Snuggle Bugs

Movie night at the Camp home last night. Reese and Brendan cuddled and slept together on the couch. His Dad took note and broke out the camera. We took turns pretending to be sleeping next to them and were cracking up the whole time.

Brendan Meets his family from Philly

Today Brendan's Gram brought over his Aunt Kristin, and cousins Caroline, Molly, and Katie for a visit. The girls were excited to see him. Katie colored him a picture, Molly got to hold him and help change his diaper, and Caroline talked to him and held his little hand. They were really good with the baby and with each other. I also must say I really enjoyed the girls company and their good manners too! While Brendan went down for a nap the girls all went for a swim. Here are is a video of the fun this afternoon.

So big!

My baby is growing so quickly. I feel like I blinked and he's huge. Maybe it is the big boy diapers (no more newborn ones) I put him in today for the first time, or the clothes he grown out of. Today he just really seemed to have grown overnight. His car seat is snug where the belt is for his shoulders and his head that barely fit into the swing headrest seems to fit perfectly. The photo on the right was June 27 and the one on the left was today. He is wearing his 3 month clothes now too. My baby is growing up and I want him small forever!

Aside from his body growing, so is his personality. I sincerely enjoy spending my time with him. I have full conversations with him and encourage his responses. I'm hoping my constant communication will help his language development. We have so much fun together. He is read to almost everyday. We go on lots of walks with Reese, and we also have tummy time daily. He usually doesn't like tummy time, but the doctor says we have to put him on his tummy for 5 min per day to strengthen his neck muscles. His favorite place to nap is in his swing and he especially likes to look out the windows, at lights, and fans. He also has been eyeballing the monkey on the wall in his nursery. As you can see from the previous post he also enjoys bath time- after all he was in liquid for the first 9 months!

One quick funny story for the week. I was on the phone with a support staff person from realtor.org and I was burping Brendan on my shoulder. Out of nowhere he let one rip and it was so loud and I mean loud. The best way to describe it would be a wet, scary, grown man fart. I was mortified and the man on the phone didn't say a word. At least he couldn't smell it! I got off the phone quickly before he did it again. It was unbelievable!

Scrub-a-dub-dub!

Brendan sure enjoys bath time and so does his Mommy. We especially like his hooded towels and being warm and cozy in his oversized blanket. A clean and happy baby is the best!

Fun with Baby

Brendan is becoming more and more animated. His personality is coming out more and more each day and it is so cool to see. He seems to be getting bigger and bigger (duh!) and heavier! I'm not sure how much he weighs but he is starting to get into the bigger clothes. He is starting to play and loves when Mommy reads to him. We are encouraging him to talk and he makes the cutest baby noises and sounds that you have ever heard.

We are getting on more of a schedule and he even let mom have 6 whole hours of uninterrupted sleep this week! (whoo-hoo!) It is not typically 6 hours- more regularly about 4 hours. Two days ago Brendan's Uncle Bill and Auntie Julie babysat him for a couple hours while Mom went to a networking event. He was a very good baby and Uncle and Auntie did a great job taking care of him. He also got to drop off Grandma Nancy at the airport and pick up Grandma Susie at the airport, and have dinner with Daddy Lou, Pop, and Great Aunt Patrice- all in the same day. Yesterday Brendan came to Mommy's volleyball game and cheered her on from the sidelines. Today he is going to Girls Night Out and Saturday he plans to spend the day with his Daddy. For a baby he sure does keep busy!

Baby Smiles Melt Mom and Dad

He has been smiling a lot more and Daddy and I love it. Seriously, we can't get enough of it and both agree it is one of the best parts of being a parent! He had just ate this morning and I swaddled him and put him down for a minute. When I came back he absolutely lit up and we locked eyes. It was such a special moment as we smiled at each other and I talked to him. It brought tears to my eyes and I just melted.

Over the weekend Brendan came with Mom and Dad to our friends Tina and Brett's house to play Euchre. We had fun and a lot of laughs. It was good to be with friends that had a baby and knew the things we were experiencing. On Saturday night we went on a date to one of our favorite restaurants and came home to play pool and watch a movie. Today we are headed over to Grandma's house for dinner. Having a baby sure hasn't slowed us down!

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!