9 Months

The little man is 9 months today, such a big boy!!! Here are the pictures from today:)Love how he is grabbing his feet here:)

And I love the one below because of those gorgeous long lashes and chubby baby hands!!!

It is becoming increasingly difficult to take these pictures because Kieran is such a busy boy now! He is so not content to sit still for too long! At 9 months:

• he is crawling super fast everywhere and pulling up on things. He lets go and lands on his butt and without even hesitating, he is off to the next thing to explore:)
• has made the Mama and Dada connection...love love love when he calls us by our names:)
• has started to eat some non-mush foods such as peas, carrots, bananas (his fave!), biscuits, pancakes (without syrup of course!), cheese, beans, pasta...I think that's it?
• is starting to play the cause and effect game-throwing something down and we pick it up and he does it again. He really likes to do this in the backseat with Aislynn:)
• has 6 teeth
• tries to flip over when I am changing his diaper
• is still a smiley sweet boy. I am loving this little personality that he is showing us more and more everyday!!! Here is a picture I took the other day. This was a tough week...Kieran was teething and didn't sleep well, so I got bad sleep and Aislynn was acting up a little more than normal...LOTS of looooooooooooong days. However, tomorrow is a fresh week, so I am going to sign off and make sure I get some sleep to prepare for it:)

Green Beans

What is this crap? Blech!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously...the grossest thing ever...

Maybe if I block my mouth, she won't be able to get any in there! Hmmm, time for a new strategy.

I know! I'll just smile and look really cute and hopefully that'll work! Ugh...new plan.

Seriously lady-don't give me anymore. Whoops, left my mouth open just enough for her to get the spoon in, gotta keep it clamped shut and I won't respond to anything that makes me laugh or smile. Hopefully tomorrow is banana day.

Camping

Aislynn wanted me to set up her tent in her room so that we could go "camping." I did and we even made smores in the toaster oven:) After about a minute of sitting in her tent, she wanted to stop and play ponies instead:) But she wanted to sleep in her tent, so we blew up an Aislynn sized air mattress and put her Cinderella night light in there and she slept in her tent:) The next night she slept in her bed...because she said she is switching every night, hee hee. Tonight is a tent night.Here is a picture of Happy Nap Guy, that I took last week (this is what I call him because I am greeted by this giggly face when he wakes up!!!): He can now pull up on his own in the crib, so he is pretty much always standing when I go to get him...or if he wakes up at night, he is standing when we go in:)

Beautiful Weekend!

We had awesome weather, for the most part, this past weekend. We hadn't taken a drive down 30-A in awhile, so we decided to do that. There is this beautiful neighborhood there that has like 3 houses built and is one of the many neighborhoods here that has any further development halted until the economy gets better. The neighborhood has some great spots for pictures, so we took a few:I forgot the tripod (had to prop it on the diaper bag!), and the remote was acting weird-we must have been too far away from the camera...not the best shot, but still one of all of us.

Love the one below-my handsome boys:) and my little model baby: and because I tend to take lots of close-ups, here is one to show a sense of place:) Hope everyone had a great weekend! Now off to watch some ice dancing;)

Funny

She cracks me up with some of the things she says. The other day, while eating lunch, she said "You know what Mom? You're so cute. You're so cute because you sing me cute songs before I'm almost asleep." Ha! I think she is the one who is cute;)I have had a little note pad in the diaper bag for awhile now, and we she says something that is particularly funny, I write it down so I don't forget it. I thought I would share them here...so I have a better record of it:)

• She calls the baby monitor a thermometer.
• She thinks sneezing is called bless-u-ing...no matter how many times I correct her, she still calls it this:)
• When Kieran is babbling really loud she tells him to stop being such a noxious.
• She told me Santa was her favorite guy, and I said, what about Dad? She said oh yeah, Dad and Kieran too. Santa, Dad, and Kieran are my favorite guys.
• She told me "When I'm a grown up, I will like zucchini and squash."
• She thought my birthday was in "jingleberry."
• She wanted to order her dinner at Cracker Barrel (scrambled eggs) and she ordered "soft, yellow eggs."
• On Sesame Street, they were singing "Where is Thumbkin." Then they sang it in Spanish. She started pointing to things with her thumb and saying that is how you point in Spanish.
• She calls NPR the talking music.
• One night she woke up and the door to our room was locked :) and when I went to tuck her back in bed, she told me to never lock the door again because it breaks her heart.
• When Kieran was really really little, he kicked a toy off his playmat and Aislynn told him he was going to go in timeout when he is a grown up.
• If you know about Thomas the Tank Engine, you know it's a big deal to be a really useful engine. One time I was cleaning up the kitchen and she told me, "Thanks Mom. You are so useful."
• When we were at Epcot this last time, she was saying something about the year before when we went and she referred to it as "last day and long ago."

That's all I have right now...she is too funny sometimes:)

Cute faces...

I made up a little rhyme that I sing to Kieran and it usually gets this grin:It goes "Kieran Brown, oh Kieran Brown, the cutest baby in the whole town!" I know I am totally biased, but isn't he????It's crazy that just 3 weeks ago he wasn't crawling, and now he is starting to pull up on things...trouble! Aislynn having her afternoon snack and doing her favorite thing to do lately-coloring. She is getting so good too, really staying in the lines good!And a close up of that sweet face and long lashes:)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We made these last week for Valentine's Day (we don't really celebrate V-day-we did for the kids sake though...these were just an excuse to make and eat treats, ha!)Here is a shot I got of Aislynn in My Little Pony movie mode. I wanted to share because LOOK how long her hair is getting!!! The other day we were walking into the grocery store and she wanted to go to the "haircut store" instead so she could get her hair cut short. I really think she just wanted a sucker though, so we didn't:)I am sure you know by now that Friday there was snow in 49 of the 50 states!!! We just missed the snow, it snowed about 30 miles (I'm guessing at that) away from us. But is was SUPER cold outside, so here is a picture of the kids bundled up. Not the best pic, but still cute. Kieran was pissed at this jacket and hat, lol!My Mom and James came into town this weekend and since it was her birthday a week ago, Aislynn and I made a red velvet cake (it was even called Grandmother Paula's Red Velvet cake, lol). Aislynn loves to help blow out the candles, and again...we had to wear the hats:)Saturday night, they watched the kiddos and Shaun and I went out for drinks. There weren't really any movies playing that we wanted to see, so we went to Flemings and had a couple glasses of wine. I like dates:) I like not having to carry a diaper bag...being able to sit by him in the booth and being able to hold hands when we are walking. Oh, and being able to talk without being interrupted! It was fun!! I haven't shared anything scrappy in awhile, so here is everything I have been up to in the past 2 weeks or so:This is a lift of one of Candi's layouts.

This is a lift of one of Sarah's layouts.

This is a lift of a layout by Laura Vegas.

This is a lift of a layout by Marianne Hope.

This is a lift of one of Louisa's layouts.

Some cards:

That's all for now!

Big Boy...

I took Kieran to baby weigh day today and he was at 16 lbs and 4 oz. This had me a little worried about his weight being too low, but after doing a little reading/researching I found that he should be gaining 2-4 oz per week, and he has gained an average of 2.8 oz per week, so that made me feel better. He is hitting all of milestones he should be and he is DEFINITELY a happy baby:) He is getting into everything and he is trying to pull up on things. He still has a ways to go but if you stand him up, he will hold himself up standing for awhile:Look at that hair:) He is so stinkin' cute:) Yep, looks like one happy guy to me!! You can see his top teeth that have come in the past week or 2...it makes him look older to me and a little more mischievous;)

I snapped this picture of Aislynn today...yes, during a nap! On Monday she took a nap, but didn't go to sleep until almost 11, eek. Yesterday, she couldn't fall asleep for a nap, so she just had some quiet time in her bed. Today, she ended up falling asleep, and I haven't heard any noises...so I am keeping my fingers crossed that she was able to fall asleep tonight. I have decided after a few rough afternoons that naps make her much nicer in the late part of the day and that she needs one or at least some time to herself. So Monday, we sat down in the morning and made a schedule of how the day would look and it included a nap.

P.S. I took this with my 50mm lens on the aperture priority setting and the ISO set at 1600, and aperture set at 1.8. The only light in the room was the light coming in through the sides of the blinds.

P.P.S. I love sleeping kid pictures:)

This week...

I wanted to focus on getting more everyday type shots, and I took pictures everyday except for 1-yay!Some highlights from our week:

• Kieran is crawling...for real. He can move so fast now and this has opened up a whole new world for him to explore. So far, he loves going to the entertainment stand and pulling the dvd's off and he goes to one of the end tables. For the longest time, he was going there to get this cake/recipe magazine and he would try to eat it. Finally I got the bright idea (duh!) to move it, but he keeps going to the shelf. I think he is looking for it;) So now, I don't really need to exercise...chasing a super fast crawler who tries to get into everything is exercise enough:)

• I am starting to let Kieran try big kid foods. I tried about 3 weeks ago with some bananas, but he mainly just wanted to mush them. This time he tried to eat them and he liked them, although the slippery little things kept falling into his lap:) Now I remember just how messy babies can get. I think he needs to start eating with no clothes on;)

• Aislynn made valentines...I hope she isn't too disappointed on Valentine's Day. I think she thinks it is like Christmas or something. This morning we went to Michaels for a little make and take Valentine's mailbox and card and afterwards she told me that on Valentine's Day she was going to wake up Shaun and I and yell "Happy Valentine's Day" and we could all go downstairs together.
• We also played with playdough a lot...one of those things we couldn't really do with her cast on:)
• Aislynn started learning her recital dances for ballet. The ballet one is to "Take me out to the Ballgame" and they use little bats. I thought that was weird, but it looks really cute:) The tap is to "Ticket to Ride" and that dance looks super cute! I think they will get their costumes in April? Anyways, you know I will post some pictures!

• On Sunday, Aislynn asked if she could wear panties to bed. We had tried this awhile back, but she was having multiple accidents per night plus with having to get up with Kieran so often, we stopped trying. We made a deal that if she could keep her pull-up dry all of Sunday night, then Monday she could start wearing panties. She did keep it dry and Monday she wore panties and stayed dry. The next 2 nights she had accidents, so after doing a little reading, we came up with a plan. She should wear pull-ups at night until her accidents are down to about 1 a week. Then in the morning if her pull-up is dry, she gets a gum drop (she picked out the candy!). So far, it has worked 3 nights in a row. Woo hoo! I read that about 15% of kids her age aren't able to make it that long without emptying their bladder, but she obviously can stay dry with an incentive so I don't think that is the case with her. I take her potty once before I go to bed and a couple nights she has woken up on her own to go. Anyways, we are proud of her!
• This is probably the biggest thing this week: Aislynn is basically reading!!!!! Lately she has been pointing out words and sounding them out and reading them. Monday we started having her read a book to us, just the simple ones, we have been using books from this series: Innovative Kids. We have books from level 1, 2, and 3 and she has been reading ones from level 2 and 3 (we did the level 1 books so many times I think she has them memorized!). She understands the vowels and the long and short sounds, so we felt comfortable having her start with those. It takes a really long time to get through a book, but she is SO proud and we are so proud of her! It is so awesome to have her read to us!!! I highly recommend that series of books for any kid learning to read-they are awesome and the parents guide that comes with it is really helpful and gives you activities that reinforce what you just learned. I found a bunch of the sets used on ebay.

I was scrapping a lot this week, so I will try to share that pretty soon:) Hope everyone has a good week:)