Pictures of Brayden's California Trip

Here are the promised pictures of Brayden's first trip!

We kept thinking that Orson was a little bit bigger then Brayden, albeit two weeks younger. But, once they are next to each other, dazzeling their moms with their goofy smiles, they seem to be about the same size!



Brayden is reaching for his first California orange
(across the neighbors fence).



But it was worth it!


They were such good boys!



Here we are, out for ice cream, shamelessly exploiting any opportunity to take their pictures!

We even learned a new hold to get out stubborn gas bubbles

from Matt, Orson's dad.

Brayden is Mr. Curious and had a hard time falling asleep around all of the new people, new sounds (including some one else crying), and new scents. So out of desperation, we went to Target and got a co-sleeper, put one of Brayden's blankets inside and he finally, finally slept (next to me-the bassinet Matt and Kim were lending us was just too exciting!).

We missed Daddy and sure are glad to be home;

What an adventure!

A Big Week

Brayden has had one pretty incredible week. He has learned to smile (not from gas!) and it is the most beautiful, heart melting thing I have ever seen. Angie came to visit this week and when we took him to the doctor, we found he ways just over 10 pounds! That puts him in the 50th percentile for weight. And monumentally, Brayden had his first plane ride (he even recieved his wings!). Two of them actually. We drove three hours to Bozeman, hopped on a plane, laid over in Denver and took a much bigger plane to Sacramento to meet Kim's little slugger, Orson (http://kimandmattewalt.blogspot.com/2009/02/orson-weeks-3-and-4.html).

Brayden was a little angel during his flights. He fell asleep as soon as we hit the runway and didn't wake up again until we were in Denver. And we certianly had Grace on our side! Everyone was so helpful, from the TSA agent who folded the stroller, put it through the x-tray maching and popped it back open afterwards, to the pilot who pushed the stroller down the walkway for us (Bozeman's airport is just as small as Great FAlls' airport). Brayden even had some international influence from the Aussie who helped me hold onto him when we hit an air pocket and then carried Brayden's bag off the plane. The flight attendant on our second flight moved us to a more "private" seat assingment that was surrounded by ladies so that I could feed him, and the girl we were sharing a row with didn't even puke when Brayden blew out his diaper and I changed him on the seat between us. :) We are now safely in Sacramento, and I will post pictures as soon as we get home!

Big Accomplishments!

Today, at exactly 1 month old, Brayden rolled over!

He rolled from his tummy onto his back.
Can you believe that?

He's also become much more of an accomplished puker.

Eh, you take the good with the bad.

Special Visitors

Our handsome little guy had a few special vistors this weekend. On Thursday night Uncle Charlie, Auntie Kathy, Auntie Nicky, Cousin Tank, five month pregnant Auntie Deandra and Cousin Timmy hopped into the Suburban and drove the 16+ hours to see Brayden. They drove through the night, the dark and the carsickness for about a 24 hour stay to love up our little guy (and I don't think they will every be so crazy again!). Brayden soaked up every minute of the love and affection until his vistors left at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning. Here are a few pictures:

He was even awake for most of the visit!

Here he is with Auntie Deandra.

You can tell he loves her already.

Here Timmy is holding his first cousin. He has been

waiting to play with Baby Brayden for a long time!

(And is being cautiosly watched over-check out the background!)

Swadled by Auntie Nicky.

We spent most of Saturday out and about, which was good practice for Mommy, Daddy and Brayden (we haven't gone out much yet). Brayden was well behaved and even slept through dinner at a restaruant! Here we are at the Holiday Inn pool, where Tank and Timmy burned off energy stored up from their road trip.

Brayden was so sad to see his company go, but so grateful that they came!

Outside

Today, it is 63 degrees outside: time go out! Brayden has been on one walk so far in his jogging stroller, but the streets and sidewalks are so full of bumps and gravel that I didn't feel like it was a very nice ride for him. So today, we went out in the Baby Bjorn. We stuck close to home (the back yard), as the breeze was blowing (we never really have a "breeze", it was a little windy), and it was our first time using the Baby Bjorn.

Brayden got all dressed up in his little bear snowsuit (ironically, I picked it up when I was working in California-odd for cold weather clothes!). I resisted adding another hat because I didn't want to cook him. I have a tendancy to over dress him and then the poor little guy sweats through his clothes.

Once we got into the Baby Bjorn, I put my jacket on around him so he was protected from the wind, and we were off! We spent about 10 minutes playing ball with Griz, and then another 25 picking up doggie do do (no snow means now we can see it all! Yuck!).

Brayden slept through most of our adventure, and continues to sleep now in his crib, but I couldn't resist one more picture as he was stretching after I took off the Baby Bjorn.

I know every mamma thinks this, but he is just so beautiful, he makes our hearts melt!

discoveries

Now that Brayden has discovered that pacifier, we have discovered his stubborness and temper. Our sweet, quiet little mouse turns into a Waldbillig when he's hungry (very, very impatient, just like Auntie Danielle especially) and he will fight a nap and any kind of sleep until he finds that pacifier! And when he accidentally spits it out in the middle of a dream, he is very heart broken until he gets it back.

His dark hair is now long enough that it covers his hairy little ears and curls up at the ends. Jeremiah has been wondering when baby's eye color begins to change as Braydens steel blue peepers have started to lighten up around the iris...and just might turn green! Jeremiah is still holding out for blue eyes and straight, light colored hair (his hair was dark when he was born and changed to blond and back to brown again later).

Code Brown

Jeremiah and I have been having a disagreement about Brayden...the first of many to be sure. Jeremiah thinks he should have a pacifier, while I was hoping just to have a thumb sucker (after all, you can never lose your thumb!). My argument, however, validates Jermiah's argument...it is pretty hard to break a habit when you can't get away from it.

Well, it seems that little Brayden was going to solve this disagreement for us.

Today, he seemed to have an upset tummy, and his little way of dealing with any discomfort is to eat. It is very comforting to be close to mom and have a full tummy-good baby logic, right? Especially when mommy falls for it, hook, line and sinker, and can't figure out why her little angel is puking up that liquid gold she is working so hard on. Needless to say, another meal did not make Brayden's tummy feel any better. He woke up screaming from his nap, only 45 minutes after eating. This time, I wasn't falling for it. Even though his diaper was dry and his tummy full, he was still belting out that heart wrenching cry that makes you want to lay down your life to find the one solution that will make that poor little baby feel better. After trying everything from the baby bjorn to rocking him, I gave up... and started boiling the five different kinds of pacifiers we had recieved as gifts and prayed one of them might be a good fit. At this point, I didn't care about the thumb sucking/pacifier debate anymore! I just wanted a happy baby.

While I was begging the water to boil, I felt my hand get wet. So I took Brayden into his bedroom and onto the changing table, only to discover: CODE BROWN to the Nth Degree (just in case you don't speak baby codes, that means poop, covering everything up to that poor child's hairline)! So we have spent the last few hours, curled up tight in a diaper, a blanket and a pacifier, waking up only when the pacifier is not as good as actual lunch, and waiting for Dad to get home so he can help me give him the scrubbing that the wipes just couldn't do (sometimes it just takes two to give a good bath).

Lesson for the day: pacifiers are heaven sent and even the most expensive diapers cannot contain a serious Code Brown.