Bradley Month 7

This little boy gets cuter and cuter!

Big milestone for this month: two bottom teeth!

Chris and I noticed the little guys sprouting up one morning and Chris proclaimed, "no more gummy grin!". At which point I burst into tears. I can't handle my little guy growing up!

He is also sitting up quite well and will spend a fair amount of time sitting in the kitchen surrounded by his toys.

He's starting a bit of an army crawl (or scoot?) and can actually move towards a direction with purpose. Unfortunately the direction he usually wants to move is towards something dirty or dangerous. Fortunately, however, he's not very fast... yet!

Bradley is still sleeping 7am-7pm almost every night (with an 11pm snuggle with mama time that I sneak in for). The biggest exception to that is when we're out of town. He does NOT enjoy sleeping in the pack-n-play if Chris and I (mostly me) are also in the room. So that's made for some interesting sleeping arrangements when we visit friends/family!

He's full of smiles and definitely recognizes familiar faces. When Chris or I walk into the room he lights up-- I LOVE it!! He also loves peek-a-boo and will giggle over and over again. Love. It.

Every month seems to bring it's own new joys and although I'm also sad to see certain things go away (like my precious gummy grin) I know that they will be replaced with more fun milestones!

Hanging Out on the Compound

St. Patrick's Day weekend ended with a chill day on the compound.

While Lucy toddled around the lawn:

Jeremy serenaded us on the guitar:

And Maria played the washboard:

While Chris and Bradley enjoyed the music:

A fun ending to a great St. Patty's weekend!

Bradley's First St. Patty's Day

Bradley joined his cousins in Baton Rouge for a full weekend of St. Patty's Day parades, green beer and sunshine.

He was very excited:

After walking to a great spot, we were ready to watch the parade:

The papas hoisted up our babies for a chance to catch the goods:

The babies gathered quite the loot!

(In reality, we were catching everything we could in order to ensure these hard pieces of flying plastic didn't get near our babies... parades are much more stressful with the little ones!)(Also, as a first time mom, I totally brought sanitizing wipes and wiped down the throws before I let Bradley touch them.)

Bradley enjoyed some green beer:

While Lucy enjoyed her cigar:

 After the parade, the stroller brigade walked back to Jeremy and Jojo's:

My little leprechaun was tuckered out after a full morning:

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Bradley Photo Shoot

The weather was nice and the baby was (as always) adorable... so I thought I'd head to the backyard for some snapshots!

The clear winner in a file of 133 photos:

Photobomb!

Not a fan of rolling onto the grass:

And my second place favorite:

I love capturing every expression of this handsome little man!

Hermann Park Train

Riding the train around Hermann Park is one of the great perks of being a baby in Houston.

Bradley invited his pal Joey to experience this thrilling ride (and brought his mom, Sarah, too). Here we are before the train took off:

You can see that Joey is beside himself with excitement:

And after the ride:

Yep. It was too much fun for Bradley- he fell asleep!

Afterwards we enjoyed a picnic on the lawn:

The boys weren't impressed with my shutterbug tendencies. I told Bradley to scoot in closer to Joey for a better photo:

Not quite what I had in mind.


I have a feeling these two little boys will be riding the train many, many, MANY more times in the coming years!

Our Little Sommelier

Bradley patiently listens to my dinner menu plans:

Then picks an appropriate bottle for Chris and I:

Yikes! It's baby-proofing time around the Hill House!

Gordon and Bradley Part 2

Gordon has been enjoying an extended vacation at Mimi and Papa T's house. The other day, Bradley and I stopped in for a visit.

After a quick stare down:

Bradley tried to give Gordon a tummy rub:

Gordon wasn't too sure and squirreled away:

Gordon's still running circles around Bradley... but I have a feeling that's going to change pretty soon!

TV Time

It's not often, but sometimes I let Bradley watch "TV":

He's loves the comedy of the clothes go 'round and 'round...

and the drama of the spin cycle:

If the bottom TV pauses for a moment, there's always some excitement going on the top one!

Saturday morning cartoons? You've got nothing on our front-loader!

A Solid Start

So... this is going on at our house:

Solids! Bradley loves oatmeal, avocado, butternut squash, mango, oranges, green beans, black beans, hummus, apples, sweet potatoes, zucchini and carrots! Not so much on the asparagus, but only because he has a hard time "gumming" it (no teeth yet).

I usually make spears and roast or boil the food so he can pick it up himself, but it's still a little mushy. I'm constantly amazed by how well he gets that food into his mouth! Either I have a boy genius or babies just put everything in their mouths and this happens to be edible. I'm going with boy genius.

 He's also pretty good with a spoon! I load it up, then pass it to him. He puts it in his mouth with a fair amount of accuracy.

(Though he does miss the mark occasionally.)

A note: using the Bumbo on a table while feeding is NOT AT ALL recommended. I know and agree with this. But for baby's first time Mom and Dad made an exception for a few shots with the camera while we were both right there and ready for any flailing.

We're off to a solid start with solids and totally enjoying this new adventure!

5 AND 6 Months

Oops.

About a month ago I was supposed to post this photo:

And talk about how thing had changed from the 4 month update.

But I didn't.

And that's unfortunate because a lot has changed!

Bradley is now SIX months!

And since our last update I can say he now LOVES tummy time. He easily rolls every which way and is quite the little mover. No crawling, but will haphazardly roll across the room if I let him.

The biggest news since our last update is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! YES!!!

Bradley goes to bed at 7pm (with very little fuss) and sleeps until 7am! I sneak in around 11pm for a dream feed and some snuggles, but that's it.

Our daytime schedule is still a little all over the place, but that's probably more due to our busy lifestyle. Bradley is one popular kid!

We've got stroller aerobics twice a week (where Bradley snoozes while I sweat), weekly Bible Study, an educational playgroup and various outings like the zoo and playgrounds. It's quite action-packed!

There's usually a morning and afternoon nap squeezed into our day and around 6pm it's food, bath, story, snack and bed.

Got to rest up for the next day's adventures!

We continue to enjoy Bradley each day. He smiles through most of the day and loves to giggle. I love to watch him learn and to see the focus on his face when he explores a new toy. He lights up when he sees familiar faces and loves to snuggle. What a joy!

Bradley's Bench

A dear friend recently brought over a Bradley-sized bench and he loves it!

It's become one of my favorite spots to take his photo (another being the Bradley-sized red Adirondack chair also gifted by a sweet friend).

Here are some fun photos from our last photo shoot:

Turning to see Daddy working in the yard:

And smiling up at him:

Big smiles!