6 months old!

Brenden & Wendy Fortney. We get mail for a Wendy Fortney, and we joke that Brenden got married without telling us. The most obvious suspect is his glow-worm, who he loves to stare at reverently and kiss. (Last night he spent a few minutes licking its face.)

Opening Christmas presents from Grandma and Grandpa Cordill

"Thank you, thank you very much"

It's hard to believe Brenden is 6 months old already! Adam and I were just looking at his newborn pictures and reminiscing. The time has gone so fast. Life has become a little less weird and a lot more fun since Brenden was first born. I would give my pinky toe, maybe both pinky toes, for a whole night's sleep, but I can't wait to get home in the evenings to play with Brenden.

Brenden had his 6 month check-up today, and he was very brave for his shot. Here are his stats:

Height: 29.5" (97% percentile)

Weight: 19 lbs, 10 oz (85% percentile)

Brenden's iron level is very good, which was a relief. We were a little freaked when the doctor heard a heart murmur, but she said it's very faint and it's nothing to worry about. She said they'll continue to monitor it at regular check-ups and perform an echo if it hasn't cleared up by age 10.

After lots of deliberating, we decided to give Brenden the seasonal flu shot since we're flying next week. We're splitting up his other vaccines. We think it's important to vaccinate him, but we figured we might as well split up the vaccines between visits in case that makes any difference in preventing some of the scary side-effects people talk about. The vaccine scares may be bogus, but just in case...

The doctor also discovered that Brenden has his first tooth, and his second one is already on its way out! Teething is a likely culprit in his sleeping problems, and the doctor thinks he might also be getting up a lot at night to nurse. He's been gradually reducing the amount he takes by bottle during the day, so he might have figured out that he can wake me up at night and get to nurse more.

Brenden has been doing lots of new things lately:

• reaching for us (love it!)


• standing up while holding our hands


• running his hands through Mom's hair. He just runs his hand back and forth really gently; it's the sweetest thing.


• eating rice cereal. He didn't like it the first couple of times, but now he'd eat the whole box if we let him.


• rolling over onto his tummy. He doesn't know how to roll back to his back yet, which makes him mad.


• sucking on washcloths during bathtime. If I don't give him his own washcloth to suck on, he'll rip the washcloth I'm using to bathe him right out of my hands.


• holding on to toys when we try to take them away. He has such a strong grip, I sometimes have to use both hands to get things out of his hands.