December random pics .. should be in bed, but wanted to post 'something'.

Hannah found the baby powder ... again.

Not sure what he is listening to, but he liked it!

Its about time!

Brian was tired after a "ladies night out" with Mommy. He was the only boy in a room of 13 ladies. :-)

A very easily distracted little boy. And yes, he is starting to crawl, stand up, and cause lots of mischief.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we celebrated with family friends and their neighbors. There were about 20-25 people - of which, we knew 5. Most of the food was catered, but each family brought one thing extra (homemade rolls from me, pumpkin cookies from my friend, homemade stuffing, salad, and a pecan pie - my favorite!)

Hannah didn't eat much, because Hannah usually doesn't eat much. She did eat 1 1/2 of the rolls though! Mostly, she just enjoyed running around and playing with the other kids.

Brian ate mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and rolls. The next day we had leftovers and he tried some of the peas and carrots - surprisingly, he liked them. (The scratch on his nose is from his over-loving sister.)

OH, and Brian also got his 3rd tooth just in time for Thanksgiving! If you click on this picture below and zoom in, you can see one of the top ones coming in.

After dinner, it started raining, but that didn't stop Hannah from having fun! Good thing we packed extra clothes. :-)

We hope that everyone else had a good thanksgiving as well. We missed our family, but at least we had a meal to eat.

Continuation of last post

In keeping with my theme of my last post (and getting inspiration from some photos I have recently seen), I decided to make a short video. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.

(If you want to see the pictures bigger, they are all in my facebook photo album.)

(Background music: "Never Grow Up" by Taylor Swift)

They grow up too fast!

There have been a lot of changes with my little man over the last few weeks, so it is time to put them all in a post. I know all moms say this, but (humor me) "He is growing up so fast!" Sometimes I look at him and wonder what his voice will sound like when he says "more, please " or even "Mom, I love you." I wonder what he will look like with a full head of hair. I hope that his gorgeous blue eyes won't change color. I wonder what his favorite songs will be growing up. I worry about what his favorite bugs / animals will be. I dread the thought of watching him run away from me.

For now though, he is still my sweet little baby who can only move very slowly by doing an army crawl. Here are his latest achievements.

1) First tooth (October 18th)

2) Eating more solid foods like graham crackers (or as Hannah calls them "Grandma crackers!). We are noticing that he hates the texture of pureed foods, and instead likes "real foods."

3) Saying "Mamamamama". (Late October) No pictures, but maybe we can try and get a video of him talking.

4) Sitting up by himself! One day after naptime, Jason found Brian in his bed sitting up waiting for him. Over the last few days, we have seen him doing it more and more while playing on the floor. Notice in the following series of pictures where the pacifier is! They are posted in order.

(another day, but still showing off his skills)

5) Second tooth (October 31st). I can't wait to see that little smile in a few weeks when he has both those teeth in!

6) First haircut (Nov 1st). He wasn't looking too bad, but he had a few sections of hair on the top that were getting long and thick. I just trimmed a little so that his hair was more even and clean. Brian was much more interested in watching the scissors, though.

Halloween Party Time

This year for Halloween, I wasn't planning on doing anything. I know, go ahead and call me a "Party Pooper." I didn't know where (or if) we could go Trick or Treating. I didn't want to fight every other American family at the 1 store for Halloween costumes. I just didn't want to bother with it all. But then I found a super adorable costume for Hannah for super cheap online (basically FREE using Swagbucks). I wanted to get something matching for Brian, but I couldn't find anything (in the 2 minutes I looked because I was too lazy). Luckily my friend, Sara, rescued me by letting me borrow her son's Halloween costume from last year so Brian wouldn't be left out.

Here in Okinawa, Halloween starts being celebrated sometime around mid-October with many, many different parties and functions. For our first one, we chose to go to Kiddie Disco since Hannah and I love to go dancing. Here are some pictures from our fun night!

"Cheese ... and crackers?"

(Not sure where she learned the 2nd part, but that is what she was saying.)

"You put your elbow in; You put your elbow out; You put your elbow in and you shake it all about."

"You put your backside in; You put your backside out ..."

Luke, Hannah, and Benjamin (Hannah calls them "The Guys"; they are brothers that live next to us and I work with their mom.)

Wanted to show you that I was actually there. Brian was too busy watching all the other kids dance. (His costume was too hot, so we left it at home).

Brian is a picky eater

For the last 2-3 weeks, we have been trying to get Brian to eat something other than milk. I hate to report that we found minimal success.

First we tried bananas ....

This was the look I received!

and this one ...

Even Hannah tried to feed him bananas, but he still didn't want them.

A few days later, Hannah donned a chef's hat to try and convince him, but he still wouldn't eat anything other than milk.

We have tried yogurt, peaches, applesauce, and bread. NOTHING!

Then I tried avocado!

To my surprise, I was mildly successful and he accomplished to eat a few bites.

We have also tried mashed potatoes, but his favorite thing to do (with any food) is this ...

Oh boy!