Best Gift Ever

Rory and I both agree that the best gift we've ever received has, by far, been Brody. He is such a joy and we just love him to pieces!

Trip to Lexington

Brody and I took a little trip a few weeks back to visit our good friends Bethany, Ashley and Dan. Brody and I drove by ourselves to Florence where we picked up Bethany and then the three of us headed down to Lexington, where Ashley and Dan live. It was a great trip and I was impressed by how well Brody did in the car!

Uncle Dan gave Brody a faux-hawk, although its kinda hard to see in the picture!

The lovely Ashley and Bethany

Brody and I cuddling on the couch

Ashley's house was GORGEOUS! It was like straight from a magazine. I meant to take pictures of every room but forgot to. Here is a picture of her Christmas tree. Do you see Bethany and Brody in the picture? : )

Ashley has two dogs, Riley and Lila. This is Lila in the picture. Her and Brody really bonded : )

Family picture! : ) Ashley, Brody, Lila and Riley

Waaaayyyyy Behind

I know, I know. I'm waaaayyy behind on blogging new pictures of the little guy. The pictures below explain why. Brody is very mobile now. He can roll just about anywhere and has recently started crawling. So now I can't leave him for a second because who knows what he'll get into. The other day I went downstairs to put some laundry in and I came back up to find him gnawing on the legs of the dining room table! I'll be going on a blogging marathon today, though. So stay tuned!

Belle Comes to Visit

A couple of weeks ago my parents kept Belle for a few days. Brody looooooves Belle. Here are a couple different series of interactions between Belle and Brody that I thought were hilarious.

Here is Brody thinking, "Hmm, that toy looks interesting. I think I want to play with that."

"Oh no you don't!" says Belle : ) haha. Belle just doesn't know what to think now that she has gone from #1 grandchild to #1 of 3. She's 2 years old. What do you expect?

This next series is my favorite. Brody has developed some pretty quick hands and can latch on to just about anything before you know it. Hair, noses and eyebrows tend to be his fave : )

Uh, oh. Here she is within reach.

Here is Brody going in for the grab. At this point Belle is still smiling and playing along.

Ouch! Yep, he did it. He got a good grip on the nose.

And here is the staredown. Belle is saying, "Fool me once, Squirt. But you won't fool me twice."

NICU Halloween Party

I know Halloween was quiiiiiite some time ago now. This shows just how behind on blogging I am. Anyways, each year several girls from work get their kids together for a Halloween costume party and Brody and I were in attendance this year. I am, however, a bad mom and didn't have a costume for Brody. I did have a cute shirt for him, though. It said, "I love my Mummy, my Mummy loves me" : ) We had a great time at the party and it was nice for Brody to be able to play with some other babies his age.

Brody playing on the floor with Olivia, who is only a couple days younger than Brody and Grant, who is only a couple of weeks younger. Then there is Carter, 9 months, in the striped shirt.

Brody and Benjamin. Benjamin was born on the same day as my nephew, Ethan. So he was the youngest kiddo in attendance at only 3 weeks.

Benjamin, Brody and Grant. Grant came dressed at the Cleveland Browns Brownie Elf. SO CUTE!

Let me preface this picture by saying that there about 12 kids at the party, ranging from 3 weeks to 3 years. So a group picture was nearly impossible....no, actually it was impossible, period. Here is half of the group, though. Grant, Anna, Brody, Benjamin and Noah.

Mobility begins....

Get ready for a blogging marathon. I'm a little behind here.

Brody has been rolling over both ways for well over a month now. But within the last couple of weeks he has started using this as his mode of transportation. I realized this when one evening I placed him on a nice, soft blanket with several toys...went to check my email...and came back to find him on the cold, dirty hardwood floor. Notice picture below : ) The days of letting him lay on our bed while I put away laundry and leaving him on the changing table while I wash my hands are long gone.

6 Month Pictures

Brody will be 6 MONTHS OLD TOMORROW!! I can't believe it. I decided to do Brody's 6 month pictures myself. A very, very good friend of ours has a beautiful house on a beautiful piece of land so that is where we did the photo shoot. Brody wasn't quite feeling like being a model as we got very few smiles. But we got some good pics, nonetheless.

Rory, Brody, and Tom

What a male.....he was all smiles after I let him go inside and sit on the sofa : )

I.Love.Fall

He eats!

Brody has been eyeing our food while we eat for weeks. Then he started waking up around 2-3am-ish acting like I never feed him. (But, really, does it look like I don't feed the child?? : ) ) So I decided that it was about time to add some variety to his meal plan. For the past 5 1/2 months he has been strictly mommy milk. The following photos describe how the introduction of food has gone....

Day #1:

Reaction: "What are you sticking in my mouth?...This isn't working...How am I supposed to suck this crap off the spoon?...Forget this."

Time Elapsed: 15 minutes

Day #2:

Reaction: "Ok, this is better...I like this fruit stuff you've added. Nice choice....I'm still not understanding that I can't suck this stuff off the spoon."

Time Elapsed: 10-15 minutes

Day #3:

Reaction: "I get it now! I open my mouth and you stick the spoon in....This isn't so bad after all."

Time Elapsed: 5-10 minutes

Day #4:

Reaction: "Forget this oatmeal cereal/fruit stuff, Mommy! Bring on the steak and potatoes!"

Time Elapsed: 30 seconds

I don't think we have a picky eater on our hands. He is LOVING his food!

Buddies

These pics were taken the day after Ethan was born. I've just been a little slow to get them posted. : ) Brody and Ethan are going to be buddies, I can already tell. Although, in this first picture it looks like Brody could eat Ethan! haha

I like how it looks like Brody is really talking to Ethan in this picture. He's probably saying, "You better just get used to this whole picture taking thing. They're a bit ridiculous with their cameras."

Going in for a hug : ) How sweet!

Ethan Amadeus Freshour

Ok, get ready for a slew of pictures.... (they're kinda out of order but I'm on Mandy's fancy Mac and have already accidentally deleted several pics so just go with it)


Here is Brody playing with Aunt Mandy before Ethan arrived. This was also before Aunt Mandy's epidural arrived, so she wasn't very fun to play with : )

Brody and Mimi
Ethan Amadeus Freshour...8lb 5oz
Mimi & Poppy and their boys
Brody meets cousin Ethan for the first time...
Bright eyed...Welcome to the world!
Mommy and Ethan
Ethan and Aunt Sara!
Me and the little man
Welcome to the world, Ethan!