what a wednesday

i texted honey on his way home from work and asked him what he wanted to do.  "texas roadhouse?"

yes!  exactly.  so we had a family date.  our night was so fun i kept forgetting that it wasn't friday.  and then it was double bad because i remembered that he was going to wyoming thursday morning til late friday night.

i could be partial, but i think he is such an attractive baby.

i left out of the picture of the diaper on my honey's head but trust me... it's great.  we thought baby girl looked like a vintage football player.

i wore my hair wavy for the first time in forever.  i just let it air dry but next time i'll have to use the diffuser.

elle gave abigail this invite on monday morning.  to a party on friday.  and so mutliple times a day i got to hear "can i go to elle's birthday now?"  it was precious and sad.  but eventually her dreams came true!

 and this is getting back-posted... because i can't keep up with all my pictures.

lost and found

last night i had a yw fireside/meeting to attend.  while i was there i realized i had forgotten to put on my wedding ring.  i typically don't wear it while i'm at home but i'm normally pretty good about remembering to put it on before i go out.  oh well, whatever.  when i got home i noticed that one of my chapsticks (i keep two of them by my bathroom sink so i always have one to throw in my jeans pocket at the beginning of the day) was on the divider ledge between our kitchen and our great room.  i'm assuming abigail got a hold of it somehow and started eating it (judging from the bite marks and slobber i noticed when i removed the cap) before christopher took it and put it out of reach.  whoops... not a big deal.  

this morning as i was finishing getting ready, i went to grab my rings (engagement ring and wedding band) and noticed there was only one there instead of two.  thankfully the one present was the expensive one with the diamond but still... what happened to the wedding band?!  and then the eaten chapstick thought came back to me and i started scouring the floor and asking baby girl to remember where my ring was.  she kept getting distracted and she also just kept telling me about how she ate my chapstick.  i searched the carpet in my bedroom and still didn't find it and even tried my best to look down the drain of my sink.  i finally gave up and went on with my day although i searched a few more times as i passed through my bedroom/bathroom.

well, tonight i got brady up from his nap and was listening to a voicemail from my dad (my phone was on silent yet again so i missed his call) as i walked back into the kitchen to check on abigail in her highchair and..... something caught my eye!  my wedding band!

 

 

and then i breathed a sigh of relief and texted my christopher the good news.  hallelujah!

Hope?

I know it's less than his personal best (7 hours when he was three weeks old), but it's still a pretty huge deal. Maybe all my talk of "sleep training" and "cry it out" is setting in and he's going to start getting his act together? Here's hoping!

pictures with captions

here's another 20 picture post... with commentary.

what a smiley kid.

i had a text conversation with weed where i demonstrated one use for these two stickers.  then i gave them to baby girl when she woke up from her nap.  and what do you know but she did the same thing!

and then this happened.

we had a conversation about where stickers go (on paper, on your hand, on your shirt) and where stickers don't go (on the kitchen floor, on the furniture, on the wall) and baby girl asked if stickers can go on brady.  i said yes thinking it would go on his sleeper.  nope... apparently she meant head.

i asked her the other day who her best friend was.  she said pooh bear.  and elle.  "pooh bear and elle" made me laugh.  so cute.

he's such a good sport.  and baby girl loves that she can "play" with him.  every day (all day long) she asks me if he's bigger now.  it's precious.

"let's make thomas and percy!"

have you ever tried to sculpt thomas the train out of purple play dough using only your left hand because you're also holding your baby?  it's very challenging.  here's my thomas (with annie and clarabel) and he specifically has two funnels... just like baby girl requested.  i still need to google if trains can even have more than one funnel.

rolling a ball on the table is easier to do with only one hand.  i made this little snowman with hat.  sadly, i couldn't add a face (with one hand) without knocking him over.  but baby girl was okay with that.

abigail gave brady this very hungry caterpillar to hold.  once again, she was thrilled to see him playing with a toy.

the ugly duckling of baby carrots.  one of these things is not like the other...

i've had my phone for exactly five months.  and i've talked on it two days.  i feel like that's pretty good.  it's probably because i mostly text.

honey dressed brady in this outfit.  for next time, let's remember that if he's not wearing a onesie underneath, his pants will slide off while the rest of him slips through his shirt.  he was very naked about 30 seconds after this picture was taken.

abigail is a follower (like myself) and i love it.  she's so easygoing and although she'll stand up for herself when necessary, she's super accommodating.  this morning she asked my honey if she could watch thomas.  he said he wanted to watch mickey mouse.  she said she wanted to watch thomas.  so he said "i really want to watch mickey mouse with you.  can we watch mickey mouse together?" and she said yes.  it was adorable and totally typical of how she is with her friends.   

i sat brady down to take a picture or two and all he could do was yawn.  so i put him down in his crib and he took an epic nap of almost 3.5 hours.

trying to finish off our french dip leftovers, i realized we're actually out of meat.  so i made a carrot sandwich.  and it was delish.

baby girl's favorite thing to request for any meal is "something else."  she doesn't like to eat the same thing ever.  so i'll offer her apples and she'll throw a fit because she already ate apples (like three days ago).  i gave her pecans (leftover spinach strawberry salad) along with her cottage cheese and she was happy as a clam.

during the epic nap, i went upstairs to check that my kid was still alive and was confused to find his binky balanced on top of his face.  but then he moved and it moved with him and i realized it was embedded in his cheek.

see the mark on his face?  i wonder how long it had been stuck there.

and then she stuffed her face with as much seaweed as she could beg from my honey.  girl loves that seaweed.  and then she held it up and made some comment like "i'm holding it on the window, guys!"  guys?!  we died laughing.

 i'm having a blast today with my little ordinary life.

just dance

abigail is at the age where it takes FOREVER to do even the simplest of tasks.  eating lunch can easily take over an hour, and just getting out a diaper and pj's for nap can take 10-15 minutes.  when we're in a hurry (or even when we're not) it can be sooo frustrating because i know i could do it myself in a matter of minutes or seconds but she is perfectly capable so i know i need to let her do it.  even if it takes a lot of guidance.

yesterday i got frustrated at her because i wanted her to feed herself her oatmeal while i got myself and brady ready and being late was not an option because i had to drop her off at her friend's house right at 10:30 or else brady and i would be late for his doctor appointment.  well, yesterday afternoon it was nap time and i asked her to pick out her diaper and pj's and then i would just watch her NOT do it.  finally i found myself saying "it's time to pick out a diaper and some pj's.  what are you doing?"  and then she wandered and wiggled a little more before finally breaking out.

"i'm dancing!"

no music, no hint of anything related to dancing.  just somehow, in the moment, she just couldn't resist the urge to dance.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and it went on for at least 5 -8 minutes.  oh to be a child.  i'm pretty sure this isn't exactly what the scriptures are referring to when they say to become like a little child... but i think it's at least partially it.  this little girl teaches me so much.

Three things

A few things about this.

1. I'm so glad Abigail doesn't mind that Brady kicks her. Even more that she squeals with delight while saying cute things like "Brady's gettin' me!"

2. He's getting big enough that when I nurse him, he only half fits on my lap.

3. Have I mention before how Abigail has me read the last pages of a book hat don't have words and even the back cover too? I say stuff like "and this page has no words, just pink with hearts." And she loves it.

klaudette's birthday dinner

dinner happened on sunday... post is happening friday... who cares?!  not me.  a post is a post dangit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we had a lot of fun.  let's do it again.  next year, maybe?

brady at 4 months

happy four months, sweet brady!

i don't really have the motivation for this right now, but i'd rather just have it done than not do it at all sooo...

at four months, all of brady's sleepers are size 6 months (except two).  the 3 month sleepers are just too short.  the rest of his three month clothes fit perfectly which means he'll probably outgrow them any second.  and i started dressing him in 6 months onesies a few weeks ago and they're not enormous... they work just fine.  he's in a size 1 diaper during the day and size 2 at night.

about three weeks ago, brady's left eye cleared up so now he only has one blocked tear duct... although it's still really bad.  hopefully it clears up on its own eventually too.  he also has a flat spot on the right side of his head although it's not as bad as it was a month ago.  and his right arm sometimes acts unusual.  and he's still got the reflux.  boy's got a lot of issues.  maybe i'll have more info to add to this paragraph after his appointment tomorrow.  so, he's taking 1.1 mL of generic zantac twice a day, the flat spot on his head isn't of concern (we just make sure to turn his head when we can), we're hoping his right eye will clear up with time, and the doc checked out his arm and made a referral for physical therapy and neurology.  i expect to hear from the physical therapy people sometime next week and the neurology people within a week and a half.  i'll keep you posted.

brady is still a really crappy sleeper.  a few weeks ago he seemed to be really improving.  he took three solid naps (about 2 or 2.5 hours long) and went down without a problem.  and his night time sleep seemed to be getting better too.  but then it went downhill and it's just been ups and downs since then.  he frequently wakes at the 45 minute mark but will normally go back to sleep with a binky.  if it is his third nap of the day, the chances of him going back to sleep are significantly less.  and if you try to put him down to sleep for the night, he will totally fight you on it and then 100% for sure wake up 45 minutes later and flat out refuse to go to sleep.  the hours of 8pm to midnight are still the fussiest time so that's when i get my nightly workout in.  in those four hours, i go up and down our stairs at least 10-15 times... and that's not even on a bad night.  he wakes up for the day around 9 or 9:30.  so between the hours of midnight and 9am, he wakes up twice to nurse (often between 1:30 and 2:30 and again between 4:30 and 5:30).  i feed him for about five minutes on one side and put him back in his crib with a binky and he goes right to sleep.  maybe 2% of the time, i have to go back up a second time to put a binky back in, but those middle of the night wakings, he pretty much always goes right back to sleep.  he still naps well in his carseat, even if he frequently wakes up at the 45 minute mark.  it's pretty unpredictable.

for sleep, he gets double swaddled with his arms pinned down, and a binky.  he gets put down awake and actually doesn't get rocked or held before hand because it gets him more fussy and worked up.  although, like everything else, this changes some from day to day.  his happy wake time seems to be around an hour and a half although it depends on the time of day so i try to pay attention to his sleep cues when i can.

brady can sit in the bumbo for about five minutes before he starts sliding to one side and gets scared out of his mind and cries for someone to rescue him.  he also gets fussy if he's in the swing for more than 15 minutes and then you just have to lay him on a blanket on the floor and he'll be fine.

brady doesn't like to be cradled.  he prefers to be held upright, facing in or facing out... doesn't matter which.

the newest development is that he is really good at pulling his binky out of his mouth and replacing it with his fist.  ohhh the drool and wet fists.  if only he was equally good about placing the binky back in his mouth... then we would all get a little (or a lot) more peace and quiet around these parts.  we have binkies strategically stashed around the house so that one is always nearby and easy to locate when needed.  clear binky on the changing table, yellow binky in the crib, red binky in the pocket of his swing downstairs, clear binky in his carseat, blue binky in pocket in my purse.  it's a good system so far.

brady loves the light/dislikes the dark.  you'd think a tired baby would be calmed by a dark or dimmed room... not this kid.  it's like the sign to him that he's going to be put down for nap and he goes into a panic.  if he's having a hard time settling down for his nap or at bedtime, sometimes i have to get him out of his crib and just walk around upstairs a little for him to calm down.  as soon as we leave the dark room and go to where there is more light, his whole body relaxes.  same in the morning when he wakes up.  i know he's awake because he'll cry but if i just go in and turn on the light and say good morning, it'll buy me at least five or ten minutes (while i go get abigail up and dressed).

everyone still comments on his super long eyelashes.  i'm seriously going to be so happy when his one eye isn't always so goopy.  his eyes are blue but much darker than abigail's.   christopher and abigail and brady all have blue eyes but they are all so different from one another.  since they're pretty dark, i wonder if they'll change colors.  we'll see.

brady definitely cries and fusses a lot but it is also so easy to get a smile out of him too.  if he's just hanging out, simple eye contact and a smile will make him grin so big, his binky (if he has one) will for sure fall out.  so as much as i make comments about how difficult he is, he's actually a really happy baby much of the time! happy ≠ easy but it's still awesome that he can be so happy!

brady has been left with a number of babysitters so far... both grandmas and a few of the young women in the ward (haley, kayla, lauren, and maria).

3.20.13 - 3 month appointment

12 lbs 5 ounces  12.88%

23.5 inches  18.48%

hc 39.5 cm  18.71%

4.19.13 - 4 month appointment

13 lbs  8.01%

25.25 inches  52.45%

hc 40.7 cm  22.84%

i'm sure there's got to be plenty of things i'm forgetting right now but really the only truly important things are that brady is happy and healthy and that i love him to pieces.  

*pictures to be added later... maybe

My future tech support

I do I start the shows?

Pressing buttons...

"Start"

"Show"

And this was mere seconds after I confiscated my phone from her. She opened up the camera, took a selfie, and tried to tweet it. Luckily I don't have a twitter account. This kid blows my mind.