2 Years!

Dear Bryson,

I can't believe you are 2! When did that happen? I'm a little late writing this letter because there has been a lot going on. You are about to become a big brother and we are in the process of building a new house (and selling the old house, and living in an apartment in the meantime).

You have changed and grown so much this year, that I'm sure I will leave something out, but I will do my best.

• You now have all of your baby teeth, except for your two year molars. You tend to go through a biting phase while you are teething - not fun! :)
  

• You dropped down to one nap not too long after your first birthday. Bedtime is 8:00-8:30pm and we taught you that if the clock doesn't say 7:00 you go back to sleep. You don't usually go back to sleep, but you play happily in your crib until at least 7:00 (it seems like you usually wake up between 6:30 and 7:00. Nap time is between 1:00-1:30 and you usually sleep about 2 hrs, but sometimes 3 hrs!
  

• You were able to jump with both feet coming off the ground before you were 18 months old.
  

• You love to play with balls. You are an excellent roller, thrower, kicker and goalie. We're working on catching. You got a basketball goal for your 2nd birthday and you are already making baskets.
  

• Looking back on your vocabulary at 1 year, I don't even know where to begin... You speak in sentences now. I couldn't even guess how many words you say now. You recognize all of your letters (capital and lowercase) and know what sound each of them make. Some of the words you can spell now include Bryson, Daddy, Gavin, stop, go, cat, dog, end, red...
  

• You recognize your numbers and can count to 20. You are even recognizing and correctly identifying 2 digit numbers. You love looking at digital clocks and reading the number, then saying what will come next. This is usually how it goes: "What's it say now? 8:24. What's next? 8:25..."
  

• You constantly amaze us by what you learn and what you are able to figure out. You have learned our phone number twice (we had to get a new one when we moved). You know the address (numbers) for our apartment, Grams and Gramps, Nana and Pawpaw, and Uncle Jason and Aunt Nikki.
  

• You have a great sense of humor and a wonderful smile. You like to smile at people when we are out and about and you are quite the flirt.
  

• You are generally well-behaved, listen well and make good choices - but you are two, so obviously, you have your moments ;) I think God give us those moments to remind us how lucky we are that you are usually so easy!!
  

• We had the family over for your birthday party. We had a Sesame Street theme and you had a blast, but you got sick before you could eat your cake :( You are rarely sick and it was a little scary for us to see you suddenly not feeling well at all.
  

• You still love to swing and go for walks :) We will miss the trails and the creek by the old house, but we will be near a park with trails at the new house.
  

• In the past year, we've been to the Waco Zoo, Sea World and visited a fire station. You were Cookie Monster for Halloween.

• Your favorite toys are balls, blocks and books.
  

I'm sure I've left some things out. You have grown so fast and everyday brings something new. You are truly an amazing little guy and we are so lucky to have you! It seems like you are constantly amazing us or making us smile and laugh! Your enthusiasm and joy are contagious :)

We love you, Boogie! You are going to be an awesome big brother and I can't wait to see what year 3 brings!! There are a lot of changes coming - baby brother, big boy bed, potty training, a new house - and I know you will take them all in stride!

Some Definitions

GRACE

1. Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.

2. A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement.

3. A sense of fitness or propriety.

4.

a. A disposition to be generous or helpful; goodwill.

b. Mercy; clemency.

5. A favor rendered by one who need not do so; indulgence.

6. A temporary immunity or exemption; a reprieve.

7.

a. Divine love and protection bestowed freely on people.

b. The state of being protected or sanctified by the favor of God.

c. An excellence or power granted by God.

8. A short prayer of blessing or thanksgiving said before or after a meal.

January 1, 2011

Grace.

1 Year!

** A little late on posting this obviously. I started it on Bryson's birthday, but just put the finishing touches on it.

Dear Bryson,

You are now a 1 year old. A toddler. A big boy. I guess I am going to have to come to grips with the fact that babies don't come with a "slow down" button. But as much as a part of me wants to keep you little forever, there is an equal part of me that is truly enjoying watching you grow and develop. The past year has been filled with some amazing discoveries and achievements, and I know you will continue to fascinate me every day.


Here are some of the things that have happened since your 6 month letter:

• Your beautiful smile now holds 6 pearly whites (2 top, 4 bottom) and teething has seemed like a piece of cake for you.
  

• You have started to sleep much, much better than you were. You are now sleeping all night on a regular basis and usually taking two great naps each day. Sleep does not always come without protest, but you quickly realize it is a good idea. I think you are a lot like me in this regard.
  

• You learned how to crawl right at 8 months.

• You started walking unassisted just a few days after 11 months.

• You know how to clap your hands, dance, "jump" (your feet don't actually leave the ground, but it is cute watching you bounce up and down). And you know what we are saying when we ask you to do these things :)
  

• You understand a ton of words now. Every day you amaze us when we ask you where is xyz and you are able to find it. You do this with words we didn't realize you knew.
  

• Some of the words you have said include: dog, blue, ball, balloon, Dada, round-and-round (referring to ceiling fans). You try to say Mama, but it doesn't come out quite right ;) But, by far, I think your favorite word is door.

• You wave and say bye-bye when it is time to go. You have even been known to beat us to the punch and figure out on your own that someone is about to leave (i.e. when Daddy is getting ready to go to work and you say bye-bye before he does).
  

• You went swimming for the first time, saw your first 4th of July fireworks, and dressed up as a monkey for your first Halloween.
  

• You had your first birthday and your first birthday party. And you devoured your cake!
  

• You still love to swing and go for walks.
  

• You still like to go to story time at the library and we've also started going to Gymboree.

I'm sure I have missed a few things that should be on this list. Every day I thank God for giving me such a sweet little boy. You bring so much joy to our home and to our hearts. I am so excited to watch you grow in the coming year!

Happy birthday, Boogie! We love you so much!!

Air Conditioning

It's Thankful Thursday, right? It's been so long since I've kept up with my blog, I've forgotten what the plan was.

Anyway, today I am thankful for our new air conditioner. Woohoo!!

And, more importantly, I am thankful for my parents welcoming our six member family into their home for two nights while we were without a/c. They are awesome like that :)

The dogs love going to Grams & Gramps because they get to play with Sadie and they get extra treats and belly rubs. Bryson loves playing with Grams and Gramps. And Mommy sometimes gets to take a nap :)

Having such a generous family turns otherwise unpleasant situations into enjoyable moments!

6 Months Old

**I started this post on Bryson's 6 month day and just wrapped it up today. Nothing slow about me.

Dear Bryson,

Today you are six months old. It is hard to believe you are halfway to a year. It really does seem like just yesterday you, me and Daddy were still camped out in the hospital waiting to come home.

These past six months have been absolutely wonderful, even though they've gone by too quickly!! You are an amazing little guy and you truly are a blessing in our lives.

Here are just a few of the milestones and things you have learned in the past 6 months:

• You started smiling a smile that melts my heart every time I see it. Hardly a day goes by that you don't have your smile on first thing in the morning when you wake up :)

• You moved from the Pack n' Play in our room, to your crib in your own room.

• You learned how to roll both ways, although you very rarely roll from your tummy to your back.

• You can now sit up all by yourself for long periods of time without falling over.

• You had your first Christmas, New Year's and Easter.

• You went to your first Longhorn football game (the spring scrimmage).

• You have found your laugh - oh what a sweet laugh it is! It's very contagious too!!

• You started eating solid foods. So far you have had rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, apples, avocados, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas and carrots. You like just about everything other than the rice cereal (can't blame you on that one).

• You love to swing and go for walks.

• You like to go to story time at the library.

Other than being quite the spitter and not a big fan of nap time, you are a very easy going baby and you are happy 99.9% of the time! Daddy and I are so proud of you and so grateful for the joy you bring to our lives!

I can't believe in just 6 more months we will be celebrating your 1st birthday! I love you, Boogie!!

Say What?

There's a new blog in town. Take a looksie.

The Boogs

Today, I am thankful for Bryson. For some reason, his nickname has become "Boogie" - sometimes shortened to "Boogs" or even "The Boogs" if referring to him in the third person. We might need to start making a concerted effort to calling him by his actual name more frequently, so he will know what it is :)

I feel so blessed to have a happy, healthy child. I love watching the little wheels in his head turn as he explores the world around him and learns what his little hands are capable of doing. I love how he rubs his little eyes when he's sleepy, and how he'll stare at someone, give a little grin, then shyly bury his head in the shoulder of whoever is holding him.

He's sweet, inquisitive and a little on the quiet side. And I'd be remiss to leave out the fact that he's the cutest baby in the world (I'm allowed to say that, I'm his Mom... and he is pretty darn cute).

I could go on and on, but I'll just say that I am so grateful for this little guy and his smiles make every day brighter!

I love you kiddo!!

Catching Up

The beef enchiladas I made last week (from leftover pot roast) were Y-U-M-M-Y :) I didn't really follow a specific recipe. I had looked at a few but, in the end, just kind of ended up doing my own thing. It worked out well and we'll probably add that to our "things we eat" list.

We made an attempt to go to the Kite Festival this weekend. When we got to the parking garage, the line for the shuttle looked incredibly long, so we decided it wouldn't be worth the wait. We did end up stopping by a local park to enjoy the weather for a little while.

As you can see, by the time we got to the park, Bryson was not the happiest of campers (he's still pretty darn cute though):

My Sweets

Thankful Thursday is back! And today I am thankful for my husband.

Isn't he handsome?

He's also sweet, intelligent and funny. He's patient with me, when I'm being difficult (which isn't very often, right sweets? ;) He's helpful, dependable and considerate. He's also turning out to be a pretty amazing dad.

We are alike in many ways, but we also have areas in which our differences nicely balance each other out. I am very fortunate to have him in my life, and I love the life and the family we are creating.

Love you, Sweets! Thank you for loving me :)

Dear Amazon.com,

Though they are great books, I am pretty sure that "Treasure Island", "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", and "Dracula" are not really books that are appropriate for children ages "Baby-3". Not sure why these are the first three books I see when browsing for this age group, but you might want to have someone look into that.

kthxbai.

Menu Monday

Not a very detailed, nor fancy, nor particularly healthy menu this week... but at least I did kind of plan out some meals and actually made it to the grocery store on Sunday. I went to a different store location because our store is being remodeled and it is incredibly hard to find things right now. I am never again going to the other location on a Sunday afternoon... it was insanely busy. And every day is "oblivious day" at the grocery store. I think I'm going to start going to the store on Saturday morning or some other non-busy time. I will not go into my grocery store etiquette rant, and will instead post my menu:

Monday - Eat Out

Tuesday - Pizza

Wednesday - Pot Roast

Thursday - Beef Enchiladas

Friday - Maybe Breakfast or another pizza

Saturday - Who knows

Sunday - We'll See

Yeah, I'll have to revisit the plan for the latter part of the week :) And I think I need to start thinking about my menus much earlier than Sunday. Last minute menus are not my forte (obviously). We'll see if next week is any improvement.

Trying Something New

Here is my first attempt at video on the blog. This is from the latter part of January, when Bryson was just beginning to really enjoy his time with Ollie the Octopus...

Posting this makes me realize I need to take more videos and also learn a little more about the video editing software on the computer.

3 Month Pictures

I missed a few posts last week. I also did not follow the menu I made for menu Monday (I did finally make pot roast last night for some dinner guests). But there's nothing like Sunday Son-day to get back on track ;) Here are some 3 month photos of the little guy... hard to believe it's almost time to take the 4 month pictures...

Not So "Thought-Provoking" Snow Day

I had a few ideas this week for "Thought-Provoking Tuesday". I can't remember most of them and the one I can remember, I don't really want to write about. There is only so much you can say about some jerk that decided to fly his plane into a building because he didn't want to pay his taxes and, quite frankly, I'd much rather post snow pictures :)

Menu Monday

We stuck to the plan last week! We found a keeper recipe for pork chops. The salmon was pretty good as well. If we try the meatloaf again, we are going to try to find a way to make it less mushy.

So here is the plan for this week:

Monday - Crockpot Pot Roast, Salad, Biscuits

Tuesday - Beef Enchiladas, Salad

Wednesday - Eggs and Biscuits or Eat Out

Thursday - Pizza (frozen this time, haven't figured out what recipe I want to try for the homemade pizza yet)

Friday - Baked Tilapia

Saturday - Burgers

Sunday - Eggs and Biscuits or Eat Out (whatever we don't do Wednesday)

I think I'm going to have to brainstorm a little earlier next time. I'm finding it hard to decide what to do when I know I have to go shopping in the morning. I need to make a list!

2 Month Pictures

Catching up on the month pictures. Here are some 2 month pictures:

Meatloaf and Patriotism

Well, we switched up the menu a little bit. We had the meatloaf today because I didn't get the pork chops marinating this morning.

I thought the meatloaf tasted pretty good, but it was a little mushy. We might give the recipe one more shot and try to figure out how to make it less mushy. Maybe a better texture will make it a keeper.

On another note, we were watching the Olympics last night and ice dancing was on. It was ice dancing, so I wasn't paying that close attention, but I did hear the commentator mention that one of the Georgian competitors was from the United States and that her citizenship had been expedited for the games.

Now, I realize that athletes do this often. However, I find it ridiculous that this skater had never even been to Georgia. Isn't competing for your country kind of the whole point of the Olympic games? I think one should have at least set foot in the country they are competing for. Learn a few words in the native tongue, meet some fellow countrymen, buy something with the local currency. Just my opinion. At least they said she "would like to visit" Georgia after the games. Woohoo... what a patriot.

Late Post

Couldn't think of much to write today, so here are a couple of pictures of Bryson from earlier this week.

Grabbing "Ollie the Octopus" with two hands:

First time riding in the stroller like a big boy:

My Parents

Welcome to my first Thankful Thursday post! I had a hard time deciding who to be thankful for first because I have a lot of people for whom to be thankful. In the end, I decided to start with my parents because, without them, I would not be around to be thankful for anyone else.


My parents are awesome. I know I'm biased, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find better parents anywhere. I've pretty much always felt this way, but now, being a parent myself (even for only 3.5 months), I have an even greater appreciation for all that they have done for me.

I could probably write for days about all the reasons I'm thankful for my parents, but in an attempt to organize my thoughts, I decided to list 10. Please know that this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the gratitude I feel for them. In fact, look forward to future Thankful Thursday posts about each of them individually. But for now:

Ten Reasons I am Thankful for My Parents:

1) They taught me about faith and introduced me to Jesus Christ.

2) They always provided us with everything we needed and then some (and still do).

3) They demonstrated how to be a good person... selfless, considerate, thoughtful, responsible... the list is endless.

4) They always supported our endeavors and attended our events. I think I can count on one hand the times that they weren't both at a game or a concert, and all of these times involved doctor appointments or surgery or something of the like.

5) They provided a lifetime of fun times and fond memories... holidays, vacations, games, laughter...

6) They are both cancer survivors. For their survival, I am grateful to God, but to them I am grateful for their faith, courage and strength during their battles.

7) They provided a loving, nurturing environment with appropriate boundaries, expectations and consequences. We knew what was expected and what to expect.

8) They demonstrated what a loving marriage should look like.

9) They instilled in me an appreciation for the important "things" in life. While we were fortunate to have many material "luxuries", I learned that the most important "things" in life aren't things.

10) They love me unconditionally and I know, without a doubt, that I can count on them for anything.

I really could go on, but I said "10 reasons" so there you have it.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for everything! I am truly blessed to have y'all in my life! I love y'all!!!