A Jolly Good Time - Christmas 2010

Whew, what an eventful, fun and busy couple of weeks this has been! Lots of family, fun, food and memories! Let's see if I can recap all that we did over Christmas...

Well in the week leading up to Christmas, Brenley got pink eye...yuck! And the sweet daughter that she is, decided to share it with me! And then, hers decided to flare back up again for a couple of days, but after a trip to the doctor and two perscriptions we have finally conquered the pink eye!

Here is my poor baby on day 2. It looks awful, but thankfully she ate well and still smiled!

The day before Christmas eve, my parents took Brenley to a little train in Cedar Hill. My dad, Bobby and myself decided to cram in there with her. :)

Then on Christmas Eve we all went to see ICE at the Gaylord Texan. Very cool and VERY COLD! EVERYTHING is carved out of ice. If you have never been, I recommend it, but bring gloves!

Brenley actually fell alseep while we were in the nine degree area!

They have ice slides too -- so fun!

Later that night we had Christmas with Bobby's family.

She was pretty good with tearing that paper!

Family pic -- excuse the no eye makeup -- still getting over the pink eye

Christmas morning we discovered Santa had come!

Brenley in her new rocker!

She loves DVDs, well, mainly just carrying them around :)

Later that afternoon we went to my Nanny's to celebrate with my side of the family

Getting some assistance from Nana-D

She loves her sock monkey!

Playing with the cousin's Toy Story figures

Her very own wagon!

Well I think that about sums it up! We had a great time and really enjoyed Daddy being home for 6 whole days!

So grateful for family and their love - we made some great memories this year!

12 Months

ONE YEAR!! One full YEAR since this little girl changed my life! I cannot even wrap my head around the fact that it has been a year because it has flown by so fast, but on the other hand if I think back to certain memories, they seem like forever ago. Very strange. But the hospital, delivery and bringing her home are so fresh in my mind and I pray they never leave!

This year has been so fun, yet so hard...so rewarding, yet so challenging. I have learned so much about being UNselfish in the last year. It really is ALL about Brenley and her needs and that was hard for this Momma to learn. (i.e. I love my sleep!) But when I look at that sweet face and see those hands reach out for me, it is ALL SO WORTH IT! Ok, before I start crying, let's get to the fun stuff...here is what my "baby" is doing these days...

• SHE IS WALKING! Early in the month she was just doing a few steps at a time, but over Thanksgiving she started toddling around everywhere. Not much crawling anymore for this gal!
• She got two more TEETH! So she officially has 8 teeth now.
• She said 2 WORDS-- "Dadu" = thank you (must be prompted and will only do occasionally), and "uh oh"
• LOVES on her baby -- she will rock it, hug it and pat it. Funny thing is, we did not teach her how to do this. Love how the Lord instills this in little girls.
• She has started HUGGING us when we pick her up and I love it.
• Met SANTA for the second time (the first time she was just 5 days old) and was not scared! :)
• She is drinking COW'S MILK and did great with the transition. She is also done with bottles and has moved to sippy cups only. She did this pretty much on her own.
• She starting to take longer naps -- Thank you Lord. They will last 1 1/2- 2 hrs at home and she takes one in the morning and one in the afternoon. She is also sleeping about 11-12 hours a night!
• She is eating pretty much everything, although she recently started spitting out vegetables. Might need to pull out some tricks!

Well I think that is about it. We are having so much fun with this little girl. She is the highlight of her Daddy's day! Can't wait to see what this next year holds!

P.S. We had her party and it was chaotic fun! Bobby's cousin took pictures of it, so once she sends them I will dedicate a whole post to her party!

Look at her go!

I can't believe it, but my little baby that I had just 11 SHORT months ago is walking around this house! And best of all she really started "taking off" over the Thanksgiving week while my parents were in town! So both grandparents got to see her new ackomplishment last week. So fun!

Here is a little video of the big girl!

On another note -- we started brushing Brenley's teeth last night. She currently has 6 teeth and 2 growing in..so it was time. She loved her toothpaste!

Serioulsy --is she growing up this fast!?!?

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a great time with family over the Thanksgiving week! My parents were able to come into town for a whole 8 1/2 days!! We filled it with DBU Homecoming events, a Turkey Trot, a trip to the Dr office for my Nanny who fell and hurt her knee, cooking, eating, more cooking and more eating! It was fun!

Brenley enjoyed her first Thanksgiving mainly because she could eat ALL that was made and she loved every bite!

We spent Thanksgiving day with Bobby's parents eating and playing games and then Friday was spent at my Nanny's house with my side of the family. So glad we were able to spend time with both sides. Here are just a few pictures of our Thanksgiving!

Shoveling it in at GiGi's

Gigi and Jualito

Nanna-D introduced Brenley to a new game at Nanny's house, but some how Mom was the one that picked it all up when she was done. Hmm..

Brenley's cousins LOVE her!

More shoveling at Nanny's house

I think she is all practiced and ready for Christmas dinner now! Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!