The Brodies

2011-09-13T17:59:00.000-07:00

How long has it been since I posted? Some of my friends are so good at updating their blogs, I fall in the complete opposite category! Sorry!
Well, for those of you who don't know we are expecting an addition to our family in about 26 days. But who is counting. Jack is going to have a little sister! We are very excited about having a second child!
I am going to really try to update better but I do believe I say that almost every year :-)! Bear with me!
Here is a recent picture of Jack. He is growing up so fast and is more and more fun each day. He says the funniest things, some that are not blog appropriate as they have to do with the potty. Boys!
He is excited about the arrival of his little sister as of now :-)!

At last...

2010-06-29T07:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know it's been forever since I posted and my summer resolution is to be much better at my posts than I have been. Since I last posted we've moved so things were pretty crazy for a while.
Jack is growing like crazy, he's so much fun but never stops moving unless he's asleep! He wears both of us out. As seen in the picture above his likes to clap for himself and his accomplishments. Maybe because we praise him a lot :)! His current favorite game is chase and he prefers that you chase him. Here are a few more favorites of his...

Favorite songs:
Itsy bitsy spider
patty cake
head, shoulders, knees, and toes
if you're happy and you know it
(he likes to put all of the motions of these songs together!)

Words:
itsy
blue
oh
no
ready, set, go
one, two, three
dog
strawberry
blue
ball

This last week Ross was given tickets to the Padres baseball game so Jack got to experience his first professional sporting event. He lasted 4 innings (2 of which he slept), which I was impressed by! For the 4th of July we went downtown and saw the fireworks, Jack was interested but got tired of them after about 10 minutes (it was 1 1/2 hours past his bedtime too). We also went to a waterpad close by this weekend. Jack watched for a while but then played for a while.

8 Months

2009-10-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

Jack is taking off as you can see by the pictures, he's not a sitting still type of baby. I can't leave him alone for a second because he will scale up on the couch to get to the window so he can bang on it. He's so much fun. I say every stage is my favorite because he's just getting to be more and more fun. He's not walking yet but doing a lot of cruising on the furniture (along the bottom and tops of it). He had reverted to infancy like sleep patterns (getting up 3-4 times a night) so we had to do a little sleep training. I think it was harder on me than on Jack but well worth it. We are actually sleeping more than 2 hours at a time so I'm starting to feel a little more human.
We are trying keep busy, Jack loves to be out and about. On Mondays and Thursdays we have our play group meetings, Tuesdays we have library story time, Wednesdays I'm going to MOPS so Jack gets to hang out with other babies while I eat a meal sitting down, and Friday is our free day where we often love to hang out with Jack's friend Brooke. We've also joined the Y so that Jack can stay comfortable in the water. He goes under on his own, he will hold onto my hands and step into the water. He sings and talks to as many people as possible while we are at the pool.

7 Months

2009-09-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

Jack started crawling a few days before he turned 7 months old. So Ross and I have been scrambling trying to baby proof. Jack's first favorite place to go is towards Max's water bowl. He's only gotten in it once but enjoyed making a mess before I got to him. He's quite the talker and loves playing in the water. I've been trying to take him to the pool as much as possible. I think every new stage is my new favorite time in his life. He is SO MUCH FUN. He's reaching for Ross and I and he crawls toward Ross squealing when Ross gets home from work. He also loves Max and Max's toys!

5 & 6 months

2009-08-03T13:04:00.001-07:00

FIVE MONTHS

SIX MONTHS

I've gotten behind on my blog posts. Jack keeps us pretty busy these days! In June we went to Florida with my family for vacation. We had a great time together and Jack was the center of attention. While we were in Florida he decided to start rolling over and is rolling all over the place now. He is enjoying cereal and veggies, but not a big fan of fruits.
Right before he turned 6 months he started sitting up and yesterday I caught him on all fours while he was suppose to be napping. It seems like he's doing something new everyday and his little personality is growing by leaps and bounds. He's such a happy baby. He loves to sing to himself in the mirror and he'll lay in the floor and play while singing to himself. His bedtime is around 7 now, I think he would go down at 6:30 but I want Ross to see him. He'll be calm and almost ready for bed when Ross gets home, then he get SO excited and wants to play with his Daddy for a while. When Ross walks in the door Jack gets a big grin on his face and starts jumping up and down ~ he loves his Daddy!

4 Months Already!

2009-05-27T17:05:00.001-07:00

Even though I'm still getting very little sleep time still seems to fly! I can't believe Jack is 4 months already. He gets more and more fun everyday. Several people (including his pediatrician today) have commented on how vocal he is. He does love to talk it seems. He's starting to imitate us more and is catching on to how to make motorboat sounds with his lips. He continues to be in the 25th percentile for weight and head size, but has jumped from the 25th to 75th percentile in height. Maybe he will be taller than Ross and I! He's reaching for everything and loves to touch our faces (I think he really likes feeling Ross's stubble). He's amazing we love him more and more every day!

He just decided to hold his head up a couple of weeks ago and is getting pretty good at it. He still hates tummy time though.

He decided one day it would be fun to roll onto his left side, two days later he thought it would be fun to roll over. I didn't get the camera in time to get him completely on his stomach.

Jack is 3 Months

2009-05-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

I'm three months old!

Two of my roommates from college and their girls

Meeting his great grandparents - Grandteddy and Grandmother

Time flies and I'm way behind on my blogging. Jack's third month was full of firsts. First plane trip, first limo ride, first thunderstorm, first triathalon (not that he participated in, my dad did), first flag football game (Ross played), and first trip to the great state of Tennessee. We were able to fly to Tennessee the first of April and Jack got to meet his great-grandparents and many many other people. My parents hosted a "Meet Jack Party". My dad did Jack's baby dedication the same night. My mom also took Jack almost every night so I could sleep. It was amazing! I felt rested for the first time since he had been born. I barely touched him the whole trip between my parents and his aunties holding him. It was a fun and special time for all of us! His personality is starting to show a little more every week as he become more talkative and expressive!

New Happenings in the Life of Jack:
1. He's starting to look at people and follow their movements
2. He's rubbing his eyes
3. He laughed for the first time when Ross tickled him with his hair
4. He's sucking on his fists and gagging himself
5. He's staying awake for longer
6. He's discovered he has volume in his voice and loves to squeal as loudly as he can
7. He's started fake coughing, then he'll smile at me
8. He is startling himself, when he slightly rolls to one side and throws his arms out. He's not a fan

We continue to be amazed at God's gracious gift to us. He's so much fun and such a blessing. Nothing beats looking into his crib and him giving us a big smile!

Jack is Two Months!

2009-03-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

I am two months old!!

My favorite sleeping position

Learning to read :)!

I can't believe Jack is two months old already. He still gets up every 2-3 hours at night to eat but he doesn't want to get up to play until 5 or 6. While that is still way early to me it's a whole lot better than 3 am! He's growing like a little weed. At his two month appointment he weighed 10 pounds and is almost 22 inches long. He is recognizing Ross and I and smiling when he looks at us a lot of the time. He's holding his head up more, although he HATES being on his tummy. Ross says that he is turning into a human more and more everyday. He's great!

Firsts

2009-03-16T09:09:00.001-07:00

First Outing - we went to Balboa Park. He seemed to enjoy his time when he was awake.

First Trip to the Beach - This outing seemed to make him very hungry because he ate almost the whole time we were there!

First Time to Hold His Bottle

Playtime with Daddy - he's smiling and talking more and more as we play with him!

Jack and the Aunties

2009-03-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

Jack has now met all his aunts. Sarah, Hannah and Abigail came out shortly after he was born. This week Ross's sister, Megan, came out to meet him. He loves them all!

He Smiles!

2009-03-07T20:49:00.000-08:00

Here is Jack's first recorded smile with a surprise at the end. He's interacting more and more with us as we talk and play with him. He gets cuter every day!

1st Month

2009-02-24T15:02:00.000-08:00

Jack is 1 month old today! It's hard to believe a month has passed already. It's been the greatest but hardest month of my life. I'm not used to getting 4 maybe 5 hours of sleep a night, although a couple of times I have gotten 6 total which is very exciting! It seems like the first three weeks were really tough on me, then I started learning what Jack needs, not what a book says he needs. When I started giving myself grace and realizing that while one thing may have worked for my friends baby it may not work for Jack things started going much smoother. I just chilled out and started enjoying learning about my son and his needs instead of trying to make him do things like so and so's baby or like this book said things should be done. He's started "talking" a lot more in the past couple of weeks, it's pretty cute. But then again pretty much everything he does we think is pretty cute! He had his 1 month check up yesterday and his pediatrician said he looks great. He's in the 25th percentile in height and the 10th percentile in weight. So that means that we are still feeding on demand or every 3 hours to get his weight up a little more. He weighed 8 lb 2 oz.

So here are a few things I've learned about my son in the past month that I can think of off the top of my sleep deprived brain!

1. He loves to sunbathe
2. He's very alert and loves to look around, especially at 3 in the morning
3. He's aggressive and easily impatient, so if I don't start feeding him when he starts telling me it's time then it takes a while to calm him down and even then feeding can be hard because he's so worked up. So I'm trying to learn to anticipate what his cried mean.
4. He loves baths
5. His pee can reach long distances and he has very good aim
6. The whole letting the baby cry themselves to sleep does not work with Jack. He will get himself so worked up that he will throw up and we have to feed all over again. So we are learning to soothe him to sleep and he sleeps SO much better and longer (the 5 S's really work with him). Plus I love holding and watching him!
7. He loves his swing
8. He's very active whether he's awake or sleeping (so swaddling really works great)
8. and my personal favorite...He prefers his mommy to anyone else. I told Ross to let me enjoy my few months of glory because soon Ross was going to be his favorite!

Here are a few pictures of each week of his life:
Week 4

Week 3

Week 2

Week 1

Meet Jack Isaac Brodie

2009-01-27T14:08:00.000-08:00

Nursery In Progress

2009-01-20T18:27:00.001-08:00

At the request of some here are pictures of the nursery so far. My mom is bringing the bedding so I'll post those pictures later on. Our theme is surfing (what else would it be!). The pictures on the wall are of Ross so our little boy can look at those and dream of being as good a surfer as his dad! I have letters to hang between the pictures but since we haven't decided on a name I thought I would wait and put holes in the wall AFTER we choose a name. I think it'll look really good once we get the surfer bedding in there. I'm also going to hang a shelf above the guest bed and put cute little animals and baby books on there, but since I didn't have much luck trying to hang it I'm going to let my dad hang it. All I managed to do was make two very big holes in the wall (which are nicely covered up with two picture frames at the moment). Ross will have to fix my damage before we move! Oh, and for the record, I did not paint the walls like that, it was our landlord. If we stay here after the summer I may have to paint over them.

9 days and counting...

2009-01-18T12:24:00.000-08:00

So we have 9 days to go before our due date...little Brodie continues to be active and I think he's ready to come. We're ready for him to come! Everything is ready, my last day of work was Friday, and the nursery is ready. Ross has described this time as the anticipation of waiting to open Christmas presents...only we don't know when Christmas is!

New Year's Day Surfing

2009-01-04T20:12:00.000-08:00

31 Days to go!!

2008-12-28T16:55:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

2008-12-27T18:29:00.001-08:00

I (Elizabeth) have taken over posting to our blog so you can see pictures of our little boy when he arrives. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

We're Back

2007-07-16T19:33:00.000-07:00

We haven't posted in awhile–we found out the hard way our camera wasn't waterproof. So we got a new one. Here's some shots of us, guess what, surfing. It was a pretty small day, but fun nevertheless. Elizabeth's getting quite good at it. We've pretty much got a routine down–work and surf. An average Saturday or Sunday is us getting to the beach mid morning, surfing for a few hours, coming in and eating lunch, then going out and surfing for a few more hours. Oh yeah, then crashing at about 9 PM. Fourth of July was CRAZY. People literally parked like 5 miles from the beach and walked. We lucked into a close spot. Look for our next post, you'll see what a wetsuit tan line looks like. It's pretty embarrassing.

Two daze in Texas

2007-06-12T19:45:00.000-07:00

Well we finally made it back to Texas. After a 5 hour flight delay and a bumpy flight, we arrived in warm and humid DFW at about 3am. We slept for a couple of hours and then began the race to see as many family and friends as possible. All the while, taking part in a good friend's wedding—Tim Tam that is. Here's Elizabeth and I with a former coworker and spouse at the rehearsal dinner. Family, friends and the wedding were all good. Shrek 3, however, wasn't. Don't waste the cash. Elizabeth got some good time with her old roomies and me with my Mom. Saw some friends at church and BAM! we're back on a plane to San Diego and surfing a few hours later. On a sad note, my ribs have been hurting really bad and I haven't been able to surf for what feels like an eternity. And Elizabeth gashed her hands open after she beached (and extensively dinged) the longboard. She'll be back in the water in no time.

Wheels Off

2007-05-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

So we had our first visitor from Texas—Nathan Wheeler, our good friend who hails from the United States of Canadia, eh. We just kind of hung out for the time he was here and introduced him to a couple of staples in San Diego. Those being fish tacos from South Beach Bar and Grille (amazing by the way) and In-N-Out Burger (equally as amazing). We also surfed a little bit. Being from Canadia means either you are impervious to cold or just plain crazy as Nathan went without a wetsuit in the 58 degree water. The first day was a little rough as I paddled out only to look back and see that Nathan had been washed about a quarter-mile down shore. Day two was much more successful with Nathan surfing like it was second nature. And he earned some respect from the locals by going suitless.

Everybody's surfin'

2007-05-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

Up top is my brand new board. It's a 6'8" Egg made by a local shaper called Tee Dee Kay. I've only been out on it twice, but it's awesome! Also, you might note my lovely wife is surfing too. Here she is her first time out riding like she's been doing it her whole life. She did freak out about the cold water when she first got in, but got used to it quickly.

Balboa

2007-05-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago, we went and hung out at beautiful Balboa Park. It's fields and trees and hills as far as the eye can see. Plus a dog park for Max. When you cross the highway on a ginormous bridge, you get to a row of museums, one right after the other. And here's Max drinking from a water fountain. Kind of gross, but all dogs do it.

Baseball Tonight

2007-04-28T09:46:00.000-07:00

Went to our first Padres game and we sat on the very last row of the outfield. Can't complain though, because the tickets were free. Elizabeth got them from her work. We parked at my office for free and walked about 10 city blocks to get to the stadium, which is beautiful by the way. We did leave the game quite early to go home and watch the Mavericks. What's up with those guys anyways?

Our Domicile

2007-04-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our apartment and the view from our balcony.

Max is driving now

2007-04-15T16:12:00.001-07:00

They grow up so fast.

Getting Settled In

2007-04-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

San Diego is starting to feel like home. We are slowly learning our way around and getting to see some of the great sights the area has to offer. Speaking of great sights, here's a picture I took of Elizabeth at the Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma.

San Diego

2007-03-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

Well we made it. Work for me has been hectic, Elizabeth just accepted a job starting tomorrow and I've been surfing. That's me there dominating the white wash. Elizabeth's going to start surfing soon too.
Elizabeth is going to start surfing when it gets warmer here. Ross failed to mention it was as warm in the water as it was on the beach, which made it about 58 degrees but add wind to that and it was a lot colder. I was huddled up on the beach in a sweatshirt, trying to stay out of the wind. I couldn't understand why there were over 50 crazy people out there including my husband!
Here is a picture of Max at the beach making friends. I've had a lot of fun taking him to doggie parks and doggie beaches. We've tried to go pretty much every day! He's in for a rude awakening tomorrow.

Week Two

2007-02-22T21:19:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth started her new job Monday. On Tuesday she started looking for another one. She hated it. Wednesday, an auto shop tried to scam me on the smog check. They started my car up, hooked it up to the emissions tester and plumes of smoke filled the parking lot. Coincidentally, it hasn't smoked since. I'm gonna take it somewhere else next week. Oh, and did I mention I got a job. That's right, in sunny San Diego at an agency called VitroRobertson. I start March 1st and we have to move, again. It's been a good two weeks in LA. Elizabeth gets to quit her crummy job and our apartments are cool with us moving out with no penalties. It's also a great opportunity at a great agency. And people there SURF! We spent the rest of the week looking for apartments and movers. And we found a great apartment that's 5 minutes from everything.

California: Day 6

2007-02-08T22:07:00.000-08:00

Not much going on today, just a picture of a cool donut shop.

California: Day 5

2007-02-08T21:52:00.000-08:00

Went and hung out with Katharine McPhee and some of her closest friends today. And when I say closest friends, I mean stalkers. We watched the recording of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show with musical guest McPhee and some crazies came out. One 60ish-year old woman had been waiting over seven hours for her performance. She took three days off from her job and drove down from Washington with mutliple posters in hand and clad in a McPhee t-shirt (homemade). She claimed to have McPheever but Elizabeth thinks she had a different type of fever. Nevertheless, the show was cool. Also across the street at the Chinese theatre, the premier of Music and Lyrics was happening where we saw some seemingly important peeps on the red carpet. Oh, and Dr. Geek put our names into rap songs.

California: Day 4

2007-02-08T21:46:00.000-08:00

Don't hire movers. We do at least have a TV stand with one detachable leg. No beach today, it disappeared. Fog, fog and more fog. Drove to Venice Beach today, not much doing. Only a few weirdos out.

California: Day 3

2007-02-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

Thought we'd change things up on day 3 and walk to the beach. The top picture is the view from the front of our apartment complex and the bottom is the view once you've climbed that Everest of a hill. Don't let the pretty picture fool you. I put my feet in the water the day before and they almost went Mr. Deeds on me (frostbite if you haven't seen the movie).

California: Day 2

2007-02-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

Naturally, on our first full day in LA, we headed to Hollywood. We saw stars on the floor, hand and footprints in concrete and a big sign on a hill. Add to it, the world's worst Elvis. Then we saw Peyton Manning whoop up on "da Bears." And we went to the beach for a little bit, by way of walking. Thank ya, thank ya very much.

California: Day 1

2007-02-08T00:18:00.000-08:00

Ok, we actually started the day in Vegas, baby! After Utah-ing the buffets, one night in a swanky although suspect hotel that made poor Max sleep in the car while we slept surrounded by paintings of naked folks and a modest $10 jackpot won in The Orleans casino, we scooted to LA. All the while fighting traffic and the movers (too long of a story to tell here). We found our new casa and walked, that's right, walked to the beach just in time to see the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. Did I mention we can walk to the beach.