Biased...

That is exactly what I am when it comes to my son.




I'm sorry, but he is possibly the cutest kid in all of Northern Alabama :)

We spent most of Saturday at Big Spring Park and I found it the most opportune time to get camera happy.

It's hard to believe that he is 5 months old now. Time has just flown by, seasons have changed and my little boy is growing up.

We successfully moved out of Brad's parent's house and into an abode of our own, and let me be completely honest.....IT FABULOUS! Minus the lack of cell phone reception or absolutely no cable what-so-ever, I love it.

Yesterday we went and saw Dad and everyone. I will admit, that Daddy doesn't see him as much as he should and I do feel bad for that after watching those two last night. Grandma J isn't the same, but I guess you can't really expect that once you start to age and get closer to 100.

Brayden was a little on the Hungry side. Dad and Brayden were just hilarious. Brayden would pull at his mustache and Dad would blow raspberries. I wish we could have that happy Daddy back minus some other things. I know it won't happen but a girl can hope and pray, right?

And Brayden is also a big boy! He can hold his own bottle! WOOHOO!!!!

I also saw this picture of Humpa, my paternal Grandfather, and after questioning who Brayden looks like, both Bradley and I agree that it is Humpa. I'll have to get this picture so Monica can get it scanned and I can show ya'll. It is too unreal.

My flower is growing like a weed ;)

So Brayden went to see Dr. Carter today for his 4 month check up and he is indeed growing like a weed.

He weighs a whopping 16.4 pounds and is 26 inches long with his head circum. being 17 something inches.

BIG HEAD. Even Dr. Carter said something along the lines of "yeah, its big...95th percentile." Thats my boy!

Monica just heard him laugh his little, well big, head off and she just loved it.

He did end up getting 4 shots and an oral vaccine. Yes, 4. I believe that you SHOULD vaccinate your child. But I won't get on that soapbox because I've already irritated enough people. Sorry, I just value having a living being rather than a marble slab with his name on it.





AND GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're moving out of Brad's parents soon!!! We've gotten this beautiful little duplex that is just gorgeous! The kitchen!! !OH!! If it was just a little bigger I would be so completely in love :) No one has ever lived in it and the bedrooms are large. The living room has hardwood floors!!! Sorry, I'm just a little excited!


I'll post pictures of the inside next time I go over there to move some stuff, I can't wait!

speechless

Just moments ago I was doing my daily ritual of reading posts on Baby Center and I again came across the very thread that just still makes me cry. It's a memorial to all these families who have lost children due to anything under the sun. It just makes me cry and ache for these families who had someone so innocent taken from them.

Just the other day I read a post about a little boy name Sawyer who, like Brayden, was born in June. He was just like any other baby with the exception that he suffered from Spinal Muscular Strophy. Here's a brief description of SMA and how it effects the body:


Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a motor neuron disease. The motor neurons affect the voluntary muscles that are used for activities such as crawling, walking, head and neck control, and swallowing. It is a relatively common "rare disorder": approximately 1 in 6000 babies born are affected, and about 1 in 40 people are genetic carriers.

SMA affects muscles throughout the body, although the proximal muscles (those closest to the trunk of one’s body - i.e. shoulders, hips, and back) are often most severely affected. Weakness in the legs is generally greater than in the arms. Sometimes feeding and swallowing can be affected. Involvement of respiratory muscles (muscles involved in breathing and coughing) can lead to an increased tendency for pneumonia and other lung problems. Sensation and the ability to feel are not affected. Intellectual activity is normal and it is often observed that patients with SMA are unusually bright and sociable. Patients are generally grouped into one of four categories, based on certain key motor function milestones.



When he was diagnosed, he was given 10 months...that was only a few months, if not two months, ago.

I honestly don't know what I would do if I was to lose Brayden. I can't imagine what his family, or any of these families are going through. That's why I never, ever take advantage of the fact that although I'm only 21 I have a beautiful baby boy who is healthy.

I might not want to get up out of the warm covers to feed him when he wakes up, but to be able to run my hands over his smooth, innocent skin and just stare at him makes it all worth wild. Just one gaze into those big, blue eyes makes the day that much better.

Please pray for Sawyer's family and for everyone who has lost a child or is in the sometimes long process of trying to have that one child.


Sawyer Eberhardt
Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Bandwagon jumping....

I'm not usually one that does what other people do, if I do, its usually on my own accord and at my own pace. Well I jumped on Monica's bandwagon a few weeks ago to see if I too could make some extra cash. Yes, I am now half-heartily attempting to try GPT sites. I seem to favor Fairy Tale Treasures more so now than I did before, which when I started I favored Treasure Troopers, but NEVER got anything to approve so eh.

I just wish I had more time to sit down and do it. But living with Brad's parents and having to share the one computer that is fast enough for the internet is tough, esp with Toni being such a computer hog. I'm seriously thinking about hooking up my desktop or something. We've got wireless set up, but for some reason it only gets 11Mb so it is INSANELY slow. I'll have to play later!

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!

As I previously posted, Brayden usually wakes up anywhere from 4-5 in the morning, which is fine because now I've fallen accustomed to it so it doesn't bother me. So this morning when I woke up around that time and waited to hear him stir, I didn't. So I checked on him, yup, still breathing. So I let him sleep.

6 o'clock came and I told Brad to be quiet while getting ready for work because Tater had yet to wake up. Well he slept through Brad leaving and continued to sleep.

And when did my lovely child decide to arise??? 8 o'clock! YES!! HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!

It would have been lovely of him though to give me a warning so I might have been able to sleep and not worry whether my child was breathing, but thats Brayden for you...he likes to pull stunts and surprises.

Maybe we will get two nights in a row....who knows but wish me luck!!

4 month photoshoot

its so hard to believe that on Sunday my little booger will be 4 months old. time has flown by. since the weather was lovely and he was in a wonderful stick a camera in my face mood, I did just that :) I have to say that I am fairly proud of myself with the lack of photography experience that I have. Enjoy!

I'm going to have to lock him up if he keeps flirting like he is....we went to a highschool football game Friday and he just fell in LOVE with the cheerleaders and they just flirted right back.

sorry for Brad looking so rough...I tried to get him to shave but he will before I take him Brayden to Big Spring Park so we can have nicer pictures then.

as he sleeps

poor Brayden has been battling a cold and he just sounds so pitiful. his little nose is conjested and hes got a cough and a slight fever :( you can tell he doesn't feel too good since he has been sleeping all day. normally our routine runs something like this:

8:30pm-5:00am~sleepytime
5:15am~bottle and smiles
6:00am-8:30-9:00am-more sleepy time

Then we are ready to start the day and I start work.

Except this week....its been more like:

8:30pm-5:00am~sleepytime
5:15am~bottle but no smiles
6:00-8:30~sleepytime
8:30~bottle
9:00-12:30~sleepytime

and then he sleeps on and off most of the day.

last night Brad gave Brayden a bath and you could just tell that they were having a good old time.

Tuesday night we started Brayden on cereal and he took to it like an old pro. I'll post pictures later.

a few of my favorite things...

who doesn't love baby stuff??? i did even before i had Brayden and now it is just magnified. as each day goes by, i sometimes think about what i would do if i didn't have any of the things that i have for him. they are lifesavers in my eyes.

this first one really isn't for Brayden, but for me. and it started waay before i ever got pregnant. my Vera Bradley bag that i call my diaper bag is just so perfect in every way. i've come to aquire a vast collection of Vera bags and its more so of an addiction. the bag that i use actually isn't the diaper bag that they make, but its a tote. the bag design itself is called the "Vera" and i personally "pimp" the pattern "java blue"

any Vera bag or anything from her collections will run you a good penny, but they are so worth it. you can just throw them in the wash when they get dirty and they are made of cotton so they are soft. the very first one i bought is now 3 years old and still looks brand new and i used it all the time until i got another.

during the day, tater stays with me while i'm at work...usually he is right next to me in his bouncer. he lives in his bouncer and i suppose thats why i need to invest in duracell battery stock. he just stares at the toy boy and will get so excited and just kick the living daylights out of it. sometimes he also tends to nap there. Monica was wonderful enough to purchase his bouncer for him. btw, the Fisher Price Rainforest collection kicks some major tail! i love it. when she gets pregnant, be with one or two, i will buy every single one of them their own bouncer. and a LOT of batteries to boot.

yesterday, tater sat in his bouncer and watched two SEC football games. granted he did get a little upset when UT lost but oh well :)

call me a fisher price fanatic because i am ;) my first baby purchase, other than clothes was his cradle swing. i had heard from everyone that i would need to invest in one...so i saved my money and i bought the one pictured. i had heard that a cradle swing was better than a regular swing because it swings in two different directions. i do now think though that i should have spent $10 more and bought one that plugs in. it would be worth its weight in gold. at first he didn't like it but now he loves it...sometimes he naps in it as well, i usually can get a longer stretch of sleep out of him while he is in his swing.

hmm, i'm trying to think if there is anything else for Brayden that i just can't live without. i don't think so...but we will be investing in the Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo here soon :)

Shame on me

call me a slacker, i'll admit i am at times :) brayden is now officially 3 months old and just lights up a room. he started to giggle, giggled for a few days and now just has a all out laughing fit. i love it! he is just such a happy baby and i could honestly just gobble him up. to make up for my lack of posting here lately, i will overload you with some pictures...hehehe.





here he is just three days old...look at how those sock engulf his little feet. just looking at these pictures i can see how much he has changed over the past three months...he no longer looks like my little china man with a MAJOR cone head. poor thing i smushed him in that same spot for a month. oh well, no permanent damage done so far i suppose ;)




i think in this picture he was telling me that he was just tired of staring at that wretched monkey on his bouncer. he now favors the frog and will watch it ever so carefully and move his head along with it.

i'll admit, here he looks like his daddy. which i mean isn't a bad thing, brad is an attractive man, when he wants to be, so it could be worse. i just love brayden in his little "kicks". compared to brad ginormous feet, they are tee-tiny, and i can only pray that he doesn't end up with feet like brad....ohh size 15 horror.



later tonight, i'll take a picture of where we live...dont worry...the three of us are crammed in a small bedroom. but atleast its a place to stay and its free in some sense...we are watching his brother this weekend, oh well.

right now tater is fighting his morning nap and hes slightly hanging off of his bouncer. poor boy isnt going to fit on there much longer.

Gummy Smiles

i've decided that as of right now, this very moment, that that picture of tater is my favorite. that is the same gummy smile that greets me in the morning when i go pick him up in his bassinett. that same gummy smile is usually followed by a brisk conversation about his night and the he proceeds to become this baby..................................
i dubbed him "milkface" after this picture. i'll have to upload a video that i have of one of our morning playdates while i procrastinate at work. in it he still really isn't sure about his gym but he's starting to figure out just what it is he is supposed to do while laying under it.

on a completely other note work is driving me mad. not really work itself, but a certain co-worker, who well really isn't even worthy of that term. when i first started working here, i didn't do much, but now a year later i do so much more AND what this other co-worker is supposed to do. and i don't get paid jack for it. i think it is time to request from bossman a raise. i'm sure he'll give it to me, he loves me and would be lost without me. actually, this whole business would be. ah the wonders of being wonderful :)

playskool....how cool

i've noticed one thing abour brayden as he starts to get older and a little bit more active...he drools. well with him drooling, he loves to stick things in his mouth. particularly its usually his fist. at one point he actually gave himself a hickey on his forearm from sucking on it. he refuses to take a paci and that doesn't bother me, so i in love with toys actually meant to be put in his mouth. and playskool has come out with these teether links! how awesome.
here's the link to the cvs website they have set up just for playskool...


Drea is hosting this giveaway with playskool for $75.00 worth of playskool stuff, and i personally know that any mom would just love to win this, me included.

jumping on the bandwagon....

i've succumbed to joining the crowd and created a blog. i guess i look at it as a way to share my everyday life and my ever so growing little man, brayden. besides, i like this idea a lot better than myspace.



as far as brayden is concerned, as of august 13th he was 13 pounds 3 ounces and was a whopping 24 inches long. to recap from a month prior on his last visit he was 10 pounds even and 22 and a quarter inches long. needless to say hes growing, and growing fast. he's got me wrapped so tightly around those little fingers of his that it really isn't funny. his smiles and coo's just make my heart melt. to sit there and know that he is staring back at me and that he knows that he is safe makes me feel like my life is complete. aside from being an aunt, so monica...chop chop ;) the more the merrier, lol.



i'll leave you with this...a picture of brayden fresh out of the oven, and one just taken here recently...