Sharing

On Sunday we celebrated Scott's birthday at Flying Pie Pizza. There Brayden got time with more family members.

First he got time with his great aunt Judy.

The grandparents didn't fight too much about who got to hold him! I guess Mickey won!

This past week Brayden has realized that there is more going on in this world. Toys exist! The problem is that in the past all toys that rattled were Rieslings. Now, any time we play with toys that make noise I have to have a talk about sharing.

To end the week Brayden had his first play date. Millie came over for a walk with her mom. Millie is a little over a week older than Brayden. Since he has had practice sharing with Ries, he was very kind with Millie.

A Chat With Brayden

Brayden is becoming quite the talker. I wonder who he learned that from? Here is an example of his recent conversation with me.

Grandma and Grandpa Roth Visit

This week was big for Brayden. He got to meet his grandparents on the Roth side. As you can tell by the photos it's been a very dull week.

It began with dinner at Indian food.

Brayden didn't like it, he thought it needed more spice!

Thursday Scott cooked a great salmon dinner. Aunt Judy joined us!

\On Saturday the weather was beautiful, so we headed to a new resort in Newberg, The Allison. As the name implies, it's a beautiful place. Haha!

Brayden was so tired after a busy day of photos, cards, and wine.

Is no news good news?

We're not totally sure. Today was a day of mixed emotions as we went in for an ultrasound and a visit with Dr Lashley (Brayden's pediatric urologist). We thought we'd have a clear understanding of what surgical procedures he would need and when he would need them, but unfortunately the doctor still needs some more information and additional tests to be run over the next few weeks. The right kidney is still multi-cystic and not functioning at all, and the left kidney still has a severe blockage but he needs to check his blood levels again and do some tests to see how quickly or slowly the kidney is draining fluids. Hopefully with that information, he'll be able to make a call on what the next step is.

 

All this said, Brayden still continues to be a really happy baby and by looking at him and being around him you wouldn't ever know that anything is wrong - we're so grateful for that! Please continue to pray for Brayden's development, Dr. Lashley's ongoing assessment, and our patience/peace of mind as we're getting a bit frustrated with not knowing the path forward and having to take Brayden in to be poked and prodded over and over again.

 

We did manage to have some fun while all the official people were out of the room, hopefully they didn't try to read the ultrasound that I gave him, maybe that's why Dr Lashley didn't get all the informaton he needed!

Bingold Visit

Brayden loved meeting an older woman recently. Caroline Bingold rocked his world. She can walk, babble, and wears cute outfits. She is the complete package. Her parents aren't too bad either. :)

Just like in high school, Joe and Allie. (Well, maybe a little different!)

We loved thier visit and can't wait to meet baby boy Bingold soon!

Brayden's First Wing

Brayden and I have been enjoying some good quality dad/son time over the past couple of weeks. We've started running together, watching a lot of football and basketball, and started a Saturday morning tradition of going to our neighborhood donut spot (the whole family benefits from that!)

Tonight I'm proud to announce that Brayden had his first official wing outing! The Provost's met us at Fire on the Mountain and Brayden made his dad proud - he didn't care much for the BBQ wings and just went straight for the hot ones!

One proud papa!



Family picture! Note the beautiful jewlery from Nancy that Allie is sporting.

Mary, Tim, and Andrew tried to feed him a wing!

A New Friend

Brayden has been very busy being cute.

Yesterday he made a new friend. Brayden was very impressed how big his new friend Liam is.

Liam tried to make Brayden feel better about being little. Liam is a good role model!

Smiling

Brayden is just learning how to smile. He's been trying for about a week, but it's a lot of work for a 5 week old. He is sort of excited to do something Riesling can't. At this point Ries has been a bit smug because she can do more than Brayden. She knows her name, can bathe herself, can use the bathroom on her own, and walk around. Brayden can't do any of that. But, as of this week, Brayden can smile! We keep telling Brayden not to get down on himself, soon he will be able to do more things than Riesling. Until then, Riesling has bragging rights.

Beef Cake!

In 5 weeks Brayden has gone from 6lb 8oz to 10 lbs 11oz! Scott is going to get this baby on the competitive eating circuit soon!

Milk, it does a body good!

When you are this big it's important to relax!

Ries loves to help bathe Brayden!

One Month Old!

Brayden is been growing a lot and is getting more alert. While he's not talking yet, he should start smiling soon! This was the first week that Scott had to travel out of town. Both Brayden and I dearly missed Scott, but the saddest was Ries.

Brayden crashed his first book club. I'm ashamed to report that he didn't read the book in advance.

Brayden loved 'seeing' his two friends, Kingston and Baby Girl Trihub

    

He has fond memories of these two...

Weekly he has a date with Baby Girl Trihub while her mom, Katie, chaperones.

Brayden is a very active baby, he loves to cause a ruckus!

He must get his wild streak from spending time with his dad.

Riesling continues to wish that we would leave him some place. When we come home she always checks the car seat to see if her wish has come true.

Can you tell who he looks like?

Here is a picture we found that we think looks like Brayden!

What do you think?

Can you see it?

Do you think this is a picture of Allie or Scott?

Despite the short hair, it's........

Allie!

Snow and Suarez

On Tuesday I decided with was time for Brayden to go on his first solo car ride with his mother. After spending too much time making sure I had everything packed I realized we were low on newborn diapers. Since we were going to be out and about I added that to my ever growing list. As mom and baby head out for their first ever adventure together it began to snow. For those of you not in Portland you need to know that when it snows in Portland the whole city closes down. We don't have enough plows or competent drivers when it snows. Knowing that I had a newborn in the car and being one of those people who can't drive in the snow I had a huge dilemma to face; should I rush home, or rush to a store to get the diapers and then head home? I decided to take on the falling snow and grab the diapers! After that I cautiously drove home and kissed the dry pavement of my parking spot once I got home. Then I walked in cool and collected and showed Scott the diapers and the baby that was in one piece.

Brayden doesn't fit in his outfit, but we had to capture the first snow experience!

Can you see how excited he is!?!

Playing in the snow with Mom

Gotta get a picture with Dad!

For New Years Eve we did our 3rd annual Pub Crawl. With a 3 week old our options were limited. Thus, we went to two local restaurants and then came home for cards!

Since Brayden is underage we had to get him drunk before we left.

Aunt Lauren had to get him to rally for a fun night!

At 12:00 we had a party animal on our hands!!

On Sunday we met with our favorite Seattle Family, the Suarez Family!

9 months ago this picture would have been just Scott and Mike, now it's with their boys!

Rocco wasn't sure about Brayden at first.....

But now they are buddies!

My favorite picture ever!!!! Brayden loves Mike!!!

(Yes, he is spitting up!)

We ended our time together at Stumptown Coffee!

First Family Photo of 2010