And we have a walker!!!

Brennan officially started walking on October 14th...that morning unbeknownst to me, Brennan started walking a lot of steps solo with Brian at home after I left for work. So, imagine my surprise when I picked him up at daycare to see him walk towards me. He loves his new found skill and walks whenever he can; however, he does still crawl to get somewhere faster, when he's tired, or if where he wants to go is too far. So amazing to see our lil guy just cruisin' right along...we couldn't be prouder of him!

With walking comes more excitement and independence for Brennan; however, it also seems that we are now officially into a different phase of parenting. We are now officially in the stage where frustration can lead to tears, big crocodile tears, particularly when he can't get what he wants. He has started testing out laying down and hitting his head on the floor (in frustration and/or just to try it)...please Brennan, don't grow up too quick, you just turned 1.

He is such a joy...here are some of the things he loves (and is doing) at the moment:
-Balls, kicking and throwing them. We can already see a future soccer player!
-Feathers, he loves feeling them and blowing them.
-Art, doing art and/or looking at pictures on the wall. He gets excited when he sees very colorful graffiti outside.
-Flags blowing in the wind.
-Dogs...and any animal he sees outside (birds, ducks, horses)
-Balloons!!! Loves hitting them, walking through them, kicking them, laying on them...you name it!
-Song time at daycare; his favorite song is The Wheels on the Bus.
-Football (and/or any game with a ball), when he sees a game on tv, he gets excited and pumps his fist in the air as if to say "Go, go, go"
-Skyping!
-Books
-Light...loves to find the light in the room and/or anything that lights up.

We are using sign language with him to help him communicate with us and so that he can communicate to Gramma and Grampa Feder. It's amazing what he picks up when I don't think he is paying attention and we love the fact that he can let us know when he is hungry and/or thirsty. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of figuring out what he wants. I am also amazed at the comprehension of toddlers at his age...we really underestimate how much they understand. Last week, he pointed to my phone and signed Papa...and was delighted when I figured out that he wanted me to call Papa so we can talk to him on speaker phone. Another example, is when he saw someone riding a bike where we watched Papa ride his bike a couple of days earlier, and signed Papa.

Some of the signs he is using now:
-Papa, Mama, more, eat, thirsty, fish, apple, banana, car, milk, where...

At his last doctor's visit on the 10th October, he weighed 19.36 pounds and is about 28 inches tall.

Love that belly!

Brennan's Birthday Party

After our special day with Brennan on his actual birthday, we celebrated with close friends the Sunday following by having a small party. 9 adults, 6 kids, 3.5 hours, and 2 exhausted parents...Brian commented, "I'm not sure what's more tiring...staying up all night playing poker or having a party for a 1 year old."

It's my party today!! Party time!!

Everyone had a great time; Brennan enjoyed the attention and loved his new gifts. He especially loved his cupcakes this time...we added chocolate frosting. He decided that he needed to add a little excitement to the party by putting out his candle...with his hand. I thought for sure this would  put a damper on the mood, but he simply looked at his hand, wiped it on his shirt, and proceeded to eat.

This is one of my favorite pics; he was SO excited to see this gift, a puzzle with animals.

Ooooh, are those ALL for me?!

Lets see what happens if I put my hand over the flame...

It's cupcake time!

Mmmmm, yummy!!

The best pic we could get of Brennan and his best girlfriend, Lulu.

The kids having fun with balloons.

We are so lucky to have the friends we do here to celebrate and share the joys and the not-so-fun parts of parenthood with.

Brennan's FIRST Birthday!

We can't believe how fast a year has gone by and now our lil man is a year old. We could have never imagined how our hearts could be so overwhelmingly full with such pure love, joy, pride, and happiness...in such a short time, we have watched Brennan grow into a beautiful, loving, sensitive, funny, curious, active, amazing little boy. He brings such sunshine into our life and we look forward to the days and years to come, though we'd love for the time not to go by so fast. Some days it seems as if life is on fast forward and we can't get the pause button to work.

Brennan, we love you so much, happy 1st birthday!

Brian and I took the day of his birthday off and celebrated by hanging out together as a family of three. Brian blew up a ton of balloons the night before and filled our sitting area with it for Brennan to see in the morning. The day consisted of lots of play time, cupcakes, reminiscing of the year, and a trip to the zoo with friends. In true Brennan style, he ended it with a bang...by taking his first 2 steps on his own. What a year we have to look forward to...a year of so many firsts for Brennan and us.

I'm 1!!

Checking out the animals.

Can you tell we have a tired lil one year old?

Getting ready for bed time, what a great first birthday!

We're BACK!

We've fixed the problem and now we're back full swing...we've tried to catch you up for the most part and will start this new leg of the blog with Brennan's 1st birthday!!!

Thanks for bearing with us; we look forward to continuing to share our family's journey with you!


Love,
The Carters

From football to boxing...

Brian decided to try his hands at boxing by joining a white collar boxing class...participants are trained twice a week for 8 weeks in various boxing skills. At the end of the 8 weeks, participants box in their first boxing match at a publicized event held at a hotel. Brian signed up with his co-worker, also named Brian, and the both decided it would be a fun idea to do this together with the purpose of boxing each other at the end. That's exactly what happened...the two boxed each other and while the match was very close, unfortunately our Brian lost. Was I nervous watching, did I cringe when he got hit, was I excited when he threw out good jabs and punches? Yes, yes, and yes...would I want to watch him do it again? Probably not, but I would if he signed up and said, "I just want one more fight."

While it was disappointing, Brian truly enjoyed the experience and developed greater appreciation for the sport and those in it...it takes incredible dedication and a certain kind of mentality. Lesson learned in the midst of all this is that he "doesn't like getting hit." Hopefully that's a good sign that there won't be any more boxing matches in the future. :)

July 2011

The beginning of July for Americans means BBQs, fireworks, hanging out on the boat, outdoor time, and hanging with friends and family...well, we did just that with good friends, Colleen, Gavin, and their adorable daughter Lulu (and we can't forget to mention their super awesome dogs, Dixie and Daisy). We spent the weekend at their house, ate good food, went for a walk by the canal, and even ventured over to the local neighbourhood fair where Dixie and Daisy participated in a dog show...Dixie came out as TOP DOG in first place, we couldn't be more proud!

Smiling for the camera... Brennan, I gotta a lil secret to tell ya... I'm not fallin' for the ol' gotta secret trick... Good friends! Delicious 4th desserts...I made the fruit pizza and Colleen made the amazing cake behind it. The proud family of the dog winners!

Technical Difficulties

I'm experiencing technical difficulties with posting my pics on the blog...a friend just helped me figure out what the problem is and hopefully the blog will be successfully up and running soon.

Thanks for your patience!