slept thru the night!

from 10-5:30 Brayden slept! he even slept thru a storm! yay! yay!

as promised- pictures!

Mr. Brayden at 5 months old

look at that smile! it is HUGE! He laughs so hard sometimes he loses his breath. Above he is playing with daddy.

"How you doing?"

His first meal of green beans put him to sleep in his high chair!

new driving technique

My dad taught me to drive. That includes that if your foot isnt on the brake, it should be on the gas (and hard!). I have always driven in a hurry too.

As I have said before, I am cheap. That is one major factor that influences some of the things I do... for example, it is one of the biggest perks to breastfeeding for me. :-)

Anyway.... I have been hearing all over to do this, or do that to get better MPG. With gas being just shy of $4.00 a gallon today, and driving about 32 miles to work one way- I am spending a ton of ching on gas. So I thought I would try, for one tank of gas, to see if any of this stuff works.

• No speeding
• Accelerate slowly
• Allow the car to coast before I stomp on the brake(this is the hard one for me!)
• Keeping a good distance between me and the car in front of me

Well, prior to this trial my Ford Escort ZX2 was getting 32-34mpg consistantly. I just filled up last night after trying out my new way of driving and I got........ drum roll please! 40mpg!!!!!!! Another perk, is I am more relaxed while driving too.

cute letter from brayden

My boys are at my parents this weekend, so grandma and Brayden emailed me this letter.

Hi! Mom!

"Here I am relaxing at Grandma and Grandpa's -
So far today I found a new friend - Grandpa - he is fun to watch. I have alot of fun with him. He lets me sit on the table and bounce FUN :) Only when Grandma's not looking.
I filled my diaper FULL for Grandma right after Dad went to Uncle Craig's - up my back to my arm pits. P U ! stinky too! :) I needed to change my clothes anyways - couldn't wear the same stuff all morning - could I?
I chewed my socks and they are really wet - Grandma took them off and I have bare feet now - so I can chew on my toes easier.
I rolled across the room and got stuck under my swing - so I fixed it from the bottom side and then I yelled for help getting out. There is alot more to look at and get into -
I like the big trees outside - not sure how to get them into the house yet - but give me time.
This afternoon I will go to my cousins house - Taylor wants to babysit me.... .. .. .. . . I hope her Mom helps her. She will be surprised how much I grew and all that I can do.
I need to take a nap - I think the afternoon will be busy. Hope you are enjoying your time alone - see you soon!
Love
Brayden :)

memorial day weekend

Working lots of hours is on my adgenda this weekend. I work all 3 days.

My boys are going to my parents tonight till monday. Everyone is excited to see him. They will be surprised how much he has changed and everything he is doing. Hopefully the 3 hour travel goes well for daddy, and the nights do it.

I hope I am not too pooped out monday night when they get home. This should be our busiest weekend of the year- and weather is working out to our advantage for once!

daycare issues

This isnt what I need right now working so many hours and feeling pulled and stressed everywhere! But Chris and I have a big decision to make about daycare. No, Brady isnt in danger, but the daycare provider made some bad choices.

It is hard to find good, (and convient) daycare!

Brayden was sick again, so he and dad couldn't go north to my families homes. Hopefully this weekend they will. Dad is getting used to his weekends and evenings with Brayden. They are really bonded and are buds.

I should have some new pictures to share soon- I have dial up and it takes forever to download them from my camera. So Chris is taking my camera to my mom who will download them in about 2 mintes for me.

I am getting burnt out on customers! This happens in the spring each year I hate to say. Lately I am sick of the ~pointers~ as I have named them. They are the ones that require a ton of your time pointing to a plant asking what that is... while I point the the 7x11 sign that says what it is. Then they ask how big does it get, and I again point to the sign and say how big it gets. Then they ask how much, and I point to the price and tell them. And we walk around this big chunk of property pointing along for 30 minutes.

I had my first issue to deal with today. Luckily I get just 1-2 a year. This one was a very much "he said she said" and it dates back to a year ago. I wont bore you with the details, but trust me- in customer service it pays not to get nasty as the person trying to help you will help you better if you are nice!

My day off yesterday was fabulous! I slept in, got to talk to 2 friends I havent chatted with for awhile. Chatted with my grandma too. Baked coffee cake and cookies. enjoyed my clean house! Spent the whole day with my family (chris too!). Cleaned up my flower beds and topdressed them with mulch. Helped Chris's sister and hubby cut down trees and clean up the mess. Then enjoyed visiting with them just a little. Brayden was adorable too, as usual.

amazing changes!

It is just incredible how much a baby changes. I never really thought about how a baby goes from basically a very helpless being to leanring how to do everything! And all the discoveries! The best one is the discovery of his boy parts. LOL. Guess he will never quit "discovering" that part, he is a boy. He is facinated with his feet, and he is the rolling over king! He scootches on his belly, and will be crawling in no time.

I look forward tomorrow, the day off. Will get some time with my family. :-) And my house is getting cleaned today, so I will get to enjoy its cleanliness!

Happy Mothers Day!

happy mom's day to all the mommy's out there!

Our's has been postponed for a few weeks until I can actually enjoy the day. Maybe July we will recognize it and do something special. :-) I would just love a whole day off with my family.

I did have a nice moment with Brady this morning before I had to leave for work. He woke up at 4:30 hungry, and I was tired, but needed to wake in a couple hours (he is the pokey-est eater when he nurses! but he chugs the bottle) so we side-laid and nursed that way while I rested. Once he was done I moved a bit away from him so I wouldnt smother him and let him sleep. I drifted in and out of sleep, and noticed that be had snuggled up to me. so I moved him away from me, and he kept snuggling up to me. It was so sweet, so I stayed awake and snuggled with him. Sort of my little mothers day gift- snuggles! When daddy woke up, he came into the spare bedroom and snuggled with us a bit too.

poor pooh!

On wednesday Brayden and I ran some errands. He loves to go with me to see the bright lights and new scenery of the stores. He enjoys screaming at the quiet library too! Luckily he is cute and can get away with it! We had a good time running around town making multiple stops.

Grandma Bev gave brayden a toy that hangs from his car seat and he loves playing with it! it velcros onto the handle, and there are (were) 3 things hanging from it. Pooh with a ring, and 2 bees with rings. He is so strong and distructive these days. When we got home..... all we had left was a bee!!!! Some where in a store or the library are the reminints of this toy and his paci.

We hung 2 differnt toys on his car seat. A horse that he pulls on and it vibrates and jingles. And a colorful horse (or giraffe?). We attached the bee that lost his friends to one of the horses too.

Tomorrow the boys are going to visit Chris's parents. Sunday they will probably be home while I work. Mother's day has been postponed till July in our house! Till I get a day off, in a week that I work 40 hours! I cant wait!!!

It's me in there!

I think that increased dose of meds is just what I needed. About 2 weeks ago, I was at my worst in regards to PPD. My dr. bumped up my dose a bigger jump then normal- and for the last week or so I have been feeling like myself again. Gosh, I havent been me or probably over 6 months. I think I started having issues before Brayden was born.

I didnt realize how I was still not quite me, even though I thought I was. hope that makes sence! I notice that I am taking care of myself better because I want to. There is still some progress to make yet, but happy to finally be where I am not.

The boys are bonding!

Chris has daddy daycare on the weekends for awhile while I work, saturdays I leave at 7 and get home between 6 and 7. Sundays are nice, I leave at 9 and get home between 5 and 6.

This last weekend the boys had lots of fun- a bath, rolling over, giggles, some hair pulling, even a visit to me at work! Brady was decked out in dad's favorite outfits. The camo one, and the one with the dozer.

I was thrilled last night to hear him say that he had such a good weekend with Brady that thinks it will be hard to go away for a weekend without him. That is so great to hear he feels that way. But I feel the same way too! I dont like him taking brady away each weekend and leaving me home alone! At least we both feel the same way, so we will be able to work this out.

Chris talked me into trying solids this weekend. Brayden got some rice cereal saturday and sunday. I was opposed (for reason I won't go into!), but not that opposed where I fought him on it. Brayden loved it. The cereal was quite runny, so it was more like a slightly thicker BM on a spoon.

so cute!

Chris and I are always blowing raspberries on Baby B- he LOVES it! It's hilarious and can even bring him out of a dead cry into laughter. A couple days ago he started making that noise with his lips. He has to try so hard, and is concentrating so hard to do it.

Last night he woke about 2 hours after a feeding- so I scooped him up and bounced with him ttrying to get him back to sleep. He put his little lips on my neck and blew raspberries on me! It was so cute! My neck was dripping with slobber. LOL. I gave him a huge squeeze.

thriving 4mo

Brayden had his 4 month pedi appointment yesterday. He is 16lbs, 14 oz, and 25" long. 95th percentile for both! Dr. said he is very healthy, and looks quite active. All good news to report.

I have been joking lately that it is a good thing he spits up so much, or else he would be a 25lb 4mo!

I have finally convinced Chris that we NEED to hire someone to clean for us. I just get one day a week off... and yesterday was spent doing laundry, playing with Brayden and napping for 2 hours (I am damn tired!!!!) with Brayden, oh his dr. appointment too. I prefer to use the limited time I have at home with my cutie pie instead of frantically cleaning. If I didnt work 55-60 hours a week, things would be different. In the meantime- this is worth it to me! And we both feel great about who will be doing the cleaning.

Brayden is trying out a new bottle today. With things so unclear about BPA, and bottles are cheap enough, we are thinking of making the switch. We researched it when we bought our BPA containing bottles, and at that time it seemed like it only leaches when micro'ed in or frozen in. So we freeze in glass, and never micro. Now there could be more to it. Guess it comes down to spending a few more $$$ and getting a safer bottle is just worth it even if we dont quite know the dangers. I hope we find a good replacement bottle easily!