6 baby months flew by

This year I embraced fall. Monroe, you love running through the leaves and crunching them under your big green boots. I've always gotten anxious when fall arrives because it means winter's coming. But watching you play, enjoying the good and the beauty that fall has to offer has made my perception change.

Lottie, you're first teeth came through on your 6 month birthday- talk about momentous days! Your bottom two razors have been chomping away at anything that comes in contact. You've actually gotten really loud lately, I guess you know you have to be loud to be heard (Monroe's taught you well). Dad always said he didn't want a screeching baby, but now that we have you here he's taken to you pretty well.

We took pictures at the park to document how big you've gotten in 6 months, Ms. Lottie. We used the tripod and Monroe, you insisted on being the one to push the button and run back into the photo as the self-timer beeped. You did a great job pushing the button, but sorry that your facial expression  never was the best due to your running and shortness of breath.

Pee no evil!

Wild Man! In front of the Ivins' waterfall at the cookout.

Monroe, if you could be naked all day everyday- you would! You are such a sweet boy... with so much energy and creativity. Our friends, Simon and Kate, came for a visit from England. We had a dinner over at the Ivins' home in Bountiful. It was beautiful summer night and this is how we spent it.

the gents'

ma' ladies

Beautiful time, thanks Jay family!

On a side note- Monroe, you make us laugh so hard. A few of the things that make us smile and laugh are:

• Your cute cousins taught you the correct terminology for the female anatomy (thanks Dr. Dan) which you have now warped to vajunkie
• When we sit down for family dinner you tell me, "Thank you for making these mommy." Melt my heart!
• You like talking to Lottie, and call her Lod most of the time.
• You love swimming in the "swimming cool"

Lottie, stop growing!

P.S. you were asked to model headbands in your blessing gown. You nailed it!

Lottie, you keep growing- I knew this was going to happen but it doesn't mean I like it. I want you to stay my little cuddly baby forever, but it is fun to see your little body get stronger and change. You are a happy baby, everyone that meets you feels special because you smile at them (I don't tell them that you smile at anyone that makes eye contact with you). You started eating solids 4 days ago, pureed pears, and haven't wanted to stop since. Last night we went to get gelato for FHE and you lunged at my gelato cup and sucked a piece off the top : )! Happy 5 months mama, can't wait to see what other changes are to come.

Dal the Pal

Monroe, you've been asking for the last week if we could go bowling. You are so proud of your dad because he owns a purple glittered bowling ball. You tell everyone, "My daddy has a bowling ball." So for family night, you asked all the neighbors if they wanted to go bowling. You have a special way of always including everyone. Dallin was the one that accompanied you! You bowled a 78!

Sadly, you're hair didn't glow in the black lights... wa wa. And this is THE purple bowling ball.

Lottie thanks for being a trooper! With your white muslin blanket glowing in the black lights, we kept worrying that it may over-stimulate you into having seizures : ). You just smiled away and chewed away on your hand (you're already starting to teethe!).

12" Rims... what what

Monroe was having troubles going to bed at night, so we challenged him. We made him a chart and at the top of the sheet, we placed a picture of the bike that he's been wanting. Katie, the lady at the bike shop, told us that she'd help us. She told Monroe that she'd save the bike for him and that when his chart was full she'd give him his blue bike! For the last couple weeks he did awesome and even asked to help with getting dinner ready and other chores to try and earn extra stars.

 Needless, to say he achieved his goal and we got his big boy bike last night. He did so well practicing with pedaling, that he wanted to ride it home. He rode over a mile on his first day, way to go Monty!

Naptime- your favorite pastime

Yesterday, Monroe, you said that Lottie was your best friend. It was so sweet- even if you didn't fully comprehend what you were saying. Right now the ratios are about as follows:

• 50% of the time you're ignoring Lottie
• 25% of the time, you're finding a way to make Lottie laugh and smile (which earns you a Lottie-pop)
• 25% of the time you're finding a way to terrorize the little Ms.
• 100% of the time Lottie is happy to get any of your attention

The more Lottie starts to do, the more your relationship keeps growing! Your favorite game to play together for the time being is Naptime. It just means that the two of you cuddle up in bed and you cover you and Lottie both up with your blanket.

A Funeral, A Wedding and Family Time

Summer always gets away from us... Maybe it's because we live in a valley with all four seasons, that I try to ignore the small signs that fall will come again, it will snow and I will be cooped up inside for a few months. The university students are back, which with my timeline means only 2 weeks left of warmth. Somehow all of our summer plans got packaged into three weeks time. I wanted to make sure to document the fun we had.

Grandpa Williams' Funeral (Blackfoot, ID)

Kira and TJ's Wedding (San Diego to Yuma and back)


Brundage Reunion(Redfish Lake, ID)

When your family gets to be this big, it's hard to pick what to highlight. Cliff jumping, water skiing, story times, hiking are a few of the things we did. It's not easy camping with a baby for 5 days but it's totally worth watching Monroe be surrounded by nature (no electronics, but yet completely content).

Grad Man

Kirk's a graduated man! I had forgotten that I made Kirk take this picture on his first day of school (you can tell by his expression that he was super excited). Although he walked on May 3rd, he actually had his last day of class a week ago. He did an amazing job in school, he got really involved in the following:

• President over Entrepreneurship in the MBA Association
• President over the Development Team for the E-Club on campus
• and graduated with a 3.5 GPA!

At their final dinner Kirk was in charge of the slideshow for the whole year and made everybody laugh. One of the professors said that she'd been to so many of these end of year dinners but Kirk had made this one the best by far. Two of his class mates said in their farewell speeches it wouldn't have been the same without Kirk there to make them laugh throughout the year.

Way to go Kirky, can't wait to see what our future has in store!

Monroe's No Cavity Day

Monroe had his first dentist appointment today! For us, he never behaves this well. He did such a good job, I think it was in part to watching this YouTube video over and over. He is in love with a Georgia peach. Here is his entire visit if you want to watch it (grandma's and grandpa's).

After we left the dentist's office he told me, "That dentist, no like it. That boring." He's an opinionated little guy, there were no toys so he wasn't too impressed.

Welcome, Lottie Elisabeth Brundage

Not too much has changed between my sister and I over the 28 years we've been together. I remember our biggest day to get into trouble was always Sundays... our parents usually took a nap & we couldn't watch T.V., which left us with a lot of unsupervised time on our hands. Eating whole 'chocolate bars' of Ex-lax or potpurri because we had a sweet tooth that needed fixing were just a few of the not-so-bright ideas we had. When our parents would wake up, they were greeted by two sick girls more than once.

My sister came to visit las month and had a set amount of days that she was given as her time-off (she's a traveling nurse). With her she brought a a great Sunday activity- a recipe for a milkshake** that supposedly induced any 'ripe' uterus. It contained: two cups of ice cream, 2 oz. of castor oil and 2 raw eggs. I wanted her to meet Lottie before she left, so I downed it and pretty quickly started to feel the burn. Within 6 hours of the initial contractions starting, I was at the hospital measuring at a 10 with my sister, Kirk and doula by my side.

I pushed for an hour but I apparently have an odd shaped pelvic bone that I was not aware of (I should have learned after Monroe's birth). So Lottie was delivered by c-section. Nothing too traumatic or overwhelming and one healthy baby girl and mama!

Miss Lottie Elisabeth Brundage was born into our family April 15th, 2013... Tax Day.

A few quick facts about Lottie:
• She was born 7 lbs. 15 oz., 21 inches long- same as her brother Monroe (hopefully these weight and height similarities don't carry on into or past puberty)

• She is the first 'Brundage' girl to be born of her cousins

• She came into the world with her little mouth wide open, looking for food. Every nurse at the hospital kept telling me how hungry she was!

• Her one physical attribute that everyone comments on are her cute cheeks. She gets them from her daddy.

Monroe has been such a cute big brother to her. The one thing that bothers him is watching her nurse. He tells her, "No Lottie! No bite mami's chi-chi's!". It makes Kirk and I laugh every time (thanks for watching out for me Roe-Roe)!

**side-note- the milkshake really worked, but only drink it if you're past 39 weeks and ready for a baby. If you're uterus isn't ripe, it may just end in a prolonged trip to the bathroom.