Fun Bath Time

Braxton recently enjoyed sharing bath time with his cousin Peyton! Oh, they are so fun at this age!!

Teething!!

Braxton is in the process of teething like crazy!! He now has 4 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth, with one more tooth trying to come in on the bottom. The bottom one has been bothering him for about a week now. His gums are swollen and he's been trying to use anything to get it to "cut" through. While driving to and from daycare he's become quite resourceful in using his tennis shoes to "teethe on". :-)

Rocking Chair

This week Braxton has been intrigued by the rocking chair in his room. Up until this time he hasn't shown any interest in it, even though we have put him to sleep in that chair since he was a baby. He's been trying to climb up into it, but hasn't been very successful. He's at that stage where he get's frustrated if he can't do something, so we've been helping him successfully get into the chair. He'll sit up there and be as content as ever. Dave and I will rock him back and forth and he is just as excited as ever! Next on our list to get...Braxton his own chair!! :-)

Sponge Time

My new word for my son is a sponge...let me explain! People are always asking how he is doing and my response is that he is such a sponge! He is at that age where he is taking everything in. Just the other day we went to the grocery store and Braxton was wide eyed and just looking and wanting to touch EVERYTHING!!

Here's is just a little of my conversation with Braxton.

Mommy: Braxton that is a banana. Banana's are yellow. Want to feel the yellow banana peel?

Braxton: (no words yet) feels, laughs, and then tries to eat the banana peel

Mommy: Braxton this is a tomato. Tomatoes are red. Want to touch the red tomato?

Braxton: (no words yet) feels, laughs, and then tries to eat the tomato

Now imagine me doing this throughout our 30 minute trip to the store! It was such an enjoyable time knowing that I was able to help satisfy my son's curiosity about the world around him! We are excited to continue to introduce new and exciting things to our son and know that this is the prime "sponge" time. I am anxiously awaiting summer as I'll be able to be at home with my little guy and watch as he learns throughout this "sponge" stage!

Braxton plays baseball in the house

For Braxton's birthday, he got a baseball tee, bat, and ball from some good friends of ours. Braxton has caught on rather quick as to what he's "supposed" to do! It's so cute to watch as he learns and plays ball in the house. It won't be long before I'm sure I'll be telling him no playing ball in the house! :-)

Braxton's First Year

This video highlights my sons first year in a month by month format. As I created it, it was very emotional to see his whole first year in a digital format from the first time we saw him in a sonogram to the first time we laid eyes on him and as he has grown throughout his first year. This video is to my son with love! Love, Mom!

Braxton turns One!

This weekend we held Braxton's first birthday party! It was such a joyous occasion surrounded by the love of our friends and family. We held his birthday party at our house and had a BBQ and cake and ice cream. Braxton had his own birthday cake in which he was able to "dig" into! He enjoyed it greatly and before mom realized it had devoured half of it. :D Braxton enjoyed all of our friends and family that were able to come and celebrate with us. He also enjoyed playing with all of his cousins! The kids had a great time, as well as the adults. As our son grows, we reflect back on all of the blessings that he has given to our family and just the sheer amount of joy that he brings to all around him.

Playdate with Cousins

This weekend Braxton and four of his cousins had the chance to play together at his birthday party! Braxton enjoyed playing with cousins Alisha, Robbie, Eddie, and Peyton. The kids played hard all day together and the house was full of laughter and lots of running! I can already tell that all of them are going to be the best of friends. I am anxiously awaiting May when all of them will be together again for my niece's graduation plus his two other cousins Amber and Chelsea who weren't able to make his party. What a fun time it will be!!! Hurry up May!

Happy Birthday Braxton!

Today Braxton turned one! It's hard to believe that our "little" guy is one! Happy Birthday Braxton! I snapped a picture of him in his "Birthday Boy" shirt that I made for him! It was fun to test out my craftiness. I also made cupcakes for Braxton to take to daycare today which he greatly enjoyed as did mom and dad. We are looking forward to celebrating this weekend with all of our friends and family!

Growing by leaps and bounds!

Braxton is growing by leaps and bounds everyday!! We continue to be amazed at how much he is learning and how curious he is about the world around him. Braxton has recently became very interested in music. He likes to play all of his musical toys, as well as mom's pots and pans, to make all kinds of noise! He has also started dancing to the music that he hears and plays. It is definitely too cute! Dave captured a great video of him playing in the kitchen with my pots and pans. He was entertained for a very long time!

Braxton has also became very knowledgeable about the praise that we give him when he does something good. We will tell him, "Good job Braxton!" and he'll clap his hands and smile the biggest smile ever! We recently added a high five to the end of his clapping! It's adorable! We'll have to get that on video so you can share in the joy that we experience daily.

We also are seeing Braxton become more and more independent each day. He likes to be the "big boy" and doesn't like mom and dad helping him at times! We have also made the switch to sippy cups with whole milk and a booster seat at the kitchen table! Braxton likes these news challenges and has adapted quite well. He enjoys sitting at the table with us and is learning how to keep his plate on the table and food on his plate! :D He also wants to drink out of whatever cup or glass mom or dad are drinking out off. If we are drinking out of a cup with a straw, Braxton wants to too. The straw is another one of his newest tasks! Now I just need to get a stash of bendable straws, since most restaurants don't have these, so it's easier for our little man to drink out of.

This weekend Braxton also found much joy out of a balloon he received at Applebee's! He was so excited when the waitress gave it to him. He squealed with delight and had the whole restaurant in smiles while he "loudly" played with the balloon! I think our waitress enjoyed the "extra break" off from work too. :D

Other than that, Braxton still continues to have good routines throughout the day. He normally is up around 7 am and ready to go for the day. He takes an hour morning nap and 2 hour afternoon nap. When he's not sleeping he is definitely on the go! He enjoys all of the kids at daycare and is learning so much from the "bigger" kids. I pick Braxton up at 4 and then he goes nonstop until we start his bedtime routine at 7. We definitely treasure each and every minute with our baby boy! We are so blessed with him!

Braxton's First Easter

This weekend Braxton celebrated his first Easter. Our Easter day started off with Braxton getting his Easter basket and goodies, attending the early service at church, then coming home for his 2 hour morning nap, and then back to church. Once back at church we attending the lunch potluck, and then the kids went off on their Easter egg hunt. Braxton enjoyed his first time hunting eggs! Braxton was off and running with the bigger kids and didn't waste anytime in finding eggs! He had a great time, as did mom and dad! We captured lots of video and pictures to share with our friends and family. Enjoy!

1-year Pictures

Last weekend we took a family outing to Topeka, KS to have family pictures made and also to have Braxton's one year pictures made! We took Braxton's individual pictures first, and he was a pro! He was all smiles the whole time! His photographer, Cassie, couldn't believe how full of smiles he was at 9 am in the morning! Braxton even came up with a few of his own poses! Following his shots, we took a few family pictures as well! They turned out great too and we were so pleased with how well Braxton did. After pictures, we spent the rest of the morning in the mall and Braxton took his hour and a half nap in his stroller while Dave and I shopped around in the mall. To end out outing we stopped at a favorite restaurant, Red Robin, for lunch. This was Braxton's first time eating there and he didn't waste anytime in letting us know that he loved the restaurant too! He devoured his "kiddy" meal of mac-n-cheese, mandarian oranges, and even had several fries with mom and dad! Oh, what a great weekend with our family of three!

First Haircut

Braxton had his first haircut a few weeks ago! It was long overdue! Dave and I took him to his first barber! He enjoyed having his haircut, although he didn't want anything to do with the cape they tried to put on him. His barber, Richard, didn't waste anytime in taking the cape off of him once he saw he didn't like it. He was so quick in taking it off, I didn't even have time to snap a picture...darn, I did like the bright yellow ducky cape, maybe next time! Braxton sat in Dave's lap and was well behaved for his first haircut. He just sat their and sucked on his thumb...I'm thinking the thumb sucking was a nervous habit maybe because he'd already been fed and he'd already had his nap (those tend to be the only times he sucks on his thumb). We did manage to snap a few pictures without the thumb in the mouth! Richard even made sure we had a small baggy with his first few snips of his hair and they are already in Braxton's baby book!

Walking Video

Some of you have asked for more videos of our precious baby boy walking! Here is one that shows you just how much he is on the go! As you'll see from the video he gets distracted quite often when he is walking. :D Enjoy!

Braxton is Walking EVERYWHERE!!!

Braxton at 10 months old is on the move! He has finally figured out that he can walk for more than the 8-9 steps that he has been taking! He loves to walk from one destination to the next. He'll walk from mom to dad, from couch to couch, or from toy to toy. At daycare he'll even walk from one side of the room to the other! He get's so excited when he's walking and for some reason has to have something in his hands! It's too cute! We are so proud of you Braxton. Way to go!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Braxton celebrated his first Valentine's Day at daycare this past Friday! He enjoyed opening up his Valentine's from all of his new friends at daycare! He looks like such a big boy sitting with all of the older kids as he opened up his Valentine's and he knew just what to do! :D Braxton's favorite part of the party was eating the sugar cookies! His daycare provider said that he sure did enjoy the cookies as you can tell from his shirt! Braxton should be all set when it comes to eating "sweets" at his birthday party in a few months! I think he is taking after his mom and has quite the "sweet tooth". Enjoy the pictures!

ExerSaucer Fun!

Being as Braxton is on the go these days, he no longer likes to be in the ExerSaucer! He would much prefer playing under or around the ExerSaucer! Enjoy these action shots!

Playtime with the plant!

What can I say...Braxton loves our plant in our living room. I'm just wondering how long it'll be before it comes crashing down on our little guy!

Kisses for Mommy!

Braxton has learned to give full mouth kisses! It's so stinking cute! Enjoy the shots Dave captured!

Braxton in Hospital for RSV

This past week Braxton was admitted to the hospital for RSV. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a respiratory syncytial virus. The previous week Braxton had been battling what we thought was the common cold. We thought he had "kicked" after a trip to the doctor where he was as clear as a whistle in his chest. However, on the weekend his breathing became very labored, he began to have coughing fits that lasted hours, and then finally he began wheezing and struggling to breathe. Needless to say, our little man ended up in the ER, and then admitted to the hospital. Since RSV is highly contagious, he was in an isolated room and all guest (except mom and dad) were required to be dressed from head to toe in the special "yellow" gear. Dave and I did not have to get dressed and covered up because we were already "exposed" to the virus.

Braxton spent Mon night through Thurs in the hospital. During this time he was on an IV to help push fluids through his body. This was one of the hardest things for me to see thus far in our son's life. When they were sticking him at 2 am for his IV and his eyes were fixed on mom screaming in pain, with tears rolling down his face, it hurt me so much. However, we knew that this would be the starting point to his recovery. Braxton also began breathing treatments immediately every 4 hours to help with his breathing and wheezing. He was monitored every hour for his vitals and his oxygen levels.

Our time in the hospital was very exhausting for us all. The first few days Braxton didn't do a whole lot. He slept pretty much most of the day and when he was up, it was only for 30-45 minutes at a time. During this time, Braxton also slept on mom and dad, as he would not let us put him down. Braxton became a pro at taking his breathing treatments while sleeping.

Amazingly enough, he also learned to sleep through many of the every hour checkups. It's amazing at how many times people come into your room during the middle of the night to check on you (hence every hour) and that during the day a nurse might pop in two or three times. Is it just me, or shouldn't it be the other way around? Not only that, but another question I have is why is it so necessary to weigh a baby at 4 am when they are asleep! You're probably thinking you've got to be kidding me, but you heard me right!!! Two different nights they wanted to weigh our son at 4 am while he was fast asleep! I had to politely decline this request and asked them to come back when he was awake! Let me remind you that before that 4 am time, he has already had multiple trips into his room by the various hospital staff to give breathing treatments, check his vitals, and etc. Common sense would tell you that weighing a sleeping baby at this time is not a necessity! Okay, so I'm done venting! Those were just a few things that I found rather funny while in the hospital.

During Braxton's time in the hospital we were surrounded by prayers, love and support from our family, friends, and church family. We are very thankful for everyone that stopped by, those that brought us meals, and those that kept us in their prayers constantly. We know that God is the great healer and are thankful that we were able to bring our son home Thurs afternoon. Braxton is slowly getting back to his normal self. He is beginning to get back on his schedule, beginning to eat and drink more, and is back to playing with his toys around the house. We are still continuing breathing treatments at home and will until all of the wheezing in his chest is gone. We are praying for a full and speedy recovery! Thank you again for the Christian love that everyone has poured out to us during this time. We love you all!