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Just a quick hello from B!

Tot School - 12 months

If you're here for the first time, welcome. I have been following Carisa's blog for quite a while. I LOVE all the activities she plans for her kiddos.

We celebrated Brennan's first birthday two week ago and I have decided to start Tot School with him. I mentioned in a previous post that Tot School for kids as young as B isn't much more than just letting them play and explore. In fact, Carisa's exact words about Tot School are: exposing early learning skills through FUN play. I was planning on starting the previous week, but B was sick and was napping a lot, so we put it off until this past week. Here's some of the fun we had this week!

He got lots of new puzzles for his birthday and LOVES them. He can't put the pieces back in their spots yet, but likes to take them all out.

a Melissa and Doug puzzle

He has also enjoyed playing with his Leapfrog Fridge Phonics. Just within the past week, he has learned how to put the letters in the slot! He's so smart! Each time he presses the button that sings the ABCs, he dances. Here you can see a video of him finding the letter 'B'.

B really likes playing with these strainers in the bathtub.  I decided to bring them out for Tot School so he could practice nesting. He did it a few times, but quickly lost interest. He was able to put them on his head when asked. They are a cool toy because they nest, stack, and link!

We are also liking these Alphabooks. Each little book shows an upper and lowercase letter on the front and back and has three pictures and words that start with that letter inside. We've been reading them all almost daily.

I have been wanting to let Brennan "paint" with yogurt for a while now. He is still at the stage where everything goes in his mouth, so yogurt painting seemed like a safe and fun option. I tried it one morning after breakfast and he got mad and threw a fit until I got a spoon and fed him the yogurt. I guess he was still hungry! 

We also had fun watching the rain!

I hope to catch some more fun this coming week. I'll try to do a better job at keeping the camera close by. I am excited to link up for the first time and get started with Tot School! 

Friday's Fab Five

It's a rainy Friday here, so B and I will just be lounging around the house today. Here are some of the fun things we've been up to this past week.

1. We are all healthy! Praise the Lord. Last week Brennan had a little stomach bug. I thought it was gone by Friday, but it reared its ugly head again Saturday night while we were out to eat. Then Saturday night I didn't sleep well and could tell something was wrong with my stomach. By Sunday morning I was hit hard by it and didn't do much at all. Thankfully Kyle was able to help out with Brennan. By Sunday evening, I was already feeling better, but Kyle was starting to feel crummy. He was up several times Sunday night and ended up being hit the hardest out of the three of us. Thankfully he had Monday off to rest and recover. As much as being sick is so no fun, I couldn't help but the positive in it because Kyle and I weren't sick on the same days, so Brennan was always well taken care and it happened during a long weekend, which was crummy, but gave Kyle extra time to recuperate.

2. Brennan's Shutterfly photobook arrived this week! I love it so so so much! It actually brought tears to my eyes looking through it and seeing how much he has changed in one short year.

3. Speaking of pictures of Brennan, I am a little obsessed with looking at his photos on Becky Anderson's site. I am so glad she was able to take his one year photos and can't wait to see our entire gallery. If you haven't looked already (or want to look again) click here for his cake pictures and here for a few other pics.

4. Three letters: DMT. That stands for "Draw My Thing"; my new favorite Facebook game. I am not big on FB games, but this one has me addicted. It's pretty much like Pictionary. You can play in a room with strangers or create your own private room and invite only your friends. It never fails to make me literally laugh out loud when I am playing. You should check it out and if you see me on FB chat, send me an invite to play!

5. I worked out today. I'm not saying I'm going to do it every single day (which I should), but I did it today. It was only 20 minutes and even that little bit of time kicked my butt.

And I have to include a few pics of Brennan or my mom gets mad.

B says, "B"

Check out Mr. Smarty-pants. (Please excuse his whining.)


I was shocked he was able to do this so many times today. I first started with just the B on the fridge and he would grab it. Then I added a few other letters that weren't blue like the B and he would still grab it. Then I put all the blue letters up there and he could still do it. Making his Momma proud!

Also be sure to check out some of B's one year pictures by Becky Anderson! More to come soon!

Friday's Fab Five

It's a gorgeous Friday here in CT. I hope you're having a fabulous Friday and have something fun planned for the weekend! Here's what has been happening around here this past week:

1. Monday was Valentine's Day. I think Kyle and I must the most unromantic couple ever. We don't make a big deal out of the holiday at all. He had to work late and we just watched a little TV once he got home and went to bed. I did give him a card though. Isn't it cute?! Haha.

2. Brennan threw up yesterday. Not so fabulous. But he hasn't thrown up any since 11am yesterday. That is fabulous. I think it was caused from his getting chocked up on flem when he was coughing. At least now I have experienced my first time having to clean up my kid's throw up. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I mainly just felt sorry for the little guy. I am thankful his car seat cover comes off and is machine washable! And Febreze is fabulous too!

3. I went to the mall last night sans child! Brennan and I were actually on our way to the mall when he threw up yesterday, so after cleaning him up the best I could in the mall parking lot, we turned around and came back home. Kyle was nice enough to stay at home with B last night so I could make a quick run back to the mall. I got some new shirts for Brennan and I picked up my monthly free gift from Bath and Body Works! Check it out; no purchase necessary!

4. Today I am getting my hair cut. I am still undecided exactly what I am going to have done. I have a few pictures I have found. I am kinda leaning towards one that is really short and kinda funky, but I'm not sure I can pull it off. I am more concerned with how long it would take to fix it each morning (well the mornings I actually fix my hair). I am pretty low maintenance gal, so I don't like hair styles that take super long to fix. What do you think? I am going at 2:00, so you better tell me fast.

A not too short, simple bob:

Shorter in the back:

Short and funky:

Like the previous one I guess, but with less product:

5. Tomorrow Brennan is getting his one year pictures taken! I am so excited. The fabulous photographer, Becky Anderson, who did Brennan's newborn pics moved to NYC in December. I was pretty bummed she wasn't going to be around to do Brennan's one year shots. After looking around at some other photographers, Kyle had convinced me we should just wait until spring so we could get some better outside shots. Well guess what?!?! Becky Anderson is coming back to CT this weekend and was willing to do sessions while she was here! We jumped at that opportunity! I am hoping B cooperates and we get some super cute pictures of him. And you can finally see some of our grass for the first time in almost 2 months, so outside pictures might work after all!

Has it really been one year, since these pictures where taken?!?!

Miss You, Lala

Brennan's First Year

Check out Brennan's memory book! I've been working on it over the past year and now it is all done. Much to my surprise, I received a Shutterfly coupon for 50% off 12x12 photobooks the other day!!! I was so excited that it came at the perfect time! Also, thanks to my Momma for my Shutterfly gift card for Christmas!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Brennan's First Birthday Paw-ty

We had friends and family over tonight to celebrate Brennan's first birthday. When Brennan was born, I swore I wouldn't make a big deal of his first birthday. I wasn't going to go crazy and do a theme. Ha! Then I found the blog Kara's Party Ideas! While looking through the amazing parties on that site, I found a puppy party. I thought it was adorable and decided Brennan's first party would have a theme after all. I mean his first word was "dog" so it only seems fair. I used Max's party as my inspiration. Let me know what you think!

I really wanted to find a fire hydrant, so I started looking online. One day after receiving an email from Fisher Price, I decided to check their website and found one. It said it was available at PetSmart, so Brennan and I went to check it out. Sure enough we found it there and it was on sale for half-price. It was only $6.99 and will probably be used to store toys.

I have made tissue paper balls several times before, so I knew I wanted to make some for Brennan's party. I think I finally learned the trick to making them! They work much better if you start with tissue paper that is rectangular and not square. My tissue paper was square and I didn't like the first one I made at all, I ended up taking it apart and cutting the tissue paper in half to make two rectangles and that made two small balls. I cut just a little bit off of my square tissue paper to make the big ball. Here's a quick tutorial if you don't know how to make them. I don't know what made me think to put two of the small ones on top of glasses. I just thought it would look cute! I filled the glasses with the tissue papers scraps I had left over after cutting the ends into points.

I used Coco Puffs for the favors, so everyone could take home their own bag of "dog food". I bought the little favor bags at Michaels. I already had the little labels, so I just printed a message on them and stuck them on with double-sided tape. The red bags were for the kids. We only had a few there and they were all under two.

I found the cupcakes when I was "googling" puppy cupcakes. I followed these directions, but just used a box of cake mix and a jar of icing. I also used Vienna Fingers as the ears just because they were cheaper than Milano cookies. Milano cookies would probably be cuter though. I also used Reese's Pieces for the eyes and nose since it only called for yellow and brown pieces.

I made the puppy ear headbands myself. I bought a dozen headbands and the dollar store and then bought felt at Michaels. It was really easy to cut out a dog ear shape and hot glue them to the headbands.

I also displayed all his giraffe photos from the past year. Sorry the picture is so dark. Each one was on a little doghouse and the bone said his age.

The cake! This was what originally sold me on wanting to do a puppy party. I thought Max's cake was so cute! It was super easy to do too. I just baked the cake in a Pyrex bowl (I used lots of Pam and a few strips of wax paper to prevent sticking) and then flipped it upside down into the dog bowl. Yep, that's a real dog bowl from PetSmart. Then I iced the entire dome and covered it with Coco Puffs! It wasn't the prettiest cake, but I it turned okay.

As you can see, we had a great time celebrating!