Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to all. We went down to Atlanta this Christmas and had a great time. Alex enjoyed chasing the cats and spending time with the grandparents. We fly back tonight, so wish us luck.

Alex' 1st Birthday Party!

Today we celebrated Alex' 1st Birthday Party with a bunch of our friends & family! Alex had such a good day. Our house was filled with yummy food prepared by Chef Derek, balloons filled by Dustin, cake, and lots of presents. Alex watched curiously as everyone sang him "Happy Birthday" and ended up having fun with his cake after an initial expression of disgust disappeared when he took the first bite! Happy Birthday Alex.

Traci's Birthday Week

This past week was very eventful - Aunt Cheryl was out visiting from MA and Traci had a birthday! We also went to a little birthday party for little Tyler, one of Alex' friends from the mom group we were in last year.

Alex just loved playing with Aunt Cheryl! They played at the park several times, Alex helped Aunt Cheryl wake up every morning by climbing on the air mattress in the living room with her on it, and she even watched Alex so we could go to a birthday dinner. Our dinner was at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse - yummy! What a wonderful treat on all accounts! The crazy thing is I didn't take one single picture all week! I'm slipping!

I made up for it at Tyler's birthday party. Here are a few of the latest.

11 Months Old!

Our little guy is 11 months old today! What a big boy!

We will have pictures to follow, but this past weekend we had a great time at Lake Tahoe on a mini-vacation with Uncle Bruce & Aunt Dianne from Reading, PA. We did some hiking, played at the beach and spent some quality time at a nice little cabin. Of course we forgot our camera when packing, so we'll steal some of Uncle Bruce' pics. Derek was a very good pack-mule while carrying Alex around on the hikes! Alex loved the sites & smells!

Our chunker monker now has 5 teeth with the sixth on the way! One of his front teeth broke through a few weeks ago & its mate is close behind. He is a little chatter box, and so far we can make out "Uh-oh" and "mama" pretty clearly. Aside from that, he talks a lot about "Bob" (babababa), "dit," and even said "bayou" last night. He also loves his bath, squealing with delight as we fill the tub! So funny!

Labor Day Trip

Traci had her hands full in this shot...

We had a great time visiting with family this past weekend. Alex enjoyed playing with his big cousin Koen, chasing puppies and kitties and even spending time at the zoo. He met his little cousin Elise, was able to spend time with Grandparents and even Great Grandparents. He definitely soaked up the attention and hugs. The plane rides weren't too bad, but we may try "Red Eyes" next time to avoid the squirming. He entertained the other passengers though and even earned his first set of wings. It was lots of fun for all, but always hard to leave. As an added bonus, we are still waiting for our checked bags a day after returning home. Hope everyone had as much fun this past weekend as we did.

Crackers

It always seems to be the simplest toys that Alex loves the most. Here he is with his favorite empty box.

Tri-tip

Two classic shots of Alex. The first is him in his Harley Garb, and the second is him enjoying his first piece of steak. We are so proud of our little carnivore.

Safety First!

Maybe we should let him wear it around the house...

Some Alex Updates

We have a few updates on Alex to give our faithful blog watchers.

We took Alex for his 9 month check-up last week and here are his stats: Height is 30" (95th %), weight is 19 lb, 10.75 oz (50th %), head circumference is 17.5" (25th %). I still don't know why anyone really cares about head circumference, but it's funny that our baby is a pin-head in comparison with the rest of his measurements!! Haha!

Also, just a few days ago, I reached in our baby's mouth and felt a new tooth that had broken through on the top! It's not one of the very front teeth as you might expect. It's the one right next to the front tooth on his right. Then, just yesterday, I felt its counter-part on his left that had just broken through as well! These are exciting times for the little guy! He's been eating little starter foods to get better at chewing, and I have a feeling he'll be improving quite a bit now with teeth on top & bottom.

Luckily for me (mommy), Alex and I pretty much ended our breastfeeding about a week ago. I felt those bottom teeth a handful of times although truly it was nothing major. Of course I miss it some, and he tried to nuzzle in a couple times last week, but overall I think we did really well and I was just SO sick of pumping! Now I feel like I have a little more freedom and Derek and I have even been able to share the early morning feedings. It's now organic Similac and baby food for this guy.

Oh, I also have now completed two weeks of working part-time. I still work everyday but leave at 2:30. So far I'm really happy with it! I like my job, so I would've missed certain aspects of it if I left entirely, but now I get to play with the little guy so much more! We've been going swimming (which he loves now), going to the park, and on days when he's still napping when I get off, I either run errands, go to the gym, or study real estate in the car until he wakes up (yeah, good times). I'm fresh & happy when I pick him up, so I think it's a good arrangement. We'll give it a shot and see how it goes!

Love to all!
The Brauners

Sunday Sailing

A three hour tour...

9 Months!

Alex had his nine month birthday today. We celebrated by having a clown come over and entertain him in the living room... Oh wait- that was me.

Nice Hat

Alex really loves his stroller. We try to put sunglasses on him, but he just takes them off and chews on them immediately now. Hope all is well. -The Brauners

Happy 4th

We have added a Web Gallery to our Blog. It can be accessed from the link to the right labeled "Our Web Gallery". Pictures and videos can be downloaded in full resolution directly from this site. We also added a folder for people to upload pictures to us, either through the browser or by email. Hope all is well and Happy 4th to all.

Alex Crawling

Alex Wiggling

Alex was once again showered with kisses from his Grandma this weekend. He loves being spoiled, so it was a good weekend for all. It reached 100 F, so a trip to the pool was definitely in order.

Alex June 16

Cutest Baby Ever!

 

 

 

Okay, maybe I'm biased, but isn't he just the cutest?! This is my little baby before going to school one morning last week. We were playing and mommy was being goofy. The last few days, Alex has been a little sleepy-head and we haven't had a lot of time for play before having to pack up for work/school.

We made a big decision this week that I'm going to become a stay-at-home mom! I'm so excited! I gave notice at work that I'll be leaving mid-July. Poor little Alex doesn't know what's coming; I'll get to warp him all day long! I'm sure I'll go out of my mind some days, but I am really looking forward to taking him to the park, going swimming and just getting to see more of his development. Hey, at least I'll have time to take more pics & videos to post online!

Grammie Kathy Came to Visit!

 

 

 

 

Alex' Grandma Kathy came last weekend and just had a great time hugging & squeezing the baby. I think he liked the attention! He got to go outside for walks, read lots of books and get lots of spoiling. In the third picture, they were playing the pacifier game where she would pluck it out of his mouth, and he would laugh. In the last picture, I think you can sort of catch a glimpse of his two bottom teeth. I tried to get better pics, but he's not very cooperative!

Aunt Megan Visited!

 

 

 

 

Auntie Megan came to visit Alex while on her break from college. We had a nice but mellow weekend. Derek & Megan went into the city Friday, then I got sick all of a sudden Saturday morning making me a lame-o most of the weekend. We did some walking around town, hung out at the pool, etc. Derek & I took Alex over to the little park near our house for a little while to show Alex the green leaves & grass. As his outfit says, "Life is Good." (See Photo Journal)

Ba-ba-ba-ba!

 

Our cute little baby was chatting it up with me while in his high chair yesterday. It was so funny! He was looking at me with so much expression in his eyes and just jabbering away like he was telling me a very important story, meanwhile, he was just saying "ba-ba-ba-ba." It was so great! I just looked at him and kept saying "Really?", "Yeah?". It's funny too because it makes his cheeks look wide when he does it. I finally realized I should grab the video camera, but by that point the moment was pretty much over. I got a couple little ba-ba's in there though I think!

We've got a Chomper!

Guess what everyone?! Alex cut his first tooth today! His poppa found it while playing this evening. It's his front right tooth on the bottom, and it's just a wee little hard & sharp thing sticking out. We were so excited for him! What a big boy!

Wine Country

 

 

 

 

Derek, Geoff, Alex & I went up to Napa yesterday and met up with our friends Dustin & Casey. It couldn't have been a much nicer day! We started at Artesa Winery where Casey works, and that's where one of the wine pourers wanted to hold Alex behind the counter...he's starting early! Haha! The views were gorgeous, and Casey even took us down below for a special tour & tastings! We then went to Pine Ridge which was also quite tasty and had a nice lawn with picnic tables to play outside. It was quite the nice day trip.

Alex is a Good Sitter

 

 

 

 

Alex is getting to be such a good little sitter. He loves to sit & play with each of the toys constantly littered on our floor. He's also, finally, starting to nearly sleep through the night! Hallelujah! There's been lots of talk lately about letting him cry it out, and I think he understood our threatening conversations & stopped on his own! He still wakes up a couple times, but so far we've been able to binky him & he goes back to sleep. We don't want to jinx it and hope it continues. What a good baby!

April Weekend

 

 

 

We had fun last weekend when it got hot for the first time this spring. We took Alex to the pool where he tried out a little floaty raft with sun canopy. We were so excited to see what he did. He kind of just checked everything out. He didn't mind it at all, yet he really didn't squeal with delight either. All the other little kids in the 1.5 ft pool just loved him though! They kept coming up to him pointing & saying "Baby!" It's so funny!