April/May Update

Beth got to enjoy her first Mother's day this month and he gave her/us the best gift so far. He learned how to WALK! Sure, he was able to take a couple steps before but he never had the confidence to walk beyond that. A couple days ago he decided it was time.....

May 12th was the day Brandon learned to walk across the room...and even just 1 day later, he's already totally different. He's figured out how much faster walking is than crawling and we know it won't be long till he starts running. Either way, we are excited for him but kinda freaked out at the same time. It also marks the end of babyhood and now he's entering the toddler years. Lord help us.

March Update

The month of March has been filled with a lot more "firsts" for Little Brandon. Above, Brandon got to experience the flower fields of Carlsbad for the first time with his Grandma Lita. I've lived in this town all my life and I've still never been there, so he's got that on me. You can't really tell, but he now has 4 total teeth, 2 on top and 2 on the bottom. When he smiles he looks a little like a cartoon character ;)

Brandon (and us) went on our first plane ride up to Lake Tahoe to visit family together and boy oh boy was that an experience. Brandon did great on the flight, but my stress level didn't come down till we were safely home in Truckee. While we were there we were blessed with a foot of fresh powder which he enjoyed (but Bruce, Beth and I enjoyed even MORE...on the slopes).

Brandon has also taken his first steps (kinda). I'm not sure how to truly judge this, but we can let go of him while standing and he'll take a couple steps and fall down to his knees. That counts, right? Regardless, we're sticking with the theme here.

This month we also started Brandon in his first swimming lessons. He's so comfortable in the water, the first couple lessons have been a piece of cake. Our instructor has been dunking him in the water several times and we've found his one problem....he drinks everytime we do that. We'll be working on that moving forward. Just to throw another one in there, Brandon had his first Easter as well....and in a couple more months and he'll have his first birthday. Ok, I'm done.

Brandon Cruising

February Update

Hi Everyone! Yes, I am aware that it is March 9th but these things are tough to keep up with. Brandon has earned a new nickname around the Kimball household....Little Monster! Not in a bad way, but this kid could wear out the energizer bunny. Not only does he crawl quickly but he has also learned how to pull himself up to a standing position and "cruise" around the house. The picture above is a tribute to the Ex-Charger, LT. Brandon and his daddy shared a tear for our beloved RB when he was let go.

Here's an example of the Little Monster practicing how to walk with this new toy. The best part is watching him transition from the smooth slow carpet to the fast slick tile flooring we have. His smile is becoming his trademark and hearing him laugh still melts our hearts. It won't be long till he lets go of the toy and just walks past it. Not sure how we'll handle that transition, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.....

Bath time has become more than just a cleaning task, it's play-time all over again. We miss the days when he would just sit there and we could scrub him down....now he stands up, sits back down, then gets up again and splashes us....all while laughing and smiling. Someone told us that our child has a "happy soul" and we couldn't be happier. Ok, maybe that was too many "happy's"...sorry.

Oh, this was a monumental day....the day he challenged the stairs and won. This kid has no fear. If any of you have been to our place you know our stairs are not for beginners. They are steep and unforgiving. Did that deter Brandon from climbing up all of them?...nope. Granted his motivation was going after Spencer and Makena, but it was still impressive nontheless. Learning how to come down the stairs has not been mastered though. He still launches himself off whatever stair he is on, head first. We're working on it.

March has already been busy. We are taking him on his first airplane trip to Lake Tahoe later this week, so cross your fingers for us. Beth likes me to mention what his weight is, etc. He's over 22lbs now and I don't see him slowing down at all.

January Update

C This picture was taken right before the Chargers lost the AFC Divisional Game against the Jets, as you can see, LB was just as excited as his daddy was for game day. Too bad they lost. But thank god, he did not have to experience the Chargers and the Colts playing against each other in the AFC Championship Game his first year being alive. Looks like he will be wearing his Peyton Manning jersey for Superbowl Sunday! Go Colts!

7 months has changed our lives, again! LB started officially crawling on New Years Eve (yes, arms and legs off the ground moving together to go forward for a purpose). Just 2 weeks after crawling, he learned how to pull himself up onto everything and is now "cruising". We haven't sat down in weeks! It took falling down our stairs one time before we were out the next day to buy a gate. Luckily, not much phases this boy and he was fine, didn't even cry. Mommy did though! Now when he wakes up from his naps and in the mornings, he pulls himself up and just stands there waiting for us to come get him like, where have we been? His 2 bottom teeth just came in, and what an ordeal that was! Seemed so painful for the little one! LB is also now recovering from his first real cold; croup! So scary to watch your baby not being able to breathe well. He was on steroids for 3 days, which made the croup go away, but turned our sweet, innocent baby into someone else! Steroids do BAD things to people. Needless to say, 7 months has been a handful for us, we are very much looking forward to 8 months! Never boring!

New Years Eve, we spent with our BF's, the Hellman's and Rohman's. It had been 5 months since we had all 3 babies together again. Charlotte (10months, the oldest and wisest) had her hands full with both LB and Tyler. As you can see, the boys were already fighting over her! All 9 of us were under one roof for 2 days. On New Years Eve, after we put the babies down, we were struggling to stay awake until midnight. We only went through 2 bottles of champagne! Times are changed! We are so lucky to have such great friends to be able to share this experience with.

It was nice to spend New Years Day not being hung over. We took the kids to the park and LB got to swing for the first time! He loved it! Not much he doesn't like, as long as we are moving and doing something, he is happy! The boy hates to stop! Who knows what our LB will be up to next month?......