My Two Dads

Let me give this some thought...

2011-02-28T15:24:00.004-05:00

Brennan has lately really been thinking about his actions and been learning to control his frustration, and it has been fascinating to watch.

This morning, we were ready to go to daycare, and Brennan wanted to take one of his cars with him while he walked down the stairs to the garage. I've been trying to impress on him lately that he shouldn't go up and down stairs carrying things. So I told him that he couldn't bring the car with him. He started to get a little upset. Then we had about a 20 second staring match -- my eyes basically telling him "yes, really, put the car down, and let's go." Finally, without any real fuss, he relented, and walked over to his bag of cars, put the car in the bag, and then walked over to the stairs. It was great not needing to physically remove the car from his hands -- that now he'll just pause and think, and then do what he's told.

Same thing when we got to daycare. He was playing with a leapfrog drawing thing in the car on the way over, and when we got there, he wasn't done playing. He wanted to take it in with him. I told him he couldn't. I could tell he was annoyed, but after about a 20 second pause for thought, he said "okayyyy," dropped the leapfrog toy, and reached out for me to pick him up out of the carseat.

Hopefully this agreeableness isn't just a fad for Brennan and he sticks to it. I much prefer this approach to the old way -- tantrums, crying, etc.

Brush Teeth

2011-02-25T15:58:00.003-05:00

Brennan loves to brush his teeth. One of the many things he observed us doing for the longest time, so when we started brushing his teeth, he jumped at the opportunity to be able to do another thing that Daddy and Papa do. Other activities falling into this category include washing hands, putting lotion on, putting chapstick on, and others.

It's now to the point where he doesn't want us to brush his teeth. He wants to do it himself. He's actually pretty good at it so this is mostly okay with us. And when he sees a toothbrush lying around, he wants to brush his teeth regardless of whether they've been recently brushed.

He's certainly making Mommaw--his grandmother/former dental assistant--proud.

The Class Clown

2011-01-07T16:45:00.004-05:00

I've often thought, since Brennan was very young, that he had the potential to be somewhat of a class clown. I've always thought he is very smart and will be successful -- just with how curious he is and how he is determined to figure out how things work. But he also likes to make people laugh, even it if requires being a little naughty. He always has been a performer around crowds. Whenever we take him to a party, he wants to be the center of attention -- dancing, singing, doing whatever he can to get people to watch him. Or when he was younger, he would run all around the waiting area at the airport clapping and saying "yay," getting everyone in the terminal to clap and cheer with him. He would make a great mascot in high school if he's not on the sports team.

At his family daycare, I think we're getting a little preview of what's to come. Apparently, this week, when all the kids go down for a nap, Brennan has started trying to keep them all up and and get them to play. Which is sort of funny, because he loves to sleep, and even nap.

The picture above is a little hard to make out -- crappy Blackberry camera. But it's Brennan trying to make a cat laugh.

Vacation

2011-01-04T12:35:00.005-05:00

The above picture pretty much summarizes our whirlwind, 12-day, 3 city vacation for the holidays. Although we got to see a lot of family and friends, and we ate a lot of good food, the vacation was thoroughly exhausting.

Brennan slept in a total of seven different places (not including naps in the car, stroller, or planes). Fortunately, he's a pretty flexible kid, so he was able to sleep everywhere we went. But he was definitely getting fed up with the trip near the end. Acting up, throwing a few punches, throwing some food off the table. Now that we're back in town, it's time to eliminate those bad habits. Also fortunately, Brennan dodged the Christmas cold that always circulates around our families, but I didn't, and I'm still suffering from it.

This trip included a few "lasts" for us, for at least as long as we have young children:

- This was our last multicity trip

- This was our last trip longer than a week

- This was our last trip in which we take EIGHT pieces of luggage (including carry-ons).

- This was our last trip with Brennan as a "lap infant" on the planes. Both because he's turning two and because we wouldn't want to do it again anyway.

- This was our last trip with Brennan sleeping in a pack-n-play. He just doesn't fit anymore. Time to get him used to the big-boys bed.

Dipping in the Katsup

2010-10-21T18:13:00.002-04:00

Brennan has become a big fan of dipping things lately. Doesn't matter if it's even something logical to dip. Dip a cookie in some salsa? Yummy. Dip some pumpkin bread in syrup? Why not? Here he is doing some more traditional dipping:

No More Broccoli Until You Eat Your Quesadilla

2010-09-29T21:42:00.003-04:00

Brennan has for the most part not been a picky eater. But he certainly does have some preferences emerging. He's becoming a less of a fan of meat, particularly when its not strongly seasoned. Blackened chicken and the like he'll eat up, but plainer forms of chicken and other meats are not as interesting. He loves vegetables, with lettuce and broccoli being his favorites. Nancy from his family care tells us that when she takes the kids to Bertucci's, Brennan is all about the salad and not as much the pizza. Well at least he's learning to eat healthy. I'm not sure where he gets that from -- not from us certainly.

Same sort of thing happened at Chili's a couple of weeks ago. We got him chicken quesadillas (Hmmm... Blogger suggests that when I say "quesadillas" I have simply misspelled "peccadilloes"--sort of the same but not quite). I tried the quesadillas out and can confirm they were yummy and definitely deserving of the party in Brennan's tummy. But we also got a side of steamed broccoli. Brennan wasn't the least bit interested in the yummy cheesy quesadillas; all he wanted was broccoli. Never thought I'd be saying to a nineteen-month old, "no more broccoli until you eat more quesadilla."

Fun at the Mall

2010-09-28T14:03:00.003-04:00

Brennan loves the play areas at the malls. Since it was a little hot out Saturday for taking him to one of his favorite outside parks, we headed over to the Natick Collection for a bit, just so Brennan could run around and have some fun outside of the house. We get there and realize -- no stroller. This is sort of a big mall too. But fortunately, the Natick Collection has something even better. Every mall should have these. Grocery stores too, for that matter. Brennan was thoroughly entertained.

Superhero

2010-09-23T15:54:00.002-04:00

Daddy sent this picture to me without explanation, so the best I can guess, Brennan has decided to be a superhero of some sort today. Or a wizard. I'm not sure.

Brennan & Papa Day

2010-09-17T11:56:00.003-04:00

Once a month or so, I try to have a day with just me & Brennan. Not that we don't like Daddy, but it's nice to have some one-on-one bonding time, and Daddy could use the break. Last weekend, we went into the city for the "Ahts" festival (i.e., the Boston Arts Festival). We walked along the harbor for a while. The tide was very high. Brennan was mesmerized by the waves and the boats. The water was really as high as it looks here -- occasionally splashing over the top.

Brennan was also thoroughly entertained by the seal exhibit outside the acquarium. We spent a half hour watching that exhibit, with Brennan yelling "fish" every time a seal passed by, mixed in with some "wows." He was really annoyed when we left.

Probably the most amusing thing the whole day was how it ended. We spent a fair amount of time in the playground at Christopher Columbus Park, and I could tell Brennan was getting pretty fatigued. We had been outside for a long time and doing a lot of walking. On our way walking back to the car, we stopped by a ballet performance and decided to sit down and watch for a while. It's hard to see from this picture, but Brennan was thoroughly entertained. He sat there and just watched the dancers dance and listened to the music, clapping along with the audience in between numbers.

So perhaps we have a ballet fan on our hands? Who knew?

Our Morning Routine

2010-09-14T18:44:00.005-04:00

We have a pretty set morning routine. Brennan starts making noises around 6 a.m. We ignore him for a while because that's just too early for us. He has gotten in to the habit now of flipping on and off the light switch in his room to further note that he is up. But he remains pretty content for a while -- having deep conversations with Winnie the Pooh and Donald Duck. And if you go in his room right when he starts making noises and ask if he wants to get up, he'll answer "nooooo" in a giggly voice.

Eventually, one of us will get up and bring him down for breakfast. He's overall been a flexible eater from day one, but lately he's gotten a little pickier. He's caught on to the fact that I give him the oatmeal from the variety pack that isn't as tasty (plain oatmeal and "banana" oatmeal that tastes nothing like bananas). Oh well.

Then, it's off to snuggle and watch Yo Gabba Gabba. He gets super excited when the show first comes on. Below is a relatively modest version of his daily excitement:

...and then it's off to the rest of our day.

Food and Hair Come Together

2010-08-27T13:25:00.007-04:00

One of Brennan's favorite things to do when he is having a messy meal: show us where his hair is. "Hair, hair," he says, as he sticks his fingers in his hair, spreading around as much as possible of whatever he's eating like it's shampoo. Yes, Brennan, that is your hair.

He knows the word "mouth" too, but that would not be nearly as much fun.

Back to Nancy Care

2010-08-26T16:50:00.008-04:00

Ok, it's been a while, but I'm going to act like it hasn't and just jump right in to things, because I just don't feel like doing an "it's been a while" post in which I would have to summarize the last two months.

Brennan goes back to family care (day care in someone's house) on Monday, as Carl returns to work part time. We got a little preview on Tuesday of how things might go next week, as we left Brennan at "Nancy Care" for most of the day because Carl had some meetings at work. Even before we woke up, Brennan somehow knew something was going on. Rather than waking up at 7 as is usually the plan, he stared fussing at 5:30. We just don't wake up that early, so we caved and brought him into bed with us for a little bit. Fortunately, we don't do this so often so he's use to it -- he's pretty much incapable of falling asleep in our bed just because he almost never sleeps anywhere but his crib (except for travel).

Then, he was pretty fussy throughout the morning. Snuggling with Mickey and watching Yo Gabba Gabba helped a little bit, but as you can tell from the picture, he was still a little upset:

Then we took him to Nancy Care together, and he was not very happy. He's had two stints in Nancy Care before -- this past spring and the spring before, each about a month -- but since then he has developed some attachment issues. The second we walked in he knew what was going on. He clutched on to me tightly, and when I put him on the floor to walk over to Nancy, the tears started flowing. Trying not to make things worse, we made a quick exit.

Turns out that he ended up sleeping for most of the 5 hours he was there. He had been sort of sleep deprived the last few days, having refused to nap, and he had a little fever, we think from teething. Also, it was a dark & rainy day. Poor kid.

Hopefully next week he'll get back into the swing of things and be happily playing with all the other kids. He really is a social kid and especially loves hanging around with the older kids. Especially now that he's finally walking, he should be able to keep up with them too. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Speaking of Yo Gabba Gabba, it's coming to town in September. We might just have to go. At first I was unsure. As much as Brennan loves Yo Gabba Gabba, he'll only be 19 months old. A little young for his first concert. Then I read that Biz's Beat of the Day will be included in the show. DJ Lance Rock, Brobee, Foofa, Plex, Muno, Toodee, and Biz Markie all on one stage? That's a hard concern to turn down.

Daddy in NYC

2010-06-10T21:04:00.005-04:00

Daddy went to NYC this week with Adrienne, so Brennan & Papa had some fun together at home. We went to the playground every day, went on plenty of walks, and had a lot of fun. He always wants to do whatever the big kids are doing. Even playing on the big kid equipment at the playground:

Yes Papa called himself Daddy when he was ready to go down the slide. No wonder Brennan sometimes gets our names mixed up too. Brennan's not quite walking yet without help, but he has fun pushing things around.

The baby dolls in the stroller escaped with only minor injuries. This was in a great indoor playground we go to on rainy days. After practicing with the stroller, Brennan tried his luck on the "race track" in the indoor playground, pushing around little cars until he was exhausted. Then at home after a refreshing nap, Brennan was ready to go again, pushing a whole train:

Talking and Almost Walking

2010-04-12T11:37:00.003-04:00

Brennan has been talking up a storm lately. He says "daddy," "papa," "night-night" (when he's tired), "no" (when you're doing something that annoys him, he will discipline you), "yes," "ducky" (both ducks and dogs both get called "ducky", and of course, "hi," which he says to pretty much everyone who looks at him. He's stood up a couple of times, but hasn't quite made it to walking yet -- he gets where he wants just fine by crawling, so why bother?

He climbed up the stairs yesterday, which he hadn't done in a while, but we wanted to see daddy (who was upstairs), so he was determined to find him.

He loves the noisy things attached to the fridge, which we finally took out of the boxes:

The only downside is this is all the way across the room from the other noisy toys, so he can't quite get all the noisy toys making noises all at once, despite his best efforts.

1-Year Old

2010-02-10T15:12:00.004-05:00

Brennan turned 1 on Sunday. He had his one-year checkup this morning. He had some blood taken from his finger (he is braver than me). Here he is with his band-aid on his finger:

He's a big boy -- 30 1/2 inches, and 22 lbs 8 ounces, but we already knew that. Now he & daddy are staying in for the big snow storm (aka flurries and drizzle so far), while papa's at work, hoping he can get home this evening!

Hockey Day in Canada; Papa & Brennan Day

2010-02-01T10:33:00.004-05:00

Saturday was a fun day for two reasons. First, it was Hockey Day in Canada. We're not Canadian, but we still celebrate this holiday. What better way to start off HDIC then watching last night's Sabres game on DVR with Papa?

Then, while Daddy was away for the afternoon, Brennan & I got a whole afternoon to hang out. We went to an indoor playground, where Brennan crawled from toy to toy to toy for an hour and a half straight, making some new friends along the way. Here's Brennan playing in the ball pit:

After all this fun, Brennan was thoroughly exhausted, and needed a nap. He stayed in this position for a full hour and a half, not moving an inch:

He was sleeping so hard I actually had to wake him up. It was 5:30 pm and he needed to eat dinner and get a bath. But to round out the fun day, we went to Burger King for dinner. Here's Brennan trying to win the "see how much hamburger I can stuff in my mouth" contest:

Good sleeper, or...?

2010-01-29T15:37:00.004-05:00

Here's Brennan from yesterday -- hanging out with Daddy on the third floor.

Nice and innocent, right? Well, he's decided lately that he wants to be a little devil in the middle of the night. For the longest time, we had it pretty easy. Brennan was sleeping through the night at around 4 months old (really through the whole night, not 11pm to 5am, but 7pm to 7am). He stayed pretty consistent until just about a month ago, when he decided he wanted to start waking up a 2 or 3am for a late night snack. It's partly out fault for facilitating it, but when you're in a daze at 3am, it's much easier to give him a bottle and put him back down then it is to outlast his fussing and begging for "Daddy."

A couple nights ago, Daddy had had enough. He had given Brennan a bottle around 2, and Brennan woke back up at 5:30, which in our house, still counts as the middle of the night and is too early to wake up. So I went in there and snuggled with him on his chair, and we both fell asleep there until 7:30. Very enjoyable for one morning, but nothing I want to make a habit of.

Then came last night. Usually, even when Brennan has been getting up at 2 or 3 am, he has a bottle, goes right back down, and sleeps until 6:30 or 7. Last night, after having a bottle at 2, Brennan woke up again at 3, very unhappy, and inconsolable. So I sat there with him while he more or less tantrumed for 15 minutes in my arms, then eventually, he stopped, instead deciding it was playtime. He started giggling and grabbing my nose and hair. Not amused or in the mood to play, I put him back down, and fortunately, he did not protest, instead falling back asleep til 7.

Overall, these haven't been awful nights -- last night, when I was probably awake for 20 minutes with him, was among the worst. But after we get past his birthday, we're definitely going to make an effort to stop this midnight snack and/or play habit. Wish us luck!

Weathering the storm...

2010-01-25T15:36:00.002-05:00

While Papa is at work, Daddy and Brennan are staying inside today because it's stormy out (just rain -- no snow, fortunately). Here's Brennan, lounging around and snacking on a bottle before his nap:

With his first birthday approaching, Brennan is on his last week or so of bottles. He's actually been becoming less interested in the bottles and much more interested in whatever we're eating, so we think it will be an easy transition off the formula. And he's gotten a lot better at his sippy cup too, so we don't think he'll miss the bottle itself either.

What's been going on the last few months...

2010-01-21T12:55:00.004-05:00

Well, there's plenty that has gone on. I'll just have to address the last few months' events one at a time. First, Brennan likes happy meals!

Update: I'm told that Brennan finished his hamburger (this picture was taken today), and then he was pretty mad when it was all gone, so he demanded another one. Our son loves to eat!

Crawling

2009-11-10T16:01:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago, Brennan began crawling. Brennan's a motivated kid -- just put one of his favorite toys a little out of his reach, and he'll crawl to get it. And by "favorite toys," we're not talking about a teething toy, or a device with buttons that play songs when you push them. We're talking about things like junk mail, the TV remote, and my blackberry. Below are a couple videos from a few weeks ago of Brennan going after my blackberry.

For, the first one, it was about naptime, and Brennan wasn't too thrilled about me making him crawl to get my blackberry:

He was a little happier for video #2.

"Papa"

2009-09-24T10:14:00.002-04:00

Bring your Brennan to work day

2009-09-19T11:26:00.001-04:00

It's bring your Brennan to work day! Aka Saturday. Brennan doing some snuggling in my office:

Snuggling

2009-09-15T11:54:00.004-04:00

This morning, I had a nice moment with Brennan. Usually, our agreement is that if Brennan wakes up after 6am, I will get up with him, feed him, and play with him for a while before I get ready for work. If he wakes up before 6am, Daddy gets up and feeds him, and then puts him back down to bed. I had to get to work early this morning, so when Brennan woke up at 5:15, I decided to give him his "night" feeding because I figured I might have to leave before he wakes up again. The fun part was when Brennan was done with his bottle, he just turned around and snuggled into my chest. Somewhat selfishly, I let him snuggle for about 10 minutes before putting him back down in his crib. This was special because Brennan is going through a not-so-snuggly phase. As he's been getting so strong with his arms, whenever you try to snuggle him chest-to-chest, he will do a pushup away from you, sometimes with just one arm, so he can keep looking around the room, rather than being smothered in your chest. Nothing personal against us, it's just that he wants to be able to look around and observe. Because of this, I haven't had a good snuggle session with him in a while, so this morning was nice, even though brief.

Brennan is doing all kinds of fun new stuff lately. As always, we have a large backlog of stories and pictures. He's becoming very vocal and using a variety of sounds. He might be catching on to saying "baba" when he sees or wants a bottle. Daddy has been calling bottles "babas" for a while now to see if Brennan catches on. Brennan now seems to sometimes say baba when he might be hungry (although not consistently enough to confirm that this isn't just coincidence). Yesterday, he was rolling around the floor and started smiling and saying "baba." Daddy figured he was just babbling, but then Daddy noticed that under the couch, in Brennan's view from the floor, was a bottle. So maybe he's catching on.

Speaking of bottles, Brennan now holds his bottle, which is great:

Six Months Old!

2009-08-17T21:08:00.003-04:00

Brennan turned 6 months old a couple of Fridays ago. You know what that means -- formal pictures in preppy clothes!

There's plenty more to update on. Hopefully I'll get around to it!

Garden in the Woods & Hanging out on the Balcony

2009-07-27T21:42:00.005-04:00

A couple weekends ago, Brennan, Adrienne, and Papa went to the Garden in the Woods in Framingham. We saw some beautiful plants and had an extremely peaceful stroll in the woods. Brennan loves trees, so this was right up his alley.

After the gardens, we kept enjoying to beautiful day. We all met up with Daddy back at home to hang out some on the balcony.

Some more dedication weekend, and beyond

2009-07-26T21:16:00.008-04:00

OK, so it was a month ago, but finally, here are the rest of the pictures, from the reception:

On Monday, Carl, Brennan and the girls went to Newport:

The following weekend, Papa and Brennan went to a Cultural Survival Bazaar in Boston Common. We got to listen to a ton of great music and do some of Brennan's favorite activity -- peoplewatching. He loves just watching people walk by, occasionally shooting a smile their way.

The backlog continues

2009-07-24T15:46:00.004-04:00

I still have all kinds of stuff to post about -- some more stuff from Brennan's dedication, the fourth of July, our trip to some pretty gardens in Framingham, the Friends in Adoption picnic. But right now, Daddy and Brennan are in Chicago while I'm still in Boston, and Daddy's been sending me some pictures -- looks like Brennan is having a fun time! Especially in his new umbrella stroller.

Getting Stuck

2009-07-16T09:35:00.002-04:00

As we've talked about in some recent posts, Brennan moves around quite a bit in his crib. It's not unusual for him to migrate from the center of the crib to one end of it, and then make a u-turn and end up at the other end. At first, he got stuck pretty often in the side slabs and needed help getting out, but he's gotten better at freeing himself. Sometimes, though, he'll just fall asleep with one arm or leg completely out, like this:

Even when his arm is outside the crib, he'll find a way to get those fingers back into his mouth:

Dedication Ceremony

2009-07-15T06:58:00.010-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, we had a beautiful dedication ceremony for Brennan in the Public Gardens in Boston. Here are some of the highlights. First the program, which Carl spent endless hours drafting, printing, etc.:

The baby boy arrives in the Garden:

Brennan greets all his friends as they arrive:

Brennan & Papa:

The ceremony begins:

Brennan's godparents:

Ceremony's over, time to take pictures!

After the ceremony, we had a great lunch at Maggiano's. We'll post pictures from that soon.

Dedication weekend pt 2

2009-07-13T19:59:00.005-04:00

A couple days after Sarah came, Nikki, Ella, and Adrienne came, as did Bill & Yvonne. Below are some pictures and a video from them visiting, during the couple days leading up to dedication day.

Ella

Hanging out with Aunt Nikki:

and Aunt Adrienne:

Out to lunch at Abe & Louie's Saturday afternoon:

Ella & Brennan with matching outfits (this might have technically been after the dedication...):

A few more post-dedication pictures with Yvonne and Bill -- we promise we're not skipping the dedication -- we'll post some pictures tomorrow from the ceremony.

Dedication week & weekend, pt 1

2009-07-12T19:52:00.004-04:00

We're still running a couple weeks behind with the updates. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Daddy's friends from Chicago/Wisconsin started coming into town for Brennan's dedication. First was Sarah. Sarah, Brennan, and Daddy went up to Maine that Thursday for the day, getting their Lobster Roll fixes in Kennebunkport. Sarah's a prok with kids -- here's Sarah giving Brennan a snack after getting back from Maine:

Sarah was a pro at getting Brennan to giggle:

So much to catch up on...

2009-07-10T20:56:00.002-04:00

We have so many pictures, so much to talk about from the last few weeks, most significantly Brennan's dedication. But rather than cramming 100 pictures in one post, we'll catch up in order, first, with Carl giving Brennan his first "solid" food -- rice cereal -- which, of course, isn't very solid, but it's a start:

Yummy! This weekend, we're going to be pretty busy. Carl's meeting up with a friend to go wedding dress shopping, while Brennan and I go to the Cultural Survival Bazaar in the city. Then tomorrow, we're going with (Boston) Adrienne to the Framingham Botanical Gardens. Might take us a while to get pictures of all this up, given our backlog, but we'll get to it as soon as we can!

Father's Day

2009-06-22T14:43:00.003-04:00

Sunday was our first father's day as fathers. We had a lot of fun. After going to church, we went to the Met for brunch. Brennan was even happier than normal -- staying awake for most of lunch and smiling, laughing, cooing. Just hanging out in his carseat and watching us eat.

And then eventually he got tired:

But notice his fingers touching each other while he's napping. When he's awake, he can just sit there and stare at his hands -- putting them together, touching them -- he's very good at entertaining himself.

Not much else is knew. We completely rearranged our third floor to basically turn it into a guestroom, in anticipation of a new bed arriving later this week. So no more air mattresses and couches for our guests!

Other than that, we're just getting ready for our busy upcoming weekend. We'll have four guests for the weekend -- three adults + a 16 month old. So it will be somewhat of a crazy household for a few days.

Back on track

2009-06-17T10:49:00.002-04:00

After a handful of rougher nights while Brennan was getting accustomed to sleeping on his tummy, following his new-found skill to roll over from back-to-tummy, the last two nights have been great -- Brennan has slept through the night from around 7 til 6:30 without our help. This is great for Carl, as I like to wake up with Brennan when he gets up between 6 and 7 so I can have some time to hang out with him before going to work. So Carl gets the benefit of no night feedings plus being able to sleep in.

Yesterday, Brennan had his four month checkup. He's 16 lbs 6 oz, and 26". This puts him at a 90th percentile for height and the 75th for weight. I've noticed Brennan getting a little skinnier lately -- must be him getting taller. He also had some shots yesterday -- which made for a fussy rest of the day home with dad (and a fussy visit with papa in the city for lunch). But today, he seems to be happy again, so we're happy too!

Rolling around

2009-06-14T19:49:00.007-04:00

So after three nights in a row of sleeping through the night, we were in for a different kind of surprise on Wednesday night. Around 3am, we hear him fussing. No big deal, we figure. We knew he wasn't completely done with night wakings. Carl goes in there to discover him -- on his tummy! Apparently he had rolled over in his sleep. He's rolled over from tummy-to-back plenty of times before, but this was the first back-to-tummy. Carl figures this is why he's fussing, so he just puts him back on his back and goes back to bed. A few minutes later, he's fussing again. I go in there this time, and whatayaknow, he's on his tummy again. This time I pick him up, wrap him back up in his blanket, and put him on his back. I step out of the room and watch him first kick the blanket off himself, and then roll over to his tummy, and then right back over to his back. By this time he's pretty awake and realizing that he's a little hungry. So we give him a little snack, and then he's back to sleep for the night.

Right after feeding him, I went right up to the third floor to consult our favorite what-to-do baby guide, "Baby 411." Turns out we don't need to stand over his crib and return him to his back every time he flips over -- if he's strong enough to flip over to his tummy, we can let him sleep like that. But for Brennan, it's going to take some time to sort out what to do when he ends up on his tummy. In the meantime, he's been a little fussier the last few nights, waking up a couple times a night and needing a little help to get back to a comfy position. He moves around quite a bit in his crib -- sometimes ending up pressed against the rails or in some other uncomfortable position. Of course, it's difficult to balance -- if we run in & help him out each time he gets uncomfortable, then he won't learn to sort things out himself, but at the same time, we need to sleep too, and we don't want him to get stuck, so we have been helping him out a little when he gets uncomfy. But even in these last few days since he's been doing this, he's gotten better at getting himself back in position. Tonight when he went down to sleep, he flipped over to his tummy and found himself not too comfy sort of near the rails, but we gave him a little time to figure it out, and 10 minutes later we went up there to find him in right in the middle of the crib -- still on his tummy, but asleep and nice & comfy. Since this happened for the first time Wednesday night, I think he's ended up on his tummy pretty much every time he's fallen asleep, for a nap or at night.

Taking a snooze on his tummy:

This week the Red Sox hosted the Yankees. Brennan watched the games with me on DVR in the morning:

Posing for a picture during a commercial break:

Four Months Old

2009-06-09T15:10:00.004-04:00

No new pictures to post today. On Sunday, though, Brennan turned four months old. He has been developing a lot over the last few weeks -- changing before our eyes. No major developmental milestones really -- he's just becoming ever more alert, and he loves reaching out for and grabbing things. I'll have to get a video of him playing with some of his noisy toys that he grabs and shakes.

We didn't have any gifts for Brennan for turning four months old, but he had a little gift for us. Sunday night, he crashed around 7:15 pm, and slept in until 7:30 am (and even then, he wasn't fussing, just hanging out in his crib when we went in to check on him when we woke up). Then Monday night, he slept through the night again, not making a peep until I came and got him around 6:45 because I was up anyway. Brennan had slept through the night on a few random occasions over the last month or two, but never two nights in a row, so we're hoping this becomes a habit! It's great to walk into his room in the morning with him just hanging out waiting patiently for us, and then greeting us with a big smile when we walk in (as opposed to what he'd do a few weeks ago -- waking up at the first hint of sunlight and crying until we came in and picked him up).

The last few weeks

2009-06-06T12:49:00.008-04:00

It's been a while since we posted. Papa went back to work on May 20 during a very busy time at work. There were a lot of late nights at work those first couple weeks back, but things have improved since. Brennan has been going to a family day care the last 2 1/2 weeks, which he enjoys. Only one week more then Daddy will be home to take care of him. The whole family care thing has sort of thrown his schedule for a loop -- he crashes earlier now, and he's gotten on this smaller-but-more meals kick. One of daddy's tasks when we is home from work will be to undo these habits and get Brennan eating some bigger meals. With us both at work these last few weeks, we haven't had much time for pictures. We did get a bunch of pictures a few Fridays ago when Daddy's friends from Brimmer through Brennan a shower:

Opening presents:

And of course, a couple of videos from the last week or two. First, Brennan "standing up":

Some giggling with daddy:

Lounging around:

The next few weeks are going to be a lot of fun. Daddy will be home with Brennan and they are going to take some classes together. Daddy's birthday is next week. We also have our first Father's Day coming up! In three weeks is Brennan's dedication. A bunch of our friends here in Boston will be there to celebrate with us, along with some friends and family who are coming in from out of town. Patrick's parents, Aunt Yvonne, and Uncle Bill are coming as well as Carl's good friends Adrienne, Sarah, Nikki, and Nikki's daughter Ella. Carl and Brennan will also taking the girls to Maine and to Newport, RI when they are in town.

The last 11 days

2009-05-17T19:14:00.011-04:00

Papa has been enjoying the tail end of his leave time with Brennan very much -- going to parks, the grocery store, and other fun outings. And even trying to sneak the camera out to catch a good smile:

Hanging out with Daddy last week:

Papa taking a few videos while hanging out with Brennan last week:

Playing with Daddy after he got home from work and getting distracted by the camera:

Some more playing with Papa on Papa's last few days of leave (I'm sure we'll have more videos of Daddy when he's home with Brennan!)

This past weekend, Aunt Amy came to visit. Amy brought Brennan a new toy, which he loves:

On Saturday afternoon, we went to a park in Arlington that overlooks the burbs & the city. It has a great playground too that Brennan can't wait to play on with his cousins.

The view from overlook park

Chillin back at home:

Rolling Over & Other Stuff

2009-05-06T13:03:00.008-04:00

Brennan rolled over from tummy to back for the first time this weekend. He had done this on mattresses before, but this was the first time on a harder surface. Of course, after he did it once and we got out the camera, Brennan denied our first attempt at getting this achievement on video:

We tried again, this time with success:

After that, it was easy:

But all this work had a minor side effect:

A few pictures to post too. Brennan has been smiling like crazy lately, but every time we bring out (or even reach for) the camera, he drops the smile. Here's my best attempt at capturing the smile yesterday:

Here's Brennan sitting on Papa's lap at dinner. He likes to sit with us at the table and watch us eat. We're going to set up the high chair soon.

I had a little better success at capturing some smiles today:

Hanging out watching hockey with Papa:

Hanging out on the floor:

Finally another update

2009-05-01T08:38:00.011-04:00

Much has happened since we last posted. Carl went back to work on April 22, so Brennan and I have been home having some fun. The weather became great right around the same time, so we've been going to a bunch of parks, going on long walks, and opening the windows to enjoy the breeze. Brennan continues to grow and get strong and smarter. We weighed him using the Wii Fit a few days ago -- he's about 14 1/2 pounds. Now when we put him down for a nap or to sleep at night, when we check on him, we find he has moved himself around in his crib. And he can very slowly move during tummy time, as he kicks his legs and reaches with his arms. He probably moves a couple inches a minute -- not exactly crawling, but a good start! He smiles like crazy. He smiles when he's done with a nap and you pick him up from his crib; he smiles when he's just cuddling and looking up at you. And over the last week, he's started giggling. The time he giggles the most is when you're changing him -- he finds this amusing for some reasons. He giggles pretty hard when you fuss with his arms to get them in and out of his shirts (ticklish a little?).

Here are some pictures and videos from the last few weeks.

Here's a big smile just hanging out on the floor (one of Brennan's favorite hobbies):

Brennan also loves just hanging out on the couch with Papa:

Although he stays awake a lot more in his carseat when we take him on walks or to the grocery store, he still occasionally ends up in nap mode when strapped in:

Stopping by Priscilla last Sunday: (Look how big he looks!)

Greeting Daddy when he gets home from work:

Brennan loves just kicking his legs and his arms around while on the floor:

Brennan really does giggle a lot, but every time we take out the camera to capture it, he gets distracted by the camera. Below is our best attempt so far at capturing the giggle:

Easter Weekend Continued

2009-04-13T21:30:00.007-04:00

Daddy and Papa made Brennan a great Easter basket:

Here's Brennan with both of his Easter baskets -- the one from his Daddy & Papa and the one from the Easter Bunny. He's either waving "hi" or annoyed that we're taking so many pictures!

Daddy, Papa, and Brennan with Brennan's Easter baskets and gifts:

After church, Daddy got Brennan all dressed up in his Easter outfit:

We had an Easter lunch with our good friends the DeMotts. Brennan got along with them very well, especially Lynne!

At the end of the day, we managed to get a good family shot with Daddy, Papa, Brennan, Bam-paw, and Mom-maw.

Easter Week and Weekend

2009-04-13T19:27:00.014-04:00

We're a little behind on the blog updates -- it might take a few posts to get caught up. Wednesday we took our first formal pictures. Brennan did well. He smiles a lot, but not always on command -- the photographer kept trying to get him to smile, but Brennan wasn't quite in the mood. Despite that, we still got some good pictures in. The video below was the outfit Brennan wore for the pictures -- getting some more kisses from Daddy.

Thursday, we headed over to Rochester for Easter. We spent all day driving Thursday. Brennan did great -- we had to stop for a couple of feedings, but other than that, he slept through the trip. He loves his carseat.

Friday morning, Brennan flipped over from his chest to his back for the first time. After he did it a second time, we got the camera to try to capture it on video, but then, true to his reputation, he got camera shy and decided two times was plenty. On Friday, Patrick got some good hanging out time with Brennan:

Friday for lunch we went to one of Carl's favorite places to eat, BW3 (aka Buffalo Wild Wings). We had to take advantage of being in Rochester, as the closest BW3 is on Long Island.
On the way home, Brennan had some deep thoughts.

Friday afternoon, Brennan had a good time hanging out with Bam-Paw.

And Brennan also got some time in bonding with Mom-maw.

Saturday night, Brennan got a good bath from Mom-Maw so that he's be nice and clean for Easter Sunday:

More to come... including Easter pictures!

Shots!

2009-04-07T20:06:00.004-04:00

Brennan got three shots this morning -- he wasn't too happy about that, but aside from a little fussing this afternoon, he's been just fine today. Then we had some more Greek food for lunch, stopped by to say hello to the ladies at Priscilla, and then hurried home to watch the Red Sox opening day.

This follows up on a wonderful night last night -- where Brennan got 6 1/2 hours of sleep after we put him down at about 10. Hopefully those stretches only keep getting longer. Below are a couple videos that we took last week, but that I didn't upload last night because they take forever to upload.

First -- here's daddy giving Brennan some kisses.

Also, over the last week, Brennan has developed a new appreciation for his play mat that Carl's friend Jenny sent him. At first he wasn't a fan because he always wanted to be held, but now he can hang out and hit the little dangly toys for an hour:

Tomorrow we're going to try to have some pictures taken, then Thursday, we're roadtripping to Rochester to visit Mom-maw and Bam-paw for Easter.

The last week or so

2009-04-06T21:05:00.008-04:00

Last week was a blur. We're trying to alternate having individual bonding time with Brennan, while the other person can go and get some time away from the house. On Monday, I went out to the gym while Carl stayed home and hung out with Brennan. On Tuesday, Carl went out shopping while I stayed home to get some bonding time with Brennan -- although this consisted mostly of Brennan napping on my chest. We had a few rocky sleep nights -- noting too awful, just an occasional waking up in between feedings. Overall though, sleep has still been pretty plentiful.

On Wednesday, we made attempt #2 at taking pictures with the Easter Bunny, and this time, we were successful. All of the workers there were thrilled with Brennan -- we got some good pictures, such as this one:

On Thursday, Carl took Brennan to Brimmer & May so Brennan could meet Carl's friends and coworkers there. Here are some pictures from that:

Friday...I just don't remember (I asked Carl if he remembered -- he didn't either).

On Saturday, we got some Greek food for lunch and made a trip to the grocery store.

On Sunday, we tried out a new church in Brookline. We actually had planned to go to the "United Parish of Brookline," an "open and affirming" UCC (United Church of Christ) church we had been reading about online, but Sunday morning when I was checking the address online, I typed in "First Parish of Brookline." A lot of UCC congregations are called "First Parish of [whatever town you live in]" so this was a simple mistake. We didn't realize the mistake until after we sat down and looked more closely at the worship program. However, this was no problem -- we ended up at a Unitarian Universalist church rather than a UCC congregation. Both churches are very friendly and embracing of "different" kinds of families like ours, and we ended up staying and enjoying it quite a bit. The First Parish is in a beautiful part of Brookline near Brookline Resevoir, which has a nice walking trail that we'll definitely visit for some nice walks with Brennan. We ran into a coworker of mine, and we also met a nice gay couple that had a three-year old black daughter. In fact, there were quite a few transracial & same-sex couples at the service. Even thouguh we came upon the First Parish by accident, we plan on going back.

Later Sunday, Gail and Matt came over to visit:

Brennan has been doing a ton of babbling lately, but every time we try to capture this on our camera, he gets a little camera shy. Below are a couple of our attempts at capturing Brennan talking to us:

Sunday night was great--we put Brennan down at 10, he slept til 3, and then after that, he slept until about 7 -- so really only one night feeding. Hopefully we can repeat tonight. OK, time to run down to Brennan's room to get him all swaddled up. We have a couple more cute videos that we'll post soon.

Thank You

2009-03-29T17:52:00.001-04:00

Thank you cards will be in the mail, but we wanted to thank everyone for their kindness and generosity. We have received so many wonderful gifts, and we feel so blessed to have such amazing and supportive friends and family. Thank you!

Accidental Videos

2009-03-29T14:34:00.001-04:00

The video vs. picture knob on our camera often gets switched inadvertently, leading to quite a few "accidental videos."

More Pictures

2009-03-29T14:31:00.000-04:00

I'll also post some new videos shortly that overlap with these pictures. We've been having a good time since getting back to Boston a week and a half ago. Carl's friend Adrienne came into town Tuesday to meet Brennan. We went to the doctor on Wednesday -- Brennan was up to 10 lbs 7 oz. Definitely putting on some weight, and we can feel it whenever we have to pop his carseat in the car or pick him up out of his crib. Brennan has been sleeping very well in his new crib -- I'll post a video of his nursery in the next post. On Thursday, we went into the city to hang out a bit. Brennan is loving being carried around his Snugli that Auntie Amy sent him. Auntie Adrienne left on Friday, and then on Saturday, we had a bunch of our local Boston friends over to meet Brennan.

Afternoon at the Natick Mall.

Luch at the cheesecake factory.

In the Public Gardens in Boston.

Video from the last post

2009-03-29T14:16:00.001-04:00

This is a video I took while uploading the last round of pictures.

The Last of the DE Pictures

2009-03-22T13:54:00.000-04:00

Yet more DE Pictures

2009-03-22T13:50:00.000-04:00

More Pictures from Delaware

2009-03-22T13:46:00.000-04:00

Pictures from Delaware

2009-03-22T13:19:00.001-04:00

HOME

2009-03-20T10:01:00.001-04:00

After a rollercoaster 22 days in Delaware, we are finally home with Brennan! We got in late last night, after getting the "OK" to leave late yesterday afternoon. We have a major backlog of pictures and videos that we will post soon.

More from last week

2009-03-09T18:59:00.001-04:00

Here is a video from last week. We'll post some pictures & videos from the weekend soon.

The last few days...

2009-03-05T17:47:00.000-05:00

We haven't posted in a while, so here are some new pictures & videos.

Some cuddling after lunch.

Posing for a close-up.

All snug in the snowsuit Kayleen sent.

Having a little snack on the couch.

Tummy time...

Snow Day

2009-03-02T15:06:00.001-05:00

Brennan hanging out on Patrick's legs.

A little tummy time.

Big stretch after waking up form a nap.

Nice and snuggly in dad's arms.

Arms freed.

Hanging out; bracing for the storm

2009-03-01T15:03:00.000-05:00

We're supposed to get 8-14 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow, so we'll be just hanging out here having fun with Brennan.

Tug of War

2009-02-28T09:18:00.000-05:00

Friday's Pictures & Videos

2009-02-27T19:54:00.000-05:00

Brennan William Vallely - Videos

2009-02-27T11:48:00.000-05:00

Introducing Brennan William Vallely

2009-02-27T11:30:00.001-05:00

As promised, here are some pictures of Brennan! Videos to follow.

Thanksgiving weekend videos

2008-12-01T21:22:00.001-05:00

We went to New York for Thanksgiving. Below are some of the highlights from the trip. These videos take forever to load, so these aren't all of the videos, but we'll post the rest tomorrow.

First, we get started on the trip, successfully dodging traffic on the way down to NYC.

We have a nice hotel room...

We had a little change in plans for dinner. Tavern on the Green didn't work out...

Next day, wandering our the crowds on Fifth Avenue.

And a few seconds later...

Getting ready to see Shrek. Carl was directing the aim of the camera at the end (which is why I was a little confused about where the camera was pointing).

We were a little early for the show, so we went and hung out in a Sheraton.

After the show, we went to the stage door so Carl could meet his favorite Broadway actress, Sutton Foster. Carl made me stand out in the street to make sure I got a good picture and video. The flash you see in the video is me taking a picture with the camera in the other hand. The picture is below the video.

On Saturday, we went out to Chelsea Piers -- a sports & entertainment complex on the Hudson river. We only had about an hour, so all we could sneak in was ice skating and the batting cages, although Carl had his eye on the gymastics area.

Carl did very well in the batting cages.

And eventually, our trip had to come to an end. After a brief stop for gas in Brooklyn (which Carl was less than thrilled about), we were back on the freeway to Boston.

Welcome to our blog

2008-12-01T21:19:00.001-05:00

Well, here is our first post. We're going to use the blog to keep everyone updated on our lives. Unfortunately, our lives aren't that interesting at the moment, but as we begin to start a family, we'll certainly have more to post about.