Videos

Here are a couple videos I've caught lately of Brode. He always starts doing something, then stops the second the camera turns on, so most of the funny things are right at the beginning, like dancing, spinning in circles, and babbling.

This one is of his with his new tool box. No matter where he is, that music always gets him dancing.

Brode has started to walk with hi s push toys and along the furniture, so here is a peek at the terror we have that is about to emerge.

Brode learned a new spin move that you catch right at the beginning, he sits in one spot and goes around and around. The last half is of him playing with Gramps through the window.

Also, Brode was 11 months old yesterday! I can't even believe it. We're so close to one, this is going way too fast.

New Car Seats

Brode is officially out of his baby bucket seat. He hasn't reached the weight limit yet, but he exceeded the height long ago. He was ready. Our bank accounts took larger hits than we expected, but we're confident he is safe and glad choosing is over.

He would like you to know that they aren't quite as cool as the box they came in....

Weekend

For what was going to be a quiet lonely weekend, we stayed pretty active.

Friday night we all relaxed after work and day care. Brode and I played for a while, then Andrea came over to see Brode before she left for school. He chatted up a storm and showed her all of his toys. After Brode went to bed we watched a movie and just hung out.

Saturday Brode amazingly slept until 8AM. This cold must really be wearing him out. His maximum is usually 10 and 1/2 hours and he is up and ready to go at 6:30. We got some breakfast and played and then Leah was here! Leah was going to hang out with us for the day from Madison. We took Brode down to Riverside Park and he went on the swings and the slide, then we continued on to the Mom and Pop Place downtown for some smoothies and chit chat while Brode played. We got home just in time for Brode to get some lunch and take a long afternoon nap. While Brode was napping Leah and I finally got to sit down and look at each others scrapbooks. This is something we both LOVE and talk about pretty much every day. Saturday night we went to my Aunts birthday party and saw my moms side of the family. They haven't seen Brode since he is so active after surgery so he was all over the place.

Today Brode slept until 7:30 again. Brode took a 2 and 1/2 morning nap, which is very strange, but it gave me a chance to get a lot of little things done. He ate lunch right away and then we ran some errands. He doesn't seem to mind getting in and out of the car seat which is good, and he sure loves the cart so we can get a few more stops in each time. Brode got some new shoes today too and they make him look so much older! I was able to catch up on Brode's surgery scrapbook during afternoon nap. The rest of the night was just playing and dinner, along with a walk and a bath after!

Brode has been so giggly lately, I just want to freeze those moments. He has been getting into his temper tantrums as well too, those however don't need to stay.

Quiet

Things have been pretty quiet. Except for Brode. We've just been going about our daily routine without much extra thrown in. This past weekend Brode has a lot of gram and gramps time and he seemed to really enjoy it, he wasn't ready to be left at day care on Monday. We've done dinner with some friends, and started planning Brode's first birthday party, and that is about all of our excitement lately.

This weekend isn't looking anymore eventful. Matt will be camping with his family for their annual trip, and gram and gramps have a wedding and a birthday party so Brode and I will be spending the weekend in watching some movies and playing with toys!

Here are a few pictures of Brode and Daddy having some fun this week...

Chaos

We have officially taken one very large step into toddler-hood. Brode has two toys that he can stand behind and push, and later, sit on and ride. Last night Matt held Brode around the waste and helped him push his lion toy around the living room. It wasn't 10 minutes later and along came Brode pushing his toy all by himself right up next to me and smiling, then continued across the living room. After a little rest overnight he was all ready to go this morning and went across the room once again! He was very ready because standing has become nothing to him so I am not surprised. I am not ready to chase all day, I'm not ready for his head to be bumped yet when he loses balance, and our house is definetaly not ready!

Doing great

We have been doing great! We're finally back into our regular schedule. Brode has been doing great! He is sleeping a lot better at night without his staples. Day care has been going very well, it was like he wasn't even gone. We were very nervous that he got a little too spoiled with two weeks off!

Our next couple weeks aren't very eventful. Thankfully. We've been running and running so our daily schedules will be nice.

Brode has been learning a lot more lately and getting a little more daring. He stands with one hand, then tries to do it no hands, he attempts to walk with his push toys and climbs everything small. He has turned into quite the copy cat as well. He will copy any noise, sticking out his tongue, spitting, and clicking his tongue!

Been awhile...

Well it has sure been a while since an update, but I'm sure everyone was checking the caring bridge instead of this.

Brode is doing great after surgery, back to his normal, little boy self. Our week in Milwaukee was long, but good. The hospital was very nice so it wasn't completely awful sitting in the same room the whole time. We were each able to get time out of the hospital, and each had time alone with Brode.

Friday night Matt and I were given a break as my dad took us to the Brewer game and my mom sat with Brode at the hospital. The game was Matt's first Brewer game, and although we were at the very top and they lost it was still a good relief from the hospital!


I'm staying home with Brode this week, getting a few hours of work in when I can. We have lots of visitors and people that want to see him so I'm sure we'll be busy! Brode has gotten back on his schedule perfectly so hopefully we won't need to mess anything up.

Our Weekend

We stayed pretty busy this weekend and got a lot of fresh air. Saturday Brode had swimming lessons so Matt and I took him. He loves swimming, but unfortunetaly this saturday will be his last class for the summer because of surgery. We don't want to risk his incision getting infected from swimming!

The rest of the day we hung out at home. Alix came to Neenah from Minnesota and we visited and had lunch with her, then spent the rest of the day after nap time outside.

Sunday was pretty nice out so we played outside, then headed to the family reunion on the Rivet side. Brode got to meet a lot of people, and see people that haven't seen him since Christmas! They were shocked to see how big he was and how much of a little boy he has become.

This week we're sticking to a regular schedule and hopefully getting some things prepared for Milwaukee next week!

Brode's curiosity has been growing more and more lately, and today is grew a little too close to the dog dish. He has splashed in the water, but has never been near the food dish when it was full, except for this morning. A kernel happened to slip into his mouth and he got a good taste before grandma could fish it out. Unfortunetaly he doesn't know how to talk so he can't tell us how it truely tasted.

Neenah

Brode had a night to experience Neenah. Shattuck Park has music on Wednesday night so we packed up the baby and headed downtown because it was such a nice night! The hit thing for kids to do is play in the fountain, so of course we had to let Brode.

Update

Well we have been extremely busy so I've only have time for some short updates. The weekends have been packed with something since the beginning of June and work all week doesn't give us much free time. We had some concerns come up with Brode that we had to start going to a physical therapist and an eye doctor, on top of his usual doctor and Milwaukee appointments. There was an awful week that the poor little guy had a doctors appointment 4 days in a row!

Brode is starting to pull up on things now so it wont be long and he'll be daring to stand alone and before we know it... walking!

This 4th of July weekend was relaxing for the Rivets. We went up to the cottage and got some nice weather for the first time this week! Brode stayed overnight with my family, but I came home for the fireworks and to hang out with some girls! Brode had his first 2 boat rides at the cottage, but didn't like them very much because of his annoying life jacket.

Hopefully the next few weeks will calm down before our chaos starts again! Everyone have a great week!