13-18 Weeks

Brynner makes me laugh all day. There are many days when my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing. I can't imagine life without him now. He's my everything! Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure.

I read babies can learn to stick out their tongues so I did until one day he did it back. Now we can't get him to stop!

On his best behavior

He found his feet this last week and is always trying to get them in his mouth.

First time eating Rice Cereal. Those are funny Rice Krispies!

Check out those thighs!

Hmmm....socks!

Getting ready for a walk

Daddy and Brynner's favorite game!

I love to snuggle with my sweet little man

He's always so happy to see Dad when he gets home from work

My Mom thinks I'm cuter then you!

Traditions

Now that we have a child I’ve really wanted to start a lot of traditions so that as long as our children can remember, we’ll always have done certain things. I truly believe that it brings the family together like nothing else can. I think it even brings a sense of security that the kids always know certain things are going to happen every year on this holiday etc... It makes the day so much more fun to look forward to. I would love to hear all the traditions you may have in your family as something to blog about or at least leave me a ton of comments so I can get more ideas!! Here are some ones I’ve either thought of, seen somewhere, or carried from one of our family traditions. And let's face it, most of them revolve around food! New Years Eve: -Fortune Cupcakes. Bake them as normal and cut a slit on the top to put in the paper fortunes. You could make your own and print them off the computer (preferred way...you can make them very personal and funny) or buy some at your local craft store. Once they are frosted you’ll never be able to tell they were ever cut. April Fools Day: -Make food that resembles something but is really something else (like the cupcake meatloaf a few posts back) Halloween: -The Family Night Phantom is another fun tradition where your family takes a treat to unsuspecting homes with a poem. "The Phantom Ghost has come to town to leave you some goodies, I see you have found. If you do not wish a curse to fall, Continue this greeting, the Phantom call. Post this Phantom where it can be seen, and leave it there until Halloween. Then make two treats and two phantoms like this, Deliver them to 2 neighbors who may have been missed. Deliver at dark, when there is no light, Ring the doorbell, run and stay out of sight! Have fun and remember, don't be seen....share in the spirit of Halloween!" Sundays: -We make waffles every Sunday. This week we made cinnamon and vanilla waffles, the week before it was blueberry. I can’t even begin to tell you how many waffle recipes I’ve tried, but so far this one is my favorite for the basic recipe: Basic Waffle Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2005 4 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 1 cup 4 3/4 ounces whole-wheat flour, approximately 1 cup 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons sugar 3 whole eggs, beaten 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted (1/4 cup) 16 ounces buttermilk, room temperature (2 cups) Buttermilk Substitute: Add 1 Tbl. of Apple Cider vinegar for each cup of milk and let sit for 5 min. Vegetable spray, for waffle iron Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions. In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. In another bowl beat together eggs and melted butter, and then add the buttermilk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Ladle the recommended amount of waffle batter onto the iron according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Close iron top and cook until the waffle is golden on both sides and is easily removed from iron. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree F oven until ready to serve. Longest Day of the Year: -It's always in the middle of June. The idea is to enjoy the most sunshine on the longest day of the year. Take that day off of work/school etc... and let each family member choose an outdoor activity (Picnic, hiking, swimming, miniature golf etc..) Birthdays: -I thought it was so great that I got to have whatever I wanted on my Birthday for Breakfast and Dinner. -Celebrate 1/2 Birthdays! Buy a small gift and have cake and ice cream. These are just a few ideas. Let me know what you do as a family!

Rice Krispies

I just had to share a cute story that happened today. Brynner had his four month Dr. appointment and Brad took a long lunch break so he could come as well. During the visit our Dr. mentioned starting Brynner on a little rice cereal once a day. Brad was telling the Dr. how excited that made him feel that he would be able to feed him. He told her he was going straight to the store and get some. He paused for a second and then asked the Dr. "You mean Rice Krispies, right?" I couldn't help but burst into laughter. How cute is that?!! Our Dr. chuckled and told him the difference. He was a good sport and just laughed right along with us. I thought you all might think it was funny too! :)

April Fools!

This year I decided to do my tricks via food. No, I didn't switch the sugar and salt, but I did make cupcakes and sushi. The cupcakes were made of meatloaf with a mashed potato frosting and the sushi was rice crispy treats, gummy worms, and fruit rollups. I had more fun making it then I'm sure Brad had eating it! He looked at the odd dinner on the table and just smiled and sat down to eat. What a sport. At first glance I really think you could be fooled into thinking they were real cupcakes. The sushi was obvious. At least the Peach Mango flavored water really got him! April Fools Brad!!! After all the weird food he even cleaned up the kitchen. Thank you honey! By the way I got both of these ideas from www.familyfun.com you should check out this site, I love it!

Story Time-Food

Story #1
On our second date I invited Brad over to my apartment for dinner. Afterward he made an apple pie from scratch-I was impressed. I can't exactly remember how the subject came up but he was telling me that he had never burned anything while he was cooking. Suddenly I pictured my Dad scrapping burnt toast with a knife over the sink and thought that everyone has at least burnt toast, right?! I proceeded to tease him and he continued to defend himself. Of course it only escalated the more time we spent together. Then one day it happened! He burned a grilled cheese sandwich at my apartment. I couldn't help but jump up and down while laughing and screaming ha! I told you so! I remember the look on his face perfectly. He wanted to be mad but just couldn't help the smile creeping up on his lips. It was priceless. To this day I still tease him when he accidentally burns something. Granted it doesn't happen often, but just the other day he did make the fire alarm go off!! :)

Story #2

Before I had the baby, Brad and I worked for the same company so we would go to lunch together. One day I saw what looked like an adorable little diner so Brad and I decided to try it out the next day for lunch. It was called the Vertical Diner. We sit down and see that they had a lot of tofu and alternative proteins among which they also listed chicken. So I ordered a veggie burger and Brad gets the chicken sandwich. 30 min. later we finally get our order. I had an ok burger with 4 regular sized carrot sticks. And Brad had a odd looking sandwich with a few tortilla chips (no salsa or anything just plain tortilla chips) Then Brad bites into his and thinks that they made a mistake and calls the waitress over. He told her he had ordered the Chicken Sandwich. She informed us that it was an entirely Vegan restaurant and that was the "Chicken." Nothing against substitute meats but why would they bother listing 6 different types of protein and then call the 7th Chicken? Confusing to say the least! They also didn't have anything printed on their menu about it being all Vegan. Brad couldn't eat the rest and we both laughed as I finished off my four carrot sticks. The waitress took off Brad's meal (even though we didn't ask, which was very nice). Our waitress said it happened all the time....so you'd think they would have something somewhere that said everything was Vegan right? The next closest thing was McDonald's so we stopped in for a double cheese for Brad and I got a Hot Fudge Sundae. We really did get a good laugh out of it so it was worth watching Brad's face as he tried to figure out what was on his sandwich. Sigh...We'll always have the Vertical Diner!

Story #3

To have story time and not tell about the cobbler would just be wrong! This takes place back in my High School days. I'm sure a lot of you have already heard this...but it's a classic! My Mom had just made a big peach cobbler and had offered a piece to my boyfriend and I . My Mom, Stepdad Ren, Tyler, and I were all standing in the kitchen talking while we started to take our first bite. I look over and Tyler has a confused look on his face, gets his fork, and starts pulling something out of his cobbler. How this happened I will never know, but apparently a blue rubberband had somehow fallen into the pan and just as equally impressive, my Mom hadn't noticed it. It wasn't the standard size of rubberband either...it was huge! It seemed like he pulled it out for a good 5 seconds before the last of it had finally made it's appearance. It was shocking, very unexpected, but hilarious! I can't remember if he ate another piece or not. Poor guy was probably traumatized!

Catching up

I have to play catch up due to my nearly insensitive lack of blogging lately. My apologizes to Amy, Holly, and Brad :)

Our son was finally blessed! We had scheduled his blessing for February 3rd but as you can all remember, it snowed so bad that day that church was canceled. So we had to wait until March 9th when he was finally given a wonderful blessing. The whole time during the blessing I was bouncing my legs as if he was sitting on them in some odd attempt to keep him from crying. My Dad told me he was watching Brynner through the blessing and he was just fine looking around at everyone. I was really relieved. I admit I have an irrational fear of Brynner crying in public and me not being able to console him. Odd, I know. To this day I still have a hard time going grocery shopping, for example, without Brad. It's not that Brad can magically stop the crying, I just feel better with him there. We unfortunately didn't get a get a ton of pictures of Brynner in his blessing outfit because he was so sweaty and uncomfortable that we promptly changed him not long after we got home. We did get a few..none of Brad and I, but here is one with my Mom. She is the one that made the adorable outfit. I had her make it out of the train of my wedding dress. It really means something special to me to know Brynner and I shared two of the most important days of our lives wearing essentially the same thing. With that said, please do not tease my son that he wears girls clothes...appreciate it. I had to ship the material to Arizona where my Mom made it in just three days. Thank you Mom, you're the best!

(Brynner's Elvis impression)

The Easter Bunny also made an appearance at our house as he did undoubtedly to yours. For some reason Brynner was given things like a kite, candy and other ridiculous things such as a book and movie which he cannot (or should not, rather)enjoy yet. Don't be concerned, Brad and I discussed it and will play, eat, read, and watch his things until he comes of age.


As far as things that have changed with Brynner. Last night he slept 8 hours straight! Do you know how exciting that was?? So why couldn't I enjoy it?! I woke up countless times from 3:00 to 6:00 and had to go check on him to make sure he was ok. Man, I'm beginning to sound like...oh I know...a first time parent! This is huge if he keeps this up, I'm so proud of him!

Another very important thing he started doing last week was going phhhhhww. I have no clue how to spell it but it just might be easier to show you on video. I dare you to spell it. No I triple dog dare you. That's how long I pondered on the spelling of this rather adorable new trick.

Pictures! 8-12 Weeks

We haven't posted pictures for quite awhile so here are some of my favorites from age 8 weeks-12 weeks. Sifting through them all, I realize just how many pictures we take of him! He's just so cute though, I can't help myself!

This is a picture of him talking. He's really been "talking" a lot! It's sooooo cute! I have some cute footage I'll post as soon I figure out how! :)

He is usually so cute and happy when we change his diaper.

We attempted to take some family pictures a couple weeks ago. It didn't turn out so well as you can see. We got a couple pictures out of it...the one above and the one on our profile. For putting the camera on a timer and trying to make him look forward instead of at us or the dog, I think we did pretty well.

I just had to post this one because of that lip! Oh my gosh...I kind of like it when he's sad just so I can see that face....but just kind of because that means some crying will follow.

I love to see the smiles even more then the pouty lips!

Regarding his mouth, he likes to eat with it and munch his hand with it. So much, in fact, that his nickname right now is Captain Munch....

However, today he found a third thing he likes to shove in his mouth. This was the first time he grabbed a toy and put it in his mouth. He did it over and over. It was really great to catch something he did for the first time on the camera! I know it seems silly but I was so proud at how well his motor skills are progressing.