4th of July, Cousin Sawyer, and Staycation

I told you that I would try to update again this week. Braxton is napping right now, so I am going to type as fast as possible.

We got to spend an entire week in Canyon at the end of June/first of July. This means we got to enjoy the great 4th of July festivities in Canyon, TX! 4th of July was one of my absolute favorite holidays as a kid because it meant a parade, a party in the afternoon that usually consisted of swimming, and fireworks in the evening. EVERYBODY goes to the parade in Canyon, so I wanted to take Braxton to show him off! However, the heat made us cut out a little sooner than expected. Here is our little man watching the parade. He was stylin' in his sunglasses and red, white, and blue outfit!

We also shot off fireworks at Kent and Teresa's. Braxton loved them! He would just watch with his eyes WIDE open!



While we were in Canyon, we got to spend a lot of time with family and friends. My girlfriends and I got together with all of our little ones. We tried taking a picture with all of them. This is the best one we could get. When you have toddlers, it makes picture taking a little more tricky! Isn't it amazing to think that we graduated high school just 7 years ago and now here we are?


Canyon was where we discovered that Braxton was teething. I bought him a teething ring and chilled it in the refrigerator. He didn't like it!


After we got back from Canyon, we packed up again and went to Cleburne, TX, for a family "staycation." We stayed at a little cottage that this couple rents out. It was a lot of fun. We mainly just relaxed, swam, and ate. It was nice to get away as a family.

Our cottage. It use to be a barn. Sorry, it's dark.

My boys swimming!

This was upstairs in the loft.

Family pic the BBQ lady took for us after we ate!

This was the sign across the street from the BBQ restaurant! Notice anything?

As soon as we got back from Cleburne, we go the call from Brock and Meg that Baby Sawyer had decided to come a little early. (She wasn't due until July 29th.) We packed once again and headed to College Station to meet Cousin Sawyer Marie. She was born July 14th at 1:57 p.m. She was 6 lbs. 1 oz. and 18 3/4 in. She was tiny, precious, and healthy! We can't wait to see her again and look forward to all of the fun family holidays that we will get to spend together!

Cousins!

Birkenfeld Clan!

This is Cade. His parents are friends with Brock and Meg. They will be moving to DFW so maybe we will have a new playmate! They are just a couple weeks apart in age!

As you can see, we have been quite the world travelers! We also got all of our pictures in from our family phot session with Melissa Darst. Here are just a few. If you want to see all of them, then go to our smugmug page. Thanks again Melissa Darst! Love and peace to all!

6 Months

I am way past due for his 6 month update, but it is better late than never! We have had a lot going on lately and been out of town a lot, so I am going to try to catch up on my blogging this week. I have a lot of adventures to share...4th of July in Canyon, first family vacation, baby cousin Sawyer, and so on!

Let's start with the 6 month Braxton update:

Braxton weighed 15 lbs. 10 oz. at his 6 month appointment. That put him in the 25th percentile. However, he was 27 1/2 in. long! That put him in the 75th percentile! So what does that mean? He is long and lean! The doctor said he is very healthy and even commented on how strong he seemed!

Braxton is really starting to develop into a little boy. He now has his first two bottom teeth, he is sitting up (for a little bit at least and then he topples over), and he is eating solid foods! Wow, that has been a messy adventure! Braxton is a really good eater and picked it up immediately. Some foods that we have tried have been rice cereal, bananas, sweet potatoes, avocado, and peas. He has loved them all! However, Mommy and Daddy have not loved the poopy diaper changes! Although less frequent, they are much more disgusting and stinky!




Braxton has such a fun personality, but really what baby doesn't? He giggles and makes tooting noises with his mouth all of the time. He is so much more aware of everything. He recently discovered Chelsy. He will watch her and laugh at her all of the time. Chelsy likes to eat her dog food when Braxton is eating in his high chair, but Braxton gets too distracted watching Chelsy that a lot of times the food ends up somewhere else besides his mouth. I know I have shared this video with a lot of you, but for those of you that haven't watched it, you are in for a treat!



Braxton is really good at grabbing things. He is always reaching for the remote control, the food on our plates, or anything else near by. Not only does he like to grab things, but he likes to grab things and then drop them on the floor. I am not sure how to handle this though. Do you tell him no and not give the toy back to teach him a lesson? Or do you just keep picking up the toy and handing it back to him? Any suggestions?

Braxton is sleeping pretty well. Last night he slept all night. The night before he woke up at 2 a.m. but then cried himself back to sleep. The night before he woke up and didn't cry himself back to sleep. (Mommy had to get up!) It just depends on the night. A lot of the problem is because we have been out of town and out of our routine. Hopfully we will get back on track this week!

Like I mentioned earlier, I have a lot to blog about because a lot has been going on. Instead of making one giant blog post that would take forever to read, I am going to post several times this week...hopefully. :) Until then you can go here to our smugmug website to see the updated pictures and vidoes. That is it for now. I'm sure I left something out. I've got to help Blake go make the baby food. Yes, we make our own baby food! It's easy, cheap, and healthy!

I'm going to leave you with a look at the past 6 months and how much our baby boy has changed! Love to all!

Family Pictures

We got professional family pictures taken last Sunday. What we have seen so far have turned out great! We can't wait to see the rest! Thank you Melissa Darst for a fun and great photo session! Go here to view some of the pictures and scroll down to the title "Meet Mr. B."

July 4th and 6 month update will be coming soon!!! :)