Sit, sit, sit ... I like to sit!

How lucky was this? I was getting ready for a shoot and Blake was helping me prep the studio room. We had Braxton in there and all of a sudden before we knew it, he was sitting!!! He was balancing with his arms on the ground and as he would start to wobble he would correct himself! He did take a couple of dump-overs, but Daddy caught him and sat him back up! My baby is such a big boy!!! (he's 6 months next week). We'll have to keep practicing and let you know!

**I think he did it cause my good camera was in there and we were in the studio so he knew I could take some great shots of his newest trick!!!

We love you baby!!!

My silly peanut!

Check out Braxton's newest game! It's called COVER MY FACE! He will cover his face with anything and he thinks its so funny! The other picture has a funny inside joke to it, but basically it's me, in my evening attire, enjoying my wine!!! :)

Braxamus Maximus!

Hey everyone (not sure why this is underlining!). Well, I started back at work this week and it wasn't as bad as I was thinking it was going to be. A couple of breakdowns, but I got through the day! There is no way I could work more than 3 days ... by the middle of the afternoon on Thursday I started getting realllly ancy to get out of there!

Blake was gone today on travel, so Braxton and I had a nice day! My cousin, Christine came into town to meet him, so we had fun hanging out with her! We played, went to lunch, took a nap, went on a walk ... it was a great day!

April should be a fairly low-key month. I have a lot of photo shoots, but we are in town every weekend (something kind of out of the ordinary!), so we are hoping to have lots of family time! Every Saturday Blake and Braxton (following his Dad's tradition) go get coffee and bring it back. Usually I wake up two hours later to a slightly watered down iced skinny hazlenut latte... but good nonetheless! It is so nice that I get to sleep in on Sat morning and Blake and Brax get to have Daddy/Son time. This usually consists of going outside and checking on the lawn or watching golf or basketball!

Below are some pics I took for Braxton's 5-month pictures! Hard to believe my baby boy is that old already ... I am treasuring every SECOND with him.

Easter & Reflections ...

Happy Easter! What a difference a year makes ... last Easter was when we surprised our parents by wrapping the ultrasounds in Easter Eggs and telling them we were pregnant! Now, in the blink of an eye we already have a 5 month old?! How did that happen! He went from a little gummi bear on a piece of paper to my beautiful, happy baby boy!

Easter was terrific! This year we went with my parents to their church (we switch years with the g-parents) and then met up with Blake's parents and all 6 of us had brunch at Meadow Springs. It was great...and after 4 trips thru the line, I was finally full! Sooooo much good food! Nana and Papa made up a cute Easter basket for him (with candy we ate!). Good thing they did, cause we didn't!! As my friend told me last night, "after this year, you'll have to do one EVERY year, so enjoy your last year off!!!" ...AMEN!

Also, last week I had my first day back at work. It was better than I thought it was going to be. I still missed him, but to be honest, I was so busy it really did make the day fly by! I am going to do Tues-Thurs and my best friend, Aunt Julianne, will be watching him! She has her background in early childhood education, so I joke that he'll probably learn more with her than me anyway! Plus it will be good for him to be around a couple more kids on a regular basis. Bryce and Morgan love him and love to "babysit" him so I know he's in good hands!

Also, I'd like to make note of something. For all you people that nodded your head along in agreement to me last October when I said, "I can't wait to be home for 5 months --- I am going to get so much done around the house." .... well, now I know you were just being polite. The ONLY real accomplishment I got done in the last 5 months was giving birth to my beautiful baby! Everything else out the window. I didn't get my attic organized, I didn't go through all our files and purge stuff, my bedroom still has not been simultaneously clean at the same time as my house, I am still behind on laundry, and to make matters worse, now there are balls of diapers randomly around the house waiting to be taken to the "big" garbage. So this is what being a mom is, huh?

For any of you Mom's who DO have it all together, please do tell.

Below is a quick pic we snapped of him getting ready for Church! What a stinker with that tongue!!! I wish I had my better camera, but iPhone had to do!

We love you Braxamus Maximus ... next year dying eggs will be fun!

To my 5 month old

To Braxton:

How are you already 5 months old? The black and white picture you were only 10 days old and in what feels like is a blink of an eye you are growing up before me. This past month has been one of a lot of changes for you! I am so proud of all the new things you learned and as a parent am amazed at what children are capable of learning in such a short time. I've fallen even more in love with you and I know that will only continue to deepen! Your Daddy and I love you so much and here are just a few of the things we have come to love about you this month!
* you rolled over at 19 weeks! Daddy and I were laying on the blanket playing with you and right in front of our eyes you just rolled yourself over! We were so happy to have been there to witness it together ... we were so proud of you and started kissing you and clapping for you immediately
* you suck on your bottom lip and make a funny little grin
* you like to grab your ... ahem ... "special part" in the bathtub, and then scream when it hurts (go figure!)
* you laugh out loud so cute when Daddy sings you "Pants on the Ground" (thank you American Idol for that diddy)
* you smile and laugh when we sing you your "Braxton Hunter Kluse" song we made up
* you sleep now from 7pm - 330am (eat) - 630am (twice this month you even slept 7pm - 5am ... we're getting there!)
* you love to look in the mirror, but always look behind you to try and figure out who that baby is!
* I think you know you're lullabye (stay awake, don't rest your head) because when I start to sing it you calm down
* I love the way you feel when I hold you (and yes, you actually feel light to me!) and I hope I never forget what it feels like to hold you. I know I'll miss it when you're 6' 6" one day looking down on me.

More than anything you are the best little boy in the world and you have made your Daddy and I so happy!

We love you, Braxamus Maximus!

****and I still love the way you hold my hand when you nurse!!!

Our first family car!!

We did it! We have a family car now :) We got a screamin' deal on this 2010 Mazda CX9 (only $200 over invoice thanks to a hook-up with the commercial fleet manager at McCurley!). It has so many bells and whistles and I love love love it! Blake is now driving the Accord and "Old Blue" is parked with the boat and has been retired to strictly a hunting/fishing/boating vehicle!! I think Blake feels like he got a new car out of this too!

The first time I put Braxton in he was looking around like, "where am I???" It is so nice having so much more room!!! Now I need to come up with a name for her .... :)

Kauai and Catch Up

We're alive! I didn't fall off the face of a cliff! Life has been soooo busy lately and I am really behind on my blogging. I promise to do better in April! So here's a quick update on everything!

We spent a week in Kauai with Blake's parents which was amazing! We were at a Marriott resort that M&G bought a time share at and it is soooooo pretty! Thanks to Grandma, Blake and I actually got to make it a vacation and sleep in and lay on the beach! With 3 plane rides there and home I was nervous about Braxton, but he did wonderful! We were so proud of him! The last flight from SLC to home he had pretty much had enough, but 5 out of 6 is great!

While we were on the island we basically read books, laid by the beach, got burned (well, ok, only me) and swam! One of my favorite things was snorkeling with Blake. I'm always on the lookout for Jaws when snorkeling in 4 feet of water!

This was also my last full month off from work :( ... I'll be returning in April, but only three days a week. I hope that I can find it to be a nice break rather than be sad I'm missing time away from my baby. Fingers crossed!

Aloooooha! See all the pics HERE.

Big bouncing boy!

Brax is in his bouncer now and he LOVES to bounce! It is so cute seeing him bounce up and down. He giggles and talks to himself in it and just watches me as I clean and do stuff around the house!

We are getting ready to leave in a couple days for Hawaii!! I can't wait to have some nice relaxing time with my fam on the beach! It will also be fun to take him into the water and see how he likes it! He loves bathtime now, so I'm hoping the same goes for the ocean!

I think we've hit the teething mark too. He is constantly drooling, sticking hands in mouth, and yesterday he went ballistic screaming and putting his hands to his mouth. It almost made me cry because I feel like I can't do anything for him! It must be so painful. Thank God for infant Tylenol. I also got some baby Orajel that said was good for babies over 4 months. Not sure if I'll see a tooth poke thru soon or what ... is this early??? I know some kids who are a year old and don't have have teeth!

Love to all!

My cool dude!!

Are you kidding me? Could this boy get any cuter! Thanks Aunt Jamie for picking up my new FAVORITE hat for me! I look RAD :)

I had a newborn shoot today and my good friend Jamie watched him and they had a fun morning! He was laughing and smiling and playing with Jo!

PS - we miss you Daddy! We love you!

Boys & Bellies

Hey all! It's been a busy last week! Blake and Lesli came into town and I took some maternity pics of Lesli ... the sun was perfect! I love a good sun flare :) ... And Braxton got together with his lifelong (ha!) friend Chaz! They were born only a day apart so Jenni and I get them together for play dates! Check out how long Braxton's arm is compared to Chaz? Speaking of that ... he had his 4 month check up and everything looks great! He's in 100% for height and 90% for weight! He's on his tummy a lot and is close to rolling. After a push from us he'll pull his arm out, he just hasn't figured out why he'd WANT to roll :)

And since I'm always behind the camera, I had to get one of me and my sweet, sweet baby boy!!!!!!! In fun news we leave for Hawaii in a few days and I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's "boy-hawk" time!!!!

I have been waiting so long for this!!! Finally Brax has enough hair for me to give him little mowhawk!! I just snapped with my little point anf shoot so Ihope you can see it well enough!!! Once it grows in a little more I will trim it up! :)

Our first family walk!

Now that the weather is starting to warm up w were able to take Brax on his first walk! (thanks for the hat, Jack ... and the snowsuit thing, Easton!). There is a cool pond by our house so we took him down there! He has HATED the front pack since he was born, so I finally felt like he was big enough to turn him around and that I think did the trick! I don't think he wanted to look at my collar bone! Can you blame him?!?! He had a great time looking at the ducks in the water!

Is this the cutest boy in the world or what?!?!?!

Bouncie Chair Olympics! Brax got Gold!!!!

Who says you only get to wear it once?!?

So, I was putting away some of Braxton's clothes in his closet and I came across a big white bag .... so naturally. I asked Brax, "Do you want to see Mommy in her wedding dress?" and I took his smile and drool to mean yes. I ate lunch in it and even changed Braxton's diaper in it! By the end if the day I packed it back up until the next time it catches my eye..... :)

What a baby SHOULD look like :)

So here is what a new baby should look like! Emma is only 6 weeks younger than Braxton and HALF the size! Brax is going to take her for a ride on his big green tractor in a few years :)

Braxton's new girlfriend, Emma!

Our good friends, Matt and Wendi, came home from DC for a long weekend, so I -- of course -- took pictures of Braxton's girlfriend, Emma! She's only 5 weeks younger than Brax! For those of you who know Abbey, you can probably tell these girls are sisters. Emma is almost a spitting image of Abbey from when she was born! Makes me wonder if we have another boy if I'll get another cutie patoootie like my Braxamus Maximus!

Check out him in his overalls! He's channeling a choo choo train conductor :)

To my 3 month old....

Braxton:

I just wanted to say how much I love you! I cannot believe how much my love for you has grown over the past three months. It's hard to describe even the way I feel about you! You have made me realize that while I was so happy before you --- you have completed a part of my life I didn't even know I was missing! Since my last post to you, here are even more things I love about you:
• the way you make Dinosaur noises
• when I look at you and give you a big smile, you smile back and stick your tounge out!
• how you sleep with both your arms above your head like a "touchdown" position
• how your eyes get sleepy as soon as I start to sing your bedtime song
• how you hold my fingers with your hands when you're nursing
• how I felt when you laughed for the first time last week when I was singing you a song
• how you love the "stand up/sit down" game
• the way you grab your toes during naked jaybird time
• the way you always fart in your bathtub :)
• the way you cuddle with me in the morning after your breakfast
• and the way you stretch and your legs so super straight, feet point up, and your neck disappears!
• how you have my skin :)
• and how you melt my heart when I watch you sleep each night

I love you more than I could ever ever tell you. I was telling my friend just the other day that I don't even know if it's possible for me to love another child as much as him! I was scared to have another one! But she assured me that as soon as the next one's born, the love just continues.

A year ago today I was pregnant with you and didn't even know. You were our little secret baby who was just meant to be here! And I'm so happy you chose us to be your Mommy and Daddy!

You have made my life enormously better and I love you more every day we spend together!

You're mine and Daddy's best friend :) We love you, Baby Balooga!

V-Day!

I did one of Southridge's coaches a favor and took a team pic for a program booklet...while we were there I found a HS collage of Senior athletes that had my charming hubby circa 2000! See below! And while I was waiting I had to get some pics of the cutest boy in the world!

Southridge HS also does advertising for me so I took a picture of the banner with my logo on it! They kind of stretched it weird, but oh well ... not much I can do about it now!

And also in the mix is a pic from Blake and I last night on date night! We went to a great dinner at Monoroso's (cool old dinner train!) then to the movie Valentines Day, then to get ice cream, then home! He surprised me with beautiful roses and my favorite chocolate covered strawberries and even a card written by my 3-month old himself :)

Love you baby! Happy Valentines Day to my two favorite boys!!!

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack!

So, did you all think I fell off a cliff? Well, I didn't! I have been horrible at posting and normally I am really good! Somehow these last two weeks have been super busy! We had our friends Pete and Julie come into town: (check my photog blog for their engagement pics! http://www.brittneyklusephotography.com/blog) and that was so fun and then I've been busy with shoots and hanging out with my favorite little boy in the world!

Below is a pic I got today of him smiling! Just the other day he gave his first laugh! It is seriously the sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeetest sound in the world! He's only done it another handful of times, but more laughs are surely on the way! I just can't wait for the next one! Ohhh I just love him so much!!!

In cool news for me (I shared this on my photog blog, but forgot to on this one!). I was recently asked by one of our area hospitals (Kennewick General Hopsital) to be one of two exclusive photographers to provide photos for their Birth Center!!! And the Children's Hospital Harvest Ball Committee (their largest fund raising event) have asked me to take the photos for this year's program! Wahoooooooo! That will be great exposure because it is sent to 1500 Tri-Citians!!

That's all on this front! For Vday my hubby has a cool Saturday evening planned so I'll take pics and post! Nana and Papa (my folks) are going to take Braxton so we get a date night and they get 3's company :)

Mr. Rashy-Rasherson

Since inquiring minds want to know! Here are pics of Mr. Brax's rash. It looks tons better now thanks to time and modern medicine :)

Also, had to include a pic of what happens every day when Daddy gets home from work. He gives me a kiss, grabs his boy, and they sit and watch the NBA. Brax actually stares pretty intently at the screen! I think we have a basketball player on our hands!!!

I've been bad ..........

Sorry I have not done a post in what feels like forever! It's been a long week. As you know, Braxton had that double ear infection ... the Dr. gave us amoxicillian to treat it. He was on it for 10 days and did great! He never had a problem taking the medicine or anything! His ear infection symptoms cleared up almost over night!

Well, Sunday was the last day of his dose. We noticed he wasn't himself that day. Pretty lethargic and not really interested in eating. We took his temp, and sure enough he had a fever. Some infant Tylenol did the trick and brought it down. But Monday we were in for a rude awakening ... an awful rash all over his body!

The hard thing was, it looked different on different parts of his body! Here we go again with skin issues ... so the next day I took him to the Pediatrician and Dermatologist and what they think he has is a 3-fold rash going on! 1) possible allergic reaction to amoxicillian causing one part of the rash, 2) a viral exanthem rash and 3) another excema outbreak. Good lord. So, off to the pharmacy I went again!

The meds are helping some, but he's still pretty rashy and is off schedule (harder on Mommy than him cause I thought I JUST got that figured out!!). Any way, we have our friends, Pete and Julie (WHO FOR THE RECORD, BLAKE, I WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR SETTING UP!), coming into town from AZ to meet Brax! So we are looking forward to a great weekend with them and I'll have lots of pictures to post by Sunday!

Braxton - 3 months

You have got to be kidding me ... in a week I will have a 3 month old?!?!?! Where is the time going? How do I get it to slow down! He is down for a nap right now and I am listening to him through the baby monitor make those same "honking" sounds the day he was born. He's our little goose! My little baby is growing up so fast right before my eyes. Now that he is sleeping in his own room I find myself going in there 5, 6, 10 times before I go to bed to just watch him sleep knowing that these are precious moments that I want to remember forever.

We love you Braxamus Maximus! - Mommy & Daddy