Sitting Pretty

Its been an interesting and fun-filled week for us all it seems. Where do we start? Last weekend, Justin went on a jeep trip with the boys so I took Brianna to Tulsa to see my sister and Robyn. I feel so horrible that I didn't take one picture the entire weekend until lunch with Robyn on Sunday. It was Bree's first shopping trip and I failed to capture all the fun. :-(

I met Robyn for lunch on Sunday and Brianna seemed fascinated with sitting in a high chair for the first time. She was watching everything around her, particularly Ethan. Its as if she were trying to figure out how she could do everything he was.

Sitting in a high chair for the first time

Watching Ethan

She did fabulous though and didn't have a single meltdown the entire weekend, if you don't count the last 1.5 hours of the trip to Tulsa where she screamed because she wanted out of her carseat. We left Ashley's house at 9:15 Saturday morning and didn't return till 7:30 that night. She smiled and giggled the whole day. Of course, it didn't hurt that Aunt Ashley was more than willing to carry her around, show her all the pretty clothes and keep her attention occupied all day! Needless to say, Bree had no trouble falling asleep that night.

Justin and I both had to go out of town overnight on business this week. My trip to Minneapolis was planned but his 3-day trip to Waco was last minute. Thankfully, I was able to twist my parents arms and convince them to come keep her for a few days. Let me tell you, it was a real chore to talk them in to coming too! I honestly don't know who had more fun, my parents or Brianna. Its so much fun for me to watch them play with her. It gives me a glimpse of what they must have been like when my sister and I were babies.

She discovered her laugh while I was gone and couldn't wait to show it to me as soon as I walked in the door. She's been giggling for a long time and occasionally would laugh but now, it seems she's constantly laughing at anything remotely funny. Its so cute too that Justin and I find ourselves doing anything we can to make her laugh. I bet we'd win America's Funniest Home Videos if there was a hidden camera in our house!

The other major accomplishment is that Brianna is very close to sitting up all on her own now. She still hasn't rolled from back to tummy and even though she can roll from her tummy to her back, she simply doesn't. I joke that she's going to be crawling before she's ever figured out she can roll over. She's still a bit weeble-wobble as I call it but she'll sit up for as long as we'll let her and its only when she reaches too far for something that she topples over. It doesn't seem to scare her when she does topple though as I found out yesterday trying to take the below pictures. She just rolls to her tummy, pushes up and looks at you as if to say, "what happened and sit me back up please!".

Sitting pretty!
Her shirt's a little too big but that's part of what makes these so cute!

She's right in the middle of her 6 month growth spurt as well. She was eating quite a bit more at each feeding while I was gone and taking extra long naps. The 2:00 am feeding returned last night and led to her thinking it was play time. She didn't go back to sleep till 4:00 am so she and mommy will be taking a nap together this afternoon. Daddy had to work today but is off tomorrow (Sunday). We'll be celebrating our 8-year anniversary tomorrow, even though the actual date was July 21. Amazing ... he's put up with me for 8 years ... gotta love the man for that alone!

Love you all,
Lucretia

5 Month Pictures

Ok, I couldn't wait to share these! I think she's absolutely adorable and the family pictures turned out better than I thought.



As for how she's feeling now, she's doing much better and thanks to all of you that sent us well wishes. For those that don't know, Brianna woke up Tuesday morning at 1 am with a low grade fever and lots (I do mean lots) of congestion. I ended up staying home from work and taking her to the doctor, where they diagnosed it as sinusitis and put her on an antibiotic. She ran a low grade fever all day on Tuesday but woke up Wednesday morning feeling better. She's still a little fussy today but no fever and her appetite's back so that's another sign she's feeling better. Right now though, its time to put her down for a nice long nap so gotta run ... love you all!

Lucretia

Little Water Baby

Wow, its been two weeks since I've posted anything and there's a lot of pictures to share. With the heat, we've been going to the pool almost every day on the weekends and Brianna loves the water! She doesn't like getting lathered up with sunscreen but its a must so I just get it over as quickly as possible. Once she's in the water, the fussing stops and the smiles start though! Here's a few pictures from last weekend when Justin and I took her to our community pool. It was Justin's first entire weekend off since before Bree was born that we hadn't needed to go somewhere so we hung out all weekend together. Daddy picked out her first swimsuit and I think she looks adorable in it!

Playing on her tummy in the water

She loves to stand up now that she's figured how
Isn't she cute!

Swimming never fails to wear her out!

We barely got her cleaned up from the pool and fed before she passed out. She fell asleep as I was wrapping her blanket around her and slept for 2 hours! She loves the water and will kick and splash until she realizes she exhausted and starts rubbing her little eyes. It never fails that she falls asleep in the stroller on the walk back to the house.

We also hung out with Daddy in the garage as he did some work on the Jeep. She was quite the Daddy's girl all weekend and wanted to be snuggled up or playing with him the entire time. The best quote of the weekend ... "if everyone had a baby smile at them the way she smiles at me, there'd be no problems in the world". Her face lights up every time she sees him, whether its been 30 seconds or 3 hours. Here's a couple cute pictures of her with Daddy's favorite toy ...Let's see, what else have we been up to. We spent the Fourth of July with Kris, Jen and Collin and Brianna really enjoyed the fireworks. She stayed up well past her bedtime and was very well behaved.I think that about covers it. We had her 5 month pictures taken on July 4 and they're due back in the next few days. We did a patriotic theme and I can't wait to get them and share with everyone!

Hope you all had a good weekend ...
Lucretia