15 months

Life update time. I had kind of given up on blogging, it has been SO LONG. How do I catch up 9 months. But then I started reading old posts. I love the flood of memories they bring. And so... here I am.

We moved to California in June, had a month of heaven before Matt started school. Even then we knew it was the calm before the storm. And then the storm came. Matt started school, and it has been just as crazy and everyone warned us it would be. From what we hear the first year, and then 1st quarter of the 2nd year are crazy and then things start to get a little better. Apparently the 2nd and 3rd quarter of the first year are the very worst. Where are we? Almost through the 2nd quarter. It sucks.

Living in the Bay Area has been awesome though. I really do love it here. Probably mostly because of the amazing friends we have made. I have never been in a Ward that is so friendly. And the other "Dental Wives" are such a great support. And there is always something fun going on here, so many things catered to little kids too. Its been fun discovering the area. 

Guys, I love being Brylins mom so much. It just keeps getting better. Here is my homegirl update

Brylin is 15 months. She...

- Runs. All. Day. Long. I am not joking. She builds up a sweat multiple times a day just from doing laps around the house.

-Is still behind in teething. Her 2 bottom teeth are in, her top two are well on their way, and one other on the bottom just poked out last week. I worry about the "toothless" gene that Matt carries. O how I worry.

-LOVES dogs (aka woof woofs), and any stuffed animal or doll. And when holding one she does nothing but try to put it to sleep. She walks around patting the doll on its back saying (Shhh shhh shhh)

-Says Dada. A lot. She loves to call Matt at school or point to his pictures.

- Calls me dada.... not cool

- Is a signing baby! I worry it has made her a little on the demanding side. Signs she knows- more, eat, water, milk, bath, help. And it seems if she is awake she has need to be signing at least one of them.

- Just changed from 2 naps to 1. Which is usually 2- 3 hours long. She goes to bed at 6 (making it hard to do anything in the evenings) and wakes up around 8:30. I wish I could move her sleep schedule back an hour or 2 , but I am scared to mess with it, she sleeps SO much.

- Has decided strangers are ok. She will go to just about anyone. Especially if they have a dog or doll...

-Eats just about anything. Except cabbage. Dont even think about trying to give her cabbage. Her favorites are cheese, raspberries, oranges, noodles of any type, and whipped cream.

-Is still being swaddled. Seriously. We use a woombie, and she can stand up in it and get her arms out if she wants. But she does not want. She loves it. She basically puts herself in it. One day she will grow out of this right?

- Seems to be incapable of sharing or being "gentile" 

- Really loves music. Her dance moves...well... you can tell she is me and Matts child. But she is working on them.

- Gives "kisses" which are actually just a big long face lick. I never thought I would beg someone so hard to lick my face.

They are twins

If you look close you can see Matt chasing the babe

Brylin was obsessed with this pumpkin and box for weeks. 

Her halloween costume

Where she found her deeply-loved pumkin

One day I was feeling adventurous and we took BART into the city

The next few are a trip we took to Lake Tahoe during Matts semester break

K well... see you in another year.....

Just joking. I hope not.

Baby Brylin- 6 months

How is it that this babe of mine is half a year old. It boggles my mind and I cant think of much else, other than how huge she is getting.

I have been saying "NOW, she is the perfect age" since she was like 3 weeks old. But I seriously think 6 months is it.

For my own documentation... at 6 months our little babe:

- is SO painfully close to crawling. She can get up on her hands and knees so quick and has recently started doing a funny little frog jump. But she hasn't quite figured out how to move her arms in this position, so it usually ends in a face plant.

- is a giggle box. A glance in her direction results in a giggle. Laying on the floor, she gets the giggles. Changing her diaper, giggle.

- the one thing that does not give her the giggles- seeing Matt or I walk away. This ends in a mico-fit. Even if its just to the other side of the room. This is a new thing for the babe... and Im not sure how to convince her that we aren't deserting her 20 times a day.

- has no teeth yet. But Matt is very consistent with his nightly teeth checks (maybe because its the closest thing to being a dentist hes got).

- has almost perfected sitting. She is pretty stable most of the time, but once in a while gets a little too excited about something and forgets shes sitting.

- participated in the "baby olympics" last week with my mom as the host. Of course Grandma awarded her with "Gold in all of you events!" but one of the crowd favorites was the rubber duck event. Where Brylin balanced a rubber duck on her head for a record breaking 37 seconds.

- is a blow out master. Last sunday morning I washed her pink, ruffle bum tights after being pooped on. She got all done up for church, and before it even started we had another epic blow out.

-LOVES her stroller. She spent a lot of time in there this last week and never makes a peep once shes in there.

- has improved greatly in her sleep patterns. After a month and a half of 10 hour sleeps every night, we had a real regression around Christmas time. She was in party mode and was getting up multiple times throughout the night. When we got back from San Fransisco in January, we went full force into sleep training (I think? I am still not totally sure what this term means... but I think its what we did). On average, she now goes to bed at about 7, wakes up at 4ish to eat (when shes feeling really nice we skip this step), and wakes up around 7:30. Im not sure how this compares to most kids at this age... but I will take it.

- is eating rice and oatmeal cereal like a champ. Her 6 month appointment is next week and Im excited for her to start trying... real... food.

- went swimming for the first time last Friday! Happy Valentines day to Brylin. It was outside and surrounded by palm trees, and she loved it. If all of the Provo baby swim lessons weren't full she would be starting next week... dang Provo and all of its millions of babies.

- is a strong believer in Stranger Danger. Our happy, smiley baby, crys instantly when someone she doesn't know takes her. Any tips here? I could use a few.

- is learning sign language. But is she really? Im not sure. For the last month we have been signing: Mom, Dad, bath, milk, and eat. We have a few months before we are supposed to see understanding of these signs. But by the looks she gives us I am just not sure there is any understanding forming.

Hahah this smile. Once in grade 2 Nicole forgot how to smile, and smiled like this for the next 3 years. Seriously. At least were getting this stage out of the way early.

Brylin had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa... and Brigham?

Valentines babe in her lovebird outfit.

Why are these the worst quality ever? Apparently shes old enough to shop without the carseat. It hurts my heart. But makes my back and arms smile... the child is not light.

November 2013

Sorry this is out of order. I just found this draft from November, and it made me feel a little bit better about not posting anything for months.

Brylin just turned 2 months old and I feel like we are just starting to get into some sort of rhythm. Im not sure how some moms go back to work or school after only a few weeks off. I have loved these last 2 months, and they have flown by- but easy would not be a way to describe them. There is a lot to get used to and learn when your helping a tiny little human get used to their new life. And apparently not a lot of sleep to aid in the process. 

Pre-Brylin the lack of sleep alone would be more than I could handle. Add in the crys I cant figure out, the spit throw-ups all over both of us (once at midnight at the airport after dropping Matt off), and the blowouts up to her shoulder blades- and on paper, I should not be able to deal with all of this.

But turns out being a mom is the best job ever. Apparently when you love a babe this hard, their body fluids and loud decibels aren't all that offensive.

The slow and steady transition to motherhood has changed my life in so many ways. Before Brylin I never had a day where I was too busy to shower. My occasional opting out of the event was by choice. Not anymore. Also never before has a shower felt like a mini vacation. 

I have never been so scared of time going to fast, or not remembering of somehow capturing every little detail of what happens in a day. Its actually quite ridiculous. I spend far too much time planning how I am going to remember everything that happens 30 years down the road. I am trying to live more "in the moment". While still getting some great pictures/journaling in ;)

I have never had any type of work "pay off" as much as my days with my baby. Its crazy how you can feel so much love and such a connection to a person who isn't even sure who I am sometimes.

This one time we captured Brylins first "real" smile. I have probably looked at this picture over 20 times in the last few weeks, and get a huge smile every time I do.

Matts dad was quick on the draw and captured this little face.

Hello 2014

We are down to only a few months before Matt graduates from BYU! Yay! Last semester was a very busy one. Matt had a tough semester anyway, but throw a few interviews on top of that each month and it was crazy! Brylin and I drove made the airport drive over 10 times in just 4 months! We have had so much fun learning about our little girl and how to take care of her over the last 5 months! (Seriously, 5 months?! Time slow down- PLEASE).

So the quick catchup of the craziest 5 months of our lives...

Brylin was blessed the middle of October. We were originally going to bless her in November, during thanksgiving, in Lethbridge. But then decided not to go home until Christmas. We were lucky to have a lot of our family there.

I have had an issue with taking a TON of pictures of the babe since the moment she was born. And then she started to smile (at about 6 weeks) and I couldn't put my camera down. My favorite thing in the entire world these days is hearing that little baby giggle.

Mr Lowry had a dental school interview at UNLV at the end of November. I was pumped. Mostly because I got to go to that interview and it was in Vegas! We needed a few days together, without any school, so bad. It was heaven.

Turns out The Strip isn't exactly baby friendly. I asked the info desk lady at Caesars Palace if there was a mothers lounge anywhere in the building. I knew it was probably a stretch but I had to ask just incase. The lady couldn't even keep a straight face. No. No mothers lounge there.

Once again we braved the crowds and went to the lights at Temple Square. Us and every other person in Utah. But the weather was perfect and it would be the last year we had the chance.. so we couldn't resist.

Christmas was already more fun with a babe... and she had no idea what was happening. I cant wait until Christmas with her next year!

Christmas was kind of different this year. Mostly because Nicole wasn't home (but she told us she should make it home in time for Christmas next year!!! She better not just be getting our hopes up). But we had such a fun time at home with our families and showing off our little babe.

We made gingerbread boys with my parents and then on Christmas Eve delivered them to some lovely elderly ladies we have known for a very long time. 

Then we headed to the Lowrys for the traditional Chinese dinner (YUM).

I wanted to have a Nativity so bad, and it happened! Brylin played the part of baby Jesus wonderfully. Mostly because there was a football game muted on the TV and she was mesmerized.  I had the giggles the entire time. Little kid Nativities are my favorite thing ever.

Brylin gave Grandpa a candygram for Christmas, featuring "American" chocolate.

Grandma gave Brylin her first doll for Christmas. She is already part of the family.

We got to talk to Sister Smith Christmas evening. It was so fun. And super hard to say goodbye. She is doing so well and working really hard in Carson City.

While we were home Brylin decided to start hating sleep. One of our attempts to change the childs mind was rice cereal. 

We were surprised to see how much she loved it.

They are buds

It looks like we are going to have a thumb sucker... she spit out her binkie to get a taste of that little digit.

We thought Matt was done with interviews. We paid our deposit to the University of Pittsburgh. And then the University of the Pacific called. And we bought tickets to San Francisco for the middle of January.

This was on the flight. That bag of popcorn entertained the babe for at least 1/2 the flight.

The morning of Matts interview we went out for breakfast.

We spent most of the day on Friday looking for apartments... just incase. It was depressing. That night our friends had us over for dinner and games. Saturday they showed us around the city. The weather was perfect and we saw some beautiful sights. And made the rental prices we found out about on Friday kind of worth it. Kind of.

Full house anyone?

Brylin was introduced to the ocean

When we got home yesterday Brylin was having some tummy time and decided she might be happier if she was mobile. And then she pushed herself up onto all 4s. No crawling yet... but I think its just a matter of days. Also.. this super cute outfit she is wearing? Thats what happens when dad dresses her. "What? red and white, and red and white. It matches no?"