Brianna's #1 Birthday!

Brianna had a blast at her first birthday celebration. She basked in the attention and loved having people she loves with her. 

And now...nothing like a bunch of pictures to describe a super fun day! 

Raaaandom

Maya and I went to Holly's dance recital! It was a really fun mommy daughter date!

She put me down for a nap and then came in to work. When I walked in she said, "Sleep a little longer, Chantal."

Her hair is getting so long!!

Maya drew a baby and a lion. 

Brianna and I matched one day! And not even on purpose. 😊

There is a nest on the wreath on our door. No casualties yet!!

I made a stir fry for dinner. I got up to get more water and when I came back to the table Maya had a chow mein noodle in her nose and I totally laughed. (And then I talked to her about how it is bad to put things in our noses!)

We have camping plans this summer so we did a tent check! 

And then one Sunday afternoon we drove up to the tentative campsite to see how our car would do on the roads. In case you are wondering, I took this photo from inside our car, which was also stuck in the mud. This is my "told you so" shot. 😉

Erie Balloon Launch

On May 16th Erie had a balloon launch. It "started" at 6:15 AM. We let the girls wake up naturally and we got there about 7:00 AM. Nothing had started happening yet, but shortly after we got there the balloons started filling up and launching. It was a lot of fun to take the girls to and I am really glad we went, even though it was super early!

We met our friends there and had them over for Breakfast Strata after the launch.

"Hot air balloons!! Wahooo!!!!"

Brianna - 10 months

Brianna is 10 months old! I LOVE this age. She is constantly pulling herself up to stand (she learned how to sit up from laying down and pull up to stand within days of each other. We didn't lower the crib railing soon enough...). She has crawled a few times on her knees, and is getting really fast at army crawling.

She gives me kisses when I ask for one. And sometimes even when I don't.

Her favorite book is a sparkly "Wheels On the Bus" book. No matter what else we read before nap or bedtime, she always chooses this one for the last. She is starting to make choices too. I will hold two books in front of her and ask, "Which one?" She looks back and forth a couple of times and then puts her hand on the one she wants to read.

She does the action for the crocs going yakkity-yak on the bus! She also signs "milk" sometimes.

She is starting to try to make us laugh.

She has a lot of energy, and is very go-go-go when she is awake. I think she is going to require us to do more extensive baby proofing!

Love this sweet girl!!

Rainy Days

We have been enjoying spending time in the rain lately! ☔️

Brianna - 9 Months

It's 2 weeks late, but Brianna turned 9 months old on April 18th!

She now weighs 16 lbs 5 oz and is 26 1/2 inches long. 25% across the board. Still "small" but seems big to us! (She weighs 3 lbs more and is 1 inch longer than Maya was at 9 months.)

She is really starting to get around. SUPER close to crawling, and wanting so badly to be able to pull herself up to stand. She practices a lot when she's in the bathtub, which isn't very fun for Mommy. When we say, "Where's Brianna?" she hides her eyes with her arm and then quickly lowers it to play peek a boo with us. 

She gives high fives, is a pro at handing things back and forth between herself and a willing participant, now eats only table food after making it quite clear she wants what we are eating, can drink through a sippy and a straw, understands some sign language (but not signing it back yet), and will give me whatever she has put in her mouth if I ask her to.

She loves to explore her surroundings and does not want to have cuddle time as much as I might like sometimes. She's realizing how to have a story read to her: just LOOK, don't GRAB. She sleeps through the night every night now. *Hallelujah!!* 8 PM - 6:30/7 AM. 

She naps from 9 AM - 10:30 AM and 1 PM - 2:30 PM.

She adores having a big sister to play with. As you can tell from the above picture! Ha! Maya was doing "This Little Piggy" and Brianna wasn't quite sure what was going on at first.

She has a favorite item already: her blankie. We have 4 or 5 aden+anais blankets and she loves them. Every time I go get her up in the morning or after a nap, she clings on to it to keep it with her. If I take it and put it back in the crib she leans with all of her might to get it back!

Our sweet Brianna is so much fun and makes the days even more wonderful. I can't believe how close she is to one year already. I am so loving watching her grow up!!