chipmunk cheeks.

as always, it's the little things.

i love your stretches so much brady...the way you extend your little neck out (looking like a turtle when you do!), and raise your skinny arms, and at the end make a cute little squeak. i love everything about you,  but the little things you do are most endearing.  and those are the things i'm afraid i won't remember...so i take a million pictures of you every day.  welcome to your life, buddy.  mama is camera-crazy.

sad face {breastfeeding is hard work}.

little mister & mama continue to have to work HARD at nursing.

sometimes he makes this face & i agree with him.

don't worry buddy, we'll get through this.  in the meantime, even though it's hard, you continue to grow bigger and bigger so something is making it in your tummy! even when you're sure you're starving to death (or at least that's what you tell me every evening).

he's a helper.

thanks for helping mama do laundry this afternoon, baby!  we're getting ready for our first trip on a plane together.  just us two.  promise you'll be a good peanut?

new swaddle.

upon my friend jen's recommendation, we got bradykins a new swaddle.  i was using the summer brand of swaddlers for nighttime - and she suggested i switch to the halo brand.  i found that the summer swaddles came un-velcroed at night sometimes, he could get his arms out to his elbows and thrash around waking himself up.  i also had to get him all the way out of the swaddle to change him in the middle of the night which was less than ideal.  with the halo brand, it zips from the bottom up to the neck, so i can change him with only exposing his legs.  and the "wings" of the swaddle are longer so his arms stay covered, and the velcro stays shut no matter how hard he wrestles around.

two thumbs up for the halo swaddles!  and also, for the cute peanut above :)

morning walks = happy baby.

we take a lot of walks in the mornings...it's still too hot out to go any later in the day without both of us sweating miserably.  you are so happy in the morning!  you're pretty good-natured overall, except when you're hungry or tired - but you are especially happy earlier in the day.  maybe you're a morning person like mama.  today we went to see jen & eliot & cora and take a walk in their neighborhood, followed by naps for the babies & coffee for the mamas.

you put on quite a show when i put your carseat in the stroller, cooing and smiling like a madman.  i love your smiles more than anything else in life.  they have a way of making my heart burst.

olympics fan. most of the time.

welcome to the 2012 olympics, buster.  they're your first ones even though you won't remember.  but we spend lots of hours in front of the tv these days, which is unusual for us.  but mama loves the summer olympics so you have to, too :)  you don't seem to mind too much.

even though sometimes the water polo bores you to sleep.  me too, buddy.

it can all wait.

there's nothing better in the whole world, than brady laying on my chest.  i absolutely love this time, with him so small and snuggly.  before long he'll want "down!" and these days will be things of the past.  i'm soaking it up while i can, even though it means i'm behind on photo edits & laundry & running.  it can all wait for now.

when my arm hurts.

brady has decided he likes to nap best in mama's left arm.  but sometimes my arm gets so tired...and yet i still want him close by.  so today i laid him on the floor next to me in my office & he contentedly finished his nap there.  to the sounds of keys clicking & coffee slurping :)

two months old.

at two months old, brady has really started to come into his own personality.  the last couple weeks we have seen tons of smiles and he's started to coo...and we have also witnessed a bit of a temper :)  i have said "good thing he's cute!" about a hundred times this week alone.  he continues to be a really happy little guy when he's full, rested & dry.  if you look at him and say hiiiiiii he breaks into a huge gummy smile.  i love that he's making consistent eye contact, too.  and he continues with his hilarious expressions.  however, just last week he decided he wanted nothing to do with nursing and began a little routine of back-arching and screaming incessantly whenever he was held to the teat...really awesome trick, brady.  now please bring back my sweet quiet little nurser :)  i'm onto his game though, and have told him a few times that he is not in charge - and so we continue to work on nursing much to his chagrin.  in fact, he hasn't had a bottle since that fateful night last week when his first tantrum occurred.  my aunt ellen & grandma price were in town the next day and the three of us spent the week telling him who the boss was (mama!).  he's doing a lot better, and i'm figuring out what to do to help remind him that nursing is how he gets to eat - and that the work is worth it - but i think he just got too used to bottles which we were giving sometimes once a day but at least a few times a week.  we of course will go back to using bottles once this nursing strike is over, but for now he is nursing exclusively.  i think i'm in for it with his little temper though.  for an eight week old, he sure has a set of lungs!!!!  bring mama some more wine!

otherwise, seriously - he is a dream baby!  when he's happy, he is HAPPY.  he grins and coos and waves his arms around and looks around the room and plays with his playmat hanging toys.  when i go to get him out of bed in the morning, he grins at me really big and makes the 5 or 6 o'clock hour much happier.  bradykins has been sleeping anywhere from 5-7 hours straight the first part of the night.  one night he went 9 hours between feeds (wasn't asleep for all of that though).  i am so grateful for this, as i am not a girl who functions well on little sleep.  i have a low threshold for crabbiness when i'm tired - and maybe God knew i couldn't take the sleeplessness for long.  instead i am dealing with a maniacal eater but at least i'm rested for his antics ;)  he weighed in this week at 9 pounds, 5 ounces and i'm excited for his two month appointment in a few days to see how long he is.  he seems to have really stretched out a lot in the last few days...hardly fits on my lap and has nearly catapulted himself onto the ground when i'm sitting with him laid back on my legs!  he looks so much longer next to his puppy dog in the picture above.  compare with one month old here.

some of the nicknames we call our boy - so i can remember: peanut, little mister, buster, bubba, bradykins, babykins, little snookums.

i made this little collage a couple days ago and DIED at his cuteness.  these iPhone pics were all snapped within seconds of each other, and his vacillating moods are captured quite well i think.  we are constantly laughing at how quickly his facial expressions change!  so many people tell us all the time, "he's so expressive!"  i like to think he gets that from me :)

my sweet happy little bug, i love you so much i can't stand it.  i could just eat you up!  thank you for bringing so much JOY to my life the past two months.  i honestly don't know what i ever did without you.  we love getting to know you, and your daddy & i love you and each other more deeply every day.  thanks for coming to be part of our family.  we can't wait to watch you grow & learn & take in the world with us.

happy two month birthday!!!