6 Months Old

**I started this post on Bryson's 6 month day and just wrapped it up today. Nothing slow about me.

Dear Bryson,

Today you are six months old. It is hard to believe you are halfway to a year. It really does seem like just yesterday you, me and Daddy were still camped out in the hospital waiting to come home.

These past six months have been absolutely wonderful, even though they've gone by too quickly!! You are an amazing little guy and you truly are a blessing in our lives.

Here are just a few of the milestones and things you have learned in the past 6 months:

• You started smiling a smile that melts my heart every time I see it. Hardly a day goes by that you don't have your smile on first thing in the morning when you wake up :)

• You moved from the Pack n' Play in our room, to your crib in your own room.

• You learned how to roll both ways, although you very rarely roll from your tummy to your back.

• You can now sit up all by yourself for long periods of time without falling over.

• You had your first Christmas, New Year's and Easter.

• You went to your first Longhorn football game (the spring scrimmage).

• You have found your laugh - oh what a sweet laugh it is! It's very contagious too!!

• You started eating solid foods. So far you have had rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, apples, avocados, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas and carrots. You like just about everything other than the rice cereal (can't blame you on that one).

• You love to swing and go for walks.

• You like to go to story time at the library.

Other than being quite the spitter and not a big fan of nap time, you are a very easy going baby and you are happy 99.9% of the time! Daddy and I are so proud of you and so grateful for the joy you bring to our lives!

I can't believe in just 6 more months we will be celebrating your 1st birthday! I love you, Boogie!!

The Boogs

Today, I am thankful for Bryson. For some reason, his nickname has become "Boogie" - sometimes shortened to "Boogs" or even "The Boogs" if referring to him in the third person. We might need to start making a concerted effort to calling him by his actual name more frequently, so he will know what it is :)

I feel so blessed to have a happy, healthy child. I love watching the little wheels in his head turn as he explores the world around him and learns what his little hands are capable of doing. I love how he rubs his little eyes when he's sleepy, and how he'll stare at someone, give a little grin, then shyly bury his head in the shoulder of whoever is holding him.

He's sweet, inquisitive and a little on the quiet side. And I'd be remiss to leave out the fact that he's the cutest baby in the world (I'm allowed to say that, I'm his Mom... and he is pretty darn cute).

I could go on and on, but I'll just say that I am so grateful for this little guy and his smiles make every day brighter!

I love you kiddo!!

Trying Something New

Here is my first attempt at video on the blog. This is from the latter part of January, when Bryson was just beginning to really enjoy his time with Ollie the Octopus...

Posting this makes me realize I need to take more videos and also learn a little more about the video editing software on the computer.

3 Month Pictures

I missed a few posts last week. I also did not follow the menu I made for menu Monday (I did finally make pot roast last night for some dinner guests). But there's nothing like Sunday Son-day to get back on track ;) Here are some 3 month photos of the little guy... hard to believe it's almost time to take the 4 month pictures...

2 Month Pictures

Catching up on the month pictures. Here are some 2 month pictures:

Late Post

Couldn't think of much to write today, so here are a couple of pictures of Bryson from earlier this week.

Grabbing "Ollie the Octopus" with two hands:

First time riding in the stroller like a big boy:

1 Month Pictures

Santa's little helper:

With a Teddy bear for size, in his Christmas outfit:
He slept through this photo shoot:
He must have known this was a silly picture, so he put on his silly face:

November 11th, 2009

I'm pretty sure anyone reading this probably already knows, but this was the day Bryson was born (almost 2 months ago). Here's the story...

On Monday (the 9th) at our 38 week appointment, the ultrasound was showing a pretty big baby. The doctor said that he was about 9 lbs., give or take a pound. She suggested we go ahead and induce, and said she had set it up for us to check into the hospital on Tuesday. We thought she meant Tuesday of the next week, but she meant "tomorrow"... That was exciting and unexpected news!

We checked in a little after 6:00pm on Tuesday night (the 10th) after a trip to Subway for my last meal pre-starvation. Looking back, I probably should have had something more yummy and filling, but at the time I thought Subway was about all I could stomach (I was a little nervous).

That night was pretty uneventful. I was administered a drug called Cervadil and hooked up to monitors. The rest of the night was spent sleeping, getting up to use the restroom a lot and being monitored by the nurses who had to keep coming in to adjust the sensors.

The next morning at about 8:00am they started the Pitocin and the contractions became more regular, but not regular or strong enough. So eventually they broke my water and that really got things going. Around this time, I decided I would like the epidural. Once I had the epidural, I pretty much slept on and off until the nurse decided it was about time to push. We started a little before 4:00pm and Bryson was born at 4:29pm. He was 10 lbs. 4 oz. and 21 inches long. And he's been bringing us lots of smiles and melting our hearts ever since...