Long Time No See

Well apparently I have gotten lost in the Facebook world and have completely forgotten about my blog! It took me about 25 tries to log in!

Close to a year has gone by and so much has changed. Brynley is coming up on 2 years old in a short 4 months and I can't believe it. Where does the time go? Every day she changes so much and learns things I never thought she would be learning at this age. She finally has a cousin, Gibson, who is Afsonai and Tyler's baby boy. I watch him 3 days a week while Afs works and it is so much fun! Brynley absolutely ADORES Gibson and asks for him every time she wakes up in the morning, even the days we don't have him. She is always making sure Gibson's binky is close by so when he cries she can give it to him. She is such a big helper! She likes to help me put dishes away and sort laundry; my two most dreaded chores! But having her help me makes it a million times better! I love being able to stay at home for my beautiful daughter and am SO incredibly grateful for Zac and his hard work, making it possible for me to be home with Bryn. Being a mom is the most rewarding and incredible thing in the world. I had no idea how much love and PATIENCE you can instantly feel for another person, even after a sleepless night and crazy day :) Well that's all I have in me today. Hopefully I can be better at keeping up with my poor blog!

On the go!

Wow Brynley has changed SO much in the last few weeks! She had her very first airplane ride last week when we went to Hawaii and she did awesome. The change in altitude didn't bother her and she slept most the time.

Here she is sprawled out using Zac's leg as a pillow...

We had such a blast this vacation! My parents and both of my sisters and their husbands were there too, so she had tons of attention all week. She absolutely loves the water, both the pool and the ocean. It was such a fun vacation and I didn't want it to end. It was nice to have my family there all week to play with Brynley so we could relax and soak in the sun!

Brynley ready for the pool!
Out for a walk

Our little prima donna....wasn't a fan of the sand!

Hanging out on the beach in her rubber ducky!

The biggest change for Brynley is that she started crawling last week! I can't believe how fast she is changing. She is ALL over the place now and it is so cute to see her little diaper butt crawling around! She can also clap, blow bubbles, wave, and she is very very close to pulling up to standing. She isn't a little baby anymore and when she took her first crawl I started crying. My little baby is growing up so fast already! Haha how am I supposed to send her to school if I can't keep my composure when she crawls?? Anyway, ever since we have gotten home last Sunday Brynley has had the hardest time sleeping through the night. She will start crying so I will go check on her and she will be either sitting up crying, rolling around, crawling or trying to pull herself up! Sometimes she will lay back down and then wake up 2 hours later, and sometimes she is wide awake and acts like she is ready to play. I read on babycenter.com that when they reach a milestone like crawling and pulling up on things that they practice at night sometimes, which can wake them up. But then again shes been waking up at midnight which is 8pm in Hawaii and thats when she went to bed. So, I can't decide if it is because of the time change, because she started crawling, or both! But when I check on her and she has her pudgy hands on the rail of her crib with tears in her eyes I can't help but pick her up and cuddle her in our bed :) I'm hoping this is a phase, because I don't think I've gotten more than 4 hours of straight sleep in a looooong time! Every now and then I'll get lucky, but for the most part she wakes me up every couple hours! She has been such a fun part of our family and I am so excited to see her reach more milestones...she just grows too dang fast!

Holidays and 6 months

Wow I can't believe another year has come and gone! Ever since Brynley has joined our family time has just flown by! I love how the end of the year is wrapped up in so many fun holidays. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family this year and it was so nice! In past years we always got together with the whole extended family, but the last couple years it's just been our little family. I must say it feels so much more laid back and personable! We had a great Christmas this year as well! Although Brynley didn't really know what was going on, it was fun to watch her play with the boxes and wrapping paper. She also LOVED the Christmas tree, ornaments and lights. We went and saw Santa at the mall too! Luckily she was very good! I think she was so distracted by the decorations that she didn't really notice Santa, and she took a darling picture :)

Christmas Eve in her new bib
Christmas Morning...first gift: I got a glider :)

So festive in her new pjs and crazy hat

Tired from all her new toys

Sooooo spoiled!
So this month, Brynley turned the big 6 months! Haha I can't believe how fast a child grows. It's crazy! They learn so much in such a short time. Here are some of the things Brynley does:

She talks like crazy! She is already a jibberjabber and she doesn't know any words. She says mamamama, dadadada, rararara, and babababa. Even in the middle of the night while she is asleep we can hear her talking.

She likes to stare at the fridge. I don't know why. We first noticed it at my parents where there are a bunch of pictures of her and a big 8x10 of her face....maybe she just likes to stare at her sweet face! Who wouldn't right?! She does it at our house too, where again there are pictures of her. If you block her vision of the fridge she will twist her body and lean over so she can see. Haha so weird!

She has started on baby food! yay! She has already tried sweet potato, squash, banana, applesauce, green beans, and as of right now her favorites are pears, carrots, and prunes. I love watching her face when she tries something new, so far she hasn't hated anything...lets keep our fingers crossed!

She smacks her lips when she eats her carrots and other favorites.

First try of solids. I think this face is due to the texture, because she actually like rice cereal now. So funny!

Brynley is such a happy baby! She laughs all the time and makes us laugh non-stop! She definitley has both of us wrapped around her chubby little finger. It's no wonder our parents were willing put up with us when we were bratty, sassy tweens. She has been such a joy to have and I can't believe what an amazing blessing being a parent is. Every second of the day is so much fun and incredibly rewarding. What a fun stage she is in right now :) We are looking forward to experiencing everything more that she has to learn!

Life as you know it

Well I have become one of those bloggers who don't have time to update their blog. So much has been going on and Brynley is getting so big! She changes so much every day. It makes me sad at how quickly time goes by. Now that I have this beautiful baby growing in front of my eyes I realize how fast time actually goes. Before, I just took every day for granted. Being a mom is so amazing! It's a kind of love I never could have imagined! I came across this on BabyCenter.com and I couldn't believe how exact it is to my life. I couldn't have written it better. 42 things that change when you have a baby (I'm only writing the ones that are true for me)

The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.

You respect your body ... finally.

You respect your parents and love them in a new way.

You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.

You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.

Your heart breaks much more easily.

You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.

Every day is a surprise.

Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)(Wow is this one true for me! I cheer for her and give her kisses all over her chubby face :)

You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.

Your love becomes limitless.

You'd rather buy a toy more than those shoes that you've been dying to have.

You don't mind going to bed at 9 p.m. on Friday night.

You discover an inner strength you never thought you had.

You give parents with a screaming child an 'I-know-the-feeling' look instead of a 'Can't-they-shut-him-up?' one. (It's amazing how instant this changed for me)

You take the time for one more hug and kiss even if it means you'll be late. (So true...just ask my work)

You learn that taking a shower is a luxury. (very much agreed)

You realize that you can love a complete stranger.

You find yourself wanting to make this world a better place.

You have to quit watching the news because you see every story from a mother's perspective and it breaks your heart.

You just plain love life more - everything comes together and becomes better because of one tiny person and your love for them.

You finally find out the real reason you have those breasts.

The support you get from other people surprises you, because the people giving it are not always the ones you'd expect.

Nothing is just yours any longer. You share EVERYTHING!

No matter what you've accomplished in life, you look at your child and think, "I've done a GREAT job!

You want to take better care of yourself for your child.

You can have the most wonderful conversation using only vowel sounds like "ahhh" and "oooo."

If you didn’t believe in love at first sight before, now you do!

My sweet little baby girl! Love you pumpkin!