A few other things I forgot to mention

First about Brantley

Brantley is starting to wear 3 month old clothes. I have loved his newborn outfits and I hate to see him grow out of them because they are so dang cute but when long sleeves are only to his elbows I guess it is time to move on to cute bigger clothes.
Brantley eats about every 2 to 3 hours and he eats about 3.5 to 4 ounces at a time. Sometimes I feel that he should be eating more but where he is almost 11 pounds I guess he is getting what he needs.

Camille:

I had planned on nursing from the beginning but where Brantley was early and in the hospital for so long the nurses suggested that if I wanted him out of there sooner I could introduce the bottle. Well I wanted him out so we did, but the consequence of doing that was giving Brantley the lazy man's way of eating. I have been pumping for over 3 months now and anyone who has pumped understands how awful it can be. There is nothing else that can make you feel like a cow more. I am so tired of pumping and my milk supply seems to be decreasing but we didn't have the money to go to formula. So we went to WIC for help. They were so wonderful. I was going to tell them that I was done pumping and I expected them to fight me on it. But they were great, they understood where I was coming from but encouraged me to keep going (which I am doing) and also supplied formula for us. I am not pumping as much and I am only going through the end of the winter, which I figured is a reasonable end in sight. I wish I could have nursed but maybe with the next child.

3 months old...he has come a long way!!!

October 28th

November 27th

December 27th

January 27th

A few videos of Brantley for Grandma and Grandpa Smedley

Brantley loves looking around. This mat was one of our baby present gifts. We love it!! Brantley trying so hard to smile:DSleepy boy...tries eating even while he is sleeping

Our little Brantley

Our little man is getting SO big!! We love him so very much! Who knew parenting could be such an amazing expirence. I love being home with him and seeing all the different changes in him everyday. Here is a little update on him
He now weighs 10 pounds 13 ounces.
Last week he gave us a little scare with a super stuffy nose and a fever of about 100.5. I took him to the doctor and the doctor was almost positive Brantley had RSV, but just to make sure he sent us to the hospital to take a test. That night I had David give him a blessing where he was promised that he would heal quickly and his nose would remain clear so he could breath. The next day the results came back negative. He just had a cold. Poor little guy.
He does NOT like getting his nose sucked.
He holds his head up like a champ.
Sleeps 6 to 8 hours at night.
Is still very mellow. He only cries when he is hungry and super super sleepy. We do get little shout outs for attention but other than that he just sits and looks around.
During the day he eats every 2 to 3 hours and sleeps really well after he is done eating EXCEPT when his daddy is home. When daddy is home Brantley has to be by him whether it is in the swing or bouncer he just has to be where he is or he wont sleep. He is definately a daddy's boy.

Here are a few pictures that I have captured over the past couple of weeks.

Brantley is also starting to smile. He always seems to smile when I don't have the camera or he stops smiling as soon as I take a picture. These are the closest I have on camera.

He is so dang cute!

Brantley has a big day coming up on February 6th.

We are going to bless him in Layton so that all of our family and friends will be able to come to the blessing and then gather after in a comfortable much lager space rather than our little apartment. My mother bought Brantley his adorable little blessing suit and I couldn't resist buying the little shoes. Thanks MoM!

A family fun weekend....

A couple of weeks ago David Brantley and I headed up north to spend time with our families. We stayed at David's sisters house (Polly). Where Jordan (Polly's husband) willing watched Brantley for David and I while we went to the temple with my family.
We loved staying at the Arey's, we espically loved watching Kaylee with Brantley. She would always come up to Brantley and pat him and say "He's so cute...He's so cute" or "he's awake...He's awake" Kaylee would always come up to Brantley pat him and say "He's so cute....He's so cute"

and "He's awake...He's awake"

Our favorite thing, though, was the big laugh Kaylee gave us....here is the story...Brantley, Kaylee and I were up stairs in Kaylees bedroom. Kaylee got an adorable little couch that folds out to a bed that she absolutle loves. While were were up there our conversation went like this

Kaylee: can Brantley sit by me (as she pats a sit next to her on her little couch)

Camille: lets go down stairs and ask David if you can sit and hold Brantley on the couch downstairs.

Kaylee: Okay...He's so cute

Kaylee: David can I hold Brantley on the couch

Daivd: Why don't you ask your mom

Kaylee: Okay...MoM, can Brantley sit by me on the couch

Polly: Yes

Kaylee: My mom said yes

Continueing on we went into the living room and had Kaylee sit down and I sat Brantley on her lap. I wish I would have got a picture she went so stiff. Hands at her side extending straight down.

David: Don't you want to hold him

Kaylee: No...I want him to sit by me

So that is what we did. She really did just want him to sit by her. When Polly came in she wanted to hold Brantley and when she tried Kaylee started screaming...."no, no, no, no, no, no,no he wants to sit by me" it was so funny. We got a little bit of it on camera. Kaylee is so dang cute!

Fun Family Outing

David is on a basketball team with a bunch of his friends down here in Provo. This past week I wanted to go and took Brantley with us. I loved watching David and it was nice to get out of the house. We won't talk about the team scores but I am sure they all had fun anyway!!:D

New Years Resolutions....

I haven't really been good at new year resolutions but this year I am determined to see these once through.
1. Family home evening....once a week. This doesn't nessarly mean Monday. This means anytime during the week; when ever it works best. So far we are two for two:D
2. Family prayer and scripture study...right now this is just with David and I but as soon as Brantley is a little more receptive we will start including him.
3. Attending the temple as a couple once a month.
4. Attending the temple by myself once a month.
5. Personal prayer and scripture study every day
6. Do something crafty once a month.
7. Read a new book once a month.
8. Write in my journal once a week.
9. Loose 10 pounds
10. Do something active everyday

Three Years and Counting

I can hardly believe how fast time has gone. David and I often say to each other "Can you believe that 3 years ago we were just getting married?" or "can you believe that we now have a baby of our own?" or "can you believe how far we have come since we have been married?" We have learned so much about each other and ourselves these past three years. Our love for each other continues to grow each day. He is my best friend. I can't believe I have been blessed with such a wonderful husband who is also a wonderful father. We have come so very far and I can't wait to see where we will go. Here is what we did for our anniversary...

David and I just celebrated our 3rd year of marriage. We went to Olive Garden, where I have found one of my new favorite dishes (never ending chicken 'something' soup, salad and bread sticks). We had some of our friends watch Brantley while we went. When we got home we watched (in fast forward) The New World-its a Pocahontas story. It looked good on previews but it was so slow that neither of us could handle it so we eventually turned it off and put in one of David's favorite movies "Support Your Local Sheriff" It is a great classic movie that I think was so funny!

Birth Announcement...I know, I know a little late!!!

Brantley's Santa Suit

The hat was a gift from my sister-in-laws friend. She made it just for Brantley with some little santa shoes too. But the suit had shoes built in. But the hat is so dang cute and it fit in just right! And the Christmas tree is my friend Natalie's. It was so cute and I had taken my tree down before I got pictures of Brantley in his santa suit by it, so Natalie let me use hers!

A Brantley Update

Brantley is sure chunking right out. We went to the doctors today and he now weighs 9 pounds 6 ounces. We are so proud of him. He has come so far in two months. Looking at him now I can hardly believe that he was once 3 pounds 14 ounces. He has more than doubled his birth weight of 4 pounds 6 ounces. Here are a few things Brantley has been up to lately.

*His feeding schedule is about every two hours during the day and about 4 hours at night. Although, most recently he goes to be about 10 or 11 sleeps for 4 hours, eats, will sleep for about an hour then is up every half hour until about 6 then he will sleep until about 8 or 9.

*He is starting to be more awake during the day. Sometimes he doesn't sleep between feedings and when that happens he usually just sits and looks around at everything just making cute little baby sounds.

*I might be wishful thinking but I sometimes thing Brantley is trying to smile on purpose not just his adorable little twitches that make him smile. It doesn't happen very often just yet, but I am sure really soon he will be smiling all the time.

*We no longer have to feed him on his side. He still gets the slow flow nipple on the bottle but at least he is eating well.

*He still has all his hair. He hasn't lost any, not even on the back of his head.

*The doctor gave me some bitter/sweat news...he could be off his apnea monitor next month. He will be nice not to have to carry it around but I have loved the comfort it has given David and I.

He is still such a good baby. He really only cries when he is hungry and a little bit when he is getting tired. We love our little man and are sure glad he is all ours!!!

Playing Catch-up

Sorry I have been slacking like crazy! Life has been busy the past couple of weeks. I will do more updating on Brantley tomorrow since we have a doctors appointment. But the holidays have been good for us. First of all David and I both finished and passed our semester. YAY!! I was a little worried but all is well. I don't have to retake any classes. David did SO well. I am so proud of him. I have loved having him home with me and Brantley.

We decided to head up north for Christmas which was a little scary taking Brantley out and around people but it seems everything went well. Since we did go up north for Christmas we decided to have Christmas at our apartment a couple of days early. I loved it! This was the first year that we have had Christmas at our place since we have been married and it was so fun getting to spend it at home with our little family.

When we were up north I mostly just stayed at my parents house while David went to extended family parties. But when we were with just immediate family we all went. Brantley did pretty good but I have noticed that when there is a lot of people around he doesn't sleep well by himself. He has to be by everyone in order to sleep. The little stinker. But I didn't mind getting to hold him all the time.

Christmas was great we got so many great things from our parents and siblings. We were spoiled rotten! New Years was great too. I spent the night with my parents and David went and represented us at the family parties.

I loved being able to spend so much time at my parents and getting to see family and family getting to see Brantley for the first time. The following pictures are things that have been happening most recently.

David and I were playing games with our friends Natalie and Jeremy. Brantley needed to eat so I stuck him in his high chair to feed him but the bottle stayed and he fed himself for a while. He did so good with it, but soon fell asleep so I had to take him out and hold him to feed him the rest.

New Years Day

Brantley got to meet his buddy
Waytt. They are almost the same size. They really should only be about two days apart.

Brantley with his two cousins Bradley and Lilly and Aunt Keri


Brantley got to meet Grandma Great Chlarson! We sure love this lady!

Three generations!!!

Sleepy boy

Christmas day...going to Grandma Annie's

Christmas Morning

Mommy and Brantley on Christmas morning

Brantley's room!!!

The videos vary from when Brantley was still in the hospital to just the other day. These are mostly for Grandma and Grandpa Smedley since they don't get to see Brantley in action very often being so far away in Cambodia.

Upper Left: Brantley working on some tummy time

Upper Right: Sometimes when we feed Brantley he does this cute little thing with his tongue and lips. Almost like he is still sucking his bottle without it being in there. We love watching him when he does it. It is kind of long, the middle to end of the video is what I meant to catch on tape.

Lower Left: Brantley was falling asleep on David and making cute little noises that I had to record.

Lower Right: Brantley in the hospital only a few days old. He makes my mom's hand look huge, since he was so tiny.