Happy 1st Birthday, Brynn!

Happy 1st Birthday, Brynn!  Where has this year gone? I woke up this morning, thinking back a year ago.  I was so scared & excited all at the same time.  I wondered how life would be like with 2 children. Would I be able to love them both the same?  How would Kate be? How would we do with a newborn again now that we were out of diapers?  

Well, this year has been absolutely indescribable.  From the moment I first saw Brynn, I was absolutely in love. My heart grew double and there was so much love. Rich loved her, and Kate exceeded our expectations of being the best big sister we could ever have asked for.  Brynn was such a sweet, happy, loving baby and still is the same way 1 year later.  

She is doing new things every day.  She is crusing, taking steps, pointing at everything in site, can follow simple directions and eating like crazy!

Here she is with her monthly shot with the bear:

 Kate was the first one to walk in this morning and wish her a Happy Birthday.  As soon as Kate woke up, she said, "Mommy, it's Brynn's 1st birthday!!!"

Namma got Brynn this adorable dress that she wore today:

Brynn opened cards with Daddy this morning:

We put out the inflatable cupcake.  Every year for Kate, I decorate the house the night before so when she wakes in the morning of her birthday, it's all decorated and it helps to make her feel special.  I plan on doing the same for Brynn.  I LOVE birthdays!  

 We took Brynn to her 1 year well visit. She's doing great and growing so wonderfully.  Kate went to breakfast with Namma & Pop Pop and we met up at the party store to order balloons for Brynn's birthday party this weekend.  At Brynn's Doctor appointment, he told us we could give her peanut butter now. So, we gave her some nutter butters and hit a homerun.  She was reaching for the bag.  LOL.  Then, Kate, Brynn & I went shopping.  We got caught in torrential downpours and were literally soaking wet.  We looked like we were all in the shower with our clothes on. LOL.  What a great memory we made.  Kate & I were laughing so hard because we were soaked!  We stopped and picked up a pizza for lunch- Brynn loves pizza!

 After lunch, we got Brynn's 1 year portraits done.  After that, we met up with Daddy, Kate, Namma, Pop Pop, Grammie & Michael to celebrate Brynn's birthday dinner at Friendly's.

This is Brynn's smile 99.9% of the time.  She is such a joy and always so happy.

Here she is with her cup. We say that she almost "attacks" the water.  It's so funny to watch her grab it and take a sip.

Here is the proud big sister celebrating as well!

Brynn loves to snack. She picks out her snacks and will eat them, but she also loves to feed others.

Here is the whole crew, minus Pop Pop, who is taking the picture- thanks Pop Pop!

 Brynn had a hot dog and mac & cheese for dinner.  We had them sing Happy birthday to her and bring her a little sundae.  She was smiling and staring, probably thinking, what in the world is going on???

Here she is with her 1st bite of ice cream (excuse my ridiculous face) and she absolutely LOVED ice cream. She would open her mouth so wide for more. It was hysterical!

Kate got a sundae that she made herself.  She chose black raspberry ice cream with gummy bears, sprinkles and m&m toppings.  My kind of sundae!

We had such a great day celebrating Brynn!  Thank you, Brynn, for being so special to us and making our lives all better each day.  You make us all smile and we are so lucky to have you in our lives! Many, many more wishes for a Happy Birthday!  xoxo

Video of Brynn's 1st steps

Here is a short video of some of Brynn's steps.  She took 6 steps tonight!!  Not in this video, but she did do it earlier in the evening.

Italian Festival 2011

I took Kate & Brynn to Sophie's 1st birthday party and after the party, we made a quick stop at the Italian Festival!  It was Brynn's 1st Italian Festival and I am pretty sure she liked it.  

 I bought a Panzarotti and let Kate & Brynn have some and they loved it.

 Kate wanted to ride on rides.  Here she is on one of them, having a ball:

She had a blast on the cars:

Loving the cars:

And yet another ride:

Brynn watched Kate on all the rides and would wave and point and yell "KA!"

Here she is on the Ferris Wheel:

After the rides, we went to get a sno cone.  While we were waiting in line and there was Lady Gaga playing in the background.  Kate started dancing. She had no idea I was taping her:

Daddy met us so Kate was able to go on some rides with him.  We parked near a police car and the policeman let Kate get in the car, turn on the sirens and lights.  We couldn't believe it!  She asked him if the back of the car was "jail".

4 Steps

I need to get a video or a picture of this.  Tonight, we put Brynn down on the ground, and let her stand alone.  She took 4 steps!  And, another milestone for today- no bottles.  My baby girl is growing up so much.  I am writing all of these things down since I didn't have this blog when Kate was going through all of these steps and don't ever want to forget these things :)  Love my girls so much!!

Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my dad and to my husband!  I am so lucky to have been raised by the best father and so lucky to have my girls raised by the best father as well!

The girls woke up and greeted Rich with Father's Day wishes.  I took them to church so he could sleep in.  We made a stop at Dunkin Donuts and Rich decided he wanted to take the girls fishing!  So Brynn could go too and Rich could actually fish, I went.

Kate threw the rod in and caught a fish immediately!

Brynn had fun playing on the blanket while Kate & Daddy fished

We had a picnic lunch after Kate caught 11 fish.  Brynn was chilling while we ate since she already had her lunch:

 

 Picnic lunch!

 Kate finished up with catching 2 more fish and caught 13 total! She was so proud.  Pop Pop was supposed to come too, but he didn't feel well.  We'll "catch" him next time :)

After fishing, we took naps and then went to the Italian Festival for rides, food and more rides!

Kate was so excited Daddy was there to go on the rides with her.  She picked the tea cups first.

Brynn even got to go on her 1st ride! She seemed to enjoy it.

 Kate then chose this car ride that goes forward and then backwards. She is a daredevil loving these rides

After some rides, we stopped for some dinner. I had a panzarotti and Kate and Brynn shared a piece of pizza.  They both enjoyed the panzarotti as much as me though.

 After dinner, we went on MORE rides!

 Kate had such a good time. It was so fun to watch her on these rides and laughing.

We are so thankful to have such a wonderful, caring, loving, providing and amazing Daddy in our lives.  I am so lucky to have the same with my dad too!  Happy Father's Day!

First Steps

Brynn took 3 steps today!

Brynn's 1st Swim lesson

Today was Brynn's 1st swim lesson.  We started Kate when she was just 1 month shy of turning 2.  We thought that with the summer here, and with our pool, it may be best to get Brynn in the pool early.  So, we started today!

Here she is before her lesson:

And here she is in the pool!  

She did so great!  She floated on her back, "kicked" and she even went under!!  THREE TIMES!! I was in there with her so her teacher could show me what to do and to calm her when she got upset, which wasn't a lot.  But, she had a smile on her face for most of it, just like her big sister! Kate got in and showed Brynn how to do things and Brynn would smile and laugh.  She she was on her belly, she tried to put her head in the water. It was really cute.

Let's hope next week goes just as well!

Stairs!

Oh boy! We are in trouble! Look who was climbing the steps!  And, guess who we caught sitting on the ottoman!  Can't take our eyes off of her now :)

Kate's 1st Dance Recital!

Kate had her 1st Dance Recital today!  Her group was dancing to the song "Walk the Line"  I was so excited for it, I woke up so early and couldn't wait for it to get here.  We got Kate all dressed, got her hair into a bun and Tammy arrived to watch Brynn and off we went. 

Here are Kate & Rich right before she went in:

 The girls were told to arrive at 12:15. The recital started at 1.  Kate's group, which are the youngest dancers, danced during the 2nd intermission, 6th act.  So, as you can imagine, we had to keep 14 4 year olds busy so that they didn't tire out, or ruin their buns or get a run in their new stockings.  I volunteered to be a Mommy helper and I'm so glad I did.

Here are the girls being so good. We had gummies, juice boxes, snacks and Tangled!

 Pop Pop came back and got some great pictures of Kate

 After 3 hours of waiting, it was time!  Ms. Elizabeth took the girls on stage so that the rest of the moms and me could go and watch.  I was so nervous for Kate, I can't even explain it.  I wasn't sure if the girls would do the dance or not, but boy was I wrong!

Here are some pictures of the girls dancing!  Shake it, Kate!

 Can you say so proud?!?!?  I have never been more proud of her! She danced her little heart out and hit every move and was so good. All of the girls were good.  It's so impressive that these little 4 year olds could do this! Rich and I have watched the video of her a million times.  I'll post that on here as well, if I can.

After the show, the finale had all the little girls go on stage.  They called a parent on stage, so Rich went up.

 Kate & Rich got to dance together and it was so so sweet. I know it meant more to Rich than Kate will ever know!

And, here is our beautiful dancer!  She was amazing!!!!  And, we couldn't be prouder.  Mommy & Daddy, Namma & Pop Pop and Grammie all got her 1 dozen flowers- they were bigger than Kate!!

Great job, baby girl!  You did awesome and we are so proud of you!!! We Love you more than you'll ever know!!

Dance pictures!

Kate had her dance pictures done last night.  We got her home, got her hair all up in a bun and slicked back and here she is!  Ta Dah!!!

 Pretty, pretty girl.