HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY

Time has serious flown by. It seems like just a few months ago that we were bringing our little baby bundle home from the hospital and yet Brynlee just celebrated her first birthday. It's truly amazing how much children grow in their first year. I'm hoping she'll slow down a little so I can soak up her babyhood. But at the same time I am excited to see what she'll discover next.

Brynlee babbles and walks/runs all over the house. She enjoys chasing the animals to "love on them" and her favorite quiet time activity is reading. She will sit (when confined to a limited space) with her board books for the longest time and flip through the pages over and over again. She dances to music. . . well she bounces to it . . . and sings along - especially in the car. We play all different genres for variety and it's fun to see how she'll react. Just the other day we were listening to classic rock while driving around and Pink Floyd's song Money came on. In the review mirror I see Brynlee waving her arms and kicking her feet along with the music. During the guitar riff in the middle she stopped wiggling around and just nodded her head like she was groovin' with the beat. It was HILARIOUS! I wish I could have recorded it.

To celebrate her first birthday we had a small family gathering and let her cake-dive. Brynlee received many fabulous gifts. Which actually double as gifts for me since I now have new things to entertain her with. Thank you everyone for your love and support. Here are some pictures of the festivities and other events/milestones hat have come to pass since my last post.

Testing out the cake

I think she likes it, no?

Yeah, I'd say she likes it.

We had professional photos done
(which I will post later)
but here is the birthday girl
in her fancy birthday dress.
Aaawwwww.

After putting up with her dress for so long
it was time to run free in her diaper.
Threw on a tutu for giggles.
Super cute ballerina girl.

FIRST CHRISTMAS

We had a wonderful Christmas with Brynlee even though the only gift Chris & I gave each other was a new furnace (the old one died and we figured a warm house was going to be a pretty important thing to have). Brynlee wasn't quite sure what was going on and probably thought it was a little silly to have a tree in the house. She never really bothered it though and was more fascinated by the bows and tissue paper-filled gift bags.
The grandparents spoiled her as grandparents do. Thanks to all for the wonderful and thoughtful gifts. We also had a great visit with Drew, Laura and their 3 boys between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Thanks for spending so much time with us y'all. We met Ian and Bryce (Caleb's twin brothers) for the first time and we already can't wait to cuddle them again! Caleb was so cute playing with Brynlee. He's a great cousin to her and we are excited to watch their interactions as all the kids grow.
Here's a few pictures from all the festivities. I tried to put together a slide show but many have said they can't get it to load so my apologies for the long string of photos. Enjoy!

Bryce and Ian
I love how they link arms when they lay by each other

Chris had to hold Brynlee in place
She was a bit restless

Cheesy family photo

Our Christmas princess
Thanks for the dress Grandpa John

Brynlee and dad

Brynlee and mom

Bryn was a lamb in the family nativity.
Nice yoda ears baby.

She did quite well with Santa

Even though she couldn't figure out
who this strange guy was

RAWR! TIGER ON THE PROWL

Brynlee the ferocious tiger says. . . Hooray for Halloween! Although she is not old enough for candy quite yet, Brynlee dressed up and helped me hand out popcorn to the Trick-or-Treaters. She was very curious and studied all the costumes trying to figure out why everyone was dressed so silly. She got plenty of "Aawww"s and "How cute" comments. We agree. Don't you?

The hood didn't fit very well so the ears don't really show.
Oh well, she's still darling!

And, yes, we tried whiskers.
With all the thumb-sucking and face-rubbing the water based eyeliner didn't last long.
Bryn just had black smudgy cheeks, so off came the whiskers and out came the smile!!

JUST PLAYING AROUND

Playtime is serious business to Brynlee.

SIX MONTHS OLD

WOW!! Where has the time gone? Brynlee is growing so fast! At her 6 month check up she weighed in at 18 lbs and was 27 inches tall. So when I say growing I really mean it :)
Brynlee has become an efficient roller. She gets everywhere (and I do mean everywhere) by rolling. She has managed to escape the playmat and get out the office door in under two minutes. She also likes to venture under her crib. I think she follows Saba (the cat) under there since that's his favorite napping place lately.
Brynlee has also developed quite a taste for solids. She pretty much eats anything we offer. Sometimes she likes it, sometimes not so much. We haven't tried potatoes yet though. With Chris' very strong dislike for them it will be interesting to see what Bryn does.
U of U football games are quite different with Brynlee along.  She is much more interested in watching the fans than the game.  I have to admit, sometimes I am too.  We are getting pretty good at the whole restroom stall nursing routine and she takes a quick power nap just before kick off and falls asleep pretty quickly after the game ends.  When it gets too loud B and I walk the concourse and watch the herds of people at the concessions stands.
Here are some pictures of the little munchkin. As you can see she quite a happy girl. She sits quite well unsupported now and examines her toys carefully - mostly with her mouth.