My Birthday Boy!

Braden was born on a Sunday, and the reason I remember that off the top of my head is that I went to church that day at 9a.m. I sat in Relief Society and didn't feel him move at all, but wasn't really counting movements or anything. Throughout the rest of church I kept waiting for him to move but didn't really feel much. Since there's lots of distractions and people talking to you and stuff I didn't really think too much about it other than I told myself to count the movements when I got home. Dalin had a rough night the night before for some reason so Dan and I were really tired and layed down for a nap once Dalin was settled and napping. I layed there listening to Dan snore and waited for those little movements that by that point in pregnancy are very easy to feel. I was scheduled to have a C-Section the following Friday, but after an hour of feeling nothing I woke Dan up and he thought we should call the doctor so we did. She told us we should head up to the hospital where she was delivering another baby and have them check me out. So we called my Grandma Doris, who came and got Dalin for us and we headed to the hospital. They hooked me up to the machines to check the baby's heart rate and a fetal kick monitor to check the movement. After sitting there for about a half an hour my doctor came in and said "the baby's heart rate looks great and we can see that he's still moving o.k. but I don't like that you can't feel him, so we're going to deliver as soon as we can prep the room. " I did not expect that at all. I fully expected them to tell me I was just worrying over nother and send me home. I was not ready to have this baby yet and was fully planning on doing it the following Friday so I hadn't packed a bag yet or anything. Dan didn't even have time to go get me anything. That's why you don't wait until the last minute to pack your bag I guess. A couple of hours later I was holding him in my arms and the doctor said the cord was wrapped around him three times pinning his arms against his body which is why he couldn't move too well.

Here he is with Dan.

Here he is just a few minutes old. How precious they are when they are born.

Now my little baby is three years old. When he first woke up I made him number 3 pancakes and put candles in them for him to blow out. (Braden loves to blow out candles.)

He also loves to open presents. As funny as this seems both of my boys loved the newspaper wrapping paper. I went to wrap the presents the night before his birthday and soon realized I no longer had any birthday wrapping paper. Crap. It was late, the boys were sleeping, Dan was at work, and I wanted to go to bed so I remembered when I was little and my grandma would wrap our presents in the Funnies. I decided it was that or nothing so I went ahead with it and it worked perfectly. All that worrying over nothing. Why do I sometimes worry over stupid things?

Here is Braden opening his gifts.

Here he is playing with his gifts.

He and Dalin playing some more with his gifts. They had a blast.

Since Dan had to work that evening we did Braden's birthday stuff in the afternoon. He thought it was great to have cake for lunch. (That wasn't really his lunch, but he thought it was). I took him to the store and let him pick out his own cake and he liked the one with all the shapes and colors on it. Here he is with his cake.

Singing "Happy Birthday"

Deciding he wanted the blue frosting rather than what was in his bowl.

Loving the cake.

Making a mess and being oh so cute.

Me and my cute little boy.

I didn't really feel up to doing anything big for his birthday so we took the boys to McDonalds for lunch and let them play on the toys. Dan had to leave for work after about an hour and I stayed at McDonalds for another 2 1/2 hours. I was pretty tired of just sitting there, but let them play until they were ready to go. I should have taken a book or something.

Braden loves fries.

Both the boys chowing down. Since we rarely if ever go to McDonalds, this was a big treat for them and they were very excited.

Playing on the toys. They had so much fun.

The following Sunday we had a small party with some family at my mom's house after church. I got creative and decided to make him a really nice cake. Every time we go into a grocery store Braden makes a request to go and look at the cakes. He loves to see them all and gets pretty excited so when he saw this cake just for him he loved it. He also loves soccer balls so that made him very happy.

Singing again.

Blowing out candles.

Opening gifts.

He got this automated play doh conveyor belt from my mom. They boys already have a bunch of play doh stuff and love to play with it so this was a fun addition to an already fun thing to do.

Playing with the new toy.

Some things to know about Braden:

His favorite food is sour cream and onion gold fish crackers, ranch dressing, and Parmesan cheese. He has to have ranch dressing with every meal and dips everything he eats into it. He also likes to put Parmesan cheese on almost everything. Most kids sleep with a favorite toy or a stuffed animal, but Braden sleeps with a bottle of Parmesan cheese. He also carries is blanket with him everywhere and cries if he finds out that I'm washing it. I have to be sneaky so he doesn't find out. Braden is very independent and doesn't like to be told what to do. He follows me around the house and asks me a million questions. Most questions are either "what is that?" or "Is that a.....?" Even if he knows the answer to these questions he still expects a full and correct reply. If he doesn't want to do something such as pick up his toys or eat his food he'll say "mom, I'm sick". He is also my little cuddle bug. He loves to sit on my lap and cuddle or lay in my bed and snuggle. He also loves to wrestle with both brother and dad. He is very active and runs where ever he goes...unless of course I'm in a hurry then he suddenly becomes a snail. He likes to help me in the kitchen and enjoys loading the dishwasher and sweeping the floor. I love my little boy so much and am grateful every day that I have him. Happy birthday to my sweet little Braden.