Thank You God

I was spending some down time and started blog surfing. I am amazed that God can speak to me no matter what I am doing. I was reading a blog about a boy who passed away last January, his mom continues to post and she is so strong in her faith even after the death of her son. I am thankful to know that my God never leaves me whether good times or bad. I am so thankful for the like that He has given although I realize I often take it for granted.
Thank You for giving Jason & I a healthy baby girl. Thank you Lord for providing for our family and giving me the opportunity stay home with Brinkley daily. I pray that I will be the mother He calls me to be. Thank you for my husband and for the love he shows us daily. I am thankful for a husband who is involved in the life of his child. I watched a little of Deal or No Deal the other night and the contestant happened to be the mom of sextuplets and when Howie asked the dad how many diapers he had changed, the dad replied 3 and the mom followed that with Be Honest and he said 1. The babies were 6 months old. *I don't know this family or their personal situation, but I find that sad and heartbreaking that this father could stand there and laugh about the lack of his help with his own children. Sorry...tangent.
I feel blessed with the life God has given me and thankful for sending His son that I may live.

Christmas with the Brelands & Christmas morning

We had so much fun on Christmas Eve and enough food to feed an army.Brinkley got way too much, but thank you pappy & mimi. She will enjoy all of her new toys. Jason and I actually didn't get Brinkley stuff for Christmas morning. My theory is she is so small and will not remember it. We will be getting her a few things after Christmas now that we see what others gave her there are a few things we want to get her, since she'll be sitting up soon. Where is the time going?






We started our morning out by reading the Chrismas story from the Bible. This is a tradition I am looking forward to. Then we headed for the goodies. Brinkley has been sneezing all day and her eyes are running constantly. Despite her sneezing she has been good but we can tell she just doesn't feel like herself, so we enjoyed staying around the house and relaxing. Tomorrow we will hit the stores for after Christmas sales.
* All the toys are gifts she opened last night and I forgot to get a picture. The pop blocks are from her man E., thank you so much!!!


Checkin out all the loot.

Christmas with Papa, Nana, Chris, Tanya, and Megan

Last weekend my parents came to town and we had Christmas. Thank you for all of the great gifts. Brinkley likes her Bebe pod, she likes to sit up and look around. Megan got the princess chair she is sitting in and everywhere she went she would move her chair there to sit in, she even tried to put it in my lap so I could hold her. We decided not to travel this year and Christmas at our house since it was Brinkley's first, so parents decided to just come early. I enjoyed our new tradition, thank you mom for being willing to change your plans so we could all celebrate early and together. I look forward to our small family Christmas next year.

Megan enjoyed opening her gifts as well as Brinkley's. It was fun to see her into everything. Next year will be double the fun with Megan and Brinks.

I love my cereal...

Brinkley loves to eat, especially when I let her have the spoon. She hasn't quite learned how to be neat, but I am sure she'll catch on soon. Daddy came in the room during the middle of this mess and tried to clean her face, needless to say...he did not succeed. These hands are yummy too... There's a little left on my bib if I can just get it in my mouth...

4 months old

I know she is almost 5 months but I am slow at blogging. Brinkley loves to smile (when she wants), she is such a happy baby (when she wants). Basically my girl is just that...A GIRL... she knows what she wants when she wants it. Her daddy and Nana say she takes after her mommy:) She can cry but mostly she makes this whimper sound until you give her what she wants and if you take too long she will cry. She does this a lot, even eating. If you take too long to give her another bite she start this squealing cry out sound until the spoon reaches her mouth. I laugh because I think it's cute. Daddy will make noises to distract her and when she stops then he gives her another bite. I love watching them together.
Anyway, 4 month stats:
12.3 lbs (small to most, BIG to us), 22.5 in. in length
She started cereal and LOVES it. She is doing great with the spoon. She smiles and loves being tickled. She laughed(really laughed) last Sunday. She has been doing this laugh/cough thing but Sunday sounded more like a real laugh. She prefers to be sitting up so she can look around and likes it more when you walk with her, facing out. She is very nosy. She will turn her head almost totally backward to see what is going on. She is sleeping through the night 6:45 - 6:30ish. YEAH!! Now she has decided she doesn't want to cuddle to go to sleep. After she takes her bottle she is ready to be in her bed, with her lovey and off to sleep she goes. She likes to play on her activity mat and is getting used to her bebe pod. She likes her momma to be in the room with her so she can look up and see me. Also like her mom..she doesn't like to be alone:) I love her so much and I can't imagine life without her. I can't wait until Christmas.

My first attempt at photoshop

I have wanted to learn photoshop for a while, but never took the time and I had no one to teach me...then the other day I realized DUH!!! my brother was a graphic designer before he decided to teach so he got me started with some basics. I hope to find the time to do it more often.

Elf yourself

I have seen this on several blogs but hadn't tried it. I finally decided to break down and see what it was all about. Jason and I got a good laugh. Check it out if you need a laugh.

Click here to elf yourself!

We've been busy...

We went to Canton to see the lights with Scott, Chrissie, Elias, and Lisa (Chrissie's sister). Brinkley loved looking at the lights. It wore her out and she slept all the way home.

Elias and his girlfriend, Brinkley. Funny how Chrissie doesn't allow Elias to touch Brinkley yet he can kiss Brogan. (Chrissie that hurts Brinkley's feelings, she doesn't think Elias has cooties yet).

Story time. Brinkley loves to read. She and E. will be so smart.

First time in the Exersaucer jump & go. She wasn't quite sure what to think about it but she is warming up to it. She will push the buttons to make the music play. She makes herself turn around but hasn't quite figured out the jumping yet.





I know blankets are a no no but Brinkley loves her blanket. If I put it on her she pulls it up over her face. I watch her when she sleeps like this but I have to trust that God will keep her safe.
Asleep in the swing. We just laid the blanket on her tummy and legs and then she pulled it up to her face.

We went to the doctor today for her 4 month check up so she was very tired and fussy from the shots. We laid on my bed and she finally fell asleep. She was content to cuddle with her blanket and book and by that point I was willing to do whatever worked. If blankie was what she wanted then blankie she got. We had been looking at the book before she fell asleep. It was on her side when I left the room,however when I came back to check on her this is what I found. I love my little snuggle bug.


After nap she was in a much better mood. Nana she loves her little lovey giraffe. She was going crazy with it.






Our first attempt at cereal. She was so tired and ready for her nightly bottle but she did really well. We couldn't give it to her fast enough. She would start fussing at us between bites so we would hurry up.

All done. Daddy please get this stuff off my face. Jason has a tough time with the messy face. I hope he realizes it will get worse before it gets better. When he was feeding her her kept trying to clean her mouth. She just wanted him to hurry with the next bite. (thanks for coming over Pappy & Mimi for her first time with cereal).

Time with daddy, How to make a tired crying baby sleep, and Christmas photo attempts

Brinkley loves lights, anything that has a light (t.v., cell phone, laptop, etc). Jason was working on the computer and I was sitting there talking to him and holding Brinkley. She was about to break her neck tying to see the computer so I let her and daddy work together. We do allow her to watch the laptop but no t.v. yet. I love seeing them together so I grabbed the camera and snapped some shots.

Brinkley was not harmed in the making of this photo:)
"What is this crazy daddy doing to me?"



She has decided she doesn't really care for her crib during the day and occasionally at night. Sunday afternoon she was so tired but she kept waking up from her nap. Jason finally got her up and boy was she ever cranky. Cranky fussing that wouldn't stop. But that wonderful daddy found a way. Yes, he stayed in that position for the rest of her nap. Thank you daddy for helping her sleep. This afternoon we just let her sleep in her swing. I can't see making her fuss during the day as long as she will keep sleeping in her crib at night.


Kelly, we too planned on taking our own Christmas picture this year. I mean really how hard can it be with a 4 month old? Try getting her to look at the camera when no one is behind it... and as seen below she is mad because I changed her bow and frankly she did not want this one on her head. Needless to say, it came off quick and her little bow went back on her head. I actually really love this picture though. I always post her happy pictures, but I laugh out loud every time I look at this picture.

Brinkley loves to sit up. Although she can't do it on her own it doesn't stop her from pulling her head and fussing until I help her sit up and then she is content.

 

I started playing with this frog with her and she couldn't quite figure it out. She just kept staring at it.

 

Sunday Brinkley was all decked out for Christmas. I am so excited about Christmas this year and Brinkley has lots of Christmas outfits so we are starting to wear them now so they get lots of use. She was so good during her photo shoot. *The reason for all the photos is because Jason was playing with different settigns on the camera and what better subject than our little angel.

 

Tonight Brinkley was in the best mood so I couldn't resist capturing her smiles.
THANK YOU CATHERINE FOR HER CHRISTMAS SHIRT, SHE LOVES IT! She loves Christmas like her mommy.

 

SO BIG

Wow! My little munchkin is growing up so fast. She loves her hands. Every time she wears this one outfit she pulls her sleeve over her hand and tries to eat her hand through it. I just sit and laugh at her. The last picture is her during tummy time. She is liking it a litle more now. Today she reached for her links while on her tummy and rolled over from tummy to back today as well. A few times I helped her but she did it a couple of times on her own. She smiles a lot, especially in the morning. And is now making a lot more noises. I love to hear her fuss at her toys on her activity mat, mainly the monkey if she can't get it in her mouth.

My Firsts...

We wnet to the zoo for the first time a few weeks ago with our friends Beth & Josh and their kids. Brinkley was so good. She did have a crying moment trying to go to sleep but then she only slept for like 20 minutes. She liked looking around at the animals who were out and moving a lot due to the great weather. We went to eat afterwards. We thought for sure she would sleep through dinner btu not a chance. She sept to the restruant and then was wide awake through dinner. She only slept like 2 1/2 hours all day but did great through the night.


Brinkley's first thanksgiving. We went to Columbus since we will stay here for Christmas. Chris, Tanya, and Megan were home so we had a good time being all together. It was a busy morning with all the cooking and watching the babies but I loved it.


Brinkley's first MSU football game. Go Dawgs!!! She held her cheering for the 4 th quarter. It was cold so we kept her bundled up so unfortunately she didn't sport her MSU attire, we were goign for warmth, which worked. She was so good all day and slept through most of the game, even all the cowbells. I did have earplugs in her ears...after working with children who were hearing impaired I was very worried about the noise level and damaging her ears. She did wake up for half time and we were inside so she got to stretch out and watch all the people, which she enjoyed. We look forward to more games next year!!