Brody is 10 months old!

Our sweet baby boy is 10 months old. What joy you have brought to our lives. Your big smiles, your giggles, the way you love us all sooo very much - it makes my heart melt. I am so glad that we made the decision to have you. God has blessed us!


This month you love to:

• Walk around the table in the living room trying to get anything you can get your hands on
• Play in the bathtub (with and without water), oh the sounds you make, it's so much fun
• Get into cabinets although mommy is right by and scoops anything you aren't supposed to touch
• Finally let daddy put you to sleep
• Make a little fake cry when mommy tells you no and you shake your arms up and down
• You adore your daddy and say dada or daddy all day long (what am I chopped liver?)
• Talk a lot, you are making more sounds and your little personality is starting to shine!
• Eat little snacks and not a whole lot of your baby food
• Get mad if mommy tries to put you down, you are very clingy
• Turn over on the changing table until you have something to play with like the lotion bottle
• Sit in your stroller without the carrier, your feet are practically hanging off the carrier, it's almost time for a big boy carseat!
• Play in your Pack-N-Play (aka prison) and stand up to watch Whyatt and you talk and smile the whole time
• Play in Sydney's room, all kinds of new stuff to get into - you love her little Fisher-Price dollhouse and you like to eat the mom and dad's heads
• Sit and hold the hair dryer, it fascinates you. You could hold it for 15 minutes and be totally happy and you love to watch me dry my hair
• You mastered sitting down after holding on to the bathtub. I was terrified when you crawled over and pulled up to the bathtub especially with the tile floor. After weeks of carefully watching you and a few minor falls, you figured out how to slowly let go with one hand and sit down...wheeeww!!
• You love to pull on the blinds if we don't pull them up quick enough and then you stand at the window and look outside
• Move and walk from one end of the bed to the other. At first you would just hold on and now you are moving all around Mr. Independent
• Play with the broom in the kitchen, that's something else that fascinates you, the dust pan handles is something else you could play with forever!
• Sit in the cart and be a big boy at HEB or Hobby Lobby, ugg the thought of all the germs!
• Babble a lot and say yaya
• Giggle like the Brady Bunch fake background laugh and you snort when you laugh
• Go for walks or be outside now that the weather is not so hot

Oh no, walking is just around the corner Mister. What are we going to do at Christmas time with our houseful of trees!! :-)

Here's a little video of Brody talking and playing!

Bring on the Lysol!

After a weekend full of sick kids and several missed days of school, I'm ready for things to get back to normal!

It seemed at the time like a great idea...going to the park after Tim got home from work last Wednesday! The kids couldn't wait. It was right before dark so we didn't get to stay for long. They played and climbed and swang and went down the slide. I should have known better!! Where was my hand sanitizer when I needed it!

Thursday after school Sydney told me she took a nap and Mrs. Lee had to wake her up. That's not normal for Sydney, Miss I stopped taking naps at 2 years old. We got home and she headed straight for the couch, WITHOUT a snack! I was shocked and knew something was up. We had open house Thursday night and an hour before we were supposed to leave, I checked to see if she had a fever. Sure enough it was over 103. That made me nervous thinking about all the Swine flu that has been going around, a few kids at our school have even had it. So, we skipped her first open house and stayed home while Tim took Blake.

Sydney stayed home from school on Friday - she missed her first day already. There goes the Perfect Attendance award! She played, slept, we read books, she took a bath, slept some more and took lots of Tylenol. I was her serveant and catered to her every whim..."Mom, can I have some water?", "Mom, can I have some soup?", "Mom, can you get me a tissue?", "Mom, can you come here?", "Mom, can you put a movie on for me?", "Mom, mom, mom!!" By the end of Friday night, I was all mommed out! Syd was better by Saturday and she was bouncing off the walls and ready to play with her friends.

Saturday morning, Blake woke up super early, which is rare since he normally sleeps until 10:30 or 11 on weekends or any day if he could for that matter. He now had a fever over 103 also. The kids have never had fevers over 102, so it made me a little nervous. A little later on, he started throwing up. It was awful and all day long, 5-6 times each time. Blake still likes for me to rub his back when he feels the watery mouth thing, so I was called to the bathroom like 20 times that day. He was feeling so bad that he thought something was going to happen to him and that he was going to die. Tim had to coach five baseball games over the weekend, so, by the time he got home, I was worn out and starting to feel sick myself (later I realized it was all psychological - there's only so much throw up a mom can stand)!!

Blake still had a fever on Sunday and Monday, so he had to miss school on Monday and Tuesday. Today was the first day of no sick kids! The house is back to normal and all Lysolified!

P.S. Kindergarten is so much fun for Sydney, they must keep her busy. She fell asleep on the couch at 6:00 and didn't wake up the rest of the night!

P.P.S. Thanks mom and dad for having us over for dinner so I didn't have to cook through all of this! :-)

Our Day at the Beach

Once again, I am so far behind on postings. Dad had mentioned taking the boys to the beach over the Labor Day weekend and I thought it would be fun to go and bring the kids. Blake has only been to Galveston twice - once when he was three and last year to take family pictures (not to really play at the beach). Sydney has never been there and of course it was Brody's first time to go to the beach. I looove the beach - watching the waves crash, the sand, the salty air (although I'm not fond of the humidity), the birds and the seashells. It's so calming and peaceful there.

After going to Destin, Florida for Spring Break many years ago, I never wanted to go back to Galveston. Destin has sugar white sandy beaches and emerald water and Galveston's sand and water are nothing close! I never wanted to go back. After our little day trip, I realized what we have been missing! I am looking forward to our next visit.

We drove in on 61st Street and it immediately brought back memories of all the trips there as kids. I'll never forget the time mom was pregnant with David. We each got to bring a friend, so there were like 6 of us kids, mom and dad and another one on the way. We went to an ice cream shop on the way home and did mom and dad get some looks!! I remember all the trips there on weekends in high school, trips to visit Tim when he went to Galveston College for a short time, the times we went for Mardi Gras and trips with Matt and Steph to hang out at the condo. I missed those days, but it was weird to now be there with my own family! Blake was super excited about getting to the beach and wanted to camp out right on the Seawall. We drove and drove and the kids kept asking the famous kid question, "Are we there yet?" You could still see damage left behind from Hurricane Ike, but not as bad as last year when we took family pictures. It was amazing the further we drove in and all you could see is these big, beautiful beach homes and it didn't even look like the hurricane hit there.

Finally, we found our spot just past Jamaica Beach. The kids went straight for the water. I was kind of shocked that the water actually looked nice. Our spot was not crowded at all. There were not a whole lot of people around which made it even better!! Brody didn't know what to think. He loved staring all around trying to take it all in.

Here's a shot of him touching sand for the first time.

The weather was perfect, it was not too hot or we would not have made it there for the entire day. Brody was really good. He loved it when dad took him in the water for the first time. Big smiles and giggles were on his face when the waves crashed all around. Blake made sand castles, Sydney found a little girl to play with (what a surprise) and they buried each other in the sand, Mo enjoyed barking at people and eating ice cream, Tim walked Brody up and down the beach, Dad loved taking the kids in the water and I sat there and just chilled, it was sooo relaxing. I only wished I had a book. After our day at the beach, we drove on the Seawall and looked at the rebuilding they are doing. The Flagship Hotel is still closed, a huge piece of concrete is still loose so you can't drive in. We ended up eating at our favorite pizza place - Mario's where we have always gone, it was really yummy.

I was so glad we decided to go. I can't wait to go back, stay overnight and go to Moody Garden's, the Strand and walk the Seawall and go to those fun little touristy gift shops when they reopen.

Thanks for the great idea dad! We had a blast! Here are some pictures of our day at the beach.

I love this one of Dad taking Brody in the water for the first time.

First time Brody's feet touch the sand.

Brody is 9 months old!

Ok, so I am only 12 days behind. Brody actually turned 9 months old on August 26th. But seeing how busy I am and I mean well, I never get around to posting. I need to get better at that. I can't believe our little guy is 9 months old. He had his 6 month checkup at 9 months, yes, I am a bit late. Here are the stats:

Height: 29 inches
Weight: 22 1/4 pounds
Head: 18 inches

Dr. K said he's doing good and is proportionate. He's in the 70% for height and 80% for weight. My little chunky monkey! He had two shots and only cried for a minute! Good thing he didn't have four shots. That's enough to break a momma's heart!

Where have the last nine months gone? I can remember cuddling up in bed on your first Sunday home, it was so cozy with all the Christmas tree lights. It was a beautiful day out, the sky was blue and it was so chilly. Since I am such an outdoorsy type person, I would have loved to be outside on such a perfect day, but staring at you all day long and taking pictures of your little fingers and toes with our wedding rings on was even better!


This month, you love to:

*Eat real food
*Drink juice out of sippy cup, especially Sydney's pink cup
*Crawl everywhere
*Eat chalk that falls on the floor, but mommy is too quick to get it out of your hand
*Pull up on everything, especially the bathtub and the window
*Play with the hair dryer, when it is unplugged of course
*Turn over when we change your diaper
*Watch Super Why, you sit still for the entire 30 minutes, Wyatt makes you smile!
*Take a nap in your swing, you conk out real quick
*Go outside and stare at everything (not much longer buddy until the weather changes, you'll never want to come inside)
*Take a big boy bath in your bumbo in the big bathtub, sinks are for babies, right?!

It's been so fun the last nine months and tiring too! We can't wait to see what the next three months bring...walking, maybe a few words, getting your picture taken with Santa for the first time and blowing out the candles on your first birthday cake.