Sweet sick baby

Brayden has had his first non immunization induced fever today. I felt so bad for him this morning, he was whiny and whimpering and it was so sad! But then there is all of the snuggling and he is being the cuddliest baby ever! Brayden had gotten to the point where being held he never really sits still. He is just too busy and alert to be rocked and held still. Today he has wanted to spend the day being held and he even let me rock him to sleep. Sitting there rocking my sweet, sleeping baby boy felt so good! It made me realize how big he is getting and that I better soak up every last moment like this. All of that being said, I really hope this is just a 24 hour thing and that Brayden feels much better soon and is back to his squirmy happy self.:)

Brayden meets Santa!

 What is it with babies and Santa Claus???  Brayden will literally go to any person with a smile on his face...until he met Santa!

 I have to admit, it was hilarious and pitiful all in one!  We did get one decent shot of Brayden looking at the camera, not smiling, but not crying either. 

We quickly saved him from the scary old man but unfortunately had a reminder of Saint Nick all day long.... Brayden reeked of old man cologne for the rest of the day!  Haha!!! 

A Little Christmas Diddy...

You'd better watch out
You better not cry




You better not pout,

I'm telling you why...
Santa Claus is comin to town



He knows when you are sleeping















He knows when you're awake

He knows if you've been bad















or good....

So be good for goodness sake!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Happy Thanksgiving 2011

We have so much to be thankful for this year and had a wonderful time celebrating with family over Thanksgiving.  We had Thanksgiving at our house and my sister, brother in law, and Brayden's cousins Halley and Carson came to stay with us.   Here are some pics from the holiday weekend:

Silly baby



Brayden with his cousins Halley and Carson.  They are such sweet kiddos and were so good with Brayden. We are so glad they came and spent Thanksgiving with us.   I can't wait till he is old enough to run around and play them!


Brayden definitely did not lack attention this weekend!  He got snuggled by everyone, especially my sister and my Aunts!

Brayden with his Great Aunt Sally

with his Great Grandmother Rehkopf

His Godmother and Great Aunt Sarah

Hangin out with Sister

SO incredibly blessed :)

7 months

Here is what our sweet Brayden is up to this month:

*We can no longer put him in one spot and expect him to stay!  Brayden has been rolling all over the place to get to what he wants.  He has also been getting into a plank position or on all fours and scooching backwards!  He will rock back and forth, try to go and will fall flat on his face!  He has figured out how to use his legs and knees to go but his hands and arms have not yet caught up...We don't think it will be long till this little guy is crawling:)
*Brayden has been sitting on his own for the past couple of weeks.  I finally feel comfortable letting him sit there without a pillow or myself behind him to break his fall.  Don't get me wrong he defintely still topples over and smacks his head, it just happens alot less! 
*Brayden's favorite toy is still his bouncer.  He also loves any toy that will go in his mouth or any toy that lights up and makes sounds.
*Brayden is doing so well with the solid foods!  His favorite is bananas but he also likes apples, pears, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peaches, mango, and oatmeal.  His least favorite things have been green beans and avacodos.
*He is getting more and more fun to play with each day.  He laughs and laughs, it is the cutest thing ever!  Brayden will "attack" your face!  We are not sure if he is trying to give kisses or tickle us but he will open his mouth and rub it all over your face and make noise.  It is so neat to see that a 7 month old can have a sense of humor :)
*He is just so observant.  He will watch us walk around the room, he unfortuantely loves to stare at the television, he will grab all of your facial features when you are holding him, and he really likes to watch other kids. 
*Brayden is FINALLY doing so good with his sleeping schedule!  We have been putting him down between 7:15-7:45 and I don't get up to feed him again until between 4-5:30.  He will sometimes cry a little between one and three but once he remembers to stick that thumb in his mouth he goes right back to sleep!  After the early morning feeding I put him back down until about 8:00 when he gets up for the day.  He is still taking 2 great 1 1/2-2 hour naps during the day. 

A couple of firsts this month:
*Brayden rode a train for the first time
*He went to his first wedding, thanks Scott and Allie Ramirez!!!
And a big first....

*He just got his first tooth!!!  I just noticed this morning that his front, bottom, left tooth is poking through.  This must explain why he gave his daddy and Grandpa such a hard time this weekend!  He refuses to open his mouth and show me for a picture so unfortunately I don't have one to show yet!

San Antonio zoo train with some friends, what a sweet conductor!

On the train with mommy

This boy LOVES his funny daddy

Grandpa had just fed him a bottle and he fell asleep, it was one of the sweetest moments!

I am in love with this picture, with his great grandparents

Brayden's favorite position-the plank

I never thought thumb sucking was this cute!

Happy Halloween!!!

Can I just say how much more fun Halloween is once you have kids???  We had such fun dressing Brayden up the whole month of October.  Here are some Halloween pics of our funny monkey from this month :)

Had to get a shot from behind, that curly tail was too cute!

We had a fun time celebrating Halloween with all of our great neighbors!

Brayden wore his Halloween pajamas all month

We had so much fun going to the pumpkin patch and watching Brayden just take it all in.  He was so interested in the pumpkins, the scarecrows, and all of the other kids running around.  We were lucky to actually get a picture of him looking at us!

Haha!  Had to do it!

Our adorable little jack-o-lantern

Thanksgiving here we come!!!!!

Happy Half Birthday to Brayden!!!

Brayden's official six months was on the 18th but we didn't get in to the doctor until today and I wanted to wait and include his six month stats.  I CANNOT BELIEVE that our sweet baby boy is 6 months old, not a newborn, an infant, and before long he will be a toddler!  I always hear people say how fast time flies, cherish this time, blah blah blah, but they were right!  It is unbelievable how quickly time is going and how fast our Brayden is growing.  Last month I didn't think that Brayden had very many changes going from 4 months to 5 months but going from 5-6 months there are so many changes!  This is definitely my favorite stage so far, Brayden is so alert and just so much fun to be around.  It is hard to be with him and to not have a huge smile on your face!  Here are some of the major changes we have made over the past month:

*Good bye paci!  We have been pacifier free for over a month now and we are all happy campers, especially mommy!
*Brayden is now sleeping in his crib in his own bedroom!  On the day we decided to get rid of the paci, we also chose to unswaddle his arms and put him in his own room- I know that's alot of change for one day!  I have to say it is still a little sad for me in the mornings to not have him laying there in the pack n play beside me.  I didn't realize how much I cherished waking up to that sweet innocent face every morning, I know it is still there just on a monitor instead of lying there beside me.  He is doing great in his own room and did not have any trouble with this transition.
*We are still rocking the half swaddle most of the time but have started putting him down for naps without it
*We switched Brayden from his carrier to a big car seat.  He was getting miserable in his carrier and we figured it was because he was getting a little too big and cramped in his old chair.  He literally cried everytime we would strap him in, he is doing quite a bit better now as he has more room and can see much more.  Don't get me wrong though, he would definitely rather not be in the car seat or the car as these are some of his least favorite things!!!
*Along with getting him out of the carrier, we took the connection for the carrier off of the stroller so now Brayden is riding in the stroller seat.  I thought he would be really excited and looking all around but he does not show much expression riding in the stroller, maybe there is just so much going on he is just taking it all in!!!
*We just started giving Brayden solid foods.  We had to give him prunes a couple of times before six months (use your imagination why!) we have now given him bananas, which he loved and also sweet potatoes.  I am giving it a go making our own baby food, so far so good!  We will see how long this lasts!
*Brayden is taking a six ounce bottle of formula before I nurse him at bedtime each night.  He had been waking up all night to eat so we figured we would try and fill him up as best as we could, so far is seems to be working!

Here are some changes we have noticed in Brayden:
*When you carry Brayden he will hold on to you now, which does not sound like much but to me it is the most wonderful feeling!
*He is a rolly poly!  He is constantly rolling in both directions.  We have found that Brayden would much rather be on his stomach than on his back and when we place him on his stomach he is very quick to get on his tummy.  He just started rolling over in his crib and sleeping on his side and stomach.  The first couple of times he did it he cried but seems to like it now.
*This boy still never stops moving!  When he is laying on his stomach, he is like a little airplane ready for take off.  He sticks his arms out, picks his legs off the ground and kick, kick, kicks!!!  We think it won't be long till he figures out how to crawl so we are trying to enjoy this "stationary" stage while we can!
*One of my favorite things is the look of recognition on Brayden's face when he sees Brian and I or when he hears our voices.  He immediatlely smiles, and sometimes buries his head bashfully :)
*He is definitely a thumb sucker!  I am actually very excited about the thumb sucking because he has figured out how to soothe himself with the thumb.  He will wake up in the middle of the night and start to fuss but will quickly find his thumb and fall right back to sleep.  Also, in the car on the way back from Dallas this weekend he sucked his thumb frequently instead of crying.  I am not complaining with this new development because it has meant dramatically more sleep for both of us!

6 month stats
Weight:  18 lb 1 oz 56%
Height:  26.3 In 38%
Here are some of Braydens favorite things at 6 months:
*Brayden still LOVES his bouncer.  He would probably bounce all day if we would let him.  It is HILLARIOUS to watch him when he really gets going in this thing.  He goes crazy bouncing and screaming and smiling.  He is so adorable and it is really nice how he easily entertains himself. 
*Brayden loves anything he can put into his mouth but especially Mr. Giraffe
*Mia!  He LOVES his puppy!  He watches her constantly and will smile and laugh at her.  He has gotten a couple of good handfuls of her hair and she is being surprisingly patient!

Here are some of my favorite pics from this month:

First time in his stroller, doesn't he look so excited??

Ready for takeoff!!



I think he has offically grown out of this toy!!

Help please!

 
 

What would we do without this bouncer!



Brayden's new "big boy" car seat seems pretty comfy!

Who knew thumb sucking could be so cute????

I love this!