Back In the Saddle Again

Where do I even start? With Braxton's latest developments, Blake's big work projects, or with another school year as Mrs. B? We'll start with what you all rather read about...Mr. Braxton Edward.

Our little baby boy is almost 8 months old! He is acting more and more like a little boy every day. We are really starting to see his personality, and boy do we have our work cut out for us! :) He actually is a really good baby. The past two nights we have kept him up late with some friends that are in town, and he was just happy and giggly the whole time. We have taken him shopping and out to eat and to get ice cream, and he just sat in his high chair or stroller and played with no major melt downs.

Braxton is very close to crawling. He gets up on all fours in the crawling position and holds it there for a bit and then falls to his tummy. He really wants to be mobile. He will see a toy just out of his reach and he will scream at it while reaching for it but just can't quite figure out how to get there. I am excited for him to reach milestones, but I know how much our world will change once he does start crawling. However, I don't think Blake and I will be the ones most affected by this crawling business. Big Sister Chelsy is in for it once Baby Brother can come after her! He just adores her and thinks she is soooo funny!

Braxton is really starting to babble. Today he actually said "Mama." Well, I think. He said it several times today, but I don't think he is actually calling me "Mama." He presses his lips together and makes the "Ma" "Ma" sound. Does that count? I don't see why not! He has never done that before! I tried getting it on video, but he stopped once he saw the camera. That's what he always does!

Braxton is doing really well at daycare. He really likes Ms. Rita, and she really likes him. I think she thinks that he is the cutest and sweetest baby she has ever taken care of. She didn't tell me that, but I'm pretty sure she thinks that. She has him on a great schedule. Right now there is only one other baby, so he gets plenty of attention. She is an older woman though, so I am having to keep my eye on her!

Other things in Braxton's world

• He is loving his solid foods. He likes vegetables such as peas, avocado, sweet potato, and squash, but he LOVES fruits, especially bananas!
• No more teeth yet. Just the two on the bottom which is fine with me since I am still breastfeeding. :)
• Braxton was sick for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It happened right as Blake left for London and my first day of school with kids. Perfect timing! Luckily Mimi was in town and took care of him. It wasn't too bad though. It was a runny nose, sneezing, a little cough, and maybe a small fever. You could just tell he didn't feel well. I think he caught it from me because I had it first.
  
• His Pops hung up a swing for him in the backyard, and he loves to sit in that and swing while watching the puppy run around the backyard.
• He loves electronics. We gave him an old remote control, and it's one of his favorite toys. He also has a baby cell phone which he likes a lot too, although he rather have Mommy and Daddy's phones and remote controls. He also loves to type on the keyboard. However, Daddy usually won't let him type on his nice new Mac computer. I'm not sure why.
• We had to lower his crib all the way because he was grabbing on the side and trying to pull himself up. Yep, he's already working on pulling himself up.
• He still loves bath time. He has toys that he splashes and plays with, although he is a boy so he likes to play with his own built-in toy, if you know what I mean. I just don't understand it!
• He loves to play "Boo!" He likes it when we hide and jump out and scare him. Braxton will jump a mile high and then just start cracking up!
  

Braxton is so much fun right now because he just thinks that Mommy and Daddy are the funniest and greatest things in the whole world. Words cannot even begin to describe how much I love this little thing. Sometimes I will just sit and watch him and just tear up at this overwhelming feeling of love that I have for this child. I never knew I was capable of loving somebody so much. (I am crying as I type this.)

In other news, Blake just got back from England! Computer Blake has gone international! He and his business partner flew there to meet with some University of Nottingham professors about some code that they will be using in one of their software projects. Blake got to fly first class, ride a train, subway (or the tube as the Brits call it), and even ate foods such as duck liver, fried sardines, port, fish and chips, and of course tea. He has some pretty funny stories to tell, mainly ones stemming from his being a country boy exposed to some new culture! Here are just a few pictures from the trip. You can check all of the rest out on our smugmug.




Blake is really, really, really busy. They have actually had to hire 6 other people to help with the work load because Blake can't get it all done. However, he spends a lot of his time telling those 6 people what to do and and how to do it. He will be going to Boston in a couple of weeks for a big medical conference called ACEP where they will be signing up other big physician groups to use Shift Admin. Blake is working really hard to get additional features added by then! Please pray for his work, stress, trip, future of Shift Admin, and just balancing all of that while being a father and husband.

I am officially back to work. I don't know how I feel about this year. It is definitely different. It's hard knowing that I have a little boy that I could be at home playing with, but I know that I am in the right place. I have had a really hard time balancing work and being a wife and mother. I just haven't gotten into the swing of things quite yet. I am just too much of a perfectionist in everything I do, so I just feel like I am not getting everything done up to my standards. The hardest part has been having to leave school everyday no later than 4:15 to have Braxton picked up by 4:30. My school doesn't get out until 4:00! When am I suppose to get anything done? Most of you are probably thinking, "Just get to school earlier!" Ha! That means I have to get up earlier which means I have to go to bed earlier. I'm just not a morning person. Plus it takes me about 35 minutes to get to school, so I would have to leave at the crack of dawn to get to school. Plus, Braxton can't be dropped off any earlier than 7:30. I have really been thinking about other working Moms out there. How do you do it? And single Moms? Hats off to you! I couldn't do this without Blake's help!

My kids are pretty good this year. I am teaching two pre-ap bio classes and two regular bio classes. One class is quite the doozy! I already have some funny stories! Sad really, but you just have to laugh about it because it's almost too hard to believe. Please pray that I can be patient with some of these kiddos because it's going to take a lot.

We really are doing great. Just busy. In fact, I am typing this while my boys and dog nap. I also have a big stack of papers to grade and lesson plans to work on, but a part of me just wants to enjoy this long weekend. Sometimes this adult stuff is hard!

For those of you that are still reading this post, sorry this is so long! I'm off to grade some papers.

Love and peace to all! Enjoy the pictures below!