Crawling, Pt II

Bronwen decided it was time to show everyone her superb crawling abilities. I asked her if she was ready to show off her mad skills, and she replied with a resounding "Yes!" Yeah, okay, so she doesn't say much more than "Dadadadada," but I knew what she meant. She also displayed her bottom teeth in the process. If I had known it would have been that easy, I would have done the crawling pictures before I wrestled her to the ground for the tooth pic. Oh well.

Here we go--Bronwen has a big smile and is preparing to pivot to demonstrate "the crawl."


Bronwen shows the proper position: flat back, hands planted firmly on the ground. Her knee is semi-lifted, ready to begin the super-fast crawl away--kind of the baby equivalent of revving the engine.


She's off! With TJ begging her to come to him, our Bronwen shows she has a mind of her own and decides to circle around the island. That's my girl--taking the path less-traveled.

For the finale--sadly, since Bronwen mastered crawling, this is the view we are seeing the most around here. Cute, yes, and fleeting. She is a girl on the move, with places to go. Gotta run for now--she's off on another adventure!

Surprise! It's Christmas...

I really need to hurry up and work on some video clips to post on here--I have a veritable treasure trove of footage of Christmas and crawling--plus one that we took tonight that will top them all. I shall leave your curiosity piqued and get on with today's entry.

The Eve:

Allow me to set the stage a bit:Aunt Jan sent us coordinating PJs to wear Christmas Eve. Both sets had sock monkeys, which I thought to be a perfect fit for the both of us since we're both silly and have cold feet. Bronwen was ecstatic and surprised (as evidenced in the teaser entry below), and after her bath on the Eve of Christmas, we put her in her new jammies and told her to pose for a picture. At first it was difficult to get her to sit still; after all, she has just recently mastered the art of crawling (stay tuned for video!) and wanted to practice despite the altitude of her location. Luckily the strong arm of the "Mom" was there to immediately halt her nefarious schemes.

Thank you Aunt Jan!  We love our PJs. And thanks to Mimi for spying the baby-sized nightwear and telling Aunt Jan about it.  

Bronwen went to bed like an angel, dreamt of sugarplums

and pears--but not prunes-- and was awake at 6 a.m. Christmas morning.

Christmas Morn:

We all snuggled in bed for a bit before

rushing out to see what Santa had left under the tree. TJ was especially excited about a rather large gift, but it wasn't his--Santa knew Bronwen had been an exceptionally good girl and left her lots of goodies, both large and small.

Cassie helped show off the loot, pretending she was a gift under the mantle--aka, the poor man's Christmas tree.

We then paused for a moment to show off our outfits.

(and while I would love for all to believe I look this good after rolling out of bed, it just isn't so. I had showered and gotten back in my PJs.)

Then, the fun began! Bronwen was so shocked at the pile of gifts, she didn't really know what to think. She knew she had to explore further, though.

Bronwen spent the 

morning reveling in the joys of paper. She helped tear, rip, shred, and moisten (with drool) the wrapping using all the skills in her arsenal. Of course, this lasted the first 10 minutes and then she was playing with her new toys.

All-in-all it was a great morning. After all the presents were unwrapped, Bronwen took a nap, and TJ and I wished we could join her. Instead we ate, drank, and were merry. Maybe the nap wasn't missed so much. After Bronwen awoke, we packed up the car and headed over to TJ's mom and dad's house to...

open more gifts!

I know this picture is sideways, but I am currently doing battle with the new computer who will not let me rotate it, so sorry if you get a neck cramp trying to view the pic. Technology, I shake a fist at you!

All in all, it was a merry Christmas indeed. Bronwen still hasn't played with all her new toys, but that is in part due to strategically hiding a few things to save for when her "new" toys become old and boring.
Hope you all had great a great Christmas!

Why oh Why?

Why is Bronwen so surprised?  Stay tuned to find out!

Christmas Break

TJ is working on setting up our new computer--which I am actually using at present.  However, while I get acclimated, and he gets all the stuff from our hard drive transferred, I fear I won't be able to post many blogs.  Oh, and we'll also be eating, drinking, and being merry for the holiday. (which might be the "real" reason as opposed to computer nonsense.) We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!  See you all on the other side.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

I have added a poll to the blog, set to close at or around my 30th birthday. The results of the blog will determine Bronwen's next disguise. She will have to find a creative way to represent whichever play you, my dear readers, pick out for her. Vote once, vote twice, YOU decide who Bronwen shall be next!

(Costumes and characters subject to creative interpretation, naturally.)

If you don't know how creative Bronwen can be, see entry "Wild About Harry" in November.

You'd better watch out...

You'll never believe who came all the way from the North Pole to visit Bronwen and her cousins!


Anna Kate must have gotten Bronwen's memo about the outfit--I had no idea they planned on being twins.

Taste the Rainbow

I've been meaning to do this post for about a month now, but it's taken some time to gather the proper photos. Bronwen began eating "real" food about 6 weeks ago, and I posted a picture of her eating bananas. Since then, she has had the opportunity to try many different foods.

She wasn't too sure about the peas.

But the butternut squash was hilarious.


She thought the sweet potatoes were worth a grin or two.

The pears, however, made her so happy, her hair curled.


Now a recap of the feeding process.

Bronwen sits in her high chair, hands in position, her eye never leaving the spoon. She has her bib straight, her hair fixed, and her appetite whetted.
The spoon descends, courtesy of T.J., and Bronwen happily opens wide and the spoon disappears in the wide abyss of her mouth.

The spoon is out and she feels and tastes the food in her mouth, deciding whether or not it's worth another bite. Luckily she approves of the pear/apple combo and voraciously eats the remainder of her food.


She is a great eater--just like her parents--but she still isn't buying into the prunes I made for her. I can't blame her much, although I think they are quite tasty.

It wasn't pretty...

But I got it!
First I tried to entice Bronwen's cooperation by telling her we were playing a fun game with the camera. She was excited.So excited, in fact, that she wanted to help by playing with the camera strap. It took me a little while to distract her from the exciting, dangling string.

Then I had to get her used to my playing with her lip whilst flashing the camera in her face. This was so. much. fun. Yeah, she didn't like it--mainly because of the red eye part of the flash.

Then I tried to pull down the lip while discouraging the tongue from popping out. It is quite hard to tell a tongue what to do. It was a ballet of sorts, involving more drool and shrieking. I would see her tooth winking at me, but alas, the camera wasn't snapping the photo in time to capture the elusive white beast.

Then there it was, my great white whale. Kindly ignore the extreme close-up harshness; none of us looks good from this particular angle, right? I assure you no babies were harmed in the making of this blog entry. But there it is--you can see it! One tooth poking through, and it's little companion (not pictured clearly) just starting to emerge.


After it was all over, Bronwen wanted to assure everyone that she was indeed okay. Tooth: 73, Jen: 1 . It was all I needed!

Crawling!

Bronwen is becoming an expert at crawling now; however, I skipped the camera in favor of video. Sadly, I don't think this old dinosaur of a PC will handle it (video), so you'll have to wait to see the action online post Christmas when Santa brings our new computer.

Until then, I will have to try to capture the excitement digitally. Perhaps tomorrow, since my little elf is sleeping peacefully in her bed, visions of sugarplums and all that holiday stuff. I'm off to baby proof the house!

For those of you who want to see her early attempts:

Bronwen sits, seemingly happy with her locale, but inside lurks the heart and courage of an explorer. She wants to go places, and she will not sit on her laurels (whatever those are) and do nothing. Bronwen is now on all fours. With a look of concentration, she weighs her options. Will she go left? Right? Will she stay put? It's anyone's guess at this point.


Using her Herculean strength, Bronwen heaves herself upward, fighting gravity with all her might. Her concentration strong, she focuses on her target and is ready to move forward.
Suddenly she is distracted by her Momma and the camera. The photo opportunity and mugging wins out over crawling practice.

This all took place a couple of weeks ago, so just wait for the upcoming photos on Bronwen on the move. It may just look like a blurry streak though. Just a forewarning. Oh, and I am still trying to get the tooth pic. I fear the tooth is currently winning the battle, though. Tooth: 57 Jen: 0

Santa's Little Helper

Things are really gearing up at the North Pole. Bronwen generously offered her assistance to the elves since it is rumored to be the busiest holiday season on record.
After receiving her tools from Santa, Bronwen quickly got to work on her toy assignments. She is a believer in enjoying whatever task Santa told her to do. After she finished her hard work, Santa let her play with some of the products for a little while, before they had to be moved to the packaging and shipping departments.


Bronwen did such a wonderful job, it is rumored that the Easter bunny is already trying to recruit her. She has her uniform cleaned and pressed and is ready to report for duty, child labor laws permitting.

Yay for Bronwen!

At long last, my smiley, happy baby has returned to me. I don't think she is 100% yet, but she certainly is back to her usual bubbly self. I have some big news to share--as I was holding her on my lap, facing me, she laughed and giggled, and I saw teeth! Two tiny little lines poking their way through the gums like crocuses at springtime.

I shall try my best to provide pictorial evidence as soon as I can, but it's an elusive sight, these tiny little teeth, and I am not sure I can get close enough in to show much. It won't stop me from trying, however.

Thanksgiving

At long last, I have finally found a spare moment to record our Thanksgiving holiday. Bronwen is still sick, but resting peacefully in her crib, *pause for a moment to make sure statement is accurate...whew, it is* and I have some energy to complete the task.

There isn't too much to relate, actually. We drove an hour to Mandeville to TJ's sister Kadee's house. Bronwen loathes the trip, and showed her displeasure the entire way there. We arrived with our cranky baby, whom everyone wanted to see and hold, and she refused to cooperate, as cranky babies tend to do. I knew she needed a nap, but being in a strange place, she also balked at the idea of sleeping, despite Cousin Shelby's best effort to give her a stuffed animal friend.

*No images of cranky baby currently available*

We ate our dinner, Bronwen on my lap the entire time. I gave her a few samplings of sweet potato and spinach, but some turkey must have slipped through, because at long last she napped. Thank you tryptophan!



After a scant 30 minutes, however, she was up and in decidedly better spirits. It was a lovely day outside, although a bit on the chilly side, yet we didn't let the biting teeth of Autumn deter us! I put Bronwen in her fleece hoodie and TJ carried her outside. As you can see, she was thrilled to feel the wind on her face and the sun on her cheeks. It didn't take long for her to notice what was behind her--the swing set! So TJ strapped her in...Everything looked fine at first glance...


And then:
Seriously , folks, this isn't a set up. TJ, my engineer husband, thought that this is how it was supposed to go.I gently pointed out (*panicked voice* "TJ! THERE IS ANOTHER STRAP!!! FIX HER!) how he needed to correctly handle the situation, and it was a little better.

Once Bronwen was securely fastened in the swing, TJ and she had a ball. He pushed her and she flew through the air. This was her first experience with an outdoor swing, and she thought it was great fun.

At this point we went inside to play with the cousins for a bit. Bronwen enjoyed watching all the girls run around, and she even had some play time on her mat that I brought along. When she tired of that, I brought her outside again to participate in one of my own favorite activities--bird watching.

TJ got his time in as well.
And, as it usually happens, once people see a great photo op with cute kids...

This pretty much brings us to the end of the narrative. We left for home, and once again Bronwen cried and fussed the entire trip back. It was amazing, though, for as we walked through the door, she was fine once again. Yes, she, Dorothy Gale, and I all have the same philosophy: There is no place like home, with or without the turkey, and for that we give thanks.