Our BIG Boy

Here are a couple of videos of our BIG boy. We took him to his 2 month doctor's appointment the other day and he weighs 16 pounds! He's smiling a lot now and learning to vocalize. The colic is getting a little better, I'm able to put him down now and he's usually happy for awhile, which is wonderful! He still doesn't sleep the greatest, but he's doing better overall. He's a total sweetheart though, I love him to pieces. And his sister does too, as you'll see in the videos. :)

Peyton's Photoshoot

My friend Julie did a photoshoot of Peyton as a gift. We did it when he was about 3 or 4 weeks old, so he's much bigger than this now, but I just wanted to share the sweet pictures she took! Thanks Julie!

The Pumpkin Patch

We went to a pumpkin patch with the kiddos last week. A local church here in Yuma does it and its kind of a carnival type thing, with games for the kids, bouncy houses, hay rides, a petting zoo. They also do this whole pirate play/show, but we weren't able to stay long enough to see it. It was really fun though and Sadie had an absolute blast! It was beautiful outside, and it was a really fun way to spend an evening as a family. Here are a few pictures of our fun!

Sadie getting her face painted.


Her pretty pumpkin (notice the lone tear under
her eye - she was kind of nervous about getting
her face painted by a stranger)


Jumping in one of the bouncy houses -
she loved these and laughed the whole time!


Peeking out from a bouncy house.


They had a "sandbox" filled with dried beans that
was one of Sadie's favorite things.


Looking at the pig in the petting zoo -
doesn't she have the cutest smile?


Looking at the chickens - she got pecked when she
poked her finger through the cage to pet one :)


Feeding hay to the little ponies.


Trying to rope something.


Posing as Snow White,


Picking out her pumpkin.


This is what Peyton did the whole time :)

Here's a little video of Sadie's fun!

Peyton Update

So, I know its been FOREVER since I posted last. We've been super busy since Peyton came home from the hospital, but we are still alive and well! :) Peyton is doing a lot better now, but unfortunately he is not an easy baby! He's pretty colicky, and doesn't sleep well a lot of the time, so he likes to keep me busy walking him around the house. He still has the reflux, and is on meds for it, but they only seem to help some of the time. I've been able to nurse him full time though, so he doesn't need to take a bottle anymore, and he does pretty well with it. He still spits up a lot, but not anymore than he did with the bottles. He's a sweetheart though, and is starting to smile at us a little, and when he does it makes all of the hard times with him totally worth it! Sadie's doing really well adjusting to life with a new brother, especially considering he takes a significant amount of attention away from her. She loves Peyton to death and can't get enough of him. She calls him her Baby Peyton Brother. Sadie has her moments, but is really a good girl and is doing really well with it all. And I'm doing well also. My recovery from the c-section was surprisingly easy and fast. I've felt really well, just super tired since I'm up at night with Peyton a LOT! Tanner's been a huge help to me and does such a great job picking up my slack when it comes to taking care of the house and Sadie. Its always really nice when he's home and I don't have to do it all by myself. Thanks Honey! :) Anyway, we're doing well, considering. We have good days and bad days, and are just still trying to learn what works and what doesn't. Hopefully as the days and weeks pass we will start to have more and more good days and less bad! We so appreciate everyone's support and prayers for us when Peyton was in the NICU and we'll try to keep up the the blog as we have the time! Thanks

Peyton Joseph

Okay, so this post is really picture heavy, but I don't know when I'll have time to do this again, so I figured I'd just post as much as I can now. So here's the story:

I never did go into labor on my own, so early on Wednesday morning, I went to the hospital to have my scheduled c-section. It went really well and Peyton Joseph Branham was born at 7:46am. He weighed 8lbs. 15 oz. and was almost 22in. long. He has dark hair and is a big, big boy! In fact, his chest is bigger around than his head! A few hours after he was born, he wasn't breathing as well as he should've been, so they sent him to the NICU to be observed for a few hours. Turns out he aspirated a lot of amniotic fluid when he was delivered and his lungs had a lot of extra fluid in them, making him work a lot harder to breathe. He was admitted to the NICU and has been there ever since. We just have to wait for the fluid to reabsorb on its own, and we don't know how long that will take. It could take days or weeks. The fluid has also caused a slight infection, so he's on antibiotics for that. He is also a little jaundiced, so they have him under a blue bili light to clear that up. As far as we know, he'll be in the NICU for 7 to 10 days, but it could end up being longer than that - it just depends on how long it takes to clear things up. Peyton's had a hard last couple of days, but today he's been resting a little better and is very stable. They've inserted lines into his umbilical cord for drawing blood and giving meds, but he also has an iv in his hand. He originally had a c-pap machine to help him breathe that covered his entire nose. He hated it, but it was what he needed. Today they replaced that with regular oxygen hose that fits in his nose, so much more of his face is visible. He's tolerating it pretty well, and seems to be much more comfortable. He also has to wear a shield over his eyes while the bili light is on, so we don't get to see a whole lot of his face at once. They're only feeding him through an IV at the moment, but I've been pumping so as soon as he's up to it they'll either give him my milk, or let me nurse him. His x-rays today show a slight decrease in the fluid in his lungs, but there's still definitely too much in there. Like I said though, he's stable and resting well. I try to go and see him as much as possible, especially since I get discharged tomorrow. I'm doing really well, and not in much pain. Just a little sore at the incision site, but I've been able to get up and be walking around a lot. Its been really hard not to have Peyton with me and be able to hold him and love him, but he's where he needs to be to get the best care right now. So that's all I know at the moment, we'll try to keep everyone updated as much as possible. Hopefully it won't be too long before he's totally healthy and can come home. Here's a whole bunch of pictures and there's a couple videos at the end. Thanks so much for all of you prayers and love and support, we so appreciate it!
PS Some of the pictures toward the end (the ones that look a lot more professional :) were taken by my good friend Julie when she came to visit. I just had to show them. Thanks Julie!

Little Singer Sadie

Sadie has really been into singing songs lately and is actually starting to be able to sing them so that you can understand what they are. She can't really carry a tune, but she's been getting the words right (more or less). I've been trying to get a video of her singing for a long time, but every time I would get out the camera she'd stop singing. The other night she was singing all kinds of songs and she said to me "Mommy, I'm singing songs all by myself!" So I was able to get out the camera and catch her in her proud moment! Here are some videos of her singing some of her favorite songs!

PS. Notice that her shirt is on inside out AND backwards. Just another of her accomplishments that she takes great pride in! She throws huge fits if I try to help her get it right, she has to do it all by herself! She's getting better at it though.

Our Chocoholic

Sadie LOVES chocolate! She's doesn't really eat any other kind of candy, but she'll shovel the chocolate in like there's no tomorrow! Tanner got some peanut butter cups for his birthday and this was what I got after Sadie had a taste of one! She's so cute!

Not much going on....

Well, we haven't had a whole lot going on around here in the last month or so, but I figured it was time to post some pictures and fill everyone in on the little that has been going on.

I am 37 weeks along now, so officially full term, and only 3 weeks to go! I'm huge and getting ready to have my body back to myself! I've felt pretty good though, except for the last week I've been super tired and haven't had a lot of energy. I think its just due to the super super hot, humid weather we've been having though. We saw 118 on the thermometer the other day! We have been enjoying the little storms that have been passing through though. Its thundering and shaking the house a little as I write this, how nice!

We had Tanner's birthday last week, but I totally forgot to get out the camera for it! We had a really fun get together with friends from Tanner's work and BBQ'd really good food, and played games and stayed up super late. It was fun! These pictures are of Tanner and Sadie after Family Home Evening. They've started kind of a tradition of letting Sadie stay up afterward to watch Rocky and Bullwinkle with Daddy. She loves it and always snuggles up to him the whole time. Its really cute!

And Sadie's just as cute as she can ever be! She's learning and growing so much - its so much fun to hear the funny things she says! Here's a random picture I took of her. She came up to me with this box around her and said "Look Mommy, I'm a present!" She's such a cutie pie and has such a wonderful imagination! We can't wait to see how she takes to her little brother!