One, what?! One!

 One year ago at about this time, we were at the hospital.  I am sure Matt had just given me an ice chip, I was taking turns squeezing his hand as he put a cool wash cloth on my neck.  Our midwife was probably rubbing my back and saying some sort of phrase with the word "strong" in it. They were both the very best labor team I could have asked for.  Through every deep breath and wave of contraction we grew closer to holding our child in our arms.  Some more breathing and pushing later, at 1:07 a.m. we got to meet our beautiful baby girl for the first time.

 She laid on my chest and we stared at each other for several minutes, quietly.  Well, she was quiet and I just kept looking at her, then Matt and saying "our baby, this is our baby".  I was beyond thrilled and just amazed that after all the waiting she was finally here. 

 Now we are blessed with this smiley, fast, wild, independent, strong and hilarious baby that is now becoming a toddler. 

 We are so blessed to have her in our lives.  Our family of three is full of love, more than I ever thought possible.  So Brynn, even though you may never read this; thank you.  Thank you for the joy you continue to give us.  I am grateful for the growth we have gained as a family.  And I am thrilled at all our now's and tomorrow's together.

Happy first birthday my gorgeous girl!

 This is Brynn and Lilli, future best friends.  No big deal.  We visited our great friends this past weekend because we love them and also because they just added a baby boy to their family. I had the pleasure of holding 2 week old Carter for a while and he slept the whole time, wiggled a little, and it was precious.

 Once my baby girl starts eating peanut butter we will pretty much be eating the same things.  This is Brynnie enjoying the heck out of her avocado.  Bath night = crazy dinner time.

 I love how she got it perfectly on one eyebrow but not the other.  If she is real tired at dinner, she takes that green hand and rubs it in her eye before we can stop her and it's just, well.... gross.  But honestly I LOVE that she gets to just go nuts on her food (that is a line of blueberry juice running down her tummy too) I mean, I guess I am a little jealous that we can't eat like this.

This was the first time that her lower half got all messy from dinner ... I guess I was too slow in cleaning her up.

Question; does anyone still read this blog?  I obviously have not kept up with it, but would be more inclined to if I felt like someone other than my amazing husband?!

Phew...

We had a very fun, very busy weekend.  There was a surprise party, graduation, graduation picnic, and a few other things all thrown into barely two days.  I definitely think we should have a three day weekend now more than ever.  There was so much anticipation for this weekend (about three months worth) that is kind of nice it is over with.  But truly another great reminder of how blessed we are.  How wonderful it is to support one another in times of need AND times of celebration.  Brynn did amazingly well with the crazy schedule and loads of people around this weekend.  So much so, that tonight she did not want to go to sleep.  Well, actually she fell asleep early and then got up and wanted to party.  Eventually she fell asleep and our list of things to do was thrown out the window as we realize the importance of doing nothing and then getting some sleep ourselves...

I know that as a parent we are going to have a million 'firsts' with our baby and soon to be toddler (hopefully not too soon).  And each new thing will be just as exciting as the next.  And it is so amazing to get to witness the things you teach your child when it comes to fruition.  Whether that is once they start walking, talking, driving or even clapping.  Every morning we sing to Brynn (sometimes I will sing to her if we are still sleeping when Matt leaves for work) and then at the end of our song we clap, saying "clap clap".  Nothing too crazy right?  But still it is sweet and she lights up every time we do it.  This morning for breakfast Brynn is in her high chair and before she goes to town on her banana pieces she just started clapping.  A lot.  Over and over again she was clapping all by herself and smiling.  It was so sweet.  She has been clapping all day long and every time I could well up with tears just because of how sweet it is to see her learn and then do new things.  It is another moment in time where I am thrilled and then I say a little prayer that time does not go too fast and that we enjoy each moment our baby is in (even when she is ten or fifteen or twenty).  Brynn spent some time at my mom's house this afternoon and had her first 'big girl' visit where she was totally content playing there and did not seem to be upset that Matt and I were gone.  She was very comfortable and got to explore and show my mom and Steve her personality more than she ever has before.

10 things I am happy for today as a new parent...

10.  Seeing my baby girl walk, with assistance of course.  But goodness, does this girl love walking.  Hold hands and lift her up, and she is off.  Even if she is bugging out, nothing will cheer her up faster than getting to walk around. 

9.  I love seeing the determined look my girl gets on her face when she sees something she wants.  Usually a toy, but it could also be anything new that enters her line of vision.  Today it was my glass of water.  She eyed it so hard, then looked at me and back at the water.  Sure why not? I thought.  I let her try and figure out how to take the tiniest sip of water out of it, and as the water rolled down her face her eyes lit up and let me know that I had opened a door.  Now I need to make sure to have a tight grip on any glass I hold or it is either going to her face or on the floor.

8.  Sleeping.  I have never been one of those people that can fall asleep in three minutes or less (my husband) but you would think after a good but long day watching my daughter all day or running errands that I would fall asleep faster than before.  False.  I find that as soon as my head hits the pillow my body is worn out, but my mind is racing.  I think about important things to really ridiculous things that make me even say in my head 'why in the heck did that just come into your brain?!'  So needless to say when I eventually do fall asleep, it's nice.

7.  Hummus.  I do believe some days I eat half my body weight of hummus.  It is a delicious snack but more importantly it is fast.  And some days I just have a minute to grab some food if my girl wants to play or needs my attention, hummus is the way to go.

6.  The two bottom teeth that now peak out of my girl's mouth every time she smiles.

5.  Clean clothes.

4.  A hot shower.

3.  Hearing my girl "talk" more, she is trying out more "pft" and "bbb" sounds along with her usual "mmmm momma mom ma".  So sweet hearing her little voice.

2.  The fact that I have figured out exactly which parts of the floor in our entire house creak and which parts are safe to walk on.  We play music while Brynn sleeps but sometimes it still seems to quiet in there and I will not risk me walking around the house to wake her up.  I think the show Up All Night should do an episode just on how new parents eat (with one hand, or shoveling food down quick before the baby gets upset or needs you) and watch t.v. (quietly or near silent).  Oh how things have changed... but thank goodness for it.

1.  The thumbs up my husband and I give each other (depending on who puts girlie girl to sleep that night) and the big sigh of relief we feel afterwards.  Sometimes she just doesn't want to miss the party and fights going to sleep, but other times she falls asleep easy. 

What you lookin at?!

What we've been up to....

 Oh goodness, we borrowed this great new toy from a friend and Brynn likes it more and more every day.  It is so fun to see her get excited and bounce around in that thing.  And her face lights up anytime she makes eye contact with me or Matt while she is playing.

 Matt's mom came to visit and got some good playing time in with Brynn.  My dad stops by about once a week to visit and Brynn just loves it.  She really studies their faces and observes everything they do while they are playing too.

 Brynn is a good eater!  She has now had peas, sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados and butternut squash soup will be next. She will giggle when she gets the food in her hand and plays with it, so cute.

 I made this onesie for my friend Megan's son.  I have liked getting in an art project or two here and there considering I have done much of that lately.

 I can't get enough of this girl, not only is she beautiful and sweet, she is so much fun to be around!  And she loves reading!

 This is me clipping her toe nails, we do this about every other day.  Matt is not comfortable doing this on her tiny hands and toes and I will say after 6 months of doing this I am quite the pro.

 My big girl sits up so well on her own now and she still smiles and is so proud of herself every time she stands up.

 This is her excited face, whenever she sees a new toy (in this picture she was lunging towards the camera) she will open her mouth up like that, her eyes get big and she darts towards whatever it is she wants.

Brynn doesn't mind tummy time at all now and she is scooting herself around whenever she gets determined to move towards a toy.  Can't believe I managed a post update when she is on the floor rolling around all over the place, don't worry I'm still watching her... :)