Redden Family's Journey

Meet Snow White and Cinderella

2011-10-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

Meet Snow White

Meet Cinderella

What cute Princesses

Nine months

2011-10-15T16:53:00.001-07:00

Kaylynn hit 9 months on September 20, and I waited until yesterday to take her to go and get her 9 month photos. She is such a mama's girl, but Brandon can always get her to settle down if she wakes up in the middle of the night and nothing I do is working! She loves her sister, and is constantly grabbing at her. I did get some pictures of the girls together when I did Kaylynn's 9 month. I feel guilty when we go to take pictures of just Kaylynn when I have both girls by myself.

Princess Bridgett

2011-08-04T15:43:00.001-07:00

Bridgett has been going through this phase the last few weeks about being a princess. She calls Brandon her king, I am many different titles including queen and fairy, but Kaylynn and Bridgett are both princesses. She has been wanting to wear "princess dresses" or "dresses that float" and "princess shoes" which are her church dress shoes. She has been putting the title "princess" on everything, when asked if she is our big girl, she says no that she is our princess. She will also introduce herself as Bridgett the Princess. I don't have pictures right now because we have not finished moving. I will post more on "Princess Bridgett" and Kaylynn but for now I need to go and get dinner done and try to get more things unpacked.

College Station visit

2011-04-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I took the girls down to College Station to visit my sister and her family. Her older 3 boys' baseball season started on Saturday and it was going to be their only Saturday game. Bridgett had so much fun watching the boys play ball. Brandt and Brayden are on the same team and their game was first, then we watched Bryson play his game. Once the game was over, Bridgett came over to me and told me it was her turn. Here is a picture of my big girl with her cousin's hat, glove and ball.

After the games, we went to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Brayden and Brennan's birthdays. They turn 7 and 3 in April, and so Kelly had a family party for them after the games. It was a lot of fun, and the kids had a blast.

Once we got done with Chuck E Cheese, Kelly and I got all 6 of our kids together to take Easter pictures at one of her friends' houses. You can see how hard it is to get 6 kids looking at the camera at the same time, much less smile.

I love that we are able to get the kids together as much as we can, even if we do live 2 hours apart.

Kaylynn

2011-04-18T10:24:00.001-07:00

Kaylynn's 3 month photo

Kaylynn will be 4 months on Wednesday and I have realized that I haven't really blogged anything about her. The last few blogs that I have written (when time allows) have been mainly about Bridgett.

Mine and Kaylynn's photo shoot

Kaylynn is such a sweet heart! She loves her momma, and loves to smile and laugh at me whenever she gets the chance. She has been drooling a lot, and every once in awhile she will cries out because she has started teething. She has been using my knuckle and shoulder for a pacifier. Poor baby, her teeth have been bothering her and none of them have come through yet. She is still napping 2-3 times a day for at least 2 hours each time. She is a rollie pollie baby. I don't remember Bridgett being such a chunk at this age. Kaylynn does not enjoy tummy time, and will only stay on her stomach for a few minutes before starting to scream. While playing on her mat, she will turn over to her side and play with some toys close by, and she will scoot. She manages to do a 180 on the mat as well as having only her head left on the mat, and I will always put her directly in the middle of the mat.

I love how much Kaylynn loves her big sister. Bridgett will come over to her, and Kaylynn will just smile and stare at Bridgett so in awe of her. I am so thankful to have 2 girls who love each other and are very fond of each other. I am not crazy to think it will last, but I am enjoying it while it does.

Bridgett

2011-03-03T07:10:00.000-08:00

I know that there is alot that I need to write about, and I am really waiting on the pictures from my lovely sister before I blog about my baby shower with Kaylynn, and finish about Bridgett's birthday party.

Bridgett started climbing into our big swing back while I was pregnant and it was stored in her closet. We figured that when the baby would get here, that she would stop that. We were wrong. The other day, I caught her in our room, in the swing.

That same day, she decided that she wanted to climb into a tote full of books. Now, my husband used to read alot, when he had time. We don't have bookshelves in our place, and there was not enough room on the shelves on my desk to accomadate all of them. The books in the tote are all of our reading books not related to school. So, it is nice and full and a nice place for her to sit on.

Earlier today, when I was doing the dishes, she got upset at me because I was washing some of the dishes that go with her kitchen. This little girl likes to do more than pretend to eat, she likes to actually eat her snacks on the little plates and dishes. So, when she started to yell at me to give her back her dishes and I told her that she needed to stop, I hear her muddering something. I am figuring that she is way to young to know how to talk under her breath, so I look to see what she is doing. To my amazement, she has her hands folded and her head bowed. She is praying...probably for patients to deal with me, but she is praying. I love my little girl and I am ashamed to say that since she has been able to grasp the understanding of church, she has only gone a few times. We, as a family, say individual prayers but we do not pray together. I do say a night time prayer with her, that my parents said with all of us. So, for her to do that on her own, really amazed me. I wish I would have had a picture of it, because I would probably blow it up.

December in a nutshell

2010-12-28T22:21:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of Kaylynn and Bridgett the day we got home from the hospital.

The Redden family has been quit busy the month of December. Bridgett turned 2 on the 2nd. It is so hard to believe that she has gotten so big so fast. We had her birthday party on the 4th at Chuck E Cheese and she loved it. We had a lot of family and several friends join us this year, which was so great. I of course was scatter brained and left my camera at home. My sister Kelly was nice enough to take photos of the party, and once I get them from her I will post them.

I was initially scheduled to have a repeat C-section and a tubal liagation on December 20th, but the day of my last dr appt before the procedure my dr called and said they would have to push it back until the 27th. I was really upset b/c I was so looking forward to having my complete family of 4 at home for the holidays. Plus the longer I was pregnant the harder it got to take care of Bridgett. My body ached all the time and I always had heart burn. So, a few nights before the 20th I started having minor contractions that would wake me up just enough to decide I needed to go to the restroom and then I could sleep for another hour or so. The day of the 20th I had a regualr dr appt, but I was contracting while I was on the Non-Stress Test Machine, or NST (monitors baby's heart beat while baby moves, as well as monitors strength of contractions). The dr went ahead and checked me at the appt and said that I was completely closed, but since I was having minor contractions to call if they got worse. My mom came into town while I was at the dr office, and we decided that we would finish her Christmas shopping and spend the day together. We walked around the mall, Walmart and Academy most of the day, and my contractions started to get worse. Around 5:30 they were still minor contractions, but they were consistantly between 6 and 6.5 minutes apart. When we were on our way to go to get dinner at Luby's, they started getting so strong that I had to stop walking in order to handle the pain. I called the after hours clinic around 6:30 and was told to go to Seton Northwest because the on call dr could not sneak away to do a tubal at Saint David's North Austin location. We did a repeat C-section, since that is what I was planning on doing, and it would be less complicated for the dr. Bridgett and my mom stayed in the hospital room with Brandon while they took me to the operating room to get ready to have the baby. Once Brandon got in the room with me, things went pretty fast. Kaylynn Noelle was born at 10:07pm on December 20th weighing in at 6lbs 4oz and 18.5" long. Bridgett's face lit up when she saw me get rolled back into the room holding Kaylynn. She was the second person besides her daddy (not including the hospital staff) that got to hold Kaylynn. Bridgett had a very late night that night since she went home with my mom that night so Brandon could stay at the hospital with me. We were released from the hospital on the 23rd, just in time for the holidays. We had a very relaxing and quiet Christmas day just us 4. Our family and friends have come to visit pretty much every day since I have had her, besides Christmas. We had Kaylynn's new born appt on the 27th, and the dr said everything looked great.

I am so thankful to have 2 beautiful and healthy little girls. My life couldn't get better.

Updating

2010-11-30T14:47:00.001-08:00

So, I know I have been really bad since we moved about really keeping up with the blog. My family has kept me very busy, then you add school and taking care of a toddler.

In August we found out that we were having a girl, celebrated my 28th birthday and our 6 yr anniversary. Nothing really special happend besides that.

In September we celebrated Brandon's 27th birthday, my uncle started having some heart issues and had to have surgery, then my Aunt was finishing up her chemo for lung cancer and shortly after found out that she had liver cancer.

In October we got new living room furniture, went to the air show in Midland to visit my aunt and uncle and celebrated Halloween. Bridgett made the cutest chearleader, even though the outfit was for the wrong team.

This month, we had to say goodbye to my aunt in Midland, my grandfather fell and busted his head open and punctured a lung. He was put into a nursing home for physical therapy and then will be moved to assisted living. His wife fell the day before and hurt her good leg (one leg is fused straight with a rod). She is in a different facility for physical therapy and will be moving to a nursing home once she can do more for herself. Brandon's grandmother came down from Michigan for Thanksgiving so we got a nice visit in with her, and she finally got to meet Bridgett.

December is promising to be a very busy month as well. On the 2nd Bridgett turns 2, that Saturday we are having her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese with family and close friends. School will be over, and we will be having the baby on the 20th by C-Section. This year our family will have to come for us to celebrate Christmas. I am excited about that, but at the same time I am a little worried about everyone trying to squeeze in our apartment.

That is about it. I know the beginning of the New Year will not be so eventful except for starting school, at least my classes have all been distant learning. I don't know if I could have kept doing school with this pregnancy if it wasn't. I will try to update with pictures after her party this weekend. I will try to get my camera working again.

New Chapter

2010-09-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

So, Bridgett has decided that she wants to start potty training. I was planing on waiting to start potty training until Kaylynn was here, but Bridgett has decided otherwise. We were all sitting in my bedroom when she said "gotta go potty." I told her to go potty, and she ran into the bathroom and we couldn't see her. I asked Brandon to see what she is doing, and he said she was pulling at her diaper in front of the toilet. So, I went in there and took off her diaper and put her on the toilet, after awhile she said she was done but was extreamly upset that we were putting a diaper back on her. After she woke up from nap, she did the same thing TWICE. Unfortunantly we were not able to get her on fast enough and she went in her diaper each time. But she doesn't seem to have gotten discouraged. So, we went to Target and got a training toilet that has 3 stages to it, as well as pull up diapers and some Reese's Pieces as a treat. She seems really eager to start the potty training and I am hoping that she will stick with it. Will update on the progress later.

Baby Redden #2

2010-08-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

For those of you who do not know. We went to the doctor on August 16th and found out the sex of the baby. We are expecting a GIRL! We finally decided on the name Kaylynn Noelle. She is not due until Janurary 3rd, but we know that she will be making an appearance around Christmas.

Pregnancy Update

2010-07-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to blog about at this time but I can update on the pregnancy. Yesturday I was 15 weeks along, and I am excited because I get to find out what the baby is between 18 and 22 weeks. I had to go to a Specialist with Bridgett due to the Tuberious Scleriosis. They told me that they want me to start seeing the Specialist now. So, I am going to find out what the baby is with her. This pregnancy has not been an easy one at all. I am STILL having bad morning sickness. I am getting sick pretty much every day, if there is a day that I don't get sick then I am lucky. A bit of good news is that I will not be working after July 23rd. It is good timing because our finals are 2 weeks later and we have to be out of our apartment by August 12th. I am just hoping that we can find a place soon. I will get new pictures of Bridgett soon.

let's try to do some catch up

2010-06-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

It has been about 2 months since I last posted...I have wanted to post, just not feeling up to it. If you guys don't have a Facebook Page then there is a few things I will need to catch you up on.
Since the last time I posted, we found out that I was pregnant again around mid April. We tried to wait until the end of the first trimester before telling anyone since we miscarried in Decemeber. On my sister Kim's birthday I was having a really bad migrane and got sick(I always get sick when I have a migrane) and I had gush of blood. I seriously thought I had miscarried again and I was really upset. The very nex day my wonderful morning sickness kicked in and I was unable to celebrate Mother's Day or 2 of my sisters' birthdays that day. Mother's day I spent in the bathroom and laying on the sofa. Brandon told me that the morning sickness this time around was worse, but I didn't beleive him until I spent almost a whole week in the bathroom and laying on the sofa not able to keep much liquid or food down. The first doctor's appointment they saw 2 sacks and thought we might be having twins but we only saw one embryo and one heartbeat. Over the next few weeks my body started to get rid of the second sack, and the doctor is sure that is where my morning sickness being as bad as well as the gush of blood came from.
Brandon has a new job at his company. He is now part of Help Desk in the IT dept. Because of this, I no longer have to work. The only reason I am still working is because Bridgett and I get insurance through my company since Brandon's company insurance is only good for the employee they are not so kind when it comes to family insurance. It comes out to like $400 for our family on his insurance per pay period.
In August our lease is up and we will be moving again. We are not sure where we are going to be moving, but we are looking at a duplex because we see ourself staying put for longer than we would in an apartment. Since we will be having 2 kids by the end of the year, I don't want to have to climb stairs with a newborn and a 2yr old and it would be nice to have some kinda yard. We are hoping the next place we move to will be the last place we are in until we get into our own house. We are both going to school right now and I think we are set on waiting until one of us is at least done with school before trying to get into a house.
I believe at this time that is all to get caught up. In August we will be finding out what we are having. Brandon is thinking it is a boy, but we really have no idea. I know I would like to have another girl because we have alot of hand me downs and since they will both be Decemeber babies all the clothes would be the right season. At this time I do not have any new pictures uploaded, but I will be uploading my camera soon.

Bridgett and Brennan

2010-04-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

I find that Bridgett and Brennan, my youngest nephew, have the most unique and special bond. Although all of my nephews are extremely fond of her and she is them, she seems to light up more when Brennan is around. They are 7 1/2 months different in age, and I think that might have something to do with it. You can see how much he is fond of her too, even from the beginning. Here are a few pictures of them together over the last year.

Bluebonnets

2010-04-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

On our way home from College Station this weekend, my mom decided that we needed to stop on Hwy 47 and take some pictures of Bridgett with bluebonnets. Her shirt is dirty and I did not have a blanket for her to sit on. Brandon and I are going to take more pictures where her clothes aren't dirty.

Easter Time

2010-04-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

This year for Easter we went to Brandon's parents for the egg hunt. She had so much fun looking for the eggs. At first, she would put them in the basket and then pick them back up. Once she got the hang of it, she started to throw the eggs in the basket. Her daddy gave her some jelly beans and she LOVED them. She kept coming back for more. I know there are several pictures, but she just has the cutiest smile I had many favorites!

Loving this picture

Isn't that the sweetest smile

Found an egg

Found several Eggs

Got caught eating candy (changed dress for eating)

Too Tired

2010-04-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

Bridgett has been real tired a few times that she has fallen asleep while eating. When we went to move her, we noticed chewed food in her lap. Poor baby fell asleep in the process of chewing her food.

Christmas Time

2010-04-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

This year we got stuck staying at home and not being able to travel the hour drive to my parents for Christmas. So, we had family come up 3 days in a row. Kim came up on Christmas Eve, my parents on Christmas, then Kelly and her family came up the day after Christmas along with my parents and older 2 nephews. We have pictures from Christmas day. It was kinda nice having my parents come up and spend time with us in a smaller setting.

The Redden Family (no makeup on, I look gross but the only family photo)

Sweet Smiles

Opening gifts with Geemaw

Pawpa and Bridgett

Pictures of Bridgett's Birthday Party

2010-04-08T19:15:00.001-07:00

December 5th we had Bridgett's 1st birthday party. We had left the camera due to all the craziness of getting things ready, and I just got the pictures back from my parents.

one of the cupcake cakes that I did for Bridgett

Bridgett and her cake

Mommy and Bridgett after the pinata came apart

she had a lot of presents to open, but just wanted a bottle

The Snow Day

2010-04-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

So, I know that I haven't blogged in such a while. Back in December, right after Bridgett's birthday, it snowed. I took her out to check out the snow...it was not much but it was something.(It snowed way more in Feb, but I was not taking her out then cause it was too much ice for me to carry her down stairs.)

Family

2010-01-27T14:59:00.001-08:00

This is a 4 generation photo from Bridgett's blessing back in August.

I know it has been a while since I have blogged, I still don't have the photos from Bridgett's birthday party nor Christmas to post. I am asking for everyone to pray for my maternal grandmother. My Nana turned 80 on Jan 14th, she currently lives alone and continues to drive which didn't seem to be an issue until today. She went with my mother to Bryan since my mom had to go there to run an errand for work. They decided to go shopping afterwards where everything changed. They were getting into the car to leave the store and my grandmother was not able to get her leg in the car, and then she started to slur her words. My mom took her straight to the ER at St Joseph's there in Bryan, where they found that she had a minor stroke. I can not help but wonder if she would have been home alone if something worse would have happened like her hitting her head on something due to the stroke. Please keep my grandmother in your prayers. Last Feburary we lost my paternal grandmother just a few months before she turned 80, and now my maternal grandfather is having health problems as well and he will be 81 next month.

Bridgett turns 1

2009-12-02T16:22:00.000-08:00

Our Holiday family photo

Bridgett's 1st birthday photos

Today, Bridgett has turned 1 and I don't know where the time has gone. It seems just like yesturday that I was in the hospital seeing her for the first time when Brandon brings her to my side so that I could see her. Today we did not do a whole lot, had her doctors appoint ment and did year pictures; but her party is still to come as long as the weather will permit.

Bridgett's feats by age 1:

4 teeth

walking at the end of 10 months

saying "dada" by 6 months

saying "nene" by 7 months

saying "mama" by 7 1/2 months

saying "its ok" by 9 1/2 months

saying "no no" by 11 months

feeding herself sold foods by 10 months.

I can honestly say that Bridgett has made our family more complete and we feel truely blessed to have her in our lives every day. I am interested to see what life will bring to us in this next year. She is truely our princess and the one we look forward to seeing when we are having a bad day.

First Steps

2009-10-28T17:09:00.001-07:00

Sunday night my little family was sitting in the living room, and Bridgett had a lot of her toys sprawled out. Trying to get to me from being next to Brandon, she went to grab a hold of the couch on her way to me, but actually took that first step before actually touching the couch. Then on Monday, she was trying to get to Brandon in the kitchen and was booking it walking side ways to get around the island. She was not actually touching the island the whole time as she went around to get to Brandon. So, she has taken those official "first steps" but she refuses to really walk without holding on to us or furniture. She is still having a hard time standing up without pulling herself up on someone (reguardless the size) or else she will use furniture. I am hopeful that she will be walking by her birthday. Her favorite thing to do at this time is to stand up and walk using the furniture or one of us.

It's OK

2009-10-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

So, this morning at 4:45am Bridgett decides it is time to be up for the day. We tried to give her a bottle, checked to see if her teeth were bothering her, adjusted the temperature...anything we could think of that would be keeping her up. So, she is in bed with us as we are trying to get her to go back to sleep, the more awake we are becoming. Bridgett is saying something that we just aren't sure what it is, and she is saying it over and over again. Once we are pretty much wide awake we realize that she is saying "its OK". Like we tell her, "Bridgett you need to go to sleep.", or "Bridgett, why won't you go back to bed?" and her response to everything is "its OK". When I was giving up, I said "No, its not OK" and Brandon and I could not stop laughing. I mean here is our 10 month old telling us "its OK" for being up before 5am.

I love her so much and she keeps showing us how much she is learning, no matter what time of day it is. She has also started to wave and clap her hands...and sometimes she will say hi, but the "its OK" was just something I had to share about my princess.

Bridgett's Halloween and 9 month photos

2009-09-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

Monday I went to 3 different stores looking for a cute Halloween costum for Bridgett since I wanted to make sure she had professional photos done in her costum, especially since this is her very first Halloween. I finally found the cutest costum that is perfect! A Ladybug! So, today my mom and I took her to JC Penny's to get her 9 month photos done as well as some done in her Halloween costum. She did so great, I was totally thrilled. I was so afraid that she would be really cranky because she didn't have much of a nap, as well as try to crawl all over the place. She did not want to hold on to the column that they put to where she could stand up on her own. So, all of the pictures of her standing up, I am helping her stay up. Here are some sample pictures, but they are all posted on Myspace and Facebook as well as Shutterbug!

Bridgett as a Ladybug

Bridgett's 9 month dress

Bridgett's 9 month casual

Starting to crawl

2009-07-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

Bridgett is starting to try and crawl. It is the cutiest thing in the world. She gets on her hands and knees and just rocks and forth. I see her put her face on the ground and kinda push herself forward or else push herself backwards. She also really likes to roll to get around. I just really want her to start to crawl, not because I want her to start getting into everything, but because I want to make sure she stays on track. I know that this is the right age for her to start her crawling, and right now she prefers to stand and walk while holding our hands. I am so afraid that she will be walking before she starts to crawl. I was told that doctors have made moms force their children to learn how to crawl even if they had started to walk. I don't want to force to her go backwards, I only want to help her go forwards.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

Bridgett and Me on her first 4th of July

Bridgett showing off her patriotic outfit

This was Bridgett's first 4th of July, but knowing how she handles loud noises, we decided to stay home. We watched the "Revolution" like every year on the History Channel, and then watched some fireworks on TV. As Bridgett was falling asleep, our lovely neighbors decided to set off some fireworks (it is against the law in Austin city limits). Luckily for us, she has slept through the noise. My grandmother bought Bridgett the best outfit for the holiday, so we made sure we got pictures of her in it. At the end of June we got her 6 month pictures taken, and then today we took a picture of her for her first 4th of July celebration. With how much of a history buff Brandon is, she will know the history of our country and know why today is such an important day. Because of all the family and friends that we have had serve for our country, she will know the honor and privilege that it is to be able to call yourself an American. I hope that she has much gratitude towards everyone who serves, and for their families as I do. God Bless America, those who have fought for us, as well as those who have died defending our rights for freedom.

First time swimming

2009-07-04T18:58:00.001-07:00

On June 26th we went to a friends apartment complex to go swiming, after a day at Sea World without Bridgett. We bbq'd as well as took Bridgett swimming for the first time. She was totally not into it at first. She cried and cried, so Brandon had to hold her for a bit to calm her down. Finally I was able to get her to sit on my lap while on the stairs to the pool, and slowly I crept further into the pool. Before she knew it, I was standing in the middle of the pool with her in my arms while she was splashing. She started smiling and kicking. Of course, being the DADDY's girl that she is, she was so much happier and enjoying herself alot more when he was holding her. Unfortunately, we do not have any pictures of him holding her since our camera is not waterproof. Maybe next time ;)

Haunted

2009-06-17T18:51:00.000-07:00

Last night Bridgett was being super difficult to get to bed. Brandon decided to put her in the bounce to get her to sleep. As she was dozing off, I picked her up and placed her in her crib. Brandon didn't believe that she let me move her to her bed and not cry, so he checked on her. Around 3 this morning I hear Bridgett start to cry. I let her cry for a good 5 minutes, to make sure it wasn't just her stirring, and when I went to pick her up from the crib, she was not there. She was in her swing! I woke Brandon up to find out if he moved her because I was just so tired when I put her in bed, I thought that he might have done so. He was totally freaking out because he claims not to have moved her. So, here we have a 6 month old who somehow was moved from her crib to her swing, with blanket covering her and the swing was on.

Normally I would just chalk it up to one of us being super tired and doing the easiest thing to get the baby back to sleep...BUT just a few weeks ago I felt someone staring at me. It was while I was dead asleep, and I just got the strangest ire feeling. I woke up to see who it was, but Brandon was asleep, Bridgett was in her room and no one else was in the apartment. I tried to go back to sleep, thinking it was just a dream, but every time I started to doze off, I had the same feeling. After about the 3rd time of trying to fall back asleep something woke Bridgett up. I left her alone for about 5 min, but she wouldn't go back to sleep. I went and picked her back up and she wouldn't calm down until she was in our bedroom with the door shut. She fell asleep as soon as her head touched the bouncer.

I know it sounds crazy, but ever since having Bridgett I recall every time I get up in the middle of the night, be it to use the restroom or to check on the baby. Brandon is a very heavy sleeper and usually by the time he hears anything to start moving around, I am up and dealing with it. Maybe it is just overly stressed and super tired parents that just moved the baby without remembering, or maybe someone else moved her. The last month or so, I have been having such strange and uneasy feelings about our apartment. We have been in the complex for the last 5 years, every time our lease is close to being up we talk about leaving the complex something happens to where we stay. Since Bridgett we have really been pushing for the move, but after last night we will live with family before we stay in the complex another year.

Bridgett's Piercing

2009-06-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

Bridgett getting her ears cleaned after the piercing.

Today, I took Bridgett to the Icing to get her ears pierced. My mother-in-law and 2 of my sister-in-laws joined me so that I would not have to go through it by myself. She cried, as to be expected, for about 5 minutes and then was her sweet happy self. I am happy that I decided to do it while she is young, so that she was able to get over the pain sooner.

Showing the ear pierced.

Summer Time Fun

2009-06-03T19:35:00.001-07:00

We all know that it can be difficult trying to find stuff to do with young baby. Brandon and I have taken Bridgett to Sea World and the Waco Zoo.

Brandon and Bridgett at Sea World

Brandon had never been to Sea World before, and the last time I had gone was back in 8th grade. We went with a co-worker of Brandon's and her husband. The first day we were there, we were only able to see 1 show and were waiting to see another when it started to pour. Since we have season passes, we decided to try to do it again the next day. Sunday we were lucky that it did not start to rain until we got home. Bridgett did seem to enjoy herself, she only really cried when she had to get her diaper changed. Brandon and I know we want to go back next summer with her because there will be more to do with her. This past weekend, we realized that there really is not alot that we can do that has not been done without her being a little bigger.

Brandon and Bridgett at the Zoo

This past week Brandon and I took Thursday and Friday off. Being that it is only $7 for admission, we decided to go to Waco and take the baby to the zoo. The Waco Zoo had tons of birds and reptiles. There was not alot of mammals to see when we were there, so we were kind of bummed. Bridgett was a little cranky due to the hot weather and not having very much shade to hid out for long periods of time.

Growing up way to fast

2009-05-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

Bridgett is growing up way to fast. Last week, after being feed some ceral and needing to wash it down, she decided to hold the bottle. When I let go of the bottle, she continued to hold the bottle, as well as took it out of her mouth and put it back in.

Here's Bridgett holding the bottle like a big girl.

Today, I put Bridgett in her crib, and she continued to sit by herself. It really made me realize my baby is not going to be a baby much longer. The last 5 1/2 months have gone by super fast, I can't imagine how fast the next 6 months will be.

Bridgett sitting up in her crib playing with her fish toy.

Retirement

2009-05-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

My grandmother, Nana, retired at the end of April from Comptroller's office with the state of Texas, for the SECOND time at the age of 79. She originally retired back in 1993 while we were living in Florida, but went back to work shortly after. She went back to work for the Comptroller's office until in 1998 they decided that retirees could not longer be employeed there, and then in 2001 they decided they would take the retirees back. So for all but 2 of the 16 years she was retired, she was working at the same place she originally retired from.

What a difference 16 years can make, and how her family has grown:

From the original retirment in '93:

1 daughter and son-in-law

1 son

5 grandchildren

0 great grandchildren

To the final retirment in '09:

1 daughter and son-in-law

1 son and daughter-in-law

6 grandchildren (3 married)

2 step grandchildren (both married)

7 great grandchildren

5 step great granchildren

Bridgett was so good during the whole thing, she only really cried twice. First, when a lady tried to hold her so I could get food, and when someone made a joke and had the whole room laughing. I had to leave early to get back to work, so I don't have a picture of my grandmother with Bridgett, but I do have one of me and her.

Not a very good view since its from the side, but the only one I got.

My mom holding the 2 babies in our family: Brennan just turned 1 on April 22, and Bridgett was not yet 5 months in the photo.

Weening

2009-05-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

We are trying to ween Bridgett from being breast feed and it is so hard. We decided to go ahead and do it now since she has been biting down for 2 months, luckily no teeth yet. I didn't want to wait until her teeth were in to start the weening process. She has been super cranky and I have been very sore.

Our next tackle will be to get her to sleep in her room at night and the play yard for naps. Right now, if we lay her down when she is a sleep she generally wakes up as we are laying her down or else within 5 mins. We try to let her cry it out for about 15 minutes, but she still doesn't settle down. So, we cave and put her in the bouncer and she generally sleeps the whole night through. Truthfully I think I would have her at least sleeping in the play yard but Brandon is a softy. He would really just put her straight in the bouncer and let her sleep there until she got to be too big.

Knowing what to do is one thing, but actually following through with it when you hear your child screaming at the top of their lungs is something else. I try to hold out, and generally do a little more than Brandon. It is so hard, especially with her being our first. We don't like hearing her get so upset, but I know that this is in our best interest as well as hers to start to tackle it now. Now, its just getting Brandon to go along with me on certain things, like letting her stay down even after she wakes up for like 5-10 minutes to see if she will fall back asleep. He generally goes in right away because he is afraid of her thinking we abandoned her. I am hoping to have her fully weened and sleeping in her own bed by the end of May. We will see how good I can do.

Friendly Bet

2009-04-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

Brandon's job is having a pool going on to see who can loose the most precentage of weight...so in order for him not to drop the ball, I challenged him to the same thing here at home. At the end of June, we are going to see who has lost the biggest precentage of weight. I still have a lot of baby weight I need to loose and I know that this will help motivate me. I hate South Park, I think it is really crude, Brandon doesn't like One Tree Hill or really any drama that you can find on the Soap Network. So, the wager is 1 full season of the other's show if we loose. I really really can't stand South Park, so I am praying that I win.

After looking at the picture my sister took of us at my newphew's birthday party on Sunday, it will be a well needed change.

Sleeping frustrations

2009-04-14T19:36:00.001-07:00

Bridgett is very easy to put to sleep while either breast feeding or with a bottle. The moment she realizes that she is being put down, she wakes up and cries. I don't know what to do. I give after about an hour or two battle with her and the crib, and try the swing, same thing. She doesn't settle down until we put her in the bouncer. When she was less than a month old she slept in her bouncer everynight or else she wouldn't sleep. That stopped about the time she was 2 1/2 months old. Now, it is starting up again. I am going out of my mind trying to figure out how to get her to go to bed at the same time and in her crib. We give her a bottle with formula, sometime she drinks 1oz and others she will drink the full 6oz, but always breastfeeds afterwards. I am going out of my mind on what to do. I don't want to leave her in her room when she is crying real tears and sounds real upset, but at the same time she is too old to be sleeping with us.

Baby's first Easter

2009-04-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

I know I look tired, but she was way to cute

Today was Bridgett's first Easter and she did great at church. I felt so blessed not to have a cranky baby after driving over an hour to go to church with my parents in McDade. I wish I could say she was as good when we got to my parents house. We were able to get her to calm down enough to smile and laugh so my family could see that she really is a happy and good baby.

Bridgett has been having "people anxiety". Even if she knows someone, she is afraid they are going to take her away from Brandon or I, and will cry real tears while having a screaming fit. She also hates being somewhere that she is not that familiar with and surrounded by people she barely know.