Water, Ponytails, and Sleeping

Kind of a random title, I know, but it sums up the blog pretty well! This little girl of mine is growing so fast and learning even faster! She has had so many "firsts" this month, but I will save those for her 9 month blog. She is so fun to be around and I can't get enough! Just thought I would share some sweet little pictures to show you what I mean...

We went to the fountains in Uptown Cedar Hill with Melissa, Brooke and the kids. Here is Brenley splashing in the fountain!

It has been so hot lately so I just had to put Brenley's hair in a ponytail! Ahh, so cute, but she looks too old! :)

I also started doing this hair do with a bigger bow -- had to stop with the small bows cause she was taking them out and sucking on them. She looks like such a little girl!

(this makes me laugh -- looks like she is trying to hide the fact that I am kissing her!)



I have found her in some odd sleeping positions lately during nap time. Here she is asleep with her hand on her music machine.

And then here she fell asleep sitting up! :)

Wow, she makes my heart happy! Oh and we are both starting Mothers Day Out next week. Well I am teaching a 2 yr olds class and she will be going to her little class! Next week is a training week for me, so she will go 4 days in a row -- yikes and then just Tues and Thurs after that. I am a nervous mama, being that she has never done any childcare other than the nursery. I am praying all goes well -- for the both of us!

8 Months

My Brenley Bear is 8 months old today!! She is getting so big, so fast! If I think back to December 11th and picture that sweet, tiny newborn, it is crazy to me that she just layed there and now 8 short months later, she is crawling, pulling up and getting into everything!! Even as I type this, she is trying to crawl over my legs to get to the laptop and bang on the keys! Babies change and grow and learn so much in the first year of their life!

Here are a new things that Brenley is doing at 8 months of age...

• She knows her name and will turn around when she is called. But now we know that when she does not turn around, she is ignoring us! :)
• She is officially CRAWLING everywhere! And she is getting fast too! This makes our days a lot more interesting.
• She is PULLING UP - on anything she can get her little hands on. This also means she falling and hitting her head on things also -- this of course makes mommy and daddy sad!
• She got her FIRST HAIRCUT! It was not much, just a little snip, but it needed to be cleaned up a little. :)
• She hears the words "NO-NO" a lot during the days as she tries to get into things that are dangerous or as my Nanny says are "none of her business" :)
• She has tried some new foods like blueberries, watermelon, potatos and cheese. Oh and ice cream and Sweet tea! :)
• We moved her mattress down since she is now pulling up! I love to see her standing in her bed with a huge grin in the morning and after her naps.
• She is enjoying the summer swimming and visiting friends!!
• She still nurses 4x a day and eats a fruit and cereal in the morning, and a veggie/fruit in the evening. She likes to drink water from her sippy cup too!
• She is still sleeping great -- about 11 hours!

I love this little girl more and more everyday and she has changed our lives forever! I hate that she is having some "stranger anxiety", but I do LOVE that she reaches back for me and gets excited to see me! This next month will have some changes as I start my part time job at Hillcrest church as a Mothers day out teacher and she starts in her class, but I think we will both enjoy it! Each month is more and more fun and exciting!

I love you Brenley Marie!!!

8 Months!!

Tired of the photo shoot!

Just thought this was cute -- I guess she wanted to do her laundry! :)

Life on the Move

Well Brenley has been full out crawling for almost a month now and our lives are more "exciting" these days. She keeps me busy chasing her around and getting her "unstuck" from places! She is also pulling up on things so that keeps me always watching as well. Here are few pics of her new adventures lately.

Help, I am stuck!

Uh oh, I am caught!

Hmm, what is back here!?!


This could be more fun than bath time!




A little video of her crawling and "playing" with Polo

And here are just some random shots from the last couple of weeks...

Headed to a wedding with Daddy

Mmmm, Nanny loves to give me drinks of water. I wear more than I get in my mouth :)

My friend Gage Erwin!

My new bath seat -- thanks Jill! Mommy loves that she can be hands free!!!

Love this giggle face!!

Well that is about it for now...8 months old is in just a few days...where did the time go!?!

Beaumont with the Family

A little over a week ago, Bobby, Brenley, Polo and I loaded up the Jeep and headed off to Beaumont to spend a week with my parents! We had a great time and did some fun things. My brother also came back from Greece while we were there, so it was good to see and visit with him also!

Here are some of the fun things we did while we were there!

Well the first BIG thing we did was get Brenley's haircut! We got it cut by Louise - she used to cut my hair when I lived in Beaumont! Brenley was great the whole time!

We also made a trip to G-Daddy's office! This is Brenley playing the mail bin. :)

Taking a bath in Nana-D's sink!

We took a FUN trip to Kemah!! We rode rides, ate yummy food and just enjoyed the evening! Oh yeah and I got pooped on the head by a bird -- grrrr!

Bobby and I got to go on date while Nana-D and G-Daddy babysat!!

She enjoyed looking out the backdoor!

We went to visit my old neighbor, Sarah (on the right) and her new baby! (her mom is on the left)

We also went to Houston to visit my long time friend, Shara and her new baby, Emily

Here are our moms holding their grand-daughters. 29 short years ago, they were holding me and Shara like this!! :)

Brenley enjoyed checking her facebook while we were there! :)

We had such a great time while we were there! I still love going back "home"! Can't wait to do it again. Thanks G-Daddy and Nana-D for having us -- and spoiling us!

First Haircut

Brenley got her first haircut today -- well it was just a trim, but it is something to document! She literally only got less than half an inch trimmed all around the edges, but it just evened everything up. I think it actually made it curl a little more. The average person probably cannot tell, but Mama knows! :) Oh, and of course we saved the little pieces of hair -- I had too -- those were the hairs she had when she first came into this world!!

She did so good and Daddy and I were so proud! It was also fun because the lady that cut it, is the person that cut my hair when I lived in Beaumont and she still cuts my mom's hair. We love Louise!

I am currently in Beaumont and forgot my camera cord, so I cannot download my pictures, BUT I was able to get my video uploaded. (And, yes, she is playing with a roller! :) Anything to keep her happy!)

Bringing back Kickball!

When the world cup was going on, Bobby's office decided to do a little "Office Cup"of their own. So a couple of weeks ago, they split the office up and played a friendly game of soccer. This past Monday, they changed it up a bit and played Kickball! Bobby asked me if I wanted to play and I said of course -- I am always up for some competition! It was a lot of fun and our team WON!

I thought it would be fun to dress Brenley in a shirt for her Daddy, so here it is!

Daddy's #1 Fan!

She was worn out from watching the game and you can tell from her shirt, just how HOT it was! She downed her bottle and some water!

On another note, I think this pic is cute of Brenley. She definitely loves to put things in her mouth. :)

7 Months

Really, I think this has been the fastest 7 months of my life! This little girl keeps up busy, entertained and on our toes at all times, but we would not have it any other way. I can honestly agree with each mom out there, that each month does get better and more fun! It is so crazy to me how much they grow and learn in the first year of life.

Here are some of Brenley Marie's milestones of month 7:

• Baby food is in full swing and she has tried many things! Some that we introduced in the past month are squash, prunes, peaches, blueberries and apricots. We have also given her Gerber puffs (which she loves), refried beans, the occastional ice cream bite -- shhh dont tell the Dr! :)
• She is ON THE MOVE! She has been semi-mobile for about a month now, but just in the last couple of weeks, she is really making improvement and can make it across the room before I know it. She takes about 4-6 real crawls and then will fall on her tummy and scoot. I can't say I am really ready for this, but I dont think I have a choice.
• She is very interested in Polo and Polo's bone -- however, I am not sure Polo enjoys the attention!
• She BOUNCED TO MUSIC! She has only done this once, but it was so cute and surprised us all when she did it. My mom was playing a musical toy for her and she just started bouncing - on beat. So cute and funny!
• Had her 6 month check up -- She has gained 9 lbs and grown 5 1/2 inches since birth!
• She can sit back up from the crawl position. This surprised Bobby and I one night, when she was on her tummy one minute and sitting back up the next!
• She moved up to the crawler room in our nursery at church! She loves this room so much better than the infant room. :)
• Watched fireworks on the fourth of July!
• Still nursing 4 times a day and has cereal in the morning and a veggie and fruit at dinner time.
• Sleeps 11-12 hours a night with 2 naps (1 hr each) during the day! However, 2 days last week she slept til 10am (13 hours), but I think she was exhausted from her fun with Nana-D!

She is really fun right now and I LOVE to hear that giggle! She plays so well and loves when her Daddy comes home! I think this month is going to be interesting as she is getting more mobile, but I love how each day is different!

This face cracked me up!!

Happy 7 months baby girl! We love you!!