8th month comparison

8 months old!!
When Luke was this age, I started this blog.

At 8 months old, Luke weighed 18.5 lbs and was 26.5 inches long. He was still a champion sleeper and ate well. He started feeding himself food at this age too. He loved to say da-da-da and playing peek-a-boo. He was very interested in trying to use a spoon himself. His hemangioma was really bad this month and we were in the midst of trying to get a surgery scheduled for him to have it removed. I remember being stressed!



At 8 months old Brad weighed 19 pounds and was 28.25 inches long. He was pretty good about sleeping through the night this month and his eating schedule was really regular. He really ate anything at this time and ate a lot!
He loves to clap, say da-da, na-na and he loves to laugh! He likes being sung to and wants to get into everything. Anything big brother Luke is doing is the best in his opinion. He is rolling all over the place and starting to work on crawling at this age.

prepare to be amazed

or not. If a baby who learns to pick up food and feed himself for the first time in less that 2 minutes is amazing to you, well then you will be amazed :) I was. Really I think it means I should have tried this sooner, he was probably ready for some time!



Video taken 6/17/11

crackers

Yum, my first taste of crackers. I think I like 'em.

6/5/11

Boston

Josh and I went to Boston over the first weekend in June. We left the boys home with my dad (brave man). It was the first time we've ever left Brad overnight and the first time that both Josh and me together have left Luke overnight so this was a big deal.

Josh had to take his oral board exam to complete his board certification in ophthalmology. We flew up on Friday and took the T to our hotel (which was not where the exam was being held because that one was super pricey and we are cheap like that). Then we hopped a free ride from our hotel shuttle to the Royal Sonesta Hotel so Josh could check in for his exam. After that we had a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with our friends Alison and Tyler (Tyler was also taking the board exam).

Saturday morning was Josh's exam so he left early and was gone until around noon. I tried to sleep in but was having a hard time doing that. Bummer. When Josh got back and finished thinking over his exam (which he likes to do) we headed out for lunch. We then met up with Alison and waited for Tyler to finish his exam (his started after Josh's finished) and bought tickets to go on the duck boat tour around Boston. We figured this would be a good way to see the city since we really only had that late afternoon to do so.

One of the boats





Our captain, he was a wicked smart fan of Boston and gave a great tour!



Faneuil Hall



The Garden



going in the water...



in the water



bridge detail, this history in this city is truly impressive. We could have spent two weeks there seeing everything, and not to mention the shopping, oh the shopping...



The Royal Sonesta Hotel



Palm Restaurant
This is where the four of us had a celebratory dinner that boards were over. Josh and I shared a lobster!



Congrats to both Josh and Tyler, who we found out 4-6 weeks later, both passed the exam and are board certified!

And yes, my dad and the boys survived the weekend. Thanks for babysitting Dad!

Picnic time

What can you do when you are having too much fun outside to stop and go inside and eat? Well, you bring the food outside of course and have a picnic. Luke thought the idea was so great and was super excited to have a picnic. We did this several times this summer. Luckily our driveway is shaded so it was tolerable.

Luke was in heaven, he thought it was so fun to eat outside (note: the Easter basket on the table was our picnic basket because Luke insisted we had to have a picnic basket!). Brad ate outside with us too, he wasn't too sure what was going on, but he went with it!
6/2/11

Just for Kristen

My cousin Kristen, a Michigan State grad, sent this outfit to us when Luke was born.
And like everything else that Luke had, we passed it down to Brad.
These pictures are for you Kristen (I have some copies that I will mail to you).

Brad makes this look good
(taken 6/1/2011)

Memorial day weekend

It seems only fitting that I should recount our Memorial Day weekend activities as we head into Labor Day weekend. My parents drove up for the long weekend and we had a great time.
Much of the weekend was spent out on our driveway so the boys could do this:

Nana and Brad (one of my favorite pictures!)



Luke playing sports





Luke riding his bike (a newly acquired skill, one that he has been trying for for so long!)







Brad got in on the action too.
He first checked it out



then wasn't so sure about this one



ooh, yes, I like this one better



push some buttons...



Hey



I'm ready to go!



Noah was there too!



And just for fun, a look back at what Luke was doing Memorial Day 2008, when he was Brad's age. Playing at the beach