6 Month Check-up

We went today for Brayden's 6 month check-up.

He weighed in at 13 pounds, 14 ounces (that is up from 12 pounds even at 4 months) and was 25 3/4" long!! He is certainly growing although he is still not a chubby baby. However, Brayden is starting to get rolls on his legs and ankles, so there is a little bit of fat on him.

The check-up went well overall. The Dr encouraged me to start feeding him more solids (twice a day now) and to come back in 6 weeks for a weight check. Right now, Brayden isn't really excited about eating solid foods...rice cereal makes him violently ill...so we have moved right into veggies & fruit. After about 6 days of trying it, tonight, Brayden actually ate some applesauce!! Wednesday, we will try a new veggie!

On another note, the Dr also encouraged me to start giving him a little bit of formula. He suspects that Brayden isn't getting enough to eat during the day & is therefore waking up 3-4 times per night to eat to make up the difference. I am really having a difficult time with accepting that I might not be able to solely breastfeed/pump until he is 1. I know a lot of moms out there struggle with this & I also know that I need to do what is best for him in the long run...At least he will still be getting mainly breastmilk.

The only other thing that the Dr suggested is taht we start sleep training, i.e. not nursing to sleep at night. Tonight, I decided to give it a try & see how it goes. Brayden has been wanting to nurse at night, I think mainly to suck on something, so I gave him a paci to try. For once, he actually took it & kept it in his mouth. Maybe he will start taking it now that he is 6 months old. Anyway, we rocked, read a few books, & cuddled. Then I put him in the crib & turned on his light machine. He cried for about 5 minutes & I went back in to comfort him. He feel asleep that time & I haven't heard from him since (2 hours ago)! Let's hope that this really does stick!!

I think those are all of the updates from today's appointment. Overall, we have a very healthy, happy little boy!!

6 Months Old!!!

I can't believe it! Tomorrow, Brayden will be 6 months old! Time really does fly by! Brayden really has been changing & growing a lot recently. I will post an update after his Drs. appt tomorrow with his weight, height, etc

Laughing with Daddy on Easter Sunday afternoon!


He now has 2 teeth (neither tooth is in completely, but both bottom front teeth have broken through).

If you look really close, you can see the teeth.


Brayden has also officially turned over (we have seen it happen now) and he is not sitting up unsupported. We are usually right there or have the boppy behind him, but over the past week, Brayden has gotten a LOT more stable sitting up. He is SO proud of himself and so are we!! Since he is now able to sit up & play, we got out a lot of new toys this weekend. Stackers, sorters, blocks, trains, etc So far, I think the favorite is the light up, musical stacker that he got for Christmas.

This was really early in the week & he was still unsure about the sitting up thing...


Yesterday, he was proud of himself sitting up. He loves the stacker toy!


Today we had his 6 month pictures taken. They turned out really good. I will try to get them up soon.

Happy Easter!!

We have had a busy Easter Weekend. On Saturday, we all went to an Easter Egg Hunt with our small group from church. Even though Brayden couldn't really participate, the other 2 boys were super nice helping Brayden to pick up a few eggs.

John found an egg!

Ben was very proud of the egg he had just found!

Eventually Brayden got the hang of it and picked up a few eggs himself.

Greg, Jennifer & Levi

Caleb, Adrienne, & Ben

Joe, Amy, & John


Brayden also enjoyed a swing & going down a slide for the very first time.


On Easter Sunday, we all went to church together & then out to eat lunch.

We had a great weekend with great friends!

Thing 1 & Thing 2

Brayden was sent a Dr Seuss gift basket from one of my friends from work (who now lives in Maryland). It had 3 outfits in different sizes, several washcloths, a book, bib, & several other things in it. I thought this outfit was adorable!

Hanging out with Noelle, Phillips, Brackett, & Mawmaw Rachel

Noelle, Phillips, & Brackett (my godsister & her 2 boys) came to visit on Wednesday night. This was the first time that they have met Brayden. The boys were great with Brayden & after Brayden got used to them, he enjoyed watching the big boys play.

Phillips & Brayden (Phillips was the ringbearer in our wedding)



Brackett being silly!

Brayden's First Soccer Game

Last Friday night, we went to the Harnett Central Girl's soccer game. Brayden wore his official soccer outfit and enjoyed the game for a little while. It was rather windy & chilly outside so Nanna (Matt's mom) and I took him back to the house to get warm.




Later on, Brayden enjoyed play at BB & Nanna's house & then hanging out with BB.

We have...

A Tooth!!! It must have broken through today sometime! We were at our friends house tonight & were talking about how Brayden had not been sleeping & someone asked if he ws teething. Well of course, I had to stick my finger in his mouth to check for any new developments & what did I feel??? This tiny little sharp edge! A Tooth!! Hopefully he will sleep better now that the tooth is through. At least for 1 night :)

I will try to get some pictures of the tooth in a few days. It has really just started poking through so there isn't too much to see just yet!

Busy Times

Brayden is a very busy little boy these days! He loves to talk, squeal, giggle, and NOT sleep at night! Actually, he sleeps really well until about 1:30am & 4:30am when he wants to eat. At least we are back down to 2 times per night from the 3-4 times per night a week ago!

Brayden has totally adjusted to daycare & is always happy when I pick him up in the afternoons. One of his teachers had nicknamed him "Mr Cool" because he just sits back & watches everyone else fuss and cry. The teachers even "fight" over who gets him! We are SO thankful to have a happy, easy going baby!

About 2 weeks ago, Brayden woke up one night screaming. I mean really screaming...finger nails on the chalkboard screaming. We couldn't find anything "wrong" with him & he went back to sleep quickly. However, I was a bit concerned that he could have an ear infection so we went to the Dr the next day for a check-up. The good news was that Brayden was perfectly healthy. He weighed in at 13lbs 3.5oz at 5 months, 1 week. The Dr. said the screaming was probably either 1)gas, 2)nightmare, or 3)teething. Luckily, it hasn't happened since then.

Supposedly, Brayden is rolling over on a regular basis at daycare. However, Matt & I still haven't seen him do it ourselves. I think he might have the other night, but I was pulling a little on some rings that he was holding so the question still remains: did I pull him over or did he actually roll over himself? Either way, he is really close but just doesn't want us to seem him with these new skills :)

Brayden is also getting really closed to sitting up on his own. In fact, every once in a while he will sit up for 2-3 seconds before starting the sideways fall or face plant. Give him a few more weeks & he will be completely upright on his own.

Unfortunately, we have been supper busy & haven't taken a lot of photos recently. We did get a new camera though so no more blurry photos!! I will upload the ones on the new camera over the weekend & get some of them posted.

Daycare Pictures

Brayden's daycare did pictures a few weeks ago & we got the proofs back last week. We didn't end up buying any because we got 3 month photos done & are getting 6 month photos done in a few weeks, plus we are really trying to save $$. However, we got to keep the proofs & they scanned in pretty good so taht was good news.

These are about 4.5 months

Poor guy...looks like they just plopped him down & started shooting the camera! He looks SO confused!





What you lookin at?


Finally, a little bit of a smile :)