Good-Bye 2007!

Well, today it's time to say good-bye to the year 2007. What an amazing and wonderful year it was. It was a year to never be forgotten. This year a new chapter of my life began, Chapter Mommyhood. But I will get to that in a little bit.

Let's start with January. January 12th I became an aunt for the first time. My brother-in-law and his wife had their first child, Zachary, so that made me Auntie Steph. The end of January, I went to San Antonio with my mom, brother, and husband. We did things such as the zoo, NBA game, visited Corpus Christie, and spent a lot of time at the Riverwalk.

March and April I was showered with many gifts for my baby showers. My friends and families planned wonderful parties for us. By the time all of them were over, we had more than enough stuff for the little one.

May 22nd was the big day. My due date was the 29th, but I was induced a week early. At 11:03 am Bradyn Lincoln was born. Since then life hasn't been and will never be the same. As if I wasn't happy enough already, I was suddenly filled with even more joy and love than I ever thought possible. Watching him grow and develop and showing him people and places and things that we love and seeing his reactions to these things has been so amazing and enjoyable. Words just can't describe.

June and July I took time away from work to get to know my baby and enjoy the summer. July 6th was my brother-in-law's wedding. So we packed up the baby at 6 weeks old and traveled up to the Chicago area for a weekend of wedding festivities.

Then it was back to work for me. Leaving Bradyn at daycare was the hardest thing I have ever had to do... still is. I hurt every day after I drop him off. I am sad every day at work, but he has become such a social little guy and I attribute that to daycare. He loves other kids and babies and is very happy even with unfamiliar and new faces.

October was our first Halloween with Bradyn. We had fun dressing him up and dressing up with him. We also took him to the pumpkin patch to pick out his very own pumpkin.

November and December brought with it all of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday festivities. After all of the traveling back and forth between grandparents houses, Bradyn has already become quite the seasoned traveler.

December was a busy month starting with going to see Santa, the baptism, and a a fun warm winter trip to Florida! Of course then there was Bradyn's first Christmas, which was fun. He almost knew what to do with those presents. He was more interested in the shiny paper, boxes, and bows, but we got lots of smiles from him.

So there you have it. In the last 12 months we now a family of three instead of two. And in 7 short months we have shown Bradyn so much already. We introduced him to our families and friends, put him on a plane, stuck his toes in the sand and ocean, and started a lifetime of family traditions.

And despite how busy Bradyn has kept us, we still managed to sneak in some time away to spend with each other and with our friends. Thanks to Bradyn's wonderful grandparents who have been more than willing to relieve us of baby duties every now and then. I think it has definitely kept us in balance.

Last night I rang in the new year with a bang! We partied, laughed, and lived up what was left of 2007 and kicked off 2008 with some of my best buds. I'm so lucky to have them!
What an incredible year! I can't wait to see what's in store for 2008!

Good-bye 2007...

Bradyn is 4 Months Old

Well Bradyn in growing like a weed! We took him to his 4 month check up on Monday and he was 17lbs 7oz and 27 inches tall! The doctor said that puts him in the 92nd percentile for weight and off the charts for height. He's still on pace to be tall like daddy! He also had his second round of shots too. He didn't like that so much. He did well though. He screamed of course, but by the time we got his clothes back on him we had him giggling again. He wasn't really phased by the shots other than he's had some pretty icky poopies this past week. The doctor said it was a normal reaction to one of the shots. He hasn't skipped a beat otherwise though. He's playful, happy, and always smiling!

Bradyn rolls from front to back, and gets to his side from back to front but he gets stuck. He grabs ahold of toys and actually has started interacting with them now. He loves to look at "the baby" in the mirror and gives him a big smile every morning.

As for Chad and I, we are both doing well also. Chad maybe better than I am, I've been pretty stressed with work lately. I try to leave work at work, and I've been doing a pretty decent job of that I think, but when I'm there, I am so busy I barely have time to get up and go pee! LOL Things are crazy because we are deep in budgets, but they are due mid-October, so hopefully after that things will die down! Besides working and being parents, Chad is playing softball on Friday nights and I'm playing volleyball on Tuesday nights. We feel it is important to still keep that aspect of our life to get our sports fix, have a little alone time, and release any built up stress...like I said, I let out those work frustrations every Tuesday!

Bradyn & Zachary

We went to visit cousin Zachary the other day. Zach is 8 months old now. Bradyn and Zach played together... well more like Bradyn layed there and Zach crawled on him. It was cute and funny. We took the boys shopping at Old Orchard outdoor shopping mall since it was nice out. We decided to take them to get their pictures taken together since we don't get them together much. It was a tiring experience. LOL Zach is mobile now, so all he wanted to do was crawl away and Bradyn kept trying to roll over. Then it was trying to get them both to smile at the same time. We were hooting and hollering and screaming and whistling and squeaking toys all over the place. Finally we decided to pin Zach down by putting Bradyn across his back. Too funny. A few of the pics didn't turn out half bad. Fun day!

My Friend Cyndi's Wedding

One of my friends that I used to work with at Kraft got married over the weekend. Chad and I left Bradyn with my mom and went to the wedding. It was a blast! I got to see a lot of my old Kraft buddies all together. It's been too long since we've all been together to hang out. It was a happy wedding and the reception was tons of fun!! They are one of the things that I miss about Chicago, so it was very nice that everyone was able to make it and be in one place. We laughed a lot over more than a few cocktails, and danced like rockstars all night long! Tons of fun! I miss them tremendously!

Bradyn is 3 Months Old

Bradyn is now 3 months old and is growing and changing everyday. Bradyn giggles out loud now when we really get him worked up. He also loves standing up. We are thinking he's probably going to walk before he crawls. He is very big for a three month old, which doesn't surprise me because Daddy is 6'7" and Mommy isn't exactly short. He's already off the doctor's chart for height. Bradyn has started sleeping through the night pretty regularly, which makes it pretty easy on us. We can only hope that he continues. Bradyn goes to Daycare while Mommy and Daddy work. It's really hard leaving him, but we realize that he is getting exposure to a social atmosphere that we could not provide for him at home. Bradyn is the joy of our life and we find ourselves amused by him every day. We are so lucky.

We are all very active. Chad just finished up playing softball on Sundays, and plays sand volleyball on Tuesdays. I am also playing volleyball on Wednesdays. In the fall I will play indoor on Tuesdays. Gotta whip myself back into shape and lose the rest of that baby weight. 7 more pounds to go!! When we are not playing some sort of sport, we are usually watching one on tv, or on the go. It seems like we are never home. We are always out visiting people showing off our new bundle of joy. I'm looking forward to the next weekend that we get to just stay at home...whenever that might be. Winter maybe? In anycase, all is well with us. We are happy as ever loving being a family.

Fall Festival 2007

I went to the Mt. Pulaski Fall Festival on Friday night to hang out at the beer tent. That's pretty much "THE event" for the town of Mt. Pulaski. Every year the Mt. Pulaski population of 1800 and those who used to reside there count down the days to the Fall Festival so we can all reunite at the beer tent. So maybe that's a little extreme, but really it's one of the big deal events in town. I went and saw many people I haven't seen in awhile. It's always nice to catch up with old friends who moved out of town. Most people come back to town if they can so it's like a mini reunion each year. It was great to see those I haven't seen in awhile as well as to see those that I see more often (still not often enough). This year I even met a few new people, which is always fun too. I had a great time and am glad that I didn't miss it! As always, it was good ole' small town fun! Yeeeeeeeeeehaw! :)

Bradyn is 2 Months Old

Bradyn's 2 month Dr's appointment went well. He was 13lbs, 5oz and 25.5 inches tall. That put him in the 85th percentile for weight and the doctor said..."My chart doesn't go that high" for height. Sooooooooo that didn't take long! We anticipated that he would be a tall since Chad is 6'7" and I'm not exactly short at 5'9". I'm gonna have to save up, I foresee some monsterous grocery bills in the not so distant future! He also got his first round of shots at this visit. I took a couple days off work to stay home with him because I didn't know if he would be extra fussy, feverish, or have any other reactions. It turns out he was perfectly fine. It never even really phased him. So I just got to spend a couple days home with him. It was great! I could get used to that! I miss him when I'm at work still. I wish we didn't have to take him to day care. Oh well. I guess that's reality. At least for now. :(