6 weeks.

Brendan is 6 weeks old today. He is growing so much, and is such a great baby. He really is quite relaxed and hardly ever cries. The only downfall is that he ALWAYS wants to be held! This would be great if he was our first born, but he is not, and it is difficult to hold a baby while tending to a 3 year old, but we figure it out! He loves to eat, and you can tell because he is getting some of that adorable baby fat on his legs, face and back! His spitting up has minimized quite a bit compared to how much he was doing before. This I am thankful for, because it just frustrates me to no end when he does spit up. His favorite position to be in when he is awake is standing. This kid has such strong legs, it amazes us! He is doing pretty well sleeping at night too. He usually wakes up after about 5 or 6 hours, which is usually around 2am or 3 am, and then doesn't wake up until about 7am-ish! This extra sleep is really helping me since I am not getting naps during the day. He is smiling a little bit here and there, and mostly at Deron. He does an adorable piggy noise when he is hungry, but we have mostly attributed this to his stuffy nose that he still has. We have a 2 month check up in about 3 weeks, so we are looking forward to seeing how big our little man has gotten.

We're Going Private!

As of Friday, we are going to make our blog private! If you want to continue to read our blog, please e-mail us and we will add you to the list!

Liam's Birthday Party

This year we had Liam's birthday at Uncle Howie's pizza. It was Batman themed, so of course, Liam had to wear his Batman shirt, and even his utility belt! He had a blast. All of our family and friends were there and we all enjoyed pizza, cake and games. Liam got lots of great gifts and is having lots of fun playing with them ALL! He fell asleep yesterday in his chef hat and apron and has had it on ever since!

The GROWING Spring Cleaning List:

I have decided that while I am at home until March, this is the best time to get some early Spring Cleaning done. I started a list on Monday and there were about 5 things on it, but as of today, there are 19. While I keep finding things that need to get cleaned, or organized, or donated, I haven't been able to get much done with two kiddos! All that seems to be getting accomplished is myself becoming overwhelmed. Maybe now that most of the January birthdays are over, we can focus on getting this place organized!

• Go through the maternity clothes - completed
• Clean out Deron's clothes
• Clean out Deron's shoes
• Clean out Christy's clothes
• Clean out Christy's shoes
• Organize Tupperware cupboard
• Go through Liam's clothes
• Go through/organize Brendan's clothes
• Clean out and clean fridge and freezer
• Organize cups/bottles cupboard - completed
• Get rid of radio in bedroom
• Clean out bills box
• Clean out & organize toys (lots and lots of toys)
• Clean out our closet
• Clean out boy's closet
• Clean out junk drawer
• Shred paperwork
• Complete taxes!!!!! (Most important)
• Finish mailing out birth announcements

I'm sure that this list will only get longer, but even seeing this list in writing is stressing me out because it seems like sooooooo much! Having another child really does make less time in the day, especially when he seems to always be hungry and wants to be held constantly!

The Boys

Brendan was wide awake yesterday and the only thing that seemed to make him happy was being propped up on the couch next to his brother. Perfect picture time!























They even watched a little Handy Manny together!

Liam is 3!

Yesterday Liam turned 3! I can't believe that he really is already 3 years old. It feels like those three years have just flown by. We started out the day by opening a present from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Matt and then he got his prized possesion, a new vaccum. This is something he has been asking about for 3 weeks. It is not a real vaccum, but a toy Dirt Devil vaccum that he found at daycare, and decided he had to have it. He has been playing with it ever since he opened it. We skyped with my sister and her family and then decorated Liam's cake! We made a 3-tier 3" round cake. Just Liam's size!

















Later in the afternoon, we headed to Jump Zone so Liam could do some jumping! He fought us so hard that day when it came to his nap, so this is how he looked when we got there!
















We have never been to the jump zone before, so Liam was a little hesitant to just jump right in, but he finally warmed up and got into the jump areas where there were kids his size! It was really hard to get pictures because he was running all over the place. Afterwards we headed to Red Robin for birthday dinner. The waitress even surprised Liam at the end with a birthday ice cream!














Then we went home and ate birthday cake!



















We are having a birthday party on Saturday, in which I have agreed to make Liam a Batman cake. This will be the biggest baking task I have taken on, so we will see how it turns out!

Four Weeks Already?!

Brendan is 4 weeks old today, and the time has just seemed to fly by!




















Some of the things that Brendan is doing... other than sleeping, eating and dirtying his diapers :)
*He's awesome at lifting his head. He lifts up his head and looks around already!
*He has super strong legs and likes to use them to climb up Mommy
*He has given both myself and Deron a smile already! (and it was not while he was sleeping or passing gas)
*He's growing like a weed and he is eating so much!

He is such a good baby and really only cries when he doesn't want a diaper change and during every other bath. We've been having some spit up issues when he nurses, but he seems to do much better when he is feeding from a bottle, so we'll see what changes we have to make! All in all, things are going great in the McCandless household, and Liam tells us daily that he loves his brother, even if he wakes us up at night!

My Handsome Boys

3 week stats!

Yesterday we took Brendan to his 2-3 week check up, and he is really growing. He had lost some weight in the hospital (went from 8.4 lbs to 7.13lbs) and had gained back 2 oz. from the time we left till the first check up on Dec. 21st. Yesterday he weighed 9.1 lbs and had grown an inch! He is only about an inch shorter than Liam was when he was born now, and he is almost not fitting into his newborn clothes anymore. Such a change from swimming in his newborn clothes. He is such a piggy baby too! That must be where all the weight is coming from :)

Brotherly Love

Liam loves holding his little brother. The other night he was so excited to cuddle with him that he insisted that I take pictures of them together :)

Ready for the New Year!

2010 and is gone, and our family is so ready for 2011. This past year has definitely been a difficult one and we have really been tested, but God has provided and we are making it. The year ended with the birth of Brendan which made all the struggles that we have faced so much better! We stayed home this year and Deron and I made a great dinner that was delicious. Liam had only had a 20 minute nap in the car that day, so he was out at 6:30pm and Brendan was asleep as well.





















We were all in bed by 9pm anyways, so we rang in the New Year on New York time! Brendan did wake up at 11:50pm, so I was able to watch the ball drop at the real time :) We hope that everyone had a great New Years and that you all are blessed in this New Year!