Patience is the Best Medicine

During our first week back from Houston, Braedan unfortunately came down with a stomach virus. (Which is why I took a little time to write about our visit.) This was the first time he had been sick at all, and being the worrier that I am I was in top form. For those of you who are parents and have experienced this with your little ones, you know you hate hearing those dreaded words from the doctor, "Well we really can't prescribe anything for a virus. You just have to let the virus run its course, but call us back if things get worse." It was tough sitting back and waiting but I learned something very important while experiencing this "first" with Braedan: he really is a tough little guy. Albeit his dad always reassures me of this, I can't help the fact that I will constantly have his well-being and health on my mind, along with the universal question for moms, "Am I doing a good enough job for him?" But doctors are right. Sometimes the best medicine is patience, with a little bit of love and some hugs.

Of course Braedan showed the obvious telltale signs of being sick, along with poor sleeping at night, but during the day he did his best to go about things as if it were any other day. On one of his better days, he started to show some progress toward reaching the crawling milestone. He's doing the belly crawl/scoot in the first clip.



And in general, Braedan is a very happy baby. We can get him to laugh pretty easily and I got some of that in this second clip.

The Perfect Homecoming

Braedan and I had a great time in Houston. The weekend started off with a very early start, a 7:15 am flight, which meant we needed to be at the airport by 5:30 am. I have to say Braedan was a very good sport considering we had to be up so early, but I think he was ok with the whole thing because I let him stay in his pajamas. By the way, his dad thought that was very cool and if he could I think he would love to be able to stay in his pj's for an early flight like that. But despite the early wake up call, Braedan was very good on the flight. Luckily we sat next to two ladies and the charmer that he is got them liking him from the moment they sat down.


From the moment we arrived, Cousin Ian, Aunt Amy and Uncle Mickey were the best hosts. Ian and Braedan were very cute together and got along very well. There is a two year age difference between them, and you can already tell that Ian will be the cool, older, and not to mention, helpful cousin to Braedan. One of the highlights was a trip to Memorial City Mall. We enticed Ian and got him excited about the trip with the promise of a ride on the mall's carousel. Of course Ian had no objections after that. All in all, Braedan's first carousel ride was a hit despite its fast speed. If I wasn't looking out to the crowd I know I would have felt pretty dizzy, and fortunately Braedan seemed to catch onto that plan faster than I did because he smiled and waved his arms the whole time we went around. Aunt Amy and I also had a good time shopping and never mind the fact that we bought the same exact outfit but in different colors. We did this unknowingly but laughed and complimented one another on our good taste. I didn't get to take a picture to capture the moment, but trust me when I say we looked cute.


Part of the trip also included spending some time with my best girlfriends. We celebrated a baby shower for Angelique who is expecting her first baby this April. Angelique was my roommate in college, and it was great to be able to spend time with her and the rest of my friends. Since graduating, we all manage to keep in touch with each other pretty much on a daily basis thanks to the Internet gods. All but three of us were able to make it for the weekend. Recently, one of the girls noted that it has been 10 years since we graduated and then another mentioned that we've known each other for a total of 14. I'd say that's pretty good considering all that goes on with the daily bustle of work, family and other commitments.

Visits with them in addition to the time spent with family always makes for a perfect homecoming, and it's even more enjoyable now that I have a new traveling partner in Braedan.

Braedan, the World Traveler

This week's post is really short since Braedan and I are leaving town tomorrow. We are heading out to Houston to visit cousin Ian, Aunt Amy and Uncle Mickey. While we're there I will get to see my best friends to celebrate a new addition to the group. My girlfriend Angelique is expecting her first baby later this spring so we're all getting together for her baby shower. This will be Braedan's second flight at only 7 months, and I would like to point out that I did not have my first plane ride until I was 16. If we keep traveling at this rate, he will become the consummate world traveler by the time he reaches 16. We'll let you know how it goes and post pictures when we return. Happy Valentine's Day!

Jennifer, Jenny, and Jen

My name is one of the best gifts my mom gave me. From what she and my dad always used to tell me, she was the decision maker on the choice of my name. I love it and all its different versions. Family and friends all refer to me by a different nickname, which I especially love because when I hear each one, they conjure up varied forms of endearment. In my family, I am known as Jenny. Whenever I hear a cousin call out my name, it makes me think of home and the younger version of myself - skinny chicken legs, glasses, and playing with my sister and all the cousins at grandma's house. The funny thing is I never asked to be called Jenny while at school. For some reason, I always asked the teacher to leave me as Jennifer, and you can bet this discussion always came up because during grade school there was always at least one other Jennifer in my class. I guess you can call it the nerd in me to leave it all business-like and grown-up to request Jennifer. But as I got older, entered high school, and played sports, Jennifer became Jen and then my maiden name got cut in half too. Now, I was Jen Naps. This nickname followed me into college, and most of my best friends will still call me by this name every now and then even though we're in our 30's, almost all married, and with families. And wouldn't you know there is another Jennifer in the group. I think it was about year ago when the spelling of Jen became a big topic of discussion. Some were spelling it with two "n's" and sometimes they'd refer to me as the two "n" Jen or vice versa. After that, the other Jen and I explained the reasoning for our preference in spelling. As you can tell by the name of my blog, I am a one "n" Jen kind of gal. I don't have a strong argument for going with the one "n." I just think it looks better, and I guess you can call it the girly-girl in me to go with that logic.

As Braedan grows older, I hope he appreciates our decision to give him the name we chose. There is no way you can shorten his name to create a nickname from it, but we've come up with a couple pet names (Poops and Poopy are our favorites) that we hope he'll love hearing just as much as we love using them.