Braden is a month old!

This past Monday Braden celebrated his 1 month old birthday! Time is going by so fast it seems. He is still a great baby and has had a steady routine since he came home from the hospital. He still sleeps a lot but is definitely becoming more alert. He is still a great eater (every 2-3 hours...whew!) and I think it shows. He looks like he is storing nuts for the winter! LOL! He sleeps after all of his feedings at night which has been a lifesaver. He is sleeping in the bouncy seat on our bed and that has seemed to work very well so far. The Mama in me hasn't wanted to put him in his bed just yet. I think the time is coming though because Brad is tired of sleeping on the couch. Ha! He just cant sleep through all of his grunts and noises. Sometimes he literally wakes him up from all the way upstairs. If you think I am kidding you should hear him. He is so loud. I just don't remember Connor making all of these noises. Everything is going good, but I am still trying to get the hang of having two to take care of. It is so hard to get things done and most days it is like 2 pm before I am out of my pj's. Ha!

Rocky Top you'll always be HOME SWEET HOME to me!

Last weekend we decided to be brave and take Connor and Braden (who was 3 weeks) to the UT game. It was an early morning...I got up to feed Braden at 3:30, went back to bed for 30 minutes and had to get up at 4:45 to get my shower and we were leaving around 5:30 our time. To think that we had to leave this early and we barely made it for the game festivities! Braden was a trooper and slept almost the entire time in his carrier, but boy was it hot. The weather was actually very pleasant but when you have a little furnace strapped to your chest it can get pretty steamy! We got lots of crazy looks and several oohs and aahs :) Connor was great too and got compliments on how well behaved he was at the game. We had a plan to stay until around half time and we laughed when Connor looked at us with 1:41 to go until half time and said, "I think I am ready to go now." LOL! He did great though and LOVED it! He asked us if we could get him a helmet so he could play football for "Tenn-see". We are working on ordering a full uniform for our little Vol. Let me tell ya how weird it was walking around campus with a three year old and one strapped to my chest. Ha! I really feel old. Connor and Daddy got to watch the Vol Walk while I fed Braden in the car and we all got to see the band walk down (my fav!). I did walk through the Architecture building (where I pretty much lived while I was in school) since we were parked in their parking lot and it looked and even smelled the same. Ha! Brought back many memories, some good some bad. We had a great time and cant wait to visit Rocky Top again very soon!

Waiting to see the band!
We got to see Pete's garbage truck while we were there too! Unfortunately Uncle Pete was not there :(

Look at him just a snoozing!

Trying to pass the time...

It was getting a little hot so I let him air out a bit.

Braden did manage to do a little cheer! Go Vols!

...but mostly this is what he did the entire time.

Connor had been waiting the entire time for...drumroll please...Tennessee popcorn!

Fun at Nonna's!

Last week Brad had to leave town for three days...SO we packed up the car and headed to Nonna's. I also got a lesson on how hard and time consuming it is to pack for two kids, one of them being a newborn. I felt like we were moving there by the time I was done :) We had a great time while we were there. Mom and Dad had just decided to sell the house, so we looked through some of my old things and found my HS softball uniforms, a cheerleading skirt, Senior scrapbook, cap and gown, diploma, and several of my old hats. Connor took a liking to one of them and insists on wearing it around. Ha! Needless to say I went home with my wedding dress and several other things. We hope they are able to sell their house soon since they will be moving just 15 minutes down the road! Yippee! For those of you who dont know, they are going to build on my grandparents farm. I just know the boys are going to have a blast there someday very soon!

While we were there, we went shopping, I was able to have my first car ride by myself to the post office and enjoy the peace and quiet! The things we take for granted... We also had a little photo shoot one day and I love the pics that I got. Connor is rarely in the mood for pictures but when I mention him taking them with his little brother, he jumps at it! We stayed until Saturday morning so that we would be an hour closer to Knoxville since we were taking the boys to their first UT football game. We fully intended on getting our stuff on our way back into town and going home but we were so pooped we decided to stay another night. I am sure that when we pulled out on Sunday, they were happy to get some peace and quiet themselves! Ha!

Love this one of my Dad and Braden!

Life with two boys!

I am slowly but surely getting used to the fact that I have "2" boys to take care of now. It hasn't been as bad as I thought, but that is mostly due to the fact that Braden is a great baby and Connor is such a helpful big brother! Connor is doing great with the changes going on in our house but mostly just wants his brother to grow up fast so that he can play with him. He said to me the other day that he wanted a brother. I was like, "Connor, you have a brother remember?" and he says, "Oh well, I meant a BIG brother." I had to explain to him that HE is the big brother and that he was very special because he was chosen to be the big brother to Braden.
I am doing well and feel fully recovered from the surgery, although I won't go to the doctor until 8 weeks post op. I have already taken both kids out by myself a few times and have managed to be on time which was a major victory! Braden went back to the doctor and he was up to 10 lbs and 1 oz last Monday. Such a big boy! I feel like I completely bypassed the whole newborn stage. LOL!
Here are some pics from the last few weeks.

All the boys in my house...minus our dog Cooper.

Helping give brother a bath.

Braden LOVES bathtime!

and actually likes tummy time!

So strong already!

It was a challenge to get both boys to cooperate for a picture...the best we could do!

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures!

We have had so many pictures made lately...first we had Braden's newborn pictures in the hospital, then a few days after being home we decided to try out Portrait Innovations since they had sent us a coupon and it was a good way to get some cheap pics of the boys. Then we went to our photographer who did all of Connor's pics and had family pics made and more pics of Braden. They all turned out great now I have to figure out where I am going to put all of them, not to mention what I am going to do with all of Connor's pics. Have to make room for Braden now...:) I will probably have to do a couple of posts to get all of these in. I will try to post my favorites, well actually I will probably just post them all since they are all my favorites! :)

This is Braden's hospital pic. 3 days old in this picture.

These were taken at Portrait Innovations...Braden is 1 week and Connor is 3 1/2.