A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

We had a great Christmas! I must admit Christmas takes on a whole new meaning and excitement when you have a little one to enjoy it with. Although Brianna didn't fully understand what was going on, it was still a lot of fun.

She really loved the wrapping paper - a little too much. :) She really didn't care about the presents, all she wanted to do was eat the paper, and she got upset when I took it away from her.

Here's a shot of her cute pj's - the saying was definitely true. (Sorry they're dirty - she got sweet potatoes on them :))

I got the job of helping Bri unwrap the gifts and Justin had to open all the packaging and put everything together. I looked up and found him like this - what a goof ball.

After opening presents both Justin and I were talking to our parents on the phone and Brianna totally zonked out in her dad's arms. I guess opening presents took a lot out of her. :)

We also had a very yummy Christmas dinner together as our little family of three. I tried my hand at the Anderson tradition and made clam chowder, ham and rolls. I do have to brag and say it was delicious!!! But Justin doesn't like clam chowder so we made him some stuffing and mashed potatoes to go along with it. The rest of the day we just relaxed and played with Bri's new toys. It was a wonderful day and I'm sure one we will always remember.

A SAD GOODBYE

Well it's official, we found our Alley Dog a new home. This past week she has been at a new home on a "trial run" to see if she fit in with their family. So we got the word today that she is doing great, the family liked her, and that they wanted to go ahead and keep her. It was a really hard but a very necessary decision that she had to go. We had always been worried about how Alley would do with Brianna - she's never been a really good kid dog. (She gets freaked out when small children are pulling on her and will usually end up trying to bite them). But we were hoping she would get used to Bri and they would grow to like each other. Well she had been doing great with little Bri, even letting her pull on her ears and face as Bri sat in our laps with no problems. She even did okay when Brianna started playing on the floor, she'd sit by her, smell her, and let Bri pet her legs. We really thought we were in the clear. But the problem came when Bri was old enough to roll over to Alley's bed - which I guess Alley considered "her territory". She growled once at her and she got in trouble. But then a couple days after that she snapped at Brianna, which was the deciding factor that she had to go. We just couldn't risk the chance of her biting Bri, I mean how guilty would I feel if our beautiful little girl ended up with a big scar - I would feel terrible. So as much as I didn't like it, we had to start looking for a new home for her.
We were actually getting a little worried that we wouldn't find anyone that was willing to take her - and I was not dealing well with the alternative. But luckily Justin happened to be talking to his Commander and found out that they had been looking for a new dog. He talked it over with his family and they decided they wanted to give her a try. So we took her over last Sunday and dropped her off (what a miserable day!). The new family has 3 teenagers and another dog - which I knew she's do great with the older kids but was a little worried how she'd do with their dog. But it sounds like she's doing great and getting along with everybody. So after many tears at the Walker house I think everything worked out for the better. I know she's in a loving home and will always be treated good and know I don't always have to have an eye in the back of my head making sure she doesn't bite my little girl. Even though we always teased that she was our "challenged" dog, she was so sweet and just loved any attention you'd give her. We loved her and have been through a lot together. She will be missed, but at least she'll still be happy.

WATCH OUT WORLD

Check out the "Christmas present" Brianna gave Justin and I.

The first time was on Christmas Eve over at a friends house - eight months old to the day. (I couldn't get a good video then, so I took this on Christmas Day). I usually don't put shoes on her when we're around the house, but I'd put her boots on to go to the party and I think it helped her get some better traction. She can still roll faster than she can crawl so she usually only does it when she has to. But she's getting better and better every time she tries. She's such a big girl!

I'll post more about Christmas later.

ROCK N ROLL

The grandparents have requested some videos of the little one moving around the house. She still hasn't quite figured out the whole crawling thing - she'll get up on all fours and rock, which if she makes any progress on moving in one direction it's usually backwards, not so much where she's trying to go. :) But she's become an excellent roller. Sorry again that the videos are so dark, I think I need to invest in a spotlight for the house cause even with all the lights on in this dark place it's just not enough. In a couple of the videos we're watching Baby Einstein, so you can hear the music in the background and it was a struggle to get her attention away from it. What can I say she loves tv like her mom. Ha,Ha,Ha!

POWER STUGGLE

First of all - Justin passed his final exam today!!! Hip Hip Hooray!!! This has been a real hard class for him and we're both so happy that it's finally over. He has graduation tomorrow and then he drives home on Friday. I can't wait to have him home!!!

Second, things at home are going good. Well at least okay... Brianna and I are having a bit of a battle. I know I've probably caused a lot of the problem, but it's starting to get annoying and needs to be nipped in the butt. I never thought I was one of those mom's that run to their babies every little fuss or whimper. But I usually let her whine until I get done with what I'm doing and then I go get her. Well the past four or five days have been this constant whining thing and all she wants is attention. If you stop what you're doing and talk to her she'll smile at you, but as soon as you turn yourself back around the whining starts up again. She also has started to throw little fits when she can't have what she wants or you take away something that she's not supposed to have. (I know - my parents are smiling right now, thinking Yes! - She's finally getting some pay back.) So we're trying the ignoring method which I do have to say is making for some very long days. I guess the fact that she's been such a good baby so far is making this little hurdle seem bigger/harder than it actually is. Oh well - I guess I'm just a sucker for those big tears. :)

But along with the bad came the good. Yesterday we had a really frustrating morning with two big fits right in a row. I wouldn't let her suck on the diaper cream tube and then I wouldn't let her pull the ornaments off Christmas tree. (I know, such a mean mom!!!) She was so upset and mad. But I gave her her pacifier and just held her as she cried and cried. Now she only really snuggles when she's really tired and about to fall asleep. But she was so upset she just laid her head on my shoulder for about 45 minutes and we just chilled together as I rocked her. It just melted my heart - there's nothing like when your baby's sad and all they want is their mom. (Can I get a big Ooohhh. :) )

Well we'll keep working at it. I know this is a very normal thing in baby/mommy life - but if anyone has any tips I'm all ears. We're off to the church Christmas party tonight, so it'll probably be good for both of us to get out of the house for a couple of hours.

WHERE'S THE BABY?

So as I was checking my email today I lost my child. Well not really, but it did take me a second to find her. She's such a goober!

I also had my first experience of my child "locking" herself in her room. (I really didn't think this would come until she was older!) We were in the living room and Brianna was playing on the floor. She rolled herself into her bedroom, but she was happy playing so I just left her in there and just checked on her every so often. I went to see what she was doing and that's when I noticed that her bedroom door was closed. Weird? So I got up and tried to open her door. She had pushed the door shut and then rolled herself in front of it so I couldn't open the door. Luckily I was able to get it open just enough (without smooshing any fingers) to stick my arm in and push her out of the way so I could get in. What a little stinker! :)

Speaking of stinkers - along with hiding under her crib today, she also decided to rearrange her dresser. The bottom drawer was open just a little and she actually pulled herself up which opened it the rest of the way. BTW this it the first time that she's pulled herself up on something - Wahoo!!! She only did it that once though - I was trying to get her to do it again for a picture but she wouldn't. (That's why you can see my slipper bracing the drawer so she couldn't pull it open any more)

LAUGH REAL HARD & ENTER TO WIN

Check it out -

http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/2008/12/on-1rst-day-of-christmas-my-moprah-gave.html

SCARY SANTA

I took Brianna to see Santa earlier this week - she HATED him!!! I really wanted to use a picture of her with Santa for our Christmas card this year, but we ended up having to do something else (you'll see in a couple of days). But she usually is so good about other people holding her, so I didn't think it would be a big deal. I think the tears started before he even took her, and as soon as he had her in his arms she was screaming. She was so sad and had big tears running down her cheeks. Poor thing! I guess I can't really blame her - he is pretty scary. :)

But I had to go back to Santa's House tonight to pick up a few things that I'd forgotten - so we tried again. I remembered a trick that a friend told me, she said to not let them see Santa before you hand them off. Just back them in still facing you, sit them down, and hurry and snap a picture. We got these two before she turned her head and realized who was holding her and the tears began to flow again.

Too bad I already mailed out our cards, I could have used these ones. Oh well - I think the picture we ended up using in the card is pretty stinkin cute as well.

WILD THING

Wahoo! I actually think her hair is growing! I was getting a little worried that she might be bald for forever. :) Although it's not very impressive it's at least long enough to attempt the hairstyle.

JABBER MOUTH

I was talking to my parents last night and they commented again on how much they liked the videos of Bri talking. So I got a couple of more for your viewing pleasure. :) I apologize for my stupid voice in the background - I sound like a goober.

She just learned how to "click" her tongue a couple of days ago. I think she learned this from me, I always do this when I'm tickling her.

BTW - I put a light on the floor to help you see her better. That's why she keeps looking to the side and at the cord running across the floor. So no, there is not usually a cord in the middle of her bedroom floor - she so wanted to play with it.

WELCOME TO EARTH

Some days I really wonder about what's becoming of the world we live in. For lack of a better way to say it - people are just so STUPID these days! I went shopping at the craft store today with Brianna. I needed help finding something and went up to an employee to ask for her help. Bri was sitting in her car seat in the cart playing, and she has one of those fleece covers over her car seat to keep her warm. As I'm talking to the employee I first started to realize just how dumb she was by the vacant stare that she was giving me as I was showing her an example of what I was looking for. Oh but I sure underestimated this one. As I'm in mid-sentence talking she jumped back, grabbed her chest and gasped really loud looking horrified. I looked behind me to see what was the matter, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. I turned back to the employee, and she says, "Oh that scared me! There's a BABY in there!" Brianna had reached her hand out of the fleece cover - ooohhh very frightening! What? I stood there smiling trying not to bust a gut in front of this weirdo. I mean hello, what planet are you from? Maybe I'm wrong here but how many people do you see carrying around car seats without children in them? I mean what was I supposed to say to this girl, "Yeah I know. It totally freaks me out every time I see a baby in a car seat too!" WOW - is all I have to say about that!

DADDY DAUGHTER FUN

Justin and Brianna had a lot of fun last weekend together. After a little bit of coaxing on my part, Justin took over meal times with Bri. He had never fed her solid foods before, mainly because she had barely started right before he left. So when I asked him if he wanted to feed her he was really hesitant. But after convincing him that she is a really good eater he decided to give it a try. And he loved it! :) He said he surprisingly had a lot of fun and from there on out he volunteered for every feeding. He also helped me out a bunch on Saturday. I got really sick with some stomach ickiness (no it wasn't my Thanksgiving cooking! :) I think it might have been the shrimp cocktail we ate on Friday), so basically I was laying on the couch or in the bathroom the whole stinkin day. Anyways, Justin noticed that we needed to make more green beans for Bri, so we made me a whole weeks worth. And when he told me that he'd make more, I told him not to worry about because she was due to start peas on Monday. So the great hubby that he is whipped me up a whole weeks worth of peas too. Is he a great guy or what?

He also was very nice and braved the crawl space and got out our Christmas decorations. So while we put up the tree we threw on a Christmas CD. After we were done he picked up Brianna and started dancing around the house to the Christmas tunes. It was so adorable!!!

You know, I always thought that I melted Justin's heart when we got together - but oh was I wrong. :) For those who know him know that he's always so rough and gruff. But never did I imagine the big pile of mush that his big heart would turn into when we brought our little angel into the world. We LOVE YOU DAD!!!

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

We had a great Thanksgiving! Although it was a little stressful at times it was one that I'll always remember. The best part was defiantly the fact that Justin was home and our little family could be together. He's been away in Anchorage and got to come home and spend 4 days with us - we dropped him off at the airport a couple of hours ago to go back. :( Anyways, since we haven't got to spend much family time together we decided to just have Thanksgiving by ourselves as a family. We cooked the whole dinner all by ourselves!!! (For any of you that know my cooking skills, you know this was a huge accomplishment!) I now kind of feel bad for all those years that I didn't help my mom in the kitchen - she's a trooper. :) Thanksgiving is a lot of work! But the food turned out great, it was so yummy! I did however miss the pumpkin pie. Justin hates it, and I didn't want to make a whole pie just for myself, so we ended up having triple chocolate cake - which is pretty tasty too. The only bad part about the day was Brianna was so ready for a nap right about the time we sat down to eat, so for most of our dinner she was crying in her highchair until her dad finally got her out and held her for the rest of the time - she feel asleep about 5 minutes after we finished eating. But it was such a fun

day, we just hung out, cooked, stuffed our faces and nothing else! I'm so thankful for my little family and am so happy I got spend the day with them.

BEANS & CRACKERS

I started Brianna on green beans for the first time yesterday. Although she pulled some really funny faces at first, she did really good. I forgot to have the camera all ready on her first bite which was the best face - the rest of the faces looked more like she was sad or hurt that I was feeding her this. But she never really spit anything back out at me and she even opened her mouth for every bite. She ate the whole serving I'd prepared for her and was even smiling at the end.

She also has started eating little rice crackers. They're the ones that basically just turn to mush in your mouth. She thinks these are pretty tasty and will chow them down in no time.

FRUSTRATED

Okay so I know I shouldn't complain about church, but I have a little gripe.

The Mother's Room...

I always thought that this was a room where nursing mothers could take their children to feed them. Well apparently not in my ward. This is a room where you bring your rowdy children to play and run around, prepare your Sunday School lesson, or maybe even take a quick nap (yes, I've found people sleeping in there - hello, go home if you're really that tired.) Now normally I really wouldn't care what people do, you know to each there own, but Bri gets very distracted when she eats. So as kids are bouncing off the chairs or people are talking, all she wants to do is look around and check stuff out instead of eat. Not to mention that usually I'm not really all that bashful when it comes to breast feeding (I cover up as much as possible to be discreet), but I really don't enjoy trying to feed kid while some one's 4-8 year old is wanting to see the baby. I don't know, it just gets on my nerves some days.


So anyways a plea from one breast feeding mom...

The Mother's Room = The Mother's Room - please try to use it for what's it's made for. :)

TEAR JERKER

I just got finished reading an amazing book - One Tattered Angel by Blaine Yorgason. Some of you might have heard of it before, but if you haven't you defiantly need to read it. I borrowed it from a lady in my book club, it was one of the books that they read last year. All I have to say is make sure you have a box of kleenex with you when you read it, I literally cried the whole way through it. It's about the author and his family, they adopted a little girl named Charity, who was born with a brain stem but no brain. It goes through her struggles, which were terrible, but it also goes through her good times and how this little "tattered angel" affected everyone for the better that she came in contact with. I believe that she was truly an angel that God sent to this earth to bring us Christ's true love. I won't go to much into it because I really think that everyone should read this book, your life will truly be blessed in doing so. It's also a really quick and easy read for those non-readers out there. (wink, wink :)).

On another note I've decided it's better if your child cries when they get their immunizations. No, not really, I know it has nothing to do with it, but poor little Brianna had the worst day yesterday. Her poor little legs hurt so bad, I felt so sorry for her. She was so whinny the whole day and every time I would touch her legs she'd cry. The bad part is that I always pinch her chubby little thighs cause it usually tickles and makes her laugh, well I kept forgetting that her legs hurt and would grab them - I'm so freakin mean! :( Anyways she's doing much better today, back to her normal happy self. Poor little pumpkin! No fun at all.

GETTING BIGGER

Although Brianna turned six months a few weeks ago, we had her check up today. (We missed her original appointment because we were in Anchorage.) She did so awesome with her immunizations, she didn't cry at all, no even a peep. I was so proud of her! She's such a tough little cookie. Here are her stats as of today.

Weight: 17lbs 6oz - 75%
Height: 26" - 50%
Head: 17" - 75%

And here's a few things that she can do...

* Roll over (both ways) - She rolls around the whole house instead of crawling. She rolls so much that by the end of the day her cheeks are so red because she uses her little face to push off of and she gets almost a rug burn on her cheeks. She's gets stuck under the coffee table quite often and rolled under her crib yesterday.

* She's eating cereal like a champ. She loves it! She opens her mouth real wide for almost every bite.

* She can say "mama" and "baba". (Sorry the videos are kind of dark - I learned after that I need to make sure all the lights are turned on in the room because the flash doesn't come on when you record. Oh well.)

* She can growl like a monster. :) I'm really not sure what's she's really doing, but I told everyone I taught her this for Halloween.

*She's starting to become sneaky now that she can get around the house. She wants everything she's not supposed to. She'll find the remote/phone after you thought you hid it. She loves to get into her diaper bag and pull things out. She also loves to grab/kick her diaper stacker. She'll lean really far off her bouncy seat and grab everything - mom's clothes, belts, plastic sack from the garbage, towels, shower curtain. (In case you were wondering she is usually placed in the bouncy chair when mom is taking a shower). I'm sure going to have my hands full when she starts to crawl.

*She loves bath time! Which is a surprise to anyone that saw her first couple of baths. (Oh she cried and cried the whole entire time) But she has so much fun in the tub now. She is a crazy splasher and soaks her mom every time (I have to make sure I'm not wearing the outfit I plan on wearing for the day because I'm always wet after).

*She has the cutest giggle! I laugh every time I hear it - I love it!!!

*She can sit unassisted.

*She loves to give "kisses" or try and bite your face - I'm not quite sure which one she's doing. :) But it's really cute - she'll grab your face/hair and pull you to her face and give you a big slobbery "kiss".

*She loves her puppies. She loves to pet/grab onto them. I've even found her sucking on Daizy's tail, and luckily caught her before she started sucking on her toenails once - Yuck! Daizy of course loves her and will come and sit/lay by Bri when she's on the floor. I'm not sure Alley likes her, but she's tolerating her quite nicely - so far. :)

*She's very social and loves to play with most people. Everyone adores her and she'll give everyone we meet a huge smile. I've only had her cry once when I handed her off to someone - but I think that was because it was 1.5 hours after her bedtime and she was tired and wanted her mom so she could go to sleep.

*She loves her face and head tickled. It's so precious, this even makes her fall asleep sometimes. It reminds me of both of my grandma's and how I would beg them to tickle my face when I was a little kid. Good memories!

She is at such a fun age right now, it's so fun to watch her little personality develop. I love watching her little mind work. She is such a blessing in our lives and her dad and I couldn't ask for a more perfect daughter. Oh we love her so stinkin much!!!

SIPPY CUP

Well I think she finally figured it out. I gave Brianna a sippy cup 2-3 weeks ago and although she thought it was a great toy to chew on, she really didn't get the whole gist of it. I would try to get her to suck on it and after me putting the spout in her mouth a couple of times she's get really ticked off and want nothing to do with it. So I decided to just lay off and let her play with it anyway that she wanted to. She'd take a few sips every so often, which usually surprised her and made her gag, but no actually drinking. I tried again the other morning and she actually sat and drank the water for a couple of minutes. She does drool a whole lot when she drinks (I think she learned that from her puppies :)), so she has to wear a bib. She still thinks it's a pretty cool toy to chew on, but she's also enjoying the "treat" that comes out as well.

Lately she also has become quite fond of my water bottle. (Basically she loves anything that she can't have.) So I started giving her little sips sometimes. Let's just say most of the time it's a huge mess, but she gets so excited I can't resist giving her a taste.

We're both missing daddy a whole lot. I know this is nothing like a deployment, but I still hate when he's gone. Bri really misses his mosquito kisses! I really do think that sometimes she gets sick of being with just me all day - she loves when her dad comes home to play. Anyways at least we get to talk to him every day and I don't have to worry about him being in danger. We've thought about going down and visiting him, but he's been really busy studying and doing homework that I think we'd just be a big distraction - so we'll probably just wait until Thanksgiving when he comes home for a couple of days.

Brianna and I have been trying to keep ourselves busy. It's becoming dark during the daytime again and it makes me just want to sleep, so I've tried to get us out of the house as much as we can. Even if it's just to run to the bank, or anything to get us out. We go to a yoga class every Tuesday and Thursday morning. And then we went to a baby shower on Wednesday and our Book Club on Thursday. (I think everyone enjoys seeing Bri more than me cause she's so cute, oh well! :) I guess I can't really blame them - she is pretty fun to play with!)

GOOD MORNING

Look what I woke up to this morning...

Jealous?