Brayleys Unite! And the Quarter-Century Birthday!

Last week my whole family was together!  I feel like it's been a really long time since that happened so it was nice.  Doug and Cassie came down from Boston, so the rest of us who live fairly close to my parents made several visits throughout the week so we could all hang out.

We spent one day (Saturday) all together at my parents' lake house.  We took a little walking tour to the pier and the clubhouse, and Chris and Dad even got adventurous and tested out a kayak- brave since it was so cold!

We headed back to Odenton that night so we weren't around for the next few days, but we drove down to Manassas on Thursday afternoon until Saturday afternoon.  My nephew, Archer, was very excited to tell me "Happy Birthday!" when we arrived.  In fact, I think he said it to me at least 100 times in that first hour we were there :)  He was also super excited about the chocolate cake he and Grandma had baked, and was not so happy that he couldn't have some before dinner.  Funny kid.

We don't get to see Doug and Cassie that often because they live so much farther away than everyone else, so it was really nice to hang out with them and their adorable kids.

Harrison loves Andrew- when he sees or hears Andrew, he'll say (in his cute toddler voice) "Baby Andrew?" and look around to find him.  And when Andrew would cry or fuss he would suggest, "Hungry?" or ask, "Better?"  I love it.

Then we got to celebrate my birthday again on Friday when Austin and Mariko came back to Manassas.  More cake!  Doesn't help with losing the baby weight, but it sure was good!

I'm now a quarter of a century old!  Weird.  But not really that weird- things aren't really any different.  In fact, it's hard to remember how old I am- the years just blur together now that I'm married and out of school.

It was great to have everyone together and I hope we can do it again soon!  Maybe sometime after Baby Long is born?

Three Months

It's hard to believe that three months ago I was meeting and cuddling my baby boy for the first time.  In some ways it feels like just yesterday that we brought him home and in other ways it feels like he has always been a part of our family.

Andrew is now sleeping in his crib, in his own room!  He's not quite at the weight limit for the bassinet, but we decided it was time to move him.  At first he was just taking naps in his crib and now he's sleeping in there at night as well.  He takes lots of short (30 minute) naps, with an occasional long nap (up to 2 1/2 hours, about once or twice a week).  This is all mostly a good thing.  Aaron and I have our room back and we don't have to get ready for bed or work in the dark.  We moved our toothbrushes back into the master bedroom and can actually get ready for bed (and Aaron can get ready for work) in there without worrying that the light or noise will disrupt Andrew's sleep.  I have my dresser top back, which we had temporarily converted into a change table for while Andrew was sleeping in our room.  And best of all, our room no longer smells like dirty diapers!  (We have a good diaper pail, but it stayed it Andrew's room, since we still also used the change table in there during the day.  So the nighttime diapers ended up in a grocery bag in our room until we could take them out to the dumpster.)  The only downside is that I actually get less sleep than I did before.  I can sleep more deeply, since Andrew doesn't end up in our bed, but now I have to actually get out of bed and open my eyes to stumble to his room in the middle of the night.  And he's also been waking up earlier in the mornings now that it's not so easy to nurse him back to sleep when I want another hour of shuteye.

Andrew also got to meet two of his cousins and an aunt and uncle on my side of the family for the first time.  So he has now met my whole immediate family (plus their spouses and children) and almost none of Aaron's.  (Hey Kimblers, come visit sometime ;) )

He is starting to be able to grab toys and sometimes even bring them to his mouth to suck on.  His hand-eye coordination is really improving.

I think we'll be moving Andrew up to 3-6 month clothing soon.  Technically he's past the 12 lb weight mark for 0-3 month clothes, but most of his still fit so we haven't moved him up yet.  No doctor appointment this month, but according to the Wii Fit he's about 14 lbs.

He also rolled over this past week!  Belly to back, both ways.  Aaron and I were so shocked when he did it- we just weren't expecting it!  And then he did it 2 more times.  We didn't catch it on video that night, but we did the next morning.

New things this month:

Napping in the crib

Meeting more Brayley family

Rolling over, front to back

Sleeping in the crib at night

Grabbing toys

Sleeping Boys

When Aaron gets home from work, I usually hand Andrew off to him so I can get a break and so he can have some time with our son.  I usually either start dinner, use the computer, or get some things done around the apartment.  And unless he just had a nap, Andrew is often getting tired around that time for his last nap of the day.

It's pretty common that I come back in the room to find Andrew sleeping in Aaron's arms.  And Aaron is asleep too.  I like to take those opportunities to get out the camera.  Because honestly I think it's about the cutest thing ever :)

Baby Blessing

We had Andrew's Baby Blessing at church at the beginning of February.  We are lucky to have family pretty close, so they could come for the day.

Aaron's parents came down from New York for the weekend- this was the first time they met Andrew.

My parents, Austin, Mariko, Harrison, Natalie, and Chris also came from Virginia.  It was so great to have all of them here!

My mom made Andrew his white blessing outfit.  He looked so cute in it!  My little man, all dressed in white.

Aaron gave a beautiful priesthood blessing to our son, assisted by our bishop, our fathers, Austin, and Chris.  Of course I cried as I felt the spirit and as I felt God's love for Andrew.

Everyone came back to our place for lunch after church and we had a great afternoon eating and hanging out as a family.