Bushman

Not the best picture of the San Francisco wharf, you might be thinking. Look a little closer at the bottom right...there he is! The Bushman! This guy scared me half to death while we were walking down this sidewalk. There I was walking fairly close to a plant (not thinking, why the heck is a plant in the middle of the sidewalk...), and all of the sudden it growls and a face pops out between the branches laughing. I screamed and jumped, and both KZ and I were thinking, "what just happened?" Luckily I didn't trip over the stroller (Brandon remained peacefully sleeping by the way).

Later that day we walked back by there (on the opposite side of the street, mind you), and there was this man taking a picture of the scary bush guy. KZ asked him about it, and it turns he is THE famous Bushman! He's a legend. He's even had lawsuits about his little act.

Here is a You Tube video of the Bushman in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cbBdydQlrk

One of the you tube comments mentioned that the Bushman makes something like $60,000 in tips doing this all year. He didn't get a tip from me. I don't like people in masks (I used to walk around Disney World as a kid praying that we wouldn't see any of the characters, and especially that they wouldn't talk to me, or touch me!), people jumping out at me, and being scared in general. However, I do kind of feel honored to have been scared by the world famous Bushman.

California Part 2: San Francisco to Sonoma

So after Monterey we drove up to San Francisco. We met up with my Babcia, Dziadzia, and cioci Kalina there. Here I am with Mommy on one of the piers overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. I was more interested in chewing on my Ergo baby carrier.

Here we are on another pier. The wood floor of this pier was so bumpy. I laughed while I was pushed in the stroller over it!

This was one of Mommy's favorite parts of the city...Ghirardelli Square.
We all loved riding the cable car!Is this not the cutest picture of me you've ever seen?! After San Fran, we drove up to Sonoma county. We rented a house in Santa Rosa for 6 nights. This picture was taken on Thanksgiving.
This picture is pretty cute too, huh? It's so hard to capture my smile...It takes like 3 people...one to take the picture and 2 more to make me laugh. We spent Thanksgiving with a lot of Daddy's family in Sonoma.
This was taken on the way to Thanksgiving dinner. The vineyards are so pretty this time of year.On Friday we went to some wineries with the whole family.


This is at Ferrari-Carano with my cioci Kalina (I was sleeping in my stroller)

This is at Geyser Peak.

On Saturday Mommy, Daddy, and I went for a long hike in the redwoods, which was really cool. The camera battery died after taking a couple fuzzy pictures, so we don't have anything to show for that day. We also stopped at a winery on the way back from the Redwoods, and I had to keep being brought outside because of my squawking. We didn't feel so bad because the wine wasn't great and the service was terrible, but maybe taking a baby to the wineries isn't such a great idea afterall.


On Sunday we drove to the coast. Here we are with Dziadzia, Babcia, and my great Cioci Halina.

Me and my Daddy!
It was a great trip, but it is good to be home in my own bed and with all my toys!

California Part 1: LA to Monterey

Hi everyone! We just got back from California. Let me tell you all about our trip! We flew into LA on Friday, November 20th. I did great on the plane! I even got compliments from neighboring passengers. In LA we met my mom's friend Allegra for lunch, and she gave me the coolest little lion blankie/toy that I just love! I played with it every day of the trip. Unfortunately we forgot to get a picture with Allegra.

This was my first time seeing the ocean - this is in Malibu. We drove through here on our way to Santa Barbara.

In Santa Barbara we stayed with mom's friends Shelley and Chris. The night we got there, I achieved a milestone! I rolled from my tummy to my back very easily! I have done this occasionally before, but this was the first time I was really good at it.

The next day we went to some wineries near Santa Barbara. Mommy and Daddy couldn't stop talking about how pretty the vineyards were with the fall colored leaves!

I didn't mind being in the wineries. There was all kinds of cool bottles and glasses that looked fun to play with. Maybe if they take me back next year, I can get my hands on all that stuff, although I think mom said this was my last trip going to the wineries for a while...

We had a picnic by this fire pit in the cute little town of Los Olivos.

Here we are with Shelley and Chis in Santa Barbara before we left on Sunday.

I am so good at drinking bottles now! I can even hold them by myself sometimes, and I don't mind drinking them in the car. We drove up the coast towards Monterey along the Big Sur Highway. Mom and Dad think this is the prettiest drive ever! I couldn't see what they were talking about because I can't see out the window from my carseat, so I decided to cry most of the day. I'm pretty happy here because I am OUT of the carseat.

This is their favorite place along Highway 1. Unfortunately we didn't get here until after the sun set, but it was still nice.

We got to Monterey Sunday night and ate dinner at Fisherman's Wharf (well actually I slept through dinner). On Monday we went for a long walk around the town and along the water. Then we went to some wineries in Monterey county. Wineries again, you say? It gets worse...check out California Part 2.

Brandon's 4 month professional photos

Here are the pictures from Brandon's 2nd photo shoot with our friend Sarah. Brandon was a little fussy the day we took these, especially when we were outside, but she still managed to get some great ones.

http://www.sorellimages.com/brandon3months/

Halloween Photo Shoot

I know this is a couple days late, but I couldn't not post these cute (well more like humorous) pictures of Brandon in his many Halloween outfits! I'll let Brandon tell you about them.

Here I am in my cool bat shirt. My dad says he's Batman, so I thought I would wear this shirt to be supportive of his alter ego.

On Friday my mom took me to a retirement home with all these other kids. Can you find me in the picture? I'm the littlest one. I go to a play group with some of these kids sometimes. (I can't wait until I can actually play with them!...right now I think we only go so mom can talk to some other adults). Other than my costume, I think my favorite is Cookie Monster and the cookie.

Here I am! At the retirement home, we walked around (or got carried as was my case) and visited with the nice old people while they ate lunch. Some of the older kids gave treats to the residents. I just had to look cute. They all loved me! Mom was kind of glad that I had such a protective costume on. The only thing showing was my face, so no one could touch me, and boy did they try! I had hands all over my fuzzy belly and arms! You can't be too careful with that flu going around, mom says.

Here's a closeup of me, Brandon the Baby Bumblebee.

Here's my next costume! I'm a Spartan (well half of one anyway)! I think I look like a tough football player here. What do you think? Uncle Brandon and aunt Stephanie (mommy and daddy's friends from Michigan) gave me this outfit.

Now I'm a Tiger! Take me out to the ballgame! This outfit came from uncle Andy and aunt Erica (more friends from Michigan).

Look everyone! I'm a builder or train conductor or something like that!

Now I'm a hoodlum conductor. This gem of an outfit was found in a box of clothes given to me from one of Mimi's friends. Whoever owned those clothes before must have really liked being a train conductor because I have this outfit in 2 sizes.


Here is a video you don't want to miss! It showcases my cool conductor moves and it is also the debut of "Squawk Boy" as my dad likes to call me. I've found my voice, and boy do I like to use it! I make loud "squawks" all the time now - even in public! Mommy says I sound like a baby pterodactyl. See what you think.

It's the yodeling German Sailor! This is another special outfit from that same box of clothes. Now you get to watch another video of me in my cool outfit and hear more squawks!

I hope you enjoyed this Halloween presentation! Now it's back to just being my cute self again.

Bumbo

Brandon sat in his Bumbo seat for the first time the other day! He probably could have been using this for a few weeks now since he's got some mad head control skills, but I honestly forgot about it until I saw it in the closet the other day. He really liked being in it that first time! Here are some happy Bumbo pictures.

Don't you love this little smirk?

The tray is great for playing with toys. Today, every time I put a toy on his tray, he would grab it and deposit it over the side of the tray. I thought they weren't supposed to learn that trick until later on...

Does anyone notice anything interesting about this picture? I didn't notice it until I was going through the pictures later. Maybe this was his way of telling me what he really thinks about sitting in the Bumbo. He has been in it every day since that first day, and he seems to like it for the first couple of minutes. Then he realizes that he is not free to kick and move around, so he arches his back in an attempt to escape and lets out some high pitched screams to let me know he is serious about getting out. We'll keep working on it. :-)

Race, Dedication, Cider, and Sleep!

It hasn't been that long since I last posted, but a lot has happened (as you can see from the random title)! We've had a jam packed couple of weeks here in Kansas.

Brandon got to meet his Cioci (aunt) Kalina and Wujek (uncle) Stefan for the first time, and he got to spend some quality time with his Babcia and Dzadza. Babcia and Dzadza babysat Brandon twice so we could go out, and I think they are now realizing how much better it is to be a Grandparent than a parent. They get to give the fussy baby back at the end of the evening! Krzysztof and I aren't convinced that Brandon was really fussy for them, though. Whenever we left and returned, he was very content. They tell us he was fussy and occasionally quite difficult. Not this little angel. :-)

One of the most exciting things that happened is the Zaryczny family race! Krzysztof, his brother Stefan, and his dad ran the half marathon in Kansas City and his sister Kalina ran the full marathon. They all ran the half marathon last year in Chicago. This was Kalina's first full marathon. Krzysztof came in 8th for his age bracket. It must be the shoes. He used to tell his parents when he was little that he wanted to get some fast shoes so he could run faster.

Here we are after KZ got back while we waited for the others. Brandon was very proud of his daddy. Here are all the runners, somehow managing to remain upright and smile. Kalina got an aluminum blanket because she ran the whole marathon. KZ's dad tried to get one after his run (it was pretty cold out) and he was rejected. I guess they don't care if you are cold if you only ran 13 miles. We had planned to have a little mini Oktoberfest at home that day after the run. I don't know what we were thinking. KZ's mom and I were the only ones in a festive mood. The only time the other 4 left the couch was to go to the table for dinner, and I'm pretty sure they would have preferred TV trays. Dinner was good, though. We had fresh kielbasa that Stefan brought from the Polish market in Detroit, sauerkraut with onions and mushrooms, and German potato salad.

Last Sunday we had Brandon's baby dedication at our church. This is our pastor Nathan who did the dedication.
And here is the Zaryczny clan.

Stefan and his girlfriend gave Brandon this onsie. It says, "I'm a little pierogi," which is one of our more unique nicknames for him. His other Polish nicknames are "Brandopolski" coined by his Dzadza and "Brandonek" courtesy of his Cioci.

Now that it's getting colder out, it takes a lot longer to get ready to go places! I can't even imagine what it will be like when we go out in January. This is Brandon all cozy in his BundleMe before a walk. I remember thinking it was inconvenient having to grab my own coat, hat, etc. before leaving the house in past years.

Why do some of the best pictures of Brandon's smile come out grainy and dark? You get the idea of how cute he is, though, right?

We love it when he makes this face. He often says "ooo" (he says it quick, like he's saying the word "who). He is definitely getting more vocal. We are not going to be able to keep him in church with us much longer, not because he cries, but because he talks through the whole thing!

We went to the Cider Mill on Saturday! It was always a fall tradition for us to go to the cider mill in Michigan each fall, so we were excited to find that they have them here in Kansas. We opted to go to Dunn's Cider Mill, which is smaller and closer than the more popular place. They cider there was great, and the doughnuts were pretty darn good too! It was a perfect fall day.

The apples of my eye. :-)

While at the cider mill Brandon got hungry, so we decided to use the opportunity for another installment in his bottle training, which he has been undergoing for the past week and a half. Brandon decided a few weeks ago that he will no longer tolerate bottles and wants the real thing all the time (even though the milk is the same). That just wasn't going to do for our lifestyle as we want to be able to give him a bottle when we are on the go, and we want someone else to be able to feed him every once in a while! (Note to new or expectant parents: give your baby their first bottle within the first 4 weeks of life, and continue to give one at least every other day so he or she comes to realize early on that bottles are a necessary part of life.) Last week we started giving him a bottle once everyday. The first 3 days were pretty rough with him fighting the bottle for hours, refusing to eat. Each day since then has been easier and easier, and now he takes one most of the time from me and KZ without complaint. He did complain for his Babcia and Dzadza, though. We'll keep working on it...

This picture could have turned out better, but at least you can see his face.

Brandon loves to be held up in the air and thrown up and down. That is when we get some of the biggest smiles.

So, what about sleep you ask? Well we've all 3 been getting a lot of it lately! This past week Brandon has been sleeping anywhere from 10-12.5 hours straight without waking to eat! He's been eating very frequently during his waking hours, so I think he might be in a growth spurt. I hope the long sleeping will continue, though! We feel very fortunate to have a good sleeper (for the time being anyway).