Thanksgiving and 4 Month-iversary!

Where does the time go? If you're me, then the answer is: out the window! Even though we have 4 months of Brady under our belts, I feel like I'm getting less done now than when he was 3 weeks old! I know it's because of the holidays, and even though they're supposed to bring out the warm and fuzzies in us, all they've brought out in me so far is stress! It took me a span of 4 days to decorate the house, but at last, we are complete. Zach still has to tackle the outside, but that's his job, so I consider myself finished! I do love a dark house twinkling with Christmas lights, but man--it was quite the chore this year!

Moving on to more exciting things: Brady's first Thanksgiving was a success! We went to Zach's mom's side of the family in Elderton where Brady was a perfect angel, and then we traveled back toward home for a lovely visit with Zach's dad's side. Nonna and Nonno had the most delicious apple pie waiting for me which really made me happy because I passed on dessert in Elderton knowing I'd want to stuff my face with their homemade apple pie goodness :) And it was well worth it! Brady took a huge nap at Nonna and Nonno's, but then didn't sleep well at night. Come to think of it, since that day, he hasn't slept through the night! He's been waking up around 3:30 am wanting changed and a bottle. Some days he'll go back to sleep until 7 or so; others, we're up for the day. I'm not a fan of those days! But he did sleep "normally" last night, so there might be hope!

The day after Thanksgiving is my mom's dinner, and unfortunately for the Barones, Brady was not as pleasant. I think he was sleepy, therefore cranky. But eventually he did fall asleep and we played Mad Gab until our hearts were content. I love me some Mad Gab :)

To celebrate Baby Brady's 4 Month-iversary, here are some things we've been noticing about him lately:

1. He knows when we're eating. And he wants in on the action. He opens his mouth like a baby bird hoping we'll drop something in for him, and even though I know I shouldn't have, I couldn't resist: I was with my mom when she was mashing sweet potatoes, and we both "just wanted to see," so we put a teeeeny bit on Brady's lips. His tongue didn't push it back out, which surprised me. He didn't look thrilled with it, though, so we called it a day. But the poor kid wants more than a bottle at this point, so we're going to talk to our pediatrician about possibly starting him on some rice cereal.

2. He hates smoke from candles. He was on my lap and my mom blew out a candle that was behind us, so Brady didn't even know she was back there or what she was doing. As soon as he saw or smelled the smoke, he went bananas. Screaming, kicking, gasping for air--it was insane! Not sure how his first birthday celebration will go, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!

3. He wants to sit up on his own. Any time he's on his back, he brings his head and legs up off of the ground so he can get a better look at what's going on around him. This makes change time a task in and of itself, but it's so exciting to watch him grow. I'd personally like him to fit snugly in my arms forever, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen. Which brings me to my next point...

4. Everyone keeps telling us how "huge" Brady is. So much so that Zach is convinced our son is obese, which he is not. Our next appointment is Dec. 10th, and I can't wait to find out his weight and length. Zach weighed him with our home scale, and he's ringing in at around 16 pounds according to Mr. Jankowski's calculations! Not sure if that's big or normal for a 4 month old, but we'll soon find out!

Brady and I had ourselves a little photo shoot the other day and I think I got the shot we want to use for our Christmas card. We had a naked baby shoot, a baby reindeer shoot, and finally, a naked baby in a gift bag shoot. Brady was such a trooper (and a smiley one at that!) the entire time. Here are a few from our fun, and some other randoms in the slide show. Enjoy!
Naked baby photo shoot

Waving hello...or just falling over

Baby in a bag, the best gift there is!