Six Months Old

Brynlee is half a year old today! I can't believe it! Here's her six month update:

Favorite Foods: Oatmeal and Banana Cereal is at the top of the list! Also, oatmeal, rice cereal, and milk of course.

Favorite Sounds to make: cooing, grunting, gargling, heavy breathing, fake coughs, laughing, singing, growling (this is a new one. nice and feminine!), tongue clicking, spitting, hiccuping, weezing, thankfully her noises don't include much crying!

Favorite Nicknames: Bryn, B, BB, Finnigan, Little One, Little Missy, Little B, Totey Nonies (thanks Mom), Totes, Miniature, can't think of the others

Favorite Books: Goodnight Moon, Who is Coming to My House, No no Yes yes, Curious George, Goodnight Gorilla, Colors, Words, Baby ABC's, the Old Testament

Favorite Things to do: going on walks, swinging on the swing at the park, splashing and singing in the bath, grabbing our faces, grabbing anything, spitting up, rolling over and over, back and forth, chewing on anything she can get her hands on, crumpling paper and trying to eat it, taking sips of water out of my cup, reciting scriptures, playing in her exersaucer, reading books, laughing

We love her!

Growing Up!

Bryn has seemed so old lately! I can't believe she's almost half a year old! She loves books and looking at the colorful pictures. In fact, Brynlee has learned how to read on her own. She's a very advanced child. Her doctor says she's actually at a fifth grade level right now. We couldn't be prouder as parents.

She's been rolling from her back to her tummy for months now, but it wasn't until a week ago that she learned to roll from her tummy to her back. Now she's just rolling all over the room! I'll set her down on one end and she'll end up on the other end in just a few minutes. This wouldn't be a problem, except Bryn is still quite the little spitter! She rolls off her burp cloth and blanket and the spit up ends up on the carpet or anything else in her path. She's keeping us busy.

She loves to go to the park at the end of our street. Josh tried her in this swing about a week ago and now it's her favorite thing! We've been doing it multiple times a day since it's a quick walk and Brynlee enjoys it so much! She just smiles and giggles as Josh pushes her. She's so tiny compared to the older kids on the swings! We get a kick out of it.

We've been trying to help her sit up, and she's getting better and better, but she's still got a ways to go!

You can tell sitting is still a little awkward for her! Brynlee woke up completely silly and really loud this morning. She was just singing and doing that crazy screaming thing from the moment we got her out of her crib. I knew it was going to be interesting at church. And it was. The poor thing is very curious and very vocal. Not a good combination for church. The other children her age just quietly sit on their mother's laps, folding their arms and pondering the truths of the gospel. Brynlee is making noises and rolling around on the ground. Or looking around the room and trying to grab things. Pondering just isn't her thing.

***One final question (or desperate plea!): Have any of you had a child that spits up? All day! Brynlee spits up all the time, mostly after she eats, but also at random times throughout the day. My doctor said not to worry about it because Brynlee doesn't cry or ever seem like she's uncomfortable. But there's got to be something I can do about it. Right? I thought maybe I was eating too much sugar, so I cut out sugar last week, but she's spitting up more than ever! Maybe I'm actually supposed to eat much more sugar!? Any suggestions? How long did the spitting up last for you? What did you do?

But I do love love love Brynlee even if she spits up all the time!

Bird Mobile

Here's my little bird mobile for Brynlee's nursery. (I'm sure you've seen similar ones floating around the internet). This project took me so long because I handstiched the birds and of course every little stitch had to be just perfect. (Even though it didn't end up that way!) I am so slow when it comes to sewing! The hardest part was balancing the mobile, though. I finally stitched up a little fabric ball, filled it with rice, and attached it to the bottom. That did the trick! But it was still pretty hard for me to keep the birds upright. They kept flipping over, upside down. I was tempted to use hot glue, but I really wanted to stick to thread, and finally I got it. I wish I would have thought of it sooner. I'm happy with how it turned out, and it adds a little color to Bryn's room.

So far Brynlee has refused to look at it. Not at all interested. Let's hope it grows on her!

Now, on to the next project!

the good, the bad, and the ugly

Good things: We got our car back from the shop! Woohoo! (It's definitely time to get a second car!) I finally finished the bird mobile for Brynlee's room. I almost gave up several times along the way, but it's finally done! Pictures to come. Our apartment is finally all cleaned and put back together, after being all torn up and chaotic with the little flood last week. What a good feeling to have a clean house!! We are going to Utah in a month, for the Clarke Reunion at Six Lakes and the Hawkins Reunion in Sundance. I am soooo excited! Josh and I are reading Harry Potter again and we're just getting to the good part in Book 5! Brynlee is just waking up from a nap and I can hear her singing and gargling in her crib. Could there be anything cuter!? Bad Thing: I made my favorite recipe of banana bread this morning while I was doing ten other things. I took it out of the oven without doing the toothpick test. Bad idea. Now I just cut into it and it's underdone. I frantically called my mom to see if I could salvage it. No answer. There has to be some way to save it! Called again. No answer. Called my grandma. Ya, there's nothing I can do except cry over the gooey bread that filled my home with a delicious aroma, but will not be filling my stomach. Some things in life are so hard! Ugly Thing: My rags after cleaning the house today. Yep, pretty ugly. I know, this one is lame, but nothing else ugly came to mind and I've got to go get Bryn.

Father's Day

We had a really great time celebrating Father's Day on Sunday by barbequing some delicious shish kebabs at Mark's place. It was so much fun preparing and grilling them all together! After we were filled to the brim with shish kebabs and we laid back in Mark's sunny apartment with the ocean breeze coming through the windows, and listened to a beautiful compilation of hymns from the BYU singers. Could life get any better!? (Yes, if we had our car back from the shop!! Ha ha.)

This meal was incredible. Here's the line-up: plain filet mignon (Thanks Mark!), then filet roasted in olive oil and garlic, marinated chicken breast, and of course the delicious grilled veggies and pineapple. Holy cow. She was way more interested in her surroundings then smiling for a camera!

But at least she'd smile in her Daddy's arms!

True or False

Let's play a game. It's called True or False. The answers are at the bottom.

(1) Brynlee looked super cute on Sunday. (See above picture).

(2) Mark brought over a delicious crock-potted meal for Sunday Dinner.

(3) When Josh was at a scout meeting on Sunday evening, a pipe in our master bathroom exploded.

(4) Laura panicked and ran around the apartment complex like a chicken with her head chopped off, trying to find help.

(5) A few minutes later Laura returned to the scene only to find Brynlee on the floor of the master bedroom, splashing around in the huge puddle of water that now covered the bathroom and bedroom. Woops. Should have left her on the bed!

(6) Laura, very unexperienced when it comes to floods, didn't know what to do, so she did the only thing she knew how to do: She served all the crew delicious cake with fresh whipped cream and sliced strawberries.

(7) Fifty gallons of water later....Josh, Laura, and Brynlee had to leave their home since it the flood crew concluded it was an "unlivable condition".

(8) Uncle Mark welcomed them into his home with open arms.

(9) Josh was fired on Monday.

(10) Laura gave the Relief Society Enrichment lesson on Tuesday on Emergency Preparedness. (Topic assigned weeks ago. Ha.)

(11) Josh, Laura, and Brynlee drove to L.A. to see Jae who had training this week.

(12) They missed an exit (okay, several exits) and ended up in the outskirts of L.A. Not a place you'd ever like to be.

(13) Two hours later they met up with Jae.

(14) Brynlee smiled, gargled, laughed, and wheezed(!?) for her Uncle Jae, even though it was two hours past her bedtime.

(15) On the drive home, the car broke down and is currently in the shop.

(16) Laura was diagnosed with the swine flu on Wednesday.

(17) Carless, Josh borrowed a bike from Mark and rode down busy streets to get to Scouts, in his full scout uniform of course. Laura was LOVING the sight.

(18) Thursday night: Still carless, Josh and Laura packed up all our things from Mark's place and walked home with a loaded stroller, backpack, duffle bag, etc. (We could've waited for Mark to give us a ride, but we were just anxious to be home). We were hoping to get spare change along the way, since we totally looked like homeless people, but we got nothing.

(19) The master bedroom is still carpet-less and the car is still in the shop, but at least we're home... with wheat bread in the oven and homemade tomato soup on the stove! So glad to havev my kitchen back!

(20) We have no reason to complain because we are seriously more blessed than we ever deserve! Things could be so, so much worse! And plus, sleeping on the floor in the front room is pretty fun every once and a while!

ANSWERS:

All are true except (9) Josh losing his job and (16) Laura getting swine flu. But those would have made the story even better, huh!

Beach Weekend

Friday Date Night

We walked down to the Pier, two fish tacos from Wahoo's (so good) for me, one peanut butter shake from Ruby's for Josh, watched Mark play some sand volleyball, felt the nice sea breeze, looked out at the surfers and the setting sun over the water. Not a bad night.

Saturday Beach Day

Met up with Josh's old roommate and his new bride, played in the waves at the Balboa Pier, let Little B kick around in the sand, tossed around a football, ate fruit kebabs and chicken and croissant sandwiches.

There are definitely perks to living in Huntington Beach.

Screamer

Brynlee's newest thing is screaming. I think she must get it from all the angry screaming Josh and I do in the home. (Ha). Luckily, it's "happy screaming". When she gets really excited about something she does a few fake coughs, then lets out loud, high pitched screaming and kicks her legs. Or if I want to make her do it, then I just do one little soft screaming sound and it will set her off. I can't decide if it's cute or strange. Should I encourage this screaming or get her to stop? Parenting brings the hardest decisions!

Bryn Pics

Brynlee can't sit up on her own yet, but she loves to be propped up on a chair or on my lap, so she can look around the room. Here are a few pictures of her this afternoon.

Squirming around!

Family Update

JOSH Saturday was the big CFA exam for Josh. He's been studying soooooo hard since January. I've been really proud of him. He won't find out til mid July if he's in the top third that passes the test, so we're keeping our fingers crossed!! I am so very glad for the test to be over and to have my husband back! To celebrate we a yummy dinner, went on a nice, long walk with Bryn, and then had Josh's favorite Marie Calender's key lime pie with my uncle. (Thanks Mark!)

LAURA

I've been busily working on a cute sewing project for Brynlee's room. I'm sewing lots of little birds and I'm going to make a mobile of some sort. Pictures will definitely come of the final product, but here's one little birdie in progress.

BRYNLEE

Little Bryn is as cute as ever. She's gotten more active and curious. She still makes crazy noises and those gargling noises, along with little sighs and laughter. She's been making herself laugh lately, which really cracks us up. She'll just be laying on the ground playing with a toy and she'll start giggling and fake coughing (one of her signature noises) out of the blue. We love this silly stage. (Do I really not have a new picture of her!? I'll have to take one and add it to this post!)

Gettin' Crafty (Part II)

I am loving my new sewing machine! Bryn's naptime = sewing time for me! (and of course the daily housework). I used to have this... ...in the corner of my kitchen. An ugly box full of plastic grocery bags. We use them a lot for putting diapers in and other things. This box was put here during our move and I just never moved it, even though it was ugly. I just didn't have another place to put it. THEN I decided to make a grocery bag holder. I had seen some ideas for this project online, so I just combined some different ideas and came up with my own beautiful bag holder. (I know, I know. It's a very beginner project, but I'm just learning!)

This project should have taken me about ten minutes to make, but it took me a LONG time because (A) I'm a perfectionist and everything had to be measured exactly right and sewn perfectly straight, and because (B) I'm not good at sewing....yet. I spent a good hour and a half at the fabric store, deciding on fabric, ribbon, what brand of elastic, etc. etc. Luckily, it turned out just as I wanted it. Now it's hanging inside our utility closet, keeping all those bags out of sight. Learning a new skill is so rewarding. I feel like a little kid, just so excited and proud! I've asked Josh about twenty times: "So do you like it!?", "Do you like the fabric!?", "Does the blue fabric match the blue in the print enough?", "Do you want to try it out!?", "Come on, do you want to pull one more bag out!?", "Do you like that your wife sews!?", "Am I cute when I'm at my sewing machine!?"

I couldn't resist buying extra fabric. Any suggestions on fun (and easy) sewing projects?

Gettin' Crafty (Part I)

My sister Marie is one of the most BEAUTIFUL, talented, creative people I know. And she has the coolest style! I wish I could put together the type of outfits that she comes up with. Anyway, while I was visiting Utah Marie taught me how to make a few of the little accessories that she makes. One of them is these cute fabric flowers. You can make them into headbands (as pictured above), hair clips, pin them onto your favorite cardigan to spice things up, attach them to a bag, or whatver else you come up with. I made three bunches in cream, plum, and black.

They're really simple. You just cut 5-6 circles of fabric in varying sizes, then stack them from biggest to smallest. Then sew them together with some little beads or pearls, add some puckering, and then sew on the pin, hair clip, or headband. They're easy, but they turn out great!

Sunday

Most of our family is in Utah, but we're so lucky to have one relative close by: my uncle Mark who lives in the same neighborhood. And on Sunday we had one more! My cousin Cara has been in town for the last few days and it was so great to spend Sunday evening with her and Mark. Nothing beats being with family.