15 Month Stats

Actually, I don't think I blogged the 12 month stats, so now you get both!

12 months:
29.5" (75th%)
23 lbs 8 oz (51st%)

15 months:
32.6" (75th%)
26 lbs 10 oz (75th%)

Brent told me Brendan was in the 10th% at birth, so he's grown a lot!

I forgot to blog about his latest "tricks" yesterday. He will make a gun shape with his fingers when you "ish" or "guns up". "Get your guns up" is a Texas Tech Red Raider thing. He first started saying "ish" when he did it so sometimes that's the "command" word, lol. One of our friends has traveled all over the world during his lifetime because his dad worked for Chevron. Well while they lived in Nigeria they learned the word "ogo" (I have no idea how to spell it). And it's the word for head (I think the back of the head specifically). Anyway, he taught Brendan to point to his head when we say it. It's cute, but we're going to have to work on "head" for that one or he'll be all confused, lol. Brendan can also turn light switches on and off and loves to do so. You can't walk by a switch without him lunging for it. Any time he hears cheers he starts clapping, especially when it's on TV. He also still has an aversion to really loud noises. When we were at a friends house for a couples shower, the lady of the hour walked in and everyone cheered. Brendan immediately buried his head in my chest and stayed that way for like 5 minutes. I can't think of anything else for now.

Summer Update

So I decided it was time to do another entry. I will eventually get around to getting pics updated but I feel like I've missed lots of Brendan moments to blog about. Forgive the vagueness because this is going to be 3 months worth of memory.

Let's start with July 4th. We had a very small July 4th celebration. Me, Shannon, and Brendan were the only 3 in town that weekend! Brent was working. We went to Friendswood's parade. It was miserably hot and even though I brought water for Brendan I think he was so hot that he didn't even want that. I have some very tired looking pics of him from that day. He did seem to enjoy a couple of parts but I think he'll enjoy it more if I can figure out a way to not keep him confined to the stroller the whole time. I'm still trying to avoid getting a harness for him for now. We went and saw Phantom of the Opera the next weekend (without the bambino) and it was wonderful!

(Haha, having to use Facebook to jog my memory!) I got a new phone in June so there have been lots more updated pics of Brendan on Facebook. My Nokia takes MUCH better pics than my Blackberry every did! Mid-July we were having issues getting him to sleep at night (though once he was asleep he stayed asleep till morning). I think it was mostly due to teething. We had also been leaving his closet light on. One night we had a babysitter and she turned the light off and he went right to sleep. So that's what I've been doing ever since. He also was going through some major separation anxiety. Poor baby. July was also when Brendan was getting better and better at walking but not without some minor incidents. He pulled one of our dining room chairs over on himself and it scared him pretty bad but then he did it again! I think he has to do something twice before he learns, but more on that later. Our lawnmower also broke in July so we have now hired a company to do it for us. Very happy about that! The last weekend in July Brendan got to go to the lake house again with Nana and Papaw even though it was their anniversary! They really love him :-)

On to August! Brendan got 2 more teeth on the bottom to make tooth 7 & 8 so he matched again, lol. Ahh yes, this is probably one of the favorite stories from the summer. So Brent had changed Brendan's diaper and sat back down on the couch while Brendan played. We have an L shaped couch and Brendan was where Brent couldn't see him. Usually not a big deal. All of a sudden Brendan came around and was holding something in both hands. It was his own poop. He had dug in his diaper and pulled it out! I am sooooooooo glad I was at work when this happened! Then we left Brendan with Nana and Papaw for 5 whole days. The longest we'd been away from him. And we missed him a lot! We had a lot of fun in Cancun though. All-inclusive is definitely the way to vacation! We went to a restaurant for Uncle Brandon's birthday and discovered yet another thing you never think about until you're a parent. The bathrooms there did not have a changing table! I had to change the bambino on the floor of the bathroom. Yuck! That weekend I bought a fold-up changing pad that is in the diaper bag at ALL times now. We went to a friend's house to hang out one night and saw once again how much of a flirt our son is! Someone was sitting in the kitchen and he kept running over to her, grinning, then running and giggling back to me, then back again for like 10-15 minutes. It was hilarious! We went over there again in September and he latched on to a girl and cried when we left. She was a good sport about it and held him every time he found her again. At the end of August Brendan started Mother's Day Out at my mom's church. He is having a blast. He even has a friend named Will. But that was also the start of the germ bug. We have still not all gotten over this. It's ridiculous! I just bought him a new toothbrush and replaced the air filter (I think I had changed that one other time since he started school but can't remember). Hopefully it'll help!

On to September. Labor Day weekend was awful! I had been sick during the week but got well by the weekend. Brendan got worse and threw up 3 times on Saturday, once all over me. Ugh! We finally chalked it up to drainage and started giving him Benadryl to clear him up. Brent woke up Saturday night sore all over and running a fever. I couldn't get back to sleep for forever. We had an Astros game to go to on Sunday and Brent was miserable. Long story short, it turns out one of his patients had the swine flu and we're pretty sure that's what he had. He was fine by Wednesday. It was weird too cause lots of our friends and family had flu or stomach flu right around that time and we had been at a party with our friends on Friday night. I was so afraid I was gonna get it but I never did! I also ordered Brendan's Halloween costume. R2-D2! Uncle Matthew will be so proud. Mid-September Brendan's first molar broke through! Definitely explained his grumpiness. I think the second came in right after that. Will try to get a pic when they're fully in. Brendan's learning new words here and there. One morning I took him to my mom's and he walked right over to my dad's hat, picked it up, and said hat. He's so funny how some words are so clear and most of the time he's just babbling. Sometme during the summer we managed to get rid of Brendan's bottle! At the end of September we managed to ditch the pacifier! I'm so proud of our toddler. Mid-day naps are a bit more of a challenge but hopefully he'll get better about that soon.

Brendan is still sick. At this point I am getting frustrated with his pediatrician's office. But at least he gets to go his doc tomorrow and not the affiliated docs. Tomorrow is his 15 month checkup (a week and a half shy of him turning 16 months old, lol).

Brendan is so funny when he gets mad. He stares daggers through you and hits either you or himself or whatever is near him at the time. I have a video because it's so funny. It's hard not to laugh sometimes. The other day he was throwing his blocks and I told him no several times. Finally I grabbed his hand and said NO! He walked over and hugged me and laid his head on me. It was sooooo cute! I just knew he was gonna start throwing them again but he actually stopped. He does have a temper but his cuteness makes up for it most of the time. He definitely throws tantrums already. Starting to wonder what 2 will look like... *shudders*

Oh, almost forgot the other story about how he has to do things twice before he learns. I was putting away his towels in his bathroom and had him with me. He loves to run over to the bathtub and grab the toy that's attached to his bathtub. Well he leaned a little too far and fell in. He didn't hit his head cause he caught himself with his arm and I think it scared him really bad. So that night we're back in there brushing his teeth. He goes over there again and falls in again! Silly boy.

One last story. At my parent's house they have a pool table and Brendan loves to roll the pool balls on the table (sometimes he throws them off though, lol). Well he had been playing with my dad doing that for a while and it was time to go home. Grandpa held him on the way out to the car and I went to take him from him to put him in the car seat. He started bawling, he did NOT want to leave Grandpa. It was really sweet. Usually his Baby Einstein music will calm him down pretty quick in the car but we were almost 5 minutes down the road before he calmed down. Brendan loves his grandparents.

Birthday Post (A little delayed...)

This is just a random pic in one of his Beatles shirts.


This was on Brendan's birthday. We took him and my friend Jamie's little girl Ellie to Moody Gardens to see the Aquarium Pyramid.


A pic of Brendan, Ellie, Jamie, Shannon, and me.


Brendan and Daddy

I thought this was adorable!

Our sweet kiddos practicing walking.

In case you were curious, Brendan is the same height as a Macaroni Penguin. Of course now I think he's closer to the Gentoo. He's reaching for doorknobs now (yikes!).

This was a little tank that had some coral and stuff. Brendan decided it was his own personal tap dancing floor. Silly boy!

Confined to the strollers again, poor kids!

There's a part in the aquarium where you get to walk through a tunnel and Brent took this amazing picture of the Stingray. So pretty!

"Look at the penguin Mommy"

The penguins were definitely Brendan's favorite. Which is funny, cause if you remember my post from last May when Brent and I went to aquarium when I was still pregnant, Brendan was kicking when we were watching the penguins :-)

That night Nana and Papaw took us to Pappasito's to celebrate. Brendan got dessert to go.

And since it was a Mexican restaurant, we had to take the birthday sombrero picture. It was a little big for him, hehe.

Cute pic in his Old Navy Hawaiian shirt. I love Hawaiian shirts.

The birthday party! Just some pics of the decor.

Cookie cake! Had to start him young. I wanted a Mickey Mouse but a certain cookie cake company can't do Mickey cause he's copyrighted. So we got a froggy instead.

We had enough people invited that we got a second cake just in case. Good thing we did! Though there was plenty for us to enjoy well into my birthday.

The Mickey decor.

Lighted candle!

Tired baby boy. He didn't have a nap all day before the party. So once he got the sugar of the cookie cake and ice cream AND sherbet punch, he started to have a sugar crash.

More sleepy boy.

Gotta love birthday hats!

So it's a tradition, apparently, to let 1 year olds have a cake to smash separate from the cake that everyone eats. So we just bought a litle ready-made cake at Walmart for that.

At first he just kind of looked at it wondering what he was supposed to do. Then, after a little help from Brent's cousin, he started playing with it more.

The aftermath! It took a while to clean him up. But he managed to keep his shirt clean! After clean-up we opened presents and he got sleepier and sleepier but never fussy. When everyone except for the adult-kids (those of us who are grown-ups but not yet 30 so we're not ready to admit it yet) stayed around putting together toys for Brendan. He actually stayed awake through all of that and then when I started feeding him dinner, he fell asleep. He had a great birthday and he loves all of his new toys, books, and clothes!

And if you thought that was all to the birthday week... Sunday was Parent Dedication Sunday because it was also Father's Day. Our church dedicates the new babies on Mother's Day and Father's Day each year. Brendan was born after Father's Day last year so we ended up having the oldest baby this day. He was so cute in his little suit! And just like every good toddler should, he made noises at the appropriate moments to make everyone laugh.

Another picture of the happy family.

So now I should probably change the name of the blog because once Brendan turned 1 the emails I get from BabyCenter.com changed to My Toddler. Hard to believe how fast this year has gone by. It has been a wonderfully fun year and I am so proud of our baby boy!

STEPS!!!!

So I worked from home today because I had to stay with Brendan. Lol, that made it sound like I didn't want to. Not true! I had a great time today. We've been walking with Brendan while he holds onto one or both of our hands and he's been doing really well. Today I held his hands and then let go and he was taking a step or so but nothing major. I tell Brent this when he gets home and he's like ooh, get down on the floor and let's see if he'll do it again. So we sit on the floor Brent holds Brendan up and lets go... Brendan takes 5 steps! We were so excited. So we try again and again and again and he keeps taking steps between us. Then he got tired the instant we took out the camera to tape him doing it. We call everyone of course. Shannon comes over later and we show her. I got out the camera and here it is ladies and gentlemen... the video of Brendan taking steps! Enjoy!

Oh, and sorry about the switching back and forth from sideways to upright on the video. I was trying to tape and watch and catch the baby boy, hehe.

Aunt Krystal's Wedding and other cuteness

Our Piano Man, hehe.


I thought I'd let him play in a diaper box and he did this and decided he didn't like boxes.


Playing in the entryway


These next few photos are all ones Brent took of sleepy Brendan

3 generations of Beans in tuxes.

Silly Brendan

Mommy and Brendan

Grandma and Brendan

Brendan has some big shoes to fill!

Brendan was getting sleepy before the wedding started. This is Brent's cousin Brian.

Great Uncle Ronnie brought Papaw a talking birthday card which quickly became Brendan's toy. He kept opening and closing it so we heard the first 2 words over and over and over...

Brendan finally crashed after the ceremony. We had been there since Noon and this was about 3 o'clock.

Uncle Pat is holding Brendan for the garter toss, hehe.

Brendan found a friend.

Then he chased her around the reception hall.

Video 1 is our Piano Man in action, 2 is our little drummer boy, 3 is practicing waving, and 4 is Brendan the Lion Tamer.

Brendan has no desire to walk right now. He does really well when you hold his hands and will sometimes walk when you hold just one hand. He's getting better and standing without support too. And if you push something he can hang onto, he'll walk along. No words yet either but lots of sounds. And he has his first cold right now :-( I hope he gets over it before his party next weekend. I cannot believe a) that he's almost a year old and b) that we almost made it a year without a cold. I'm hoping that means that he got his Daddy's immune system! That's about it for now. I'm hoping to do a post soon to catch up on all of the professional pics.

Warning... this post will be long

Brendan and his Great-Mamaw.



Brendan with Grandma and me and Grandpa in the background at Brendan's first car show!

A big toothless grin. Man... I really am behind with posting these!

Sitting in a truck with Grandpa.

This was one of the neatest cars we saw that day.

Brendan passed out in his playpen.

Playing with his piano. Which by the way, he's gotten very good at since Uncle Matthew showed him how to play a real one recently!

Playing with Jordan on our new couch (new in January that is). Jordan was not amused.

I thought this was a funny face. We are doing much better without our pacifier these days. He really only needs it for sleeping but if he sees it during the day he grabs for it immediately.

Soon after this picture, I decided to retire this toy. It's really sad... he's getting so big!

Our son likes to lick our walls...

Brendan in another one of Daddy's baby outfits. This one says Little Slugger on it.

I keep trying to get Brendan to swing the bat at his baseball toy. We're almost there!

Too cute. And the blur in the front is Jordan, the kitty.

What did I do?! (I have a feeling this will be the theme of pics of Brendan for the next, oh, 17 years!

I think this was taken in February or March... he can't stand under the table anymore.

Ooo... TV. He was probably watching Mickey.

Brendan's first Easter! Isn't he cute?! I was proud I got us both ready for church since Daddy was working. But Aunt Shannon did spend the night so she helped us out a lot!

Playing at Grandma's house on Easter Sunday.

Another of Daddy's VERY 80's outfits. Actually, this one could've passed for 70's I think.

Another Daddy shirt and a great toothy grin.

Daddy was playing dress-up with Brendan this day... can ya tell? This was one of Daddy's sweaters.

Brendan fell asleep shortly after this was taken.

Playing with his car at Grandma's house. We were cracking up because he'll put both hands on the wheel, he'll play with the "mirrors", put his hand on the gear shift, and talk on his cell phone. The things toys teach our children...

Having fun with Uncle Matthew! The Rockets were playing one night when we were over and Brendan was playing. All of a sudden everyone cheered at something (I wasn't paying attention... not a basketball fan) and Matthew tends to be quite loud when he cheers. It startled Brendan and he just stared at Matthew. He went to pick Brendan up and Brendan started bawling. Poor baby... Uncle Matthew scared him. It was pretty funny though :-)

Okay, now the videos! These first 3 are attempts to show Brendan pulling up to standing. Note that the old couch is there so this is late December or early January. The next video is Brendan laughing histerically at the kitty. He loves animals! And finally, a much more recent video, is Brendan clapping! Our future drum major.

Brendan has 6 teeth now, at least that's all I can see. He is also getting so close to standing without support. He will for a few seconds sometimes but it's usually when he is mad or frustrated or after something he really wants. He's getting his 10 month pictures taken today. I need to post 8 and 9. We counted his pictures with his cousins (once removed? I keep forgetting to check... but my cousin's daughters) as his 9 month ones cause we were VERY busy that month. June is going to be a crazy month. Brent's sister is getting married June 6th, Brendan's birthday is the 18th, mine is the 24th, there's a possible trip to Corpus one weekend, and of course Father's Day is in there too. I will TRY to keep this more up-to-date. Though I would expect the same lack of posts next tax season. When you're working close to 60 hours per week, that's just what happens. I think that's all for now!