Bottom of the Toy Basket...

While Carys was visiting a few weeks ago, she quickly showed Brody how to take his toys out of the toy basket.  Prior to Carys' visit, Brody simply grabbed for the toys on the top of the pile.  Well, as you can see from the storyboard below, this is what happened when Brody tried to grab the toys at the bottom of the basket...

Many thanks to Grandma Hurst for capturing this funny moment!

8 Months Old Today!

That's right, Brody is now 8 months old!  Where has the time gone?  I'll admit that some days it feels like life is moving at a snail's pace and other days seem a blur.  Lately though, I find myself looking at Brody thinking holy cow....he's going to be walking soon, or he's practically growing a mullet and will need a haircut!  Nevertheless, it's still fun to observe all of the developments and changes.

So, I honestly have no idea how much Brody weighs now.  We aren't up for another pediatrician appointment for a few weeks, so I'm adding that to my list of things to do - find out how much this little guy weighs.  Mike keeps saying that we need to go to the grocery store and put Brody on a scale in the produce department (reminds me of the movie "Baby Boom" where Diane Keaton does that with the little girl she inherited from a long lost cousin).  I think that I'll stick to the baby scales and make a trek over to the hospital Brody was born at and actually weigh him one of these days.  I'm guessing that he's at least 20 pounds by now.

For an 8 months old, he's EXTREMELY active.  Yes, I'm excited about that, but there are days that I wish that he was content just simply lying on his back, kicking his little legs out, trying to roll over.  It would be much easier than trying to chase him around (I swear he could win a contest for the quickest crawler).  If I wasn't still in a back brace, it would be a different story.  For now, I just have to keep up with him and enjoy the fact that he's not walking...YET!

This past week, he's also added a few words/sounds to his limited vocabulary.  He's babbling quite a bit these days.  We've got the "blah blahs, " and the "ba bas", and we think he's been saying a few "da das" in there too.  I keep holding out that "mama" is soon to following, but I'm not holding my breath right now.

To celebrate 8 months, Brody got to play with friend at the gym while mommy swam, spent time with daddy before he headed out of town on business, napped for about 45 minutes, enjoyed a late lunch, and then played with more friends at an afternoon play date.  All in all, it was a good day for our little guy.

Another trick Brody recently learned in the art of self feeding.  Ah yes...he can now (with lots of determinate and concentration) successfully feed himself.  It's quite messy, and for now we're just working with Cheerio type food while mommy and daddy still spoon feed with solids. Eventually we know that things will get a whole lot messier.  Until then, we'll enjoy this stage and not worry about having to hose Brody down after a meal.

Everything's just fishy...

Last weekend, we took Brody and Carys to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. In July, we took Brody to the Portland Zoo and he was too little to really react to anything there. This time around, Brody was certainly curious and really seemed to enjoy looking at the jellyfish, the sharks, and anything and everything in the huge tanks they have there. At lunch, we had waterfront seats and helped Carys count the number of boats (well, kayaks) out in the water. The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed a great afternoon down in Monterey.

A visit from cousin Carys...

Now that Brody is a little older, developing his personality, and VERY aware of everyone and everything, it was so much fun to watch him interact with his 2 and a half year old cousin this past weekend. Grandma, Aunt Alissa, and Carys drove over from Arizona to spend a few days with us. After a stop over in Arroyo Grande, CA and a visit to the beach (it was Carys' first ever visit to the "huge sandbox" (her words exactly!)), they continued up to their old stomping grounds here in San Jose.



After they got settled in at our place, Carys and Brody immediately hit the toys! Even though Brody plays with the same toys every day, it was fun to watch him play with Carys. Carys enjoyed taking ALL of the toys out of Brody's toy basket and sharing them with Brody. She was even kind enough to organize ALL of them neatly under a "tent." I think that my one of my favorite moments was watching her dance around to Brody's animal train, all the while Brody starting at her with a HUGE smile on his face, clapping his hands along with the music. I'm sure that in a few weeks time, Brody will be up there dancing along with the music too.


We spent one afternoon at the park playing on the swings and slide. It was Brody's first time on the swing and the slide and I can already tell that we'll be heading to the park to burn off lots of energy in the future. As you can tell, Brody certainly enjoyed the slide...

And Carys had a great time too!

Like a leaky faucet...

I was looking back through the many photos we have taken of Brody over the past few months and have begun to realize a common theme. We have few photos of Brody WITHOUT a bib! All of the cute outfits, and he's got on a smelly bib to protect himself from the never ending drool. Not only does the drool soak through his shirts, it can sometimes be a bit comical to watch so much drool come out of one little guy. Here's one of my favorite shots...
Since Brody was 2 months old, he's been like a leaky faucet. Everyone told us, "Oh, babies drool when the are teething." We thought 2 months was a little young to begin teething...especially since he only recently cut his first two teeth. Nonetheless, there hasn't been a day in the past 5 and a half months that Brody hasn't worn a bib.

On a recent trip to the Midwest to visit family, Brody attended his first wedding. I bought him a cute "big boy" button down shirt, khaki pants, and some cute shoes to wear. I secretly hoped that he could survive the wedding and reception without a bib so that he could look a little more grown up. Well, he made it through the wedding ceremony, but the bib came out after only a few minutes at the reception.


Perhaps the leaky faucet will dry up soon or perhaps it will slow down as more teeth come in. Either that, or I'll be forced to carry around a drool towel with me to wipe things up as we go. Just what I need...one more thing in my already overflowing diaper bag.

Time to get with the program...

Okay, so we should have started a blog months ago, perhaps even years ago. But when you get married, have a baby, and adjust to the joys of parenthood (and the sleeplessness), sometimes it's a little difficult to get the ball rolling and find the time to get things started. Now that Brody is sleeping soundly after waking up 3 times last night, I'm up and ready to begin life as a "Blogger." Let's see how much I blog about before the little guy wakes up again...

Since January 23rd, our family of 2 + dog, became a family of 3 + dog. While said dog (Porter) was and will always be our first "baby," things certainly do change and poor little Porter is adjusting to life with a new sherriff in town. We're hopeful that in a few years, Porter and Brody will be the best of friends and that Brody will actully be able to throw a ball to Porter instead of trying to put Porter's dirty ball into his mouth.

Brody is now 7 and a half months old, crawls all over the place, pulls himself up to standing, is just a few weeks shy of walking (make that running), curious as can be, and recently cut his first two teeth. My goodness, life as a little one is so BUSY!!! We love him to pieces and are thrilled to have him a part of our lives. How could you not love something so cute?