Where has the time gone...

My baby girl is getting so big. We have officially started the potty training. I don't know who it is harder on me or Britton. She is doing great at school and dry most of the day, but at home she doesn't want to try and go. We are fully in pull ups, no more diapers for her. The daycare center has already moved her into the two year old room. I know she is smart and that her good friends are in there. It just made sense to do it now instead of waiting two more months. She is so silly.

In August we took a vacation to Seattle, since I had to go for a few days of meetings. My dad flew up from Sacramento and we got to spend some time with Uncle Steve and Aunt Nina. We really had a great time and Britton really traveled very well. Whenever the plane took off Britton was lulled to sleep. What a treat for us since she was sitting on our laps.


Britton eating her first ice cream cone. This was the clean picture. We went over to Emma's house for dinner and play time a couple of weeks ago. The girls had an absolute blast.

Lying around at the park. Even in the 100+ degree heat we decided to take the girls to the park one evening after work.

Mommy, Britton and Grandpa in Seattle.

Family picture at a mexican restaurant in Seattle.

Watching the fish eat with Uncle Steve, after Britton fed the fish and had to taste the fish food herself.

It seems so hard to believe that we are planning her 2nd birthday party. It seems like just yesterday she was a newborn sleeping in my arms. I thank god everyday for the blessings he has given us. Thank you for peeking in on us. I am planning to attend a scrapping event in the next couple of weeks, so maybe I can get some pages done and share those with you all.

21 Months Old

Well, let's start with May. Over Memorial Day Weekend we decided to jump in the car and drive to St. Louis to see my grandfather. We needed to just go, since Grandpa had not yet met his Great Granddaughter. We were there for the weekend and knew that we could not spend all day in his room at the nursing home. We decided to try and wear Britton out a little bit by going places. We visited the zoo, Grants Farm, and the Magic House. We also had to get Grandpa custard from Ted Drew's. Britton was a great traveler and did very well with her Great Grandpa. At the time, little did we know that it would be the last time we got to see him. Grandpa went to be with Grandma on July 5th. This brought another trip to St Louis this summer. It was wonderful to see all of our family and to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa's life together. The stories and time with family was truly special.

In June we stayed close to home with harvest going on and Chad working so much. We went to the zoo a few times and started really enjoying playing outside on the swing set or in her water table. We did finally receive the clearance to get little miss into the pool. June 13th Britton had a 2nd set of tubes and her adnoids removed. Hopefully this will give our baby girl some relief from these ear infections. She was a real trooper and did very well.

Then came the 4th of July. We went out to Chad's grandparents house for the afternoon and evening on the 3rd. We had a great time and Britton was scared to death of the fireworks. We continue to spend lots of time with my mom. Britton has surprised us a few times by telling us that Poppy is in heaven. It is absolutely adorable and can totally catch you off guard. She continues to be a happy little girl that is growing up way too fast.


Britton showing Monkey the Ipad after Great Grandpa's Memorial Service and remembering how to do raspberries. Thank you Aunt Debbie.

Allowing daddy to help her with her sparkler.

Waking up in a good mood over Memorial Day weekend.

Great Grandpa, Britton and Mommy - Britton just woke up from her nap.

Britton bottle feeding the goats at Grant Farms.

Easter, 18 months and so much more.....

This spring has brought so many changes with Britton. She has turned 18 months old and we are doing all sorts of things this year. I know kids grow up so fast, but now it is definitely going to fast. We had her 18 month check up and was informed by our doctor that she is doing things that a two year old should be doing. We also had a follow up with our ear specialist. I wish the news were better from him. Poor baby has been fighting ear infections in her right ear again. We had three rounds of antibiotics and the ear infection is still not any better. She will be having a second set of tubes put in and her adenoids removed next week. I know the procedure is needed, but I just wish the surgery wasn't they way to do it. I really hope this helps. Just before Easter we met Nana at Build a Bear to make a stuffed animal. This is not something i want to start all the time, but I would not mind it to be something special to do with Nana. Here is a picture of her "Lucky" dog. We could not help her, but any of the employees could do whatever they needed to. She went down the aisle with all the different animals and went straight to the dogs and said 'Lucky' since it looks so much like our dog at home.


We have had a zoo membership for several years. It has definitely been a necessity since Britton was born. This day we went over to the children's area. Britton would not have an issue with the account.

Easter Sunday was a cool day and we decided to go ahead and go out to Grandma and Grandpa's for the Easter Egg hunt. Once she caught on, she did not want to stop collecting eggs.

Our Godsons' had their birthday party at Cowtown as they both love to be cowboys. They had their cowboy hat, vest, and chaps on. Britton was the youngest one there and she was trying so hard to keep up with the boys. I was able to get this picture with her cowgirl hat on. We all had a great time.

The three musketeers. Britton has made some really great friends at daycare and we have been spending time with them at the zoo and at the park. Since where there is one the others are not far behind we have taken to calling them then three musketeers.

Bubbles.......

How do you keep a child in when the wind is blowing 90 to nothing that loves to play outside? We had that challenge last weekend. Britton wanted to go outside and play bubbles every night and all day on the weekend. She loves being outside and running around, but with her ears and the fact that we are fighting an ear infection I really did not want her in the wind too much. She was a trooper and of course we gave in a little towards evening. We went to the doctor today and had her ears checked as we have been fighting an ear infection for a week and instead of getting better with antibiotic ear drops it appeared to be getting worse over the weekend. The doctor wanted us to finish out the ear drops and then come in today to get checked out. The ear infection is still there and the tube has fallen out of the right ear. I feel so bad for Miss B as she has got to be in some serious pain. We are starting her on some strong oral antibiotics and this should be kicked by the time we go back to the doctor for her 18 month checkup in 11 days. We are also scheduled to see the ENT the same day. I am truly worried that we are going to have to put another set of tubes in. I just don't like the idea of another surgery (no matter how minor it is).

Last Saturday Britton went to her first birthday party. One of her friends from daycare turned two and Carley's party was at Chuck E Cheese's. Britton was not keen on Chuck E, but she didn't scream or cry.

I purchased my new lens for my camera so I wanted to try it out one evening. She is always good for a few pictures. You can definitely tell that we have the camera in her face quite a bit as she now says "cheese" when the camera is pointed in her direction. My new lens is a 50mm and I love it. I have used it a few times and love the fact that I don't have to use the flash that often.

I hope that everyone is having a great week. Here are a few pictures of Miss B blowing bubbles and at the birthday party.




Trying to get into playing the games.
Waiting for the bubbles from the bubble machine
She dumped the bubbles and decided it was more fun to play in it on the ground.

WOW

All, I can say is that these past several months have been hard to get through. For those of you that try to keep up with us, I am sorry that I have not been updating on a regular basis. I need to get better and I promise that I will try to keep up from here forward. The weather here has been crazy, Friday was close to 80, Saturday in the 60's, then last night sleet, rain, and snow. Today the weather has been cool, but now sunny. Friday evening we decided to join a couple of families from daycare at the park. Britton had an absolute ball. She went down the slide and was swinging. I did get a few pictures. Yesterday we spent the day with Chad's family and little miss got her bangs cut for the first time. Mommy did pretty well not crying but I tell you what she doesn't look like a baby anymore. She is truly one sweet and beautiful little toddler. I can't really believe that she is 17 months old. She has blessed our lives with so many things in such a short time. I am so thankful that she had almost a year with Poppy. She still floors me each and everyday with blowing Poppy kisses and looking at his picture and saying Love you! Tonight we were outside in the front yard and she kept wanting to go into the street. I finally made sure that she held my hand and then we walked together back to the house from the mailbox. She is just so smart.

First Haircut

At the park with Mommy and Daddy. Saying please for another push.

Wearing Poppy's baseball hat

Brent and Brian's Birthday party

4th of July and more.....

So let's see, I can't think of any great excuse for not updating in the past few weeks except that I am spending quality time with my baby.

There are a ton of pictures to share of what has been going on in our life. Britton is getting so big and we are having so much fun with this little girl. Her personality is really showing up now. She is getting so close to crawling. She is talking so much and we are enjoying her giggle. We celebrated Grandma's birthday, father's day and the fourth of July.

Here are the pictures and there is also a video at the end from the family fourth of July celebration. We have also spent some great times with really good friends. I also think that Britton has met her future boyfriend.


Clapping for Grandma on her birthday!

Father's Day! Spent the day with Daddy!


Dinner with friends and hugging Sam. Sam is 1 year older than Britton. I think they may be destined to be together later in life. If not a couple the best of friends!

Just Chillin'


Working on crawling.


Hanging out with oldest cousin Clint at the twin's baseball game. Just after this picture Britton pulled on Uncle Chris' hat with such force that Clint got the blame. Sorry Clint.


Meeting Lauren for the first time.


Hanging out with Renee at Travis and Jill's Whopper of a party. We had such fun. I think that fireworks lasted about 3 hours.


Hanging out with Daddy during the fireworks. She was never phased by them. She even fell asleep.


Fourth of July outfit.


First flower for Britton's hair. Lucky had to check it out.


One tired baby, after shopping with Grandma and Mommy. Daddy and Poppy (Grandpa Ray) were playing golf.


Britton and her Poppy!

I hope that everyone has a great Friday. I hope to finish Britton's room this weekend. I am still working on the characters for the walls and need to hang a few things, but we are almost there.

Thank you for checking in on us!

Update!

So I have really been slacking and I am very sorry.

Britton has been doing so many things this past month. She is now sitting up by herself and pulling all of her toys out of the basket just to find the perfect one to play with. She is holding her bottle by herself and we just started feeding her rice cereal this week.

On the 20th of April, she had tubes put in both ears. Since then she is even happier than she was before and when she talks it is quieter since she can now hear herself. She was such a trooper. I know one thing for sure and that was her surgery was way more difficult on mom and dad than it was on her.


Britton in her Easter Dress after church on Easter Sunday.

Sunglasses that Mommy insisted on buying for Britton.

Just before surgery. The nurses gave her the green teddy bear.

Last weekend we took Britton to the zoo for the first time. We plan to make this a habit after church on Sunday mornings. As is in the past we met up with our godson and family and enjoyed the Cinco deMayo festivities.

Tuesday evening we started rice cereal with Britton it was also the first time that she was in the high chair. She seems to really like the cereal.

Thank you for peeking in on us.

Almost 5 months

Wow, I really can't believe that Britton will be 5 months old on Monday. She is doing so well and is always so happy. We are so very blessed. Chad and I have always wanted to be parents, but never in our wildest dreams did we think that we would feel so absolutely complete and in love with this little girl so quickly.

I spoke with our attorney and we truly are playing the waiting game now that all of our home visits are complete. We just get to sit back and relax and wait for the six month mark. I can't believe that it is truly in only six weeks.

We have been doing a lot of playing on the floor and of course I have been taking pictures. I have a couple to post and a short video. Little Bit has found her loud (screeching) voice. It has been so funny to see her screech and then laugh at herself. Thank you for checking in on us.

Tomorrow evening I am going to spend the evening with friends scrapbooking. I hope that my creative juices continue. So I was able to get the video to upload. You might want to turn the music off at the bottom of the page and then come back and hit play on the video.

Britton Update

So, I know that I have slacked on updating everyone (sorry grandpa). The last couple of weeks have been really crazy. Britton came down with RSV and an ear infection. She is much better now and things are starting to get back to normal. I am so thankful for my mother in law and her flexible schedule that she was able to help us out so much. I think that it helped that she got uninterrupted time with Britton too! Even though Britton was sick she was still a very happy baby. I took one video on day 5 of RSV that I am posting at the end of this. You definitely would not know that she was sick just by watching the video.

With life getting back to normal, we had our last visit with the social worker earlier this week. It is a great feeling to be done with that, but now we just have to finish the 6 month wait for everything to be final. Our social worker, Iva, has been absolutely wonderful and we truly feel as though she is a member of our family after spending so much time with her through this whole process. Iva made things so easy for us and we really appreciate everything she has done for us.

I took a few pictures last weekend. I can't believe how much our little girl has grown. She weighs 18 pounds now and is wearing 6-9 months already. I just love to hear her in the morning and to see her smile when she wakes up. She is truly the light of my life! We are so very blessed. Thank you for checking in on us.

I have actually gotten to work on her book. Maybe this weekend I will get pictures taken of her pages and get some posted. Be on the lookout.

3 months old

Well this week Britton turned 3 months old. I took Friday off to spend the day with Britton and to take her for a 3 month follow up to the cardiologist to check out her heart murmur. Chad was not able to go to the doctor with us, I was a little nervous about this, but things turned out just fine. In fact we do not have to go back to see the cardiologist until she is 1 year old. Her heart murmur is getting better and we are past the time frame that it would get worse. Britton did very well during the EKG, listening, and then the sonogram. It is so hard to keep her absolutely still.






We have enjoyed a nice quiet weekend at home and not having to really do anything. We decided yesterday to have Britton's picture taken. The pictures turned out great, but the process was very trying. Our appointment was at 4 pm, they did not start on our pictures until almost 5 pm. We got done with one room and had to wait about 45 minutes for the next room and then another 45 minutes to view and order our pictures. Once we finally placed the order it was going to be another hour before they were printed so we decided to pick them up today. I think they were severely under staffed. I have attached a few of my favorites. I hope to get a couple of scrapbook pages done this next week for her book and will post pictures of those soon.

Thank you for peeking in on us.