We survived!

Yes, we survived Sesame Street Live! Actually it wasn't really that bad compared to other events I have attended at the BOK Center. Kell really enjoyed it and Bryce was even entertained for a while...at least until he got sleepy. On the way home we were singing "Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?" So Kell kept telling us he wanted to go to Sesame Street!

Here's my non-make-up-wearing self with the two kiddos. As you can see both kids have their eyes on the stage.

Kell enjoying the show.



Melissa and Kell. Once again Kell is too much into the show to be smiling for the camera.


Audience participation...the first step was to close your eyes and imagine.

Some pictures of all of the favorite Sesame Street characters and some new ones!

Here we imagined we were in Mexico.

Here we imagined we were sailing the high seas.

Here's I think we were supposed to camping in the jungle.

Surfing on the beach.

Mardi Gras!

So that was all the excitement for Saturday. On Sunday Bryce got to take his first trip to the lake, however it was so windy and cold that we pretty much stayed in the truck the whole time.

At first we were just going to take the boat and park it until this weekend, but as we were about to leave our friends Bryan and Frankie called and said they were almost there. So Bryan helped Nic get the boat unloaded in the water and it was quite nerve-wrecking. Bryan backed the trailer on the ramp, which I was thankful for because the water is up 3-4 feet and I would have had no idea where the ramp was. Nic started the boat and backs off the trailer. Since the boat is a little cold natured it died as soon as he put it in forward. This cycle repeats a couple times until the strong north wind almost blows Nic into the trees and the boat finally warms up enough for him to drive forward. Once she got going the boat ran great and now is snug as a bug in the boat slip!

We'll be going back down to the lake this Saturday and we will move our travel trailer onto our lot. After we go back to Broken Arrow for Kell's birthday party we'll go back and are going to spend the night down there, we'll see how it goes as Bryce hasn't stayed the night anywhere elses besides our home. I still haven't decided the sleeping arrangement yet. Hopefully we'll also get to take Bryce on his first boat ride.

After we got back from the lake Sunday Nic and Bryce were sitting on the couch and I took some cute pictures I want to share. I also was able to get him giggling on video.

Yesterday after Bryce and I got home, he was asleep in his car seat (he was even snoring). I noticed that he had managed to get his rattle around his foot. I guess he's trying to set a new fashion trend. I thought it was cute, so I get my camera out...sure enough he wakes up and starts squirming. But I managed to snap a shot anyway.

So after he woke up I decided to load him up in the stroller and take him outside while I pulled weeds in my flower beds. As long as I was pushing him around in the stroller he was happy but if he sat for any length of time he was not happy. Needless to say I didn't get many weeds pulled, but I did get a sweet picture of my sweet baby boy.

Good morning! Bryce is down for hopefully the first of his 2 long naps that my Mom always talks about...so far he's been napping for an hour. I should probably be taking a nap myself since he was up bright and early this morning but there's just so much I need to TRY to do while he's napping. The night before last he slept from 8:30pm until 5:00am in the morning, and it was wonderful. Of course it couldn't happen 2 nights in a row.

Lately Bryce has really started to giggle, before he would mostly just chuckle. I will try to catch it on video for my next post.

Otherwise I just wanted to share some photos.


A couple of our little chunky monkey enjoying his bath time.

Finally I remembered to get a picture of Bryce's Mii. Of course I didn't have the patience to figure out how to get just him, so I just did a group shot...of course Nic had to close his eyes and mess the picture up.

From left to right is my lil' sister Audrey, Bryce, Nic, Me, my Nephew Kell, and our dog Fara.

This afternoon Bryce and I will head out to run some errands, then at 5:30 we're going to watch Sesame Street Live with Melissa and Kell...I hope Bryce enjoys at least a little.

The Pink Pacifier...

Here's the evidence...that one day could be used as blackmail. To top it off he's also laying on a PINK boppy! I know Nic will be so proud! Oh well, I guess that's what happens when you spend the day with two girls.

The past two days/nights have been a little rough after Bryce getting his immunizations and the frenula thingy clipped.

The first evening after his shots, he ran a little bit of a fever. He was so lethargic and just wanted to snuggle. The frenula bled a little more where at one point when I took his paci out of his mouth he had blood (and slobber) smeared around his mouth to where it looked like he had on clown make-up. Thankfully Nic helped me out tremendously that evening by cooking dinner and washing bottles, he's so great!

Yesterday Bryce still wasn't 100%. He wouldn't eat much and Mom had to push him around in the stroller (in the house! LOL!) to keep him content. I guess she could have just held him but I'm sure her back wouldn't have appreciated that later. Fortunately when I picked him up from Mom's after work he seemed to be feeling much better. So I decided we could go to dinner with Amanda. He did great at dinner aside from throwing his rattle out of his car seat, which essentially landed on the floor and got put up until it could be washed. After dinner we went to one her co-workers homes for a threading party where he did fantastic! Shots...what shots?

A threading party is where these wonderful Persian ladies use thread to remove the 'fuzz' off your face. They also shape/pluck your eyebrows too. This group does it once of month rotating between different homes and it cost $20. Most of the ladies bring a 'numbing agent', such as wine. I've gone several times but since I've been pregnant or breastfeeding everytime, I've had to endure the pain without any numbing agents> Since Bryce will most likely be with me for the future threading parties, I will have to continue to do without any numbing agents. It's really not that bad, but occasionally there will be a pretty good OUCH.

Last night after we got home, Amanda graciously washed the bottles for me. Unfortunately I couldn't get Bryce to go down as easily, so it was around 9pm before I was able to get him in his crib...an hour after his normal bed time. I think that might have set the tone for the rest of the night. When he woke up at 11pm, I couldn't get him to get back in his crib until nearly 3am. He can get away with it now...but he can't use his shots as an excuse forever!

Snow on the first day of spring...REALLY?!?

So following an ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS day on Friday with temperatures in the 70s, it SNOWED Saturday, the first day of spring, and not just a dusting...6 inches worth! People that are not from Oklahoma really don't understand when we mention the crazy Oklahoma weather, it truly is crazy! We are sooooo ready for summer when it's a constant weather forcast...HOT. Oh and Bryce is ready too!

Bryce continues to spend the most of most nights in his crib (if that makes any sense), but he's still not sleeping solid enough for us to move his crib back into his room. He'll usually sleep until 3:30 or 4:30 before he wants to nurse, but lately he's been waking up at midnight and I have a little difficulty getting him back down in his crib, but within 30 to 45 minutes I finally do. My goal is to have his crib moved back into his room by 6 months, but hopefully sooner.

So this past Friday Bryce officially became 4 months old! I still can't believe it! We're just a week shy of the date (March 29th) that we found out Bryce would be coming into our lives. We knew then our lives would change, but we didn't know how much we could love this little boy. Parenthood is truly amazing!

Today was his 4 month check up and shots : (. On Friday I weighed him using Baby stats on the Wii Fit Plus and according to it he weighed 14 lbs 5 oz...gosh, I just remembered I still need to get a shot of his Mii! Anyway, today at the doctor's office he weighed 14 lbs 4 oz (which is the 36th percentile), so the Wii fit is about an ounce off...not much really. The doctor recorded his length as 25.5 inches (71st percentile), but it's actually closer to 25 inches, because after they marked where his head is, he moved down from the mark. In addition to him getting his shots, which he DID not like, they also slightly clipped the skin underneath his tongue, the frenula. Surprisingly he did better with that than the shots. He was most upset about being held down while they did it. The Doctor noticed that there was divot forming in his tongue and since he takes his milk via bottle, rather than from the breast its not likely continue to stretch like it needs to be.

Surprisingly I haven't been real good about keeping up with all of his milestones, it's all just going by so fast, so I'm going to go ahead and list what milestones he has achieved to date.

Lifts head while lying on tummy
Responds to sound
Stares at faces
Follows moving objects
Vocalizes
Smiles, Laughs
Lifts head and shoulders when lying on tummy
Can bear weight on legs
Coos, squeals, and gurgles
Blows bubbles
Recognizes voices (especially mine)
Rolls over from tummy to back
Brings hands together
Bats at toys
Grasps toys
Sits momentarily without support
Mouths objects

We're still working on rolling from back to tummy. Now when you cradle Bryce and he's not sleepy, he'll lift his shoulders and head in an attempt pull himself up into a sitting position, kind of like he's doing a sit-up. Also I am pretty sure he's capable of sitting without support because he will do it as long as he's got ahold of one of my fingers, but when I'm not touching him he lunges forward like he's trying to get to me. Then when I lay him on his belly he tries to get up on all fours, so I think he's ready to be mobile.

Speaking of mobility, he's almost tall enough to touch with both feet in the walker. Last night while I was cooking dinner, we had him in his walker and he was leaned over and could touch with his right foot and sure enough he was barely scooting himself forward. Here's a couple videos I took, he's barely moving but the cutest part of each video is his huge grins! There's two, I couldn't decide which one I liked better. Sorry for the background noise I was frying hamburger and the vent was on.

The funny for the day...

Yesterday Bryce was at Ashley's as he usually is on Mondays. I got a notification on my phone that Ashley posted something on my Facebook wall, so I checked it and found: "So, as I was changing Cambrey's clothes, I look over to see Bryce sucking a pink pacifier with rhinestones. Oh, Delaney! = )" Oh my gosh, I laughed and laughed. Ashley took a picture, so I'm going to see if she'll send it to me and I can share!

Here are some more pictures. Yesterday I was going to try to take a picture of Bryce for his 4 month old spot in his baby book, and as soon as I sat him down he threw a fit. I thought I would take a picture since I don't ever take any pictures of him when he's upset. According to mom that is when he looks like me.

One last picture...of Bryce and mommy!

Our dedication is paying off!

Yay!!! Last night Bryce slept the entire night in his crib...he didn't even wake up to nurse! I did almost mess it up when I woke up at 4:30am... or I guess it was actually 5:30am (Spring Forward) to make sure he was still breathing. He managed to sleep until 7am! At that point I got him out of his crib and nursed him, then we went back to sleep until almost 9!!!! It was some much needed rest for all of us. I was a little worried about adjusting this schedule with the time change, but it might actually work out better for us.

Yesterday evening we visited our friends Kristi and Bryan and their new baby girl, Kenzie. Kenzie was born March 5th, and she was 3-4 weeks early. At birth Kenzie was 5lbs 15 oz, and on Thursday she weighed 5lbs 11.5 oz, so she is very close to regaining her birth weight.

Below is Bryce and Kenzie. She does have a little bit of jaundis so she looks very tan compared to Bryce. He's even holding her hand. He definitely liked touching her, he even tried to pull her hair too.

We continue to try to get Bryce to sleep in his crib. After the the first attempt, I waited a couple nights to try it again. After talking with Nic, we decided it would be easier on all of us if we just moved his crib into the office/sitting room in our bedroom. We had to do a little rearranging and of course a little cleaning, but the crib is now (temporarily, I hope) in our room...sort of. 

After over a week, it continues to be an on going struggle to get him to sleep in his crib as good, or even anywhere near as good as he slept in the bassinet. I have no problem getting him down after his bedtime bottle, but if he wakes up at anytime after that I CANNOT get him to go back down in his crib. This morning I was brainstorming and I think he might be getting cold. In the bassinet he was always so hot, but the crib is more open and has more air flow. So I'm going to try a heavier blanket for him, plus when he wakes up to nurse, I'm going to place a heating pad on his mattress to keep it warm, then when I go to lay him back down I'll remove the heating pad and lay him down in the warm spot...hopefully this will help him fall back to sleep easily.

Melissa also found her copy of Good Night, Sleep Tight: The Sleep Lady's Gentle Guide to Helping Your Child Go to Sleep, Stay Asleep, and Wake Up Happy. Fortunately we have no problem with Bryce waking up happy, as soon as he sees us in the morning we are always treated to a big grin. So I have read it today during my pumping sessions and have found some really good tips that I hope will be helpful. We'll see how it all goes.

He's also started finding his thumb and sucking on it. I like that this is a way he can soothe himself, but then again if he likes it too much I'm afraid we'll never get him to stop. I caught this sweet picture of him napping (in his crib) and barely sucking on his thumb. It's sweet now...but won't be so much later.

One of our friends got Bryce a onesie that is just like his Daddy's fire department work shirts. It's short sleeve, so since the weather was so nice this past Saturday I put it on him. So when I laid him down for his nap I took a picture so I could get the back.

I also took a picture of the front when he was awake. Don't mind the drool spots!

With warmer weather and sunshine we are anxious as ever to go to the lake and take out our newly purchased used pontoon boat. While Nic has been busy waxing it and outfitting it with life jackets, a new radio, a fish/depth finder, and some other necessities. I have been busy making sure Bryce will be safe and comfortable on the boat. I have purchased him a couple different infant life jackets. The first one I bought seemed more secure but we tried it on him and it is extremely bulky and seems very uncomfortable, however I liked that it had fabric that goes between his legs instead of just a strap. Here's a picture of him in it before he got upset.

So we bought another one that looks like your typical life jacket, but not near as bulky.

We'll see when the time comes which one works best, but I'm guessing it will be the latter of the two since he'll be hopefully crawling this summer and will be able to be more mobile in it.

I have also purchased him a couple wide brimmed hats and some sunglasses. When I get them in I will post pictures of Bryce modeling them. ; )

Bryce continues to try to roll from his back to his tummy. He'll get it soon enough.

Here's a couple more random cute pictures. The first couple were taken a while back, I have just now been able to get a copy from Melissa. Kell and Bryce are going to be great buddies.

These were taken this past weekend, after we went to visit one of Bryce's two girlfriends that will be born this year.