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Friday, December 18, 2009

{a little bit of this and a whole lot of that}

Aside from all the Christmas festivities (we'll save that for another post!), there's been a lot going on in these parts. Here's a quick recap:

Thanksgiving: Believe it or not, we did celebrate Thanksgiving. We got to play with the Allen side, including Barton cousins. We had scrumptious food (I even loved the yams!), great visiting and then some super games afterward (bunco, catch phrase and Nic and I organized an obstacle course!). Too bad I forgot my camera.
Our dear Mckay: My wonderful cousin Mckay passed away just before Thanksgiving. He was full of life. I love him and his family so much. I am grateful I was able to be a small part of his life and then of his funeral. My testimony of the plan of salvation and the atonement have been strengthened so much. Love you Mac.
Becky's shower and reception: My cousin Becky got married. It was fun to attend a bridal shower for her and her reception. There's always a reason to celebrate with family!
Family: Speaking of family... My kids have kept me busy. They are full of energy. Nic's been gone quite a bit plowing snow and I sure miss him when he's not around. But he has been super helpful... even taking the kids to plow with him so I could go to a shower for my sister.
Young Women: This time of year also means planning next year's calendar and turning in a budget! Phew!
Girls camp miracle: Amidst everything else, I found out we would no longer be doing stake girls camp (as planned) but it would now be on the ward level. Eek! Most places need a reservation a year a head of time. Plus we had a very limited window to work with... July! I am working with a great camp director, who made some desperate phone calls and emails out... and TaDa! We now have the perfect location! I know prayers are answered.
Wedding prep: My sister Jenny is getting married in just over a week! Wahoo! (Her reception is a little later.) I am helping by SEWING! I am making 6 little skirts for the nieces and am also hemming table clothes. They are coming... slowly!
Showers for Jenny: I am been able to attend two fun bridal showers for Jennifer. One with the Baird side of the family (which I figured out how to do glass etching for and put her new last name on a casserole dish) and one with Scott's family (our gift was food!)... both were up in Salt Lake. Its been fun to support her. I sure love Jenny and her soon-to-be husband, Scott. We are excited for you!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Bitter Sweet

We said goodbye to our four wheeler this week.
Bitter sweet.
It has provided some great adventures and wonderful memories.
We really have loved it.
But we just didn't use it often enough to warrant keeping it around.
It was hard parting with it, wondering if we'd ever get one again.
But the sweet part... we are paying off our car!
Now that's sssweeeet!

Hannah and Nic's last ride.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Bryson at age 1

It's more than time to give a Bryson update. I can't believe how much kids grow and learn in a years time. Even from when Bryson turned one to now, a month later, he has changed and learned a great deal!

Baby Bryson:

Here's our big Bry boy at one!

Bryson's Stats:

November 24th, 2009

Weight: 17.12 lbs (less than the 3rd percentile)

Height 28.75 in (about 15th percentile)


Words,Vocalizations, and Signs:

Bryson says "Hi" all the time. (He has a cute little wave to go along with it too.) He says "ba" for 'bye' and "da da da" for 'all done' but he also says it (at a quicker pace) for 'cracker.' He holds quite the conversation with his babbles, changing intonation and consonant sounds. (So cute!) He imitates sounds. Bryson also loves to grawl. He can sign 'more' (although he hasn't been doing it much lately), 'all done', 'milk' and 'cracker' (which he signs ALL the time). Instead of signing it all the way on his elbow, its mostly on the back of his hand or part way up his arm. I thought for a while he was over generalizing cracker to mean food in general, but even when he gets other food, he'll sign cracker! He also says Mamama... and Dada... Sometimes I'm not sure if he means mom and dad, but then there are times when its pretty obvious he wants mom when he's saying mamama (like when I'm in the bathroom and he's pounding on the door!)

Motor Skills:

Bryson stand up and walks along things. No, not quite standing or walking on his own yet. He'll walk with us for a minute but then squats right down to get into a crawl. So he doesn't have a great desire yet. He crawls on his hands and knees... very quickly (no more army crawl). He climbs over and around all sorts of things. He plays peek-a-boo. He'll initiate play and will but his hands over his eyes now (instead of on the side of his head like he used to). He waves hi and bye. He claps (whenever anyone says "yay!") He's started blowing kisses. He can blow and will sometimes put his hand up to his month. He is a wiggler! Diaper changes are nearly impossible! He gives great hugs and kisses.

Foods:

Hallelujah for sippy cups. He finally started successfully using one a couple weeks before he turned one. He loves his milk and of course the occasional apple juice. When he turned one, I was still nursing him about 2 times a day (morning and evening), sometimes just one (morning). But that quickly went down to one. We are now no longer nursing at all, as of a week and a half. He loved nursing, so it made it kind of hard to stop. He would be so mad, pushing away his milk and even crackers. But things are much better now. He'll ask for a cracker pretty quickly after he's up.

He LOVES crackers, all kinds, but especially graham crackers. Bryson also really likes yogurt and clementines. He likes pretty much everything (except when he gets stubborn and all he wants to eat is crackers!) He eats what we eat now. He eats a lot of tomatoes, bananas, pasta, beans, cucumber, avocado, soup, Jumbo Krispies, etc. The only thing I can think of that he really just would not eat was once when I ground up chicken and rice together. I don't think he liked the texture. But again, give him a cracker and he'll be happy all day!

Sleep:

He is FINALLY sleeping really well. He goes down about 8 pm and is up about 7:30 am. Great! For awhile it was around 6:30 am. Even with sleep training, we struggled with him waking up in the night for a long time and with him crying for quite a while when going to bed. Thankfully that's over! He is doing awesome! He usually takes 2 naps during the day. One at about 10 am and another about 2 pm. To sleep, he'll roll over onto his belly, put his hands on his face, have his knees pulled in, so his little bum is sticking up. He's getting better at this too, but usually wants to get out of his crib ASAP!

Things Bryson loves:

Baths! He gets so excited when he hears the bath water running. He really loves water in general. Graham crackers. He could eat them all day! Saying hi and waving. Smiling. Giggling. And his mom!

Personality:

Oh, I love this boy! He is really fun. Bryson is such a happy little guy. He is usually so easygoing. He loves to smile, giggle, say hi to everyone, and is very personable. He hasn't gone through a scared-of-strangers stage. He loves people. Even when he is tired, he is usually pretty content. There are those occasions though when he gets a temper. They aren't very often, but when he is mad, he's really mad! Nic once said, "Man, he's got anger issues!" For instance in the middle of the night, when he was old enough to be sleeping through the night (about 9 months and on), we would just let him cry. He would not give up; he would cry for 2 hours. If we did go in to console him, he'd kick and push us away. He knew what he wanted (and that was to be awake, out of bed and playing!) and he was going to fight for it. He is a determined one and it will be interesting to see how this part of his personality plays out in life. He is also such a lovable guy! I call him my little snugglehead! He is so snugly! Bryson will billow his little head right into my shoulder or chest. He gives lots of hugs and kisses, sometimes mouth open wide and sometimes with his lips closed, either way, be ready to be slimmed! He is also a little mama's boy. He loves me, which I love so much. As stated before, he loves everyone, but he definitely prefers mom. He gets so excited to see me, which, of course I love. I love that he is so happy and loves to snuggle. I sure hope he doesn't grow out of it!

Other tidbits about Bry:

Bryson had 6 teeth when he turned one (4 on top and 2 on bottom). He has one more on the bottom now and a couple others just starting to break through. He loves to bite things. His crib is awful looking from him chewing on it. He bit my shoulder just last night.
He loves to play with things he knows he's not supposed to, like outlets, the nightlights, the dirt in the plant. (a typical 1 year old)
He's got ticklish little feet. He loves to be tickled and to tickle others. He'll join right in the tickling wars by wiggling his fingers and saying "di, di, di..."
He likes my hair. He'll stroke it, which is so cute. Just watch out for the occasional yank!
When he gets scared his bottom lip pokes right out. Ooooh!
He's an adventurer. We went to Jump'n Jacks (a blow up toy, jumping and slid place). He wanted to do everything and climb up and over whatever he could.

We love you so much Bryson. Thank you for being such a fun, happy boy. Thanks for all the hugs and kisses and for making us feel so special. You make life so wonderful!

Love, LOVE, LOVE you!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Who is excited...

for Lisa to meet Bryson?! ...To give her big hugs and kisses ...To hear all her stories ...To hear her laugh and see her smile. Ahhh! I am! Just a week and 3 days until my sister Lisa comes home from her mission!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Early Christmas Present

The kids got to open an early Christmas present...
We got them the Fisher Price Little People Nativity for them to play with during the season. They have been playing with it every day since. I love hands-on learning!