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"

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.

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. 

Happy Easter!

Thanks Sis. Gianni!

Pokey-Man

We had a lot of fun taking Monroe to see all the baby animals. It was a lot of work getting there but definitely worth it. I loved seeing him with his chubby finger, poking/petting all the animals. He was great with all the big animals, and even baa'd with the sheep. The smaller animals (chicks, ducks and bunnies) I was nervous that he would squeeze to death. He was responsible and only extended a finger to pet their delicate little bodies. It was different than other years, since this year Kirk and I were mainly watching our baby and waiting for his reaction. It was so enchanting watching Monroe's expressions, and he only cried with the piglets. Love that little guy!

Baby Animal Days!

It's baby animal days this weekend, April 5th-7th. It's honestly one of the sweetest traditions here in Cache Valley. I always forget to tell people about it so I wanted to be sure to get the word out. If you're going to be near Cache Valley, it's worth the visit. They have baby horses, sheep, piglets, goats, chicks and ducks that you can hold and one year they even had baby buffalo! The twins (Kirk's siblings) have always gone, even though they had no kids and were in their twenties. It really is fun for any age group. We're going to make it Thursday before all the chicks and ducks get squeezed to death by sweaty little kid hands, haha.

You can visit this website for more info.

DIY Growth Chart- no tools

This summer I had to clean out my grandparents house. It was fun finding all these forgotten treasures. In their garage there are these rafters that they never let me explore and I've always wanted to see what was up there.

I found my dad's first set of ski's and they were wooden (sorry to date you dad)! They are crafted so well and have all these amazing handwritten labels on them (including a hand painted part that states they were made in West Germany). I didn't want to ruin the integrity of the ski but I wanted to put it on display somewhere.

**Lightbulb**- a growth chart for Monroe. I used a really simple method as to not have to nail or cut any of the ski. To make this all you need is the following:

• A ski (or any other long piece of wood)
• Jute
• Carpenter's ruler (the folding kind)
• Liquid Nails (I like this adhesive because it's clear but holds super well)
• metallic pen, for marking height

The ski is obviously worn but I like that about it. I love knowing that my dad really used them.

I glued the ruler to the ski with the Liquid Nails. Then I wrapped the jute around the two until the glue dried. When it was done drying I secured it to the wall with a screw, and it's done. Perfect growth chart without ruining the ski. Now all I need to do is keep Monroe still long enough to measure his height!

Last Minute Valentines

Baby fingerprints... what grandparent wouldn't want this?

Monroe still doesn't have a Valentine! He told me that if I wanted to mail out any Valentine's I would need to send them by tomorrow, haha. I scrambled around the house and made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby and was able to make 10 personalized Valentine cards for under $10. If you're needing a quick idea, I'll share what I did.

These are the supplies you'll need. I picked up the ink pad, doilies, and stationary pack at Hobby Lobby. With their 40% off online coupon it was about $8.

• First, print "You left on impression on my Heart" saying on the 4"x 5.5" card
(if you want the file, click here).
• After that, I just wrapped a doily around the outside of the card and trimmed off the edges.
• Then just grab a chubby baby finger, and place 'impressions' inside the heart. You're done!

Je m'apelle Claude

Have you ever see the friends episode, The One Where Joey Speaks French? We're going through that with Monroe right now. It's pretty funny. We say a word to him and he responds in the right number of syllables but not even close to the right word. Watch the Joey video and then watch Monroe if you want (you can never watch too many FRIENDS episodes, right Remi?):

Nose Frida, cool or gross...

Monroe got spoiled for his birthday. Just yesterday he received a Nose Frida from his Auntie Myeong. She just opened an online baby store, Organic Stars. I had never heard of it, but I think it's pretty awesome, where Kirk on the other hand thinks it's gross. It's a baby nose aspirator. You stick one end of the tube in your babies nose and then suck. There's a filter that stops any boogies from going into Mom's mouth. Look below at the picture, it might explain it better.

I did try it on Monroe and he didn't fuss at all, where usually he screams until he turns purple. I brought it home for Christmas so I'll see what the other mom's think. Anybody out there tried it?

Year One

Happy Birthday my little one. We couldn't have been blessed with a better 1st!

Memories...

This is a little journal that I've been keeping for Monty (Kirk/Matt's nickname for Monroe, and it's somehow sticking). I just found this small booklet at Hobby Lobby and just try to find one thing a day that I think Monroe would like to read about when he gets older. My favorites are:

• "Blood Mustache" (the time he scratched my chest
while he was nursing  and gave himself a blood mustache)

• 1/4/11- 1st movie Monroe attended in theatres (Next 3 Days)

• 1/16/11- Saw the sun for the first time... eyes hurt & lot of sneezes

• 1/31/11- "He's a baby, not a scientist." (Kirk's comment in the
middle of the night when I was frustrated.)

• 2/7/11- Burped so hard/loud you made yourself cry

• 2/23/11- First non-family babysitter, Alexis the Doula, came over. Reminded her that your poo is black so that she wasn't alarmed (due to colic medicine).

Shots...

A little over a week ago, little Monroe had to get his first immunization shots. It wasn't as traumatic as I thought it'd be and he took it pretty well (considering this is the baby that slept through his circumcision). His doctor gives these cute little sheets with each visit and drew a picture of Monroe. I thought it was pretty cute. His measurements say he's about average in all the areas, but *ahem* as proud parents we think he's more than average!

These are his 3 little Garfield bandages that he had to wear. When the doctor checked his 'area' to make sure the circumcision had healed properly, Monroe let out a sharp scream. Kirk informed the doctor that Monroe doesn't like it when other men touch his willy. The doctor answered, "Thanks for giving me a complex." haha

Meet Mr. Monroe

He has arrived! We've never had a Christmas gift quite like Monroe. He was born December 5th, 2010 at 1:32 a.m. 7 lbs. 15 oz. (he would have been an even 8 if he hadn't pooped inside me, haha), and 19.5 inches long.

We were able to enjoy Christmas with having my family travel up from Las Vegas. It was as my mom put it, heaven on earth. Except maybe for the hour that we took pictures of Monroe. I think it was pretty traumatic for him but we got some pretty cute shots with Tia Trish and Abuelita Williams. Now I'm just trying to adjust to life as a parent, but I'll try to post more frequently. The labor wasn't what I had planned (33 hours ----> then a c-section) but it has taught me to not try to plan every step and just enjoy each experience day to day.

Isn't he the cutest!?

Study my Child

Yesterday on the radio I heard an announcement for the National Children's Study. They are looking for participants to take part in an environment study and will study your child from birth until age 21! There are no medications involved and so I decided to give them a call. They are sending me information and I think we're going to do it. I think it sounds awesome to take part in something bigger than us. Once I get the info I'll tell you more about it and our final decision but you can check to see if your area is still needing participants by clicking here. Don't you think it sounds like an awesome opportunity to be a part of? Let me know if you've heard anything either way.

Teenie Weenie Parties

I've had so much fun this last week. It's been a really special week in that we've been able to celebrate the coming of Monroe (that's the name that we've been using for the baby) with all our friends and family. Last weekend we got to go to Las Vegas, the longest trip we've made in the last 6 months. My mom and sister planned an amazing shower and they couldn't have done it without the help of Grandpa Williams. Nana Connie, Kirk's mama, was able to drive down with us. The weekend was so much fun, and I couldn't believe how generous everyone was that attended. It literally brought me to tears, so excuse the smeared mascara in the pictures.


My mom had the help of Minda Smith to help her plan all the decorations. Some highlights were the pom poms & chocloate covered popcorn from Grandma Williams, Bishop Sabate printed signs for the shower as his gift, Kim Martinez made a onesie cake that looked amazing (how spoiled is our baby), Aunt Trish made chocolate cake suckers by hand, not to mention all the delicious food for the guests, Grandpa Williams made diapers for the game we played, and put together the crib that was used to hold all the presents in. It was so grand, seriously!

There were so many people that came, it was wonderful. The boys were just there in the morning to help set everything up. These are just a few photos of who came. It was so great seeing people that were so excited for the arrival of little Monroe! My favorite picture is me sandwiched in between the skinniest (and so pretty) people in the world, Christina and Lisa (bottom right). Haha, they are such good friends!

These were just a few of the gifts that I got pictures of (cute Aunt Nic was the photographer for the night). She and my Aunt Julene made the blanket in the top middle row. Next to that is the sweet little quilt that my mom and dad made. I love it so much! My sister got us the most stylish clothes and accessories, one gift included swaddling blankets by aden + anais. My Aunt Maragarita was teaching Kirk how to use them to tie your baby onto your back. Grandma Connie & Jasi made a beautiful carrier cover that has hippos sewn on, so cute! Sister Davidse stamped the see you later alligator onesie. These were just a few of the wonderful gifts we got! Thanks again everyone, you are amazing!

Then last night my friends from SEI had a 'little' party. I don't have the pictures but I'll post them soon. Everything at the party was mini, including little smokies. That's where the teenie weenie party came from, haha. I thought it was so funny. They had the most clever activity. They had a bunch of blank onesies and then they brought all these iron-ons and had everyone make a onesie for Monroe. We left the party with the coolest wardrobe for him! They look similar to these:

I'll post more pictures when I download them. Thanks again everyone, it has been so much fun!

Tiny Dancer... just like his daddy

The baby moves so much but whenever I want to show someone, he never does it. I guess I better get used to it... I don't think children like it when they're used as trained circus monkeys. The other night I tried to capture his movement. I placed some magnets on my belly, and whenever he moves they pop up and down and shake. Just ignore my breathing movement, but you can see him mainly around the back middle magnet (especially at 5 seconds). It is the coolest feeling!



We were watching Chuck, but I think the suspenseful music just adds to it, haha.