Down with the bottle!

Hi. My name is Brayden, and I'm a milkaholic. I've had this "problem" for about 5 months now, and have slowly started alleviating this problem by sometimes resorting to a sippy cup. This allows about half of the beverage to leak down my chin and onto my bib and shirt. I also am trying to cut back by eating "food"-if you can call it that. My mom provides me with this liquidy "mush" she calls carrots. Or bananas. Or Sweet Potatoes. It looks nothing like actual food, but it's a nice respite from the milk.
Here I am, off the "bottle", enjoying a dribble of the good stuff.

Yes, it is THAT good.

THIS is why it's a problem. I suffer from milk-induced comas.

Oh, and PS-in case you didn't realize, I'm cute.

our BIG boy!

Brayden had his "4 month" well-baby checkup on Monday....yes, about 3 weeks late, so really, it's more like a 5 month checkup, but who's counting?! The result: he's perfect! And BIG! I've never really looked at him and thought he was all that big....he doesn't have the Michelin-type baby rolls or anything. But apparently, he IS very tall. Like in the 95% tall. Which would make his weight on the higher side--75%--as well. Officially, he is 27" tall and 16 lbs, 2oz. And who would wonder why he is growing up so fast? Perhaps the fact that he's LOVING actual food now! Today alone (in one sitting), he ate a good cup and a half of baby cereal, and then the ENTIRE container of peaches! YUM!

Brayden and Daddy time!

Two of my 3 favorite guys! George is having a BLAST being a daddy of a newborn (even though Brayden is hardly the size or personality of a newborn anymore! Brayden is such a happy, smiley, laughter-laden little boy. He has quite an adorable personality, usually happy as long as you FEED him when he's hungry! He is definately a little socialite, loving being held, talked to, and sang to.

Brayden's current favorites, besides food, are his link-a-doo's, his gloworm at nighttime, his bouncer (now that he can actually BOUNCE!), and watching tv. Yes, he has turned into a little couch potato, and his favorite seems to be football!! And he LOVES his daddy time!

Brayden's dislikes, first and foremost, is TARGET!!! Without fail, anytime we step foot into Target, or even into the parking lot for that matter, he starts freaking out. I'm not saying he's just a bit upset, I'm talking full on, red-faced, TICKED OFF! We've also figured out that Brayden simply does not like hats. Since it's gotten colder outside, I've started to put a hat on him (when I remember), and he's always pretty upset at me when I do. I suppose it doesn't help that quite a few of his hats have some type of ear flaps, which when he turns his head (usually to the left to suck his thumb) in the carseat, one of the ear flaps inevitably migrate in front of one of his eyes. That would probably piss me off too I suppose. And, he's never been a fan of his actual carseat, which was probably his very first dislike.

And to add to it, he's a big drool-monster, which makes me suspect a tooth may be soon on the way!!

Bathtime

Just a few pictures of the boys in the bathtub. I can't wait until Brayden is a bit older and able to sit up in the bath and play with Dakota! I LOVE being a mom of two adorable boys....I can't imagine my life without them!

Brayden!

Dakota started soccer a couple weeks ago, so we all accompany him to his practices/games. It has been outdoors (we had our first indoor practice 2 days ago), and Anchorage has gotten a bit colder lately. The past week, I've really had to bundle Brayden up in order to keep him warm and happy (or at least attempt to keep him happy!) during practice. I managed to stuff him into the cutest little blue corderouy coat, and took a few pictures of him. Unfortunately, Brayden wouldn't smile for me, but he does have the cutest big blue eyes and a little puzzled look on his face! He couldn't be cuter!

Brayden's first bath

So I skipped ahead a little posting the family pictures. Brayden's bellybutton "fell off" right before we went to North Pole for 4th of July, so we were able to give him his first real bath! He was so cute....he loved it! He is a complete water baby-now that he's just a bit older, we take him with us to go swimming at the Alaska Club, and he is in love with the jacuzzi. George or I will take him in the jacuzzi, and he's passed out within about 5 minutes. And then he sleeps AMAZING that night! So, I've determined that jacuzzi=baby drugs! I can't wait until he's big enough to start hanging out in the big pool....it's still very cold for him! Anyways, here is a few pictures of his first bath!

After Brayden...

So about 10 days after Brayden was born, we drove up to North Pole and spent 5 days there visiting family and friends. Lizzie, Alan, and the boys also went up, and we had an incredible 4th of July weekend (for the 2nd year in a row!). We took the kids to Ice Age in 3-D (which was amazing, by the way), spent time at Lizzie's parents cabin on Harding Lake, had a Cook family picnic at Pioneer Park (it'll always be Alaskaland to me!), and had a barbecue at George's parents place. We spent plenty of time in the sun, and was a fairly relaxing few days, especially after the birth of our little man. The only problems that arose was that Brayden slept in our room, so it was hard to let him cry himself to sleep, and he was also having trouble breastfeeding, so I got to drive into North Pole to buy a can of formula at Carrs/Safeway at 3 in the morning! Oh, and Dakota experienced his first real encounter with wasps! We got to Harding Lake before virtually anyone else (only Skip and one of the grandsons were there), so Koda decided he wanted to go play on the swingset on the beach. A couple minutes later, we hear a blood-curdling scream! He was stung by 7 wasps, and screamed at the top of his lungs for about a half hour! However, he wasn't reluctant at all to go play on the swingset after the whole ordeal!Other than that, we had a blast!

Baby Brayden is here

So my last post was a bit of a very late update, and since much has happened since the Disneyland trip, I'm going to skip it since I know I'll never catch up! So the evening of my last post, the 17th of June, I went into labor with Brayden. George and I went into the hospital about 3am on June 18th, and eventually had him that night, at 8:20pm. Brayden George was 7 lbs, 9 oz and 19.75 inches long! He was absolutely georgeous, and AWAKE for a few hours, so family could actually see him alert that evening! He did have a bit of a lumpy head (which was George's first comment as he was born!), but not a hint of "squish" on his face, which I was excited about! We left the hospital the next late afternoon. Dakota was so excited he got to be at the hospital right after his little brother was born, and is the best big brother. He helps with pretty much everything except the actual changing of a diaper! Brayden is such a joy to be around, and he's such a good baby. He sleeps well, is a pretty calm baby, and is just now starting to smile more. More updates to come!