Library

 I don't know why I didn't do this sooner, but yesterday I finally got a library card and we spent some time at the library!  I took Brie one other time this summer, but we only stayed for a couple minutes just to check it out.  She absolutely LOVED it!  Alec has been out of town a few days this week, so it was good to get out of the house and something to do. 

Waiting in her stroller and looking around while I signed up for a card. 

They have such a cute little kid section; complete with a doll house, puppets, a magnet wall, and tons of books!

(I love her little tippy toes in this picture!)

She is at such a fun age right now! I love just watching her little brain soak everything in, she enjoys checking out new things and learning how to do new stuff.  I picked out a few things to take home, she still isn't always interested in letting us read her books.  But occasionally she will sit through a whole book, mostly though it is half a book.  

After the library we went grocery shopping, which is becoming increasingly difficult to do with her.  She tries to get out of the cart or is reaching behind at the items and trying to throw them out of the cart.  I ended up grabbing a bag of goldfish and opening it to keep her busy while I finished shopping.  

I love being able to spend time with my Briezy, we had a very fun mommy/daughter day together!

Brie ended her day with a enjoyable bath (a miracle for her since most of the time she cries the entire time in the tub).  And mommy ended her day with a glass of wine and watching Downton Abbey :)  We are both looking forward to daddy coming home tonight!

Playing like a big girl

 Brie has been getting much better at playing and entertaining herself. Which is great for me!  I think it is just so cute watching her play with her baby dolls, kitchen set, and all her cute toys!  Most of our toys are from garage sales or Christmas presents. 

Still doesn't really know what the washer is for as she tried over and over to stuff her baby in it.  Fun fact: that stuff doll was mine growing up, my mom gave it to her for Christmas.  It is her favorite baby doll!

This was the best find of ALL times, this is the exact same kitchen set the four of us had growing up.  We played with this thing non stop.  I stumbled across this gem on Craigslist for $10!  She really likes it, and I just about melt every time she plays with it :)  It is missing just the coffee pot and shelf inside the oven, but otherwise it is in great condition!  She loves the chair the most, on and off on and off the chair all the time.  My family was all over a few days ago, and we were joking that Brie will be the only kid that knows telephones used to be attached to the wall!

Way before I was even pregnant I found some barbies at a garage sale, they were in good shape so I bought them.  Well now Brie thinks they are kind of cool, definitely not old enough to play barbie but she likes to touch their hair and put them in the washer or oven....  Here she kept trying to give it to Josie and was just cracking herself up!  Josie as you can see....not so thrilled.  Right now Brie can't get on the couch without help, and Josie loves that.  Not sure where Josie is going to hid when Brie can climb up there :)

She got some musical instruments for Christmas, she plays with them all the time!

Brie will still watch TV occasionally, which is really nice for me if I am trying to cook or catch up on emails.  I found Veggie Tales for her and she really liked it!  And yes I know, she is standing like 2in from the TV in the picture.  Don't worry, she never stays in one spot for more than a couple minutes!

My Birthday

My birthday was SUCH a great day.  I realized I didn't really take any pictures of any of the fun things I did that day though!  I am really good with keeping up with taking pictures of Brie, but nothing else in life apparently....

Alec took the day off, which was great since I feel like we haven't seen each other much recently between his travel and my work schedules.  He got me these beautiful flowers:

For lunch I left Brie home with Alec and met all of Alec's sisters and his mom at Little Bankok!  It is a family favorite in the area, the waitresses all know us :)  It was SUCH a nice lunch; I can be such a sap recently and while I was sitting there surrounded by family I literally almost started crying at one point I was just so happy that we live here and can do that kind of stuff!  Everyone had babysitters, so it was just us girls with no kids!  Audrey couldn't go though, she was missed!  All of us there though are some sort of medical personal, and the conversation always gets a little crazy and we tend to forget we are in a public place where people can hear us :)  I loved it though, when is the next sister birthday so we can do it again?!

Allyson and Mike babysat at night so Alec and I could go out to dinner.  We went to PF Changs for dinner and then got frozen yogurt afterwards.  So nice to just be out with the two of us, we so rarely do it!

It was a wonderful birthday, I am not super thrilled to be getting older though. 

The Toddler Life

 Life as a toddler is pretty great!  It certainly is full of its challenges; she doesn't talk much yet and `gets frustrated when we don't understand her or know what she wants. 

I love when she gets super excited, it is usually about the most RANDOM things.  In the picture below I put her new boots on her, she was thrilled!  They are a little big, so we have to wait a few more weeks probably.  But she ran around in them all over the house.  The other day at Meijer while I was checking out she kept reaching for my credit card, well I needed that soon so couldn't give it to her and gave her a Sam's Club card instead.  She immediately got a huge grin and screamed in joy, everyone around us started laughing; the cashier thought it was hilarious. 

 

The doctor said we should transition out of bottles, so I have been putting her milk in sippy cups.  This picture below was the result of me giving her a sippy cup of milk for the first time.  She screamed for 10 whole minutes like this!!  She kept looking at me and saying "buuuubaaaa" (that's what we call bottles); I almost gave in but I knew the transition would not get easier if I just kept giving it to her.  

As you can see, she did eventually take it.  I will say though, I think we maybe started the transition a little early.  I kind of wish I didn't listen to the doctor and started the transition in another month or so, she drinks less milk now than before.  The pediatrician we have been seeing is very by the book, he does not have kids of his own and is fresh off his residency.  So he has no out of clinical experience, which I have not been a huge fan of.  Since her 15mon appointment with this doctor I have actually switched pediatricians.  I really was rooting for this new guy, everyone has to start out and I wanted it to work.  I just feel like I need someone with a little bit more hands on experience, my questions when in the office are more pertaining to parenting and not medical concerns.  And the final straw was at the END of our 15mon appointment he was talking about how we will see him next at 2yrs old; I asked if we will see him for 18mon and his response was "Oh, I thought she was 18mon"   Um....no, and for a 1yr old 3mon is a big difference, so much will change before then!  Oh well....we are still at the same practice just with a different doctor that two of my sister in laws recommended.   

Brie is always very curious what either Alec or I are doing.  Here Alec was fixing the drain in the tub, and she loved watching him!  It was really cute, she kept pointing into the tub.  (pardon the picture of Alec's booty!)

Naps have been the other thing we tried to transition.  I tried for a long time to get her onto a 1 nap schedule.  It went ok for a little while, she just can't make it past 11am though, I would find her laying on the floor or couch usually about ready to crash.  So I just decided it was not worth it, she was grouchy before and after the one nap.  So we are back to a sort-of 2 nap routine.  Brie usually wakes up around 7:30a, takes a nap from about 10:30/11-12:30ish, and then has a lay-down/relaxation time from 3:30-4:30p.  I call it a lay-down because sometimes she doesn't fall asleep, but will just lay down and suck her thumb with her lovey.  So that has been working great for us, I actually really like this 'schedule'.  Much more flexibility for running errands or meeting people for lunch, if we are out and about in the afternoon then sometimes she just snoozes in the car and that is perfect!  She almost always goes to bed around 7:30pm with no issue.  

Whenever I clean I give her a swiffer duster and she thinks that is so cool!  

When we were cleaning downstairs she found this jumping thing in her closet, I bought this when she was a 'baby' and she never got the hang of it.  So just to be funny I put her in it, she STILL didn't get it!  I was trying to get her to jump in it, and NO go!  She just kept trying to walk away in it, I was laughing so much!

Toddler is learning to feed herself!  It is really cute, but actually kind of a pain.  Way messier and when she is eating something she needs help with it is a major battle.  She does NOT want help, even though she needs it!

15 Months Old

Brie is 15 months old.  This whole toddler stage is so fun and so full of challenges! 

She is walking and running everywhere.  She starts running away as soon as you get a diaper out to change her or if she is holding something you try and take away from her.  I can't believe how much she understands, although she really isn't talking much.  She is 'chatting' all the time and making tons of noises.  She does say some words, just not always consistently.  Go-go is dog, and she says mama and daddy.  We have been trying to get her to say 'Mike' recently, my sister's fiance who is living with us.  But she just says 'Ma' or 'Mama', I guess she hears the M at least!  Whenever she hands you something she says 'er a go' (here ya go).  She says other words inconsistently (book, ball, uh oh).  Mostly though she says, "EH EH EH EH" and uses her pointy finger. 

Eating is probably our biggest issue.  She is just so picky, I've really learned though to just go with the flow and not stress over it.  I can't force her to eat, so we just keep offering different and new things.  She still likes the smoothies I make for her, so at least that is some nutrition.  And she really likes milk.  At her doctors appointment the doctor said she shouldn't be using a bottle anymore.  Well I kind of said whatever to that....but then thought about it and realized it would be nice to be able to pack up the bottles and just use sippy cups.  She did not take to the transition well, she screamed and kept saying bubba (bottle).  But finally she gave up and has been fine with sippy cups for the past couple days.

We had her 15mon appointment this past Tuesday.  She is 23lbs (76th percentile) and 30.8in long (79th percentile).  She is doing great and we love her so much!

 Here are some pictures of her being a mini-tornado in the doctor's office:

DeLange Family Christmas Party

 We had such a fun Christmas with the DeLange family.  We celebrated the 28th, the Saturday after Christmas.  It was a fun day full of snow play, pizza, tons of food, and presents! 

Brie got this adorable ear warmer!

 Anne and Rob brought over ther 4-wheeler, they guys took turns taking the kids for rides and pulling the sleds!  And yes, that is Josie on Alec's lap!

There were babies and kids everywhere!  So many little DeLanges!

 Brie got a fun music set and some adorable boots. 

DeLange girls holiday party

Alec's sister, Emily, hosted an amazing holiday party for all the DeLange girls.  We had such a fabulous night!  She totally out did herself; the food, decor, gifts, and drinks were all the amazing!  I don't know if I have ever laughed so much in one night, so much laughing.  Emily was a great hostess!

DeKruyter Girls Gathering

We decided to have a little Christmas get-together with the DeKruyter girls!  We went to dinner all together and then back to Kaitlin and Bryant's apartment for dessert and games.  Kaitlin made an amazing dessert, it was delicious and looked amazing!

We had such a fun night!

DeKruyter Family Christmas

Christmas this year was a bit dis-jointed I felt like.  I worked Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after....oye.  I wasn't scheduled for all those hours, I picked up for 2 different people.  We had Christmas parties scheduled for both the Saturday before and after with our families, so I figured I would pick up hours and let some other nurses enjoy time with their families they would have other wised missed. 

We went to Dearborn and celebrated with my family on the 21st.  Brie of course was the center of attention the entire time.  Allyson and I of course busted out more baby doll stuff for her to play with, she got a huge kick of out this backpack doll carrier.  It was so funny though because she kept tipping over and falling!

 She is such a stinker and would always try and sneak upstairs.  She does amazingly well on stairs, both up and down, so I don't really worry that much. 

She didn't really care about opening presents.  She would rip off a tiny piece of paper and then hand it to someone, and did this over and over and then lost interest.  Maybe next year she will care more.  

Allyson was Santa this year and passed out all the presents!

 Lovey is hanging out of Brie's mouth in this picture. 

 We played a lot of games, it was so fun having all the siblings and significant others together!