Mommy's helper

Tonight in the bath Brendan quickly learned a new skill. He watched Lamar put all his bath toys in that blue cup after last night's bath. And so today, he figured out he could do it too. And spent the entire bath practicing putting those toys in and out of that cup 'til he became really good at it. :) The best part about this particular video is how he sounds like he says "I Did It!" at the end of it. It's crazy. I'm positive he was just blabbering, but it sounds like "I Did It" really clear...we've been giggling over it. :D Even funnier, is that it didn't dawn on me what I heard him 'say' until I turned the camera off...then I freaked out with "Did you just say..." LOL.

He did this over and over for a half hour...it was fun. He got used to me counting 1...2....3....4... each time he did it. So in this video listen carefully to him the first time he puts the toys in. He is trying to count...says something before each toy. The 'two' actually sounds like 'two'! But you have to listen very carefully 'cause he says it under his breath and I'm loud right before it. . Again, I'm sure it was a coincedence, but we loved it. :D He now grunts before each toy as if he's counting. It's fun. The other thing I LOVE about this video is he is such a Cook kid. After he finally gets the octopus in the cup he gets totally ADD/distracted and I have to remind him of his task. He responds exactly the way I would've or anyone in my family. It CRACKS ME UP! LOL He says something resembling an "Oh" (like oh ya...that's what I was doing) and then right away the '2'. And after the first round he yells "YES!" Like yes I'm a good helper. I just love this video. I love pretending he knows what he's saying. :D

Soon he had almost every toy in the tub in that cup...including his wash cloth. Now if I can just get him to stay in helping mommy clean mode for the next 18 years I'd be set. :D

My giggly sleepyhead...

Forgot to post this last night after we took it. :) I love my giggly little slap happy sleepyhead! :D

Introducing...my band!

So...I'm in a country/cover band now. Singing lead vocals. LOL. Who knew? Just wanted to share a couple of pictures from rehearsal with our band. That's Kasey behind me...has his masters in guitar performance...KILLER chops.

And Kirk, my drummer buddy, surprised me by expressing total confidence in my ability to learn the drums he does for "Sweet Home Alabama", so he can sing it without having to play on the set as well. He handed me his sticks in mic check and had me play the basic groove for it so he could go into the house and hear the mix. (I haven't played a drum in over two/three years, but it came right back.) And then the three union guitarists joined me for fun and it was such a high. I totally held my own with those three for the entire song and I was like a kid in a candy store. So Kirk decided I was going to do the drums for it in our set, and he'll teach me his more complicated fills. (YAAAAAAAAAAY! See...he ROCKS! He subs for "Mamma Mia" drummer all the time...the dude is amazing. He used to be my drum teacher...so excited to learn this song!) So I'm going to be passing him the mic, he'll be passing me the sticks for that song. SO COOL!!!! I'm really giddy about it. In rehearsal, during the giddy revelation that I was to be drumming during "Sweet Home".
It was awesome last week to play live together for our first gig and just get it up onstage. We're going to record three tracks in the next few weeks. I'm excited! I will keep you posted and will eventually post something we do, but it'll be awhile. I'm a perfectionist, and unless it's perfect it won't be posted. :D Sorry! :D I love love love those guys in the band and we're going to have a BLAST working together! It's just cool to do something new. :D Who knew I'd ever do country? LOL!

Brendan is ALMOST WALKING!

Can you believe how fast he's growing up!?!?!?!?

Quick story...at church today Brendan was totally intrigued by this 14 month old little baby girl (who is about 10 pounds lighter than Brendan) that was walking in the church hallways. She looks way too little to be walking already...it's SO PRECIOUS! Well, Brendan caught sight of her and started following her around the church, totally intrigued by her walking. He'd crawl right alongside her and just stare at her walking. She probably thought she had a stalker. :D He followed her for about twenty minutes and was totally taken by her.

Okay, so tonight we were all home at the same time for the entire day. WHAT A TREAT! It was awesome. We had so much time to play and be together as a family tonight. Yay! So we noticed Brendan was happy we were finally all at home together without rushing to and fro, and he decided that while mommy and daddy were BOTH home he would start walking!!!! He must've been inspired by the little lady at church today!

He averages about 2-3 steps most of the time, but there are times where he can get up to 6!!! This is a progression of him getting better and better at walking! We had so much fun with him today. Forgive my messy house in the background. I'd much rather spend my free time playing with my kid then worrying about a messy house. :) Tomorrow I'll clean it. Today was Sunday. Anyway...this is the start. And by the way...he is SO MY KID! The second he sees that camera he turns into a ham and a half. He's done that since he was 6 months old. uh oh! :)

This was taken after I got back from ward choir today, and Brendan was back in his sleeper for his nap.

Starting to walk without holding my hands...




He is such a ham! Look at him! He's not even concentrating on walking! (He was doing better than this before we pulled out the camera!) He was just grinning it up at Daddy holding the camera. The little stinker! LOL. I had no idea he was hamming it up so much...Lamar didn't tell me. Wow is he my kid. I was an obnoxious camera hungry kid too. Lovely. He is not even a year old yet. Not a good sign. LOL. I'll tell ya what though...Lamar is quite the ham when you put a camera on him too...so the kid's doomed.

Another cute little attempt, but being distracted by trying to be cute for the camera! LOL I swear he does not act this cheesy ever, without that camera in view! Can you believe how tall he is??? That is a 2T sleeper on him, and clearly he's almost out of it. He won't be a year old for another two weeks!

And he took mom out with him a couple of times...! :D I sound like my sisters laughing at the end. So weird!

This is one of my favorite videos lately too...he is still hamming it up, but he starts his jibber jabber that is so funny and adorable. You can really see his bubbly personality on this video. He's so addicting. I love his laugh at the end of the video...turn up the volume so you can hear him talk and giggle....we were having fun! I love being home with my baby and honey!

He finally stopped obsessing about the camera (I think he realized we weren't going to be taking his picture...no flashes...and got bored. WOW!!!! What on earth am I in for?!?!? LOL) and started walking. His first two steps on camera! He was all proud of himself-applauded himself when he walked the two steps! :)

I laugh SO stinkin' hard at this next video. My child looks like a directionally challenged muppet. :D And when he walks he puts his arms above his head like a monkey. LOL

He got four steps in a row! First day of any of this walking business. So excited for him. :D I wish you can see his face in this video...he looked shocked and SO proud of himself! :D It was darling.

He started getting more and more consistent on the four steps away from the couch to me!

He was being so cute and proud of himself...one last video.

Yes, there were lots, but I wanted you to see the progression. More tomorrow. :D You only get one chance in life to get these first steps on video. :) Isn't he doing SO GOOD considering he's HUGE and started crawling way late? 27 lbs. :) LOL I love my tall little tank!

Trying to catch up on a missed month...

I apologize for being SOO late posting all of these posts. I've honestly been trying to load videos on this site for weeks and unfortunately my computer didn't cooperate. I'm hoping it's going to work this time, so I can fill you in on Brendan's past month.

This is him attempting to drink out of a water bottle. In July. (Sorry!) He got it quickly after I took this video, so I'm glad I caught this while I did, since it's so funny. He didn't quite grasp the concept at first...LOL!


Brendan is his daddy's son alright. His new favorite game is 'driving' Daddy's truck or Mommy's Durango. So Lamar was letting him drive and I had to get a picture. This one makes my heart happy 'cause they look like they match...Like daddy like son. : ) It's cute!

Little dude loves playing with Daddy's glasses, but doesn't like to keep them on for very long. I was quick and got this one on film. : )

He got the glasses off. I love this picture of his eyes. So blue! I think he looks like Lamar in this one...

So Brendan LOVES baths nowadays...especially when I let him play with the nasal aspirator...the BEST bath toy! : ) He was gettin' me with it. :D And no, he didn't get me every time, but I still acted like he did 'cause he thought it was so funny. :D I love how you can see his giggly personality on here...and how he tries to match my enthusiasm in his squeals too. I love this kid. Sorry it's a bath video. I didn't try too hard to censor and I probably should have. But it's so fun I had to post anyway. He's not even a year old yet. :D I'm just surprised he actually has aim and can hit me with all that water! By the end of this bath I was dripping from head to toe. It was a blast!

These pants were falling off...had to share his ghetto look. :D Sorry he's a little blurry in this. :D

Another one that looks exactly the same, but you can see his pretty eyes better. :D His thought bubble: "What? You gotta problem with me?"

One of my all time favorite photos....makes me laugh so hard. This is how mommy spends a vast majority of her day, when she is trying to get things done. LOL!

This was taken at band practice, one of our first ones. Brendan comes with me usually, and Kirk and Kasey are so cool about it. (Even though I know it gets old having me chase him all over tarnation, making sure he doesn't keep turning up Kasey's amp, or Kirk's laptop, etc. It's a constant battle.) Kirk is the drummer (my drum teacher, actually too. Good friend!) and Brendan LOVES watching Kirk drum. Kirk jams on those things! (He subs in for the drummer at "Mamma Mia" on the Strip all the time. He's really good!) He hates that set though...it's a crappy electronic set, but it gets the job done when we are at the music school we all teach at. Brendan spends some of his time at practice just like this...mesmorized by Kirk's playing. I'm sure Kirk just loves being stared at, but he's a good sport. LOL Wanted to share...Brendan loves band practice. He also stares at Kasey playing the guitar. I didn't catch him staring at Kirk, but turning and looking at me...but you get the idea. :D

I am the primary chorister in my ward. So I am singing primary songs all the time to Brendan. I also teach the nursery kids the same songs when I'm not doing singing time in jr/sr primaries. So he sees this alot. He's starting to get the actions down too...so fun! In this I sang "Popcorn Popping" 'cause he loves it so much. Whenever I start singing the song he claps 'cause he's happy I'm singing it. He only did three of them in this video...I think 'cause he was so tired. Normally he's much more crazy excited too, that I'm singing it, but he looks almost bored in this one. LOL But he'll do some of the actions with me now!!! I just giggle...it's so CUTE! He gets "Popcorn Popping", "Surprise!", and "But it seems to me" in this video. Normally he applauds at the end too, and normally does some others, but you get the idea. Not even a year old yet! Some of my 18 mos old nursery kids don't get this much. :D I think it's cute.