Family, Friends, Mississippi, Baths, Rockwall, Concerts, Changing Jobs, Pedicure, Baby Dedication, Valentine's, Cleaning, Eating, Four Month Appointment, Beautiful Weather...Oh MY!

Wowza!  A lot has happened since my last post, and I mean A LOT!  I've uploaded a bunch of photos and figured I'd let most of them do the speaking. :)

Some of our good friends, David & Kelley Fink, added to their family in late December.  We took some dinner to them one night.  Malachi and Brayden are going to be bros (I've been informed that boys don't have BFFs). :)

Ms. Bailey being cute. :)

Just my boy being precious before church one Sunday morning.

He absolutely loves his bath time. 

Love my boys!

 We went to Mississippi a weekend in January to visit family.  We had a lot of fun, and Brayden did a pretty good job for his first road trip.

Me and Charly. :)

Bray getting to meet family.

Poor Emily got spit up on right after this pic.

We weren't even out of the state of Mississippi, and he was out of it.

I used my birthday money to buy some photo books from Snap Fish.  I've had a lot of them made for a while now, I've just been waiting for a good sale to purchase them.  They were 50% off, so I snapped up seven.  I got one of our wedding, first four years of marriage, getting ready for Brayden (showers, sonograms, etc.), and the day of and a few days following Brayden's birth.  I love them!

I love his cold weather clothes. :)

Brayden went to his very first concert, a Gaither Vocal Band concert.  Nick was supposed to come with us (my parents, Sister, and Bill & Joyce from my home church), but he ended up going hunting for the weekend with some friends.  We had a lot of fun though.  Except for the blow out that Bray & I experienced before the concert.  He's had blow outs before, but never out in public.  I had to give him a full wardrobe change at Cheddar's before the concert, and I would have given my self a wardrobe had I had some clothes.  Brayden was having a hard time at the beginning of the concert.  But by halfway through, he was asleep and fine. :)  I'm hoping he'll do well with future concerts because we like to go to them. :)

I love a boy in overalls!

He's so happy after bath time!

Nick, Brayden, & I went out to eat with the Maybens and Harwells to celebrate the end of duck hunting season.  The McKenzie's were supposed to come too, but Callen had been a little under the weather.  We had a lot of fun though.  We ate at The Butcher Shop in Longview.  I thought I was going to have a first and pull Kenlie's tooth, but I couldn't get it loose.

Our little boy is no longer little.  I've put all of Bray's newborn to three month clothes up.  I'm about to have to put more up. :(

Nick and I made a huge decision in January.  I turned in my two weeks notice to Pilgrim Bank the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Nick's business has grown (and for that I am thankful), and we needed to hire someone to be his office manager.  We decided that I was the best person for the job.  Plus, this would allow me more leniency with Brayden.  Bray still goes to our church on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then we have a sitter for him on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I get to stay home with him on Fridays.  The other four days, I'm working on getting us organized and ready for the busiest time of year for a landscape business.  So far, I'm loving this decision.  We've prayed about it a lot, and we believe this was what God wanted us to do.  I pray he continues to bless us in this time.  My last day at the bank, I went to eat lunch with a lot of the ladies I've grown to love over the past four and a half years.  I'll miss them, but I'll get to visit them. :)

He has discovered his tongue.  I ask for a smile, and this is what I get.

Brayden's baby dedication was Sunday, February 9th.  Our friends, Jimmy & April, came to spend Saturday night.  Sadly, they weren't able to come to the actual dedication.  Jimmy had a kidney stone and April rushed him to the hospital Sunday morning.  Poor guy. :(  We did have a lot of family and friends come to witness the dedication and pray over our sweet boy though.  We then had a taco bar for lunch at our house following church.  I'm so blessed to be this little boy's momma, and I cannot wait to see what the Lord is going to do with him in his future.

I got a fun pedicure the Friday before the dedication. :)  Thanks Jessica!

Brayden did his first craft at Kids Crossing at church for Valentine's day.  Made me cry!

One of his new faces. :)

For the Valentine's, my sweet husband took me out to Rockwall/Garland.  We had the first night away from our boy, but it was much needed.  We stayed in a suite at the Hilton.  It was a gorgeous place!  We spent Saturday sleeping in (hallelujah) and shopping in Dallas.  BTW, we'll never to go IKEA again.  It took us forever to get out of the dang store.  My parents kept Bray, and Nick's parents kept the pups.  It'll be a while before we leave him again, but it was nice to have one on one time with each other.

My sweet hubby got me roses, Red, and Red 2.  Love him!  He also got me a card from Brayden.  I lost it when I read it. I had done so well dropping Brayden off with my Mom and not crying.  As soon as I read the card telling me how much he loved me, I started bawling.  Nick said eh considered that a win.  He knew he did well. :)

Everything goes to the mouth these days.

See.

 We had dinner at some friend's house, the McCormicks, last Sunday.  We had three babies that will be in the same class at school (Bracton, Brayden, and Malachi) plus lost of other kids.  We had a lot of fun!

We've been feeding Brayden cereal with a spoon.  He has to be stripped down when this happens.

Oma & Joepa playing with Bray.

I went into our pantry on Tuesday to get some food for lunch.  Instead of picking out the food I was going to make, I ended up organizing my entire laundry room.  Took about an hour, but it made me so happy!  Wish I would have taken a before picture, but that would have been slightly embarrassing. :)

First time eating in clothes.

He cannot fit into 6-9 month jammies that were just bought for him  at the beginning of February.  What are we going to do with him?

Today, Brayden had his four month check up and shots.  He's in the 95th percentile for weight (18 lb 14 oz); 97th percentile for head circumference (17.75 in); and 75th percentile for height (26 in).  He's perfect and healthy.  We've been given the go ahead to start feeding him baby food.  I'm going to try my hand at making homemade food.  We'll see how this goes.  He had three shots and one oral vaccination. 

He's been pretty sleepy most of the day, but we did take a walk around the neighborhood.  Bray "walked" Satchel.  I attached Satchel's leash to the footrest of the stroller.  Both of them loved it.  Bray kept laughing at him.

We are loving this beautiful weather!  I'm not putting away the cold weather things yet though.  It's supposed to get cold again next week.  Phooey.

Looking forward to the future!!!

Brayden, Friends, and Updates...Oh My!

Our family is falling into a routine now a days.  I'm back at work, and Brayden is going to a sitter's now. :(  Nick & I so enjoy our time with our sweet boy, and I take pictures all the time.  I especially like to take pictures when he's in new outfits. :)  He's as handsome as can be and growing like a weed!  He sleeps like his Momma, and for that I am grateful.  He goes down between 8:00 and 9:00pm, and I have to wake him up around 7:00am to get ready for the day.  And he takes really good naps in the afternoon normally.  It's been crazy cold lately, so Brayden is getting to model all of his hoodies and fleece outfits I wasn't sure if he'd need.  Brayden is eating around 28-32 ounces of formula a day.  They said that after his surgery, he'd eat like he was starving and more than most babies do at his size and age, but that it would even itself back out after a while when the pyloric muscle had time to heal itself.  I think he's finally starting to get to the average amount of formula for his size.  

Last Friday, we went to eat dinner with the Mayben family.  These kids crack me up.  Kenlie tried on Brayden's bib (and it fit!), Keyton made funny faces with me, and Bray hung out and watched it all.  Love my Mayben family!

Sunday night a lot of our friends came over to celebrate mine and Nick's birthdays.  Since our birthdays fall right smack dab in the middle of all the holidays, we decided to wait until after everyone was back into their normal routines to do something.  Mitchell made smoked pork, Casey made dip, Chaynie made fruit dip, and I made some piggies.  We all just hung out, ate food, laughed, visited, and had a great time.  For some reason, the electricity went out all over town for about 3 minutes.  Our house gets DARK when the lights go out.  I'm pretty sure there was some squealing going on from the little girls before we got phone flash lights turned on and candles lit.  Of course, by the time we got the candles lit, the electricity came back on.  But, oh well, it was funny.

He is such a happy baby in the mornings!

We take pictures in the morning of our handsome boy, but I realized we hadn't taken any pictures with him lately, so Nick snapped this picture of us on Wednesday and I took their's this morning.

I think we're going out with some friends tonight for dinner.  My Mom & Sister are going to come hang out tomorrow.  And we'll probably rest on Sunday.  I love the weekends with my family and friends!

Christmas, Two Month Appointment, and Friends...Oh My!

So, it's been a while since I've blogged.  That'll happen a lot more now, I'm guessing.

When I go grocery shopping these days, I take along my Baby Bjorn carrier and "wear" Brayden while I shop.  For one, car seats take up a lot of room in a cart.  Secondly, I feel like I can't walk more than 6 inches away from the cart if Brayden is in his car seat in the cart.  And lastly, Brayden does not like to be in his car seat if you aren't in a moving vehicle.  So, "wearing" him makes him happy, and, most times, makes him fall asleep.  He buries his face into my chest and naps most of the shopping trip.  I'm always concerned he can't breathe, but we've made it out alive every time so far.

Brayden is so fun in the morning.  Thank goodness because I'm not a morning person.  Since he's so cute, I can handle getting up early with him. :)

Nick's 26th birthday was on a Thursday.  We didn't do too much to celebrate, but we did go to Pete's with his parents.  I made Oreo balls because he loves those.  And Brayden and I gave him a new Cinch dress shirt.  I didn't get any pictures. :(

On December 20th, Brayden had his two-month check up and shots.  He did a good job, but it hurt my heart for him to get the shots and cry. :(  He's a big ole boy weighing in at 13 pounds 11 ounces (98th percentile), 25 inches long (97th percentile), and his head circumference was 16.5 inches.  He got vaccines for DTaP, Hepatitus B (HBV), HIB, Pneumococcal (PCV), Polio (IPV), and Rotavirus (RV).

Daily picture of this chubby boy and his precious cheeks!

Christmas day included A LOT of napping.  I guess Brayden was going through a growth spurt because he probably slept 20 hours Christmas day.  We had a phenomenal Christmas.  My parents and sister came to spend the night on Christmas Eve and spend all of Christmas Day with us.  Christmas Eve we ate lots of finger foods.  Christmas Day, Mom made monkey bread for breakfast, and Sister and I (mainly Sister) took care of lunch - ham, mac and cheese, baked beans, broccoli cheese casserole, corn casserole, rolls, and deviled eggs.  Yum!  It was fun to have Brayden's first Christmas, but I can't wait until next year and he'll be more excited about presents.  I think he thought we were crazy.  We all got lots of goodies.  Brayden got toys, clothes, money for his college fund,  books, movies, formula, a handmade quilt from Sassy (my sister), and some other items as well.  Nick & I both got lots of good things too.  I got jewelry, movies, clothes, candy, boots, and lots of other things.  I don't remember all Nick got.  We got my parents a family photo session.  When Brayden is a little older, we plan on having a full family session with Jessica Brummel at Treasured Moments.  I can't wait!

I got Nick a piece of the garage organization system he wants.  Hew as putting it together and said, "26 years old and still playing with Erector sets on Christmas!" I think he was excited.

December 26th, we had Christmas with Nick's family.  We got lots of good stuff there too.  We are so blessed!  Nick & I each got lots of things for camping.  Brayden got more toys, books, money for college fund, etc.  And, we gave Joe & Melanie a family photo session with Jessica as well.  I'm excited to have two photo shoots to look forward too next year.

Morning yawns and smiles.  Gah!  I can't get over how cute he is. :)

Nick's favorite place to eat in Pittsburg is a Mexican restaurant called Taqueria Daysi's y Mariscos (we call it Daysi's).  I had not eaten there because Mexican food made me extremely ill/nauseous while I was pregnant.  I told Nick I wanted to wait to try it until I was pass that.  So, we finally made it to Daysi's this weekend.  I had to snap this cute picture of Brayden in his "Elmer Fudd" hat. :)

Sunday evening, Casey and I took down all of the Christmas decorations at the Family Life Center at church.  She was carrying this Christmas tree, and I said, "Casey, you look like the Grinch that stole Christmas carrying that thing!"  She and I both laughed more than necessary. :)

After finishing up at the church, Nick, Brayden & I went over to the Mayben's for dinner.  Kenlie wanted to show me some of her Christmas presents in her room, and when I was going back downstairs, I saw this precious sight.  Keyton holding Brayden with the help of Nick.  I love these kids and can't wait for Brayden to grow up with them as role models. :)

I go back to work on Thursday. :(  I'm sad knowing that I'm about to have to start leaving my sweet boy with someone.  I know that his sitter will be great, but she's not me.  I'm really bad about randomly bursting into tears knowing this.  I've been getting as much baby cuddles as I possibly can.  Love this boy!