A Few Fun Firsts

Here are a few fun things/firsts happening lately....

Mason's first family drawing :) I'm the one with blue hair, Andy's the bottom yellow circle, Mason has the red head, and Brady's all blue


Taking a "nice whittle walk" with Me and Brady, Mason and his "baby"

Mason's new BIG bed (3rd bed in 2.5 years)

First picnic with his friends Anthony and Caleb

First wagon ride together

First Family Outing

First family outing = Riverdogs game!

It started to rain when we got there but we stood in line to get tickets then waited the rain out in the gift shop (very stupid with a 2 year old). Soon we were able to get to our seats. Mason got his face painted for the first time and we all enjoyed ourselves :) Here are a few snapshots of the night...

4 months!

Well it's happened again....time is flying. Brady is already 4 months old! We went for his well check yesterday. His stats are 13.5lbs (20th percentile)...kinda low but the doc didn't seem to worried (He is getting ready to start cereal so he should beef up some) and 25.75 inches (80th percentile). So basically he's tall and skinny like his mama! :)

He was diagnosed with Torticollis. Which is the tilting of his head due to a shortened neck muscle. It's 100% correctable so we'll be doing some PT in the coming weeks to stretch out that muscle.

A few things going on at 4 months:

Smiles ALL the time!
Sleeps on his stomach
Rolls front to back consistently
Takes a bottle with no problem (which is good since I'm back at school now)
Teething! The drool...oh the drool!!
Sleeps from about 8pm-6pm :)
HATES to ride in the car (sorry kid you picked the wrong mama)

Happy Boy :)

I bet I can fit both fists in my mouth :)

3 months!

3 months!! We spent his 3 month "birthday" on vacation at Edisto Beach. Guestimated his stats to be about 12.5lbs and about 25in long. He's finally getting out of the "newborn" stage....YAY! Here are a few things going on in month 3....

- He smiles all the time....he's so happy :)
- He has found his feet....he likes to grab his toes
- He just started to roll over (front to back) which is good because he would much rather sleep on his stomach
- He has started sitting up in the bumbo
- He's sleeping ok.....takes 30-45min cat naps throughout the day instead of 3 long naps; sleeps from about 10-4 eats then sleeps from 4:30-7ish

Mason's First Surfing Lesson

We went to the beach today and Mason got his first "surfing" lesson from daddy! Still has another year or so before he's big enough for his own board.

Off to the water :)

Look at that concentration

He LOVED it! Had a blast :)

2 months

2 months already! Big boy got an A+ for his checkup. He's up to 11 lbs 12oz and is 23.5 in long. He had to get 3 shots which of course he did NOT like. Here are a few facts about Brady @ 2 months

Eats every 2-3hrs
Sleeps 7-8hrs at night
Starting to smile
Holds his head up better every day
Likes to lay on his back and kick, but not a fan of tummy time
Thinks the monkeys on the wall next to his changing table are hilarious

He's good to go for another 2 months :)

4th of July

Andy had to work EMS so it was just me and the boys. We spend the morning playing in the yard. I made Mason his own waterpark and he had a great time playing.



After nap, we went to Grandmamas and Poppas for hamburgers with them and Nana. After dinners we did a little photo shoot headed out to Riverfront Park to watch fireworks. Mason loved them but about 9:30 pooped out and was ready to "go home".

Swimming!

Brady's first time in the pool! When you are born in the south in the summer....you are going to go in the pool/ocean. It's just second nature :) Brady enjoyed his first swim :) He didn't cry and all and seemed very content to just hang out in the water. Of course after about 15 minutes he started to get cold so he got out, but YAY for liking the water!

Beach/Pool Dudes

It's summertime in the south and it's HOT. You can't expect someone who lives at the beach to keep their newborn from the beach or pool. Especially someone like me!

Brady's 1st time at the beach @ 5 weeks

Snackin' on the beach

Sleeping to the sounds of the beach :)


Brady's first time at the pool"swimming" @ 6 weeks


As for Mason, well has turned into a fish. He likes the beach and LOVES the pool. Looking for swimming lessons because man he loves the water!!

Father's Day

Father's Day 2011 was a great day.

We went to church....Brady did GREAT in the nursery. He was the littlest dude there :) Then we came home and cooked dinner for both Grandads. BBQ sandwiches and fixin's. We topped off the day with naps for everyone (mom, dad, Mason and Brady) all at the same time!!!!!!

1 month Professional Pictures

Went to JC Penny to have Brady's 1 month pictures taken. The photographer was awesome! She got so many cute shots! I was good though and only bought the 7.99 package :)

The package pic

Profile

Pretty boy

Tiny feet

Sweet baby Brady

1 month

Wow I can't believe it's already been a month. Of course the first 2 weeks of his life is a blur b/c I was in bed. Based on my home calculations Brady is about 10 lbs and 22in long. He is bigger than Mason at 1 month (9.13 and 21.75in)!!

A few things going on in the life of Brady....
- hates tummy time (shock)
- sleeps 3-5hrs at night!
- LOVES to be held....although he is starting to mellow out some and just chill
- Still learning to use the bathroom....he grunts and pushes for like 30 minutes at a time before getting anything to come out. Of course this ticks him off so he's fussy during that time too. Apparently this is normal :/

A few "firsts" this month
- first bath in his tub and he LOVED it
- first trip to the park

Memorial Day we packed everyone up along with a picnic lunch and headed to Wannamaker County Park. Can't beat $1 admission to an awesome playground, sprinkler, walking trails and big open fields. We had a great first family outing!

Cool dude Brady

Mason LOVES to swing!

1st family picnic on Memorial Day

Spinal Headache.....

Spinal Headache....otherwise known as the headache from hell.....

The epidural with Mason was perfect, no issues. With Brady, not so much. The doctor was young. As soon as he did it he went "umm you'll probably have a headache tomorrow". His explaination...the ligaments in my back are really soft. They do the epidural by feel and they usually can feel with they get through the ligament into the epidural space. If they go to far, they puncture the spinal column and it leaks spinal fluid causing a headache. It's a 1 in 100 chance of this happening. Well because my ligament was soft, he couldn't feel when he got through it and went to far.

I woke up the next morning in the hospital with a headache. They gave me Motrin, Perkaset and had me drink 4 Mt. Dews (caffeine to help constrict the blood vessels). That worked so I said "I'm fine send me home". Little did I know......

Friday morning I woke up with the worst headache I've ever had. A pounding, pulsating migraine headache. I couldn't get out of bed. Cure? Lay flat until it heals. REALLY??? You do know I have a 2 yr old and a newborn right? Thank God for my mom and mother n law. I would not have survived without their help. They pretty much came over every day and either took Mason home with them or entertained him here so that I could lay in bed. I was alternating Loratab and perscription Motrin every 4hrs on top of drinking 6 Mt. Dew's a day. Mt. Dews = caffeine = no sleep for the newborn. But at that point I didn't care b/c I HAD to get rid of the headache.

One week later and I was still in bed with an excrutiating headache. Poor Brady hadn't had a bath since birth.....oh and me either. I called my doc and she sent me to the hospital. They said I could have a blood patch. Doc said he thought I was almost over the headache though so he would wait. Blood patch = another epidural except instead of nubbing medicine they insert 20cc's of my blood into the space so that it clots and closes the hole, stopping the leak and relieving the headache. Of course the risk is that they could again go to far and cause another hole, leading to a longer headache. I opted to wait.

I waited the weekend and went back Monday for the blood patch. I just couldn't stand it anymore...and I have a high tolerance for pain. It took a total of 45 min but I was in the ER for 5 hours.

Tuesday the headache was almost gone when I sat up!! However, it was back with a vengence when I layed down....FAIL I thought! But Wednesday was even better and by Friday I was back to 100% 16 days after I gave birth!

I will think long and hard about an epidural if there is a third...

A bunch of firsts!

First Bottle

Mason feeding Brady

He held it himself!!

First walk

Mason "No me do it!"

First Bath

NOT a fan


First toy shared

Mason gave Brady Thomas to play with :)

Brady @ 2 weeks

Brady's 2 week check-up was awesome! He got an A+. No jaundice at all and he gained 1lb from his 1 day check up. He's up to 8lb 4oz!! He also grew....a lot to 21in. Doc said not to go to much on that b/c different nurses/docs stretch babies out differently so the height might not be 100% accurate.

Feeding is going wonderfully. He has had no problems latching or nursing. He also switches from bottle to boob perfectly. He's a snacker though. He likes to eat for 3-4min, go to sleep for 5-10min, eat for another 5 min, got to sleep again. Doesn't make for a fun midnight feeding :).

Sleeping....well now that he's not hyped up on caffeine, he sleeps pretty good. Definitly has his days and nights mixed up, but all babies do. We are getting 2 good 3-4hr stretches at night. He likes to be swaddled...Mason didn't so I wasn't swaddling Brady. I bought one of those swaddle me things and the first night we used it we got 5 hrs!!

Mason is doing well with Brady. He likes to get right in his face...which ticks Brady off but he's VERY protective. If Brady cries, Mason goes running. He's regressed alittle...wanting to be held all the time, crawling around, sucking on a paci (which he NEVER did)...but overall he's doing great. I'm trying really hard to give him mommy and Mason time every day.

Mason LOVES baby Brady

Crayola Colored Bubbles = NOT COOL!