A Mover and A Shaker

It's official! Branner is finally mobile! After about three months of trying to perfect his crawling technique, he is cruising around on the floor with ease--doing what I like to call the scoot-scoot. He pulls himself around using his arms and rarely uses his legs. He has killer upper body strength! He is now into everything and is almost pulling up. I am constantly chasing him around these days, but I love it! Diaper changes and getting clothes on him are presenting new challenges, however...

Blowing Rock Wedding Weekend

Branner's babysitters

Hanging out downtown

View from the deck

At "our" church

This past weekend, we packed our bags yet again and hit the road to Blowing Rock to attend the wedding of Jessica Croom and Trevor Watson. We stayed in a huge house close to town with the Andrews, Kimels, Pattersons, my parents and of course, Bailey. We hung out at the house while everyone was at the Rehearsal Dinner and after party Friday night and enjoyed some delicious a Mellow Mushroom pizza. I can't wait until the new MM opens in Myers Park! Saturday, we went into Blowing Rock for lunch at Six Pence Pub, a little shopping and a little walking around downtown. We were going to take Branner to swing at the park, but that will have to wait for our next trip because Branner was ready for a nap after the morning's activities. Branner had two babysitters who entertained him while we attended the wedding festivities Saturday evening. It was a special wedding to us because both the wedding and reception were held where we had our own wedding almost four years ago. We had (a little too much fun)! The bride was beautiful, the ceremony was great and the reception was a blast. It was so nice to see lots of familiar faces! We can't wait to take Branner back to the mountains this fall! He really seems to love it there!

Sippy Cup

I have started the introduction of the sippy cup. Right now, Branner thinks it is more of a toy than something to drink out of, but I plan to work on that some more this weekend and next week. Happy weekend, everyone! We are off to Blowing Rock for Jessica and Trevor's wedding!

Sick Baby

This past weekend, we experienced another "first". However, this one was not so pleasant. Branner had his first fever. When he got up from his morning nap, he was radiating heat. I could tell just by picking him up that he was running a fever. Out came the thermometer, and it was confirmed. His temperature was 101. Our doctor's office is open on Sundays, but this was at 10:50, and they closed at 11. Luckily, Barry and I had already broken out our baby Bible, "Baby 411," and felt comfortable per the advice in the book not taking him to an urgent care center. We gave him Tylenol and decided to wait it out. He still had a fever Monday morning, but I spoke with a triage nurse, and she did not recommend that Branner come in unless his fever persists for more than 3 days. His fever broke on Monday, and he seems to be on the mend. Poor guy!!

7 Months Old!

Seven months have now passed since we welcomed our precious boy into this world. The days, weeks and months are passing by at warp speed. While we have had several cases of the teething fussies, but no actual teeth are in sight, Branner continues to be a sweet, happy, FUN baby. We are so blessed! Likes: Doing the "scoot-scoot" (his current version of crawling), sitting up, bath time, books, Bailey, Chloe, Dylan, petting Bailey, his Blackberry and remote, drooling, grabbing faces and teeth, watching Yo Gabba Gabba, talking, chewing on everything in sight, being the center of attention, being on the go. Dislikes: Diaper changes, being still for any amount of time, teething. Clothing sizes: 9 and 12 months. Diaper size: Holding at 3. Sleep pattern: 7:00 pm-7:00 am with 1 night feeding. Food: Formula and a wide variety of fruits, veggies and grains (too many to list).

Holden Beach Trip

We are just back from spending 10 days at Gigi and Big Papa's beach house. We had so much fun! Between splashing in a baby pool with Branner and swinging him in his swing at the house, hanging on the beach, relaxing in the sun on the back deck, reading, boat rides, wave runner rides, tubing and yummy lunches at the Provision Co., the trip was a success! Unfortunately, Branner got completely off his normal schedule and was asleep by 6:00 or 6:30 every night and up by 6:00 or 6:30 every morning. Mommy does not function well that early in the morning! The one plus about being up that early is that I was able to make time for exercise 7 out of the 10 days we were there, taking Branner on 3 or 4 mile walks before it got unbearably hot out. We will be working very hard this week to get back into our regular routine. We are hoping to make a couple more weekend beach trips before it gets too cold. We love warm, lazy days at Holden!

Plank Pose

While we were in Raleigh Saturday night visiting Kendra and Jason, Branner decided to show off a new move he has been working on. Kendra caught it on her camera. He's never done this before, but it is hysterical! I knew he loved yoga when I was going to all those prenatal classes!