4 month checkup

Brendan went for his 4 month checkup on Tuesday and he checked out healthy. He weighed in at 18 pounds and is 26.5 inches long. That puts him in the 90% for both stats. He got his 4 month shots which made him very fussy yesterday afternoon but we survived and he's in a much better mood this morning.

Brendan is 4 months old

Today is Brendan's 4 month birthday. Its amazing how much he has already changed. His new favorite things to do are squealing, rolling onto his side (not rolling over yet but halfway there!) and putting everything in his mouth. We think he's teething but no teath have appeared yet. Tuesday we go to our new pediatrician for a checkup and more shots.

I survived my first week back at work. Nicole, our au pair, is settling in and she is great with Brendan.

Daddy's Birthday

Today was Rob's birthday. Rob got his favorite meal for dinner, meatloaf, and a cupcake cake for dessert.




















Rob and Brendan hanging out




















Brendan likes to sit in his chair at the table when we're eating our meals - he's playing with one of his favorite toys, a catapiller, and he's also blowing bubbles.




















Brendan in his fancy spring outfit

















Nicole, our au pair, also arrives today though her flight is delayed so she won't be getting in until late tonight.

Happy Easter

Brendan got his first visit from the Easter bunny today. He got a couple books and some fun plastic links to suck on and rattle around. He also got a nice fluffy bunny. If you click on the picture below you can see that he's also wearing a 'Baby's first Easter' shirt. He got up nice and early today, we think, because he was so excited. Well, not really, but he has been getting up much earlier than usual lately (about 7am).














After exploring his basket (and taking a short nap) we went to Lake Pleasant. It was the first time any of us had been there. It's maybe 10 miles from our house, so we're hoping to spend a lot of time there as Brendan gets a little older. It's a big lake and Rob is excited to go up there and do some fishing with his son.





Here's me and Brendan (he's now able to face forward in the Bjorn) . He did really well while we walked around for about an hour.

















Here's our handsome little man.















MOST of the time he's happy, but every once in awhile.... this was taken just before we left to go to Rob's office for Brendan's first introduction to Rob's co-workers.
















Finally, just a quick house update. They have all the plumbing and electrical done on the pool. Here's a shot of the salt water filter and the spot for the waterfall. We hope they finish soon, since it hit 95 degrees here last week.





Hope you all are well.

Brendan's first few days in his new home

A few photos of our first few days in the house:

Brendan taking a nap in his swing in the evening since he didn't get very good naps with the construction noise and the pool digging:





















Brendan at play in his nursery:


















































House updates - yesterday was day 1 for the pool construction. Hopefully they'll get done before it gets really hot here

House Pictures

First sunrise. View from our bedroom morning of 4/1.





















Dana and Brendan in front of our new home.











The kitchen before the movers showed up.















The kitchen after the movers showed up.









Once we get a minute to take some pictures of Brendan's new room, we'll post those (and a few shots of him, too).

We're home

Hello, everyone. We've made it to Arizona. The drive from San Diego to Phoenix, with 2 cats and a 3 month old son was, well, LONG. Brendan needed us to stop at least 5 times along the way so a trip that normally takes 6 hours actually lasted 8. We arrived about 7 PM on Thursday and came up to get the keys to our new home at 10am on Friday. I was a little apprehensive that Dana wouldn't like the house since she hadn't seen it since construction started. In fact, I hadn't even seen the final product even though I had come back to Arizona on the 29th to pre-sign the closing papers. It took her a couple minutes to take it all in, but, I'm happy to report that we both really like our new home.

Brendan's room is much bigger than his old nursery so we've got space to put in all of his furniture. Dana's first order of business, once she's able to get out of the house, is to find a dresser for his room. We also have to figure out exactly how we want to paint it since it's all just beige, right now. He's adjusted pretty well to his new environment, though he hasn't slept as much as he was in San Diego. Perhaps he's sensitive to the time difference?

It was very nice coming home from the office today to have my wife and son waiting for me.

We've got lots of pictures to share with you, but I can't find the cable to our camera. Once we uncover it, I'll get to work posting some pictures so you can see our new home.

Rob

Of Brendan and Bumbos...

So Dana got Brendan his Bumbo chair the other day, and we think he likes it, but it's so hard to tell. I don't know, what do you all think?












































Getting ready for bed.















Dana and Brendan went to Gymboree today for one last class with Trish. He was flirting with yet another mom today. Dana says he did really good holding his head up during tummy time. His favorite parts are baby massage (he got a foot rub today) and parachute time. He wasn't even able to see the parachute 6 weeks ago when he first started. He's really come a long way. Oh, and everyone noticed how chubby he is.

After class Dana and Brendan went to a cake show. Dana's looking forward to getting a break from being a mommy to get back in to her cake decorating. This was her favorite cake at the show.



















She's looking forward to September when she's going to cake camp in Las Vegas (and Daddy's first time home alone with Brendan!).

Getting ready....

Sorry we haven't updated you in awhile...we have LOTS going on.

We've spent the last few weeks getting ready for our move to Arizona. We sold our Carlsbad home (in 5 days!) and are within 10 days of closing on our new Pulte home. I went to Arizona yesterday to check on it and happily report that it is coming along nicely. It will be such a relief having the buying and selling over with! Here are a couple of pictures (click the picture to see larger)









We've been packing and packing (and PACKING!) for the last 3 weeks or so. Our moms have both come over a couple times each and they have been a big help. Our garage is totally full with boxes and the house is pretty much empty. Our last night in San Diego will be 3/29. Rob flys to Arizona on the 28th to do the final inspection and sign the paperwork.

We've chosen an au pair to help with Brendan while Dana works from Arizona for Nanogen. Her name is Nicole Boonzaire and she is from South Africa. We're really looking forward to her coming out and joining our family for the next year. She is scheduled to arrive on Rob's birthday - April 22.

Brendan is doing really well. He loves going to his Gymboree class with Dana and hearing his teacher, Trish, sing. He'll miss his class, but once we get settled he can start up his weekend summer school class. He smiles more and more every day and has really started to be a little chatter box. Many people in his class have commented on how much he's changed since he started at 6 weeks - and were very impressed with how alert and attentive he is. On top of that, he is doing a good job sleeping through the night - most of the time. I'm bragging, I know, but I'm proud of my boy.

But enough of all that...let's get on with pictures of the star of the show!!





Brendan rooting for Aunt Jessica's alma mater.









Gettin' a little daddy time!












Gettin' a little more daddy time!











Sitting up and shaking hands.

Brendan's first play date

Brendan had his first playdate this past Sunday with Emma up in Dana Point. Emma's parents, Danny and Jacie, work with Rob at Pulte. Here's a picture of us getting ready to go for a walk:










The big news for this week is Brendan has started sleeping for a 9 hour stretch at night! This is great news for me so that I can start getting some quality sleep. He's been going to sleep around 9, wakes around 6 to eat and sleeps for another 2-3 hours.

Pictures, pictures, pictures - here's a few shots of our son:













Brendan in his robeez shoes