What happened to the blogger!?!?

.... well, she became a mommy, fell madly in loooove with her little munchkin (and her little family), realized she only had a few fleeting nice weather days left to do all the fun outside things with a baby, spent a couple of days in the hospital, did more fun things, dealt with a computer hard drive crash (and being the smartest girl in town, hadn't backed up in 5 years sooo much time was spent trying to find the last five years of her life on the internet), spent a couple of days in the hospital with the hubby ... and here we are.  It's November 9th -- and too cold to go play outside, so it's time to catch up the blog! Thanks to my tedious work late into the nights the last couple weeks, I have been able to recover (well ok, re-transfer, they were luckily still in my camera!) all of the pictures of the babe and have re-sorted them by dates, so I think I can catch the blog up on alll of the fun things we've been up to! (Spoiler alert: this post maaay get lengthy!)

Brady was <gulp> 3 months old yesterday!!

Nov. 8 -- Brady, 3 months old!!

Can't believe it! I was just telling Scott the other day, half of me can NOT believe he's already a quarter of a year old, but the other half of me feels like he's been here forever! :)

I also can't believe how much we've done with Brady in the last 3 months!  I was just talking to a friend the other day about having kids and I said "well we knew we wanted to have a baby in the summer" and she interrupted and was like "wait, why?"  Now, let me just clarify, I in no way wanted to do that because I think it's "better" than having a kid at any other time or that my way is the "right" way but only because hello! This is Chicago and I wanted to have a couple of days to enjoy with my baby walking outside and going places before the looooong winter arrived.  In a perfect world, I would have liked to have the baby at the very end of May/beginning of June so that we could really take advantage and enjoy the "summer" buuuuut to do that I would have had to conceive him in Sept. (biology lesson!) and as I was in Miami with my two besties last September (um, girls can you believe it's been over a year since we were wizards!? Let's go back! ;)) and not my husband, that just wasn't going to work! Actually, for those who care and who may be planning in the future, I actually think August is the saddest month to have a baby because you get to spend the least amount of time with your child before they have to go to school -- I'm secretly hoping that in the next couple of years the school systems change the cut off date to August 1st so that I HAVE to keep Brady back a year and get to spend extra lovey time with my baby!

Anywhooooo, we left off at the end of September.  Brady had gone to his 1st Cubs game, had started to hold his head up all by himself (!!), and I had mastitis, again. But I would not let another infection slow me down (probably one of the reasons I couldn't seem to just get healthy, but I had trouble sacrificing my precious time with my baby for boring rest time, didn't I do enough of that this summer!?)! So we pressed on ...

First up -- October! What a month! We started it out awesomely!! Brady got to meet his Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Urbin for the 1st time!

Yea, he wasn't so happy to wake up and take pictures ... and he was desperately hungry poor kid!  Great Grandma, who is super sweet, but getting super old ;), asked if he was a boy or girl and when I said boy, she told me, "It's a boy?! But he's soo pretty!"  Haha, can't blame her, he is! And in her defense, she turned to me about an hour later during lunch and thanked me for the beautiful announcement that was hanging in her room! (See, she knew he was a boy hehe)

After lunch with the fam, we decided to take advantage of a nice fall day (and a free zoo pass from the library!) and headed over to Brookfield Zoo for Brady's 1st visit to the zoo!! :)

Seriously, how big does he look?! Not even 2 months yet!

 Though Brady has some difficulty staying awake for the whole trip, specifically during the awesome Great Bear Wilderness ...

...he did enjoy the giraffes! One of mommy's favorite zoo dwellers (and Brookfield has an amazing amount of giraffes! It's like being on a safari ... giraffes are in safaris, right?)

He was definitely looking at them! Good animals to see again on our next zoo trip! And just for fun, here's my favorite pic, clearly not Brady's, of mommy and Brady just hanging out in the joey pouch!

Ohhh yeaaaa ... good day at the zoo!!  The next day, we hit up one of Mommy's favorite fall fests --- Long Grove Apple Fest!! Apple cider donuts, hot apple cider, brown bag apple pies ... yum yum yum!! And it was a *beautiful* day!

Brady just chillaxin in his stroller waiting for Apples!

And then we randomly found the Wizard of Oz characters -- so we put Brady in the movie! ha!

It was also during this first weekend in October when Brady began playing with his toys a little more on his own! In his bouncer, he learned that if he hits his animals, they move! And he was thrilled with this discovery!

Sooo we were all having a grand ol' time ... we were enjoying our time as a family, Brady was discovering new things, I was still nursing exclusively with the 2 month mark days away .... and then, of course, drama.  I got super sick, ended up in the ER, and 8 hours later, ended up in the hospital with no discharge date in sight! For the record, I think if you are trying to keep a new mom from developing post partum depression, you can start with not taking said mom away from her baby for days! But that is what they did! For a couple of days, I stayed in the hospital while they ran tests, Scott stayed with me like a good hubby, and Brady got a crash course in sleeping at Gramma and Grampa's AND being formula fed! Yea, remember my earlier post about the guilt of not nursing and how I was secretly hoping for a "good" reason not to nurse that I had no control over so I wouldn't feel so guilty .. yea, well be careful what you wish for! Being unexpectedly and quickly thrown into the hospital leaves you no time to plan.  I had only a few breastmilk bags frozen in the freezer, not nearly enough to get Brady 5-6 bottles a day for the next 3 days sooo he quickly got switched to formula! Luckily, he did awesomely! Because then the doctors decided I had c-diff, a highly contagious bacterial infection of the colon that apparently I got from the mastitis antibiotics I had been taking.  Ironically, this is also treated with antibiotics and on these, I could not nurse Brady.  So they told me to "pump and dump" for the next 10 days as often as I would nurse. Ha. Yea right.  One doctor actually told me to set an alarm, in the hospital, and wake myself up in the middle of the night to pump.  And then throw it away.  So I'm away from my baby and I can't even get some sleep out of it! Soo not happening.  The *only* "upside to being kept away from your 2 month old is that you get some long stretches of sleep that don't end in someone screaming for you to help them!  And the stupid ER nurses had already left me to sit in the waiting room (and thus, away from my breast pump) for over 8 hours so I was already way off my breastfeeding schedule!  Long story short, I pumped a little (not pumping would cause my ducts to get clogged up basically promising me yet another case of mastitis), but once I was released from the hospital and feeling better, I wanted to make up for those days that I lost with Brady so we were out a lot and like I was going to stop at the pumpkin patch to find a place to pump! Excuse me, pump AND DUMP! I couldn't even keep the milk! Yea, so by the time I was off my antibiotics, Brady had little interest in breast milk and I had very little left to give him.  Flash forward to right now, I haven't pumped in a couple of weeks (I just cleaned my pump and packed it away the other night actually, tear.) and I'm pretty sure I'm out of milk ... BUT my boobs are back to a non-playboy model size and my shirts fit again! Whoohoo!  I do feel a little guilty, but after all the trouble breastfeeding caused this time around, I believe it's better for us all that I stopped.  I did do it almost exclusively (minus maybe 2 bottles) for a few days short of 2 months and that was longer than I originally thought I'd last so I'll chock it up as a success ... and work harder with the next one! :) It was either Brady got breast milk for a few more months or a healthy momma to hang out with ... and well, I think the right choice was made! :)

I got out of the hospital (after some begging and crying!) on Brady's two month birthday!! They tried to keep me and I was like "um, no" and apparently they "can't keep you against your wishes" so I was free! :) And Brady was *thrilled* to see Mommy!! He looked so much bigger, it was ridiculous what 2.5 days away does! 

Brady -- Oct. 8th -- 2 months old!! (Can you tell Mom was in the hospital and thus, Daddy and Gramma picked out his clothes? It pains me to see him in "random" unmatched pieces of clothing.)

Yay! Mommy's home!!

The weekend Mommy got home from the hospital was a simply amazingly gorgeous weekend weather wise -- and we couldn't go out and enjoy it because of the "recovery."  UGH! I was soo upset.  And then the universe listened and Scott got a couple of days off during the (still warm and sunny) week (ah, who needs a paycheck right?).  We started with a trip on up to the pumpkin patch! It was a beautiful, not at all fall (I could've used more sweatshirt weather), sunny day and the patch was nice and empty -- which left us tons of opportunity for pictures! Here's just a couple ...

Brady's 1st Pumpkin!!

Haha our "wee" one ...

He's SO big!

These make me laugh!

Brady was really into the pumpkin patch! (And by really into, I mean he was awake the whole time!) :) It was so fun to take him someplace that I remember going so often during my childhood! I'm sure if I search enough I can find pics of me by all of the same cutouts I took pics of Brady with! And he picked out (with a little help from Daddy) his very first pumpkin!

The next day, we continued the fun with a trip to the Shedd Aquarium with our cousins from California!! John and Tegan got to finally meet Brady and it may have been my favorite thing how much they loved him! Breaks my heart that they won't grow up together like me and their mommy did! But always good to spend some time together when we can! Brady was awake all of the time at the Shedd too and even spent time watching the fishies swim! Can't wait to take him back when he's old enough to really care! :)

John sharing his penguin friends with Brady!

Watching the fishies!

The fun didn't stop there!! We had a jammed back weekend to get through still! Brady got to attend his 1st wedding -- cousins Jene and Jason at the beautiful Starved Rock on a perfect fall Saturday!  He was only there on request of the bride, I wouldn't just bring my baby to a wedding haha.  The wedding was lovely and Brady was such an angel the whole time -- really quiet, not fussy, and mostly awake! We are so glad we brought him ... not just because it's so fun to dress him up either! ;)

And a bonus picture from the rest of the weekend, Brady hanging with his cousin Kyle!

Aren't they cuties! Well ... this takes us to mid October and Brady at 2.5 months!! See how quickly the days go by!? And it was time for Mom to start going back to work!  It was also time to start Music Class! We started going to the Boogin' Babies class at Musical Magic, this adorable little music and dance studio in Roscoe Village! It is seriously soo hard to find a music class that starts under 6 months and I was super happy to come across these! We sing songs and each song has a puppet or prop that goes along with it and Brady seems to be loving them! He giggles (yes, he giggles now!) and smiles along with the songs and is very interested in the other babies! I'm a major believer that you should start them nice and early with simple things like singing and being around other children ... and it provides some wonderful mommy/Brady bonding time! 

Just as we were getting into our routine and over our bad luck, it struck again! (I guess when you have a perfect baby, you can have good luck and good health too!)  My trusty little mac decided to have a fatal error taking all of my memories with it! We trucked down to the mac store and I prayed and my prayers were not answered.  Harddrive, for no good reason, decided it was done working.  I had all of my pictures from the last 10 years, over 2300 (mostly illegally downloaded) songs, and all of my documents from forever on the computer and now it was gone.  I cried and desperately called data recovery companies who nonchalantly quoted me $1000-$2000 fees for recovering my data.  Scott rubbed my back and said "You know we're not paying that right" and I shed a few more tears.  And then I wiped my eyes and moved on. Got a new hard drive, thanked facebook for storing a plethora of my pictures, dug out some old discs containing all my college papers and pictures, and started to rebuild my computer.  Luckily, a couple of years ago Scott decided we should just buy new memory cards when our current ones were full and keep the cards in our safe box so I had most of the last couple of years on camera cards.  Our wedding and honeymoon and professional pictures were all on discs.  After much searching and weeding through, it looks like I'm just going to loose most of 2008 (whatever wasn't on facebook anyways).  Which sadly, is a lot of pictures from when Maizy was a puppy! :( Not all of them of course, the best were on the internet, but for every picture published, I had 10 more taken. Sadness! You'd think the first thing I'd do is go out and buy an external harddrive (the one I have for work doesn't work on my mac! grrr) but I have yet to do that ... remember to hit me next time you see me! (I swear, its on the "must do" list this weekend!!) And thanks to the amazingly awesome app senuti, for a mere $20, I downloaded the program and it transferred ALL of my 2297 songs off of my iphone and back onto my computer! Take that apple and your copyright laws!!!  My computer is *almost* back to close to what it looked like!

Annnnd, just as I got over that fiasco, Scott decided to add a little drama of his own and landed himself in the hospital for 3 days (oh yea, pretty sure our medical bills are going to bury us this year!) :(.  He chose to go to Swedish Covenant and I'm telling you, if you get a choice, choose Northwestern.  While both ER's sucked, Northwestern still felt much more like a hotel, while Swedish (albeit he was in the old building) felt like county.  It was scary, not gonna lie. Brady and I set up camp by my parents for a few days because on Halloween (it's getting it's own post, it's coming I promise) I decided we should watch Scream 4, which of course means I'm seeing the Ghost Face everywhere now and staying alone in the condo would have led to many more sleepless nights.  And it worked out fine, because I spent most of the days with Scott at the hospital and only got home in time to give Brade his last bottle of the night and send him off to bed.  (Scott doesn't have his final test results yet but they think he caught c-diff from me and for the record, is home and feeling much better now!)  He got home just in time to celebrate Brady's 3 month birthday with us and we are hoping and praying the worst is behind us. (Praying hard because most nurses seem to agree that if we both had c-diff, it's only a matter of time before little Brademan gets it!)

Soooo as you can see, blogging got pushed to the background -- but here it is -- Brady's 3rd month! (Halloween recap is forthcoming, this was long enough!)  He currently loves to play in his Aquarium playmat, sleep in his big boy bed (all night!), grabs and holds his toys, smiles and giggles, and is getting stronger everyday.  It's so amazing to watch his development right in front of our your eyes!

Now if the Moran's could just stay healthy, we'd be in good shape! :P

To nurse or not to nurse? That is the question ...

*Disclosure -- This post was originally written the last week of Sept. and for some reason not published -- updates to come in future posts*

I have mastitis.  Again.  Awesome.

If you've never had it, I do not wish it upon you.  I would not wish it upon my enemies.  (Ok, I totally would, I'm a pretty mean person.)  If you have had it, well, you understand my pain.  It's painful enough to let your little barracuda suck and pull on your raw nipples, but when a hand touch to your breast is enough to bring a pain tear to your eye, the whole sucking and pulling brings pain to a whole new level.  And pain aside, mastitis is an infection -- and infections take over your whole body.  So now you're in pain, a pain that greatly intensifies every 2-3 hours, AND you feel like you've been run over by a truck and can barely phantom getting out of bed -- much less putting up with a fussy baby.  Add all that to already not loving nursing and it leaves you in a pretty gray state of mind.

My doctors are amazingly sensitive to the situation.  They'll let you cry during a visit and talk out your fears and concerns without judgement.  Which is something that most other don't seem to be able to do.  Everyone has an opinion.  Most opinions fall into the "If it hurts, why are you doing it?" Everything I've read in books and on the internet confirms that breastfeeding was not as common during our mothers generation.  It wasn't pushed as it is now.  I assume because they didn't have the research to back up the facts about the benefits of nursing like they do now.  So many of the generation above us -- including my mother and many of her friends -- are quick to come up with reasons why you should stop, including "are you sure that baby's getting enough to eat, he wouldn't be so fussy if you gave him formula" and of course "if you're uncomfortable, just stop."  Easier said than done.  I dare any of you to google "nursing benefits", read through any website, and then see if you could quit without an intense amount of guilt taking over yourself.

I always said that I would try nursing and if it didn't work out for me or for the baby, that I would stop.  So most of you would probably say, "It hurts, you're not happy with it, you're getting infections, so quit."  And I can tell you, I have seriously thought about it.  I have talked it out with my doctors, I have done research on the nutrients in the different formulas, and <gasp> I have given in and given Brady a couple of formula bottles before bed. (I didn't wean him, I still pumped while he was getting his formula.)  And I felt incredibly guilty.  Each time.

I feel like I should be able to figure it out. Many new moms not only nurse for months (years?), but they go back to work and pump 5 times a day in the bathroom stall at their office just so their little munchkin gets the *best* milk.  I am a almost stay at home mom, my house is a condo and consists of 6 rooms I have to keep clean, and my baby is actually very well behaved, so there is no reason I can't make breastfeeding my "job".  Except that I despise it.  Well I despise actually doing it.  But then when I don't do it and give the baby a formula bottle, I miss it and feel incredibly guilty.  What to do, what to do ...

The good (?) news is you can't quit nursing while you have mastitis.  Well, I mean I guess you can, since it's your boobs and your choice, but it's highly recommend that you do NOT quit until the infection clears up.  On top of the infected milk ducts, the excess of milk in your breasts from lack of nursing will make it worse and could eventually lead to the next step which could lead to surgery blah blah blah. Soooo, I must continue nursing or pumping at least through the next week (my dr. put me on a 3x a day for 7 days antibiotic vs. the 4x a day for 10 days after I told her the frequency of my last batch of antibiotics made me feel like I couldn't breathe the 10 days I took them).  And then next week I would just have to get through the week before it's Brady's 2 month birthday! (Can you believe it?!)  I originally wanted to get to 3 months of exclusive breastfeeding -- well really 6 months but through the holiday season is a bit unrealistic, we enjoy doing a lot and going a lot of places and finding a place to nurse every 3 hours blows.  Now I know it's no longer exclusive since I've introduced some formula, so my new goal was not to start weaning until 3 months.  And I mean, I guess I can do it at this point.  It's 1 more week till his 2 month birthday, then 2 weeks till his next doctor appt where I can talk to his doctor about formula amounts, and then 2 more weeks till his 3 month birthday (I need to work in short term goals.) 

But I wonder if the guilt factor will remain at 3 months.  But would it remain at 6 months if I made it that long? And then a year? Because no offense to those who do it, but I think it's weird when a kid can come up to you and ask to suck on your breast.  So past six months is not something that I'm interested in anyways.  But Scott may not be working soon for a while (its that time of year) so the added expense of formula is a nice burden to not have right now (we have enough free formula that similac sent us in the mail to probably get to the new year if I only give Brady 1 bottle a day or a few a week.)  So what should I do?  Well that's a question no one can answer but me.  Because no one else is feeling the pain, or feeling the guilt, or buying the formula, or looking into their babies eyes when he doesn't get your milk that he's used to.

Mini Milestone!

Today my little Bradester had a little milestone -- he was sitting up holding that heavy little head of his up all by himself!! And he looked very old while doing so. Tear. :(

Now, this is not all new news for us -- just a step up!  I may have shared his very first "head holding" milestone but I'll recap.  The day after Brade was born, Scott and I took him to a sort of "infant care" class in the nursery.  Remember how we wanted to take a new baby class at the hospital pre-baby but then all the drama happened and we never got around to it?  So when our nurse told us they were having a mini version of one in the nursery that day and that we could go, we decided - how perfect! We were still kinda nervous about having to bathe our own baby at home. alone.  And it forced me to get out of bed and walk down the hallway, which was a huge milestone for me post-labor! haha. So we went to the little baby care class and sidenote, it was the best first decision we made as parents.  We walked in with a very fragile baby -- and after Nurse Rita used him as an example and forced us to throw him around a little bit -- we walked out not feeling like we were going to break him with every touch -- and thus became real parents :). 

But anywho, the main point here is while we were in the class, we had to put the baby on tummy time for a minute.  Well Brady, like the other newborns, was lying on his tummy with his head cocked to one side.  Then, unlike the other (non-advanced obvio) newborns, Brady picked his little head up and turned it to the other side! Nurse Rita was very impressed with our little over achiever! As were we! (Clearly, the kid is destined for great things! hehe) But even though he picked his head up on his own and moved it, it did not mean he had total neck control.

But since we've been home, his neck control has been pretty impressive for a newborn.  When he's on our shoulder getting burped or lying on our tummy, he's always picking his head up and swinging it around in a total big baby way.  But if you put him in a sitting position, he acts like a little bobblehead. (A super cute one though!) But then this morning, voila!  Just sitting pretty, head holding up high! Scott was still in bed (rain day!) but I was like "Scott come here quick!" Naturally, he ran in thinking I killed the baby, but was happily surprised to see his big boy just chilling!  My little man is growing up quickly!

I will give him this one milestone because we both really want him to have good neck control (bobblehead babies are scary!).  But that's it. No more growing up quickly!

Oh and remember, if you ever deliver at Prentice and are offered by your nurse to take the baby to the infant care class, do not think you are too good for it -- you might just learn something. (And they're gonna charge you 20 grand either way so you might as well get all you can out of your stay!)

Brady's 1st Bears/Packers Game!

BEAR  DOWN!

Brady's 7th week of life :)

This week Brady was sooo lucky! Daddy got a day and a half off this week extending his jam packed weekend with Mommy and Daddy! Daddy's job got rained out (boo) but then it got nice out and Daddy got to be home!  Brady celebrated with long walks, enjoying the last of the beautiful days this week before that fall chilliness arrived, and lots of cuddling.  He got to visit Mommy's doctors (again!), got to meet more of his "aunts" and "uncles" and got his social security card and ordered his birth certificate ... he's like a real person now! This weekend, he enjoyed a little Apple Fest in Lincoln Square and is gearing up for his first Bears-Packers showdown!   He also got left for the first time alone with Gramma while Dad was at work and Mom got her hair highlighted!  And while Mommy had a super hard time leaving him (though it was nice to blast the radio in the car and sing along again), Brady did not care less and slept peacefully most of the time that she was gone.  Sigh.  On a brighter note, he's also doing lots of smiling and cooing making Mommy smile even more :)  And he's getting very big and grown uppy. (Ok more grown up than a newborn!)

Brady -- 6 weeks old :)

Go Cubs Go!

Yesterday, September 17th, Brady made his first historic trip to Wrigley Field to watch his beloved Cubbies beat the Houston Astros (quite the incredible match-up!) (insert eyeroll).  Nonetheless, the Cubbies DID beat the Astros (even though by the 8th inning the Cubs were 0-9 with players in scoring position and the Astros were 0-11 .. ugh, please baseball president -- start paying players based on performance!), but more importantly, Brady got to experience his first baseball game .. and he did *Awesomely*!  Ironically, the only time during the 8 innings he sat in the stands that he cried was when the Cubs hit a homerun! Our Uncle Tim suggested he was crying because he knew, sadly, it was too little too late this season... once again.  Sigh, one year ... besides, it's totally okay this year because *when* the Cubbies win it all, we want Brady (and all of his siblings) to be able to remember it ...

Anywhooooo, it was a beautiful 70 degree day, a bit chiller in the Wrigley stands as usual, so Brady was bundled up and warm.  He slept on the walk to Wrigley, in his Bjorn, and woke slightly when we entered to stadium to the National Anthem.  During the whole game, he was mostly awake, charming the pants off the ladies and gents next to us, the kids in front of us, and the older people behind us.  Only around the 8th inning did he get a wee bit fussy (don't we all by the 8th inning of a Cubs game this year!) so we walked the boy home.  I was initially nervous about all the noise in the park and if it would effect Bradester, but of course, this kid couldn't care less.  He was all la,la,la the whole time.  Such a trooper! And next year, he'll be old enough to actually cheer on the boys! (They need it!)

For the record, the Cubs ended up winning the game (it was 2-1 Cubs when we left) so Brady must be good luck! ;) Here's some pictures from our wonderful day!

On our way to the game!

Brady (can you spot him) with Daddy and Grampa and Ronnie!

He's thrilled to be at Wrigley, can't you tell?

Brady's 1st Cubs Game!

Check out my Cubs onesie!

With Gramma and Grampa!

Cubs are winning -- all smiles :)

Hey Chicago, whadda say!

Extra bonus! Today, Brady got to watch his first Bears game with Daddy! Sadly, it did not go as well as the Cubs game ... Brady slept through most of the game and da Bears lost. Bummer. BUT Brady looked cute and isn't that most important? ;)

Geez mom, cool it with the pictures, I know I'm a stud!

Bears lose! What! Waaaah! :( (But more importantly Mommy, are you still beating Daddy in fantasy this week?)

First smiles :)

Yes, little guy starting smiling this week! And not in a man-that-was-a-good-poop/fart kinda way! He's such a cutie!! When we get up for our middle of the night feeding (or early morning feeding if Brady's feeling ambitious enough to make it through the night -- more on this in a moment), I like to sit and talk to him after we feed (mostly because after a burp attempt, he's wide awake again and just staring up at me.)  And this week, he decided to make those feedings all the more fun -- by smiling up at momma! :) It's my most favorite thing and oh so ridiculously adorable -- unfortunately, no matter how long he's smiling for, everytime I get the camera, he immediately turns the smile down and its grumpy face! haha. So sorry no pics! I guess you'll just have to come visit him to experience the cuteness! But really, if you haven't seen him a while, you should, he's getting so expressive and fun!

On top of our first smiles, we have a continuing pattern of sleeping almost, if not all the way, through the night!! You may remember that at 1 month, Bradester decided to astound us all and sleep all the way until 7am!! Happy momma!! Over the last week, I have done ONE 2-3am feeding! He still woke up at that time a couple of times this week, but took his pacifier after one try and fell back to sleep for a couple more hours.  He has been waking between 5-7 am the last week for his first feeding! Bliss.  And if he feeds before 7am, I make him go back to sleep for a couple more hours until 9 or 10 --  trying to get him on a mommy preferred schedule! ;)

Also, this week, Brady decided that he was too cool to nap during the day -- at least more than once or twice and for no longer than an hour.  The other day he fed at 7am and did not nap until almost 1, was only asleep for about half hour, was awake again until after 6pm and then again, only napped for about an hour until his 10pm bedtime routine.  Crazy kid! He wasn't even that fussy, until the late afternoon! He hung out with momma and not only did I get a shower in (while he chilled in his bouncer in the bathroom being oh so good!), I made homemade muffins, cleaned most of the house, and had quality mommy/baby time! If I could get dinner on the table, I would be the ideal housewife!  Judge all you want, this new life makes me happy :)

Even though most of the week was chilly (hello fall!) and was spent inside snuggling (and being productive), Brady did get to enjoy an eventful weekend out last weekend! On Saturday, he got to go to his very first block party -- mostly because Daddy wanted to go to his very first block party! -- at Grampa and Gramma's and got to meet the bajillion children that live on their block - including the 3 super cute triplets that live next door to my parents and have provided Bradester with a ton of their cute clothes! How very sad that next year he'll be able to run around and chase the rest of the kids. Tear. 

Brady chillin' at the block party on his Cars chair!

 And then on Sunday, he went to our cousin Jene's wedding shower where he was just an angel sleeping most of the party away ... and looking oh so handsome (of course!) while doing so!

On his way to the shower! (You can't see but he's wearing his super cute sandals!)

Will he be attending his first wedding for Jene next month?? We shall see ...

Baby's first smiles, first sleep through the nights, first i dont need to naps, first parties ... and first scare! Whoops! The other morning Brady drifted off for a short morning nap hanging on the couch in his boppy ... and then Mommy drifted off right next to him.  When I heard his stirring, I woke up and had my head on the side of his boppy.  Brady opened his eyes, stretched, smiled ... such a perfect way to wake ... and then turned his head and saw Mommy -- oh so close! -- and the poor baby jumped a foot, his whole body shaking and immediately shrieked out into crying.  Eek! Mommy totally, unintentionally, scared her poor baby! I'm so sorry Brady! (But seriously, it was kinda funny -- once he stopped crying!)

We're soo excited for this weekend -- its a sports filled one! Wish us luck -- we're attempting to take Brady to his first Cubs Game tomorrow! (Never too young to visit Wrigley!) And on Sunday, the football season starts for us (we were busy with the shower last weekend!) so the little fam is cozying up on the couch, making a turkey (cuz we found one in the freezer and who doesn't love mini thanksgiving!?), and cheering on Da Bears! Family filled weekends are my *fave*! 

Now if I could only find time to go sweater shopping for myself ... sigh.