A (sort of) relaxing vacation

We just got back from a week in FL visiting family. It had been a year since Grandpa Billy, Grandma Sharon and Aunt Nicole got to see B; he's changed a bit since then. Grandmama Annie and Grandpapa Charlie came down too, to see my brother Keith graduate college with his mechanical engineering degree. Such a proud moment to see that, especially since he graduated with the highest honors. Go Keith!!

On our first morning I woke up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the thought of being on vacation (vacation!!) and relaxing in the sun. B, on the other hand, wasn't feeling quite as chipper. He popped up in his crib and asked for his shoes. I asked why he needed his shoes and he answered "home." Awwww.

Two important and mind-blowing things I learned on this trip: 1. My son doesn't like the beach; 2. My son doesn't like the pool. ::bursts into tears:: Inconceivable! He has 50% of my genetic makeup for goodness sake. Papa Charlie got B in the pool on one of the days for a few minutes but that's about the extent of it. The rest of the time I was chasing him around the perimiter of the pool. He kept wanting to sit on the top step of the pool and would run around screaming "I sit, I sit!" Only it sounded more like "I sh_t, I sh_t!"

We had some touch and go moments, but Gabba got us through. I brought several DVDs for Brendan, along with a portable DVD player that Nana Darlene bought for him last year. Sir only wanted to watch Yo Gabba Gabba and we only had one YGG DVD so we watched the same 4 episodes over and over and over and over. Jack Black you're a funnny dude, but I can only watch you prance around in orange spandex so many times.

We had dinner with Grandpa Billy and Grandma Sharon most nights. Grandpa entertained B with his Donald Duck impression and cooked him some delicious homemade pizza, one of the very few foods B will eat (beetza). B also got to play the piano for the first time, which he absolutely loved. He's a virtuoso, people!

We flew home today and of course the airline lost our luggage and car seat, which is totally awesome. Kenny called and found out that it's arrived at the local airport so he's on his way to pick it up. Thanks be to Jesus because we're talking about B's favorite blankie and stuffed puppy, the baby monitor that I still can't live without and my makeup bag (gah!!). Oh, and a $300 car seat. Apparently Delta has some newb's working at the Atlanta airport who skipped the chapter about how to handle luggage during a layover because about 1/3 of the people that landed with us left the airport sans luggage.

Anywho, it was a much-needed vacation and it was wonderful to see everyone again. Now it's back to reality. Oy.

Watching YGG


Collecting shells with Grandmama


Starting to grow weary of the whole beach thing


...and we're back in the stroller. Papa's behind the wheel.


I'll miss you, beach.


Suspicious-looking fin. Just popped up to say allo! No swimming in the ocean for Momby.


Sunrise


Please, help me! They want me to go in the pool!


Even the swanky choo choo bathing suit couldn't get him in the water.


Oh look, YGG!



Brendan is 22 months and 1 day old today!

18 Months

Sir is a growing machine! He had his 18-month appointment today where we found out that he grew 2.5" since his last appointment three months ago. He shot up from the 75th percentile to the 95th percentile!

This is kind of where I imagined he'd be all along, considering how tall Kenny and I are. He gained one pound, nothing crazy, but he's been fighting a stomach bug (which he graciously shared with Momby and Daddy - yes, he calls me Momby) so I'm sure that he's closer to a 1.5 to 2lb gain. Anyway, he's still in the 50th percentile for weight and above the 95th percentile for head circumference, which still makes me giggle.

He's been a lot more vocal and determined to express himself. Most of what he says still sounds like a whole lot of gibberish but we can make out some words here and there. Some of his favorites are:

Oh mo! (oh no)
Shyooz (shoes)
Uh oh!
Cookie (of course he knows this one!)
Mombydaddy (he has a habit of babbling and stringing these two words together)
Ee-i-ee-i-oooo (this is the only part of Old MacDonald he knows and he likes to interject it randomly during his rants)
Uppy (up)
Bush tee (brush teeth)
No (always with a head shake to emphasize the "no" part)
Te-you (two, after I say one)

And of course he knows a few of his favorite shows on Nick Jr.:
Wow wow wow wow Wubshe (Wow Wow Wubbzy)
Booz cooz (Blue's Clues)
Yoo (Yo Gabba Gabba)

His receptive language is really developing nicely too. He knows what it means when I ask him to bring me something, when I say it's time for a bath or bed, etc. It's amazing how quickly their language develops at this age. Every time I look at him I wonder where my baby went.


Brendan is 18 months, 2 weeks and 4 days old today!

Cookie Monsters and Crushes

Brendan and I went to see Sesame Street Live with my friend Jill and her 2.5 year old son Steven yesterday. I was a little apprehensive—okay, more like moderate panic attack mode—anticipating how long he would sit still before he starting squirming and demanding I let him down off my lap. He's a toddler, it's understood that they have short attention spans, but you never want to be that mother. I am thrilled to report that Brendan did amazingly well.

We got there early enough for him to let off some steam before the show started. He practiced his walking, weaving in and out of the rows of chairs, which he found absolutely hysterical. We had seats in the front row, right in the center so all the characters came over to say hi and there were no kids or parents blocking our view. He sat on my lap and watched the show. Sure, there were moments here or there where he got fidgety but I pulled a toy out of the diaper bag and he would play with it for a minute, then watch the show again. Overall he did about 10,000 times better than I thought he would.

And marvel of all marvels, both Brendan and Steven fell asleep during the last five minutes of the show. Jill and I are not entirely sure how this was possible because the mic volume was clearly turned up to MAXIMUM plus about 5,000. But the only thing we could really think about was whether or not sleeping babies meant we would have to wait before we could go have lunch. Jill is pregnant, like last trimester pregnant. And well, I'm always hungry. And we were planning on having buffalo wings. BUFFALO WINGS! And a giant plate of french fries. And we had dietish breakfasts so we were STARVING, more than normal starving. Our worry was short-lived though, they woke up soon after the show ended.

So yeah, he did really well. But I will probably wait a while before I take that kind of chance again. Although, I did hear that Yo Gabba Gabba is coming here next month...

On another note, I'm pretty sure B has his first crush. Laurie Berkner. Every time she shows up on Nick Jr (we liked the Noggin name better, by the way!) singing her delightful tunes about F-A-M-I-L-Y and such he immediately stops whatever he's doing and watches her all mesmerized, with a smile that stretches from ear to ear. She does have a way with words, I'll give her that.

Oh, and by the way Moose, I don't like candy corn either.

Here are some recent pictures. Enjoy!

Reading up on one of the 50 states


Love this boy!


Giving an eye roll to the most recent tabloid scandal




Snoozing on G'Pa Charlie's lap.
The only time Gizmo will go anywhere near Brendan...

Obsessions

We are getting a digital SLR! I've been inspired by some of the blogs I've seen with mommies' pictures of their kiddos. My mom has one and you can totally see the difference between our point and shoot and her SLR, it's like hi-def TV vs regular - just can't compare. So, like everything else, I became slightly obsessed and when I decide I want something I have to have it NOW. Thankfully Kenny agreed because those things aren't cheap. We got a great recommendation from a co-worker's brother, and since it's a refurbished camera it was a steal (well compared to the regular price). So now I just have to wait for it to be delivered...

My other recent obsession is strollers. We have a great full-size one, the Peg Perego Pliko P3. It's been really good to me since we retired the infant seat and Snap n Go 5 months ago. But I wanted to get a lightweight stroller for walks and other adventures where we don't need a full-size one. So, I did some research and decided on the Baby Jogger City Mini in grey and green. It's so purty. I tried to use a 15% off coupon at Babies R Us but apparently Baby Jogger doesn't allow them to discount the price. So I found it at babyage.com with free shipping. It's scheduled to ship today! I'll post a review here after I've used it a few times.

Brendan is a cruising maniac. Still not walking independently but getting around just fine nonetheless. He's not really saying any English words yet but just this morning was speaking in tongues. Not sure what he was saying but it involved some flicking of the tongue so that can't be good.

We've been trying to cut back on TV time because he's becoming a bit obsessed with it. I'll allow 30 minutes in the morning while I dry my hair and get us dressed and then an hour at night. Which is probably a lot for a lot of parents but I'm okay with that. The first morning I didn't turn the TV on right away he kept trying to give me the control so I could turn it on. He does the same thing if he doesn't like the show that's on. First he'll attempt to change it himself and if that doesn't work he'll hand it to me to change the channel. He totally hearts Yo Gabba Gabba. It's baby crack.

We're heading to G'ma Annie and G'pa Charlie's today so I'll try and take some pics with Mom's camera and post them here later.

Brendan is 1 year, 1 week and 3 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

The early bird...

It is 7:20am. Brendan and I have been up for 3 hours. My coffee has little white specks in it. Methinks the milk might be bad after all but the need for caffeine overrides the possible side effects of drinking sour milk. I am grateful for Blues Clues and the Baby Einstein jumper, both of which are entertaining our little bundle of joy while I try to keep myself awake until Kenny gets up. It's his morning to sleep in, I'm figuring I've got about another hour and a half before he gets up and I get to take a nap.

Later today we're going to a birthday party for my friend Jill's son Steven who recently turned two years old. This is just wild because I'm pretty sure she just had him like 2 months ago. Time just FLIES by. Anyway, this is the first kids party Brendan is going to so that will be fun.

Hold on. I smell poop and I'm fairly confident it's not coming from me... I'm back. Brendan is extra cuddly this morning so we snuggled for a bit on the couch after I changed his diaper and now I'm thinking he'll fall asleep in a bit.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Brendan made Kenny and me a beautiful card at daycare. He's quite the little artist. ;) I found a really cute onesie at Baby Gap that says "Hunk-a Burning Love" and we had a pseudo photo shoot Friday morning before we left for the day. He was being such a little ham, there are so many great shots. I'm going to make a slideshow as soon as Kenny downloads flash player. But here are a few of my favorites to tide you over until then.







And here's a picture from a few weeks ago that I love:



Brendan is 7 months, 2 weeks and 2 days old today!

Milestones

My darling son woke up at 4am this morning. Nothing unusual there. I gave him his bottle, he drank it, fell asleep. I lifted him up to put him in his crib. Big eyeballs. "I am wide awake now Mommy, entertain me!" I turned on the rainforest soother that he loves. It has a light show, a swinging monkey, a fish and it makes all kinds of rainforest sounds. He usually will watch it for a few minutes and then conk out. Not this morning. No. This morning he decided to talk to it. FOR TWO HOURS. I pleaded with him to go to sleep so I could get some much needed rest before it was time to get up but he was merciless. Babble, babble, coo, giggle. And repeat. He FINALLY fell asleep at 6am. Just in time for me to get up for the day.

It gets frustrating sometimes. But then something always happens to remind me how lucky I am and how grateful I am to have this beautiful baby. I stumbled upon a blog today about a woman who gave birth to her baby boy via c-section and was able to hold him for sixteen precious minutes before he passed away. I had only gotten through the first few sentences of that entry before I lost it. I'm not even sure of the details surrounding her son's short life but from what I gathered she knew she would lose him shortly after his birth.

Before I had Brendan I obviously would have been upset to read that. Anybody would. But now, knowing what it's like to go through the journey of trying to conceive, then growing this miracle inside me, then giving birth to him, I really just cannot imagine having to say goodbye ever, let alone moments after meeting him for the first time. So now every day I will make sure I hug him a little longer, give him a few extra kisses and tell him how much I love him.

Our favorite little jumping bean is learning how to roll over. ::Cue the scary music:: This means we're closer to the day he becomes mobile. I won't be able to stick him on the Boppy pillow on our bed to watch TV while I get ready in the morning. God forbid I come back in and he's managed to roll himself off the bed. Yes, I am a horrible mother. I let my baby watch TV. Sue me. This is the only way I get 45 minutes of peace to do everything I need to do to get us both ready in the morning. He watches Johnny and the Sprites and the Wiggles, which actually both have some educational value. Johnny is alway teaching some lesson about patience and right from wrong. And those crazy Wiggles sing about the merits of fruit salad (yummy, yummy) and vegetables. So there. He's learning some valuable stuff.

He rolls over onto his side, gets stuck for a few minutes, then rolls onto his back. Once he even rolled onto his stomach. And got stuck there. Until I finally rolled him back the other way. He's quite proud of himself and flashes a big gummy grin every time he does this little trick. His favorite spot to practice his rolling skills is on his new elephant cuddle mat.



In this picture he was taking a break from rolling and became too engrossed with whatever was on TV to pay any attention to Mom.



We also tried out the Bumbo seat. It's a seat for babies who can hold their heads up but aren't able to sit up on their own just yet. The first time he sat in it for about 30 seconds before he was overcome with boredom. But this time he stayed in it for a while longer, which is promising.



So many new adventures we're having! Stay tuned...


Brendan is 3.5 months old today!