Sending You Christmas Kisses

We Had a Baby!

Morgan Helena Brennan was born on December 10, 2009 at high noon. She was 6 pounds, 10 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long. She was delivered cesarean section at St Joseph's hospital in Bellingham, Washington by Dr. Michael Mallory. She has a whole head of dark hair and she has long fingers and toes. She is perfect in every way! Take a peak for yourselves....

Christmas is upon us!

We are trying to get prepared for Christmas a little earlier than usual this year. We have never had a Christmas season at home and have really been enjoying making memories and a few new traditions of our own. Here are a couple photos. One is Nina, Liam and Merritt making cookies for a cookie exchange party. When Nina wasn't looking Merritt turned on the mixer and sprayed her with batter :). The other photo is Merritt helping daddy put up the tree.

Twin Takes. Merritt and Dad...and Max

Merritt and I hiked near twin lakes, which has a long history of mining developement. Merritt did a little prospecting of his own (see the mine shaft behind him) while Max sniffed acres of ground in a quest to protect us from foraging bears. And at the end of a long hike, Merritt cooled off by walking straight into the lake!

Merritt's 1st Haircut

Reaping the Harvest

We have many fruit trees in our backyard-apple, pear and plum. This year although the harvest is plentiful it may not be the best for eating! We will do some healthy "spraying" over the winter and hopefully have some good fruit next year.

Merritt as the snuggler

Merritt the gardener

Our (Marks...well I eat from it) garden has gone wild! Here are a few cute pictures of Merritt checking it out.

Merritt as the food thief

Food is no longer sacred! What is mommies/daddies is now Merritt's. I nearly lost and entire frittata the other day and today it was my banana while at the store. In this photo, it happens to be Mark's smoothie.

The Q Tip Delivery Man

Merritt's favorite new item is the Q Tip...yes, you read that right! He has located the proper drawer and brings them to us one at a time.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Merritt took his first steps yesterday! I think we witnessed three steps all on his own. He did it a couple of times, but go so excited that he was laughing to hard to keep his balance. On another fun note, he is getting his top two front teeth.

Ski to Sea Parade

Yesterday we went to the Ski to Sea Parade and watched the show. Merritt really like the marching bands and danced like it was nobodies buisness! Mark was in the Parade driving the ladder truck.

The fist shot is Merritt being a ham around the house. He seems to have the most energy first thing in the morning! The second shot is Merritt in our front yard. He thought that having the entire sidewalk at his disposal was way better than the 10 feet inside the house.

The things I forgot

Merritt is now dancing! He has two favorite songs- "Take It easy" by the Eagles and any cheesy electronically generated children's toy song. Thank you mom Brennan for the fridge Leap Frog. It is the new big hit since we moved the toaster oven. Our boy really likes to shake his booty.

Merritt also said "mama." It may have been an isolated insidance, but it was very clear and Mark confirmed it. He had just woken up and was crying on the changing table. He stopped crying, very clearly said "mama" and started crying again. Regardless of wether or not it was legitamate, I have noticed that he does associate the mama/daddy words with the right people when we speak them.

Merritt likes to help dad by eating his dirt (note the black drool on his bib).

The Farmers Market

Mark and I had a great time yesterday. One of the best things about our new house is how close everything is. So, we walked down to the farmers market, got lunch, bought food for our Bible study group and spent some time at a nearby park.

I't been a long time!

Well a lot can happen in a month! I was inspired to get on and write after reading a friends incredible blog entry today. I don't expect to be nearly as eloquent as she was, but I would like to let everyone know Merritt's new tricks and skills!

When we went to Chesterton last month, Merritt was just starting to crawl and stand while holding on to something. Now...Merritt is a super crawler, whose mom can't always keep an eye on him (when do those eyes in the back of your head start to grow?). He really likes cords of all types, and especially the button for the toaster oven. We have since moved the toaster oven to a much higher location.

Merritt is now standing on his own with help from the walls and door knobs (unaided when he is really focused). He can walk sideways down the wall and has even learned to "gently" lower himself back to a seated position.

His new favorite toy is a little walker "cart" that we got for him. He can stand behind it and walk on his own. It has wheels and a lot of other bells and whistles. Stay tuned for a picture shortly. In the last week he also learned to get up to standing using this very unstable object.

We have also moved to two naps a day. What a big boy! Another new favorite game of his is jumping on his bed. He likes to hold the railing and go boingy boingy boingy ...you get the picture...

I AM THE MASTER OF MY CRIB!

When Merritt woke up this morning at 5:30am crying, Mark staggered out of bed (I was getting dresssed for work in the bathroom)and went to check on him. Then, I hear..."Renee! come here." Merritt was standing in his crib, holding the rail, tears were streaming down his face and dripping off of his chin. It was precious.

Yesterday, while Mark was on duty, Merritt was making a big ruccus during nap time. Mark went to see what was going on and found one arm grasping the elephant music box, and with the other he had ripped off the mobile and was violently thrashing it around in the crib. This child DEFINATELY TAKES AFTER MARK! hee hee...

Wow! It's a mile mark day...

Merritt started to "walk" on his own today. What I mean by that is that he will walk while he holds my fingers. He cruised all the way from the living room into his bedroom. Then, he promptly fell asleep!

Feb/March

Mark is at work, the dogs (we are baby sitting) are sleeping, Merritt is sleeping, the cookies are in the oven, the baby food is getting steamed on the stove and ahh...I can take a deep breath, relax and spent some time catching up with this blog. ohh-standby, the cookies are beeping...ok, where were we... The Merritt update! Merritt has a cold with quite a bit of conjestion, so far he hasn't had a fever! His only two teeth are on the bottom, front of his mouth. He is so much fun to play with, but is learning to assert his will at the dinner table. I think that he got Marks obliging demeanor and my willful stubborness. We are trying to teach him some sign language and that it is not ok to pound the table, highchair etc while eating.
As many of you may remember, at Christmas he was starting to try and sit up on his own. He does that now with ease and even scares us on occasion when he tries to see just how far he can lean back before his abs get tired. He loves to stand and hold onto anything that will support him-even some things that don't (the dog). He is not taking any steps on his own, but is definately headed in that direction. His favorite place to hang out is in front of the living room window.
He still talks a lot, but nothing really understandable. There is a lot of mamamamamam and dadadadada. He has started to reach up when he wants to be held or wants MY water bottle (even though he has his own). His dinner menu now consists of green beans, peas, carrots (his favorite, he takes after his grandpa), plain yogurt, butternut squash, apples, pears and a whole bunch of "baby mum mums."

Merritt continues to develop at light speed! He has, for a while, mimicked us when we clap, but just yesterday he learned how to make noise with his hands while clapping....we did alot of clapping yesterday....! He continues on his mission to skip crawling altogether and go straight to walking by standing at any chance that he gets. He may not be able to go from laying to sitting on his own, but all he needs is a hand to grab, and he's on the move to sitting and then standing. He loves to stand while holding onto: his crib, the bathtub, the coffee table, hands, chairs, window sills, Max, Maya, the couch, cabinet doors...anything that allows him to grab and balance. He used to be so wobbly when he was standing, but now he stands only holding on with one hand and can shift his balance from one foot to the other while taking an unsteady step. We (by we I mean Renee) lowered his crib today because when he stood in it he began to notice objects on the ground and was able to lean out far enough to fall out!

I (Mark) just got back last week from skiing for five days in Montana at Whitefish Mountain resort. I went with nine other people from work and had a blast. We took the train from Bellingham to Whitefish which was an overnight, 13 hour trip, in what is purported and advertised to be a "sleeping" car. When we got on the train and I went to my "bed" it turned out to be nowhere near as big as the online pictures made it look. But to make up for that it did have a "closet" that may have held two or three sheets of paper at the most, but certainly no clothes, and definitely not the winter ski jackets that we were wearing. I shared the room with one other guy and to accommodate for two beds, what looked like the overhead luggage bin on an airplane, folded down into a "bed" that was six feet off the ground and had about 18 inches of clearance to the ceiling. But in the interest of safety, they provided a cargo net to hook to the drop down bed and ceiling so I wouldn't fall out. Not having fallen out of bed for a few years, I scoffed at this item until I was awoken (about a dozen times) in the middle of the night by the sensation that I was being flung across the room only to grab the side of the bed and haul myself back in moments before I tumbled to the ground. I didn't scoff after that. As it turns out, riding on rails isn't as smooth as I thought it would be. All that was forgotten, though...sort of... when I tasted the complimentary (paid for by my ticket) dinner and breakfast that were prepared. They know how to make good food on the train!

We skied every day and the snow conditions improved every day because of the couple of inches that fell every night. Everyone skied or snowboarded at relatively the same skill level and we all explored the mountain together, leaving no run untried. You might think that keeping ten firefighters armed with two way radios and cell phones together would be a simple task, but I'm here to tell you it's not. We lost people in the trees, on the lifts, at the bathrooms, and especially at lunch. It seems that the draw of food and drink was too much to overcome and some never made it back to the hill after eating and drinking. But we came home with everyone and all had a good time! It was another successful trip.

Daddy Comes Home!

This picture was taken on the eve of Mark's departure. It almost looks as if Merritt knows. We are getting really excited though because Mark returns today. We are picking him up from the train station this afternoon!

Merritt with one of his favorite babysitters

This is out good freind Dorothy. She only lives a couple blocks away and is definately a Godsend! She watches Merritt while we work and for those shorter times when we "play." Merritt loves to talk to her and giggle at her silly faces. As you can see by the photo, he loves her very much.

I caught him red handed!

MY CHILD IS BRILLIANT! Or so I'm going to think... Mark isn't home, Merritt was in bed and I was in the den watching a movie. All of a sudden I heard music. As I slowly wandered through the house listening, I realized that it was coming from Merritt's room. We have a blue elephant that my mom bought for him hanging on the inside of the crib. It has a pull string on it. If you pull it, it plays about 20 second of "Rock a by Baby." I watched him carefully move the elephant's feet out of the way with one hand and grab the drawstring with the other (so coordinated and intentional). Then I watched him do it over and over and over....the music is still going...it's been about 15 minutes.. will he ever stop pulling the drawstring and go to bed?!?!

Recent Photos

Merritt Plays Cribbage, Merritt and Mom in bed, Merritt with Noah's Ark, Merritt in the Stroller Aunt Karen Bought