The Lion

Brendan's new favorite toy is an adorable stuffed lion that my parents have at their house. He's in love with the guy and he loves to snuggle him. I never thought I'd see him snuggle so much- I certainly don't get this many hugs.

We were lucky to capture this cute little video of Brendan with the Lion. My mom was making a funny dog bark and he thought it was the funniest thing- he couldn't stop laughing at it. I'm so glad we're here to have these moments together.

The trip from you-know-where

Flying for us is usually not a problem but unfortunately this trip was not as smooth as normal. First, our flight was scheduled to leave Christmas morning at 7:15am, which means we had to wake up around 4:30am in order to arrive on time but Brendan decided to wake up all on his own at about 3:30am. Great. We also woke up to a few inches of snow fresh on the ground which were not plowed by the time we hit the road. So it took us about an hour to get to the airport where I discovered that I had left my purse sitting on the kitchen table. I could have died right there on the spot because Chris had even asked me before we left our parking lot if I had my ID. And of course, I took that to mean he thought I was stupid and irresponsible- which it turns out, I am.

In order to avoid outrageous charges for changing our flight, we had to be on the stand-by list for a flight at 2:30pm- the last flight American Airlines had to Chicago that day. I sure was praying that we would get on that flight and this time we left with my ID in hand. As the security person was checking my ID, she asks me, "Do you have a valid ID. This is expired." Great. At this point, I start to almost tear up. But luckily, they'll let you through but with extra security checks. They checked all our of carry-ons, I had to go through the "Puffer" (which puffs a bunch of air bursts at you and somehow detects explosive materials), and wait a horribly long time for them to find my ID. That's right- they lost my ID. Luckily they found it; one of the security people had forgotten to pass it along. But we made the flight and Brendan did exceptionally well. I couldn't believe it and we even made a new friend, Ram, who is from India originally but is now a doctor in Utah and teaches at the U of U- he was hillarious. All in all, it was a Christmas miracle we got here. Hopefully we can get back.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

We're headed for Chicago early in the morning but hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures while there. If not, we'll see you in a week!

The cutest cookie I think I've ever seen... and a toothbrush

My friend Angela and I had a shopping excursion last night, which included a stop at Starbucks for some delicious hot chocolate. While there, we discovered the cutest cookie in the world.

Angela was kind enough to purchase us each one but he was too cute to eat. I had to take him home first to memorialize him in blog-form before gobbling him up. Don't you just love him!?!

Angela also presented Brendan with his first toothbrush! It was really good timing considering we were at the doctor's on Thursday for a check-up and the doc mentioned that we should start brushing his teeth with a soft toothbrush. So now, Brendan gets a good brushing every day- thank goodness I have such a kind friend who has a dentist for a brother. So far so good. He seems to enjoy it but especially likes to suck on his toothbrush, mostly.

She picked out a Super Man toothbrush for him, too- I love it! Again, the cookie. He was so cute and looked perfect on our entertainment center along with our other Christmas decorations.

Here's to the hope that everyone can find a cookie as yummy and adorable as my little penguin!

Paper Towels

I guess this is what I get for leaving my 11 month old unattended while I tried to do some laundry. I couldn't stop laughing when I found that Brendan had gotten a hold of our paper towels. It was just too funny. I was wondering why all of a sudden he was ultra-quiet, and this is what I found.
He was having a ball with them so I couldn't get too annoyed even though this was our last roll.

At least it was easy to clean up and most of them were salvageable- only a few were torn, which gives me hope that Brendan will learn how to be "soft".

A sad day

Yesterday was my Grandma's funeral so we headed down to Laverkin UT to pay our respects and be with family. It was a really wonderful service and I learned a lot of things about my grandma that I didn't know before. She was a great woman and she'll be missed.

I did enjoy getting to spend time with some family members that live far away and we don't see very often. It was great getting to chat and catch up with everyone (there are some pictures in our December Photo Albulm). Brendan loved all the attention from so many new friends. This was the first time that Brendan got to meet his extended family and he loved it. He was so excited that he refused to nap the whole day. The only time he slept was for a half hour in the car... that was it. He was too wound up to go to sleep. And this is why-

He was in love with Grandpa, as usual and Grandpa gave him chocolate cake.

Brendan once again OD'ed on sugar.

And baby Mary was super sweet and calm, like always. She puts Brendan to shame.

Belated birthday wish

Happy Birthday again to my dad. The circumstances weren't the best but we hope that all your Birthday Wishes come true! We love you!

Brendan's binge

So, the past couple of weeks we've noticed some real growth in Brendan's maturity level. When he puts his finger in an electrical socket and we tell him "no" he'll look at us and move his hand away for a few seconds before he touches it again. Also, instead of grabbing handfuls of puffs to eat, he only takes two or three at a time. He's even learned to go to bed without getting a bath every night.

So with all this growth and maturity we decided that Brendan was old enough and mature enough to stay at home by himself for the night. Valerie and I decided it had been too long since we'd been out on our own. So we gave it a try. That night we left Brendan with his favorite frozen dinner in the freezer to make for himself (Swanson's Hungry Man dinner with chicken fried steak, corn, mashed potatoes, and a brownie cube). We put his favorite DVD in (Cool as Ice starring Vanilla Ice), and left him strict instructions not to have any parties and to stay out of trouble. What happened next came as a complete shock to us. After Valerie and I had enjoyed a nice evening out at Chili's and later the movies (Enchanted, my choice), we came home to a scene that left both of us in utter disbelief. Brendan had gotten into the whipped cream, against our orders, and by the time we found him he had consumed the whole can. Words can't describe what we saw and how we felt. Oh, Brendan. Needless to say we grounded him immediately. No cell phone. No video games. And he has to ask before can get in the refrigerator.

A couple sweet pictures

Not much to write about but I thought I'd post a few pics of our happy boy. He's such a sweet little guy and he's getting so big! He loves to walk (with some help) and has even taken several steps on his own. He's still a little wobbly but he loves to try, and luckily we haven't had any major spills yet. Chris and I are loving this time in his life!

Coming soon...

Tonight for family night, we took Brendan to see Santa at the mall and I was so excited because this would be our first Christmas activity of the season. Well, it was a major bust thanks to Santa needing an hour long break for dinner. I tried to wait it out; we walked around the mall for 15 minutes before I started going insane. So we left. No pictures with Santa tonight but you can be sure we'll be heading back soon. But this time, we know that we should arrive before the 5pm break starts.