Hittin' The Road And Other Things

I have to keep this brief, about to get to work for the day. We're heading to Colorado tomorrow until the 9th, I have a customer to work with there and Emily and Brenna are coming along. Below are some pictures to leave you with in case I'm unable to blog from the road.

Some big news, Brenna is not only crawling now, but she's taken her first steps on her own (approximately three before falling on top of me)! Her vocabulary is also rapidly improving, she's saying "pretty baby" a lot these day, and another new word she's learned is "poop", which we're very proud of! I will eventually upload some video, I promise!

This Just In!

A bonus Brenna picture for the weekend, here she is lounging and reading her newest book last night.

For extra around the house pictures, checkout the Hoes blog. You'll find a bonus Emily and Brenna picture there!

This Week With Brenna

While I'm waiting for dinner to finish, a quick update on Brenna. As you may know, she's turning a year old in October, so Emily took some pictures a few days ago for her birthday party invites. You'll find those at the bottom of this post.

In the meantime, here Brenna is licking yogurt out of a cup while she swings. That created a bit of a mess.

Here is Brenna at daycare this week, playing with thread on a couch pillow. Ah, the simple things in life. Notice how red her hair is in this shot.

These next three are from the birthday invite photo session. We have about a hundred variations of the same poses, these were my favorites.

Videos to come this weekend I hope, plus a yard/house update, and maybe some more pictures if time permits. Oh yes, pray for rain, we have a 40% chance tomorrow with a possible half inch accumulation, we need it!

Start The Week Off Right

Hey, how about a Brenna update? It's been a while, and we've been busy with our little girl, now 10+ months.

You'll notice in the first picture below that we're skipping the whole crawling thing (it's SO overrated) and moving onto pulling ourselves up on any and everything, and then looking around trying to figure out what to do next. If she pulls herself up on our couch, she can kind of pull herself along, but much like a wino finishing off a fifth of something tasty, Brenna has a hard time putting one foot in front of the next and we have to stand by to catch her when gravity gets the better of her.

Here she's holding onto one of her favorite toys, with quite the death grip.

Here's a side view of her intently studying her little fish tank.

Here we are in the process of pulling up on the side of the crib. She thinks it's a hoot to sit and pull herself up, rattling the rails like a caged monkey. BTW, I dig the Chris Farley hairdo after bath time, I always think about the "van down by the river" routine and want to put her in some ugly checkered pants and a cheap suit.

We're either saluting the cameraman here or pinching his head off, I'm not quite sure which. I'd like to think it's the later.

Moving outside, Emily takes a close up picture of Brenna contemplating the header she took into mama's teeth the other night, leaving that nice bruise on her forehead. Emily's marking off the days until her first root canal (or perhaps, two if she's lucky!).

We're now hiding the head injury and enjoying a swing on a pleasant August morning (not quite 90 degrees yet!).

My favorite of the swinging collection, Emily captures Brenna's footies, up close and personal.

Videos to come, I promise! We're quite the chatter box these days, saying dog, uh-oh, mama, dada, and other assorted niceties.

New Brenna Pics!

FINALLY, something new to share, pictures of Brenna in her hippie/gypsy outfit that Grandma Becky made her, fantastic!

Here we are in this first shot playing the handmonica.

Phew, Daddy's breath is horrendous!

Sure footed Brenna (with a little help).

Blue-eyed Brenna!

And finally, something that has nothing to do with Brenna... look, a gourd!

New Yard Update

I've posted a few new yard pictures for your viewing pleasure. No Brenna shots to share, sorry. We have shot some video of her saying "uh oh" over and over, and of her pulling herself up to her feet to hold onto the sofa, I'll upload those as soon as possible.

Cheers

Mid Week Hellos

We've managed to scrounge up two new Brenna pictures for this mid-week update. She's been recovering from an ear infection, so the smiles and cute expressions have been a little fewer and farther between. Things have gotten better, though, she and Emily are getting more sleep and we're getting back to normal.

This past weekend we had a garage sale, cleaning out some furniture including our red sectional, Emily's sewing cabinet, and a lot of bookcases that were allowing us to keep more clutter laying around than we need. We're working on redecorating the rest of our living and dining room with Hawaiian pictures from our trips there, and have some surfboard border to put in the kitchen. There are also a multitude of projects awaiting me in the yard, but the mosquitoes have been horrible and the humidity oppressive.

Back to Brenna, she turned 10 months old yesterday. She's standing more on her own every day, although actually walking is probably a bit off. She's still not interested in crawling, although if she's on her belly she pushes herself around backwards with her arms. Our little girl is still very chatty, saying "mama", "dada", and other assorted things.

Dinner And A Movie (Well, A Book)

Today's posting is a two-parter, consisting of Brenna reading Pat The Bunny with Emily, and indulging in some dinner shortly thereafter.

I may be looking too much into this, but it would appear that there's a slight discrepancy between Brenna's meticulous nature when reading, and, um, eating. You be the judge, and make sure you're not squeamish before you scroll to the bottom of this string of pictures.

Quick Update

Sorry, no pictures today, we haven't taken any shots of our little once since Saturday when it rained most of the afternoon and we didn't have much else to do.

Brenna is doing well, not sleeping much at night, but Emily's working on getting her back into the groove with a nifty new book she bought last night at Borders. We love taking Brenna with us to eat, she's always so good nibbling on Emily's food. She's decided she's not a fan of baby food, so we're skipping ahead to other things.

Other than this, there isn't much else going on. We are planning a garage sale this Saturday, and we're working on converting the rest of our living room and kitchen to Hawaiian decor, but that's about it.

If you're interested, I'm posting a few pictures of my gourd vine that's taking over the north side of our house. That'll be over at the Hoes blog.