Happy Birthday to Brennan!

Saturday, December 27th, marked one year of life for Brennan! We celebrated his first birthday in conjunction with the Ganun family Christmas (my mom's side of the family). There were 38 people there for the Christmas celebration, which also meant that there were 38 people at Brennan's first birthday party! He did amazingly well with the cake, eating the entire piece that we gave him!

He sure had fun with the cake!

The aftermath.

The Ganun family Christmas was a huge affair this year, as evidenced by the enormous table pictured below. Yes, all of us managed to sit around the table for one huge family meal. It had been a long time since I had participated in one of these shindigs, so it was pretty special to get to celebrate the Christmas season with my grandparents, parents, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and all the little ones that have been added to the family over the past few years. It was wild, crazy, chaotic, and overall wonderful. It was pretty special for us to have Brennan around so many of his relatives--all of whom doted on him and loved on him the entire day. Definitely a great experience!

Table for 38, please!

Snow!

The thing that I have missed most about winter is the lack of snow. This year, that wasn't a problem! My brother had a ton of snow out at his place and we spent Christmas afternoon sledding. Even though Christmas day was about 18 degrees, we all bundled up and had some great family time and got plenty of exercise as we had to climb back up the hill multiple times!

Brennan's inaugural sled ride with Daddy (and getting a little help from Grace and Uncle Nathan)

My dad and me (right before I flipped out of the sled)

He wasn't too sure what to think of all this white stuff.

First Christmas

This has been a year of firsts for Brennan. One of the more recent ones is that we got to celebrate his first Christmas! We ventured up to Minnesota for a white Christmas--and I was in heaven with the cold, the snow, the joy of Christmas feeling like I used to know it. We celebrated Christmas day with my parents, brother, and niece at my brother's house. Gifts in the morning, sledding in the afternoon, the traditional Prechel lasagna for lunch. John even got to try lefse for the first time (and he liked it too!). This was also the first Christmas my immediate family had been together in six years. All in all, Christmas this year goes down as the best one for me in a long time.

The baseball was a big hit.

One of his favorite parts was the wrapping paper.

My dad read the Christmas story to Brennan and Grace.

Tiny Steps

Tonight was a big night for Brennan! I was putting some clothes away in his dresser and he was "helping" Mama. I needed to close the drawer so I took his hands away from the edge of the drawer where he had been holding on. He stood pretty wobbly on his own, and then...he took a couple small steps toward me! He repeated this new trick a couple of times and I was thrilled each time! He was pretty excited, too. Hopefully, he'll repeat it again tomorrow for Daddy to see (Daddy was at work and missed out on all the fun).

Now, walking is something I think we all take for granted. It's just something that we do. But there's something pretty special when you see your child walk on his own for the first time. My heart soared and I rejoiced with Brennan at this new thing he can do. It's another sign that he's about to enter toddlerhood and leave babyhood behind.

We take off tomorrow for Minnesota where we'll celebrate Christmas and Brennan's first birthday. Check back next week for pictures!

Student of the Word

Our little man takes time out each day to read his Bible.

Our little man is cute. (We think so anyway).

On Our Nightstand, Part 3

Here's another installment of books that we are currently reading (or have recently read):

1. The Shack by William P. Young
2. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
3. Praying the Names of God by Ann Spangler
4. God on Mute by Pete Greig
5. Divine by Karen Kingsbury
6. Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope by Brian McLaren

Help us rename the blog!

A blog that is mostly about Brennan and mostly updated by Naomi really shouldn't be called "The Dawghouse", since I'm the JDawg and I rarely show up here anymore. So we need a new name -- something that incorporates the whole family. Please help stir the creative juices by posting suggestions on the comments section for this post! Just a few pointers to guide your creativity:

1. Keep it clean! Yeah, I'm talking to you, grandparents. (Just kidding!)
2. I highly recommend avoiding plays on the last name. It's been tried before, and no one has succeeded yet.

Best of luck to you!

Early Christmas

My parents sent Brennan his first Christmas gift this year. It arrived last night, and John and I put it together and set it under the tree. When Brennan got up this morning, we went out to the tree to show him his gift--a music table! He loves music and dancing, so this gift is a big hit with him! He's already had a blast exploring it, trying out the different fun things, and making noise with it. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Prechel!

Exciting Evening

Yesterday was a day full of fun, exciting things for the Downer family! Brennan got to visit Santa at the mall (see previous post). He did fantastic--no crying, just doing his "I'm in a new situation and will therefore be as stoic as absolutely possible."

Last night was also my work Christmas party, held at the Jefferson Hotel here in Richmond. VERY dressy, fantastic food, dancing--definitely a good time. It was fun to get dressed up for an evening out (sans Brennan).


Even though a night at the Jefferson was exciting enough, the highlight of the entire day came when I looked out the window shortly before we left and saw SNOW! We've experienced some minimal snow flurries in recent weeks, but nothing like this! Now, those of you who get snow regularly every winter (my upper Midwest buddies) probably won't understand what a thrill this was to see. Being Minnesotan, expecting snow in the winter is part of the genetic makeup (the snow was fine, but the extreme cold was a bit much), so living in the land of constant summer for nearly five years was a challenge and I missed the seasons and getting snow terribly. Being back in a place where we get to experience those things makes my day.

Santa Baby

Appreciation

Last night, John and I went to Andrew Peterson's "Behold the Lamb of God" concert. Shameless plug: we CANNOT recommend this concert highly enough! This was our second time seeing it, and it's by far the best concert we've ever been to. If it comes to your area, make every attempt to go!

The first half of the concert is his friends on this tour with him taking turns playing a couple of their own songs (this time, it was people like Bebo Norman, Andy Osenga, Jill Phillips, and Andy Gullahorn). The second half of the concert is the "Behold the Lamb of God" piece, with songs taking you through the Old Testament and ending with the birth of Christ. Amazing stuff, especially since so much of the focus in churches zeroes in on the prophecy in Isaiah and then the actual birth is Matthew and Luke. What this fails to take into account is that Jesus is found throughout the entire Bible, not just a few prophecies in the Old Testament and then making his grand entrance in the New Testament. That's why I appreciate this concert so much--it's a very basic Old Testament survey, weaving together the Story of God from the beginning and culminating in the New Testament birth of Christ.

There is one song that is done in this concert, "Labor of Love," that has really come to mean a lot to me. The entire Christmas season has always been my favorite time of year, but this year it really is special to me. Maybe it's because we'll be spending Christmas with my entire family (immediate and extended) for the first time in our married life, maybe it's because it's actually cold outside and we get to wear sweaters and stuff, but mostly it's because our son was born two days after Christmas. Going through the events immediately prior to Jesus' birth makes me truly appreciate my own birth experience. For instance, I am truly grateful I didn't need to ride a donkey to the hospital. I'm thankful that I was able to give birth in a hospital with the assistance of a doctor and nurses instead of in a stable with only the animals and my husband in attendance. I'm so incredibly thankful for the epidural to allow for a pain-free experience (can't even begin to imagine what it would have been like without it!). But then there is the shared experience with Mary of holding the first-born son for the first time. It's amazing to me to think that when she held Jesus, she was holding God Almighty. Holding Brennan for the first time was the most amazing experience of my life, but he's not God. I wonder what that would have been like to be holding the child you've just delivered and know that you were holding the Creator of the universe. What an amazing thought.

This year, among so many other things, I'll be rejoicing in the two best Christmas gifts we could have ever been given: the gift of Jesus Christ and the gift of Brennan Downer (even though he came two days after Christmas, he still counts as a Christmas present!).

Christmas Tree Time!

John set up our tree while I was at work this morning, and we took some time to decorate it before he left for work this afternoon. Brennan was more interested in pulling books off the bookshelf than the tree itself! Next up, all that yummy Christmas baking!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Christmas is my favorite time of year! This year, we get to go to Minnesota for Christmas to celebrate with my family. Christmas Day will be spent with my parents, my brother, and my niece--the first time the immediate family has all been together since 2001! Then, two days later, December 27th, we'll be participating in another Christmas celebration with my mom's entire side of the family. Every year, the Ganun family gets together and this year, the entire family is coming in from all over the country for what will likely be the last Christmas gathering where we are all together. I'm totally looking forward to it--aunts, uncles, cousins, my cousin's kids, my grandparents will all be there (about 40 people total!). This year's Christmas celebration with the Ganun family will also coincide with Brennan's first birthday! So...all 40 people will also be at his first birthday party! It'll be quite the gathering!

To help facilitate getting in the Christmas spirit (because, quite frankly, standing in line at Kohl's for one hour on Black Friday helped facilitate quite the opposite of Christmas cheer), I pulled out a bunch of Christmas decorations to start getting the house ready. Brennan wasn't quite sure what to think of all the stuff I was setting out. But, then we started to have fun with the Santa hat and reindeer antlers. Ah, feel that Christmas spirit!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Downer family! It's our first Thanksgiving as a family, and it's also Brennan's 11 month birthday. Just one more month and he'll be a year old! Craziness.

We celebrated Thanksgiving quietly with just the three of us, watching the parade and cooking like crazy. I've never cooked a Thanksgiving meal before, so it was definitely new territory. After only one phone call to my mom for some needed advice, the meal turned out to be a success. Just to clarify, I didn't do it solely by myself. John helped out with some aspects, for which I was very grateful.

Since we are now a family, I wanted to start some of our own traditions. This year, I came up with the idea of doing a gratitude journal where we will record some of the things that we are thankful for that have happened in the past year. This way, we'll have a record that we can look back on each year to see the different ways that God has blessed us. We have definitely had a lot to be thankful for in the past year!

Brennan waiting patiently for his meal to be served.



The spread. I was pretty pleased.

It's a Beautiful Thing

Well, you know you're not in Florida anymore when homes come with fireplaces and the temperatures get cold enough to merit using said fireplace. The townhouse we are renting has a fireplace and the previous tenants were kind enough to leave a few pieces of firewood for us. We decided today was the day to bask in the warmth of our very own fire in our very own fireplace. Great fun! We'll definitely be investing in some more firewood to do more fires throughout the winter.

The inaugural fire

Brennan enjoying the warmth of the fire and getting a very important lesson from Daddy about fire safety.

Thanksgiving Fun Facts

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I've been doing some looking around online at all things Thanksgiving to help get in the spirit. I came across this website from the History Channel that has some fun facts about the holiday. Enjoy!

Fun Times

Brennan was just so cute and cuddly in his jammies this morning that Daddy decided to leave him in them for the day. Don't you just want to hug him???

Daddy's got big shoes to fill! Sidenote: Brennan does this face when he gets really excited about stuff. It's pretty cute, and we've been wanting to get it on film for a while and finally did.

Pardon the Politics

In the spirit of the election, I thought I would do a post of a political nature. While I will refrain from commenting about this year's election, I wanted to post a link that I came across thanks to Facebook. The article is from the Opinion section of the Wall Street Journal and it says everything I would love to say, only better than I could ever possibly say it. I hope that all who look at our blog, regardless of political affiliation or opinion, will take a couple minutes to read this short article: "The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace. What Must Our Enemies Be Thinking?"

Happy Fall!

We took some time today to hit the park. The weather was perfect and the changing leaves were gorgeous. I'd almost forgotten how beautiful fall is! Not having gotten to experience fall for the past five years, I find that I'm definitely appreciating the changing weather all the more this year.

Love it!

Brennan would swing all day if he could. This picture doesn't do justice to just how much this kid loves the swing--the wind blowing through his hair, the motion in general, tipping his head back and watching the sky go by. Oh, and his outfit is a 12-month outfit, but the overalls are already too short. Hopefully it's a sign that he's gonna be tall!

10 Months Old!

Our baby is 10 months old today! He loses a little bit of his baby-ness every day and becomes much more boy-like (see photos below in the previous post for his latest adventures). The past six weeks, and really the past month, have brought about so many changes and new things for Brennan. He's gone from pushing himself into a sitting position, to doing a great army crawl, to crawling, to pulling himself up to stand. He's even taken a few tentative steps while holding on to a piece of furniture. His favorite thing to chase after while crawling is Esther, much to her dismay. We definitely need to keep an eye on this kid!

One of his new favorite playtime activities is his books. He loves to play with his books, open and close them, and turn the pages. I, of course, am thrilled with this. I love reading to him and am so excited that he's showing interest in books. Granted, his interest in books is a bit different than my interest in books, but still!

After months of thinking that this poor child has been teething, here we are at 10 months old, and there are still no teeth to be found! At this point, I'll just be happy if he gets teeth before his first birthday! Even though he has no teeth, he's doing great with his solids and "finger food" options. He's not really keen on feeding himself now. He much prefers to take the food we put on his tray and flick it around or smash it, depending on what it is. Oh well. He'll get the hang of it eventually.

Every new phase and milestone is so exciting for us. It's been quite the journey to watch him grow and learn and explore his world. What fun!

(A special Happy Anniversary to my grandparents who are celebrating 57 years of marriage today--way to go Grandma and Grandpa!!)

Little Boy Instincts

Exhibit A: Climb it!

Exhibit B: Push it!

Never a dull moment now.

Firsts

We've had a couple of fun "firsts" around here lately.

Yesterday we were all sitting at the table eating lunch and out of nowhere Brennan says, "Da-da". He's said this before, but always in a stream of other sounds, like bla-bla-bla-da-da-da (or something like that). This was the first time he's said it by itself, and so clearly. Still not sure it really counts as a word, except today he's said "Daddy" a couple times, so now I'm inclined to think it's official. And I'm thrilled!

His mother was also excited yesterday and showed it by turning to him with a big look of surprise on her face and a boisterous, "good job Brennan!" This exuberance promptly caused him to burst into tears, and he cried hysterically for the next few minutes. We had to take him out of his high-chair to calm him down.

So we're excited, but Brennan doesn't know what the fuss is all about and isn't quite sure about these over-emotional big people.

Today we had another first ... Brennan's first football game. For the record, it was also Brennan's first time sitting in the rain watching grown men pummel each other; his first time seeing a rainbow (once the sun came out); his first time seeing a shutout (41-0 Spiders over Georgetown -- who knew Georgetown even had a football team?); and his first encounter with a celebrity (we passed Shawn Barber, ex-Spider and former All-Pro linebacker in the NFL, on the way out and said hi to him).

So it's been an exciting couple of days. I just hope we don't frighten him with our enthusiasm.

And now the man himself is standing next to me pulling on my arm-rest. I think he'd like to add his own two cents to this entry. So here he goes:

jh olmo9 vb n e4 7764 v bgb k

There you have it. Wisdom from a ten-month old.

One, Two, Off to the Zoo!

We took a fun day trip to the Richmond Metro Zoo yesterday. They have quite a variety of animals there and we easily saw everything in a few hours. The weather was great as well, so it was quite the enjoyable fall outing!

So, I totally fell in love with these prairie dogs. They're so cute and so fat, I just wanted to hug them all!

These lemurs were all snuggled up in a row.

We bought a cup of "zoo treats" when we entered and were able to feed a number of the animals, but the highlight was feeding the giraffes.

Brennan isn't quite at the point where we can put something in his hand without it going into his mouth, so having him feed the giraffes at his age was not a realistic possibility. We settled for petting the giraffe (gently, since that is one of the main lessons we are working with him on right now).

Did I mention that I loved this part???

How cute is this little guy???

This white tiger kept pacing right by the window. It was pretty neat to see him up close. And, we learned that there are no white tigers in the wild. They were bred in captivity specifically for their color. The zoo trip was fun and educational all at the same time!

Esther's R&R

Now that Brennan is crawling, Esther's been getting a workout as well! His favorite thing to go after, other than Mama and Daddy, is Esther. Since she's never really been around kids before and is just starting to get used to the idea of a little person invading her space, it's not necessarily her favorite thing in the world to be chased around by a little one who just wants to love on her. Unfortunately, his way of showing love to her is by grabbing her fur (we're teaching him how to pet instead of grab and pull) and shrieking with pleasure at the sight of her. Esther has learned to retreat to places that Brennan can't get to yet--our bed, the back of the couch, the top of the stairs when he is downstairs. We are hopeful that one day Brennan and Esther will be friends, but for now, Brennan rejoices in her mere presence and Esther tolerates his existence in that special way only a cat can.

Time-out

No, Brennan didn't get in trouble. For a change, Brennan isn't the main character in this particular entry.

Time-out is what I'm taking tonight. Time out from watching baseball or a movie, stressing about which wide receiver to start on Sunday, fretting about the economy, or contemplating my to-do list.

I was planning to find a bar to watch the ALCS game in, but I decided to stay in tonight. I tried to get the game on the radio, but the local ESPN affiliate goes out of tune at about sundown ever day. My car radio got a different ESPN station, but I decided I didn't want to sit in the car listening to the game. That was just a bit too desperate. So I pulled up iTunes, to listen to music while doing some random things in the computer (and occasionally checking the score of the game).

I haven't listened to music like this since early June. I listen to the radio once in a while on my way to and from work, but I favor talk radio to music stations. Naomi puts a CD on at home sometimes. This morning she had Rich Mullins' "Songs" on. It made me nostalgic, just because I listened to that CD so many times while in college. It kind of awakened something in me ... a realization that certain songs are very evocative. They might bring back a specific memory, a time in my life or just put me in a contemplative mood.

Tonight the music seems to have let me stop and evaluate my life a bit. Where am I? Where am I going? My life doesn't look anything like I thought it would a year ago. Some of that comes with the territory -- the territory being "parenthood". I'm sure having a 9 month old at home has a similar effect on all guys. But I sense there's more to it than that. I feel like I made a wrong turn somewhere, and I feel like other guys with small children haven't been thrown for a loop quite the way I have. Of course I don't really know any of these "other guys". I know of them, and I see how they look on the outside, and they look more put together on the outside than I feel on the inside. (But I should know better than to be fooled by that).

In truth, there has been so much transition in the past 9 months ... parenthood, leaving missions, moving back to Virginia ... new job, new house, new city (it may as well be since so much has changed), new hours, new church.... I feel like I have a new suit on, and it doesn't fit quite right, but I can't tell exactly where it needs to be let out or taken in. I just know it's not right.

Maybe, in the end, the suit I've tried on is a suit meant for a younger man -- the man I was before kids or marriage. But maybe also I've changed in ways that aren't healthy, and maybe it's not a new suit I need, but new habits, disciplines and routines.

Probably it's a little of both. I need to get back some of the ways of my youth -- some of my zeal, enthusiasm and curiosity. But I need to adapt all of that to the stage of life that I'm in and the responsibilities I have now and didn't have then. I just don't know exactly how to do that. And there's the rub.

Here Comes Trouble!

Brennan just started crawling on Sunday, and boy, is he ever quick when he's motivated! Things that motivate him include a favorite toy, the cat, the cat's toys, or any other such thing that belongs to the cat (including her food). He's definitely keeping us on our toes!

Apples, Apples All Around

We spent today at the Apple Harvest Festival at Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville. What a great time! We got to pick our own apples right off the tree (John, the city boy, thought it was strange to see apples actually on the trees!), sample all kinds of tasty apple treats like apple donuts and apple caramel cookies, and listen to some bluegrass music while Brennan played in the grass. One of John's co-workers brought a couple parrots to the festival and that was a fun time as well! We are already looking forward to next year!

Brennan getting up close and personal with one of the parrots. It's a trained therapy bird, so it was used to Brennan's not so gentle interest (we're working with him on the whole being gentle thing for the sake of our cat).

John getting some parrot time.

The family with some of the gorgeous scenery behind us.

The reason for the festival--apples!

Brennan was "helping" Mama pick an apple off the tree.

In lieu of a hayride, we plopped him on a bale of straw. He really liked this and thought it would be fun to taste the straw before Mama found out.

And so it begins...

This is Brennan's new trick. Actual crawling will be coming soon!

9 Months and the State Fair

Our big boy turned 9 months old yesterday! He's recently been busting out a lot of new tricks. He's really begun babbling and has been saying the sounds "ma ma" and "da da" an awful lot! We aren't counting them as his first words since he doesn't connect us with those sounds yet, but they are what we've been waiting to hear! He's also on the very brink of crawling, and does a great army crawl by pulling himself forward on his elbows. While we are definitely excited about this new phase of life Brennan is moving in to, I sometimes wonder if I'm actually ready for him to be more mobile!

The Virginia State Fair started this past Thursday, and since I really like going to fairs (it's really all about the food), we decided to head on out and see what it was all about. We went yesterday and had a blast! It was fun to walk around and see the animals, the plants, the different arts and crafts entries by people from around the state. Once Brennan got a little catnap in, he was more pleasant and ready to see all there was to see. Overall a great day, and we all arrived home hot and tired (and a little dirty in Brennan's case)--it was worth the trip!

John was thrilled there was an alpaca barn. The woman invited him to come right in the pen to get up close and personal with the alpaca!

Checking out the chicks or chick magnet?

Look at the horns on that Texas Longhorn!

After many hours in the stroller, he sure loved the feel of the grass!

We found this gorgeous garden behind one of the buildings for a peaceful respite before leaving the fair that night.

The grass sure was fun to play in!

I loved this part--there was a giant box of CORN for kids under age five to play in. They had some wooden toys and big spoons to help with the fun. Brennan sure did like the feel of the corn! Thankfully, none tried to make it in his mouth--although he did try to sneak a few kernels home in his tightly clenched hand!