Professional Pictures

We got some professional pictures taken of Braden over a week ago when he was almost 7 months. We just saw them for the first time. The slideshow brought tears to my eyes. It made me realize how big our little guy is getting and how proud and lucky I am to not only be his Mom but to experience the joys of motherhood. No matter how tired I am (it's been a no-sleep week for me) or how rough the week is, these pictures just make me smile and melt my heart! The song that goes with it is so fitting. Our photographer Cari did a really great job. Braden was wonderful for his pictures. He was happy and smiley the entire time- until the very end when it was literally his nap time (that's the one pic of him crying). Cari said he made her job easy! What a fun day- getting his pictures professionally done and looking on as he enjoyed every minute of it!

Feel free to check the slideshow out on the following link (then hit play):

http://carimcglynn.myshowit.com/hammond

7 Months Young

With the excitement of the Twins game last week on Braden's seven month birthday- I neglected to make an official seven month post! We can't believe that it has been seven months since Braden joined our family. Here are some updates on our big boy!
Braden's personality is really starting to shine. He is a happy, silly and smiley boy who loves to play games like peek-a-boo and play independently with his rings and blocks. He also loves the exersaucer where he can stand up like a big boy and spin around and play with all the fun gadgets.

He also flips onto his belly and tries to crawl. It looks more like swimming but in the past couple of days he has learned to push backwards a little. He gets frustrated easily that he can't crawl so he will start to cry but he is really trying. His favorite position is standing- he smiles immediately if you take his hands and stand him up. He will take steps forward.

He is saying "ba ba" and "ma ma". He is pretty vocal! He is rolling his tongue which is hysterical (neither one of us has a Spanish accent- ha). He loves the park- checking out the other kids, swinging and riding the little motorcycle. He drinks four bottles a day and eats two foods- a fruit in the morning and a veggie with dinner (babyfood obviously.) He still takes three naps- a morning nap, an afternoon nap and one little catnap at about 5:30 or so but we are trying to phase that one out soon..probably when we get home from vacation. He sleeps 11 straight hours at night- wonderful! Once in a while we will have to go in and flip him back over (he will have gone to his stomach and woke up scared) and give him his paci and he goes back to bed. We are so lucky to have such a great baby! He is so much fun and we love watching him grow, change and become a person with a personality.

His aunt Jess came over this weekend and babysat so we could go out to dinner- the first person to put him to bed at night other than us. He did great and we are trying to get him more used to having others take care of him in preperation for our five day trip in a couple of weeks!

I am sure soon enough I will be writing a post saying that he crawled! He is very motivated and very strong. He loves going new places and checking out all the people! Right now he loves dogs- he stares and smiles at them. He likes walks in the stroller (but after about 45 mins he likes to be held or to come out of the stroller.) He loves touching everything, holding things and putting them in his mouth. He is an inquisitive little boy who loves learning! Happy seven months Braden, how did we get so lucky!??!?! You are so much fun and motherhood is more than I ever had imagined!
We look forward to this summer and all the fun that it will bring.

First Twins Game

Baseball buddies!
Braden joining the crowd in a big cheer!
The awesome view from our seats!

Braden turned 7 months old yesterday so we celebrated with a family day at the Twins game! It was Braden and Mom's first time at the new stadium. What a beautiful day it was! Of course, Dad has been there about four times by now but he was lovin' showing his son his favorite sport. Joe of course is a die hard Brewers fan, but Braden showed up in a Twins outfit courtesy of Mom. :) I think it's only fair that he can support the MN team- afterall his Mom is a Twins fan, born and raised in MN, and Braden lives in MN...c'mon, he can't be all WI! But, the war will continue and the WI influences will be ten-fold as he gets older I am sure.

Braden loved all the action at the game. We aren't sure if he even saw the baseball part of it, but he loved the people and all the sights to take in. He did a great job considering we were there for three hours! It did get a little hot up in our seats in the sun for him and he did get a little restless, so I spent a couple of hours walking and holding him (and he took a half hour snooze too) so needless to say, I didn't get to watch much of the game or relax! But, no worries- next time we will go without Braden and have a date night at the ballpark. Yesterday we had a fun time as a family of three enjoying the beautiful day and the beautiful stadium. Oh, and he was a crowd pleaser too- so many people stopped to see him and adore his smile. He is already a social butterfly- hmmm, maybe a Mom trait more so than Dad? :)

Little Golfer

I know Joe is heavily influencing Braden on his love of Baseball...but I think he looks really adorable as a little golfer. Hmmmmmm, golf and baseball are during the same season. :)