Brynna is 8 months

hanging with gigi

doing the usual "relaxing with papa"

This month Brynna got her 2 front teeth!! Now she has a total of 4. She is also starting to get on all 4's and sway back and forth. I am sure crawling is just around the corner. When she is in her bed she can sit herself up but so far she hasn't done it in the living room.  She also figured out how to take her bows and any kind of clips out of her hair so now I have to either fight her every few seconds or just let it fall in front of her eyes like a shaggy dog. I think it bothers me more than her.

Uncle Jason & Aunt April Visit 2012

Last week we had a great time visiting with Jacob's brother Jason and wife April. Unfortunately they only get to come to KC about once a year so we are always so excited to spend as much time with them as we can. This visit was even more special because we got to show off our little angel Brynna for the first time.

Hand, Foot, and Mouth

Well we had such a great time at Crown Center but we ended up taking something home with us. The next couple of days included fevers, blisters, and very fussy babies. I know you can't live in a bubble but man it stinks having little ones that catch all kinds of sicknesses. Our house often feels like a pea tree dish. Most have never heard of hand, foot, and mouth but supposedly it is very common and unfortunately there is nothing you can do for it. Dane had blisters mostly in and around his mouth and Brynna had them all over but really bad on her hands. It took about 10 days for the blisters to go away but they were better after about 3 days. You can still see where Brynna had her blisters.

Crown Center - Tails and Trails

Crown Center has a new exhibit open and it is called Tails & Trails. This exhibit was perfect for Danes age. They had a camel and a tiger that you could sit on. They had an elephant that you could turn the wheel and move his trunk. There was a bear and bear cubs in a little cave to sit by. There was a nest to sit in and a slide and maze to crawl around in. Dane had a lot of fun running around with his friend Tucker. Brynna liked sitting in the nest until the big kids started trampling her.

After playing around in the exhibit we went over to Fritz's and the kids were mesmerized by the trains. For those of you that don't know what it is there are trains that circle around the restaurant and one even brings your food to you. Perfect place to take kids since they stay pretty entertained.

Snow Day!!

Dane is 27 months

Well this month Dane has hit another milestone and is now in a big boy  bed. I was a little worried but he was ready and has transitioned so well. I think I was way more worried than I need to be. Since we switched his bed we went ahead and redecorated it too. We did his room in a transportation theme of cars and trucks. My aunt took him for the night so Jacob and I redid it while he was gone. When he came home he was VERY excited. He said "MY BED!!! MY BED!!! CARS!!!" He ran and jumped on his bed and just kept talking about it. The hardest part of giving up the crib is that naps are a little harder because he wants to get up and play. He was hit or miss about it anyway but now it a little more difficult. At night he is doing great. So far there has only been one time where he woke up at 3 am and asked me to go downstairs, watch Diego, and then eat. I got him a few crackers and then sent him back to bed.

Lately Dane hasn't really wanted to play outside very much because he wants me to be out with him and I don't like keeping Brynna out there when it is cold. To keep him busy I have been trying to break up the day with different activities. His absolute favorite thing in the whole world to do is play on my Ipad. I have the toughest time keeping him away from it. He knows how to get into all his games and how to go into Netflix and start up Diego without any help. I was watching him the other day and was so impressed at what he is learning on the games he plays. There was a shape matching game on there and he got all of them right on the first try. We also started playing with Play Doh. I got a few cookie cutters and he will sit and play with that for a good 30 mins or so before he gets tired of it. He likes playing in water too so I know the water table will be a big hit this summer. I filled up the sink with a little water, gave him a spoon, and a few cups and he had a great time. He made a bigger mess than I wanted but some days a mess seems like a small price to pay for some piece and quiet. He also started drawing with crayons. He drew me my first picture and it made me smile, I put it up on the fridge. 

Dane is 26 months old

Dane has such an infectious personality. Ever since he was a baby he had the best laugh and still to this day he just knows how to make you smile. I am amazed at how he is communicating now. He is putting 3 to 4 words together and sometimes we understand what those words are :). The other day he walked up and said "ouch! head hurt!". Hurt is his new word that he uses quite a bit since he learned it. Another word he uses a lot is "eat". Some days it seems like that is all he says. Since the first of the year our family has been doing more of vegan diet so Dane is starting to eat much better. I was really surprised because he was really stuck in a rut of eating crackers and junk all day long. I wasn't sure how he would adapt since he hasn't eaten vegetables since he was a baby. Since we started eating pretty much only fruits and veggies he has become a much better eater. I guess it is true that they eat what you do. There are many times where I will sit down with a plate of broccoli or a cutie orange and he wants to share it with me. I tried for 2 years to get him to eat bananas and he wouldn't have anything to do with them. I think it was the texture because he would eat banana flavored food but not the actual banana itself. Now that Brynna and I eat bananas a lot he has become crazy over them. He will eat a couple a day. Although he eats a much bigger variety it still varies from day to day whether or not he will eat something. We make spaghetti and one day he wont eat it and the next time he eats more than one helping, he is always surprising me. The other night we had an oriental cabbage salad with a ginger dressing and a vegetable lo mein stir fry and he ate 3 helpings of each. I would have never guessed he would eat the salad. I just give him whatever we have and if he eats it great and if he doesn't I usually make a pb&j for him. There have been a few times when I put his food on the table and he walks in, looks at it, says NO!, and then runs to his room. I can't help but laugh when he does that. Eventually he will come back and give it a taste if we don't force the issue.

Naps are becoming more of a thing of the past too. I would say that he is napping about 3 days a week. Most days I still make him lay in his bed for an hour or so just so he can have some down time. I am not sure I will be able to keep that up for much longer though because I feel like the toddler bed is getting closer and closer. I am not sure how I will keep him in there then.

Another thing we noticed Dane doing is when he is watching tv or his dad play xbox he will say "oh no" when he sees something bad happened or went wrong. It is crazy to think that he actually knows somewhat what is going on and registers it is bad.