Fruit puffs & dancing

Brenna has mastered the art of feeding herself - well, fruit puffs anyway. Fruit puffs are little cheerio-like pieces of food that are made specially for toothless babies (meaning they dissolve quickly, so it's ok if you don't have teeth). Brenna has been trying to eat them for the last few weeks and always made a funny face. Well, this weekend, she really figured them out. She can grab one between her fingers (more if you give her more than one at a time), put it into her mouth, chew it up and swallow it! Sometimes little pieces make it back out of her mouth, but generally she does great with them. Not to mention that they hold her attention while mom and dad eat dinner! We've started to give her a small handful after she eats her dinner (at which she is doing very well these days - actually ate 2 containers of applesauce tonight!) so that she is distracted while we finish our meal and it's working out great. They are also great snacks while out on the town. In addition to the fruit puff fun - Brenna has been entertaining us with her dancing. Unfortunately, I can't display any video of her lovely dancing on the blog, but picture a little bit of bouncing leg action with some back and forth motion of the hips and head - you've got the idea. She will pull herself up to the table or her big block toy and just dance away - with or without music. When we tell her "dancy, dancy" she gets a big grin and keeps dancing. It is so funny! She's also becoming VERY talkative (wonder where she gets that from) and is talking to us all the time - in her own little language of course. She shakes her head from side to side (like a "no" motion) and just blabs away. We are having a blast watching her learn these new things and playing with her - we couldn't ask for a more fun baby!

Happy Easter!

Brenna celebrated her 1st Easter this weekend with a trip to Show Low - Grandma and Grandpa Pearson's house. Aunt Jamie was there for a visit too! She got lots of cuddles and attention, played with lots of plastic eggs, and got 2 baskets of goodies. Grandma and Grandpa just about out-did the Easter Bunny, but I'm sure he'll catch on by next year. She also got to play on a big piano - it's a lot more fun than the little piano that she got a week or so ago. She played some beautiful music! She got to go on trips around the yard with Grandpa Dave, had a visit with Sean and Colton and took lots of naps. She also enjoyed eating pears - and even opened wide for them! Maybe it was the highchair (the same one that mommy and Aunt Jamie used when they were babies) that made the food so good! On Sunday, she watched the annual Easter traditions. First, we colored some eggs and then had an egg hunt. Grandpa Dave got some plastic eggs, loaded them up with goodies and hid them in the backyard. Then, mommy and Aunt Jamie hunted them while Brenna and Grandma Diane watched from the deck (she'll get to join in next year). Overall, it was a very fun first Easter! On the way home, we stopped to see Great Grandad Alvin and Great Aunt Sandy. It was a lot of fun to visit with them and watch Brenna play. She put on a show for them - and they'd enjoyed getting to see her. Best of all, the news on Sunday night was that the nasal conformer is finally out! After a weekend of sneezing (and having trouble wiping her nose) we decided to get that thing out. We'd been told that she'd kept it in longer than most kids (it could've fallen out on it's own starting 2 weeks ago, but hadn't). The doctor's office told us how we could help get it out, so we tried it. It was torture to Brenna, but when we got it out, we were all very relieved. Now we can see her beautiful face without a plastic thing in the way. It is a little irritated from all the sneezing and wiping, but she does look gorgeous anyway!

Brenna's new friends

This weekend Brenna got to meet some new friends. Actually, mommy is old friends with their mommies, but hadn't seen them for a long time. All pregnant together and having babies around the same time will keep everyone busy enough that getting together is hard! Anyway, on Saturday, we had lunch with Andrea and Benjamin. He was born in November, just about 3 1/2 months younger than Brenna. He is a cutie - and seemed to enjoy eating outside with us. Brenna had a good time using her new placemat at the restaurant too. Then, on Sunday, we went to visit Alison, Mason and Ireland at their new house. Ireland is also only about 3 months younger than Brenna. Brenna is lucky to have so many friends close to her age. Brenna got to play with all sorts of new toys (Ireland's) and Mason had a new playmate. Mason played ball, we watched him ride his bike, and he really wanted to see Brenna walk, but he is the only big boy that can do that right now, so maybe next time! We had a great visit with everyone this weekend and even got to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Harvey at their house. It was a nice warm weekend that allowed us to spend lots of time out and about.

8 months!

Today is Brenna's 8 month birthday (if that's what you call it). Since her next checkup isn't for another month, we aren't completely sure about her weight and height, but estimate that she is about 20 pounds. As we mentioned in the previous post, she is crawing up a storm now and it is so fun to watch her discover new things. She is getting more brave and discovering new areas of the house - venturing from her normal play spot in the living room. She has gotten much better about eating solid food too - to our surprise, she really enjoys peas! Who knew that they'd be so good? We are still trying with other foods too, but the peas seem to be the favorite. She has recently discovered how to wave goodbye (sort of a Karate Kid wax-on, wax-off motion), but we're not completely sure that she is aware of what goodbye is. Regardless, it is very cute! She is still wearing the nasal conformer, as you can see. She seems to do really well with it - doesn't bother it at all. Cleaning it is difficult for all of us since she absolutely hates it and lets us know. Since it is staying clean and not bothering her much, we expect that she'll wear it for another couple of weeks and then it'll be out. Her next surgery - to repair the palate - is schedueld for May 26th, so we'll keep everyone updated as that time approaches!