8 months.

dan and i stayed up one night and talked about how we met and how each of us perceives the actual events. we agree to disagree. ha. regardless of which one of us persued the other, we feel so lucky and thank god everyday for everything we have. it's so neat how when you re-live things it can almost re-ignite old feelings. i love dan so much, i can't wait to be on the beach becoming mrs. brindle. none of this would even exist if it weren't for him and for that, i'm so thankful. he is such a good man. he had two surgeries this past month and has been recovering but is now back to work and on the p.t. road to optimal healing. he can't wait to snowboard. he has been so supportive of me wanting to ride the mountain and watches becks whenever i want to go. i'm starting to get into the swing of things again. everytime i ski, the whole time i think about what it will be like when we are a little family skiing together. it is going to be sooo much fun. but wishing time away is not something i like to do. which brings us to.....

can i say my lil b is just growing like a weed. he is definitely graduating from the baby stage into a lil man. he is just the sweetest thing ever. this past month has been so fun. my family was in town for christmas...it was a blast! he got so many presents from both sides of the family. he had to take a nap in between opening sessions there were so many! he would grab my hand as i would rip the paper and then he would rip some himself. he didn't really know what to think. but he just absolutely loves all his new things. he really loves to play with his shape toys.

this month he has started this thing with the only person he wants is me. i think, and dan agreed, that he really said "mama" for the first real time. he was sitting on the couch with dan and he was reaching and crying for me. i was in the middle of doing something and couldn't get to him right away and he was just crying and put it his hands out and said "Mama." it melted my heart and i had to grab him and hug/kiss him! he loves to play with his magnets on the refrigerator. he has also started to eat diced food, only if its mushy. he likes solids. we are also starting to try and teach him where his body parts are.

new things he has eaten....

black beans, organic dry frozen yogurt bites he can almost get them in his mouth by himself, he tried cheddar cheese. he wasn't sure about it. he can't get enough yo baby organic yogurt. he just loves this stuff. i feel like it is more nutritious than cereal so i guess it isn't a bad thing. we also found these new organic packages not jars of fruits and veggies. he likes the peaches and sweet potato. he doesn't really care for the rice/sweet peas mix or chicken/noodles mix. but if i mix anything with yogurt, he will eat it. he just loves the yogurt.

8 month Stats

size- he needs a new pair of jeans, his 3-6 month pair are too short, he is in 6 month and some 6-12 months, depends on the brand

size 2 diapers

weight- approx. 14 lbs (naked on the scale at home)

length-

things i don't want to forget...

• one day he was standing in his walker and i could tell he wanted up, so, i repeatedly said, "up, please." he would just crack up laughing a big belly laugh
• he has these little stuffed animal birds that fit perfectly in his hands and he loves to put them in his mouth and let go of them and then grab a book and "read" it, all while he is biting a hold of it
• he will lean to look at something or someone and grunt to get their attention
• when we are reading a "touch and feel" style book he immediately touches the spot he is supposed to
• he smiles with an open mouth and squints his eyes
• he has been clucking in his tongue and sucking/popping his lips
• while he is on his stomach he will pull his knees up as if he is trying to crawl
• he can maneuver around but not crawling yet
• how he is going through a phase of wanting me
• he has been whispering "ba ba ba ba" over and over
• how he is always leaning his head back and he will laugh
• how he does a laid out back flip with daddy, he loves it
• he loves to look at things upside down
• he gives open mouth kisses and he knows what he is doing, he will give hugs, real tight
• he doesn't like to lay down while he is playing or even for a diaper change
• he loves his bath, i no longer have to hold him up, he absolutely loves to splash
• how one day he pulled himself up on the side of the laundry basket
• he can pull himself up all by himself on his leap frog train, he is so proud of himself, and so are we of course
• when we go to the store he just sits in the basket and looks at everything and the lights, he is such a big boy
• we don't watch a lot of television but one night i put on "despicable me" he watched a lot of the movie, while putting his head on my lap every now and then in between hugging and kissing me. so sweet
• he loves to knock over stacked blocks
• how he loves to touch the eyes of any stuffed animal
• how he just rubs his fingers up and down every book
• how he can gracefully get from a sitting position to his tummy
• and the best, he says "mama"

just babbling away

inspecting everything

throwing his head back, one of his new things

smiling with a squint, another one of his new things.

he loves it when i count his toes and shake the fifth one!

mommy loves you beckett, to the moon and back!

beckett claus 2010.

Michele, dan's sister, sent beckett this santa suit. it was her little girls, ella. her aunt made it and as you can see, she did a wonderful job. some of these photos were on our christmas card and when michele got hers in the mail, she said ella picked it up the card and said, "hey, that's mine." and set it down and walked away. too funny.

i just liked these.

santa claus 2010.

He saw santa twice. the first time he saw him, he just stared and santa said i can't believe he isn't crying.

the second time he saw him, meme and papa were and town and it was another story.

seven months.

i meant to post this weeks ago but i still wanted to get it on here for the record! hope you enjoy! oh and i have to apologize to beckett...i have no idea why i had your pants so high...didn't realize they needed to be pulled down!!! oops.

Beckett is now seven months. time is just flying by...skipping minutes and days. we fall more and more in love with him every second. he is just coming into himself so quickly. this month has been exciting, he is now on the move. he started walking in his walker and by the next day he was pretty much running. it didn't take him long to get the hang of it. he is sitting so well by himself. i can actually walk away and trust that he won't fall over and if he starts to, he can catch himself. he doesn't show any signs of crawling any time soon. although, he is spending more time on his stomach and sometimes will pull his knees up. we know it's just a matter of time and then it's no turning back! ha. he has started to reach for us. it is so cute....you can tell he is proud that he is able to convey the message of "get me." he just melts my heart. he talks and talks and talks. he can just be sitting by himself and just talking away. i have no idea where he gets that from? ha. he is starting to realize cause and effect. he knows how to get our attention...he understands that we will respond to any noise he makes and he looks and waits for a response. he loves playing peek-a-boo. he just laughs. He HATES to get dressed. he squirms and squirms as if he knows he is making it difficult. Ornery little thing....don't know where he gets that either? ha. he now likes to sit in his johnny jump up and watch me fold laundry or clean. he just talks and spins in circles. if it is within his reach, it is in his hands and then his mouth. he will grab anything and everything. he loves to feel different textures....he just rubs his hands over everything. i think his favorite thing to do right now is play in his room. he just sits on the floor playing with everything from building blocks, puzzles, stuffed animals, books. he could do it for hours. he really loves music. you can tell it has a calming and comforting effect on him. he just watches me when i sing to him. i'm always saying "where's da da?" he will look around and try and find dan. he loves his daddy. he loves to give open mouth kisses...he definitely knows that is a sign of affection. amazing to me how he learns everything so quickly...just incredible. he just seems like he is becoming more and more independent...it's so exciting yet so sad for me.

what he is eating....

are still using our baby food maker and loving it. he has tasted a number of different things now. turkey (gagged), chicken, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green peas, loves loves yo baby yogurt, oatmeal cereal, still loves prunes and bananas, hated asparagus and rice pudding.

7 month Stats

size- 3-6 months are getting small, some 9 month PJ's (i couldn't believe it)

size 2 diapers

weight- approx. 13lbs 6oz. (naked on scale at home)

length-

daily routine....

none, ha. jk. somewhat the same but no specific schedule. just when i think he is on a schedule, he changes it. the past week or so he has been on a crazy schedule.

things i don't want to forget

• how he clinches his fist together and brings them back and forth to his mouth
• still rubbing his head really slow
• softly banging our heads together and he just smiles
• he laughs while i read to him
• on November 19th, he walked in his walker for the first time, he loves his walker
• on november 18th, he sat in his high chair for the first time and ate dinner with mommy and daddy at the table, we had steak, he had organic chicken puree, and prunes, he loves prunes so much
• how he has progressed to almost running in the walker, he is able to maneuver it so well. he can turn it on a dime
• he has started smacking his lips real fast, like he is making music
• how he lays on the ground just rubbing the floor back and forth with his hands
• how he reaches and tries to grab the knots on the hard wood floor
• how when he gets excited he breaths in and out really hard through his nose
• how when he is eating he swings his arms around in the air
• how he sat in the high chair at Freshies (restaurant) all by himself for the first time
• how he has been waking up at night and somehow weasels his way into our bed, he loves sleeping with us, he sleeps like a log
• how we danced to christmas music one night, and he just smiled and laughed
• how he just watched us put up the christmas lights but then he got totally bored with that
• how he bangs steel bowls with plastic cooking spoons, he loves noise.
• how he wanted to eat his cereal from a plastic cooking spoon one day, he loved it
• how he is starting to reach for us when he wants out of his chair or walker
• how he just gets so happy when i walk in the door from work
• how he loves peek-a-boo
• how he leans real far to the side and tilts his head
• one night when i got home from work, we just played in his room and i started hanging him upside down by his waist and blowing raspberries on his belly, he loved it and kept wanting to do it over and over
• taking a tub in the kitchen sink and can sit very well on his own while doing so
• how he loves to be rinsed with the removable hand wand faucet in the sink
• the night of dec 8, i rocked and sang christmas songs to him he just lied in my arms watching and listening, touching my face and the blanket repeatedly. he fell asleep un-swaddled, i put him to bed and it lasted all of about, 45 minutes. still needs to be swaddled!
• he loves his glow-worm that grandma melody bought him
• he loves his building blocks
• how he has no interest in crawling but he wants to be on the move
• he is constantly move his arms and legs
• how he can sit very well on his own
• how he is starting to try and pull himself up. you can tell he is trying to use his quads and biceps in the process
• how he is starting to figure how the sippy cup works
• how he likes to gnaw on any frozen fruit
• how he gagged when he tasted rice pudding and turkey (maybe later :) )
• how sometimes i swear he is trying to sing
• he loves eskimo kisses, he just laughs
• how he has became just a little snuggler

i love you beckett, to the moon and back!

christmas card

six months.

another month has came and went. he is now 1/2 a year old. that is just crazy. it makes me sad to think that time is just flying by, but i do have to say...just when i think i can't love/enjoy little becks anymore, another day goes by that i fall more and more in love with him and his little personality. he is just growing like a hormone injected chicken. (if you don't know what i'm talking about, rent "Food Inc." pretty interesting. ha.) well, and know we aren't injecting him with any hormones!!! we are still making all his food except for the organic prunes we buy him in a jar. i don't know why that is the only thing we buy, i guess we could probably make them too, i just haven't yet. i know, i know, slacker~ so as of today, he has tried: apples, bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, prunes, brown rice cereal, avocados (which he didn't seem to like, unless bananas were mixed in), and pears. he really likes eating and is always saying "ymmm." makes me laugh every time. everyday he seems to be doing something new. he surprises me with something and makes me laugh every single day! he brings me so much joy.

this past month seems like it has been so crazy. i have one more week of my photography workshop...so, i have been pretty wrapped up in that lately. i'm learning soo much stuff and am ready to start putting it to use. so, if any of you come across some vintage looking props, please let me know!

on his six month birthday, we drove to silverthorne to get out of steamboat for the day. we went to target and some other stores. we were worried that his schedule would be so thrown off, we initially thought about not going but decided to go anyway. he did so awesome. he slept about 45 minutes on the way there and was a little trooper the entire day. he usually naps off and on all day at home, but not this day. although we knew he was tired, he didn't want to miss a beat. he zonked out on the way home, and slept like a charm that night! we have so much fun as a family. daniel is the best dad ever. he is so attentive, patient, and loving. i'm so lucky to have him as my partner!

this month uncle zac got sick with a form of tonsillitis and it scared us. he had to go to the dr and have something drained and was having difficulty breathing. we made him spend the night with us so we could monitor him through the night. and that we did. we took beckett's video monitor and put up in the master room where zac was sleeping, we listened for him all night. we told him to clap if for some reason he couldn't speak and we would come running! a little overboard maybe, but hey, we thought better safe than sorry. so in the middle of the night when i fed beckett, around 3a, i went upstairs to check and make sure he was breathing. i scared him and the next day he said, "apparently you have adjusted to not having any sleep." indeed i have. not to mention, i feel like a mother to everyone ;)

this month we also had to get becks new socks. all of his socks were way tooo small. now he looks like a little grandpa with his tall white tube socks. i told b, "oh, you look like your daddy when momma first met him." daniel always wore these socks and of course i never said anything but let's just say dan doesn't wear them anymore! ha.

i guess i should mention that we have been buttoning his onesies over his pants to hold them up. ha

6 month Stats

size- finally 3-6 months and some 6 months

size 2 diapers

weight-12 lbs 4 oz =<.8% (i'm not sure about this because my scale at home says almost 13.5lbs) his dr is a little worried. we will be going back in two weeks to check again

length-25.5 inches= 18%

head circumference-approx. 16.75 inches=15%

Things i don't want to forget:

• how he touches my face and lips while he eats
• how he is constantly rocking back and forth and talking in his "bumbo" chair
• how when we were laying on his bedroom floor one day, and he was trying to catch the mist from the humidifier
• how he will let out long grunts right before he falls asleep

• how he peed on me two separate times right before bath time
• how much he loves prunes
• how he says "hi" anytime you walk in the room or you say hi to him
• how he plays with my hair all the time, especially while he eats
• how he is constantly reaching for something, he has to touch everything, and then put it in his mouth
• how he stills likes to be swaddled
• how we moved his bath to the kitchen sick for now because he is too big for the baby tub and too little for the big bathtub (the nozzle is like a shower for him!), he won't sit. he just wants to stand
• how he smacks his lips when he is hungry or when he is eating
• how he started sucking in his bottom lip
• how he loves to play with any box/bag/papers on the kitchen counter
• how he will put two fingers (if not all five or even all ten) in his mouth and then push out his tongue on the other side of his mouth
• how on october 30th, he just kept roll from his stomach to his back, over and over
• how he started blowing bubbles
• how he loves sitting up in his bathtub instead of lying down and how he loves to splash around
• how he just sticks the rubber ducky in his mouth and lets go with his hands
• how he doesn't like his johnny jump up, but he likes to sit in it and watch the laundry spin
• as of nov 4, 2010, he has slept 3 nights now from 8-5a, i love you little buddy and so does daddy
• how he is just a mover and a shaker, constantly kicking and flailing his arms
• how he will just one arm going back and forth
• how much fun he had when little mia came to visit him, he just laughed at her when she would shake the rattle
• how much daniel has helped me this last month with the one middle of night feeding and early morning feeding. he has practically gone and got him every time and brought him to bed for me to nurse and then taken him back to his bed. sounds so small but means so much! i love you daniel
• how he rubs his face, hair and clothes (especially when he is eating or tired), just feeling everything by opening and closing his hands
• how he kept laughing and looking at his shadow one day
• how he wants to drink out of my glass like a big boy, so we gave him some water in a sippy cup and he just puts it in his mouth like "yah, i got this"
• how one day when i was reading to him, he had his hands on the book and kept looking up at me and laughing
• how he can now sit on my hip with me holding him with one arm

i love you little beckett to the moon and back!

halloween 2010.

i had to back date some halloween photos. he was alfalfa for halloween considering he naturally had the most important part of the costume. :) i made him a onesie that had a bow tie, spiked his tuft, and put some freckles on his face and voila! i figured this is the last halloween where we won't have to spend a ton a money on a costume, so why not! we strolled around downtown for a little bit and then came home, with no candy i might add!

happy 1st halloween beckett!

oh and for some reason i had the bright idea to dye my hair dark. i had to document, so if i ever get the urge again....i just need to look at these photos. can i just say..eeewww.