Brett at 6.5 months

Oh, so you're bored with Brett's new winter hat? That photo contains enough cuteness to sustain you for at least six months, but if you insist on more cuteness, here you go. :)

Brett's new hat

Brett is loving his new winter hat...

Brett's Halloween

Brett ninja'ed it up big for Halloween!




Grandpa! Do not reveal my secret identity!


Even kung fu masters get sleepy sometimes...


Brett joined his cousins in the Halloween fun!

Halloween preview

Here's a sneak peek at Brett in his Halloween costume...He is "Brett (not Bruce) Lee, the Little Dragon."

The second picture is from our Home Group social last Tuesday where the kiddos dressed up!

A Hard Days' Night of the Living Dead

In honor of Halloween, here's a trailer to what must have been a classic horror film...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIWsMKZt3Eg

Brett in nature

My parents grow these plants called elephant ears that have really huge leaves. They'd been talking about wanting to clip one and take Brett's picture on it, because the leaves are about as big as him! Here are the super-cute results...

What's up in Brett's world

So I haven't updated for a while...doc says that one of Brett's hips is normal now, and the other needs just a bit more time in the brace to mature, so he's going to keep wearing the brace at night until mid-Oct., then stop. Then he'll have an x-ray at 6 months and another at one year to make sure everything is still OK.

He went to his first Royals game...

Daddy bought him his own Bumbo chair...

He made his first visit to Home Depot with Daddy...

This is where the term "dead asleep" came from...

Trip to the lake

We went to Table Rock Lake weekend before last with Tim, Ashley and Crosby.


Brett and Crosby let us embarrass them by dressing them in matching outfits...

...for a little while, anyway!

Ready to swim!

God will provide

You always hear that "God will provide," and if you're naturally skeptical like me (or maybe it would be better described in this case as "not very imaginative"), you wonder how on earth it will happen since no one owes me a large sum of money. But maybe it's little things like this. I went to Target today and for some reason they had 84-packs of size 1 Luvs on clearance. For $4.24. It would normally be around $15. No other size was even on sale. There were two packs there, but I did'nt know until I got to the checkout that they were on clearance. Then, it was too late to get the other one without leaving Brett at the checkout, but I got out to the car, drove out of the parking lot, then decided it would be dumb not to get the other one too, so I went back. 168 diapers for like 9 bucks. Indeed, God will provide.

Here are some cute pics I took today:

First shots

Brett had his 8-week check-up today (OK, so he's 10 weeks old, apparently it doesn't matter that much!), which means he had to have 4 shots for vaccinations! I was explaining it to him yesterday and I told him that typically we have a "no needles in the baby" policy, but that we had to waive it for today because the shots were for his own good. He took the first one like a champ, mostly because he was really hungry and they'd just given him an oral vaccine, which worked out well, but then he definitely protested the other three. He has his first little Band-aids. I can't imagine how hard it will be to watch someday when he's in major physical pain, because it was hard enough to watch this. Oh, how I wish there was a way to keep him from ever feeling physical or emotional pain. But, I guess that wouldn't be a normal life.

As an update, he weighed 11 pounds and half an ounce, so he's still doing well gaining weight. His height was 23.5 inches, although neither Craig nor I thought the nurse stretched his legs out all the way, so who knows on that one!

Brett's brace

So we went back to have our second ultrasounds of Brett's hips today and to see the ortohpedic doctor again. He would like Brett to wear the brace, but he only has to wear it at night for right now. Yeah! Then we'll have ultrasounds once a month for the next few months to see if his hips are maturing (How do you know if your hips are immature? Do they make bad choices?) Incidentally, Brett also rolled over for the first time on the doctor's table while we were trying to entertain him for the hour and a half we waited for the doctor. It was totally by accident and I'm not sure he knows how to repeat it, but it was fun!

Here are a couple pics of him in the brace. I can't remember if it was Ashley or Craig who I asked if they thought I could decoupage it. :)

Job decision...

Well, the long-awaited and much-discussed job decision has been made and was officially announced at PV today...I'm going to stay home with Brett full-time! It has been a tough decision. Craig and I have both wanted me to be able to stay home with him, because both our moms were able to stay home and we knew we had benefitted from it, but I so believe it what we're doing at PV that it was really hard to imagine not being a part of the staff anymore.

I am so looking forward to being able to devote myself to Brett full-time, but I never thought that deciding to stay home would be the scarier decision for me. I mean, working full-time is what I know how to do, what I know I'm good at, and where I get a lot of the affirmation in my life. Now it's a whole new ball game. But it is a privilege to be able to take this time to devote totally to Brett, and I hope I never forget that!

Hip dysplasia update

We saw the orthopedic doctor Tuesday, and he'd like to repeat Brett's ultrasounds to be sure he really really needs to have to wear a brace. He said he does not have a hip dislocation, which is more severe, but that his hips are just not maturely developed yet. So, next Tuesday we'll get more ultrasounds, then meet with the doc to see what he'd like to do. He said it would probably look like him wearing this all the time for six weeks to three months. Hopefully he has the same sassy attitude about it as the kid in the picture. That's the next step in our adventure!
This was taken when we took Brett to meet his great-grandma Swanson. Brett has 4 great-grandmas and a great-grandpa. Lucky boy!

Seriously...

...is this kid delightful or what?

Brett's weight update

We went to the doctor yesterday for yet another weight check, and good news! He now weighs 9 lbs 7 oz, which means he's gained 40 ounces per day over the last two weeks, and our doctor likes babies to gain 30 ounces per day. So that means he's gaining what he should as well as catching up some to where he should be. This is probably mostly due to the fact that I've given up breastfeeding, and we are giving him all formula. That was a really hard decision, but it's what's best for him. It's weird, because breastmilk is what's supposed to be best for him, but in this case, what was "best" wasn't actually best because he wasn't getting enough. But he's on track now.

Other less great news is that Brett does indeed have hip dysplasia, which is when the top of the femur bone doesn't attach into the hip joint like it's supposed to. It's because he was breech, and his legs weren't at the correct angle in his hip joints at the time all that was developing. So, we're going to the orthopedic doctor at Children's Mercy next Tuesday for him to tell us what we need to do to correct it. Our pediatrician has said it will likely mean he needs to wear a splint or brace at night for some amount of time. I really hope he doesn't have to wear this (which can be a typical treatment for hip dysplasia). But, as I keep reminding myself, there are parents out there whose children have cancer, so I'm sure as heck not going to complain about this!

Fun at Emily and Josh's wedding

He's a natural!
It takes a village...
Brett decided to make his "evil" face in this one!
Brett! DO NOT spit up on the bride!

Productivity

I was just reading a post on Ashley's friend Sara's blog, and it really struck a chord with me. Sara and her husband just adopted so are going through the same kind of "new parent" adjustments I am right now, and she blogged about productivity, or the seeming lack of it, with a new baby.

I'd have to say I agree that's one of the hard adjustments I'm going through right now too. It is absolutely incredible to me what I haven't been able to get done in the last six weeks, and it's also incredible to me why I care when I have a wonderful, amazing, beautiful boy to spend every day caring for. I would so love to have the perspective to be able to not care whether the house is clean, laundry's done, dishes washed or whatever. But just today I was feeling totally overwhelmed about it again.

Someone I very much respect has told me that if she had one thing to do over again with her kids, she would rock them more. I try to remember that when I get stressed out, but it's not easy. So, let me help my conscience a bit by saying THANK YOU to those people who have given gifts, brought meals or done other nice things for which you have not yet received a thank-you note (it's on the to-do list), thanks for humoring me for my poor judgement in insisting on a complicated birth announcement, those of you who have not yet received one (they're going out in waves), and if you come to our house, please overlook the clutter and dog hair.

pictures of Brett

Hey Swell, there's something new on here finally! :)

A few weeks ago, we had pictures taken of Brett...here is a link to a slideshow the photographer, Alison Demski, put together with some of the pictures. She did a great job, the only question is how we're going to afford all the pictures we want to buy!

Baby Brett is here!

Thank you for the support, visits and prayers surrounding baby Brett's birth! It's good to be home and we are working on getting adjusted to being mom and dad!

We've been mostly just staying at home in the eating-sleeping-diaper change cycle, but we've taken a couple of outings to places that will become important in Brett's life...

Target

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Chipotle