Brianna and the pumpkin patch
Brianna and mommy at cousin Stella's first birthday
On a walk to Panera....yummmm. She was the talk of the restaurant!
Aren't I cute???
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Month 2 milestones and changes
I'm sure to those of you who have met Bree earlier in her life, that she seems like a completely different child now days. Brianna is now rolling over from tummy to back on a regular basis, cries real tears, smiles, holds her head up for longer periods of time, likes to stand and sit with mommy and daddy's support. She also seems to get more enjoyment out of the games we play with her. Her daily routine is pretty regular and predictable, however, every once in awhile she throws us for a loop like when she woke up at 4am several nights ago just to coo and make noises. Not enough to do anything about it, but enough to keep both mommy and daddy up for an hour! Jason had one of those baby game horror stories several nights ago. Jason often gets home with just enough time to play with Bree for a few minutes before changing her and getting her ready for her last feeding of the day. Well, he decided that he was going to lay on the floor and hold her up in a standing position over his head and chest. He danced with her for several minutes in this position, before getting a face full of spit-up. Thankfully, he said he saw it with enough time to close his mouth, shut his eyes, and turn his head, but even with those precautions, he ended up with a face full. I had to grab Bree, place her in the crib, and then give Jason several diaper wipes to clean up. Thankfully, he didn't have his evening shower yet, so into the shower he went. As he turned to leave the room, I noticed that it was all in his hair as well.....yuck! Gotta love the baby horror stories! Apparently, I spit-up in my mom's mouth when I was younger as she was playing "airplane" with me.
Buying a home???
Okay so the most random, exciting, and scary thing happened to Jason and me this past weekend. For the last 1 1/2 to 2 years, Jason and I have been talking about buying a home. We actually tried to apply for a loan several years ago, but were denied as we were told that Jason's income counted as zero as he was a graduate student at the time and could not prove that the money he was receiving for school would be permanent. So, we put the home buying process on hold and focused on planning for and welcoming Brianna into our family. Every once in a blue moon, Jason will look at several real estate websites to see if there is anything on the market that we could afford. We would like to live closer to Jason's work as right now, Jason has an one hour commute and as of next month will also be adding child care to his honey-do list as we are planning on using his work's child care facility. The problem with moving closer to his job, is that it pulls me away from my job as it would be a horrible commute....or so we thought. Well, last Saturday, Jason pulled up a website and showed me this home that has been on the market for several months but whose price was recently reduced. The price put this home right in the middle of our budget. It looked nice on the computer and was in a nice location. Oddly enough, the realtor was hosting an open house on Sunday afternoon. Before we got too worked up about the house, I reminded Jason about the commute and how much I really don't want to leave my current job. On a whim, I typed in the address of the home with the address of my office and it turns out that the commute is long but doable (about a 50 minute commute, which is what Jason does now). The commute route would not have me going through Hartford like we originally thought. So with that worry off the table, Jason and I loaded Brianna into the car and went to the open house.
We loved the home and are seriously considering putting an offer on the home. It's not a perfect home and does have some things that I would like to upgrade in the next 5 years or so, but it's a huge home, with a great yard, hot tub, close to great schools, in our price range, and only a handful of minutes away from the ocean (which we have both badly missed since leaving California - not the same as California beaches, but still the ocean nonetheless). Several other families were touring the home during the open house, so of course I'm anxious to see if any of them put in an offer. We talked to our realtor last night and it doesn't appear as if the seller's realtor has had any serious offers. We meet with our realtor on Saturday to talk about placing an offer on the home and to go through the paperwork side of home buying. Part of me feels crazy for doing this as this is the only home we've seen on the inside. We've looked at a ton of homes online and even did a driving tour of 5 or so homes about a month ago and cut them all for one reason or another. Usually, Jason and I are both so meticulous and reserved when it comes to big purchases, so this feels like a completely impulsive move, even though it's really not. I kept having to tell myself that we've been talking about and saving for this moment for the last 6 years of our marriage. We always knew that we didn't want to buy a starter home, but instead wanted to buy a home that would allow us enough space to grow as a family. And this house would do just that. So I talked to my parents and got the green light from them as long as the house passes inspection and as long as we are sure that we can afford the home. They are really excited for us and think the home is a good fit for us. I also talked to my best friend, Kirsten, who validated my feelings of impulsiveness and craziness as apparently I will have to sign away my life when we do sign the paperwork. I still find it amazing that we need to sign a million pages of paperwork to buy a house but one piece of paper to have a child (and that's just if we wanted a birth certificate)! For all my friends and family who are home owners, if you have any suggestions or tips on the home buying process, please pass them our way. I'll keep everyone updated on this process, fingers crossed we'll be home owners in no time!!
We loved the home and are seriously considering putting an offer on the home. It's not a perfect home and does have some things that I would like to upgrade in the next 5 years or so, but it's a huge home, with a great yard, hot tub, close to great schools, in our price range, and only a handful of minutes away from the ocean (which we have both badly missed since leaving California - not the same as California beaches, but still the ocean nonetheless). Several other families were touring the home during the open house, so of course I'm anxious to see if any of them put in an offer. We talked to our realtor last night and it doesn't appear as if the seller's realtor has had any serious offers. We meet with our realtor on Saturday to talk about placing an offer on the home and to go through the paperwork side of home buying. Part of me feels crazy for doing this as this is the only home we've seen on the inside. We've looked at a ton of homes online and even did a driving tour of 5 or so homes about a month ago and cut them all for one reason or another. Usually, Jason and I are both so meticulous and reserved when it comes to big purchases, so this feels like a completely impulsive move, even though it's really not. I kept having to tell myself that we've been talking about and saving for this moment for the last 6 years of our marriage. We always knew that we didn't want to buy a starter home, but instead wanted to buy a home that would allow us enough space to grow as a family. And this house would do just that. So I talked to my parents and got the green light from them as long as the house passes inspection and as long as we are sure that we can afford the home. They are really excited for us and think the home is a good fit for us. I also talked to my best friend, Kirsten, who validated my feelings of impulsiveness and craziness as apparently I will have to sign away my life when we do sign the paperwork. I still find it amazing that we need to sign a million pages of paperwork to buy a house but one piece of paper to have a child (and that's just if we wanted a birth certificate)! For all my friends and family who are home owners, if you have any suggestions or tips on the home buying process, please pass them our way. I'll keep everyone updated on this process, fingers crossed we'll be home owners in no time!!
Autumn Fun
As many of you know, I'm not a big fan of cold weather (don't ask why we moved to New England then). But I will say that I've had a blast enjoying the change of seasons from summer to autumn. Even though she's too young to really enjoy the autumn activities, I have loved taking Brianna to the various fall festivals and events that New England hosts (possibly one of my favorite things about living up here in Connecticut). The the change in leaves and drop in temperatures came various fall festivals, and when you combine that with good friends, what can be better?!
Last week, Jason's best friend, Heather came up to meet and visit with Brianna. Bree's aunt Heather loves fall activities so we made sure to pack as many in during her visit. We started things off by taking Bree and Heather to the Renaissance Faire. This is the same faire that Jason and I took Bree and Daniel to a few weekends earlier. This time the faire was hosting Halloween events, so we decided to bring along Bree's Halloween outfit for the evening events. Some how Jason convinced Heather to try the chocolate covered bacon (I guess he was trying to share the experience). This time, however, Heather amazed us by telling us that she enjoyed it. I still think it sounds gross! Jason took a try at firing a bow and arrow, and with some pleading from Jason, Jason and I decided to learn how to throw battle axes. It is more difficult that one would think to get the axe to get stuck in the board. Jason won the competition by one point. Can't say I've throw a battle axe anywhere else.
The following evening, we took Heather and Bree to the Jack-o-lantern trail that is held in Providence, RI. Jason and I have made a habit of making this trip an annual event and were unsure if we would be able to make it this year, since we didn't know how Bree would handle evening events. Since she has done so well with all the other trips and since this trip is so important to Jason, we decided to try it. I thought for sure that she would not make the 1 1/2 hour commute it takes, but I decided to listen to Jason and try it. Can't say that I was happy about trying it, but Jason and Brianna proved me wrong. She did excellent in the car and I had to give Jason props for knowing his daughter. The Roger Williams' Zoo hosts the trail every year and this year's theme was Journey around the world. Before moving to New England, I never knew there was such as thing as a professional pumpkin carver, but apparently there is and they are amazing at their work!! Here are just a few images of the pumpkins we saw. The trail highlighted scenes from various parts of the world. One of the my favorites (not in the pumpkin carving, but for the experience) was traveling to the North Pole. Here the trail was decorated in Christmas trees, holiday music, nutcrackers carved into pumpkins, and falling snow (the falling snowflakes were actually soapy bubbles). I doubt Brianna knew what was going on, but it was truly mesmerizing to see Brianna with the bubbles falling down (very holiday-like). The whole trail took about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to complete. Now the ride back home was not as easy as the car ride to the trail. We knew that she was not going to make it for the whole commute, but Jason had to go to work the following day and we didn't want to be driving back super late, so we decided to chance it. I sat in the backseat with Brianna and with about 50 minutes left of the commute she started wailing. I was able to minimize the screams by having her suck on my knuckle, but after awhile this technique failed. We had a bottle that we could have given her, but we would not have been able to burp her as she needed to stay in the car seat, so we were holding the bottle as a last resort. With about 15-20 minutes left of the commute, I decided to have fun with her cries and wiggled my finger/knuckle back and forth over her mouth when she cried. The effect was a hilarious gobbling sound. Hey, if you have to hear a child cry, this cry is far more appealing than the wailing sound! Needless to say, Brianna made it and we fed her as soon as we got home and then put her to bed.
The following day Jason had to work, so Heather and I decided to take Brianna to a local pumpkin patch, corn maze, and hay ride. It was a beautiful day (warmer than normal for October weather). We had a picnic lunch, fed Brianna, took some pictures of Brianna and the pumpkins, picked out a few pumpkins to carve, and then prepared her for the hay ride. Of course, she fell asleep through her first hay ride, but it was adorable seeing her sleep as we toured the farm via tractor and hay bales. After the hay ride, I put Brianna in the MobyMoby wrap.
Having Heather visit us was a lot of fun. We had a blast doing the local autumn activities with her, having story time with Bree, and playing various board games. We had a very intense game of boggle going, in which Heather validated my need to continue playing round after round of this game even though Jason beat me every time! We also had S'mores and had a wonderful time catching up! We're waiting for next October when we can do it all again! Thanks for a wonderful visit, Heather!!!
Last week, Jason's best friend, Heather came up to meet and visit with Brianna. Bree's aunt Heather loves fall activities so we made sure to pack as many in during her visit. We started things off by taking Bree and Heather to the Renaissance Faire. This is the same faire that Jason and I took Bree and Daniel to a few weekends earlier. This time the faire was hosting Halloween events, so we decided to bring along Bree's Halloween outfit for the evening events. Some how Jason convinced Heather to try the chocolate covered bacon (I guess he was trying to share the experience). This time, however, Heather amazed us by telling us that she enjoyed it. I still think it sounds gross! Jason took a try at firing a bow and arrow, and with some pleading from Jason, Jason and I decided to learn how to throw battle axes. It is more difficult that one would think to get the axe to get stuck in the board. Jason won the competition by one point. Can't say I've throw a battle axe anywhere else.
"Look at me! I'm a big girl!!"
My lil' tiger cub!
Scary face!!
The following evening, we took Heather and Bree to the Jack-o-lantern trail that is held in Providence, RI. Jason and I have made a habit of making this trip an annual event and were unsure if we would be able to make it this year, since we didn't know how Bree would handle evening events. Since she has done so well with all the other trips and since this trip is so important to Jason, we decided to try it. I thought for sure that she would not make the 1 1/2 hour commute it takes, but I decided to listen to Jason and try it. Can't say that I was happy about trying it, but Jason and Brianna proved me wrong. She did excellent in the car and I had to give Jason props for knowing his daughter. The Roger Williams' Zoo hosts the trail every year and this year's theme was Journey around the world. Before moving to New England, I never knew there was such as thing as a professional pumpkin carver, but apparently there is and they are amazing at their work!! Here are just a few images of the pumpkins we saw. The trail highlighted scenes from various parts of the world. One of the my favorites (not in the pumpkin carving, but for the experience) was traveling to the North Pole. Here the trail was decorated in Christmas trees, holiday music, nutcrackers carved into pumpkins, and falling snow (the falling snowflakes were actually soapy bubbles). I doubt Brianna knew what was going on, but it was truly mesmerizing to see Brianna with the bubbles falling down (very holiday-like). The whole trail took about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to complete. Now the ride back home was not as easy as the car ride to the trail. We knew that she was not going to make it for the whole commute, but Jason had to go to work the following day and we didn't want to be driving back super late, so we decided to chance it. I sat in the backseat with Brianna and with about 50 minutes left of the commute she started wailing. I was able to minimize the screams by having her suck on my knuckle, but after awhile this technique failed. We had a bottle that we could have given her, but we would not have been able to burp her as she needed to stay in the car seat, so we were holding the bottle as a last resort. With about 15-20 minutes left of the commute, I decided to have fun with her cries and wiggled my finger/knuckle back and forth over her mouth when she cried. The effect was a hilarious gobbling sound. Hey, if you have to hear a child cry, this cry is far more appealing than the wailing sound! Needless to say, Brianna made it and we fed her as soon as we got home and then put her to bed.
The following day Jason had to work, so Heather and I decided to take Brianna to a local pumpkin patch, corn maze, and hay ride. It was a beautiful day (warmer than normal for October weather). We had a picnic lunch, fed Brianna, took some pictures of Brianna and the pumpkins, picked out a few pumpkins to carve, and then prepared her for the hay ride. Of course, she fell asleep through her first hay ride, but it was adorable seeing her sleep as we toured the farm via tractor and hay bales. After the hay ride, I put Brianna in the MobyMoby wrap.
Having Heather visit us was a lot of fun. We had a blast doing the local autumn activities with her, having story time with Bree, and playing various board games. We had a very intense game of boggle going, in which Heather validated my need to continue playing round after round of this game even though Jason beat me every time! We also had S'mores and had a wonderful time catching up! We're waiting for next October when we can do it all again! Thanks for a wonderful visit, Heather!!!
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