It's a Beautiful Day for a Photo Shoot

It is a beautiful, sunny day here today and even though my allergies are doing their best to keep me down, we had to get out and enjoy the weather. I took Brennan to the playground this morning. He had a GREAT time! He made a new friend named Zoe. She kept following B around and then they sat together in the grass and threw a ball back and forth. It was adorable. Today was the most active I've seen him at the playground, so I can't wait to take him there when he is walking. He will tear that place up!

After the playground, we came home for a quick lunch and then went back outside so I could snap some pictures of my growing boy! I always have my iPhone on me, so I seem to take a lot more pictures with that now instead of our good camera. Today was the perfect day to get some better quality shots! Check out some of my faves!

Dear Brennan,

You are 15 months old. An immobile, great sleeping, 15-month-old! It doesn't get much better than that! Here is what past month has looked like:

You still wear 12-18 month clothes. I am ready for warmer weather, so you can wear some new clothes. Most days you despise getting dressed or having your diaper changed. You are still wearing size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 at night. You still sometimes pee out of your overnight diapers at night.

Mommy still tries to do Tot School with you, but hasn't been as inspired to do it as much. I did just buy you some Do-a-Dot markers and you have been having fun with those. You'll use them to make dots on paper some, but you really just like playing with them with the caps still on. You'll take them out of the box and then put them back in. We've been working more on pointing to your facial features. You prefer to point to them on someone else, but most of the time can show me your eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, ears, hair, tummy, feet, and penis. Haha! You will also point to your heart when I ask you, "Where does Jesus live?"

You absolutely love The Wiggles. Most people find them annoying, but I enjoy watching it because it brings you so much enjoyment. You have had a love for music since you were very young and it continues today. You also have a new love for Elmo. We will watch Elmo videos on the computer during breakfast.

Still no crawling. I guess by now it's pretty official that you skipped that stage. You also still haven't pulled yourself to standing. I am shocked that I have never found you sitting or standing in your crib! We are making some progress with walking. Just after you turned 14 months, you started wanting to walk everywhere. You do a pretty good job when Mommy or Daddy hold onto both your hands. You're still too unsteady to do it if we only hold one hand. You have also started walking with push toys.

I don't think you have said any new words. You make tons of sounds. You sign "please" all the time, but sometimes I don't know why you're saying it. You also seem to think signing "please" means you should be able to get anything. Boy oh boy if you don't get what you want, you can throw a good ole fit now! Arms and legs flailing and hands hitting your head! Thankfully those fits don't last long. I usually just ignore them and you stop. You did throw a super long fit this past Sunday when I dropped you off in the church nursery. You cried for 40 minutes straight! You are a Momma's boy for sure!

You still have only eight teeth. You continue to be a really good eater. It's so nice because you can pretty much eat the same thing we eat now. The next step is to try to get you to feed yourself with a spoon! I forgot to mention in your last update that will hold your own sippy cup now. I love when you drink your milk after you wake up for the day and nap because you snuggle in my lap while you drink it. Once you start walking, I'm not sure that will last, so I am cherishing those moments!

I mentioned in an earlier post that you are now down to only one nap each day! Sometimes you get a little fussy in the morning, but most days you are handling it well. Yesterday you slept for 3.5 hours! Today only 1 hour, so that was pretty stinky! Going down for a nap at noon is working well because it allows us to get out of the house in the morning. We go to the aquarium a lot because Mommy bought a membership there. We also frequent the library, mall, and Target.  You are still a good sleeper at night too. You still go to bed early, usually between 6:30-7:00 and will get up between 7:00-7:30.

You are such a sweet boy! I hope you know how loved you are!

Love,
Mommy

Brennan back at 14 months!

Brennan today at 15 months!

Yum Yum

Brennan LOVES spaghetti!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all the mommas out there have a wonderful Mother's Day.

I know my little guy loves his Momma. He screamed for 40 minutes after I dropped him off in the church nursery this morning! He is having some major separation anxiety!

I shared this pic on Friday, but here I am with B on Mother's Day last year.

And here we are today. What a difference a year makes!
Sorry my eyes are almost closed. This was the only pic with B actually looking at the camera!

I feel like we are making a similar face in this one.

Tot School - 14 . 5 Months

Back again with another week of Tot School! Check it out, B's Tot School was actually done in regular clothes and not in pajamas!

If you know someone who is expecting a baby and are looking to buy something for them, let me recommend some kind of play mat! Brennan loved his when he was a baby. He'd just lay on his back and hit the animals hanging down or look in the mirror. We'd also use it for him tummy time. Now at almost 15 months he STILL loves it. It has always been stored under his crib and he knows that, so when he wants to play with it, he just points under the crib.

He can turn the music on and off by himself now.

Finding the giraffe! This boy knows his giraffes for sure!

We also worked on stacking this week. These blocks might be a little small for him. He is able to do it, but only likes to stack one more on top of what I have already built and is then ready to knock it all down.

He is also holding onto a picture of his future wife, Adah.

I really want to get him these.

We miss you, Adah!

Brennan giving Adah kisses.

Pointing to Adah.

We have used these nesting strainers before for Tot School, but pulled them out again this week. It loves nesting them, but did not want to stack them at all.

I wanted Brennan to work on transferring with a spoon. He wasn't too into it. I think it was a little too hard for him.

He was excited to try!

He wouldn't/couldn't use the spoon to pick up the balls, but would put the balls
in the spoon himself. 

Then he'd transfer it to the other bowl.

Here are some of B's current favorite books; all have flaps he can flip!

Our big news is that Brennan is down to only one nap/day. I am shocked! He has always LOVED naptime and I thought he'd hold onto that morning nap for a lot longer. He had been playing quietly in his crib during morning nap instead of sleeping, so I decided to try just one nap last week and he's been doing well.  It's an adjustment for me, but we are trying to get out of the house in the morning. Then by the time we get back, it's lunchtime, and then he goes down for a nap at 12. I am excited to start doing more playdates in the morning now!

Make sure you head over to Carisa's blog to see more Tot School ideas!

Friday's Fab Five

Happy Fabulous Friday!

1. The biggest news of the day is....

...I overcame my fear of birds! What in the world did you think the news was?!?! Well, at least I am on the path to overcoming that fear. Brennan and I met some friends at the aquarium today. They have a newly open exhibit called Birds of the Outback. Aquarium members get into the exhibit for free during the month of May. I have been contemplating going in there and today I did it! It was SO scary! They give you a feeding stick and as soon as I walked in there (I was holding Brennan also) the birds were all over me! Their little claws hurt when they land on your hand! Some of the birds were really pretty. I especially liked the little blue ones in the picture above because they were sweet and matched my shirt! Brennan really liked the birds, but didn't like it when they landed on him. Thankfully that only happened twice. They were really only interested in me since I had the food stick. Even though it was frightening and I did flinch several times as birds flew by my head, I am super glad I went there!

Krysti's son, Sam, checking out the birds.

Birds of the Outback exhibit!

2. Check out this adorable guy!

He picked up on that really quickly. When I first tried to teach him, he kept pointing to his nose, but then yesterday he started pointing to his heart (or at least close to it). I have so many good memories of Sunday school, VBS, and children's church choirs from when I was a kid and I pray Brennan will have great memories like that too!

3. We are singing a new song with the praise team this Sunday! I always get excited when add new songs to our repertoire! 

4. Here is something fabulously funny. One of Brennan's new favorite things to do is to be pushed in the stroller. He has ALWAYS loved the stroller and enjoyed going for walks. He and I will play in the basement sometimes and occasionally the stroller is in the basement instead of in the car. He will point to the stroller and grunt meaning he wants to go get in and then he just wants to be pushed around the basement! It is too funny! We will just go around and around and around the basement couch. It seems really boring to me, but he just leans back and enjoys the ride. It makes me happy that it keeps him entertained and I guess it gets me a little bit of exercise!

5. Sunday is Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day to all you Mommies out there! Here is a pic from last year's Mother's Day! I will update after Sunday with a new picture!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Just Because

Just because I think our smiley boy is so cute, I thought I'd share some pics!