2nd Birthday Pics

Sorry its taken so long to get these posted!  Enjoy!


The night before her birthday, I decided to make cupcakes to take to school.  I didn't get to last year because of work so I was determined to do it this year.  She, of course, wanted to help.  We made yummy strawberry cupcakes using my sister's awesome strawberry cake recipe.

More mama!  Right there!

The taste test.  I'm assuming she liked them because she gobbled this one down and ask for another one!

Unfortunately for both of us, Dallas got hit with snow and ice on her birthday so we didn't get to take cupcakes to school.  I know!  So sad!  But, I had hope.  I'd taken what was left of the batter to make a small cake and covered it, thinking I'd ice it and take it on Monday when the weather cleared.  Well, we returned from Super Bowl parties to find that cake pan on the kitchen floor, licked clean courtesy of our wonderful dog Moab.  I was not a happy mommy!  This is the second year that my plans for a party at school for her have been thwarted!

Now, on to the actual party, which was February 12, a week after her actual birthday.  She and Bethany, her oldest cousin, have the honor of sharing a birthday so Amanda and I try to plan parties so that the grandparents can be at both.  Based on the pictures below, I think its safe to say that she was completely spoiled!

We did a Minnie Mouse theme, complete with cakes (yes, the same strawberry because that's what she requested) that looked like Mickey.  She had no problem blowing out the candles this year!

And she also had no problem eating ALL the cake and ice cream either!

So, now that she's two, what's she doing these days.  In short, a whole lot!  She is a regular chatterbox, speaking in 4-7 word sentences, and every day, there's a new funny story and phrase that comes out of her mouth.  This morning (Feb 23) as I was taking her to school, it went something like this.

Brianna: Mama, I a precious baby!
Me:  Yes you are!  Are you my precious baby?
Brianna: No!  I Grandma's
Me: Oh really.  Do you want to call and tell her that?
Brianna: Sure Sure!
(insert break while I call Grandma, my mom, on speaker)
Grandma: Hi Brianna!
Brianna:  Grandma I your precious baby!
Grandma: Yes you are!
Brianna: hears Grandpa say hi Hi Grandpa!  I your silly goose!

There was more to the conversation, but it was so cute to listen to her talk to them about what she was wearing (a shirt) and where she was going (to school).  As if the answers would be anything other than that!

Her two year well check went great.  She's at 97% on the height charts and 54% on the weight charts.  Her pediatrician said her language development is way ahead of her age and so is her reasoning / logic.  She's wearing size 3T clothing now and is steadily working her way towards potty trained.  In fact, she woke up this morning completely dry and proceeded to tell me she needed to sit on the potty.  The conversations we have while she's sitting on the potty are hilarious but for the sake of not embarrassing her in the future, I won't share all of them.  Suffice to say, she's embarrassed me a few times when I've come out of the bathroom by asking me in front of whomever is around if I made "BIG pee pee's come out".  Yes, we have entered the stage of bathroom humor coming out of her mouth because she doesn't realize yet that bathroom's are private things. 

Justin and I got her an art easel for her birthday and she seems to really enjoy that.  It doesn't surprise me since one of the first things out of her mouth when I pick her up from school is related somehow to that day's art project.  But, it did lead to the first time I saw her attempt to do something beyond her ability and let me have a glimpse into just how stubborn & independent she really is.

Justin had drawn a car for her when they were playing.  Later that night, she decided she wanted to draw a car of her own.  After a few attempts, she was getting very frustrated so I asked her if she wanted me to help her.  She informed me, "No mama.  I do it myself."  So, she scribbled and tried some more and I asked her when she stopped if that was a car.  She looked at me with a look you'd expect from a teenager and said "No mama.  That is NOT a car."  So, once again, I asked if she needed help.  She finally admitted she did and we drew it together.  I was so proud of her for trying to do something that is obviously beyond her hand/eye coordination and for not giving up even after several attempts.  I have a feeling though it won't be too much longer and she'll have it figured out.  She's stubborn that way.

A Crazy Week

I think the title of this post is an understatement...its been a chaotic, out of control week.  It all started Wednesday of last week with a trip to the ER for me.

See, I've been on allergy shots for months now and they are fabulous.  I no longer have to take medication every day, I feel amazing and I simply can't explain how much of a difference having my allergies under control has made.  That is, until I had such a severe reaction that I ended up in the ER after using my EPI pen because I broke out in hives and my throat was tightening to the point it was difficult to breathe.  Oh, and the ER was after a visit to a local urgent care facility that refused to treat me and made me take an ambulance to the ER instead.  Can't wait to see what that bill is going to be...

I was fine the next day, but Brianna woke up with a low grade fever Thursday so we kept her home from school.  She was a trooper, going to the allergist with me for a check-up and just generally being a little doll, despite the fact that she was running a 100 degree fever off and on all day.  Friday, that fever turned into 102.8 and she was miserable.  So, we spent a lot of time snuggling on the couch, watching the clock for when the next dose of Motrin could be given.  Her fever finally broke at 6am Saturday morning and she spent the next 24 hours doing nothing but sleeping to recover from it all.

Monday was pretty normal, Tuesday was a trip to the doctor for a cough left over from the virus that BB said made her chest hurt.  Wednesday was pretty normal but then yesterday, the wonderful seasonal flu hit me and I spent the afternoon curled up on the couch trying to sleep and cursing the construction crew operating behind my house on the Denton Rail Trail train line.  So, now its Friday and I'm back at work (shhh...don't tell anyone I'm blogging too!) and just ready for the weekend.  I leave Sunday for our National Business Meeting in Florida and will be gone until Wednesday night so that will be 4 nights of not being home to see Brianna and Justin, which is not my idea of a good way to spend the week but hey, I've got to earn a paycheck right?

Anyway ... here's a few pictures from all our recent episodes.

She likes to "do it myself mama" and insisted on taking her own temperature.

Hmm, can I fit in this box?

Beanies not only keep her ears warm, they make great peek a boo props!

Playing trains with daddy.  She wants to sit in the middle of the train tracks, no matter what configuration you build them in.  Its just not the same apparently if she's sitting outside the tracks!

What's Brianna Been Up To?

I've been wanting to post this for a few days but with preparing for Justin's two week mission trip to India, its been a little crazy around our house!

So, now that Bree is 22 months old (plus a few days), what's she up to?  Here's a few pictures from Thanksgiving with her two cousins, whom she adores!

- She speaks in 4 and 5 word sentences, although they may not be in correct grammatical order all the time (but who cares right!).  They however do typically have a subject, a verb and an adjective and we have whole conversations every day on the way to and from school.  I lost count of how many words she knows a long time ago.

- She's taller than everyone in her class by almost a full head so no telling what her two year well check will show.  A few of the 2T pants I bought a couple months ago will be too short in a few weeks if this growth spurt keeps going!

- She's able to tell me the general storyline of her favorite Backyardigans or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes and is starting to develop imaginative play for her doll and animals.

- She can count to 12 if she really thinks about it but regularly hits 8-10 pretty easily.  She's also starting to get basic math concepts.  We asked her at school yesterday if she counted as one person, add mommy to get two people, how many people would you have if you added Miss Donna.  She thought about it and answered 3!  Amazed me to watch her mind work that one out!

- She also knows all her colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, white, brown and pink) and is starting to identify basic shapes.

- She still signs occasionally, but usually to add emphasis, like when she really wants more cheese, not just kind of wants more cheese.

- She's very close to being able to jump with both feet now too.  Its crazy funny to watch her try to figure it out!  At first, all that happened was arm swinging, a big step and lots of giggles.  Now, she kind of hops and will get one foot off the ground.  Her favorite thing to say afterward is "TaDa!".  

- She's very intent on potty training as well, although she still can't quite tell you she needs to go before she does.  But as soon as she feels herself start to pee-pee, she lets you know and wants to be changed right away.  That is, if she's not too busy playing.  If she's playing, she could care less.  Nothing interrupts play time.

- She's becoming more social now too.  Even last week, she wasn't comfortable giving people we see every week a hug, but this week, she will enthusiastically.  She loves to hug too ... everyone at school gets hugs bye-bye and if someone's having a particularly tough morning, she's the first one to run up to them with a hug and say "all better now.  hugs make (fill in the name) happy.  no more cry."  Its so sweet to watch her being a loving little girl.

- Last but not least, she loves to play "peeky boo towel" after bath time.  She gets all excited for you to through the towel over her head so she can "hide".  After a few rounds of this, she takes off running around the living room saying, with giggles, at the top of her lungs, "I naked baby!  Watch me run!  I naked!".  I love how she sticks her little tongue out!  It was hard to get a picture of her because she was in constant motion.

I Naked!

This morning was a little hard on her with daddy being gone.  So, to make her feel better, I told her that whenever she misses daddy, just blow him a kiss and that kiss will fly all the way to India to tell daddy she loves him.  That made her smile from ear to ear and she quickly started blowing kisses in the air saying "go indada (India) kisses.  love you daddy!"  It was so sweet to watch.  My baby girl is growing up.

Finally - A Bow!

Okay, I know its been a long time since my last post and I owe several updates on Brianna, our vacation in Charleston and life in general. For now though, you'll have to be content with this slightly dark and grainy picture I shot over my shoulder this morning with my iPhone.

You see, there is a reason that you never see Brianna in pictures with bows or hats or headbands or any other form of girly paraphernalia in her hair.  She simply won't tolerate it.  She hasn't since the day she was born and fussed at me for trying to put a hat on her head to take her outside in the cold February wind.  Needless to say, I won that battle but it was just the start of me trying to put things in her hair only to have them yanked out, sometimes with tears.  But, lately, all the other little girls at school have had bows in their hair and while she's told me all about them, she's yet to want one of her own.

This morning, as I was brushing her hair for school, I asked her for the first time in weeks if she wanted to put a bow in her hair.  She looked at me, touched her head and said "bow? hair?".  So I asked again if she wanted the pink bow.  "No!" she said, followed quickly by the statement "blue bow!" with much head patting and grinning.  So, I put it in her hair and she very gently patted it and said "blue bow.  hair."  She walked out of her room so gently is was like she was afraid that it was going to fall out!  Then that walk developed a bit of prissiness and she looked at me like "I've got a bow in my hair and I know I'm cute!".  At school, the teachers commented on her bow and she patted it every so gently saying "blue bow.  hair" and grinning.  I checked the webcam at daycare two hours later and it was still in her hair!  Amazing that for almost 21 months, I've tried and tried to get her to wear a bow and one morning, she just seemed to decide it was okay.  Oh how I love my stubborn little daughter!

 

18 Month Update & Summer Pics

I can't believe that Brianna is 18 months old now.  She had her well check last week and is doing wonderfully on all her development checklists.  She's at the 87th percentile on height and the 49th on weight.  She's up to between 50-60 words/signs in her vocabulary and is regularly speaking two word sentences with the occasional three word sentence.  Her first 3-word sentence as Dada Foo All-Gone.  She doesn't quite have the "d" on food yet but it was clear she was telling me that Justin had cleaned his plate!

We've also been having lots of fun playing outside, despite the 100+ heat.  She tolerates it a lot better than I do.  Below are some pictures from the backyard, a recent trip to the pool and her first experience with a trampoline at our friend The Ray's house.

She's going to make her Grandma Petrik very proud with this next picture.  She "helped" me feed Moab yesterday and of course, the food ended up going everywhere.  She wouldn't be happy till she'd done this ...

Surprise!

First Trampoline Experience

She loves her friend Andrew, who took care of her and played with her all night.  I think its obvious that she had a great time!

A Busy Two Weeks

I'm not sure if this will just be a really long post or if I'll end up breaking it into two, but for now, I'm just typing and we'll see how it turns out.

To start with, for those that aren't on facebook or friends with me there, you might not know that Brianna had to be hospitalized for dehydration on July 14.  She had been fighting a GI virus since Saturday, the 10th.  We thought she was over it after Monday as we'd had no further vomiting or diarrhea for over 24 hours, so off to daycare she went on Tuesday while I flew to Atlanta.  Justin called me Wednesday morning to say she'd thrown up again and the earliest we could get her a doctor's appointment was that afternoon.  The doctor took one look at the fact she was screaming her eyes out, but without any tears, and decided to admit us to Denton Presbyterian for observation and fluids.  It took them at least 30 minutes and multiple tries in each arm and hand before finally getting the IV in her foot.  It was pure hell for both of us and all I could do to stay strong for her and not break down in tears.  You can see how they had to tape up the IV to keep her from pulling it out.  Once the fluids starting rehydrating her, she perked right up and we were released Thursday morning. 

However, Friday morning she woke up throwing up again and we were pretty scared that we'd end up back in the hospital if we couldn't get it stopped. But, after some anti-nausea meds and a liter of orange Gatorade, combined with a 3 hour nap, she seemed to be doing better.

Unfortunately, Justin and I were scheduled to leave for Cabo San Lucas on Monday, the 19th, while she spent time with her grandparents in Oklahoma.  After much thought, we decided that staying home with her was the best choice so we canceled our Cabo vacation.  Although we made the right choice, we were pretty upset by this since it was for our wedding anniversary and had been booked for a year but, thankfully, we had travel insurance so hopefully, we will get most of our money back.  We also didn't want to deprive the grandparents of the chance to see Brianna since they'd been looking forward to spending time with her as much, if not more, than we'd been looking forward to the chance to put aside our mommy and daddy hats for a few days.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being a mom and Justin feels the same about being a dad, but we believe its just as important to take care of our marriage by spending some time alone.  After all, Brianna will be grown and gone before we know it and we'll still be stuck with each other!

So, we packed up the car with Brianna and Moab (that was one very full car!) and headed up to my parent's house.  I got to see my adorable pregnant sister for a few hours before she headed back to Tulsa and I simply can't wait to meet my new niece or nephew in January!  After a few days with my family, we headed over to Justin's.  After looking through baby books at pictures of him and his sister, Amanda, there is no doubt that Brianna looks like him!  There are some pictures of his sister that could pass for Bree if you didn't know better.  You'll have to look below for a picture of Justin at 15 months to see for yourself.

 Sometimes, its the old toys that are still the most fun.  I played with this tool bench and rocking horse when I was her age!

After not eating meat for almost a week, Brianna decided to be a carnivore the night mom fixed rib-eye steaks.  Yes, that is a whole rib-eye she's holding in her hand and eating!

Out of desperation one day, I downloaded some animal games to my iPhone for her to play.  Now, whenever she sees my phone, she says "animo!!"

Crazy Hair!

Playing at the park with Pops, Bethany and Addisyn

And now, for the picture of Justin that shows just how much like him his daughter looks!

We're safely back home now and headed back to work and normal lives tomorrow.  Brianna is perfectly fine and back to normal, complete with a hearty appetite to put the weight she lost back on in time for her well check next week.  Have a good week everyone!

17 Months Old

Its been awhile since I've posted what Brianna's been up to lately so I thought, since she's 17 months old as of July 4th, I'd fill everyone in on what she's been up to lately.

• She still signs quite a bit, both for things she can say and things she can't.  At last count, she was up to 24 signs.  The latest words she is saying are: Mama, Dada, puppy, kitty cat, outside, shoes, icky, uh oh, no (in many different intonations to communicate exactly how emphatic she is or isn't), eat, paci, strawberry (sta-be), cook, hi, bye-bye, more, knee, nose, eyes, cheese, cereal, belly button, toes, book, animal and fishes.  She can also say all the names of the kids in her class and the babies that are in the class below her.  She mimics a lot so I'm not counting those.  She did a perfect mimic of "suitcase" the other day, but when asked what it was later, wouldn't say it so until she actually uses the word without it being a mimic, we don't count it.
• She loves to throw the ball for puppy and play "catch the baby", where we chase her around the house, then throw her over our shoulders when we catch her. 
• She's the sweetest baby and the cleanest baby ever!  She gives lots of hugs, snuggles and kisses and likes to give "group hugs", particularly if she wants to hug someone other that Justin or I.  She'll also blow kisses to her daycare teachers at the end of the day.  She also doesn't create a lot of messes and will walk around the house picking things up and then taking them to the trash can, putting them in and telling them bye-bye.  There's been a few things make it in the trash can that weren't supposed to but its a good way to occupy her for a few minutes while I'm doing dishes if I need paper towels thrown away! 
• She's starting to show an interest in all things potty related.  She will point to her diaper after she's peed and when you ask her if she needs a new one, she'll go in her room and wait for you to change her.  She also loves to help me go potty, including handing me the toilet paper, flushing the toilet then telling it "buh-bye".  I think buying her own little potty is in the near future.  She can start official potty training at school when she moves up in August and I'm hoping she's a fast learner since she seems so interested in it.
• She hasn't, thankfully, started showing too many signs of the terrible two tantrums.  She'll have her moments and start whining or fussing, but usually ignoring it or providing her a distraction seems to work.  We haven't had any total meltdown temper tantrums that involve throwing herself on the floor yet, but I know they're coming.
• She has 6 teeth right now, one that just broke through and 3 more on the way.  She's got 4 on top (including the new one), 2 on bottom and then one on the top at the back.  The three new ones are all back teeth and seem to be very painful, including causing her to run about a 101 fever the last few days.
• She also is starting to want to be rocked to sleep less and after about 5 minutes, she will point to her crib and want to be laid down.  She falls asleep all on her own with nothing needed from Justin or I to help her.  Its nice because we know that's what's healthy for her, but there are nights when I really want to rock her and she's pretty adamant she's ready to lay down instead.  She regularly is in bed about 8:00 and then sleeps until about 7:30, still taking a good 2.5 hour nap each day. 
• She still LOVES books (makes me so proud!!) and will sometimes ask for one as soon as she wakes up from a nap.  She carries a book around almost as much or more than anything else.

I think that covers most of what's she's doing these days.  She's not a baby any longer but a full-fledged toddler.  Its so much fun to play with her all weekend but there are still times I miss that newborn cuddliness.  She seems to know when I'm needing a few extra cuddles and will come crawl up in my lap, lay her head on my shoulder and pat my arm.  But, then she's off and running again and the moments past.  She's a busy little girl but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Updates, Pictures and General Life News

Wow, its been awhile since I've posted so its time first of all for some pictures of Brianna.  She and I spent last weekend with my family for Easter and not only did she get to see Grammy and Grandpa, but also Aunt Ashley and Uncle Scott, both sets of Great-Grandparents, her Great-Aunt Franna and my cousin Justin and his wife, Pam.  It was a full house on Saturday and as is her usual style, my mom cooked up a feast of goodies for everyone.  Brianna wasn't the only one taking a nap after lunch, that's for sure!

Let's see, what else has she been up to.  She learned the Baby Sign for "moon" this week at bedtime and now picks out the moon in all her books.  She's starting to learn about animals so I'm working to teach her "giraffe" and "elephant" since those two are pretty distinctive and are both in the book we read at bedtime every night.  If I knew what kind of sign to do for monkey, I'd add that to the list.  I guess the whole scratching under the arm ape kind of thing would work but not sure yet about that one.

On a less positive note, she's decided on occasion that hitting (better termed swiping since its not hard enough to be an actual hit) is a good way to express her displeasure at me when I either take something away or make her do something she doesn't want to, like get in her car seat.  A stern no isn't getting me anywhere very quickly so I've started ignoring it or walking away from her when she does it and we're at home.  Forcing her to be separated from me as a result of any bad behavior, even if its just by 6 inches, seems to drive the point home that she did something she's not supposed to.  I have a feeling she's headed toward that temper tantrum stage real quick and the wonderful concept of "time out" is right around the corner.

Helping Mommy "do laundry"

Sometimes, when things have to get done and you're home alone, you get creative on how to keep watch of the kids at the same time.  So, Brianna got to ride around on the laundry basket before we took it to the laundry room, where she helped me unload it, sort it and put clothes in the washer.

Pretty Flowers!

Easter 2010

New Bracelets.  I think she's going to have a thing for jewelry, much like all the rest of the women in the family!  These are part of the lids to a mason canning jar she found in Grammy's cabinet and immediately put on her wrists as bracelets.

Aunt Ashley celebrating 29.  Isn't she gorgeous?  Next year, its on to her 30's!  Oh, and that delicious looking dessert is my mom's Banana Split Cake.  It tastes fantastic!

Looking a little confused, but adorable, in her Easter dress and jewelry, courtesy of The Jones'

The scrape on her nose is from taking a nose dive on the porch Friday afternoon.  My parents have a handicap ramp for my grandparents and Brianna loved walking up the ramp, then down the porch steps.  She got a little ahead of herself and fell though.  Thankfully, the scab was gone by Tuesday and you can't tell it even happened now.

In general family news, Justin and I both are off on new adventures in our careers.  I accepted a position with Bayer as Market Manager for our Convenience and Single Serve businesses this past Monday and have already started transitioning.  That's the smallest of the sales position within our office so good training ground.  Its around $13 million in annual volume so no small chunk, but in relation to say, Target, where I am now, its a big change.  I'll be pulling double duty until my position is filled so its going to be hectic for the next few months.

Justin's launch into self-employment / franchise ownership is off to a great start.  Although we're still figuring it all out, we're up and running with LawnLab and have a little over 30 customers already.  More keep coming in almost every day so before too long, we'll be able to flip it into a full franchise.  Its nice to see him having such success with this and he seems much happier to be working for himself instead of someone else.

I think that's it for now.  Hope everyone enjoys the weekend!

10 Months Old

*sniff sniff* Brianna's 10 months old today.  Its amazing how the time has flown by.  She's staring to look more like a little girl and less like a baby every day, though she gets more beautiful the older she gets.  I know, I'm partial but hey, what mom doesn't want to brag on their child every now and then! 

Here's a few of the things she's up to and in to these days.  It seems like several things have started falling in place for her lately as she's learning new things very rapidly right now.

-- Asking "at's is", which translates in English to "what's this?"  I'm constantly telling her the name of things as she holds them up to me or points to them and says "at's is".  Just last night, she noticed the new picture of herself on the mantel, pointed and asked "at's is" so I told her "baby".  She looked at me and said "aby" in that questioning way that she has and was so proud of herself when she got big smiles and praise from mama.  Of course, she looked around the living room and wanted to see all the other pictures of herself too after that!

-- She knows Mama and Dada now.  She's been making the noise and we've thought for a few weeks that she was calling me Mama but over Thanksgiving, she clearly said Mama in a way that left no doubt she was referring to me.  Grandma Petrik was changing her and I was sitting on the bed beside her when she reached up, patted my cheek and called me Mama (yes, I got a bit teary-eyed).  When we got home Sunday night and saw Justin, she pointed to him and cried out "Dada" with big smiles and held out her arms for him to give her hugs.  He won't admit that he got a little teary-eyed over that.  Again, we think she's been saying dada for more than a month now but she left no doubt that she knew who Dada was when she did that!

-- Last night, she fed herself peach YogurtMelts for the first time.  She's been playing with finger food for awhile, but showed no interest in actually eating it.  Wednesday night, she licked it but wouldn't put it in her mouth.  Last night though, she popped one in her mouth like a pro and loved it, though she made several funny faces in the process! 

A few of the more minor notations...
-- She's wearing size 3 Cruisers.
-- She's been wearing size 12 month clothing for a month now since she's so long.
-- She still takes 3 naps a day, although the last one usually more of a 20 minute power nap.
-- She's still breastfed (yeah mommy!) but has started all the meats and seems to like Chicken Mango Risotto and Chicken Apple Compote the best.
-- While we still have no teeth, I swear they will arrive any day now.  She ran a fever Wednesday at daycare and was miserable yesterday, wanting to chew on everything she could.  Her gums look solid white right in front and slightly swollen so I know those teeth are coming.
-- Her favorite toys are balls, books and the Fisher Price Learning Table at daycare.

Here's a few pictures from Thanksgiving that my mom took.  I just love her expressions!

My mom made her a bunting outfit for winter to keep her warm.  Here she is modeling it with with her Aunt Ashely and Uncle Scott.  It came in very handy this week with all the cold weather!

Grandma Petrik was playing dress up with Brianna since they'd bought her a few new outfits.  Her face in this one is just priceless.  What'd I'd give to know what she was thinking!

9 Months Old!

Brianna's 9 months old now and it amazes me how fast its gone by.  The last 9 months have gone by so much faster than the 9 months of pregnancy.  She has her well check this past Monday and all went well.  She's 29 1/4 inches long, which puts her in the 95th percentile and she's weighing in at 18 pounds, which is the 30th percentile.  She's been running in the 50th percentile so with all the extra fun she's been having, she's slowed down a bit in her weight gain.  Overall, she's perfectly healthy and growing like a weed!

Here's a few pictures from this weekend of us playing outside.  I pulled a leaf off the tree for her to play with and she had a great deal of fun tearing it apart!

 

 

 

Here's a few other random pictures from this weekend.  She loves to play with Justin's hats and beanies so he often puts them on her head to see what she'll do.  The second picture is of the outfit my mom made her to keep her warm this winter.  I think we'll be saving it for next winter!  Mom's already making a smaller one for her for this winter, though if today's weather is any indication, its not going to be cold enough for quite awhile!