Valentine's Day and Farm Fun

We learned after the last post that Bryn was getting pretty sick, which could explain some of her attitude.  Prior to her cold symptoms becoming more pronounced, I was very concerned that she was never going to smile again.  For example, she loved Valentine's Day morning. 

But, she seemed much better that night.  Here she is opening up a Valentine's Day card my parents sent her and running around the playroom.

Fun with Grammy and Grandpa Bell at our house Saturday.  You can tell by now that she was really fighting a cold, and perhaps pink eye.  But she still had a few fun moments!

 

We went to the farm Sunday to celebrate Grandpa and Whitney's birthdays.  Grandpa is turning 88 this week! 

Mom repairing Eli's pet snake.   

Mom and I stopped by Wal-Mart on the way to the farm and on a whim I got Bryn her first play car.  I was hoping to lift her spirits since she had been feeling so sick . . . I know not a great habit to get into.  It took a lot longer than I anticipated to get the darn thing assembled.  John, Mom and I took about an hour to get it about 1/3 done and then K.C. walked in and finished it in 10 minutes.   But, she did get to try it out for the first time in front of everyone.  She was scared at first, but quickly became a pro.  She also really latched onto Ella this time and walked around saying her name over and over again. 

Pretty special pictures.

Bryn felt good enough to take a walk down to the pond!  As a city boy, Nick was the dark horse in the skipping rocks competition. 

Muffy!

My favorite place in the world is standing at my grandparent's front door looking out on this view.  So many memories and I'd choose a view of a farm field over the ocean any day.   

Happy family!



Give me my baby back

Someone or something has possessed our sweet little girl and caused her to hit us, hit Tegan, say "no" to everyone and everything, throw remote controls into the toilet, run from us, throw herself on the floor and scream, get her first time-out, and all with a little gleam in her eyes as if to say "I have your daughter and I'm not giving her back."

The grandparents don't believe us.  Though we didn't plan it, we happen to have proof from what started as an innocent photo opp before friends came over.  Here are some pictures of Bryn testing how much she can play with an outlet.  This is the look she has when we know something is up. 

 Here is Bryn getting yelled at by her Dad.

Here is Bryn in her first time out after she grabbed the cord again.

Here is Bryn realizing that maybe "Dada" isn't to be messed with and "Mama" will save her.  As much as it pained me, she didn't have luck with that either. 

After everything settled down and the parents thought they conquered the world, here is Bryn trying to access one of the two rooms she knows she is not allowed to go into. 

And then trying to get into the fridge.  Another "no-no." 

She seems to calm down around other people, hence why the grandparents don't believe us.  She had a dance party with Owen and Olivia after her escapades!  Owen was so sweet and kept hugging Bryn and Olivia was very vocal about who Bryn is and who we are.  They are adorable. 

The faces Bryn makes in four seconds.  It's a stage...right?  Right!?!

Fun at Great-Aunt Lori's for Spring Birthdays!

Grammy Bell made Bryn a Birthday book that has pictures of her and all of her family in it.  She loves to point to the Jayhawk and sing the Rock Chalk chant, name Tegan, name Miller as "kitty", point out "Papa," and point out Nick and I.  One of the pictures in it is this one:

We get a huge kick out of her reaction when we flip to the page with that picture.

Quick comment for scrapbook purposes:  I realized I need to do better at this when a good friend asked me what our sleep/food plan was when Bryn was 6 months old.  With extreme confidence, I said that I had no idea and parenting strategy exits my mind as soon as it is outdated, but don't worry, I'm sure it is on my blog!!!  Nope.  One of the purposes in this is to decrease confusion with a second baby someday, so here is Bryn's schedule at 16.5 months:  Wake at 6:00 a.m., drink water, eat breakfast and lunch at daycare, home by 6:00, eat at 6:30, bedtime starts at 7:30, rock her briefly, try to sneak out without laying on the floor.  She will not drink milk, so she gets a ton of Greek yogurt, she loves fruit squeeze packets....as I do this I realize that schedules and food are not at all complicated at this age and the bottle schedule was much more important.  Ugh.  Every baby is different anyway, right? 

Bryn is talking a lot and kind of identifying colors.  We especially like the way she says "turtle" and "purple."  She still has a strong southern accent when she says "bye" and "no."  They are both two syllables for her...and her daycare teacher.  Aside from being bitten a couple of times, daycare is going great and they say she is pretty social. 

Some keepers for the scrapbook.