Eleven Months Already?

The countdown is officially on until Brooks' first birthday!  Here are his 11 month pics.  It was increasingly hard to get him to sit still for pictures, all he wanted to do was play with the elephant!

 

 

As you can imagine, Brooks is into everything now that he is walking.  I noticed that as his walking has gotten better, all of his motor coordination seems to be improving.  He started getting the hang of bending his hand to wave this week.  He is known as the "salsa dancer" at school because he walks with his right arm in the air and his left arm in front of him.  Each step he takes looks like a little dance!

Brooks has both his bottom front teeth, and now the top two have broken through!  He has been a champ with teething so far!!

Brooks got his tubes on Thursday and so far, so good (knock on wood).  He did very well and made all the nurses fall in love with him (like father, like son).  It may be the placebo effect for me, but I think his verbal skills have improved since he got his tubes.  The surgeon did say there was a lot of fluid behind his ear drum.

 

My very happy boy!!  It's 7:30AM, he's not had anything to eat or drink since the night before, he's taking a breathing treatment, about to have surgery- and STILL smiling!

We put up the Christmas tree yesterday and it was one of my favorite moments to watch him revel in its glory.  He laughed at it, he stared at it, and touched it.  That was a very fun mommy moment for me.  We are going to let him get all of his touching out of the way before we put on the ornaments.  Don't worry- everyone has warned me to put the nice ornaments up high!  I can't wait to share pictures from this Christmas!

Since he was born right before Christmas last year, this Thanksgiving will be his last "first" holiday (if that makes sense).  I can't believe we have already been through a whole year of "firsts."  I am busy planning the celebration of his whole first year- think sock monkeys!



Just a few best friends/ college roommates with all their baby boys!

Just sporting my Chuck T's while I support the Dawgs!


  
I am enjoying my week off with him and already looking forward to the two weeks off at Christmas.  He continues to be such a joy in my life and amazes me everyday.  Thank you Lord for a wonderful blessing!

Officially A Walker...

...I had to hold back the tears today as I watched my little man let go of my hand and walk across the doctor's waiting room - I am talking 20 yards!  It was the farthest he has ever walked on his own, and he was headed straight to play with some other little guys.  That was all it took for him to have the confidence to stay on his feet.  Now he's practically running around the house!

Speaking of doctor's offices- this last month has been very busy and we have been getting our use out of our handy health insurance!  We have been through 5 ear infections since the beginning of August, leading us to the ENT last week.  We are now on the books for tubes to go in Brooks' ears on November 15.  His pediatrician feels like this will be really great for him.  In addition, he is also having a hard time kicking this wheeze that has come along with the "cold" we have had for months.  So, we are headed for a chest x-ray this week to make sure there isn't anything we are missing. But Brooks continues to be a very happy baby- which made it very hard for mommy to know he was so sick (and his ear drum ruptured last week).

Brooks was the cutest little lion for halloween!  Everyone loved his costume, and it was perfect for the cold weather that rolled in last week.

Our favorite neighbors and friendly owl :)

Last weekend we went to Blue Ridge for cousin Brody's 2nd birthday!  We all took a train ride, and you can tell the boys enjoyed getting all dressed up (the mommy's enjoyed it too).  Thanks for a great weekend Jen & Dave!

Meeting Santa for the first time!  He didn't cry, but he sure did stare!



Happy 2nd birthday Brody Man!

 



This is what we woke up to (well, and 4 dirty diapers)... it was beautiful!