Brayden 6 Months

Can you believe my little boy is not so little anymore? Seriously where does time go. I really can't believe Brayden is already six months old. I remember thinking when he was born that when he was six months it would almost be time to visit my family for Christmas. Well the time is here. Brayden is growing and changing so much. Here are some stats and some things Brayden is up to these days. 

Brayden's weight: 16 lbs 5 oz

Length: 25 3/4 inches

He is a little on the light side, but has grown in length.  He will probably be tall and thin like his dad. 

 Brayden is easily entertained by anyone and anything in sight. This also means he is very distracted especially while eating which is can be interesting.

 One day he just started to suck on his lip. It is actually quite cute to see him soothing himself with his lip. It is like a built in soother. It lasted for a couple weeks, and now he only does it occasionally.

 At around five months I decided to give him a baby cucumber to chew on just to see what he thought and to help sooth his gums. Man did he go to town on that thing. He loved it. In the last week I have started him on solids. He is definitely a lover of food. He just needs to get the swallowing down. I have a whole post on him eating I will do later.

 Brayden is now practicing sitting up. He is still really wobbly but has come a long way in just two weeks. As long as this pillow thing is behind him he does good for about 5-10 minutes before toppling over. The best is when he does a nose dive and manages to roll himself over to avoid squishing his face in the ground.

 Oh how he loves his daddy. As soon as daddy comes home and walks up the stairs he is grinning from ear to ear. When Philip is in the room Brayden constantly stares at him. Sometimes while I am feeding him he stops, tilts his head upside down and looks at Philip. I think they will make great buddies. I actually have a similar picture of Summer on Philip's shoulders I should post.

 He has finally learned the cause and effect of the jolly jumper. Jumping is a new favorite of his. Actually he mostly twirls in circles.

 I always love sneaking a peak of my sleeping kids. There is just something so peaceful about it. This is where Brayden likes to take his naps. I don't know why but he just sleeps the best like this during the day. I need to start training him to take his naps in his crib now that he can roll.

 What an adorable little fellow. I love him so much I can't stand it. My kids just make my life so much sweeter.

 And of course he loves his big sister. She is his best friend. She can always make him smile and laugh a bit too. There are those moments when he just wants her to leave him alone, but that is only because she can't get enough of him either. They make great pals.

 I was cooking dinner and looked over the couch to check on Brayden since he was with Summer and this is what I found. Summer was playing like she was Mary and Brayden was Baby Jesus. She had the blue hippo as a sheep and since there were no more people to play the wise men she used the tiny ones from her nativity. She must have forgot about Joseph all together because I don't think I see him in the picture. Anyhow, Brayden was entertained and Summer was teaching him about Christmas.

 Our good friends were so nice and brought this little hippo to Brayden. Of course he is too small for it right now, but daddy gave him a little ride anyways. As you can see he is getting more teeth as evidenced by the soaking wet onsie. This kid can't stop drooling.

 Brayden and I get to hang out quite a bit since I am at home with him all day long. He is my best shopping buddy, exercise buddy, scoffer buddy, and sewing buddy.

 I am pretty lucky that I get to spend my day with this little boy. I love you Brayden.

Baby it's Cold Outside

Ok, so it has been cold here, but surprisingly not as cold as I thought it would be. I guess I was expecting arctic weather similar to how it was in Rigby growing up. Well, I do love the change of season and the rosy cheeks my kids have it we are outside very long. I love the hot chocolate and all the good things that come with winter. Here are some of our random happenings as of late. 

 Before swim lessons Summer wanted a picture outside with her brother. He is getting heavier and harder for her to carry so we had to make it quick. They sure are cute.

 One morning Summer and I wanted to jump rope outside. It was quite cold so we decided to bundle Brayden up. It was so funny. He reminded me of Randy from A Christmas Story when his mom bundles and bundles him up so much that he can't move his arms or say anything. All he can to is cry. Anyhow, he was my little marshmallow man.

On November 18th we woke up to snow outside. Summer has been dreaming of this for so long. She could not resist going out to play in it quickly before school.

 The best part of the day for me was going to pick her up from school to see the remnants of the children playing at recess. Several large snowballs left alone in the field. It was so fun and reminded me how fun and imaginative childhood is.

Anyhow, we are looking forward to some more cold weather to get the winter feel.

Summer Learning to Sew

Since I started sewing four years ago Summer has been at my side watching and anxiously awaiting her turn. She has been wanting to sew for some time now, but I always put it off because I didn't feel she was ready yet. Maybe I just wasn't ready to sit there patiently teaching her. She has even asked on several occasions for a kids sewing machine. 

So, the day finally came when I told her my attention was all hers and that I would teach her how to sew. The first step was choosing a project. I let her pick something I knew would have all straight stitches. She ended up picking a scarf. So we went to my fabric stash and I let her choose her fabrics. It was hard not to guide her and pick for her what I thought went best, but she did it and managed to get coordinating prints. 

I am not ready to let her begin using my rotary cutter or my really sharp scissors yet. So I ended up cutting all the fabrics out for her and then she began. 

She sewed everything herself. I sat next to her to guide her. I taught her what it means to put the right sides together in her terms of course (the pretty sides), lining up the edges, pinning, sewing a straight line, and most importantly controlling the foot peddle. It is very easy to press too hard and make the machine go super fast and out of control. So she quickly learned to press gently or it goes crazy. 

Lining up the edges.

Pinning

Sewing 

Topstitching

She was curious how we were going to get the ugly side (wrong side) to be pretty again if we were sewing both of the pretty sides on the inside. I explained that we would make a magic hole that we can pull it out and it would look pretty again. I still think she believes it was a magic trick. 

It was actually really good to spend one on one time with her teaching her something that we both have an interest in. I am glad she had fun and that she did really really well. I was impressed because this was her first time and she really did sew everything except for a part of the topstitching at the end. 

Yay for Summer. Nice finished Product. 

 Happy she got to sew. 

I am glad we had fun and that she now has a scarf to wear. Love you Summer, and yes someday you can have your own sewing machine.