KIDSONGS - All Night Long!!!

When my sisters and I were little we watched the Kidsongs videos and we LOVED them. We would sing along and loved watching the kids in the video dance and sing. I got some of the DVDs for Brielle at Christmas time and she loves them too. Once she hears the singing and sees the dancing she can't keep her eyes off of the TV (especially the one about dogs).

Well, we are all a little sick and tired of Kidsongs right now!!!

Yesterday, Brielle started acting kind of sick. She was grumpy and whiny and really tired. She was also pretty hot, so she was getting ibuprofen every 6 hours. We were at Brian and Rachel's house last night and Brian checked her ears just to see if an ear infection was the problem. Nope, they looked good. We came home and she went down for bed perfectly at 7:30pm - only to wake up again from 10:00 to 11:30pm and then again from 1:30am to 5:00am. Scott and I were taking turns sitting with her on the couch watching Kidsongs ALL NIGHT LONG!!! She finally went to sleep at 5:00am and woke up again at 5:45am crying and moaning and whining. She didn't go to sleep again until 9:00am and that is where she is now. Hallelujah!

All night she cried and screamed and whined and moaned, unless we were watching Kidsongs. Then, miraculously, she was fine and just cuddled up to us and quietly watched. Amazing huh? Brian came over this morning on his way to work and an ear infection had in fact developed. We now have antibiotics and should have a better night tonight. I am so grateful for a brother-in-law pediatrician who is so helpful and kind. And last night I was pretty grateful for Kidsongs, even though I don't ever want to hear another song from them - EVER. Well, maybe on the plane from here to Germany.

"Pancake As Big As My Head"

Last night as Scott and I were falling asleep, Scott asked me to make him a pancake the size of his head for breakfast the next morning. This morning we woke up and I started on pancakes for Brielle and I and then the grand finale . . . . a pancake the size of Scott's head! His wish came true. We are having a lazy morning around the house this morning because we not only woke up to delicious pancakes, but also to a lot of snow! We have had gorgeous 70 degree, sunny weather for weeks now. All of the daffodils and tulips are blooming and it has felt just like spring, until today. Huge snowflakes just keep falling as though it were January. Gotta love those surprise spring storms.

Communicating

Brielle has really started to communicate more and more with us in the last couple months. Again, it amazes me how fast she can learn. We are always shocked at what she understands from us when she actually responds. When we say we are going bye, bye or outside - she goes right for the door. When Scott asked her to get a book and give it to Zoe - she went and chose a book and took it to Zoe! Wow. When I ask her if she wants to go to bed - she nods her head yes. When I ask her to go get her shoes or a diaper or anything - she goes right to it and gets it. Just amazing!

We've watched in fascination as she learns to communicate back to us also (dad, don't you feel the same way with Tawna and Krista?). She can now say: keys, juice, shoes, socks, eyes, nose, milk, mama, dada, ball, dog (of course), cheese. Some words she can not say, but learns the sign for very quickly. I used to try to teach her signs and nothing ever happened so I gave up. Now though, as soon as I show her the sign and she makes the connection, she's got it down. The signs she uses are: go to sleep, bye-bye, bath, more, food, fish, brush teeth, say prayer, blow kisses and she is learning milk. She can also point to body parts like head, eyes, nose, ears, toes, feet, mouth, teeth. It's so cool to see her actually capture what I am saying to her or teaching her. What a stinkin genius!

Here is Brielle signing "sleep".
Brie folding her arms for prayer. She learned this last month when we babysat the Kirks and she saw all the kids doing it. Now she folds her arms for the prayer every time we sit down to eat, but she does it like 7 times during the meal. I guess she is very spiritual.Brielle pointing to her ears. She also does this sign when I sing to her. Hmmmm?
A lot of words have come from reading these books from Rama. We read these at least three times a day just because she brings the same ones to me over and over. Yep, fascinating for me huh? Here is Brie reading to her bear.

This Girl's Got Curls!

A few of you have been asking and wondering about Brielle's hair that is finally coming in. I guess I didn't notice it because it has been a slow process, but she definitely has more hair and it is definitely curly. The top doesn't curl up as much as the back does. I just have to put a little water on it (just like mine) and it curls right up perfectly. This makes me VERY happy. I have never done straight hair. Having a little girl with curly hair will be much easier. I know just how to control it. I just hope it continues to grow into blonde curly locks like Kea and like Laura and Tawna when they were little. How cute!

The Verdict Is In - Scott's Back To Work

Scott went back to work today after two weeks of being a member of a jury. He was summoned for jury duty over two weeks ago and was chosen for the trial. He was pretty excited about it, because the whole solving a case thing really is interesting for him.

So, for the past two weeks he has been sitting as a juror from 8:30am to 1:30pm. Pretty sweet gig right when college basketball championship tournaments are on. We loved having him come home so early and be here all evening. It was great.

He was not allowed to tell me ANYTHING about the case. Everyone asked him and he never said a word. He didn't watch the news or read the newspaper either. He was a very strict juror.

Finally, on Friday the trial ended and he called at 5 pm to say that he had to stay until they decided on a verdict. So, at 6:30 pm I left, by myself, to a beautiful and very formal wedding dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. His place setting with his name was sitting empty right next to me - he never made it. I had a fabulous time anyway. He got home at about 10 pm that night and finally told me some details.

So, the excitement of the case and Scott coming home early is over and now he's back to work late on a Sunday night. Yuck.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Yes, our family is devoted to Scotland, but we still decided to celebrate St. Patrick's Day today. It was a fun day. We woke up and Scott made us pancakes. Delicious! We all then dressed in our St. Patrick's Day green and went downtown to the parade.


Brie loved the parade, but mostly because there were so many dogs out. There were dogs in the parade and dogs walking around watching the parade. She got so excited about every one. It was fun for her because she got to pet and talk to so many.
The parade was also exciting because Brie was thrown beads. And she didn't even have to do anything! She has loved wearing and sucking on the beads all day.
After the parade, we went to lunch at McCools. It is an Irish pub and restaurant. This was a GREAT time. We had a good lunch, the place was packed with people celebrating and drinking green beer and there was live Irish music. I wish you could have seen Brie dancing to the music. She danced in her high chair all through lunch and then we took her to see the musicians. She went right up and danced and spun around in front. There were tables of people loving the entertainment she was providing. It was hilarious. We all came home for a nap and more tournament basketball after lunch. It's been a great St. Paddy's Day. Hope yours was also.

Third Doctor's Visit - Third Ultrasound

What a cool thing it is to have a doctor with an ultrasound machine in his office! Scott, Brie and I went to our 14 week doctor's appointment yesterday. I knew that the doctor would just be listening for the baby's heart beat this time and there would be no ultrasound. He started listening and tried to find the heart beat for quite a while, but we didn't hear anything. He suggested we go take a look. This made me kind of nervous, but we were able to just go right to the ultrasound machine and immediately see the little heart beating away. I guess it was just positioned in a way that we couldn't hear it. That was a relief and a THRILL to get to see the baby again. It had grown so much. We saw it moving around a lot and saw arms waving and feet kicking. It's amazing to know all of that is going on inside of you when you don't feel any signs of anything being different with your body.

The first picture here is of the baby's spine. It's back is facing us. The second is of it looking right at us. Since we were taking a look anyway, Dr. Thackeray asked if we wanted to peek between the legs. Of course we did! He looked and while it is still very early to really see well . . . it did look like MAYBE it is a girl! Yahoo! We'll have to wait and see. We go back on April 13 to see for sure.

Walkin'

I apologize for the recent neglect of my blog. We spend every minute of our time on the computer making plans for our trip to Europe. Actually, all that time is trying to some how make our trip to Scotland and England less expensive. The UK is just sooooo pricey of a place to visit. It's crazy. All this planning is making us very excited though.

I thought I would at least share some of our favorite recent pictures from something else exciting we've been able to do lately - go on walks! It is finally warming up and we have headed outside for walks again. We are loving it! Brie and I went back to our favorite place, Sugarhouse Park, last Friday and had a great time. It was so nice to be outside in the nice weather. Brie had the best time because there were so many dogs out. She was sooooo excited to see each one and would squeal and call out "GOG!"

We stopped at the toys to swing and go on the slide (something we didn't have to do last summer). I think Brie got sick swinging back and forth in the swing, but she sure liked chasing the other little kids.


We went a little further and got out to walk around and explore. We found the pine cones absolutely fascinating! On Sunday morning Scott, Brie and I took a walk around our neighborhood. This is a perfect Sunday morning activity when church doesn't start until 2:00pm! We had a very nice walk until Brie didn't want to ride anymore, but wanted to walk also. That soon turned into her pushing her own stroller. She was THRILLED about this. It took us quite a while to get back home, but she was exhausted and went down for a good nap before church!

Adventures outside- posted by Scott

Now that it is warmer Brielle is constantly begging to go outside.

Brielle is doing her best to dress like her mother back in the 80s. I caught her dancing on the deck in this lovely outfit. Those aren't boots those are leg warmers (okay, fine, fuzzy socks). She often walks around the house or outside with only one of these on.

I'm already teaching her to kick the ball not to pick it up. She looks like a natural to me.

Brielle took an adventure into the snow but ended up falling over. I thought she would cry but she just started eating the snow instead.

Spring Over The Pond

We bought tickets to Europe! We are so excited! We've been wanting to make this trip for a couple of years now. We just couldn't pass up the incredible opportunity to visit Europe while Teresa is in Germany and Kamber is in England. So, we finally made the decision to make the trip. We knew this was our last chance. We had to do it now while Scott has plenty of vacation time to take, we have money set aside from babysitting and tax refunds and we only have one child. We are so happy that everything worked out for us to do it and that we have friends and family that will be waiting for us there with a place to stay.

We spent many hours yesterday renewing Scott's passport and getting one for Brielle. Mine is good until July, whew! We then spent awhile on the computer planning out our trip and finally pushing the purchase tickets button to buy the plane tickets. I'm so glad it's done.

We will fly from Salt Lake City to Frankfurt, Germany on May 3 and return on May 19. We'll spend time at Teresa's house with Steve and the boys in Germany. Scott is excited for bratwurst and hopefully a soccer match. I am excited to have a walk and picnic along the Rhine River (pictured below). This was one of my favorite spots when I was in Germany last time. It is beautiful.
We then get to drive with the Hughes family to Holland for the tulip festival!! We are thrilled that we are going to be there for this. I've always wanted to be in Holland for the tulip festival. I'm excited for the drive there also. I'm sure it will be very pretty. We'll stay there for a couple days and I hope to ride bikes through the tulip paths and Scott wants wooden shoes and cheese. After these adventures, Scott, Brie and I will fly (so cheap once you are in Europe) to London to visit Kamber (my best friend), Brian and Samantha (Brie's best friend). It is going to be so much fun to stay with them and let Brie and Sam play together. Scott and I have both been to London and it is a very cool city. We'll see the sights of the city and the countryside with Kamber and Brian. We are hoping to go on a weekend trip to Scotland with Kamber and Brian. This would be so amazing because we could visit the town that Scott's dad grew up in. Scott also wants to get a few accessories for his kilt. We really hope we get to make this little trip up to Scotland, but we'll have to see how money and time are going by that point.

We then come home to Salt Lake City and post all of our pictures on the blog. Bet you can't wait either.

Let Me In!

It happened! I remember my mom telling me a story about my niece Kea being tired and wanting her bed so badly that she went into her room and shook the crib rails begging to get in and go to sleep. My mom was shocked. She said her kids never wanted their beds like that. I remember thinking that I hoped to teach Brie to enjoy her bed and going to bed and getting good sleep on a regular basis that she might react the same way. It's like Kea was able to recognize that she was tired and wanted to go to sleep in her bed. How cool.

Well, it happened. Last night after Brie's bath she started getting kind of whiny. I still thought it was a little early to put her down, but was getting her pajamas and all of the preparations. She went into her room and stood by the crib and started shaking the crib railings and moaning. She was begging to get into her bed and go to sleep!! So I got her ready, gave her a bottle and took her into her dark, quiet room to lay her down. I put her down with her blanket and bear and she was all smiles and as I sang the "good night" song she was clapping! She was so happy to finally be put to bed! I left the room and she went to sleep until 7 am this morning.

Now, I know it's not so easy with Kea anymore, so I'll enjoy this while it lasts.


P.S. The picture is of Brie all wrapped for "bed" in Scott's lava lava. I only used this because our camera is broken and I have no new pics. We'll have a new one soon, hopefully.