Brennan's First Haircut

Brennan had his first haircut yesterday. It was getting a little long in the back and over his ears, so it was time to time it up. Plus, the teens at church say he has a comb over! So Ms. Lori tried to feather it a little on top too.

BEFORE:

You can see here how long it was over his ears.

AFTER: (He would only cooperate both times if he was holding the lens cap!)

Here are a few more I took on my phone. I shared these on Facebook, but I'll share them here too.

I couldn't get over how big he looked while waiting for his haircut!

These are all after the cut. He really like Ms. Lori!

The salon gave him a certificate!

He did a great job. He sat in my lap and wore a cape and just smiled and smiled. He was showing off some of his tricks for the ladies there. They just LOVED him!

Push and Scoot

Check out B's new trick! He can finally move in some way other than rolling! He can only go backwards and so far can only do it on the tile, but hey, it's a start!

Tot School - 13 Months

Tot School this past week was more like Life School as Carisa calls it. Brennan and I drove down to Williamsburg, VA. My friend Amanda C. and her son Parker went with us. The two boys were excellent travelers!

We stayed at our Wyndham timeshare and the accommodations were great! We had two adjoining units that each had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, and full kitchen. Amanda D. and her two daughters came from Chesapeake, VA on Monday to stay with us too. So we ended up with three mommies and four kiddos under age 2! It worked out great because the kids (other than baby Michaela) slept on one side of the unit and the mommies stayed on the other.

I said so many times during our four days there that all three of us are blessed with amazing kids! We are very lucky that we all have such good sleepers. What are the chances that all three babies would go down for naps and nighttime without a fuss at all?!?! Truly amazing!

Anyways...onto some pictures!

With little kiddos, you can't travel without toys! Brennan enjoyed playing with his Fisher Price Crawl Along Drum.

I love how you can see his hand in motion in this picture.

My handsome boy!

He also enjoyed playing with Adah's bowling pins.

And he liked to "read" the "newspaper" during breakfast!

I wish I had taken a lot more pictures of "learning" activities. But I was just too busy trying to capture some sweet memories!

Our room was right on a pond with a fountain. There were always ducks walking all around the grass. The kids loved watching from the door and going outside to chase the ducks.

Love this girl!

"Go outside, Rachel!"

Brennan and Adah hadn't seen each other since October!

They had a lot to catch up on!

Sorry it's blurry, but I still LOVE it!

Here are a few shots of wild man, Parker! He provided lots of entertainment for us!

We got up each morning and just relaxed in the room. Brennan still takes a morning nap, so once he woke up from that, we would all load up and go out to lunch and do a little running around (usually shopping). We then came home and all the kids took their afternoon naps. We'd sometimes go out for a little bit in the afternoon too. Amanda C. was our personal chef all week! She cooked us dinner at the condo, so we didn't have to eat two meals out with four kids each day!

This was spaghetti night, hence all the naked babies!

One afternoon we went to the Yankee Candle Flagship store. It was HUGE! It had tons of candles, a Christmas room, and a candy room just to name a few things. There was this show that played every 30 minutes or so and the kids were mesmerized! I mean have you even seen three kids all watching the same thing so intently?

We took advantage of the huge jacuzzi tub and bathed the three kids together!

iPhone photo, so the quality isn't as good. 

All in all it was a great trip with some great friends! It's such a blessing to know that no matter where the Navy takes all of us, we will always find time to meet up! 

Check Out My Do

Brennan LOVES bath time!

Mommy LOVES making Brennan have crazy hairdos during bath time!

Daddy LOVES being called into the bathroom to take pictures of Brennan's crazy dos. (Right, honey?!)

Friday's Fab Five

Hope you've had a fabulous week!

1. B and I left on Sunday for Williamsburg, VA. We headed down there with Amanda and Parker. I was little nervous about traveling with two boys under age two, but they did awesome! We had a great trip and it was so nice to see Amanda, Adah, and Michaela! I will be posting more pictures and details from our trip on Sunday!

2. I bought Brennan's Easter outfit! I have been looking for the perfect one for a little while now and I'm so happy with the one I got. No pictures until Easter, though. Sorry.

3. I know (I use the word "know" loosely) so many people with happy baby news right now. This is a nice change, but I read a lot of blogs about parents who have lost babies. I am so happy that Hollis is here and is healthy! I think it's amazing that Megan is having twins! Abby just announced she is pregnant! And I have another friend whose sister-in-law is expecting! Yeah for baby-making! :)

4. Kyle is home early today and we are going out for lunch! Woohoo!

5. It is going to be 69 degrees here today! The warmer temps aren't here to stay for good, but I will take it when I can get it!


There ya have it! Short and sweet and oh so fabulous!

Tot School - 12 . 5 Months

I definitely felt a little less motivated this week. I didn't plan out any of the Tot School activities Brennan would be doing, so we just kind of went with the flow. The great thing, however, is that there is SO much learning that can take place as he just "plays" with his regular toys. 

With his Mega Blocks, we talked about colors and counted the number of pegs on the blocks. He especially likes to take apart the blocks.

This Leapfrog Fix and Learn Speedy is a great learning tool. You can practice opening and closing the hood. It teaches you shapes (circle, triangle, square, rectangle, and hexagon). It teaches you colors. It sings the ABCs and counts to 10! 

We also had an impromptu music class using the vent.

"Look, ma, no hands!"

Brennan and I made a trip to Kohl's. He received a gift certificate to there for his birthday. We came home with this Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Learning Piggy Bank. It's a great toy for him because it really requires him to work hard to get the coins in the slot. He has only managed to do it a few times, but I know it won't take him long to catch on. It counts up to 10 and sings some silly songs. It reviews the colors of the coins and each color has 2 coins; a big one and a small one. 

Brennan and Ringo are both longing for warmer days when we can all play outside! For now we just look.

We also made a trip this week to The Dollar Tree. I think this is my new favorite store. I am feeling ready to get some more Tot School planned now that I made some great purchases from the store! Here B is putting some squishy balls into a bug catcher!

Brennan and I are currently on the road to VA to visit some friends. I'll still link-up next week, but it will mainly consist of pictures from our trip! 

Dear Brennan,

My darling little boy, you are 13 months old! I kiss you and hug you so many times each day and ask you to please never get too old for my kisses and hugs! Sometimes I still try to cradle you like a baby, but unless you are super sleepy, you are getting too big for that. :( I guess you have to grow up!

You are still wearing 12-18 months clothes. At your one-year checkup, you were 22 pounds 8 ounces (40th percentile) and 29 inches (30th percentile). You are still wearing size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 overnight diapers at night. You don't really wear shoes yet since you aren't walking.

We have now started Tot School. So far it hasn't required much planning on my end. I just try to make sure you and I are interacting with your toys and that I am talking to you about colors, letters, and numbers. You are a very smart boy and it doesn't take you long at all to figure stuff out. You and I just made a trip to The Dollar Tree yesterday and bought some new things to use for Tot School. That place is a gold mine for containers that we'll be able to use!

You haven't become mobile yet. You are able to turn in a circle while seated, which is a new talent. You have learned to say "I don't know" with your hands. You turn both of them up and shrug your shoulders. It's super cute. You will do it when you put a ball into a toy and you can't see it anymore. Mommy still reads to you a ton each day. Sometimes I will finish and book and you'll immediately sign "more" so I'll read it again. This will go on about five or six times before we can move to a new book.

You are usually a good eater. You have a seventh tooth coming in (yep, you've gotten 3 in the past month) and I think that might be bothering you because you haven't eaten much the past few days.  It's so funny how kids go through stages with food. You used to eat an entire hotdog at a meal and now you won't even take a bite of one. You still LOVE pasta with sauce.  Mommy and daddy probably need to try and expand your palette a little.

You've added one new sign to your vocabulary: "fish", but I haven't really taught you any new ones other than that. You are saying "Momma" occasionally, which makes me very happy! You have also said "Adah" a few times. I'm also happy about that once since we will see her next week!

You are a whiny little guy for sure. You don't like to be away from Mommy or Daddy. You were doing so well during independent playtime and now you are back to crying during it. I have been trying to stick with it and it seems to be getting a little better again. You cry in the church nursery right now. I guess I should be flattered because you love me SO much! Oh and all of a sudden you hate to have your teeth brushed! You have always loved getting them brushed. That may have to do with you getting some new teeth too!

You're about to go on your longest car trip ever; 10 hours to Williamsburg, VA! Thankfully we are going with our friends Amanda and Parker, so they will keep us company.

I love you so so so much! Daddy and I are trying to cherish this time while you are still non-mobile because we know it won't last forever. Thanks for being such a sweet baby. I love your kisses and your laugh. XOXO!

Love,

Mommy

Brennan back at 12 months

Brennan today at 13 months

I'm not sure I am going to keep doing these giraffe photos every month, but decided to go ahead and do one today.