Brynne is ONE!!

I can't believe that one year ago today I went from this:

To this in a matter of hours!

And now one year later, we've got this sweet little stinker!

Don't let that sweet face fool you... This is what she was getting ready to do!

Brynne has been busy crawling like a mad woman and "talking" non-stop this month! She is still no where near walking and has not said any "real" words other than dada and the very occasional mama. I love watching her crawl through the apartment exploring every room. I do not love pulling everything she picks up off the floor from her mouth! No matter how much I vacuum or sweep, she will find something to put in her mouth! Example:

Which almost always results in this face :)

She has her one year check up tomorrow morning so I will add her stats then.

We had a little family birthday party for Brynne tonight. Here she is with all her goodies! I blocked out addresses :)

Opening her card from Granny and Grandaddy.

Opening her card from Mimi and Paps, she was a little confused by the singing card, haha!

Opening her card from Big Granny (my grandmother).

Opening her presents from Chris and me. Having a birthday right after Christmas paid off in the present opening! She definitely knew what to do this time!!

 

A shape sorter. There is one of these at church in the nursery and she loves playing with it, so I got her one of her own!



:)

Some crayons, hopefully she will color and not eat them, ha!

Every kid needs some wooden blocks!

Last but CERTAINLY not least... Long story behind this present, let's just say Brynne better REALLY like this thing!

What a look of concentration...

We also had a little cupcake for her :)

Rather than post a million (more) pictures, I will just post the videos of her eating. You can see and hear everytime I took a picture, so you have an idea of how many I took :)

I think we were freaking her out with all the videos and pictures and she was afraid to take a bite, haha!



She worked on this one handful almost the entire time!



We had a great night with our ONE year old! I can't wait to see what fun things this next year will hold!

We love you Brynne!!

Cloth Diapers-Part 1

Before Chris and I were even pregnant we talked about cloth diapering. We said that if I was able to stay home, that we would do it. Well with all of the craziness that surrounded me being able to stay home, I just forgot about it. I thought about it a few times after Brynne was born and did a little research, but just got too overwhelmed with the choices. There are SO many more choices out there other than the prefolds/flats and rubber pants our parents used on us. Right after we got back from our last trip to Tennessee I came across a website where you could do a cloth diaper trial. You can read about the trial here. They send you several different types of diapers to try for three weeks. Going into the trial I thought I had an idea of what I would end up using, but after doing the trial I went a completely different direction!

There are three basic options (but MANY options within those): Pocket diapers, All-in-ones, and prefolds/flats/inserts with covers.

Pocket diapers are what I thought I would like the most, but it turns out I didn't! They are basically a cover with some type of liner (usually fleece) sewn into them. The liner is attached all the way around the cover, except the back. This creates a pocket and you stuff the diaper with the insert of your choice. Microfiber and prefolds are probably the most popular choices. Most of them come with microfiber inserts and I think they smell worse than a prefold once wet. The problem with pocket diapers is that not only do you have to stuff them, but you also have to un-stuff them, which I wasn't a fan of.

Here is an example of a pocket diaper, there are many brands, but this is a bumGenius 4.0:

This is the opening in the back where you stuff in the insert.

(photo source and review)

All in ones are just like a disposable, there is only one "piece" to the diaper, no stuffing or covers. The problem with them is that they are expensive, take forever to dry, and are usually pretty bulky.

Here is a bumGenius Freetime All-in-One, One-size diaper:

Prefolds/flats/inserts with covers are the most like "old-fashioned" cloth diapers. The biggest benefit to them is that they are the cheapest. Another benefit is that you can re-use the covers until they stink or get dirty. Prior to the trial I thought I would like this option the least, but it's what I ended up going with! More to come on this option!

Brrrrr...

Our current weather:

So thankful Brynne and I are able to stay in today!

Brynne's Feeding Trough

Anytime Brynne drops food in her highchair it eventually makes it's way underneath the cover. I clean the food out of the seat and think it's clean until I pull the cover off! I decided to get her some of those rubbery scoop bibs that will catch the food. Turns out that they not only help me, but they also help Brynne! Watch this:



Whenever she runs out of food, which is a lot, she can just reach into her bib and get whatever she dropped! Great invention!

Concentration

The experts (whoever they are...) say that babies usually concentrate on one developmental area at a time-verbal, gross motor, fine motor, etc. Brynne has no interest in walking  and babbles ALL day long, but the only word she says is dada and the occasional mama. Her current fascination is trying to hold more than one thing in one hand at a time. She literally does it all the time, so I guess she is concentrating on her fine motor skills!

Today she was playing with puzzles pieces and trying to pick two up at one time, but in different combinations...

Then we moved to the fridge so she could play with her magnets and she of course did it with those too!

After that she played with some lego blocks and was getting a little frustrated because they are almost too big for her to be able to hold two at a time. You can see in this video that she tries and can't do it, so she throws one in the bowl and gets another, haha! Temper, temper... Might have a little red in that hair :)




In this video she gets it almost right off the bat, then she tries to clap for herself with them in her hands, haha!





On Sunday at church she had the pieces from a shape sorter and she was able to get two in EACH hand, it was pretty impresssive!

As you can tell by her lovely outfit, this was all from one day and all within about an hour! It is amazing how much she is learning and understanding these days!!

The Swing... Revisited

Brynne hasn't been in a swing since she was 3 months old. When I was getting our Christmas stuff out, she saw the swing and was trying to play with it, so I pulled it out and put her in it! She loved it! Too bad she is WAY too big and WAY to mobile for it.

She was swinging it back and forth so hard that I was afraid she was going to fall out!

Here is a video... It ends abruptly because I thought she was about to flip out :)

Brynne's First Christmas!

Chris had to work on Christmas day, so we decided to do presents on Christmas Eve. Brynne obviously doesn't get the whole wake up and do presents thing, so she got up as usual and ate her breakfast. We waited a little while for Allison, Matt, and all the girls to get to my parents house so we could video chat while doing presents.

Since it has taken me so long to be able to post this, there will be lots of pics and not a lot of words :)

Crawling to her goodies!

Looking at the laptop, trying to figure out who is talking to her, haha!

Video chatting...

Opening her recordable book from Mimi and Paps.

Trying to share some of the wrapping paper with me!

Playing with the box :)

Since we celebrated on Christmas Eve, I forgot that Santa should also come on Christmas Eve! Good thing Brynne doesn't know the difference yet, haha! So we put out some Christmas Oreos and milk in the plate and cup Grandaddy got engraved for Brynne.

About to steal some of Santa's cookies!!

Mum mum

Enjoying her treat :)

I made this ornament, it's hard to tell but it is her footprint made into a reindeer.

My Aunt Sherry knew that I crocheted hats for Brynne, so she made this ornament for her. It is so cute!

Ornament from Granny

Ornament from Chuck, Susan, and Ethan.



We had a great Christmas! We hated not being in Tennessee, but it was nice to have a quiet Christmas at home.