Merry Christmas

I'm not sure when I'll be on the blog during the 'holiday break,' so just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New year! I am off the last two weeks of the year and am looking forward to spending time with family and friends!

Shoveling Out

The total is in, we had 20 inches of snow! I don't remember in my adult life ever being in snow up to my knees. While I am normally not much of a cold weather person, I enjoyed jumping into the snow. It was complete powder - you couldn't make a snow ball if you tried.

It took me and Brian over an hour to dig our driveway and walk-way out. One of our neighbor's brought his snow blower over to clean up the end of the driveway and into the street.

Brennan preferred playing with the shoveled snow, where we could keep his feet on solid ground.

Our road still hasn't been plowed, which leads me to believe it might not be done at all. The entrance to the neighborhood was plowed, but they didn't come all the way through, so who knows how long we'll be dealing with this mess. I am glad that I am done with Christmas shopping! The main roads are clear, but I'd imagine many neighborhoods look like ours. Loudoun County closed school for the next two days, so kids have off early for the holidays. And, the government is closed today, so Brian gets another day home with us!

Snow Daze

This weather merits two posts in one day! The snow is still coming down very steadily. I have never seen snow like this in the DC area. We definitely have over a foot.

At 11:30, it was already up to Brennan's thighs.

Brennan was a little hesitant at first, but then dove in. Brian also took a break from shoveling and had a little fun.

Check out my neighbor's Prius, it's completely covered! You can see the side mirror just peaking out from the snow.

December Fun

Happy Snowy Morning! This is the view from our front door this morning. It wasn't really coming down anymore when we first got up, but now, it's falling pretty heavily again. I think we have about 10 inches on the ground right now.

I have been slacking on posting because I've been having major issues with my laptop. It won't take a charge and often won't recognize that the power cord is plugged in. I got lucky a few times and it charged up, but it's back to being dead. Brian pulled the hard drive out last night so that I could retrieve my files, but I think that that is the end of my laptop. I finally got my photo-editing software installed on Brian's PC, so I can get back to the blog. I'll have the November slide show up very soon.

My parents were down for a visit the first weekend in December, when it snowed. In addition to playing in the snow, Brennan has a great time riding "the horse."

The following weekend, we met up with my friend, Joanie, and her son Evan, who is Brennan's age. The boys played in the mall play area and rode on the carousel together. Joanie got some good pictures and included a nice little write-up on her blog about the day... check it out:

http://evan-ville.blogspot.com/2009/12/fun-saturday.html

Brennan has been a real trooper for me as I have been dragging him out shopping as I prepare for Christmas! Thankfully all of our malls have kid play areas, so my strategy has been to let him tire himself out playing and then let him rest in the stroller while I shop. Sometimes, he is even kind enough to nap for me. Occasionally, we'll do the train ride. Here is a photo from our latest train ride.

Sad Santa

Poor Brennan did not want to cooperate for his photo with Santa this year. His unhappiness started the moment I put him in his Christmas outfit. When I put him on Santa's lap, he started crying, but instead of trying to run away, he snuggled into Santa's jacket for comfort. This sad photo will not be going out with our holiday cards this year, so I thought I'd share it with you here.

Snow Baby

In a rare event for the DC area, we got about 4 inches of snow on Saturday! It started around 9 in the morning and went all day. We went out in the mid-morning to play. Brennan was having mixed feelings about the snow and hopped in the wagon for a little reprieve. By the end of the day, the ground was fully covered in snow. It was nice to see a little winter wonderland come our way so early in the season.

Haircut

I butchered Brennan's hair yesterday. He was in real need of a haircut and I wanted to get his bangs short enough that I wouldn't have to cut them again too soon. But, I went a little too crazy. Here are before and after shots.






















The only "good news" in this mess is that he sat pretty well for the cut. I tried cutting his hair a few weeks ago and it was a complete mess. This time, he wasn't fighting me at all and I obviously didn't know when to stop... poor Brennan. Brian keep saying that his hair just looks like a normal cut, but I don't like it. Oh well, it's only hair and it will grow back!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope all of you had a nice Thanksgiving. We started our day preparing the stuffing and turkey. Brennan had to entertain himself a bit since we were busy in the kitchen, but that didn't seem to be a problem. We hosted Alissa and Bill, who also decided against making the trip to Long Island.


After eating, we caught some of the football game. Alissa and Bill, thanks for coming, we had a great time!!

Brennan has been enjoying the leftovers and helped Brian polish off a turkey leg last night. On the other hand, I have been overindulging myself with left-over pie... I already feel the holiday pounds piling on.

Wine Tours and Grandparent Visits

Brian and I spent Saturday celebrating Regina's birthday with a bunch of friends. Her husband planned a wine tasting tour in Loudoun County. Brian's parents came down for the weekend to visit and to watch Brennan for us while we were at the birthday party. Brennan had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. On Sunday, we got to spend time all together. The weather finally broke and the sun was out! It was a beautiful day, so we took advantage and enjoyed some time outside.

We had lunch at Potbelly. Afterwards, Brennan played in the airport themed playground. Brennan figured out how to get from the box to the "loading car" without any help! He seemed to love that and kept doing the circuit of climbing up and sliding back down.

Here is Brennan showing off his new digs... a cute vest from Grandma and Grandpa and stylish Pumas that we picked up at the outlets.

Beautiful Fall Weekend

Brennan had been feeling a little off last week. He never got really sick, but he was running a low grade fever and I could tell he wasn't quite right. On Friday, he started turning the corner, so we spent some time outside playing in the yard. Thankfully, by Saturday, I had my happy little man back, so we could enjoy our weekend with Brian. We took Brennan to a playground and he had a lot of fun climbing and sliding. Brennan finally figured out how to use a straw and shared a dreamsicle shake with me from Pottbelly's. He has been very intrigued by planes that fly overhead. Since we live close to Dulles Airport, they are fairly low in the sky by the time we see them, so Brennan loves getting a good look.

On Sunday, the weather was amazing (the high reached 75!) We left the house at 9 AM to head to our pediatrician's office, since they were holding an H1N1 flu shot clinic from 10 - 2. We arrived 45 minutes early and were 82nd in line. Thankfully, they started giving the vaccine prior to 10, so things moved fairly quickly and we were on our way home by 10:30. After Brennan napped and had lunch, we took the bikes out for a spin. Instead of heading to the trail, we road through adjoining neighborhoods and Brennan really seemed to like that. He was pointing out trees and cars all along the way. We stopped for a little snack by the high school.

Once back at the house, Brian worked on raking the leaves and Brennan wanted to help. He also had fun jumping in the piles of leaves.

Brian piled up a bunch of leaves around Brennan's play house and he enjoyed sliding down into a pile of leaves. Here's a short video clip.

Halloween

Happy Halloween! I'm a little late at getting this post out, but better late than never. Our Halloween weekend started out pretty nicely. Since I knew Brennan would not be that interested in wearing his costume for long, I got him a little festive outfit to wear during the day. We had lunch with friends on Saturday, who are moving to Florida this week (Tony, Jill and Olivia, we are going to miss you!)

Brennan has taken a recent interest in scribbling with crayons. I've found it easiest to tape a large piece of paper to the table (or the floor) and let him have fun. I have been teaching him that crayons must stay in the kitchen, so that he is not tempted to draw on the couch!

On Halloween evening, we went to our neighbor's house for a little party. Brian made use of his rugby uniform, so I decided to be a referee. It was funny to see how showing up in a ref outfit gave me authority. People were looking for me to set the rules for beer pong. It was quite comical and gave me the perfect excuse not to play... I had to remain impartial!

Brennan's costume was a pumpkin. It wasn't a full body costume and I think that was for the best, since he didn't want to keep it on for long anyway!

October Catch Up

I have a fair amount of catching up to do, since I haven't posted anything in over 2 weeks. My laptop is not taking a charge and I feel a little lost without it, so I haven't been taking time to work on the blog. We went back to LI for Alissa's wedding on October 17 (Congrats Alissa and Bill!) Brennan spent the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa Pecorino while Brian and I were at the wedding. While at my parent's house, Brennan gave the piano a try and seemed to be very amused by it.

Last weekend, Uncle Philip and Aunt Kerry came for a visit. Brennan had a great time reading with Uncle Philip and learning to do "cheers" with Aunt Kerry while watching the Penn State game. Don't worry, Brennan's is empty. We had big plans to go to the Fall Festival at Cox Farms, but it was a total wash out. It rained all day on Saturday, so we stayed in and had a very lazy day at the house. Since we missed it last weekend, Brennan and I are hoping to make it out to Cox Farms with Shana and Spencer on Friday.

On Monday, I had to run a few errands at Ulta and Target. Conveniently, there is a little playground right in the shopping center, so Brennan got to have a little fun between stores.

15 Month Check-Up

It's hard to believe Brennan is already 15 months old. We went for Brennan's 15 month pediatrician appointment last week. He was 33 inches long (93%) and weighed 24 lbs 9 oz (51%). The doctor is happy with his growth and development and predicted he is going to play sports and keep me busy! While waiting in the exam room for the doctor to arrive, Brennan had fun pulling all the books off the shelf, pushing the doctor's stool (on wheels) around and climbing up and down the Little Tikes chair that was in the exam room.

Since our trip to Richmond, I've tried to allow Brennan to get a little messier than usual with dinner. Normally, I prefer to try to keep the food from flying too much, but Denise inspired me to let him get a little wild. Here was the result (sorry for the red-eye, but I am having major problems with my laptop, so I haven't been able to access my photo editing software, and I dont know how to get the software on Brian's computer to work.)

Brennan starting saying "apple" last week and I managed to catch it on video at the end of our messy dinner. Thought you might enjoy this clip.

Hanging Out in Richmond

Brennan is becoming quite the little traveler. Last Friday, he and I headed to Tom and Denise's in Richmond for a night. They have a 4 year old daughter and a son who is 6 months older than Brennan. Brennan really enjoyed playing in their large yard. He loved the "rock" wall and repeatedly climbed up it, and made his way down on the slide.

We went to the Richmond Zoo on Saturday, which was a lot of fun. It was smaller than the DC Zoo, but bigger than the Reston Zoo. This time, Brennan had no qualms about feeding the animals. He had a blast with the farm animals that were there to be fed. I did my best to keep him from putting his hand too far into their mouths! Thank God for hand sanitizer!

If you have never seen a Giraffe's tongue, please look closely at the picture on the left, where the huge tongue is going into my cup of food. I never knew that Giraffes had huge black tongues. Despite being a little stand-offish at first, Brennan soon jumped in and started feeding the Giraffes. The Giraffe kept wrapping its tongue around Brennan's hand and arm and he was laughing quite a bit. If Denise got any shots of the Giraffe tongue on his arm, I will post that later. After the zoo, we headed back to Tom and Denise's for a nap and dinner, and then hit the road to head back home to Brian. This coming weekend will be much more low key and we will be staying close to home.

Weekend on Long Island

We went to Long Island last weekend for a family baby shower. It was my first road trip alone with Brennan. I drove at night, so Brennan slept for most of the trip. I did my best to drink as little as possible, since once he was asleep, I had no intention of making a pit stop! We stayed at my sister's place on Friday night and made the rest of the trip out east on Friday morning. On the way, we visited with Brian's parents and had lunch with Aunt Kerry. I caught up with a high school friend that night. We spent Saturday afternoon at the baby shower. The mother to be, Debbie, looked great and Brennan had a blast chasing my aunt's dog around. I don't know why I didn't take any photos. I really didn't take a ton of pictures over the weekend, but have a few to share with you.

Brennan was trying on Uncle Pete's boots:

Brennan enjoyed playing on the hammock. Here he is with my dad.