The "bull-dozer" has arrived!

Yesterday was Tuesday, and Tuesday is always such a fun family day because Ryan is off work.  In the morning he worked a couple of hours at the Veteran's Home (he does a little PRN work for them), while Brynn and I had such a fun morning playing and finishing up Christmas decorating around the house.  When Ryan got back, he took Brynn with him to drop off his deer meat to be processed.  (Sidenote - he was gone the past two weekends hunting and I am so glad deer season is OVER...Erika, you are a ROCKSTAR keeping your THREE kiddos by yourself every weekend when Tab is reffing!)  When they came back Brynn kept telling me how she saw a deer in a trash can...it was the story of the day.  Ryan took a picture and it was disgusting!  She kept saying "somebody killed it."  HA!  Oh my!.  On their way home they drove by our lot, and something EXCITING was sitting on it!

Woohoo!  I don't even know what that's called...a bull-dozer?  I think it is.  Anyway...it is there and READY TO DIG A BASEMENT!  He is supposed to start on Black Friday (think we get a 40% discount?)  I can't believe it's really getting ready to HAPPEN!

When Ryan and Brynn got back, I had nursed Emory and we all got ready and loaded up and headed to Sears to buy our appliances.  I know it sounds crazy to be buying appliances for a house that hasn't even been built yet, but the Black Friday deals are CRAZY and it would be nuts not to take advantage.  (When we closed on our construction loan LAST Tuesday, they said to go ahead and start getting stuff (light fixtures, appliances, etc.) if there were really good deals.)    So we did that and it was really fun!  Then we stopped by Chick-Fil-A and all ate together.

And how ADORABLE is Emory is her little hat?  Oh my gosh...I just want to put it on her all the time because she looks so cute in it!


The rest of the day was spent napping, eating supper, playing, etc.  What a fun and exciting day!

Brynn's Funnies - November Edition

Brynn says some of the funniest things lately.  She's learning so much about the world, but there is still SO MUCH she doesn't know, so it's interesting to see what she calls things or get her little perspective on things.  I wish I would remember to write every single thing down, because they are priceless!

• We were eating at Watami (a hibachi grill) for Sarah's birthday and they brought the girls "training" chopsticks.  Brynn and Ansley did SO WELL using them but then Ansley accidentally dropped hers on the floor.  Brynn says "where Anzee's tweezer's go?"  HAHA! They did look a LOT like a giant pair of tweezers because of the rubber band holding them together.  =)
• The other night at supper Brynn spilled some peas on her tray.  She says really loud and seriously "FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!"  Ryan and I about spit our food out we were laughing so hard.  We were like "where in the world did that come from?"  She kept saying it over again.  "Oh for heaven's sake! For heaven's sake!"  It was hilarious. I said "where did you hear that from?"  She says "GRANDMA!" 
• She is WAY into decorating the Christmas trees.  She keeps saying "It's SO boo-iful.  It "parkles, parkles, parkles (sparkles)!"
• She was hanging the ornaments on the Mizzou tree and she kept hanging all of them right down at the bottom next to each other.  I told her we needed to spread them all out but she said "but they friends, mommy.  They need to stay together."  If you could hear her little voice say those words...hilarious!
• We were telling her that we had to be careful so we didn't break any ornaments.  She found a couple of glass balls in the box that were broken.  She would say "oh my, I so sad because they bro-keen!"  "Ev-eebody be very parful (careful) because I will be sad if they get bro-keen!"  "I be very par-ful mommy so they not break!"
• She calls Lucky Charms "the Santa cereal" because she thinks the "wizard" on the front of the box (we have the Aldi's brand) looks like Santa! HA!
• On the way to play at our friend's house, we saw a man walking in camo pants and a camo shirt and a red sock cap.  Brynn says "who that pirate man mommy?"  HA!  I guess people who wear camo and red hats are pirates?  

Life Lately...in iPhone pics

Here are some iPhone pictures of what we've been up to lately.

The creator of Tom's Shoes came and spoke at the Show-Me Center. We got to go and it was SO GOOD!

I LOVE drinking my morning coffee (mostly decaf since I'm nursing) with some "white chocolate peppermint" creamer and topped with some spray whipped cream.  YUMMY!!!  Spray whipped cream is seriously just one of those things that makes me happy happy happy!


I went to St. Louis with Pam and Sarah a couple of weeks ago to look for dining room chairs and tables.  I LOVE these chairs...going with the gray fabric in the shape of the navy chair!


Ryan's been hunting the last two weekends...I sent him this picture of Emory and I in the morning after I woke her up at 7:15!  YAY!


She has been the most smiley little thing!


HI-YAH!


When Daddy's away hunting...the girls go SHOPPING!  Brynn, Emory, and I hit up Target and had fun looking at some of the Christmas decorations.  Brynn was SO EXCITED about this reindeer ornament and wanted to decorate her little Christmas tree as SOON as we got home!


We went to Watami for Aunt Sarah's birthday.  They gave Brynn and Ansley some "training" chopsticks and the girls did SO WELL with them!



We were doing a little shopping at the mall (that seems to be a theme when Daddy is out of town??) and Brynn wanted to ride this little ride.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

GUESS WHO?

I snapped one of these pictures the other day because I remembered a very similar one of Brynn.  Can you guess who is who?

Which one is Brynn and which one is Emory?

I think they look A LOT alike in these pics!

Smiley Girl

Oh little Emory!  We can make her smile SO EASILY.  We just sing a little song or make a little cooing noise and she is ALL smiles.  She also LOVES looking at the little animals on her swing's mobile or the little octopus on her activities mat.  She can occupy herself for quite awhile just by looking at the animals and smiling!  LOVE HER!

Notice the little strawberry on her arm.  I can't remember if I've mentioned it on here before or not.  It will probably keep growing until she's about eight months old.

PRECIOUS!

It's amazing how one little smile can just light up our day!

Emory - 2 months!

On Thursday, November 14 Emory turned 2 months old!  She has just fit so seamlessly into our little family and we just love her SO MUCH!  She's our little "Emory-Bug!!"  (And this is long and rambling so it won't bother me if you skip reading it, or just scroll to the pictures at the bottom.  But I don't want to forget this stuff.)

• I think she weighs about 11 pounds, but we will find out specific height and weight next Tuesday at her 2-month check-up.
• She is wearing size 1 diapers.
• She wears lots of 0-3 month onesies...but pretty much nothing that says "newborn" on it anymore.  She's too long for those now.
• Nursing - We've really hit our groove this month.  I don't have to ever pump anymore before she nurses, even if it's in the morning and I'm pretty "engorged."  She nurses about 10-15 on each side at each feeding, but I think she likes the right side better.  With Brynn I remember always trying to nurse both sides all at once (and be done in like 30 minutes), but this time around I seem to nurse one side and then take a break.  I might be helping Brynn with something, or fold a load of laundry or be playing or whatever.  Then a little later I let her nurse the other side.  I'm just glad nursing is back to what I remember!
• Sleeping - She's been a great little sleeper!  My goal is to start every day around 7 am, so even if she's asleep I'll get her up.  I nurse around 7, then she goes down for a nap around 8 or 8:15.  Just like with Brynn, we do the "eat, wake, sleep" cycle about every 3 hours.  At this point (9 weeks old) we usually put her down after about an hour and fifteen minutes.  Of course there are times where she wakes up early hungry and she nurses early, or if we are out and she's still asleep I'll nurse a little later, but for the most part, she nurses at 7, 10, 1, 4, 7, and again at 10 before bed.  I have to wake her up for most of her feedings, which I know some people think is crazy.  But it works for us and  I love it.  It has also helped her with her night sleep.  I nurse at 10 and she's in bed before 11.  Right now she is waking up anywhere from about 5:30 am to 7.  About half the mornings she makes it to 7!  YAY!  If she wakes up before about 6:15 then I feed her seriously just enough to get her back to sleep and tide her over until 7 am (like about 3 minutes!  HA!)  But for us to get 6-8 uninterrupted hours of sleep already, it's awesome!
• We swaddle her for every nap and lay her down awake.  It's amazing how she just knows to go to sleep and she rarely fusses.  Sometimes she cries for about five minutes or so, but then goes to sleep.  The one exception is after her 7 pm feeding, when she goes down about 8:15.  The first 6-7 weeks she NEVER went down and definitely had her "witching hour" where she pretty much had to be held.  Now she goes down about 50% of the time just fine, and then other half of the time she just can't fall asleep or get settled and we bring her out to the swing.
• She's out and about a LOT more than Brynn was as a baby.  After we lay her down for a nap and she falls asleep and we get ready, then we just scoop her out of bed asleep and pop her in her car-seat and go do whatever errands we need to run.  We also go to the gym on Monday and Friday mornings and she and Brynn go to the gym day-care with Mrs. Marie.  She just sleeps in the car-seat while she's there.  I LOVE being "home" with the girls, but as most of my friends know (and some are just like me, and some are the opposite) I don't always want to be "home"...I LOVE getting out and about and staying busy.  So I was a little worried that with a newborn I was going to feel "stuck" being at home so much more.  But thankfully, God has given me a spirit of contentment when I know we have to be at home.  But also we are out so much more than last time, so that helps a lot!
• I still feel like we keep Emory on a pretty good routine, but I'm just so much more relaxed about it.  I also feel like in general it's been a much easier transition this time around, than the first time.  I think last time I stressed SO MUCH about wanting Brynn to be this perfect little baby and when she fussed or cried I'd be like "oh my gosh!!"  I remember when Brynn was a baby dropping her off in the church nursery and she was crying and I seriously stressed the entire service because I didn't want the nursery workers to think she was a "bad baby."  But the very first week we dropped Emory off she had woken up on the way in to church and was crying all the way in.  Instead of being worried about the nursery workers thinking she was "being fussy" I remember thinking "I'm so glad I can leave her with them so I can go enjoy church!"  HA!
• She has started smiling so much and makes the sweetest little noises!  She is just the best little baby! Sure, she has her fussy moments, but in general if she's fed and changed she is just SO CONTENT.  She smiles a lot and is pretty "go with the flow." 

Good grief...Miss Diva over here!

2 days old!

1 month!

2 months!

And just for fun/comparison, here is Brynn at 2 months.  I think Emory MAYBE has a little more "Pingel" look to her?  Does anyone agree with me, or am I way off?  I know she still looks a lot like Ryan too.

Brynn at 2 months.

A Little Thanksgiving Craftiness...

I seem to really be into "hand-print crafts" lately.  The other night we made a turkey one and it turned out really cute!  Brynn loves getting her hands painted for these projects!

And then I guess in the middle of the project I changed into my pajamas and my robe??

Erika, I know you are shocked that Ryan is shirtless in the next picture...

We all painted our palms brown and then painted each finger a different color.  We knew we'd be lucky if we could just get Emory's hand-print on the canvas, so we did her hand in brown and then I just painted her little "feathers" on.  Before that, it just kind of looked like a hilarious hand-print blob. I can see why they always do a baby's footprints in the hospital instead of hand-prints....it was tough!  But I think it turned out SO CUTE!

I also made this "Give Thanks" banner with some scrapbook paper and burlap.

And an idea I found on Pinterest was to make "thankful garland".  I just cut some leaf shapes out of construction paper and then each night we've been talking about something we are thankful for and writing it on the leaves.  But Brynn always wants to help "write" it, so we've been writing it and letting her "trace" the words.  She LOVES to try to "trace" and she is sort of getting the hang of it on really simple shapes and letters.  It is pretty hilarious to watch her.  After she "traces" our words, then she draws lines and circles and squiggles with her pen and then being so serious says "okay, guys, now I gotta trace it" and then opens the marker and tries to trace her pen marks.  Such a hoot!

We are having lots of fun celebrating and learning about Thanksgiving!

Footprints Fall Party and Class Pictures

I should have titled this post "Teach your child how to sit for class pictures BEFORE picture day," but that was a long title.  Once you get to the end of this post and see Brynn's class picture you will understand why.  HA!  Last week at Footprints we had a big "fall party" for all the classes.  They came outside one class at a time and we had popcorn, a shaving cream table, games, and best of all, a big bounce-house for them to play in.  The kids had a blast.  (Oh, and I guess this would be a good time to explain that I'm going back to work just one to two days a week right now.  Pam is watching Emory on Thursdays, and as I'm slowly adding in Tuesdays, she's going to Nonna's on Tuesdays).

Brynn is wearing the dark purple coat...it's kind of hard to tell all the little kiddos apart.

They took a little break for some popcorn and drinks.  Brynn has AWESOME teachers this year and I just love them so much and we are so blessed by them!  Here is Mrs. Diane helping get all the kiddos their snacks.

I guess the girls all needed a snack, and the boys were still in the bounce house?

 Then they all came out to get a snack...they looked so cute all lined up eating together!

I had to take this next picture because of a story one of her teachers told me.  This little guy is such a cutie and Mrs. Sheila was telling me he is always giving the little girls hugs.  I guess these two were taking a nap next to each other and Mrs. Sheila was sitting near them.  She got up to help another little kid go potty, and when she came back Brynn was asleep, but he wasn't.  But he had grabbed her hand and was holding her hand while she was sleeping!  HA!  Adorable!  His mom and I were laughing so much about this!

Nap-time snuggle buddies??

 Then some of the girls were hula-hooping and jump-roping.  Mrs. Diane and Mrs. Crystal (she isn't one of the teachers, but her little girl is in Brynn's class and she is so sweet and Brynn LOVES her!!!)

Brynn was hiding behind Mrs. Crystal

 Later that day we got their school pictures back.  I just about DIED when I saw her class picture!  Her little individual one is pretty cute (I can't get it to rotate)...

Brynn's age can either go on Tuesday and Thursday or on Wednesday.  Several of the kiddos go on all three days, Brynn being one of them.  So I bought a class composite from the Tuesday/Thursday class and one of the Wednesday class.  The Tuesday/Thursday class pic isn't too bad.  She isn't smiling at all...but oh well.

And then we have the Wednesday picture...please notice my child's legs.  AWESOME.  I have no idea why the photographer didn't notice that her legs were totally spread apart! HA!  Thankfully there is a little boy in the row below her so you don't get a shot of her little princess panties.  GOTTA LOVE IT!  I called my friend Emily whose little girl is in the class.  I'm like "you are going to die when you see how Brynn is sitting in the class picture!"  She called me and said she had been laughing for like ten minutes after she saw it!  HA!  I can just see all the other parents looking at the picture and then seeing Brynn and saying "oh that's unfortunate!"  HA!  Every time I look at it I start laughing!!

Crazy picture aside, I am SO THANKFUL for Footprints.  I LOVE working there part-time and I LOVE that Brynn gets to go with me.  I LOVE her sweet teachers, and all the sweet little kiddos in her class!!