Branson is Two Months Old!

And Just like that Branson is 2 months old! I can't believe how fast it's going by! Before I forget, I want to remember two of my favorite things about the newborn stage. 1) They have those adorably squishy cheeks that you can kiss all you want and they can't do anything about it, and 2) I love it when they start to look at you. I mean really look at you. When I'm holding him I can see Branson studying my face and it makes my heart leap with joy. "I'm your mommy!" I tell him. I hope he's happy with me. I hope Justin and I can do these boys justice and always remember what precious children of our Heavenly Father they are.

I hope our children know that we are not afraid to lay down the law and correct them when necessary, but that we do it for their benefit. We hope they will one day thank us for (hopefully) teaching them to be responsible, hard-working, considerate, helpful, and kind people. That they will forgive us for the times we fell short. And that they will know that no matter what, we will love them fiercely.

One to Two month comparison:

 I wanted to capture some of his perfect little features ♥

And how cute are those lips?! Lots of people comment on his perfect little lips.

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Some things we're learning about Branson:

He is still a very chill and easy baby. 

He still loves his car seat and riding in the car.

He likes his binky, but can't keep it in his darn mouth even if his life depended on it. This problem is especially rough in the middle of the night or when I don't particularly want to get up yet in the morning.

He is very active and has the strongest neck for a newborn I've ever seen. Seriously, most of the effort of burping him is just trying to keep him in the burping position because he's always pushing his legs against the couch and throwing his head back.

He loves bath time! He cried a bit the very first bath or two of his life, but now he doesn't make a peep. He doesn't even cry when getting out. And it's cold!

He seems to like being on his belly and often falls asleep best that way. If only we could let him sleep that way at night. Oh well. On a related note, he can't seem to decide if he likes sleeping at an incline or not. Sometimes he'll be a little fussy in his recliner so we'll lay him flat. Then later that same day he'll change his mind and fuss while lying flat, but is fine in the rocker.

He's already starting to watch what big brother Nolan is doing and it's adorable. I absolutely cannot wait until he really starts laughing and interacting more because I hope then Nolan will be able to have more fun and bond with him more.

Ok, those are all the good things. One problem I'm having though. Branson. Is that I looked back at the blog from when Nolan was two months old and he had already slept for 9 or 10 hours straight a few times by now. Let's get with the program Bran-man! haha.

Nolan is starting to accept the fact that Branson is here to stay so now their relationship has evolved into what I consider a typical sibling relationship. One where they fight and tease and don't want their siblings touching them or their toys, but if someone else teases or threatens to hurt their sibling, they close ranks, stick together, and defend each other no matter what. Obviously they're a bit too young for those scenarios, but to relate it to our situation -- Nolan doesn't usually want to kiss or hug Branson, gets upset when I lay him on his bed, and says things like, "I don' want baby Banson in my house!" But when Branson went to the doctor the other day for his 2 month checkup and we explained that Branson had to get shots and he would really need lots of snuggles, Nolan looked really concerned and kept sadly talking about how Baby Branson had to get shots. Then at the doctor's office I asked Nolan if he wanted to give Branson kisses before the doctor came in and he walked right over and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Then later when I was changing Branson's bum and Nolan saw the 3 bandaids on his legs he pointed and said, "Ohhhh," with a concerned look on his face.  It was completely adorable and shows just how much Nolan really does love his little brother, even if he's still getting used to the idea.


Speaking of the doctor. Branson is almost 13 lbs already and is in the 75th percentile for weight, 30th for height, and was an absolute champ getting his shots. He only cried for about 2 seconds! Just like his brother at that age.

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Other cute things Nolan does for his brother is he will sometimes lay toys by him and say, "there you go."

And he's always volunteering to help us make Branson's bottle.

Jeanni sent me this picture of putting the boys down for a nap. She said Nolan was NOT happy! ☺ I know anytime we lay Branson next to him he furrows his brow and pushes his hand at Branson like he wants to push him away, so we usually don't lay them down together. But I told Jeanni to keep it up, it's good for him haha!

He's just too adorable for words.

One of my favorite pictures so far. Justin's assistant at work got them these shirts at Disneyland. So sweet of her. Thanks Karla!

Happenings in January

We had a couple really big snow storms in January!

I can always count on him to be my walking buddy, even when it's freezing outside!

I taught Nolan how to stomp the snow off, then kick the rest off before you come upstairs ☺

Playing in the snow. Even Branson joined us!

Usually though we just huddle up inside when it's cold outside.

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Preston and Devin had these awesome fake 'snowballs' at their house. I know what you're thinking, how awesome can they be, right? Awesome. Because they are heavy and compact enough to throw hard, yet soft enough to not hurt at all and you can throw them in the house AND they are kind of squishy, yet don't come apart! It's the perfect recipe for a lot of indoor fun when it's cold outside. We had a big snowball fight at P and D's house one night. Then, that same night the girls went shopping at the rack and guess what they had there?! Snowballs!!! It was fate and I had to get some. The girls told me I should hide them from Justin and catch him off guard one night. Done.

So one night after Nolan and I went outside in the snow we snuck the snowballs out of the closet and bombarded daddy!! It was lots of fun. Best purchase ever.

p.s. how cute is Nolan in his winter coat, beanie, and snow boots?!

 Justin having fun with Nolan's Lincoln Logs

Nolan looking very dapper for church.

One day Nolan, Branson, and I drove downtown and met daddy for lunch. Afterward we played at the dinosaur park at City Creek! Nolan is pretty funny to watch. He just goes right up to people and says, "what're ya doin' guys?" And we might be in trouble because he also likes to chase girls with his arms out trying to hug them. While we were at the dino play area he got his arms around a girl that was a little bigger and faster than him. He fell down and she kept running, dragging him behind her for a few feet haha!

 While we were there I had a little incident. Justin had to go back to work after about 20 minutes, but Nolan was having so much fun I decided to chance it having both kids with me and no stroller or second pair of hands. I tried to keep my eye on Nolan or at least search for him every minute or two. Well, whoever designed this children's area wasn't thinking clearly when they put a set of swinging doors, only a couple feet high, at toddler level, at the opposite end of the entrance. So a little kid could just run out those doors and into the food court and then who knows where else and his parent would never see where he went. Can you see where this is going? Luckily I did see Nolan notice those doors and make a run for it, but Branson was lying on the bench next to me. I frantically thought, "Do I pick him up really fast and run with him in my arms? Nolan could be anywhere by then!" So in a moment of panic I jumped up and turned to the lady sitting a few feet away and said, "My son just ran...could you...(pointing at Branson)." I wasn't even speaking in full sentences, but she understood clear as day and said, "Of course!" So she ran over and sat with Branson while I darted after Nolan. Another mom had seen him run out the doors too and was about to come tell me. It really does take a village people! Nolan got a talkin' to for that little stunt.

 Justin found this perfect little fox at a toy store for half off and Nolan loves it!

Nolan was in charge of the camera for these pics

Nolan continues to amaze us with how quickly he picks up on things. One day Justin took him for a walk around the cemetery. Every so often there will be a sign on the pathway that simply says "WATER." Justin pointed out the sign to him and asked him what letters he saw, then explained that those letters spelled 'water.' He said he did this 2, maybe 3 times. Then they got home, we did other things for a couple of hours, then later Justin asked him to spell water and remembered how! He must have a visual memory or something because he does really well remembering letters or numbers once he's seen them.

Also, one day he was playing with his On the Go Letters and he says to me, "Look mom, I spelled Dog." I couldn't believe it when I looked over there and sure enough, he'd spelled dog. Crazy kid.

As cute and fun as it is though that he seems to really be able to pick up on things easily and is proving to be very bright, it's just as important to us that he learns common sense and working through frustrations and how to be kind and helpful and considerate, etc. I hope we remember to reward those attributes even more often than we praise him for simply being "smart."

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For the last month of my maternity leave I really wanted to have some alone time with Nolan. So each Thursday I would drop Branson off at Jeanni's while I took Nolan to Toddler Time at the Holladay Library and then we'd go to lunch and maybe run another errand or two.

The first day we got to the library a little early and the library wasn't open yet so I let Nolan sit in the front seat which he still begs to do all the time. 

Speaking of spelling. He wanted to type on the computer so I asked him to spell 'Nolan' then 'water' and he did it! I might have had to correct one error, but that's it! After that he did what he really likes to do which is press one letter down lots of times ☺

At Chik-fil-A and In n Out for lunch. He really is a great lunch companion. Well behaved, eats his food, and has a pretty good conversation with me ♥

 These dino rain boots and footie pajamas are sure to be the next rage in the fashion world.

You'd think they would have sore necks after sleeping like that.

Mr. Independent likes to get in his chair all on his own these days.

Bran-man.

Nolan found my bucket of travel sized toiletries in the bathroom and loves 'doing my hair.' He'll grab one, ask what it's for, then pretend to put it on my hair. He'll do the same for face products. He just rubs the jar on my face haha. Usually when he asks what something is for I just generically say, 'it's for your face' or 'it's for your hair.' But a couple of times he gave me this one spray bottle and I explained, "That's called Spray and Play, it's for volume." Then later when Justin asked what that particular thing was Nolan said, "dats spay an pay, it's fo volume." hahaha!!

Look at all that edamame he ate! One veggie he's always loved is edamame.

My friend and coworker, Megan, gave us this cute car seat warmer!

Fresh outta the bath

A couple more videos of Nolan singing:

Nolan's new favorite YouTube video is a Sesame Street counting song by Pentatonix called Count to Five. He asks us all the time if he can watch "Pentato-ix" and he's always singing it! It's adorable how each time he watches it he picks up more of the actual words (and they're singing it fast so it's not easy!). At first it sounded like he was singing gibberish and then you could tell what he was singing once he got to the chorus:

Doo, doo-doo, doo, doo-doo, doo, de doodla doo-doo
Bow!
Bow!

The best part is that each "bow" is usually accompanied by him shooting his hand out in front of him and and rotating his wrist. Dang, it's hard to explain in words, but it's cute!! Anyway, now he can clearly sing pretty much all the words to the first two verses!

Oh, and my other favorite thing he does is the singer who sings the "1" verse really draws out and embellishes the last note and Nolan always tries to mimick it. Too bad he hiccuped right in the middle of it in this video, but still. SO stinkin' cute. Keep singing cute boy!

He made up his own way to 'sing' the instrumental only version of The West Wing theme song. Justin might have influenced him a bit too since this is how he always sings it to him ☺

My Grandma Hunt came up with 2 of her friends for a week to do genealogy so I decided to spend a day with her at the library. First we checked out the new Discovery Center on the main floor of the library. They've really done a good job with it! Once we finally got into researching she said she was having a hard time getting into the project she was working on and offered to help me in my research on the Bailey side. It was so fun working together on it. We would bounce ideas off of each other of where to look next, get feedback on whether a lead was promising or not, and divide and conquer in other ways. For instance, she'd be checking death registers while I checked a microfilm that had land records. She told me she was enjoying herself too because it's been a long time since she's been able to actually work with someone on the same project at the same time. I'm feeling pretty good about what we accomplished too!

We also went to Blue Lemon for lunch and had a good chat AND I got her signed up on Instagram! ☺