so behind...

Ooops, kinda forgot about this blog, not that anyone reads it! Brynne has changed so much in the past 2.5 months since I last wrote....and right now she's getting into something, so i don't even have time to tell you how! ahahahah

Let's just say she climbs, runs, climbs some more, and says about 15 words. She LOVES her baby doll and still loves to torture Byson. She's a handful at times, but we love her so much!

Pictures!

Brynne loved turning one!

Happy Birthday Brynne (August 23)

I posted this yesterday.....but it accidentally got posted on Jason's blog! Oops!

Today is Brynne's first birthday! We had a party for her yesterday with family and a few of our closest friends (pictures to come), and today, we're going to celebrate by letting her have her first McDonalds Happy Meal. AHAHAHHA..I know...way healthy, and such a great thing to introduce a kid...but come on, it's her birthday! ahahah Currently, there is a police man out front....dealing with our car that got hit by an old lady. When he's done...it's time to take Brynne birthday shopping and then for dinner. I'd post pictures....but they are loaded on another computer, so pictures are to come eventually! I'm way behind! Oh, I'm back at work now....so these postings will be few and far between!

Ramblings...

Tonight Brynne and I made a quick trip to Bath and Body Works. We love their hand soap...and they're having a sale (plus if i got some soap I got a free bottle of lotion!) Sales get me! Anyways, on the way out of the mall, I decided to stop and check prices on tennis shoes for Brynne at a shoe store. Currently, she only wears shoes every so often since it's summer and she's a baby. We take her bare-footed (is that a word?) everywhere we go probably 90 percent of the time. Well, she's walking now and it's going to start getting colder...so we'll need to find some comfortable, neutral colored shoes she can wear. So far all of the shoes she's ever worn were given to her as gifts or hand me downs. I refuse to spend money on something that she'll grow out of in such a short time (Unless it's on clearance that is....so if anyone sees any good sales, let me know!) The other day I was at Target and didn't even want to spend 12 dollars on some cute shoes that I'll probably end up buying....OK, so back to the shoe store. SUCH cute shoes....SUCH HORRIBLE PRICES! I could never spend thirty dollars on a pair of shoes for a baby! They were cute as can be....I think I'd even wear them in my own size, but still...Wow, it shocked me. When do kids feet start slowing down? Maybe her foot size won't change so much anymore now that she's almost one. (Anyone know? Maybe she'll be in a four for a year? I have no clue about how all that works. I just know shes gone from a newborn to a 3 in less than a year...but it is the year babies triple their birth weight!) OK...i'm continuing to ramble and the whole point of this shoe store story was not the prices...it was the fact that Brynne was in HEAVEN when we walked in. She squealed so loudly and got giddy because of all the shoes. She loves shoes. She especially loves to eat shoes. Yea....that's the end of the story, and now it's not even as cute or as funny as it was when it all happened. I ruined it. I guess you had to be there. AHAHAHAH....so let me write something else that's cute instead...
Brynne's latest loves (besides her shoe fettish)...
1. She loves kissing her baby doll
2. She loves kissing us and our big dog (She's a huge kisser. We're going to have to watch her closely when she gets older if she keeps it up!)
3. She really enjoys eating toilet paper! GAG.
4. She still continues to love the dog's water and food ....man, she's so fast!
5. She enjoys the show Yo Gabba Gabba.
6. She loves to do her little squat and bounce dance when music is on.
7. She enjoys riding in shopping carts.
8. She loves Gerber Yogurt Melts. (She'd eat them all day if i'd let her!)

OK, I think I'll stop there....
Mainly...Brynne is just a very FUN baby to have around! :-) (Yet she is getting to be stubborn and sassy!) ;-)

Accomplishments, Deals, Food, and Fun!!!! What a week!

We've had a great week!


Tonight (July 11....10 1/2 months old) Brynne took her first steps. She was squealing when we cheered for her. I think she realizes she did something fantastic. ahahah. We'll see if it continues tomorrow!

I found some great deals online...summer clothes for Brynne for next summer!!! I shouldn't have spent money...but I saved money, right?! ahahahah I also found a good deal online on a car seat for Brynne...YAY! Good week, but expensive week!

We had lots of fresh fruit in the house this week....dumb detail, but it made me so happy! I love eating watermelon, strawberries (shortcake and pie), blueberries, and bananas!

Brynne tried lots of new foods this week and liked them all pretty well. Some of her favorites include yogurt, macaroni and cheese, ice cream, cheese, watermelon, and of course her yogurt melts and puffs. We've been working on her taste buds with eggs...and adding cheese did the trick. She especially loves anything that we're eating and will come up and make a noise and open her mouth as to say..."Sure, I'll have some too!"

We also went on walks, babysat Brynne's cousin and friend (Brynne had a lesson on sharing and keeping hands to herself), played with cousins, watched movies, cleaned the garage, ate daddy's yummy black bean portabella soup, and took a family trip to Oberweis to spend a gift card we were given.





Yay for summer!!!!

Just a few words...

1. I can't believe it's July.
2. Brynne now has four teeth and she's discovered how to grind them. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I get mad at her when I hear it. It makes me cringe!
3. I am so thrilled to say that I organized my tupperware cupboard. Phew! (We barely use tupperware anyways....so I wonder, what's the point in keeping it? )

Man, I stink at this....

Sorry Everyone. Once again, I've slacked off....
This post will be a bunch of pictures with some explaining....that's about it. I do want to mention though that I'm SICK that tomorrow is July 1. The summer can't go fast. It just can't. UGH. (It has been so awesome to be home with my daughter and I don't want it to end....I love being her mom!)
OK, because there are so many pictures...let me give a general update that will give you info about them. (This is going to be random, unorganized mess of info that probably won't make sense, and I apologize!) We went to Indy to see Jason's family a few weekends ago. They have a new puppy, Cocoa, who you will see in the pictures. Brynne was afraid of him at first (yet she's not afraid of Byson???ahahah) but learned to love him...and he loved her too. She also loved playing with her aunts and uncles(and the Chamberlains who are like family)...and grandpa as you can see in the pictures. (She loves her grandma too...but somehow I didn't get that on film!) We also traveled to Kentucky last weekend for Jason's five year college reunion. Brynne had her first taste of Chick-fil-a waffle fries and Maggie Moo's ice cream (YUM). She also enjoyed meeting all of daddy's (and mommy's) friends (you'll see Major and Missy in the pictures)....and loved the big king size bed in the hotel. She was a trooper during the long car ride too.
We are so blessed to have a WONDERFUL baby girl! (The latest developments on her part: She got her top left tooth about a week ago, and the other top middle tooth is on it's way. She LOVES to clap. She LOVES to stand without holding on to anything and can do it for about 20 seconds (give or take a few seconds). She's getting more and more brave and is starting to take some steps with our help. She didn't want much to do with that before (besides walking along the couch and her toys on her own). She is so fun and funny.(She enjoys playing in the dog cage, she laughs at nothing and rolls around the living room floor (sometimes I think she has ADHD) and you'll also see a picture of her with a toy stuck in her diaper. She played with it in there for HOURS before I noticed it). She also enjoys eating ANYTHING we're eating and is very verbal if we're not quick to share with her. ahaha.
We love our Brynne!!!!!

Happy Summer!

Oh brother, I'm so bad at blogging. ahahah

Sidenote: I just looked at the ticker for Brynne at the top of my blog and about passed out. She's seriously almost one years old?! Gosh!

We've had a great summer break so far, but I don't feel like it's been much of a break so far! We've kept so busy! Since the last post:
1. I enjoyed my tradition of a weekend away with some of my best girl friends. We met in Ann Arbor, MI this year and had a blast! Brooke brought her new camera and captured the fun....I'll have to post some of her pictures soon!
2. While I was with the girls, Brynne had her first 2 nights away from mom and dad as she hung out with my parents. It was hard to leave her, but I know they took great care of her!
3. We got new carpet!!!! YAY.
4. We had to get a new hot water heater. Boo. (we've needed to replace ours for about a year and we finally did it before having a major incident) But....I'm thankful for hot water on cold mornings!
5. I've had some teacher meetings....fun. ahahah
6. We've tried to clean, clean, and clean again, yet our house still needs help! I'm still hoping to sort and organized and get rid of the unwanted junk in our basement! It's just so hard to work around nap times! The window of time is too short!
7. I finally planted flowers in the pots out front (and I stink at it. They look better than they did, but still...Ahhh, not my cup of tea.)
8. I participated in Relay for Life for the first time and was touched by how many people have dealt with cancer! The event was so awesome....
9. Brynne had her 9 month check up and her 9 month pictures...(to see them, visit kimberlyjewellonline.com and find Brynne under the online veiwing (the password is our last name)
10. And best of all.....I've had some time to spend with Brynne, Jason, and Byson! I DO NOT miss the stress of the school year and PRAY this summer goes by slowly!

One day shy of a month...

It's one day shy of a month that I've posted....that's how insane life has been. This blog has obviously been last on my priority list. I decided that since I have an extra day this weekend due to Memorial day, I'd update people QUICKLY on what's gone on here the past month.

We've had a rough one....and UGH, it can only get better from here, I hope. As you all know, our first "son" Reggie (our cocker spaniel) died on May 2nd. I still miss him so much and find myself crying for one last day to cuddle with him on the couch. He was an awesome dog. Byson is slowly adjusting to life without his buddy....and Brynne has become his new best friend. They have a mutual love for each other ahahah. She smiles when she sees him, doesn't mind his daily licks on the face, and she loves to stand at his cage and talk to him when he's locked up. When she figures out how to open the lock to his cage, we're done. He'll never be locked up because she'll want to play with him. ahahahha

In addition to our dog dying, the heavy rains caused issues in our basement...ugh. I had to throw away a lot of things that I wanted to keep! Ugh. I have lots of work to do down there this summer. Work has also been stressful as usual, and some changes taking place next fall have made me down. I'm trying to stay positive, but it's hard, especially when I would love to just be a mommy and leave the work and stress behind!

On some happy notes....(because I know that even in times of storms, I am blessed!)

In the last month, Brynne has begun crawling high speed as well as pulling herself up onto everything. It's so cute to go get her in the morning and find her standing up in her crib. She's 9 months old now as of yesterday...and she's just getting so big! She loves cheerios, remote controls, and the computer still. I guess we should also add to that...the dog's bone and food too....we are in need of some baby gates now that she's very mobile!

This month, Brynne got to go to her first baseball game, got to feel grass for the first time, and hang with her grandparents and aunts/uncles on the Aukerman side. She was also able to meet Nate and Ryanne, our best friends who will someday be her in laws (they are expecting a son in September). Last weekend, Brynne got to hang with her Crawford side grandparents who came to visit her cousin for his birthday.

Well, the school year will end in less than two weeks, and I am very grateful for that! I need some time with my girl, Jason, and the dog....and some time to sort out life, mail and bills that have been shoved in an old Bath and Body Works bag, and time to clean the house! Ahhh! Thanks for your prayers....we, well, I, desperately need them right now!

What a week.

Oh brother, this week! ahahahah That's all I have to say to that. It was a crazy one. First, here are some pictures:
Asher, my nephew.

Brynne (She's kinda crawling...not really? ahahha)

Brynne and uncle Dennis

Brynne with a bow in her hair. She doesn't have much hair but I tried to see if something would stay (it stayed for about 1 minute) ahahahah, and it looks silly, but she's still cute.

Brynne and daddy cuddling...

The dogs cuddling...

Brynne playing her piano

Here's a look at our week:
Sunday night: The stomach bug that my mom had hit Brynne....ugh.
Monday: I wasn't feeling to great at work, but once I was home, my body gave up, and the bug also got the best of me. I even had to take part of the following day off from work. I try to avoid missing any work in general, but especially this year since I"m already docked pay for taking some extra maternity leave days! Ugh, life goes on....
Tuesday: Jason got the bug.
Wednesday: Our babysitter and her baby got the bug. (Jason stayed home with Brynne and disenfected the house like CRAZY!)
By Thursday, we were all feeling better, and thankfully, Jason's sisters Alissa and Kara came to watch Brynne so that our babysitter and her family could recuperate! It was so nice to have the girls here. Brynne was reunited with her aunts, and we had a great time catching up with Alissa since she's been studying abroad for the past four months! (Somehow I managed to not get any pictures of them with Brynne!) Yesterday (Friday) my mom and her friend came into town for Ladies Day at ONU, but of course they came a little early to see us! We had a good time eating pizza with them.
Other highlights of this week: Brynne now says her "Mmmm" sounds...and i've heard a few "mamas" come out of her mouth (does she know that's me? not sure...but I will tell myself she does). Also, Brynne had her first swinging outside on the swingset experience, and loved it. (My camera was inside at the time, so my mom got a cute picture, but I didn't!)

Brynne and Mommy's Quick Trip to Michigan

Mom tried to work on the fact that she's such a scheduled person, and she decided to take me (Brynne) on a quick, spontaneous trip to Michigan. It was fun to see my family and meet mommy's friends.
Here's me being silly for the camera!

On Saturday we got to go to a Tea Party at Grandma's Church. Everyone loved my dress and headband....and for the most part I was a good girl. I saw soooo many people, and I especially loved mommy's friend Ahminda. I usually only kiss family members...not strangers, but I kissed her lots! Here is a picture of me being very sleepy with mommy!

I liked reading my book to my mommy and Grandma...

I got to meet mommy's friend Brooke and mommy's friend Michelle (not pictured).

I got to play with toys with my Uncle Matt...

I love my Uncle Matt!

And, somehow Grandpa and Grandma lucked out because mommy didn't manage to get a picture taken with them! Grandma didn't feel well, so she tried to keep her distance as much as possible. Grandpa played with me lots and I even slept next to him! I loved the noises he makes and how silly he can be! He worked hard on fixing a toy mommy' bought me, and now it works! Thanks Grandpa!

Now we're home and this is the last day we have to get work done and play before returning to work and the babysitter tomorrow! BUT...we're much closer to summer break!