One Whole Year
One whole year you have been ours. One whole year of cries, giggles, and every funny noise in between. One whole year of getting to know you. And I suspect we've barely scratched the surface.
I'll be honest, B. One year ago today I was pretty scared and emotional and overwhelmed. I had absolutely no idea what to do with you, how to take care of you and get you safely from a newborn to a one year old - and thinking beyond that was just way too much to consider. All of the books I had read to prepare for your arrival seemed so very inadequate. I didn't know anything at all except that I loved you. It turns out that love was all that we needed. Well, love and Starbucks... Your mommy has still not adjusted to the lack of sleep that sometimes happens when a baby moves in.
I still remember exactly what it felt like to hold you for the very first time. It was wonderful and strange. But I knew so absolutely that it was YOU. This lovely, chubby-cheeked baby with reddish blonde hair and impossibly dark eyes was our Briony. You looked nothing like I thought you would, but I knew you were ours and I knew that you were the baby who'd been kicking and wiggling up a storm as you grew inside of me. So many things you did in those first hours and days were absolutely familiar to me - your patterns, your movements, the way you kept you hands up by your face exactly like you had in all your ultrasound pictures (and the way you still sleep with a blanket or a favourite stuffed animal all cuddled up). I often wondered if it felt the same way to you, being thrust into a brand new world, but finding those little things that felt familiar to you - the sound of my heartbeat, your daddy's voice. It was those little things that helped me realize that we were going to be absolutely okay, because we would figure it out together.
It's been a crazy, wonderful year. We've had so many adventures together - you, me, and your daddy - that it's hard to pick favourites. But we've taken many, many photos and videos to capture as many of them as we possibly could.
Just last month, we dedicated you in the church where I grew up and made a promise to do the best job that we could as parents, to teach you right from wrong and to pray for you every day. As part of the dedication service, the pastor talked about each baby's name and what it meant. We knew already that the name Briony has Greek and English origins and that it's the name for a vine or a plant with little flowers. And we knew that your middle name - Evangeline - means good news, and we picked that name for you because finding out that you were on your way to our family was the best news ever at a very hard time for us. But on your dedication day, the pastor shared that the bryony plant was used for centuries as a healing plant that made sick people well again. I very nearly broke down crying in front of the entire church when he said that because we had chosen your name because we thought it was pretty - and it turns out that your 'pretty' name has a very special meaning too. It just made me more sure than ever that your name is a perfect fit.
I don't know if you will ever understand how much you have helped to heal our family - first in knowing that you were coming, and now just because of the way you are Briony. You are a wonderfully funny, friendly little girl who makes everyone around you giggle along with whatever you're up to. You dance and you chatter and you play... You are just so very happy to be alive. It makes it pretty difficult to have a bad day.
I thank God for making you Briony, and for choosing you to be a part of our family - it's a perfect fit. Your daddy and I look at each other almost every day and talk about how lucky we are. We were so very happy. And then we had you and you have brought a new kind of joy to us - a great big joy that makes the whole world seem just a little bit more colourful than it looked on the day before we met you.
We love you so very much, and wish you a happy birthday and a wonderful second year in the world. It's so much fun to explore it all with you.
Love,
Mommy
Labels: Briony, Briony's First Year
Eleven Months Old (and a bit...)
This is so belated it hurts, but Briony is now eleven and a half months old. How the heck did that happen? Oh, and scratch everything I've said previously. Eleven and a half month old Briony is our favourite :)
This kid is RIDICULOUS. She makes us laugh every single day - many times a day - and is pretty much the definition of sunshine. It's incredible to me that a baby can be such a good friend, but she is. She is so friendly and has really impressed me with how gentle she can be around babies and animals. She's becoming much more active and confident in her movement, but is still perfectly content to crawl and pull up on things instead of walking (and that's FINE with me!). And the look on her face when she conquers something new... She just BEAMS - and claps for herself, of course. Wonder where she learned that? hehe
New Things This Month:
- Crawling has progressed to lightning speed
- Pulling up on furniture like nobody's business, and letting go sometimes but still pretty cautious
- Crawling up stairs (ack!)
- Giving her 'bite of approval' to things she likes - usually books, but this week it was Mommy too
- Waving pretty much on command when someone says goodbye
- Still LOVING bathtime
- Still LOVING food... We've introduced some yogurt and baby snacks now and she thinks they're the cat's meow
- Still dancing up a storm whenever she hears music she likes - even just a little music clip on a commercial will get her grooving, and her moves are RIDICULOUS
- Learning where her nose is (and mommy's nose and daddy's nose... the game is pretty much indefinite)
- TALKING... So far it's mama and dada and yeah and tickle and hi and hello and yay and baby, but she'll mimic pretty much anything she hears that sounds cool
- In related news, saying HI! about nineteen thousand times a day...
- Understanding NO... When she's doing something she knows she shouldn't be doing, she'll pause, look at me, and then shake her head no
Favourite Moments:
- The look on her face when she scooted up our big staircase for the first time (and then started falling backward because she started enthusiastically clapping for herself and saying YAY! - good thing Daddy was there to catch her)
- Whenever she's particularly happy to see us, she does this very special Briony nuzzle, kind of mashing her cheek into us
Looking Forward To:
More words. More movement. More dancing. And probably getting significantly less work done...
Labels: Briony, Briony's First Year
Ten Months Old
My baby girl turned ten months old today... SIGH.
Can I have a new favourite? I love ten month old Briony. She makes me giggle and it just completely and utterly fascinating. I love how she's always trying to make a new friend, trying to make somebody laugh, trying to explore something new, trying out a new trick. I will admit that it was a heck of a lot easier to be a mommy to a baby who could only roll and scoot around a little bit - but it's pretty cool to see the world open up to her now that she can pretty efficiently get to wherever she wants to go. And I sense that it will only get crazier from here...
New Things This Month:
- Crawling! (first a pretty efficient military-style crawl but now full-fledged 'proper' crawling)
- Transitioning from sitting to crawling to sitting again
- Pulling up on furniture
- EATING BOOKS (argh)
- Waving, often but not always on command when we tell her to 'say goodbye'
- Getting awesome at getting dressed and undressed - she helps so much we sometimes wonder if she can do it by herself
- Bathtime in the Big Girl Bathtub - the transition did not phase her at all, and she *loves* to splash
- Loving food, and willing to try anything
- Getting used to some finger foods - Cheerios, banana, avacado, and MILD cheeses are her favourites at the moment
- Repeating and mimicking words and sounds
- Making up little dances when she's happy
- Bobbing her head up and down to let us know that she wants us to keep dancing
- Checking out people's teeth... WEIRD
- Lots of sticking out her tongue to be goofy
- SO MUCH babbling - to people she knows, to people she doesn't know, to pictures of people, to her stuffed animals, to her feet, to nothing at all...
- Staying with babysitters (Katie, Jessica, Kari-Ann, and my parents)
- Not responding particularly well to 'no' - especially when it involves eating books or exploring fireplaces
- Unpacking my suitcase for me almost every day we were in BC
- Being somewhat interested in animals for the first time - she was *so* excited and proud of herself when she was petting Tiger the cat
- Getting very interested in her 'touch and feel' books - and anything with pictures of babies
- Laughing hysterically when we show her animal sounds
Favourite Moments:
- Watching Marilyn play 'This Little Piggy' on her toes, and then watching Briony stick up her foot and point at it until Marilyn started again, over and over and over...
- Seeing how very proud of herself she is when she crawls over to something or pulls herself up
Looking Forward To:
Getting back into a fall routine...
Labels: Briony, Briony's First Year
Nine Month Stats
Somehow in the middle of all the wedding busyness yesterday, Geoff and I managed to take Briony in for her nine-month checkup. Our little princess is not so little (I think we've known that all along).
She's currently weighing in at 21 lb 3/4 oz and measuring 29 in long. That means she's holding steady around the 90th percentile - and her head is still a little off-the-charts big, so she is clearly BRILLIANT. Clearly :)
Labels: Briony, Briony's First Year, Mommy Stuff
Nine Months Old
I think that every month has been my favourite so far, and this one has been no exception. She's getting so FUN. I think the best way to describe nine month old Briony is SILLY. She'll do almost anything for a laugh, and she loves to babble and giggle and play.
She's also getting to be a little bit more work to deal with, now that she's developing an opinion of her own (deciding to skip a nap or getting upset when we take her away from something). I'm also realizing that she doesn't nap as well when she knows that someone else is in the house - we had a few times this month when she was playing with Chloe or Emily before naptime or bedtime, and she was *not* impressed with me. At all. And so it begins... Can't wait for fourteen :)
This was the first month that I was really trying to work from home, and it went even better than I'd hoped. I need to be pretty flexible to work from home while there's a baby in my care, and I'm getting used to doing things in smaller steps than I ever have before - but it is absolutely working, and it is absolutely going to work. I could not be happier.
New Things This Month:
- Inventing her own strange little military crawl to get where she wants to go
- Lots of creeping and rocking on all fours, but no *official* crawling yet
- Still loving solid food - so far, we've tried sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, green beans, apples, bananas, prunes, apricots, peaches, pears, blueberries, mango, and chicken
- A new Briony-style 'word' every day - most often, it's mama or dada (still not entirely sure that she knows what she's saying), hi or hey (ditto), gaigaigai, ohhhh, mmmm
- Tickling people and saying 'tickle'... officially the cutest thing ever
- Dancing along with So You Think You Can Dance or Yo Gabba Gabba on TV
- Making up games to play with Geoff and I
- Still spending lots of time 'talking' to herself in the mirror
- Still inventing new ways to be silly
- More often than not, getting incredibly giggly when she's overtired
- Most days, we're down to only two naps a day (sometimes one, but those are *not* my favourite days)
- A couple of first little fits when we move a toy that she wanted to play with or take her away from what she was still having fun doing
- Officially not being swaddled to sleep anymore, making naps a little more challenging (booooo...) - and therefore also discovering that cribs are more fun to play in than to sleep in
- Learning how to 'click' her tongue and 'pop' her lips - doing it ALL DAY LONG, and making instant lifelong friends with anyone who will play her game and make the same sounds back at her
- Using Geoff and I as her own personal jungle gym
- Learning how to 'swing' in her Jolly Jumper, most often tucking her legs up once she gets herself going
- Becoming absolutely fascinated with eyelashes, and trying to touch ours at every opportunity (she's usually gentle, but we occasionally get our eyes poked)
Favourite Moments:
- Watching her world open up at the realization that if she sees something out of reach, she can get there on her own
- The fact that she's not crawling or pulling up on furniture yet :)
- Playing her new little game where she throws her hands up in the air and we cheer... over and over and over... and over...
Looking Forward To:
Another trip out to BC to let Geoff's family and our friends out there get to know our nine month old Briony.
*Picture will be added tomorrow :)
Labels: Briony, Briony's First Year
Eight Months Old
Late again... There's just too much adventuring going on here :)Yep, we still like her!
New Things This Month:
- Teeth! (two on the bottom and two on top so far)
- SO CLOSE to crawling...
- Sitting pretty much indefinitely without support, but never too scared to lunge and roll for a toy
- Pretty fast at creeping and wiggling and spinning herself around on the floor
- Mastering solid food - so far, she loves everything
- No more baby swing... *sigh*
- Lots and lots of dancing
- Not sleeping in the car or stroller all the time any more
- Trying out new 'words' every day
- Getting *very* giggly when she's overtired
- Spending lots of time 'talking' to herself in the mirror
- Trying to be funny by making a goofy face and then laughing and laughing about it
- Still a BIG fan of peekaboo, especially with grandma
Favourite Moments:
- Watching her creep and rock on all fours, just waiting for that first attempt at crawling...
- Seeing my baby girl with tiny teeth in her mouth
- Spending time camping at the lake as a family (awww... we're a little family! hehe)
Looking Forward To:
Being around for many, many more 'new things' and 'favourite moments' while I work from home :)
Labels: Briony, Briony's First Year
Seven Months Old
So I'm a little behind on these little monthly updates. Better late than never, I've decided :)
Briony is such an incredible joy in our lives (in case you couldn't tell that from my regular blog posts, hehe). She is remarkably easy-going and very free with her smiles and giggles and babbling. I think she's amazing. We'll keep her.
Six Months Old - New Things This Month:- Sitting on her own, but still a little tipsy
- Still rolling up a storm...
- Lots of shrieking just to make noise (sounds like a wounded seal)
- Making extra-obnoxious noise by putting her hand in and out of her mouth (thanks for teaching her that one, Geoff...)
- Starting to 'help' us when we're picking her up, strapping her into her carseat, and getting her dressed
- SO MUCH talking and babbling and giggling...
- No teeth yet, but lots and lots of chewing and biting
- Getting very excited about books - this is *not* a bedtime activity in our house
- Generally very friendly and willing to give out smiles and giggles to new people (unless she's very tired or just waking up)
- Briony's second trip to BC
- My first official Mother's Day
- Our first little family vacation - trip to Victoria with Rob & Vicky & Ava
Seven Months Old - New Things This Month:- Sitting independently (at least until a cool toy catches her attention and she takes off in a dive-and-roll move)
- Killer dance moves, swaying her head back and forth when she's extra-happy
- Starting to eat big girl food (just rice cereal so far) - it's hilarious how she looks *so* proud of herself
- Realizing that she can control her tiny little fingers, and doing lots of funny 'plan hands' and wiggling them around while examining them very closely
- Holding onto the side bars of her swing to stop herself from moving
- Favourite words are AH-BOOM and HEY!
- Starting to do a lot of MAMAMA and DADADA babbling
- Giving up her fake attention-getting cough, and replacing it with yelling MAMAMA to get my attention
- Random laughter (sometimes seems suspiciously like she's courtesy laughing at things people do and say)
- Hitting things, especially the tray of her high chair (for maximum noise-making, of course)
- Still loving her jolly jumper and exersaucer
- Scared of CTV weather promos and station identification spots... the thunder makes her wail like the drama queen she is (can't wait for the first storm of the summer)
- Discovering that she can eat her feet... ew
- Still a major talker and a gigglepuss :)
- Briony's first bridal shower (for Auntie Cait)
- Briony's first wedding (Kris and Kari-Ann)
Favourite Moments:- Watching her explore and take in more and more of the world around her
- Seeing how her personality is coming out and how she interacts with people
- Feeding her solids and seeing how very proud she is of herself
Looking Forward To:All the drama and faces that are coming as we begin to introduce her to new foods.
Labels: Briony, Briony's First Year
Five Months Old
My baby girl turns five months old today. How the heck did that happen?! Seriously. I want to know. It blows my mind a little bit. This past month was all about improving on and perfecting the milestones she reached for the first time last month. It's amazing to me how much she's taking in, and how much she learns every single day.
And how are we celebrating this auspicious occasion of Briony's five month 'birthday'? By teething, of course. My normally happy baby has been crying on and off all day today. Here's hoping this is all very temporary - especially because I can't find any real teeth buds in her mouth yet.
New Things This Month:- Standing up in her exersaucer, thinking she's a big girl
- Constantly trying to sit up (not successful on her own yet)
- Lots of jolly jumper tricks, and jumping so high that she's topping out the spring
- Trying desperately to sit up (not successful yet)
- Fussing when a favourite toy is taken away or dropped on the ground
- Lots of rolling, and getting stuck on her face a little less often
- Lots more hair growing in (and it's *so* blonde!)
- So much talking and babbling and giggling...
- No teeth yet, but lots and lots of chewing and biting
- Discovering hair - hers and mine - and always wanting to play with it
- Successfully grabbing mommy's glasses off her face
- LOVING peekaboo and dancing with mommy and daddy
- Taking her pacifier in and out of her mouth
- Trying to feed herself by grabbing the bottle and pulling it to her mouth, and holding onto it
- Squealing when she recognizes someone she likes
- Briony's first Easter
Favourite Moments:- Watching her explore and take in more and more of the world around her
- Walking around our neighbourhood with the stroller (yay SPRING!)
- Briony charming everyone with her smiles and giggles at our Easter gatherings
- Five month photo shoot with Auntie Jessica and Chloe
Looking Forward To:Returning to BC in less than two weeks and spending *lots* of time outside.
Labels: Briony, Briony's First Year, Chloe, Jessimica
Briony is Four Months Old
Are you ready for this recap? It's been an incredibly busy month... It blows my mind how much a baby can change in just four weeks - she's feeling less like my little baby every day as I watch her explore the world and learn new things. I can't believe she's four months old today.
New Things This Month:
- Briony's first airplane trip!
- Meeting all of Geoff's family out in BC
- Getting much more coordinated and finding *so* many things to grab and suck on
- First trip to the United States (a daytrip to Washington state)
- Playing in her exersaucer
- Trying desperately to sit up (not successful yet)
- Rolling from her back to her tummy - yikes!
- Rolling from her tummy to her back, just a few days later
- Kicking and wiggling enough to spin in a circle pretty efficiently
- Playing in her jolly jumper (her new favourite toy)
- Smiling and talking to everyone she meets
- Testing out the *full* range of her vocal abilities, to the point where she sometimes gets hoarse by the end of the day
Favourite Moments:
- Introducing Briony to all her BC aunts and uncles and cousins (and grandparents, of course!)
- Spending lots of time outside in Abbotsford
- Watching Christine, Amber, and Dolly turn to absolute mush when they came over for a tea party and Briony charmed the pants off them (not literally... we don't have those kinds of parties, hehe)
- Putting her into a jolly jumper for the first time, and watching her learn to spin and bounce - she *loved* it and played happily for over an hour
- Listening to her as she finds her voice - in all its noisy, noisy glory
Looking Forward To:
SPRING! So that we can be outside lots more :)
Labels: Briony, Briony's First Year
Briony is Three Months Old (belated)
Late again, I know. Sigh. I'm just too busy playing with her to actually sit down and write this stuff down :)
New Things This Month:
- Celebrating Briony's first Valentine's Day and her first Superbowl
- Starting to grab at toys and actually capture them some of the time
- Finding her hands and sticking them in her mouth constantly
- Discovering that our baby girl is soooo ticklish - changing clothes is almost unbearable for her :)
- Chattering away to anyone who will listen
- Making strange for the first time (only twice so far, so we're hoping it's a phase we can mostly just skip over)
- Going for outdoor walks for the first time
Favourite Moments:
- Briony is still trying to figure out the whole giggling thing... It sounds ridiculous most of the time :)
- Going for a family walk outside for the very first time (we went twice, actually)
Looking Forward To:
SPRING! So that we can be outside lots more.
Labels: Briony, Briony's First Year
Briony is Two Months Old (belated)
Where is the time going??? And, more importantly, if I'm currently unemployed - why the heck did it take me an extra two weeks to write this post? :)
New Things This Month:
- Celebrating Briony's first Christmas
- Briony's first road trip, to Rock Lake to spend the weekend between Christmas and New Years with my mom's family
- Briony's first house party: New Years at our place
- Bringing Briony to the Moms Group I joined back in the fall
- First smile (December 26)
- First giggle (January 11)
- First immunizations (January 16)
- Our curious baby is discovering EVERYTHING, and getting so much better at playing in her gym and exercising her neck during 'tummy time'
Favourite Moments:
- Those first smiles and giggles melted my heart into a huge gooey puddle... I'll never, ever get tired of watching those expressions of absolute joy and delight on our daughter's face
- Watching people - especially Geoff and my dad - make all kinds of ridiculous faces in an attempt to get Briony giggling
- Having a baby with us for Christmas
- Taking Briony to the mall to go Christmas shopping with 'Auntie' Emily
Looking Forward To:
All the Christmases coming when Briony will understand what it's all about.
Labels: Briony's First Year
Briony is One Month Old
Briony is one month old today. Can you believe it? This has been the fastest month of my life, no question, but it truly feels like Briony has been a part of our little family forever. I am absolutely in awe of how much she was grown and changed in just four short weeks.
New Things This Month:
- EVERYTHING
Favourite Moments:
- The first time I held her in my arms. I had to wait too long for that moment, and I think it just made it even more intense and wonderful
- Last week, I was feeding her in the middle of the night and she sucked so hard that the bottle's nipple flattened out and she wasn't getting any milk. I took the bottle away for half a second to fix it for her, and she was MAD about her temporary lack of milk (and she let me know). I quickly put the bottle back in her mouth, and she gripped both sides of it - as if to ensure that I couldn't take it away again. The best part? The tiny hand that was facing me was giving me the finger. I know it's impossible, but I kind of suspect that she knew exactly what she was doing... :)
- Watching her with Geoff, especially when they're hanging out on the couch together. She just looks so tiny and they look like they absolutely belong together
- Briony's first time playing in her gym, totally fascinated by all the toys and sounds and colours
- Briony and Chloe meeting for the first time outside of our stomachs (you'll recall that when I held Chloe for the first time, I was still pregnant with Briony - and my little girl was kicking the crap out of her cousin from inside of me)
- Watching my parents fight over who gets to hold her, and seeing how they love her *almost* as much as we do
- Getting ready for our first Christmas with her
Looking Forward To:
Briony's first social smile... I torment her for hours a day, trying to coax one out. The other day, I thought that I had one for sure and I totally teared up - and then she pooped. Oh well :)
Labels: Briony, Briony's First Year
