Your Friend Brady is here!

Another awesome thing happened in November:

Your friend Brady was born on November 5th! We even went to go visit him and Auntie M and Uncle Jeremy on the day Brady was born.
We marveled at Brady's super soft hair...and were jealous for you and your bald head!


You had fun playing with the adults, eventually tired of not being able to crawl around the hospital floor and then watched some Sesame Street on Mommy's phone. You noticed the camera (no surprise there).
But, you didn't notice Brady!

Okay, okay: when Brady started crying during a diaper change you noticed him. But when the noise stopped, you lost interest.

That's kind of how Daddy and Uncle Jeremy's relationship goes sometimes too!

Well, Brady's been here for two weeks now and we've seen your new friend as often as we can!

He's still way smaller than you, but you seem to be noticing him more and more.

The other day you even gently.... (oh so scarily* gently)...were able to pat his head!

(SIDEBAR) *Sometimes your definition of gentle quickly explodes into violence. For example, you loved smelling and gently stroking the flowers Daddy got Mommy for their anniversary...stroke, stroke and then RIP! There goes the flower. This is also sometimes how you pet the dogs: pet, pet, GRAB! So, yeah, we monitored your saying 'hello' to Brady verrry carefully!

It's going to be so exciting to watch Brady grow with you. It's so bizarre to hold him and try to remember that just about 9 months ago YOU were that small...even though it's so hard to even fathom it (we have to look at pictures to remind ourselves!)

And it will be so exciting to watch you two get to know each other. Your Mimi and Jeremy's mom, Barbara, were bestest friends as adults. I've known Uncle Jeremy since Preschool and we've been (mostly) friends ever since (except for the one time I sneezed in his mouth and then a few years later he embarrassed me in front of a girl I liked). You and Brady have a strong legacy of Shields/Weinsteins friendships behind you!


So far, I think your friendship is off to a great start!

The Wave!

One of your favortie new things to do is to wave. Your Mommy noticed you were kind of doing it already so she taught you how to wave!

And now, you can't help but wave 'hello' to your mommy and daddy, to other people, to dogs, to pictures of people, pictures of dogs, pictures of yourself, your reflection and just random objects in general.

You may have only been really doing your wave for about a month and a half now, but you're already a pro...although it does still sometimes make you shy!

Playing and Playing...and Hamming it Up

You really love to play and giggle and laugh-laugh-laugh your head off. Your laugh is just about one of the best sounds your Mom and I have ever heard. I wish I could bottle it up and save it for a rainy day...but that's kind of hard to do. So, one afternoon, I was determined to try to capture it on video.

But, as you can see, this task wasn't as easy as it sounded.

The only problem, as you will see, is that the second you spot the camera, you stop doing what you were doing and ham it up for your close-up.

So I have to try to become a guerilla camera man and sneak up on you to even begin to capture your glee on camera!

Of course, you always find me! But, you know what? I can totally live with that!

Dog Lover!

While your friend Brady was busy being born, we babysat Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Michelle's doggy Bella. She was a very well-behaved houseguest and you were in Dog heaven!

While I didn't get any footage of you playing with Bella, rest assured, you enjoyed her company: the hand cleanings, the frequent sniffings, the occasional barking. You just love dogs!


While you were super excited to have three dogs around, I thought this moment one on one with Preston was extra cute. I told you Preston would finally have his moment in the spotlight with you, since Toby is usually the camera hog

'Dog', in your limited vocabulary, is sometimes pronounced 'Ga' or 'nnnGA!' But maybe that's just the noise you make when you get excited... but at any rate. You sure love your nnnGA Preston (and he loves you too)

Dada? .... nope, "Mama"

Well, it's November. You're cruising through your 8th month at break neck pace and growing and developing so quickly!

We all got sick right around the beginning of November. And that, plus your Daddy finishing up his thesis, made for not a whole lot of posts to the Blog.

But that doesn't mean the cameras stopped rolling or the cuteness stopped happening!

I'll be briefing you...briefly...on everything that we've been doing and almost every way in which you've been growing!

On November 5th- the day your friend Brady was born (more on that later)- you said "Dada." Despite prompting, you haven't said it since.

Here you are on November 5th. It was a bit chilly in the house, and your nose was a bit runny from your brief flu/cold/runny nose. But, you're still adorable...and still refusing to say "Dada" again!