Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone! It feels weird to be celebrating in another country and also for the fact that the weather is so great here, yesterday I had flip flops on and a short sleeve shirt while driving with the windows down. Braydon has already gotten four presents and a stocking and still has a ton to open as well as another stocking. That little boy is so spoiled but we all just love to spoil him.

Today is Christmas Eve and we are just spending it at home the three of us. I'm baking cookies and making dinner. Tonight after Braydon goes to bed Santa will put more toys under the tree for him.

Tomorrow we will be spending Christmas Day with friends. That's after we let Braydon open all of his many gifts. This will be a good Christmas but next year hopefully we will be home spending Christmas with all of our family.

Updates

Braydon is just changing every day. He now has three teeth on top and two on the bottom. He is also scooting all over the place. I can't take my eyes off of him...one second he is in front of me and the next he is on the other side of the room. We had Chris's command children's party last week and Braydon got to meet Santa for the first time. I thought he would be afraid because I hated Santa for a long time, but not this little guy. I placed him on Santa's lap and he tried to eat his beard! That child will try to put anything in his mouth. We put our tree up after Thanksgiving and Braydon wasn't very interested in it, he does like the lights but doesn't try to grab the tree or anything (which is great). However, the other morning my little scooter kept pulling himself over to the gifts and trying to open them. Every time I picked him up and placed him on the other side of the room he would find his way back. He eventually managed to open one of the presents slightly and take another out of a gift bag, good thing they were for him and not Chris or I.

This past Thursday was the command party for adults. We left Braydon with a babysitter for only the second time in his life. I was nervous about it, but figured he would be alright. Well I was wrong. The babysitter came over at 5pm and we showed her around and Braydon was smiling at her. We left at 5:15pm and she was giving him a bottle. We told her he gets dinner at 6pm and then goes to sleep at 8pm so she didn't have very long to really keep him entertained. We got home at 12pm and asked her how everything went. Well apparently he cried for over an hour after we left and nothing she did calmed him down. She finally put him in his crib around 6pm and he went to sleep and slept all night. He did wake up after she left and we where home for a while. We changed him, gave him a bottle and he went right back to sleep. I guess my guy had a little bit of separation anxiety. We will have to get him used to Mom and Dad going out once in a while or else we will really have trouble on our hands when he gets older.

That's all to report now. Chris has his birthday next week and I finish my law class so I'll be able to update more often once that's over. Enjoy the photos!

Sleep Training

Well it's happened, Braydon is finally sleeping in his own crib. I know most of you who know me are probably saying "it's about time", but I wasn't ready until now. We ordered this book "Sleeping Through The Night" to help us with the transition. That book was awesome and very helpful. We decided to try the move over this long weekend because then we all could get extra sleep if needed. Here's how the plan worked:

1st night - fell asleep downstairs on the couch at 8pm; moved to crib at 10pm; cried for 10 mins and I went in and comforted him; another 10 mins later I went back in and comforted him; when I was getting ready to go back after another 10 mins he was asleep. He slept until 8am never even waking for a bottle.

2nd night - this was Thanksgiving and he fell asleep in the car on our way home. We moved him from the car to the crib at 10pm; he was awake but never cried just fell asleep and woke at 6am.

3rd night - we gave him his bottle downstairs and then took him up after he finished the bottle. It was 8:30pm and he cried for about 3 mins and then fell asleep until 5am. We gave him a bottle at 5am and he fell back to sleep in our bed.

It looks like the sleep training is working and he is sleeping a lot better (so are Mommy and Daddy). He still takes his naps downstairs with us because he likes taking several quick little naps and that's what the couch is for. Maybe as he gets older we will transition the naps to the crib, but for now we are happy with him sleeping at night in his crib.

This is what tired looks like

Braydon spends time with his Dad in the evenings while Chris plays guitar. Last night he was so sleepy he couldn't stay awake, even though the music was playing. Chris called me upstairs to catch this. He woke up briefly while I was taking pictures, but as you can see he went right back to sleep. Children can sleep in the most uncomfortable positions.

6 Month Dr. Visit

Last Friday Braydon had his 6 month Dr. visit. I know I'm a little late in posting it but this week's homework was a killer. 4 chapters in one week!

My little boy is 6 months old...can you believe it? He has changed so much since he was born. He now weighs 21.7 lbs. and is 27" tall. He is in the 90th precential for both his height and weight. This time he was a champ for his shots. It's so cute to watch him roll around on the floor and bounce in his jumperoo. He now gets three meals a day of solids and I swear he could eat my hand off. I can't seem to get the food into his mouth quick enough. He loves everything he eats his favorites are Pears, Sweet Potatoes, Peas and Carrots. The only thing he doesn't like is the oatmeal no matter how hard I try to get him to eat it he just won't. He got several shot's this time because he needed the flu shot. He goes back in two weeks to get his flu shot booster and then in another two weeks for the H1 N1 shot and after that another two weeks for the H1 N1 booster. Basically he has shots every two weeks for the rest of the year.

We are having Thanksgiving at a friends how next week so that will be nice. I'm really looking forward to the deep fried turkey we are having. Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for this year and couldn't imagine my life without Braydon or Chris.

Halloween

It was Braydon's first Halloween. We decided to dress up as a family of Superhero's. Dad went as Batman with Braydon as his sidekick Robin, and I went as Supergirl. On the Friday before Halloween Chris's command had a party for the kids. All the kids were dressed up and they had games and a parade for the kids.

On Halloween the kids went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and we sat outside and handed the candy out to the kids. Braydon was a huge hit and some kids were scared of Chris's Batman.

Next year Chris already has our costumes picked out. We decided that next year we will also take Braydon trick-or-treating since he will be 1 1/2 and able to actually enjoy it somewhat.

Back Home in Italy

After a long day of travel we arrived back to Italy last night. We tried to keep Braydon up as long as possible so his sleep didn't get too messed up. But have you ever tried to keep a 5 1/2 month old awake when he is sleepy? Let me tell you it is not easy and it can cause a headache. It didn't help that last night our time changed so we gained an hour. We gave him a bath which usually he likes but not last night. Finally we gave in and put him down at 8pm which was really 7pm. He didn't sleep really good last night but he did sleep. Chris and I tried to stay awake as long as possible too, but I just couldn't do it. I managed to stay awake for an hour after Braydon by unpacking the bags. We did all manage to sleep all night (with a few times for bottles in between). Today has been spent doing laundry and catching up on things after being gone so long.

The weather isn't too much better then it was back in Chicago. It is warmer but we are heading into our rainy season so it's not very pretty outside. We don't get snow though and it doesn't get too cold so that is something I'm looking forward to. Braydon will only get to experience the snow if we take him up to Mt. Etna or to Germany durning the winter.

We have a busy next few months with Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Plus I go back to school the week after next and Chris will be very busy with work. Hopefully the time goes by fast because I'm already missing everyone from home. We will be back for Braydon's first birthday and his christening.

I've uploaded all the pictures from our trip. Most seem to be of Braydon and of his cousin Hayden (it was her first birthday while we were home). Just click on the picture above and it will take you to all of them.