The truth hurts

One evening earlier this week, MrKLB and I took Brady up to his room so we could have our nightly "floor exercises", as we like to call them, which consists of us playing with Brady on his bedroom floor and laughing a lot and marveling at his wonderfulness before we put him to bed.  I picked up Brady and was standing there hugging him as tightly as I could and MrKLB came over and gave us both a huge hug.  As we were standing there squeezing our baby I looked at MrKLB and asked "Will he know how much we love him?"  MrKLB looked back at me and said "Probably not until he grows up and has a little baby of his own."  Sigh.  This is probably true.  The thought of having to wait that long for him to truly, fully understand the depth of love that we feel for him makes my heart hurt a little, though.

We're going to be sure we let our parents know how much we love and appreciate them because they've probably been waiting 31 years for us to fully understand their love for us.  So, in honor of our parents, here are a few pics of them with their new favorite people in the world... their grandchildren!

MrKLB's parents with Brady:

My mother with Brady and my brother's daughter, Riley:

My dad and stepmother with Brady, Riley, and my stepsister's two daughters, Allison and Amelia:

We love all of you!

Where are you, Spring?

It's been a tough Winter in the KLB household.  We've had bronchitis, pink eye, ear infections, sinus infections, stomach bugs... Yuck!  Most of that wasn't even Brady, it was me!  I haven't been this sick this much in about 20 years!  Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to a healthy, happy Spring!

I started my new job about a month ago and, except for the fact that I keep having to miss work due to illness, I love it!  I feel totally confident that I made the right decision for me at this point.  I hope that I can do a good job and help make this a successful company because I'd love to not have to look for another job for a long time!

Brady is... well, Brady is perfect.  MrKLB and I truly could not have asked for a better baby.  When we're feeling awful or having a bad day, all that little man has to do is give us a big toothless grin and everything else just melts away.  He is such a happy baby and just has the best temperament.  He flew with us to Colorado a few weeks ago and was absolutely great on the plane and in the car and on the whole trip!  He makes our job so easy!  If we have another baby and it turns out to be a difficult or fussy baby I have no idea how we'll survive because Brady has spoiled us!

So, Brady updates... it looks like he may crawl and/or get two bottom teeth any day now!  Yikes!  We can see holes in his gums where there are two bottom front teeth just waiting to poke through.  We can't see anything white yet, but the holes are definitely a new thing.  He also has started to get into a position where it looks like he is about to crawl.  For now, though, he just ends up falling onto his stomach and then rolls wherever he wants to go - LOL!

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately - cooking blogs, photography blogs, family blogs.  I've read some pretty amazing and inspiring stories and they have made me even more determined to try to enjoy each and every day that I have on this earth.  I am blessed with a wonderful family and great friends and I want to make sure that they all know how important they are to me.  My husband and my son are the best things that have every happened to me and I cherish each and every minute that that I have with them.  Watching MrKLB with Brady is amazing.  He is such an awesome father and he loves that little boy like his very life depends on it.  The smile that comes across Brady's face when I pick him up from school - or when he's just been in his crib for a nap and I lift him into my arms - is breathtaking.  I hope that we all live long, healthy, happy lives... but if I had only ever gotten one of those smiles it would have been enough to make my life seem complete.

So, enough rambling for now... I just wanted to give the quick update.  Here is a photo of the family from last weekend.  More photos, as usual, can be found on Brady's Blog (email me for the URL).

Moving On...

It's been a while since I updated this blog.  I've been busy being a Mommy, Wife, Sister, Daughter, Friend,  and Professional Woman!  And I'm loving it!  :)

So, the big news is that I'm starting a new job on Monday!  I was laid off from my job the first week of January.  This didn't come as a surprise to me, really, because I had been expecting that they were going to reorganize my group at work and base it out of locations other than Atlanta.  I wasn't sure when it would happen, but it did.  Anyway, I had already updated my resume and started interviewing for other jobs so I was prepared.  I actually ended up turning down one job offer and am taking on a new opportunity that I'm very excited about... I'm going to work for a startup company as the Director of Product Management.  It's a small software company that some of the executives I used to work with at a previous company started almost 2 years ago.  It should be a really exciting opportunity!

While I've been looking for a new job I've gotten to spend a lot of extra time with Brady.  It has been so fun to spend this time with him because he is so much fun at this age!  He just turned 7 months old a couple of weeks ago.  This is my favorite age yet!

Here are some pictures of Brady from the past month or so...

Getting too big for his infant seat:

Hanging out with Mommy:

And Daddy...

Hanging out on Mommy and Daddy's bed:

Playing...

Going for a ride in his stroller at the park:

 

Smiling for Mommy:

 

Ready for school, watching the dogs out the window:

I've been keeping track of Brady's growth stats on his blog.  Here is the chart that I've been using.  The months that don't have all of the stats are ones that aren't part of the normal "well visit" to the pediatrician.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Age	Weight	Weight %	Height	Height %	Head	Head %
Birth	8lbs		21”		33.0cm
2 Weeks	8lbs 4oz
1 Month	9lbs 11oz	44th	22 1/4”	65th	38.8cm	57th
2 Months	12lbs 10oz	66th	23 1/4”	73rd	40.9cm	68th
4 Months	16lbs 10oz	79th	25 1/4”	57th	44.2cm	89th
5 Months	17lbs 8oz
6 Months	18lbs 13oz	70th	27 1/2”	80th	46.7cm	98th
7 Months	19lbs 8oz

 Well, that's the quick update for now.  I'm off to watch the snow!

Another milestone

I am proud to say that I have reached another milestone with Brady - he is now over 6 months old and I am still exclusively breastfeeding (and pumping)!  It feels really great to have made it this far and I plan to continue as long as possible.  I've gotten into a good routine with pumping and been able to keep up with the bottles he needs while at school, so that's been great.  It is possible that I'll be starting a new job some time in the next few months so I'll have to see how that works out with my schedule and being able to pump, etc.  At the very least I'll continue to breastfeed while I'm with him and then supplement with formula while he is at school, if necessary, but for now the plan is to just continue with breastmilk.

Brady started eating solid foods around 4.5 months and so far that has been going great.  He has had rice cereal, mulitgrain cereal, oatmeal banana cereal, bananas, avocado, sweet potato, and applesauce so far.  This week we're going to try butternut squash.  He is really a great eater and it's been fun to see his reaction to new foods.

We had a wonderful Chritsmas and New Year and MrKLB and I had 11 straight days off work with Brady!  We had such a great time and it was hard to go back to work, but we just look forward to seeing him at night and on the weekends.  He continues to be an excellent sleeper and we know we are truly very lucky with that.  He is a very happy baby and laughs and smiles a lot and is pretty much just laid back most of the time.  He's even been sick over the past month or so but you wouldn't know it based on his temperament.  When I picked him up from school on Monday one of his teachers said "Brady did great today... he does great every day.  If I have another baby I want it to be just like Brady."  Aw, what a nice thing to say!  If I have another baby I want him/her to be just like Brady, too!  LOL!

We'll be taking him to the pediatrician tomorrow for his 6 month visit so we'll have some updated stats then.  I've been pretty good about keeping Brady's blog updated, but wanted to come here to write down a few things, too.

Here are a couple of pictures of the little guy from this past month:

It's the most wonderful time of the year.....

I LOVE the holiday season! I love Thanksgiving... getting together with family, remembering to be thankful for all of the blessings that we have, and eating until we are stuffed! And boy do I love Christmas! I love Christmas songs, Christmas decorations, Christmas service at church, Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, I could go on and on! Anyway, needless to say I am even more excited about the holidays this year because we have our little baby to share it with!

We are going to visit MrKLB's family in North Carolina for Thanksgiving. This will be our first trip with Brady (and the dogs!) so it will be interesting to see how that goes. I'm sure we'll pack our car full of way too much stuff and still find that we've forgotten something essential. Luckily they have stores in North Carolina, so I'm sure we can get whatever we forget! We'll be staying in Atlanta for Christmas and New Year's and MrKLB and I will both be taking a full week off work so that will be fun!

Since I haven't posted in a while I'll give a quick update...

Brady is now 4.5 months old. He weighed almost 17 pounds at his 4 month pediatrician visit and is 25 1/4 inches long. He is definitely a growing boy! So far he hasn't brought home any illnesses from daycare and we're hoping that continues all the way through this cold and flu season - though we know it's more likely that he'll end up with something at some point. MrKLB and I both actually got very sick last week with a stomach virus and somehow miraculously Brady didn't get sick. We were so proud of the little guy and so happy that he stayed healthy! Let's see... what else? Well, he is rolling over all the time now. He's very good at back to belly but sometimes forgets that he knows how to roll from belly to back. The past two mornings when MrKLB has gone in to wake him up he has been asleep on his stomach. I'm glad that he just goes back to sleep when he rolls over, though, rather than waking us all up screaming!

Brady can't sit up on his own yet, but he is getting very good at holding himself up when we hold him in our arms or when he's in his Bumbo seat, etc. He also started rice cereal recently. That seems to be hit or miss as to whether he is interested. The first day we tried it he really seemed to like it. There have been other days where he wants nothing to do with it and some days he likes it again. So, we'll just keep offering it every couple of days and may move to oatmeal cereal once we get through this box of rice cereal.

Brady laughs and smiles and "talks" to us all the time now. He loves when we sing to him (and I do love to sing even if I'm not very good at it) and he loves when we read to him. He is starting to really see things a lot better now and we catch him staring out the window of the car or staring up at the sky when we're outside or really looking at the dogs now. He is also great a grabbing onto things. He is very good at reaching out and grabbing toys... and I have to watch out if my hair is down or I'm wearing jewelry because he's got quite the grip!

We had some photos taken this weekend and while I haven't seen all of them yet, we did get a sneak peek and they are amazing! Here are two that I just love:

 

Well, that's the quick update.  If anyone who reads this blog doesn't have the URL for Brady's Blog then just let me know and I'll send it to you.  That's where I post the more frequent updates and photos so that family and friends can keep up with what's going on.  Happy Holidays!!

Getting into a good routine

Well, since I've been busy updating Brady's blog I've been a slacker updating mine. So, here's an update...

Today is the beginning of my third full week back at work and we're finally getting into a good routine. I am working from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays and so far that has been nice because it makes our morning routine a little easier those days because I don't have to worry about getting myself ready at the same time that we're trying to get MrKLB and Brady ready. Basically, we wake Brady up at 6am (he would sleep until 8 if we let him!) and MrKLB changes his diaper. I feed him while MrKLB takes a shower and gets dressed. Then we get Brady dressed for school, feed the dogs, and MrKLB and I eat breakfast. We try to get Brady and MrKLB out the door by 7:15am. If I have to go into the office, I then finish getting ready and leave. We make our lunches and get Brady's bottles ready the night before so that we don't have to deal with that in the mornings. I pick Brady up in the afternoons, and the time varies depending on what I have going on at work. Some days I can get him around 3:30-4pm. Other days it's around 5:30-6pm.

So far Brady is still exclusively on breast milk and I am really proud of that. When I first got pregnant I wasn't really that excited about breastfeeding, but after doing some research and talking to friends I decided to give it a try. 2 weeks was my first goal - check! Then 3 months - check! Now it 's 6 months. Anyway, in order to meet my 6 month goal I have to pump while I'm at work. It's not really as bad as I thought it would be. So far things are going pretty well and I'm able to keep up with the little guy. So, on to my 6 month goal...

Brady is truly the delight of our lives. I love everything about him. I love his beautiful blue eyes and his chubby cheeks and his chunky legs, and his tiny hands and his belly button. I even love his bald spot on the side of his head from where he sleeps on it! Okay, so really I wish he didn't have that, but I love it anyway. I love watching him sleep and watching him play and I even think he is adorable when he cries. Nothing is more precious, though, than when he looks up at me and smiles. Heart=melting! Everyone at his preschool loves him, too. They constantly tell me what an easy-going baby he is and are amazed that he laughs and smiles so much and that he eats so well there and sleeps all the time, too! We are truly blessed in so many ways to have such a wonderful baby.

Brady is really close to rolling over. He can almost roll from back to belly, but he gets stuck on his shoulder on the side he is rolling towards, so I don't think we can officially say he is rolling over just yet. I don't think it will be long before he does that. He's getting a lot better at sitting up, too. He obviously still needs some support but he's not nearly as slouchy as he used to be!

Let's see... what else? I'm in search of a halloween costume for Brady. MrKLB and I can't decide what we want him to be. I ordered a fireman costume that was adorable, but it was WAY too big and they didn't have it in a smaller size. So now I'm toying with some other ideas. Also, I made an appointment for Brady to see Santa!! He will meet Santa for the first time at Phipps Plaza. I love this Santa because you can make appointments and not have to wait in long lines. Also, this is one of the best looking Santa's that I've ever seen so I know the pics will be adorable! I'm so excited for Brady's first Christmas! MrKLB LOVES Christmas and so do I, so we know it will be even that much more fun to experience it with our son.

Well, that's all I have time for now. Here are a few pictures before I go:

We made it

Well, Brady's first day of preschool was yesterday and we made it through it! Whew. We woke him up early so that I could feed him and we could get him dressed and ready to go when MrKLB needed to leave for work. He was not very happy to be woken up from a nice deep sleep, but he did manage to eat and we got him out the door on time! When we put him in the car I kissed him goodbye and it was only then that I started to cry. I didn't think I would, but I did. MrKLB gave me a big hug and then they drove away. I did cry for a few minutes, but then I decided to reward myself for the 12 weeks of hard work with a nice little nap before I started actually doing my work. It was nice to have a nap where I wasn't worried about whether Brady would wake up or need me.

Anyway, work went okay. I'm easing back into it. I missed Brady a lot so I gave the school a call around noon to see how he was doing and if he had been eating and napping. I was so glad that I called because they said he was doing great and it made me feel a lot better. He had taken his entire bottle at 9am and was eating again when I called. He had even had a couple of small naps. So, I did manage to relax a bit. Later I got an email from the director with some photos that they had taken of Brady. It was really nice of them and brightened my day. I went to pick him up around 4pm and he was hanging out in the bouncy chair looking at the other babies. Everyone kept saying what a happy baby he is and that he was so alert and listened during story time. I could tell he was tired, though, and he ended up sleeping the whole way home.

All in all, the day went pretty well. I missed him terribly and am not ready to start working again, but I'm happy to know that he is doing well at school. Hopefully this will keep up. We'll have a full week next week and I'll be back in the office 3 days, so that will be the true test of how our new schedule is going to work.

I uploaded most of the photos from yesterday to Brady's blog, but since this is really my blog I'll add a couple of Brady and me: