Brenden's first live show

Once again, I've been way to relaxed, or what I meant was, I've been way to busy. Again, sorry for my slowness in getting a post up.

We as a family have been going through a lot lately. A few weeks ago, we bought a new house, well it's 10 years old, in North Whitby. We move in at the end of July. Currently we are in the process of selling our current house. We have been in and out of the house like crazy. Sometimes we aren't even able to get into our house until 8:30pm at night because of agents showing our home. We actually had 1 showing today and already we have 2 scheduled tomorrow. Our house has been on the market for 2 weeks now and we are still awaiting our first offer. We've already had 2 open houses the past 2 Saturday's as well. Lot's of interest, but no offers yet. We are patiently waiting. We've already dropped our price once. We still have time though, so no worries.

Daycare for Brenden has been going very good. He enjoys it there. He doesn't mind being dropped off in the morning and he's extremly happy when mom picks him up. On top of crawling, he has also learned to sit on his Winnie the Pooh car and push his feet to move him around. He can go forward and reverse.

Today Brenden went to see his very first show. Michelle, myself, Brenden and a friend, Don, went to see a show called Cirque Niagara's Avaia which was playing at the Woodbine Racetrack in a seperate tent. The show was awesome. Brenden was very, very good there. He was quite amusing. Everytime the crowd clapped for the performers, Brenden would clap too. Almost as if he knew why he was clapping. He loved the horses and some of the acrobatic performances. He managed to stay awake for the whole 2hr show. He did fall asleep on the ride home though.

Brenden got the day off on Friday since he wasn't feeling that well. He had another round of needles from the Dr. and he had a fever for the most part of the day. Both him and Michelle stayed home as she wasn't feeling well either.

Well, that's it for now, and hopefully next time I post I can tell you we sold our house. Of course, if I wait another month to post, then that will be true for sure. Haha.

And he's off!

Picture #1: Brenden's ICE CREAM (April 20).
Picture #2: Imitating daddy when he's drunk.
Picture #3: Ribs, I love ribs.
Picture #4: I'm not sharing, it's my rib!

QUICK NOTE: My picture link has changed to http://www.davidschaefer.ca/brenden/index.html

Well, Brenden has officially started to crawl! He is finally on the move. Although it's taken him some time, he's almost mastered the skill in a week. Now we really need to watch him. And walking? Well he's very close to doing that as well. He has to hold on to your fingers right now, but he understands that he has to do 1 foot at a time. I would think in another month or so, he may be on his feet.

Well, unrelated to Brenden, we would like to announce that Michelle, Brenden and I have purchased a new home in Whitby. It's near Brock Rd and Taunton Rd for those that know the area. We don't move until July 27, however. That will give us the time we need to sell our current home. If you know anyone interested in moving to South Ajax, near the lake, let me know. With this said, our house is officially on the market as well. The showings start Monday, May 7 at 10:30am. There are already 2 showings lined up on the first day. Our house as of this evening, is SPOTLESS and EMPTY looking. The last time I saw it look like this, we were just about to move in. It's almost surreal to see our own home in this state. There are area's of floor, I haven't seen since we moved in 6 years ago.

Well, off to bed. Michelle starts new hours tomorrow, from 7am to 3pm. I have to do the morning Brenden things. Wake him, change him, dress him, feed him, and get him ready for Daycare. And to top it off, I need to keep the house looking spotless as it does now. That'll be tough for a little while, until we sell. Once it's sold, then we can go back to our normal lives of living.

Have a good one! And by the way, Brenden's next meal will be SPICY CHICKEN WINGS! Haha. Just kidding, it'll be awhile before he gets into the Chicken Wings and Beer.

Birthday Pictures

Well, Brenden's Birthday Parties were a success. He loved both of the cakes he was given. One on Saturday and one on Sunday.

Various family and friends attended and gave him gifts for his first. Thanks to everyone who attended and made Brenden's 1st Birthday a memorable one.

The first two pictures above are from Saturday, and the 2nd two are from Sunday.

Once again, Happy 1st Birthday Brenden!

Love Mommy & Daddy & the rest of the family

Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRENDEN!!!

More Teeth and Daycare

Brenden started daycare and already he has a cold. Well it started out as a cold and progressed to other diseases. Now he has been diagnosed with a stomach flu as well. Last week he had trouble keeping any food down. He went back to daycare 2 days following that and we got a call from daycare telling us he has pink eye. Back to the Dr. we went and sure enough, he has pink eye. He went back for a checkup 2 days later and the Dr. tells us he has a little bit of bronchitis. It's terrible. He coughs throughout the night, waking himself up. This makes him very tired during the day. The worse part about it is that at the same time, when he wakes up, his eyes are crusted shut due to the pink eye. Poor guy. Have to feel sorry for him because there's really nothing we can do other than give him the prescriptions from the Dr. He's getting better and should be able to go back to Daycare on Monday.

Brenden now has 4 teeth. The two bottom am two top have finally broke through. That's to top off everything I guess. Hopefully from this time forward he'll get better and we can avoid all these major setbacks.

Other than that he's doing well. Not crawling, but starting to get the hang of walking while hanging on to our fingers. He is also trying to mimic everything we do. The latest is: "Oh, oh". And he tries to say it back. Too funny.

Anyway, sorry there's such a span between blogs, but between working, watching hockey, watching Brenden and sleep, I've had little time to update it even weekly.

Brenden's first birthday is coming up soon. Believe it or not I have been running this BLOG over a year now. Brenden turns 1 on April 20, 2007. Very exciting.....we all made through a year, and it went so fast!

Teeth & Daycare

Well finally, Brenden is getting teeth. He had one tooth poke through on the bottom and the 2nd one is following suit. He'll have a full set in no time at all.

Last week we got a little bit of a scare as Brenden's temperature rose to about 104C. Michelle took him to the hospital and he was giving some antibiotics to treat, what they called some sort of virus. Michelle contacted out family Dr on Friday and brought Brenden in. It was in fact some sort of virus, and we are continuing antibiotics until later this week. He has seemed fine since. His temperature has been normal. The only thing he has is a bit of a cough, which sometimes wakes him at night.

Brenden is starting to talk a little more. Still babble words, but much more frequently and much more louder. He will say "Dada" and "Mama" to us now. He loves to mimic things we do now. Make a face, and he'll make it back. Say something and he'll try and say it back. It's quite amusing and fun.

On Monday, April 2nd, Brenden starts Daycare and a week later on April 9 Michelle goes back to work. Hard to believe a year is almost here already. Time is flying by.

Well off to get things done and get Brenden ready for tomorrow. My routine now has to change, since I will drop him off in the morning and Michelle will pick him up on her way home. I'll let you know how that goes. Sounds like less sleep to me.

New news

Once again almost two weeks and no post. Sorry about that. We've been very busy around here. Here are the latest developments.

Brenden is doing great. He still has no teeth, but he is learning how to eat solid food now. He loves plain toast, various vegetables and chicken. We have to make sure he has small bites, but he has started to get the knack for chewing. Once he has teeth he'll be eating up a storm. He's still not crawling and tends to get frustrated when on his stomach. Guess he'll soon walk instead.

His verbal skills are greatly improving. He really tries to be copycat now and it's quite amusing. His reaction is also priceless when he hasn't seen either Michelle or myself for a few hours. He smiles from ear to ear and laughs. It's awesome and makes you feel great! No matter how rough a day you've had, a baby can always change that by his actions towards you.

On March 11, Brenden got baptized at Hebron Church in Whitby. Brenden was dressed up in his tux, as seen above. He did very well throughout the day with hardly any sleep.

On April 2, Brenden will be starting daycare. We signed him up at a Montessori School here in Ajax. Michelle goes back to work a week after that. This will be a big change for us, and him.

Until next post.

Semi-Broken Camera

Baby pictures updated: http://www.davidschaefer.ca/brenden/index.html

Once again I apoligize for not posting as often as I should. I am busy, busy, busy between Brenden and work.
I do have an excuse for not posting pictures lately though. My camera broke. Well, not totally, but the flash no longer works. For indoor shots I like to take pictures with the flash, and when Brenden is outside, well, he has to many clothes on because of the cold weather, so pictures of him just don't justify him. I recently purchased a new camera on EBAY and should be receiving it sometime next week (I hope). It looks like a great camera. It's a Canon Powershot S3 IS digital camera. Looks to be very nice and I'm looing forward to using it. It'll take some nice shots I bet. I was really after a Digital SLR, but their just to expensive for me, so I settled for one a few hundred bucks cheaper. Once I get it, you'll start to see more pictures appear on here again, but until then, you're stuck with my ramblings.

Brenden just went to the DR. on Monday for a checkup. He had a TB Skin test done and it never even fizzed on him. I would have passed out. Hope he doesn't acquire that from me. Needle = Pass Out. His height is 30 inches, and he weighs 22bs. He is really trying to put words together now. He says Da, Da quite well now, and he really loves trying to copy what you say, and as well as some actions. He claps his hands very well, and now he's started intentionally falling over so he can roll to his stomach. He's still not able to move anywhere (other than shimmying backwards) though. So we can still leave the room and get a drink from the fridge without worrying about him crawling somewhere he's not suppose to.

This week we booked a visit with a daycare. Well not just a traditional daycare centre, but a Montessori School in Ajax. It's quite pricey, but we know he's in great hands there, and they can be trusted. It's also good because they'll take babies from 12 months, whereas most are 16 months.

Other than that, there isn't much new to report. I do find it real hard to believe that he's almost 1 year old.

Wow! Time really does fly.

I posted a few pictures I took today (without the flash as mentioned).

Finally, a new post!

OK, once again, I'm guilty of not posting at least on a weekly basis. After vacation work has been just hectic and I haven't had time to post anything. The times I am free, I just flat out forget until it's time for bed.

So now you're probably wondering....how's Brenden? What's new with him? Well I see him everyday and I see a few new things, but not a whole lot.

Talking:
He has really started to try to say single words now. He has started saying, mom, mom, mom. At least it sounds like that. Sometimes I even hear da, da, da, but I'm not sure if that's just my brain saying it sounds like that. Occasionally he'll belt out some bablle words and scare the crap out of us because we weren't expecting it.

Attitude:
We can now tell when he's angry and/or frustrated. He will put his arms or flail them around in disgust if he's not happy with something. Generally he's happy, but he has his days much like you and me (well, not like me, but like you).

Eating:
He is eating very good. You gives you that face when he doesn't like something and we have started to give him a spoon while we feed him. If we did his spoon in the food, he will actually move the spoon to his mouth and eat from it. After that he usually drops the spoon. Hey, it's a start though. He's very good at it and at least knows what to do with it. At bottle time, he holds his own bottle now. I know have a extra free hand to use the remote and talk on the phone at the same time as feeding Brenden.

Exercise:
So it looks as if Brenden will save the wear and tear on his knees and advance straight to walking. He can hold himself up on his hands and kness, but he's not sure how to move forward from that position. Instead he pushes with his arms and moves backwards. If we try and sit him down, he gets angry, because he really wants to stand instead. He can pretty much stand on his own while hanging on to something, but hasn't grasped the walking concept yet. That's probably a good thing. He still loves to bounce. The Jolly Jumper and his little bouncy car is very handy at the moment. I can only hold and bounce him for so long before my 'Ironman' arms are sore. He also loves to be tossed....now that doesn't mean I'm throwing him around. It simply means I toss him up in the air and catch him. He loves it. He laughs and smiles. I think we have ourselves a future rollercoaster connoisseur.

Fun Time:
He loves peek-a-boo. And he loves it when mom holds him and dad approaches from behind. He thinks its a game, and if I make the silly sounds that adults make to babies, he will literally laugh his ass off. He giggles and it's so funny. That seems to be the happiest moments. We have also found his tickle spots and can get him laughing quite easily.

Well, that's the 2 week update. Next step it to update his pictures. I have taken a few, but not many. I should take more, since he loves the camera, but I'd rather enjoy my time with him then take pictures. I'll soon post what I've taken since Christmas. For now the most recent are included above.

One last thing I would like to say, is congratulation to my cousin, Steven Schaefer and his new wife Cindy. Sorry I couldn't make it to Hawaii to enjoy the ceremony. I'm sure it went well, and I'll be looking for pictures once you return to Japan from Hawaii. All the best to newlyweds, Steven & Cindy Schaefer. You can see his website at http://www.nocentre.com/wedding/

Until next post.........

Vacation over, back to work

OK, the vacation is now over for the three of us. Brenden had a vacation away from us and we had a vacation away from him. It was a much needed break for all of us.

Cuba was great! 30C weather everyday, only one evening with rain, and a tan to boot. The beach was awesome, other than the naked parts of it. Old, hairy Europeans that do not to be tanned in the private regions. Quite scary at times. Try sitting across from them at the dinner table afterwords.

We enjoyed Cayo Largo while we were there, but I wouldn't advise anyone with a sense of adventure to go there. Let's just say, there's not much to do. If you just want beach, sand, ocean and just to laze around all day, then this is the perfect place to go. The only excursion we took was the Catamaran tour. It was pretty good.

I'll be posting pictures online of our vacation soon and will post a link when I have. I will, as I promised earlier, be adding some new pictures of Brenden soon as well.

Thanks,
Dave

A Vacation

Well, for the first time since having Brenden, we are leaving him for a week. Leaving him with his grandparents of course. We are taking a much needed vacation to Cuba. We leave in about 5 and a half hours from now. By noon on Saturday, we'll be lying on a beach in Cuba. I can see it now. Pina Colada's and big German's with tiny Speedo's. OK, that kind of grosses me out, but oh well. Hot sun, hot white sandy beach, relaxing on our all inclusive vacation. Brenden will get the same. A needed break away from us. Now's a good time for him to start learning that we won't always be the ones taking care of him. Afterall, he needs some non-parent time too.

This being the first time we're spending a week away from him will probably be a good test for us as well. It's hard enough to go 2-3 days without seeing him, and now it's going to be a whole week. It's not like we can just drop what we're doing and leave to go get him. There is no turning back once we board the plane this morning. I think it'll be a bit easier on me, since I am normally working for the most part of the day and only see him 2-3 hours a day as opposed to Michelle who sees him all day everyday. This will be a good test for her. If she starts getting ansy, I'll be sure to force some more drinks into her to mellow her out a little.

Anyway, we'll post a message when we return next week to let you know how the week went, without our son.

Hope it's cold here at home, that way the trip will be more worth it. I can live with 24-27C in Cuba. Not going to like it when we return home though. Lets not think about that right now.

Dos Margarita's Por favor!

Happy New Year

First of all we would like to say Happy New Year to everyone who reads this BLOG! Best wishes from our family to yours.

Brenden had his first swimming lessons today. Michelle took him in the pool. He loved it. Never complained one bit and slashed his heart out. He was very tired after though. He just about fell asleep putting him in his car seat. His lessons will last a number of weeks on Saturday mornings. We're a little nervous about the dunking stage, which didn't happen the first day. Michelle doesn't want to dunk his head, alhtough last week he had his first experience with water poured in his face. I was bathing him and gave him a cup full of water, which he loves. This time it tipped towards him and the water landed on his face. He cried a little (I think it scared him), but he was fine after a few minutes.

Brenden is quite the shopper. Loves looking around and tries to grab ladies purses as we walk by. I taught him well...haha.

Brenden is picking up so much stuff from us. We try and teach him new things, like clapping hands, and he tries, but hasn't quite got it. He still isn't crawling yet and no teeth are showing yet. It's just a matter of time.

I'll post some more pictures soon. Again, Happy New Year!

Christmas Over

You are probably wondering why no Christmas post has been made. Well, it's been a very busy holiday, and now that I'm back to work I still haven't had much time to login to the BLOG to make a post until now. Most people will be pretty sad to hear that I didn't take to many pictures over the holidays, especially when it's the baby's 1st Christmas. Well, I in fact took more video's instead. I am in the midst of saving them to my PC and producing a Brenden's 1st Christmas DVD. I think I have almost an hour of footage at least. I can probably grab some stills from the video camera and have them printed, however I don't think the quality will be that good. I do have some pictures and I will post them as soon as I figure out which ones I want to put up.
Overall the holidays for us are very busy. We put over 1000km on the car during a 4 day span. Brenden was a little trooper and hardly fussed about all the driving. Being strapped in a seat can't be that much fun. In and out, in and out. I found out as long as I sing his favorite song, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" while strapping him in, he laughs about it instead of fussing over the fact he's being strapped down, over and over again.

Brenden would like to thank everyone for his wonderful gifts. He plays with everyone of them and loves them. Michelle and I have learned most of the tunes each one emits down to a "T". It's funny, because while I'm at work, occasionally I sing to myself, the tunes these toys emit. It's getting into my head and I can't get it out. I guess this is where our childhood starts to come back to us.

For the videos, I may make it available on-line, but you'll have to make sure you have high-speed access to see it, or possibly download it to your PC first before viewing.

Hands Off

Brenden is now finally able to hold his own bottle when he eats. We still hold him, but we are totally, "Hand's Off", and he likes it that way.

We finally put up our Christmas tree on Sunday, and Brenden seems to have taken a liking to seeing something new in the house. He likes the lights and the reflections. He can sit for hours staring at that tree, as if he's waiting for it to make the first move.

Yester Michelle swears that Bredned said, "Mama" for the first time, but since she's said that, I've yet to hear him say that. Michelle has taught him to make the kissing sound, simply by puckering the lips and making the kissing noise we all make (try kissing without making a noise, talk about wierd). It' so funny when he does it.

Anyway, have to go get ready for work. Another Christmas party to attend this afternoon and much to get done before that.

Later,
Dave

First Santa Sighting

Well here it is. Brenden finally got to meet the one and only, Santa Clause. Surprisingly enough, he smiled for this picture as well. He's very photogenic apparently. I'm off to bed, so I'll keep it short. Here's the picture. Good night.

Chrismas Portraits

Well, we got our Walmart Christmas portraits back and they turned out great! Smiles all around. Not much to upadate this week, but I will post the pictures at least.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Almost back to normal

Well, Michelle came back home last Friday and was feeling much better. She has recovered quite well and is almost back to normal. As you can see from the pictures above, Brenden isn't to fond of his beans. Not a vegetable man yet.

Brenden has started getting Gerber baby food, which makes those morning poops smell so much better. Ew! He likes a few types and won't give the time of day on others. It's quite funny seeing him eat various things and the expressions you get out of him.

On Sunday Michelle and Brenden met me at the Ajax Santa Clause parade. Brenden's first parade. He loved the loud bands belting out the tunes from the trumpets and trombones, and at the end of it all, really could care less about the man in the big red suit. He would rather look at his own reflection in the window of the car behind us. Next year, he'll be more inclined I think.

Brenden is now sitting without support. We do put pillows around just in case, but he never falls over. He is a very happy baby in that position. He still hasn't figured out how to crawl, but that's ok. That means we don't have to chase him around yet and we know exactly where he is.

Brenden loves the mirror. Every morning we get up, before he eats, we have to look at the other baby in the mirror. He laughs at him everytime. Or maybe he's laughing at the fact that his dad has a twin. Who knows.

Until next time, check out the picture site, as I've added many more photos. Here's the link again. http://thevipers.ca/ourbaby/index.html

So Quiet, It's Eerie

For the last few days it has been very quiet here at home. Michelle had her gall bladder surgery on Tuesday morning. All went well, although she said when the pain killers wore off she was in so much pain. She is staying with her mom and so is Brenden until Friday or so. Chevy our cat, is keeping me company, so it's not totally lonely here.

Brenden is doing well away from home I here, so that's good news.

I would like to say congrats to Michelle's cousin Justin and Christine on Thomas' first tooth. For those that don't know, Thomas was born the exact same day as Brenden. Brenden just drools a lot, no teeth though. He's still gumming everything to death.

Anyway, back to my lonely night, here's a couple pictures of the company I've had the past few days. See you soon Michelle and Brenden!! Miss you!

Brendens First Post

Brenden has a few words of wisdom before bedtime.

njjjjjjjju,k. I think that means good night in baby typing.

Brenden

Sleeping

Had to show you a picture of Brenden sleeping. He sleeps like I do already!

Lack of Postings

We're all still here and doing ok. I caught a little bit of the flu bug and think I've passed it on to Brenden. He has a little cough, but still pretty happy nevertheless.

Within the next week, Michelle will be having surgery to have gall stones removed. She's been having attacks regularly and not feeling well because of it. She may be going on Tuesday if she has another by then. The pain is unbearable and she said she would rather give birth than have attacks. It has really limited her to what she can eat and what she does eat, she can't keep it down. We are blaming Brenden for the Gall Stones, as they say it's pretty common after giving birth. We believe this is the contributing factor, "Estrogen: Excess estrogen from pregnancy, hormone replacement therapy, or birth control pills appears to increase cholesterol levels in bile and decrease gallbladder movement, both of which can lead to gallstones".
I'll keep you posted on any further updates to this.

Today, we had our first family pictures done at Walmart. We also got Brenden to pose for a few himself. We were late getting there and had to wait about 20 minutes at which time Brenden starting getting tired and a little crusty. He hung in there like a trooper and smiled at every picture taken. Once we get the pictures, I'll scan them and post them here. They turned out awesome. Can't wait to get them.

Brendens' sleeping patterns have finally changed. He is finally on Eastern Standard Time. On a good night, he'll sleep until 8-9am without making a peep, and other times, he'll wake up during the night 3-4 times in search of his soother. Right now he may be a little off at night due to the cold which I generously passed on. It's so hard to stay away from him when you have a cold and you need to help out.

As far as words, he hasn't picked any new ones up yet. He still makes motor boat sounds and blowing spit at the same time, all while driving his bouncy car.

On Saturday (Nov 13) I gave Michelle a much needed break and took Breden to see my Aunt Marilyn and Cousin Brian and went to see Grandma & Grandpa Schaefer for the day. He was very good and in high spirits all day.

Other than that, nothing else is new. Sorry for those looking for photos. I don't have any new ones to show you. Since I know there are many out there that want to see more. I've had a few people mention that I should post 1 each day. Yeah right! I'm lazy, can't you tell by the lack of postings?

Daylight Brenden Time

Well, since we have all changed our clocks back, most of us in the EST are now on Standard Time. As I said, most. Guess who's not? You got it. Brenden is still on Daylight Savings time. He is waking up almost exactly one hour before he's suppose to be. This makes for less sleep for us. I can't complain, since it seems that he is starting to get back to routine. It is closer to 7pm once again. We had to hold him off one nap in the late afternoon to get him off the old schedule. I can't believe how much babies are like clockwork. Brenden tells time better than I do. I can use him as an alarm clock now. When he cries to get up, that's my queue to get ready for work.

Well, Brenden's first Hallowe'en has come and gone. We didn't go trick or treating however we did put him in a costume. Had to get some pictures for his first Halloween. We did visit some family though. For his first one we had to dress "B"renden up as a what? A Bee. His first initial. Creative eh?

Enjoy the pics......Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Also, feel free to leave me comments, or any advice you think we could use, or just leave a comment to say "hi", so I know someone out there is reading these BLOGS.

Dr. Visit at 6 months

Well, Brenden had another checkup and some more shots on Tuesday. The Dr. says he's a healthy boy. This is very good since Michelle has come down with a cold a time or two the last few weeks. Brenden now weighs 18lbs and get this, he's 28 inches (71 centimetres) long. The Dr. said a normal 1 year old is on average 30 inches tall. Brenden still has 6 months to go and only 2 inches to grow. Makes me wonder what's really in our water today? The main thing is, that he's healthy.

What's new and exciting in "B" land? Not much more development yet. He does however have a permanent smile now, or at least that's what it seems like. He also rolls over, but only in one direction. Eventually the wall stops him from going any further, if he's already rolled 3 or 4 times.

We've had to buy some new outfits, as you can imagine with the rate he's growing at. Not only because of the size, but because of the weather. TIme to break out the baby mittens, it's getting near the freezing mark. Heck, it's almost time to break out my own mittens at this rate. I almost need a snowsuit to cut the lawn, just to stay warm.

Anyway, that's about it for another week (or so).
Next week, Brenden will be typing his first words on this BLOG........

6 Months Ago

Well, tomorrow Brenden will be 6 months old. Half a year! Wow! Just amazing how fast time goes. He's much more happier than he's ever been. Smiles and laughs at just about everything. He actually loves his Toronto Maple Leafs hand puppet (thanks Aunt Terry). Everytime he sees it, he smiles then laughs at it.

Not a heck of a lot has changed. He has got bigger and heavier, but that's a gimme. He pretty much stopped rolling over. He would rather be lazy (like me) and just lay there. He does move around, but just from rolling side to side. He loves his car and now loves his jolly jumper. He is very strong. He can almost stand. Not on his own, but he keeps his legs straight and rarely bends his knees.

He loves Chevy (our cat) now. Starting to pull his hair, whiskers, tail. Chevy is tolerating it for now. Brenden can now suck his own toes which is wierd. I tried to do it, but got stuck and needed Michelle to help me out of it.

Funny, as I write this, Brenden rolled to his stomach, then back to his back. You can see him really concentrating on on items now, trying to figure out how they work.

He is amazing! I am loving every minute of this stage. Can it get any better?

Until next time. Dave.

Gobble Gobble!

HAPPY BELATED THANKSGIVING!

This past weekend Brenden has been happy go lucky. I'm quite surprised his face doesn't hurt from laughing and smiling so much. I know mine does.

He didn't seem to mind the fact that we put about 800km on the car over the past weekend, travelling, visiting all the family. He seemed to take it better than I thought. The times he was awake in the car, he didn't fuss about it. Most of the time he just talks to his soother, probably hoping it will talk back to him. It doesn't. I tried talking to it too, but nothing.

As I said previously, he seems to become more aware of his environment day by day. He loves to watch the cat simply walk around him in circles. Brenden is tending to follow every single movement an animate object or person will make. You can see the wheels turning. I really think he would jump in and help if he could. Do your chores Brenden, then you can play. OK, were not at that stage yet...*sigh*, I'll put the dishes away this time.

Brenden has now moved away from laughing at the word, "naked", and will now smile and/or laugh at pretty much anything that has the letter "B" in it. "Baby", and sadly enough, "Boo-bee" is now his favorite words. I taught him well.

He can now roll over both ways consistantly, however, he hasn't figured out the crawling part yet. I'm 'ok' with that. He will also sit up, albeit aided, but just lightly holding on to his arms and he sits fine. He can also stand quite well. Holding on to his arms, he will put his legs straight out as if he wants to stand up. Not yet, "B", not yet. We're not ready for that quite yet.

He now eats his pablum from the spoon much easier. He's almost an expert. On the weekend, he got his first very small sampling of ice cream. "Thanks Bill!", just what I need, a baby wired on ice cream. Actually, he was fine that night, nothing happened out of the ordinary.

Anyway, once again I've updated pictures on my picture site. The link to "Baby Pictures" is on the left side of this BLOG Site. We are enjoying the 5-6 month stage a lot. It's awesome!

Hamilton Trip

Well here i am again, pondering what to write. One week later. Where are the latest pictures you ask? Not here, but you can go to http://www.thevipers.ca/ourbaby/index.html to see them still. I have added the most recent there.
This past week has been pretty cool. Brenden sounds like he's trying to say his own name now. It's probably just giberish, but he's putting his lips together and making sounds like, "B" and "Ba". I'm sure, "Brenden" is quite far away from his personal vocabulary though. He still has his happy and sad/mad days. It's usually a trade off. 1 good for 1 bad day.

On Sunday, Oct 1, Brenden got to meet my dads aunt and cousin from Germany in Hamilton. As well, I got to meet my 2nd cousin, which apparently I last saw when I was very young and don't remember. Brenden was in a pretty good mood that day and enjoyed being passed around. He even had a nice sleep there without any issues. There are a few pictures on the website above of the trip to Hamilton. Unfortunately our German family left for Germany Monday evening. It was great to see them again, and we hope to see them again soon. Next time we'll take Brenden to Germany with us to visit, a few years down the road. We'll see.

Oh, and regarding the picture at the top of this post, that is my 2nd cousin, Theresa, and her 2 month old baby girl. Putting Brenden beside her really made him look big. It was hard for me to imagine that he was that small only a few months ago. As yoo can see, Brenden was quite amused that there was actually someone smaller than him there.

Anyway, maybe I'll splurge this week and put a 2nd post in, then again, maybe not. Who knows?