9 & 10 months

It's just nuts to me that I have been responsible for the well being of this tiny little person for almost a year!  I sometimes can't even wrap my mind around the fact that I'm a mom and to think, from here on out I will be responsible for him for the rest of my life!  NUTS!  Josh and I always have this conversation and it always begins with "Gosh, can you imagine when Brandon starts to (enter a verb here)?  I feel like Brandon has done a pretty good job and checking off those verbs lately.   He has grown into such a funny, sweet, and clever little boy.  Lately my favorite thing is to just sit back and watch him play.  It is absolutely amazing to see his eyes grow big when he first discovers something.  He is honing his fine motor skills and has learned to pick up the tiniest crumbs on the floor (and putting it directly into his mouth)!  Speaking of which I should probably think about taking a CPR class just in case he decides to choke on something.  We have officially baby proofed the apartment from the waist down.  By baby proofing we mean that we just use our fancy couch pillows and use it as a wall to keep him out of certain non-baby safe areas.  We purchased one of those rubbery table corner things and they worked well up until Brandon wore out the stickiness from them and have now used it as a teether.  Hey, a 2 in 1 safety/toy combo, well worth the 15 bucks that we paid.  Our living room has become Brandon's play yard, I was talking to my friend Marie today and mentioned that I would love to get one of the whales from the kid area at the Alderwood mall.  That would really save me a trip to the mall on rainy days!  It's so funny cause I remember before I was a mom...whenever I would pass that play area I would think "Aw, sick, that place is just filled with germs!  I would never let my kid play there!!"  Now, I look forward to having play dates at that germ pool!  I think I may have to thank that place for possibly giving my son a kick-ass immune system!


So since his first 2 teeth that he grew back when he was 7 months, he has yet to get another set!  I think that Brandon is convinced that he no longer needs to grow anymore.  Josh and I constantly joke that his teeth will only come in every 7 months, so by the time he's 8 he'll officially have all of his teeth! Totally normal right?

I know that I am down to the wire on the boob feeding part and it totally does not help that he has learned to blow raspberries while he's on my boob! He accidentally did it one day when he was forced to breath out of his mouth cause he was a little stuffy and we both thought that it was the funniest thing, now he does it to be funny!  This guy!

It's so cute to me how much of his personality has developed over the last few months.  I love everything about this kid.  Yes, even down to his meltdown moments.  Josh and I have noticed that he feeds off of our reactions.  Brandon is beginning to test his boundaries in what he should and shouldn't do.  For example, the other day Russy was quietly sitting next to him and out of nowhere he decided to just pull on Russy's fur.  Russy cried and I grabbed his hand and let out a stern "NO!"  Brandon started to cry and shortly after he stopped, he began to reach for Russy again!  Right before he put his had on Russy he turned to look at me to see if I was looking! He literally gave me the over the shoulder look-check to see if I was looking!  What the heck?!  How are kids so damn smart at this age?!?!


He is slowly learning his environment.  He loves to explore every little nooks and cranny of our 1000 square foot apartment.  I have left him in the living room to play for a few minutes and come back to find him missing and in the kitchen! I officially know what it feels like to have a mild heart attack...Seriously this kid!

Oh, Brandon, you are one funny kid!

Brandon at 9 months

He's  a great furniture walker!

Brandon at 10 months

His 1st Halloween

Mr. Clark Kent

Trick-or-treating with Mommy

His first Halloween treat!

Trick-or-treating with Ninang Merrie, Hallie (Tinkerbell), and baby Ryan (Peter Pan)

With Isaiah the Lion

Cousins! Piper (Merida), Skyler (Iron man), and Prue (Bell)

One tired superhero! 

With Lola and Lolo

With Mommy Cynn and Lola

8 months

He's going to be 10 months tomorrow and just realized that I haven't done an 8th month blog!  Sorry, but this is super short and sweet...plus seeing that I don't even know what day it is at times, it would seriously be impossible for me to remember all of his milestones from 2 months ago!!

Play date days...

I always cherish my Fridays with Brandon cause I always reserve it for play dates. I love the fact that a lot of my friends have children around the same age as him!

Whether its spending the day at the zoo or just inviting people to our little apartment, I love that Brandon already has a good amount of friends to play with. It makes me smile when I daydream about Brandon growing up with his friends and having the same great relationships as I have with their parents.

I cherish each and every relationships I have with all my friends and especially now that we are all mothers. Our relationships now have grown to another level. We are all genuinely happy for one another and have become more patient and understanding. There's just an automatic bond between mothers that is unexplainable, and I am just so thankful to have the chance to be a part of it!

Here are just a few pics from our Friday play dates!

This will NEVER get old!

From 1 week old to now 41 weeks... I will always love this feeling. I can stare and hold him in my arms forever. I always try to remind myself to take these moments in, but time is going by too quickly and each amazing moment are always replaced with better ones!

38 weeks and 4 days

Today marks the day that Brandon has been out as long as was in. Brandon was born at 38 weeks and 4 days and he is officially that old today! It's also crazy that in a 5 days he will be 9 months old!  When I told Josh he said "Wow, that was crazy fast!"  He could not have phrased that any better!!  It has been such a crazy ride for the both of us and we could not be any happier!  Josh and I take a lot of pride in the fact that we haven't screwed Brandon up just yet.  He still has all of his limbs in tact, hasn't eaten anything poisonous, and seems to still like having us around...

Gosh, I remember rolling my eyes when parents would tell me that kids grow super fast...Oh, how naive was I?  

Anyway, this has been the fastest and most amazing 38 weeks of my life! I never knew I would love being a mom this much or let alone function with such little sleep. There's never a dull moment with Brandon...life is much more meaningful and I am never sad when he's around... How did we become so blessed with such an amazing baby boy?! Josh and I could not have asked for a better 1st baby!!

Me and B and 38 weeks 

Brandon at 38 weeks old

What makes me happy

Love these two so much!

Baby Ryan is here!!

Gosh, it seems like it was just yesterday when Merrie told me that they were expecting!  On Tuesday morning baby Ryan arrived!  I was scheduled to work that evening, but was lucky enough to find someone to cover my shift for me.  I would've had a little time before work to go visit, but I really didn't want to have my time be limited.  

I've known Ron and Merrie for over 13 years now and not only are they like a brother and sister to me, but they are also Brandon's Godparents.  They also have a 3 year old daughter Hallie who we just love and adore!  I remember Merrie and I making a pact that if we both had daughters they would be best of friends just like us or if we had a boy and a girl, that they would still be best of friends or maybe even get married!!  Who knows maybe Hallie will end up marrying Brandon, and Ryan and Brandon will be best of friends/brother in-laws!  Haha! Oh gosh, well either way they will be seeing lots of each other cause their parents are BFF's!

Anyway, I couldn't wait for Josh to get off work to see baby Ryan, so Brandon and I just went without him.  We got there around 3sh.  I got to hold Ryan for what seemed like only seconds because lets face it, you can never hold a newborn long enough!  I also had Brandon with me so our time was limited with nap time quickly approaching.  I did come back the next day without him and was able to hold baby Ryan A LOT longer!! While I was holding him it made me think that only 8 months ago Brandon was that small. Now he's crawling, babbling, and laughing!  It's really bitter sweet.

Ryan is one perfect baby and we could not be happier for Ron and Merrie on their beautiful growing family!!  They truly are blessed!!

A visit from Mr. Sandman

Well, I'm marking this day as the 1st time that Brandon slept through the night!! He did cry a few times, but he went straight back to sleep after a few seconds! Oh my, I could totally get used to this!

Sunday fun day!

Due to our scheduled family vacation to Hawaii in October, Josh and I decide that we were just going to stay pretty close to home for labor day weekend.  Sunday is usually our designated family day, but this Sunday felt extra special for some reason.  We started out our day pretty slow, we lounged around in our jammies for a few hours, had breakfast, and around 1:00 we finally got out of the house.  Our first stop was Marination station.  I've heard people rave about their kimchi fried rice so I had to try it!! 

I had the Kalbi beef kimchi fried rice with egg... and oh, yes it was amazing! 

After our yummy and over-filling lunch outside we decided to head down to the waterfront and check out the big ferris wheel! It was such a beautiful warm day in Seattle.  As many of you know, we don't get a lot of beautiful days like this so we really wanted to take advantage of it (and so did the other thousands of other people).  Ya, it was kind of crowded, and the line for the ferris wheel seemed a bit long, but we thought, now is a good time as any. Brandon was super happy, he loves sitting in his big boy stroller.  I think that he loves that fact that he's facing out and able to see more.  He is at this perfect little age where he is just taking everything in like a sponge.  

Daddy and Brandon waiting in line

Leave it up to Brandon to ruin a perfectly good family photo!  Look at this kids face!!

The view was worth the wait!

He loved the view

We didn't get a chance to ride the carousal.  That's next on our list!

My favorite picture from the weekend!

Oh and one last little story for you.  So on our ride we shared a carriage with a nice little European family.  They didn't speak english very well, so our conversations were very short.  As we were all enjoying the nice quiet ride, Brandon thought that it was a good time to take a big ol' fart and shortly after decided to take the stinkiest poo!  Oh those poor people...I'm not fluent in french, but I'm pretty sure they were not very happy inhaling the smell of baby poop in the last 10 minutes of our ride!  Oh, Brandon you really are one funny kid!! Happy 37 weeks!

Breastfeeding 8 months later...

I'm so surprised that I've stuck it out this long (no pun intended)!  In the beginning my goal was a year, but when I actually started doing it and experienced the pain and hard work that came along with it.  I set a 6 month goal that I felt was more realistic.

As a 1st time mom I felt that I put a lot of pressure on myself by just feeding him breast milk, but in reality with work and life it just was not feasible for me.  Ya, I was sad the first time I introduced Brandon to formula, but it had to be done.  I wasn't pumping enough milk for his demands and I really really REALLY hated pumping and still do!!  Pumping to me was and is still super discouraging because I never pumped as much as I would like.  I always thought that I should be producing the same amount of milk as he would normally drink formula wise.  When I wouldn't I'd double guess whether or not if I was producing enough for him.  I did the fenugreek for about a month and stopped because I was getting engorged way too quickly and having to pump more often, which was just hard!  I just didn't have enough time at work to pump, so I would just be in pain.  I'm sure it helped with the tips, but no thanks!  Fenugreek does work and it helped with my milk production (about an extra ounce at most) but it was just was not worth the pain and time for me.  So I quite taking it and decided that I should just trust my body and if I run out of juice, then I will accept it and move on.

Brandon has been eating solids about 3x's a day now, so my breastfeeding has cut down tremendously.  Before he was eating solids, he would feed about 6-7x's a day, now it's about 4-5.  I have also noticed that he has cut down his time during feeding sessions.  He only feeds about 15 minutes max!  I was worried that he wasn't getting enough milk, but he seems to be fine and happy after.  I guess he's just a quick eater, just like his mommy.

Sometimes I have a feeling that my breast feeding may be coming to an end soon.  I haven't fully decided on how I would feel if I were to dry up right now.  I would be happy that I lasted this long, but know that I'd really miss having that bonding time with him.  Although I feel like as long as he and I enjoy it then the milk will continue to come...

7 months

Brandon is developing to be such a character!  This month he has been really taking advantage of learning to crawl.  It seems like everyday he seems to crawl further and further. With that being said he loves to explore around the living room.  We have officially re-aranged the living to be a crawling zone.    We moved the coffee table off to the side and put up a pillow barricade around our entertainment system.  I'm sure it will only be a matter of time until we will have to put corner guards on our tables.

He has grown to really love his toys.  When we take him to his grandparents house we now pack a sack filled with his favorite toys.  His new favorite is his blue car that we got from his citrus lane box.  He loves pushing it around and spinning the wheels.  It's so cute to watch him play like a boy with it!  Speaking of which, Josh and I realized that he plays with his toy pretty rough.  He usually puts it in his mouth first and then he bangs on them after.  We think that it's just the way he tries to figure out how they work?  Or he may just be figuring out that certain toys make different sounds.  What a silly little boy!

Well other than crawling he has really aced going from crawling to sitting up.  Now he is trying to figure out how to pull himself up on things.  When Josh and I are laying on the floor he can usually crawl up on us to stand up. It's so amazing how much he has developed over the last month.  It's so rewarding to see him learn to figure things out on his own.  

He is such a little busy body now and I'm sure that this is just the beginning of what it will be like.  When we carry him he moves so much!  He is constantly turning his head and body to look at things and waving his arms.  It's like trying to hold a wiggly worm!  He also loves giving hugs, but we have to watch out cause there are times where he will pinch the back of your arms! He has given both his grandma's matching bruises!

He's doing well with his solids still!  There will be days when we only feed him once a day, but he is usually on a 2x's a day solid food schedule.  I still make his food, but we have also been introducing him with table food. Rice has been his new favorite (no surprise there!)  We try to mix it in with mild entrees like Nilaga or menudo.  He loves both of those!  He is also loving drinking out of sippy cups!  We give him water out of it after he eats solids.  

He officially has 2 teeth.  His second one cut through on wednesday! He was a bit cranky with the second tooth.  Poor Russy is missing a chunk of fur because of it!  Breast feeding has become a bit sore as well. Thank goodness he started to take his pacifier, so it's been nice to have a break!

His personality has really taken shape and it's been so much fun to watch.  I can't wait to see what the 8th month will bring.

Our 2 toothed monster!

Brandon has been super winey all morning. He's usually pretty content playing in the living room with his toys while I get some things done around the apartment, but today he hasn't let me stray too far. While I was feeding him I could feel his tooth a lot more than usual, so I got a little curious and just checked, and there it was tooth #2 peeking through! My poor little dude!

Sleep? Who needs it...

The last 2 nights have been a little rough. With Brandon teething and this ridiculously warm weather. He has been having a hard time getting a good nights sleep. In our room we have 3 fans going, 2 which are pointing directly at Brandon. He definitely gets his warm bloodedness from his daddy! Poor little guy! We tried not swaddling him a few times so that he's not so warm, but he wakes himself up without it. Thank God we have a thinner one and that's helped a good amount. Oh, lord this mommy is so
tired! I hope that tonight will be better!

Sweet, TOOTH!

With me being gone and busy all week and weekend I was really looking forward to our family time on Sunday! We kinda took our time getting ready in the morning and once we finally got going our first stop was the Greenlake wading pool. We bought sandwiches and snacks to have a picnic and let Brandon go for a dip. He absolutely loved being in the water! It's funny because before I was a mom I remember looking at that wading pool and thinking "yuck, I would never let my child go in that poop and pee infested water!" but after going here the first time and seeing that they had a person maintaining the pool it change my mind. This little lifeguard/maintenance persons job is to make sure that all babies who are in diapers are wearing proper swimming diapers, check the water levels and its cleanliness frequently. It's pretty cool how she does it, and once the pool needs to be cleaned she makes everyone get out and adds the proper chemicals! I was a bit worried how B's skin would react to the chemicals cause of his eczema, but he has yet broken out or had any reaction to the pool or chemicals. Thank goodness!!

Ok, moving forward. After the pool we went downtown to walk around. We hit the usual Josh spots (Nike, Nordstrom's, & Old navy). I dragged him to greenlake, so it was only right that i agreed to go to 'his' places...

After we were all done and got the car packed to go home i was playin with Brandon in the back seat and saw a little white sliver on his bottom gums. I was just expecting it to be a little spit up, so being a little curious I put my finger in there to feel around and was so shocked when I felt a hard little pearly white sticking out of his gums!!! I immediately yelled at Josh and told him Brandon has a tooth!!!! We were both surprised because he didn't have the signs of teething that we had been keeping a close eye on. No fever or crankiness... He is our little trooper for sure!

Now it's only a matter of time until he uses those to chomp on Mommy's boobies!

Slow life

How can I even begin to describe my stay here at Roche harbor.  When I got here the first thing that came to me was how quiet and peaceful this place was.  People here walk more slowly and take the time to enjoy their surroundings.  They talk calmly and quietly...and seem genuinely happy with just being here.  I got to talk to a gentleman in the bar last night and he happens to work on one of the boats that dock here, and he said that the people that come through here are always very pleasant.  He said that every summer he sees the same people.  They all travel from different places and come from a different walks of life, but come summer time they all congregate here to take a break from their everyday life.  

This made me realize how caught up in mommy hood I have been.  It’s a very unselfish job, but very rewarding.  It’s very fast paced and stressful at times.  I try very hard to make sure that Josh and I reward ourselves by going out on date nights, but being here makes me realize that a little quiet family getaway may be something we need.  As important it is for us to show Brandon the importance of hard work, we want to also show him the importance take the time to slow down and enjoy your life and family.   

High chairs are for big kids!

On Friday when I got back from my 2 day trip Josh and I decided to go out and have a nice family dinner! Usually when we're out to dinner we do the parent swap when we eat or I sometimes just eat with him on my lap. As much as I enjoy holding my son, eating with both hands has become a luxury that I miss terribly. So a lot of the time we just skip going out to dinner or just end up doing take out.

So when we got to the restaurant we asked for a high chair. I wasn't sure how he would do on it seeing that it was one of the wooden ones that weren't really padded or had a lot of support. Anyway, we decided to give it a go and placed his seat in between us so he felt like he was being included. We also gave him a few of his favorite toys to keep him distracted... Dinner was a success! Josh and I both got to enjoy our dinner and Brandon loved being in his high chair! He enjoyed looking around and watching other people. Our waitress loved him and kept telling him what a big boy he was! Oh man our little boy is growing up!!

I promised myself I wouldn't cry

I said goodbye to Josh this morning when he left for work it was a bit sad cause it was going to be the last time I see him until Friday night. As I was giving him a hug I just started crying. Oh man what a sap! It was kinda funny cause all I kept saying was 'take good care of him ok?' I'm not sure why I said that... It's not like I'm never going to come back, I think that the emotions just got the best of me.

I took yesterday off work so I could have an extra day to be with Brando! It was nice, we ended up going to the greenlake wading pool with Mama Cherrie and my sisters kids! We had so much fun playing in the water and enjoying the sunshine. I also got a chance to spends dinner alone with Josh at our favorite Korean BBQ spot. We don't have a lot of opportunities to do date nights like that, so we really cherish it when we do. It's funny cause the majority of our conversations are usually about Brandon!

Well this morning I got finished up the last minute packing I needed to do and as soon as I was done I spent he rest of the late morning playing and napping with Brandon! I kissed and hugged him every chance I got. Thank God he let me without getting annoyed!

Well when I dropped him off at his grandparents the water works didn't hit me until I said my final goodbye. He was a bit preoccupied playing with his toys to even know that I was leaving! I knew that if he would've watched me leave it would've been a lot harder! My mother in-law was so sweet and kept reminding me that he will be in good hands and not to worry. When I got into my car and saw Brandon's empty car base that's when I lost it! I had a pretty good cry, but I'm ok now! I got here safe and sound. I called my in-laws to check on him and got to chat with Josh for a little bit. They're both doing good. I think that I'm starting to settle down now. I had a chance to have dinner by myself and walk around town. It was nice to have some alone time and have a chance to take a break from being a Mommy. Although, It is a bit weird to just to sit here and not have to tend to anyone...

Just.be.strong!

Well this Wednesday I leave for a wedding shoot over in Friday harbor. I've never been there before and I am really excited... Well kinda...

This will be my first and longest time I will be away from both Josh and Brandon! I will be leaving Wednesday evening and coming back early (not early enough I'm sure) Friday morning! I know that they will both be in good hands because Josh's parents were sweet enough to offer the boys to stay with them as well as look after Brandon while Josh is at work. So as far as being worried about Brandon in the babysitting area I'm not really worried about it, although I just hope that he's a better sleeper with them than he is with me! My biggest worry is that I don't want to inconvenience them. I know that they offered to watch him and are very excited to do so, I just hope that B will be in his best behavior and not give his daddy and grandparents a hard time! I know I'm probably sounding a bit crazy and over thinking the situation, but I can't help it sometimes. I'm sure when I get back I'll be looking back and saying 'what the hell was I so worried about?'

I'm sure Brandon is not even gonna notice that I'm gone, so I think that the person who will be having major separation anxiety will be me. The other thing that I'm most worried about is breast feeding. I don't really pump very much these days, I think I have trained my body enough to where I can go as long as 6 hours without having pump or feed him, but strictly pumping for 2 days will be a bit of a challenge. I worry that I will get so engorged even with pumping that it will be painful or my supply will decrease. Oh, I hope that the twins will figure it out...

Well besides the boob thing and praying that Brandon will be on his best behavior...the one thing that will
make this trip all worth it would be that I may get a chance to have a good nights sleep, cause its been 31 weeks since I've had one of those.

6 months

Brandon is going to be 7 months in a few days and I just realized that I haven't done a monthly update, Eeks!  Well this month has been one of my favorites so far.  Ya, I probably say that with every month, but this month I feel like he's definitely been taking a bigger step into becoming a little bit more independent.   A few weeks ago he began to finally sit up on his own and no joke, a few days later he decided that he was going to take up crawling too!  Um, where's the fire Brandon?!  I really didn't think that he was going to start crawling so quickly after!!  So far he gets up on all fours and is doing the rocking thing, but has yet to properly move forward.  He hasn't figured out to move his arms yet.  He does this for a little bit and when he doesn't get the results that he wants, he gets frustrated and gives up.  

He's talking a bunch now and have expanded his vocabulary by adding "Dada" "Nana" and "Ateh". While Josh and I were getting him ready for bed one night he just out of the blue said "Dada!"  Oh lord, the excitement on Josh's face when he heard it was just great!  We both had this bet on who's name he was going to say first.  Even though he did say "Dada" first I feel like he's really saving to say "Momma" when he really knows what he's talking about :)

 He has been doing great with his solids.  He's had the following so far: avocado, butternut squash, bananas, mango, sweet potato and peas!  We tried peas 3x's and all 3x's he was not a big fan! I don't think that the taste bothers him as much as the texture, because it would make him gag... I still enjoy making him all of his food and hope to continue to do it for as long as I can.

Marie and I have gotten pretty close over the past year.  Ever since we found out that our due dates were  around the same time we kinda gravitated towards one another.  It has been nice to have someone to confide in about Mommy-hood.  It's funny that we both call our get together "play dates", but our kids are usually far too busy and distracted by other things that they really don't even really play with one another!  I think that maybe it's more of a Mommy chat-date than anything! We share a lot of silly stories that I feel only parents would find amusing.  We talk about our little ones, their new milestones, work, and our husbands...it's just great to have someone to share and talk about the same things you're going through.     

Just this last week we got the chance to take the kiddos out to enjoy the sunshine at Greenlake.  We decided to have a picnic and the kids finally started to interact with each other!  It's been so great to not only watch Brandon grow, but Renae as well.  She is just the sweetest little thing!  She never really gets fussy and is usually very laid back.  Brandon could learn a thing or two from her ;)

Marie, Renae, and Brandon

This is probably my favorite picture of the two of them!

We had another few 1st for Brandon just these past weeks:

Brandon's 1st time experiencing grass!  He loved it!!

Brandon's first time at the beach

Brandon's 1st time experiencing sand!  He's trying really hard to hold in his excitement!

Brandon's 1st time in a pool!  He's my little water baby!

I still can't believe that my little guy is already half a year old!  Oh, Brandon you are one great kid.  Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

Brandon's 6 month well check-up stats:

6/18

Height: 26.5  (55%)

Weight:  15lb 12oz  (20%)

Head Circumference:  42.5  (18%)