1 Month Old

I don't know where the time went!! It's already been a month since our little Brayden joined our family. He's had an exciting day so far full of sleeping, eating, taking a bath, getting his finger nails clipped, doing tummy time and now he's taking a nap :)






Tummy Time!


turning the head around

Whew, made it.

That's hard wrk for a little guy

Now I'll just suck my hand for a while :)

Worn out

Before I forget

Brayden is almost a month old!! He's 4 weeks and 1 day, actually, but his month mark will be on Saturday. Where did the time go?? He's already grown so much and I think he looks much older. I know he's still so small and we have lots more growing to do together, but I don't want to forget some of the funny things that he does already. So many people have told me that they've already forgotten a lot about their kids as infants, so I'm going to attempt to document my favorite little things. I'll have to upload videos and pictures of all these things eventually.

Brayden makes the cutest squeaking noises ... I've never heard another baby do it and I love it (that's one of those things you'll just have to see a video of).

He works so hard during tummy time. The very first time we put him on his tummy it was like he knew that he was supposed to crawl and tried pushing himself up with all his might. He can now lift his head and turn it to the other side all by himself.

When he has bubbles in his tummy, he pushes like crazy to get them out. You should feel his abs!! That kid is more buff than me!

When he pushes, he makes the cutest faces. Either he scrunches everything up and pushes so hard that his face goes red; or he stretches everything out, raises his eyebrows and makes funny noises.

He loves to lay on my shoulder/ tummy when I sit on the couch. We have some great cuddle times. He loves Daddy's tummy too. Sometimes Preston will just hold him in bed and let Brayden sleep on his tummy when he's having a hard time sleeping.

Brayden grunts like noone's business! He has a grunt for everything. It's usually mixed with his squeaky noise. He grunts when he pushes, he grunts when he wakes up, he grunts in his sleep, he grunts when he's hungry, he grunts when he's mad if I have to kick him off while eating to get a better latch ... he grunts at EVERYTHING!

I don't think I've ever seen a more patient baby. He doesn't cry unless he's hungry. He grunts and fusses with bubbles, but he never full-out cries unless he's hungry. I take that back, he also cries when we suction stuff out of his nose ... he doesn't like that one bit. He did cried when we gave him his first bath, but that might have had something to do with the water not being warm enough because he started shivering until we added warmer water. Oops :)

He LOVES hot air. He got his mommy's temperature, which means he gets cold easily. We have a space heater infront of his bassinet and his changing table and he loves basking in the warm air while we change him.

He also loves music. I don't know for sure, but I'd be willing to bet that he'll grow up to be musical. He settles right down to any song, but most especially "I am a Child of God," "Families Can Be Together Forever," and "I Love to See the Temple."

He learns so quickly. We used to put his hand in front of the pacifier in his mouth to hold it in and now he'll do it all on his own if he can't keep it in his mouth.

Brayden knows what he wants. When he doesn't want his pacifier he won't take it. When he does take it, he'll spit it out when he's all done. It's great.

He has the strongest suck I've ever felt in a baby! It made nursing very difficult at first, but we're adjusting. That's a post of it's own.

He's very mild tempered. I know it's hard to believe that you can know that about a 4 week old, but I do know it. He's going to have him moments for sure, but for the most part I think he'll be a very cute little boy.

I'm sure there's so much more I could say about Brayden, but my time during his naps is very valuable, so I must be off. He's a fun little boy and I love looking into his big blue eyes. He makes me so happy! I know that he's a special boy with a great mission in life because I've felt that very strongly when I pray. I also know it because I can't remember the last time that I've felt so much temptation directed at me to get angry or frustrated. And to think that I've given in a couple times! He's a perfect little baby and I'm just trying to remember what my Heavenly Father helped me realize ... the anger or frustration doesn't make me happy, Brayden happy or God happy, so really the only person who likes it is Satan. I've been doing much better and really remembering patience and love. He's an easy baby to love anyway :)

My Christmas

I got lots of wonderful things for Christmas, especially since I was serious when I told Preston I didn't know what I wanted since I already got the best present (Brayden, of course). But, he got me some great shoes, shirts, games, and the best of all ...


My new Cricut Expression Machine! It is wonderful! I still have to figure it out ... this thing is amazing. I'm so excited to play around with it! Thanks Preston for another wonderful Christmas!! (not just because of the gifts, but they were a success!).

Once again, Preston spoiled me and wins the best gift award in our family ... I'll work on that for next year.

Blessing Day

Brayden was blessed on Sunday January 3rd. Preston did a great job in giving him a wonderful blessing! Unfortunately it was the first week of 9:00 o'clock church and we still need to figure out a good routine since Brayden usually eats between 8 and 8:30. We felt a little rushed getting there and were lucky to still be early enough for Preston to ask most people to join him in the circle. With that and the intimidation of giving a public blessing, Preston will tell you that it didn't go as well as he'd like. But it made me cry (which really doesn't happen often) and I thought it was beautiful.

I was a little worried because as sacrament meeting was starting, Brayden started getting fussy like was still hungry. As Preston took him up I was just praying he wouldn't cry the whole time. Brayde was SO good. he mad a couple coos and was wide awake during the whole thing, but he didn't fuss until after I was able to bear my testimony. We've been blessed with the BEST little boy!!


The Brown Family

Everyone (who was still there)

All the priesthood holders who were still around

Great Grandma Cottrell with Brayden

Preston & his buds

The proud parents

Auntie Nuby

us and my parents

What up?

I just love this little boy!!

hehe. scrunchy face :)

I forgot to mention that Brayden got to wear the same little outfit that his daddy was blessed in. Unfortunately, the boiler in the church was out so it was freezing and he needed to be bundled. Good thing we brought grandma Cottrell's white afgan and coat that she nitted.