottery ticket (speaking of, why can’t we win that without playing!) ! Again later in the day tried it again and AGAIN, right to sleep! It is crazy how even though he isn’t a tiny newborn in that thing he still loves it! He might look like the biggest burrito you have ever seen but by God I will get this back fat worked off FOR SURE now :)! The redeemer, THE SLING! :)

On a bad note, we think he is developing a bit of acid reflux…. It seems to us, and the doctor from what I have been telling him What he is doing that that is what it is…
Poor baby, as hard as we have always tried to prevent acid reflux (My nephew Jackson had it) I think the little guy is getting a little share. You can hear it sometimes coming up and him swallowing and he gets this face like EWWW WHAT IN THE HECK WAS THAT, and then he has taken on to a little coughing too. I know most babies get it (I learned that any spit up is called “acid reflux” it just doesn’t bother them on the lower level), so they like to see if it will go away on their own. However, my doctor told me that if he does start acting like he is in a lot of pain to just call him and he will call in an infant prescription of prilosec. So we will see… yesterday I tried moving him up to 6 oz. bottles when we got home and I think it just isn’t the right time with him dealing with the reflux… He was trying to nap and would start screaming in the middle of his nap still asleep, it was that nasty crud, I know it. He didn’t give but 3 small burps on my 6 oz. feeding with him and I think that it was causing the acid to come up. He did that off and on for almost an hour… it is sad, man I hate it when he cries from something I can’t help him with. The crying for a bottle or just to be loved on, I can take that… but the cries because of gas or now with reflux, I hate it. His feedings later in the evening and before he went to bed we burped him almost every ounce and he seemed so much happier… He was not liking to be burped either before we were burping him a lot.. locking up his legs and crying when we would try to sit him down on our lap… now he doesn’t cry. So that one big feeding I think he was just clogged up and not burping good but like I told Brad and I told Brady :), if he gets fussy while we are burping him, for right now (I know sometimes they just don’t have any air to give with the good bottles) we need to pull it out of him… it will hurt him a lot more and cause even more fussing if we don’t. It seems to be better though so we will see!

I have decided that for anyone who cares to know… I am going to start adding little things that I find that help Brady with this or that. I know as a new mom, or I would guess that it would be with moms period, that it is so much work figuring out what is wrong with your child and then what can help him. I wish I had this type of cheat book with Brady! I am also going to include little “cheats” that help us with just “baby life” as well. Now who knows when I will start this.. hopefully this week! Well I better get back to “it”… I hope everyone has a great week! Here is a little somethin’ to make you smile…

ALREADY TURNIN' INTO A MAN hahaha! The "Al Bundy"! (Married with Children)


Brady and Payton! He all of a sudden turned a few months older with that outfit on! He looked like a little man!


This, my friends, is the beautiful smile that we get all the day long :). Well when he is awake... oh and not having needles crammed in his thighs :(.


Such a big boy!! He isn't too fond of this yet, but he hopefully soon will be! He looks like a little egg :).


Sleeping Beauties....

2 MONTHS OF LOVE ALREADY!

Well here we are concluding the first week back to work..... it went well. Of course there are many things to do but overall the day is good. I can't even explain how good it felt to leave Brady with GIGI, my mom, all week. I can't explain how fortunate I feel that she is watching him, I felt nothing but happiness all week knowing where he was. I can't even imagine how horrible it would have been dropping him off with a stranger! I want to hug everyone that I know that has had to endure that first week of dropping them off :(! I know that one day I will have to do it, but I will just sit and enjoy this while I can!

This little angel of ours has, should I dare to say it, slept through the night BIG TIME earlier this week! Saturday he slept from 10:00 to 7 and we had to wake him up at 7! Sunday he went down at 10 and slept til 4:45! It’s great, he consistently sleeps for atleast 5 hours during the night so we are fortunate.... He has been doing consistently well! We go on Monday to see how big this little bear is! I am excited for that, but absolutely horrified at him getting shots. Luckily or should I say hopefully Brad will be off on Monday like he so often is as they are slow… Man I hate that cry where you know they are in pain… he had one I think it was Sunday night from a gas bubble that about had me in tears! We think he has developed a bit of colic although it is nothing compared to what I have read it could be so I am not griping in the least. However, he has consistently had about a 10-20 minute span of I HATE LIFE cries :)… There is not much you can do but love him so much (to keep your patience high lol) and be so soft, gentle, and caring to him. I was told about a product called gripe water before I had him and might I say that that stuff is AWESOME! We use it frequently for hiccups, not needing to give him much at all.. however, it is for colic to as it helps their gassiness so last night we tried giving him that when he got his cry going later last night…. It helped a lot.. I think the biggest thing I hate so far is the gas that their immature systems have to fight with. It is the most helpless feeling and horrible at that when you can’t help them. My biggest fear though for those same reasons is TEETHING…. As I dread anytime I have a tooth pain I don’t want him in any pain!!

I can’t believe that 2 months have already gone by! Looking back I see all that we have gone through and learned… happy, scary, exciting stuff. There are so many things that I have learned about myself, being a momma, A WIFE, about Brad, and most definitely about Brady, that make me so happy and confident about where we are and where we are going! I remember like yesterday, the first 2 weeks of motherhood, YIKES! But making it through that and then moving forward- AWESOME! He is such a great addition to our family and I can’t wait for all that is in store! 3-4 months seems like it is such a HUGE transitional time for a child, gassiness and colic get better… that is what the first AAAMEN you will hear out of me is for, becoming a little man :)! I am going to try to sneak some smile pictures this weekend… he seems to like to cock his eyebrow at the camera wondering what in the heck momma keeps stickin in his face with bright flashes of sunlight it seems :) when I try to take a pic of him smiling.

BRADY'S FIRST PHOTO SHOOT- 4 WEEKS!

PEEK-A-BOO!

SOOOOOOO I totally stink to high heaven at keeping this updated now that little man is rulin' the roost :). I think I need to go back to work so that I can keep the blog updated when I am scarfin' my lunch down :) **** never do I update this blog during work hours when there is hard work to be done!****

Well- first off I can't believe that this beautiful baby boy is already 8 weeks old on Saturday! My heavens did this time fly by! And it figures that just as you are rockin' with the needs and routines (well the habits I should say, nothing is routine :) ) then work comes a calling and your leave is over! I am perfectly comfortable in this new "skin" I am going to call it of being a momma. That came after many a tears of doubting everything I thought! I honestly don't know how mommas made it before you can learn about whatever you are curious about with the press of a button and typing "google" in. However, I think that is sometimes the devil as well! I have had questions that I have found answers that scared me more then before I started looking! And you know the best part about it, there are sooooo many contradictory opinions about this and that that all I do anyways is read and get scared and then see what my opinion is as someone elses and I am content as can be. SO WHY WASTE TIME EVEN LOOKING! HAHA! I guess sometimes you just need that little inkling of support from someone that has no idea who you are or even that you are looking into their questions and answers :). It's amazing how you really have this "instinct" come about when you give birth. Granted with all my beautiful mommy friends I do have to say that I hear a lot here and there, but I remember nothing when it comes "game time" :).

Onto the better part of me now- MR. BRADY....

This little guy is something else! He is smilin' away and they are huge heartfelt smiles with eyes winced and all.. However, he is not one for the camera yet and loves to all of a sudden become stern face with crooked eyebrows when I try to get the "shot". We go to his 2 month appt. on Jan. 25th and I can not wait to see how much he weighs!! I swear I know I am out of shape and have jello for arms but oh my good god, little rollie pollie literally leaves my arms NUMB sometimes. Of course he looooooves to "dance" (ok I dance around like an idiot).... "bounce".... whatever involves you walking around and heaven forbid you sit on the couch... YEAH.. I DON'T THINK SO. That sad imitation of "butt jumpin'" as you try to "bounce" as you are sitting on that comfortable couch- GET YOUR LAZY BUTT UP AND WALK LADY!! I swear I think he says that through his shouts! He is really becoming "habitual" and I can only hope that it stays that way as right now you can read him but I don't know if that is just a new kiddo or if it stays with him. He stays up a lot more then he used to, it's funny because Brad is like why is he up so much lol! It's funny how that is so true, you are so tired during the first few weeks so once you start getting "used" to their habits and you start resting because you will NEVER beat the wrath of the newborn :), you are used to it and BOOM- no more long naps consistently. He is the BIGGEST CAT NAPPER, and one thing I am trying so very hard to get him "unused" to is falling asleep in our loving arms! He has now taken on to literally being like a little doll with the eyes that open and close (you know the ones that are creepy as hell, now that I am older). You can hold him in your arms for 15 minutes to 45 minutes (if a good show is on, come on now haha) and the second you try to put him in his swing or crib BAM, EYES POP OPEN! When I say open, I mean OPEN..... not a slightly open like he might go back to sleep... LIKE ALL THE WAY, GOOOOOOOD MORNING open! Cracks me up... He is something else! I think that all 3 of us are really learning each other and we all feel comfortable and so happy with this new life that we are now living! I am very ready for him to be able to hold his head up so I can put him in the Bumbo and the other activity chair! He has always had outstanding neck control! So I don't think that it should be long now! I have only tried to put him in the seat once, but yeah he was ticked and I was in the mode of finding exactly what it was that would calm him besides me holding him. I really don't want him to be spoiled although I will never let him cry a long time. Especially now with him being so new, I just hope that everyone else doesn't mind consoling him as I do with holding him :).

I promise I will be better at updating this blog!! I am going to attach some pictures with some stories :). XOXO, tata for now!

FIRST NAP IN HIS BIG BOY CRIB! At 6 weeks I said that I would put him in his crib... so I prepared him (myself :) ) for that by putting him down for naps in the crib so that he could get used to that bed. I have a motion monitor which if I can recommend ANYTHING to any to be mommas out there, GET IT.... It is a monitor that has a sensory pad that goes under their mattress that should he stop breathing (basically if there is no motion) for more then 15 seconds an alarm sounds! It has receivers the same as a normal monitor to hear him. It puts me at such ease, as I know it works because of the bazillion times that I have forgot to turn it off when picking him up :).... He now sleeps in his crib at night, and we have all done extremely well with that! I knew that he would be sleeping in a normal crib when he was in childcare when I went back to work, I wanted him to be used to the flat surface as he has always been in love with his papasan swing and slept in that in our room for the first of his life.... I thought it would be so hard, but that monitor, I am not kidding- it is wonderful!



FIRST REAL BATH! That baby boy LOVES his baths! With the love for the baths also comes the love of PEEIN' ON MOM! At first it was just when the water hit him.. now it seems to be the head really triggers the hose.. GRANTED, IT IS NOTHING LIKE THIS..



I can honestly say that I have never laughed so hard then when I saw that for the first time! HILARIOUS.. I still haven't figured that out why if you put the diaper over the pee pee hole, "it" (man part) doesn't just pee into the diaper.. NO, it waits for the next revealing (lifting of the washcloth) and goes... lol! SO now I have to hold a washcloth in the direction of the "stream" and let him just pee into it hahaha!




Snow bunny! This was us bundled up for his 2 week appt! It was the day that it was to "snow" in Austin... He was so daannnnnng cute! I can't believe how early he started getting those cheeks now looking at that!