A Walk to Remember

I went on a walk with Brayden today. It was a beautiful day; it was one of those days where when you walk outside and breathe in the fresh air, it just makes you feel good! As I was walking, I just began to think and talk with God. I thought, "God, I want to see You." So, like you would when you are outside, I began to look around. The trees were beautiful. There were birds flying around chirping and flying in beautiful formations up in the air. I saw the man-made things, which I usually glance away from. This time, I saw how God had given man, His creation, the creativity to build and think up these things. I saw the leaves and grass, and how full of life they are. (Even in the winter, yes, here in Houston our grass is green.) :)

But as I continued to look around to see God's work and beauty in the things around, I simply looked down. It was then that I saw Him. I truly saw the hand and beauty of the Lord in the little boy that sat right in front of me. His unbelievable and intricately created child who smiled and looked up at me as I wheeled him along. It was beautiful. God truly proved faithful yet again to reveal Himself to me.

Let us not miss our Creator in the things sitting right in front of us. When we cry out, "God, I can't see or feel You," let us open our eyes to what we commonly miss and say, "God, You are there, and You always have been."

Mirror, Mirror...

Brayden has discovered the mirror! He has begun to reach for the "person" in the mirror not realizing that it is, indeed, himself. Today, he kept reaching and touching the mirror to try to grab his new friend that kept staring at him. He even turned over the mirror to see if he could find this hard to reach person! I was cracking at him and his new discovery of...himself!

Whispers...

While we were in Oklahoma, Nanny (Brayden's great-grandmother), discovered something great. When you whisper in his ear, he gets so silent and listens so intently while you whisper to him in his ear. Now I do this all the time when I want him to focus or to just to listen closely. It's precious!

This past Friday, we were waiting for our table at my favorite restaurant - Taste of Texas - and Jonathan started whispering to Brayden. Well, this time, he started saying funny stuff in funny voices to Brayden and he started CRACKING UP while Jonathan was talking to him. We were in the middle of this loud, packed restaurant, and you could hear Brayden giggling away. It was priceless!

All Smiles...

All smiles for the camera!

He loves playing with his toys!

Still smiling...

(b/c we were taking a ton of pics!)

Playing...

This morning, I put Brayden in his bed so I could fold some of his clothes. He was having so much fun playing, and I just had to snap a couple pics. (Taking pictures at every possible moment seems to be a trend since he's been born! Ha!)

Big smiles so early in the morning...

How does he do it?!

This toy is fun!

A new spin on an old classic.

Look what I can do, Mom!

A Work in Progress - Part 3

YEAH! The landscaping is completed!!! We are so grateful to our landscaper for his generosity in completing the look of our new yard with new sod & a great tree for Shiloh to have shade in the hot Houston summers! It was above and beyond what we expected, and a great surprise to look out and see! Thanks, Jason!

Now all that we're waiting on 'til we can start grilling out is for the concrete to be stained. Can't wait...

A Work in Progress - Part 2

The work has begun on the landscaping in our backyard. We are so excited to see it all done! I'll post new pictures as it's completed...

The beginning of one of the beds...

2 trees planted & sod going in...

I LIKE baNANERS

Solid food has begun...actually, it's more like mush than solid.  I've taken on the task of making Brayden's baby food.  I've mashed and pureed bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, and pears so far.  It's actually pretty fun...time consuming...but fun!  I chop, steam, then puree the item at hand; then I scoop them into ice cube trays to freeze.  This makes ready-made 1-oz. portions of the food when it's meal time.  All I have to do is thaw out the food and feed to Brayden.  

This past weekend, I was pureeing away when Jonathan came into the kitchen.  He looked at me, looked down at the carrots that were being spooned into ice cube trays, and asked a very sweet but hilarious question - "Does he suck on those?"  How precious is my husband!  I - with a short-lived serious face - responded, "No, babe, I will thaw out the frozen cube before feeding it to him."  I couldn't keep a straight face for long!  He was so curious to know if we would hand our 6-month old a big-ole ice cube chunk of carrots to suck on!  How sweet and unassuming!  Gotta love it!

Happy and covered with bananas

Smiling but eager to eat those 'naners'

Dropping a Nap...

We are in the process of a "schedule adjustment."  Since becoming parents, we have adopted the practices of the book Babywise.  (I highly recommend this book to any parent or to-be parent.  It is an amazing tool to help your baby develop a schedule of feeding, waketime, and naptime.)  Since Brayden has begun to eat solid foods, we've moved onto the book Babywise II which addresses all the new stages of this lil' one.  Brayden wasn't sleeping through the night anymore, so we've decided to drop one of his late afternoon naps (which this book recommends).  Well...the poor thing is so used to napping!  We try and try to keep him awake, but as you can see, this was to no avail.  He was bouncing away in his seat; I went into the kitchen for about 30 seconds, came back, and my precious little boy was sound asleep!  

Oh well!  He needed his sleep...now, hopefully he will give me mine tonight!

  

Growing Up

When this first picture was taken of Brayden, someone said, "Just wait until his head is up to the parrot in this bouncer!"  I thought, "No way!  That will be FOREVER!"  Well, that day has come - sooner than I thought - and he has grown up PAST the parrot in his bouncy seat.  

Watch the growth...

1-week old

and SO tiny!

1 month old

Check out those long legs!

1 1/2 months old

3 months old

WOAH!  Haha!!!

Falling off his bouncer...whew, I caught him!

4-months old

wearing Daddy's hat

6-months old

and growing out of his bouncy seat!

6-month Trip to the Doc

It's hard to believe our little guy is 6-months already...half a year...WOW! It has really flown by! We headed to the doctor for our 6-month well-visit, and everything went great. Unfortunately, Brayden had to get 4 more shots, which he wasn't too happy about! Overall, he did great afterwards.

Here's his 6-month 'stats' -

19.5 lbs. - 76th percentile

28 inches - 90th percentile

What a handsome and healthy little boy!

Lunch with Daddy

On Thursday, we got to go meet Jonathan for lunch.

Brayden was sporting his Utah Jazz jersey just for dad.

A Work in Progress

We are re-doing our back patio area...finally! We've had plans to do this for over a year, and finally it's here! We've saved and saved...and waited on the lovely landscaping company (gotta love the timeline of contractors!)...and it's finally begun! Yesterday, they ripped out the old concete. (We had a small 8x8 square of concrete - not quite big enough for a table & chairs.) They poured the concrete and will stain it next week. After that, they will put in a couple flower beds with tropical plants...can't wait!!!

Sick baby

Last week, we had our first experience of Brayden being sick. Luckily, it was just a cold. But poor thing had a never-ending plethora of snot, drainage, and a small cough. It was no fun! For a few days, we had him sleeping at an incline (see picture), so that he could actually breathe while he slept. I never knew a 6-month old could snore! We're so glad that he's almost completely better...still a little runny nose...but we're definitely on the up-swing of it all.

The Paradoxical Christian Life

"Have it your way."  "Just do it."  "Hungry: why wait?"  Our world is full of slogans and life-promising challenges that say if you do it your way or live to get it now, then your life will be full.  Jesus says that this is not true.  "To give is better than receive."  "To gain your life you must lose it."  "The first will be last, and the last will be first."  All of these statements of truth tell us that if we live contrary to the way the world pushes us, then we will find true joy and fulfillment by loving and living like Jesus.  

One high school in Grapevine, Texas tried this out.  They chose to give in a way that was contrary to the norm.  They cheered for the other team...what an inspiring and unique story...check it out here.

Eating Cereal

Tonight, we began the quest to begin "real food" with Brayden. At dinnertime, we fed him rice cereal...and boy, was it a treat! He wasn't sure what to think of it, which resulted in about 90 percent of it ending up on his bib. We tried again a little later, and he ate it all! WOOHOO!

Brayden's first bite of rice cereal

Not diggin' it

"Mom & Dad, what is this stuff?"

He still managed a smile after trying out cereal.

A Funny Moment

Tonight, we gave Brayden his bath...as usual. It was actually his last bath in his "mini-tub"...next bath, he will graduate to sitting in his own bathseat in the "big boy tub." (ha!) After his bath, we took him out, wrapped him up in his huge new towel from friends in Salt Lake City...nice and cozy! I set him down on his changing table to put on his PJs, and he grabbed his feet (no surprise here). But what was quite impressive was that he popped his big toe in his mouth and started sucking on it like it was his thumb! It was great...so, of course, we had to grab the camera...(stick with me here...there's more!)...So Jonathan went to grab the camera while Brayden continued to chomp down on his toe. Right as Jonathan started snapping away, Brayden started spraying PEE...right up at his (Brayden's) face!!! AAGGHHHH!!! I screamed, snatched him up, and put him right back in the bathtub for yet another bath.

Side note here: I pride myself in Brayden NOT peeing on me. Jonathan has had it happen to him multiple times, and I always said that I had never had it happen to me because I was so quick and skilled in my quick diaper changes. (ha!) But I had yet to experience the spraying force of our little 6-month old...until tonight! Oh well...babies have a way of humbling you! I guess it was my time to really experience this!

Bathtime!

Wrapped up in his new towel.

Sucking on his toe!

This may look like the same picture...I warn you, it is not!

Jonathan captured the "moment" of the startling spray...don't worry, it has been edited. WOW, what a moment!

OOOOOKLAHOMA

Last week, we got to spend a

couple days with my family in Oklahoma.

They were super excited to see Brayden and

the 2 people who carry him around (ha!).

Brayden & Papa

Opening up his new red wagon!

We were so excited to go to our friends' (the Diefs) new coffee shop/bakery called "Cuppies & Joe." Check it out if you're ever in OKC...it is AMAZING! Here's a pic of Jonathan, myself, Brayden, and my sis Amy.

Hanging out with Megan Diefenderfer while at

Cuppies & Joe.

On the way back to Houston, we stopped in Dallas for my dear friend Mo's wedding. It was such a beautiful wedding! Char and Mo were 2 of "my girls" in my small group from college. It was SO great to see both of them!

Christmas in SLC

This year, we got to spend Christmas in Salt Lake City, Utah with Jonathan's family. We had such a great time with them...even with our luggage missing our flight only to be delivered an entire day later! We got to meet our new nephew - Harrison Michael Gray. Brayden and Harrison are just a little over a month apart, and it was so fun to see the 2 babies play together!

We were so glad the whole family got to be there - Jonathan's parents - Grayma (Dixie) & Graydaddy (Mike), Michael & Heidi with their son Harrison, Jared & Erin (& dog Zoe), & Philip.

We got lots of snow while we were there. On Christmas day, we woke up to snow swirling outside the entire day. After it was done falling, there was about a foot of snow outside the house. The White Christmas was definitely one to remember!

Enjoy the slideshow...