The Weekend

We had a great weekend, full of good company and fun times. My mom came in on Wednesday evening, so that night Jamie came over and we had dinner together. Thursday my mom, Branigan and I went shopping and then we had Jamie over for dinner again. It was a fun day and night, except that I'm now boycotting Babies and Toys R Us. Its a long story.

Mom, Bran and Sadie (my mom's new Havachon puppy)

These are action shots of Aunt Jamie's "swing" - since Branigan outgrew her baby swing, Jamie came up with a substitute ;)

She just giggled her face off!

Friday my mom watched Bran over at Jamie's while Jamie F and I went to the courthouse for a hearing against Mindi Bruce. As it turned out, we didn't need to be there so we had some extra time on our hands to go have lunch together. We will have to go back for another hearing, but at least we didn't have to see Mindi that day. That night was dinner at Aunt Jamie's and then home to crash.

Saturday was a fun day, with my mom, Jamie V, Branigan and I going shopping up at the Legends. Jamie got a beautiful new couch and recliner set at Nebraska Furniture Mart, and then we had lunch at "Granny's", a place where they serve fried chicken family style. It was nice to get out just the girls (only missing Robin). After that we went home and enjoyed a relaxed evening together. The day went way too quickly.

My mom left first thing this morning, and like all things that you really look forward to, the time had flown. We had a great time together though and made lots of good memories. My mom got to help feed Branigan, give her baths and see her in her every day life - something that we both miss.

Fred and Shirley get home today, so they will be coming down this afternoon to see Branigan - that girl is going to be spoiled with all this grandparent attention!

Where did the day go?

Yesterday was one of those whirlwind days. Jamie was home, and we were busy the whole day, but it seems like we got next to nothing done. ;) My mom got to town last night, and thank goodness - they are getting a bunch of winter weather at home. Today we are going to a couple of places looking for baby gates and picking up Branigan's 6 month pictures. Hope they turned out well!

Getting a kiss from Lacey

Branigan started doing something new yesterday. She can get onto her hands and knees now, belly off the floor, and yesterday she started rocking forward and back. Its pretty funny and doesn't get her anywhere, but it seems like her first real attempt at trying to move forward. I would guess that there is still a minimum of a couple of weeks before she's crawling, but who knows. She is certainly getting close.

Danger

That's now Branigan's middle name, and its only going to get worse. Last Friday she started getting her walker to move, and by Sunday she was running across the room. We mainly just keep it in the kitchen, and so she does laps around the room chasing the dogs, trying to open doors and pulling down anything she can reach - making her much more dangerous than before. I swear she is into everything!. it is so darn cute to watch. If she sees you across the room she throws her arms wide and runs at you. She's really just using the walker for balance, as she stands in it almost all the time. In fact sometimes she gets annoyed with it, as if its slowing her down. Too funny. She's also hugging now. Lots of times when you are holding her she looks up at you, extends her arms and just leans in to give you a good squeeze. That's about the highlight of any day for me.

Thank goodness the frame of the walker keeps her from opening the door!

Nothing is safe!

Last night Aunt Jamie watched Branigan so Jamie and I could go to dinner. We had a nice time out together. We have a busy weekend coming up, with my mom arriving either tomorrow or Thursday and staying until Sunday, and then Jamie's parents coming in on Sunday. Should be lots of fun!

Look at that smile!

Relaxation

Saturday was a day for just that. I spent the day reading (which I have a headache from today) while Jamie did some spring cleaning of his own. Overall not much to report, just a nice relaxing day!

Standing up in her crib with just a little help from Dad

Another Full Day

Yesterday was another full day of cleaning out the corners. Branigan was such a good girl, and played all day long. She continues to nap in her crib, although we did move the mattress down yesterday morning and she did not seem to like it. I think that she is going to be figuring out how to stand up that much quicker so that she can see out (she's quite a determined little girl).

She also has figured out how to get her knees under her when on her tummy, so Jamie thinks she'll be crawling soon. I guess we'll see.

Spring Cleaning

I've been making a real mess in the house, just cleaning out the corners. I figured I would start spring cleaning a little early since Branigan will be mobile soon. So there is stuff everywhere as I decide what to keep, and where to put it.

Playing on the floor while mom cleans her closet

Daddy just walked into the room

Branigan seems to have given up on crawling, and prefers to be sitting up all the time now. I'm wondering if she'll scoot before she crawls. Who knows, tomorrow she may start trying to crawl again. :) She's also trying to pull herself up on the side of her crib, so that is getting moved down this weekend.

I think she had her last bath in her baby bath tub last night, and will now be moving up to the ducky tub. She is sitting up on her own in there, and loves splashing the water. She's hilarious.

Just being silly in a snow suit from Aunt Diane (thankfully our snow is pretty much gone, but I wanted to try this on her)

Daytime Naps

Yay for daytime naps in the crib! Branigan took three of them yesterday with little to no fuss. It made for a very productive day for me, let's hope this keeps up!

6 Month Check Up

Branigan had her six month check up today, complete with four shots. She was such a trooper! Hardly cried at all. Her stats were:

Length: 27 1/3 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 17 lbs, 8 oz (75th percentile)

I think it may be time to move the bed down ;)

The doctor thought she was doing great. She gave me some good advice on letting Branigan "cry it out" to get her to nap in her bed during the day. So, we're starting that tomorrow. ;)

She got a bit fussy this afternoon, but otherwise she handled the shots like a champ. Just have her seasonal flu booster and both of her H1N1 shots to go. Then, next year hopefully only one flu shot. Whew. Almost there!

What a Disaster

Geez. Not sure I should have gotten out of bed this morning. As it was, I woke up late and had to rush to get myself and Bran ready to go to my dr.'s appointment. Once we got on the road, I tried to turn on my fog lights and ended up pulling the entire end of my turn signal off. Then I realized I forgot my new insurance card, so Jamie had to fax it for me. I also almost got hit twice because the fog was so thick. I was grateful when we finally got to the Dr.'s office in one piece.

Bran had been an angel through all this. As soon as I was in the office with my clothes off, that's when she decided to let us have it. And boy did she.When we got back home around noon I felt like I had run a marathon. I'm going to have to plan better for tomorrow's appointment. ;)

Our First Night Away

Last night Jamie and I had our first night away from Branigan, as she spent the night at her Aunt Jamie's. She did beautifully. They played a ton, in fact I think she had more fun there then at home! She fell asleep at about 8:30, and didn't get up until about 7:30 am. I don't think Jamie slept as well, but overall things went super well. And it made it SO much easier for us knowing that she was only 5 minutes away.

Jamie and I went to see the movie Avatar, which is really good. I was genuinely surprised at how much I liked it. We then had dinner at Ricco's, one of our faves. After that we worked on ensuring that we would have major headaches the next day by hitting Nik & Jake's and The Other Place on the way home. We had a great time.

It was hard to try to sleep without Bran in the house. I kept waking up all the time wondering about her. But overall it was really okay. I'm so lucky - a great babysitter who I trust as much as myself just five minutes away, and a husband who is a blast to hang out with. What a great weekend!

Six Month Pictures

Today we had Bran's pictures taken, this time at Picture Me at Wal-Mart. I thought they did a pretty good job. The lady was extremely patient with getting Branigan to smile, and spent a ton of time with us. I'm not sure I was in love with the backgrounds and setups, as they weren't terribly conducive for babies (camera was stationary like for school pictures). But overall it was a good experience, and we got some great shots. How could we not, she's a cute kid!