5 month update

So, I was looking back at Brayden's 4 month stats and not too much has changed this month. Here is what Brayden is up to these days:

*He is now putting EVERYTHING in his mouth!!!  It does not matter what you give him, he will indefintely find a way to get it into his mouth!  This leads to alot of drool and a lot of burp cloth usage!
*Brayden has gotten really, really good at grabbing and holding on to things.  We had been practicing like crazy and he finally got it!
*This boy is so funny!  He screams and "talks" all day long!  It is really funny to hear all of his new noises, and you can tell by the look on his face that he is really proud of himself. 
*He is laughing out loud!!!  He only started within the past couple of weeks and it is the most adorable thing ever!  I literally give myself a headache going on and on doing whatever it is that makes him laugh!  It is funny though, something will make him laugh at you one day and the next day-nothing!  He laughs at peek-a-boo, when you tickle his tummy and chin, and sometimes he laughs when he watches Mia (I think that her tail is funny to him).
*We think that Brayden has ADD-seriously!!!  Most of the time I have to feed Brayden in a dark, quiet room because he gets so distracted and wants to look around instead of eat!
*Brayden still loves bouncing in his bouncer, check out the pic of him after he fell asleep in it the other night-too sweet!
*Brayden LOVES his daddy!  From the moment daddy gets home from work, Brayden is no longer interested in me-mom.  He literally just stares at Brian and waits for him to look at, smile, or talk to him.  When he does, Brayden will SMILE or scream and talk to him.  It is so sweet, and Brian is the best dad ever.  He is still giving Brayden his bath every night and gets him in his PJ's and ready for bed every night.
*Brayden is still eating his rice cereal twice a day, 2TBS mixed with about 2 ounces of formula.  Most days he finishes the whole bowl.  He really likes to "help" hold the spoon which leads to an even bigger mess but it helps make him eat faster!  If we put the bowl and spoon up to his mouth, he likes to stick his tongue in and lick it up like a pup- also creating a huge mess!!!
*Brayden had his first plane ride!  We went on a trip with Brian's family to Colorado, I will blog on this alone because we did so much in 8 days!
*Since coming back from vacation we are trying a new feeding schedule.  Brayden was consistently not eating well a couple of times during the day so we decided to get rid of a feeding.  We are aiming to feed him at 8:30, 12:30, 4:30, 8:30 and then somewhere between 4:30-5:30 in the morning. This will bring Brayden down from 7 feedings a day to hopefully 5, fingers crossed at 6 months I'll be letting you know how great this is going! 
*We are just now starting the process of getting rid of the pacifier...Brayden still wakes up all hours of the night when his paci falls out and needs someone to pop it back in his mouth-resulting in not very much sleep for anyone!  So far there has been alot of crying, again fingers crossed that we can be rid of the paci without too many sleepness nights!

I was telling Brian that I feel like a slacker mom this month, I have taken very few pictures of little man recently... Here are just a couple favorites from this month:

All played out!

I love this sweet smile!!!!

A week of Rice Cereal...

As soon as the pediatrician gave us the go ahead, I ran out and bought Brayden some rice cereal.  I was so excited to feed him real food and was also anticipating great outcome:  back to sleeping through the night!!!  We of course made sure to document all of the fun Brayden had!

Monday

Sitting in his brand new high chair, he can't hide his excitement!!!

Here we go, clean new highchair, brand new bib, first bite...

You would think that I was physically harming him, this stuff tastes horrible!!!

Are we finished yet!?

 Tuesday

Maybe if I pretend to fall asleep I won't have to eat anymore

Wednesday

Hey give me the spoon, I got this!

The rice cereal won!

But by Friday

We still had a mess, there was rice cereal literally on every body part!



Full Tummy, Happy Baby!!!



By the end of the first week, Brayden was eating his whole bowl of rice cereal (only 1TBS of cereal and an ounce of formula).  Now that we are through 2 weeks of the excitement that is cereal eating, Brayden is eating 2 TBS of rice cereal twice a day.  Most days he takes it like a champ although most days he is also wearing about half of it!  He is actually making more of a mess now because he likes to stick his fist in his mouth full of cereal and then spread it all around anything in sight.  It has been a fun introduction to solid foods, can't wait till 6 months when we can give him food with actual flavor!  Oh, and I forgot to mention that the rice cereal definitely has not helped our sleeping issues but we will keep on plugging away!



Brayden's Baptism 8-20-2011

Last Saturday afternoon our family and friends gathered for sweet Brayden's baptism.  It was such a nice ceremony held in the church for only Brayden and his loved ones.  Father Conor is wonderful and made it feel special and personalized for Brayden.  Brayden was a very good boy and only got a little fussy near the end.  He did however manage to spit up on Brian and I during the short 20 minute ceremony!  We feel very blessed and thankful for Father Conor and our loving and supportive friends and family for sharing this special day with us.


Brayden wore the same gown that my sister and I both wore for our baptism.  My Granny bought it about 40 years ago and since then several of my cousins have worn it as well.  I am so glad that it fit and Brayden was able to wear it!  We made a promise to Brayden that this would be the only time we would make him wear a dress, haha!!!  Here are a couple of Brayden striking a pose in his pretty dress, I mean gown...

Here are some pics of the actual baptism.  Brian's sister Christi had our camera and did an awesome job not missing a thing!  I think we ended up with about 75 pictures all day so it was really hard for me to narrow it down to just these!



To the right of Brian are Brayden's Godparents, my sweet Aunt Sarah and Brian's brother Keith.  We are so glad they were willing to be Brayden's Godparents and are both great Christian role models for Brayden as he grows up.  We are thankful they agreed to be a special part of Braydens spiritual life.

Brian doing the sign of the cross

Pouring holy water over his head, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

Happy Family!!!

 

With Father Conor

With Brayden's great grandparents Mamer and Papa Barron

Grandpa Rehkopf

Father Conor, Keith, and Sarah

Grandma and Grandpa Torres in town from Duncanville

Keith, Grandpa and Grandma Barron, and Aunt Christi

Hallelujah!!!:)

4 month update

Happy 4 Months Brayden!!!

He doesn't see the needles on the table yet!

It was definitely a little strange for me this morning as all of my teacher friends were getting ready for their first day of school and I was getting Brayden ready to go to the doctor. After 6 years of teaching, it felt odd not going back but I would never have it any other way! Now my time is dedicated to only one child- my own sweet Brayden! Brayden turned 4 months last week and we went to the doctor today for his checkup and second round of immunizations. His 2 month shots didn't go very well so we prepared for the worse as we took him in this morning. He has been a little fussier than usual, crying some when he very rarely cries but has been eating and sleeping normally thank goodness. Our suspicions were confirmed when Brayden weighed in at 15.3 pounds-he has definitely been going through a growth spurt gaining almost 4 pounds in the past 2 months! He is now in the 54% for weight but only in the 16% for length at 24 inches. We told the doctor about his change in sleep patterns and he suggested trying rice cereal in the evening to hopefully help fill him up and tide him over until morning. Well he didn't have to tell me twice! During Braydens nap I put his highchair together (thankfully Uncle Keith gave us one this weekend!) and we already ran to the store to buy rice cereal. This should be interesting and all those bibs people gave us will finally get some use! Pictures to come soon!!!
So here is what the little guy is up to these days! 
*This boy is nonstop smiles all day long!  He is such a happy baby and very rarely cries.  He likes to experiment with different sounds and "talks" alot making a new sound almost everyday.  It is not hard to get him going, just smiling and kissing him gets him talking and smiling. 

Yes, that is spit-up all over his face and he doesn't seem to mind one bit!

*He is so observant and interested in the world around him.  He turns his head to noises that he hears and to watch you as you move around the room.  He often pulls off when eating because he gets very distracted by outside noises and movements.  He will also pull off just to look at me to smile and coo which is just about the sweetest thing ever! 

*He is holding his head up with no support and has such a strong neck.  Brayden is so energetic and is constantly moving his legs.  With a little support he can put most of his weight on his feet and loves to stand up and look around.  He will stand there and pick up his legs like he is walking or stomping. 

*He has started using his bouncer and he LOVES it, it's like his very own baby treadmill. His feet don't touch the ground yet so we started out with a box underneath and have moved on to a towel.  It is hilarious to watch him play and watch the expression on his face as he moves himself around.  He loves it so much that he rubbed his little pinky toe to where it bled, ALOT!!!  He has had to take a couple of days off until his toe is healed, poor guy! 



*We have started to put Brayden back down on his playmat because he is now more interested than ever in the toys that hang.  He has just started learning to grab at them and kicks them with his always moving feet.  He will just lay there and entertain himself and goo and shout to himself, it is so cute! 
*Brayden got too big for his kitchen sink bathtub so we have started bathing him in the real bathtub.  He still seems to like baths and enjoys spashing in the tub. 

There is nothing cuter than this sweet naked booty!!!

*Right around about 3 months Brayden had started sleeping through the night waking up maybe once but easily went right back down with his paci.  But... for the past two weeks, Brayden has been waking up at random hours through the night hungry and taking a full feeding.  We are assuming that it is just a growth spurt and that he will be sleeping through the night again SOON-mama misses her consecutive sleep!!  He has gotten very good about taking solid naps during the day, two good naps for an hour and a half-two hours each in his "big crib" in his room.

*Here is our current schedule:

5:30 am wake up eat and then right back down to sleep
8:30 wake up and eat again, up for the day!
8:30-9:30 playtime with mommy, he is so happy and talkative this time of the day
9:30-10:30 (most days) gym time, Brayden goes to the kids club and usually naps while mom works out, Brayden usually falls back asleep in the car on the way home
10:30-11:30 time to run errands or meet up with other moms and Braydens friends some days
11:30 lunch time!  After lunch we have some tummy time or playtime on his mat, we have also been practicing holding his toys and rattles
12:30-2:30 nap
2:30 afternoon snack, time to eat! 
3:00-4:00 playtime, singing songs, reading books and lots of talking
4:00-5:30 afternoon nap
5:30 dinner time, time to eat!
6:00 Playtime with daddy, tummy time and bouncer chair
Sometime between 6:30 and 7:30 Brayden usually has another 30-45 minute nap while Brian and I eat dinner
7:45  bathtime with daddy
8:00 final feeding of the day
8:30ish Bedtime

Brayden has completely changed our lives and added so much to our little family.  We never knew we would be this in love with him!  We were talking this weekend with some family, and I heard Brian say that he can't remember what are lives were like before him.  We both agree that we must have been pretty bored but very well rested!  Here are just a few more pics from this month:

Checking out a pretty older girl!!!

I love his face in this one!



Brayden always has his hands in his mouth, could teeth be coming???  



Let me tell you bout my best friend...

In the days and years before Brayden, there was only one baby in the house-sweet Mia... Since Brayden came along, things have been a little different for poor Mia.  But from the day they met, we knew these two would be fast friends!

First meeting...what is this and when is it leaving???

Mia was a little jealous at first and spend alot of time fighting for the attention that was once all hers...

Since that day, Mia is slowly adjusting to our new family member and is getting to know him more and more each day by...

Licking his ears



His face



 His face some more...



His hands...



 And don't forget the feet!!!

Sometimes they take naps together...

But most of the time they just hang out and enjoy each others company...

They have both been such troopers and Brayden doesn't seem to mind all of the "kisses" that his sister gives him.  We know that one day soon, when Brayden is a little more mobile, it's payback time and Mia had better watch her tail!!!