Miscellaneous stuff

This last few weeks has been full of fun for Brenna and us. Just after her 1st birthday, Brenna graduated to the "ones" classroom at her daycare. They made her a pretty graduation hat and she got to have her picture taken with her teacher from the infant room - Ms. Josephina. Brenna has been doing so great in the big kids room. She makes lots of drawings for mommy and daddy (some of which only have some lines and dots where she touched the crayon to the paper - but we still think they are beautiful). She takes a nap on a mat along with the other kids (don't know how the teachers manage that) and does so great with it! She also uses a sippy cup all the time now and eats regular breakfast, lunch and snacks in the "ones". She is getting more and more like a little girl everyday. She has also been doing some very cute things that make us laugh all the time. One of the funniest parts of the day is getting ready for her bath. When I take off her shoes, she begins to giggle (I assume it feels good) and starts pulling at her socks. She laughs and laughs and then says "ahhh". She also uses her toy remote control as a telephone. She'll push the buttons and hold it to her ear and then babble like she's talking to someone. This is the best picture I could get of that. She is dancing to pretty much any kind of music (on TV, on a toy, on the radio - even in the car). If she's standing, she'll dance and turn in circles. If she's sitting (in the car seat), she'll just sway from side to side. It is adorable!

Dancing and Scruffy-loving

Sorry it's been awhile since the last update! Brenna had her 12 month checkup a couple of weeks ago and weighed in at 22.75 lbs and was 31 inches long. She is right on track developmentally - except that she doesn't really say mama or dada when actually referring to us, but she does know who we are when we ask (she points). But, we know the talking will come and if she's anything like mom or dad, we won't get her to stop! She has been making us laugh lately with her dancing. Anytime music comes on, she smiles and starts dancing. She does a sort of march-like dance one leg up, then the other and she'll even turn around sometimes. It is very cute! She has also been loving on Scruffy A LOT lately - more than he'd like! We'll find her following him around and then she'll lay her head down on him (her way of giving him a hug). He'll quickly move away, but then come back when she gets his toy to play tug of war with him. He has done so well with her (we knew he would) and it is very cute to watch her initiate play with him. She is also drinking very well from her sippy cup (as you can see) and eating lots of foods on her own. Pretty much anything you put in front of her is worth a shot for her to try and she has been pretty successful with most things.

I will try to post some pictures soon - for some reason, I'm having technical difficulties!

Happy Birthday Brenna!

One year already!! Although Brenna turned one on Wednesday, we celebrated with family and friends on Saturday and had a blast. Brenna dug into her own cake that mommy made the day before and after a few minutes had it everywhere (she required a bath right afterward) but looked very cute! We had a kiddie pool party with a whale pool, another baby pool with a palm tree, a sprinkler and a slip n slide. Lots of people came to celebrate the party and watch all the kids play in the water. There were lots of Brenna's little friends (including some blogging buddies Jason and Jacy) and everyone had a great time! Brenna was very fortunate to have so many people come to show their love for Brenna by coming to her celebration and to see the generosity (she now has more toys than ever). We are so grateful. Thanks to all of you who came to join in! We hope you had a good time! Mommy and Daddy got Brenna a cute little Disney Princess car and she seems to really like it. She continues to make us smile and laugh on a regular basis with all her cute antics. She will graduate to the "ones" classroom with all the other one year olds on Monday and we can hardly believe it. She is getting better with the sippy cup (now that we bought a transitional one) and the bottles will be bye-bye!

Walking pictures

As promised, here are the pictures of Brenna taking some of her first steps. Since our camera was left in Show Low, we couldn't post them any sooner, but wanted to make sure they were put out into blog world!

And the race is on . . .

Our little baby has taken her first steps all on her own!! Yep, she is a walker now!! Based on previous posts, you know that she was taking a couple of steps, well last week she took more than 2 steps on various occasions and just starting taking off from any point that she could. The next few days at daycare she perfected her ability to get up from the floor without using anything to pull herself up and now we are chasing after her all over the place! She loves that she can walk and frequently giggles so much when she's walking that she ends up falling down. She still walks a bit like a drunken sailor, but her walk is getting better everyday - I wish I could post video so you could see. I also wish I could post a picture of her in walking mode, but unfortunately, we left our camera (that contained walking pictures) in Show Low during our visit there last week. I'll post some as soon as I get the pictures. Anyway, this picture of her under her highchair is all we have for now. We got to see both sets of grandparents and spend some time showing off Brenna's walking moves. It was so nice to get into some cooler weather and we even enjoyed a meal outside during a rain shower! We also got to visit with Jacy's family (even her grandparents and some extended family) while we were there. The kids ran through a sprinkler and got to play with toy groceries. Brenna is also now making kissing noises when we ask her to "kiss" - it is so cute. She is babbling and pointing a lot, so maybe a first word will happen soon.

A cold in the summer?

Fortunately, we don't have any surgeries pending so this cold doesn't affect us as much as those in the past have, but it is still no fun. After attending a really fun birthday party last weekend (for our blog buddy Jason), Brenna ended up with a miserable fever and then a runny nose and cough. She's still getting over it, and we all had to have some extra rest because of it. Poor Brenna just wasn't herself for much of this week - just not feeling like doing much except getting cuddles. On Friday she was much more like herself, playing and getting into everything. Good thing because mom and dad had a date planned! Brenna's daycare has an occasional "Parents Night Out" where they offer nightime daycare for a few hours so that mom and dad can enjoy each other's company - without the kiddos. We took advantage of the babysitting and had a nice evening out. On Saturday, Brenna played a while with Jacy and a couple of Jacy's cousins will mommy and Jody (Jacy's mommy) went to a yoga class. Apparently, she didn't like the idea of mommy leaving her with people that she wasn't familiar with (Jacy's uncles) - she had to be carried and spoiled the whole time mommy was gone. Next time, maybe daddy will be off work and can babysit instead. On Sunday, we took a quick trip to Tucson to deliver some furniture to aunt Jamie and Uncle Josh and even got a quick visit with Grandma Diane and Grandpa Dave. More with them next weekend. . .

11 months!

Brenna hit the 11 month mark early this week - what a big girl! We don't know her stats since we don't go to the doctor until after 12 months old. But, Brenna is doing all sorts of fun things lately and keeping us on our toes. She is getting closer to walking on her own, but still prefers diving into mommy or daddy if they are close by. She is babbling and making all kinds of new noises more frequently now. Her food options have grown too. She doesn't love the baby food/cereal idea as much anymore - the spoon is too much trouble for her - she wants to use fingers! The daycare is still feeding her baby food (she eats it for them) but also letting her have the school lunch which ranges from grilled cheese sandwiches to bean/cheese burritos and she does great with it. At home we feed her bite size fruit/veggies, chicken sticks (like hot dogs for toddlers), cheese, crackers and other foods that we might be eating. She loves to feed herself and is getting better all the time. She is also getting used to a sippy cup, but we have to take the valve out since she doesn't know how to suck yet, so it can get kind of messy =) Over the weekend, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Harvey's house in Mesa for one last hurrah before they move. Brenna got to swim in a big pool with mommy and daddy and had a great time! She swallowed some water, but didn't seem too bothered by it, so now we really want to get her some lessons! Then, on the 4th of July, we had lunch with Andrea and Benjamin. The babies had fun playing with each other's toys, eating veggie puffs and throwing sippy cups and books on the floor so the mommies could pick them up. What a great time!

Trip to Tucson and 2-steppin

Last weekend, we took a trip to Tucson to visit Aunt Jamie and Uncle Josh. On the way into town, we got to visit mommy's college friends Laura and her husband Andrew. Once we got to Jamie and Josh's house, we were greeted by Brenna's crazy cousin dog - Kata. Kata was VERY excited to meet Brenna and her level of excitement prevented Brenna from doing much independent moving on the floor but she still had fun and attempted to create messes with newspaper and anything else she could find. Uncle Josh had to work on Saturday, so we mostly hung out around the house (except for the excursion to Geuro Canelo's - one of daddy's favorite restaurants in Tucson - for lunch). When Uncle Josh was done working, we all went out to dinner where Brenna was entertaining to the people around us and got to try her first bite of ice cream - which she loved. On Sunday, we at breakfast out and then hit the road back home. On the way out of town, we stopped to see more of mommy's college friends - Becky and Randy and their daughter (and Brenna's blogging buddy) Felicity. The girls played a bit together and snacked a bit together. Then it was back home. On Monday night, Brenna was in a very playful mood and mommy and daddy took advantage and tried to practice some walking. She was successful at 2-stepping - taking a few steps at a time from mommy to daddy or vice versa. She was having such a good time and we were so proud of her! She definitely has the ability to stand on her own for longer periods of time now and she gets herself into that position more and more frequently. She had her share of falls and head dives, but as long as mommy and daddy were laughing, Brenna was happy too! You can probably tell that mommy gets a bit nervous when Brenna tries to take off on her own, but I love it! We are going to keep practicing and just know that any day now she will be walking all over the place!!

Splish Splash . . .

. . . you thought I'd say "taking a bath" didn't you? Well, it was a different kind of splish splash for Brenna this weekend. We bought her a baby pool to help cool off in the heat and she did LOTS of splashing and really enjoyed herself. Daddy even joined in to cool off and play on Father's Day. At first she was a little hesitant - realizing that the water was much colder than her bath, but soon was very excited and splashing water all over the place. Last week was the week of Grandma Ann daycare, when Brenna helped Grandma pack (apparently, she was quite a little helper) and got to visit with Great Aunt Tonya from San Diego (wish we would've taken some pictures!). On Wednesday, we had our followup visit with Dr. Beals. He told us that he didn't need to see her until she was 2 year old! She is healing wonderfully and we'll go back to see him then so that she can be referred for her speech and dental evaluations. We are so grateful to have that much behind us! She had a busy weekend too - we had lunch with Brinley - a blogging buddy - and her mommy and other family members, then had dinner with Sydney and her mommy and daddy. Sydney showed Brenna how fun walking can be and how to share - well as much sharing as a 17 month old can do. For Father's Day on Sunday, Brenna got to spend lots of time with daddy. This Monday, she went back to school/daycare and is doing great. She is more interested in eating real food and is doing great with it. Brenna's teachers and other daycare workers are all very happy to have her back too!

Grandparent day care

This week, Brenna spent time at home with Grandma Diane and Grandpa Dave. She is still doing very well, considering that she had surgery just 2 weeks ago. We started giving her baby and table food again last Monday - it took a little getting used to but she is doing well now! We started out with some turkey/sweet potatoes baby food and she enjoyed trying to feed herself with the spoon rather than to let Justin help her. She really kept Grandma & Grandpa busy - she is a very fast crawler. But, she also provided hours of entertainment for them. She mimics (or tries to anyway) just about any noise we make, she is pushing her mower all around AND chasing Scruffy everywhere he goes. This weekend, she got to spend some time with Grandma Ann and Grandpa Rick when they bought their new 5th wheel. Mommy had plans with the neighbors, so Brenna went to Sun City with Grandma and Grandpa. She got to play with the "easy" button (as seen on Staples commercials) and had a great time laughing at it. Then, Sunday she got to visit with her Great Aunt Debbie and her cousins Chelsea and Rick. It was a busy weekend, but she was a great baby through it all! We think there are a couple more teeth getting ready to break through, but for now, here's proof of some of the teeth she already has - on the bottom anyway (there's one on the top too). Coming this week - more grandparent daycare as Grandma Ann helps us out!

10 months!

I know I always say something like this at each month, but I can't believe our baby is 10 months old! We estimate that she weighs about 21 pounds now - big girl! She is more like a little individual every day - surprising us with her independence and her quick learning capabilities. She is recovering well from her palate surgery - although she was in pain for the first few days, she has not stopped moving and being her curious self. She entertains herself for longer periods of time and finds new and exciting adventures every day. A couple of days ago, she started making a kissing noise (her version of it anyway) by smacking her lips open. We'll take whatever kisses we can get from her! She continues to walk with her mower toy - and is getting much faster with it, and is even learning how to get it turned around when she's run into a wall or the table. She waives hi and bye very well now and is learning word "no". She is pulling herself up on anything she thinks is stable and sometimes has a slip. Not long after her surgery, she was trying to get up at a table and slipped. Her face went right into the edge of the table - causing a bit of bleeding on her upper lip (where she already had a scab from rubbing her face into my shoulder). Her scab got a little bigger and looked sort of like a Hitler mustache - it was kinda funny. It's all healed up now - so she looks more like our Brenna. The arm restraints will come off tomorrow and she'll go back to getting her baby food and some table food again. She seems to be healing really well following the surgery and we don't have any worries about getting her back onto her old feeding schedule. She still isn't going back to daycare quite yet, so Grandma Diane and Grandpa Dave will watch her this week, then Grandma Ann the following week!

Palate Surgery

Brenna's palate repair surgery was done yesterday (Friday) and all went well! Dr. Beals performed the surgery at Phoenix Children's Hospital and told us that it went well - as was expected. Justin and I were able to go in and see her post-surgery before she'd woken up from the anesthesia and she was in a lot of pain initially. She was medicated and then slept for awhile. She struggled to eat initially - after all the roof of her mouth was all cut up! We had been told that she might need to be kept overnight if she wasn't drinking from her bottle well. Since she didn't want much to do with the bottle, she ended up being admitted into a hospital room and staying the night. About 8:00 that night, she started eating from her bottle. We were very relieved. She still had a rough night, but overall, did well. This morning, she was back to her curious self - crawling and climbing in her hospital crib, smiling at us and babbling. It was so wonderful to have our Brenna back! She is wearing the arm restraints again - like she did with the lip repair, but they are not holding her back much. She is still crawling and pulling herself up - not slowing down at all. We are hopefull that she will not have to have another surgery, but will not know for sure until she gets a bit older. There is the possibility of dental surgery, more palate surgery if her speech is not good, and more nose surgery if needed as she grows. But, with these 2 surgeries out of the way, we feel like the worst is over - these were the 2 we knew she'd have for sure. Thanks to everyone for all the thoughts and prayers, we truly appreciate all of them!

Walking . . . with assistance

Brenna has discovered walking - as long as she has her little mower toy to push around. She's not quite stable enough to stand on her own let alone walk on her own. But, she's loved to stand at this toy for awhile now, but it was always too light to push around and walk - she would tip right over. Well, we decided to add a little weight to it to see what would happen and the 5 extra pounds helps! We stood her behind the mower and she took off! I wish we could put some video clips on the blog, but until that is a possibility, here are the still pictures of the event. Now, she loves to push that thing everywhere. If only she could figure out how to turn . . .
We are getting ready for her big surgery on Friday - 5/26 - when her cleft palate will be repaired at Phoenix Children's Hospital. She is attending "Grandpa Dave's daycare" this week so that she can be healthy and ready for the surgery. However - she still managed to get what her doctor thinks is roseola - a rash caused by a virus. She has little red dots all over her body - but the doctor thinks that it will not interfere with the surgery - which we were relieved to hear! Hopefully it'll be all better by the time Friday is here. Meanwhile, she is enjoying her time with Grandpa Dave and her mower.

Mother's Day weekend

We took a trip up to Show Low to spend time with family over Mother's Day weekend. On Saturday, we spent the day at the city park where Grandpa Rick organized a BBQ for his employees. We ate some good food, visited with friends and watched people climb the rock wall (including daddy!). Brenna had a great time - she got to try small pieces of hot dog and hamburger and really like it! It was a beautiful day to spend time outside - thank goodness for that cool mountain weather. That evening, we ate dinner with the Pearsons and Brenna tried out some cantelope, had some chicken and enjoyed a biter biscuit. She discovered that she can keep it in her mouth without holding it and liked entertaining us with her "stogie" biter biscuit. She was entertaining us most of the weekend with the many activities she enjoyed. She was crawling all around grandma and grandpa's house, played the piano and giggled all the time.
On Sunday, we spent part of the morning visiting with Grandma Diane and Grandpa Dave. Then went to see Grandma Ann and Grandpa Rick. Then, it was time to come home to the hot valley, but she slept the whole way - making the ride peaceful for mom and dad.

Unfortunately, I cannot post the pictures we took this weekend because of the format used when they were uploaded (something we won't do again!). I hope to mess with them some and try to get them online, but if not, we'll post some more after this weekend.

First tooth!

Brenna cut her first tooth this weekend! I've been trying to get a good shot of it for the last two days, but this is the best I could do. I'm sure it'll show up in later pictures anyway. It is the bottom left (I know it's hard to see the little white dot, but trust me - it's there!) She's handled it pretty well, was a little fussy while she was sick (which we just attributed to her being sick) and now we understand why! She has definitely been gnawing on everything in sight, but if it helps, we don't mind.
She has been bringing all sorts of joy to our days. She giggles much more freely now and even makes herself laugh. It is the best sound we've ever heard and love to make her laugh. She also learned to clap this weekend and will cheer herself on with the help of mom and dad!

Take me out to the ballgame . . .

. . . take me out with the MCAO employees to the Diamondback's game.

Brenna attended her first baseball game at Chase Field (formerly known as BOB - Bank One Ballpark) to watch the D-backs play the L.A. Dodgers. Maricopa County offers deals on tickets to employees, so lots of mommy's co-workers bought tickets and attended the game. Brenna got all dressed up in her d-backs outfit - and matching headband (so she was clearly a girl baseball fan). Although we left in the middle of the game, the d-backs did win 3-2. Looks like Brenna was a good luck charm! Along with seeing her first baseball game, she was able to visit with her buddy Jason and meet a new friend named Owen (Mommy's boss' grandson). Owen, who is a few months older, was holding Brenna's hand and blowing her kisses. It was very cute! She was also held by some of mommy's co-workers who hadn't seen her for many months. It was a good time. It was definitely different than any other game we'd ever gone to - we can't remember seeing much baseball, but that's ok, we still had fun!
Brenna is now officially 9 months old! We have her well check on Thursday, so measurements will be in then. She is doing so well and we are having so much fun. Although she's been fighting a little illness this week (possibly a stomach flu), she is doing great!

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!