Teething Fun and 4 Month Milestone

So Brieleigh has been putting everything into her mouth and drooling quite a bit for awhile. Sometimes she is fussy for no reason. We have suspected she has been teething for awhile, and we were right! She now has one of her front bottom teeth just barely poking through the skin, and I think I can see the other one close behind. It made me so excited to feel her first little tooth!

She turned four months old on April 15th. She got more shots at the doctor and took them like a big girl only crying for a few seconds. Such a little trooper! She weighed 13 lb 14.5 oz (50%ile) and was 27 inches tall (way above the 97%ile). Her head is at the 50%ile as well. She is the average height of an 8 month old! The doctor said that she is going to be tall and thin, the American dream.






Brieleigh is also very very interested in food. She all but grabs the food off our plates when we eat. She also loves to grab my water cup every time I try to drink it and put it on her lips. We may even be able to skip the sippee cups! I bought her some baby spoons and bowls and some rice cereal. So whenever we start that (which will be soon because she is chomping at the bits) you will definitely get to see some pictures.

My Dad

One week ago, on April 19th, marked the 11 year anniversary of the end of my dad's wonderful life and his struggle with brain cancer. To some extent it seems like it has been a long time since this happened, while some days it feels so new and recent still. I think it always becomes hard again when new milestones in my life happen, and I wish that my dad here to share in that time- times like high school graduation, walking me down the aisle and dancing with me at my wedding, and now the birth of my first child and his first granddaughter. I think back at how my dad loved us, his family, and would rather have spent all his time with us more than doing anything else. I just know how much he would love Brieleigh and think the world of her as well.

After finally settling on grandparent names, I told David that we needed a name for my dad. I don't want to pretend like he never existed to Brieleigh, and I do not want to just say "your grandfather" when everyone else gets a real name because after all he is as much her grandparent as the other three are. I want to be able to share those memories I had with him with her.

My dad and I at Fort Morgan, AL
(I think that is where we were)

My dad and all of his children right after Madeline was born

God has taught me so much in these 11+ years. I was reminded by a friend that God never intended for my dad to be here for my wedding, when my child was born, etc. This was God's perfect plan, and while I do not completely understand it and while I wish very strongly that he could be back with us, I know and trust that somehow this is better because this is God's will for our family. I am also constantly amazed and my faith strengthened when I see how much my mom has found her security and strength in the Lord even though I know it is still not easy for her. As another friend always said (quoting Calvin I think), "God's providence is never arbitrary."

Easter in Birmingham

We had a great Easter celebrated our Risen Savior with my family at my sister's house in Birmingham, AL. I miss my family so much, and I especially miss them getting to see little Brieleigh grow up, and I miss getting to see my nephew Peter grow up. So times like this where we can get together and fellowship is priceless!

We flew into Birmingham Thursday night before Easter. That was Brieleigh's third plane ride, and she did fine though this time she let us know that she was tired of flying and ready to stay at home for a long while.

Friday morning when Peter woke up, he and Brieleigh played and tried to put each others hands in their mouths and had little baby conversations. My mom and Maddy got there that morning. We just hung out then at lunch with Katie on her lunch break. Cal got there for lunch too. After that we went to the Peanut Depot and got some hot fresh roasted peanuts and walked around downtown. For supper we ate at a fancy Greek restaurant which was very load so no one noticed the babies crying. Brieleigh finally fell asleep in the Moby.

Saturday we did a garage sale tour around Birmingham in the rain- our family is die hard especially the Buys family. We went to some outlet malls since the weather was yucky. In the afternoon we had tea and cookies with a neighbor on their porch. Brieleigh spit up right on the man's pants in an awkward area. He laughed about it thankfully and cracked jokes the whole time we where there. For supper, after much deliberation (my family stinks at making decisions much to the boys dismay) we decided to eat at Superior Grill, a Mexican restaurant. We arrived at this decision after a voting ballot and an excel spreadsheet to tally the results. :)

Sunday, we went to church and celebrated Christ's resurrection. Sorry, I would tell you about the sermon, but Brieleigh frequently eats during sermons as she did this day. I need to get our family Easter picture from Madeline. We had a nice homecooked meal with chicken poppyseed casserole (my favorite!). That afternoon, Mom, Maddy, and Cal left, and David, Brieleigh and I went to visit some college friends. We hung out with the Buys that night and had a great time just talking about life. We flew out Monday morning, sad to leave but thankful for the time we had together.

Peter and Brieleigh in some chairs at World Market- so grown up!

The cousins

Uncle Cal making Brieleigh smile

Brieleigh wearing Uncle Cal's cap

Camping at Possum Kingdom State Park

March 26-28th we took Brieleigh on her first camping trip. She was 3 months old. Some people thought we were crazy, but she did fine and we had a blast. We went Friday night after work so arrived at the campsite about 8:30 that night (2.5 hour drive). We set up camp and decided to turn in early since it was already dark and super windy. The weather would have been perfect if it was not for all the wind that weekend!
Brieleigh slept on the air mattress with us, and we tried to keep her warm. At some point in the night she was very fussy and squirmy. We were half asleep and kept moving her around trying to get her to go back to sleep. At some point in the night David decided we should check her diaper. She had had an explosion and moving her around so much made it smear all over her back all the way up to her shoulders. No wonder she was fussy! I would have been too! So we striped her and wiped her down with wipes (which I am sure made her frozen) and wrapped her back up.
Saturday morning, we woke up and made breakfast burritos on the fire and had some fruit. After cleaning up we went fishing in the lake right by our campsite. Our friends, Jane and Andrew, got there late morning so after they set up we packed our lunches and went for a hike. It was an elevated hike- very Texasy- dry and rocky. We found a nice spot on some rocks overlooking the lake for a picnic. We took a short nap when we got back before starting a fire for supper and taking another short hike. We made grilled chicken wrapped in foil, sweet potatoes, and black forest cobbler for supper. We played dominos before bed and sat around and talked by the fire.
Sunday morning we woke up around 6 and broke down our tent so that we could make it back to church for David's church duties.
We had a blast though we were worn out before and afterwards with it being so close to our Idaho trip. Brieleigh was a happy camper though and we will definitely take her back many more times!

Brieleigh napping in the tent

Brieleigh watching her Daddy cook breakfast

Brieleigh and Jamey- trying to drink some water (or just chew on the spout)

Jamey, Brieleigh, and Jane

David fishing. We caught nothing, broke a pole, and saw some dead fish. We later saw in the paper a picture of the lake with tons of dead floating fish due to bad algae.

The whole gang playing dominos waiting on our hobo packs to cook.

Idaho/Wyoming

We went in Mid-March to Idaho to visit Daniel and Sara (David's older brother and his wife). They live in Driggs, Idaho which is just over the pass from Jackson Hole, WY. They are planning to do overseas missions in the near future, Lordwilling, so we wanted to make sure that we got to go see them again before they move. We got to go to the Grand Teton National Park, walk around downtown Jackson, WY, ski and tube a half day at Grand Targhee, visit their church, sled in the "backcountry", hike, squeeze in a game of Settlers of Catan, and see eight moose. Brieleigh did well traveling again, although she was kind of fussy while we were there. I think all the altitude and the new things made her confused and not feel quite as good. She is a little trooper though. The mountains were breathtaking! And we saw alot of snow. Sometimes I think that I would love to move to the mountains, then other times I realize that is farther away from my family, not closer.

David liked to run over the feet of snow, but...

it usually resulted in this. We had some good laughs.

Our little family in front of the Tetons

Hiking down Teton Canyon trail

Daniel and Sara in front of the Tetons

Brieleigh's first trip to the mountains

The brothers squatting in front of the Tetons

Brieleigh talking with Uncle Daniel and Aunt Sara

The brothers skiing

David trying to remember how to ski (which he did).

Jamey wondering why we went four years without going skiing.

Brieleigh Bug and Mommy at the ski slopes.

David and Jamey double tubing.

Brieleigh's first sled ride.

The first video is David sledding down the hill on his bottom before we knew that Daniel and Sara had a sled at their house. The other video is David and Daniel racing on tubes.

We are so glad that God allowed us to go on this trip and that Daniel and Sara let us come visit. We loved being in the mountains!

Catching up

Sorry I am so behind blogging. If anyone is still checking this, we are still alive! We have been very busy traveling lately, plus having no computer makes it hard to blog and save/download pictures. David is in Austin today though so I have his computer and just downloaded pictures and plan to upload some on here. Stay tuned for pictures from Idaho, camping, Birmingham, and other life photos!