Big Smiles

There's been a lot of this lately

He is such a sweetheart boy. He's been very busy this past week! I will do my best to share our favorite Bradley stories.

Bradley and The Kitties

Ohhh, are there going to be a lot of these stories in our future. Bradley doesn't care about the kitties yet and the kitties should thank their lucky stars. However, he can sleep through very loud yowling from kitties who follow me into his room looking for attention and we are very grateful for this because loud Meg does this on a fairly regular basis.

Yes, this photo was staged

Layla is going to be Bradley's best buddy, we can tell because she'll come prancing into the baby room to "help" us put him to sleep. Or she's figured out that when we finally put the baby down she gets the love and attention she needs and deserves. Here's a photo of her being helpful by keeping me company while I rock the baby to sleep.

But then she's less helpful because it's difficult to disturb this in order to get up and put the baby in his crib

Layla also becomes very upset whenever Bradley cries and if he's especially loud she'll look me or Nathan in the eye (whoever is taking care of Bradley at the time) and will let out a loud, mournful cry. Pre-baby she would get try to comfort me whenever I was upset and having a baby around who does a reasonable amount of crying is rather tough on our sweet kitty. 

She also didn't like it when we kicked her out of our bedroom for the first two weeks of the baby being home. We actually had to put padding over the door handle because in addition to crying outside the door for long periods of time, she would scratch and claw under the door and then reach up and bang on the door handle! It's a cute story now but it was less cute at 3am when this new mom was doing her best to figure out how to make the baby go to sleep. Bad kitty.

But how can you stay mad at this?

Turns out our fears of cat cuddling up next to the baby and cutting off air supply were completely unfounded though, at least for our cats. The baby is this scary thing that will let out loud noises unexpectedly. They won't even touch the baby stuff, even cute fuzzy blankets. If I put baby clothes or a blanket on or near a favorite kitty napping spot, they will nap elsewhere. However, if it's MY clothes that I have foolishly left in a comfy spot, that's just fine.

Some of the perils of having cats before making a baby include: trimming your child's nails and calling it "trimming his claws", cats not getting pet as much and having to invest in an item called a furminator, and try as you might cat hair shows up on baby clothes and gets caught on pacifiers. This kid has definitely already ingested some cat hair. On the plus side, no way he ends up with cat allergies!

Things We Now Know

Poo can be cute and a source of parental pride

Poo can be horrifying and a source of parental fear even before solid foods

Putting in a pacifier while driving is a real skill

Bath time is the best

Cuddles with baby are even better

Spit up can be hilarious when it's not on you. There was this time that Nathan was holding Bradley up over his head and almost got a direct hit to his face ...

Long hair at this stage of my life was a poor decision. Luckily, Bradley is pulling it out a few hairs at a time so I won't have to worry about it for much longer.

Getting a broken nose via baby head is a very real concern

And I know how to use a Moby wrap now! It's just a long piece of cloth that you use to hold the baby and it's surprisingly simple to figure out.

Moby wrap champion. Bradley agrees.

 Fathers' Day

... is best left not discussed. I let Nathan sleep in and got him a manly shirt and fathers' day tie but then we went to a softball double header and things with Bradley got tough. So I went home. And left Nathan at the game. He knew I was leaving, it wasn't quite THAT bad. And he got a ride home with one of his man crush friends so really I did him a favor. If you are curious about this man crush business, please ask me about it sometime. Nathan is both cute and ridiculous.

My Birthday

Was super fun! Bradley slept seven hours in a row! It was already a good day when I got to sleep in until 5 am. Bradley and I had a lovely smiley day together and I even got to read on the deck for a little bit. I took Bradley outside for a sunny photo shoot and he was not a fan. We lasted approximately three and a half minutes, here's the best I got in that time.

And then Nathan came home and showered me with gifts and presented me with an ice cream cake. Have I mentioned how much I love that man?

Here we are out at Panera. Yes, we go to Panera a lot these days, it's quick and family friendly. And they have the best french onion soup, I am quite the fan!

Other Fun Bradley Items

He loves to suck on his fists these days, which is beyond adorable. No chance this kid doesn't end up sucking his thumb. He also likes to suck on anything he can get near his mouth. The other night I was giving him his bath and he starting sucking on my arm and jabbering at me. So adorable, daddy usually gets to give him his baths but he may have to share at least one or two of those bathtimes every week!

This photo is unrelated to what is written above, I just think it's cute. We like to play "count those rolls" with Bradley. He has quite a few!

Also, we've officially moved to the one arm swaddle! Hurray! Huge parenting success, we were so afraid of what was going to happen when he outgrew his swaddles since they don't seem to make them for his next weight class. This kid is a tubbo.

Proof of parenting expertise

And one last item of great importance. Bradley has a message for the kids. Don't do crack.