Merry Christmas!

Brody's 2nd Christmas!

What a difference a year makes!!

Happy 1st Birthday Brody!

Brody turned 1 today!  The time has just flown by.  Some of Brody's favorite things to do include playing catch, playing with Travis' Xbox controller, pushing buttons on the DVR (or pushing any button for that matter), petting Caesar, walking around the house, and throwing food off of his high chair tray.  We had his first birthday party today.  Both sets of grandparents came along with Uncle Curt, Uncle Curtis, and Alyssa.  We had a pirate theme for Brody's birthday.  It was a very eventful day.  Even Caesar wanted got some extra attention by getting stuck in the branches of our Christmas tree!  We had to use wire cutters to free him from it.  We destroyed our tree in the process.  Looks like we'll be buying a new tree for Brody's third Christmas.  Enjoy the latest pictures!

Checking out my cake!

This size is more like it!  Brody's personal cake to dig into.  He barely touched it though!

The birthday boy!

Happy Birthday Brody!

Brody's mini cake!

Uncle Curtis and Alyssa helped Brody celebrate.

Brody with Grandma and Grandpa

Brody with Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Curt

My busy ball popper is so fun!

Mommy, Daddy, and Brody

Check out my birthday hat!

Mommy's nametag is enough for me to sit still for my 12 month picture!

   

Walking!

Brody has been taking 5-10 steps for a few weeks now, but finally got good at it last week.  Look out world!  Here he comes!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Waiting for my Thanksgiving dinner #2.

My First Thanksgiving.  

We spent Thanksgiving at our house this year.  Grandpa and Grandma came to spend Thanksgiving with us.  Josh and Ren also came on Thursday.  

Taking a break from all that turkey.

Help!  Let me out of this cage!

Brody and Caesar are quite the pair.

Brody trying to escape!

11 Month Update!

Brody turned 11 months old on Friday!  He is such a busy little man.  Some of his favorite things to do include pushing anything he can get ahold of across the floor, playing catch with mommy and daddy, cruising along the furniture, chasing Caesar, and crawling/cruising around the house.

Enjoy the latest pictures!

Brody enjoys his Thanksgiving dinner in Lovilia.  We had to do Thanksgiving early because Travis is on call starting Tuesday and we can't leave town for the week.

With Brody's 11 month birthday comes four new top teeth that are making their way down.  Brody has been really fussy at night over the last week or so because of the teeth coming in.  We keep the teethers really cold.

Envisioning his career in IT like his daddy.

A little different for the 11 month pose.  There was no possible way we were going to get Brody to stay put long enough to take his picture.  So instead, we taped the sign to his new John Deere tractor that grandpa and grandma bought him.  He got it for his 11 month birthday instead of his 12 month one.  Somebody couldn't hold off any longer....

Here is Brody pushing his tractor.

He also likes to ride it.  BEEP BEEP!!

Happy Halloween!

Brody was a dinosaur for Halloween!

Roar!  I'm coming for you!

Brody got his own little pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.

Brody posing with Travis and Josh's carved pumpkins.

Travis carved an Iron Man pumpkin.  It took him 6 hours to carve it.  He and Josh were up until 3:30 in the morning carving.  

Here is Travis's Iron Man pumpkin lit.  

Here is Josh's pumpkin.  He carved James Bond.  

Here is Josh's James Bond pumpkin lit.

Here is Sarah's pumpkin.  Note the clear lack of artistic ability when compared to Travis and Josh's pumpkins.  Even Caesar enjoyed the pumpkin carving.

Sarah's normal pumpkin lit.

Curt moved in with us to start a new job in Omaha.  Unfortunately, after three days into the job he got a really bad chemical burn on both arms and hands.  He needed to take a shower, so my mom wrapped him up.  Here he is flexing for the camera before his shower.  

Vala's Pumpkin Patch

We took Brody to Vala's on Saturday. We went with Josh, Matt, Karen, and their little boy Jack. Brody was a trooper for the five hours we spent there! Vala's has so much to see and do. We couldn't believe we spent five hours, but Brody was being so good that we wanted to enjoy the beautiful fall day as long as possible. Here are some pictures!

The giant rocking chair.

Our little pumpkin.

Choosing the perfect pumpkin.

Trying out the slide.

A tired boy at the pumpkin patch.

Check out my new winter coat!

10 Month Update!

Brody is ten months old today! I have not had a chance to post for a while. It has been quite a month. We have had a long strain of sickness over the past month. Brody had a cold, then a touch of bronchitis, then had to use an inhaler for a while. Last week he was diagnosed with hand, foot, and mouth disease. The poor little guy had a fever when he woke up last Thursday morning. The doctor found sores in his mouth. He also had one sore on his foot. He's doing a lot better now, finally. Let's hope that we are done with sickness for awhile.

Travis and Brody had a lot of bonding time together last week because I had conferences. I think they had fun!

Brody has been crawling like a champ for some time now. He is also pulling himself up and cruising along the furniture. We are constantly chasing him! It is amazing to see how interested he is in everything now. He notices absolutely everything. Caesar is trying to figure out why Brody can move now. Brody likes to chase Caesar and so far, Caesar has been pretty good. Enjoy the latest pictures!

Update

We survived our week with Travis being gone.  Luckily, he only travels once or twice a year.  Brody really seemed to miss his daddy while he was away.  I took Brody to his 9 month check up last week and he now weighs 16 lbs 7 oz (5-10th %).  He is 28 1/4 inches long (50th %).  He is a little shrimp, so we have to try to help him put on some weight.  We are trying to feed him strictly table foods now.  He's doing well with them except for eating meat.  It sure has been an adventure.  

My mom and I took Brody to Portrait Innovations to get his 9 month pictures taken.  We surprised Travis with the pictures when he got home that night.  I highly recommend this company!  They were wonderful and we got to take the pictures home the same day, plus get a free CD with all the pictures on them.  Here are all of the proofs!

9 Month Update!

Brody is 9 months old today!  He is a busy little man who likes to army crawl around the house.  He loves chasing Caesar.  He also likes to walk around the house holding on to mom or dad's fingers.  Brody still loves jumping in his jumperoo.  He is also starting to pull himself up.  He is starting to eat mashed foods.  We are working on his pincer grip with soft finger foods too.  Brody likes to take his sock off so he can chew on it.  He still loves computers and cell phones.  We are having a good time chasing him around the house.  

Brody's daddy flys to San Francisco today for work, so it's just mama and Brody for this week. Grandma is coming out on Wednesday night to watch Brody for two days because I have a school event that I have to attend on Thursday night.  Brody goes for his 9 month well baby check-up tomorrow, so I'll re-post how big he is then.  Enjoy the latest pictures!

Chewing on my high chair strap.

I am nine months old today!

I love my keys!

All bundled up for a cool fall morning.