9 on 9 on 9

I am well aware of the fact that I have been a slacking Mommy Blogger. School and Brennon have literally consumed my life. So, I thought it would be fun to do a 9 on 9 on 9; Brennon is 9 months old and I took 9 pictures over the course of 9 hours! Then, I started having a good time doing it and can't narrow it down to just 9 pictures so this post is really "A Day in the Life of Brennon."

Brennon woke up at 8AM, but because the post title was going to be 9 on 9 on 9, we started the pictures at 9AM!

9AM bath time!

Taking a bath without the baby tub or the Bumbo is new for us and he LOVES IT! He just splashes and spins like a little fish in is 1/2 inch of water.

Brushing our teeth is next.

He's a very serious brusher and actually does a pretty good job. I don't think I've mentioned yet that Brennon went from having no teeth, to having 6 teeth in about 3 weeks. 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom.

AT 10:22AM we got a little sleepy. We've been working on taking no nap in the morning, but sometimes we're way too sleepy!

Woke up just a little before 11AM and needed some playtime!

Or, just enough time to make a huge mess!

AT 12:10PM we had a Skype date with Granny. I took her picture too, but she'll be REALLY mad at us if we post it. :o)

After our Skype date we ate lunch. Tuna sandwiches, winter squash and Green Goodness!

What is Green Goodness you ask? The juice in my cup (and on my chin)! Gamma says it looks like sludge, but it's actually very yummy and healthy! It's made by Bolthouse Farms is 100% natural, no additives, preservatives or concentrate.

After lunch is nap time, but at 2:12PM I woke up quite happy and handsome! <3

At 3:03PM we were playing with toys and waiting patiently for Daddy.

3:23PM, we see Daddy and make an army-crawl beeline for the door!

3:24PM HI DADDY!

At 4:53PM Daddy and I were playing in the living room. This toy has a fan in it and when the air blows on my face I laugh and try to get it in my mouth.

4:54PM, my Daddy is real funny.

5:27PM, dinner time!

274 Days

Brennon was 274 days old on his 9 month birthday. Coincidentally, 274 days is also the average length of a pregnancy. 9 months of pregnancy + 9 months of mischief= a thriving little life. :o)

We, of course, have been busy, busy, BUSY! The MWSU spring semester is almost over and I am less than one year away from graduation. It feels really good. People are constantly giving me hard time for the length of time I have been in college, but to be honest, I wouldn’t take a second of it back. When I get my BS next year, I will have been out of high school for exactly 10 years. While I have a great appreciation for college and higher education, I would venture to say that most 18 year olds have not been academically or mentally prepared for all that encompasses college life. Nevertheless, I’m proud of all that I have accomplished.

Justin was recently given the opportunity to take a new leadership position at work. Instead of continuing to be vacation relief, he’s now a gang leader on the weekends. Basically he will control everything that happens in the train yard, lead the morning meetings and best of all, no more working on his days off! Wahoo!

Little Brennon is not really little anymore. :o(

 Last Sunday he figured out how to pull himself up and now he will not stop. Tables, chairs, the couch, the mantle and everything else in his reach. Wednesday he pulled himself up to the couch and walked all along the side, while holding on. I was lucky enough to see, but we’re not going to talk about it because it was INSANE.

Thursday, Brennon went for his 9 month checkup and all is very well! I’m not sure if I have ever bragged on our Peds office, but I love them! We go to Priority Care Pediatrics. Dr. Grimes is our doctor, but we’ve also seen several other doctors in the practice. I took in a list of questions with us to this well-baby checkup and Dr. Grimes was excited! They have never left us disappointed! They also have a brand new fancy-schmancy office that is pretty amazing.

Brennon is 22 pounds (75th percentile), 30 inches long (95th percentile) and 18 inch head circumference (90th percentile). Dr. Grimes gave us the go ahead on all (safe) foods, an occasional glass of whole milk, answered all of my questions about traveling, flying and beach-bumming with a baby. Then there was the binky deadline… DUN, DUN, DUN! I had been thinking about it anyway and Dr. Grimes confirmed my concerns; at this point it’s beginning to change the structure of his mouth, the growth of his teeth and is nothing more than a nasty habit. We leave for vacation on Friday, June 3 and return on Friday, June 10; we’re breaking up with binky on Monday, June 13. The ONLY reason we’re keeping it until then is to help his ears on the airplanes.

Once again, he was impressed with Brennon’s gross motor skills and strength. He also told us to expect Brennon to be walking in the next six weeks. WHAT IS HAPPENING?!? WHERE DID MY BABY GO?! I’m only kidding (sort of). You NEVER understand how quickly time passes until you share your time with someone else. The time that Justin and I have been together (5+ years) has seemingly gone by in the blink of an eye. The last 18 months have been ridiculous. One minute you’re pregnant and the next minute your offspring is asking for the keys to your car. In all seriousness, you can’t help but reevaluate your priorities and attempt to be as present as possible in every single moment.

Oh Say Oh Playmate!

Brennon had his first real play date, with my friend Danielle and her sweet baby Jace! Brennon is only 2 ½ months older than Jace, so it worked out perfectly! Danielle and I had some much needed ADULT Mommy time and took the boys for a walk. Hopefully this was the first of many play dates to come. All and all, a pretty perfect Wednesday!

Posing for the camera, Danielle thought it was hilarious that my child is a HAM!

Jace and his Sophie Giraffe. The must-have baby toy!

Swapping toys and sharing quite nicely. Danielle and I were very impressed!

A Wee Lil' Leprechaun...

When is an Irish Potato not an Irish Potato?

When it's a FRENCH fry!

What does a leprechaun call a happy man wearing green?

A Jolly Green Giant!

Knock Knock. Who's there? Irish! Irish who?

Irish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What do you call a clumsy Irish dance?

A JIG mistake!

Why can't you borrow money from a leprechaun?

Because they're alyways a little short!

Do you see our little St. Patty's surprise? (HINT: they're WHITE!)

Another Catch Up...

Life is busy, Brennon is big, we’re all healthy. The end.

I took SnowBaby out in the snow for the first time, in February! I thought that since this winter gave us more snow than I have ever seen in my whole life, I was probably doing him a disservice by not taking him out.  

He LOVED it!



February 24^th, my child feeds himself for the first time! I put Cheerios on his tray because he gets rather impatient while waiting for me to heat up his food. I turned around to find him picking them up and eating them! Great fine motor skills Buddy!

Uncle Dewby's 26th birthday at Bravo.

New Business...

I like to help take pictures.

Do you see me? I could crawl if I wanted, but I don’t wanna, so stop asking.

Mommy won't let Buster lick my face.

Even though he's my best friend and I  chase him and I love him. No face licking.



SnOMG

Things have been CRAZY, once again in the Judd household. Since January 17; we’ve had more snow than I’ve ever seen in my life (literally), all three of us were sick, Brennon turned 6 months old and I started school again!

I’m not really sure when the SNOWverdose started and I’m not sure when it will end, so we’ll skip right over that.

The everlasting sicknesses began around the 14th. Both Justin and I were feeling a little sinusy. I of course, ran to the nurse practitioner to get some meds and Justin “toughed it out” (only for about 24 hours and then did the same thing!) Booboo Man started showing symptoms on Saturday the 15th and then all hell broke loose on Monday night. My poor baby had every symptom; runny nose, fever, cough, cried until he was hoarse and ran out of tears and coughed All. Night. Long. It was easily the worst night of my life. When Justin got up to go to work on Tuesday morning, Brennon and I had maybe slept for an hour, so we decided to run him down to Children’s Mercy. When we got there Brennon’s fever was 103.7. I was SO impressed by Children’s Mercy- no wait in the ER, got right into see the triage nurse, right into an ER waiting room and then saw a pediatrician within minutes. It only took the doc a few minutes of examining to diagnose Brennon with croup. We were doing all the right things to treat the symptoms, but she ordered an oral steroid that helped him almost immediately. The next 3 days were pretty rough, for all three of us. Brennon ended up needing to go back to the doctor for an ear infection and 10 days of antibiotics! After that he bounced back, runny nose and coughing aside.

Saddest 6 Month Birthday EVER!

Last Thursday, January 27th, Brennon had his 6 month well-baby checkup. All is very well! Brennon weights 19.6 pounds (91st percentile), is 29 inches long (90th percentile) and his head circumference was 45 centimeters (off the growth chart!). Our Ped was really impressed by Brennon’s body strength and some of his developmental skills. He told us to start giving B more “normal” foods, stop making purees and to introduce meats and a formula with lactose. Brennon got 4 shots plus a flu shot at this visit, but he handled them better than ever! No more checkups until 9 months! 

~Brennon at 6 Months~

-Teething is in full swing and he chews on ANYTHING he can get his hands on. He really enjoys dried bread heals!

-Rolls both ways, sitting up and has started to pull-up

-Babbling mixed with lots of grunts, yells and screams

-Lots of smiles, laughing, giggling and being silly

-He’s VERY ticklish, even on his back!

-Brennon is very busy and interested in everything. Once he’s mobile, we’re in BIG trouble.

-Sleeping 8-12 hours at night, with 2 or 3 40 minute naps during the day

-Loves books and reading, music and watching people dance and people watching (especially children and men)

-LOVES Sesame Street! We have Baby Einstein and I’ve tried to steer away from TV altogether, but he adores everything about Sesame Street and talks to the characters.

-Still loves bath time, although we have cut WAY back since the cold weather began

-Brennon LOVES to eat! When he wakes up, he takes a 6-8oz bottle and a full bowl of fruit and cereal, probably 6 tablespoons. About 2-3 hours later, he’s ready for lunch. Today he had chicken, squash, blueberries and a 4oz bottle. (This midday meal holds him over for about 5-6 hours.) For dinner tonight he had 2 pea cubes, an avocado cube, mashed bananas and about a 3oz bottle. Then, before bed he normally takes a 6-8oz bottle. We have yet to find anything that he doesn’t “like” but, his favorites are bananas, blueberries and sweet potato.

Since introducing vegetables, Brennon has tried sweet potato, acorn squash, peas, carrots, and green beans. Since introducing fruits, Brennon has tried avocado, apricots, apples, bananas, blueberries, peaches, pears, plums, prunes and pumpkin. I’m hoping that the variety of fresh foods will really help to prevent food allergies and picky eating habits.

Bread Heals...

BLUEBERRIES!

 CHEEEEESE!

 I LOVE to brush my teeth!

Sitting up!