Birthday Boy Hubby

Ryan just had his birthday and can now rent cars without paying extra for his youth! Yay! Here in Sugar Land we were having flash flood warnings and pouring rain all day (fall out from Hurricane Alex), but that didn't stop us from venturing to Red Robin for his birthday dinner.
Bella was excited to see Jayhawk there (she thinks the Red Robin mascot is a Jayhawk- Ryan has brainwashed her) and had all kinds of fun around the restaurant while I fed Braxton. Ryan had registered on the Red Robin website and so they gave him a free meal on his birthday. Yayhoo!
We love you honey! Happy Birthday!

Blessing Suit

I know this is a little out dated (in proportion to Braxton's life span thus far, 1 month is a long time), but here is a belated picture of Brax in his baby blessing outfit. My mom made it for him and he was super cute in it. I would love to tell you that his blessing was amazing and inspiring, but the truth is that I couldn't hear much of it over Bella yelling, "What eee Daddy doeee?" over and over until the blessing was over.

Braxton is now 5 months old and he is still as sweet as ever. We started feeding him rice cereal a week ago and he is such a good eater! He doesn't clamp his mouth shut to prevent food from entering. He doesn't grab the spoon and fling it all over me and the wall and everything else within a 5 foot radius, and he swallows more than he regurgitates. It's amazing. Bella could absorb a few of those qualities and I wouldn't complain.

Nice to Meet You

My Dad had a connecting flight here in Houston on his way to, and from, Ireland. On his way there we went to meet him at the airport, but his flight came late and he had to run to catch his next flight, so we didn't get to see him. Luckily he missed his original flight on his way back through and his new itinerary included a 3 hour layover here. Ryan was recovering from driving 40 hours in the past 3 days, and Bella was recovering from church (Sundays are hard on her sleep schedule), so I let them sleep and took Brax out to meet his grandpa. I think they liked each other. Love you Dad!

Also, my sister Julia came home from her mission the next day. I wish we were close enough to go see her, but that will have to wait until September. Welcome home Sis!

Memorial Day Memories

Sad news: my sister broke her hip.
Good news: she had to take 3 weeks off of work and got to go visit her mother-in-law, whom the couple hasn't seen since their wedding, almost a year ago.
Good news: her mother-in-law lives in Texas, just 4.5 hours from Houston.
Good news: her husband has a brother and sister-in-law who aren't opposed to near-strangers staying in their house, and they also live in the Dallas area.
Good news: we don't have to pay for a hotel and we can see my sister shuffling around with her walker first hand.
What a fun weekend! I was so happy to see Alicia and get to know Ryan and his family better. Being so far from family has made the opportunities to see them much more valuable to us.

Brax's 4 month check up

I realize that many of my posts are Bella-centered, so here's one for Braxton.
Saturday was his 4 month birthday and today we had his checkup. The stats look like this:

Weight: 12 lbs 11 oz (10th percentile)
Height: 24.75 inches (50th percentile)
Head: I don't remember (25th percentile)

Brax started rolling from stomach to back the other day. He did it about ten times in a row. He is still the best baby in the world, as in- if every other baby I might have were guaranteed to be like him, I would pop them out in a flash. He loves to talk (so far it's a lot of ooooooooooh ooooooooooooh oooooooooh) and smile. For some reason he loves getting dressed. He puts on the biggest grin every time I pull something over his head. He is super patient with his hyperactive big sister, even when she sits on him and tackles him (her version of a hug and kiss).
We love you Brax!