I seriously think that I have the cutest baby of all time. I mean, just look at him! He is soo cute! He has his tongue out all of the time...and he loves to stare at things with this blank expression if he has never seen it before...well...he also has a tendency to stare at males...he stares at Ron like he is an enigma...and Brian...Bonnie's Brian.

He is starting to walk a little bit. He can pull himself up on things to stand up, and then he kind of scoots along. He is starting to kind of babble and such too. He yells "ma-ma-ma-ma-ma" which makes me happy...and kind of makes Ron sad...though I don't know that the phrase means much to him at this point. He also does kind of a "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba" and a "ga-ga-ga-ga-ga." He mixes them up from time to time. His favorite game is to cough and try to get you to copy him. He likes the back and forth rhetoric.

His favorite food is paper. He also likes plastic...and oatmeal mixed with peaches. I make him drink V-8 because we have a hard time getting him to eat his vegetables, though he LOVES fruit juices. He has also learned the joy of comfort food cookies. If he cries, sometimes that is the easiest way to make him happy. I know it isn't the best way...but especially in the car...it is the easiest. He wants very much to eat what we eat. I was trying to feed him today while I ate a sandwich. He would not eat his food...but grabbed desperately at the sandwich as if I were starving him. I finally gave up and shared my sandwich with him.

He is getting huge. We had to lower the mattress on his crib so that he wouldn't be able to jump out. I find him in there standing almost ever morning now. On 22 November, we brought him in for his 6 month appointment. He was in the 90% for height, 50% for weight, and 25% for head circumfrance. He is tall and skinny with a little head! He is over 17.5 lbs. He wears 6-9 month clothing. He has pretty much weaned himself. He only gets to nurse or drink formula in the morning just after getting up and at night just before bed. Sometimes we nurse in the afternoon before his nap if he is having a problem getting to sleep.

Anyway, this is him taking a nap this afternoon. He is sleeping in the pooh-bear chair my mum gave him for Christmas last year. He's so peaceful and cute...and the santa hat...I couldn't resist. The out fit is from Richard and Natasha. He's so cute!

The much awaited new pictures of Braeden

So, a couple of months ago, a friend of mine who had just gotten into the photography program at BYU offered to do some shots of Braeden. She hasn't gotten the photos to me yet. She did email this one of him the other day, though. I was pretty excited. The shoot in general didn't go very well. He was good for about a half an hour, but got bored after that and started to freak out. I think we got a few really cute ones. I can't wait to get the rest. I think she has them ready now. I just have to remind her to bring them the next time I see her. Anyway, I just love this. Braeden looks so cute. It really isn't a typical look from him...but it is still adorable. I love my little monkey!

I love my little monkey! He is sooo fat! It is kind of wierd to think that when he was born he was really skinny. Well, he's starting to thin out now that he is actively rolling over both directions and crawling. Anyway, we had a doctor's appointment on 19 September. He weighed 16 lbs, 8 oz. The nurse measured him at almost 26", though when she measured him, he was sitting on an inclined bed which made him slouch...and his legs were bent...so I think he is closer to 27"....but that is neither here nor there. Either way, he is pushing the 75th-80th percentiles in both weight and height. His head has stayed since birth right on the 50% line. He is really good about his shots. He reacted the same this time as he did last time. He cried when he got the shots...kind of a whimper with the first one and a full blown wale with the second...he cried for a little while afterwards...then went to sleep. He slept for the rest of the day and most of the next day. He had a bit of a fever...but not much else. He isn't really a fussy baby...so we don't really have to worry about it. Anyway...the doctor also said that he has hit a maturity level where he should start sleeping through the night. So...we have been told that we have to start letting him cry it out if he wakes up too often in the night. I can only feed him once a night...but he has to go back in his crib and sleep till morning. It's really hard sometimes...but Ron helps me...and I think Braeden forgives us. The trick is to just keep the baby monitor turned off for the first half of the night...then turn it on and wait for him to wake up for his one feedingat about 2 or 3am and leave it on for the rest of the night. Sometimes I have to turn the TV way up to drown out his crying...it's so hard...but in the end it is for the best...so I have to be strong...anyway...other than that...we're all good. Feel free to comment or post.

These are the clothes Braeden used to wear to church when he was in size 0-3. It was a set of Khaki Cargo Over-alls, a T-Shirt with Blue Horizontal Stripes, and a little Blue Hoodie. I thought it was adorable. I thought it was one of his cutest outfits. I was hoping that it would last through a few kids...but unfortunately, Braeden likes to have blow-outs on Sundays...and one day I had to work, Ron took Braeden to church alone...one of these blow-outs occured, but Ron didn't have time to wash the clothes right away (he had to go to tithing) so the stain had a chance to set. The outfit is still wearable...it survived with only slight discoloration...but I don't think it is nice enough to ever use as church clothes ever again.

Now, I have this thing. I dress up for church. Ron dresses up for church. Everyone else dresses up for church. Why shouldn't my baby dress up for church. So I kind of insist that Braeden always wear his nicest outfits on Sundays. I bought this one at Walmart. In this picture...it was the first time Braeden had ever worn it. If you look...he is so fat that the buttons are straining on his shirt over his stomach. He started crawling last week...and so he is starting to kind of thin out. The shirt doesn't strain like that anymore. This is a Blue Button-Up, Collared Shirt and Dark Khakis with Cargo-Style Pockets. So cute. I love my little monkey!

So, someone gave us a little bunny costume (thank you, Margo) at the baby shower before Braeden was born. The only problem was that the Baby Shower was in March, Easter was in April, and Braeden was born in May. It was a size 0-3...so we couldn't save it for next Easter...but it was cute so I didn't want to throw it out or give it away...So...one night...we hadn't done laundry for a while and we were out of sleepers for Braeden...so Ron got the bunny suit out. It was SOOO cute! This is from when he was about 2.5 months old. Yes...my baby is adorable. Look at his little bunny butt! It's got a tale! Braeden had no idea what was going on. I think this photo session was his first clue to the fact that his parents are pretty much crazy.

Braeden rolled over all by himself on a flat surface last night for the very first time. He has done it before with help...and he has done it on the couch...but the couch is at a slight incline...so there is help there as well...but last night he was laying on the floor and rolled over. Watching him...it looks like he will be crawling very soon. He is trying very hard...and he has all the movements down. It is just a matter of getting up on his knees and going! For now...that is all!

Braeden's favorite place to be is in his swing. I wish they made a larger versions of these swings for me. They look incredibly cumpfy, and they play your favorite bed time music. I would, however, switch out the mobile with an HD T.V. of course.

So, we were at Ron's grandma's house for the fourth of July. Ron's little cousin Jacob wanted to hold Braeden. So his mom Kristi sat down on the couch with him and we let him hold Braeden. Ron's grandma walked by. She saw the two of them. She asked if Jacob was holding the baby. He had such a big grin on his face. She asked if he knew what the baby's name was. He said, "Yes, his name is Braeden, and me love Braeden!" It was very cute!

So, Ron and I had T-mobile camera phones. I can't resist taking pictures of Braeden every chance I get. So, with the camera phone, I was taking pictures all the time to show off to people. However, we switched to Sprint (our numbers are still the same) and got new phones. I figured that before the pictures were lost forever...I should save them somewhere. I emailed them all to myself...here are some of the early ones. My baby is so cute. The first one is when Braeden was very new. The second one is when he was about 2 months old. The last one is when he was about 3 weeks old. That's my mom. Braeden loves to cuddle.

Braeden drinking his bottle by himself at three months.

Ahhhhh! no more flash.

Here a are a couple pictures I liked of Braeden. The top one is him comming home from the hostpital.

Here is a picture of Braeden in his church clothes. Quinten wouldn't get his hands out of the way, so you can't really see them too well...but I guess that doesn't matter too much...
Anyway...here ya go...

Not the greatest picture in the world...and he doesn't even have his little tux jacket on...but...ah man...he's cute! I just love him to death! He's so little...and yet he's growing so very fast. I don't know what to do with him. He had his 2 month appointment on Monday 17 July 2006...he was over 13 pounds (13lbs4oz I think...) and almost 24 inches long! He's the size of a 3 month old! I don't want my little baby to get so big so fast! But...I guess there is nothing you can do about it...and each new stage is just so fun. He laughed yesterday for the first time...I mean...I guess he kind of giggles and such from time to time...but this was the first real "I meant to do that because it was funny" drawn out laugh. It was very cute. He still loves to eat more than anything...and he still sleeps pretty well through the night (I get about 6 hour stretches at night) though he has decided that he doesn't like to nap during the day (he'll take 5 minute catnaps every 2 hours or so) and for a little while I was worried that this new "blow-out" trick that he had learned was going to be permanent...though now I am a bit more hopeful (he hasn't done it for almost a week...here's hopin'!). Anyway...the outfit he is wearing in this picture was the outfit he was blessed in. The little tux was bought for him by Grandma Reeves and his Aunt Ruth while the blanket was crocheted by his Great-Grandma Young.

I really like this picture of Braeden. It is almost like one of those artistic portraits or something. Anyway...it's a pretty good picture. The only problem is the red-eye...and I can't even get Ron to post on this site...let alone fix the pictures for it...so I guess I'll just have to deal with the red-eye. I guess it doesn't matter too much. He's cute...and y'all get the idea!

So here are some various persons with Braeden in the hospital.

Madisyn, Ryan and Shandee's baby...she's actually quite little...she's not even on the percentage charts for her size anymore....but she looks huge next to little Braeden!

And here we add Trina...

There's Kjersten...

And Brian got a little too excited! LOL...

And finally...Ann...

Those were all the pictures we got of people in the hospital. Others who held him while we were there were Grandma & Grandpa Young, Danyel, Zaida, Camille and Becky. Bonnie didn't because she had a cold or something...

Here are some pictures of Braeden in the hospital. I think he was the most perfect baby ever.

It kind of made me mad that everyone else got to hold him before me, though!

I guess it wasn't so bad. Mama got to hold the baby...finally! (Before they took him away again!)

Not really my best photo-op...in fact I'm not sure that I want this picture shown to anyone...ever...but we've all been there I guess...