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12.30.2011
12.27.2011
Brynlee 9 Month Stats
Brynlee had her 9 month check-up yesterday at the Doctor's office. (Even though she doesn't turn 9 months until Jan 1st, it was nice to sneak her appointment in when we were both off of work.)
These are her stats:
Weight: 18 lbs. 6 oz - 50%tile
Height: 28.25 in. - 75%tile
Head: 17.5 in. - 50%tile
We were surprised that her height was 75%tile! She is a little tall for her age, which I think seems weird since her cheeks are so chubby, we don't think of her as being tallish. We were not surprised by 50%tile for weight. She seems pretty much average and right on for clothes sizes and stuff. She has been a little above 50%tile until now, she was right on, so I guess percentilewise she has dropped a little.
She is doing great in every aspect! The Doctor said it looks like she is pretty advanced in everything, especially the mobility aspect! haha! Which, we already knew. She is getting closer to standing on her own and will move from person to person walking with only holding on with 2 fingers. The doctor was also very impressed that she will repeat 'words' back to you. She will repeat bye-bye, da da, ma ma, ba ba. Not every time, of course, but most of the time! Grady always tells us, "She is just saying ba ba, she wants her blanket!" or "Brynlee can't talk Mommy, she's too little" after he hears me try to get her to talk back to me! haha! (On another note- Grady has also started to mimic how she talks and talks in baby talk, which can be somewhat annoying to his mom and dad, but Brynlee loves it!)
She got the 2nd dose of her flu shot at the appointment, which she was not happy about, but did great. She stopped crying as the nurse was leaving the room, looked right at the nurse, stared her down, and then looked back and me and started crying on my shoulder again. It was so funny! She did NOT like that mean nurse!
Next on our list with Brynlee: Start giving her some meats, variety of foods. We've been pretty hesitant to give her meats or other table foods yet since she wasn't ever eating baby food very well. We wanted her to be better with the baby foods first and feel like she was getting some nutrition. And by "we" I mean "I" because Paul has always wanted to just skip the baby food since she wouldn't eat it anyway, but I'm the one who said no. She will eat ANY table food we have given her. There is nothing she doesn't like so far. Even pickles! So, I knew that if we kept giving her "good" table foods that she would never eat the baby foods! We usually hide her snacks, puffs, other table foods we are eating until she has eaten a little bit of her baby food or she will refuse it.
She LOVES pancakes and waffles as much as her brother does! She does a great job of eating everything and has only had 1 or 2 times total in the past couple of months that she has started to gag/choke. VERY UNLIKE HER BROTHER! HE still throws up once or twice a week (at least) because of this...and because he is so picky and will only eat like 5 different foods....and because he eats so fast and crazy and has no patience.... But, this post is supposed to be about Brynlee! He's another story! :)
So anyway, at 9 months she is doing great!!!! We are SO blessed!!
These are her stats:
Weight: 18 lbs. 6 oz - 50%tile
Height: 28.25 in. - 75%tile
Head: 17.5 in. - 50%tile
We were surprised that her height was 75%tile! She is a little tall for her age, which I think seems weird since her cheeks are so chubby, we don't think of her as being tallish. We were not surprised by 50%tile for weight. She seems pretty much average and right on for clothes sizes and stuff. She has been a little above 50%tile until now, she was right on, so I guess percentilewise she has dropped a little.
She is doing great in every aspect! The Doctor said it looks like she is pretty advanced in everything, especially the mobility aspect! haha! Which, we already knew. She is getting closer to standing on her own and will move from person to person walking with only holding on with 2 fingers. The doctor was also very impressed that she will repeat 'words' back to you. She will repeat bye-bye, da da, ma ma, ba ba. Not every time, of course, but most of the time! Grady always tells us, "She is just saying ba ba, she wants her blanket!" or "Brynlee can't talk Mommy, she's too little" after he hears me try to get her to talk back to me! haha! (On another note- Grady has also started to mimic how she talks and talks in baby talk, which can be somewhat annoying to his mom and dad, but Brynlee loves it!)
She got the 2nd dose of her flu shot at the appointment, which she was not happy about, but did great. She stopped crying as the nurse was leaving the room, looked right at the nurse, stared her down, and then looked back and me and started crying on my shoulder again. It was so funny! She did NOT like that mean nurse!
Next on our list with Brynlee: Start giving her some meats, variety of foods. We've been pretty hesitant to give her meats or other table foods yet since she wasn't ever eating baby food very well. We wanted her to be better with the baby foods first and feel like she was getting some nutrition. And by "we" I mean "I" because Paul has always wanted to just skip the baby food since she wouldn't eat it anyway, but I'm the one who said no. She will eat ANY table food we have given her. There is nothing she doesn't like so far. Even pickles! So, I knew that if we kept giving her "good" table foods that she would never eat the baby foods! We usually hide her snacks, puffs, other table foods we are eating until she has eaten a little bit of her baby food or she will refuse it.
She LOVES pancakes and waffles as much as her brother does! She does a great job of eating everything and has only had 1 or 2 times total in the past couple of months that she has started to gag/choke. VERY UNLIKE HER BROTHER! HE still throws up once or twice a week (at least) because of this...and because he is so picky and will only eat like 5 different foods....and because he eats so fast and crazy and has no patience.... But, this post is supposed to be about Brynlee! He's another story! :)
So anyway, at 9 months she is doing great!!!! We are SO blessed!!
A Very Merry Holiday!
We had such a nice Christmas! It was crazy, busy, and fast, but we got to see lots of family! The kids got tons of great new toys and Paul and I also got quite a lot of nice things that we are pumped about! Hopefully I will have time to add some pictures soon.
We started on Thursday night with a dinner at our house with my sister and Dan. We ate and then opened a few gifts. Grady got a new Ducky game that he is really excited about! Every time this weekend when we would tell him that someone is going to come to our house (at some point in the future) he would always ask if they could play his Ducky game with him!
Friday afternoon we left for Paul's parents house! We hung out with the fam, played games, ate, etc. all night and then on Saturday morning Grady got to do his favorite thing ever! Ride in the tractor with Grandpa and help feed the cows!! He then got to go play at Isaac & Luke's house! We had our Christmas lunch and presents on Saturday afternoon. The whole family went to Christmas Eve church and then to Gma Betty & Gpa Ken's for the whole Guenther family Christmas. Grady especially loved it there! He was SO in his prime running around with Isaac, Luke, Will, & Shelby. Brynlee was also very entertaining, crazy enough! She was chewing on this Domino piece all night and then she started to put it in her mouth and spit it out and would then belly laugh like it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. She did it over and over for about 5 minutes straight! It was hilarious! And she does not laugh very easy. She is pretty laid back/relaxed and it takes a bit to get her to laugh! She had the whole room watching and laughing at her! I got a video of it and will hopefully be able to post it soon too!
We left to drive back to Lincoln around 10:00 on Saturday night (and Brynlee did great until 10:00 with no evening nap!) and were back at home in time for Santa to come!
Sunday morning we woke up to lots of great presents from Santa!
Grady got: a tool bench, a Leapster, a marble tower game, some baseball guys action figures, and a Cootie game.
Brynlee got: a pink ride-on pony, a cabbage patch doll, a peek-a-boo doll, a baby grand piano/musical thing, and a push-toy/wagon.
Brynlee's toys were the biggest hits with both of them! Especially the pony and piano.
We also opened presents from Aunt Ashley & exchanged our presents with Ashley. (who stayed at our house all weekend)
We were at my Aunt Lori & Uncle Scott's house by 9:00 to have breakfast with them! It was awesome to start the day out there AND to not have to worry about breakfast on our own that morning! We also got to see Aunt Shari and Josh.
We then left for West Point for the Hagedorn (Paul's moms side) Christmas around 11:00. We got there in time to finish lunch, play some games, open presents, eat more good food, hang out. Again, the kids did great with no naps. Brynlee is such a trooper! She as so tired all 3 days, but just sits so nice and content. Give her some more puffs or crackers and she is happy as can be. Her only downside is that she won't sleep very well in new places. Especially for naps. It's hard to get her to nap when we are at places like that. She sleeps great in the car though! She had a bad night at Paul's parents for the first time. She wouldn't sleep in the pack in play. She went to sleep at first, but then she got woken up when we came to bed and was scared of not knowing where she was. Paul slept the whole night with her in the twin bed. He tried to put her back down and she would just scream. I felt bad for her because she was scared! She's just a hard age to travel with right now too. It was nice to only be gone for 1 night! And, we are sort of dreading going to my Dad's next weekend....for that reason...
Yes, we are heading back for MORE Christmas parties next weekend! We are going to have our Christmas at my Dad's on Friday night and will then head back to Lincoln for a New Years Eve Party with more family at our house! We love to Party!
Then on Jan 7th, my mom's side of the family is getting together! All weekend! And, it will be in Lincoln so it will be super nice to NOT have to travel that weekend at all! And, we can go home for naps!! :) Oh, the little things that make parents happy! haha!
We hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas!
We started on Thursday night with a dinner at our house with my sister and Dan. We ate and then opened a few gifts. Grady got a new Ducky game that he is really excited about! Every time this weekend when we would tell him that someone is going to come to our house (at some point in the future) he would always ask if they could play his Ducky game with him!
Friday afternoon we left for Paul's parents house! We hung out with the fam, played games, ate, etc. all night and then on Saturday morning Grady got to do his favorite thing ever! Ride in the tractor with Grandpa and help feed the cows!! He then got to go play at Isaac & Luke's house! We had our Christmas lunch and presents on Saturday afternoon. The whole family went to Christmas Eve church and then to Gma Betty & Gpa Ken's for the whole Guenther family Christmas. Grady especially loved it there! He was SO in his prime running around with Isaac, Luke, Will, & Shelby. Brynlee was also very entertaining, crazy enough! She was chewing on this Domino piece all night and then she started to put it in her mouth and spit it out and would then belly laugh like it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. She did it over and over for about 5 minutes straight! It was hilarious! And she does not laugh very easy. She is pretty laid back/relaxed and it takes a bit to get her to laugh! She had the whole room watching and laughing at her! I got a video of it and will hopefully be able to post it soon too!
We left to drive back to Lincoln around 10:00 on Saturday night (and Brynlee did great until 10:00 with no evening nap!) and were back at home in time for Santa to come!
Sunday morning we woke up to lots of great presents from Santa!
Grady got: a tool bench, a Leapster, a marble tower game, some baseball guys action figures, and a Cootie game.
Brynlee got: a pink ride-on pony, a cabbage patch doll, a peek-a-boo doll, a baby grand piano/musical thing, and a push-toy/wagon.
Brynlee's toys were the biggest hits with both of them! Especially the pony and piano.
We also opened presents from Aunt Ashley & exchanged our presents with Ashley. (who stayed at our house all weekend)
We were at my Aunt Lori & Uncle Scott's house by 9:00 to have breakfast with them! It was awesome to start the day out there AND to not have to worry about breakfast on our own that morning! We also got to see Aunt Shari and Josh.
We then left for West Point for the Hagedorn (Paul's moms side) Christmas around 11:00. We got there in time to finish lunch, play some games, open presents, eat more good food, hang out. Again, the kids did great with no naps. Brynlee is such a trooper! She as so tired all 3 days, but just sits so nice and content. Give her some more puffs or crackers and she is happy as can be. Her only downside is that she won't sleep very well in new places. Especially for naps. It's hard to get her to nap when we are at places like that. She sleeps great in the car though! She had a bad night at Paul's parents for the first time. She wouldn't sleep in the pack in play. She went to sleep at first, but then she got woken up when we came to bed and was scared of not knowing where she was. Paul slept the whole night with her in the twin bed. He tried to put her back down and she would just scream. I felt bad for her because she was scared! She's just a hard age to travel with right now too. It was nice to only be gone for 1 night! And, we are sort of dreading going to my Dad's next weekend....for that reason...
Yes, we are heading back for MORE Christmas parties next weekend! We are going to have our Christmas at my Dad's on Friday night and will then head back to Lincoln for a New Years Eve Party with more family at our house! We love to Party!
Then on Jan 7th, my mom's side of the family is getting together! All weekend! And, it will be in Lincoln so it will be super nice to NOT have to travel that weekend at all! And, we can go home for naps!! :) Oh, the little things that make parents happy! haha!
We hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas!
12.19.2011
Sneak Peak
Ok, I changed my mind. I decided to put up a few pics of the kids that AREN'T included in the Christmas card. So, keep in mind that these aren't even the really good ones that made the card!! :)
Dang It!
Well I'm already a week behind on my goal of blogging once a week!! The time just gets away from me!
But, get ready for some Grady & Brynlee picture awesomeness!!! Very soon. We had their pictures taken a couple weeks ago and they turned out AWESOME!! I was very worried about how it would go. Especially at 3:00 in the afternoon, which is normally when G would be napping....for 4 hours. But, we had Kellan put him down early that day so he would at least get a somewhat good nap in before pictures. And, Brynlee had also taken a pretty good nap, so that worked in our favor!! They both did awesome!
Grady, of course, had to be the comedian and think he was hilarious to get out of the poses she had him in, as soon as she walked away. Oh he thought he was SO funny! Which, was annoying to mom and dad...
Brynlee was sweet and smiley like usual! My only dislike of her is that her hair is at such a hard length right now! It is too long for a headband to look good without hairs sticking out everywhere or bunching up. But, it is too thin for clips or barettes to stay in. So, her hair looks funny in many pics, but everything else looked good!
I'm going to wait to post them until after Christmas and all of our Christmas cards are out! Sorry, no sneak peaks! :)
I am WAY behind this year. I normally have everything done and out by the first week in December, but we couldn't get in to do our pictures until Dec. 8, so I'm doing them as fast as I can! I don't like this feeling though! I tend to do everything WAY in advance as fast as possible and this is killing me! We keep getting such cute pictures and letters in the mail and I LOVE getting them! It is a race to the mailbox every day!! :)
What else we've been up to:
Last weekend we were at home all weekend. It was so nice! We went to the Zoo to the Winter Zoobilee event they had. We met our friends Tyler, Anslee & Harper. Grady loved it, as usual! We got to ride the train, 2 times! And the camels were back out!! No penguins though....he made sure to tell everyone that...
Then on Sunday I went to the Best Christmas Pageant Ever at the Community Playhouse with Doris and my Aunt Lori & Aunt Shari. It was SUPER good! Such a fun Christmasy thing to do too!!
This last weekend we had Paul's work Christmas party on Friday night. Then on Saturday we had the Houtwed Christmas party in Grand Island. It was a really fun time! Lots of great food, funny stuff during present opening, and my Grandma Marlene got the new car she has ordered from Arizona.
Yesterday we discovered our new hobby. Well, our once a month awesome routine we are going to do! Paul's parents have a Sams Club business owner membership and they added us to their account. (Which I'm super bummed that we didn't think of doing when we first moved to Lincoln.) So, we went to Sams! I love it there! I know, it is weird. But, I always find such good things that you can't get other places! I'm not a huge fan of buying in bulk b/c typically we don't have the room to store it and I am a person who can't handle a lot of clutter/stuff. My fridge/cupboards need to be orderly and in place.... So, I don't necessarily buy a lot of bulk items (except diapers, wipes, baby food) but I just love a lot of the different food items they have. So, it was really fun! We had both the kids with us and it was lunch time, so the trip got cut shorter than I wanted, but we still couldn't get out of there spending less thatn $300! It is crazy! But, I guess we shouldn't need more of the things we got for quite awhile!!!
Then, after our trip to Sams (which is on the opposite side of town from our house) we went to CiCi's pizza. Paul loves that place. I love that G eats free. And, I love their brownies and breadsticks! The pizza is just good enough to make it a good place! :) So, we decided our once a month Sams trip will also be followed by eating at Cici's Pizza! There isn't one on our side of town, so we have to live it up while we can. haha!
We are getting super excited about Christmas and the upcoming weekend of celebrating with LOTS of family! We have 4 different parties we are going to on Sat/Sun so it will be great to get to see everyone! Everything is done and ready, except for 1 Pinterest project I need to finish up, which actually doesn't need to be done until January 7th, when my family meets for Christmas....So I have time! :)
This is a picture of Gradyn & Brynlee with my Grandma Marlene from our Houtwed Christmas on Saturday. I thought it turned out SUPER good!!
But, get ready for some Grady & Brynlee picture awesomeness!!! Very soon. We had their pictures taken a couple weeks ago and they turned out AWESOME!! I was very worried about how it would go. Especially at 3:00 in the afternoon, which is normally when G would be napping....for 4 hours. But, we had Kellan put him down early that day so he would at least get a somewhat good nap in before pictures. And, Brynlee had also taken a pretty good nap, so that worked in our favor!! They both did awesome!
Grady, of course, had to be the comedian and think he was hilarious to get out of the poses she had him in, as soon as she walked away. Oh he thought he was SO funny! Which, was annoying to mom and dad...
Brynlee was sweet and smiley like usual! My only dislike of her is that her hair is at such a hard length right now! It is too long for a headband to look good without hairs sticking out everywhere or bunching up. But, it is too thin for clips or barettes to stay in. So, her hair looks funny in many pics, but everything else looked good!
I'm going to wait to post them until after Christmas and all of our Christmas cards are out! Sorry, no sneak peaks! :)
I am WAY behind this year. I normally have everything done and out by the first week in December, but we couldn't get in to do our pictures until Dec. 8, so I'm doing them as fast as I can! I don't like this feeling though! I tend to do everything WAY in advance as fast as possible and this is killing me! We keep getting such cute pictures and letters in the mail and I LOVE getting them! It is a race to the mailbox every day!! :)
What else we've been up to:
Last weekend we were at home all weekend. It was so nice! We went to the Zoo to the Winter Zoobilee event they had. We met our friends Tyler, Anslee & Harper. Grady loved it, as usual! We got to ride the train, 2 times! And the camels were back out!! No penguins though....he made sure to tell everyone that...
Then on Sunday I went to the Best Christmas Pageant Ever at the Community Playhouse with Doris and my Aunt Lori & Aunt Shari. It was SUPER good! Such a fun Christmasy thing to do too!!
This last weekend we had Paul's work Christmas party on Friday night. Then on Saturday we had the Houtwed Christmas party in Grand Island. It was a really fun time! Lots of great food, funny stuff during present opening, and my Grandma Marlene got the new car she has ordered from Arizona.
Yesterday we discovered our new hobby. Well, our once a month awesome routine we are going to do! Paul's parents have a Sams Club business owner membership and they added us to their account. (Which I'm super bummed that we didn't think of doing when we first moved to Lincoln.) So, we went to Sams! I love it there! I know, it is weird. But, I always find such good things that you can't get other places! I'm not a huge fan of buying in bulk b/c typically we don't have the room to store it and I am a person who can't handle a lot of clutter/stuff. My fridge/cupboards need to be orderly and in place.... So, I don't necessarily buy a lot of bulk items (except diapers, wipes, baby food) but I just love a lot of the different food items they have. So, it was really fun! We had both the kids with us and it was lunch time, so the trip got cut shorter than I wanted, but we still couldn't get out of there spending less thatn $300! It is crazy! But, I guess we shouldn't need more of the things we got for quite awhile!!!
Then, after our trip to Sams (which is on the opposite side of town from our house) we went to CiCi's pizza. Paul loves that place. I love that G eats free. And, I love their brownies and breadsticks! The pizza is just good enough to make it a good place! :) So, we decided our once a month Sams trip will also be followed by eating at Cici's Pizza! There isn't one on our side of town, so we have to live it up while we can. haha!
We are getting super excited about Christmas and the upcoming weekend of celebrating with LOTS of family! We have 4 different parties we are going to on Sat/Sun so it will be great to get to see everyone! Everything is done and ready, except for 1 Pinterest project I need to finish up, which actually doesn't need to be done until January 7th, when my family meets for Christmas....So I have time! :)
This is a picture of Gradyn & Brynlee with my Grandma Marlene from our Houtwed Christmas on Saturday. I thought it turned out SUPER good!!
12.09.2011
First Words!
'Bye-Bye'
Yes, Brynlee has said her first words at 8 Months! And Yes, I am counting them as 'words'. She says 'bye-bye' IN CONTEXT, every single time! Now, in all honesty, it does sound more like 'EYE-BYE', but SHE knows what she is saying and I know what she is saying. Every time I wave and say bye-bye, she repeats it back to me! And, she also gets really excited (possibly b/c of how excited I get (and Kellan gets) about it) and she also waves back! But, the wave is not every time and it is a wave towards herself, which is so adorable!
Yes, Brynlee has said her first words at 8 Months! And Yes, I am counting them as 'words'. She says 'bye-bye' IN CONTEXT, every single time! Now, in all honesty, it does sound more like 'EYE-BYE', but SHE knows what she is saying and I know what she is saying. Every time I wave and say bye-bye, she repeats it back to me! And, she also gets really excited (possibly b/c of how excited I get (and Kellan gets) about it) and she also waves back! But, the wave is not every time and it is a wave towards herself, which is so adorable!
12.07.2011
Crazy Memory!
Blogging 2 days in a row!! Woot Woot!!
Just had to share a Grady story I just remembered:
Last week when Grady and I were eating dinner, (Brynlee was still taking her evening nap and Paul was gone out of town for work.), he picked up his cup and said, "Let's do cheers Mommy!" So, I did "cheers" with my cup to his. I thought it was really cute and funny and just thought to myself that he must do that at Kellan's so that is where he learned it.
Then he says, "We do cheers at Grandpa Dan's house."
My jaw dropped.
We did that at Gpa Dan's house LAST THANKSGIVING! As in, over a year ago. How does he remember that?!?!
He seriously has a crazy good memory. So good it's scary. :) We have to remember to always be on our best behavior!!
Which leads me into another story:
Last night when Paul was trying to give Brynlee bites of banana baby food (he had also given her some corn bread so he was sneaking in banana bites) she got upset that it was a bite of banana instead of the corn bread that she loved. Paul says to me, "Oh she was pissed about that bite, she wanted corn bread.". Grady starts yelling, "Pissed, Pissed, She's Pissed Daddy!"
Even funnier, Paul didn't even realize that he had said "pissed" and then he didn't realize that Grady was repeating it until I pointed it out. Then he quickly tried to tell Grady he had said something else, but Grady didn't believe him. :)
Just had to share a Grady story I just remembered:
Last week when Grady and I were eating dinner, (Brynlee was still taking her evening nap and Paul was gone out of town for work.), he picked up his cup and said, "Let's do cheers Mommy!" So, I did "cheers" with my cup to his. I thought it was really cute and funny and just thought to myself that he must do that at Kellan's so that is where he learned it.
Then he says, "We do cheers at Grandpa Dan's house."
My jaw dropped.
We did that at Gpa Dan's house LAST THANKSGIVING! As in, over a year ago. How does he remember that?!?!
He seriously has a crazy good memory. So good it's scary. :) We have to remember to always be on our best behavior!!
Which leads me into another story:
Last night when Paul was trying to give Brynlee bites of banana baby food (he had also given her some corn bread so he was sneaking in banana bites) she got upset that it was a bite of banana instead of the corn bread that she loved. Paul says to me, "Oh she was pissed about that bite, she wanted corn bread.". Grady starts yelling, "Pissed, Pissed, She's Pissed Daddy!"
Even funnier, Paul didn't even realize that he had said "pissed" and then he didn't realize that Grady was repeating it until I pointed it out. Then he quickly tried to tell Grady he had said something else, but Grady didn't believe him. :)
12.06.2011
We've Been Busy
So my blog gets pretty neglected these days. I NEED to make sure to put it on my to-do list once a week so I can write about what we have been up to! If nothing else, than for a journal for myself to go back to and remember what we have done with our lives. As I was trying to come up with a recap of our year for a Christmas letter, I was thinking about how easy it would be if I could just go back to my blog to remenisce. Now, I just need to remember to actually post things that I can go back and read!! I guess I will add that to my list of New Years Resolutions. I never make resolutions, but I actually have 3 things on it already!
1. Blog more (goal of once a week)
2. Take more videos and pictures
3. Get on a consistent routine at the Y
Anyway, this is what we've been up to lately (and a few kiddo updates!). I know I posted about our Halloween fun, but I don't think I had even put much before that about our fall. So, I think I will go back and recap our entire fall (more for my future benefit!). :)
September: Had all of our college friends come for a Husker party, Went to Wichita for my cousin Holly's wedding to Jeremy, Went to West Point for a weekend with Paul's family, took all of the grandkids to Omaha for pictures, Paul helped shingle Gma Bert & Gpa Ben's roof, started Toddler Team-up at the Children's Museum (a once a week play group).
October: The Deaver's came to visit for a weekend, went to the Roca Berry Farm to the pumpkin patch, went to Vala's pumpkin patch, went to the Omaha Zoo (Gradyn's favorite place ever, the zoo!), Went to Fairbury for my Gma Marlene's 80th birthday party, all of us were sick (Paul the worse) and we got everyone who came to our house that weekend sick too!, Went to Boo at the Zoo, Went to the Children's Museum's trick or treating, went trick or treating to our family in Lincoln.
November: Went to Holdrege to visit the Deaver's for a weekend! Also got to meet up with some NP friends in Kearney, which was awesome!, cleaned out our storage room (took a whole weekend), decorated for Christmas!, went to Lawrence to visit Paul's brother Mike with the whole family, went to Fairbury to my Gma Marlene's on Thanksgiving noon, went to my Aunt Lori's in Lincoln for Thanksgiving night, went Black Friday shopping with Ashley for 16 hours (3 hours sleep...), went to West Point for the weekend for Isaac's 4th birthday party!
The first weekend in December: Ashley and her friend Amanda came to stay with the kids and Paul and I had a "weekend away" in Omaha! It was so awesome to just have time to relax, eat out, sleep in, go to a movie, have no responsibilities!! I haven't even been away from Brynlee until then, and it had been probably about a year, or more, since I had been away from Gradyn (except for when Brynlee was born) so it was well past due to have some kid-less time! Of course I missed them like crazy and couldn't wait to get back to see them, but it just makes everything better when you can have a break. We need to do it more often. I am just SO not used to having help so I have a hard time asking for it. And, I need to let go a little more I decided.... Maybe that should be my 4th resolution..... hmm...
Brynlee Update:
*She turned 8 Months on December 1st.
*She is quite the little mover! Always up jumping, bouncing, cruising around furniture, walking while we hold her hands, starting to push the push-toys, always moving. She crawls around very fast now and will follow all 3 of us around the house until we stop and she can pull herself up on our legs. Even Grady! He, of course, doesn't stand still long enough for her to get up, so then she falls to the ground. It doesn't even phase her, she just keeps on going, following him wherever he goes next! We are looking for her to start walking in the very near future! Crazy! She is only 8 months old!
*She LOVES puffs. The Gerber kind, any flavor. She gets super excited when she sees the can! She also loves most any cracker. She is STILL a stubborn little turkey about eating her baby food. We are STILL mixing it with oatmeal cereal to get her to eat it. Although last night I did get her to eat some squash/pear mix by itself!! It was a stage 2 food, which I think she will eat better since it is thicker. Hopefully we can continue on that path b/c it is a pain in the butt to make cereal to mix with food at every meal! She does awesome with any table food we give her too and LOVES meal time!
*She is still an awesome sleeper! 11-12 hours a night, straight!! Naps at home are awesome. Naps at daycare are hit or miss. She is a very light sleeper, so sometimes she won't nap very long at daycare.
*She is usually very very happy and smiley! She has a low-key temperment and is just SUCH a good baby! We always say how we were owed her after her brother.....
*She is starting to wave bye-bye and will mimic bye-bye when we say it. I'm trying REALLY hard to get her to say Ma Ma, but no luck so far! She does babble back at me, but no luck on the 'm' sound.
*She is entering a little bit of a stranger danger phase. She LOVES her daddy and lights up, yelling, kicking like crazy when she sees him. She does get excited for me too and wants to be right at my side a lot, but she especially gets excited for Paul! We are really noticing lately when we are in a big group she wants to be at our side and won't leave, which is strange for her since usually she will crawl all over. At Isaac's birthday party I had to put her down to play a game and then went back to sit down when my turn was up. She saw me go sit down and immediately took off to come over to me again.
*She LOVES her brother! Seriously, still too much. She needs to cry or learn to push him off of her! She loves to be tackled, tickeled, whatever he does to her....
*She is really starting to respond to music, will dance and sing along with it.
*Her hair is really starting to grow in thicker. It is lighter than it was when she was born, but still a dark brown. The new growth even looks darker. We need to put it behind her ears quite a bit!
*She is wearing pretty much 9 month or 12 month clothes. Some 6 month things still fit her, but most are too snug. I would say she is about average height/weight, but it's hard to tell b/c we know a lot of babies who are bigger than her that are younger, so that makes me think that she might be a little smaller than average. I think her constant movement really make her burn so many calories! :) I wish I had that happen to me!!
*We will go for her next check-up at 9 months so I'm excited to see what her 'stats' are!
Grady update:
*He will be 3 on January 27th! He has known his birthday since the summer, and always said it the right way, but now he always says "January 27th Gradyn Joseph Guenther". I guess he thinks they all need to go together..... But, at least he knows it I guess!
*He is still such a little ball of fire! So dramatic! So manipulative! So challenging! But also, SO loving! He is the light of our lives. He is so funny, smart, and talking so much that we are constantly telling him to talk quieter or slow down or just be quiet for a minute.
*He is now working on mastering all of the letters of the alphabet. I would say he only has about 10 to go. And most of those are letters that 'could' be mistaken for something else or that are close to others. He is also getting some of the letter sounds! The kindergarten teacher in me is SO proud! He still doesn't really want to sit down to practice writing them though. Mostly b/c he can't sit still for more than 5 seconds... But, he will sit still for learning activities like his letters, which is weird. He knows all of the shapes, most numbers and he does love to sit and tell us them.
*He loves to play on my iPad, and honestly that is where he has learned the most! There are so many awesome apps that he uses all the time that teach him so many things!
*He LOVES Nick Jr. He would watch it 24-7 if we let him. He knows what the order of the shows that come on at night are. He gets super mad if we shut it off. His punishment when he gets in trouble at daycare is that he can't watch TV that night. He HATES that. So, usually he only has 1 bad day at daycare a week (if that) because he definately learns his lesson when he can't watch TV. It has become a problem with how much TV he wants to watch. So, we have made it a rule that he can go in our bedroom and watch TV when Brynlee goes to bed. That has been a nice little routine for him in the evenings. Especially b/c that is the ONLY downtime we get at all.
*He is still a super picky eater, which is annoying, but I try to not be annoyed since I am also a super picky eater... :) He loves his staples of pancakes, mac & cheese, roast beef, turkey, peas, green beans, CORN(still loves!), sausage (patties with pancakes), mini-corn dogs, some noodles, spaghetti (sometimes), applesauce, and cereal.
*He LOVES the farm and going to help Gpa Ron feed the cows. He talks about it all the time and is always telling us he wants to go there. He loves to ride in the tractor with Gpa and help him. He does love to play cows/tractor/farm at home too.
*He loves trains, and will play with them sometimes at home, but mostly loves to ride on the train at the zoo and watch them in real life.
*He has also recently started loving dinosaurs and can name them all. We had no idea he could do that! Again, from TV. Dino Dan.
*He really wants to go to a Royals baseball game, the Zoo, and the park. We keep telling him that after Brynlee's birthday he can go do all of those things again. He knows that her Birthday is April 1st, so he will say aftter April 1st he can go. :)
*I know there are about a million other things I could say about him and tons of stories! Hopefully I will have time another day to post some of his funny stories!
1. Blog more (goal of once a week)
2. Take more videos and pictures
3. Get on a consistent routine at the Y
Anyway, this is what we've been up to lately (and a few kiddo updates!). I know I posted about our Halloween fun, but I don't think I had even put much before that about our fall. So, I think I will go back and recap our entire fall (more for my future benefit!). :)
September: Had all of our college friends come for a Husker party, Went to Wichita for my cousin Holly's wedding to Jeremy, Went to West Point for a weekend with Paul's family, took all of the grandkids to Omaha for pictures, Paul helped shingle Gma Bert & Gpa Ben's roof, started Toddler Team-up at the Children's Museum (a once a week play group).
October: The Deaver's came to visit for a weekend, went to the Roca Berry Farm to the pumpkin patch, went to Vala's pumpkin patch, went to the Omaha Zoo (Gradyn's favorite place ever, the zoo!), Went to Fairbury for my Gma Marlene's 80th birthday party, all of us were sick (Paul the worse) and we got everyone who came to our house that weekend sick too!, Went to Boo at the Zoo, Went to the Children's Museum's trick or treating, went trick or treating to our family in Lincoln.
November: Went to Holdrege to visit the Deaver's for a weekend! Also got to meet up with some NP friends in Kearney, which was awesome!, cleaned out our storage room (took a whole weekend), decorated for Christmas!, went to Lawrence to visit Paul's brother Mike with the whole family, went to Fairbury to my Gma Marlene's on Thanksgiving noon, went to my Aunt Lori's in Lincoln for Thanksgiving night, went Black Friday shopping with Ashley for 16 hours (3 hours sleep...), went to West Point for the weekend for Isaac's 4th birthday party!
The first weekend in December: Ashley and her friend Amanda came to stay with the kids and Paul and I had a "weekend away" in Omaha! It was so awesome to just have time to relax, eat out, sleep in, go to a movie, have no responsibilities!! I haven't even been away from Brynlee until then, and it had been probably about a year, or more, since I had been away from Gradyn (except for when Brynlee was born) so it was well past due to have some kid-less time! Of course I missed them like crazy and couldn't wait to get back to see them, but it just makes everything better when you can have a break. We need to do it more often. I am just SO not used to having help so I have a hard time asking for it. And, I need to let go a little more I decided.... Maybe that should be my 4th resolution..... hmm...
Brynlee Update:
*She turned 8 Months on December 1st.
*She is quite the little mover! Always up jumping, bouncing, cruising around furniture, walking while we hold her hands, starting to push the push-toys, always moving. She crawls around very fast now and will follow all 3 of us around the house until we stop and she can pull herself up on our legs. Even Grady! He, of course, doesn't stand still long enough for her to get up, so then she falls to the ground. It doesn't even phase her, she just keeps on going, following him wherever he goes next! We are looking for her to start walking in the very near future! Crazy! She is only 8 months old!
*She LOVES puffs. The Gerber kind, any flavor. She gets super excited when she sees the can! She also loves most any cracker. She is STILL a stubborn little turkey about eating her baby food. We are STILL mixing it with oatmeal cereal to get her to eat it. Although last night I did get her to eat some squash/pear mix by itself!! It was a stage 2 food, which I think she will eat better since it is thicker. Hopefully we can continue on that path b/c it is a pain in the butt to make cereal to mix with food at every meal! She does awesome with any table food we give her too and LOVES meal time!
*She is still an awesome sleeper! 11-12 hours a night, straight!! Naps at home are awesome. Naps at daycare are hit or miss. She is a very light sleeper, so sometimes she won't nap very long at daycare.
*She is usually very very happy and smiley! She has a low-key temperment and is just SUCH a good baby! We always say how we were owed her after her brother.....
*She is starting to wave bye-bye and will mimic bye-bye when we say it. I'm trying REALLY hard to get her to say Ma Ma, but no luck so far! She does babble back at me, but no luck on the 'm' sound.
*She is entering a little bit of a stranger danger phase. She LOVES her daddy and lights up, yelling, kicking like crazy when she sees him. She does get excited for me too and wants to be right at my side a lot, but she especially gets excited for Paul! We are really noticing lately when we are in a big group she wants to be at our side and won't leave, which is strange for her since usually she will crawl all over. At Isaac's birthday party I had to put her down to play a game and then went back to sit down when my turn was up. She saw me go sit down and immediately took off to come over to me again.
*She LOVES her brother! Seriously, still too much. She needs to cry or learn to push him off of her! She loves to be tackled, tickeled, whatever he does to her....
*She is really starting to respond to music, will dance and sing along with it.
*Her hair is really starting to grow in thicker. It is lighter than it was when she was born, but still a dark brown. The new growth even looks darker. We need to put it behind her ears quite a bit!
*She is wearing pretty much 9 month or 12 month clothes. Some 6 month things still fit her, but most are too snug. I would say she is about average height/weight, but it's hard to tell b/c we know a lot of babies who are bigger than her that are younger, so that makes me think that she might be a little smaller than average. I think her constant movement really make her burn so many calories! :) I wish I had that happen to me!!
*We will go for her next check-up at 9 months so I'm excited to see what her 'stats' are!
Grady update:
*He will be 3 on January 27th! He has known his birthday since the summer, and always said it the right way, but now he always says "January 27th Gradyn Joseph Guenther". I guess he thinks they all need to go together..... But, at least he knows it I guess!
*He is still such a little ball of fire! So dramatic! So manipulative! So challenging! But also, SO loving! He is the light of our lives. He is so funny, smart, and talking so much that we are constantly telling him to talk quieter or slow down or just be quiet for a minute.
*He is now working on mastering all of the letters of the alphabet. I would say he only has about 10 to go. And most of those are letters that 'could' be mistaken for something else or that are close to others. He is also getting some of the letter sounds! The kindergarten teacher in me is SO proud! He still doesn't really want to sit down to practice writing them though. Mostly b/c he can't sit still for more than 5 seconds... But, he will sit still for learning activities like his letters, which is weird. He knows all of the shapes, most numbers and he does love to sit and tell us them.
*He loves to play on my iPad, and honestly that is where he has learned the most! There are so many awesome apps that he uses all the time that teach him so many things!
*He LOVES Nick Jr. He would watch it 24-7 if we let him. He knows what the order of the shows that come on at night are. He gets super mad if we shut it off. His punishment when he gets in trouble at daycare is that he can't watch TV that night. He HATES that. So, usually he only has 1 bad day at daycare a week (if that) because he definately learns his lesson when he can't watch TV. It has become a problem with how much TV he wants to watch. So, we have made it a rule that he can go in our bedroom and watch TV when Brynlee goes to bed. That has been a nice little routine for him in the evenings. Especially b/c that is the ONLY downtime we get at all.
*He is still a super picky eater, which is annoying, but I try to not be annoyed since I am also a super picky eater... :) He loves his staples of pancakes, mac & cheese, roast beef, turkey, peas, green beans, CORN(still loves!), sausage (patties with pancakes), mini-corn dogs, some noodles, spaghetti (sometimes), applesauce, and cereal.
*He LOVES the farm and going to help Gpa Ron feed the cows. He talks about it all the time and is always telling us he wants to go there. He loves to ride in the tractor with Gpa and help him. He does love to play cows/tractor/farm at home too.
*He loves trains, and will play with them sometimes at home, but mostly loves to ride on the train at the zoo and watch them in real life.
*He has also recently started loving dinosaurs and can name them all. We had no idea he could do that! Again, from TV. Dino Dan.
*He really wants to go to a Royals baseball game, the Zoo, and the park. We keep telling him that after Brynlee's birthday he can go do all of those things again. He knows that her Birthday is April 1st, so he will say aftter April 1st he can go. :)
*I know there are about a million other things I could say about him and tons of stories! Hopefully I will have time another day to post some of his funny stories!
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