Bradley is Two Months Old Today!

Bradley turned two months old today! It's funny, it's hard to remember exactly what we did with ourselves before we had this guy. Life has quickly fallen into baby routine. And we wouldn't have it any other way!

 

Grandma Colleen Visit!

We recently had Grandma Colleen come out to visit all the way from Iowa! Bradley loved getting to know his grandma and we have a feeling she was pretty delighted to get to know her grandson. He does a lot of gazing deeply into eyes and smiling. If Grandma Colleen wasn't already crazy about him before I'm pretty sure she's putty in his hands after this visit.

Grandma got to cuddle with Bradley on the recliner through a number of his naps. These often turned into naps for Grandma too, now I see where Nathan gets it!

And here are the boys at the Issaquah Farmers Market. Bradley once again proves how cool he is in his camo shades.

Oh yeah. Only the toughest guys go to the farmers market.

 Warning: this video is quite long. He starts out kind of fussy but ends up being pretty happy and there's a great smile around the 6:17 mark!

Grandma Colleen, we realized we took most of the pictures on your camera so that makes posting photos of you with baby rather difficult. Please email us any pictures you'd like to have included on the blog! Email us photos even if you don't care of the photos end up on the blog, you better believe I'm going to put together a big picture album for this kid at some point!

 

 Lists of Things We Miss and Don't Miss

And now, in honor of Bradley turning two months old, here is a list of things we miss about when he was an itty bitty baby.
1) How I would get so excited about him having his eyes open and would wake up Nathan so he could see our alert baby!
2) How light and easy to carry he was. NOT the case anymore.
3) The impossibly tiny clothes that he wore
4) Tiny baby squeaks and other noises he would make
5) How he would chew on my chin sometimes when he was hungry. It was pretty hilarious.
6) His forehead wrinkles
7) Getting to take turns sleeping with a baby sprawled out on our chests on the recliner
8) And I miss it being socially appropriate to have people over while I wore a nursing nightgown and robe

Not the best photo but look! Someone will now sit in his baby gym if he has enough blankets and pillows.

And here is a list of things we do NOT miss about itty bitty baby time
1) Nathan does not miss how I would get so excited about Bradley having his eyes open and would wake him up so he could see the alert baby
2) How we would stumble through the nights passing the baby back and forth for feeding, changing, and turns sleeping with the baby on the recliner (We didn't figure out the swaddling and crib thing for the first few days. Maybe the first week. It's all a bit of a blur.)
3) I don't miss the time I fed him for 1.5 hours in a 3 hour period (growth spurt much?)
4) I also don't miss the initial part of breastfeeding where the child would cram both of his hands in his mouth while I was trying to feed him. It made the job take four hands and if Nathan wasn't around or was taking a much needed nap, that was a problem.
5) We don't miss worrying about how little and delicate he was, especially his perpetually cold toes!
6) Nathan does not miss the tar poos. I changed very few diapers in the first couple weeks so these poos didn't bother me too much. Nathan is the best daddy and husband ever <3

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww

We Love Our Bradley

I can't believe how quickly Bradley is changing and growing up. We love this little guy so much! And even better, we can tell that he's rather fond of us as well. Being with mommy or daddy provides instant comfort to an upset baby and we have received more than a few soul destroying smiles in the last week or so.

Here are a couple videos of the cutie pie and an embarrassing photo of me as cat lady in an apron holding a baby. If 16 year old me could see me ... actually, I think she'd be pretty pumped that that I decided to grow out those bangs.

More tummy time. Bradley grunts a lot and REALLY wants to be able to crawl.

 He's soooo adorable and cheerful when he's on the changing table!

And this is what happens when I sit on the recliner with the baby now. The cats come in hopes of getting some scraps of attention. This picture was taken after a sad and lonely Bradley interrupted me cooking dinner because he did NOT want to nap in a stinkin' crib anymore. And then the cats came and this is what Nathan found when he got home from work.

Happy two month birthday, Bradley! We love you oodles and bunches!

Smiling Baby!

Man, does this kid smile at us these days. I have to say, it makes parenting loads more fun. It was fine before but there's just something about a kid waking up in your arms and giving you a HUGE hello grin that makes it amazing.

A little blurry, but you get the gist.

And I had to include this one because it's just too cute. He doesn't play with his toys yet, but it's not for lack of trying on my part!

Wedding!

He's been a busy guy this last week, went to a wedding last week and went on a first date with his future wife. Here's a picture!

Baby girl Schneekloth and Bradley! Can't wait to meet you in October, baby girl!

He was such a good baby, he must love weddings because he didn't cry at all during the ceremony!

Or maybe he was just too happy all cuddled up next to his daddy

  

And the obligatory family photo. Obligatory because I made it so.

Family photo time!

Isn't Bradley's little sweater vest outfit adorable? Funny story, Bradley had his first fashion emergency the day before the wedding. We had gone out and purchased a few dress up outfits for him a few weeks prior but then I tried them on the day before the wedding and nothing fit! I was upset about this and so was Bradley, it is the only explanation for why he would be crying as I kept stripping him down and trying on different outfits over the course of about 5-10 min ...

So we had to rush over to Baby's R Us and fortunately they had the outfit pictured above. It fit him perfectly at the wedding so he may have grown out of it already, 6 days later. Totally worth it though!

Birthday Party

However, we went to a birthday party the day after the wedding which I decided was a wonderful opportunity for a little man to dress up again.

Looking so studly!

 I also decided that it was an excellent opportunity for additional photo ops with his loving parents.

This was a very fun birthday party and Bradley was thrilled to be the only little boy in attendance. In Nathan's words "he had a three to one ratio, go playa!"

Redfern Family Time

He had a wonderful time hanging out with his uncle Daniel and Stephanie, notice who we decided was the more trustworthy baby holder.

Grandma and Grandpa Redfern were also there. This was after the birthday party, I swear I've put him in clothes besides the sweater vest outfit this past week.

What is this, another opportunity for a family photo? Done and done!

The Baby Sleeps!

 Also, we may have given birth to a little boy but I think he may have a bit of princess in him a la The Princess and the Pea. He had been horrible at his daytime naps this past week and would wake up and cry until I would come hold him. But he slept really well at night. Aha, turns out our little pack n play mattress that I like to use for his naps during the day wasn't soft enough for our delicate little guy. In his defense, I actually had a good feel of the padding after we discovered this and I don't really blame the kid, it is a pretty thin pad. Too bad the giant already outgrew the cute bassinet attachment that was loaded with padding. Now I get to schlep him up and down the stairs for naps. But it's okay because he's magically a fantastic napper once more!

During the only sleeping on mommy phase, the cats had to do some serious work to get any attention at all.

Hey look, it's Bradley Crockett!

Daddy kindly stepped in to assist with baby naps when he came home from work. What a champion.

And now this WONDERFUL child occasionally sleeps through the night. Nathan did the last official feed at 11:30 last night and Bradley didn't wake up and demand food until 5:15am. What an angelic child.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day Celebration

Our little family had a wonderful first official Mother's Day together! I was treated to an overwhelming amount of breakfast foods, the remnant of which went towards making 16 medium sized burritos. Daddy does breakfast right. 

Family picture time!

My parents and little brother came down for the afternoon, which was quite fun. Daniel got to meet his nephew for the first time! Bradley loves to cuddle with his Uncle Daniel!

I think Bradley was moving around a bit here and grunting.

Grandma and Grandpa had a fun time helping give the baby his bath! Bradley loves bath time so much, it's pretty cute. He never fusses until we take him out of the water.

And the kittens decided that my Mother's Day flowers were in fact for them and they enjoyed the ruffage tremendously for a day or two until we hid them in the guest bathroom. Further proof that even before baby we couldn't have nice things.

These tulips have seen better days

First Trip to Top Pot

There was another momentous event over Mother's Day weekend. Bradley went to Top Pot Doughnuts for the first time! These are the best doughnuts in Seattle and Bradley already seems to be a fan.

My friend Serena loves Top Pot too

Bradley and Daddy Naps Series

No end in sight for cute father son napping together photo ops.

 The Giant Continues to Grow

 Bradley officially no longer fits in his napper in his little pack n play. He also no longer fits into the infant insert in our Ergo baby carrier. We used that insert about 10 times ... it's just a good thing we're planning on more kids.

I weighed him today using our very imprecise scale and he was 12 lbs. We're going in for another check-up in two weeks, then we'll have the official height and weight of our future Goliath.

Napper is the white thing on the right.

 The Many Faces of Little Bradley

And as a grand finale, here are a few pictures I took on my iPhone this morning of the little goof. There are SO many smiles these days, which I have to say is a bit of a relief for a new mother. Smiles mean we must be doing something right. This just started happening in the last couple days, so much fun for Mommy and Daddy!

He is so irresistible when he does this!

Fun final story: a good friend called the other day and we were talking about her fun single life in LA while I was going about making pasta to go with the slow cooker meal I had made. In the midst of this, Nathan ran in to show me an enormous booger he had gotten out of Bradley's nose. It was truly impressive. I think my friend Cerra was impressed even though she could not see the booger. 

So I just want to thank my friends who still get to go out and do cool things for listening to my glamorous booger stories while I go about exciting tasks like making casseroles. I'm having a blast and it makes it all the more exciting when I get to put on pretty clothes and go hang out with you. And I have some awesome poo stories these days ... just let me know when you're ready to hear them!

Busy Baby Boy!

Busy baby boy Bradley. This poor child, imagine having a literature major for a parent. He stood no chance. So many alliteration opportunities with a child named Bradley!

Bradley and Mommy Together!

Look at this beefy guy. Sleeveless outfits show off his arm rolls.

I love Mr. Tubbs!

Bradley and Auntie Laura!

This little guy has been quite busy, he had a great time meeting his Auntie Laura last week. She has an awesome job that had her fly out to Seattle for a one day training session and it also turned out to be the perfect opportunity for us to get to spend a little time with her before she had to fly back to Boston.

Hi Auntie!!!

Superman

He also posed as Superman changing out of his Clark Kent outfit ... it was Nathan's idea. I picked out the superman outfit, it was my first clothing purchase for Bradley!

I'm a super hero?

 It's a bird, it's a plane, it's ... SUPERMAN!

Hurray!

Who is this Lois Lane lady I've heard so much about?

Daddy took all of the pictures of Bradley by his little suit outfit. Bradley was so happy during this photo session, Daddy might get roped into photographer duty more often!

Cool Overall Carhartts

My parents came to visit on Sunday and poor Bradley was subjected to another photo session in an outfit I was afraid he'd outgrow sooner rather than later. Carhartt overalls! Doesn't get much cuter than this.

Bradley actually loves to be lifted up into the air like this, despite the expression on his face in this picture.

And here is my father with an 8 day old Bradley. Why include such an old photo? Because my father sent me this photo after Easter and then asked multiple times why it hadn't been posted to the blog yet. Silly Grandpa. I actually really like this photo of the two of you, so here it is, Grandpa! You win! ;)

Wedding Anniversary

Nathan and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary on Monday, May 7th. We went out to Panera the night before and had a lovely time. 

Proof that we left the house for a meal

Wearing earrings! Out of the house AND super fancy attire.

Not impressed by our accomplishments

We had a lovely time for our anniversary. On the actual day of our anniversary we had a sexy piroshki dinner (same as our wedding day!) and ate some of the red velvet wedding cake (also like our wedding day!). Then I called it an early night and Nathan took the evening shift with the baby (this was rather unlike our wedding day). Still, it was a very fun evening and I can't believe it's been a whole year already!

Other Important Bradley Updates

1. He has awesome camo sunglasses now. Look, he matches Daddy's hat!

Bradley seems to be not too fond of his fashionable sunglasses

But he mellowed out when we got outside. Now he's cool like Daddy!

2. We took a trip up to Stanwood/Camano to visit Bradley's grandparents and to see my friend Sarah. Bradley was a champ as embarked on our longest day out of the house yet. He had a great time doing giant spit-ups on his Grandpa, being a celebrity at Camano Chapel and Stanwood High School while his proud grandparents showed him off to everyone, and making friends with Sarah's adorable little boy Calvin. Next time I'll have to take a picture of the two boys together, Calvin is a little over one and a half and would be very happy to be Bradley's buddy!

Trying to wake up from a nap

3. Also, in the continued saga of the noisiest sleeper ever, we've now moved the baby monitor across the room from us and still have it set on the lowest volume so I can get some sleep at night. It's not as though I have super baby hearing, it's just the constant grunts and half cries as he wakes up can also wake up his mommy. The other night he started snorting and grunting at 3am but he didn't actually start crying for food until 4am. Bad Bradley. 

So we're figuring things out and just having a ball with our cute little boy. Next week, either training him to stop pulling mommy's hair at every opportunity or a visit to a hairdresser to get a mom bob. Wish me luck ...