4-6 months (start at bottom)

June 14, 2008

6 months old. Unbelievable. If we assume Brown will be with us until he is 18, then we are 1/36th through with this time. We do this 35 more times and he is gone. What? What happened to that time? Wait, I want some of that time back. I want to remember what he looked like at 3am when he was feeding. I want to watch him drift off to sleep on my chest (when he could still fit). Those days are already gone! He has outgrown his car seat. He has outgrown so many clothes. He is looking more like a boy and less like a baby everyday. He is eating baby foods, sleeping less and less, and starting to exercise those legs that will soon propel him around the house. To see him grow this quickly reinforces the brevity of life and the fleeting time that we get to spend with each other. I have to remember to enjoy each day we have with him, and not hold on so close that I miss today thinking about yesterday.

Speaking of today, he has giggled a few times over the past few days. Nothing sustained, but just a quick giggle. This sort of goes along with his new biting/grin that he has developed in the past week or two. Wow.

We took him up to Camp Ocoee for a couple of nights as we were running an asthma camp there this week. Anyway, he got his first experience in Parksville lake - and naked at that. He seemed to like it and has already asked to go back.
- curt

June 10, 2008

My brother, Matt, and his daughter, Keely, came in town over the weekend. It was a great visit. We stayed up at the lake with my parents. It was really fun to see Brown and Keely interact. Keely loved petting Brown on the head and telling him how cute he was. Brown was totally intrigued. We had lots of time in the water. Brown was a little rockstar. When we were down at the dock and he would get tired, I would just lay some towels out on the boat and he would take a two hour nap right there. I think the breeze and the slight movement of the boat put him in a little sleep coma. It was awesome!

Brown watched a few minutes of CINDERELLA with Keely, but you can tell by looking at his expression in this picture that he thought it was too girly for him. He didn't want me to post this picture because he thinks he looks too pale next to his cousin. I assured him it was just because the camera flash makes him look pale. I'm pretty sure this boy does not have an ounce of pigment in his skin (but don't tell him I said that).

June 4, 2008

Brown was jumping like crazy in his little jumpy seat thingy today. This video is funny because he jumps on command right when I told him to "show us." It looks like he did that on purpose, but we all know that the timing was just incredibly lucky. Didn't want you to think we had a freakazoid little genius on our hands. Granted, he's a smart kid. But... he is a little young, still. Check out the difference in his mad jumping skills from when he first started out (blog entry on March 16th). I can't believe he was ever that little!

We have had a very active week, and Brown has been awesome. We are thankful he has been so flexible for us because we are dragging him around with us everywhere. On Friday night, we had a slumber party up at the Tremain's house on Lookout because Curt was out of town and Brown was sleeping on me while we were all talking at 11:30 that night. They have an extra crib in a bedroom up their house, so we just decided to stay the night. He did great. AND, he was unswaddled for the first time and he slept through the night. I know, I know... I can't believe we are still swaddling him at night, either. But it doesn't bother him and he sleeps like a log, so if it ain't broke... Granted, they don't have swaddle blankets for 16 year olds, so we are going to have to stop eventually. But everyone seems happy right now.

The next day, we drove to Knoxville to stay with Anna Haas and Ethan (1 1/2 yrs old) while Anna's husband was out of town. That was great fun. Anna is pregnant with her second, and everytime she picked up Brown, Ethan had a hissy fit. I was laughing, telling her she was in trouble when her next baby came. But then Ethan got used to Brown and now they are buds.

And then the next day, we drove to Cookeville to stay with Brown's Great Grandparents (THE Brown's - hence, the name). That was awesome. What an incredible blessing that he gets to be with his Great Grandparents! He was giving out lots of great smiles and adored all of their ceiling fans.

We brought him home and gave him 2 nights in his crib here, and now we are heading up to stay with my parents at their house while my brother and Keely come to town for the weekend. Wahoo! Keely (2 1/2 yrs) is so excited about seeing Brown again because her first visit was when he was under quarantine. She told my brother today that she was excited to see Brown, but that she had to be really quiet and not touch him. Matt laughed and told her that Brown was all healthy now, and she could play with him all she wants. Now she wants to hold him, but Brown is so big, that he'll probably be holding her. Should be fun! Gotta head to the store to get a new life jacket for Keely since Brown has stolen her old one.

May 29, 2008

We are just now getting around to uploading a couple of pics from Memorial Day. Poor Brown. Check out his life jacket. We took him out on the pontoon boat, so we had to keep him in this life jacket. He might as well have had a straight-jacket turtleneck on. He decided it would be best to just go to sleep. He woke up when we stopped at the restaurant to eat.

Geesh. I'm telling you... this boy is killing me. His smiles are enough to make me melt and giggle like a second grader every time. EVERY time. I would have thought that I would be used to them by now. I think that he held out on us for so long, with probably only about 3 smiles his entire first 4 1/2 months of life, that now the ones he has been storing up are just overflowing. They are ridiculous. I can't keep my hands off of him. He is so dang cute and smiley right now. Ummph! Love this boy.

May 23, 2008

He's on a roll, ladies and gentlemen! He's been rolling over randomly for a couple of days, but this is the first one I caught on video. Wahoo!

May 19, 2008

Brown is responding to our voices more and more. He gets really excited sometimes, as you can see in this video. Really cute stuff.

If you can't view these videos in Firefox, make sure to try in Internet Explorer and it should work.

May 16, 2008

Well, folks. It is the last day of vacation and a storm is moving through today, so I find myself sitting in front of the computer. Just me and my new tooth. Did I mention my tooth before? I am kind of proud of it. I put it to good use yesterday as I ate and ate on some avocado. I hear they are kind of fattening but what do I care? I am a fat baby. At least that is what people tell me. People are so heartless. As if I couldn't hear them whisper behind my back.

The car ride back from vacation is always a bummer. Well, actually, I wouldn't know as this is my first vacation. But anyway, I know I need to get back to the grindstone. You know, eating, pooping, smiling, batting at toys, crying, sleeping and stuff. Well, actually that is what I have been doing this week. Wait, when do I get a vacation? Hey, I am getting ripped off here! They tricked me into doing my regular stuff here. My parents are sneaky.

Tell all the kids hello for me, and I will catch you back at the ranch.

May 12, 2008

Wow, what a day I have had. First of all, I am still recovering from the long drive down to Florida. What were my parents thinking when they strapped me in the car for hours upon end? I mean, duh! Yes I am going to cry just a bit. A big chunk such as myself, can only take so much. And this heat. It's as hot as a microwaved bottle that they forgot to let cool down. Well, anyway I was really just recovering from this injustice when I woke up today. I almost forgot that it was my aunt Ginny's birthday, but I remembered at the last minute, and gave her a big smile. You know the one.

So then, I decided to go check out the scene by the pool. I eventually got in (no one told me that the water would be cold, what happened to good ol' tub water) and ordered a drink from the bar. That's right, Enfamil, straight up, shaken, not stirred. So, as you can see, I kicked back, relaxed in my personal cabana, with my bottle, donned my shades, and took in the sights. My personal slave was there to hold my bottle, so I gave him a little smile to keep him working, and then I played with my cousin, Hannah, splashing and stuff like that. You know, stuff you do in the pool.

Well, I should tell you about another big event. My mom hasn't taken a picture of it yet, but I'm sure they'll hold me down tomorrow and pry my mouth open to get one. My parents, who are very slow sometimes, finally realized that I had my first tooth. It obviously didn't just happen today, but they finally caught a clue today. But even then, I had to show them myself. When dad wasn't looking, I grabbed his finger and put in my mouth and rubbed my tooth on it. Hello! Do you feel my pain now? Do you now understand why I was screaming bloody murder the other night when Papa Doonie was holding me. It was my tooth, Einstein. Good Grief. Well, I got to get to bed. Who knows what this crazy family will be up to tomorrow and I gotta keep them in line. I think I have sand in my diaper

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May 1, 2008

Brown has been experimenting with all of the new sounds he can make with his voice. He is quite entertaining. Sometimes, he actually is making such deep sounds in his throat that he almost gags on his tongue. That always brings a good laugh (from me, not him). Recently, he has also learned to blow bubbles, spit, and drool. All very fun things for a little boy to learn!

And yes, we know he looks fat in this video. It's just the angle of the camera... really. :)

April 27, 2008

Wow. A spoon. He can actually consume from a spoon. It was easy! We were good patients and obeyed our pediatrician by waiting until the 4 month point to introduce solids. The last week or so he has figured out how do use both his hands and rake things like blankets and big toys into his mouth, so it seemed he was getting ready to take from a spoon. Today was the day we picked to begin feeding him some oatmeal cereal and he took to it like a champ. It was almost as if he was waiting for us to start. He didn't reject the spoon with formula on it, so we put a little cereal in the formula and slowly thickened it until he was going at it like crazy, anticipating the spoon and opening wide. Great fun today! Tomorrow, we try hamburger and then Tuesday it is on to sushi.

This weekend was full of fun little "milestones." Brown spent the night out WITHOUT us for the first time. His amazing Aunt Rachel kept him for us while we stayed out late at a friend's birthday surprise party. Unfortunately, Rachel got sucked in to his tricks and thought he was still hungry so she kept feeding him until he projectile vomited across the room to let her know he was actually just teasing, and was indeed very full. Woops.

Friday night we stayed out at Camp Vesper Point with the youth leaders from Signal Pres, so Brown slept in a cabin for the first time. He was totally digging the camping life, and loved being passed around to all the ladies on the retreat. They were all speaking in that sweet, high pitched, baby voice so he was completely enthralled and grinning from ear to ear at the attention he was getting. It was a good weekend for him.

April 21, 2008

We had a great weekend full of our own "I LOVE CHATTANOOGA!" comments every few hours. It was just a perfect weekend. The weather was incredible. Saturday we were at the river downtown for the Dragon Boat races. Curt rowed in one of the pediatric boats that was raising money for the Children's Hospital. They raised almost $100,000 doing these fun races all day. That's what I'm talking about!!! We gotta get some dragon boats to start raising money for all the formula that big boy is eating. I am including a full body shot of him so you can fully appreciate all of his rolls and crevasses.

Sunday afternoon we went up to my parents lake house to look at all the construction progress and hang out with mom. We had some great "dock" time, and then mom made a big fat lunch of Filet Mignon. HELLO! It was so good. Brown loved it! I mean... he likes formula. Really. It's not steak that is making him fat. Really... those rolls are 100% milk.

Then we left the lake and went to our niece's soccer game where Aunt Rachel got some good "hold time." It was a great weekend. I do love Chattanooga. That's all I have to say about that.

April 17, 2008

Yesterday was gorgeous! When Curt got home from work, we enjoyed watching the sun go down behind Lookout Mountain from our porch. It was a great evening. After I fed Brown, he fell asleep with me on the porch swing for a long time.

Then his dad woke him up and pushed me off the swing so he could have more snuggle time with him. Geesh. So rude. Brown was loving laying on Curt's chest and looking around. I LOVE these pictures of the two of them.

April 14, 2008

Curt has the day off today, so he is doing what he loves best, which is snuggling and napping with the boy. I mean, c'mon... shouldn't he be teaching him how to read or roll over or something? But no... here they are, while I slave away on the computer doing my work (cough, cough... and updating this blog).

We actually just got back from the pediatrician's office. Big 4 month check up! Dr. Jeanie's jaw hit the floor when she saw how big he was (and handsome, of course). She was impressed. And for those of you who were wagering on Brown's percentages, here they are:

Weight: 95th percentile
Head Circumference: 90th percentile (obviously, he's very smart)
Height: 75th percentile

He got 4 vaccination shots today, which he did not enjoy. Ugggh... his tears are just enough to send me to the floor crying, myself. Poor guy screamed bloody murder (reminded of his GPS scream last week). He was pretty worked up and miserable for about 20 minutes, and now he is sleeping like a rock. I don't think he will be waking up anytime soon. He cried himself into utter exhaustion. But he'll be good to go when he wakes up. All is well.

April 11, 2008

I went to GPS for a senior chapel talk a couple of days ago. I was planning on dropping Brown off at a friend's house in North Chattanooga beforehand who lives near GPS. But it wasn't really working too well with either of our schedules, and then I thought... "you know... this could be fun. Brown's first real outting in a big public place." I wanted him to meet lots of the GPS girls, too, so it would be perfect. And he's such a chill little guy that I knew he would hang out quietly like a little angel on my lap during the whole chapel. Hmmmmm... not so much. We sit on the third row of the big auditorium, surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of teenage girls. The lights dim and they start by introducing the candidates for Student Council President who are going to give their speeches. After the first one is finished talking, everyone started clapping and cheering. And Brown looked at me and then stuck his bottom lip out about 3 inches. His eyes started welling up with tears. He looked like he was about to blow. I made a quick scan of the auditorium, found the closest exit and then BAMMMMM!!! He SCREAMED louder than he has EVER SCREAMED IN HIS ENTIRE 4 months of life (Happy 4 month birthday to Brown today!) and started sobbing hysterically. It was so loud! We bolted out the exit door to the laughter of the GPS girls who obviously picked up on the fact that Brown did not approve of the candidate who was giving her speech. It was hilarious. I don't know what got to him. Maybe they all clapped too loud at one point? Or maybe the darkness in there? I still have no idea what set him off, so I am a little skittish to take him anywhere like that again. Curt and I said we would finally take him to church this weekend (the little heathen still hasn't been). He is definitely sitting on Curt's lap during the service so that I will be innocent if he flips out again.

So that was the exciting part of our week. The other exciting part is that we finally set up a "real" crib for the boy. I feel like he just officially became a real baby boy since he isn't sleeping in the Pack-N-Play or bassinet anymore. His room has looked so junky with the mixture of furniture and old office stuff shoved in there. It looks MUCH better now (though it probably won't be featured in Southern Living anytime soon).

April 4, 2008

Brown has really turned a corner the last week or so. He is smiling and interacting with us SO MUCH MORE! It has been a blast. My mom (chris's mom) got her first "real" smile a few days ago and she almost fell over backwards with glee! It was a really sweet moment for her to see that he was actually smiling at HER, and not at the ceiling fan that she might have just stepped in front of. He is also "talking" and babbling a log more. He is making all kinds of crazy fun sounds with his tongue and experimenting. Sometimes he even almost gags on his tongue because he is making such strange sounds with it. He is enjoying listening to himself, for sure, as you can see in the video on the right. If you are having trouble viewing these videos in Firefox, just look at them in Internet Explorer.

April 3, 2008

Well, I used to think that we would be focused on Brown’s age, marking every week with a home party and celebration. But it turns out that it is his weight that continually amazes us. Anytime we forget about it, our back reminds us. He is a solid 18 pounds and proud of it (especially the double chin).

A week or so ago, Chris decided not to swaddle him during the day when he takes his naps. This resulted in much shorter naps during the day, but the reward came that very night as he slept for 10 solid hours. I think he slept better than we did as we still woke at 5am just waiting for his cry which never really came until 8am or so. Anyway, this has been a welcome step forward. He is now awake much more during the day, and continuing to be much more active. He smiles, and gurgles and generally just seems to be working out. He is not yet grasping objects purposefully but he is much more focused on books and the like though Chris assures me he cannot yet read. Bath time is still a fun family time for us all and we are looking forward to the extended family beach trip in just about 6 weeks to see how he likes sitting in the sand as well as lots of water time.

Today, Chris took Brown to meet his Signal Pres Staff family on the mountain. It was really cool to get to finally introduce him to so many of the friends that were praying for him in the first few weeks of his life. He was giving some good snuggles and showing off his little horsey outfit that his Great Aunt sent him from Colorado (that he is about to bust out of on the picture at the right).

March 25, 2008

He is straining his neck to try and get a good view of the ceiling fan. What a strange fascination (though several people have emailed us to tell us that their kids were obsessed with the fans, too. So weird!).

March 24, 2008

What a gorgeous Easter weekend! We went hiking with some friends on Saturday down by Suck Creek at the bottom of Signal Mtn. It was a PERFECT day! Curt carried Brown in the Baby Bjorn and Brown seemed to love it. Once we finally got to the place where we wanted to stop hiking and chill by the river for a while, we laid Brown on the rock and just let him look up at the trees and the sky for a while. He was cooing and making all kinds of fun noises. I think we finally found something to top his love for ceiling fans. All of those trees swaying in the breeze were enough to keep him occupied on that rock for at least an hour.

March 18, 2008

We had a great day today. It started out this morning when he woke up crying and ready to eat. Normally, I go in, talk to him sweetly (he still cries) and pick him up and get his bottle ready and feed him. Well, this morning, he was hungry and crying (obviously, the thought of losing an ounce and possibly dropping below the 16 pound mark is horrifying to him) and I went in as usual and told him "good morning" and spoke sweetly to him. Suddenly, he smiled the biggest grin at me. He looked genuinely happy to see me and he stopped crying. I know this sounds so stupid, especially to all of the parents out there who have "been there, done that." But man... it is so amazing when you can tell that the smiles are actually at YOU and not ALWAYS at the ceiling fan. Granted, the fan gets Brown's smiles way more consistently than any human being at this point, but he is coming around, and it is just so, so cool to see him making that connection with us. Here are just a few random pictures from the last couple of days.

March 16, 2008

I can't believe we went this long without an update. This past week was full of lots of amazing moments with Brown, so I wasn't at the computer very much. I feel like he has really turned a corner this week where he is starting to interact with us more. And WOW! What a difference! It was already really fun and totally amazing to play with him and love all over him even when he was staring past us at the ceiling. But now... when he sometimes actually looks into our eyes and smiles... WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding? We just melt and fall all over ourselves. Curt sometimes pretends he is pulling out his checkbook and asks Brown how much he wants because he just made us so happy and we want to give him anything. Unfortunately, we are so giddy when Brown does this that we usually scare him out of it so fast because we are laughing or oooing and awwwwing too much and it kind of freaks him out. I'm sure he thinks we are the biggest idiots. He's like, "geeesh... relax... it was one little smile. Get a hold of yourselves. And I was actually just THINKING about the fan and our eyes happen to meet." No, I'm just kidding. I really do think he is recognizing our voices and faces and actually genuinely likes us. And that is just so incredibly fun and sweet (I'm such a sap... my eyes just welled up with tears).

He is also able to hold his head up more and getting stronger, though he definitely still has his bobblehead moments. He has also just figured out that standing is going to be an option at some point. We hold him up and let him push off of our legs and he tries to straighten his legs out to stand on us (which is really cute since his legs are still so baby-bowed out. He is totally loving trying to use his legs. As you can see, we have just introduced him to the "bouncy thing in the doorway" to help him work on his legs. He is a little small for it, but with the right props, he is able to hang out and push around a little bit. He looks like he enjoys his freedom in there and seems pretty proud of himself.

Anyway, it's been a great week with Brown! We are heading out to Butter and Papa's (Chris's parents) this afternoon to enjoy the sunshine at the lake. He loves being outside and feeling the breeze on his face, though he finds it very hard not to stare directly at the giant bright yellow ball in the sky. Over and over again.