Monday, October 27, 2008

Brady's Dedication and Pumpkin Patch

Saturday night was Brady's dedication at our church. It was such a blessed event. Brady did really well and despite being hungry and tired, he stayed in a good mood the entire time. Lance's parents, my parents and my sister and 3 nephews all came to support us.

Here we are before the service:

This is during his dedication. Pastor John did a great job. He even told the congregation that Brady is a future UT linebacker (hopefully he is right and hopefully he gets a full scholarship for it):

Afterwards we had a small reception-like gathering at our house. Our family and lots of friends from church came over and we had a good time. We are so blessed to have so many great friends and family that love and support us. I forgot to take pictures of the after-party...shucks!

Then on Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch and our church's fall festival with my sister and her family. We got some really cute pics:

I just love this picture:

We didn't take any pictures at the fall festival (shucks again!) but we did get this one as we were leaving.

Also this weekend I downloaded pictures off of Lance's moms camera. She had this picture on there from when Brady was only 8 days old when our friends Vicki and Cody came over. I just had to include it because I thought it was a great picture - and a good reminder of how much Brady has grown:

Monday, October 20, 2008

Trip to Liberty Hill

Last weekend was our first trip to LH (lance's hometown) since Brady was born. We had a blast! Friday night we took Brady to his first LH football game (the first of many more). LH has won state the last 2 years straight and they are undeafeated still this year, so we're hoping for a 3-peat. You can imagine how exciting the games are.

Here we are at game. It was pretty chilly that night, so Brady wore his hood:

Then on Saturday, our friend Erin came over with her son Ian. It was so much fun, I only wished we lived closer so we could get together more often:

Saturday night we just hung out at the house and watched college football. Brady was in a good mood and we got some cute pictures:
Here he had just rolled over: This is after a few minutes on his tummy, his head gets tired and he has to lay it down (so cute!):

Sunday morning, Ma Lyn introduced Brady to his first basketball. He's already working on his technique:

Here we are posing by the tree and bench at Lance's parents house in Levi's honor. You can see, Brady still has his basketball:

This is another tree planted in Levi's honor in front of Liberty Hill high school:

Thursday, October 16, 2008

4 months old and rolling over!

Brady has his 4 month checkup on October 6. He weighed 17 lbs, 8 oz (90th percentile) and was 25.75 inches long (90th percentile). His head is 16.5 inches (50th percentile). He got an A+ for both his physical exam and his development. He had a mild cold and some fluid in his ears so we didn't do the shots that day. All in all it was a good visit. Brady is healthy as a horse (minus all the colds we've picked up from day care).

And now for the great news, he rolled from his back to his stomach. This milestone was accomplished on October 14 at 4 months, 11 days old.  Unfortunately he did it at daycare :( I went down to feed him that day and Ms Kala said, "Let me ask you a question...when Brady does stuff for the first time, do you want us to tell you, or not tell you and let you see it for yourself at home?"

I thought about it and told her that I did want to know. I thought that was the end of our conversation and then Ms Kala said, "WELL.....he rolled over!" Ah man, he has been trying for so long and he would get so close, I just knew it was gonna happen any day - but I was hoping I would be the first to see it. But, its OK, he did it again later that night and we got it on video. Now he's a rolling fool, we can't keep him on his back.

Since he didn't get his shots at his 4 month check-up, we had to go back in on October 15 to get them done. The nurse told me at his 2 month appointment, to mix up some sugar water and start giving him tastes of it about 20 minutes before his shots. So I did that and you know what??? It really helped him. He only cried during his shots, then he immediately calmed down and never got fussy again the rest of the night. This was a much different story than his 2 month shots, so I really think the sugar water helped (as strange as that is).

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

First Refrigerator Art


I got to bring home Brady's first art project yesterday and it went straight to the top of the refrigerator. He finger painted (with the help of the teachers) some fall leaves. Isn't is beautiful? I can't wait until the refrigerator is covered in his art projects.

Also, I had my camera at work today so I took pictures of some of his other art work that we haven't brought home yet.
This one is his footprint turned into a ghost:

And this one is his hand prints turned into a spider:

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Cries in the Night

I just wanted to share one of the things that I enjoy so much about being a mom.    But, before I tell you what it is, I just want you to know that I am fully aware that some of you will think I am absolutely crazy and in no way normal, but I'm going to share it anyway.  So here it goes: My favorite times with Brady are in the middle of the night when he wakes up crying.  And no, this is not a joke :)

As an example, Thursday night Brady got fussy and it quickly escalated to crying at about 3:30 am.  The moment I hear his voice over the monitor, my first thought is "Thank you God"!  Don't get me wrong, there are times when my first thought is "oh no" or "please go back to sleep", but not usually.  I don't know why, but its the middle of the night when I truly realize how blessed I am to have Brady, and his crying reminds me that he is alive and well.

So, I get out of bed and head to Brady's room.  I scoop him up and immediately he stops crying.  Do you have any idea how good this makes me feel?  It makes me feel like he was in distress and I have rescued him.  Then, I fix his swaddle and we go to the rocking chair.  By this time, my eyes have adjusted to the darkness and I can see him clearly with just the glow of the night lite in his room.  I hold him so close and so tight and begin to rock him.  He looks up at me and his eyes pierce my soul, its like he talks to me with his eyes and he is saying, "I love you and I feel safe with you".  My heart simply melts and I just can't believe how lucky I really am.  This isn't a dream, he really is my son and I really am his mom.

Anyway, his eyes slowly get heavier and heavier and eventually he closes them.  He takes a deep breath and just like that, he is back off to dreamland.  At this point its only been about 5 minutes since he woke up, but I can't bear to put him down yet.  I just continue rocking him, starring at him and thanking God for him.  I spend about 30 minutes with him and then remember that I have to get up and go to work the next morning, so I put him down and go back to bed.

So, why does it this middle of the night moment make me so happy?  Im not sure really, but I think one of the biggest reasons is because its a time when Im not thinking about anything else or trying to juggle several tasks at once.  The only thing Im worried about is comforting Brady, Im not worried about how late I am for work, or trying to get ready for work, or trying to fix dinner or anything like that.  Its just me and him, in silence and peaceful darkness.  I feel like I have all the time in the world to devote to just him and it makes me feel really good.

OK, that is enough of all that - now for just a good old fashioned update.  Unfortunately, its not a good one as Brady is sick again.  I think he has Croup again, but we haven't been to the doctor yet to confirm that.  We have a doctor's appointment on Monday morning, so I'll check back in after that to let you know how he's doing.

And, just because I can't post an entry without including a photo - here are a couple of pics from today:




UPDATE
After I posted this, my friend Amy, had an interesting spin on my post that I absolutely LOVED!  I have to share it here, because it is just so profound!  Here what she posted on her blog:

My former next door neighbor in Dallas and friend, Ronni, put up a post about her son that I just thought was so incredibly amazing and precious!

[she copied my post here]

The post made tears fill my eyes, both with the desire to not just know but to KNOW the kind of love that she talks about and mostly because it instantly made me think that must be the way the Lord feels! Can't you just imagine that our Father feels the same way when we "cry out" for Him in the "night"? He doesn't feel like "Oh no!" or "Not now!" He's waiting to spring into action...to wrap His loving arms around us and comfort us! I'm convinced that when we lift our eyes up to Him, He must feel like we are saying, "I love you and I feel safe with you!" He wants to be wanted by us! He wants to be our safe place, our reassurance, our comfort...