A Check Up for Parker - 17 months
Parker went to a check up today. She weighs 25 pounds (67%) and is 2' 6.5" (26.8%). When Because it's fun to compare, when Brynn had her 16 month check up she was 26 lb 12.6 oz and 2' 8.75". So it seems as though little Parker has the Udo/Gardiner genes, whereas Brynn's got the Christensen/Gier genes. Parker is talking like crazy - we don't remember Brynn being so verbal at this age. Parker is constantly babbling and will repeat or say anything we ask her to. She is loves to be outside and is enjoying our backyard, she can even climb up the play structure on her own. Of course that means we have to watch her like a hawk whenever we're outside - she keeps us on our toes. Parker and Brynn are really starting to play well together, Brynn can get Parker to do most anything, although Parker lets everyone know what she does and does not like. She cracks us up with her little personality - we are in the midst of such fun times with her.
Parker's eyes are still a grey color, but we think she may end up brown in the end . . . we'll have to see. We are still treating her for eczema and I'm back to trying cloth diapers with her in hope that her diaper area will be more consistently clear. We're hopeful that she'll take after Brynn and be an early toilet trainer. She already tells us when she's pooping or has a dirty diaper. We've been going to baby gym twice a week still. Parker loves seeing the other kids and using the climbing toys and slides. Her favorite song to sing is "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes."
Brynn Update
We've had some scary times with Brynn recently. Monday of this week, she and I were snoozing on the couches when I heard a strange noise coming from her direction. Her eyes were open, but she was non-responsive, her lips began turning blue and she was drooling a bit. I initially thought she was choking, so I picked her up and began to push on her stomach a bit while moving into the kitchen to dial 911. By the time I had called emergency, some color was coming back into her cheeks and lips, but she remained pretty non-responsive. The fire department arrived and it was determined that she did have a fever and likely had a fever-related seizure. She had not been ill prior to this, with no indication of fever or feeling bad. We were able to go see her pediatrician and everything checked out okay. When I was an infant, I also suffered from these types of seizures. The good thing is that Brynn is a bit old to have them come on and stay around. Most kids outgrow them by age 5.
The following day we went back in for the 4 year check up and she was back to normal. She weighed almost 44 pounds which is in the 93rd percentile and was 3' 6" and in the 90th percentile.
Lessons On Life
I was cooking dinner as the girls were playing in Parker's room:
Brynn:
"Parker, you need to learn to share books. Just like I do with you. When you get older we're going to share books all the time. When you don't share those books with me, it's really upsetting for me. You know we have to share books. . . . Okay, now I'm not going to be in your room ever."
Brynn runs out of Parker's room with one of her books. I ask her why she said she was not going to be in Parker's room ever - she said Parker doesn't know how to share books yet.
Parker is One!
Wow, this past year has really flown by! Parker has been such a great addition to our family. Each day with her brings so many smiles and laughter, as she gets older - she just gets even better! She is currently walking all over the place, she still needs help getting onto her feet, but once she's up, she's off. She is also starting to use a few more words and loves trying to mimic Brynn. We celebrated her birthday with the Udos at our house. It was a great afternoon, the party girl had so much fun that she skipped her afternoon nap. Brynn took a while to warm up to everyone, preferring just to sit on Auntie Courtney's lap for most of the day. Parker got some wonderful gifts that she enjoys playing with - especially if Brynn has her attention on them. I think Brynn is very grateful for Parker's birthday, too. She has taken on the two cows as her own - only giving them to Parker when Mom and Dad insist. Parker had her one year check up on Monday. She has actually lost a little weight since her 9 month check up - she weighs an even 22 pounds (10 ounces less than Brynn at age 1), which is in the 66%. Her height is 2 feet, 4 inches (3 inches shorter than Brynn at age 1), this is in the 33% and her head circumference is in the 51%. Her height to weight ratio is no longer off of the charts, she's now in the 97% for that. Even though I was looking forward to not having to nurse Parker anymore, I have decide to continue for a bit longer (only in the morning and at bedtime), just to get us through the cold and flu season - we don't want another repeat of Thanksgiving weekend if we can help it! As for her eczema, it is doing so much better, but we still have to apply the steroid ointment a couple of times a day to a few spots on her lower back. With any luck, she'll be one of the babies who out-grow the condition. We are looking forward to a great holiday season, beginning this coming weekend. We'll be heading down to Oregon to visit the Andersens for the day. I am looking forward to seeing my sister's yarn studio/shop as well as catching up with all of them. Brynn loves playing with Chapin and Riley, so it should be a fun visit. After that we will have the Udo family Christmas in Seattle on Christmas Eve, followed by a night waiting for Santa at home with Grandpa Gaylen and Grandma Terry. Grammie and Grandpa Bill will head down to visit and celebrate with us a couple of days following Christmas. I'm sure we'll have a quiet New Year's like we have in the past. Low key and mellow seems to be our theme for the year and we like that. Hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season!
On The Mend
Our house has recently been under attack! We were unable to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families this year because of illness. It began with an allergic reaction that Parker had to a round of antibiotics. She was taking the antibiotics to help with a potential bout of strep that she tested positive for when the dermatologist checked her eczema. She had a big flare-up with her bottom and would not even allow us to clean her up, so we went ahead and treated her for the anal-strep; luckily that cleared up, but after 24 hours from the last dose of antibiotics, she broke out in hives all over her face. We didn't see any signs of labored breathing with the hives, so we didn't take her to urgent care until they began to spread to all other parts of her body. At that point, we treated her with Benadryl to calm the hives. A day after those symptoms went away, Brynn came down with a slight fever and and bad cough. On Wednesday, before Thanksgiving, her breathing really seemed labored so we took her into urgent care and were there for 4.5 hours while the doctors took chest X-Rays, hooked her up to an IV and pumped fluids and antibiotics in her, scoped her nose and throat, administered breathing treatments with the nebulizer and constantly monitored her vitals. Brynn was a trooper the whole time, never crying until the nose scope, and even then she simply said "No thank you, I don't want that again. We got home a bit after 10:00 that night and around 11:00 they had delivered us our very own nebulizer just in case we needed it over night, but fortunately we didn't. We had to go back in on Thanksgiving day for a follow up and Brynn was already doing noticeably much better. Fortunately all of the tests came back negative, no strep, RSV or pneumonia. Likely just a bad case of croup, but the doctors said they like to treat the symptoms in kids her age very aggressively to ward off the worst. By Friday, Parker started up with the barking, croup cough and ran a fever, too. Our whole weekend was full of caring for the sickies - and of course, by Saturday I was sick, too. Fortunately, Marshall did not get any of the junk! Although we missed out on family turkey dinners, we still had a turkey of our own on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday - man 10 pounds of turkey meat goes a long way for a family of 4. Now that everyone is feeling better, we are looking forward to Parker's first birthday on the 10th. We can hardly believe it's been one full year already!
Parker is 9 months, and we have new windows!
Parker is nine months old already. At this stage she is crawling all over the place, pulling herself up on the furniture and walls and beginning to walk along the couch and coffee table or with her walker. She is cutting her top two teeth to match the bottom two that are already in. Her hair continues to grow, so that now the back is catching up with the front. She's had 3 bang trims already! She is babbling a lot and can purposefully say "momma" and "daddy." I swear she has said "Kaiya" on a few occasions as well. Parker had her doctor's appointment yesterday: she weighed 22.03 pounds (Brynn was this at 12 months). Her weight was in the 92%; her height was only in the 26%, which is substantially lower than any of her previous measurements. Her head continues to grow well and is in the 62%. Her height to weight ratio is still way off of the charts, especially since her height percentage dropped so much. The doctor also looked at Parker's skin and recommended that we try an anti-fungal cream in her diaper area for a week. If it gets better, great! If not, she is recommending that we take her to a pediatric dermatologist to get it checked out. The doctor thought that the skin on Parker's back looked like eczema, but that her bum may be yeast related because eczema rarely affects the diaper area. We will continue to put the Aquaphor and Eucerin on her back a few times a day, because it has really been helping. Hopefully things will clear up and we won't need to make the trip up to Seattle to visit the pediatric dermatologist.
On another note, we have new windows! I am so thrilled about this. We've been in our house for 5 winters with moldy, sweaty, aluminum windows - I'm not sad to see them go. My dad helped us install 5 new windows and a sliding, patio door. The best part of it all is the screen for the patio door. We can now leave our door open without a ton of bugs flying in. We feel so lucky to have the ability to do the work on our own with the help of my dad. He really has done a lot for us over the past five years. Thank you, Dad!
Brynn's preschool experience has been great. Each day she comes home and sings a new song, shows us a new handshake, talks about her teacher, and tells us what she had for snack. Just today, she came out of the class holding hands with another little girl. It made me smile to think that she's already forming relationships that will hopefully last for many years. Today her teacher said that Brynn does everything she would hope for, that she is a great model for many of the students in the class. When I stated "So, she's coming out of her shell . . ." Mrs. Flynn replied: "What shell?" We are so proud of Brynn and look forward to watching her continue to grow and change.
Anniversary
August 6th was our 7th anniversary. Time sure has gone by quickly. Seven years ago we were living in Hoquiam, I was teaching Sophomores and Juniors at HHS and Marshall was going to Grays Harbor College for his fisheries degree. Since then we've accomplished so many things to be proud of. I got my master's degree in education. Marshall graduated from GHC and Evergreen. We bought our first home in Olympia and have put in a lot of time and sweat into it. We've become parents to two of the best little girls and a pretty great dog. Some say there is a "seven year itch," but for us we are just really starting to enjoy the life that we've created together. It sure is fun to look back over the years and realize how much we've changed and grown together.
What a great weekend!
We spent last weekend up in Bellingham and Ferndale to celebrate the marriage of Courtney and Eric. Marshall and Brynn were both in the wedding and so we were able to spend a few days meeting new family, rehearsing for the big event and celebrating. Courtney has married into a wonderful, welcoming new family and I'm sure that I speak for all of the Udos when I say that we are thrilled to have Eric become a part of our family. Friday, was the rehearsal - Brynn surprised all of us by doing a great job and having fun with her roll as flower girl. She met some new buddies in Elijah, Erica and Danny - all of the kids were so cute and did great! Rehearsal dinner was amazing. Bruce Barleen opened his gorgeous home for us and one of Eric's uncles prepared the meal. The day of the wedding was fun and light hearted. Both Courtney and Eric were very easy to be around and seemed to be cool and collected - no cold feet there! The ceremony was so beautiful, everything seemed to go as planned and I feel lucky to have witnessed it. Thanks for a great weekend Courtney and Eric!
Other updates: Parker is still not crawling, but she's almost there. She has started to scoot/army crawl a bit. She is super good at the sit and reach and doesn't get bothered if the think she wants is just out of reach. I have a feeling she's going to be much later to walk than her big sister was. She is so happy and fun that she seems content to just "be." Parker still has no teeth, but she's definitely working on them. She constantly has things in her mouth and can be fussy at times (not often, though) if they are bothering her. I bought her a Baltic Amber necklace and anklet to see if they'd help to give her any relief. It is said to help with any inflammation and redness that may be associated with teething. I haven't really noticed a difference, but they sure are cute accessories and I'd prefer to try something natural over medications to ease her discomfort. We are getting ready for our first camping trip of the summer. We'll be going to the Rolling Huts in the Methow Valley with our friends Kyle, Mo and Emelia. We are looking forward to getting away. Marshall work schedule this summer allows him to work 4, 10 hour days to have Fridays off. We've enjoyed the extra time as a family. What a great summer so far - now if the weather would just cooperate . . .
Parker is 6 months old already!
We had Parker's 6 month check up today. She weighed 20.06 lbs. which was close to the 99th percentile. Her height was in the 50th percentile and her head was in the 42nd percentile. Her height to weight ratio is still off of the charts. We always have fun looking up Brynn's past statistics to compare with Parker. At this age, Brynn weighed 19.15, but was 1.25 inches longer than Parker. If Parker follows Brynn's pattern for weight, she should slow down pretty significantly from this point forward - we'll just have to see. We started Parker on rice cereal this past weekend. I think she likes it, but she is not quite figuring out how to open her mouth regularly to get a bite. She also tries to grab the spoon and use her fingers to help get the food down. We have also made a physical therapy appointment for Parker; we are hoping that the PT doctor will give us some stretches or exercises for her neck. She continues to list her head to her favored side, even when upright. We just want to make sure that we are doing all we can to encourage her to use all of her muscles in hope that it will not be a permanent thing. Her pediatrician was still not too concerned, but thought that meeting with a specialist would answer our questions better. So, we go in for that appointment on July 11th. Parker is sitting up better and rolling like crazy. She is really pushing herself up onto her hands when on her tummy, she'll be on the move in no time. She is still the happiest little girl; Marshall and I never knew babies could be so easy going and happy all of the time. What a different experience we are having this time around; it's been such a joy to have Parker in our home.
Lots of things happening here!
Big things are happening at our house! Brynn had her first gum chewing experience and LOVED it. On the second attempt, a day later, she swallowed her gum so now we're on a break for a bit. She continues to ask each day for gum, reminding us how well she did with it on her first attempt. Parker is working on sitting up and can hold her body up for a quite a while before slowly slumping forward. She is also a rolling machine! She seems pretty happy when on her stomach and it's a good thing because she cannot go the other way from her tummy to her back. It gets a little irritating for us because she is often face-down in her own spit up = gross. Parker is now sleeping through most nights without needing to nurse! Yahoo, I think a good night's sleep is on the way for me - especially with only 19 more days of school left. This weekend was pretty productive for our family. We decided to put down wood chips around the play structure in the back yard. Although this is a pretty permanent decision, we wanted the ground to be more level and clean for the kids to play. Now that it is done, we are glad that we did it - it's going to be much easier to take care of the lawn without having to go around and between all of the play things. Brynn also helped Marshall to wash both vehicles and I was able to get in some much needed weeding time. In addition to Parker sleeping through the night, she is taking a long afternoon nap each day; it lasts anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours - most of which aligns with Brynn's nap - giving Marshall and I some quiet time.
Chunk-O-Bunk!
Parker had her 4 month checkup today. She weighs 18 pounds, which is in the 98.85%. Her height is in the 61.29% and head is in the 58.98%. Her height to weight ratio is off the charts! She is rivaling her sister at this age. I pulled up Brynn's statistics and she was 16.12 pounds, but exactly the same measurements for height and head. Geesh, Brynn was 22 pounds at one year, I'm curious to see how much more weight Parker piles on in the next 8 months. Maybe she'll be an early walker like Brynn was and not gain quite as much in those last couple of months before her birthday. It's funny to see the babies get so big and chunky - especially since they were both on the small side at birth. Parker is still a happy, smiley girl. She has been a joy to be around and we are looking forward to who she becomes.
Got It!
We are happy to announce that Marshall will be working for Thurston County beginning on May 2nd! He had to endure a couple of stress-filled weeks with multiple interviews, but was offered the water resources position on Monday of this week. He is excited for this new position and feels as though it will be a great fit with what his studies are focusing on. With this new position comes a more rigid schedule. This will be an adjustment for our whole family. We are still putting the time spent with the girls as our priority and making my part-time schedule work for our family. So, here's to a new adventure for Marshall - we are so happy for him!
Brynn's Birthday and Checkup
We headed up to Ferndale last weekend to celebrate Brynn's birthday with family. It was a great weekend. Brynn loved seeing everyone and opening up her gifts. She even let us sing "Happy Birthday" to her without much complaint; she only hid her face for a bit out of embarrassment. She received some gifts that she's been playing non-stop with - jungle animals and Thomas the Tank block set; she spends hours with both, finding new ways to play with each. Grandpa Bill found a little pedal bike on Craigslist that he sent home with us, Brynn has mastered the pedaling (see video), so we'll have to experiment with taking off the training wheels this spring - we'll see if riding her balance bike has really made much difference. I must also comment on how great Parker was for this visit. She let everyone hold her and was a very happy girl the whole visit; this is such a drastic change from the experiences we had with Brynn as an infant.
Yesterday Brynn had some friends over to decorate cupcakes and to play. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of that - I was busy with frosting or holding Parker and couldn't grab the camera. It was a fun morning!
Brynn had her 3 month check up today. She weighed 38 pounds, which is in the 95th percentile. Her height was in the 80th percentile. She did great with the doctor, but did not care for the nurses. I am guessing this is because the nurses are always different and they are the ones to give shots. She only needed one shot today and handled that fairly well. I think it's been helping to take Parker into the doctor's office regularly for her well child visits - Brynn gets to see everything happen to someone else for a change.
My maternity leave is coming to an end, so I will be spending some time in my classroom this coming weekend to try and get organized for my return to work on March 28th. Marshall is in Yakima tonight and tomorrow, so I will have my first over-nighter with two kids; cross your fingers that everyone sleeps well. Parker is only waking once in the night to nurse and it is usually around 3:00 am. She goes down between 8:00 and 9:00, sleeps for a good 6 hours or so, wakes to nurse and then usually sleeps again for another 4 to 5 hours. This is pretty good, but I am hoping that she'll just dump the early morning feeding and just wake around 5:00 or 6:00 when I am back to work. That way I'd get the most amount of sleep, but for now I am beginning to feel rested on a fairly regular basis.
Yippee! Brynn is 3!
We can hardly believe that we have a 3 year old in our home! Brynn has brought so much joy to us over the past few years, but especially now since she has become her own little person. She is a unique kid that continually amazes us with her humor, abilities and quirks. As you can see from the pictures, Brynn has a bit of "attitude" to her which always keeps us on our toes. She is very loving toward us, Parker, friends and animals. We look forward to a year full of night-time toilet training, camping adventures, outdoor play, pre-school, laughter and more memories.
Two Months with Two
Parker had her two month check up today. She weighed in at a whopping 13 pounds, 11 ounces! She is in the 97th percentile for weight, 50th for height and 40th for head circumference. Needless to say she's a chunk with lots of rolls. She is turning into a happy, smiley kid! We are enjoying getting to know her and look forward to who she becomes.
Brynn is really beginning to enjoy being a big sister. She frequently asks to hold Parker and asks to include Parker in activities like going to concerts and to the museum. She is often looking forward to times when Parker can dance, sing, eat and play with her. Brynn is quite a handful lately - she is trying to assert her own independence and power. At times it is quite amusing, but can also be very frustrating. For example - the other day she fell when trying to climb her play structure, giving her a big scrape on her side. At dinner that night, Marshall was asking her how she got her scrape and if it was okay. He probably asked her 2 or 3 questions and her overall reply was "Don't worry about it, Dad." Another time Marshall came home for lunch and Brynn was just waking up from her nap. Again, Marshall was asking her questions about her day and her reply was "Just focus on your work." Hmm. . . where does she get these sayings. She is also often seen doing a fake yawn and stretch when we ask her to do something - as if to say "I cannot be bothered with such a thing." We have been looking into preschools for Brynn. Most places do registration during the month of March. I have observed my top two choices outside of the school district's Early Childhood program. Brynn will go through the school district's screening process in May/June to determine if she will be accepted into the program. So, I will be choosing an alternative to the school district program just in case it doesn't work out in our favor.
Marshall is still working on his coursework - mainly Physics right now. He is trying to get back into the swing of reading textbooks and completing homework assignments. It's more difficult with two in the house now. But, this weekend he actually left the house to focus better for a couple of hours.
As for me, I am enjoying my maternity leave. I have about 6 weeks left but will be ready to go back when the time comes. It will be nice to regularly be out of the house for a couple of hours each day.
We are looking forward to going up to Bellingham to celebrate Brynn's third birthday in a couple of weeks. She is excited for balloons, cake and presents with her family.
Parker Mei Udo
Parker Mei was born a bit before 6:00 pm on Friday, December 10, 2010. She weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces and was 18 inches long. My labor started around 1:30 in the afternoon, so she came pretty quickly. In fact she came much too quickly to follow any of my birthing plan. We are just grateful that all things turned out well with her birth and delivery. We have been home as a family for nearly a week and we are adjusting to the big changes. The most difficult part of the transition has been dealing with Brynn and her many tantrums. She is really struggling to put her emotions into words and is having break-downs over small, daily things. This is partially due to her age, but mainly due to having a new sister in the house. We are trying hard to give her special attention - luckily Parker has been sleeping away most of the days, which has allowed us to have a lot of play and snuggle time with Brynn. We are looking forward to this weekend and coming holiday because Brynn will be getting a lot of special attention from grandparents, aunts and uncles.
Thanksgiving Is Here!
A few weekends ago, we were in Ferndale and were able to get together with the Udo side of the family for an early Thanksgiving. During that trip we also celebrated the marriage of my cousing Liz and were able to visit with the whole side of the Gardiner family, minus the Andersens. It was a great visit. Now that the real holidays are upon us, we are in full baby mode and will be staying home, just the three of us for Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to not having to travel, especially since the recent cold snap and snowfall. I will be cooking a Thanksgiving ham and trying my hand at making my first ever banana cream pie with graham cracker crust. We are going non-traditional in every way for this meal. I have nearly all of our Christmas shopping done and gifts made, so I will not be venturing out on Black Friday to shop. I've never really been big into this anyway. Instead, I am getting my hair cut and have an OB appointment. At that visit I'll be 37 weeks pregnant, with only 3 more to go. I just have a feeling that Parker (still no middle name) will arrive early, even if only by a day or two - so I have been getting all of my necessities for school and home prepared. I think if she came tomorrow, we'd be ready for her! We'll be sure to give an update with any exciting news or upon her arrival. Best wishes for a great holiday season!
The Countdown Begins
Only 9 more weeks until our due date for baby "Blue." Unfortunately, she still has no name. Brynn has moved on from wanting to call her "Blue" to liking the name Mackenzie, but Marshall and I aren't too sure yet. Hopefully we can narrow it down to 2 or 3 to discuss over the next few weeks. At my last check-up they did the blood work for gestational diabetes and my numbers were great - no second or third test needed this time. What a relief! I am still trying to be a bit more conscious with my diet, just to be on the safe side - but I am not hesitating to enjoy a cookie or piece of chocolate here and there :)
School is back in full swing for me - it's been a great start. I was really panicked a couple of weeks leading up to the start of the year; worrying that I was ill-prepared. I couldn't have been more wrong, this has been the smoothest start ever! I guess that's what happens when you are approaching 10 years of teaching. If Blue comes on/by her due date, I will be allowed to have 14 weeks off for maternity leave and not need to report back to school until the end of March. We are trying to have Marshall take an additional 6 weeks of leave off after my return to school. This way the baby will be nearly 5 months old before needing to have her in childcare.
My cousin Elizabeth is getting married the first week of November. We are planning to head up to celebrate with her. This will mark our last travel-trip until Blue arrives. This means that we'll be home for the holidays this year. We are actually looking to having a quiet Thanksgiving in preparation for the chaos a new baby is likely to bring. Hopefully we'll still be able to see everyone close to Christmas so that they can all meet Blue.
In the mean time I am preparing by researching cloth diapering and hitting all of the local consignment sales that are cropping up. It's addictive to find such good deals for the girls!
Summer Time!
Wow; summer has really hit. We were in the mid 90's today! In order to feel some relief from the heat we went to story/puppet time at the local library - but Murphy and Brynn weren't really interested (too much listening, not enough visuals), so we left after 30 minutes. Then the kids played together in the pool they got a kick out of dumping water on their heads. Later this afternoon and evening Marshall and I took Brynn to Long Lake in Lacey with our neighbor, Jen and her two boys, Ian and Cole. Brynn was a little fish; she loved it. I wish we would have brought her life jacket; she could have stayed in the whole time. She's really going to love our trip to Lake Alta in August! Marshall put in our air conditioner and it's been pumping all day, and working well - our house maintained a very comfortable 73 - 75 degrees all day; as compared to 84 degrees yesterday with no air conditioner in. We should sleep better tonight!
We ordered a do-it-yourself shed kit from Lowes the other day and it has arrived, so I am sure we'll (really, Marshall) will be using a lot of this weekend to prep for putting that together. In combination with the shed, we bought some paint colors that we hope to love enough to paint our house with this summer. We figured it'd be wise to test it out on the shed and live with it for a while prior to going for it with the whole house. We'll also be laying pavers down for Kaiya's kennel - she's a digger and has caused a huge mess of her kennel area, so hopefully this will put a stop to the muddy messes.
We are looking forward to the end of the month; I'll be having my 20 week ultrasound on July 27th and we'll hopefully be able to tell the gender of the baby. It sure is a different experience the second time around. I am already fully wearing maternity pants, my stomach seems to really be popping out now. With Brynn, I was 6 months pregnant before any belly bump could be seen. I am also feeling the baby moving quite a bit already, this started a few weeks ago and has become much more often and obvious in the past few days. In the mean time - I swear that I have eaten my last strawberry shortcake and hope to be better about watching my diet for those simple sugars that I love so much - mainly fruits. When they tested my blood sugar levels early on, it was normal - but I am trying to avoid having a repeat of 3 glucose tests, so I've been trying to incorporate more proteins into my diet. I think they do the glucose testing around 26 weeks and I'd prefer to only do the one this time.
Marshall is plugging away at 2 online classes this summer - he is still really enjoying being a student. He is trying hard to manage his time and studies; it's much easier to procrastinate when you don't have to physically report to class on a regular basis. So far he's still a straight "A" student, but has put in a lot of hard work to maintain that. He will be traveling for work next week, allowing Brynn and I some serious girl-time. I'm going to have to be creative to keep us busy, especially if our hot, hot weather continues.
Brynn's First Camping Experience
We headed out to the beach this past Saturday morning for a beautiful day in the sun. We had a picnic lunch at the beach, flied our turtle kite and played in the sand. It was very windy, which brought a bit of a chill, but it was beautiful. Brynn loved playing at the beach. We camped at the Twin Harbors campground between Westport and Grayland. It was a very public setting, with neighbors in view in all directions. Brynn got a kick out of Kaiya and the 3 of us sleeping together in the tent. She was not able to nap in the afternoon and wanted to play in the tent rather than sleep at bedtime, but she eventually crashed hard and slept soundly until the sun came up around 5:00 am. She had to snuggle in with me in my sleeping bag in order to doze off again for another 1.5 hours. This morning, the sun was hiding behind a thick cover of haze and clouds, so we decided to head back home after eating breakfast. Brynn kept notifying us that she was "Ready, go home now." Had it been another beautiful day out there, we'd have stayed longer. Overall, we all enjoyed the experience and can't believe it's taken us this long to allow her this experience. We hope to do a few more close to home camping trips prior to our big Udo Family vacation in August.
Home, Sweet Home
We've decided to take our house off of the market and try to re-finance in August. Although we'd love to have a bigger home, especially with another baby coming, we think saving a little extra money now would be more wise. Our home is comfortable for us and we know that another three years will be okay here. At that time Marshall should be finished with his master's degree and eligible for jobs that are much more higher paying. So maybe at that time we'll be able to really afford our dream-home. So for now, we'll work on building a storage shed and maybe a deck off of the back to allow us to fully enjoy our home. It's nice not having to keep our house super clean or tidying up on the spot for potential buyers.
Since the weather is supposed to be nice, we are planning our first camping trip with Brynn. We are going out to the beach for one night. I'll be sure to give an update upon our return.
The Biggest Kind of News
We are expecting another baby! My due date is December 14th, so I am just out of my first trimester. I've had a few appointments and one ultrasound already, and things are looking good. I have been having the dreaded all day sickness again, but this time around I am not vomiting - so I consider this a success. The past few days have been much better with nausea, so I hope this means the sickness is almost over. When we ask Brynn if she wants a little brother or sister, she states "No, just Momma." I have a feeling this will be difficult for Brynn, but we are already talking a lot about it so hopefully she'll be able to grasp onto the concept before the baby arrives.
We are looking forward to a summer full of camping, swimming and warm weather (this last one seems like a stretch with our current forecast). Brynn is a lot of fun right now and loves getting out to explore and discover new things, so we think it'll be the perfect summer for the outdoors.
Brynn Byte
At Mexican Restaurant. Waiting for our food.
Brynn = staring at a couple across from us; states loudly "That Daddy have baby in tummy."
Us = "No, only women can have babies in their tummies." Chuckling and hoping that the conversation will drop. It did.
Happy Easter!
Brynn loved dying Easter Eggs this year. We lost a couple in the process and had to use lemon juice instead of vinegar - but overall they turned out great! Brynn ended up with a green hand after we were finished, the dipping tool was still a bit sophisticated for this year.
Brynn woke up to find that the Easter bunny left a basket for her. She could hardly believe that a few of the plastic eggs contained m&m's, and that we let her eat some before breakfast! I made a crochet bunny with floppy ears and some felt finger puppets for her basket - it was fun.
For the second year in a row we stayed in Olympia and spent Easter with the Richardsons. This year the kids were old enough to have a little egg hunt. They got a kick out of finding the eggs and putting them in their baskets. In addition to Christa, De and Murphy, we enjoyed spending time with Noah and his dad Ryan.
Overall, it has been a great weekend! I am looking forward to the coming week for my Spring Break. Hopefully the weather forecast will be wrong and we'll get some nice weather. Terry is riding the train down on Wednesday for a visit and Gaylen will follow on Friday. It will be nice to have the company.
We still have had no serious inquiries to our home, but we continue to list it on Craigslist and fill our information box with fliers. Hopefully we'll have more interest as the summer approaches. Keep your fingers crossed.
Brynn Bytes
3:30 am, last night. Third wake-up of the night.
Brynn - "Need blow nose"; repeated over and over.
Me - Get up, out of cozy bed walk to hallway bathroom to get tissue, tromp back down hallway into Brynn's room.
Me- "okay, blow" (Brynn is quite a good nose blower)
Brynn - "Momma hold you bit, Momma rock you bit."
Me - "Lay down, I'll rub your back for a minute, lay down."
Brynn - (Voice volume and pitch escalating) "Momma hold you, Momma rock you" - over and over.
Me - "I'm not going to hold you, but I'll rub your back, lay down" (I've really been trying not to give in to her every request lately; once I make a decision I'm trying not to go back on that)
Brynn - Sobbing, yelling - "Momma hold you . . . "
Me - "You can either lay down for me to rub your back or I'll just go back to my bed."
Brynn - sobbing, yelling, clinging on to me.
Me - Pick her up only to lay her down on her pillow and tromp out the door.
Brynn - sobbing uncontrollably and yelling "Momma"
Me - climbing back into cozy bed, hoping she'll settle down.
Brynn - sobbing so much I fear she may make her self sick - "Momma hur" . . . sobs, "Momma hurt" . . . (repeated a couple of times due to sobbing) "Momma hurt feelings!"
Oh my, what a killer - fortunately Marshall had the good sense to get up and console her, I just don't think I could have stayed in bed much longer after that. I felt awful.
Yesterday evening, Brynn watching and following a Yoga Kids video.
She's on the floor doing one of the poses.
Kaiya, also on the floor, creeps to Brynn and places a paw on Brynn's stretched out arm.
Brynn - "Moo me (excuse me) Kai, I doing yoga."
"That's Why"
With Brynn talking so much, I thought it would be fun to write little "Brynn Bytes" on here every now and again. So here goes:
Last night during bath -
Brynn = splashing/swimming around as the water drained from the tub. She slips and bonks her bum and head. With a surprised, not scared or hurt look on her face she says: "That's why."
Today at lunch -
Brynn sitting on a "big chair" at the table. Shaking her head about in crazy fashion, bonks her lip on her sippy cup and knocks it over. She points to her lip and says "That's why."
So, my take on this is that both Marshall and I, over the past two years, have lectured Brynn a lot with similar occurences:
"That's why we don't stand up in the tub."
"That's why we sit on knees and bottom on the big chairs."
Oh, boy. The fun with language development is upon us. Now we'll really get to see what we say all the time.
Two Years Old!
Brynn is two! We can hardly believe how quickly time flies with a toddler. Brynn keeps us very busy, whether it is running around from park to park, riding her balance bike, playing with friends at Kindergym or play-dates, or just dancing around at home - she is full of energy. Her vocabulary is amazing, she is piecing together 4-5 word phrases and sentences of her very own. She is very sophisticated in her taunting of Kaiya. Example - Today Brynn was playing in her room; she called (yelled) for Kaiya to come (Kaiya did); the two hung out in Brynn's room for about five minutes - they were playing in her closet together and Brynn repeatedly opened and shut her bedroom door while she and Kaiya stayed inside; after about 5 minutes, I hear squealing, she comes barreling down the hallway, taps my knee and says "Momma, where's Kaiya, I don't know!" She was beaming and laughing. I said, "I don't know where Kaiya is, could she be outside?" Brynn - "No" . . . (smiling and laughing); Me - "Did you shut her in your room, is she stuck?" Brynn - "Yes! That's silly, Momma." She then barreled back down the hall and opened her bedroom door as Kaiya pushed her way out. What a stinker! Nevertheless, the two of them keep us laughing.
Brynn had her two year check up today. She weighs 32 pounds, which is in the 95th percentile and is in the 89th percentile for height. Her head is still in the 75th percentile. Our visit was pretty traumatic today. Brynn has really started a "stranger - danger" stage. She quickly breaks down at the thought of having to be near strangers (even those who really are friends and family that she just hasn't seen often or lately). She would not stand on the scale to be weighed, I could not peel her off of me to set her down (she is very strong), so I had to get on the scale to be weighed then lift her up to calculate her weight. It was a similar story for measuring her height. She did not want to lay on the examination table, so it was like we had to restrain her to mark where her foot and head hit (so I'm not sure how accurate the measurement is). She did better with the doctor than the nurse. She let Dr. Sundell check everything wihout too much complaining (likely due to the fact that we gave in and let her have one of her nonies = night-night). The only thing she didn't do willingly is open her mouth for a quick check and fluoride varnish. She did pretty good for the shot, too; only crying for a short moment. We were glad to hear that many two and three year olds behave like this, and in just as severe of manner. I think Brynn is likely to continue to be a bit reserved and perhaps shy as life goes on, but we'll have to see.
Brynn was able to celebrate her birthday with a couple of her close buddies on her actual birthday; this was a great time. Brynn had a difficult time sharing all of her toys. it's not very often that we have multiple kids over at our house, I think it was a bit overwhelming for her after a little while; thus the whining and crying for the last half hour of the play-date.We then went up to Ferndale on Friday afternoon to get ready for our family party on Saturday. The whole Udo clan was able to come to celebrate with us, which was great. We missed the Andersens, but understand that the 6 hour drive is difficult to do for just a quick trip. Hopefully we'll get to catch up with them over spring break. As always, Brynn was spoiled with a lot of great toys, clothes, and books.
We are blessed to have such a healthy, happy girl.
On the Market
It's official, we've listed our house for sale. We even had our first showing tonight, so hopefully that's a good sign. In the mean time our house is very clean and hopefully it'll be easy to keep it that way.
Last Weekend of Preparation
We are going to finish prepping our house for the real estate market this weekend! We are loving our house more than ever now that it is "spiffed-up" and cleared out. Although this is true, it's not enough to make us want to stay any longer. We are enjoying looking around at potential homes, but feel like we may need to become renters again to save up a bit more money for a down-payment. We are trying to pinch our pennies now, but still do not save much with our current mortgage. The plus side in all of this is that once we are in a new home, our payments should go down because the interest rates are so much better now than 4 years ago when we bought this place. So we can potentially be in a much larger house worth much more money for the same or less monthly payment. With that said, we are pretty excited to get the ball rolling. We have decided to try selling our house on our own without a realtor - we cannot afford the fees. So, this may mean that we have to sit on our house for a while and be prepared to pay to advertise on our own. Cross your fingers for an easy sell and transaction.
We also decided to put our holiday money toward the purchase of a digital SLR camera. We just got it earlier this week and have been playing around with the settings trying to figure it all out, so you'll see a lot of repeater pictures. We can tell already that this is such a treat to have, the pictures look beautiful and we still don't know what we're doing most of the time. I guess it helps that Brynn is so darn cute. Speaking of Brynn, the potty-training is going pretty well. She has some tell-tale signs when she needs to go and even is pretty consistent in telling us "sit big-toilet" or "pee-pee, big potty." We started with training undies and decided that was way too yucky and messy for now, so we transitioned to Pull-Ups. Brynn gets a kick out of trying to keep her hearts, butterflies and stars (they fade if wet). She gets a couple of goldfish crackers each time she goes in the toilet and that is also very motivating for her. She does not care to sit on toilets outside of our house (not even at Christa and Murphy's), but it is slowly getting better. My hope is that she is totally trained by the summer months and at the rate she's going I think she'll do it.
Holiday Re-cap
We are winding down from a pretty busy holiday season. Brynn has been a lot of fun this year with holiday festivities and celebrations. Thanksgiving kicked things off in Ferndale. We were able to celebrate with both the Gardiners and the Udos. We ususally flip-flop the Thanksgiving celebration, but this year Grammie and Grandpapa did not travel down to Oregon so we got to be with both families; we felt spoiled. Brynn enjoyed all of the attention being on her. She was a happy, good girl for our visit (minus sleeping well over night). For Christmas this year, we celebrated with the Udos a weekend early. We traveled up to Seattle to spend the day with everyone at Chandler and Kyle's house. Brynn helped pass out all of the packages and did a great job of listening to Uncle Chandler and knowing where everyone was. She received some special gifts that she loves. The actual day was a bit overwhelming with her gifts, but since being home she has really enjoyed them. She received a remote controlled airplane, which she loves and hates at the same time. She always wants to drive it around, but from a high place; out of fear that it may get her - she had an initial scare with it, not realizing she is in control. She also got a Leap Frog pet Puppy that is pretty cute. Her name is Violet and she is programmed with Brynn's name and favorite things. This little puppy has already taught Brynn to spell her own name - amazing. I was drawing with Brynn, and told her that I was going to write her name, so I wrote a "B" on the easel and Brynn proceeded to finish spelling her name for me. I had no idea she knew how to spell her name, Marshall and I could hardly believe our ears - what a good gift! (We captured her spelling her name on video, check it out.) Grandma Terry sewed another cute dress for Brynn - it fits well now, you can see pictures of Brynn in the dress in the Christmas in Rhody album. As always, Brynn also received some great books. Reading is still her most favorite thing to do. For Christmas Eve and day, we went to the Andersen's house to be with the Gardiner side of the family. Brynn loved being with her cousins. Chapin and Riley are so good to her; they always include her in their playing and pay special attention to her. We took Kaiya with us this year and she did surprisingly well with Sootie and Harley. Her gift from Santa included an art easel, which she loves and some training undies. Auntie Jen knitted some special things for Brynn, especially a long cardigan, which you can see photos of in the most recent album. She also received a sit and spin, which she has mastered, but prefers to just dance to.
Since coming home from Oregon, we have been trying to potty train Brynn. It is not going well. She had 5 accidents in her pants the first day - we haven't had to do this much laundry since those first couple of weeks. She does go in the potty if we get it at the right time, but she has yet to tell us she needs to go. I know this is a process, and likely a long one, but I just want it happen magically!
As we await the new year, we look back on this year and cannot believe all of the things we were fortunate to experience. We can hardly believe that Brynn is going to be 2, our lives are so different with her in tow, but we are so lucky and glad to have her. We are still moving forward with the plans to sell our home. We have been plugging away at our little tasks to prepare, at this point we just have a little more touch-up painting to do and a storage rental to fill then we'll be ready. Cross your fingers!
Recovering From Traveling
We went up to Ferndale for our Thanksgiving celebration this year. We were able to have turkey dinner both with Grammie and Grandpapa and Grandma Terry and Grandpa Gaylen. Unfortunately the Andersens were not able to make it up, Riley was pretty sick and needed to recuperate. Brynn really enjoyed her time with everyone this year. We are amazed at how much more enjoyable it is to be around family now that Brynn remembers, recognizes and enjoys everyone. She now continues to ask about family and is looking forward to our future Christmas visits. We will be celebrating the weekend before Christmas with the Udos this year at Kyle and Chandler's house, a nice in-between location for us all. Then for Christmas Eve and day we will head down to Oregon to stay with the Andersens. We figure this will be our last year of traveling on Christmas due to Santa Claus; we really want Brynn to experience Christmas mornings at her own home.
Speaking of home . . . we nearly have one bathroom upgrade finished. As you can see in our photo album, Marshall laid new linoleum in our hallway bathroom and installed our new water conserving toilet. We also put a fresh coat of paint on the walls in both bathrooms. We need to finish flooring and toilet in our master-bathroom and trim in both. We are still planning on selling our house and hope to have it listed sometime this January - a bit sooner than originally thought. We have fun dreaming of our new, big home and hope to be able to accommodate family gatherings more comfortably in the future.
Brynn is talking and learning like crazy right now. She is really doing well with her letters, constantly pointing to her letter magnets and identifying the correct ones. She parrots all of our words and amazes us at her ability to say new things each day. She is enjoying her play time with friends at toddler gym - she has also developed an attachment or concern for a little guy named Dash (2 month old baby brother to Delaney). She is constantly talking about him and asking for him, it's pretty cute. She is still enjoying her mornings with Christa and Murphy and gets bummed out if she does not see them. One challenge we've had lately is with her eating habits. She is beginning to have selective tastes. It is difficult to get her to eat vegetables and breakfast foods. She will always eat fruit, cheese and ketchup (which we will sometimes slather on her carrots to get her to eat them). She has recently been asking for dessert in the evenings, as well as "just one" (while holding up 1 finger) bite of chocolate - oh trouble! She's got her momma's sweet tooth.
We can hardly believe that Brynn will be two in three short months! Time has flown by!
Marshall is finishing up his first quarter at South Puget Sound Community College. He is proud to be at the top of his calculus class, he has well over 100% going into his finals! He is enjoying the challenge and looking forward to more coursework in the future.
I am still loving my part-time schedule; it truly is an ideal schedule for spending time with Brynn. We've decided that I will make this a permanent change in my contract until Brynn is in school full-time, then we will reassess our situation. I am enjoying having my regular sophomore classes again. I have some really great kids and am proud to say that my failure rate is the lowest it's ever been - and I don't think I've become a push-over or too easy; I just have conscientious students who make studies a priority.
Me-Mow
Brynn was a kitty for Halloween. I made her hat with ears and my friend, Kristi made her tutu-tee. She made for one cute kitten! She wore her costume first at Toddler gym and then again to go to a couple of friends' houses for trick-or-treating. She actually did an official trick-or-treat at the Richardsons; as for the other stops, she was pretty shy and would not even take a piece of candy. I think we had more fun watching her than she did with any of it.
Brynn is talking like crazy lately. She is really parroting us a lot; she'll even read books aloud as we read them to her. She will try to say any word we ask her to. On her own she is constantly talking to her stuffed animals. We allow her to take them into bed with her for naps and at night. Because of this, she usually spends a good half an hour chatting with them, changing their "diapers" and feeding them "water" in a little pink bottle. She loves her animals, especially her kitten - Me-Mow. She loves arts and crafts. We have allowed her to use crayons, markers and stamps, which she loves to do. I really want to try out finger-painting, but haven't braved it yet - I don't have a good spot for her to sit and do it. I think I may need to go to the Goodwill and get a sheet to spread on the floor for it.
My little hat business has really boomed this fall, I have not been able to have any down-time in a while. I am currently working on a set of critter caps for some teenage girls in Alaska! I am still having fun with the creation of the caps and am surprised that it has been pretty profitable as well. I look forward to trying some new patterns, I hope to venture out of creating caps only, but we'll see what I have time for.
We applied for new, water conserving toilets through our city and were granted two for free. So, with this we are going to re-floor and paint the bathrooms, too. We are going to use this winter to finish up our un-finished projects around the house in hope of putting it on the market this spring. We are ready for a larger home. Hopefully we'll be able to get want we want out of our house, if not - then we'll likely stay put for another year or so. For now, it's fun to think about.
Back to School and busy times.
School is in full swing for me (as is my annual start-of-the-year cold). I am enjoying having two regular sophomore classes so far. I still have one section of Literacy and they are already pretty trying. Monday of this week I had the task of busting 2 kids for marijuana - this leaves my Literacy class with 12 students now. The other two actually had the paraphernalia in their backpacks - idiots! Although I know it was the "right" thing to do in turning the boys in, I can't help but wonder when I became such a prudish adult.
My schedule allows me to be home by 11:00 on most days, which is nice. Brynn has transitioned into taking 1 nap a day and those naps are anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours in length. We are really enjoying Brynn these days, she is much happier with very few tantrums or fits. She laughs and smiles a lot more now, too. Her language development is really booming. She is constantly saying and trying new words and phrases; it's amazing. Brynn started her gymnastics class last week and has now attended 2 sessions - what a disaster. She seems to hate it. The class is only 30 minutes. On the first day, she clung to me screaming "no" at everything. The last 10 minutes she was interested in the foam pit after seeing the rest of the class play, but it wasn't until everyone else was finished with that activity that she went in to try it out. Today was her second class. It started out pretty well, but as soon as we headed over to the circle to begin the session, the screaming "no" returned. She watched all of the other kids play, jump and have fun, but didn't want to engage with them. Again she waited until the balance beam and foam pit were all clear to try it out. She really enjoys the equipment, but not the kids or structured play. Needless to say, we will finish out the month and then call it quits for a while - it really is no fun for me to have the only screaming and crying kid in the whole class. In October, Murphy will be 18 months and the two of them will be able to enter toddler gym. So, Christa, will take both kids to that and I'll meet them there to pick Brynn up. It should be more fun and familiar. It will be good for Brynn to be around other kids more often.
The little hat business is also picking up. Two local shops have put in recent orders as have some friends through Etsy. I am still testing out different materials for the winter style caps, but am having fun creating new color combinations and designs. So far I am profitable since starting the whole business and it is a nice way to spend my free-time. I look forward to fall and winter weekends, it helps put me in the mood for crafty things.
Marshall will start his calculus classes next week. He is looking forward to the challenge. His week nights will be pretty busy, but it will pay off in a few years when he can switch gears a bit.
We are also starting obedience training with Kaiya this weekend. I am really looking forward to this. I hope it will allow me to take her for walks with the stroller. As of now she is still a bit too out of control to manage both.
I completed my first week of 5:00 am wake-up and work-out schedule. I think I'll like it - I was dreading my morning routine in the women's locker room, but it has proven to be pretty easy. My work-outs last about 30 minutes and it is early enough that few women are in there getting ready. Plus, the gym is in the front yard of my school, thus making it super convenient for me. So, at this point I am hopeful that my new schedule will allow me to be consistent in my exercise regime.
Before we know it, the holiday season will be upon us. We can hardly believe that Brynn is a year and a half already. Time sure flies by.
Catching Up
As seen in our recent photo albums, we celebrated the marriage of Chandler and Kyle on July 11, 2009. It was such a wonderful weekend full of many new firsts for Brynn and wonderful memories for all of us. Now that the wedding is over, we are relaxing and enjoying the swing of daily routines and warm weather. Good thing we purchased an air conditioner last summer because we've been using it for the past 3 weeks straight. It is so nice to see the sunshine every day!
This past weekend, we finally finished the bulk of our landscaping in the front yard. We put a nice thick coat of bark over everything; it looks great. We would still like to create a pathway and maybe paint the exterior of our house, but for now we are really pleased with the way it looks. It is nice to have it finished (after 3 years).
Last week Brynn had her 16 month check-up. She weighed almost 27 pounds, which was in the 89th percentile for weight - they stood her up on the big-kid scale with her clothes on, she's not a baby anymore! Her height was in the 92nd percentile and her head was in the 78th. She seems to be right on track with all of the major milestones. I know I am probably way too early to be doing this, but we are starting to think of potty-training. I bought her a potty that sits on our bathroom floor and we just talk about it all day. She has willingly sat on it a couple of times and it was not to go potty. After her bath tonight she kept sitting on it naked and I told her she could try to go pee-pee or poo-poo like a big girl if she wanted. She thought that was funny and just kept saying pee-pee, poo-poo over and over - but it was all talk. So for now, it remains something for us to look at and think about. I will say that she has been telling us about her wet and poopy diapers, though. I think it must be a good sign that she is aware of what is happening down there, but she still doesn't want to have her diapers changed.
We took Brynn and Kaiya to see the ocean for the first time today. It was an 85 degree day in Olympia, but as soon as we hit Aberdeen the temp. was only 65 degrees. We went to the state park in Westport for a couple of hours. We got our feet wet, watched the surfers, played ball with Kaiya, ate snacks and played in the sand. It was a pretty fun afternoon. To top it all off we had dinner at our favorite fish market, The Breakwater - they have the best fish and chips!
Marshall is pretty busy with work this time of year, he has a few scheduled overnight trips coming up soon. Hopefully Brynn and I will accompany him to one or two for some camping opportunities, but if not I may have to head down to Oregon to visit the Andersens or to check out Meghan's new house. We are looking forward to our annual Desert Canyon vacation with the Udos in the middle of August - this allows for us to visit the Wisdoms which is long overdue.
Summer is just about here!
Well, this is my last week with students! Only 3 more days of the stinkers - I suppose that I'm just as bad as they are - I am ready for vacation! We also know that summer is nearly here because we are less than 3 weeks away from Chandler and Kyle's wedding. Another sign of summer are our vegetables in the garden boxes - we have been eating great salad greens for a couple of weeks and everything else is still growing.
Brynn is talking a lot, every now and then she'll say something as clear as day, but then maybe not again for a while. Her most common words now are: no, dad, momma, Kaiya, berries, water, play, slide, swing, run, diaper, nap, night-night, shoe, toe, eye, knee, nose, bye-bye, hey, hi, dinner, animal sounds (tiger, horse, sheep, rooster, dog, cat, cow) - but the best is "good-girl." (I know I'm forgetting a few - each day there is a new one!) She is also good at giving kisses now. Whenever Marshall comes home for lunch and then leaves again, she walks over to him with pursed lips. I couldn't help but smile when we were on our walk to the park tonight and she turned around to see me pushing the stroller and said "hey" then pursed her lips for a kiss - too cute!
We are looking forward to the next couple of weekends with family. My cousin Toby graduated from high school this year, so we are heading north to celebrate with him. Then we will hopefully head all the way to Ferndale for the fouth of July. After that we will be in full wedding mode. I am looking forward to that! I haven't seen Marshall in a tuxedo - ever, Brynn has her flower-girl dress to look adorable in and I just got a great little black dress that I really like! We'll be one sharp looking family!
Warm Weather
We finally bought Brynn her own little pool to splash in. She prefers to stand outside of the pool and splash herself or pour cups of water on herself rather than sitting in the pool. Kaiya shows no real interest in the water, other than to drink it. We'll have to test out her webbed feet somewhere else.
We became members to the Tacoma, Point Defiance Zoo a couple of weekends ago. We met some friends: Kyle, Mo and Emelia Murphy and Jana Johnson with Riley, her foster son. It was a great day, all of the kids loved it - and so did the parents.
Marshall survived the Bachelor Party in Vegas. The guys had a great time - soaked up the heat by the pool and hit the casino and clubs at night. Unfortunately nobody hit the JackPot. Marshall lost $20 the first night and called it quits after losing that.
We reinstalled our air conditioner this past weekend. Good thing - our house was climbing up to 79 degrees prior to that. It seems like we went from really cold days right into really hot ones - it's nice to have a cool house.
We are still working on our yard, but making good progress. We put in some more plants and a Cypress tree. I think we'll be getting another round of bark soon, too. It really is never ending. We are appreciating our new full size truck now though.
13 days and counting - until my summer break. My neice and nephew in Oregon finish up this week - must be nice!
Videos
Brynn has been cracking us up lately; check out our 3 new videos.
Overdue Update
A lot has happened in the past month since my last posting.
My hats are doing well at the diapering store, Simple Cloth. I had to fulfill a second order this past week for them. I have also gained another local gift shop that will be selling my hats - they are the reason for my Critter Cap pattern. This shop is called Compass Rose and they are in downtown Olympia as well; they are your typical gift shop with a lot of great items. They want the hats made from bamboo, which would be very cool, but I am having a difficult time finding the bright colors in that fiber. So I'll either have Jen teach me how to dye my own or I'll have to tell the shop that I cannot use bamboo for the hats.
After a lot of thinking, we listed both of our vehicles on Craigslist a couple of Sundays ago. The Subaru sold the very next day, so we were making due with the Ranger - which only comfortably seats two for about a week and one half. Marshall found a White 2007 Dodge Ram 1500, quad cab at a small dealership in Yelm, so we traded the Ranger in on that. And just last night we went to Seattle to purchase a Silver 2006 VW Jetta. We loved my old 2000 Jetta and felt that this would be a great option. You'd think we got lucky on the Lottery by looking at the cars in our driveway. We feel pretty good about our finds - even though 2 car payments is going to be drag.
Our neighbors Christa, De and Murphy are officially moved into their new place. They now live about 4 miles away. We will still be taking Brynn over to their house in the mornings for child care. Murphy and Brynn are so cute together - they probably think they're siblings. We are so lucky to have all of them in our lives. I think Christa and I will trade days during the summer so that the kids stay close and so that we as moms have a little free time.
Brynn is now 14 months old. We sure are getting a kick out of interacting with her. She is really trying to talk a lot. She still loves her food and really lets us know by always asking for a snack and then throwing a fit when we tell her she's all done or that she has to be patient or wait. The plus side to this is that she's not a picky eater. Brynn sure likes climbing on everything lately. I came out of our bedroom and glanced in her room to see her standing up on one of her little chairs, bouncing up and down. As soon as I told her to be careful, she tumbled head first onto the hardwood floor. I'm sure it will be the first of many bumps to come. She and Kaiya love being outside together. They both have discovered the dirt in the garden boxes, thus making it difficult to grow anything. I think we'll have to invest in some outdoor climbing toys to keep Brynn occupied.
I only have a little over 6 weeks of school left - yes, the countdown has begun. Marshall is now officially in his busy season. This means that he'll be out of town often in the coming months. Hopefully we'll be able to turn a couple of his trips into camping weekends this summer. For now, we are looking forward to Chandler and Kyle's wedding - which is coming up very quickly. We are looking forward to sharing these memories with them.
Selling Hats!
Well, it's official; my hats are for sale. One of our local, Olympia businesses,
Simple Cloth, is selling my handmade newsboy caps. I took in 6 hats of different colors and embellishments and all are now for sale in the shop; I sold them wholesale to the owner (I can hardly believe how much she will be selling them for). In addition to this, I am going to be selling them on Etsy as well. I am calling my little business Hooked in the Sound: Crochet Crafts. As of right now I don't have enough in supply to list on Etsy, but when I do I'll let you know. My webpage address is
www.hookedinthesound.etsy.com I am also happy to do custom orders for color and fiber. My next kick will be creating hat with organic products - I think this will go over well in Olympia. Hopefully the hats will sell and I can continue to create more while making a bit of money on the side. So, keep me in mind for your kids or for gifts for others. I can make infant to adult sizes. I am hoping to learn to make a few different styles in the future. Cross your fingers that this goes well, it's been pretty fun so far!
Two Babies
Well, we now have two babies running through the house. We adopted a 3-4 month old Boxer mix puppy from the Lewis County shelter on Thursday of last week. We have decided to name her Kaiya. She is very sweet! Although she has been a bit under the weather since picking her up, she is a very happy dog. She loves to play, sleep and be cuddled. She is great with Brynn and Brynn is tickled with her. We hop that her personality continues to be so great. We took her to our friend's who also have a Boxer/Lab mix and the two of them played non-stop for over an hour before we packed up to go home. There were also some cats around, of which Kaiya showed no real interest. She is just a people lover and seems to adore playing with other dogs. It is such a relief in comparison to the stress that we always went through with Kinly. We are very excited to have a dog that can be a part of our lives in any situation. As you can see from the most recent album - Marshall is thrilled to have this puppy. He has been doting on her all weekend. He is very excited to be a part of raising a dog from the puppy stage. With Kinly - he had to earn his way into her heart. Kaiya will definately be his dog from the start!
Quick Update . . .
No dog.
One Year Statistics
Brynn had her one year check-up today. She is weighing in at 22 pounds and 10 ounces - no gain from last time - which is in the 73rd percentile. She is 2 feet, 7 inches - 94th percentile. Her noggin isn't as big as we thought, but still a good 46.1 cm which is in the 77th percentile. The doctor says she looks great and continued to comment on how striking her eyes were. Her lack of weight gain is fine since she has always been on the heavier side, plus now that she is running all over the place and not taking bottles, she is burning more calories and possibly taking in a bit less. We are continuing to try to find ways in which Brynn will eat and enjoy her veggies. I'd prefer not having to feed her baby food, or having to puree them - so for now we just offer the veggies first and alone on her tray. Check out the newest video for a glimpse at her silly antics while eating peas. Brynn has been going over to the Richardson's every morning for the past couple of weeks. It is going very well. She loves Christa and Murphy. Christa uses sign language with the kids and Brynn is picking it up very quickly. Marshall and I are now having to learn because Brynn is using it regularly. Although she says "more" she accompanies it with a sign now, she also signs the names of the Richardson's dogs - I know this is not surprising! The other signs we are working on are "again", "read", and "hungry." Depending how she does with this, we may continue to add in more as we go. She is constantly trying to speak, so the signing would just help to clarify what she is wanting. She loves her Curious George books that she got for her birthday. One of them shows George hiding in different spots on the page. She enjoys pointing them out with her thumb and doing her version of what the Monkey says. It's pretty cute! While reading now, we can ask her to point familiar things out and she'll do so with her trusty right thumb. We think she is going to be a smarty - but I'm sure all parents think this way about their kids, right :)
I have had a lot of fun making hats for Brynn and some of the other babies in our lives. After posting some pictures of Brynn in her hats on FaceBook, I had some inquiries. I am happy to say that I have people interested in buying them from me. So, I received payment for my first hat. After finishing this hat, I will be shipping it off to Arizona. If any of you have friends or family members wanting a couple of cute hats for their babies and kids - keep me in mind!
We are planning a trip down to visit the Andersen's this weekend - we are looking forward to the visit. Marshall is going to try to do some skiing while down there. I'll just be watching, but hopefully I'll finally get to see Chapin and Riley doing their skiing. Hopefully the weather cooperates.
Our other big news is that we are ready for a dog again. We have made serious inquiries in regard to a couple of young dogs, but they are always adopted right before we get there. Tonight we are going to look at a young - 10 month old Chesapeake Bay Retriever. She is supposedly great with kids, and only being given up because her playing has injured the owner's other dog - a miniature pinscher. The owner says it's no fault of hers, it's bound to happen when a 50 pound dog is playing with a 10 pounder. I'm sure it will be impossible to not bring her home with us tonight. I'll keep everyone up to date with our decision.
Brynn Is One!
Today is Brynn's first birthday! It feels a bit anticlimactic today because we went up to Ferndale last weekend to celebrate with our families. Everyone, minus the Andersens, were able to celebrate with us. The day was great! It began with a photo-shoot at the Herman's in the morning, after which Brynn took a nice long nap in order to gear up for the party. Her party began at 3:00 and lasted well into the evening. It was so much fun to watch Brynn as she was surrounded by family. There is no denying that Uncle Landon is her favorite - it helps to have him living in Olympia. Brynn's most favorite things are still her books and puppies - the pictures are proof of that. Marshall and I cannot believe that we have spent a whole year with her already, it goes so fast. Brynn is really beginning to talk, her most common words are still "puppy" "ni-night" "da-dad" "teddy" and "ma-ma" - her latest is asking for "more." She has her one year doctor appointment next week on the 11th.
Eleven Months!
Wow, less than a month and Brynn will be One! This year has really gone fast - it's fun to go back and look at the old photos and videos. I hardly remember how she was as an early infant. Well . . . that's not the total truth, because we're still pretty sure she'll be an only child :0) If I could freeze time for a while, I'd gladly do it - Brynn is so much fun now. She is constantly learning new things and is for the most part a happy girl.
We all have been suffering from lousy colds for the past few days. Brynn caught the bug from our neighbor Cole last week and she has since passed it on to both Marshall and me. We took Brynn to the doctor yesterday because her balance was off a bit, she is not sleeping well at night and is occasionally tugging at her ear. She did have a slight ear infection that we are treating with antibiotics - I'd asked about over the counter and homeopathic options, but the doctor really recommended we treat it with the antibiotics because of her age. So, I didn't argue - now we are just waiting for the treatment to kick in. We are tired of being woken up every hour and a half throughout the night. At her appointment she weighed 22 lb. 11 ounces. They didn't measure her or give percentiles because it wasn't her well-baby check up, but that will come next month.
To celebrate Brynn's first birthday, we are planning to head up to Ferndale. It looks as though most all of Brynn's relatives will be there to sing and eat cake with us. It should be pretty fun. Because Brynn is so in love with dogs, I am going to try to make a puppy cake recipe that I found of the Internet. It looks fairly easy, I just have to be able to find some specialty candy to decorate it with. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it off! I am thinking of doing a trial run and then feeding it to my students to check for their approval. We are so lucky to have such a special friend in Karen Herman; she has offered to take some special "One Year" photos of Brynn while we are up in Ferndale. We truly cherish the photos that we have taken by her - they are professional quality and fun to be a part of.
Fortunately, I have a long weekend coming up. Not only are we given President's day off, but an extra day for a mid-winter break is attached to it on Tuesday. Marshall is thinking about doing some fishing, maybe even a weekend trip. As he said the other day "It has been so long since I've done anything by myself" - technically this isn't true, but I'll cut him some slack. Maybe this time he'll get lucky and actually catch something on one of his fly rods!
Marshall will be going back to full day work starting the first Monday in March. Fortunately our neighbor, Christa (mommy to Murphy) is willing to watch Brynn for a couple of hours each morning. Marshall will walk Brynn across the street (that is until their house sells - they will be listing it on the market within the next week or so) by 9:00 and then I'll be home by 10:45 to pick her up. We couldn't ask for a better situation, we feel really lucky to have become friends with the Richardsons! This spring will give us a good picture for what it would feel like (financially) for me to continue my part-time schedule for next school year. As of now, we think we can do it, but it will be nice to receive that confirmation after doing it for a couple of months this spring. Marshall still has yet to hear from the BPA job, but we are hoping that no news is good news.
Catching Up
A lot has been going on in our family lately. Marshall started playing on a men's city league basketball team. Their team is made up of work guys and friends, including Landon. He is really enjoying being involved, active and competitive. Unfortunately Landon tore his Achilles tendon this week and has to have surgery to repair it. Bummer. We hope his recovery is very speedy.
I have been busy with work. Next semester I will only be teaching 2 classes because my 3rd senior WASL-type class has an enrollment of 1 student. Rather than having me teach that single student, my administrators have decided to use me in a leadership role for WASL prep and planning. I have to admit that this is not a desirable job, but it will give me the opportunity to work with my colleagues in hope of modeling good teaching strategies. I will be helping to model reading strategies within my colleagues' classes so that they will become comfortable using them in their own practice. As high school teachers, we all think that we are experts so this task will be interesting to see through. I will have to get used to allowing others to watch me teach. It'll be good for me. Aside from that, I will be creating an informational website connected to the school for families and students to access in regard to WASL prep. (I can't believe my school doesn't already have this in place) as well as working to generate materials for my colleagues. Nevertheless, I have been a little stressed and preoccupied with my new role (and the semester hasn't even begun yet).
Brynn is an official "walker." She is walking all over the place. She still needs to pull herself up on things, but then she's off. She has been getting better at it daily; it is amazing to see how quickly she develops new skills and abilities. In some of the recent photos, you can see her upper teeth - they are huge and crooked! I am sure as more come in they will be pushed together and into place, but for now they are funny! She is teething again, this time on the bottom. When these two new ones come through, she'll have a total of 8 teeth. She is really enjoying eating regular foods. I try hard to feed her a bit of whatever we are having. She loves whole wheat bread, bagels, black beans, green beans, cheese, yogurt, cheerios, pizza, spaghetti, lasagna, and fruits. We are very glad that she is enjoying tastes and textures now. We are beginning to plan her first birthday party - I can't believe it! We'll be celebrating up in Ferndale so all of her relatives can be there comfortably.
Vacation's Over
Well, we will be back to our usual routines on Monday. We have really enjoyed having the past 2 weeks off as a family. We were able to make it up to Ferndale and stay for a week. And even though the weather kept things interesting, we were able to visit with everyone. Brynn turns 10 months old tomorrow and is officially walking. She still crawls to furniture to pull herself up, but she is becoming pretty steady on her feet. Of course, we have not been able to capture her best walking moments on film, but we did get a typical example this evening - check out the newly uploaded video on YouTube. As always, Brynn is keeping us busy during the days and is becoming more and more fun.
On Her Way to Walking!
Dare I say: Brynn took her first steps today! They were not very sure footed, but walking is in the very near future! We'll try to get it on video soon. Only one week left until we are one a 2 week Christmas break - we can hardly wait!
Croup
Brynn has a yucky cough - it must be croup. She sounds horrible. She has run a low-grade fever for the past day - we are giving her Tylenol and encouraging her to sleep a lot. Her 9 month appointment is tomorrow. She still seems to be happy and active, so we aren't too worried about her other symptoms. She just sounds awful and very raspy. Her breathing doesn't seem to be too labored though and she's still able to sleep well over night. We'll see what they say tomorrow.
Thanksgiving Weekend
We had a nice visit with the Gardiner side of the family for Thanksgiving. Chapin turned eight on Wednesday, so we were able to celebrate for a couple of reasons. Brynn has been cutting a few top teeth for the past few days, it was particularly bad while we were down in Oregon. As you can see in the photos, her mouth was bothering her a lot - she constantly had her lower lip out. It looks as though she will be getting her "fangs" in rather than the two front teeth. One of her two fronts is also coming in. She has been quite the crank-pot because of this. While in Oregon, we were able to get some much needed family photos of the 3 of us.
We took Brynn to see Santa yesterday, she did not care for that. She had some good tears and funny photos. We have to wait to receive the picture in the mail. I'm sure it'll be very cute!
Brynn is beginning to stand up unassisted by us or furniture. Her longest stretch was today at baby gym, she stood for about 30 seconds before falling to her bum. She probably won't be walking by Christmas, but soon after. We can hardly believe that Brynn will be 9 months old this week. Time has really flown by. Before we know it, we'll be planning her first birthday party.
I've been banished!
Marshall is officially the bath time hero! Brynn is very happy while being bathed by daddy. She sits in the tub like a big girl, splashes and plays. As long as I am not seen or heard, Brynn is fine in the tub. I am more than happy to turn over this duty to Marshall :)
Bath Blues
We have really been struggling with bath time. So, in the latest album you'll notice our next attempt at bathing bliss. The gigantic blow up duck is intended to go in the big bath. We are hoping she'll enjoy playing in it for a couple of days out of the tub, then in the tub with no water and lastly naked, getting clean. The last few weeks of bathing have been terrible. Brynn screams bloody murder and tries to frantically get out, it is a bit nerve-wracking and dangerous. If anyone has advice for getting kids to like the bath, please share.
Last weekend was our visit with the Udos, everybody but Courtney and Eric were able to make it over. We will be at the Andersen's for Thanksgiving, so it was nice to be with the Udos once prior to Christmas. Brynn was pretty spoiled with love and attention.
Brynn's latest trick is smiling for the camera when she sees the red-eye reduction light come on. We will try to capture it on video, but the photos of her in the pink fleece hat and of her in the laundry basket show off her talents.
We are having a lot of fun with her at this stage. We look forward to more and more laughs.
Stander
As you can see from the latest picture album, there isn't much that Brynn can't pull her self up on. I've gone to check on her during nap time, instead of sleeping she's standing up. She grabs on to the slider with her sweaty little hands and pulls her self up to standing. All of our low tables and couches are easy for her to get up on too. She is very careful, but getting more brave. She often holds on with only one hand or an elbow. She's pretty good at getting back down to the ground - so far we've only had a couple of tumbles and no goose-eggs yet. We decided to put her bedroom rug in the living space for a bit of extra padding - we hope to get another rug for out there soon.
On Halloweeen, Brynn had one of her first play dates. The little boy in the pictures is Adam. His mom, Jackie, is my colleague. Adam was born about 3 weeks after Brynn, but he is a very big boy. He seems like he's a few months older, especially with the way he's cruising around already. He is bound to walk any day now. It was fun having a play date at this age, Adam was so interested in Brynn, but she was most concerned with the toys and her parents - both Marshall and I went over with her.
Later in the evening on Halloween, our friends Sarah and Evan came over. Sarah is a colleague of mine that I've grown to become good friends with. After a recent trip to Japan, they became fans of karaoke, with that being said, Sarah got a karaoke machine for her birthday. They brought it over and sure enough, after a few glasses of wine both Marshall and I were belting out the tunes and having a great time. (I promised not to post anything onto YouTube).
Marshall is leaving town for three nights for a work conference in Yakima. Brynn and I will be on our own. Our neighbor is going to babysit for two of the mornings and then on Friday, Gaylen and Terry will be with her. I think most all of the Udos will be paying us a visit in Olympia this coming weekend. We are not going to be up in Ferndale for the Thanksgiving holiday, so this will be a nice replacement. We are looking forward to seeing everyone.
Busy Week
We've had a busy, fun week so far. Brynn went to her first Babygym Junior this week. It is a program that is run through the Olympia Parks and Rec. We go on Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:10 until noon. Her class is ages 0-12 months. Most of the babies are boys around 8-11 months. Brynn is still very concerned with me, but has had moments of great interaction with the other babies. Unfortunately, I think she is already dealing with her first cold. Just today she has had a constant runny nose. Hopefully it won't progress. We are scheduled for her first round of the flu vaccination next month. She doesn't seem to feel lousy, so hopefully it's just the runny nose. We have also become friends with our new neighbors - Chris, Jen and their son Cole. Cole is 13 months old. Jen and I have been meeting up regularly to walk. Yesterday we went to the park and pushed the babies in the swings for a bit. Brynn was a bit unsure of that, but we'll definitely try it again soon. I gave Brynn her first couple of Cheerios today - check out the newly uploaded video to see her reaction - it's pretty funny! Brynn is still crawling army-style. She is very fast at it and probably has no real need to boost up to her hands and knees. We know that she can do it because any time she is on carpet, up she goes. The hardwood floors are very nice for sliding, so she can take the easy way out.
Little Pumpkin
We went out to a local pumpkin patch along the Yelm Highway today. Brynn fell asleep on the way out there and thus was grumpy as we looked around. We've decided that she is best within her comfort zone; anytime she is in a new or unusual surrounding, she tends to be fussy and clingy to me. Marshall and I had a good time looking at the animals and trying to get Brynn to smile at the photo ops. (We were not very succcessful)
Yesterday we went out to the Capital State Forest and harvested a few Oregon Grape starts to plant in our beds. This is totally legal, so we are saving quite a bit of money by doing this. We hope to return for some salal and berry bushes. The research Marshall has done says that the transplant success rate is variable, so hopefully we'll be among the lucky ones and they'll survive.
Brynn has been talking a lot more. She is not just squealing and doing her buzzers, she is actually using her voice - it cracks us up. She seems to have a deep, loud voice. Although she is still very serious, we are starting see more of her personality show through. She keeps us laughing all day.
Teeth are sprouting.
Brynn is getting her first tooth and it's a sharp little bugger! Because of this, she's been a little whinier during the day and waking a couple of times at night. We are really getting a kick out of her crawling and waving. She is getting very good at both, in fact she even realizes that she can crawl to find us around the corner or ask to be picked up. This is a very enjoyable stage in her development.
Our lawn and bark are finished. With the recent rains, we hope to see more of our seed sprouting. We are now trying to determine what shrubs and plants we'd like to have in our flower beds, but that's the fun part. We will likely go with low-maintenance, native plants. No invasive species here.
Last weekend, Grammie and Grandpapa came down for a visit. Brynn was adorned with 2 beautiful, hand-knit sweaters called "Baby Surprise" sweaters. Grammie is getting quite good at knitting! While they were here, we discovered that Brynn may look quite a bit like Grandpapa did as a baby. We'll have to do some digging to get some pictures to compare the two.
We are both still plugging away at our jobs. This is the boring time of year for Marshall and I'm still having a difficult time feeling invested with my part-time schedule. The time is moving quickly though, we can't believe Brynn is now 7 months and that the holiday season is nearly upon us.
Doctor Appointment
Brynn had a check up today. Her latest statistics are: 19 lb. 15 oz. (95%); 27 inches (80%); head circumference 70%. Needless to say, she is a big girl. The doctor says she looks great and although she is chubby, she is at a good weight for her height. She had the dreaded shots and got very mad at having to be poked 3 times. The crazy right arm that Marshall is always worried about turns out to be very normal. Although, we are correct to call it "crazy" because it is true that she has no control over it at this point. The doctor said it is likely that she'll be right handed since it is this arm that moves most.
We got our yard thatched, re-seeded and fertilized over the weekend. With the rains now here, we hope to see some new growth within a week. We will be spreading bark in our beds this weekend. Hopefully the rain will go away for that.
We are still missing Kinly, but have enjoyed remembering and reminiscing about all of the trouble and joy that she brought us through out the years. Her spirit is still very alive as we move through our days.
Kinly
We had to say "goodbye" to Kinly this morning. We are going to miss her terribly.
Gearing up for the weekend.
We are finally going to put the finishing touches on our lawn this weekend. Marshall has reserved a thatcher for Saturday, and we bought all of the re-seeding supplies to follow that. We are also intending to lay down bark for our flowerbeds on Sunday. It seems like we've (really Marshall) has been plugging away at this project for quite some time. We are very excited to see how things turn out. Hopefully we'll get a nice mixture of rain and sun in the next few weeks.
Our garden is still producing; our cherry tomato plant is insane. We have harvested full bags of tomatoes on a few occasions and still see much more fruit coming out. The zucchini plants are still sending out new flowers as well. We had our first jalapenos and bell peppers this week; we are always amazed that the things we grow actually taste the same (or better) than the veggies from the grocery store.
Brynn is mobile! She is mastering the army-style crawl (see video). She still gets easily frustrated, but we know it is just a matter of days and she'll be cruising all over the place. She has been eating squash and peas for the past couple of weeks and she loves it! We even have to trick her into eating her rice cereal now by mixing in some veggies. She is now wearing 9-12 month sized jammies. All of her clothes with "footies" are too short/tight. Luckily most of her fall weather things are two-piece outfits without "footies." She has a doctor's appointment next Wednesday; we are excited to see how much she has grown.
Kinly is still hanging in here; but she is not well at all. We are giving her a lot of love and trying to do all we can to make her comfortable. She has not eaten anything for a couple of days and is hardly moving at all. We are pretty sure this is not a phase that is going to pass. Our hearts are sad, but we are so grateful to have collected wonderful memories with her over the past 10 years.
Am I really back to school?
Well, I made it through the first week back at school - but it doesn't really feel like it. I get up at 5:30 (well before Brynn and Marshall), leave the house by 6:30 and then come home by 10:30. Getting home at this hour makes me feel like I have the whole day left ahead of me, and the best part of it all is that I am dressed and ready for it! It's almost as if I haven't worked at all. I do feel it in the evenings, though. I am usually ready for bed by 9:00 pm.
Marshall and I bought a conversion kit for Brynn's stroller that allows us to hook her trailor up to the back of our bicycles. So, yesterday we enjoyed the afternoon by taking Brynn on her first bike ride; it was great! Our first trial run with her turned out to be a 22 mile trip! We have a nearby trail that runs from north Olympia down to the Tenino/Ranier area. We travelled on the southern most portion yesterday, but did not do the whole thing - we hope to someday soon. Brynn was great. She napped, talked and cried a bit, but overall she was a great passenger - we are excited to continue our biking outings as a family. We'll just need to figure out a way to cart Kinly along, too :)
This weekend we are looking forward to celebrating my 31st birthday at Marshall's cousin's wedding. Trever and Kiffanie are getting married down in Ridgefield, we know the weather is going to be beautiful and the company will be great, too. The Udo clan will be down for the weekend to celebrate the wedding, my birthday and Landon's birthday - a fun-filled weekend!
Getting ready to go back to work.
Well, my summer vacation ends tomorrow; I have to report back for 2 full days this week. Marshall will be taking vacation for those two days to play Mr. Mom. Once the school year begins with students I will be working a part time schedule that will allow me to be home before 11:00 every day. Marshall will be staying home in the mornings and adjusting his work schedule so that we can avoid child-care costs. We feel pretty fortunate to be able to do this. I just can't seem to get mentally prepared for this school year already. I have had a great six months off and am not quite ready to give that up yet, even though a few hours out of house each day will be nice.
Our Jack Johnson concert was fun! We managed to stay dry, although the clouds threatened us the entire evening. The band was wonderful, but the venue wasn't so great. You just can't compare to the Gorge, and that was what we were hoping for. It was nice to only drive for an hour and forty-five minutes to St. Helens, Oregon - but we both agreed in the future it is worth the drive to go to the Gorge. Landon stayed with Brynn for over 10 hours - he did great. He says she had a good 20 minute session of screaming her head off (I'm sure this estimate is erring on the short side, for our benefit!). It is so nice to have family close by - we didn't worry about Brynn and were able to fully enjoy ourselves at the concert! We hope Landon will be willing to watch her again in the future :)
Brynn has started to eat Rice Cereal. She seems to like it and is already doing a great job of opening her mouth and swallowing without spitting too much out. As soon as Marshall sat her in the high chair today she began opening her mouth, knowing what was coming. She is also beginning to get up on all fours to reach for toys. She is a pretty good scooter - the most difficult part for her is lifting up onto her hands, she does more of an "army-crawl" or scoot. She has been extra talkative and laughy lately. We have really begun to enjoy our days with her!
Eastern Washington Trip
We just spent the last long weekend in the Lake Chelan and Wenatchee areas. On Friday, we headed over the mountains to Manson to visit with our long time friends Ann and Andy. They have a daughter, Isabella, who is just 3 weeks younger than Brynn. It was fun to see how different the girls are even though their ages are pretty similar. We enjoyed the 100+ degree weather by staying cool on their boat on Saturday.
After a nice time on the water with the Wisdoms, we headed to Desert Canyon golf resort to meet up with the Udos. Everyone was able to make it this year: Gaylen and Terry, Chandler and Kyle, Landon and Liz, Courtney and Eric and the three of us. Brynn loved being surrounded and entertained by them all. She even had her first swim in the pool. She grew to like it by the second day, not much crying by that time. Brynn was a great traveller; it makes us feel up to going out and about more often.
We have a Jack Johnson concert that we are going to tomorrow evening and Uncle Landon is going to be with Brynn for the whole night - alone! Marshall commented that he doesn't think that he's even been alone with Brynn for 9 hours. Landon says he can handle it; hopefully Brynn will be on her best behavior for him.
I have to report to school for teacher days on Monday and Tuesday of this coming week, so my summer vacation is quickly coming to a close. I think I'll be spending a few hours at the local coffee shop on Sat. and Sun. in order to do some last minute planning. I've been spoiled with all of my time off!
She Speaks!
Brynn has been practicing her sounds for the past few months, but this morning she uttered her first official word - on purpose! She was in her excer-saucer, watching me very intently. She made an "M" sound so I began saying "momma" over and over. While I did this, she studied my mouth and it was clear that she was trying to form the same sound with her own mouth. Sure enough, she got it and then proceeded to say "momma" over and over. We had such a good laugh because of her face. It is obvious that she really has to think it though before any sound comes out. We were able to capture her saying "momma" later in the day and have uploaded the video to our YouTube account. Check it out - it's pretty good!
Family Fun
This last weekend was pretty fun visiting with some of the other Udos. It was great for Brynn to get to spend some time with her Uncle Chandler - he is finally done with law school and has taken the bar exam. Brynn is very smitten with both of her uncles - they sure know how to make her smile! Marshall and I are looking forward to next weekend in Wenatchee - we'll have even more help with Aunt Courtney and Eric around, too.
We are especially excited to visit with Ann and Andy this coming weekend because we get to meet their daughter Isabella! She was born about 3 weeks after Brynn. It'll be fun to watch how the girls interact with eachother.
Brynn will have her first formula filled bottle this afternoon - hopefully it will go down smoothly. She is so interested in watching us eat and drink; we know she is getting ready for solids. She is rolling over all of the time now, but only from her back to her tummy. Hopefully she'll master the other way soon because she tends to get upset if she is stuck on her tummy for too long.
For those of you that still look at the old family photo site, be warned that Shutterfly has been updating and changing things. It looks more like a website now. I will not be updating that site like I do this one.
Airing-Out
The bare-bum photos are a result of a terrible diaper rash. Brynn hung out with a bare bum on her mat for about 15 minutes - in that time she peed, tooted and pooped. Lesoon learned; always have a waterproof lap pad underneath. She really loved being naked with her toys though.
Videos
I am messing with the video feature on this site. Unfortunately everything is connected to YouTube, so I can't directly upload the file to this site. The picture quality is pretty poor, but if you go to the YouTube site for me www.youtube.com/stacyudo (linked on the right side of the page) you will see our clips there. If you scroll down a bit and click on the video title another window will come up to play the clip. There you will see an option to watch it in "high quality" this makes the photo more clear. I am still trying to figure out our camera and how to do all of this.
Word of Warning - the video clip is very boring. I don't recommend watching it all; I am just using it to figure all of this out. Hopefully we'll capture something fun soon.
A New Size
Well, Brynn is 4 1/2 months now, and just beginning to wear her 6-9 month clothing. She's a big girl! Her first outfit to be warn in this size is pictured in the recent photos section, and as you can see the waist on the shorts is already snug - giving her what Grammie calls a "muffin top." Brynn is a great sleeper, she is consistently sleeping for 11-12 hours each night, often with no interruptions. Bottle feeding has also been going well, so far we have not had to supplement with formula, but on my next Costco trip I'll be buying some. If all continues to go well, I'll probably nurse her even once school begins. Ultimately, I'd like to continue nursing her until she is one - but I'm very easily discouraged, so we'll see.
Kinly is limping badly still, so we think the pain meds. aren't working well. Once they run out, we'll probably just continue with the anti-inflamatory pills. Her spirits seem to be better, but still not typical of her personality. The lump that was biopsied is still growing, it is noticeably larger than a week ago, which is not a good sign. We're hoping that it is just irritated from poking it and that it will go down soon.
This weekend we've been invited to a pig-roast and are hoping that the weather holds out. It should be a good time!
Rolling Over
While I was in the shower today, Brynn was on her play mat. I heard a strange squeal from her, so I poked my head out from behind the shower curtain. There was Brynn smiling at me on her tummy! I tried all day long to get her to show me how she rolled over, but it never happened again. She got very close on many attempts though. Hopefully we'll actually get to see her do it this weekend.
Sad News
Well, we finally took Kinly into the vet. this week. We found out that she has cancer with a grim prognosis. They tested a few different spots, all of which were malignant. The one that is most concerning is linked to her anal sack, this type of cancer is likely to spread into other organs or lymph nodes. As of now, we are medicating her for inflamation and pain - this seems to be helping her limp quite a bit. We know she is feeling better because she is obsessed with Brynn once again. We have decided to continue with the medication as long as it is helping her to feel better. We've made the tough decision to not remove the tumors and just enjoy the time we have left with her. The vet. says that if the cancer has not spread to her lungs or other lymph nodes we could have up to a year and a half with her. If it has spread already, the prognosis is not good. So, for now we will continue to throw the frisbee, give her treats and pay a lot of attention to her.
Home Sweet Home
Although we had a great vacation in Ferndale, we are all glad to be home and sleeping in our own beds. Brynn slept for 12 hours straight last night; that breaks the record! Marshall was able to feed her a full bottle this morning without much complaint. We are going to continue with this morning routine from here on out, hoping that she'll learn to take the bottle as easily as nursing.
Brynn had her 4 month check up and shots today. She is definately a big girl - weight = 16 lb. 12 oz. which is in the 94th percentile; height = 25 inches which is in the 70th percentile. I just put her in one of her footie jammies and noticed how snug it is in the toes. It seems as though she'll probably be in 6-9 month sized clothing within another week. Luckily she has quite a few summer dresses that can be worn for a longer amount of time.
Still in Ferndale
We are having a pretty good time in Ferndale. Brynn is being great! She has been so good with our family and friends; she is letting others hold her! The latest struggle is with the bottle. She is protesting and therefore often goes without eating for a feeding. This morning, Marshall woke up and was able to feed her about 3 ounces with the bottle before she pulled off and began to screaming. I am hoping that she'll show interest in eating from the bottle, that way I'll be able to nurse her longer. Otherwise, I think that I'll have to stop nursing and go to bottle only because of my coming return to work. We are planning to have Marshall continue the morning feedings with the bottle because this is how it will be in the fall.
Tomorrow we are taking all of the kids out to Birch Bay for a barbeque with family and friends. Chapin and Riley are hoping to swim since the weather is still nice. On Saturday we are going to Clint and Tiff's wedding - we know both events will be great times.
Chapin and Riley are great with Brynn and she loves watching them. Chapin seems to be the most consistent in getting Brynn to laugh out loud.
Up in Ferndale.
We came up to Ferndale on the 4th of July for my cousin Anthony's wedding. Brynn was great! As expected all of the commotion gave her a lot to look at. We had a lot of help with holding her and entertaining her. Jen's kids, Chapin and Riley are great with Brynn. Brynn loves watching them and talking to them.
Grammie got Brynn an Excer-Saucer that she is learning to spin around in while grabbing for her toys.
So far, we've spent an afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Udo's for a barbeque lunch. Brynn was a very good girl that afternoon as well. Hopefully this is indicating that her fussy nature with "strangers" is getting better.
I'll update the site with more photos as the days go by - we'll be up in Ferndale for another week.
Warm Weather Weekend
We've had our air conditioner running on full blast for the last couple of days. It is so nice to have a cool house in the 90+ degree weather that Olympia has been having.
On Saturday evening we went to the Murphy's for a barbeque. Brynn even enjoyed herself; especially when Wyatt was paying attention to her. She let both Jodi and Wyatt hold her without complaint. Wyatt was so cute and gentle with her; he'll make a good older brother some day.
After our visit with the Murphys, I was feeling like I was coming down with the flu. As it turns out, I have mastitis. Just when I was feeling good about nursing, this had to happen. It sure makes me want to stop nursing and bottle feed Brynn. I'll stick it out for now because I need to in order to heal, but who knows how long I'll last after that. I just wish that formula wasn't so expensive.
As for Kinly, she is still limping around with low spirits. She seems a bit better today than days past, so we are putting off the vet. appointment. Hopefully she'll be lazy and lay low for the next few days to further recover.
On a more positive note, Marshall spent a good portion of today cutting out sod for our flower beds. He attempted it by hand and shovel, but in the heat it was miserable and slow going. In the end, he rented a sod cutter for a couple of hours. Now we will need to make a few trips to the dump and then have the bark delivered. It will make such a huge difference to the look of our property and house!
Time to crochet.
Now that Brynn is always in bed around 8:00 for the night, we have some extra time. It is nice to be able to watch a full movie, read a few chapters or just spend some needed alone time with Marshall. Last night I finished crocheting a sun-hat for Brynn to wear with her dresses. The first one I made was way too loose and not deep enough, but the second turned out just right. It was a fast and fun little project. I used cotton so that it won't be too hot on her head.
Uncle Landon came over for dinner last night. I made our favorite tofu pad thai dish. We used our own cilantro and chives out of the garden - that was fun! Brynn was laughing, talking and smiling at Landon as long as he wasn't holding her. She did her usual screaming when he attempted to hold her - what a stinker.
As for Kinly, she isn't getting better. We're not sure what to do. The other night the bump that the vet. called a wart was oozing blood. It looks like a large blood blister, but has never gone away. This is the lump that I thought may have been a tick. Now she has a couple of the lumps, but only one is blood red. In addition to those she now has a very hard tumor-like lump next to her scar from being spayed. She will hardly hold her right back paw on the ground, she wants no pressure on the front or rear of her right side. She is a mess. The vet. bills are always so expensive that we want to wait it out a bit, but this has me worried. Perhaps I'll call tomorrow if she doesn't improve. Her spirits are really low.
We are planning to visit with Jodi and Collin Murphy this Saturday. The weather is supposed to be pretty warm. I am excited for Brynn to meet Wyatt. Hopefully they will be buddies. Cross your fingers that she'll be a good girl!
Enjoying the warm weather.
Brynn finally gets to wear her cute summer-time outfits. As I discovered with the orange capri outfit, some of the clothes are already too snug, but I managed to get a couple of good pictures anyhow.
Today we went to a graduation party for the son of Marshall's old boss. As in every other social gathering, Brynn was great. She let others hold her and she hardly made a fuss the whole afternoon. This gave us hope for the weddings that are coming up! We just hope that she can make it through the ceremonies without fussing too much, but we're pretty sure the receptions will be fine. I guess she's a party girl! Uh-oh :)
Kinly is in sad shape. She is really favoring her front right paw; she won't even place any weight on it. Marshall had to carry her to bed last night and she doesn't even care about Brynn and what she's doing. She is all out of whack and mopes around all day. Hopefully her ailment will pass quickly - we hate to see her hurting; eventhough she's being good with Brynn.
For those of you who didn't get an update - we had to take Brynn to the doctor a couple of weeks ago (shortly after she turned 3 months) and the doctor said that she is in the 98th percentile for weight. She was nearly 15 pounds at that appointment. We can't believe it; what happened to our pip-squeak that was only in the 16th percentile at birth? It is so fun to look back at the pictures from the first few weeks; she is a totally different baby. It is amazing to watch her change and grow.
Current Happenings
Brynn is so close to rolling over, we know that it is bound to happen any day!
Brynn has discovered a new high-pitched squeal that she loves to practice when she is excited or upset. Grandma Terry is right; Brynn will be the soprano in the family. She's definitely got a set of lungs on her!
As for Kinly and Brynn, things are still a struggle. We are becoming more brave as Kinly proves to be well pillow trained. At times she is allowed to stay in the house when Brynn is on the floor.
We are all looking forward to spending a week in Ferndale to celebrate the weddings of Anthony & Shannon and Clint & Tiffany. Hopefully Brynn will be in better spirits for this visit!
