Motherhood Fail

Today was the start of of my fall break from school. I've been fighting a cold and feeling pretty miserable, so I decided the best way to spend my day off is in my pajamas. Well, the girls went down for their afternoon naps and I realized I hadn't checked to see when our trick-or-treating hours were. Well, imagine my surprise when the article I read online said that trick-or-treating hours were today! So, to the shower I went to try and look presentable since apparently we needed to head out for candy in a few hours.

When Brynlee got up from her nap, I starting prepping her in all things Halloween. We went over trick-or-treat etiquette, got her pumped up for candy, and eventually got her costume on. I fed Brayla, got her costume on, and then we waited for Brandon to get home so we could head out. Once Brandon got home from work, he informed me that there were no kids out and about in the neighborhood. He questioned whether today really was trick-or-treating. I was insistent that it was today, since it was right in the article I read. So out we went.

Our plan was to head first to Brandon's aunt and uncle's house and then afterwards go back to our neighborhood. Imagine my surprise when we pull into Brandon's aunt and uncle's neighborhood and see....nobody. A phone call confirmed my fear. I was wrong. This rarely happens (lol) and Brynlee did not take the news well that we were indeed NOT trick-or-treating tonight. We heard crying the whole way home. Then, when we got home, this is what we got to experience (pardon the dark picture quality).

Upon closer inspection, I realized the article that first appeared when I searched the newspaper's website was from 2008. Awesome. Here's hoping things go a little better when we FINALLY get to trick-or-treat for real :)

The Return

So, after much too long of a hiatus, I'm trying to get back in to the swing of blogging. I'm realizing as Brynlee gets older that I want to document all of the hysterical things that she's doing and saying every day. These years pass by too quickly and the more I'm realizing that, the more I want to try to savor every little bit of it.

Brayla is soon to turn 6 months old, so I'll try to get monthly posts going too. Poor girl has gotten the shaft being the second child :( Although I feel bad, my mom was trying to compare Brynlee's height and weight to mine and my sister's and found my sister's baby book was lacking as well. At least I know I'm not the only mom to drop the ball the second time. Never fear, Brayla. We still love you just as much as your big sister!

Looking forward to keeping the masses (or at least the grandparents) a little more up-to-date on our busy lives.

Arizona: The Beginning

Well, yesterday our little family of three joined with my grandparents to head off to Chicago's Midway Airport. We left the house at about 10 am and arrived at the airport around 12:30 Chicago time. We found a parking lot across from the airport, which was a short walk, but not made easy due to the 3 inches of snow that had freshly fallen that morning. Senior citizens + toddler + luggage + snow = bad combination! Luckily we all survived the walk, albeit with a little complaining, and made it safely to the counter to check-in. And that's where our "fun" adventure stopped. Our flight ended up leaving an hour late due to the weather. It was just a short flight to St. Louis, but Brynlee decided she had had enough for the day and was "that child" on the flight. Due to the delayed flight, we arrived in St. Louis with 10 minutes to spare before our connecting flight left. Needless to say, I was freaking out! Luckily our gate for the next flight was about 10 feet from where we arrived so we were safe. And then Brynlee continued demonstrating her hatred for flying on the 3 hour flight to Phoenix :( We all made it safely to Phoenix after shedding a few tears along the way (both by Brynlee and her mama) and finally got to see my sister, Tia Bria! It was one of the worst days of my life, but so worth it to finally get to visit my sister and be in the warm(er) Phoenix outdoors. We were exhausted but looking so forward to a fun day on Wednesday :)

Showing just how "fun" the airport can be!

Best Weekend Ever!

This past weekend Brandon and I went to Chicago to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. Brandon had planned the entire weekend's events and all I knew going into the weekend was that we were going to Chicago and staying overnight.

Saturday morning we dropped Brynlee off at her Mimi and Papa's and then we were on our way! I was dying to know what Brandon had up his sleeve and he threw me a bone about 10 minutes into our trip and let us know we were meeting our good friends, the Goles, for lunch in Highland Park. I was ecstatic! We got to know the Goles when we lived in Gurnee and hadn't seen them in quite a while. I didn't take any pictures of our lunch at Fuddruckers, but we had a blast and it was great to catch up with them and a fantastic start to our weekend away.

We spent a little time in the suburbs before we headed downtown. Brandon wanted to go to Navy Pier, but it was a long hike from our hotel so we decided to just hang out on Michigan Avenue. We did some shopping at Water Tower and then hustled back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Brandon let me know that we were going to the Signature Room at the John Hancock. What a surprise! We enjoyed a fabulous, but way too expensive dinner, with awesome views of the city. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience that we will never forget.

We intended to head home pretty early on Sunday but wanted to pick up a few things downtown before we left. We picked up a gift for Brynlee at TJMaxx and then Brandon stood in line for 30 minutes waiting on Garrett's popcorn for his parents. We ate lunch at P.F. Changs (my favorite!) and then finally started our journey back to Indiana.

We were excited to see our little pumpkin again, even though I don't think she missed us one bit :) Definitely a great time spent with my honey and hopefully we can make this a somewhat-regular occurrence!

Brynlee is 11 Months Old!

You are one short month away from your 1st birthday, baby girl! Here's what you've been up to in the last month:

-You have taken to an earlier bedtime (about 7:30) and still sleep until we wake you up at 6 am on weekdays. You usually sleep in a little later on the weekends (about 6:45).

-You are wearing a size 4 diaper.

-Since you got your first official sickness that required prescription medicine, we were able to get you weighed last week. You tipped the scales at a whopping 19 pounds even!

-You are still wearing 6-9 month or 12 month clothes. I have a feeling you may be able to fit in these sizes for quite a while :)

-You are officially weaned from your nighttime bottle as of last Friday and have done great! You're now down to just 3 bottles a day (at mealtimes) and eat snacks along with water in between meals.

-We have our fingers crossed (and toes!) that hair will be one of your Christmas gifts. Anybody know of some "Miracle Grow" for babies?!

-You have 6 teeth (2 on bottom and 4 on top) and we are finally able to start seeing the 4 on top every once in a while.

-You rarely crawl anymore. You're not exactly "running" yet, but if you know you've done something bad, you can definitely move a little faster than just your average "walk."

-Words that you can repeat if you're in the mood to humor us: Daddy, Turner, uh oh, good job, yum, hi

-You have recently become somewhat of a drama queen and are prone to temper tantrums. If something doesn't go your way, it is not uncommon for you to let your body go limp and fall to the ground. You are also a big fan of arching your back when things aren't going well for you :)

-Things you love: dancing to your musical toys, bouncing up and down and all over the couch, opening all the cabinets (especially in the bathroom) and carrying around our mouthwash, unrolling the toilet paper, emptying Turner's water bowl, standing at the door and waiting for Turner to come in from outside, crawling underneath people's legs

Our precious 11-month-old

Enjoying her new winter hat

Dancing along with her favorite Christmas toys

Let the countdown begin....One month until the big 0-1!!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The tree is decorated (and has managed to

maintain all ornaments thus far!)

The wreaths are hung (thanks, Mom!)

All outside lights are finally up

And Brynlee's donned her holiday attire

Bring on Christmas!

Brynlee is 10 Months Old!

Brynlee, you've reached the double digits and are officially 10 months old! Here's the highlights of the last month of your life:

-You still snooze away from 8pm-6am and tend to sleep in on the weekends. How you know that it's the weekend, I have no idea, but I'm grateful nonetheless.

-You are wearing a size 3 diaper during the day and size 4 at night.

-You weigh 18 pounds 10 ounces (25-50%), are 27.5 inches long (25-50%) and your head is 17.5 inches around (50%). You are average on the charts but anything but average in your mommy and daddy's eyes :)

-You still wear 6-9 or 6-12 month clothes, but we have encountered a huge dilemma in the jeans department. Suddenly your 9 month jeans are too short, but 12 month jeans fall right off your skinny little hips. I have searched high and low for jeans that will fit you to no avail. So, it looks like leggings will be your legwear of choice this winter.

- Luckily, you have not outgrown any more shoes over the last month. We are hopeful that your ridiculously huge shoe wardrobe can be utilized for a while longer since we've already paid Pediped enough money to sustain their business for a year :)

-You eat 3 meals a day and LOVE to drink water from a sippy cup. We haven't fully transitioned to the sippy for all drinks just because formula and a sippy cup are not a fun combo. But once you can drink (much cheaper) whole milk, you'll be on the sippy cup only!

-The hair gods are still not really shining on you yet. The back of your head has sprouted a little more hair and is even starting to flip out and curl a little (yay!), but you still look bald to the naked eye.

-You officially have 5 teeth and I think the 6th tooth will be making an appearance shortly.

-You can now wave goodbye when we say "bye bye", repeat "Daddy" and "puppy" when we say them and your new favorite to repeat is "uh oh."

-Things you love: taking your shoes and socks off in the car, chasing Turner, taking all the diapers and toys out of the baskets on your changing table, smacking your lips, and crawling up the stairs with record speed.

- And the biggest news of this month, YOU ARE WALKING!! You can cruise from one side of the room to the other and can even stand up without pulling up on something. You look so cute toddling around because you are just so darn tiny to be walking. But we are soooo proud of you!

Turner is equally excited about

Brynlee's 10 month birthday!

Birthday kisses from Turner

Getting older is apparently hard

work for both baby and Daddy!

Look at her go!

Happy 10 month birthday, baby girl. Only a few more months and we can really celebrate!

Happy Halloween!

We get to enjoy the biggest "treat" of all this Halloween!

Walk This Way

Brynlee has been really practicing her walking skills lately. What started off as basically falling forward into things has progressed to actual steps! Every day she gets a little more brave and adds a few more steps to her "walks." Check out today's best effort!

Sick Day

Brynlee and I have not been feeling the greatest over the last couple of days. When I picked Brynlee up from her sitter's yesterday, she told me Brynlee was running a 101 fever. So, in the afternoon it was off to the doctor for us. Unfortunately, the sitter had given Brynlee some Tylenol, which in turn lowered her temp, and the doctor thought we were crazy since it appeared we brought in a perfectly healthy child. Brynlee has continued to run a fever for the last 36 hours and this morning woke up looking like this:

All the snot just makes you feel so bad for her, doesn't it?! If you feel really bad for her, we'd welcome you to come make her feel better by trying to wipe all that nastiness off her face every morning. She pitches a fit! Anyways, I decided to use a sick day and stay home with her today and am so glad I did. She's gone back and forth between acting like herself and then being completely pathetic and curling up on my lap. I hate that she's sick, but I'm not gonna lie....I love that she's been cuddling up with me :) I miss those baby days when all she wanted to do was lounge around in our arms. Now, she doesn't have time to snuggle up with her mom and dad....she's got people to see, places to go, and things to explore!

Luckily, it appears Brandon has been spared (hopefully not just temporarily) the nastiness that Bryn and I have endured. Pray that we're on the road to recovery soon and that Brynlee is back to her normal shenanigans in no time :)