March 2010

Our "little" girl has finally arrived! Kendall Adrea Commender was born on March 17, 2010. I put "little" in quotation marks because she was 9 lbs. 12 oz and 21 in. long! And, yes, I ended up having a VBAC. Thank God for epidurals! Not surprisingly, and as I predicted, she was born with a full head of hair with extra hair on her back and shoulders as well! All joking aside, she is a beautiful little girl and we are very blessed to have a healthy and happy daughter to complete our family.

I have to admit that I love all of her clothes! She has a wardrobe bigger than mine thanks to the extra supply of clothes I received from Lacey, Lane, and Lisa. Thanks, ladies! She is quite the little sleepyhead right now but I'm sure that will change soon. When she is not sleeping, her favorite activity is to remind me how hard and painful breastfeeding is, but I'm trying to trudge forwad with it!

Brendan has been such a good big brother and is just so sweet with Kendall. He gives her kisses constantly during the day and is always wanting to touch and stroke her. It is so adorable to watch. He calls her "Key" or "Bay-BEE" which he pronounces like he was saying it in French. He still thinks I have a "Bay-BEE" in my stomach though! Grandma and Grandpa have been visiting since Kendall was born and have been a huge help taking care of Brendan while I tend to Kendall. Plus, Eddie took a week and a half off of work as well. So, when everyone asks me how it is with 2 kids, I have said, "Easy, so far!" b/c I have so much help. Ask me in a couple of weeks!

Brendan is such a good helper! I thought he would be trying to steal Kendall's pacifiers but he always gently tries to get her to take them. And he gets upset when she cries, so maybe he will always be her protector! When you show him pictures of her or her clothes, he says, "Awww!" in the cutest little voice. I can't believe I have 2 babies but they are both so precious.

February 2010

One of my oldest and dearest friends, Lacey, came to visit this month with her sweet little girl, Aurelia (Auri). Auri is only a week younger than Brendan and, actually, Lacey and I were supposed to have the same due date. Crazy! The two kids had the best time playing, and Lacey and I have already started planning their wedding! Ha ha! Lacey took these cute pics as she is an aspiring photographer.

Here they are dancing! This month Brendan has loved to dance to a little electronic drum/music machine from Aunt Sandy & Uncle Burt. He has a different dance for each song on the machine. It is so cute!

At first Brendan wasn't so sure about his feelings for Auri.....

.....but that all changed by bath time. Precious!

\

As promised, here is a shot of Kendall's room. We have done a butterflies and flowers look, and all it needs now is one baby girl who is due in 2 more weeks. We did a few of these decals on the wall, and I love this tree decal!

Next month, we'll have pictures of our new addition! Can't wait!

January 2010

This picture says it all! In the last month, Brendan has really begun to assert his independence and, in that independence, our little man who used to eat everything in front of him has decided that only HE will decide what he will and will not eat! And when he doesn't want to eat something, you can see the result. It's actually pretty funny now that we don't let it frustrate us and just resolve that if he's not going to eat when we want him to, he'll eat eventually!
Brendan definitely had a good Christmas, and although he was still most impressed by the wrapping paper and the bows (He probably said "Wow!" 100 times while opening gifts), he really loves this tricycle that he got from Grandma & Grandpa.

He also loves this bouncing bike that he got from Uncle Richard and Aunt Eve. He goes all over the house with this thing. And, as you can see, the Duplo blocks from Uncle Tom & Aunt Patti are a huge hit as well (and a huge mess to clean up, but oh well!).

It's hard to believe that in only 2 short months we will have 2 babies living in this house. I have to admit that I am more than a little nervous about this change, but I am excited to meet our little baby girl! We are almost done with Kendall's room, and I will post pictures of it next month. It is so cute!

December 2009

Our little Superman! Brendan is getting so big and doing great, though he has been sick off and on for the last month or so. He loves to run around and discover things. He also really likes to help me put away the laundry and the dishes, and he helps Eddie get the dog bowls to feed Nash & Sam. He is so much fun!

Here he is on the carousel at the mall! And just in case you are wondering, this is his excited face!

This last month, Brendan has correctly learned to identify his nose, ears, head, and belly! I think my big pregnant belly has been essential in teaching him this as you can see from the video above. He loves to kiss my belly when I ask him to give Kendall a kiss - so cute! 2 1/2 months to go before he is a big brother!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to Everyone!

November 2009

Nash is finally allowing Brendan to pet and kiss him, which is a big feat for Nash who has turned into a crotchedy old man as of late. It took him 2 full years to accept Sam, so I guess Brendan got lucky! Brendan loves to pet (a.k.a. smack) the dogs and give them big kisses on their sides, tails, etc. It's pretty funny! And, whenever you ask Brendan to give someone a kiss now, he will always do it and it's pretty darn cute. Thankfully, he usually kisses people on the cheek, not the tail like the dogs!

We went to Houston for Thanksgiving and, while we were there, we took Brendan to the Houston Children's Museum, which is awesome! They even have an area designated specifically for toddlers, and Brendan had a blast! You could seriously spend all day in that place and, I learned afterwards, that it's considered one of the best children's museums in the U.S. I'm sure we will become regular visitors.

Brendan loved these cars which had wheels you could turn and horns you could beep. He looks so grown up here! Hopefully, he won't inherit his mother's love of speeding and his father's Road Rage when he gets to be a driver!

We should have suspected from a kid who loves to look at pictures of himself, that the mirrors in the museum would be a big hit, and they were! Here they had doors which you could knock on (yes, Brendan, has been knocking on doors, windows, and everything else lately) and ring the doorbell, and when you opened the door, there was a mirror. He was going crazy and laughing hysterically!

This picture came out blurry but I had to include it b/c one of Brendan's newest accomplishments is running. He has gotten pretty fast but still struggles with balance. He was so excited at the museum that he ran full speed ahead into this display and nearly split his head open. He got a big welt between his eyebrows which thankfully has dissipated into only a bad scratch but, after that, our trip to the museum ended quickly!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We have much to be thankful for this year!

October 2009

This was Brendan's first year to trick-or-treat, and he was the cutest little dinosaur ever! It will be hard to top this costume in years to come!

And Brendan's costume was the inspiration for the costumes Eddie & I wore to our friends' Halloween party, so we were the complete Stone Age family!

Other than rocking the Halloween costume, Brendan is doing great! He really enjoys being outside, and we have had some great weather lately for going to the park. He continues to be full of smiles and laughter and makes us happy every day!

I'm currently 5 months pregnant, and we just found out recently that Baby #2 is a GIRL!!! We couldn't be happier about this news and are looking forward to having one of each, since we don't intend to have more than 2 kids! ( : We are naming the baby Kendall Adrea, and she is due to arrive on March 18th (and I'm willing to bet she will be the hairy baby!...lol).

September 2009

Brendan is completely walking now, and it is so cute! He has gotten pretty fast, and his favorite new activity is chasing the "Pup-Pups" around the house, as he calls them. He is definitely talking more as well, with "Da-Da" probably being his favorite word. In fact when he hears Eddie walk in the door at the end of the day, he says "Da-Da!" and starts walking to the back door. Too cute! He also likes to take things out of containers and hand them to me, so I've gotten him to help me unload the dishwasher and the drier! Next month, I'm sure he'll have a part time job outside the house. LOL

He also started Mother's Day Out this month and has enjoyed it very much. He goes once a week for 5 hours. Every day the "teachers" put a little report in his tote bag which says how he did for the day. So far, he has been "Happy" every time and has had fun with all of the activities. He has even napped each day, so that has been great. I'm so happy he gets along so well with other people and doesn't have Seperation Anxiety whenever I drop him off. I'm really glad we got him involved with this.

My pregnancy is going well with no major problems to report. I'm 4 months along now so I'm starting to get my energy and appetite back. I'm looking forward to finding out the sex of the baby so I can start to work on his/her room which I get to design this time.