Bronwyn's 1st Birthday!

Mmm, this is good

Slurp, lick, chew

Oh hi. I didn't see you there.

Oh look. More ice cream cone! Better get right on that.

What do you mean it's in my nose?

Oh man is this good

Is that a little speck I see in my hand?

Sluuurp. Gotta get every last drop.

          We sure love our little Bronwyn. She can be such a little stinker, and such a source of entertainment most of the time as well.  Aftyn loves to play with her, when Aftyn wants to. Most of the time I hear " Mommy, Bronwyn is getting into somethin'. "  Or some such thing that means she's bothering Aftyn or Aftyn is just being helpful. Aftyn loves to play hide and seek with her. Aftyn can make Bronwyn giggle even more than Reed and I can, and that's saying something. They make a good pair.

                Currently, Bronwyn has no attention span for books. It might be 10 seconds, tops. She is mostly mimicking a lot of the things Aftyn does. Today I saw her trying to step into the Daddy shoes I had just instructed Aftyn out of. Also, any toy Aftyn has Bronwyn wants. 
     Bronwyn just today starting walking more than she has yet. Everytime she would fall down, up she would go again and toddle away.  Walking full time is right around the corner, I think.
She has 2 of her bottom front teeth and just last week got one of her top front teeth. She's currently working on getting her other front tooth so that she has a matched pair. :)
            She has been showing a little bit of stubbornness the last few days where before she had a total love of learning new things to say and new things to do. Hopefully she'll decide to work with us and let us help her learn how to do and say things for herself.

She still is such a little girl. She wears size 2 shoes and size 9 months clothes. I haven't weighed her recently, so can't tell you that number, but if you could see the chubs on her belly and thighs, I'm guessing 17.5 pounds. Which for this little girl is probably just right. I'm waiting for a monstrous growth spurt that would make her as tall as Aftyn was at this age, but just as ready to keep her in all the clothes that Aftyn grew out of way too quickly. Finally we'll get a little wear out of some of our summer things that Aftyn wore maybe once.
       Either way she turns out, we sure do love this little girl and are grateful for her in our family.

Recently I was reminded of how far I've come here in Massachusetts. And yes, this may be a sad and rather pathetic story, I find it funny and heck, it's very REAL! We all need to be a little more real so that people REALLY get to know us.

As you might recall, when we moved here to MA it took awhile for me to find a friend. Eventually I was and have been blessed with just the right person. I am very grateful for her. But before she came along, I had someone else. Actually, more than just one. Let me explain.

 We had Netflix when we moved out here, but no television. So if we needed entertaining we found our tv shows there (or on Hulu).  Kate Goslin, with her 8 kids, became my new bestie with being mothers our greatest commonality. Now she loves running, one more thing we have in common! And yes, I've already watched all of Kate plus 8 as well.
     (Reed just got me one of her books for my birthday and surprisingly I really enjoyed it! He didn't plan to buy me just that book, but it happened to be at the discount store he was shopping and he thought I would enjoy "reading about my best friend".  :)  )

   My 4th love, chocolate also became a good friend during this time. One day when Aftyn came in and asked about my treats, I told her they were my friends. From then on, she referred to them as such. "Mom, can I have one of your friends?"  :) Okay, a little creepy, but also rather funny. Thankfully, that has stopped as I don't want her to be TOO friendly with chocolate. It's good as only an occasional friend, after all. (I am far too chummy with it.)

Anyhow, no rhyme or reason to this little post. Mostly just a little funny story about the struggles I had when we first moved here.








P.S. I fell down the stairs today. May I recommend not wearing socks on hardwood stairs? Really, take my advice. Someday when you slide down because of slippery socks, it's really going to hurt. And you'll be all bruised up.

Birth. Day.

                                                    Yup. Today is THAT day.
                               And how neat is it that the age I'll be turning this year
              is the same as the ages that Aftyn and Bronwyn will be turning this year.
                                                         That's pretty cool.
                          Couldn't have planned that better if I had actually planned it!
               

Here's some pictures of us celebrating with our local favorite, cannoli's!

Happy Birthday to a Special Lady!

Dear Alysa,

Happy Birthday! I wouldn't want to share this day with anyone else. You are an awesome sister and a great friend. I wish we could be together to share this day just like old times. Since we can't, here's your heavy hang-over and don't forget the virtual bump on the head. Oh and watch your mail this week.

Love Alyson


(p.s. from Alysa. . . . . Mom, I know now what you were doing when you were talking to me on the phone . . . .     :)  Pumping me for my password information so Alyson could hack my blog!!!   )

I'm So Glad When Daddy is Home

I Believe in Celebrating Early and Often

My friends,
      in approximately 21 hours, our little family will be celebrating something we have never celebrated before. That's right. We have made it through our first semester of graduate school.

     And on this solemn occasion, I would like to let you know all the things I plan on taking advantage of for approximately the next 3 months until the next semester starts:

         1. Daddy daughter dates. Daddy's having double dates.
                          And some Mommy Daddy dates.
         2.  Working out at the gym with my husband. Hopefully.
         3.  LOTS more family activities including camping, hiking, long walks at the park, fun trips to
               far off places like Maine. :)
         4.  Lions! ( A game Daddy and Aftyn like to play together)
         5.  Fee Fi Fo Fum  ( A game Daddy plays with both girls)
         6. Talking with my husband in the evening. Instead of finding people to talk to on the phone.
         7. Anything husband related that I have sacrificed for the sake of school over the last 4
             months.

      I plan on savoring every blessed moment. And I know that the longer we are here and the more people we get to know, the more support and help I will find for myself when the next 2 semesters are coming at me.

Aftyn has become quite the little colorer lately. She will sit for over an hour and just color in her coloring book. She's even learning about coloring in the lines!

Just trying for a funny picture of Bronwyn. She is so quirky.

Coloring wears her right out. She is always telling me, "Mommy, I'm coloring SO HARD!"  :)

               

Bronwyn's First Steps !!!!!