Nine Month Photos

Caught! I can see the corner of the card in her mouth!

There we go. Just stand up straight and hold the card, please.

This is my very favorite stage. Brynlee is cuter than ever and sillier than ever. She makes me laugh all day. I have the best job in the world. Here are some current stats about Bryn:

-Her favorite foods are: cheerios, yogurt, chicken noodle soup, rice, bananas!, watermelon, strawberries, bits of homemade pancakes, rolls, muffins, breads, etc. And still baby food and milk, of course. -She crawls all over, pulls herself up to everything, can stand without holding on to anything, and attempts to take steps but she's got a long way to go.

-Loves her baths. Sometimes she's stayed in there for close to an hour before pull her out.

-Loves to cuddle, wrap her arms around your neck, and burrow her face into your shoulder and neck. -She loves opening cupboards and drawers, emptying the contents, and opening and shutting the doors over and over, especially if they squeak.

-She is still very vocal. One of her new sounds is "Boom Boom" (sounds more like "Bm Bm" ) She does this one all day. She also loves mimmicking sounds. If I cough, she fake coughs. If I laugh, she fake laughs. If I say "Cat Cat Cat", she says "Ca Ca Ca". This one doesn't happen all the time.

-She thinks everything and anyone is funny. She's always forcing a laugh. Books are funny, even bedtime stories make her laugh. Changing her diaper is funny. Nursing is funny. Loud noises are funny. Standing is funny. Neighborhood kids are really funny. She is just aughing all the time.

The list could go on and on. Basically this is just such a great stage. We love her so much!

For Mom

This is just a little video of Brynlee just playing in the bathtub, as requested by my Mom who hasn't seen her only grandchild in over a month. That's all.

Some of Brynlee's Favorite Places

Under the kitchen table. (Crawling over and around the bars of the chairs, searching for crumbs) The little ottoman in her bedroom. (Standing up to it and scanning the room for anything interesting that she can rummage through)

Under her highchair. (Another excellent place for cheerios or anything else not swept up after her previous meal)

Play Group

There are soo many babies in our ward and several ladies having babies in the next few months, too. It's like a BYU ward! Brynlee had fun playing with a few friends her age this week, as they got all wet with bowls of water. I'm really grateful to have so many friends from the ward who are in the same stage of life!

Mmmmm

I've made wheat rolls before, but never just classic white dinner rolls until last week. Yum. They made me think of home.

Little Sniffer

Brynlee has been so silly lately. She makes me laugh all day. Her favorite thing to do is this saucy little expression. She scrunches up her face (usually more than this), inhales slowly through her nose, then does two fast exhale blows from her nose. (That's probably confusing). I cannot take that scrunched up face. I start laughing every time she does it. Then she laughs too and sniffs again. She started doing this a few months ago, but now she does it with a little more attitude and it's killing me!

Hide and Seek

One of my very favorite things lately is to play hide and seek with Brynlee. I go from room to room, hiding behind a bed, table, or couch, and I call out her name until she finds me. It's the cutest thing to peek out and see her crawling around the corner with a big grin on her face.

Good Riddance

April 2009

Brynlee's Spit-Up stage is gone, gone, gone and we couldn't be happier! She stopped spitting up the week she turned seven months old, but I haven't posted about it because I was nervous it would jinx her and she's start doing it again. I think we're safe now. Ha ha. Knock on wood. We still loved Brynlee when she spit up all through out the day, but let me just say how wonderful life is without any spit-up!

On the Move

Every time I try to take a picture of her lately this is what I get. A blurry shot of her heading to a new room. But I guess this sums up her current stage: MOBILE. Crawling from room to room, standing up to furniture, walls, anything. Occasionally sitting still, but never when I get the camera out!

Heaven.

Ever since Bryn's teeth poked through, we've had three straight days of heaven. Absolutely no fussing or crying (can this last forever, please!?), just lots of big, cheesy smiles.

I have my child back! Well...until the next tooth.

P.S. Gotta love her little farmer's tan!

Tough to Beat

Last Halloween Bryn was in my womb, two months from her December birth, so she didn't get to see her Uncle Logan as Colonel Sanders. I've been trying to think of something great for Brynlee to be for Halloween, but every idea just seems so lame now that Log has raised the standard for Clarke family costumes. How can Brynlee compete with that!?

Fang.

Well, it's officical. After claiming my child has been "teething" since about, oh, April

SHE FINALLY HAS A TOOTH!

And the second one just poked through today, too. Her teeth are barely poking through her gums, but they seem razor sharp and pointy. Just in time for Halloween. She's got a few good options now. Vampire. Dracula. (Same thing? Jen, help me out here.) Werewolf. Wolf Dog. Shark. Saber tooth tiger. So many possibilities. By the way, I should have never googled images of "fang", "fang tooth", "dracula", "werewolf", etc. Quite disturbing.

Mom.

Picture taken in 2005. Back when I'd dye my hair to match my wardrobe. Is this really the last picture (excluding silly ones) I have of just me and my mom!? What!?

Brynlee has been asleep since 7:30 pm and my dear husband is in the wilderness, scouting it up until tomorrow night. My mom is alone, too, since Logan and my Dad are also away camping. My mom and I are supposed to be hanging out right now! All I can say is thank goodness for cell phones and free minutes between my phone and hers. We talked for a half an hour. Hung up. Then called again talked until my mom finally started yawning.

Labor Day Fitness Challenge

Some of my family in Utah competed in a Triathalon on Labor Day, and since Josh and I couldn't be a part of it, we did the next best thing: "WORLD TRAIL FITNESS CHALLENGE" CENTRAL PARK HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA I had seen this at the park a few months ago, and have been begging Josh to try it with me. Some of the "events" were completely impossible. (The straight-leg double vault. Not happening!) But it was such a blast doing what we could! Ha ha. Here are a few of the events that we attempted....

Hang on to the bar and hold your legs out in front of you for as long as you can. Walk your hands along the bars with your legs curled up behind you. Hold your legs up horizontally as you walk your hands across the bars. I only made it about ten inches.

The hardest option, hold your legs behind you horizontally as you walk your hands across the bars. Ha ha. Crawl along the bar with your Daddy.

No "fitness challenge" would be complete without push-ups. Unfortunately.

How did I do these when I was a kid!? (Because I weighed half as much as I do now!) I only made it to the third ring, and my hands were killing me!

Rotate your hips from side to side as you pull your chin up to the bar. Impossible.

Josh gets it done.

Don't remember the instructions for this one, but I was struggling.

We had to take a time-out from the fitness challenge when we saw a playground for Bryn!

It was a good morning.

Library

There's a small city library about half a mile from our house, but there's a much cooler library a few miles away. We finally tried it out last week with her cute friend Maddy. It had a great children's section with lots of books and a fun play area -- which Bryn loved! She didn't want anything to do with the books, and I didn't blame her.

The Fam.

It was soooo wonderful having my family visit. We started things off right with our favorite fajitas from Sharkeez. The whole crew at Cheesecake Factory, right after the fajita meal. Ha ha. These pictures are not in order. (By the way, the new Red Velvet Cheesecake is amazing.)

The Clarke Girls

Bryn loves her Uncle Logan...

...and the beach.

Things were going well until Mom and Dad got into a fight.

No California trip would be complete without playing a little sand volleyball with Mark.

Uncle Mark wasn't at the beach when we did our jumping pictures, so he got in on the action that night.

At Sea World. In a cave.