Storytime, Chick-Fil-A and New Teeth

Brennan is normally such an easy going, happy little guy that I find it quite stressful when he is inconsolably fussy. I thought we had gotten through the worst of it when his first set of molars all decided to come in at once, but I feel like we are revisiting that period. I think his eye teeth are coming in this time. It's been about a week and a half that he really hasn't been himself.

On Saturday, we went to Baby Storytime at the library with friends, Joanie and Evan. Then, we headed to lunch at the mall to grab some Chick-Fil-A. Chick-Fil-A has a 'one strip' kids meal, which is great because it's enough chicken to satisfy him and it comes with a kids size fries for me :) After eating his chicken, he wanted out of the high chair. I let him scoot around a little and then he figured out a new trick - pushing his highchair around like a walker. Joanie got these two videos for me, I thought you'd enjoy them. Evan thought this was pretty cool and decided to try it for himself too.

Saturday Fun

I have some time to post this morning because Brennan is sleeping in like a champ. We were out at our friends, Shaara and John's house last night until about 7:30, so the little man was up about an hour past his normal bedtime by the time he got to bed.

Yesterday was a packed day for us. It started with Brian going to the gym right when they opened. I needed him back by 8:30, so that I could head out to my hair appointment at 9. When I got home, Brian was feeding Brennan and then I got him ready for his photo shoot at Portrait Innovations at 11:30. Following photos, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up the supplies needed to prepare the skewars we were bringing to Shaara's house. We got home in time to prepare the skewars, let Brennan take a little nap, and then we were out the door around 3:45. Shaara invited a group of us from the Lamaze Class over for a group 1st birthday party, since all of our babies were born within 2 weeks of one another. I hadn't seen any of them in about 9 months, so it was really fun to see how all the babies have changed. They all look like little kids now :) It was fun.

When faced with chocolate cake, cheerios and blueberries on his tray, Brennan went straight for the blueberries. It was no surprise to me that he wanted nothing to do with that cake. I guess that is a good thing, since I don't really want to encourage him to develop a sweet tooth early. It was delicious though! Shaara, thanks for a fun evening!

Here are some shots from Portrait Innovations. I'll include a slide show with all the pictures.

12 Month Stats

I forgot to post Brennan's stats from his latest pediatrician appointment. He weighed in at 22 lbs 14 oz (50th percentile) and 31 inches long (90th percentile.) We are going for photos at Portrait Innovations tomorrow morning, and are getting together with some friends from Lamaze class later in the day. I'm sure I'll have some great pictures to share at the end of the weekend!

1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Brennan's birthday this Saturday. We had a small crowd come from NY, including my parents, grandparents, Debby, Ed and Peter, Brian's parents, Philip and Kerry, Mariah, Howie and the twins. A few local friends also came for the festivities. Brennan didn't completely dig into his cake, but with some encouragement, made a little mess of himself.
Brennan got a ton of cool new toys. We tested some of the big ones out in the yard. The push car was a hit. Mariah showed us the most fun way to use it, which is zooming at high speed around the yard. All of the adults got a workout in by running Brennan around in the car - even Poppy gave it a run!








The new wagon was a lot of a fun as well. I think Brennan really enjoyed the visibility the wagon offered him, as opposed to the stroller. He also tested out his new playhouse and practiced opening the door and walking in and out of it. The house also has a slide attached to it, but he can't climb up on his own yet, so we were also getting a workout on that toy, lifting him up and down from the slide platform.



Now that Mariah's girls are walking and Brennan is scooting everywhere, it's become quite a challenge to get a picture of the three of them together. This picture was taken just before the Dubins were getting ready to hit the road.

Turning 1

It was Brennan's first birthday today. I took the day off to spend it with the little guy. With the holiday on Friday, I had a four day weekend, which was really nice. Brian, Brennan and I went to the park on Saturday. We brought our lunch for a quick picnic and then headed to the swings. Brennan also tried the slide out for the first time and seemed to like it.

We celebrated the 4th of July with our neighbors, which was a lot of fun. They planned an "amazing race" around the neighborhood, so I carted Brennan along in the jogging stroller. My neighbor's 4 year old helped keep Brennan hydrated during one of the pit stops.

Since I was off today, I made Brian a birthday dinner of ribs followed by Carvel Cake (his favorite.) Brennan tried the ribs too and like them, but he wanted nothing to do with the ice cream. After we ate, I let him try drinking out of cup without the sippy top and he turned out to be a sopping wet mess.

Hamming it up with Aunt Debby

I had to travel to NY for work on Monday through Wednesday this week, so Debby came down to Virginia to help Brian while I was gone. For the record, it's not that Brian couldn't do it on his own, but having Deb come down meant that he wouldn't have to go into work late in order to drop Brennan off at daycare in the morning. While here, Debby helped organize my basement, which was a huge help! It looks so much bigger now and I can now use it as a play area for the kids during Brennan's birthday party next weekend. Deb, thanks for your help this week!

Brennan had a great time with Aunt Debby and seemed to try to smile for the camera. It resulted in a bunch of photos with him making pretty funny faces.

Brennan's hair gave Debby a hard time. It was in his eyes a lot. She tried to slick it back with some hair mousse. The funny thing is that after I looked at her pictures, I saw she parted his hair on a different side than I normally do, so I think it was just fighting her. Maybe he is ready for a little trim though... just not sure yet.