Sisters

Before I had Annalyn, Brynlee used to avoid talking about the baby. If someone would ask her if she was going to have a baby sister, it would not be unusual for her to tell them no. I was kind of worried that she would be really jealous of the new baby and not handle things well. She has really surprised me. She wants to be right by Annalyn all of the time and is always asking to hold her or trying to give her kisses. She is such a good big sister and I have really seen her grow up so much in the last month and a half. 

Brynlee loves to help me with the baby. Whenever the baby cries she runs to her. She will rock her or try to stick shove the pacifier in her mouth. (If the baby doesn't take it Brynlee will usually put it in her mouth.) When I change the baby's diapers she likes to grab a wipe and try to help. She likes to do tummy time with the baby and she is good at singing her songs. 

Brynlee also loves to play with her baby sister. I have found lots of dolls, little people, and play dough wrapped up with Annalyn in her blankets. The other day Brynlee was playing with her kitchen set and she was cooking and feeding Annalyn. She even gave her a pretty bracelet to wear. I can't wait until they are really old enough to play together without constant supervision from mom.  

I think Brynlee and Annalyn are going to grow up to be great friends. Annalyn may have to deal with being picked on a little bit but I am sure she with enjoy playing with Brynlee when she is older. 

I feel very blessed to have such great daughters. I love them so much. 

One Month

It is hard to believe my little baby is already a month old. I can really tell that Annalyn has grown a lot since she was born.  She is starting to get nice and chubby and she feels heavier. She started out almost a pound smaller than Brynlee but she is catching up to how big Brynlee was at this age. Annalyn is now 10lbs. 11oz. and she is almost 23 inches long. She can hold her head up pretty well and she is already trying to roll over. She rolls to her side when I put her on her back.

Annalyn is such a sweet baby. I love holding her and cuddling with her. She has the cutest little dimple on her right cheek and a nice cowlick in her hair. She loves to make sounds and "talks" all of the time. She is starting to sleep for longer stretches at night. I only had to wake up to feed her once the last few nights. She loves to be held and she likes to look at things. 

We love this little girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family. 

Brian's Reception

My brother Brian was married in Washington DC right after I had little Annalyn. We were sad that we weren't able to be there so we were really glad they had a reception here in Idaho last weekend. The food was great, the decorations were beautiful, and we had a great time. Brynlee absolutely loves Brian and his new wife, Heather (Now she has two aunt Heathers). Brian met Heather while he was going to school in Rexburg and they spent several Sunday evenings at out house while we lived there. During the reception Brynlee didn't want to go to anyone but Brian and would not leave him alone. She even tried to cut in on the dance. Joel and I kept trying to get her to leave Brian alone but she would cry until  Brian would come get her. It was pretty funny. We love Brian and we are glad Heather has joined our family.  

Brian even held Brynlee for the family pictures. She cried when I tried to hold her. 

Annalyn slept through most of the wedding 

Brynlee's last dance with Brian before he left

Easter Sunday

This Easter Sunday was a very special day for our family. We were able to take Annalyn to chuch for the first time and Joel got to give her a name and a blessing. It was a beautiful Spring day and a wonderful day to celebrate the resurrection of our savior. Lots of family came to support us and Joel gave our baby a wonderful blessing. After church we even got to have an Easter egg hunt at Grandma Verna's house. Brynlee loved getting candy. It was a great day.

Baby Annalyn

Our sweet baby girl joined our family on Tuesday March 20, 2012. We were scheduled to be induced the next day but we are glad she came on her own.

It was snowing that morning as we left for the hospital. I didn't start having contractions until about 2:30 that morning and I wasn't sure this was the real thing until about 4am I was really afraid that I would get to the hospital and they would send me home so I waited to call my dad until about 7 that morning. He came over to watch Brynlee and we got to the hospital around 8 that morning. At this point I was already dilated to a 6 almost a 7 but there were no free rooms in the hospital.  I had to wait for an hour and then it took another hour to get an epidural. At that point I was already dilated to an 8. Two hours later and with only a few pushes my little baby was here. We named her Annalyn and she weighed 7lbs and 8oz and she is healthy, and O so beautiful. We love her so much already.

Only a few hours after we had the baby they moved us to a teeny tiny corner room. I guess they had a lot of babies born that day. It is a good thing Annalyn came early because they would probably not have been able to induce us the next day. We spent that night at the hospital and were able to go home the next day. They really wanted us to stay for one more day but we were able to convince them to let us leave early. Joel spent a few days home helping out and we have really enjoyed having this baby in our home.

We all love this baby so much. It is an amazing feeling to be responsible for such a tiny person. I was really worried about how Brynlee would react to a new baby but so far she has done great. She thinks she has to be by the baby all the time and she is constantly giving her kisses and pointing to her face while naming all of her body parts. I think they will grow up to be great friends I just can't leave them alone in the same room for a while. We are all very grateful that this new little spirit has come into our home and we can't wait to get to know her better. 

Canada

Joel spent the last week of February in Canada while Brynlee and I stayed home. He went to help his parents with a job they got putting in sisal and vinyl in some church building. His parents needed the help and Joel loves doing that kind of work. He was more than glad to help out and earn some money. They were supposed to leave at the beginning of February but things kept getting pushed back. It made me nervous to have him gone so close to when the baby was due but we were pretty confident that she would wait for him to get back. Luckily she did.

This was the longest Joel has been away since we have been married. Luckily we have lots of family around here so we were able to stay busy. Brynlee did really well the first few days but at the end of the week she was super whiney. Church was not fun without Joel. He made it home at 4:30 am last Tuesday, about a week ago. A week and one day after he left.

We are really glad Joel is back. We missed him a lot. He is such a huge help taking care of Brynlee in the evenings after he gets home from work. When Brynlee saw him in the morning she was super excited. She kept randomly giving him hugs and kisses all morning. Joel tried to sleep in but Brynlee kept running in our room to make sure dad was still there. I had to take her outside so he could sleep.

Joel worked hard on his trip but he seemed to have a good time. I wish we could have visited Canada with him. He brought home lots of Canadian candy and some pink cream soda. He lost his voice while he was there and it is just now coming back. It is good to be together again.

Facts About Brynlee

I love spending time with Brynlee and seeing her little personality grow. She is very strong willed and she knows what she wants. She is learning new things everyday and getting so big. I can't believe she will be a big sister soon. Here are just a few fun facts about Brynlee

• Brynlee is now 20 months and 2 weeks old. 
• Brynlee has 13 teeth. She has five teeth on the top and eight on the bottom. She has 4 molars.
• Brynlee's hair is long enough (barely) for a pony tail but she wont keep one in. 
• Brynlee loves to give hugs and kisses.
• Brynlee talks constantly but I can only understand one or two words in each sentence. She loves to repeat what we say and she likes to say the prayer. 
• Brynlee gets frustrated very easily and is quick to throw a temper tantrum. If she doesn't get her way she lets me know she is unhappy. One of her favorite phrases is "no way."
• Brynlee is not good at sharing and she will push other kids and scream at them if they touch something she wants. 
• Brynlee loves to sing. When she is in a good mood she walks all over the house singing songs that she makes up. She really loves going to the library for our "music and movement class." She is good at singing the songs and doing all of the actions. 
• Brynlee loves to play with play-doh and make "snakes" that hiss. The other day she rolled each one of her noodles from her macaroni and cheese on the table and pretended they were snakes. They each hissed and floated through the air before they made it into her mouth.
• Brynlee hates sitting in the cart at the grocery store. If we let her out of the cart she runs from us. This makes it hard to take her to the store. 
• Brynlee does not like going to nursery at church without mom or dad. She went fine at first but now she cries every time we try to leave.
• Brynlee still sleeps with a pacifier. We call it her soother and she calls it a "sue." Lately she has been sneaking it out of her bed and she hides in her closet so she can suck on it. She likes to run out of her room with it and show me that she has it and then she runs to hide.  

• Brynlee also cries when Joel or I go anywhere, even if we just go to the bathroom. Joel had to say the prayer at church a few weeks ago and she screamed and yelled for daddy as soon as Joel got up. I had to carry her out of the chapel while she was screaming for dad.
• Brynlee is also good at unloading the dishwasher. I can't leave it open at all or she will start to unload it, even if the dishes are dirty. She also really likes to play with the tablets that go in the dishwasher. If we leave them out she opens as many as she can and lines them up. She took a big bite out of one a few weeks ago. Luckily she spit most of it out.
• Brynlee already thinks she should be the one to drive the car. Every time we head for the car she says "wanna drive." Joel made the mistake of letting her sit in the front seat and he let her "drive" the car down the driveway and into the garage one day when he was cleaning out his truck. Now she heads straight for the driver's seat every time we get in the car and it is a huge battle to get her to sit in the car seat.
• Brynlee loves to watch videos on youtube. She could watch them all day but I usually only let her watch them every once in a while. She likes songs with actions and she sings and dances while she watches the shows. She insists on being the one to pick which songs we watch and she get really mad if I don't do the song she wants.   
• Brynlee has completely figured out how to use my mom's i-pad. She even taught my dad how to use it. The last time we were at my mom's house I put the i-pad away and went to get my shoes on. When I came back she had turned the i-pad back on and she was in the middle of putting together a puzzle. She thinks the computer should work the same way as the i-pad so it is covered with fingerprints.
• Brynlee can be super sweet and still loves to sit on my lap and cuddle with me. She can also be very busy and running all over the place. 
• Brynlee is also extremely independent. She doesn't like me to help her with much of anything. 
• Brynlee is a great helper. She throws away the garbage, puts her clothes in the dirty hamper, and helps set the table. 
• Brynlee is lots of fun to be around and I love her a lot. 

Baby #2

     I am finally nearing the end of this pregnancy. I am officially 36 weeks pregnant which means our baby girl is due in only four weeks. Hopefully she comes before then because I am so ready to done with this pregnancy. I have been extremely tired lately and Brynlee has been a real handful. I will have to write more about some of her antics later. I can't keep up with her.
     At our last doctors appointment we got to see the baby in an ultrasound. We couldn't get a great look at the face but everything looks good and we are definitely having a little girl. Before our next appointment we are supposed to pre-register at the hospital and decide if I want to be induced or not. The baby is officially due March 22 but all of my family is leaving for my brother's wedding just days after my due date so if she doesn't come by the 23 I am going to be induced. I don't know if I am ready to have two kids yet but I can't wait to meet this little girl.

Our baby at 35 weeks

Me at 35 Weeks

Messy Face

Joel built Brynlee a high chair for Christmas and now she gets to sit at the big table and eat with us. She thinks it is lots of fun and she loves sitting with us. She also thinks she needs big cups, spoons and forks. On this day she tried to eat some pudding with a huge spoon and she made a huge mess. 

Can you guess what Brynlee just finished eating in these pictures? Macaroni and cheese

Here is Brynlee eating some spaghetti. She was being really neat and and using her fork, but the noodles kept falling off so she stuck her hand right in there. Then she looked at her hand and laughed like it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. 

Brynlee can be a handful some days and she keeps me busy all of the time. Despite all of the challenges of being a mom; I wouldn't trade this job for anything. I love my messy girls even when she has food all over her face. She helps me to step back and find enjoyment in the small things in life. I love her little laugh and her contagious smile.