On the Move!

Over night Brendan started pulling up and crawling and on day two he was an expert. Brendan is gearing up to walk and has started letting go of whatever he's pulled himself up on. He is into absolutely EVERYTHING possible. Brendan is constantly exploring his surroundings and learning. We take him everywhere and make it a point to be outside daily.

He knows and can say the words Mom, Dada, hat, ball, hi, & bye-bye. He loves hats and fans. Every time he sees a fan he points to it. In some of the pictures you can see he points with a open palm. So precious!

He has 4 teeth and eats anything and everything. Loves cheese just like his Mom. He has also started biting people a lot (mainly mommy) and we are working on that. He is still generally a very happy kid and continues to amaze us every day.

Thriving 9 months

Brendan Robert Camp is just speeding along the highway of life. He's starting to understand verbal communication, crawling and rolling EVERYWHERE and getting into EVERYTHING! He stood up in his crib for the first time about a week ago. He is pulling up on everything and is quite strong. We have started to encounter some tantrums as he tests the parental boundries.

His favorite toy right now are his dinosaurs and one night he even fell asleep with the T-Rex. We also love swinging on the big tree out in front and watching bubbles float. We still read a book every morning after we eat and before we do anything else.

He is still nursing, and weighed 22.3 lbs., and was 30 inches. on his 9 mo. doctor's visit. He falls within the 90-95% for all his measurements. I was sure we has about 27 lbs.! I actually need some momentum to lift him into the cars in his car seat! I joke I need more arms and that he is certianly not getting lighter. According to Dr. Lichtsinn, he is well socialized, and healthy.

His favorite song is the Alphabet Song. He has eaten everything we have given to him so far with his two bottom teeth. so far, the only meat we have introduced is chicken. One morning, I made Lou breakfast in bed. Brendan woke up, Lou fell back asleep and when I came back in to bring coffee, Brendan was eating Lou's egg sandwich; there were eggs and bacon all over the bed and our little "prince" was eating the toast. I wish I could have grabbed the camera before waking Lou up again. It was great!

By the way, his name means Prince in Celtic.

We visited Gram twice this month in Tucson, saw my Grandma a few times and his great-grandparents, helped Mommy to sell numerous homes, went to the Farmer's market, visited Daddy's office twice, out to dinner a few times, and went to the zoo to name a few outings.

Pictures of the Boo

Playing pool

Having a picnic with Scout in Feb.

Helping Mommy with the laundry.

Smiling Big for Auntie K-Money

The Blue Monster!

Fun with our food. He's a genius!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Brendan got a new swing this week. We hung it from the big tree in the front yard. He has been loving it almost every day.

Our little "Boo" has learned how to clap over the last week and is army crawling. He's not up on all fours yet, but if he wants something he will get it. He love jumping in the 'jump-a-roo'. We have two- one is a car and has a secret compartment for cheerio's. Every time we put him in the car he goes looking for cheerios.

He can feed himself by hand or with a spoon. When he feeds himself it gets real messy- food everywhere- on the floor, hair, clothes, etc. He needs a bath after, but it is a leaning experience. He's been able to drink out of different kinds of cups too.

His favorite word is da-da. He can say da-da, ma-ma, hi, and EEEEE. I sign to Brendan, but he hasn't signed back yet. He's happy and healthy.


Bre

8 month photos

Out in the front yard enjoying the grass and big shade tree.

Having fun with my bath toys. Daddy kept making me laugh.

I think you can see his two little bottom teeth in this one.

7 month photos

Has it really been a month?

Wow! I can't believe it has been a month since my last post. Well, needless to say we are keeping busy. Brendan is passing developmental milestones at a mile a minute it seems like. He is now 7 1/2 months old. He got two bottom middle teeth a couple weeks ago and they are like lil' razor blades. He explores everything he sees and hears, mostly with hands and mouth. His communication has improved and I also noticed he may be testing boundaries to see the reaction he receives.

On New Years eve, I cut my hair short after being so tired of it being pulled on like a rope- and I needed a change. Brendan will grab anything within reach with pinpoint accuracy. He has also got the index finger/thumb grab down too. He is able to feed himself and we encouage him to try.

Brendan is eating solids twice a day now since his 6 month check up. He had rice cereal or oatmeal and a fruit or vegetable each meal. His favorites so far are sweet potatoes, applesauce, bananas, and carrots. After exhausting all of the organic baby food we could try, I decided to make my own for him. We met with a Green mom's group at a Farmer's Market and purchased local organic produce. I cooked it, pureed it, and froze it. He has mango, avocado, carrots, and squash. It took a while, but as I get better it will go faster I'm sure. On the right is him in is high chair for the first time. Thanks Aunt Pat!

He can feed himself, and has learned to drink from a sippy cup, regular cup, and straw this month. He likes to blow bubbles through a straw and watch. We can't help but laugh- we used to do it too!

Over the last month Brendan has been my business partner and we have shown a lot of homes to prospective buyers. He has also attended business meetings, the most notable one was about 40 agents from my brokerage. He was so well behaved and also very well-received. I decided with my real estate career really taking off that clients will just have to accept that I will sometimes have Brendan with me. If they don't like it, then they can do business with the competition. (and boy is there a lot of it! Realtors are a dime a dozen.)My family is my inspiration for my Green Real Estate career and I'm going to build my reputation as family orientated. The only downside is, boy is he heavy!! I'm thinking he's around 22 lbs. and more in a car seat.

He loves to jump and his favorite place is in his jumparoo. This things is so loud when he jumps. You can't hear anything else but the jumping. It is awesome and you cannot help but smile and laugh as he goes to town playing.

During this month he also learned to sit up on his own and maintain a balance. He tries to pull himself up from laying but isn't quite there yet.

His language has also improved. I have been signing with him things like: food, more, all done, book, baby, and milk. He doesn't sign back but I feel we are able to communicate in many other ways. His baby talk is especially charming and cute!

On the right is a trip to the park. I'd like to get him a swing for the tree at home too. We like to go outdoors often and he has recently been interested in leaves. He pulled some off of a low hanging tree branch and carried them all the way home and for some time after too. They went in the mouth, but he didn't eat them.

Baby's Frist Christmas

Here are some of my favorite photos from Christmas morning with our family. He loves jumping around and playing in the new exersaucer Santa brought. On Christmas day he really had a hard time taking a nap and was fussy toward the end of the night. Uncle Bill and his Grandma

Baby's First Christmas

Our first Christmas as a family was nice. Mom made egg sandwiches and coffee while Dad and Brendan read and played. We opened gifts together and Brendan was especially into the paper. As you will see in the video he was jazzed to open gifts and he and Daddy did a little Christmas dance.

This was toward the end of opening gifts at home and Brendan enjoyed playing with the new toys Santa Claus brought him.

December Events

We finally have figured out how to eat solids and we are becoming more and more mobile by the day. Brendan has successfully mastered rice cereal, sweet potatoes, sweet peas, and loves loves loves oranges. His Great Grandpa sent us home with some cutie oranges (the small ones) and Lou has been letting him suck on them. They are his favorite. We have also tried banana, but he's not crazy about it.

Brendan is rolling, rolling, rolling all over the place. He actually can move quite a ways from where he starts by rolling. Earlier this week he rolled himself off of the kitchen counter and it was such a horrible experience. He was not seriously hurt and we will never let it happen again. I'm still feeling urber guilty as I write about it.

On a more positive note, we are still reading at least one book a day, sometimes more. His favorite book now is Goodnight Moon. We have also been reading lots of Dr. Seuss, and Christmas/Winter themed books lately.



This month he has got to spend time with both Grandma's and both Great-Grandmas. My Mom had us over for dinner with Bill, Nabeel, Moostafa, and Irene and we also went out to Via Delosantos too.


We had the Grandma's and Aunt Paula over to play cards and Great Grandma Go-Go spent the night and let Lou and I go on a date. We found out good news too. My cousin Paul and his wife Andrea are expecting. We couldn't be more thrilled for them!



Last weekend we went to visit Mama Sue in Tucson. Poor thing broke her leg badly putting up Christmas lights, but she has the most positive attitude! Brendan helped to cheer her up. Daddy Lou has been taking good care of her.

Finally, just this morning Brendan sent his first email to my friend Candace. Guess I better start baby proofing!