We now have the living room filled with trains! Here are some photos that I took at Disneyland and him opening and playing with gifts. I have some videos as well, but haven’t processed those just yet. Stay tuned.

I thought I’d post this video of Brody and I from a few weeks ago. He’s really trying to say so many more words now, and doing so well at it. Here he is doing his best to say ‘pizza’. You may need to turn up your volume since he’s sort of whispering.

I know it’s been a loooong time since I’ve posted, and I apologize for that. But, my daddy has been super duper busy over the past few months. He stopped going to work every day back in April, he said something like laying down, or laying off… I dunno what you grown ups mean sometimes. He was real busy trying to find another place that he can go to work. Anyways, he got to stay home with me a lot and I really liked that! Well, he found a new place to go to work and we’re all happy for him.

So, let me quickly catch you up on thingz I have been doin’ over the past few months! I’m gonna run it down in a list for you.

• I know how to crawl on my hands and knees now! Yup, I thought that scootin’ around on my belly was cool… forget about scootin’ because crawling is waaaay faster. I’m really watching mom and dad, because they know how to walk around up on their feet. I like to pull myself up on everything in the house to get up to my feet. You just wait, I’ll walk around like mom and dad in no time.
• I drop stuff a lot, and I know how to say “uh oooh”.
• I got my hair cut twice before my first birthday. Mommy sayz I have daddy’s hair… which makes no sense to me, cuz if that was true then daddy wouldn’t have any hair, you know?!?!!
• I like to pretend to sneeze when anyone else sneezes. Heck, I even do it after I sneeze!
• I love waving at people when mommy and daddy take me places.
• I give kisses when mommy asks for one… sometimes, if I feel like it.
• I like to go swimming in the pool with mom and dad. I get to take swimming classes with mommy now. But I’m not sure why mommy needs the classes, since I think she already knows how. She’s funny.

Talk to you soon. Bye-bye for now!

Oh, and my mommy started giving me some things that she lets me put in my mouth. She usually doesn’t let me do that with all the stuffs I want to eat. There’s all sorts of neat stuff I find around the house, but mommy and daddy take them away from me before I get to taste them. Were was I?… oh yeah, these things she gives me are round and crunchy in my mouth. They call them cherry ohs or something like that. And there are some other thingys  they give me … they call those pups or pufs. Those taste different, and I like the cherry ohs better. Don’t ask me why, I just do.

Awww man, mommy and daddy have been taking me to this place by home… it’s sooo fun to go there. They put me into this hanging chair thingy and push me back and forth. Makes me laugh so hard, I LOVE it!! Daddy took some pictures of me in it. Mommy sits me on her lap and slides down this thingy… my belly feels all funny and tickly when we slide down. That makes me laugh too.

I’ve been practicing a lot lately, going forward to grab some toys or slobber on dads leg. Sometimes it’s wierd, mom will come running quick if I get too close to certain things… I think she thinks it’s some kind of game. Whatever – it’s funny to see her hurry and keep me from getting stuff.

So, my dad says you can watch me doing this thing, he calls it an army crawl or something like that (I don’t even know who this army guy is). Here is the video. Check out my skills! That stupid wheel keeps moving farther away from me everytime I got close to it, man I wanted to just smack it so bad!

HI!! This is my first blog post… my daddy wants me to start writing my own stuff from now on. He keeps saying something about being too busy. I don’t really know what that means yet, so here I am. He already has me updating my own page, but wants me to make new posts when stuff happens and junk. I just turned 6 months (what mommy says at least), so please bear with me… I haven’t quite yet developed a writing style.

So, the other day my dad was pulling on my bottom lip and trying to look inside my mouth. I thought it was really weird that he would want to see inside my mouth. Then mommy and daddy were all excited and kept saying “tooth” or “teeth” or something like that. Kinda funny how they were all excited about it. Can someone tell me what a “tooth” is? Maybe it’s why my mouth has been hurting so much lately… and I keep slobbering all over the place. I like to slobber on people, it’s fun! They keep grabbing for these rags to wipe my chin, but I’m getting pretty good at landing the spit right on them. Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, tooths… inside my mouth it has been hurting really bad, but when mommy rubs her finger in there it feels better. When I bite down on her finger it feels the best. But when I do, she makes funny faces yells “ouch” out loud. Makes me giggle sometimes. Mommy is fun.

Yesterday, they took me to that place where they lay me down on the cold paper to measure and weigh me. This lady in a white coat said something like “19 point 5 pounds” and then “26 and one quarter inches”. Oh man, I almost forgot!!.. then she put this thing around my head that had all these numbers on it and she said “17 and three quarters”. I hope I get some of these quarters they keep talking about!!! I need to start saving up! Everything was all over since dad put my shirt and pants back on, or so I thought. That lady came back and poked my legs with needles and made me cry! If I knew how to say bad words I sure would have at that point. But, then she was nice and held me and showed me some posters on the wall… I smiled for her and forgot all about the needles in my legs.

Oh oh oh…. one more thing! At home, daddy put this huge tree in the living room. Yeah, right there next to the couch. Then mommy and Lauren put all these shiny things on it… hanging them all over it. When it gets dark, there are bright thingies that light up on it. I like it, but not as much as slobbering on people.

By for now!

Keep in mind that all times can be “give or take” 5-10 minutes or so. We don’t quite have it down to an exact science just yet.

• 5:00am
  • wake up
  • check work email (usually via my phone while getting ready to shower)
  • shower
  • shave
• 5:45am
  • try to wake up Melanie
  • get dressed
• 5:50am – 7:00am (the order is dictated by when Brody wakes up)
  • start putting our lunches together
  • eat english muffin with peanut butter, drink some OJ (this is done while doing the previous step)
  • check diaper bag to ensure it contains all items required
  • wake Brody up, if he’s not already squirming
  • change his diaper
  • dress him
  • bring him to Melanie once he’s dressed and ready to go
  • make us both instant coffee for the drive (Melanie takes cinnamon and brown sugar)
  • toast english muffin for Melanie (also with peanut butter)
  • load up the car: lunch bags, diaper bag, coffee mugs, any other misc bags
• 7:00am
  • put Brody into car seat
  • load Brody into car
  • drive to my work
• 8:00am
  • I get to my work
  • Melanie takes over and drives to the sitter’s place
• 8:15am
  • Melanie drops Brody off with sitter
• 8:30am
  • Melanie gets to her work
• 5:00pm
  • Melanie leaves work to pick up Brody from sitter
• 5:15pm
  • Melanie leaves sitter to pick me up from work
• 5:30pm (ish)
  • Melanie picks me up from work, I take over the wheel for the leg home
• 6:30pm (ish)
  • we arrive home
• 6:30pm – 6:45pm
  • bring Brody inside
  • unload all of the stuff from the car
• between 6:45pm and 7:30pm
  • Melanie and I eat dinner
  • feed Brody cereal or some jar food if he seems hungry
• 7:30pm – 8:00pm
  • bathtime for Brody
• 8:00pm – 9:00pm
  • Brody gets fed and falls asleep
  • this could go past 9pm if he doesn’t crash easily
• 9:00pm – 10:00pm
  • do some random chores that need to be done before the next day
  • do anything else that I’d like to spend my free time on… sometimes I can last until 10:30pm if I really want to
• 10:00pm – 10:30pm
  • go to sleep

Brody was born in early June of this year, 6/7/08 actually. Since then my flickr stream has been chock full of photos of Brody. He is the cutest little baby you’ve seen, so it’s tough not to keep snapping pics of him. This also keeps family and friends satisfied with new photos of him; they are all very aware of his page on our site, and are instructed regularly to go there if they want to see new photos of him. This is especially nice as we (and that really means “I”) don’t have to fiddle around every week or so with sending an email out to everyone with images attached. 

Today I quickly skimmed through my photostream and estimated that since June 10th, the day that the first photos of Brody were uploaded, he is in roughly 85% of the photos I post to flickr. Another thing I’ve noticed is that my photostream gets less views now. I suppose that this means most people see thumbnails of cute babies on flickr and don’t want to look at them. Case in point: the photo in this article I took as I was carpooling to work last week. In the 10-ish hours that it has been on flickr, it has gotten just about the same number of views as each of the last 4 photos posted before it… and those have been up for 3-4 days now.

Memories. And that’s just fine with me, the main purpose of me posting his photos is noted in the opening of this very article. Even more important, is the purpose of me taking them in the first place. I take them for me and Melanie… for Lauren, for our parents, our brothers, my sister… countless friends. But, mostly for Brody. For him to have photos to look at when he’s my age. I love to look at photos of when I was a kid. To hear my parents talk about what I (and my siblings) were like when we were Brodys age.

Priorities. Being creative has taken a back seat to what is currently more important: helping as much as I can at home with a 5-month-old, and spending time with him, with Melanie, and making sure Brody gets to spend time with the extended family. So, I have lapsed in my creativeness lately, but not totally. I still get to take lots of photos, but Brody is the center of the attention of it. One thing is for sure, we will have tons of great photos of him!

Creativity. Part of me still wants to draw those flickr viewers in to see my creative photos. The ones that don’t care to look at babys, but would rather look at a blurred car speeding along. It may sound vain, but I think it’s in the blood of any photographer to want people to “want” to view their photographs. At least for me, it’s a big part of why I photograph in the first place. I like to know that people enjoy looking at something I’ve created.

It’s been gnawing at me recently: gotta get out there an take some new photos! I pass things and can’t help but think to myself: I would shoot that, and this is how I would process it. Photography, for me, is part creativity, part meditation. It gets my brain to think differently, to break away from what could be clogging it up. It helps releive stress; a head-check if you will. I’m promising myself to slowly get some creative work done and post more of it. They will just have to be well blended among the shots of Brody and other family.

He had a puzzled look on his face as we both clapped and cheered for his accomplishment. And then he gave us his usual huge smile!

They grow up so fast (wipes tear from eye).

The little guy was all of 12 days old when the photo in the announcement was taken, and as of this post he’s just shy of 12 weeks. He’s changed plenty in this span, and as you know, I keep his page up to date with new photos of him at least once per week… usually more often.

Extra special thanks to Jackie Ciulla who created this fantastic announcement. She’s an expert at what she does and you should check out her site: www.MyDesignBooth.com

Brody has his very own page on the site, which has links to all the photos that I upload. Photos will automatically show up on his page as I upload them. So, be sure to check in regularly. But, be sure to keep reading if you want to know any specifics about his birth.

Here are the quick details to bring you all up to speed:

• Water broke at 2:10am on Friday 6/6.
• Brief panic attack. I assured Melanie that she did, in fact, have time to brush her teeth.
• Arrived at triage at about 3:00am. No traffic!
• Nurses surprised that Mel could not really feel what appeared to be strong contractions. In Mel’s words: “feels a bit tighter”
• Admitted and in labor & delivery by 5am. Still only dilated at 1.5 cm.
• Nurse and Midwife say that delivery may not happen until the next day.
• 11:30am, labor gets into gear with a little help from Pitocin.
• Contractions got stronger.
• Sometime early afternoon… Epidural, Melanie’s new favorite word.
• Sleep.
• 7:30pm, dilated at 5cm… moving along! Dial that Pitocin down a bit.
• Sleep.
• 10:40, still dilated at 5cm… ugh! Crank that Pitocin up.
• Midnight-ish, dilated at 8cm. Whew… they were talking c-section if she had not progressed.
• Slept more.
• 5:00am, almost fully dilated.
• 5:50am, lock and load. It’s time to push.
• Called the welcoming committee to get ready
• 6:58am, Brody Neil Bernhart joins us.
• The rest is history

Official specs:
Weight: 7 lbs. 10 oz.
Length: 20 1.4 inches
Head circumference: 13 1/2 inches

Thanks to everyone for all the phone calls, text messages, and visits. We appreciate all the well wishes.

Now, Brody is sleeping, so I’ll be doing the same!