Fabulous, Fun, and Fussy

First off... WAHOO! Bryson has slept through the night twice now! Can you believe it?! Did I say, Wahoo?! He slept through on Monday night and again last night. Both nights from about 9 pm to 7 am. I believe Hannah first slept through when she was about 3 1/2 months old and then started consistently sleeping through at about 4 months. Bryson is just 2 1/2 months and I'm crossing my fingers that this continues.

Bryson really is fabulous, but lately he has been so fussy. During the day his naps seem to last just 10 minutes. I'm trying to do some sleep training and it seems to have worked at night (and I'm just lucky!) but we certainly aren't on a schedule for those daytime naps. Also we've had several evenings where he will just scream and cry. I know 2 months can be the peak of colic, so we'll just hope that is what it is and will pass soon.

One really fun thing about this stage is those little smiles. Bryson is smiling more and more. On Sunday I came home from a meeting, Bryson was in his swing, and I came up to him and knelt down. I smiled and started talking to him and Bryson got so excited! He grinned and waved his little arms and legs back and forth. Although he probably would have done this to anyone who came up to talk to him, I felt so loved that he was excited to see me.

What a good man

Yesterday I went to my mom's for lunch and a Wiggles party with cousins (explanation later). I stayed too long, not getting home until after 5. I still had things to do for YW before needing to be there at 6:00. But when we walked in the door at home Nic was making dinner for us and the table was set! He made us some yummy beef enchiladas.

I quickly ate and fed Bryson. Then left Nic to burp Bryson, finish dinner with Hannah and clean up dinner. Plus I was going to be gone extra long at YW for New Beginnings. I had "pumped" and Nic was going to try feeding Bryson out of a bottle for the first time. I had my cell phone in case Nic needed me. When I walked in the door it was silent and my first thought was Yes, success! But then I saw Nic's face, one of exhaustion and being at his wits end. Bryson was silent for a moment but then started screaming. He had eaten about 1 1/2 oz. and actually never drank anymore before finally settling down and going to sleep.

We, or Nic, made it through the night. Whew. Isn't he great?!

Meet the Feet

Hannah is usually a great napper. But there are days she doesn't want to go to sleep (this is becoming more and more common); however, she knows she has to stay in her bed. I don't let her lay down with any toys, but she manages to find anything to become her playmates, from her bows and hair clips to her socks and pillow. I've started removing her hair clips for naps. They would always ended up dancing in her bed... and Hannah would never go to sleep. Well the last two days Hannah has found new playmates... HER FEET! I'll let her introduce them to you:



Bla-blup and Alice have taken naps, danced, and yesterday when I went in they were sitting in "chairs" and Hannah was reading a book to them, her pillow!

Park City deals

Nic had to go look at some properties in Heber and Park City on Thursday afternoon for work. So we all went with him and hit the outlets. My goal was to find a new coat for myself that I received money for at my birthday. Unfortunately, I wasn't successful at that but was able to find some awesome deals for the kids on clothes for next year. Old Navy and Gap had a sale for 50% off the lowest ticketed price. There were some awesome deals like jeans for Hannah for only $2! I got a coat for Hannah for $16 and all the other clothes for about $50.

The pictures aren't great, but here's what I got:

I got Bryson:
5 long sleeve shirts
1 sweater
2 jeans
1 pair of brown church pants




Hannah got:
3 long sleeve shirts
2 sweaters
1 dress
1 pair of jeans
1 nice tan pant
1 cozy pant
And a cute winter coat! (Not pictured)




My one purchase for myself was a cute pair of trendy boots! They were normally $65 and I bought them for $26! I was excited.

Work it girl!

This is one of those post that I'm begging for input! So... New Years resolution time... and of course, exercise has to be on the list! I'm wondering what works best for you. I've been working out to one of those boring video for now and can't devote (or am not willing to devote) too much time each morning. I try to have Hannah do it with me (it can be pretty entertaining, but doesn't last long) and I'm often doing stretches or kicks while holding Bryson! So here's the questions:

1. What do you do?
2. If you only had 20 minutes in the morning, what would you do?
3. Do you have a favorite workout DVD?
4. I got an iPod for Christmas and need a workout playlist! What are your favorite songs to exercise to?!
5. Ummm... any other advise on how to exercise with two kids? (I'm not waking up at 5 am!)

2 Months

Bryson is 2 months today! Where has the time gone?! We went to his 2 month well-child doctors appointment today. Here are the stats:

Head: 15 1/2"
Height: 22" (20th percentile)
Weight: 10 lbs 4 oz. (between 20th and 25th percentile)

Hannah was always in the... negative percentile... so Bryson is HUGE! (ha, ha!) The doctor was so impressed with how well Bryson is holding his head up for his age. He's so strong! And even gave the doctor a little smile. (Do I sound like a proud mom?! He's already showing up the kids his age!...that is a joke... kind of!)

His head is a little flat on one side, so the doctor recommended an infant head bed. So hopefully we've caught that early enough and it will correct itself over the next couple of months.

I've stopped giving Bryson his reflux medication and he is still doing really quite well! We are trying to get him on somewhat of a schedule, at least at night. He's getting to were he won't fall asleep as easily and it often takes a lot of soothing and bouncing. At night we are trying to get him to go down between 8 and 9 pm. It's a toss up between keeping him up and feeding him right before I got to bed versus getting a couple hours to relax or get stuff done while both the kids are in bed! I've chosen the latter. Bryson's first stretch at night will usually be about 5 hours, but sometimes I'm lucky and get an extra hour... and sometimes its shorter.

We sure love our little guy. He's so apart of our family... but still can't believe he's already 2 months.

Snow Angels

Its hard to get outside these days. First off, Bryson is still too little and second, it takes a half hour or more just to get out the door. (And that's just getting Hannah ready...then she wants to come in 2 seconds later.) Last week Nic was great to suggest he take Hannah sledding. What a good dad. Well, we don't have any sleds and couldn't hunt one down, so they ended up playing in the back yard. They tried to build a snowman and Nic taught Hannah the art of making a snow angel. She loved it and wanted to make one again and again.

(The video is taken from inside, through the sliding glass door. I was nice and warm.)

So Handsome!

(above picture taken November 25th)

(taken December 28th)

(taken December 29th)

My mom said last week that Bryson seems to be much more comfortable in the world now. I must agree. Although he still gets lots of little gas pains and bubbles, he seems much more content now, like he’s finally get a grasp on this whole body thing. It must be so hard to come into the world, to learn how to breathe and eat, to get used to clothes and diapers, light, people’s touch, and all the noises. Bryson had such peely skin and so much gas. Then there was the reflux, the painful acid coming up and burning, as well as the projectile spit up that would shoot out his little nose. It really must be such a hard transition to leave our Heavenly Father’s presence and come here to earth. We are so glad our Bryson choose to come.

Bryson is much more aware of what is going on. He’ll watch us and is more alert to his surroundings. He has started to smile in response to us occasionally, which is really fun and quite adorable. His head is getting stronger and stronger. And, thankfully, he is even sleeping longer! Hallelujah! He’s been going 4 to 5 hours now as opposed to the 1 or 2 hour stretch we were getting. It usually takes a bit to get him to go down. A few nights ago it took from 9 to 10:30pm to get him to really fall asleep but then he slept until 5:30am! Unfortunately he was then awake for 2 hours before he wanted to fall asleep again. But that’s 7 hours! Can you believe it?! He hasn't done that since but it gives us hope.

A few evenings ago I so excited to hear him “talk.” He’s made a few sounds before (that aren’t crying, fussing, or whining) but yesterday he was making happy sounds consistently and directed to me! How fun! I just love so much each little stage and milestone. I love seeing my children learn and grow. But I hope they don’t grow up too fast! Bryson is already almost 2 months!

Everyday Hannah

I've been writing down some of the things Hannah does and says. This will give you a taste of what everyday with Hannah is like.

• She calls granola bars yummy bars
• Sunglasses “help her see” and when she takes them off she says she has her contacts in
• One day she was pretending to call someone. I asked who she was calling; she said “Buddy.” I thought she may be talking about Bryson because we call him Buddy sometimes. I asked, “Who is Buddy?” Hannah answered, matter-of-factly, “Somebody.”
• In car she was talking in a high soft voice telling her doll all about the things she saw as we passed. (What a cute little mother.)
• When Bryson was first born Hannah said Bryson had milk on his face. It was the little white baby acne.
• I took about a week or so for Hannah to realize what was happening when I fed Bryson. She said, “He’s eating your chest!”
• In the car, I asked Hannah who she was sitting by, she said something to this effect, “Bryson. He my friend.”
• I told Hannah Grandma and Grandpa Baird were coming over. She said Grandpa Baird was “nice like Cosmo” (BYU’s mascot).
• Hannah will often sing out during Sacrament meeting hymns (often during the introduction). One Sunday she was singing, “WXY and Z now I know my ABCs next time won’t you sing with me!”
• “Probably” is a word Hannah often answers with.
• We call her Hannah Banana, so she’ll sometimes call me “Mommy Banana.”
• She’s referred to our Bishop, Bishop Robins, as Bishop Robin Hood a few times.
• I told her it was nap time and that I was ready for a nap, she replied, “No is Hannah ready for nap. I wanna play 2 hours.”
• “I mommy’s friend.”
• Merry Christmas = “Welly Cismas”
• Hannah was running so fast down the hall into the kitchen. She tripped herself and banged her head hard on the kitchen tile. She cried very hard for about 1 minute while I held her then said, “I okay now. I cry like Bryson. I have tears.” A minute later she hopped down from my lap and said she needed to go wipe her “long tears.”
• When she wears her pjs with feet in them she always says, “My feet hiding!”
• I gave her a glass of milk. “Two Hands. No wanna spill.” (Obviously we’ve told her that a number of times.)
• “I funny.”
• Earlier in the day Nic had called Hannah a pickle head. That evening when asked what her name was she said “Hannah.” Nic said, “Hannah what?” “Hannah Pickle Head!”
• She can reach the light switches when she stands on her tippy toes just enough to turn them on, but not off. (We have a lot of lights on at our house.)
• She is always going to the “palace” for the “grand ball” in her “coach.” (And of course she always wants me to go too.)
• The first time she got to wear her Christmas dress she said, “I’m Sleeping Beauty!” The next day she asked, “Can I be Sleeping Beauty again?”
• The next Sunday she wore her Christmas dress, we took it off for her to eat lunch. She said, “I no princess now.” Nic said she always looked like a princess and she said, “No, I prince now.” (Even without her pretty dress she was still royalty!)
• After nursery I asked Hannah who was in her class. She names several people, then says, “Cinderella!” I say, “Cinderella was in your class?!” She smiles and says, “Cinderella right here!” as she pats her chest.
• I was nursing Bryson in my bed when Hannah woke up. I hollered to her to come in my room. She climbed up in my bed and I turned on a cartoon for her. Bryson tooted. Hannah looked at me and said, “Excuse you, Mommy!” I told her it was Bryson. Looking back at me she said, “Excuse you, Mommy.” Kind of laughing I told her it really was Bryson. She said, very seriously, “Mommy.”
• Nic came home from work and I told him Hannah had a runny nose. Hannah piped in, “I sick. I need a blessing.”

Here & Now

Happy New Year! 2009... Can you believe it?! Time really does seem to fly by. Time to reevaluate and make those New Years resolutions. (Which I'll have a post about soon.) Our New Years Eve was very low key. There was a party going on at my parents that we didn't make it to. (I was sad.) Nic's been getting up so early lately for snow removal and if not that then to go to the gym at 5 am, so he wasn't feeling up to partying until 1 am. However, we were going to go play until 10 o'clock or so... until Hannah was sick. She has a very runny nose and a little groggy voice. We knew she needed some good, uninterrupted sleep. So we stayed home. After Hannah was in bed Nic and I played a rousing game of Monopoly!

Nic loves Monopoly and has wanted to own it for years. I have held out until this year, when I finally bought it for him for Christmas. I got a new updated version called Here & Now: The World Edition. It has credit cards instead of paper money and electronically keeps track of your balance. Kind of fun. The reason I've 'held out' is because I really don't like Monopoly... for 2 main reasons. 1) It is soooo looong! and 2) You either have to really win or totally lose (especially with only 2 players) there is no in between! If you lose, you can't go away feeling good about yourself, like you were so close! You have to lose big! That's kind of sad. Anyway, we played and did have a great time. But I made us quit after I I ran out of money... we didn't go through the whole mortgaging and selling houses stuff. We headed to bed early and after getting Bryson down, were asleep by about 11:30. So there you have it. No banging pans for us last night. But I'm glad we were together.

Happy New Year! We are excited to see what this year may bring. Hope your year is relaxing like our night... but maybe with a few more shouts of excitement!