Santa, for Christmas I want...

Brendan's first visit to see Santa. This Saturday Rob and I took Brendan to see Santa. Brendan dressed up in a fancy outfit for the occassion. He liked looking at all the decorations while we waited in line. He walked right up to Santa with me and then paused about 2 feet away not sure about this big man in a red suit with a beard. After Santa said hello and smiled at him, he decided it was ok to go sit in his lap.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and ate lots of yummy food - we sure did! Rob, Brendan, Nicole and I spent Thanksgiving at Aunt Annette's and Uncle Ron.'s home We were joined by Pat (Brendan's grandma), Audra (Rob's cousin), Troy (Audra's fiance), Lavoy (Audra's daughter), and their family friends Mike and his wife. Brendan ate a spoonfull of mashed potatoes and a few bites of pumpkin bread and washed it down with a bottle.

Brendan at play

Getting up from his nap

Phoenix Zoo

Last Thursday, Brendan, Nicole, and I joined my MOMS club for a trip to the Phoenix Zoo. This was Brendan's second trip to the zoo and since he was less than 1 month old the first time, this was his first trip where he noticed the animals. He liked the animals that made lots of noise like the Howler Monkeys and his favorite part was the petting zoo.

catching up

Its been awhile since I posted so I have a little catching up to do.

Our wedding anniversary was November 6th so to celebrate Rob and I went away for the weekend (Nov4) - we didn't go to far, as we just went to Scottsdale and stayed at the Four Seasons resort Saturday evening. It was my first evening away from Brendan and Pat (Brendan's grandma) with the help of Nicole took care of our little boy while we were away. Saturday we spent the day shopping, went to the zoo (thanks U. Ron and A. Annette!), and ate a few relaxing meals. Sunday morning we had a wonderful breakfast on our casita patio and then massages at the spa - Rob tried the aromatherapy massage and I tried the hot stone treatment.

view from our casita

This past weekend Brendan has a playdate at Chase's home - for photos, check out the Fredrickson family blog that is linked on our site.

Brendan is doing better at walking - he can make it about half way across the playroom before he crashes down. He is also doing really well at walking and just holding onto one of your hands - when we went to Chase's house on Sunday Brendan walked from our car, up to his house and in, though it does take a lot longer to get anywhere.

Happy Halloween

Brendan is going to be a dinosaur for Halloween. Today he's going to go trick-or-treating at Rob's work and then tonight we'll go to a few neighbors and then hang out at our house to greet the kids and give out treats.

10 months!

Brendan is 10 months. He's growing up fast and no longer our little baby.

• This past month he started walking with the help of his push carts and will take a few steps unassisted - his balance isn't very good yet but he's working on it.
• He babbles mama and dada all the time and if you tell him to wave bye bye he'll wave.
• He starting to drop naps so instead of 3 naps its usually just 1 or 2. And he's starting to move his bedtime back 1 hour to 730 or 8.
• His favorite food is yogurt. He's still eating pureed baby food and doesn't care for anything with any texture. He will self-feed fruit puffs and he's getting better at getting them into his mouth. He loves his formula and his recently added another bottle to his daily intake - I'm expecting a growth spurt soon.
• He loves cars and trucks, girls, and anything with water. His still loves his ball pit, maracas and his new favorite is his blocks.
• He laughs and giggles all the time especially when you chase him, tickle him, or play peek-a-boo.
• He's got 4 teeth and 2 more are working their way down.

First trip to the State Fair

On Saturday we all went to the Arizona State Fair. Brendan's favorite things were the animals and the game where you roll the ball up the ramp to get the race horse to move (he was just cheering us along but he liked the sounds of the game). We came home with several Curious George stuffed animals (Rob won the large one!) and a large floppy puppy (I won that one). And of course we ate - pizza, hotdogs, roasted corn, snow cones and fry bread. We took Brendan on his first ride, a merry-go-round, but he wasn't too sure about it and end up snuggling against me until the ride was over - it was a loud and getting near his nap time.Brendan, Dana and Nicole on the merry-go-round

Brendan hugging the Curious George that Daddy won

Pumpkin Patch

We took Brendan to a pumpkin patch this weekend. He had fun climbing around with the pumpkins and liked looking at the animals. We tried the corn maze but after going in circles too many times, we took the side exit out.

Change to the blog

I've made a few changes to the blog. Hopefully you see a slide show of pictures from the pumpkin patch. I've also added some new links on the right side - Brendan's scrapbook and my cake creations.

First Steps

This past week Brendan started taking his first steps. The most he's taken so far is 6 but he keeps getting better everyday - look out world, Brendan is on the move! (I'll try to add some video later today)

He's on the move!

This week Brendan started walking using his push toys - he hasn't yet tried to venture out without holding on to something. Watch the funny expression on his face in the outdoor video and make sure you have your volume turned up for the indoor one to hear his babbles.