8 months

January 25, 2011- It has been a very busy month for Brazos.  Christmas and Uncle Eric's wedding!  Plus, he is on the move, crawling everywhere.  I wasn't prepared for him to be so mobile so soon; after all Pecos didn't walk until 15 months and he never had a really strong crawl, it was more of an army crawl and dragging himself.

The way his leg is cocked back here is generally how he sits after crawling and then getting to a sitting position.  Looks awkward but it works for him!

The many faces of Brazos:

Still no teeth yet but maybe soon; everything goes in his mouth so we try to be sure all of Pecos' toys with small pieces are not left lying around.  He can really put down the puffs and Cheerios.  We try to give him "real" food anytime we are eating but he just doesn't care for the texture as he often replies with a grimace and usually spits it out. 

At about 6 months old he was babbling and would make "MaMa" sounds, then that turned into just grunting sounds for about a month.  Now he's back to babbling, this time with "DaDa" sounds. 

Here's the latest stats:

Weight- 20.05 pounds (58% tile)

Height- 29.5 inches (92% tile)

Head circumference- 17.25 inches (22 %tile)

At his well baby check he got 2 shots; one on the delayed vaccination schedule and the second dose of flu vaccine.  And for now we think he has outgrown his dairy intolerance.  He's on a low lactose formula and things seem to be going well; what a relief.  His refulx also seems to have worked itself out and I have enjoyed not smelling like spit-up all day long!

whirlwind wedding weekend

January 21-23, 2011- After a year of anticipation the big wedding weekend finally arrived.  Eric and Shellie are married!  I'm not ashamed to say a little bribing went a long way and Pecos did excellent as a ring bearer. 

The ceremony was beautiful and Msgr. Gaddy who married Casey and I ten years ago did the honors for Eric & Shellie.

 

The reception was extravagant and the few photos I took don't even begin to do it justice but here's a glimpse anyway:

I wish I had thought to take a photo of Pecos as he chowed down on corn dogs en route to the reception.  He was just soooooooo hungry after all that ring bearer duty and photos after the ceremony that we had to make a quick stop for him before making our way to the reception.  I can only imagine the thousands of dollars Shellie's parents paid for catering yet my child only wanted corn dogs from Sonic!  But he did enjoy the cotton candy at the reception.

The only cowboys in attendance (no surprise there), but I was glad to call them mine!

Brazos was a hit at all the festivities.  Although there were a few times where loud music, large crowds and lots of new and excited faces were a bit too much for him to handle.  Well, maybe a bit too much for all of us to handle; we're just not used to all that rowdiness!  This was his first trip to Louisiana and he did really great on the car ride to and from.  But he did get just a little excited in the hotel room.

  

Speaking of hotel rooms, we've found that leaving in the afternoon and stopping to spend the night in the Houston area makes for a much better trip for all of us.  After several hours in the car the boys were ready for a little wrestling to burn up some energy.

The rehearsal dinner location had great entertainment for the kids and Pecos showed off his bronc riding skills for the flower girls.

Our little family at the wedding.

Several of the Eskew cousins were in attendance and it is always good to catch up with them.  From left is Erin, Claire (holding Brazos), Katherine, Patrick, John, Allison and Melanie. 

At the end of the weekend I asked Brazos if he was ready to plan his next road trip to Louisiana.  I think his look says it all!

Oh, and what did Pecos pick as his reward for being such a good listener and "making good choices" at the wedding?  Spider-Man!  Just like the one his cousin, Alexander, had at the hotel of course! 

turkey trouble

January 2011- We love living out in rural America.  Partly because we like wide open space and clear night skies.  But we also need space for our livestock and enjoy sharing our land with wildlife.  There are wild turkeys in this area that we catch a glimpse of from time to time.  And lately we've been seeing them up near the house very close to the porch.

 

At first it was cute and I thought if I went out to get milo or chicken feed from the shed it would scare them away.  So I resorted to provisions in the pantry...it needed cleaning out anyway!  I tossed them cornmeal, mixed nuts, dried cranberries, oatmeal, and an assortment of breakfast cereal.  I'm certain it is the most exotic diet they've ever had.  They liked it so much they decided to stay awhile...and then just made themselves at home.  There are two gobblers and a hen that think they need to be on our back porch all of the time. They have become quite tame and we can get within about 4 feet from them. 

I saw them on the porch one day and was tired of taking their photo from inside so I went around and walked right up to them to get these photos:

Then I wondered if they would come into the house if I opened the door.  They'd been standing there staring through the door and pecking at it for a few days.  So sure enough, I opened the door and they just walked right on in.  But I didn't let them stay, right back out they went.

Pecos said he wanted to rope them but they kept running away so he decided to trap them instead.  Casey got a plastic container from the shed with a stick propping it up and put bird seed under it.  I thought it looked like something out of a Looney Tunes coyote and roadrunner cartoon.  They ran the string under the door and waited, but the turkeys were non-interested in the birdseed; perhaps they were waiting for more gourmet items from the pantry.  I can't imagine the commotion it would have been if he actually caught one. 

 

 After a couple of weeks we'd had enough.  The turkeys have been shoo-ed off the porch and no more exotic pantry food for them.  They only get birdseed and chicken scratch far away from the porch.  Look at the nasty mess they left behind.  Turkey sandwich, anyone?