A new beginning

On June 7, 2011, Russ and I welcomed our first child into the world. Tyler Glenn Brasfield was born at 7:34p and was 6lbs, 3oz. He is a little fella, but perfect in every way! Mom and Dad are so grateful that he arrived quickly and safely.

Mom and Tyler

Our first family picture!

Tyler is now almost 11 weeks old and is almost 9lbs. He is such a sweet baby! Don't get me wrong...he can scream his head off for no reason with the best of them, but we are trying to enjoy every minute with him.

I'm 2mo old already!

To get you up to speed, here are some things we've learned about Tyler in the first 10.5 weeks:

• From the time he was born, Tyler loves to be outside! I think he enjoys all the noises from the wind, birds and sounds from the interstate. He likes to swing on the screened porch, walk around in the front yard and go with us to get the mail. We haven't been outside as much lately because it's been so hot.

Welcome home Tyler

Almost a week old

• He loves to be swaddled to sleep!! Like most babies, at first he resisted the swaddle, but now he just LOVES it. It is almost like magic when we wrap him up now...instant calming! We double swaddle him (at the suggestion of a mommy friend), since he is a little escape artist and loves to work his hands out. His favorite swaddles are the swaddle me blanket topped with an Adian + Anais muslin blanket.
• Speaking of sleep...Tyler is a pretty good little sleeper and has had long nighttime sleep periods of 4-5 hours at a time since he was 4 weeks old. Last night dad was "on duty" for only the 2nd night ever and he slept from 11p to 6:30a! Way to go Tyler!!
• He has been sleeping in his crib at night since he was 4 weeks old, too! I couldn't sleep any when he was in his bassinet in our room (babies are noisy sleepers!), so we moved him and set up the video monitor. So glad we did! Everyone seems to sleep better with Tyler in his own room! 
• He has a mild case of acid reflux so his little belly is usually hurting when he screams, poor guy. He started taking reflux medicine after his 2mo check up and that seems to be helping. 
• The biggest lifesaver item we had when he was first born was the Boppy newborn lounger pillow! He slept in it exclusively until he was a month old! We would just carry him around on it from the pack n play in the den to his bassinet in our room. He looked like a little prince being carried around!

Little bundle of joy

• His favorite baby gear item is probably his vibrating bouncy seat. It was the first thing he would tolerate (at about 2 weeks of age) and it has provided us many breaks to eat, sleep, check our email or whatever!

Snoozing in my bouncy seat

• A close 2nd is his swing. Tyler now takes every daytime nap in his swing! But he didn't like it at all at first. We learned that he must be swaddled and it has to go side-to-side...he does NOT like back and forth. Haha. From the time he was around 6 weeks old, it has been a true lifesaver (especially in the early morning) because he will happily sleep for hours! Thanks goodness we invested in 2 sets of rechargeable batteries at the recommendation of a mommy friend... :)
• Tyler enjoys a bath. He likes sitting in the warm water! But he doesn't really enjoy having his hair washed or putting lotion on afterwards.  

Hi! Daddy says I look like Budda here!

Playing with daddy!

Sweet guy!

• He is a cuddly little guy and he loves to be held! He likes to be rocked to sleep, though we are trying not to do that too much. He also enjoys playing in our laps in the Boppy pillow. He is smiling and starting to focus more on people. He loves lamps and looking at lights and fans.

Granna loves reading to me

Happy boy!

I have decided to start a blog to keep up with all of Tyler's milestones and to share these moments with our friends and out-of-town family. Time is so precious right now and will become an even greater commodity when I go back to work in October (sniff, sniff). But, I am hoping to make the time to blog a few times a week.