Welcome To Minneapolis!

1st Birthday Pictures

On Saturday, a week from Brody's 1st birthday, we took him in for pictures with our most favorite photog Paula Charchenko. She has an amazing ability to capture the best expressions and Brody always has a great time with her! She sent me a sneak preview, so cute and can't wait to see the rest!

St Louis

A couple of weeks ago we took Brody to St Louis to meet the Datus' crew! Let me just tell you, that boy was SPOILED with attention. He had someone to play with from the minute he woke till the minute he went to bed. He sleep well each night after a hard day of play! It was so much fun for everyone!

This picture is exactly what you get when you try and

coordinate a photo of 5 kids at once!!Jordan, Julie Jack, Brody and Jayce

Aunt Jenee and Brody Julia love holding and playing with her cousin!Uncle Geoff and Brody

Crazy Hair

The other day when i went to pick up Brody from daycare he had this wild and crazy hair do, it looked very 80's and of course because I didn't send him to school that way i was dying to know about the new hairdo. Evidently applesauce serves another purpose besides a tasty fruit...hair gel. Evidently he was playing in his applesauce and then running his fingers through his hair. Ahh yes moving into that toddler stage!

Brody and Daddy were having a really good time making Brody's hair charged with static. I love these pictures as you can see his teeth. He had a total of 5 right now and a 6 one coming any day!

Little Fishy

As many of you have heard, Brody LOVES the water so we decided that we'd start him in swim lessons. I have severe anxiety with children around water so I thought this would be a great way to ease myself around the pool by teaching Brody how to swim at a young age!

On Sunday, along with our friends Ann and Tate we went to The Marsh for swim lessons. A therapy pool at a toasty 94 degrees...Brody loved every minute of it. I learned how to work with Brody on back floating and kicking his legs, we also sang songs and played with some water toys. We are set for a 10 week session which will take place every Sunday, Jason and I will trade off getting into the water with Brody each week so that he's comfortable with both of us.

Sushi Saturday

This past weekend we had Sushi Chef Su Chai over with his "sous-chef" which happens to be his wonderful wife Alexina. Both Su and Alexina are clients of our friend Mike's and they had this great idea to plan a couples evening to do a "sushi 101". Su was trained at the Sushi Academy in California and is well versed on all things sushi! We were all students for the evening and each had our little station, Su taught us how to make our own rolls, starting very basic rolls and moved to more complex. We also learned about nigri, sashimi and of course sake as well. It was SO much fun and I think we all have a new found appreciation for sushi, it's a lot harder to make the roles than you'd imagine!! Thanks again to Su and Alexina, what a fun night!! We
DEFINITELY need to do it again!!!

Su and Alexina

Jason, Joe and EmMy first roll, think i could make it as sushi chef!?!? It looks more like a dead animal with rice on it...Emily's BURRITO sushi rollSu, Alexina, Mike, Kristin, Denise and Neil Check out this ginormous bottle of saki!!!

Dinner With Kiddies!

So much fun having people over these days, makes our lives so much easier than having to pack up Brody and go! Saturday night we had 3 other couples over for dinner/socializing/playing.

Brody, Kate, Caden and Tate (Caden's mom Lisa is next to me trying to get the attention of the babes, of course Caden has a big smile looking at his mama!)Amanda, Kate and meKate and her parents (Amanda and Jeff) are moving to Singapore in March, we are very sad to see them go, in the below picture Kate is saying to Brody...
"don't worry Brody I promise I'll be back to the US and we can resume our relationship."

"Really Brody it's going to be ok, please don't ignore me"

Mommy/Baby Playdate

On Saturday Brody and I attended our first "play date"! Megan, my first Nebraska friend I met in Minnesota invited Brody and I over to play with her little guy David and some of their friends. Ironically enough, there were a total of 5 of us there from Nebraska! It was a super fun time visiting with everyone and of course Brody had a fun playing with his new friends!

The Nebraska babes...Lauren, Lynley, David, Brody and Olivia!David, Brody, Olivia and BecketBrody and Olivia enjoyed playing side by side.

New Year's Eve

We had a fun NYE this year...we had some friends over for dinner and drinks...we together rang in the new year!

This picture cracks me up as it's probably the 5th one we took trying to get Brody and Landon to look at the camera AND wear their hats at the same time!

JRo and I

Seldom do we get pictures together anymore, they are always of Brody!

The Ladies! Jen, me, JRo, Emily, Gina and Kristy (sorry to picture of the guys, evidently they didn't want to pose on the stairs!!)

Uncle Chad and Auntie Kristy with Brody

Chad and Kristy continue to spoil Brody! This is one of the many Christmas gifts he got from them. Worth the post given it's a Cub's book with Brody "on deck"...I knew Uncle Geoff would just cringe seeing B in a Cub's hat vs Cardinals!!

11 Months Old

Tomorrow Brody will be 11 months old...it's crazy to think that he's blessed us for 11 months already, seems like just yesterday that he arrived (ohh that delivery still so vivid in my mind!)!! At 11 months old he's into everything; opening drawers and cupboards, pulling himself up, putting everything in his mouth, crawling every where, eating all sorts of "big people food", laughing and talking...ohh he's so much fun and brings us so much joy! Brody and LandonAt the same time both boys decided to lick the gate. Must set aside the germphobia at this point!Jason kept saying "show me your scary face" and finally when he did he had a mouth full of food!

Best Buds...Not Just Yet!

Perhaps in the future Brody and Dolly will be good friends but right now Dolly finds Brody nothing more than a pain in the neck. Someone to disturb her while she's sleeping, pull her tail while she's eating or just simply crawl after her when she doesn't want to be bothered. She whines non stop when he's pestering her but isn't smart enough to know that if she jumps up on a higher surface he can't get her. What she has learned to do is go on the other side of the gate just where he can't reach her and meow, this drives Brody CRAZY, he screams and tries to reach her! She is however warming up to Brody, she doesn't run away quiet as fast as she used too and from time to time she'll continue going in circles so he crawls after her, a fun game for both!

The other day Jason got a couple of cute pictures of the two of them...Brody is thrilled that she hasn't run away just yet!

A Move To Infant B.

Yesterday Brody was finally switched over from Infant A to Infant B room. Infant A is where they house the newborns and Brody was by far the oldest and had been in A for 8 months. He's was getting bored and didn't have a lot of kids to play with, so yesterday was the big move. Clearly his first day he was quite adventurous as the teacher said she turned around for a moment to do something and when she turned back Brody was on top of the table!! He's really into climbing these days so it was no surprise that he did it! New fun stuff to crawl all over!

Today I dropped him off and it was a full room, he was the last child (#8) to arrive for the day. In Infant B the kids are very mobile most already walking so Brody is definitely now at a disadvantage and that was clear to me this am...i was putting his milk in the frig and I hear a very loud scream and cry, I quickly turned around to see another little boy (who's 16months) on top of Brody, (dog pile style) while another little girl looked on...i quickly removed the other little boy and picked up Brody who was, by this time, crying hysterically. As i tried comforting him, he cried more and grabbed a hold of my coat as if he was saying "mama don't leave me here"...as I passed him over to the teacher his little lip quivered and he continued to cry, by the time I was ready to go he was at the table ready for breakfast (just like his daddy, he can be upset but then you feed him and everything is ok!). It was a tough way to start my Tuesday for sure!!

This will not be the last time that I think someone treated Brody unfairly or was mean to him but the first time sure did upset me! Poor little guy, I can't wait to get home tonight and cuddle my little guy!!

BOOOOO to bullies!!!!

PS I think the teacher felt bad so she had Brody send me an email today:

Hi Mommy and Daddy!

I have been having a great day at Primrose today! I love that my friend Tobin is in my classroom now and we have played all day together. I really have enjoyed trying to find the toys that make a lot of noise so I can make my own music. I am so smart! I have also enjoyed picking out stories to read from the book bin and exploring the small cars.

I hope you are having a good day!

Love,

Brody