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.