Brendan's 1st Easter

Brendan's first Easter was a lot of fun, and full of new traditions. He woke up that morning to find an Easter basket left by the Easter Bunny which included some new Superman pajamas and a really fun hammer that makes all kinds of noise when he bangs it on anything (and everything!) We went to church with the Pelhanks and back to their house after for some photos and feast. We spent some time with Brendan's Great-grandpa Pelhank and his Great Aunt Sue and Great Uncle Keith who were in from Michigan. Also there was Grandma and Grandpa Pelhank, Aunt J'me and Uncle Johnny, and his cousin Jaxon. Unfortunatly Aunt Tory couldn't make it in from Georgia, but we look forward to having her home after she graduates in May...Good Luck, Tory!!!

One new tradition we started was an Easter Egg hunt for the boys. Mommy put surprises into animal shaped Easter Eggs and the boys "raced" to find them. Upon opening the eggs they found "Playskool Little People" which went along with their big gift...a Little People Barn. We hope to make the Easter Egg hunt a tradition every year as it made for some laughs, and cute pictures. As tiring as the day was, it was wonderful to spend time with the family. And it was a great excuse to get Brendan in that adorable hat!

Brendan Gets His Hair Cut

Mommy could not take it anymore! It was time to cut Bubba's hair. Nothing off the top...as there is very little hair up there still. But the scraggly back just had to go. And what better excuse than Easter pictures? So we set Brendan up in the same place Dad gets his haircut every month and away we went with the hair trimmers. It looks SO much better. The only downfall is that it lost that baby softness that Mommy loved to play with. Oh well, you take the good with the bad. Check out our before and after pics:

BEFORE-

AFTER-

Brendan's 9 Month Check-Up

Yesterday we had Brendan's 9 month check-up (even though he's almost 10 months old). Thank goodness there were no shots this time. It's been almost a month since we last posted and my how our little man has changed. But first, the doctor's report. She was so impressed with how well he is doing. She seemed almost as proud as we are. He will no longer need to be compared to preemies born 6 weeks early. Because he is doing so well, he will forever more be compared to full-term babies born on June 6! He measured in at 29 1/2" in height (80th percentile) and he weighs 22 lbs. 7.5 oz. (70th percentile). His only small feature is his head circumference which was 30th percentile. (For any non-moms that don't understand the jargon--it took me awhile to get it too: this means that he is taller than 80% of full-term babies born on his birth date, heavier than 70%, but 70% of babies have a head bigger than his.) I was assured that his littler head is not a problem--just a statistic. Even more exciting was his Denver developmental test scores which put him at the developmental stage of a 10 1/2 month old--and he's not even 10 months old yet. Just goes to show you that a small head doesn't necessarily mean a small brain ;)

About those developments...he has changed so much in this past month. He has grown 2 more teeth (4 total now), he can understand "no" (but he does not always obey it), he says "mama" & "dada" although he does not know that's us, he can get to a sitting position from his stomach, he's crawling with ease (& speed), he can pull himself up to stand from sitting with the assistance of furniture (or your leg), and he can "cruise" along furniture. Isn't that amazing? He's turning into a child, not so much of a helpless baby. With all those things, it's now easier to see why we haven't posted in such a long time. He keeps us busy, constantly. We're so excited to see what the next months will bring.

Belle thinks: "Who is this big boy?"

B's favorite activity is still swinging at the park.

This was literally the first time I came into a room and he had pulled himself to stand all by himself.

The little crawler loves to go swimming in Belle's water bowl.

"What was that about understanding "no"?

"Cruising" along.

"Being so active is exhausting!"

"Wee!"

Yesterday we were given the green light for solid foods. His first attempt: cheddar cheese. Look at the concentration on this boy's face.

Our little Cardinals fan is growing up.

Speedy Gonzalas

Just wanted to show a little video of Brendan in motion. One of his new favorite play things, now that he's mobile, are the kitchen chairs. It's so funny because he takes a seat on the scale and just pushes them back and forth. This video also shows how quickly he can crawl. It's like he's been doing it his whole life, not just a couple of weeks. He's so fast that he's crawled right out of one of his socks before this video was taken :)