Braden's First Trip to Arizona

This past weekend Braden went on his first trip to Arizona! Poor Kevin had to stay home to work - we missed him and wish he could have come with us. We went to AZ for my best friends baby shower. I was nervous to fly by myself with Braden and all of the stuff he requires, so my mom flew to Indy and then flew back to Arizona with us. Braden did awesome on both flights! He slept, woke up to eat, and then went back to sleep. He didn't make a sound the entire time!

Braden also got his first taste of the swimming pool at my parent's house. He loved it! He also loves talking to Grandpa :)

7 Weeks Old

First, I have to say THANK YOU to Meredith for the adorable photo of Braden! There are MANY more photos to come, and I'll post them when I have them.

Braden is 7 weeks old! He is smiling so much and is cooing all the time! I love the cute noises he makes. He is starting to follow objects (and mommy and daddy) with his eyes. He is enjoying spending more time on the floor on his activity mat. We are working on being content without being held all the time - that's a hard transition! It's hard for Braden and it's really hard for mommy to hear him cry... but, it must be done. Of course, Mommy doesn't let him cry for more than a few minutes at this point. He does pretty well sleeping during the night. He usually sleeps for 4-5 hours, gets up to eat, then sleeps for another 2-3 hours. Sometimes, he will surprise us and sleep for almost 7 hours, but that is not a very regular thing at this point. We will probably need to move him to his crib soon because he is getting so big! We put him to sleep in his bassinet and when he wakes up he is sideways and squished between the edges - it doesn't seem very comfortable! We are also working on napping... the past two days he has taken one two hour nap and several cat naps. I would LOVE to get him transitioned into two long naps a day, but we will see how it goes!

Pregnancy Photo Timeline

I thought it would be fun to see all the pregnancy pictures from 17 weeks to the end!

We Are Smiling!

On Tuesday Braden started smiling! He had smiled before, but until now they had been involuntary facial expressions. Now, you can talk to him and he will smile. It's so fun that he is more interactive now!

We are making progress with tummy time and playing on the floor. Of course, Rocco ALWAYS has to supervise. He is SO interested in what Braden is doing. Braden is also interested in Rocco and likes to stare at him.

Play Time!

This week Braden turned one month old! We decided to get the activity mat out to see how he liked it. He was very interested for about five minutes and then decided he had enough. But, we put him on it several times a day and he loves it in short amounts of time!

I think he was trying to laugh. Of course, Rocco was supervising!

Braden Update

Braden is almost one month old! I can't believe it. The past month has flown by. We went to the pediatrician last week and he was 7 pounds 14 ounces, so he has gained 1 pound and 2 ounces since birth.

The first few weeks around here were really rough... if he wasn't eating or sleeping he was screaming and there wasn't anything that we could do about it. He seemed really uncomfortable while he was nursing, so we went to the pediatrician to talk about it. He thought that two things were going on: (1) he could have some acid reflux going on and (2) he could have a milk protein allergy. I had suspected the protein allergy and had cut all dairy out of my diet already, which had not helped anything. So, we tried a hypoallergenic formula and that seemed to do the trick. We have a much happier baby now and he does not appear to be in pain when eating. So I guess we will be bottle feeding from now on which is a little sad, but definitely OK if it helps Braden feel better.

It was rough for awhile because I could not get out of the house since he just screamed. All the time. But now I have been able to run some errands and get out so I feel a bit more human :) We might even try to venture out to church this Sunday!

Here are some things that he is doing now:

1. Not really napping during the day, but that's nothing new.

2. Sleeping very well at night. We usually get a 3.5 to 4 hours stretch at first, then he wakes up to eat, and then sleeps another 2.5 to 3 hours.

3. He usually eats about 3 ounces every 2 to 3 hours.

4. Is starting to focus on objects that catch his attention, and he will just stare at them and "zone out".

5. Still HATES to be put down. He wants to be held constantly, so thankfully he likes the Moby wrap!

And of course, here are some new photos!

He really likes the Moby wrap!

I love these little tie onesies that my cousin's wife made! Maybe he will wear it to church if we are ever able to make it there...

Picture Update