Catching Up

Sorry, no pictures. Promise to post them soon.

Wow! It has been a long time since I posted anything. I don't really even know where to start.


Halloween- It was fun! We got Brielle dressed in her honeypot costume then me, Ryan, Brielle, and my mom and dad went around our neighborhood for a good 30-45 minutes. We pulled Brielle in the wagon. There were TONS of people out. Brielle got really good at putting her candy bag out or grabbing candy from the bowl and then saying "Tank chew" at each house.



Talking- Wow! She talks so much now it is difficult to remember how it all evolved but here are some of my favorites:

• "Mommeee, where are you?" - She says it in a sing-song way and you can substitute Dad-daa or any object that she is looking for into this. At my mom's recently when my mom was getting ready to give the girls a bath and was looking for the bubble bath, Brielle said "Bub-bles, where are you?"


• If you tell her I love you she will say it back- it is so sweet and she says it almost perfectly with a very loving tone.


• I jokingly tell her all the time "Dadda stinks" and she'll say "Tinky Dadda". The other day Ryan was telling her that I stink and I said "no, mommy smells pretty". The next day when we got in the car leaving daycare she asked where Dadda was and I said "Dadda stinks" she replied "Mommy pretty". It was great!


• She knows how to say "I sowry" (I'm sorry) and says it often- usually after being put in timeout for doing something defiant.


• I love to ask her to sing the ABC's- it goes "A, B, A ,B, E, E, E"
• She will act like she is fixing my hair- (all she really does is mess it up)- then look at me and excitedly say "Cuuute"
• She pretends to have conversations with people on my cell phone daily. The other day she was on it saying "Hi paw-paw", so I put it on speaker and called my dad. He answered, she said "Hi paw-paw" then asked "where's Eena (Nina)?" my dad answered that Nina was sleeping. Brielle asked again, "where's Eena?" my dad was mid sentence answering again that Nina was sleeping when Brielle said "Bye, bye paw-paw" and hung up on him.

Suddenly, over the past few months she and Nina are best buds. They used to get jealous and cry most of the time when they were together, but lately they get along great. They are always excited to see eachother and run off to play as soon as they get together. I hope this continues because it is very sweet to see them getting along so good. Brielle calls her "Eena".

Just In Case You Haven't Heard Yet...

We are having a boy!!! We went for my ultrasound today and baby Ruediger is not shy- at all! And, we got to see him in 3D which I wasn't expecting so was pretty surprised when I saw it. Now all we have to do is pray for is a healthy, happy baby! We are so excited!

The Past Few Weeks

We went to the pumpkin patch. She preferred the maze, sandpile, and ponies over posing next to the pumpkins. Look at those cute pigtails.
Brielle at her first camping trip. She had a blast and slept through the entire, freezing cold, night.

Trying on Mommy's shoes. She wasn't able to walk much, but she looks good.
She spent a whole 24 hours with her cousin, Nina, last weekend and they were actually pretty good together.
Nina was shivering and Brielle thought it was hilarious!
I love this picture. She was saying "cheeeese".
She LOVES these boots. They are a size too big, but Brielle doesn't care at all.

Normal Toddler Behavior????

Brielle gets reports sent home every day from daycare. Yesterday, her report said "Today I was very mean to my friends and wouldn't follow directions". Hopefully it was just a really bad day!!

Thankful, Worried, and Tired!!!

So, I'm pretty sure that everyone knows that we are expecting another little one around the end of March. I have been feeling pretty crappy with "all day" sickness for the past few weeks, but have been feeling better and better the past few days. Hope that continues! I am thankful for Ryan and his understanding of how tired I am most days. He has been taking care of pretty much all of the house cleaning lately. Yesterday I came home from work exhausted and had to take a nap. Ryan picked Brielle up from daycare and took her to the park to play so I could have a quiet house to nap in. She came home dirty and smiling so she must have had fun!!

So, the new arrival--We are very excited and have been talking about this for a while now. But somehow, when it became permanent- like when I got the positive result on the home pregnancy test- thats when reality sank in and I started to worry- about everything! Not feeling well and being tired has reminded me of how UNBELIEVABLY tired I was for about six months after Brielle was born. Seriously, there were days that I wondered how it would be possible to make it on the small amount of sleep I was getting. I was a zombie! To go from being pregnant and huge, unable to sleep comfortably for longer than 2 minutes consecutively to spending 36 hours of labor and delivery with very little sleep and then having this little angel who wants you to wake up every hour and a half to nurse for 30 minutes! So, I am a little worried about being able to handle everything, but I know women have been doing it since the beginning of time. I will be okay, I just have my fears and insecurities. And of course there are SO many wonderful things that after you get through the rough patches you are so thankful for.

I have been wondering about how Brielle will adjust to sharing her mommy and daddy with a baby brother or sister. She is used to being around smaller babies because she is one of the oldest in her class at day care and she is very gentle with the little ones there. Actually, she does the cutest thing at home with her baby dolls. She is very motherly with them- wrapping them in blankets, patting their backs, rocking them in her rocking chair, she evens talks to them in the high pitch that adults talk to babies in. She will lay her doll down, crouch down with her hands on her knees and in a high pitched voice say "Hiii". Staff at day care says that she does this with the other babies there to. Then she uses her tickle fingers to tickle their tummies. She is so stinkin' cute. I finally got her on video doing this yesterday. I will try to link it sometime- I just have to figure out how.

Spending Lots of Time Outside

Brielle absolutely LOVES her swing- she lets us know each day when she wants to go outside to swing- usually every day after getting home from daycare and, lately, in the mornings before leaving. She will spend a good 20-30 minutes relaxing in her swing- I call it her "daily swing therapy".

A Weekend With Friends

Sorry, no pictures, I promise to get some up soon.

On the weekend of July 26th and 27th Ryan was gone all weekend for a golf tournament in Illinois. So, it was just me and Brielle on our own for 48 hours. On Friday evening, we went to Rick and Michelle's so Brielle and Aiden could play. Aiden will be turning 3 in October so there is an 18 month age gap, but they play good together. Brielle laughs at everything Aiden does and Aiden enjoys being her entertainment. On Saturday, we got up early, not by my choice but because Brielle woke up at 6:30 all bright eyed and bushy tailed. We went to my friend Mandy's new place to meet up with her and her 5 year old daughter Aubrey to go to Grant's Farm. Aubrey just loves to help with Brielle, she is such a helpful and polite 5 year old- she would always ask "Jessica, would you like me to ..." Well, by the time we got everything loaded in the car, loaded the girls, and went through the McDonalds drive thru, we were on our way. Rick, Michelle and Aiden met us there. So it was 4 adults, a 5 year old, a soon to be 3 year old, and a 15 month old. And somehow, we all made it!! The tram was a hit- especially for the adults because the kiddos were forced to not run off! We fed the goats and they attacked my clean white shirt with their dirty feet. Then we spent the remainder of our visit pretty much chasing kids around and trying to keep everyone in the same vicinity. On Sunday, Brielle let me relax during the morning while I tried to get rid of a headache. Then in the afternoon we went to my grandparents house to swim. We met my mom, Nina, my aunt, my cousin Elizabeth and a couple of her friends (4 and 5 years old). Brielle and Nina went down the slide a couple hundred times until me and mom were tired of catching them. Brielle enjoyed the pool more this time than ever before. She actually sat in her floating tube for a while just enjoying the water. The rest of the time she spent running around, getting into everything. Then we came home and welcomed Daddy. Brielle smiled so big when she saw him and gave him some big hugs. I had a great weekend with her, but was glad to have Ryan home to help keep her entertained. It's always hard to take her to daycare on Monday mornings after spending a great weekend with her.



A couple new things she is doing:

- I think I have mentioned before that she is doing better with diaper changes. Well, she has this little noise she makes- kind of a gasping sound- when she is telling us she wants her diaper changed. So then we ask "do you need your diaper changed?" and she runs to her bedroom and lays on the floor. Now, just the other day she wanted a wipe, so I gave her one and she wiped herself. It really caught me off gaurd. So, now she wipes herself (only with wet diapers).

- If you hand her a tissue and say "wipe your nose", she will wipe her nose.

-She tries dressing herself and can get one leg in her pants on her own.

-She is really helpful with chores around the house especially laundry. She hands me the clothes from the dryer as I hang or fold them and then carries the clothes to be put away. For some reason she thinks this is just great and mom appreciates the help!!

A Sweet Song

Within the last week or so, Brielle has gone from strictly referring to us as Mama and Dada to Mommy and Daddy. Well, yesterday she made up a couple songs for us and they go like this..."Mom-mee, Mom-mee, Mom-mee, Mom-mee" and "Dad-dee, Dad-dee, Dad-dee, Dad-dee". She does a little dance while she sings to us, it is so adorable.

Alot of Babbling and Some Talking

Brielle babbles throughout the day and recently is saying actual words more and more. A list of words she is now saying- mama, dada, hi, bye, ball, puppy, baby, no-no, more, uh-oh, and done. She is really getting good at communicating her needs- she recently starting letting us know when she wants her diaper changed by either bringing us one and laying on the floor, leading us to her bedroom and laying on the floor, or by waving her hand in front of her face indicating she's "stinky". This is some major progress considering diaper changing has always been a huge struggle/wrestling match with her. I still can't get her to understand that when I say "no" it is not a game to see how fast she can do whatever she is not supposed to do before I get to her. Basically "no" means "go faster" and she smiles the whole time while looking right at me.

The Last Few Weeks

We have been very busy for the past several weeks and have been keeping brielle busy as well. We took her to the zoo a couple weeks ago and had a great time. Unfortunately I forgot the camera (as always). Last weekend we borrowed a bike trailer and took Brielle on her first bike ride- she did pretty good considering we had to wake her from a nap. She has been to the park several times and to listen to a live band.

She has become quite the climber lately. She has learned to push a toy up to the couch and use it as a step stool to climb onto the couch. She can climb up, sit down, then slide down the plastic slides at day care without a problem. She's a little monkey!


Wearing daddy's socks- I like to call them her moonboots.
Okay- quick story about the next two pictures. I worked an overnight and had an outfit sitting out for the morning. Apparently Ryan didn't understand when I said it was sitting on her rocking chair because she ended up dressed in a blue and yellow top that is way too big, a pair of pink bloomers that go underneath one of her dresses, and pink scrunchie socks under her sandals. I got to day care to pick her up and all I could do was laugh- alot! She looked so ridiculously funny, but somehow kinda cute!! I was so glad that I didn't have any errands to run that day. To top it off- when he dropped her off her shirt was inside out! He claims it was a rough morning- Really?

Brielle eating rocks at the park!
Feeding herself
Then rubbing it in her hands and all over herself.
even her hair!

Watching daddy mow the lawn- wanting desperately to be following him around.
yeah!!
Nina at the park- so cute!

Genius???

Brielle is getting too big too fast and I am amazed at the new things she is doing from day to day. She seems to really understand what we are saying to her more and more and is way more aware of things than I give her credit for. She was playing in my purse yesterday and found a tube of lip gloss and immediately immitated putting it on her lips and then found my blush brush and began brushing it on her face. When she has the TV remote she points it at the TV and presses buttons until something happens. I have caught her a few times recently attempting to put socks or shoes on herself. The other day I was leaving to run an errand and all I had done was put my purse on - Brielle said "bye-bye" and was waving at me- Ryan and I were amazed! She has been saying bye-bye for a while but we had always prompted it, this completely caught us off gaurd. If you ask for a hug or a kiss she will usually respond (depending on her mood). When asked where her nose or head is, she will point to the correct body part (sometimes leading into putting her finger up her nose). She does a really good immitation of a "big person" laugh- when everyone else laughs at something she will immitate it as loud as she can. Also, if there is a group of people in the room talking she will babble as loud or louder to be part of the conversation. She does everything in her power to let us know what she wants. Ryan and I are pretty sure that she is a genius (our opinions on this might be a little biased).

Brielle's Big Bad Birthday Bash

Okay, so my title is a little misleading- it wasn't exactly a bash- it was a little girl's first birthday party- but it was fun. It was a small gathering of close family with way too much food and beer- my fault- hey, I'm a first timer- I'll learn with experience. My parents were kind enough (crazy enough) to let us have it at their house and it turned out really nice. Thanks mom and dad!!

We let Brielle pretty much dig into her cake, which she did. Turns out ice cream cake is cold on your face- as illustrated by the look on Brielle's face in the second picture.
Brielle got this wagon for her birthday from Russ and Connie (Ryan's parents), it's awesome!! I think I love it as much as Brielle does. This picture is of Brielle and Nina (my niece) in the wagon with Ryan pulling and Lizzy (my cousin) pushing.
How cute are they?
Lizzy decided she wanted to ride instead of push. I don't blame her, it was hard work in all that grass. Poor Ryan, he definitly got a workout!

Brielle's One Year Pictures

We went and had pictures done on Sunday. Brielle had her serious face on and the photographer did everything under the sun to make her crack a smile- we ended up with a couple little grins and alot of serious stares. And of course as soon as we were finished she was smiling and laughing like crazy! These pictures are the unedited, non-cropped versions but you can get a pretty good idea of what the finished product would look like-not bad for the mood she was in.

Brielle is ONE!

Brielle turned one on Sunday. I took this picture at 1:10am- the time that she was born. Unfortunately, she wasn't feeling 100 percent this weekend. She had a fever on Friday and, for some reason, wouldn't take a nap on Saturday and was pretty cranky. So we had a pretty low key weekend- we plan on celebrating next week when she is (hopefully) feeling better. Brielle had her one year check up on Monday.
When she was born she weighed 7 lbs. 14 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long.
Now she weighs 18 lbs. 2 ounces and is 29 1/2 inches long.
She is in the fiftieth percentile for her height and the tenth percentile for her weight.
She is still too small to ride in a forward facing carseat- I can't wait for that because she really is not fond of her current carseat.


It's kinda hard to see but she has a graham cracker sticking out of her mouth in this picture.
This was on her birthday- we stayed in jammies all day. My mom and dad came by and brought Brielle some gifts. They got her a really fun toy that pops balls up into the air- I got rid of the box and can't remember what it's called but I really like it- would recommend it to anyone with toddlers.

Keeping us Busy

Brielle has become quite fond of her two riding toys over the past week or so. She climbs all over them, sometimes trying to stand on them, and loves to be pushed around the house. While climbing on one of them earlier tonight, she got her foot stuck and I had a difficult time getting it out, so that toy has disappeared to the basement for now.Brielle in her Easter outfit, carrying her new bunny and bag. She had so much fun on Easter. We went to two places with lots of people to entertain her and other kiddos for her to chase after. She got so wound up I had a difficult time keeping up with her. She got her head stuck in between some railing at my grandparents house and attempted to try again once we got her out. Unfortunately daddy was sick and had to stay home, so he missed all the excitement.

I was laying on the floor, stretching my back when Brielle came over and basically sat on my head. She laughed and slid down to this position and daddy was able to grab the camera quick enough to get this picture.

La La La La ELMO's World!!

You will notice in a couple of the pictures below that Brielle has her Elmo doll with her. She has become quite fond of her Elmo doll and likes to carry him around the house with her. This doll talks and sings the theme song to Elmo's World so it has mechanical parts that make it a heavy doll for little Brielle to tug around, but she manages. She grunts and groans as she picks Elmo up, carries him to whatever the desination may be, then puts him where she wants him. This usually ends up being her little arm chair. She places Elmo in the chair, then wanting to sit in the chair with him, tries climbing over him. This doesn't work and is VERY frustrating for Brielle, so she wines until I come over and sit her down in her chair and put Elmo on her lap. Then she hugs Elmo and rocks him! I am a little worried that she might become attached to this doll and start wanting to take him places- he's not little! I can just picture us going places and having this talking Elmo doll with us everywhere we go!!

A Smorgasbord of Pictures

At a St. Pat's party this weekend. Brielle had a blast running around, dancing, and seeing lots of relatives. She was a quite a ham.


Brielle and her buddy, Elmo, hangin out in a box.


Aww, so sweet!!


I just love this picture. I think she looks so pretty and sweet (and quiet) when she's sleeping.


Playing with the bubbles in the tub.


We had all of her stuffed animals on the bottom shelf of her changing table. Brielle decided she wanted to be in there with all her friends.


Very intently watching Sesame Street with two Elmos.