Walking

Brody has been able to take steps since he was ten months old, but he is one cautious little baby.  It took him an entire month to decide that he wasn't going to die walking.  He finally prefers walking over crawling and has a blast with it.  One thing that he loves now is chasing Luke around.  Luke will run and hide and Brody will go find him and then they laugh hysterically when Brody finds him!  

His walk still isn't perfect but it sure is adorable.  He has to stop and readjust himself every few steps and you won't catch him walking without is little arms out for stabilization.  Uncle Phil calls it his Frankenstein walk.  My favorite is that he points wherever he wants to go.  I can't get enough of this little bug and I am so sad that my baby is growing up.  Love this guy!  

Eleven Months

It is seriously near impossible to get a pic of this little guy anymore.  I was only able to snap one pic of him this time.  By the time I would lay him down and grab the camera he had either crawled away or ripped his sticker off.  It's a good thing we only have one more pic to take!  Mr. Brody has definitely come to life and is all over the place.  Even though he is busy he is still a cautious little guy.  He has been taking steps on his own for a month now but gets so nervous.  When he starts walking and gets nervous he'll stop, and slowly lower himself to the ground and crawl.  I just love him and cannot get enough of little Brody.  He is the happiest, cuddleist baby around and we love him!!!

-Wears size 3 diapers

-In size 12 month clothes

-Cannot live without his binky

-Transitioning over to whole milk

-Eats just about anything

-Crawls or walks wherever he wants to go

-Loves to climb up on objects

-Favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

-Enjoys patty cake and round and round the garden

-Says dada and mama for everything

-Gets excited when he sees daddy and brother wrestling

-Started mommy tot swimming lessons

-Points at everything he wants
-Takes two 1-2 hour naps a day

Snow Day

If you know Luke you wouldn't doubt that he is a tough kid!  However, when it comes to the snow Luke has always been a bit of a wimp.  Last winter we tried to take him skiing and he cried the entire time about how cold he was and how much he hates his winter clothes.  Every time Mark goes out to shovel Luke is sure he wants to join.  He asks me to get him dressed and then the complaining starts.  Snow clothes are not Luke's friend.  Even if I am able to get him dressed and outside he generally only lasts a few minutes.  

Last Sunday Luke asked Mark if he wanted to play in the snow.  We were shocked and didn't dare say no.  He then decided that he wanted to go sledding.  Mark was not happy to find out that we didn't have a sled or tube to our name.  Why would I buy that stuff when Luke doesn't even like to go outside in the winter.  The manly Mark came to the rescue and told Luke he would build him a sled.  I think building a sled was a pretty strong term for what Mark did.  He went out to the garage, found a tupperware lid, drilled two holes in it, and tied a rope to it.  Mark referred to it as Luke's Great Depression sled but Luke couldn't have been happier. 

This was just about the easiest sledding event you could have thought of.  Not only did Daddy whip out a sled in five minutes but we didn't even have to go in search of a sledding hill.  Daddy just packed down the snow on the back steps.  It was just he right size and Luke could use the side of the stairs to walkup!  

Little Brody woke up from his nap and could hear all of the fun going on outside.  He was sure he needed to be out there.  I bundled up my little snow bear and sent him outside.  Brody is so content and happy when he is outside.  This little snow bear was happy just to sit in the snow and eat it!  Sometimes it's the spontaneous activities that turnout to be the most exciting and memorable!      

Sock Lover

It is an understatement to say that Brody loves his binky.  The bink only comes out of the mouth for two reasons...to eat and drink or to chew on socks.  Brods has become obsessed with socks.  Luke refers to him as our little puppy.  He will either take his socks off or find random socks around the house.  Then walk around the house with them hanging out of his mouth.  

It amazes me how he finds them.  I try to keep them picked up but he finds them in Luke's room, the laundry baskets, mudroom, etc.  The part that kills me is when you take them away from him.  I know he loves them, but it grosses me out sometimes and I just have to steal them.  Watch out though, he gets so offended and throws the biggest fit until he gets them back.  I guess for his birthday we can skip the toys and stock up on socks!  

Discovery Gateway

It has been a long cold winter and the boys really needed an outing.  We decided to head to Discovery Gateway to get our wiggles out.  I was really excited to see how Brody would react since this was the first time he was mobile at a museum.  I know these pictures look like we had a day full of laughter and smiles, but that's not the true story.  

Luke had a rough start to his day at the museum.  Usually, Luke is the only one we are trying to entertain so in the past he got to run to whatever exhibit he chose.  Today I kept trying to tell him that either Brody wasn't ready to move on or we had to go in order.  He was not one bit happy with this change and protested profusely.  The last straw for Luke was when Brody was playing in the baby area and he was ready to move on.  This resulted in a major temper tantrum and informing me that I was the worst mommy and he was so mad that we had this dumb baby.  

I told Luke that we were leaving and marched him out to the elevators.  By now he was in a complete tizzy and his asthma was out of control.  He was screaming at me that he couldn't breath and he didn't know how to stop crying and coughing.  After a good ten minutes of a timeout on the stairs Luke had calmed himself and was ready to play and follow the rules.

The rest of our visit was wonderful and the boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  Luke participated in the art project and did some cool salt paintings.  Brody loved that he could crawl everywhere and play with all of the toys.  His favorite area was the farm area because he could pick all of the vegetables "growing in the ground" and chew on them...yuck!  Luke's favorite exhibit was the construction...not shocking.  We need to have more outings to endure the rest of this winter because we had definitely been cooped up too long!

Ten Months

I know I said this last month, but my little baby is getting so big.  I can't believe he is almost one and I am so wishing I had my infant back.  Brody has quite a little personality coming out.  He has a little bit of a temper and is very easily offended.  Brods already doesn't like to be told 'no' but he is crazy and into everything so he gets told 'no' quite a bit.  When you tell him 'no' or take something away he clenches he little fists and growls at you.  We're in for trouble with this little guy!  Brody finally moved out of our room this month.  He was becoming too hard to sleep with and would roll over our bed.  Now, Luke and Brody are finally sleeping in their own beds.  However, every now and then Brody still wakes up and protests at 2:00am! 

-Wears size 3 diapers

-In 12 month clothes

-Eats just about anything

-Eats three meals a day with sippy cups of formula at bedtime

-Has four teeth

-Crawls like a maniac and loves to climb stairs

-Obsessed with his binky

-Loves Mickey Mouse

-Plays hide-and-seek with Luke

-Knows "So Big"

-Claps when he does something great

-Waves bye-bye

-Takes two 1-2 hour naps

-Loves to get in the tub and be nakies
-Says "dada" for everything and refuses to say "mama"

First Haircut

It would be an understatement to say that Brody's first haircut wasn't a huge success.  My sweet little Brody that doesn't get bugged by much was not one bit happy about this experience.  Luckily, we had Grammy there to help us soothe him a little bit.  Brother Luke had an awesome time running everywhere and trying out all the different chairs.  

He started out pretty happy and wasn't too bothered until she got out the little buzzer to shave the back of his little neck.  When she first started he would get a part confused part concerned look on his face but he didn't cry yet.  Once he realized that she was not stopping and he definitely didn't like this and the waterworks came and they didn't end.  We had Luke blowing bubbles, Grammy offering a sucker and me trying to document and soothe at the same time.  No matter what we did he was not going to be happy.  The hairstylist had to leave for a minute so we were able to calm him down and I thought there was a chance he would endure the rest of the haircut, but no luck.  Even when the haircut was over we tried to get an after shot and all we ended up with was a screaming Brody.  Hopefully the next time will go a little better!