House of Cooties

We have cooties, folks. Well, I have cooties. Brendan has a cold that's holding on for dear life (two weeks and counting), Kenny is getting over a cold and I'm breaking out in mysterious hives all over my body. They started innocently enough on my elbows Thursday morning and just kept popping up in new places as the hours ticked by. I went to the doctor on Friday and she's guessing it's a reaction to something I ate since I'm not using any new detergents, lotions or soap. I've been taking Prednisone but it hasn't given me any relief yet. I woke up in the middle of the night last night itching from head to toe with lots of new clusters of hives. I'm so over this!

Brendan has been sleeping later in the mornings. He's been pretty much sleeping through the night but most nights about an hour after he falls asleep he'll wake up crying. I wonder if it's too soon for bad dreams? When I'm already in bed and he wakes up I hear him whimpering in his sleep before he's fully awake and crying. What could he possibly be dreaming about already? Mommy took his toy away? Daddy made him eat green beans? Poor thing. Hopefully whatever it is will end soon. Other than that, when he's not waking himself up with all of his coughing, he sleeps until about 6 or 6:30. Much better than his old 4:30 wake-up calls! Oh, and he's got his 8th tooth! Now he has five on top and three on the bottom.

Just over a month to go before we take our first plane trip with Brendan. We're going to FL so he can finally meet his Papa Billy, Nana Sharon and his aunts and uncles. I'm a little nervous about the flight but I'm going to buy some new toys and have plenty of formula and food ready. Hopefully he'll pass out since we're flyng during his usual afternoon nap time. It will also be his first time at the beach (Mommy's favorite place!). I'm excited to see how he likes the sand and the ocean. I bought this tent to bring on the beach to keep his pasty butt out of the sun. I figured it would also be easier to lure people to the beach to keep me company if I had some shade to offer them.

I don't have any new pictures to post today but I have a video that I wanted to share from last night. He's figured out a new trick when he eats that he just finds hysterical. I have to admit, it's pretty hard not to laugh back at him when he does it.




Brendan is 1 day away from 9 months old today!

Horn toots and men in skirts

Brendan went to his first parade yesterday (in celebration of St. Patrick's Day) with Mommy, Grandma Annie and Grandpa Charlie. The silly weather people predicted a high temp around 60 degrees which was beyond exciting. Of course, they predicted sunshine on Friday and the day started out with a snowy blizzard. But I digress. It started out as a nice, warmish day with lots of sunshine but eventually turned to a frigid, cloudy day. We had a great time, nonetheless.

Brendan was a trooper, taking everything in with his ever curious (and often nosy) eyes. I was worried that he'd get upset when the big trucks came by honking their VERY loud horns but it didn't bother him one bit! The parade was pretty short—about an hour—and he was definitely ready to go by the time it was over. It was nap time and there was too much going on to be able to fall asleep while we were there. Sure enough, by the time we got back to the car he was passed out in his stroller. Mommy decided to stop at McDonald's for a quarter pounder with cheese (minus the bread) and some caffeine in an effort to prolong his nap. Brendan really appreciated my thoughtfulness.

Of course I took lots of pictures... enjoy!

Waiting for the parade to start


I'll just play with my shoes while I wait


Watching the police cars go by


Laughing with Grandma


Getting a better view with Grandpa


Watching the funny men in skirts go by


Who's next??


Silly Mommy covering my ears when the loud horns passed by


Eating my hand until something better comes along


Snuggling with Grandma under the blankie



Brendan is 8 months 3 weeks and 2 days old today!

Pictures!

Here are some more recent pictures of Brendan.

Flashing his big grin (and showing off a few of his teeth—he has 7 now!)







We woke up one morning to find Brendan with this hair. It reminded me of Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary when she had Ben Stiller's "special" hair gel in her hair. LOL.





Every night I get Brendan changed into his pj's, then hand him over to Daddy while I get his bottle ready. And every night as soon as he's at the desk he LUNGES for the computer mouse. He absolutely loves that thing! He's getting ready to make his attack in this picture.



Brendan loves bathtime! He used to sit in a reclining seat in the bath and splash the crap out of Mommy but he recently graduated to a big boy bath seat. Now he can play with all his fun bath toys!





Nanny Darlene has two close friends that she grew up with who also got to meet their first grandchildren (all boys!) in 2008. Here's a picture of the grandmothers and grandsons: Darlene and Brendan, Dee and Justin, Patty and Luke.


Here are the mothers and sons: Brendan and me, Andrea and Justin, Chrissy and Luke.


And here's one of Nanny and Brendan.



Brendan is going to his first parade this Sunday (St. Patrick's Day Parade in Greenwich). Should be fun. I'll try to post some pics from that too.


Brendan is 8 months 2 weeks and 4 days old today!

He ain't heavy...

As I sit here hemorrhaging brain cells while watching Yo Gabba Gabba (have you ever seen this show? The people who write it MUST be tripping 24/7), I'm trying to come up with something blogworthy to write about. Brendan is still as adorable as ever and getting bigger and bigger. In the last two days I've seen two 11-month-old babies who are the same size as my 8-month-old. He is a big boy. Not crawling or walking. Frankly I think he's just lazy and thinks why should he do the work when there are people who will carry him around and move him to where he wants to go?

I don't blame him. Although, like I said, he's not a small kid and lugging around 20lb of squirming little boy gets pretty tiring pretty quickly. I brought him to the doctor a week ago (2 weeks ago?) for his second flu shot and stupidly decided to leave the stroller in the trunk and carry him, my purse and the diaper bag from the parking lot to the doctor's office. The trip in wasn't so bad. But we had to wait a while and that meant I had to keep him entertained while we were in the waiting room. So lots of walking around, bouncing him up and down and all that. By the time we were walking back to the car after the appointment it took everything I had not to drop the bags and sit down in the middle of the parking lot until my back stopped locking up. Somehow I made it to the car without sustaining any permanent damage. Note to self: ALWAYS bring the stroller.

He's an expert sitter and a very chatty little fellow. He's definitely saying mama and dada, although he has no idea what either word means. He's also saying baba and flicking his finger across his lips when he talks to make funny sounds. I've tried feeding him Cheerios and puffs but he has zero interest in either. Grandma even tried giving him a piece of bread but he just wanted to use it as a drumstick to pound the table with. Which makes me wonder, with parents that love to eat, how is it possible that we produced a child who needs to be coerced to eat??

Anyway, here are a few recent pictures. Enjoy!


Mr. Smiley


Being shy Brendan


OK Mom, one more picture and that's it.


Close-up of his beautiful eyes


Playing in his fortress


Sleepy Head



Brendan is 8 months and 1 week old