Who Does Braden Look Like?

We are going to settle it once and for all. I have posted pictures of just Braden, as well as pictures with his mom and dad. The question of the week is, WHO DOES BRADEN LOOK LIKE? Please take the time to vote.

Braden has outgrown his newborn clothes and is into 3 month clothing. He loves his new sports outfit, can't you tell?

Little Braden in his church outfit. So cute!

This is a classic photo of son spitting up on dad. Blake said Braden spit-up on him, but I didn't realize it was that much.

Braden always smiles when he is with daddy, but not mommy (you think he would, I feed him)
Me and Braden after church

Forsberg Family Visits

I had the wonderful opportunity of having my family come and visit this week. It was the first time Braden got to play with Grandpa Forsberg, Aunt Kalen and Uncle Blair. He spent the days getting kisses, hugs, and tons of laughs. I swear he has smiled, intentionally, a couple of times due to my crazy family.

When I burp Braden he always falls asleep on me. I LOVE this!! I could sit here for hours.

Uncle Blair couldn't get enough of little Braden. Except when he was crying or 'fussy'. Braden's fussy is absolutely nothing. He may squak once or twice. He's a good kid.
Grandpa Forsberg. He was up every morning at 5:30 ready hold Braden if needed. It was never needed that early, but come 7:45 it was.

Aunt Kalen. She doesn't have too much experience since she is the youngest. We gave her some good lessons with little kids. She sure loves him.

Needless to say, it was really nice to have my family out. I am excited to go visit my parents new home (they have been remodeling their home) in May for Braden's baby blessing. If anyone wants to come, we will be having his blessing in Oregon over Memorial Day Weekend. It would make a fun little vacation.

Braden's Sleeping Process

Well, this post has been several days in the making. We thought it would be fun to show you the process we go through on a daily basis to put Braden to sleep and wake him up. This will be done with a series of photos and short videos. Hope you enjoy!

We thought we would start this process at around 8pm at night. We always have to wake him up, not only to feed him, but he must be awake for at least 4 hours before he goes to bed at night or he won't sleep through the night. Enjoy the video of Blake trying to wake him up.

It is easy to tell when Braden is sleepy. He gets this dazed & confused look on his face. This is the look we get right after we wake him up. He is like this for about 10 minutes and then he begins to play. After playnig with him for a couple of hours it becomes easy to tell when he is hungry and ready for bed. He climbs up mommies tummy and start to give her kisses on the cheek. I like to think they are kisses, but really he is looking for food.

We have found several ways to put him to sleep after feeding. It is always best when he just falls asleep during the feeding, but when he is really tired he won't do that. The video below shows his favorite sleep method.

Now, when he is finally asleep, he has 2 sleep positions. #1 Sleeping with his arms up in the air. This is his prefered position.

#2 is sleeping with his hands straight at his side. I love these two photos, mostly because of the way his legs are positioned. It makes me laugh everytime I see it.

This is one of my favorite videos because he makes this funny grunting/snoring sound. This is when Grandma Barnett was visiting, he couldn't help but feel comfy in her arms.

We did have Braden in a bassinet, but he wouldn't sleep longer than an hour. We think it wasn't so comfortable for him. We made the transition to his crib. He loves his crib (thank you Grandma and Grandpa Forsberg), but hates it at the same time. We know he is really asleep when we can put him in the crib and he stays fast asleep. Just to relax both him and us, we have a cd player that plays little lullabies.

Well, we hope you enjoyed our sleeping process with Braden. We sure love him, when he sleeps that is.

Firsts for Everything

There have been many firsts that Braden is now experiencing. We thought it would be fun to share some of those with you. Notice the pictures below:

Braden's First Piece of Mail

You may be asking yourself, "What was in the letter addressed to Braden?" Well, it was his social secuirty card. Braden is officially a US Citizen. It only took him 3 weeks. First Picture with the Easter Bunny- this is another reason I love Wal-Mart. We went to the mall and NO Easter Bunny. We go to Wal-Mart and look, the Easter Bunny! It doesn't suprise me that kids would cry when sitting on his lap, I mean look at that freaky face, I had to hold back frightful tears.

Braden's First Easter Present- thank your Grandma and Grandpa Forsberg!

Mommy w/ Braden and his first present - it is a litle rattle. He loves the sound of it, but still can't hold and shake it by himself.

You can look forward to tomorrow post. Braden sleeps in two different positions. We are going to get a picture of them and post it. They are super funny. I hope you enjoyed some of his firsts.

Finally, Pictures of the House

Ok, people have been telling me to post pictures of our house. I have posted several pictures below. I only included the downstairs because we are going to be doing the upstairs.

This is a from right outside our front door. When you open the door, you can either walk into the downstairs or go up the stairs to the second floor.This is looking from our front room back to the front door. In the hallway, the door on the right is the bathroom and the door on the left is a coat closet.
This is our front room. We just painted the wall blue. It used to be an ugly Christmas Red. We were really happy with how it turned out. You don't see much blue, we thought we would be bold.

This is our front room. I am taking the picture from my dining area. You can see there is a perfect corner for our lov sac. We also painted the other walls a deep yellow/tan color. We are going to extend that color into the kitchen.

This is our dining area. I am taking the picture from the front room.

This is our kitchen. The only downside of our house is that there is not a lot of space in the kitchen.

This is our wonderful house. I hope you can kind of get the layout of the house. We love it. There is still some work to be done, but it's nice. As for Lost, I don't know what's going on.

The Past 3 Weeks

I was organizing my photos today and realized how big babies get so fast. I thought it would be fun to post a couple of pictures from the past 3 weeks. Look how different he looks week to week.

This is Braden's first day of life. I remember those days. He slept a lot back then, especially at night!

This is Braden at home during his first week. He too slept a lot back then, especially with mommy and daddy. He still is a great cuddler. (He lost weight during the first week as most babies do.)

This is Braden during week 2. He had gained all his weight back plus some. He is my little chunky monkey.

This photo was taken yesterday. He was sleeping in the lov sac that our wonderful friends bought us for a wedding gift. Who knew our son would sleep so wonderfully in it. I thought the lov sac would make him look tiny, but once again, Braden holds his own. He is just starting to outgrow some of his outfits. Blake makes me put him in some new outfit everyday just so he wears ALL his clothes. I keep reminding Blake that we only bought like 5 outfits, the rest are hand-me-downs. Thanks Chad & Nicole and Mike Gartner!!

We love him so much! We did have a little scare this week. Blake was changing his diaper and Braden's belly buttong was all bloody. His umbilical cord fell off over a week ago and we didn't know what was going on. I called my mom who said it was probably normal. We called the doctor just to be safe. Sure enough, this is very normal. Ozzing isn't normal, but it was just bloody, thank goodness.

I will try and post little stuff like this. I have A LOT of girlfriends who are pregnant and due in August. In fact, EVERYONE I know who is pregnant is due in August. (its like 5 girls) It will be good for them to know stuff like that so they don't get worried with their babies.

Birthday Boy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Or as Blake knows it, Happy Birthday Blake. Yes, he turns the big 30 today. He can't believe he is no longer in his 20's. Blake had 2 goals he wanted to accomplish before the age of 30. #1 he wanted to get married to a hot babe. CHECK! and #2 he wanted to cutest little baby in the whole world. CHECK! Note the pictures below.

Braden gives us the best looks. He has 3 active times during the day. In the morning, afternoon, and evening. It is so fun to sing and read to him. He has the best looks that he gives us. This is one of my favorites. That and when he purses his lips together. I will have to try and get a picture of that. It will make your heart melt.

Little Chunk

Sorry it has been awhile since I last posted. Being a new mother is tiring. I have taken some really cute pictures that I wanted to post. They were taken with my cell phone, so please excuse the poor quality.

I know they say babies don't smile until 4 weeks, but I want one person to tell me this isn't a smile. Once again, sorry for the poor quality photo.

I love this photo. It was daddy and baby sleeping. Blake was faking it in this photo because I accidently woke him up with the previous picture. But they really were napping together. It was so cute.

This is by far my favorite Braden look. He always has these concerned looks about him. He appears to be thinking, "hmm, I don't know about that mom."

We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and found out that Braden is now 9 pounds 11 ounces and 21.3 inches long. Pretty much he is a little chunk. It wouldn't suprise me if he were already 10 pounds. We love him so much!

Top 10 Highlights of the past 2 weeks:

1. Not being pregnant anymore
2. Having the most beautiful son in the whole wide world
3. Braden being a great boy, not fussy at all (except for an hour these past 2 nights)
4. Braden peeing on Blake and Blake not realizing it
5. Braden pooping on me. Let's just say that poop can fly (I guess this is a lowlight, but memorable)
6. Me being able to fit back into all my normal clothes. Jeans included!!
7. Blake and I painting our front room (pictures will be posted later)
8. My mom coming to help me and introducing us to Angel Chicken (I will have to post the recipe later, best crock pot meal EVER!)
9. Danny Noriega being voted off American Idol
10. The unique turn of events on LOST

That's what's been going on in the Barnett household. It will be interesting to see what the next several weeks have in store for us. Hopefully longer night sleeps.

Bath Time Mania

I gave Braden a bath yesterday. It was much needed. He hated it. Mostly because his umbilical cord is still attached, so I didn't fully submerge him in the water, which made him cold. After listening to him cry for the 5 minute bath I take him out and wrap him up in his cute little towel. Well, crying makes him throw up, so sure enough as I am drying him off he spits up ALL over himself. I put him back in the tub and wash him up again. I wrap him up in the towel again and he poops everywhere. Back into the tub for the third time. Fortunately this was the last time. We made it out and got him dressed. He is getting so big.
Mom found a new best friend. It is his swing and bouncer that Uncle Chad and Aunt Nicole let us borrow.

Here is a close-up photo of him in his swing. He is so cute. I love every minute I spend with him. Well, except at night when I am really tired. I hope you enjoy these photos. I will try and post some everyday. I wish you all could play with him. He is so fun.

Need Some Help

I got a nasty call from my mom last night. Well, it wasn't exactly nasty. She was not too thrilled about the post I made yesterday. More specifically, the words "Grandma Forsberg." She has asked that I come up with a different name she can be called by her grandkids. I am enlisting all your help to find out what you guys call your grandparents or what other names you have heard for grandparents. Blake suggested "Young Grandma Forsberg," but my mom wasn't a fan. If you could please post and put in your two cents, I would really appreciate it.

As for American Idol. I am perfectly fine if Kady Malloy, Kristy Lee Cook, or Amanda Overmyer get kicked off. The only boy I know will be leaving us is Luke Menard. I am still hoping this is Danny's last week, but I don't think it will be. It will be interesting to see who leaves us. I was suprised by the girls who left us last week. I hope I am not shocked again.

One Week Old

Today marks the one week anniversary of our beautiful baby boy. I can't believe how fast this week went by. My mom came out Friday (after we got out of the hospital) and left this morning. It was so nice to have her help. We decorated the home, she spoiled Braden, and just made my life a lot easier. Blake and I had a lot of errands to run and didn't want to take Braden out quite yet, so it was nice to have my mom stay home with him while we got stuff done.

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Here is Braden with Grandma Forsberg. He loved being spoiled by her. As a baby gift she decorated our guest bathroom (which will be his). She thought a cute Safari theme would be nice for a little boy. The bathroom turned out way cute. I am sure Braden will be my little animal as he grows up.

Blake misses Braden all day while he is at work. He loves to come home and cuddle with him at night. Braden has started staying awake a lot more. He happens to be sleeping at this moment, but woke up shortly after to play. I will have to get some pictures of him awake. He has beautiful blue eyes like his daddy.

On a lighter note, American Idol was great last night. I still love David Archuleta. I thought his performance was great. It will be interesting to see who get's kicked off tomorrow. The only for sure that I know of is Luke Menard. I have NO clue who the other person would be. I hope and pray it would be Danny Noriega, but I don't think we will be that lucky. My mom explained Danny perfectly last night. She said that he reminds her of a high school girl. He does act like a girly teeny bopper. I hope he is OFF! This will be a hard vote for tonight, I want everyone else to stay.

Home with the Baby

Well, I have made it through 2 nights at home. And I am glad to report the baby is still alive (as well as me.) He is just the perfect baby. He sleeps really well, eats really well, and doesn't really cry. My mom has assured me this will only take place for the next couple of days. I hope he continues with his father's mellow personality.

This is the first family photo at the hospital. I tried to have Blake get a nurse to take the photo, but he decided to just hold the camera out himself. So Braden doesn't look nearly as cute as he really is. Either do Blake and I for that matter.

He has been sleeping a whole lot. Which I guess is pretty common for newborns. Whenever we have stuff to do we just snuggle him up with blankets and let him lay in his boppy. Let me tell you, the boppy is the best purchase a pregnant woman can ever make. Thank you Shandy and Kelly!!!

Braden will sleep forever and then spend about 30 minutes just looking around. He loves to hear little sounds and follow your fingers. Once again, he never cries during this time, he just wants to know what's going on. It looks like he has a pug nose in this photo, but he really doesn't. You can't tell, but he has baby blue eyes. Just like mom and dad.

My mom is here helping me until Wednesday. I will be posting a better family photo and a picture with grandma. He has his first doctor's appointment tomorrow. I hope to find all is well there.