Mother's Day and Family Dedication

Ok, so after this post I will officially be up to date! Yay!
I had the most amazing 1st Mother's Day! It was way better than I had expected. I woke up that morning and Bryson was still asleep. Robert had gotten up with him earlier to feed him and he put him back in the bed with me on his boppy pillow. I love this time of day with my little guy. He is so much fun to cuddle with. (I had no idea that Robert had put my gift on the boppy pillow, so when I got up, it was still there).When I finally woke up,I put Bryson back in his bassinet and I headed to the kitchen and Robert was in there cooking breakfast. I was still half asleep so I didnt think anything of it. Sometimes he gets up early and makes himself breakfast. I sat down on the couch to pump (still half asleep) and thats when Robert put my breakfast and coffee on the tray table in front of me. Little did I know that he had then put my gift by my pump. I had no idea it was there!, so Robert moved it again. After pumping, it was time to hop in the shower and get ready for church. Robert told me to give Bryson a kiss before getting in the shower and I told him no because I didnt want to wake him up. He asked me again and I said the same thing. Finally he said, "I'm tired of being subtle. Just got look at him before you get in shower." This is what I found:



What an amazing 1st Mother's Day gift! It's so beautiful and way more than I thought I would get. It's Bryson's birthstone so I love it!
After we got dressed we headed to church. We went to my church to have Bryson dedicated. He did great! He was in such a great mood which was awesome because I don't know if I could have handled another day of him screaming like he did at his Baptism. That was insane! He smiled at everybody in the church and even spit up all over the Pastor. That was priceless and Robbie captured that all on video. (hopefully soon I will figure out how to share videos with everybody because we have a ton!)
Here are a few pictures from his dedication:






After church, we headed over to my parents house for some yummy Costa's BBQ. For my moms gift, we all pitched in and bought her a "grandmother's" ring. It has both Bryson and Will's birthstone and name and we will be able to add to it later. We had to order it so hopefully it will be here soon. I will try to post a picture of it when it arrives. For dinner, we went over to Lola's and spent some time with her. Robert bought her a super nice plant at the Farmer's Market that had flowers and I think some veggies in it. I definitely had a great 1st Mother's Day and I hope that I can plan the same great day for Robert's 1st Father's Day. That will be a special weekend for us, but last year, on the day before Father's Day was when we found out we were pregnant. I can't believe that was almost a year ago!

Bryson's Baptism

On May 8, 2010 we Baptized Bryson at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Hoover. His Godparents are Aunt Lisa and Aunt Amy and our friend Steven. Since I am not Catholic, this was my first time to see a Catholic Baptism and it was very neat. Bryson wore the traditional white, but we did not do the gown. That's just not our style. Robert had to work that morning so I had to get everything ready by myself. I was impressed with myself because we were only a few minutes late, and that was because of traffic. I had timed it where he would take his bottle right before so he wouldn't cry. That didn't work so well. For some reason he would not drink his bottle and ended up only taking 3 ounces instead of 6. We thought he would be fine since he was all smiles before, but nope, he screamed the entire time! Afterwards, we all went to Lola's house for a little grill out. Here are some pictures from his Baptism.






Here are some of the pictures we got afterwards. Of course at this point, Bryson was in a great mood!









And I have to add this last picture because it basically sums up his entire day!

Quick Update!

Ok, so I dont have a ton of time, but I wanted to let everybody know my grades for the semester. When I first found out I was pregnant, I immediately decided that I would not take a break from school. I have spent way too much time in college, so I was scared if I took some time off, that I may never go back. The spring semester started in January and ended May 7. I took 4 classes and everybody thought I was crazy! People kept telling me "there is no way you can do that" or "you are going to drive yourself insane" or "I bet you drop out before the semesters over". Well I have news for all of those people, I completed the semester! haha! Not only that but I got good grades (with the exception of 1 that was my fault). I got an A+, a B, a B- and a C. I am so mad at myself about the C because I wrote the last test date down wrong so I didnt get to take it. I even tried to email the teacher and begged her to let me take it and she said no. So I think for missing a test, a C is good, and that's the only assignment I missed the whole semester! So ha to all those people who said I couldnt do it. This coming up semester will be my last. I am taking 5 classes so I can graduate in August. Yes, that's a lot, but if I can take and pass 4 classes in the same semester that I gave birth, I think I can handle this. I will say that I dont think I could do it if I would have went back to work. Thankfully, Robert agreed to let me stay home with Bryson. There was just way too much stress going on at my job. Long story short, I feel like I was pushed out of that place. Not sure why, but as soon as I got pregnant, I started getting treated different. I busted my tail off through my whole pregnancy and got no respect for it. Do you know how hard it is to have a class of 2 and 3 year olds by yourself, much less while pregnant! Thankfully I had an amazing bunch of kids that I miss so much. But the more I kept thinking about going back, the more sick to my stomach I got. For one, my boss was trying to change my hours and if I would have went back with those hours, I would have never had any time to spend with Bryson or Robert. Second, I just couldn't go back after the way I felt I had been treated. I still do not know what I did wrong. Part of me wishes that I did know, but then again, part of me is glad that I don't. Finally, I just couldnt bear the thought of somebody else raising my child. The teachers would get to spend way more time with him than I would and that's not fair to him or me. When Bryson cries, I know what he needs and get to it either right away or shortly after he starts crying. He smiles at me when we play in the floor together. He talks to his Baby Einstein movies. If he cried at school, he may sit there and cry forever before somebody did anything for him and when they did, he wouldnt feel the same love from them as he does from me. Also, they dont really play with the babies in the floor that much at daycare. I am very happy with my decision to stay home. While I am a new stay at home mom, I am also working. I have decided to become a Pampered Chef consultant and I am so excited about this opportunity. I do not know how to cook, or use any of the products, but I am having a lot of fun learning. Me and Robert think this is a great selling point for me. If somebody like me can cook and use these products, then anybody can. I am really hoping I am successful enough at this to stay home with Bryson for at least a year. Then after that, I will continue to sell it to help pay off loans and for us to go on vacations. I am just so happy to have wonderful friends and family who have been willing to help me.
There are so many things I have learned since being a mom. I have definitely learned that people begin to treat you differently. There are way too many people that I dont get to talk to anymore. Partly because I dont have the time or because they dont respond to me. Sometimes it hurts when this happens, but then I look over at Bryson, he flashes that handsome smile, and I think to myself that I would never trade that for anything in the world. I am happier now then I have ever been! I am very thankful for the small group of friends that I do have. It just kinda shows who your true friends are. Me and Bryson have been able to get together once a week with one of my former co-workers and her son to go for a walk. She had her little boy, Luke, just a few weeks after Bryson was born. It's so great to have a friend with a baby so close in age to Bryson.

2 Months!

Ok, so I know I'm a little behind, but it's hard to believe that Bryson is already 2 months old! He has grown so much in these past few weeks. Here are some things he has done over this past month:
-At his 2 month visit with the dr he weighed 12 pounds 11.5 ounces which is in the 75th percentile and he is 23.5 inches long which is also in the 75th percentile. His head measured at 15 1/4, but she didn't say the percentile for that, just that it was normal.
-He got 4 shots! Poor baby! It was so hard to watch that, but I know it was the right thing to do. The only reaction that he had was running a low grade fever for 24 hours, but it never seemed to bother him. He acted tired, but never acted like he was in pain. If it wasn't for the fever, I wouldn't have had to give him Tylenol. His fever never went above 100.9.
-He can now roll from his back to his side. You can tell that he wants to roll all the way over, he just can't seem to figure it out yet! When he tries and he can't do it, he gets upset.
-He has started "talking". He coos all the time and says "Ah-gooo" which sounds like he is saying "I'm good"
-He goes to sleep between 9-10 every night, but is no longer sleeping through the night. Sometimes he wakes up at 3, sometimes he will sleep to 5 or 6 (which is sleeping through the night). If he wakes up at 5 or 6, sometimes I put him back in the bed with me on his boppy pillow because I'm just not quite ready to get up. If I am ready to get up, he will usually play on his floor for an hour and then pass out.
-He is grabbing at his toys! When he's on his floor, he is now grabbing onto his toys and swinging them back and forth. He will also not hold onto a lovie, which is great since he won't take a paci! When he gets upset or hungry, he would suck his hands or scratch his hands. Now that he likes to grab onto something, he will pull at the lovie instead of his hands and will also chew on it instead of sucking his hands. I'm still kinda hoping that he will take a paci instead of the thumb since the paci can be taken away and thumb cannot.
-He is still taking a bottle every 3 hours but can sometimes almost make it to 4.
-He loves tummy time! He wiggles so much on his tummy that he will kinda scoot across the mat. It almost looks like he's crawling!
-He loves to be sung to.
-He has finally made eye contact with Will and smiled at him.
-His hair is growing back! It's not quite back to the mowhawk yet, but it's getting there.
-We are beginning to establish some sort of routine. I have learned that if he does not get his afternoon nap, he's a grouch. He likes to be swaddled and rocked to sleep for his afternoon nap. If I do this, he will sleep for 2-3 hours! If we are not home, or there are people over, he usually doesnt get this and will not sleep long. Then we have a fussy, grouchy baby.
-We have started going on once a week walks with one of my former co-workers that had a baby at the end of March. Part of me is kinda hoping she doesnt go back to work either so me and Bryson have a playdate during the week.
Here are Bryson's monthly pictures. The onesie he is wearing is the same one he had on in his 1 month pictures. We bought a pack of size 12 month onesies so we could take his picture in them every month to see how he's growing. However, I dont think it looks like a size 12 month but you can tell a difference since last month.



And here are his pictures of his battlewounds after his shots.

Bryson's 1st Easter!

For Bryson's first Easter, we were able to spend the day with both of our families. We woke up that morning and rushed to get ready for church. Since Bryson was only a month old, we were still getting used to getting 3 people ready so we were about 10 minutes late. Not too bad in my opinion. When we got to church, it was packed. We had to stand out in the lobby. There were no speakers, and no way to see or hear what was going on. It was a little frustrating, but we stayed the whole time so Robert and his mom could participate in communion. After that, we headed over to my aunts house for lunch. When we got there, we had to rush to take a picture of Bryson and Will in their Easter clothes because Will was getting hot. I'm glad we did because come to find out, he had poop all up his back! It was actually pretty funny. Bryson was in a great mood! After my aunts house, we went over to Robert's moms for dinner. We had forgotten to take a picture of him with his first Easter basket so we took it right before we left. At this point, Bryson was upset because he was tired and hungry, so we didn't get that great of a picture. The Easter bunny brought him some chocolate (which of course we ate) 2 new books and a new toy. Here are a few pictures of Bryson's first Easter!