Brody Pictures

Okay...my computer is working right now. Almost had a heart attack...I thought all the pictures on our hard drive were gone. It just took them longer than usual to show up! Here is a picture and a short video of Brody talking!

My Last Weekend

This is my last weekend before I go back to that dreadful thing called work! UGH! I don't want to go, but I have to. Especially now since we just bought a new car! I got a Toyota Sequoia and I love it!! It is so pretty.....and so big. I have wanted one for a while now and I got a good deal so I bought one. There is much more room than my 4Runner, but gas won't be too pretty on it. But, oh well!

Not much else is going on. Brody slept until 5:00 last night, so it looks like he is sleeping about 8 hours every night for the past 2 weeks. I am so thankful that he is sleeping through the night now...even though the once a night feeding wasn't too bad! Since he wakes up and eats at 5:00, that is a good time for when I start back at work. I will be able to feed him, put him back to bed while I get ready, and then drop him off at my Dad's before work! It will be a tough transition next week without Ted, but I think we will make it!

Brody is really starting to gnaw on his hands and is drooling so much! I think it is too early for him to be getting his bottom teeth, but who knows....some kids get them earlier than others! He is also starting to really laugh, which cracks me up! He has such a great personality! I think I am going to call the doctor's office tomorrow, though, because I think he might have an ingrown nail on his left hand. His left ring finger is red and a bit swollen and he fusses every time I try to mess with it. I am not sure what to do since he always has his hands in his mouth.

I was going to post some recent pictures of him, but my computer is acting up. I will try and post them tomorrow, as well as some pictures from Hawaii!

I am off to bed! Good night!

Heading Home!

Well..I am sitting at the airport in Honolulu waiting for my 9 hour flight to Atlanta. I am supposed to take off in about 2 hours. As much as I hate to leave Hawaii and Ted (especially since today is my 3 year wedding anniversary), I am so glad that I am headed home because I miss my baby like crazy! I can not wait to see him in person! I have talked to my parents at least 5 times a day and I have even been able to see him using Skype almost every day (the 6 hour time difference has made it difficult!). My parents said that he has been so good for the last week, which makes me so happy! He has been sleeping through the night (from 9:00 am to 5:00 am) and has only been fussy during his typical fussy period in the evening for about 2 hours on and off. Before I left, I started doing what the book that I am reading about Healthy Sleep Habits said and started putting him down at 9:00-9:15 pm. Apparently, it worked! He started sleeping until 5:00 or 6:00 a few days before I left and he has continued that the whole time he stayed with my parents! I was expecting there to be a little transition period where he might be a little difficult or get out of his routine, but that didn't happen! He is such a good baby and I am so thankful for that!! I am missing him terribly!

We had an awesome time here! We didn't do much and Ted had to work a couple of days, so I laid out at the beach or at our hotel pool and read 3 books! It was nice and relaxing....I am glad that I came. We went snorkeling and drove around the island, and saw some awesome landscapes, which was really cool! There were mountains on one side, and beach on the other! I have some cool pictures that I will post when I get back home! We did a little shopping and bought some small things for Ethan, Brody, my niece and nephews and my neighbors kids, but not much else!

My parents told me that Brody has really discovered his hands while I am gone...they apparently are constantly in his mouth. He has started to drool a lot too! The Website that I go to, which gives weekly updates based on your child's age and development (it gave updates weekly during my pregnancy and his development in the womb too) talked about baby's his age start to drool alot around this time. I have plenty of bibs so it looks like they will come in handy now. I can't wait to see him (I know I have said that alot since I started this post, but I can't help it!)

I am starting back at work on Monday, June 2nd! UGH!! I don't want to go back to work, but the good news is that I am working in the office Monday-Thursday and am working from home on Friday's. My dad is watching him Monday-Thursday and my mom will watch him every other Monday (she has off every other Monday). I know my Mom wishes that she could do it more. She has been off the last 2 weeks because her and my dad took my grandmother to see her sister in Ohio and then my Mom had off Monday and Tuesday of this week. Today was her first day back at work and she told me she felt like she was leaving her child when she left Brody with my dad. She started feeding him around 5:00 and got half way through the bottle before she had to leave. My dad took over from there.....this is giving him a practice run before he starts watching him full time on Monday! I am so blessed to have parents like I do....I am not sure what I would do without them! They are so helpful and have done so much for me....I only hope I am half the parent they are for Ethan and Brody when they grow up!

Happy Baby!

I think my happy baby is back....not sure for how long, but he woke up in a really good mood this morning! Yesterday, he had his shots and I was worried about how he was going to do. He did so good and was actually really good yesterday, considering. In the evening time, he was a little more fussier than usual....not crying more, but when he cried, it wasn't a little whimper, it was an actual cry. I took him for a walk around 6:30 and he seemed to enjoy that.

He had a slight fever last night, so I gave him some tylenol before bed and fed him around 9:00 pm. He was out by 9:30 pm. (I am trying to do what that damn book has told me to do, which is put him to bed earlier. I am starting to put him down between 9:30 and 10:00, rather than 10:00-10:30). He woke up around 3:15 but wasn't crying so I didn't go in there. He made noises and was crying on and off for until 4 so I went in there and gave him his pacifier and he slept until 5:30. He is sleeping so much better at night. When I went in there and got him, he was staring up at the ceiling and when I said "Good Morning!" he had a huge smile on his face. He has been in such a good mood since!

I had so much to do today that I asked my neighbor to watch him for about an hour so I could cut the grass before I left. She was so excited and told me that he was such a good baby. It really makes me feel good when other people say that. It is always nice to hear that your baby was good! She said she wasn't sure who had more fun....Brody or her! I am so lucky to have great neighbors!! :)

The picture below is one I took last night....I love his look in this picture so I had to post it.

Shots, Shots and More Shots

Brody had his 2 month checkup this morning. He was so awesome I wish I could have given him a lollipop! Here is how the morning went......

He woke up around 4:30 and I fed him and he went right back to sleep. He woke up around 8:15 and I brought him into our room while I was getting ready. He fell back asleep until 9:00 and I fed him around 9:15 am. After he ate, he was in such a good mood....smiling and talking! His appointment was at 10:30 and he was in a good mood the whole time we were waiting for the doctor. She finally came in at 11:30 (I was getting really impatient). He is perfect and everything checked out great! He weighs 15 lbs. 7 oz. and is 23 1/2 inches long. I asked her about his weight (again!) and she still told me not to worry about it....he is doing just fine. He is actually getting closer to the growth chart now (he is actually off the chart right now for his weight). Once she examined him and answered all my MANY questions, it was time for his shots. I was so nervous.....I knew it would hurt me more than him. The nurse came in and did it so quickly, he hardly cried. After the first shot, he started to cry and cried for maybe 30 seconds. Then he stopped and went to sleep. I fed him when we got home and he is now down for a nap!

Hopefully, his good mood will carry on for the rest of the day!!!

Brody's 2 Month Birthday

Today is Brody's 2 month birthday! I can't believe I have a 2 month old! Pretty soon he is going to be going to pre-school. Just kidding! But, really, I can't believe how fast time is flying.

Considering it is his birthday, he hasn't really been in the birthday spirit. He has been pretty grumpy today too. Not sure what is going on. Last night, he slept for 8 hours again.....I actually had to wake him up to feed him before I took Ethan to school. He probably would have slept longer if I would have let him. He didn't really get a good morning nap this morning again because I had to run some errands and he was in and out of the truck. Once we got home, I fed him and put him down and he has been down for almost 3 hours.

So...I have been reading this book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Reading these books really makes me second guess everything I am doing. I am not sure if it is helpful or not. The book emphasizes an early bedtime for infants. They say if you put them to bed earlier at night, they will sleep longer. Considering Brody goes to bed about 10:30, I am really struggling to decide whether to put him down earlier at night. Considering he is pretty much sleeping through the night, I don't want to disturb that. He has his 2 month checkup tomorrow, so I am going to ask the pediatrician. I am sure she is going to say it is up to me and that there is no right answer (which I hate that response), but we will see what she says!

If he is not to grumpy tonight or tomorrow, I am going to take some more pictures and post them before my trip. I can't believe I leave in a few days! So much to do....so little time!

All By Myself......Again

Ted left this morning for Hawaii. He has decided that he is going to stay a couple extra days from when he was originally going to get back because he found a guy that does hunts in Oahu and the Big Island and he is going to go bow hunting for hogs and sheep while he is there. He is super excited and as much as I am not happy that he isn't coming back when he thought, I am excited for him too. I know I don't always show it, but he is presented with some good opportunities and we are fortunate that he is able to do these when they come up. I just wish they were closer to home! :)

I have so much to do before I leave on Thursday. We went last night and bought my parents stuff that they will need for not only the week that I am gone, but when my Dad starts to watch Brody when I go back to work. He loves his swing, so we bought my parents a swing, a car seat base for their car, bottles, formula, wipes and diapers! Having a kid is so expensive...especially when you have to buy stuff for 2 houses!! But...I can't complain because I am not paying for daycare!

This morning and afternoon were interesting. Brody has been in such a good mood the last week or so...but not this afternoon. After we dropped Ted off at the airport, Ethan, Brody and I went to Tabatha's mom and grandma's house (Ethan's Grandma's) and we all went out to breakfast. Brody was really good at breakfast and slept most of the time. He woke up at the end and desperately needed a diaper change. After that, he pretty much did not sleep. We decided to go to the Target because I needed to get a few things for my trip and he was fussy pretty much the entire time we were at Target. We got him out of the car seat and Tab's mom held him while we were walking through the store. I know that he was super tired but he was fighting it and wouldn't go to sleep. Once we got back to their house, I fed him and I figured he would zonk out on the way home. WRONG....he didn't sleep the entire ride home. Once I got him home, I swaddled him (which I can't believe I hadn't been doing for the first 7 weeks of his life) and put him in the swing. Normally, he falls right asleep. WRONG AGAIN! He fussed for about 15 minutes, which is rare and then finally fell asleep. He has been asleep for about 2 hours now. Thank god! Hopefully, he will wake up and be in a better mood.

His normal schedule is to take a 2 hour nap in the morning and a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. He hasn't had one or the other for the past couple days. However, the good news is that he has slept from 11:00 - 6:15 for the past 2 nights. Since he really didn't get his morning nap today, hopefully that will mean good things for tonight! I am going to try and stay optimistic, especially since I am flying solo tonight!

Fun Times!

Brody has been in such a great mood this past week, I can't even believe it. He has really changed and become such a happy baby! Not that he wasn't before, but he did a lot more crying and not much smiling. Now, it is just the opposite. He has even started laughing. Not much noise comes out, but you can definitely tell. He has met all the milestones for his age, and has even met some that are more advanced. He is starting to hold his head up really well when I am holding him and he is also able to do a baby push up when he is laying on his stomach. He did roll over 2 more times when he was on his tummy the other day so I think we can officially check that milestone off (I wasn't sure if what he did before was a true rollover because he was kind of leaning at first, but the other day, he wasn't leaning at all). He is also very active when he lays on his back. For the past couple of nights, I have been laying him on a blanket on his back and he just lays there, kicking his feet and moving his arms like he is exercising. He is definitely a mover....I think I have something to worry about when he starts crawling...he is going to be all over the place!

He also really enjoys his bath time. We give him a bath every other night right before we give him his bottle and put him down and he really enjoys it. Even when he is fussy, once he is in the bath, he calms right down. He is starting to splash around with his feet too. Bath time is going to be fun when he is older...I can already tell!

Ethan is starting to interact with him more. Last night, we went out to dinner and then went to Bass Pro Shops and Ethan sat next to Brody in the truck and kept him entertained. He also pushed the stroller for us and kept putting Brody's pacifier back in when he spit it out. I think he is really starting to take to him. I am so happy about that because I was getting kind of worried that he wasn't really interacting with him, but I knew that Ethan had to come around when he was ready. I do think he got a little jealous last night, though. It was kind of cute! The cashier at Bass Pro Shops was talking about Brody's size and said to Ethan "Your little brother probably eats more than you, doesn't he? You better watch out, he is going to be a pro football player when he grows up!" Ethan didn't say anything and then when we were walking out the door, Ethan said "Brody isn't going to be a football player before me!" Ethan has never really had to share the spotlight with anyone so this was a new experience for him. There is plenty more where that came from.

Here are a few cute pictures of him from the past couple of days. Even though the one picture is not really centered, I had to post it because this was the time he was laughing. I was concentrating more on him than I was in taking the picture. (BTW - his dark blue onesie says F.B.I and underneath, it was Fat Bald, and Innocent....I loved it and had to buy it!) I swear, he must think that the camera is part of my face....I am constantly taking pictures of him!

Going to Hawaii

Okay....so we have booked the tickets for my trip to Hawaii. I am still not 100% sure about leaving Brody, but I can't change my mind now. I know he will be just fine with my parents and like I said, I will be able to see him everyday through the Web....but it won't be the same. I am just going to try and relax and have a good time before I have to go back to work. It will also be nice to be able to spend some time with Ted. It seems like the past 2 months has been about nothing but Brody and Ethan, when we have him. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it will be nice to have a few days just to ourselves.

I need to get motivated to clean this house, but I just can't. The downstairs is clean, but I really need to clean our bedroom, and the bathrooms. I am just a little tired today. Not sure why....last night wasn't much different than any other night. Brody did start fussing about 2:00 am and I was wondering what was going on. Ted went in there, because he was just going to bed, and he came unswaddled, so Ted swaddled him back and put the pacifier back in his mouth and he slept until 4:00. I fed him and then he went back down and slept in the crib until 8:30 am. Normally, he starts making noise around 6:30 or so and I bring him in our bed and he falls back asleep, but he didn't do that this morning. He has been pretty good today too.

I am going to try and lay down while he is sleeping.

Good Mood

Brody has been in such a good mood for the last couple of days. He is looking at more things and does more than just eat, sleep and cry! He is going longer between feedings and seems to be really content, taking everything in. He seems to be such a happier baby than even a couple weeks ago. Even though he sleeps really well and only gets up once in the middle of the night, I bought a couple books about sleeping habits and how to make your child sleep for longer at night. The book highly recommends swaddling, which up until a couple of days ago, I thought Brody hated. We used to swaddle him from the arms down because I assumed that he hated having his arms swaddled because he would bust out of it. I just wasn't doing it right. I have a couple of blankets that make swaddling easier and have swaddled him completely for the past couple of days...what a difference! He seems much calmer now. He didn't really have a hard time going down at night, but we would have to sit in there and hold the pacifier in his mouth to get him to sleep. With his arms being free, he would knock it out and then cry until we put it back in. He doesn't sleep the whole night with the pacifier, but does like to have it when he goes to sleep. Now that he is swaddled, he doesn't knock it out and goes down much quicker. Hopefully, this will help him sleep longer at night! :) But since he only gets up once, I really can't complain! Here is a picture of him swaddled in his swing....he looks like a mummy!

Ted is leaving next Sunday for Hawaii for 3 weeks. UGH! He won't be back until June 7th or so. I go back to work on June 2nd and it really stinks that he is not going to be here for my first week back at work. It will be a crazy transition back into the working world, which I don't want to do, but hopefully, Brody will be cooperative and help me out while he is gone!! But.....as a mother's day and anniversary present.....I am going to be going to Hawaii for about a week before I go back to work!! It will be the hardest thing for me to leave Brody that long, but my parents are going to take care of him and we both have a Web cam so I will be able to see him everyday. I know that I will cry for the majority of my trip out there, but everyone keeps telling me that I should go because I am not sure when I will have this chance to do this again anytime soon since I am going back to work. Ted will be working most of the time, so I will be alone for a while, but where else would you rather be alone, laying out and reading books, than Hawaii! :) Hopefully, I will be able to have a good time! We will see!

Here are a few pictures of Brody from the last couple of days.....Tab was here and had him smiling up a storm.....

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day and I have had a great morning so far. Brody woke up in a really good mood and stayed that way for almost 2 hours. He just started to get fussy about a half hour ago because he is tired so I put him in the swing and he is out! Ethan came into our room this morning and we had some family time and he was so good with Brody. He bought a few toys for him before he was born and he got those out and was entertaining Brody. It was super cute. I got a few pictures (not sure why, but it looks like Brody has red hair...he doesn't though) and a couple videos (the video is bit dark, but you can still see). What a great way to spend my first Mother's Day!!

Here are a couple of videos from this morning....Ethan's reaction to Brody smiling in the second video is so cute. I love seeing them together!

Playtime!

So, they say at 7 weeks, which is what Brody is today, babies may start to try and grab things that they see. Brody hasn't started grabbing for things yet, but when I put something in his hand, he does hold on to it. Below is a picture of him with a toy in his hand. He started shaking it around and didn't let go. Not sure if he realized what he was doing or not.....

Also, when he was having some tummy time this morning on his mat, I propped him up on his arms and he was leaning to the right and rolled over! Not sure if it was a true rollover but I did get it on video. You can hear my reaction towards the end......I couldn't believe he actually did it. He did roll over one more time too! Like I said...not sure if this was a true rollover since he was leaning but I was excited anyway! :)

Here are a few more pictures........ :) Everyday I look forward to seeing him smile!

Haven't Turned the Corner Yet

Well...we haven't turned the sleep corner yet, although he did sleep pretty well. He fell asleep around 10:45 again and I fed him around 3:30. He was back down at 4:00 and he started fussing around 7:45 am. It was good sleep but not the 6.5 hours we had on Sunday night.

I am going to try and take some pictures of Brody today and post them.....I have been on the go for the last couple of days and haven't really been home much.

Even More Sleep!!

Over the weekend, my Mom stayed the night both Friday and Saturday night to give me a little break (Thanks Mom!) I was able to get some much needed sleep, which was such a blessing. I was totally expecting for Brody to be a hot mess last night and not sleep or sleep just a little bit. Well...that was definitely not the case! He slept for almost 7 hours last night! I couldn't believe it. I fed him around 10:00 and he was down by 10:45. He went down really well because I think we tired him out yesterday when we went to the outlet mall. I heard him rustling around through the monitor around 2:30 but he didn't start crying so I didn't go in there. I figured it would only be a matter of time before he got up. The past week or so he has been getting up at 3:00 am like clockwork so I figured I only had about 30 more minutes. Well....3:00 am rolled around and I got up and was going to go downstairs to fix the bottle, but he wasn't crying then so I laid back down. I kept checking the clock and he was making little noises, but no crying so I didn't bother him. I finally woke up around 5:00 am and he was making louder noises so I decided to go in there. I probably could have left him for even longer, but I was happy that he slept as long as he did!

Maybe we are turning a corner....Stay tuned! :)

Sleep!!

Last night, my Mom decided to spend the night and help with Brody since Ted is gone. Brody has been pretty good at night, but having that extra person do the feeding in the middle of the night is always helpful. He pretty much sleeps from 10:45 to 3:00, eats at 3:00 and then goes right back down for another couple of hours. I did the feeding last night at 10:00 and she did the feeding at 3:00. My mommy alarm clock can't be turned off and I woke up at 3:00, even though I had the monitor off in my room. She is going to stay tonight too! I am so thankful that I have parents that are so close by and can do this for me. I have a hard time asking for help, but my Mom told me she was going to stay and stay she did! :) It has been such a help...I told Ted I need a night nanny. HA! Wouldn't that be nice. That is probably why all the celebrities have so many kids and can bounce right back after having a baby...all the nannies, trainers and nutritionists! But I am not sure I could just turn Brody over to a complete stranger and have them take care of him. That is why I am so thankful for my wonderful parents and I couldn't ask for anything better! Here is a picture I took of them with Brody this morning!!

I also had to post the picture below of my nephew from today. My sister is at the Richmond Race this weekend and she dropped Brandon off with my parents for the weekend. They weren't sure what they were going to do with him over the weekend, but when he was over last night, he played with my neighbors' kids, who are 5 and 6. Brandon is 4 and fit right in. This morning he was asking to play with them again. So...out he went! They decided to make mud puddles and I had to take a picture. He is filthy, but having so much fun!!!

This Morning

Brody was in a really good mood this morning so I got a video of him smiling. Please excuse my voice in the background....I hate to hear my voice on video! Towards the end, he dediced to give me a nice little surprise. It was pretty funny!

No More Afternoon Naps

So...I think Brody has decided to stop taking long naps during the day now. For the last 2 days, he has taken brief cat naps throughout the day, instead of taking a 2-3 hour nap. It was nice when he did take a long nap because it gave me time to do stuff around the house. Now I have to try and do things during these brief naps. Yesterday, I put him in the swing and he would sleep for 15 minutes, wake up and cry, and then sleep for another 15 minutes, wake up and cry and so on. Today, he is doing the same thing. He is starting to sleep for 4 hours or more at a time at night, which is good so hopefully he will start sleeping longer at night since he isn't sleeping for a long period of time during the day. I think I have noticed that he has an especially fussy period in the evening time, around 5-6. It never fails, whenever I am getting ready to sit down and eat, he starts to cry and doesn't stop until I pick him up and hold him. Sometimes, that doesn't even work! I have heard that at 6 weeks, they go through a growth spurt, want to eat more and have an especially fussy period. Yay! I am so excited for that!

I had my six week check up today. I have still have much to lose, but I have lost 36 lbs so far. My doctor told me that everything looks good and is all back to where it should be. I asked him if there was a reason why Brody weighed so much. I was wondering if I had borderline gestational diabetes, especially since I failed the first test. He did tell me that I failed one of the tests during the 3 hours tests, but he said that all of my other sugar levels checked out fine so he doesn't think that had anything to do with it. He really didn't have an explanation for Brody being so big. He did tell me that with the next pregnancy, he will test me for diabetes earlier and will probably monitor the baby's size to make sure the next one doesn't get too big. I said thank goodness for that because so many people have told me that your second baby tends to be bigger than your first. Holy crap...I sure hope not!

Here are a few pictures of Brody from yesterday. He is smiling more and more each day. This morning, he smiled real huge when my dad was talking to him. I wish I would have gotten a picture! He was sitting on the couch in the first picture and was staring at the fan in the next one. He had a little smirk in that picture!

Tornado Update: I also wanted to post the picture below of the Tornado from Monday. I know I am posting alot about it, but like I said, it is so rare to have a tornado around here, I still can't believe it. This picture was taken from the restaurant across from Obici Hospital. Shocking!