S is for Sister: Installment 5

As you know, another quarter of being a family of 4 means not only 2 posts about the Brynnie, but a bonus third post with lots of cute pics of my kids.  You know- because I don't post enough already.  Here's what the last 3 months have looked like with our yittle yoves.

Bear hug or means of restraint from the Little People stash?  Only the shadow knows.

Uh, yup- I'd say that about sums it all up.

We are so lucky to have a man in our lives who looks at us with such adoration.  #blessed #sarcasmfont

Matching duds.  The cutest.

Here's one to archive for wedding slide shows.

This is what it looks like when Em "checks Brynn for a poo poo."  Bless Brynn and her patience.

These girls love getting up in their Daddy's grill (see what I did there?!) when he's cooking us Sunday breakfast.

The rare photo with Mama.  It's like catching a unicorn.  Wish the unicorn had put on some make up but ya can't win 'em all, can ya?

Eyes on the prize.  Based on those looks and the fact we're at the grocery store- it appears the prize was some yogurt raisins.

We took a lot of walks in December to look at lights.  Brynn was more into the gardening equipment though.

I couldn't even tell you.

Come & knock on our door.... We've been waiting for you!

If you're wondering why 1 in 4 of my sisters pics are at the grocery store- it's because it's the only time that they are next to eachother, they are contained and I have two free hands.  The tortilla entertainment doesn't hurt matters either.

Spaghetti night.  A few weeks later when we had mac n' cheese as a side Emery instructed everyone to remove their shirts.  So perhaps there's more learning to do on this front.

Brynn has a lot of parental figures... including her older sister.

It appears it was below 70 degrees which called for 10 layers of clothing.

This is one of my all time favorite pics of them.  WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME, WOMAN?!

That looks about right.

See you guys in 3 months.  Will Brynn have mastered climbing up the slide?  Will Emery have mastered sharing?  Stay tuned.

Brynn Tracker: Fifteen Months

The Story
Per the ush (short for usual- never know how to spell that one...anyone?)- I'm late to the party.  On February 18th my little nugget turned 15 months old (1.25 years for those who are into expanding decimals in Excel).

Because I'm a bit behind, it's difficult to remember exact dates and milestones, but what I can tell you for certain is that our Brynnie gets funnier by the minute.  I am constantly telling people** that both of my daughters are hilarious but in completely different ways.  With Em it's pretty easy to convey the hilarity but with the Boo Boo, you kind of have to be there or to know her personality.  Her Aunt Tiff the other day described her as "undercover funny."

*thinking: Maybe if I distract her, I can run away*  Pssst... Mama.  I think I see something really cool over there.

During this 3 month time frame a lot of things stayed the same- she still loves her thumb.  And babbling.  And her Mama.  And sleep.  And being chased. And her blanket.  She added a few new obsessions to her Rolodex though- namely dogs, books and crackers.

I spend approximately 55% of my time at the park trying to keep her from chasing people's dogs and/or getting too close to them.  I blame this on our own dinosaur dog.  Since Lola is huge, and completely non-threatening, Brynn assumes all of them must be this way.  She loves to stick her fingers in their noses, touch their feet, pet them in an aggressive fashion.  You know- all the things dogs love strange children to do.  (Save us a spot, nearest ER!)  She also very clearly started saying "Lola".  (Em also said Lola early on but she said "Woh-wa" and Brynn says "Lala".  Completely uninteresting to anyone except me, I know.)

For real though, Mama.  Why don't you go check?

The obsession with books is definitely genetic.  I think I made my Mom take us to the library nearly daily in the summers.  No exaggeration- she wakes up (happy as a clam, of course) and starts saying "boo, boo" (book) and will run to find the nearest one.  It's THE cutest.  Oh, also, she gives you the book, turns around, backs it up and plops down where she assumes your lap should be.  No thought is given as to whether her aim is appropriate.  This results in quite a few slips, trips and falls for her.  As long as there's a book at the end of the rainbow though- she's good.

After she gets you to read her approximately 1,276 books in the morning, the next line of business is to run into the kitchen and start pointing at the pantry door saying "cacka" on repeat, with increasing desperation, until you deliver one.  Also, if you eat one in front of her there's a high probability she will stick her hand in your mouth and try to get it out.  Maybe she'll be a zookeeper?

Hellllllp.  They're doing it again.

She continues to be a busy, busy child... except when she's not.  Like I said in the photo dump, she has 2 speeds- pedal to the metal and nah- I'm good.  She. Gets. Into. So. Much. Stuff.  If she didn't look so much like a human, I would swear she was a raccoon.  She is constantly bringing us items from the trash.  So if you ever show up at our house and she's holding an empty beer can- no cause for alarm.  She's just been dumpster diving again.

It wasn't within the 15 month window, but she totally dumped Em's potty, full of fresh urine, out allllll over our bathroom floor while I was putting dinner in the oven.  Then she slipped in it and screamed while Em trudged around in it with her pants around her ankles.  (See also: how beer cans end up in the trash can.)

Brynn is still a pretty picky eater.  She will voraciously eat any variety of meat.  She's hit or miss on just about everything else.  We did have a few successes this quarter with fruit- mainly bananas ('nana, 'nana!) and a blueberry or two.  She's also pretty into noodles because... well... Mama's genes.

In terms of milestones, she cut some more teeth and drooled up a storm in the process.  I didn't document the dates of those because if you stick your finger in her mouth, you're probably going to lose it.  She also started saying a few words.  I can't recall exactly how many she had at 15 months but I think for sure uh-oh, Ma-Ma, Da-Da and Lola.  (Since then we've added quite a few but I'll save those for her 18 month post.)

Man I have some good-looking feet.

The School Stuff
Brynn is still in the Infant B class because there's a bottleneck in the Toddler class above her.  I'm fairly certain her main teacher doesn't mind this one bit.  It's going to be a noooooisy couple of weeks at the girls' school when she does finally have to transition.

In this time frame Brynn's teacher told me one day, "oooooh, I finally saw Brynn's other side!"  I knew immediately what she meant by the tone in her voice and the look on her face.  She's the most laid back child ever until you activate baby Hulk mode.  Apparently the trigger on this particular day was that it was time to come in and Brynn wasn't feeling that.  She wanted to stay outside (which Ryan would attribute to his "Native American Roots").  The temper shows itself so infrequently (and is harmless at this stage), so we really just laugh, but I'm curious to see how it develops.

If they're going to keep putting me back in this chair, I'm just going to keep not looking at them.  Take that, family historians!

Most of the time her teachers tell me what a sweet little bug we have on our hands.  Just this morning in fact I had to drop her off instead of Daddy and her teachers said, "is she always this happy at home too?"  They have also referred to her as the classroom helper and intimated that she is really quick to respond when one of the babies is crying.  By "respond" I mean pat a little too aggressively.  Gotta love the kind intentions though, right?

Ahhhh, the rare #MomWin.

The Stats

• Height: 32" (91st percentile)
• Weight: 23 lbs 3 oz (76th percentile)
• Head: 18.5" (83rd percentile)
• Diaper Size: 4
• Clothes: 12-18 Months & size 4 shoe
• Feeding:  She eats 3 meals a day plus 2 snacks at school.  We follow mostly the same schedule at home dependent upon what all we have going on.  She has milk or water at all sittings and will sometimes demand milk via sign language (or pounding on the fridge) in between.  This kid chugs.  I'm pretty nervous about college.
• Sleeping:  She's still a really great sleeper.  As she gets older she does make more of an effort to fight sleep from time to time if there's a lot going on but generally she still sticks to her own schedule.  She prefers to be in bed by about 7:30 and will wake up on her own sometime between 6:15 and 7:00.  On the weekends she naps 2x a day, her better one in the morning for about 2 hours.  At school she naps better than Emery ever did at her age, but they're becoming fewer and further between.
• Favorite Songs/Games: Chase is still her absolute favorite.  Nothing makes her giggle more.  She is also starting to take more and more interest in what Emery is doing and playing with.
• Other Notables:  Brynn LOVES to climb.  She's much more of a monkey than Em, so I am a little nervous about what that means for our medical insurance.

** Duh.  I'm a Mom.  But still totally unbiased.  ;c)

Bye, Felicia!

i(Phone) Spy: Months Thirteen - Fifteen - Brynn

On February 18th our sweet Boo Boo turned a whopping 15 months old.  Enjoy just a snippet of the entertainment she has provided us over the last 3 months.  Oh, how we love you tiny 'Zilla!

I know this is blurry, but welcome to my world.  This kid has 2 speeds- run like he!! and just chilling (see below).

We have affectionately taken to calling her Linus because she's so obsessed with this blanket.  Based on this above, I'm glad she's taken a shining to one with breath-ability.

I look this deep in reflection when I eat Great Harvest's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins too.

Sweet, sleepy girl.  (Still a thumb sucker- thanks Ryan genes!)

This child and the park.  Holy Moly.  The combination of the two is the cause of at least 50% of the gray hairs I've sprouted recently.  Fearless child + small spaces are a dangerous equation.

I'll cover this more in the words update but her adoration of the blanket is trumped only by her love of books.

Just getting her workout in.  She's efficient because it only required 0.5 seconds of her Mama's back being turned to get into this position.

Yeah, yeah- you hang out at the park.  I'm going to go try to climb on that bike that isn't mine.

My baby summed up in a picture.  (This expression looks identical to some of Ryan's childhood pictures that I'm too lazy to dig up at the moment.)

Brynn's teachers somehow managed to wrangle her wild mane into her first antenna pony.

Donuts went over well.

"Cacka.  Now."

Sweets require an enormous amount of concentration.

There's not a picture in the world that does justice to the adorable factor of this child's belly.  That won't stop me from trying though.

Brynnie's second speed.  Netflix and chill.  Minus the Netflix and inappropriate connotation of the "chill" part.

Was not buying what sister was selling, clearly.

These pants barely fit now and they were rolled on the bottom.  (Tear emoji).

Oh, why hello!  Don't mind me.  Just practicing my wall-scaling for when I inevitably am cast in MI:20.

Can I get some help around here, please?  Some of us want to bathe.  Not just take pictures.

Coffee & Hearts

As noted in my previous post, our Valentine's Day didn't necessarily ooze romance, but there was definitely not shortage of love and togetherness.  On Friday afternoon, despite staying home with me in potty training bootcamp all day, Emery and I headed up to school to partake in her class party.

I didn't take too many pictures because I was mainly sitting in awe of how her teachers handle it every day.  I strongly believe the phrase "like herding cats" was born out of a class of toddlers.  They're pretty noisy cats, too.  That being said- they were adorbs handing eachother Valentine's and I'm glad I got the chance to go.

Fast forward to Sunday, which was actually the day of St. Valentine... When the Daddy asked me what I wanted to do, to absolutely no one on the planet's surprise, I said I wanted to get some treats at Starbucks.  So that is precisely what we did.  I'm a simple lady.  

We capped the evening off with a DELICIOUS meal of coconut shrimp prepared by none other than the Daddy.  He put so much thought into selecting a meal and finding a recipe.  If you know Em, you know she's really into shrimp these days (as am I).  It was so adorably touching of him to do that... and they were AH-MAZING.  Muchas gracias to the Prince in these 3 women's lives- we love you more than the Bux!

I hope you all had an equally wonderful day full of the people who make your heart smile.

The Potty Training Diaries

Confession time.  I am a terrible mother. Why, you ask?  Because, despite purchasing a toddler potty for Emery when Brynn was like 4 weeks old (she's now 15 months, so you do the math), I've never really made a concentrated effort to do the whole potty training thing.

First, I held off because I had a newborn on my hands.  After that, I delayed because work was insane and I was struggling to muster the energy.  Then, I held off because we accidentally bought a house.  Next, I held off because we accidentally sold our house earlier than expected.  Then, it was the holidays.  Then, we moved into the apartment.  I think you see where this is going.  Bottom line is that I do not think I'll be crowned Mother of the Year for 2015 or 2016.  I kind of hope that Mothering is one of those things where you get a trophy just for participating- like AYSO soccer.

In an effort not to double fail her, I am going to document the achievement of this milestone though.  Because I'm a parent and that's part of our doctrine, right?

Emery was highly familiar with the toilet and used it on her terms.  There were plenty of successes but we still weren't batting 1,000, which is pretty important in this particular aspect of life.  Early this year Ryan and I resolved that we needed to do the ol' go-pantsless-for-an-entire-weekend-and-pray with-all-our-might-that-other-parents-were-correct methodology.  The problem was finding a weekend that we could make it happen.

As fate would have it, the weekend of February 12th, between my Friday off and Ryan's day off for President's Day, we realized we had a 4 day stretch of weekend and penciled it in.  I mean, really, what is more romantic for Valentine's Day than hanging out on a plastic tarp in your living room?  Nothing.

Potty Training boot camp commenced at approximately 9:15 am on Friday February 12th.  Around 10:32 am Emery let me know that "her pants is wet, Mommay."  Thankfully our little love was a quick study because after that she really only had 1 more accident THE ENTIRE WEEKEND.  We were both so ridiculously proud of her.

The following week at school she averaged 1 accident per day until Thursday when Daddy had the bright idea to bribe incentivize her with ice cream if she had no accidents.  The Martin/Boarman love o' food is strong with this one because as soon as I walked in the door (and I do mean AS SOON AS) to school to pick her up that evening, she started pointing at her pants, reminding me they were the same ones I put her in that morning and demanding ice cream.

And- voila!  Since then, I don't think she's had a single accident.  That isn't to say that there won't be another accident on the horizon, but I am pretty pumped to be able to say that Emery is potty trained (and to cut our monthly Amazon diaper shipment in half).  We are so proud of you, love bug!  Now, let's just work on letting your roommates (read: Daddy and I) utilize the restroom in peace, huh?

Just having a little panty picnic.

Denver Won. I'm Pretty Sure.

We are just barely into the third month of 2016 and I have already failed myself.  I let a full month slip by without any posts.  DOH!  I had an extra day from the universe and everything.  Mah bad, guys.

So, I debated whether or not I should even include this event as a post but ultimately decided to because:

1) I have photographic evidence of its occurrence on my phone, which is rare.
2) This is an event I have typically documented in some form or fashion, so why break tradition now?
3) It is an event we attended with other adults which is kind of like capturing a unicorn for us these days.
4) It's the culmination of a VERY long season in our home and that is definitely worthy of documentation.

So, there you have it.  On Sunday February 7th, Jendan was kind enough to host the usual suspects at their house for the Super Bowl.  It's without question an occasion I give approximately 0.5 flips about, but some how these two manage to make it fun.  So fun that I took only 5 pictures.  All of which are included below because when you only have 5, why choose?

The events were much the same as prior years in that there were lots of prop bets, too many delicious calories consumed, we contributed many cans to recycling bins and the men wound up playing video games while the women watched Bey rock it at half time.

Muchas gracias to the gracious host/hostess with the most/mostess as well as all other participants for getting us out of the house apartment.  Even though we never see you- we still love you oodles!

Austin advising Shawna on squares.  And coin toss strategies.  #relationshipgoals

I realized I should take some pictures.

I realized I should zoom in.

Em realized she likes bounce houses.

Ryan realized his inner child is hard to keep inner.  I got bored with taking pictures.  The end.