This Week at the Brennans’

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Hello, friends! It’s been a hot minute.

Here’s what has been happening these past few weeks:

I think it might be easiest to write about current events and then work backwards. Ha! So, me and all the kids are in Arizona to celebrate Thanksgiving with my sister and her family. Gordon had to work Thanksgiving and since I didn’t want to do all the cooking by myself just for our little family, I thought the next obvious choice would be to fly across the country to be with family. Ha! So we flew out Wednesday afternoon and my sweet darling children were angels on that 5 hour flight. Technically it was 6 hours because we had to fly around an extra hour due to some bad weather, but whatever. We made it.

We have been spending time with cousins and doing so much fun stuff together: crafts, parks, ostrich farms, eating good food, going to cafe rio, getting yummy drinks at sonic, snuggling babies, shopping, etc. etc.. It sure is nice to get out of our NYC groove, but I tell ya, it is weird to remember that I used to do this all the time! I’m starting to appreciate (and dare I say miss?!) our apartment, our big beautiful city and our routine?! YES. I think I mostly miss Gordon though.

The days leading up to our vacation were spent getting kids to school and trying to finish homework early since they are missing two full days of school.

Last weekend, Gordon had off (it had been a while!) so we took our new car and went to long island for a quick weekend getaway. We stayed in Montauk and really enjoyed the quiet beach town that it was and tried not to freeze. We swam hours and hours and Blake started swimming without a floaty AND without goggles! Say whaaaat?! That boy needs lessons, stat! It was only in July that we were at a hotel pool (hiii staycation), trying to coax him to dip his head in the water. Then in August, he got real comfortable with those goggles and using his puddle jumper. Now, holy smokes he’s swimming and doing laps at the hotel pool! While it’s not very graceful, man are we proud of him. It took him a little while to get used to the water and to feel comfortable enough to float and now swim, but that boy loves being in the water. I’m so glad we didn’t push him into swimming.

I’ll do a post all about our trip soon.

I officially submitted Brooke’s middle school application, so she is good to go! We will hear back from those schools in January or February whether or not she got her first choice.

After scouring Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, our home gym is nearly complete! We found some great used equipment and rubber (I think it’s rubber) flooring. To round our little home gym off, I ordered a Peloton bike which I am LOVING thus far. A lot of my friends own them and highly recommended them, so I thought I should get one too to get me back into pre-pregnancy shape. I am going to be quitting my gym in the next few months because they got rid of their childcare completely, so there’s no point in staying. Plus, we have everything we need at home. Come January, I am hitting it hard! But in the mean time, I’m enjoying that extra slice of pumpkin pie.

Thankfully, I only have about 9 pounds of baby weight left to lose! I swear, living in the city and breastfeeding has completely cinched me right back into shape. While I sometimes hate city living, I love how active it keeps me and my family.

Speaking of babies, Porter is past his two month mark and keeps on growing! He was 12 pounds, 1 ounce at his check up about two weeks ago, so I’m guessing he’s tipping the scales at 13 pounds now. He grew another 2 inches and his head in in the 79th percentile! His sleep patterns are still a little funny, but he definitely knows day from night and typically 3/7 nights I’ll get a longer stretch of sleep out of him (5-7 hours). So it’s easy to keep my energy up when he lets me sleep! The nice thing is when I do feed him in the middle of the night, he typically will go right back to bed. So thank goodness for that. He really is the best baby.

Actually, my sister and her husband have commented at how easy of a baby he is and I would have to agree. But, I really do think its because I ‘cracked his code’ and I know him now. I know what his little whines and cries all mean, so its easy to respond and put him to bed or feed him when he needs. But besides that, yes, he is a fabulous baby! We get consistent smiles now and are *this close* to getting him to laugh. Man oh man is that going to be a good day!

We have been set up for Christmas since the beginning of November and don’t regret it. Christmas is my favorite holiday, after all. All our Christmas shopping is done and while we’re gone, I put Gordon in charge of wrapping everything. We really do make a good team.

These last few weeks, work-wise, have been spent on getting my ebook ready and by golly, it’s ready!! I’ve been working on this since JULY and am so thrilled to have it completed. The ebook will go on sale on Monday, 12/2, so mark your calendars! Lots of brand new recipes for Christmas plus a lot more family content I know you will love!

Here’s what is coming up this next week:

Gordon’s aunt, uncle and cousins are all coming into town! We are so excited to see them!

We are hopefully going to get some Rockettes tickets this year again as well as do a Breakfast with Santa. Still working out the details, but are excited for the festivities ahead that only December brings.

Never Miss a Week

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