four weeks old.

being four weeks old was good to brady :)  julie & ruby came to visit us and we had a great time!!  i loved having my bff in town meeting my new peanut and hanging out with our babies.  i don't think we got dressed before noon any of the days they were here....perfect vacation day in my book.

julie multi-tasking between holding bradykins and entertaining ruby.  we got a bunch of brady's toys out (he doesn't play with them yet anyway!) and ruby went to town.  she especially loved the horribly annoying "hug me" dog that my sister ruth gave brady...and being the good aunt that i am, i ordered one to be shipped to ruby in washington after she left!!  she needed one of her own! ;)

a couple months ago before i had brady, i found these rats at a children's store and bought matching one for the hampostle babes.  i think they both liked them.

brady got lots of aunt julie snuggles in.  sweetest thing ever for me to see my julie holding my baby.

honestly this is the only photo we got of the four of us...what is WRONG with us?!  took a little self portrait while out on a neighborhood walk.

i love the size comparison here.  ruby is a tiny little thing but she looks huge next to four week old brady!  and brady is really showcasing his olive skin next to rubes...got that from me :)

checking out her new boyfriend :)

see how much ruby loves the hug me dog!!!  it's so annoying with its sing-song voice but babies go wild for it.  ruthie's baby will definitely get his or her own someday.  every baby needs one.

brady also discovered himself in the mirror at four weeks old.  he laid there and stared at himself for a long time.  it was really sweet.

he seems to really like his activity mat this week and lays under it flapping his arms and occasionally hitting some of the hanging toys. 

still not a huge fan of tummy time but we keep working at it...

the monkey butt is too cute for words!

mike and i spend a great deal of time laughing at brady's expressions.  he seems to go overboard with the cute faces!  we call this first one the snapping turtle...he pulls his lower lip in and sucks on it and i die every time.

this goober face is a close second to my favorite.  can you stand it!?

charming his way into mama's heart already with the winking pirate face.

this week we practiced lots of stretching out!

 this looks like prison stripes :)

it's a mad baby!  when he's hungry or needs to be changed, brady definitely exercises his lungs and lets us know.  but otherwise, he continues to be a really mellow baby.  he isn't fidgety or restless or fussy hardly at all and i'm so grateful!  i was so afraid when i was prego that i'd have a baby with colic - not sure why i was so terrified of that, but i was - and so i'm just really thankful that he's chill.  and at night he pretty much eats and goes right back to sleep in his swaddle.  he's up to a 5 hour stretch of sleep or so now each night.  YAY!

 i love these socks from my friend leslie in jax.  one night when i changed him in the middle of the night his toes were freezing so i pulled these out.  it's actually the FIRST time he's worn socks in his little life!  that's a summer baby for you!!

sweet peanut loves napping in his swing - he can't resist the movement paired with a binky & a swaddle blankie :)

love morning snuggles with my little man.

 also of note this week - brady took his first bottle!  we wanted to introduce it before week 5 per the lactation consultant recommendation.  he took it like a CHAMP!  sucked it right down and then we nursed to top him off.  it was awesome.

happy tiger post-bottle.

we went over to aunt brandi's house one night for pizza & a movie and brady loved snuggling her.  i think brandi loved the baby time too.  she seems smitten with him already.

***
we continue to be more and more in love with brady and with this adventure.  don't get me wrong, it's a lot of work taking care of a little human 24/7, but we love him so much and are trying to soak up the little squeaks and noises he makes, his expressions, his smell, and the way he's starting to make good eye contact with us.  even the sleepless nights are sweet because of how snuggly and warm he is, and how big his eyes get in the nightlight glow as he takes it all in. he is more than worth it.