Four weeks old!

Brady was four weeks old yesterday, I can hardly believe it! Here are some pictures from the last couple of days.

Brady's snazzy new bath tub

His morning wake-up face

Meredith got a preview of what's in store for her next month! Brady is ready for baby Sophie to make her debut.

Love those toes!

Sad Brady

Tired Brady

We also had another important milestone this week- our wedding anniversary! We've been married for six years, also hard to believe. Though it wasn't celebrated like it has been in the past (heck, I didn't even have time to write in Pete's card until the next day!), it was special because we got to spend the evening with our son.

Tomorrow we are going to go to WV to introduce Brady to more of his family. Ready or not, here we come!

The parade of visitors continues...

Brady has had a lot of fun meeting some more friends and family. Denise came to visit us on Friday, and she stayed for the weekend. We're really happy because she just got a job offer in the area, so we will soon live a lot closer!

Bethany came over on Sunday, just in time for Brady's lunch. She got to feed him his bottle, but unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures. I'm sure we'll see her again soon, so no worries there.

Today Aunt Nancy Rae came to see us and took us out to lunch. We had a fun time and Brady slept the entire time we were at the restaurant. Which brings me to my exciting revelation: CAR SEAT= HAPPINESS.

I realized late last week that Brady would sleep really well not only in the car, but also would continue to sleep in his seat once we got home. I'm not talking about his usual 20 minute catnaps here, this is the real deal! I tested my theory today. Unfortunately the hiccups prevented Brady from falling asleep on the way to the restaurant, but he was able to recover once we sat down. I just plopped his seat on the table, put his visor down so the light was out of his eyes, and magically he slept. I ate at a nice, leisurely pace, not the one-handed, gulp-it-down-as-fast-as-you-can-even-if-it's-burning-your-mouth dining that I've grown accustomed to.

When we got home, it was time for his lunch so I fed him, rocked him, and when he went back to sleep I put him back in the car seat instead of his pack & play. It worked so well that I was able to carry him downstairs and USE THE ELLIPTICAL MACHINE! Shower! Lunch! Exercise! Today was a victory!

Someone was comfortable in this picture, take a guess who.

Classic Brady pose

The secret to my success.

Brady is clearly very excited that he'll be seeing a lot more of Denise soon.

Brady working his charms on Great Aunt Nancy Rae

More visitors, an outing, and back to work

Brady is a popular little dude! Suzy and Chris stopped by this weekend to see him again (Suzy) and meet him for the first time (Chris).

Brady was making some hilarious faces at Chris. I think Brady was buttering him up in hopes that Chris will take him to see a Nats game!

Yesterday our social worker came to do our first post-placement home visit. We are required to do one of these per month until the adoption is finalized, probably in six months. It was quick and painless, and Brady slept through the whole thing.

Our first attempt at the swing. He's still a little small for it!


Isn't this outfit adorable?

Today Brady and I went to the high school to visit my work family. He was met by a mob of people eager to meet (and hold) him! It was good to see everyone- I've missed them over the past month.

Bernie brainwashing Brady on the merits of UVA over WVU. We'll see about that...

Cathy was excited to finally get her turn with the little man.

Kim-marie, always thrilled to have her picture taken.

This was Pete's first week back to work. Well, technically he worked Thursday of last week, but he had Friday off so it doesn't really count. Monday was quite an adjustment for us. I showered at lightning speed while Brady cried, but I guess at least I showered! Brady likes to sleep in my arms but not in his pack and play, so most of my day was spent rocking him and catching up on reading. It's hard for me to be so sedentary, but I'm learning. Fortunately he sleeps well at night in his crib.

Today was a little better- I was able to get him to lay back down after his 8 am feeding, so I could take a full-length shower and even eat a bowl of oatmeal. We successfully managed an outing, and thanks to Suzy, we had a home-cooked meal! I think tomorrow I'm going to see if he'll nap a little better in his crib instead of in the living room. This may be the secret to a successful day, where more than one thing gets checked off the to-do list.

A family visit

Mom, Steve, and Casey came for a visit on Thursday afternoon. I don't think Brady touched the ground the entire time they were here! He enjoyed the attention and being spoiled. And we enjoyed the extra hands to allow us to get caught up on some things around the house. I even got to go for a run with Steve on Friday, it was great!

Lounging with Nana

Aunt Casey and Brady doing what he loves best

He loves to move those arms and legs

"Woman, get that camera outta my face already!"

His Royal Cuteness

Another traumatic bath time. Brady found a way to get even with us, though (the wet spot on my shirt was not from water, and Mom got it even worse)!

The finished product

Happier times

Awwwww

Laid back

Brady, what else?!

Whew, what a crazy few days it has been! When we got home Monday night, we immediately crashed. We were so relieved to finally be home, but we were also so tired of being on the road. Tuesday and today we mostly played catch-up. We have been taking turns entertaining Brady while the other person vacuums, grocery shops, does laundry, etc. It takes us about quadruple the time it used to to do anything, but we are slowly making progress.

Today was a busy day. We had Brady's 2 week check-up with our pediatrician. I had about 20 questions written down for her, but of course I forgot the list. She was very nice and answered everything we could think of. Brady is doing very well, and is up to 8 pounds now. The only bummer was that they had to re-do the metabolic screen that we had done in FL. Evidently they were not confident that the results would find their way back to VA. Brady was not a happy camper, and neither was Mommy. His poor foot got jabbed over and over. He recovered quickly, though. Nothing a little hugging can't fix!

This afternoon Brady had his first visitors! Aunts Suzy and Kim-marie came by after work. It was fun to show him off, even if he did spit up on Kim-marie's shirt. I'm sure it was nothing personal. I'd love to show you pictures, but I forgot to take any. In fact, I realized tonight that I have not taken one picture since we came home. I guess I've been so busy/tired/insane that it's slipped my mind. Not to worry- Mom, Steve, and Casey are coming tomorrow, and I'm sure the extra hands will help me out tremendously.

Until then, here's a shot from what felt like the longest drive in the history of travel. Don't worry, we were not moving when this was taken!

Home

I only have a minute, but I wanted to let everyone know that we made it home safely. We got here around 10:30 pm on Monday night. Mark was house/pet siting for us, so he got to be the first family member to meet Brady! He took very good care of Lucky and Niles for us, and it was a huge relief not having to worry about them. He even made us a very yummy roast for dinner on Tuesday.

We've been busy since Mark left trying to get laundry done and cleaning up a little before the visitors start arriving. I haven't taken any pictures since we've been home, but here is one that Mark took while we were gone. He totally spoiled Lucky- I think Lucky has found a new best friend!

Happy Mother's Day

We spent my first Mother's Day on the road. And Brady made his public debut at a McDonald's. So sorry we don't have pictures of either monumental event! ;)

We got a later start than we had hoped, and the driving was slow-going. We stopped every three hours to feed Brady, and usually each stop lasted about 45 min - 1 hour, so you can see how the length of our trip increased quickly! We stopped for the night in Savannah, GA around 9:00 pm. I'm not sure if we will be able to make it the rest of the way home tomorrow or not... it'll just depend on how early we can get on the road and how often Brady gets hungry.

Happy Mother's Day, everyone! Gotta go wash some bottles...

Homeward Bound

We got a call from the agency on Friday at 5 pm that we received our approval to travel home! Unfortunately it was not enough notice for us to get on the road this morning, so we are going to leave tomorrow (Sunday) morning. We are going to split the drive up this time, so we probably will arrive home on Monday night.


Here are a couple of shots from our last few days.

Bath time!

Chillin' like villians

The view from the lanai on the condo. So relaxing!


Brady's first trip to the beach for a quick photo shoot.

First pediatrician visit

Yesterday was Brady's first visit to the pediatrician. It was a long day, because we also went back to the hospital where he was born for bloodwork. And while we were up that way, we stopped by the hotel where we stayed to collect the entire drawer full of stuff that we forgot to take with us. What can I say- my mind wasn't totally focused on packing the morning we checked out, haha!

Brady weighed in at 7 lbs, 6 oz yesterday, which was good. If I'm reading the graph correctly, he is at the 25th percentile for weight, 75th percentile for length, and 20th percentile for head circumference.

The doctor was pleased with Brady's exam. It sounds like he is doing very well. He received his first immunization and turned a color of red that I have not seen before on his little face. Not happy! But other than that, Brady was very tolerant of the exam. What a good boy he is! He even slept for most of the car ride, which was about 5 hours total. Let's hope he continues to be such a good traveler. We have lots of family and friends who want to meet him!

We don't have many pictures to post since we spent most of the day on the go. I'll try and make up for it next time. :)

No news yet on when we might be able to leave. I'll probably check in with the agency at the end of the week if we haven't heard anything by then. Our time in FL has been great so far, though. The condo has been a wonderful temporary home for us, and I'm always happy to spend time in the warm sunny weather!

It's Official!

Hi all! Sorry for the delay in posting, but finding internet has proved more challenging than we expected! Never fear, though- the library is only around the corner. Now, where did we leave off?

Friday morning was a BIG day for our new family of three. BM signed her adoption papers around 8:00 am, and then we followed with ours around 9:00 am. I thought I was surely going to pass out from the anxiety that morning, but everything worked out just fine, the way was it was supposed to!

Brady was discharged around 11:00 am. Here is our first shot as an official family, just before we left the hospital.

And here he is all ready to roll in the car seat. The trip to the condo was about two and a half hours, and fortunately he slept through the entire trip.

This was his first bottle outside of the hospital. Hooray!

Here are some more pictures of the cutie, mostly eating and sleeping since that's really all he does. :)

We are all doing very well. Brady continues to be a good eater, usually every 3-4 hours. He likes to be held, which works out well for all of us! Diaper changes are a bit of a challenge, but we're getting faster. We're also learning how to stay out of the "line of fire." I think we are going to try to give him a sponge bath today, so that should be interesting.

Tomorrow is his first visit to the pediatrician, and we're excited about that. Not so much about the car ride, but maybe we'll get lucky and he'll sleep through it again.