So, early in the month of October, I started noticing all these little bites on Brayden. I thought he'd gotten into some chiggers while out in the food plot with Nick. However, we soon realized our dogs had brought FLEAS into the house. Fast forward to now, and our house is bug free. However, I did have to treat the yard, bomb the house, spray the furniture, bathe and give new flea treatments to the dogs, get new dog beds, and buy flea collars. Needless to say, I won't be skipping any flea treatments for the dogs again. Below is Tex getting a bath. It's like a carwash. :)
Brayden was chillaxin' one day in my lap. I thought it was too cute. :)
I've mentioned before how much I love the crafts that Kids Academy does with Brayden. This one was no exception. So cute!
Just being silly after a nap one afternoon. :)
Monday, October 6th, Nick and I headed down to Tyler for his CAT scan. It went as smoothly as those go. We ate Stanley's afterwards, then headed home.
The next Monday, October 13th, was the ablation. My parents and Sister came down on Sunday to spend the night with Brayden. Nick & I headed to Tyler to meet up with Joe & Melanie. We stayed in a hotel in Tyler because we had to be at ETMC early the next morning for check in. My Sister came early Monday morning so she could be with me during the surgery. My parents brought Brayden up later. They took Nick back a little before 8:00AM, and he was in recovery around 11:00AM. For those who don't know, an ablation is done through cardiac catheterization. The sent two tubes up the right side and one tube of the left side. Nick had to be put under for the procedure. The doctor was very pleased with the how everything went. An ablation has a 60-70% chance success rate, but we won't know for sure if it has worked for a couple of months. Nick's follow up appointment is November 25th. He's had to take a blood thinner since the surgery, but we're hoping he'll be taken off of that at his follow up. He had to stay the night in the hospital on Monday night, and I stayed with him. My parents stayed with Brayden again. He was released around 9:00 on Tuesday, and we were headed home. He followed doctor's orders and took it easy for a few days. He never really hurt, but he was super sore on the right side. Thanks for the prayers everyone!
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| Getting ready to go into surgery. |
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| Coming back from lunch. Brayden passed out when we got into the parking garage. Dad carried him back to Nick's room. |
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| After surgery, lunch, and a nap.
Brayden loves to play with this carrier Nick's aunt gave us for Christmas a few years ago. I use it mainly for camping for our silverware, paper plates, and napkins. I had it sitting out in the formal living room, and Brayden found it one day. He now goes in and takes every thing out of it, plays "drums" for a few minutes, then moves on to the next thing.
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Nick & I went and picked up his Mammaw's dining table and chairs for our dining room from Alan & Tovah. It looks great! So glad we now have space for it!
This little monkey turned ONE on Friday, October 17th! AND, to make it really special, he took his first steps the day before. He's growing up so fast! Read about his birthday party here. This was the first picture I took of him as a one year old. Hard life, huh?
Cheesing after school on his birthday!
My Sister came and stayed the weekend with us to help with Bray's party. This was Sunday after church. She was having a bit of lunch and Satchel & Ranger were begging. :)
Bibi & Harpo got Brayden a swing for the backyard for part of his birthday present. He LOVES it! He loves to look at our neighbor's cows (which he calls dogs) and watch the tractors move around in the pasture. He's his Daddy's boy. :)
This was one of the presents Nick & I gave Brayden. It has been a huge hit!
Playing with toys from the Maybens. :)
Tuesday, October 21st, Brayden had his one year appointment. He 32.5" tall (>97th percentile) and 28.15 lbs (>97th percentile). We had to change Brayden's doctor to Dr. Delisi because Dr. Ramos moved. We love Delisi! He's great. He asked me what we feed Brayden. I went through a daily routine: scrambled eggs, cheerios, yogurt, bananas, ramen noodles, peaches, puffs, juice, water, etc. At this time, I was still giving him formula because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to just stop cold turkey or what. Dr. Delisi said, "Well, he eats healthy, and not a lot of junk. He just eats a lot! You may just want to start him on 2% and skip whole milk. He doesn't need the extra fat." I just had to laugh. My big baby! We cut back on his bottles too, and now he only takes a morning bottle and bed time bottle. I'll start weaning him off those within the next two weeks. The bed time bottle will be the hardest because he really likes to have a "ba ba" before bedtime. He had to get lots of vaccines that day (five plus flu vaccine), but he took them pretty well. Only took a few minutes to calm him down.
Later that day, I gave him his applesauce pouch. Normally, I feed it to him, but he's really been wanting to do it himself. So far, he's done fairly well. There have been a few instances where applesauce has ended up all over him, but that's what washing machines and bathtubs are for. :)
I'm loving decorating our new porch for all the fun holidays.
For the family pictures we took this weekend, I couldn't find a single purple shirt for a little boy anywhere. So, I bought a white button up from Old Navy and dyed it. Turned out pretty good if you ask me!
Malachi and Brayden playing at the football game one evening.
Just a precious boy getting ready to go to the pumpkin patch with our friends, Joe, Linsey, and Payton! We all went to Callie's Acre between Gilmer and Longview. It was HOT. We took lots of pictures then go the heck out of dodge.
Playing with is tools from Aunt Tovah, Uncle Alan, and Owen.
The McCormicks got this awesome blow up ball pit for Brayden for his birthday. Then, the McKenzies bought him a bag of those plastic balls. We put it all together, and he LOVES it. Satchel does too. He'll fetch every ball Brayden throws out. :)
Stylin' in his Star Wars shirt from cousin Lindsay!
The Wednesday before Halloween, Brayden and I went to New Boston to participate in their Trunk or Treat. We surprised Bibi at her office. Brayden was allowed to play with pretty much whatever he wanted. :) We dressed him up as a puppy this year. He was none too thrilled about it. He ate a hot dog, Cheetos, and a banana while there. Then he promptly threw it all up when we got home. Yuck!
Nick and I took Brayden trick or treating downtown on Halloween. Yet again, he wasn't very thrilled with his costume.
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| Annie Lynn Photography was Downtown taking pictures for $5. Couldn't pass that up! |
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| Keyton and I were having fun and making faces at the game. |
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| We wore camo the whole next day too. |
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| Brayden wanted my hot chocolate. |
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| After nap time. |
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| Our cute little munchkin. |
That evening, our church had a Halloween event for the kids that come to the nursery on Sunday mornings. They had a costume party and told the parents to go have their own fun for a couple of hours. The "hunting widows" - Linsey, Maegan, and myself - decided to go do our own thing while all of our husbands were out deer hunting. We ate dinner at Chili's in Mt. Pleasant then went to Wal-Mart and Home Depot. We do it up big. :)
Brayden hasn't been feeling well lately. His top two teeth still haven't broken through. You can see the outline of the teeth, but they're being stubborn. He also has a little ulcer on his top gums that has to hurt. I thought that, plus the cold front, was causing lots of congestion. However, after two days of low grade fever, I decided to take him to the doctor. Turns out he has another double ear infection. Pretty sure he'll be getting tubes before the year's out. Poor baby. But I hope it fixes the ear problems. To help him feel better, we go outside to play on his swing that Bibi & Harpo gave him and the slide PJ & Friday gave him. He likes to play in Nick's work truck, and he also will watch videos with daddy. A few nights ago, he woke up at 4:00AM. I don't entirely know why. Normally, I can get him to go back to sleep, but not that day. He wasn't crying, just playing with my face, clapping his hands, etc. I ended up bring him to the living room and trying to get him to lay down and sleep with me there. He turned circles, head butted me, dug his little toes into my thighs, and snuggled with me for a bit. Not very relaxing. But he made up for it the next night when he passed out on my chest after his bed time bottle. He snuggled with me for about 30 minutes before Nick put him in his crib. Then I had to wake him up the next morning.
Brayden hasn't been feeling well lately. His top two teeth still haven't broken through. You can see the outline of the teeth, but they're being stubborn. He also has a little ulcer on his top gums that has to hurt. I thought that, plus the cold front, was causing lots of congestion. However, after two days of low grade fever, I decided to take him to the doctor. Turns out he has another double ear infection. Pretty sure he'll be getting tubes before the year's out. Poor baby. But I hope it fixes the ear problems. To help him feel better, we go outside to play on his swing that Bibi & Harpo gave him and the slide PJ & Friday gave him. He likes to play in Nick's work truck, and he also will watch videos with daddy. A few nights ago, he woke up at 4:00AM. I don't entirely know why. Normally, I can get him to go back to sleep, but not that day. He wasn't crying, just playing with my face, clapping his hands, etc. I ended up bring him to the living room and trying to get him to lay down and sleep with me there. He turned circles, head butted me, dug his little toes into my thighs, and snuggled with me for a bit. Not very relaxing. But he made up for it the next night when he passed out on my chest after his bed time bottle. He snuggled with me for about 30 minutes before Nick put him in his crib. Then I had to wake him up the next morning.
My parents and Sister came to visit yesterday and finally take family pictures. Nick and I gave both of our parents photo shoots for Christmas last year. We did the Robertson family pictures back in May. We decided to wait for the foliage to change this fall to do the Bray family. There wasn't as much color as we'd anticipated, but I think Jessica probably got some awesome photos! Poor Jessica was climbing trees and doing silly things to get good shots. What a trooper! Brayden took a FOUR HOUR NAP before the pics. Thankfully, he was in quite a good mood for the pics. Mom made chili, and we enjoyed that after the pictures.
Brayden was not feeling too well again today. He woke up after his nap this afternoon and nothing could appease him. He, of course, started acting really happy and was having too much fun with us right before bed time. So he left a good taste in our mouth. :)
And, I can finally announce that I am now the new Children's Director at our church, FBC Pittsburg! It's a part time gig, and I'm so excited for this opportunity. I had an interview a few weeks back with John, Kassidy, and Stacey. Then the Personnel Committee voted on me this past Wednesday. I'm over K-6th grade Sunday school and Children's church. I'm also there for support during choir and handbell practices. I'll be head over Vacation Bible School, and I'll be taking some of the kids to their annual summer camp. I know God will one day hold me accountable for the children's spiritual lives that He's entrusting me with. A very daunting task, but I'm looking forward to sharing God's word with each and every one of them! God has blessed me with this position. I'm still going to be working for our business doing all of the books and office work. This is one reason I'm so excited for this position. It will still allow me to have a lot of time for our family and our business, but it will give me the opportunity to have interaction with other people, something I've missed this past year. I covet your prayers for us during this transition for our family!
My parents and Sister came to visit yesterday and finally take family pictures. Nick and I gave both of our parents photo shoots for Christmas last year. We did the Robertson family pictures back in May. We decided to wait for the foliage to change this fall to do the Bray family. There wasn't as much color as we'd anticipated, but I think Jessica probably got some awesome photos! Poor Jessica was climbing trees and doing silly things to get good shots. What a trooper! Brayden took a FOUR HOUR NAP before the pics. Thankfully, he was in quite a good mood for the pics. Mom made chili, and we enjoyed that after the pictures.
Brayden was not feeling too well again today. He woke up after his nap this afternoon and nothing could appease him. He, of course, started acting really happy and was having too much fun with us right before bed time. So he left a good taste in our mouth. :)
And, I can finally announce that I am now the new Children's Director at our church, FBC Pittsburg! It's a part time gig, and I'm so excited for this opportunity. I had an interview a few weeks back with John, Kassidy, and Stacey. Then the Personnel Committee voted on me this past Wednesday. I'm over K-6th grade Sunday school and Children's church. I'm also there for support during choir and handbell practices. I'll be head over Vacation Bible School, and I'll be taking some of the kids to their annual summer camp. I know God will one day hold me accountable for the children's spiritual lives that He's entrusting me with. A very daunting task, but I'm looking forward to sharing God's word with each and every one of them! God has blessed me with this position. I'm still going to be working for our business doing all of the books and office work. This is one reason I'm so excited for this position. It will still allow me to have a lot of time for our family and our business, but it will give me the opportunity to have interaction with other people, something I've missed this past year. I covet your prayers for us during this transition for our family!
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