Brendan catchup

Oh my goodness. I am the worst blogger on the planet. One of my 2011 resolutions is to be better about blogging! So first we'll start with Brendan then move to Kaylee and finally we'll do a photo catchup. Though I probably won't catch up on ALL the photos, I'll do a good summary to give everyone a good idea of what we've been up to.

Brendan had a Cars themed birthday party in 2010. There were 3 "little" kids, 10 "big" kids, the grandparents, and a great-grandparent. Our friend Jamie and her daughter Elly came over. Elly speaks a lot more clearly than Brendan even though she is six weeks younger. She had learned the word "no" and was so funny that day. Brendan got a T-rex from the Toy Story movies and he roars. Everytime we'd make him roar at Elly, she'd say "no" like she was scared of him. Which is hilarious if you've seen the movies cause T-rex is the least scary T-rex ever.

We had cookie cake, ice cream, and punch (just like last year, it's a staple around here). Brendan had some cake but was too busy running around entertaining everyone to have anything else. He got lots of great presents and I was so excited about his wagon. It was very helpful for the 4th of July!

During that time period Brendan was soooooooooo clingy. And whiny :-/ Every little thing broke his heart. This lasted pretty much up till when Kaylee was born and little bit after. He had a weird earlobe thing for a few days where it was really swollen and red. But it went away so we're thinking it was probably a nasty mosquito bite or something.

4th of July was a lot of fun. We went with Grandpa to the Friendswood parade. Brendan really liked the big trucks and all the cars. I was surprised the sirens didn't bother him too much. The biggest problem was trying to get him to sit for that long. But he did great!

In September we took Brendan to the Blue Bell factory. Since ice cream is his most favorite thing, he loved it! We had a lot of fun and there are some good last family pics of the 3 of us before Miss Kaylee arrived.

My mom located our cabbage patch dolls so I brought a couple of mine home to show Brendan. I would put them in the bassinet/playpen and change their clothes. He liked them but would often drag them by one arm and throw them on the ground. I put them away quickly. Didn't want him to do that to Kaylee! Hehe.

So Kaylee decided not to arrive before my scheduled induction. So Brendan spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa on Wednesday October 6th. Kaylee of course didn't get here till the 8th. So he stayed with them the 6th, 7th, and 8th, and with Nana and Papaw on the 9th. Then we got home on the 10th. He came to visit us one time in the hospital but had no idea what was going on.

I knew that I had missed Brendan while we were in the hospital, what I didn't know is how sensitive him and I would both be when we saw each other at home for the first time. So Brent, Kaylee, and I arrived home around lunchtime on Sunday. Nana, Papaw, Great-Mamaw, and cousin Brian (and the Baileys too, I think?) all came over when they dropped off Brendan. They were holding and taking pictures of Kaylee and Brendan was playing. I was doing great until Brendan tripped and fell over something and started crying. He ran straight to me and I lost it. I went back in the bedroom and didn't come back out. And of course Brendan came back there with me. He is so sweet. It took us a little time to adjust to the new dynamic but we're much better now.

He absolutely adores Kaylee. You can tell he misses her when he's at school. He loves to give her kisses. I've even taught him to put her pacifier back in her mouth! And he's such a good helper.

The only things Brendan seems to be struggling with at the moment are language and eating. The things he will eat, he eats very well. I just wish we could get him to eat more. I gotta figure out where I went wrong with him so we don't make the same mistakes with Kaylee.

He is SO smart. He counts from 1 to 10 easily, he's starting to recognize letters, and he names so many objects now. It's like he can name everything in the room he just can't talk about it without babbling. He says "okay" or "no" when you ask what food he wants. One of my favorite things that he does is re-enact his movies and shows. He has to have certain toys to watch certain movies. And he'll adapt to toys to act as the things in the movies. For example, our favorite at the moment is Despicable Me. He has a toy syringe he got in a doctor kit for Christmas that he pretends is Gru's rocket. He also has to get a certain ball out to be the moon.

I cannot believe he will be 3 in less than a month. This time has FLOWN by. We're going on a trip to Arkansas next month and then we'll start potty training after that. Pray for us!