Lunch Time

Brinlee loves to feed herself lately.  It's great with crackers and fruit and things she can get to her mouth.  But whenever it gets to small to stick out of her fist she'll just open and close her hand and try to figure out how to get the food into her mouth.  So far her favorite thing to eat is apples.

Today for lunch we had some spaghetti which she loved, if you can't tell by how much is all over her. After she was done I let her chew on a graham cracker for a little bit while I ate and did some things on the computer.  That's when I learned how talented she is.  

Not only can she jump while she sleeps, but she can eat also! Just in time for Christmas feasts.

We Have A...

CRAWLER!!!

Brinlee May is 7 Months 1 week and 4 days old.  

She's been trying to for a little while now, but last night she just turned around and went for it.  She was sitting playing with some toys and behind her was a little thing of kleenex.  I don't know what made it so appealing (since she hates having her nose wiped), but she turned around got on her hands and knees and took off! She's been like this all this morning.  She'll just be sitting and playing with a toy or book or something and then she'll see something else and just go for it.  I guess I better start getting everything off the floor.

A Growing Girl

Here's some updated information on Brinlee along with some pics!  (I'm going to put some time into this blogging thing one day and learn how to put several in the same square, or do a slide show, but until then sorry they are posted one by one.)

Brinlee on the way back to Idaho

 It's so hard to be strapped into a carseat for 12+ hours, so just a few times for a few minutes we would let her stand up and stretch.  She loved facing forward and seeing what was going on.  Brinlee wants a big girl car seat for Christmas! ( I love her blue eyes in this one)

Babysitting Elsie

Kendal brought over Elsie today while she had to do some things and we had so much fun!  Well, Brinlee and I did.  Elsie slept the whole time.  Brinlee sat like this for 10-15 minutes just waiting for Elsie to wake up.  Just as she'd get bored and look around Elsie would grunt or make some noise and Brinlee would sit a little longer.

Brinlee's Bed Head

 I don't know how a kid with hardly any hair can get bed head, but I was cracking up the other day when I went to get her out of bed and her hair was everywhere!

Brinlee had her 6 month check-up over the Thanksgiving break.  I know she's actually seven months, but here's her stats:  

Weight: 20 lbs.

Heights: 27 1/4 inches.

She's in the 90th percentile group in weight, height, and head circumference (although I never remember what it actually measures.)

The doctor asked about her foods and said since she looks to be doing really well, go ahead and be a little more adventurous with what we feed her.  Here's one of my attempts:

She has gotten her two bottom teeth in so she's using them to dig into the orange.  It took her a few minutes to realize that all the good stuff was in the middle so she started by just licking it for a few minutes which was hilarious.  Once she got the teeth thing figured out though, that orange was toast. I tried to get a good picture of the orange once she had finished but I couldn't get one to turn out.  

Solids

Brinlee started on Solids about a month ago.  She's been doing really well with them so I wanted to start some new foods since she really wants to do it herself.  I bought some gerber little puffs to see how she would handle them and she has been doing great. (It's so fun to watch her try and chew on something. It's funny to think we have to learn it.)  But she can't quite get them in her mouth on her own.  Luckily Gerber makes some biscuits that are bigger and still break down pretty fast. Here's how well it went.

WHAT A MESS!!!

She sure was happy though.  I guess I'm going to just have to get used to it.

New View

Brinlee found herself in the mirror on her walker.  Every time I would look over she was trying to get a better view.  I didn't catch it on video, but before this she would smile at herself and then turn away just to come back and stare and smile again.

Swinging Beauty

While I was doing the dishes, laundry, and other cleaning tasks this morning Brinlee jumped in her jumper.   As I was finishing up I realized I hadn't really looked at her for awhile and when I did this is what I found.

I'm sorry you see the back of her for so much of the video, but trust me, she never opened her eyes.

Good Morning!

Brinlee Style:

(I'm not quite sure what this new high pitched voice is but I'm hearing it more and more often.)

Here's Brinlee all dressed up like a big girl getting ready to go play with Aunt Sydney!

  

Giggles

Brinlee has started to giggle lately.  There has been no consistency to her silliness, other than it's happening more and more often.  Every now and then someone will look her way and she just lets out a little laugh.  It's absolutely adorable and it melts my heart.  Joseph has the most success in doing it on purpose and every time I try and catch her on video she stops or won't laugh.  I finally was able to get her to do it a little bit and had Joseph record it.

Also, she loves spending time in her jump up!  This was her this morning.

Family Pictures: with an emphasis/theme on Brinlee

These are some pictures of Brinlee about 3-4 months old.  She has quite the smile on her with those cute dimples.  You can tell when the girls took her to the back room and spiced her right up (I disapprove of that outfit).  I love the grin while she is sleeping though.  It makes me wonder if we still do that when we sleep.  It probably isn't as cute and it would actually probably scare me if I ever saw Khia smiling at me while asleep.  Brin also had a fun time swimming on one of those nice days that Washington so rarely provides us with.  Just so you all know, I have forgotten her weight and height but I do know what percentage she is in.  Her weight puts her in the 95 percentile and her height is in the 90 percentile.  So cute!

Photos

We just got a few pictures from our photographer from Brinlee's first day of life session.  Enjoy!

Some more pictures!

Due to my sisters request I have made the pictures as large as they come.

Pic: 1 -- It was a hard day for both of them.

Pic. 2 -- I hope that those long legs prosper in the realm of sports.

Pic. 3 -- And then there she is with her favorite color.  (For those of you who have no children yet, you may not know that pink is actually the only color that you can use to help bystanders distinguish between if the baby is a boy or a girl).  So of course, as of right now, her favorite color will be pink!

I forgot to tell you that her eyes are blue.

Ms. Brinlee May Blackner

I am speechless...but I guess an update needs to be given.  My wife Khia and I recently added another member to our family.  Little "Ms. May" as the nurses would call her.  They couldn't remember the first name and so they called her by her middle name.  The first picture is of her all cleaned up.  So beautiful.
Hey Duke fans, it looks like we have added a "tar-heel" to your rivals list.  Daniel now has someone behind his back when the Duke/UNC games start.  Can't wait to fill out her bracket next year.

Just gave birth, doesn't she look amazing?!!






Just a quick bath, she cried the whole time.  Pretty soon her "woman" senses will kick in and a bath will be the only thing she will want.



Oh yeah, the stats:  She was born April 24th at 5:33 pm.  She weighed 8 pounds 14.5 ounces.  Please don't tell her her weight, she won't like to be reminded that she was, you know, a pretty big baby.  She was also 20.5 inches long.

GO HUSKIES!!!

March Madness

The other day we were driving in the car and Joseph suddenly blurted, "It's March!  Do you know why I love March?!"  I thought for a moment knowing that two things are coming in March.  The first thing on my mind was his birthday, since I've been thinking about it lately trying to decide what to get him.  But as long as I've known him he's always kinda down played holidays such as birthdays, and he had asked with such enthusiasm that I figured that it couldn't be his birthday.  The next and much more obvious one since the past two weeks I've DVR-ed more for him than myself is March Madness.  I figured that had to be it, so with confidence I excitedly responded, "Madness!!"
Joseph (very coolly), "Nope, it's my birthday."
Khia (kinda puzzled), "oh... your birthday."
Joseph (very amuzed and much more excited), "it's my new favorite question.  You wouldn't have gotten it right no matter what you said, cause I would have just said the opposite."

We're going to have a very exciting March!

But about March Madness.  Brackets were announced yesterday and Joseph has been quietly sitting at the table with his pencil and staring at the paper ever since.  (Not really, but he has definitely had his moments.) Every year we go through a few rough drafts before we ever get to his final decision.  I found a clip that expresses it perfectly!

Oh Canada!!!

Khia and I fell upon 6 Olympic Men's Luge tickets of which 4 of them we gave to friends of ours and my younger brother and sister.  And so we decided to make a day trip up to our favorite neighbors, our lovely Canadians.  We take off at 7:00 in the morning and get to the border around 9-9:30.  Thankfully the Canadians had no problem allowing us into their country.  From Vancouver we took a 2-hour bus ride up to Whistler.  From there we take a Gondola up to the Sliding Center on Whistler Mountain.

Before I continue I would like to express my deepest sorrows for the family and friends and country of the Georgian Luger who passed away.  The picture up top is the monument used in Whistler  to honor him.  How sad a story that was.  How my heart aches for the family, his teammates, and his country.  I can't express...
I am sorry to do that to you.  I apologize because now my fun and humor in telling our trip has passed from me.  I will do my best to stop crying.

The middle picture is of the dreaded 16th turn, the last turn of the track.  And if you look closely right underneath the 2 you will see a red blur - that blur is a man traveling at over 90 miles an hour on a sled with no steering and with no brakes.  I just sat there laughing in astonishment and amazement and in a greater respect for the Luge.  Awesome!  It was Awesome!  The other picture is of I believe the 11th turn with my sweet sister Sarah in the blue and it is also the location where I gave a high-five to a luger as he passed.  I am sad they didn't get it on T.V.
And then here comes another sad story.  As you can see, and I know there are not a lot of photos, but my dearest, dearest sweetheart is not in any of those pictures posted.  We were both giddy with excitement on Friday night to only wake up to my poor Khia sick as a dog.  So she did what any comrade of war would do.  She grabbed me by my face and said, "take the others, leave me, there is no hope for me.  You must go without me."  There have been others in our nation who have done such tremendous acts to save  the lives of comrades that they were awarded the "Purple Star."  Khia's act of sacrifice has placed her among the few heroes of our nation.
My life, along with those lives of those who stood beside me, will forever be lived in her name.
We arrived back home Sunday morning at 3:00am.  We did go see the eternal flame but all I have is a video of it but I have not learned how to put videos from our camcorder unto the computer.  Sorry.  My only plea is if you ever get the chance, go to the Olympics.  It is worth it.

31.5 Weeks

Lately I've bought a few more clothes to cover my blossoming belly.  It's been fun, but at this point I'm almost starting to think "What's the point?!"  I only have 2 months left, why do I want to buy clothes for only two months.

Well last night I realized that this is the time I need them most.  Here's a picture of me last night when I went to work out. 

I just walk on the treadmill at Joseph's parents' house so I haven't worried much about getting any shirts to run around in.  I've just been squeezing into some older, larger shirts I have.  Well no more!  I had sat down on the couch to tie my shoes and when I stood up without realizing it, my shirt had slipped up leaving a portion of my belly completely exposed.  It isn't that it was embarrassing since I generally have no fear of showing my belly to people or to family for that matter, but when your own husband calls you Gus Gus for the rest of the night something has to be done. Needless to say, I'll be going shopping with no regret in the near future.

Mini Vans

So, I'm not a van fan.  I don't like them, I don't want one and some people find great joy in giving me a hard time about this.  I've even had offers from friends to test drive theirs just to try and change my mind...Ummm, No Thank You.  But lately I've been seeing these commercials and I just die laughing.  They're almost funny enough to make me re-think my van status.



Russ - I know it's no Kia, but I hope you get some joy out of this...can we please come up with a name for your sweet ride!

Changes

On saturday we finally painted the babies room. You can see why we chose to proceed as we did. That bedroom was ugly. Here are the before and after pictures.


There is still work to be done in the room, but I would say we've got a good start.

Here is a picture of Khia (which she told me not to post) but I figured everyone needed to know what she looked like at 27 weeks pregnant. Love ya hun!

I think the picture says enough...

This past weekend we had the blessing to be able to attend a most wonderful event. I have to do some explaining first as to why this weekend was a platter full of happiness. We have been collecting the Cosby Show on DVD since we have been married and we currently have seasons 1-5. But that is not all. Every morning we wake up around 5:30 to get ready for work and the T.V. is kind enough to play the Cosby Show on a channel that we get at 6:00 am and 6:30 am. We pour ourselves a bowl of cereal and sit ourselves down to start the day off right. We usually just listen to the 6:30 show though as we get ready. Bill Cosby is the cure for cancer. So, this past weekend we sadly drove down to Portland and sadly walked into the Schnitzer Hall and sadly sat down in our seats and cried as our favorite parenting advisor Bill Cosby walked out onto the stage. He is 72 years old. Gray hair making the most of his head. But even at 72 his facial expressions were ever so colorful. We finally stopped crying as he started telling his stories. We laughed and cheered and by the end of the 2 hours we were crying again. We are now back home to living our lives abiding by his teachings. May his humor continue to grace our lives.

New Posts Coming!!!

Ok, so after my 6+ month slacking period, I'm back! Joseph and I are re-committing to get this blog up and current. It's a work in progress right now, but stay tuned and we'll get it all fixed up.

P.S. If anyone can teach us how to make the fonts different colors and look all neat we would love it!