Weekend Review

We had a pretty low key weekend. Friday night, we ate dinner at Brooke and Danson's house and got to walk down and get the eggs from the chicken coop, which I love to do! I really wish I lived on a farm! Saturday, Tyler and I had a wedding to go to so Mom and Brooke watched Brayden. They, along with Dad, took him on a boat ride and then Dad took him strolling. We enjoyed the wedding and even though we only went to the wedding and back, it was nice to have some "Brayden-less" time. Saturday evening, Brooke was craving Pizza Hut (& what the pregnant lady craves, the pregnant lady gets!) so Mom, Brooke, Danson, Brayden and I went to Pizza Hut. Sunday, we went to church and then had a Sunday School social afterwards. It was at Chuck and Hailey's house and we ate hamburgers and hot dogs. We also had a diaper shower for a couple in our class who is expecting a baby in a few weeks. Brayden really enjoyed "driving" Chuck's tractor. Thanks to Chuck for taking these pictures because of course I didn't have my camera!

1 Year Checkup, 1 Year Pictures, and Tubes

So, I'm really behind on blogging and I don't know what my problem is. For some reason, I have just not been in the mood to blog.

So, even though this is a week late, here are Brayden's 1 year stats:
* He is 22.12 pounds and 30 1/4 inches long. He is still in 50th percentile on weight, which he has maintained for a while. However, he went from 90th to 50th percentile in height. I was shocked! I guess he is slowing down on growing right now, which is fine by me. :)
* He is crawling like crazy and pulling up on anything and everything he can.
* He is in a size 4 diaper and size 18 months clothes.
* His speech is really starting to take off. He can say hey, bye, dada, dog, thank you, and uh oh. Please notice the one word that is STILL not included in that list. Yes, Mama. When should I start to be concerned that he's not saying that?!
* He's still sleeping from about 7:30 or 8 until about 6:30 or 7.
* Daycare is still going well other than constant colds and ear infections. :( He eats well and naps well.

Yesterday, we went to have his 1 year pictures taken and of the ones I've seen so far, I love them! Here are a few to give you a sneak peek:

Today, we went to have tubes put in. :( He is had a constant ear infection since February and it was time to do something about it. He went to the doctor 3 times last week for a shot/ear consultation and has developed a severe fear of doctors and rooms with white paper. Even when we went to take his pictures yesterday, he freaked out because there was white paper on the ground. So, we got there at 6:30 this morning and waited for about 30-45 minutes before we were called back. As soon as we got back there and we set him on the scale to be weighed, he lost it. He screamed and shook the entire time they were "trying" to take his temperature and blood pressure. After we got him back in his room and were waiting to back for surgery, I took him out and rode him on a few of the toys they had there and he seemed to calm down a little. He didn't even cry when the nurse came and got him to take him back. He was back in about 20 minutes and the doctor said it went very well. He was very mad when they first brought him back, but they said that is how most babies react after coming off anesthesia. He slept on the way home. When we got home, he played like normal and took a really good nap. He's pretty much been back to normal since then. Here's to hoping we have no more ear problems! The only bad thing: Our pediatrician didn't want to give his 12 month immunizations until he got his tubes in so now we have to go back for more shots! :(

Brayden Thomas is 1 Year Old!

I am finally posting Brayden's 12 month post. He turned 1 on Sunday, the 8th, and what an interesting day it turned out to be. We had big plans for that day. It was Mother's Day and Brayden was supposed to be dedicated at church. After church, I wanted to go out to eat and take him somewhere fun like the zoo or something. When Brayden woke up that morning, he was very unhappy and seemed to be in immense pain. Normally he wakes up, takes his bottle, and is ready to go. That morning, he woke up and took his bottle and then laid his head on my shoulder and screamed without ceasing. I knew he was in serious pain and I also knew he could not stand in front of the church to be dedicated screaming at the top of his lungs. I was very upset about him not being dedicated, but I knew I had to put his needs first.

He has struggled with an ear infection since February so there was no doubt in my mind that that was causing the pain. He had just finished a round of antibiotics the previous Friday and it was obvious it was having no affect. Anytime he is in pain like that, I just shoot some Motrin in him and pretty much instantly he is fine. So, that morning I gave him a dose of Motrin. 15 minutes later, he was still screaming. I figured since we had given him Motrin so much, it wasn't working as well as it should. Then, I gave him half of another dose. (I know I'm a bad mom but I could not stand to see him in pain) We called the doctor and made an appointment to go up to Children's South. He wasn't screaming by the time we got there, but he just laid listlessly on my shoulder in the waiting room instead of wanting to get down and play with the toys. When they took his temperature (& it's rectally so he normally screams), he just laid there and didn't move. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see him like that. The doctor came in and gave him a shot and a prescription for ear numbing drops. He also had to get 2 more shots on Monday and Tuesday. We had already been referred by the pediatrician to an ENT because Brayden needed tubes and his appointment for that was Thursday. His 1 year appointment was Monday. Needless to say, when we go to the doctor's office now, he screams when we walk in the exam room because he's had a rough week dealing with doctors.

So, my lunch out for Mother's Day was stopping by the Burger King drive thru. Brayden eventually started feeling better and we started playing with some of the toys he got at his party. We blew the pool up he got and were very tempted to leave it in the living room as a playpen. :)

He will be getting tubes in his ears Monday so hopefully his ear problems will be a thing of the past!

Brayden's First Birthday Party Part 4

We were very surprised by all of the guests that showed up for Brayden's birthday party. It looked like everyone had a good time.

Grandmommy, Gigi to Brayden, came:

Meemaw came and Racheal and Chris brought sweet little Colton:

Tasha came and brought her two kids, Casey and Aubrey, and Sheena came and brought Sawyer:

Melody and Nate came (and he loved the bubbles!) :

Aaron, Jessica, and Emma came:

Megan and adorable little Stella came:

Todd, Susan, and Sarah stopped by:

Of course, Aunt Brooke and Uncle Jordan were there:

And Grammy:

Tracey came even though her stepson, Lane, couldn't come.

In case you're wondering, the party was not at my house. I wish I could take credit for this beautiful house, but I can't. My best friend, Hailey, and her husband, Chuck, offered (ok, I asked) to have the party at their house. They both put so much work into getting their house ready and getting everything ready for the party. I don't know what I would have done without them. I am very blessed to call them friends.

Oh, and I didn't take any pictures of the party favors, but they were a sand bucket with each child's name on it with bubbles and a ball in it.

I am so very thankful and fortunate to have so many people who care about my family and spent their Saturday morning at Brayden's first birthday party. I just hope I haven't set a precedent for birthday parties because it was a lot of work! :) However, I wouldn't have it any other way because this sweet boy deserves the best!

Brayden's First Birthday Party Part 3

Brayden got lots and lots of great gifts! He got a really good variety of fun toys and cute clothes. He got a cozy coupe from Aunt Brooke that he loves! He also got a swing from Chuck and Hailey and a pool from his Grammy that will be put to good use this summer. His favorite toy, though, was a Toy Story motorized car that my parents got him. It's pretty cool because he can push a button and make it go, but it also has a long handle on the back of it that an adult can push and steer it with.

First, he started by opening his wrapped gifts.

Then, my dad put one of the other kids at the party on Brayden's car and he spotted it and had no interest in the rest of his gifts.

Brayden's First Birthday Party Part 2

As far as decorations we tried to keep the B theme going. Of course we had balloons.

We had a bouncing station . . .

A Bubbles Station . . .

and a Ball station . . .

The bubbles station had a bubble generator that shot out bubbles nonstop, 3 bubble wands, and 3 bubble sticks that made a shape out of bubbles.

The balls station had a ball pit and a pool full of big balls, medium size balls, a beach ball, and punch balls.

Behind the food table, we had a bucket for each month of Brayden's life. We used a picture taken around or on his monthly birthday and chose a B word that describes either him and/or the picture. Mom was in charge of these and I helped her and we spent ALOT of time on them so I'm going to post them all. :)

Brayden's First Birthday Party Part 1

Brayden's first birthday party was Saturday and it was an absolute blast! The weather could not have been more perfect and almost everyone we invited showed up! There are so many good pictures that I'm going to split it up into 4 parts. This part will feature the food and Brayden's first experience with his very own cake.

Let me preface by saying that his birthday party theme was the letter B. All of the activities at the party started with B along with all of the food. We had a berry medley, bananas, brownies, butter cookies, "bears" aka teddy grahams, and "beans" aka jelly beans. We had bottled water, berry Capri Sun, and berry Kool Aid Squeeze Its.

The food table:

The food:

The plates and napkins:

Cindy Milner made the cake and his smash cake and did an excellent job!

As we all know, Brayden loves sweets so I knew he would love his cake. First, he stuck his finger in it over and over.

Then, he just started hitting it.

He didn't really eat much of it like I thought he would. It was more about destroying it and he succeeded.

The finished product: