Blog titles are hard to come up with

Brayden woke up last night around 11 & was just talking nonstop in his bed. He has recently learned how to babble, so he enjoys saying bababababa & dadadadada over and over again. We thought he would go right back to sleep & just laughed as we heard him talk his heart out. After about 10 minutes of talking I went into his room to check on him & see how he was doing. As soon as he saw me he started to blow raspberries & laugh, so I of course had to pick him up. He is sometimes just too cute!:) Anyway, as soon as I picked him up I noticed his entire shirt was wet. I didn't know if he had spit up on himself or what, so we went out to the living room where Bailey could help me decide what it was. We concluded that this was DROOL! This kid does not play around when it comes to drool. I stuck my finger in his mouth & sure enough his SECOND tooth has come through. So he now has his bottom 2 teeth! :) I decided to have Bailey snap a picture of Brayden & his 'droolage' before we changed him & put him back to bed! :) Please forgive my wild hair- it was late!

Okay, so awhile back we went out & bought our first book on 'parenting'. It was a book on solving your child's sleep problems & since we had exhausted EVERY possible thing to try & get Brayden to stay asleep at night we thought we would finally cave in and try the 'cry it out' method. We read the book & I actually really liked what the author had to say about sleep in general & why babies seem to wake up after you rock them for hours in your arms & lay them in their bed. Anyway, so we tried it & I was shocked at how easy it was for us. We laid him in bed at bedtime & it usually took 5-15 minutes of what we thought was Brayden crying until he fell asleep. He would then stay asleep for 12 hours or so. This lasted for several days, so we were sold on the book.

However, Monday night I went to lay Brayden in his bed for the typical nightly routine & we quickly learned what it sounds like when Brayden ACTUALLY crys. You see, what we had been experiencing was actually Brayden 'whimpering/talking/trying to stand on his head' until he falls asleep...not crying.

We lasted just a few brief moments before grabbing him out of his crib & rocking him. I no longer am an advocate of the 'cry it out method'. I can handle the 'whimper/talk/try to stand on your head' method with no problems, but when we lay him down & he crys bloody murder- that I can not do. So basically, we are back to rocking him to sleep on the nights we lay him down & he cries & on the other nights, we let him 'whimper/talk/try to stand on his head' until he falls asleep. I am kind of thinking that all these 'sleep problems' we had been having was because he was getting hist first 2 teeth in pretty much at the same time.

Annnnd now he is sleeping from 8pm-8am on most nights without any problems- yahoo! :)

Bailey took this picture of me rocking Brayden to sleep Monday night & I love it. He makes my heart smile!:)

I also love how he grabs onto my shirt for dear life. It's like he knows I am about to go plop him down in his crib! :)

I will end this with a video of Brayden practing his new babbling. However, this was last night as his 2nd tooth was coming through, so it also mixed with random crying for no reason- haha! I have no clue how to rotate videos, so just tilt your head to the side! ;)

I love how I am saying 'mamamamama' & he responds with 'dadadada', lol! Hopefully, I can get a better video of him babbling soon & perhaps I can get a picture of Brayden trying to stand on his head posted too! ;)

Wordless Wednesday

I guess he didn't like the toys I had out for him to play with! ;)

Toy Bucket & Moving Around

The other night, we decided to put Brayden in his toy bucket to see if he would like it & of course he did. I think he stayed in there for well over 30 minutes & was just as happy as could be. I think for Christmas this year we will be buying him an empty bucket & maybe a box or two! ;)

He is also starting to figure out this 'moving around' business! We got on the floor this morning after breakfast to play & this is what happened...

I know one day I am going to leave him on the floor for just a second to run to do something & will come back to him being in a totally different room.

Anyway, Brayden's first tooth has cut through the gums & it looks as though the one right next to it is about come through as well. He wont let me take a picture & every time I get my finger near his mouth he thinks it is fair game to chew on it. It used to not hurt, but now with a brand new tooth that is razor sharp- I try not to get my finger near his mouth as much as possible!:) Hopefully I can convince Bailey to let him chew on his finger for the good cause of a much needed picture!;) We shall see how that goes!

I have to call the doctor tomorrow to schedule his 6 MONTH well visit for next week. I can't believe it...where does the time go? Before I know it, I am going to be planning his 1st birthday!

Sitting, Talking & Teething

Brayden can officially sit up on his own now- hooray!:) I must add that he is such a pro at it too. He is also pulling himself up to where he is standing by using me and Bailey as his jungle gym!:)

Here are some pictures and a video of Brayden sitting up like a big boy...

Brayden loves to talk when you catch him at just the right time...

Also, I am pretty sure he is cutting his first tooth right now. We have had some long nights with little sleep the past few days/weeks & the other night I managed to take a look at his gums & they were tender and swollen. This morning I saw a bit of white trying to make its way through. Hopefully, when this tooth decides to finish coming through we can go back to getting some sleep. (fingers crossed!)

We started giving Brayden some baby food a few weeks back & he is loving it. So far his favorites are: squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, peas, apples & prunes. He doesn't care for carrots & that totally surprised me. I thought for sure that he would hate peas, but he ate those like a champ! Tomorrow we will be trying bananas for breakfast- yum!:)

Check back because I might be getting some pictures of Brayden's first tooth very soon!! :)

Freebirds

Freebirds opened a new location right here in The Woodlands last week & the night before the opening they had a trial run. We went & got free food, drinks & shirts as well as this really funny picture of Brayden...

Brayden loves him some Freebirds...mmm!! :)

Another Adventure for Brayden

It still amazes me how quickly it takes for Brayden to do something new. Sometimes it takes a month, a week, a few days, or even a couple of hours. Lately, it seems that he is growing and learning new things within minutes. He has now learned how to pull himself up on his crib. The past few days he has just been sitting up, but this morning he went from holding the side of his crib to pulling himself up(both of which were totally new).

This is how I was greeted when he woke up from his nap...

This face tells it all...

I turned around for 2 seconds to grab some more diapers & this is what happened...

Needless to say, Bailey will be lowering the mattress this evening! I also think it is just about time to remove those bumper pads, since he will soon be using them as spring boards!


After his nap, we got on the floor to play & I got a video of him practicing to sit up like a big boy...

He is now down for his afternoon nap & I can only imagine what new thing I will find him doing when he wakes up!:)

Let the good times roll...

The other morning we were playing on the floor and I was trying to entice Brayden to roll towards me. He took off in the other direction instead...

He started off where the keys were...
Then he decided to strike a pose when he was done...

For a minute I thought he was going to start crawling...

Not only does he enjoy rolling down the hallway, but he also LOVES to roll over while we are changing his diaper or trying to get him dressed! Talk about being put to the test as to how fast you can put on a new diaper before he rolls over & without getting soaked! :)

Also, there is a great new children's book that is about to come out that you all need to buy! It is called So Big & my fabulous SIL, Riley, wrote it about her son & my nephew, Ethan. Go become a follower of her blog- http://sobigchildrensbook.blogspot.com/ and get the latest updates on the book. Also, since I am so cool with the author, I could probably score you an autograph!;)

Laughing with Daddy

I got this the other week & it has instantly become one of our favorite videos of Brayden. He has such an infectious laugh and I think it is one of the cutest things ever. Once again, I am a little biased here! ;)

Please forgive my 'camera skills', but about halfway through I realized if I moved then I could see Brayden's face better, haha!:)

Okay- this makes 2 posts in 1 day. Am I good or what? Kelsey, Lauren & Amanda, I know you ladies will be happy about this!:) I better get to bed- goodnight!

How big is Brayden? Soooo Big!

So I decided to work on uploading all of our pictures from the computer into Snapfish this summer while Brayden takes his naps during the day. This way, incase something happens to our computer, all of our pictures are safe. Not mention this makes it easier for me to order prints and share pictures with friends & family.

While I was uploading and organizing Brayden's pictures the other day, I came across these two pictures...

1 Week

5 Months

Oh my! Brayden got SO BIG so fast!! I have been told time and time again to enjoy every second I have with Brayden, because time goes by too fast and my goodness it is true. I can't believe how much he has grown in just 5 short months & I can't even begin to think about how much more he is going to grow. My baby boy is going to be a big boy way too soon!

5 Months & 4th of July

Brayden is 5 months old today!! I can't believe it has already been 5 months- it seems like we just brought him home from the hospital yesterday. He is now getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. I bet by the end of the month he will be on the go. He is also starting to figure out that he can roll to get to where he wants to go & he is sitting up for several moments at a time!:)

It is amazing to me how in just one weeks time so much changes let alone one month. I love watching him explore the world around him and discover new things.

My All-American Cutie!!:)

Most of the time he wakes up this happy!!:)

We had a great time celebrating Brayden's first 4th of July in Austin! We sat outside my parents house last night and watched the fireworks. The Dell Diamond is right by their house, so we were able to sit in the driveway and see it all. Brayden loved the fireworks and would not take his eyes off the sky. Here are a few shots from the weekend...

He played so hard with his cousins during the weekend that he crashed out on the way home!

Samantha Joy

Brayden has a new cousin! Samantha Joy was born yesterday(6/30/09)- weighs 9 pounds & is 20 inches long! She is soooo cute, very healthy and we are so excited she is here. Congrats Ross and Amy...you guys sure did make a cute baby!!:) We can't wait to see her, hold her and love on her!