Brennan Lost His First Tooth

Brennan had been complaining about this teeth hurting for a few days before I realized it was because he had two loose ones!  Last Monday, 10/21, at dinner, Brennan could hardly eat - his tooth was about to come out!  It's kind of a gross picture, but I can't help but capture the memory.

That night in the shower, he sucked some water in his mouth and blew it out like a fountain, and out came his tooth!  He was yelling with excitement!  The tooth fairy brought him $5 for his first tooth.

My in-laws were in town this weekend and stayed with the boys while Brian and I were at church today. While we were out, Brennan's second tooth came out.  Here is his new gap with two missing teeth right next to each other.  He is looking forward to the next visit from the tooth fairy.

Tyler has been a little jealous of all the attention that Brennan has been getting and keeps trying to pose like Brennan to show off his teeth.  He's such a cutie!

Baxter-sitting

Over the weekend, we watched Baxter while my neighbors were away.  The dogs played pretty nicely together, but I let Baxter sleep at house, just in case!  It was fun to see Zelda assert herself a get a little territorial.  She did not want to share her fetch toys and would basically knock them away from Baxter any time he went for them.  She also would push Baxter away from Brian anytime Baxter went to him for attention.

Brennan maintained that Baxter has the cutest face, even cuter than Zelda.  He loves Baxter's cheeks and kept trying to get Baxter to lick him.

The two dogs were chilling out together when I took the boys upstairs for bath time.  I never realized how small Baxter really was before this weekend.  Compared to Zelda, he's such a shrimp!

Fun at Home

We had days and days of pouring rain last week that left us stuck indoors more than usual.  Brennan discovered a stash of temporary tattoos and went a little crazy!

We babysat my friends daughter on Sunday evening for a couple of hours and everyone enjoyed dressing up (as usual) and sword fighting.

The boys continue to love spending time with Zelda.  She is such a big love.  Although, I will mention that her gigantic dog bed is the XL LLBean bed, which is supposed to be for dogs over 70 pounds.  It is HUGE... a complete monster sized bed... if we were to do that purchase again, I'd probably just get the large.

Zelda and the boys have been going into the Little Tykes playhouse.  Unfortunately, because of all the rain, it's really muddy in that part of the yard and everyone is filthy after playing back there.  But, they are having so much fun, I can't help but let them!

It turns out that Zelda loves playing fetch.  Bulldogs are an interesting breed because they are very strong and muscular, but they can't handle too much exercise because of their nasal passage - it gets hard for them to get enough air and they easily get out of breath.  However, Zelda will give you a good few sprints to get the ball before needing a break.  This week, on her own volition, she even ran and picked up a stick and brought it to me to throw.

Zelda loves Brian and will often drop to her side, asking for a belly rub.  She starts snoring as soon as that belly rub begins.

 Brennan found a little worm friend.

Lastly, the rescue asked us to send a family photo with Zelda.  We were unsuccessful at getting the dog and the kids to look at the camera at the same time, but thought this pic was worth sharing!

Adventures in NYC

Last Friday, Brennan and I headed up to NYC to visit Uncle Pete and Aunt Meg.  Meg and I had a baby shower to attend on Long Island on Saturday, which gave Peter the day to enjoy with Brennan.  Brennan had been wanting to go into the city to see skyscrapers and ride the subway.  He was also very curious about what apartment was living was like - he couldn't understand why Uncle Pete and Aunt Meg didn't live in a house, and instead lived in a "teenie tiny" apartment (his words, not mine... their apartment is actually pretty spacious!)  Saturday morning, Pete and Brennan set out on their adventure.  FAO Schwartz was the first stop.

Brennan really enjoyed the Lego section of the store.  Look closely, that Batman is made entirely of Legos!

Pete bought Brennan a new Batman Lego set, which he worked on after school all week.  I helped him here and there, but he did a lot of it on his own.  Here it is, all put together!

Pete also took Brennan to the Central Park Zoo.  Brennan has some popcorn when they stopped to watch the sea lion feeding time.  Apparently, after the popcorn was finished, Brennan insisted on wearing the bowl as a hat for much of the day.

The giant rock was quite a hit!

Not sure exactly where this dog was... in the zoo, in central park?  But, Brennan seemed to want to ride it!

The picture below is just too cute!

I don't think they went into the Met, but Pete snapped a shot of Brennan standing in front of it.

When Meg and I got back from the shower, we found Pete and Brennan sword fighting on the balcony.

As we left the city to head back to Virginia, Brennan told me that he had tears in his eyes because he was missing Uncle Pete!  It really was a great little visit and I hope we can do it again soon!  Pete and Meg, thanks for having us!!

September Recap

The month of September was quite beautiful, with plenty of fall weather to enjoy.  Although not pictured here, Brennan got a new bike and has been all about getting out to ride.  He's also been practicing riding his razor scooter.

And, working on his pogo stick.  I don't have any photos, but he's also been doing a lot of roller skating.  Although he doesn't do a great job of gliding, he does a pretty good job at keeping his balance and likes to ride down the neighbor's sloped driveways that are across the street.

Tyler loves driving in the power wheels truck with Brennan.  The boys were circling the house a lot, but the truck kept stalling on the uphill section.  Here they are pushing it up the hill.  I've been encouraging them to just stay in the front yard and the street, where it's flat, and that's been working out much better.  Tyler even did a little driving of his own this week!

Brennan and Tyler love to play with the boys next door (yes, all 4 of them!)

Tyler always gravitates towards the oldest one in the bunch.  Robbie is a senior in high school and totally let Tyler monopolize an hour of his time!  (No, that is not our trampoline.)

Brennan really wanted to be Superman for Halloween this year and since I don't have to buy Tyler a costume (he will either be Batman or a pirate from our existing costumes), I figured we could splurge on the hard muscle costume!  Here are the boys showing off.  (Brennan's costume in a little big, but the small costume from last year is too small, so I felt like I had to buy the medium.  He'll grow into it and he loves dressing up, so I know it will get used!)

Visit with Aunt Debby, Uncle Joe and Andie

I've been struggling to keep up with the blog a little bit these days, so I have to play a little catch up.  Last weekend, the weekend we ended up getting Zelda, Debby, Joe and Andie were in town visiting one of Debby's college friends.  We met them in Shirlington for lunch on Sunday.  We took a long walk through Shirlington's dog park and then headed out to find a picnic spot.

The boys got started on a lunch I packed for them while Debby and I waited for Joe and Brian to get lunch for us from Medi (imagine a Mediterranean version of Chipotle.)  It was perfect weather for spending some time outside - not too hot or cold.

Brennan had fun playing a little football.

I'm not sure how the chicken fight started.

Debby and Joe had planned to come out to see us on Sunday evening for dinner before driving back to NY.  But, just before they pulled up at our house, we got a call from Zelda's foster mom telling us that we were approved for Zelda and that we could come to meet her, and presumably take her home that day.  Her foster family was about an hour away, near BWI, so in truth, if we didn't do it then, we would have likely had to wait another week.  We ended up cutting our visit short with Debby and Joe so we could go get our girl!  Brennan did get to enjoy a little time with Andie in our yard before it was time for us to go tho!

Meet Zelda!

For some time now, we have been talking about getting a dog.  I really didn't want to consider it as a serious option until we had a fence, but with that project complete, I felt more open to the idea.  Brennan has really been pushing for a dog, but I told him it couldn't happen before Uncle Pete's wedding.  As soon as Pete got married, Brennan decided to hold me to my word.  We started the search on Pet Finder and came across a few dogs that caught our attention.  Zelda was a lot bigger than what I had originally had in mind for a family pet, but her profile sounded wonderful... a 3 year old family dog who was given up because of allergies, house trained, knows and follows the basic commands, sweet and gentle and approved for home with toddlers.  We applied for this big girl and after a couple of weeks are working the rescue, we were approved and got to pick Zelda up on Sunday, September 29!

Zelda was very nervous about coming home with us.  She is a very large dog, weighing in at 108.6 pounds at the vet today.  When we've been out walking with her, other people and dogs are intimidated by her, but she is timid and nervous.  Thankfully, each day, she is getting more comfortable with us.  Now, in the house, I rarely see her tail tucked between her legs anymore.  It will still take time for her to be comfortable around new people and other dogs.

She is a napper and enjoys snoring away the afternoon.  She really is a good dog.  She is obedient and gentle.  She doesn't try to go on the furniture or steal table food.  In fact, I dropped a few pieces of pasta right in front of her last night and she didn't go for them.  Unfortunately, she is about 20 pounds overweight though and that is one thing we need to start working on right away.

Brennan adores Zelda and she warmed up to him right away.  It took her a couple more days to trust Tyler, but now she is happy to get his hugs and kisses as well.  Everyday, Brennan tells Zelda that, "she doesn't have to worry, he's not going to school."  But, that's a promise I don't let him keep!  We've been affectionately calling her "Zeldie" and Brennan calls her all sorts of names like his "little sweetie bug."  He wants to get a tiara for her so that she can be a princess (all his idea... not mine at all!)  It really feels like she was the perfect match for our family!