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!
A
