Brunners in Brooklyn

Another first…food!

t&kbrunner — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:16:00 +0000

We fed Wil his first solid today–a soupy mix of avocado and breast milk. He seemed to think it was okay but he’s also eager to put everything in his mouth these days.

Posted by Kate

Proof he rolls!

t&kbrunner — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:46:10 +0000

Posted by Kate

Rolling

t&kbrunner — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:09:26 +0000

Wil started rolling over this week. He mostly rolls from back to belly and he seems to enjoy being on his belly. Unfortunately, he still spits up a lot so we try and keep him off his belly soon after eating.

This isn’t a video of him rolling (haven’t gotten that on video yet) but one of him playing with his feet.

Posted by Kate

Wil at 4 months

t&kbrunner — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:25:52 +0000

Wil is a little over 4 moths old now and it’s interesting to look back at how he looked the day he was born and really notice how much he’s grown and changed in this short amount of time.

Wil just born

Wil at 4 Months

It might be a bit hard to tell the scale from these pictures, but Wil is a happy guy and he’s big guy. Really big. Our daily discoveries of all the clothes he’s outgrown can be a bit frustrating, but it’s a small price to pay for having such a healthy kid.

Posted by Todd

Rules for Dancing

t&kbrunner — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:16:33 +0000

Sam has dance teacher come to his school once a week. He’s talked a lot about the circles they put on the floor to designate the spots to stand but he recently recited all of the rules (in Sam’s words):

Dancers are quiet.
Keep your hands to your own body.
In order to get a sticker, you have to do ALL the dances.
When Miss Lashana [the dance teacher] puts the circles down, we don’t throw it, slide it, pick it up or move it. Don’t do anything to the circles.

Sounds like some strict rules for dancing but Sam still seems to like the dance class!

Wil started at his daycare earlier this week and I went back to work. Todd and I are feeling pretty horrible about having him with strangers most of the day and Wil isn’t sleeping or eating very well, but I know we’ll all get used to it. In a bad turn of events, Sam got a stomach bug and was up all last night vomiting (literally every 30 to 60 minutes until about 530). Todd took the day off today but Sam still isn’t well so my third day back and I’ll be calling in sick tomorrow……. At least the rest of the family is still feeling well!

Posted by Kate

Wil’s Visit to the Hospital

t&kbrunner — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 02:14:33 +0000

As most parents can attest, there are few more harrowing experiences you can have with a young child than when they get sick. We had a pretty nasty cold going around my office and Wil was lucky enough to contract it. While constantly coughing and blowing my nose was a pain for me, it was a whole different story for poor Wil who could only sit there weezing, unable to figure out how to make his nose work the way it used to.

Sick Wil was still Happy Wil

Wil remained his usual smiley self, but it quickly became obvious that he was going to need some help getting over this bug. Kate took him to the doctor and was promptly told to head to the ER because it looked like Wil was having too much trouble breathing. They spent the day and were sent home, though the doctors seemed unsure that Wil was out of the woods yet. Sure enough, at a follow-up visit the next day he was sent back to the ER and this time Wil was admitted into the hospital overnight. It turns out one of the benefits of being “extremely contagious” is that you’re given your own room so Wil and Kate had the unique experience of being in an NYU hospital room without a bunch of other people crowding the same space.

Wil's Hospital Bed

After a night of special care, Wil was released the next day and we’re happy to report he’s almost back to his old self.

Almost back to his old self

Posted by Todd

Thanksgiving 2011

t&kbrunner — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:21:16 +0000

This year we continued our tradition of heading to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. Once again it was a nice respite from the stresses of our daily life here in NY. The weather was great, perfect for hanging around outside and playing on tractors, chopping wood and generally doing things we couldn’t do back home in the city.

Thanks to Beth and Art and the kids for putting up with us and being such generous hosts. We look forward to coming back soon!

Check out some photos of the trip below:

Thanksgiving 2011

Posted by Todd

He smiles!

t&kbrunner — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:50:07 +0000

Wil has actually been smiling those contented, internal sort of smiles since birth but a couple weeks ago we started to get glimpses of a more reactionary smile. We finally are able to get it with some regularity and caught it on camera:

Posted by Kate

Congratulations, Grandpa Brunner!

t&kbrunner — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 04:07:03 +0000

Congratulations to Grandpa Brunner who retired today! Since I was a kid, my dad worked at a number of different companies: Mirro Aluminum Company, Macwhyte Wire Rope, MB Companies, Molded Rubber and Plastic Corporation and, finally, Limtech, Inc. And with each change of job he moved up the ladder until, with MB Companies, he was the President of the company. Anyone who works in the plastics industry can tell you that, these days, the majority of molding gets done in China where the prices are so cheap that American companies just can’t compete. In spite of this fact, dad was able to take more than one Wisconsin plastic molding company and restructure its business model so not only were they able to stay afloat, but become profitable as well.

Dad’s intelligence and work ethic drove his successes and I’ve done my best to keep the examples he set in my mind as I move ahead with my own career. He set the bar very high.

Congratulations and thanks for working so hard for us, dad!

Posted by Todd

Busy Weeks

t&kbrunner — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:36:05 +0000

Our new family

We’ve had a crazy couple weeks. Of course, there’s the new baby. We were fortunate enough to have Ericka come help out in the initial days. She was immensely helpful in keeping our household in order, making us very comfortable and helping us get more sleep. We tried to thank her by sending her to the US Open, but we ended up sending her to get soaked all day in the rain. And we again came out ahead since she discovered that Wilson tennis balls sponsored the Open and she got us a cool “personalized” tennis ball shaped luggage tag for Wil! We felt like there was a bit of chaos after she left since we had to fend for ourselves again. We’ve had lots of help from friends but there’s nothing like a live-in caretaker!

Wil with Aunt Ericka

We spent the next week adjusting to Todd being back at work. I got more into the mindset of tending to the baby and figuring out my day– keeping Wil happy while also trying to shower, eat and maybe even take a nap. Fortunately for me, Todd was still leaving work early since we weren’t sure if I could handle Sam’s daycare pick-up and tend to both boys so soon after having the baby.

Last weekend we discovered that Sam had lice. We treated his head, then decided it made sense to cut his somewhat shaggy hair to make sure we took care of it. We spent the next several days doing many loads of laundry! Last night we gave Sam the followup treatment so I think we can safely say we are in the clear, but the timing was horrible.

This week, Todd has become very busy at work so he’s operating on even less sleep than before. I managed my first bedtime alone with both boys and successfully got Sam dinner and put him to bed while keeping Wil from crying for more food. (Wil has had quite an appetite and has no tolerance for delaying feeding–he is a screamer!) Fortunately, the night went much better than I expected and I was even able to play with Sam and read him a book with Wil in my arms.

Sam is a very proud big brother and has been very helpful. Todd and I are a little sad by the compromises to his life that Wil has brought–Sam often asks us to come play with him when we are tied up with tending to Wil and often asks us to set Wil down (like several times a night). We try and give Sam special time when we can and have fortunately had two kiddie birthday parties and have met friends in the park several times so he can feel like we are indulging him. Sam has been so great throughout all this.

Posted by Kate