Brandon's First Birthday Party!!

We had Brandon's first birthday party this evening! We were fortunate enough to be able to have the party at Grandpa Joe's Fire Station! We had a fire truck theme to the party, so the location was perfect! (Thanks to Grandpa Joe and his crew for being so hospitable!) The party was such a whirlwind. We were so glad to see all of our friends and family that were there! Some friends couldn't make it for one reason or another and we definitely missed them. Brandon had a great time! He got to eat brisket, baked beans, bread, and potato salad. He loved every bit of his dinner. Brandon was showered with tons of gifts and further spoiled rotten. :) He got to play with his friend Cara from gymnastics. They were SO cute playing together. They were both so excited to see each other and were all smiles. After presents, it was cake time. Brandon dove right into his cake. He made a HUGE mess, but it was all worth it. As he was eating his cake, he kept saying, "Mmmm...Mmmm." It was adorable! The party was a huge success, and full of wonderful memories. Now on to the pictures...

Dare I say.....

we are bottle free??? I think I will!! So far, we are on day 3 of NO BOTTLE!!!! Instead, Brandon is getting his formula in sippy cups and is taking to it extremely well!!! He has not resisted at all.

I knew that I wanted him to be broken of the bottle by a year because I am not a fan of toddlers walking around with bottles. So, I started randomly exchanging the sippy for the bottle, and sure enough, it stuck!

Our little man is growing up so fast! It kind of makes me sad that he doesn't take a bottle anymore. I still rock him with his last cup of formula for the night. That is our special time, and I am not ready to give that up yet. He doesn't fall asleep to me rocking him, but he stares at me and I talk to him and just look at him. I look at his little hands and feet, and look at how long he has gotten. It is my favorite time of the day. I don't know if I am ever going to want to give up that time with him, but all good things must come to an end. Besides, how silly would it be to rock my 15 year old son at night??? Hahahaha

20 days until our little man turns a year old!!! :)

For your viewing pleasure....

I cannot believe that B is almost a year old. It seems like the past year has flown by. If this is any indication as to how the next 17 years are going to be, I want to make sure to cherish EVERY moment! He changes so much everyday. It seems like everyday he learns something new. So far, in the past week, he has learned to lift his arms when asked so Mommy can tickle him, clap when Mommy says clap or good job, say "aaaahhhh" after drinking something, stick out his tongue when asked, wave to the fan when Mommy says, "Say hi fan," and look for the dogs when I ask him where the dogs are. He is so curious and wants to explore everything. Like Mommy and Daddy, he is clumbsy. The thought of his clumbsiness and the injuries we are in store for gives me heart palpatations and I am sure that my hair is going to be grey very soon! His most recent injury is a busted lip. When he is crawling, sometimes his legs push him faster than his arms can move him. Poor guy. :)

Yeah, this blog is a little rambly, but I just have enjoyed watching him grow up so much and want to share it with everyone! Here's the video! Oh, please forgive the shaky filming in the beginning. I was on my bed and trying to get situated without him noticing me. :) Enjoy!

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!!!