Family, Homemade Bread, and Play Kitchens

Christmas was absolutely wonderful this year! In the past, we have always done crazy Christmas traveling to see everyone, and by the end we were completely exhausted. This year was SO much easier! Christmas Eve at Chris's parents' house, Christmas Day at my parents' house. Relaxing, no rushing around, and wonderful!

It was so nice actually getting to spend quality time with the people we love. This year there was no arguing (that I know of, at least), and people genuinely seemed to be in good spirits, which is truly what Christmas should be.

Now for the materialistic stuff...Chris got me exactly what I wanted! Something I have been wanted for such a long time, but never actually bought because I don't really have the space for it: A BREAD MACHINE! I have owned it for about 48 hours now, and am on my 3rd loaf of bread and need to buy another bag of bread flour!

Growing up, my mom always had fresh baked bread in the house. It was always so special, and something we looked forward to. She didn't have a bread machine, however, and all of the bread was done by hand. When it was time for the bread to be punched down before the second rising, we would FIGHT over who got to punch it. The bread would be barely out of the oven and we'd about knock each other out to get the first pieces because they'd be the warmest and the butter would melt into it. Yummm. Now, I don't have the same time (cough::talent::cough), but I hope that one day Brendan, and any future kids will remember having homemade bread in the house. I know it's lame, though, and there are so many other things I'd like him to remember and appreciate, but this is just one :)

Now for Brendan's Christmas. Sometimes I'm amazed at how smart he is. Santa may have gone a SMIDGE out of control...but it was totally worth it. He LOVES his play kitchen and Cozy Coupe (the two "big" gifts), but what I'm impressed with at how well he knows how to use them! One of the food items was a hamburger, which came in three parts. He knows which parts of the bun go together!!! Yeah, Brendan! Now the car...Brendan hasn't ever seen anyone actually drive a car since he's still rear facing, but as soon as he's in the car, it's like he has seen it every day of his life! I'm totally overreacting, I'm sure, but it just amazes me to see him learn :)

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

Santa finally came...she (um, he) must have been really busy in her (I mean his) family room (I mean, workshop)! Santa will try to buy toys that will require a little less assembly as the Cozy Coupe near killed her (HIM!!!).





Results later... :)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

*Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!*

I do love the snow! Despite the fact that it is just horrid to drive in, there is something about it that makes me smile!

I was so excited about the first snowfall of the year that I went out today to buy Brendan some snow boots! Size 4 boots are kind of hard to come by, but Target had 2 pair hidden behind some size 10s. Special shout out to the wonderful associate who will regret her stretched out earlobe one day for finding them!

Anyway, it seems Brendan loves snow about as much as I do! In about a year we're going to be making the most awesome snowmen together!







<3<3<3<3<3

I can't believe it has been almost a month since the last time I blogged! I apologize to me (3?) readers! ;)

Brendan will be 13 months old on Saturday! Each day he gets closer and closer to walking! I have a feeling it can be any time now. He can now get himself into a stand from a seated position without pulling up!

His current list of words include:
Dada
Uh oh
ah ah (means no)
Mama (FINALLY!)
Mmm (when something tastes good...does that even count as a word?)
Dwah-doo (the jury's still out on this one. We thought maybe doggie, but probably not)

He currently sleeps about 11-12 hours a night with 2 two-hour naps during the day, but the morning nap is getting shorter and shorter...it will probably be dropped sooner rather than later!

Brendan loves whole milk and we made a seamless transition from bottles! Woohoo! I'm so grateful he had no issues giving them up! Yayyyyy Brendan!

I Now Have a One-Year-Old!

Brendan celebrated his first birthday yesterday! I'm pretty sure he knew it was his big day, too! Grandma made Brendan a cake! He ate a whole piece and didn't share a single bit of it with Pepper! Adorable pics and video of that to come later today!

We went to the doctor today for his one year appointment and things look good!

Some stats-

19 pounds, 11 ounces (10th percentile)

29 inches long (25th percentile AND this means we can stay in the infant seat a smidge longer!)

46 cm. head circumference (35th percentile! Holy cow! I actually think this measurement might be off, but that's okay. Growth is growth!)

Brendan started on whole milk yesterday and loves it! We're going cold turkey on the bottles today- so far so good! Hope that continues!

*Warning*

This may be the most disgusting TV commercial I have seen in the United States (sadly, I have seen worse from other countries). Has anyone else seen this??? Not. Okay.



Really. Who was in charge of advertising this product? They should find a new gig.

Thank Goodness For Vacation!

Chris, Brendan, and I took a much needed trip to Florida to see my grandmother (Nonny), who has never met Brendan, and my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Coincidentally, my dad and other uncle planned the exact same trip and we had some travel buddies. I have to admit that besides getting to spend some time with them, it was VERY nice to have extra help with Brendan on the airplane! To think that I almost did this over the summer on my own...!

It was SO NICE spending time with everyone! Brendan loves Nonny and she even taught him a new "word!" You see, Brendan just loves her glass coffee table. Actually, he loves the sound it makes when his pounds it (yikes). Every two seconds we were telling him no and redirecting him, I swear! And he laughs when he is told no. Hmm. Not cool. I don't understand why the kids at school know I mean business, but Brendan thinks getting in trouble is hilarious. =/ Anyyyyway. Nonny didn't tell him "no" exactly, but a "nah-ah." So now Brendan says, "nah-ah"as he goes around the house. He does it usually right before he's going to do something he isn't supposed to do, of course!

Brendan and Nonny


Apparently the weather there was cold for the locals. We were feeling great in our shorts and t-shirts, but the Floridians were dressed in jeans, sweatshirts, and Uggs. It really was cute. I especially had to laugh at my cousins Shana and Natalie as they were getting ready to go to the beach with us- they brought their peacoats! Eventually they did take them off, but you'll notice they are still wearing sweaters...

Shana and Natalie

Us


Brendan especially loved the beach! The smile never left his face...even after he ate a handful of sand :)



I also got to spend some time with my cousins- Ollie, Shana, his wife, and his daughter Natalie. I wish they lived closer...we get along so well. Hopefully they will live by us sooner than later!



Somehow I didn't manage to get a picture of my aunt and uncle :( But it was so nice seeing them, as well. She's a teacher in Florida and we discuss the education system a lot. I think I'm going to take up a new cause, though (like I really need ANOTHER cause! LOL)...education in Florida. I found out some pretty unfortunate things about teaching in Florida, but I'll save that for a different post. It truly deserves a separate one.

A few final pics from our trip that I think are important.

Nonny With Her Three Kids- My Uncle, Aunt, and Dad

Our Four Generation Picture!

Our Happy Family

My Guy is 11-Months-Old and Had His First Haircut

I wasn't going to give in...

He was going to get his first haircut at a year...

He is a baby and I wasn't ready for him to have big boy hair...

But it kept growing, and growing...

It was in his face, and he'd get angry and cry...

So I could no longer be selfish...

My baby got his hair cut:

Before:


The First Snip:


Half Way Done:


All Done:


This was very hard for Mommy to see. She took pictures to keep herself from crying, actually. We kept a lock of his hair, of course. And he's cuter than ever, of course! He can see and he's happy, which is the most important thing. So we didn't make it quite to a year, but it was worth it.

Kimmie and Jonathan came over Sunday night for dinner and great discussions! In addition, we got help putting Brendan to bed! Jonathan read Brendan his bedtime story (The Very Hungry Caterpillar), 3 of us got his jammies on, and he fell right asleep. How easy is that?!



Finally, I have to share what Brendan is doing this month!

-He waves "bye bye"
-"soooooo big"
-Claps his hands if we say, "yay!"
-Uses all of his toys (especially the remote control) as a phone. He puts it up to his ear and says, "Dada?"
-Joined the Mommy Brendan Band. Mommy Plays the drum, Brendan plays the maracas. We're actually really good. You should come see us at our next gig. We perform nightly in his room.
-Cruises like crazy.
-Stands on his own for a couple seconds
-Climbs the stairs
-Drinks from a straw cup
-Has 6 teeth, working very hard on 7 and 8

He's getting to be such a big boy!

So, uh...

I think Brendan learns too much from Pepper. His new thing is to crawl around (he has no interest in walking, but that's okay- he's not even 11 months yet) and pick up toys in his mouth. He then proceeds to carry them in this fashion all over the house. This would all be fine, and mostly normal (normal, right????), but then he shakes his head back and forth and goes, "rrrrrrrrr." Well, maybe it's not "rrrrrrrrr" intentionally, but with his mouth filled with toy, it's hard to tell.

And Please Vote For Brendan

Not that he'll actually win...it's just for fun :) He wants to be the new Gap Baby.

Vote For Me!!!

IKEA: The Best Place in the World

At least it seemed that way yesterday. My friend since practically birth and I went shopping there yesterday while the kidlings played together with our moms. I haven't really been there since Brendan was born, and boy was I missing out!

First, let me talk about the adorable toys! So cute, and so much cheaper than other stores. I have Christmas AND the big 1st birthday planned already! Here's what I'm thinking:

A car mat:


A kitchen set (yes, my boy will have a kitchen, despite what daddy says):


Of course, many of the accessories that go with a kitchen

I would love to get this hanging chair, but there is (a) no space, and (b) I don't like the color with his room:


An easel:


Table and chairs:

Now that I've spent a ton of virtual money in my head, I'll post pics of the two little guys playing together! J did such an awesome job sharing his Kix with Brendan and Dodger the dog. One for J, one for Brendan, and one for Dodger. They had a busy day eating, playing in Grandma's living room, and going to the park. Brendan went down the slide by himself! Okay, kinda... ;)



Brendan did a great job sharing his musical table!




Someone needs a haircut...6 more weeks!




Grandpa helps Brendan down the slide:


Dinner time!

It's a Miracle it Didn't Happen Before Today!

This morning I was doing very well, time-wise. I'm usually running about 5 minutes behind schedule, so the fact that I was 5 minutes AHEAD of schedule was nothing short of a miracle. Add in the fact that today is Chris's day to take Brendan to Katie's and I'm really doing well. I decide to stop at good ol' McDonald's for an orange juice for my ride with my extra time.

I'm sailing and about half-way to school I look in the back seat and see...the car seat. It has simply been too heavy (for months) to keep lugging Brendan around in it, so we generally take him in and out of it. The day before "Chris's Day to take Brendan" I take the car seat out of the car, and yesterday was no exception. However, last night we realized we had like 3 baby wipes left, so we went on a family trip to Buy Buy Baby. Left the car seat in the car, and now we have a dilemma. I call the secretary and tell her the situation. In the end I was 25 minutes late. Honestly, I'm amazed this was the first time it has happened in the 10 months he has been here! That combined with the fact that I forgot that I had to pick up Brendan at the Pavilion today instead of Katie's made it just an annoying day.

Anyway, the little man is getting to be not-so-little. He was playing on the floor and threw one of his stacking cups. I bent down to get it, stood up, turned around, and Brendan is standing on the second step! OHHHHMIGOSHHHH. I immediately get behind him where he scaled all 6 steps by himself. In the past, he got himself kneeling on the bottom step, and then got stuck. Not tonight! And a few minutes later he did it again. He also let go of the couch today where he stood on his own for about 3 seconds. I, of course, lectured him about growing up too fast. He said, "nyeh!" and pushed himself out of my lap where he continued his quest to cruise. I really am VERY proud of him!

If you want to see a funny video, see this youtube. My grandma gave him this weasel ball to play with, and it's pure hilarity. Sorry for the quality...it takes forEVER to upload videos onto blogger and I had to decrease the quality hard core to make it small enough to upload to youtube. It's still pretty funny, though!

Craziness Here!

Besides, of course, the crazy bald man from my town who took out two officers and ran all over the western Chicago suburbs with two guns, hijacking two cars, and robbing (another) bank. ;)

Brendan is now OFFICIALLY pulling up! He does it on the toy (yes, Hannah ;) ) piano, his musical table, the ottoman, and to my surprise this afternoon, his crib! He even...took a couple steps! I think cruising is in our near future.

Also in our near future (more like immediate): stair climbing. Yesterday he pulled himself up onto the bottom step, which he has done before. He hangs out there usually, and then sits back down. Not yesterday. He moved his hands to the second step, and then put his knee up on the first step! Unfortunately (fortunately?) he slipped as he tried to get his second knee up, but I'm thinking it's coming very, very, very soon.

Does anyone have a Peg Perego item? How good is their customer service? Brendan's clip on his car seat is sticky (not with food...like it "sticks" when I try to put clip it together) and is really hard to get in at all. I want a new clip. I hope they send me one. I also have to call Baby Jogger regarding the City Mini...I somehow broke the clip on the carseat adapter. I HAVE worked with them before regarding the latest recall and they were great. I hope they will be about this one too. I'll be very sad if I have to replace the entire attachment over a clip. He's almost done with it anyway, though. I'm more talking about future kids.

Finally- here are some things I'm eying at Gymboree:


I have a thing for screen tees for babies...



Yeahhh...that one just makes me laugh.

I will probably buy all of it.

10 Months Today!

I just can't believe there are only two months left of "babyhood" before we move onto toddlerhood. It goes too fast. He's already making sure we know that he can play by himself without our help...Mommy and Daddy do NOT like this. He will still cuddle when he's tired, though :)

10 Month Stats:
Weight- 18 lbs, 14 oz- 10th percentile! We jumped!
Height- 28 inches- 25th percentile...just a slight drop from the 35th.
Head Circumference- 44 cm.- 10th percentile. Actually, the doctor thinks his head was mis-measured last time, so that would explain the huge jump last time! In a nutshell, Mister Man has gone from the 3rd to the 10th percentile in head circumference.

He's getting big!

Brendan is currently crawling all over the house and is working on pulling up. He pulled up on the piano for about a week until one time he fell and took the piano with him. Eh, he learned I guess! Haha!

My Day So Far

I'm really too tired to go into much explanation about today, but I also would like to vent, so here is my short summary of today rated by the good (+) and the bad (-):

+It's FRIDAY!
+Of a 3-day-weekend!!!
-Got called to the office today because a mom wanted to talk to me...her son got in trouble in music yesterday. *sigh*
+Mom made him apologize to me and write me a "sorry" card! I was so sure she'd be mad at me!
+/-outside, inside, outside, inside, outside, free lunch, outside
+New contract passed- yay for a decent raise!
+Leave at 3:30!
-Come home to discover that my house is the set of the next "Arachnophobia" movie :( Not really sure how to handle this situation
+Manage to open mailbox despite a tarantula (I swear it has to be related) on the handle of my mailbox.
-Realize that the Chicago Tribune charged my old bank account even after I changed all my banking information.
+Got it all straightened out.
-Realize Pepper ate Rupert, one of Brendan's bears.
+/-realized it was just the leg he pulled off and I think I can fix it. The bad news is that I have to fix it.
+Let Pepper out to get a little running time in.
-Realize the dog disappeared. The landscapers left the freaking gate open. Grab Brendan and chase the stupid dog all over the neighborhood. Guess he got his "running" in. Jerks. Both Pepper and the landscapers.
+New diaper covers in size medium came in today!
+The colors are awesome- sky blue (but it's dark!), aqua, melon orange!
-They are still too big for him, but the smalls are too small. Guess it's better to be too big.
+It's FRIDAY!
+Of a 3-day-weekend!!!

I Pretty Much Just Want to Show Off

what my kid can do!




That's right! The kiddo is pulling up! :D

Mmmm...Blueberries!

Guess what Brendan's new favorite food is? Of COURSE it's the one with the highest stain potential! ;) Yes...BLUEBERRIES! Tonight he just couldn't get enough of them! I'm pretty sure he ended up having a million of them, and this is the end result:


I have to admit that I'm afraid of the diaper that will come of this...yikes! Anyone wanna come change a baby?

Speaking of making a mess, this is his latest skill: mess making! He especially likes to take every book and stuffed animal off his bookcase when he plays. I've been cleaning it up every time, but I think I may just give in and leave everything on the floor from now on. Okay, probably not. I don't think I could handle it. But it is sure exhausting!


"Hmmm...which book should I pick?"

"Yes! This is the one!"

"Oh, hi Mom!"

"Look what I did!"

By the way...does anyone know how to get the blue stains out of baby skin? Someone's fingers are still blue, even after a bath!

Back to School

I have to admit that going back to school has been a little bittersweet. There were definitely people I missed, but I also have to be honest; I'd quit in a heartbeat if I could. In fact, this little lapse in a paycheck I have right now is making me wonder if it's really possible...okay, okay, I'll stop daydreaming now!

This week has been a little insane. We had no real schedule until Tuesday (the day the kids came back to school), the music room is in the auditorium, the "gifted" program shares a room with a special ed. resource room, our lounge is now in a storage closet (we have 2 chairs in there!), and it looks like instrumental music will be in the kitchen. I won't even get started on the Coke machine living in the auditorium until our smaller machine arrives. Okay, maybe I will...it's just SO AWESOME when I'm trying to get 22 first graders to get in a circle to hear "Click, click, click, ka-ching, ka-ching, badumdadadum. Click, click, click." By the way, the click, click, click is the sound of shoes for those wondering ;)

But let's get back to the real reason I started this blog: Brendan. I miss my little monster like crazy. I HATE dropping him off. I think about him all day long. I guess it makes the time I have with him more special.

He's doing so much lately! He's crawling like a maniac all over the house and I'm constantly running to catch him. Usually it's to keep him from our glass table or the dog. Poor Pepper. Makes me laugh to think that at one point I was worried about how Pepper would be with Brendan. Who knew I'd be so concerned with how Brendan would be with Pepper? Pepper has been a rock star, though. He puts up with so much abuse! Brendan is SO CLOSE to pulling up. He gets on his knees and cruises that way, but he just can't get on his feet. In the meantime, I have minor strokes every time he falls down. This happens probably about eleventy billion times a day. I hope that one of these days he's just able to do it so my poor heart can have a rest!

This brings me to picture time!


At the playground- we LOVE the swings!

Our little Elvis baby

Daddy and Brendan being silly with the camera. Brendan's face in this picture cracks me up every time I look at it!