1 Year Check-up and Progress Report

I'm only 2 weeks behind on this post, but that's okay.  We went for Brailyn's 1 year well check-up on the 11th!  Thankfully daddy was off, so he went with us.  He was going to anyway, but this way he didn't have to use one of his days!  She weighed 21.75 lbs(70%) and was 29 in.(50%)!  Jody says she's going to be short and round!  HA!  Just kidding!  The doctor said she is just perfect!  I think my poor baby remebers what happens at the doctors office!  She would cry anytime she had to lay down on the table!  She got 4 shots!  I'm not sure if the shots made her cry because she was already screaming because we laid her down!  Poor baby!  She snubbed all the way back to the car!  The doctor said she is right on track and to just keep doing what we are doing!  Jody was reading the paper that they give us about the age they are in and what to do.  It also tells you what they should be doing by their next check-up at 18 months.  He was reading it and said "She already does all this stuff!"  We are so proud!  Of course we know she is smart, but we may be a little biased!  So here is her progress report for 1 year:

• She walks everywhere now!  There is no slowing her down!  She is even starting to run a little!
• She can stand up all by herself!  No hands!  However, most of the time she opts to grab something just for balance!  If she is in the middle of the floor, sometimes she gets up on one knee, plants the other foot on the floor, and scoots like that to something to help her keep her balance!
• She can climb! She climbs in and out of little chairs with ease!  She likes to climb up on anything, and when she gets there she sits down and looks at you with the proudest little face!
• She can climb on and off her princess ride-on car all by herself!  She doesn't need our help to ride on it anymore! 
• She has 11 teeth now!  And they are the cutest things you have ever seen!
• She is completely weaned!  She drinks her milk fabulously!  She loves it!
• She follows simple commands!  i.e. "go get your ball", "go get your drink", "put some toys in the tub".  and of course, "No, no" this one she chooses when to obey!
• She says a few words, mama, dada, duck, dog, no, no, neena-sometimes(thats what it sounds like anyway!),
• She knows what a monkey and a cow say--ah, ah, and mmmmmmmmm!
• Her favorite foods now are: cheese, fruit, any of her snacks(teddy grahams, cheerios, puffs), hot dogs, sometimes spaghetti!  She has turned into a very finicky eater in the last 2 weeks!  Drives her momma crazy!
• She takes one nap a day usually for 2 1/2 hours or longer.  She sleeps form about 8:30 at night to around 7:30 in the morning! 
• She has a blanket bear that she sleeps with and she loves it!
• She loves music of anykind!  Even mommy singing!
• She has started dancing to music!  It is so cute!  She loves to dance to the Hot dog dance on mickey mouse clubhouse!  She can be in a different room and hear it come on and she stops what she is doing, goes to where she can see the TV and just dances up a storm!
• She loves the outdoors!
• She blows kisses
• waves bye-bye, and hi
• gives the sweetest kisses
• and has started trying to snap!  Too precious
• When she sees a picture of her daddy, she just lights up and will start saying da-da!
• she knows what she wants!  And will let you know in a heartbeat!
• if we say "Oh sweet girl."  she will lay her head down on anything she is around or just on the floor!

Whew! I may have left some stuff out. I know that is alot and a really long post but I wanted to write it down so I would remeber!  Time goes so fast! 

Eating some corn on the cob!  She's got it down now!



My precious girl!



After church on Sunday!  I just loved her in this dress!



Fanily pic on her actual birthday!



"Itsy, Bitsy Spider!"

Note:  You may want to hold your ears!  It may not be pretty but she loves her mommy anyway!

Crazy Hair Day!

Brailyn's hair does it's own thing most days.  No, it is not very long yet, but it can get CRAZY!  And it was crazy all day today!  

So you can't see it very well, but when she got up from her nap today, one side, only one side, was flipped out from the tip top of her head to her neck!  It looked like I had taken a teeny, tiny curling iron and flipped layers!  It was adorable!



After her bath!  I usually only wash her hair twice a week, but tonight while eating supper, I looked over and spotted a piece of her porkchop laying nice and neat right in the center of her head.  Then later, I found a piece of potato stuck in the back of her hair!  So she had it washed again!  After we got out of the tub, she looked at her self in the mirror and just laughed and laughed!

My little missy prissy!  Now when I ask her if she is a funny girl, this is what she does!  So silly!

Deer season!

Last year Brailyn was exactly a week old on the opening day of deer season.  Andy and Jennifer bought her this darling camo outfit so she got all dressed up for the occassion and went on her first day trip to Neena and Papa Dale's to cheer her daddy on!  She was absolutely beautiful!


Such a sweet baby!  So tiny!



Brailyn and Her daddy on her first opening day of deer season!

So this year we had to do the same.  She is 1 year and six days old!  Makes me want to cry!  She didn't have a camo outfit, but my sister gave me some carhartt overalls.  They are absolutely adorable!  So we got all dressed up and headed down to Neena and Papa Dale's again!


My sweet baby girl in her overalls!  She has changed so much!

 

Brailyn and her daddy on her second opening day of deer season!  I love these pictures!



We got to play with Madi for a little bit when we got there.  She spent the night with Neena and Papa Dale.  The girls had a big ol' time!  Now that Brailyn is walking everywhere, they can have some fun!  Madi is the funniest little girl around!  She keeps us laughing!



 Around our house we have had some new and exciting things happening.  Tonight, Brailyn stood up all by herself!  I wish I had a picture.  She has always liked to sit up on one knee and have her other foot planted on the floor.  Tonight she got up like that again and just stood up!  No hands or anything!  Now the fun really starts! 

   I have also been weaning her from nursing.  It has been going really well so far!  We cut out our third feeding tonight, the one right before bed.  This leaves just her morning feeding which I will cut out in a week.  It is a little sad, but I'm sure it will be okay, and our schedule will be a little more relaxed!  I have been worried about this one, but tonight we ate our cereal and drank some milk before our bath.  After her bath-time routine, I added in reading a book in place of the feeding.  We read books throughout the day, but we have never fit one in at bedtime.  She was the sweetest little thing.  She just laid back on me and listened beautifully!  She is my little sweetheart!  Daddy got a picture!  Thank you Daddy!



Mommy and Brailyn reading a book!  This book is too cute, and at the end it says "I will kiss you nighty-night."  Perfect bedtime book!


My baby is growing too fast!

Shutterfly Christmas Cards!

Shutterfly.com is where we are planning on getting our Christmas Cards this year.  I read on another blog about a promotion they were having this year.  I have never used shutterfly before, but I have heard about it.  I got a giftcard in some of the baby packets I got when I was pregnant with Brailyn, but I never used it.  I really should have because shutterfly is wonderful!  They have very reasonable prices, and cute stuff!  They have a wide range of Christmas cards that are just adorable.  To browse through them, click here!  We found the one we will use.  It is called "Family Wall Red Christmas Card."
If you want to ruin your surprise you can go look at it!  Just kidding!  Feel free to go look.  After Thanksgiving, Stacy Jester is taking pictures for us and I can't wait.  Brailyn has the most beautiful dress, and I will dress us up to match!  The card has lots of pictures on it and I can't wait!  Shutterfly also has lots of other items.  One in particular is the wall calenders.  I absolutely love wal calenders with personal pictures on them.  I think they are so special and make great gifts.  To see the wall calenders click here.  One other thing I found while looking for our card was the canvas art you can order.  I didn't get to look at it as much, because we were trying to find a card, but I plan on going back and looking.  The promotion they are running is ----bloggers can get 50 free christmas cards by writing up a blog post and doing a few other things!  That is amazing, and it is so easy.  Just go to the front of my post and click on the Shutterfly link!  You really don't want to miss this deal!

Birthday Party!

We had Brailyn's 1st Birthday party on the 6th!  It was so much fun!  I really just did a "first birthday party" theme.  It was pink, purple, white, and lots of colors.  Her big balloon was a cupcake and that is what the cake she dug into was, a big cupcake!  I really loved it!  I made all of her cakes.  The one that everyone else got to eat was cut out into a 1.  I iced it and put pink piping around it and then threw sprinkles all over it.  I was really happy with the way it turned out.  Of course it was a sprinkle cake(my favorite)! I think it is hers too!  And until she can tell me what she wants, her cakes will be sprinkle cakes!  Even then I might have to persuade her a little! HA!  We crammed lots of people in our little house, but it was lots of fun!  We had all her cousins there, and our friend Elise! It got pretty crazy with all the little ones!  I was running around crazy all day and I don't think I talked to any one person for over 10 minutes!  HA  She got lots of great presents!  She is already enjoying al of her toys and I can't wait to dress her up in all her pretty new outfits!  All in all, I think we had a great party!  This year has come and gone way to fast though!  So it was kind of a bittersweet day!  I'm sure they will probably all be that way!  Thanks to everybody who made it!  Yall really made the day special!  We love our baby girl!

I think this is the best pic we got of the Birthday girl!  That's the best you can do when they start walking!



Her cake!  I spelled out her name with the cupcakes!  I was very pleased!



Her little tribute corner with her cake!



Opening presents!



Blowing out the candle!



We had to get one with our party hat on!



She was such a little lady!  I thought she would really dig into it, but she would just pick a little bit off and eat it!



Trying to get a picture of her and Elise before Elise left!  We did not attempt to get one of all the kids!



This is what the cake looked like after she finished it!  Pitiful I know!



Playing with her toy from mommy and daddy after everyone left!

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girl!

Happy Birthday sweet baby girl!  We can't believe you are already one!  You have brought us more joy than we could have ever imagined!  We have loved you from the moment that mommy found out you were coming into our lives and we love you more and more with each passing day!  You are the funniest little girl and you make us laugh constantly!  We are so thankful that one year ago today God gave us such a perfect healthy baby girl!  You are our little sweetheart!  We can't wait to see what God has in store for you, and we will enjoy each moment! You are a wonderful blessing and we thank God every day for giving us to you that wonderful day one year ago!  We love you!   



Saturday, November 7, 2009  9:53 P.M.
  

Sunday, November 7, 2010!  7:28 P.M.
The best picture you can get with an 1 year old!

WE LOVE YOU BABY GIRL!  HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY!

A Few "Firsts" before the BIG "1"

 These are just a few more of Brailyn's firsts before she has her big one!  I figured it was time for me to post them or she would already be the big "1"! 



Taking her first sippy cup of whole milk!  She wasn't so sure about it at the time but now she loves it! Today she chugged it down and turned her sippy cup up to try and get more!  YAY!



Her first meal without any baby food at all!  Spaghetti and corn!  YUM-YUM!  I love how she is holding the spoon.  She only eats table food now except for her cereal!  She has liked most everything, but she's not crazy about green beans!  As always she loves pasta, bread, and potatoes!



Getting her teeth brushed for the first time!  I am probably way behind on this and there are no excuses.  SHe has 11 teeth now! Oh My!  I felt her 3rd molar yesterday!  She is not so sure about it about getting her teeth brused, but it is becoming part of our bedtime routine!  Mommy just wants to get a regualr brush instead of the finger one!  OUCH!



Isn't she growing up fast!

She walks more than she crawls now!  She still isn't standing up without holding on to anything, that we can see anyway!  She wobbles a little but I think she loves it and it is too cute!  This morning she was walking from the couch to the chair and when she would get to one she would just scream at the top of her lungs!  She was so proud of herself!  I would say her first step was around 10 months but now it is almost full out walking!  I don't have any pics or videos to put up yet, but I will!

New Skill = Photo Shoot!

Since Brailyn only takes one nap a day now, I have to clean a little while she is still awake or I would never get anything done.  So today she was playing in her room by herself.  She is usually very content to play by herself back there and I know that it's a pretty safe place to be, even though she can find a way to hurt herself anywhere!  I was cleaning a little and noticed that it was very quiet in the house.  UH-OH!  You mommas know that this is usually not a good sign, especially if you have a baby who loves to jabber while she plays.  I went back there to check on her and this is what I found....

Oh boy!  Now the fun really begins!  So of course I had to document all the aspects of her new-skill!  We had fun, but it's a little scary!  Here comes the photo shoot!



Such a silly girl!



She looks so big!



I love this pic!  Talking as usual!



I think she was very proud of herself!  She was talking and screaming at the top of her little lings!



She doesn't exactly know the right way to get down yet, but we are learning!



My sweet baby girl!



Our little Ladybug!

We had a fun Halloween weekend!  Well, it was a little stressful at first but turned out great.  I decided a while back that I wanted Brailyn to be a ladybug.  I looked and looked for a costume but could not find exactly the one I wanted.  I wasn't fond of the tutu ones.  I wanted her to be a fat little ladybug.  So I found a pattern and decided to make it!  Oh boy!  I have had the pattern for a little while, but I am bad about procrastinating!  Needless to say I really started working on it on Friday.  So with a lot of help from my motther-in law and mother, I got it done on Saturday afternoon!  Even though it was stressful, it turned out just the way I wanted it too!  She was teh cutest ladybug I have ever seen!  Gramma and Pop-up came this weekend and we all headed to our church's fall festival! It was fun.  We stayed inside most of the time because it was cold but she had fun in the walker in the family life center.  All in all I think it was successful first halloween!  She even got a few treats from Neena and Papa Dale, puffs and socks! YAY!  



Our little ladybug!





The dirt cake pumpkin patch I made for the fall festival!  I was pretty proud!



Brailyn with her Gramma and Pop-up!  I love this picture!



Playing outside on Sunday afternoon!  She is an outdoors girl!