Grandma Varner's coming to town!

My mom came to town this weekend, and we had a great time! Thursday night we met after I got my hair done (VERY much needed), and she came back to the house to see Branigan.

Friday, we gave Bran a bath, played around the house, and ended up going to Kohl's shopping. I never go there, and now I have a good reason - I spent WAY too much! But I got Bran some cool outfits for Christmas and some presents for my dad and Jamie. So, I guess it was worth it. :) Friday night was a low key event, a simple family dinner.

Saturday morning, we helped Aunt Jamie get ready for a date! She's going on a winery tour, which sounds pretty fun to me at this point! :) Then Branigan, Mom, Jamie and I headed to Costco, and again spent WAY too much. But we had fun. That night, mom and I had pedicures and the three adults played Farkle. This is a dice game that I actually taught them, and then got my a** handed to me!

Sunday morning went way too fast, and again, my mom was on her way home. It was a great weekend though, with Branigan learning to play more and more all the time. She's not really cooing yet, but still loves to talk. She is interacting with everything around her more and more, and wants to look at faces. She is such a darling - we are so lucky!

Time is flying

Its been a busy week. Taco Johns had its store eval for the year, and got a 94 - pretty good! My mom comes to town tomorrow, so I'm running around getting things ready. Here are some pics from the week.

A hangover, date night and the first chiefs game

The last few days have really flown. Friday was a busy day of cleaning and running errands, although I did get to take some time in the afternoon to just sit and hold Branigan. Look at the smiles she rewarded me with!

This is my favorite picture ever - look at that big smile!

It was so nice to have Jamie back that we did a bit of celebrating on Friday night. I had two glasses of wine and 1.5 beers. Wow! Who knew that could produce such a hangover!

Saturday was a pretty lazy day of recovery. So nice to be able to do that! That night, Aunt Jamie came over to watch Bran while Jamie and I had our first real date night since Bran was born. We had planned to go to a wine tasting, but given the way I was feeling, we opted instead fot a movie - Harry Potter. We'd both already seen it, but there was nothing else out, and we really love that movie! :) Bran did great for Aunt Jamie, and was already in bed asleep when we got home.

Sunday marked the first home Chiefs game, which Jamie went to with our FBC, Jon Walls. I spent the day at home doing my favorite thing, playing with Branigan!

Jamie's out of town

Jamie had his first out of town meetings this week. He left on Tuesday and got home this evening. Jamie V was also out of town for work, so I was really on my own. Or so I thought. Fred and Shirley came over on Tuesday, and Denise Reynolds and her niece Julie came on Wednesday. This morning was busy with running errands, so the time really flew!

Here are a few pics:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Branigan has been doing this dance all week - the dr. thought she was "busy". We think its the cutest thing ever!

What a week.

Unreal. Thats the only way to describe the past week. It has been a long and stressful one. On our way back from Olney on Monday, we got the call that Jamie's Grandma, Jacoba, had a heart attack and was not likely to recover. The rest of the family has gathered in Iowa to spend the last few days with her. Fred and Shirley were in Costa Rica when the news came in, so it took them a bit longer to get there. Jamie and I made the decision together to stay home. We are so glad we got to see her before this happened, but just don't think we can do another trip right now. So we wait.

On Tuesday, we really tried to relax and regroup, but there was just so much to do. And then we got another terrible call - my grandmother fell and broke her hip! All I can think is this is too much! what if both our grandmothers pass the same week?

Wednesday was much like Tuesday, except now with additional worry. My grandmother had surgery, and beat the odds to pull through! What a relief. Jamie's grandmother was holding on, and Fred and Shirley would be there that night.

Thursday morning we got the call - Jacoba had passed on. Its a mixture of grief and relief. Shirley and her family are making the necessary arrangements and Jamie and I make plans to go.

The visitation was Friday night with the funeral on Saturday, and both were very well done. It was such a sad day, but also so nice to get to see all of Jamie's family! What a grreat group of people. Its been a big year with lots of highs and lows for them. I got to spend lots of time with Jamie's cousins Missy and Rachel, who have both had babies this year as well. It was really fun, despite the terrible circumstances that brought us together.

Sunday was the trip home, on Branigan's 2 month birthday. Wait, have I talked about Bran at all? Thats how busy this week was! She did wonderfully through it all. She is smiling broadly now and loves to study faces. I can't believe how fast she's growing! I'm guessing she is around 11 lbs, but we'll find out for sure tomorrow at her two month checkup. She did a great job this weekend with everyone constantly passing her around, and is just a good baby overall. She is constantly putting her hands in her mouth, and is trying everything to get just her thumb. Its so cute when she does that.

Two Month Check Up

What a big day! Branigan had her two month well baby check today, which comes with her first round of vaccinations. Yuck! I'm sure it hurt me more than her, but I could barely stand it when her face turned purple from screaming. It was everything I could do to keep from crying. Her stats today were:

Weight: 10 lbs, 12 oz

Height: 22.5 inches

This puts her at exactly the 50th percentile - perfect! Our pediatrician is great, so it made for a great visit.

Once we got home, I needed to snuggle. So we curled up in bed to nap. Then tonight I got the biggest scare of my life. Branigan choked on the baby tylenol I was giving her, and stopped breathing for a few moments. Seeing her face go fixed like that scared me so much I could barely breathe. But she came out of it quickly and was smiling again in minutes. Nothing like having your heart completely stop to realize again how much you love someone, and how lucky you are to have them!

A trip to Olney!

This was a very busy week. After coming home from Iowa, everything was a blur of finishing end of the month paperwork while preparing to take our trip home to Olney. This trip is to see Great Grandma Varner, as she has not been doing too well either. Thankfully, Jamie was home more this week so I could get lots done! Aunts Jamie and Robin were home as well, so we had a great time!

We started the week with a visit from Aunt Jamie, and probably our best photo shoot yet. Branigan is getting so big now, her smiles more frequent, and bigger! She is awake more and more, and SO much fun to play with. She doesn't really care for tummy time, but we keep trying anyway. She is also liking her cradle more and more the bigger she gets. We have it set up in front of a mirror, and she loves to look at the baby in the mirror.

We left for home on Thursday, expecting to break the trip up with a night in a hotel somewhere along the way. But Branigan did so well; we made it home in 7 and a half hours! That's not a whole lot longer than normal! By the time we got home, she was about to eat both of us, but other than the last twenty minutes of the trip, she was a dream!

Another funny part of the trip was the dog situation. We had Sacha in the front seat, Lacey in the seat behind Jamie, Branigan in the middle of the back seat, and me behind Sacha. Definitely not our most comfortable trip ever, and after breathing all of that dog hair, Branigan's immune system should certainly be building!

On Friday, we visited Weber Medical Clinic so that Grandma's friends would get to meet Branigan, and then went to see Great Grandma Varner. For a 92-year-old, she sure looks good. While we were there, we also got to see my Aunt Earlene, and my cousin Tony's kids, Jace and Elizabeth. Very nice to get to visit with them.

Saturday was just a family day at home for the most part, with a visit from Aunt Frances in the afternoon. It was nice to get to see her and have her get to know Bran. Sunday was more family time, with my mom finding two toys that Bran just loved! One was the Hokey Pokey Elmo, and the other was this weird little man in red that sings "Love Machine." Branigan just stared at them and kicked along with them for like an hour! It was the most animated that I have seen her play. So fun!!! I was so glad my mom got to see that.

Monday came too soon, and was the long trip home. Along the way, we got really bad news. Jamie's grandmother Jacoba has suffered a severe heart attack and will not recover. On one hand, we are dreading another car trip. On the other hand, we would like to get up to Iowa one last time. Thank goodness we went when we did! Shirley and Fred are in Costa Rica, I hope they make it home in time.