Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks - and although they are all in the same outfit they aren't from the same day (I just like the sweater!!) The first two are from Baeden's birthday party at the Little Gym. Beckett's first experience with gymnastic equipment...

Yes, his cheeks match the ball. We must have had carrots for lunch.
These two are from the house - outside and in. Nothing special, just a fun day with mom and dad.

Cruise Control

Since our last update we have met a few milestones -

1. We are in various stages of growing the 4 front teeth: Top right and bottom left are about 1/2 way in, bottom right and top left are still sprouting. Ouch. It was not fun for anyone to acquire all 4 teeth at the same time.

2. Still no interest in traditional crawling. Beckett does not believe in following the conventional ways of doing things. He has, however, developed his own version - one leg in the air the other paddling along the ground all the while dragging his belly along with the palms of his hands. This is where you all say a picture is worth a 1000 words; sorry, I can't oblige today, but maybe next time.

3. He is cruising along whenever anyone will help him up to a stand. See picture above. This is probably why the progress on #2 is slow. He is ready to move and crawling is not sufficient.

4. And, he is certainly his parents' child - Beckett has not stopped talking in weeks. His vocabulary consists of bye-bye, mama, dada, growls and basic gibberish. But, he certainly believes that we should understand him.



5. We had our 9-month appointment this week. Due to his recent ear infection and winter cold, he dropped a few ounces from our last visit. He weighed in at about 23 1/2 pounds and 29 1/2 inches. Still in the 98% in everything.

Family Pics

Here is a sneak peek at the family pics I mentioned in the previous post. Despite the family drama that always ensues when you get any group of opinionated Brackens (and those who actually chose to spend their lives with us) together, we managed to get some darn cute pics. Just wait, the professional ones are even better...

December

December has been a crazy, busy month for the Brown clan. I know it has been a long time since the last update; I'll try to provide a lot of pictures to make up for it.

First, a big congratulations to Derek for graduating from NC State with his Electrical Engineering degree!! It has been a long time coming, but it is well deserved. He was able to take a few short breaths over the last few weeks, but now is dedicating his time to looking for the perfect job. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the engineering field isn't too adversely affected by the economy....

Our friends Mike, Dana and Paul made the trip down from Michigan to join us for the graduation ceremonies. (Thanks again guys!!) It was a great visit. Paul and Beckett became fast friends (again).

While they were here we made a visit to Northgate mall to see Santa and take our first carousel ride. Yes, I know it isn't the best mall, but it certainly the closest and least crowded - there wasn't even a line for Santa.

Because we had to wait so long for the carousel attendant to return from his "smoke" break, he gave us a free balloon. This turned out to be the best toy Beckett got all Christmas, he is still playing with it.



Gamma and Pap Pap came for graduation as well. They were smart and brought the presents with them so that we didn't have to carry them back from TX with us and our heavy bags. So, we were able to celebrate a little early. To Pap Pap's enjoyment, Beckett took plenty of time to examine and play with each present. He definitely didn't get that from his mom.


After graduation, we all traveled to TX for Christmas. Despite all of the travel issues with the airlines, Beckett was perfect on the plane rides as well as during our 8 hour delay on the way home. We had a good time visiting with everyone including Beckett's cousins Hayden and Zachary. We also were able to fit in a quick visit with Brian and Dawn. Congratulations again to them for their marriage. We also got Bracken family photos during our trip. Stay tuned for some super-cute photos of our little man.

And, I guess I'll throw in the 8-month update as well...we are still a little behind on all of our gross motor skill progress. We aren't crawling or pulling up yet, but we are rolling all over the place. Remember we have a whopping 24 pounds to haul around. We did get our first tooth bud earlier this month, but it still hasn't come all the way in. The best thing that has happened is that Beckett has perfected a new funny face that he uses to make people laugh. See what you think:

Seasons Changing

The seasons are finally changing in NC. It is time to put on the winter clothes - only problem is that Beckett doesn't like wearing a coat. We are doing our best to keep him bundled, but he is doing his best to let us know he prefers to be cold.


He does enjoy the ornaments that come along with the season. He is a fan of anything shiny. Hopefully that means he will be good at picking out jewelry for his mother when he grows up!

Happy Halloween!

The haircut

I finally gave in to the pressure.... we got Beckett's hair cut this weekend. He didn't seem to mind the cut at all. I, on the other hand, had to call on a few people for moral support after it was all finished. (Most moms don' t have to deal with the cute baby hair going away so soon.) A few snips and several dollars later, the highlights and the curls were all gone.

Here are a few pics of the experience:



And, another one of the final product -- he is still super cute!

A long time coming...

For our avid fans, we sincerely apologize for leaving you in suspense for the last month. It has certainly been event filled for us - not allowing for free time to update our fan site. Sorry, we will try not to let this happen again (but, we can't promise!)

Beckett will be 6 months on Saturday - we have our appointment on Monday to find out the true stats. However, he has accomplished a lot since we last updated...

He is sitting up by himself very well! He is even keeping himself from toppling over despite the center of gravity issues created by the large head and belly.He has discovered how fun (and tasty) his feet are...He is now sitting up in high chairs at restaurants - the next step is actually eating with us too. He is definitely ready, but I don't know about his parents.
We have started going to the park regularly. He loves the swing.We traveled to Washington, DC for Derek's Fall Break last week. Beckett really enjoyed the aquarium. Although he tried at each tank, he was definitely disappointed that he wasn't able to touch the fish.

Bon Appetite

We finally decided to try our hands at "real food" with Beckett. I don't know that rice mush really counts as real food, but it took me just as long to figure it out as it does for me to follow a recipe for our food - unfortunately, rice mush is going to happen a lot more frequently.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. This video is worth a thousand times that:

Family Ties

We had our share of family visitors over the last couple of weeks. First Aunt Kylie and Uncle Kenneth came to visit. We had a great time hanging out and relaxing. Kylie and Kenneth have had a busy summer, so they were glad to just have a few days to rest and meet Mr. Beckett.

The next weekend Beth and the boys came to town to help us watch Beckett. The second day Beckett was at daycare we found out that it was going to be closed the following Thursday and Friday for Teacher Work Days. Who knew that daycares had teacher work days? I don't get it; if we were able to keep Beckett at home ourselves, would we be paying to send him to daycare? Oh well...

It was a good excuse for the cousins to all meet one another. While Hayden and Zachary were here, we went to the Museum of Life and Sciences to see the animals. This is Durham's version of the zoo. But, it was so hot that the only animal that we got a good look at was the only one not in a cage -- the groundhog that was out hunting for food.

But, Hayden still had fun with all of the other exhibits. Especially, this one where he was able to run around and make sound based on his movements.
At home, Uncle Derek read Hayden many of Beckett's books.

And, instead of sitting still to listen to the books, Zachary was interested in finding more exciting places to be. We are sad that we don't get to see the boys more often!