11 Months already!!

Has it already been a month?? Wow. Brandon is 11 months old today!! Oh my goodness, time is flying by!! It is bittersweet. As much as I enjoy the time flying by because it brings me that much closer to having Brian home, I am sad because my baby is growing up.

As far as new developments are concerned, he is almost a pro at walking!! He has taken to walking a few feet at a time and is starting to prefer walking over crawling. It is SO cute to see him walking, yet so hard to believe. He can now clap his hands when asked to clap. The uncoordinated baby clap is by far one of the most adorable things ever! He sleeps until close to 10am almost everyday now, which is a blessing! His new best friend is the family beagle, Leia. When he sees her, he gets all excited and starts belly laughing. It is precious. He is doing great taking a sippy cup instead of a bottle. He still has his little temper streak, and it still has yet to get old. He has also learned that when he pushes buttons on some of his stuffed animals, they start singing.

I am working on planning his birthday party, and the plans are coming along quite nicely. It is scheduled for January 18th at 4pm at Joe's fire station. I have the catering lined up, and the cake picked out. I have to call the bakery and place the cake order, wait for the RSVP to finalize the catering, and order decorations. Other than that, the party is pretty much done. It is insane to imagine our baby turning 1!!! I will save my gushing about his birthday for the next monthly update, as it will be more appropriate then.

My how the time flies. Everyday is another adventure, and we are so blessed to be a part of it!

What a wonderful Christmas!

Despite the fact that Brian isn't here with us this year, Christmas was awesome! To say that I went overboard on Brandon's gifts is an understatement. Heh. Not only was this Brandon's first Christmas, it was also the first Christmas my and all of my sisters were together. Brandon and I also got to celebrate our first Fire Station Christmas! Brian has spent many Christmases at the fire station growing up, and this year Brian's Dad had to work, so our Hays Family Christmas was spent at the station. It was really neat. We had such a great day!

Brandon was super spoiled! Haha. Santa brought him:
a bunch of clothes
a bubble lawn mower
mega blocks
mega block fire truck
inflatable fire truck ball pit
block/music table
drum
tow truck and little cars
wooden fire truck
little people fire truck
dump truck
fish tank
and the bounce and spin pony.

Daddy sent him the new Elmo Live and he LOVES IT!

Auntie Beth got him the 2 in 1 Learning Kitchen. He loved opening it so much he climbed on the box.

Grandma and Pa Pa got him:
An outdoor castle swing set
soccer ball/football/basketball
mega blocks wagon
nascar car
Dallas Cowboys sweatsuit

Nana and PawPa got him the VSmile Baby, little people school bus, and a little people tractor.

Grandpa Joe and Grandma Kristi got him a Power Wheels Fire truck.

Great Grandma Lake sent him $25 to go towards his college fund.

The Lake family sent him some money to go into his college savings too.

Yep, I would say that B was a VERY good boy this year! Haha. Yeah, we went a little overboard, but he only has a first Christmas once right? :)

I didn't do too bad either! My family got me a new scrapbook to make for Brandon's first year, a 3600 piece scrapbook kit, a necklace, bracelet and key chain that you can put pictures in, a bath and body works Sweet Pea set, a pair of earrings, some more bath stuff, make up, and some money to put towards Brandon's birthday party and to start his 529 plan.

Brian's family got me a Kitchen Aid Mixer!!!! I have wanted one of those FOREVER!!!!!!

Brian, oops, I mean "Brandon," got me a heart-shaped diamond Mother's necklace! It is gorgeous! I must say, my son has great taste in jewelry! :)

We all had a wonderful Christmas. The best part was spending the day with Brandon and our family and having a great time. :)

Poor B (Updated)

B is sick. Not horribly so, but definitely sick. He has a cold and is congested. This is his first official cold. It started yesterday with a little bit of a runny nose. Nothing major, just a little runny. Then, this morning, I woke up to a snotty, congested baby. He isn't running a fever, or coughing or anyting else alarming. Just the congestion and runny nose.

Naturally, Grandma is freaking out because her friend's grandson just passed away at 3 months old two days ago. That little boy had what started out as a runny nose as well, and it progressed from there. They think that it was either the flu or RSV. Based on what my pedi said, it sounds like the little boy had RSV as his airways closed. My thoughts are with that family as I cannot imagine the heartwrenching pain they are going through. I think of situations like that and am so grateful that Brandon is healthy and all of the health scares in the past turned out to be false alarms.

He is taking it all rather well. He is still his usual happy giggly self. So, I can't complain there! For now, he is sleeping with his cold mist humidifier and I made sure to spray saline nose drops in his nose and give him lots of extra snuggles. Hopefully, his little cold will be gone soon.

*Update*
I put a call in to the pedi because B was running a low grade fever (99.1-hey, I said it was low) after tylenol, and coughing Wednesday night. So, Thursday am I called the pedi and they prescribed him some decongestant drops. It is day 2 on the drops and he is doing much better. He is still snotty, and has a little cough, but he is acting better, and his nose is less runny. So, looks like we are on the road to recovery! :) Thanks for thinking of him!! :)

FINALLY!!!!

Brandon started taking steps November 22, but I have never had the video camera handy. So, finally, this morning, I had the video camera out and waiting. Sure enough, he took some steps and I caught them!!! Yay!!! So, I present to you, our walking son, Brandon!!!!!!! Heh....




Haha, I love his little unsteady steps. He is getting SO big!!!

The Boy likes spaghetti.....heh

I just wanted to share an unbelievably adorable video with you all. Brandon has finally started feeding himself. So, last night, I let him eat spaghetti by himself. The results were hilarious.....



Isn't it adorable?? I love how he smashes his chubby little hands into his face....hahahaha. These are the memories I will cherish always!

Dr. Appointment today.....

So, B had a doctor's appointment today to get his 2nd flu shot. Originally, it was supposed to be an in and out sort of thing, but I had a few questions that I wanted to talk to the pediatrician about. So, they scheduled us for a full appointment. Here are the details from the appointment:

B weighed in at 28 pounds! Yep, I said it. 28 pounds! He was 31 inches at his 9 month appointment, but they didn't measure him at this appointment. I am guessing he is roughly the same. Maybe a half inch longer.

His eye is doing great. In case you are unaware, he was bit by my mom's dog Felix. He had a bunch of scratches around his eye, and was put on an antibiotic as a precaution. The pediatrician said that his eye has healed well and she cannot even tell he was bit. I can still see a little scar, but it will probably fade away with time.

The main reason I wanted to speak to the doctor is because B has started to have little interest in his formula. He is more interested in eating big people food. At our 9 month appointment we were given the all clear to start giving him big people food. Obviously, we are to avoid peanuts, eggs, honey, chocolate, and seafood. So, those he hasn't had. He loves big people food! Loves it! So, I asked the pediatrician what his minimum formula intake should be, and it is 17 ounces. He gets at least 17 ounces, so no worries there.

The other question I wanted to ask was about self feeding. B refuses (or I guess I should say refused) to feed himself finger foods. I would put the gerber puffs, yogurt melts, goldfish, etc. on his highchair tray and try to get him to feed hinself. He refused. He would pick up the pieces, look at them, and drop them on the tray or floor. This was the dog's favorite part of the day. I began to wonder if it was a developmental delay as many of my friend's children fed themselves earlier than 10 months. So, today, as we are sitting in the doctor's office waiting for the doctor to come in, I gave B some goldfish just for the heck of it. To my surprise, he picks them up, and starts eating them!!! Seriously, he ate them like a pro! I was shocked!! So, when the doctor came in, I mentioned it to her and she got a good laugh out of it. So, apparently, all I needed to do was schedule a doctor visit for him to start feeding himself. It was quite hilarious.

Next was his second flu shot. I was waiting on him to start fussing before the shot, but he was too busy smiling at the nurse that was preping his little thigh for the shot. When she gave him the shot, he looked at her and made a curious face, but he did not cry! Not a tear! I was so proud of him! He usually cries like crazy after his shots, but not today! Such a big boy!!!

So, overall, a great appointment. Our little man is thriving and doing wonderfully!

Christmas Pictures!!!

Brandon and I had our Christmas pictures taken today! They turned our wonderful. I created a slideshow for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!