Last month there was a reunion at Medical Center of McKinney for babies in the Special Care Nursery. Apparently this is something they put on every year and it just so happens that this year it was about 4 months after Brodie was born.

This is Miss Deborah, one of the nurses who first took care of Brodie. She is the one who made the creative nametags for the babies that hung over their cribs. At the reunion she was painting faces for the kids. She put a little black nose and whiskers on Brodie; she said it was the first baby she ever painted. He looked pretty darn cute.

Hagen chose a bull and here she is in the process of painting him...

...and the final result. He also got to pick a tail to go with his face.

Brodie + solid food = messy boy

We started Brodie on rice cereal recently. The first go-round wasn't so great because he was too hungry to start something new, so we tried again after he had a bottle. Much better results.

This past weekend we tried peas and he had a few good spoonfuls. He put his fist in his mouth while eating, hence the peas all over the face. He never spit them out and didn't make any yucky faces, so it was a hit, I guess. I asked Hagen to choose either peas or green beans for him, and he chose peas. He told me after Brodie ate that he made the right choice. :-)

Brodie's room

Poor Brodie...his room is not entirely "his" - there are still two big bookcases that we just don't have anywhere else to put them, plus some other...stuff...that just needs another home. He has his crib on the main back wall where the guest bed was, and his changing table is on the wall next to that. So he kind of has a corner. It works, but we didn't go to the lengths to make his room so perfect like we did with Hagen because it wasn't going to be entirely his room. Plus I didn't want baby stuff painted on the wall because eventually we might get that room back as the guest room.

Anyway, I was trying to think of ways to decorate his wall so he didn't completely get the shaft in the room-decorating department. Awhile back I thought it might look cool to hang wooden letters spelling out his name over his crib. At first I thought of using ribbon to match the bedset but then thought ribbon would look too girly and/or babyish, even if it was "manly" colors. So I got some wooden letters and picked out paint colors that match his bedding, and over the course of a couple of weeks, Hagen helped me paint the letters, and we hung them today. Voila!

Hagen painting the "B". This was taken with my phone so the picture quality is not great, but I wanted to get a quick picture of Hagen helping.

Kindergarten!!

I know it sounds cliche, but I can't believe Hagen is old enough to be in KINDERGARTEN. The big leagues. He has made the transition well and seems to love it; it's difficult getting specific information from him when we ask about his day, but he has consistently said "computers" when we ask what his favorite thing is. He has made a few friends (one he saw down the street recently so we went over and played for awhile; the little boy is in first grade and knows Hagen from the aftercare program) and has really adjusted quite well to this new adventure in his life. Plus he looks so freakin cute with a backpack on.

Our little fishy

Brodie and I went to watch Hagen at his swimming lesson at Metroplex. I went about a month or so ago and he was doing really well. In that time, he can now TOTALLY swim BY HIMSELF! It was so amazing to watch. I mean, he doesn't even need the instructor next to him. The last 10 minutes of class are for free time, and he would go down "the big slide", swim to the edge, and get out - all by himself! I was so amazed and proud of him. Some of these pictures aren't exactly National Geographic quality or anything, but they show that he was totally by himself. Some of the pictures are of Miss Elena helping him float on his back; he was having a little trouble with that but he was able to hold himself up briefly. And Brodie was fascinated with it all, FYI; I was just holding him in one arm, cradling him so he could see forward, and I don't think he moved the whole time we were there; he was pretty entranced with all the kids in the pool.

Brodie's 4 month checkup

I was very curious to see how Brodie would measure up (get it??) to Hagen at his 4 month checkup. At 4 months old, Hagen was 13 pounds, 10 ounces and 25 inches long. Not So Wee Baby Brodie was 12 pounds, 2 ounces (wow!) and 23.5 inches long. Not too shabby considering his low birthweight! His doctor is really pleased with his growth and development and we can even start feeding him rice cereal if we want, and start on stage 1 baby food in a couple of weeks. WOW. I think Hagen is excited to help us feed Brodie so that will be fun. As soon as Dr. Dan came into the exam room Hagen asked him if we could feed Brodie rice cereal. I remember the rice cereal and solid food stage being so fun (and maybe a little messy...) and I'm looking forward to it.

Here is Brodie at his appointment. His onesie says "I Wasn't Born Yesterday". Thank you, Carrie - pure greatness. :-) And I did not take pictures of him crying after the shots as Hagen wanted me to do....