Just Brian

Last month I did a post which was mostly Aaron, so this time I'll do one of recent Brian photos. He really is still a very happy, laid back baby, except when his teething is hurting him or if mom hasn't fed him recently. It's very easy to get him to smile, just kiss him and he laughs immensely! He loves his bath and is sitting up very well when propped up. He can only sit by himself for a few seconds and still hasn't made that inital roll yet, but he "almost" gets it all the time! His latest trick is blowing 'raspberries' and while it is adorable, it's not appreciated when he's supposed to be nursing or eating his cereal. I can't believe he'll be 6 months old next week. Time sure does fly!

Matching Outfits

Jen loves to dress the boys up in coordinating outfits. Here are two of the latest pictures she's taken of her obsession!





As you can see, Aaron is a bit of a ham these days and does a fake smile anytime we bring out a camera. Getting 'candids' is getting harder and harder!

Pictures of the Brothers from Sears

My mom and I were at Sears today doing some shopping and when we passed by the photo studio and there was no wait to have their pictures taken right away, and I realized I had never really had their pictures taken yet, I just had to do it. Of course I had to buy new clothes for them right away before we could do it, but it all worked out. To see all the pictures click on this link.

Beautiful Day part 2

As promised here are the pictures from our day at the park!

Everyone loves swinging!

This was actually Brian's first time in a swing.

Aaron later jumped in a puddle and got all wet!

We joke that in 20+ years we'll put this on the wedding announcement!

It really was a beautiful day and a big thanks to Elena who took the pictures and played with them. Photoshop queen!

Beautiful Day

We had a beautiful day here in Katy, Texas. It was clear and about 64 degrees. At about 4pm Aaron, Brian and I went to a local park with another set of friends, Brooklyn (2), Dallin (5 months) and Elena and let our 2 year olds just play and play on the slides and park equipment. Paul and Brandon met us there after work and we played longer then we all went over to the little lake they have and let them chase the ducks. Then Aaron and Brooklyn just played around jumping and holding hands. It was adorable and Elena took some great pictures which I will post when she sends them to me. I just wanted to say what a great day we had and we wish everyone could have been with us!

The screeching eels!

They always grow louder just as they are about to feed on human flesh! (32 seconds)

Brian eats his first rice cereal

This took place on Christmas Day and he actually ate quite a bit. This is the portion Paul videoed while Jen fed Brian. He now eats 2 full tablespoons and holds his mouth open wide wanting it! (28 seconds)

Aaron, what is for Dinner?

29 seconds

Our New Kitchen

Everyone has been anxious to see our kitchen since we "updated" it. We love it and are very pleased with everything. (1 minute 36 seconds)

The latest Brian update

We just got back from Brian's 4 month check-up. We are proud to say that we have a healthy and happy fat little baby! They said that he weighed 18 lbs, 13.5 oz which put him in the 95% for weight.
He was 27 inches tall, therefore in the 97% for height. And his head was 43.5 cm around placing him in the 75%.

The Holidays

Thanksgiving this year was a fun week. I took the whole week off from work and relaxed. However a relaxing week turned into a rush to get our kitchen made-over. We began a while ago by re-facing/painting our cabinets. The daunting task of stripping the wallpaper fueled our procrastination. We buckled down and got to work last week and spent somewhere between 8 - 12 hours stripping wallpaper and repairing the drywall underneath. It was dirty and exhausting. It made celebrating Thanksgiving and our 4th anniversary that much better as we refused to work on the kitchen on those days.

Jennifer did a fantastic job with Thanksgiving, I'd like to report. Her parents, whom we would normally have spent Thanksgiving with, were out of town to a wedding, so we spent our first holiday alone as a family. But Jen masterfully multi-tasked her way through the kitchen ensuring that everything was cooked and ready at the designated eating time.

This week has been spent painting and are we are excited for the new floor to come. We will be very happy when it is done. We love working on our house, but with two kids, and all the distractions of life, projects are just tough.

Of course there are stresses that come with the joys of celebrating Christmas, but those don't amount to much for us, so we thought crippling our kitchen and working on it every other night would make up for it.

We do love Christmas, this year is going to be especially fun. Aaron loves to sing, so we are having a LOT of fun listening to and singing Christmas music. The fun also includes introducing Aaron to traditional Christmas lore. Santa will be visiting the Thomas house. He is catching the Christmas magic. I am sure that if you listened carefully during the day you can hear Aaron sing Joy to the World to himself. He even sang in the Primary Talent Show... all 4 verses of I am a Child of God. Aaron was really brave to stand up in front of all the people and sing. Jen has been called back to our ward nursery and loves it; so do the kids, and their parents. And that gives Brian and I a chance to spend a couple of hours together at church each Sunday. Mostly he sleeps, but really does provide a great excuse for not paying close attention.

I have mixed feeling to report that I am a newly trained Assistant Scoutmaster. As much as I like the outdoors, generally approve of the BSA organization and it's core objectives, and have a lot of fun serving this capacity... it takes an awful lot of time and will likely consume some valuable vacation days next year. As long as that word assistant is there, it shouldn't be too bad.

Aaron amazes us pretty much each day. Last night at dinner we told him that he had two choices... 1. he could eat a few bites and be excused or 2. he could wait for mommy and daddy to finished eating and then he could be excused. A few minutes later was talking about THREE choices. We asked him what his three choices were. He answered as such: 1. he could eat a few bites and then be excused, 2. wait for mommy and daddy to be finished, or 3. go play with his toys. It was nearly impossible to hold in the laughter. Eventually Jen and I finished eating and we all went and played with toys.

Brian... so cute. Yes, he still eats and sleeps (he has slept through the night three of the last four nights - WHOO - HOO!)
But, add to his resume, smiling in response to our smiles, having massive drumstick legs, talking. Yes, we talk. We talk to him and he talks back. Such happy noises. He cries some, he still grunts a bit. But generally is a very pleasant and happy little baby.

Marcia's Visit

Jen's sister Marcia was in town last weekend visiting the family. We had a great time and miss her already.

While she was here we all went to Justin and Julie Anderson's Halloween party and dressed up in costumes as seen below. Aaron was afraid of Grandma and wouldn't look at her all night.
Aunt Sissy had a lot of fun playing with both the boys and even babysat for them when Jen and Paul both had appointments to go to.
I think Aunt Sissy really came in town to hold Brian for the first time, but don't tell Mom and Dad Fuller that!

Here's another shot of Brian giving his awesome smiles. He's ticklish on his cheeks and head and smiles whenever we tickle him. He also is cooing more and more and smiling just at our smiles as well.
I know we have posted a similar picture before, but they just keep growing up and look so cute together. Aaron has taken to kissing Brian on his belly a lot. It's so cute to see him love his little brother!

And lastly, we have a picture Grandma and Grandpa Fuller's new pool boy! He's very helpful!

Trick or Treat

Since we only had 9 trick or treaters come to our house, we had tons of left over candy, therefore it was as if we went trick-or-treating for hours! If we even make a meager attempt to eat all the leftovers, we'll lose our teeth and no longer fit into our pants. But there is nothing like leftover halloween candy to undo whatever good we've accomplished at the gym.

This year has been fun, we went to Justin and Julie Anderson's Halloween party and Aaron, as Sherrif Aaron on his horse, took home a prize for his costume.

Aaron was a champion trick-or-treater saying "Happy Halloween" "Trick or Treet" and "Boo" in his adorable little voice, and we imagine his skill will only improve as the years add on.

And we had two choices with Brian... we could dress him up as you see him above and he was a pumpkin, or we could have just removed all his clothes and painted our little rotund baby orange. What a belly! He does look a little bit like the Jack-o-latern that we carved.

Happy Halloween.

A few more Brian pictures

We just got back from Brian's doctor's appointment (2 month check-up). Here are his latest statistics.
Height: 23 3/4 in (75%)
Weight: 15 lbs 1.5 oz (>97%)
Head: 41 cm (75%)
He's doing great and got all his shots today. He was a total champ and fell right asleep as soon as I held him again. Aaron got his flu shot too and was very brave.

Here's some recent pictures we took of Brian for everyone to enjoy.

I gave my Grammy some great smiles while she was here. I'm getting really good at smiling!

I usually like my bath, but sometimes...

I really concentrate on my Tummy Time!

Just chilling on my mat. Life is good!

Brian's Baby Blessing

Brian was blessed in church on October 8, 2006. In the circle for the blessing were his father, both grandfathers, the bishopric, Todd Teeples (one of our home teachers), and Dan Ison and Justin Anderson (family friends). The blessing was beautiful and we are so grateful for the wonderful family we have.

Brian in the blessing outfit both he and Aaron used.

Here's the family picture we took after the blessing. We wish everyone could have been here to make the picture bigger!

Brian and Grandpa Thomas

Brian and Grammy Thomas

Brian and Grandma Fuller

Brian and Grandpa Fuller

Jen and Aaron had a great time hanging out in the backyard after the blessing.

Grammy & Grandpa Thomas come to visit

Grandpa and Grammy Thomas came to visit us in Houston for Brian's baby blessing and for Paul's birthday. October is such a nice time of year in Houston. We had a great time and are so glad that they were able to spend as much time with us as they did. We miss you.

We went to the Houston Zoo and enjoyed seeing the Elephants, Giraffes, Monkeys and LOTS LOTS more. What a nice day.

Grandpa and Aaron relaxing in the shade.

We went to the birthplace of Texas. The San Jacinto monument sure is tall.

We went to the park and played on the playground. Daddy and Aaron rode a purple dinosaur.

We had fun swimming at the Fullers.

I really should learn how to golf.Disclaimer: Although you don't see Brian in these pictures, we can assure you that he ate and slept his way through all our fun activities.

New haircut

How do you get a toddler to sit still so you can cut his hair? I put on his favorite movie, which these days is "The Sound of Music" and I went to town on his hair. I'm not very good, but hopefully every 2 months when I cut his hair I get a little better. By the time he cares what he looks like I hope I know what I'm doing. Of course by then he may want to go to the barber shop with his dad, but this is definitly cheaper.

Oh, and if you wondered what the sore on his nose is, he got a rug burn when he was playing with his Dad on Monday night. It breaks our hearts to see it, but it doesn't seem to bother him at all!

Ready for Church

Brothers! (twins?)I'm ready for my close up!

Cute Church Family