The Goober being a Goober

I present to you two short clips of the Bridgey Bear being hilarious with two of her new favorite tricks.

First, here’s her being an excellent escape artist (of course, she got herself into this thing, first):




Second, Jonathan and I had a great time trying to get this trick on video. This is not perfect, but I think you can get the idea of her hilarity at the end of the clip. She was doing it way more before I started video time, of course (and therefore needed some coaxing)!

This Week in Mommyhood (walking?!)

Well, as I worked on putting B down for a nap today (during the bounce/sing time!), I started thinking about how I'd almost seen her take her first step today. Yep. I had to shake my way through the end of the song 'cause I was about to cry! No, she's not officially walking, but Jonathan has seen her start stepping with her firetruck-walker-thingy and as she was standing up (without holding onto anything) she took a step forward to catch her balance...it was as close as we've gotten so far and I swear I'm not encouraging anything! Sniff, sniff...then I proceed to tear up as I watched her in her crib (via awesome baby camera) as she sat, criss-crossed, "reading" her soft bug book and "singing" to herself. I was just a mess. Memories:

These Babies are HILARIOUS!

B has been enjoying visiting with baby friends in these first few weeks of summer (before we migrate North to cooler weather for 2 weeks!) and its been so fun to watch the little ones interact…or, dare I say, PLAY?! Annabelle and her mommy, Christy, a fabulous 1st grade teacher from my school, came over for breakfast the other day and all went swimmingly. Pigs in a blanket, sugar-free muffins (thanks, C!), and good old fashioned giggly fun was a great start to a summer day.

Here’s a mix of Christy’s a my photos from the day:

Annabelle wanted to play chase…check out the videos at the end of the post for more of this awesomeness: 

Christy indulging B in camera play…her favorite!!

Isn’t she pretty???

“Sharing” a toy:

   

My attempt at capturing the “chase” on video, though B gets distracted in the first clip. Continue on to the second to see the conclusion :)

Kindermusik!!!!

As you may remember, I am currently working to become a certified Kindermusik instructor. My classes for the fall are already lined up for Monday and Saturday mornings in Coppell and I’m so excited to start. I was pumped a few months ago when the possibility arose, but now I’m so excited….because B and I started our 1st Mommy & Baby class together two weeks ago and its so much fun! Of course, we are taking Miss Jeanie’s class (she will officially be my “boss” because she owns most of the KM classes in the North DFW area) and she’s just amazing. Yay! Here’s the link to her program, in case you are interested in checking out a class near you:

Smart Start Music with Jeanie Roemer (www.smartstartmusic.com)

All KM classes are split into age groups for a total of 6 levels. The first level is called “Village” and its for babies 0-18 months (yes, I said ZERO months!). The youngest baby in our class is 5 months and the oldest is 16 months and our group works so well. Granted, Miss Jeanie is THE BEST, but I can’t imagine using this curriculum and it not being fun for both mommies (or daddies…or grandparents….etc) and babies alike.

I will being my practicum teaching next month (sounds fancy, but its way laid back for all your teachers/former teachers) and will teach a Village class to some friends with small babies. We’re going to use the same lessons as my current Village class and I can’t wait. For practicum, we’re supposed to have 5 parent/child pairs but for me we currently have one 6 mo boy, 2 9 mo girls (B and Abby, of course!), 1 set of 11 mo twins, a 12 mo boy, an 8 mo girl, and possibly another 8 mo girl and 6 mo girl…whatever happens it will be super fun. Jonathan will be the parent for Bridget and I’ll be content with my teddy bear fake baby as I lead the 5 weekly sessions. Wish me luck!

Here are a few pics of B and me at a KM program we attended last week in Allen. This is a summer camp for “Older Child” kids in semesters 1-4 so its very similar to my kindergarten classes (these are ages 5-7). So cute!! And amazing stuff they could do…I can’t wait to see B do all that stuff…or at least try!

Notice the piano in the background? Every student played a piece and most were adorable duets with that blonde teacher you see. Awesome!

My little music teacher heart loved seeing all the Orff instruments they used!

An action shot :)

We were more interested in exploring everything, as usual:

Check out Kindermusik if you think you’re interested! This website (and the one I listed above) both offer free coupons to attend a class, and it never hurts to check it out. Music is fun!!!

Kindermusik Homepage (www.kindermusik.com)

Gonna Soak Up the Sun

Swim lessons, backyard baby pool, sprinklers….we love it all! This summer is SOOO fun because of all the awesome things I get to bring to Bridget for the first time. It’s all awesome :)

Pool time with Abby!

Our infant swim class (babies L-R: Jaxon, Bridget, Abby, Shiloh):

She was so into it that we couldn’t even get a smile out of her:

What is this awesomeness???!!!!

Jonathan brought out the sprinkler and she thought it was totally amazing. She’s not afraid of anything!

Preggie Meaggie!!!

Oh, what a fun time us mommies all have at baby showers. Sure, they were fun before we had kids of our own but welcoming someone into the club with silly games and tasty cake while also understanding all the gifts (and their importance or non-importance) makes it way better.

This post is dedicated to mommy-to-be Meagan and her precious baby girl, Preslie Lauren. Bridget and I had a lovely time and her beautiful pink shower and we can’t wait to meet the (of course) already spoiled little one! It was nice to see some old friends, too. Who’d have thought 10 years ago that so many of us would still live in DFW (I don’t know about everyone else, but I always thought I’d move away!), but now that kids are involved its become so hard to make a simple 45 minute drive to meet up. Ah, but its so true :). Meagan: B and I promise to make more time to come out and play with you and your P pod when she arrives…we can’t wait!

Playing with Christy :)

Mommy introducing B to Natalie:

Meagan opening one of many adorable and unique gifts!

Hanging with Hilary:

Adamo ladies with Meagan on one of the last days that she’ll ever be the center of attention (because Preslie will take it all from now on!):

Good times by all!

This Moment in Mommyhood

Well, as I attempt to write this post, I’m watching/listening to Bridget on her monitor as she fights her morning nap somethin’ awful! She is a fabulous sleeper almost all the time, but now that she has fluid in her ears (not “official” ear infection, but might as well be) AND she’s teething like crazy with these darn top teeth that are taking forever to cut in, she’s actually having a hard time sleeping. So sad!!

This cry it out stuff can be so hard on your heart. I’m just thankful I haven’t had to suffer through it any more than I already have. Jonathan and I have been so lucky to have such an awesome baby, but ever the mighty must fall :). Doesn’t she look sad? Here’s a pic at her 9 month doctor appointment right after she’d gotten her finger pricked and squeezed. She was crying before it even started…

Her appointment went well besides the news about ear fluid. Hopefully the meds she’s on now will clear it up, but she’s got a follow up appointment next month to check and see what’s really going on. If the fluid remains, we may have to talk to the doc about more serious steps (tubes?? ugh…). We’ll see. For now, we’re just doing what we’re told. She’s 17.7 pounds (25 percentile), 27 1/2 inches (50 percentile, but I think they mismeasured…she’s so long!) and her head size is, like, 75 percentile. Big head girl!

Here’s our newest challenge of late….changing a diaper and putting on clothes before she turns and tries to bail. We’ve got about 1.5 seconds before the ordeal begins. Awesome.

Such a goober…and in case you were wondering, she’s still crying. Time to give in a go get her up. Oh wait! She’s sat down…we’ll see where this goes. I wish I had a time lapse option here on this post :)

When it rains, it pours

Well, life has been just amazing for quite a while now. We all know that when that happens, its time to be prepared for hard times. Those times are happening now and they're in full swing. Thankfully, my family is healthy, happy, and thriving beautifully and I am so blessed to say so. However we have 3 friends who's families are not in the same lucky place we are. Here's the short story of it all:

As I've blogged about previously, my special friend, Sandra, has been in declining health for about 6 weeks now. She's been such a light in my life over the last 2 years and I'm sad to say that things just don't look good. She's been in the hospital for a while now and though her husband had arranged for her to be moved to a full-care facility (sounded like a lovely place), they tried twice to move her and each time her blood pressure would be too low and they'd have to reschedule. Bridget and I had signed up to stay with Sandra this morning (her husband is a professor at SMU and had classes in the mornings and some friends and I arranged to be with her during his times away...this, of course, was before she went into the hospital, but we planned to keep the visiting hours for her enjoyment), but Van (her husband) had to cancel because she's been unresponsive for a few days now and has doctor's coming in and out at all hours of the day. I just pray that I can get a chance to see her again and tell her just how special she is.

Secondly, one of my parents' best friends, and a member of what's possibly my favorite family in the world (besides my own!) has taken an unexpected and rapid turn for the worse with his cancer. Mike is one of the most vivacious, hilarious, loving, healthy (he frequented marathons and running events for his whole life and was even in a running magazing), amazing people I've even had the pleasure to know and his family is just the same. His wonderful wife is my mom's BFF and his two sons (one is a year older than me and the other a year younger, so my sisters and I were always very close with them) are so special. It hurts my heart to even mention what they're going through. He was diagnosed a few years ago, but escaped chemo at the time. A couple of months ago, it returned with a vengence and chemo/radiation was necessary. It didn't take well and he now has a tumor in his abdomen that is too dangerous for even exploratory surgery. He was granted hospice care at home and over the next two weeks, he will either get worse (we know what that means at this stage) or better depending on what the blasted tumor decides to do. My parents dropped everything and drove down to Austin two days ago to spend quality time with Mike and offer JCarol (his wife) a much needed distraction. There's a "no tears" policy these days down there (SOOOO Parsons family of them) and Mom and Dad are grateful for the time they got to spend with them all...boys included. The youngest is getting married in August and the wedding has already been but on the accelerated track, but I don't think it can be sped up any more. Bless them all! There's just nothing more to do except trust in God that his plan for Mike and his family will be carried out. We all know that we can't expect answers in these situations but we have to keep faith that everything is for a reason....but, man, can it be hard! Here's a couple of pics from our visit last 4th of July with our regular Southlake group that meets down there (they live in Spicewood, on a cliff overlooking Lake Travis...beautiful!). My mom with precious J Carol:


Mike joking around with Quincy and her mom, Glenda:

I love them all so much!


Lastly, one of Jonathan's good friends that he hasn't even known for too long had surgery yesterday to have a lump removed from his throat. Thankfully, it was benign but when something like this happens to a person who's not even yet 30, its always scary. His surgery went well and he's now resting and getting better so he can meet Jonathan out on the disc golf course as soon as possible! That's been the good news in these last few weeks, and we are grateful for that.

Having my precious little one makes me even more thankful for every moment I have here on Earth. Daily I'm reminded of how all of us need to live for each second and too never take anything for granted. I love life!

9 Months!

Where has my baby gone?? She’s such a big girl now. Just like I mentioned when she went from 3-4 months, this month has been so exciting. So much has happened! Though these babies really do grow like weeds (and our weeds grow fast this time of year!), there are definitely some months that just amaze me. It’s like I can see her brain honing skills and developing by the moment. I cherish every minute with her! Here are a few highlights:

-after 5 months of “dada”, her new favorite utterance is now “mama”….priceless…

-she cannot be contained. crawling everywhere. ev.ry.where.

-pulling up to standing on anything that will stay still long enough for her to use for her own will

-not as interested in toys because there’s too much to pull up on

-crawls over to her book box daily and sifts through the choices…adorable!

-stopped eating baby food in favor of table food only (cooked carrots, avocado, waffles, beets, anything mommy could think of!)

-started eating baby food again….thank God!

-eats Cheerios

-ALWAYS has to be waked up (this is a recent occurance)…she’s a sleeper! Phew!

-sleeps in a plain onesie only

-her long locks require a ponytail all the time (daddy still won’t let us cut it!)

-loves to be in the water…summer, here we come!

Anniversary Weekend…lovin’ it!

We had a great weekend celebrating our 5th anniversary. Bridget had her first overnight experience, seeing as how Jonathan’s sister, Christina, volunteered to watch her for us. Ahh. A whole 24 hours with no baby! She had a great time with her cousins, Anthony and Noah, and was a super sleeper…but what’s new :)

Jonathan and I have done the hotel stay in Dallas every anniversary we’ve had, save #1. Well, we went to Europe for a month then so that’ll have to do! Here are some pics of us at our stays over the years:

1. First Anniversary: backpacking through Europe (here we are at Stonehenge)

2. Second Anniversary: Four Seasons Dallas (magical!)

We had so much fun on this one, I thought I’d throw in another pic. It’s one of my all time favorite A and J shots (what we do if the "self timer" element of cameras had never been invented?!?!):

3. Third Anniversary: The Fairmont (our first official Downtown stay…and we liked it so much we may just go back next year)

4. Fourth Anniversary: The Adolphus (glad we stayed there, but we were underwhelmed…it was our last anniversary before B so it will always be special!)

Since we stayed two nights (our tradition before this year, now that we have parental duties!), one night we decided to go to Monica’s Aca y Alla (awesome!) to see a salsa band made up of some close friends and both my sister, Betsy, and Cory came. Funny to think about it now, but Monica’s salsa night was the same place Jonathan was on the night I went into labor! I’d made him go ‘cause I knew he wanted to really bad but he was afraid to leave me alone in case I started having contractions…well, he was right to be nervous! Ah, memories….

5. Fifth Anniversary: Hyatt Reunion Tower (and we went to see “Wicked” for the 4th time!)

Dinner at Iron Cactus, then to the theater! I was bummed that the Reunion Tower bar was closed at 11:50 when we tried to go, so I didn’t get a pic of the city view :(. Jonathan promised that we’d go back on a date night soon…I’m going to hold him to it!

Bridget’s face when she saw me the next day. Priceless feeling!

As great at our time alone was, we were both so happy to have our little noodle back in our arms. She’s always the reason for the season these days!

To tide you (and me) over

I've been disappointed that I haven't had time to post more videos of Bridget and all the things she's been doing. Main reason? It takes so dang long for the videos to upload and I get annoyed! Well, babies grow super fast and that's definitely no lie but man have the last few weeks been astonishing. I can't keep up! She started crawling on May 6th and less than a month later she looks like she's about to walk. Tear. She's not interested in any of her toys unless she can pull up on them and then try to stand on her own.

I know this happens with all babies and every mommy has to endure the pain on their baby growing up but why does it have to happen so fast?!?! Oh, right. So we'll get the urge to have more and therefore forget about all the pains of pregnancy, delivery, and the first few weeks. Duh! Asked and answered :).

Well, here's her original crawling video again as well as an updated version. She's just the more precious jewel in my crown of life that I'm blessed to say is full of diamonds, rubies, emeralds and all. Ah....does the fact that its 8:45am and she's still asleep contribute to this happy mood? Perhaps. Now I'm going to wake her up so we can enjoy the morning weather before it disappears (and allow the videos time to load!).

Where has the time gone??

I hate to post a bunch of things all at once, so let me just preface by saying how crazy life has been recently (well, when is it not? but now is REALLY crazy). With school ending, Bridget crawling...and pulling up/standing, Jonathan having to do double duty with his job switch (not his choice, but it is what it is), me completing my Kindermusik training, and life in general there's just no time to put up everything I want! Thank the Lord the weekend is almost here and that school's out...now I have more time to post!

A few tidbits to look forward to:

Anniversary Weekend!
Jazz Under the Stars
Bridget crawling and pulling up videos (hilarity!!!)
Kindermusik
3-Day Update
Fat, fat the water rat (that's me)
It's official...part tres
Retirement from teaching!

So much to say. So little time. Only one laptop. A baby that's obsessed with said laptop so Mommy can never work on it while she's around (that's for the best, actually, so I'm glad she does that!).

Til then, friends!