We Love Brennan

This is a little late, I know, but...
In honor of Brennan's 3rd birthday, here's a little tribute.

Brennan Lavell Stevenson was born late Wednesday night on April 13th, 2005. He weighed 7 lb 2 oz.

Brian and Heather were so pleased to have him. His gender had been left a surprise during pregnancy, so it was fun meet him with that surprise.

Brennan was a good baby. He liked to watch what was going on around him.

Brian and Heather thought Brennan was the cutest baby in the whole world! (Sorry Justin--baby cousin born just 3 months earlier)

Brian got to "catch" Brennan when he was born, as well as cut the cord. What a proud Papa!




For his first birthday, Brennan had a little party. Mama made a carrot cake from scratch... not something she's likely to attempt again any time soon.

Brennan liked it however.

What big, blue eyes!

Some friends and family came bearing gifts.







Daddy had to help blow out the candle.

The first year and flown by. It's hard to believe how much growth occurs in such a short time period.


Birthday #2! The terrible twos began... j/k. Well sometimes it seemed so, but we couldn't really complain. There's nothing like going out and observing other children's behavior to make you appreciate your own child's.

Brennan loved the finger puppets from his Grana Stevenson.

Brennan spent his third birthday with several requests: He wanted to open his present with the racecar wrapping paper, and he wanted to wear his Spiderman p.j.s.

Mama intended to make some awesome themed birthday cake for his birthday party a few days later, but in the end had the kids decorate their own cupcakes. So, at least he had a cake, although nothing extraordinary, on his birthday.

Brennan blew and blew, every so gently. I don't remember if he ever got those candles out, or if someone else eventually stepped in. It was funny though.

We love Brennan so much. We must have done something right in the pre-mortal life because Brennan is such a blessing in our lives. We love how caring he is for others. We love how helpful he is (Mama can't do a single job without his wanting to help, from vacuuming to laundry to making the bed) We love his sillyness. Everyday Mama tells Daddy all the "Brennanisms" of the day.

As I've told you before: Thank You, Brennan, for being in our family!

Momentous Occasion

Time to celebrate... Brennan has finally had his first potty in his potty-chair. Every now and then Brennan will spend the better part of a day naked and sitting on again, off again on his potty chair. Today was another such day. The problem is that he doesn't go and eventually nap/bed time comes around, and which point I put on a diaper and he promptly goes potty.

Today, Brennan spent all morning naked... nothing. He went during nap time. After nap time and outside play, he undressed again for round two. At dinner time he put pants on over his bare bottom, which made me a little nervous... but still nothing. Finally I was putting Asher in the bath and Brennan wanted to join him. As usual I used the potty chair as a bribe, and as usual Brennan sat on it reminding me that after he went potty on the chair he could join Asher... but doing nothing.

About a half hour later Brennan told me he'd gone potty (not unlike him to claim) and I looked and sure enough, there was a quarter sized puddle in his potty chair. I gave him the most extravagant praise a 3 year old's ever gotten. Now that his bath is over he's getting to wear his Cars (the movie) pull-ups, and he's eating an orangecicle (an accumulation of bribes he's been getting over the last month or so). Let's hope he's sufficiently motivated to do it again. I've been hoping that all it'd take is for him to just go once, and then he'd know what I meant by going potty in the potty-chair. There hasn't been any conceivable reason, as far as I'm concerned, why he'd sit there for hours and not go.

Hurray!!!!

Life is Like a Chair of Babies

Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day. The 79 degrees felt hot and the whole community seemed to come out the woodwork, so to speak. Everybody was outside... except those few of us who enjoyed a childbirth class reunion. At said event we showed off our babies, took turns telling our labor stories, and took a picture of our babies lined up chronologically on the sofa. Asher's the one in the white onsie with the red cars.

Bathtime, anyone?

A few nights ago Brennan was sitting on the potty-chair (another futile attempt. Let's just say the chair has never needed to be cleaned... yet!) so I decided to give Asher a bath since I'd be hanging out in the area anyway. Brennan thought it sounded like a good idea and wanted to join him. I told him that the water would be shallow and he wouldn't be able to splash, but he still wanted to. So, they've officially had their first shared bath. I just had to take pictures of the moment. I can't get over the size difference though. Brennan looks like a giant compared to Asher.

Asher Sucks! (Literally)

Asher's gotten into a big sucking phase. Of course, we offer the pacifier but he apparently prefers human flesh because he doesn't embrace the the pacifier very often. I tend to hold Asher facing outwards, but I'm learning my lesson. See the picture below? That little number took Asher about 5 seconds to create on my arm. When my body is within a 3 inch radius of his mouth he just goes to town! (No wonder nursing is still painful so often)

Can't help but forgive him though.

Spiderboy

One afternoon Brennan was going through our movies and found Spiderman II. He wanted to watch it so I told him that it was a "Dad movie." He insisted so I said o.k. figuring he'd lose interest after seeing it was boring (compared to a kid movie). Even with a kid movie he's done within a few minutes.

That's why I was so surprised when he watched the whole thing. Any time Peter Parker was himself Brennan would ask me over and over "Where'd Spiderman go?" until Peter in his Spiderman outfit were on.

Eventually Brennan ran upstairs and put on his Spiderman p.j.'s and pretended to be Spiderman himself as we watched the movie. I thought his new rainboots added a particularly interesting flair to the ensemble however.

This is what happens when Brennan poses for a picture. I don't know why he closes his eyes when we tell him to smile for the camera, but he does.

P.S. Brennan refers to himself as Spiderboy. I love it!

O.K., so I finally get a minute to post, and I can't find the camera. (Brian used it last, and he's not home.... I think he may have taken to work anyway). I've thought of lots of stories since the last post, many of which with pictures, but I can't really remember most of them now.

One item: Brennan's had a birthday! He's 3 years old now. If you ask him how old he is he answers "I'm 3 years old on my birthday" We celebrated with family on Sunday the 13th (his actual birthday). Brennan was kinda grouchy that day because he wanted to open the gift in the lightening McQueen wrapping paper real bad. In hind-sight, maybe I shouldn't have been such a stickler to wait until after dinner. On the other hand though, I believe children need to learn the concept of waiting... you can't always get what you want the moment you want it. (Side note: I went to a meeting the other day where our keynote speaker was 2007's National Mother of the Year. She is from my home ward growing up. Something she said has stuck with me: Allow your child to be disappointed. Too often we try to keep that experience from our children, which really hinders their ability to learn resilience.) Anyway...

The next day, Monday, Brian's grandparents visited from Idaho. It was such a pleasure to see them. They gave Brennan a teddy bear for his birthday which Brennan enjoys quite a bit. When he opened his gift he said "This is Brennan's Asher baby." He then said that he needed to feed his Asher baby and proceeded to walk over to the couch, sit down, lift up his shirt, and lay the teddy bear across himself with the mouth at his chest. It was hilarious! He just sat there non-chalantly looking at us with a look that said, "As you were saying..."

Today, Wednesday, Brennan had his friend party. For the activity this year I made cupcakes and set out several colors/flavors of frosting and sprinkles, mini M&M's, coconut, and other goodies. The kids decorated their own cupcakes in place of a regular birthday cake. (I'd already made a cake and we did the candle thing during the family party anyway). It went very well.

O.K. Brian just came home and showed me where the camera was. Time to upload some pictures.