Brynn's 1st Birthday

I am feeling rather emotional today. Everything has me thinking back to the day our sweet girl was born. It blows my mind that a year has already come and gone. It has been such a joy to watch our tiny babe grow into a darling toddler.

Brynn's birthday fell on a Monday which kind of bummed me out because I wanted Brad to be able to be home and celebrate our girl with us but hey, life happens. I tried to make the day as special as I could for our little girl.

I started the day off by throwing a ton of balloons into her crib as soon as she woke up. At first she wasn't so sure about that but once she woke up a little more she enjoyed wading through them and throwing them up into the air.

Because Brad had to see patients in clinic that day I wanted to wait until he got home to open presents. It's the first thing we did as soon as he walked in the door. From us she got a play kitchen and a baby doll, from Honey and Dude she got ALL the kitchen accessories that are so stinkin cute I always want to play with them, and from Grammi and Grandpa she got a 4 in 1 tricycle that she absolutely loves!

After opening presents we did a cupcake smash. I knew she was going to have cake at least 2 more times that week and I didn't want to have so much sugar and cake go to waste. At first she was really cautious with her cupcake but eventually she destroyed it.

We loved celebrating our girl and can't believe how fast the first year flew by. She has filled our hearts with so much joy and our home with so much laughter. Thank you for choosing us baby girl. You are everything we ever dreamed of and more.

Brynn's First Easter

I know, I know. Just now blogging about Easter?! I'm trying to play catch up and I'm way behind. But I want to make sure I get things documented. Who even knows if any of my kids will look back and read these posts but I love knowing they are there if they want to.

We had a weekend full of Easter activities. On Saturday a few families from our ward got together for a little Easter potluck lunch followed by an egg hunt. We divided the kids into age groups that way the little ones wouldn't get trampled. Brynn was so cute picking up the eggs we pointed out to her. She didn't care how many she collected but instead focused on each one and opening them up to see what candy was inside. It was really cute.

When we were gathering our things so we could go home I placed Brynn down on the gym floor. Well she totally fell forward and ended up tearing her frenulum. I was freaking out because blood was gushing out of her mouth. It was so so sad. Thankfully her dad is a dentist to be and knew just what to do and could check it out to make sure it was okay.

On Easter Sunday we started our morning off with checking out what the Easter Bunny left for Brynn. The bubbles were her favorite thing along with all the plastic eggs. At church we enjoyed a beautiful sacrament program put on by our choir. We are so blessed to know that because Christ died and was resurrected that we can all return to be with our Heavenly Father one day.

After church we went over to our good friends, the Holmes', house for dinner. Melissa made an incredible spread and it was extra yummy because I didn't have to cook it. Anyways, after dinner we were just talking and Brynn just took off walking all over the place. So, she became an official walker on Easter and just one day before her first birthday. She also discovered the stairs and loved to climb up them.

We had a beautiful Easter weekend! Brynn has made each holiday more fun and it will be fun to see what traditions we will have as our family grows.

11 months recap

Here we are. I can't believe I'm doing the 11 month recap meaning my baby is now ONE YEAR OLD?! How the heck did that happen?!

Every month I catch myself saying that this is the best age ever! I wish I could just bottle it all up because I get so emotional about it all. I'm SO happy yet so sad that my baby is now a toddler! 

At 11 months Brynn can throw a ball. I don't know if this is normal for that age but it honestly surprised me. She loves doing it and I think it is the cutest thing ever. Brynn LOVES music and "dancing". She has started to clap her hands to the music and wave her hands up and down. I love that music brings her so much joy and I hope it always does.

She started taking steps at 11 months and really took off and became an official walker on Easter Sunday (4/16) one day before she hit one. I love seeing her waddle around the house. She is getting really good and fast.

She has 6 teeth. 2 on bottom and cut all 4 of her top teeth within 2 weeks (that was REAL fun, hope you can sense my sarcasm there). Brynn also had a really horrible time with all the allergies that spring/pollen brought, which led to a virus, and an ear infection. Luckily we are on the mend!

That's about all the updates I have for Brynn for this post! I've got a lot of catching up on the blog to do but I feel like I'm finally in a good routine that I can get more regular about posting (only took a year to get to that point). Next post will probably be about Easter and I'll tell you one thing is holidays are a million times better with kids! 

10 months recap

Here I am typing up Brynn's 10 month recap which means she is 11 months, meaning next month she will be ONE. Cue the waterworks. I can't believe how fast it has gone. I think I say that every month but it is so true.

This past month has felt so long though. With Brynn cutting all 4 of her top teeth at the same time and a virus this month has felt like it has dragged. Although it has been long it has been full of some really sweet and fun moments.

Some of those fun moments have been Brynn learning how to clap, pointing to her head when we sing head shoulders knees and toes, blowing kisses, and waving bye bye. She also loves to snuggle and kiss all of her lovey's and we got a baby doll to give to her for her birthday because she kept kissing it in the store.

Brynn is also starting to show a bit of separation anxiety and it breaks my heart. I don't really know how to help her through it because it's not like we don't get out. Every Sunday she gets passed around like candy but anytime I leave the room she loses it, even if Brad is with her.

We have been enjoying the nice "winters" of the south and have hit the beach a few times already. Brynn used to be really hesitant with the sand but now she loves it and I have to force her to keep her pacifier in so that she doesn't eat handfuls of sand the whole time we are there! We also found out that between the sunscreen and the sand her eczema will break out, it's so sad, so we may be spending more time at the pool than the beach just so the sand can't irritate her skin all summer long.

We love watching Brynn hit all these new milestones each month and discover the world around her! We feel so blessed to be mommy and daddy to such a sweet and loving spirit!

9 months recap

It blows my mind that I am sitting here typing up Brynn's 9 month recap. She's been out as long as she was in! And sadly  I feel like time goes a million times faster on this side of it. This past month has been SO fun with Brynn. I think I say that every month, but life with Brynn literally keeps getting better and better!

This month we had a lot of adventures with Brynn. We took her to the aquarium for the first time. She was terrified of the fish and thought they would swim through the glass and get her! Thankfully she has grown to love it the more we go. We have also visited a few plantations which are not Brynn's favorite thing to do but we have to do them while we are still in Charleston!

We have done a lot of beach days! One of the best parts about southern winters is that they are warm enough to sit on the shore. I was interested to see what she would do with the sand now that she is capable of crawling. The first few times we took her she wanted nothing to do with it. She would just sit on the blanket and watch the waves. If her hand even touched the sand she would hold them up to me to wipe them off. That is not the case now. She will try to eat the sand and shells. Gotta watch that girl at the beach now. We bought her some sand toys for this summer but right now she just enjoys chewing on them!

Brynn this month has really transitioned herself to table food rather than her pureed baby food and it's been so fun to have her try new things off of our plates. The girl sure loves to eat.

She has also become more clingy this month. Honestly, this can be exhausting for me as I spend all day holding a baby and getting nothing done. But, that option seems better than listening to a baby cry all day and I prayed day and night for a snuggly baby so I got what I asked for!

We love our baby girl so much and can't wait to see what happens during her 10th month of life. We are hoping it brings her some new teeth!!

p.s. I apologize for the horrible picture quality. I always try to use random pictures from my phone on the blog because I feel like if I don't they will never be seen by anyone but myself and some of them are too cute not to share!

8 months recap

Wow I can't believe that I am sitting here doing a recap of Brynn's 8 months. That means I have a 9 month old and as Brad likes to remind me that means in 3 months we will have a ONE year old. Make time stop!

To celebrate Brynn turning 8 months we bought some puffs and let her try those. She LOVES them. In fact those puffs are what encouraged her to crawl. I would lay them in a line and make her crawl for them. Babies and puppies are very similar! :P

Speaking of crawling Brynn went from "baby twerking" as my dad called it to crawling on New Years Eve! It been so fun to watch her move around the house and get into things. I love when she follows me around and says "mama". It just makes me so happy that this is my life.

About a week after she started crawling she started pulling up on furniture and her toys. I'm so glad Santa brought her a walker because that thing entertains her for hours. She doesn't really walk with it but she loves to pull up on it and play with its attachments and take a few steps here and there.

Sadly 8 months also brought the worst illness Brynn has had yet. She got croup from one of her cousins over Christmas break. My heart broke for my sweet girl who sounded like Darth Vader when she breathed and would have the worst coughing fits. Luckily after the doctor gave her the steroid she improved quickly but it was still a really sad 2 weeks full of humidifiers and steam showers.

We can't believe how fun 8 months was and we are loving seeing her personality come out more and more! I've started writing little notes on my phone of things she does/likes that way I will remember it when it comes time to blog her monthly recaps.

7 months recap

I'm beginning to think I should blog more often just because Brynn changes so much daily and weekly that by the end of the month its hard to remember it all and she is at such a fun stage that I don't want to forget any of it.

The beginning of 7 months was hard. Girlfriend was testing me in the patience department. She regressed in sleep and would wake every 2-3 hours for a week straight. I know to many of you that is your every day and I am so sorry. Even as a newborn she would sleep 4 hour stretches so this was completely new to me and I thought I was going to die. Thankfully we all made it out alive ;) Even better than making it out alive was the fact that at 7 months Brynn started sleeping through the night consistently. Game Changer.

Still no crawling this month but getting closer every day. She began to really get on her knees and rock and has mastered crawling backwards. It is the funniest thing to watch but girl knows how to get to where she wants to be.

We spent a lot of time outside before it got too cold. Many afternoons we would walk to the park and swing and we even met some friends at the beach for a picnic. Have I mentioned that we love living in Charleston?!

Brynn has become even more of a talker/grunter this month. Her voice is a little deeper than what I thought it would be but I'm kind of glad because I can live without the high pitched squeals that little girls are known for. She cries for mama now and it really just pulls at my heart strings.She has become quite the mamas girl and it's no secret that I love it. I can be the baby hog whenever I want because she likes it! haha.

Brynn also met Santa two times this month and we never had tears! Woohoo. She was a little hesitant but we could always get a few smiles out of her. Her Honey also did an advent calendar with Christmas books for her that she loved unwrapping every single day.

We are already 13 days into her 8 months and we can't believe how much she is growing. It makes us so sad to know we are closer to her year mark than we are to the day she changed our lives but we wouldn't trade one single day. We love you to the moon and back, baby girl.