Night Owl

"No Mommy I don't wanna go to bed yet..."

Brendan loves to stay up between 10 and 1 am almost every night. Why? I do not know but on this particular night he thought he was funny and was happy to be awake. How cute are those smiles?! I can't get enough of them.

Too Many Milk Kegstands.

Daddy has a new toy!!

Keeping busy

Brendan is doing great and is growing fast. Last week at his doctor's appointment he weighed 10 lbs., 6 oz. and was 22 inches long. I had a talk with him and recently asked him to stay small forever. He said he would try for me. Both Mom and Dad are loving the smiles and baby talk he shows us everyday as he becomes more social. The smiles are especially sweet and make all of the hard work well worth it!

We seem to be hitting some speed bumps with sleep schedules and hence there have not been many posts. About a week and a half ago Lou and I began to take shifts because I just cannot function like a normal person on no sleep. I'm still feeding him during the night and morning but if he doesn't go right back to sleep between 4 and 8 am- that's Daddy's shift! His sleep patterns are not bad by any means, but he seems to want to be awake and fuss between the 10 pm and 1 am feedings. We are working on getting him to bed at a regular time but haven't been as consistent as I would like to be.

Mom was away from Brendan for about 20 hours this week and it was tough. I was earning a Green designation for my real estate career and although it was very informative and an overall smart move for my career I missed him like crazy. I also had to pump every few hours in a bathroom stall because the hosts of the classes wouldn't accommodate me. It was less than ideal to say the least. While I was away Brendan's Grandma had flew in from Chicago just to watch him for us. This wouldn't have been possible without her! He was a little angel and he and Reese were taken good care of. Not to mention Mom went above and beyond the call of duty and helped with cooking and cleaning too. His Great-Grandma Josie also got to watch him briefly while Great-Grandpa John picked up Grandma from the airport.

Brendan's Dad and I have been loving the video camera and has been capturing him on film quite often- especially Daddy. We always seem to turn the camera off right before something profound happens. For example, we were fooling around taping him, turn the camera off and then Brendan sprayed his Daddy during a diaper change. Just two more minutes and we could have had it all on video! Darn! I just heard the yells and laughing from the nursery but wish I could have seen it then put it on youtube. :)

So here for your viewing pleasure is another Brendan clip.

Brendan's photo shoot with photographer Mommy

Three weeks young

Brendan is 3 weeks old today. We are starting to get into a routine and doing remarkably well. He is eating about every 2 1/2 hours except at night when he can eat when he wakes or after 5 hours. I accidentally slept 6 hours straight a few days ago when my alarm didn't go off. So, we are on our way to sleeping through the night.

Lou and I have been on two dates since he's been born- both with Brendan. One to the Melting Pot (fondue restaurant) and one to the drive-in movies. We want to make sure our marriage stays strong and can serve as the foundation for our family. We are going to try a date without him Saturday night. His grandparents will watch him for a few hours- the best babysitters ever! We watched fireworks from Lou's office downtown with him too.

The hardest part has been keeping up with the messes. Two days ago we had the messiest day ever; I have never seen anything like it! It started when I was changing Brendan's diaper and was lifting his legs to put a new cloth diaper under his bottom. As his legs were up in the air, he sprayed yellow poo across his new carpet about 4 feet in every direction. He got it on the walls, on the changing table, changing pad, on the diaper stacker, on his door, and somehow a little on his face. Looking back I should have taken a picture, but was in such shock from the explosion. I put Brendan down in his bassinet in our bedroom and he proceed to scream his head off while I was trying to get the poo out of the carpet. I called Lou at work to see if he could come home (at 10:45 am) and was trying to get a hold of my parents for back-up but was unsuccessful. I picked up Brendan to try and calm him and he began to pee. The warm pee came gushing out of his diaper and began to drip down my legs. That's when I lost it. I cried with him. What a mess!! I'm all about the cloth diapers but his legs are still so skinny that they leak often. I decided to take care of Brendan instead of cleaning the carpet that I was actually making worse. Lou came and helped me to clean the mess about an hour and a half later. Needless to say I am very cautious during the changing now.

Newborn photos

These photos were taken at 10 days old. His umbilical cord stump fell out at 11 days. Last night his mom and dad went on a double date with Uncle Scott & Aunt Michelle to the Melting Pot. He was a very well behaved baby!