December 2010

Christmas Eve: Caroline 2 years and 8 months, Amelia 7 months, and Jack Cooper Brinson 6 weeks.

Nona and Aunt Carolyn with their grandbabies.

Caroline and Cousin Baby Jack




We have had an eventful December full of parties, travel, baking, and trips to the doctor! Caroline has been getting ready for Santa since Thanksgiving. Our neighborhood has lights in every yard which only adds to the excitement. We have made cookies and she has made three gingerbread houses. I think her favorite part of the holiday season is the music! She is constantly singing Christmas carols. We had a lot of fun at her school Christmas party. The kids all had their pictures taken with Santa and only one of them cried.

In addition to Christmas, we celebrated Daddy's birthday on the 17th at his company party. It was nice to have a night out with a free babysitter at home (Nana). Unfortunately, that weekend was also filled with nursing a sick baby back to health. We took Amelia to the doctor last Saturday and she was diagnosed with RSV. Luckily, we caught it early and she was back to normal after a few days. It was our first experience with anything other than an ear infection and it was NOT fun. We were still able to fly out on the 19th, but we headed to the doctor in Gainesville on the 21st to make sure that her breathing was okay. Thank goodness for a doctor in the family because she was seen right away. Her breathing was fine, but she had an ear infection. She's now officially feeling good and eating like a horse.

Other than the trip to the doctor, we have had a great time in Georgia. We have spent a lot of time in our pjs watching Christmas movies and reading Christmas books. Caroline's current favorite is The Grinch. We have played with Nana B otherwise known as Nana with the Kitties and met the newest Brinson, Baby Jack. Caroline and I went to see Tangled with Anna, Ally, Aunt Carol, and Nana. We LOVED it!

Christmas Eve was magical and wonderful. We went to the twelve o'clock church service for kids and had a family party. It was so much fun to see Caroline, Amelia, and Baby Jack together. We opened presents from cousins last night and it was hard to stop, but we were able to get the girls to bed so Santa could do his magic!

Halloween and Thanksgiving

Curtis age 5, Caroline 2 1/2, and Charles age 9






Wow time flies! We have had a great time with the girls this past two holidays and we are getting really excited about Christmas. Caroline was a fairy for Halloween. She loves to play dress up at school, so this was a big treat for her. We made it to quite a few houses, but she had the most fun answering the door. We are so lucky to live in such a safe, kid friendly neighborhood. So many houses were decorated and everyone was so friendly. Amelia chilled in the stroller in her Pumpkin PJs. I'm sure she'll be the perfect sidekick next year. Thanksgiving started off kind of rough for Miss Amelia. She had been fighting a cold the last couple weeks and I had already taken both of the girls in to have their ears checked, but they were clear. I put Amelia to bed the Monday before the holiday and she seemed fine, but woke up with a fever and a terrible cry. I stayed home with the ladies that Tuesday and took Amelia back to the doctor. It was still just a cold, but with a fever. We did end up driving up to Arlington Wednesday morning for a delicious Thanksgiving lunch hosted by Grandaddy. That evening we drove over to Athens for Turkey Day part two. Caroline had a ball with her cousins. They all played so well together even though there's a pretty big age range. Amelia had a good time as well, although she wasn't 100%. She spent a lot of time asleep in her Nana's arms. Amelia turned six months old the Friday after Thanksgiving. She is now crawling (not very quickly though) and she can sit up from laying down. She's really trying to pull up too so we broke down and lowered the crib. Amelia has finally decided that she is ready to eat solids. She loves anything that we eat, but does not like baby food. So, I blend up whatever we're having and she's happy. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we drove back to Austin to buy our Christmas tree and decorate. It's beautiful! We have been reading lots of books about Christmas and we watched Rudolph last week. The excitement is definitely building and I have a feeling this is going to be a memorable year.

Fall Festival and Visit from Grandaddy

We drove over to Elgin, TX to a fall festival a few weeks ago. Caroline had a lot of fun with Taelyn, but she wanted nothing to do with the ponies! We might head back to Elgin to cut down our tree this year!
Grandaddy came down for a visit last weekend. We had such a nice time eating great food, watching basebal/football, and relaxing. Amelia enjoyed trying to crawl all over Grandaddy and Caroline chased Lily the whole time. We can't wait for another visit!

Amelia is 5 months old!

I cannot believe that my baby is 5 months old! Time has flown by. She is now sitting up on her own and babbling. Her favorite thing to say is "da da da". After five months of getting up every night to nurse, this is the thank you that I get? Hmmm is that fair? Oh well, she's still my sweet pea. This past weekend, she teased me by sleeping through the night 7:30 pm to 6 am two nights in a row. Unfortunately, she was up again at 2 am Sunday night and last night. I can't complain too much because she usually nurses and is back asleep in 20 minutes. She is still not quite ready for baby food. We've tried for the last month and she gags on the spoon and looks utterly repulsed by the whole thing. We tried one of the baby food "nets" that she can suck/gnaw and that worked a little better. Might have something to do with the sweet potato casserole with brown sugar that I stuffed it with =) Caroline was so ready to eat at four months and Amelia is taking her time. It's kind of nice to not have to fool with food at school yet. I'm going to try to enjoy another month of her only needing me. She's definitely easy to pack for!

Thomas the Train

We drove up to Burnet, Texas to take a ride on Thomas the Train last weekend. We met Caroline's best friend Ceci and her parents and the girls had SO much fun. I love to watch them dance and laugh together! Amelia can't wait until she's old enough to harrass the older girls =)

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Lake Rabun

It was wonderful to see all of our Brinson and Timko Family at Lake Rabun this September. I am so happy that Amelia and Caroline were able to see and meet four of their great grandparents. We are blessed to have such a wonderful and supportive family. http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=699683417506%3A280392043&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee

Labor Day Weekend

The Martin family let us use their lake house for Labor Day weekend and we had a blast! It took us a while to get there because of traffic and two stops, but Caroline thought the whole experience was an adventure. It was a nice change from whining/crying. Amelia slept the entire trip. She's such a sweet pea. The weather was actually crisp in the mornings and not too hot in the afternoon. We swam, sailed and jumped on the trampoline. Nana and Pa stayed with us Saturday night and G-Dad came in for a visit Sunday. The girls can't wait to take another trip to the lake!
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More Summer Pictures

We now own two digital cameras and two video cameras....so, it's hard to keep up with all of our pictures! This weekend, I discovered these pictures from July. We drove over to Houston for a baby shower and Aunt Allison just happened to be there too visiting friends. Nana and Pa drove down to babysit so we were able to have a mini family reunion!
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Time to catch up!!

Wow! It has been a while!! Amelia has grown up so much in the last month. She's now enjoying her bumbo chair and she loves to play with her toys and roll around on the floor. Life is so much more fun when you can play! Both of the girls really enjoyed the beach. Amelia slept under the umbrella and Caroline built sand castles and made friends in the surf. They're beach bunnies like their momma. We had a GREAT summer and so far, school has been an easy transition. Caroline and Amelia love their teachers and I have a wonderful class this year. I can't believe we're flying back to Georgia for Lindsey and Paul's wedding in just two weeks! Here are a few pictures and videos from our trip to Georgia and our beach trip to South Padre. I am so happy that I captured Nana's famous German nursery rhyme. All nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren share this memory.
Links from the Summer:
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Amelia 9 Weeks and 3 Days

On Monday, July 19th Amelia had her early 8 week doctor's appointment. I was very interested to see how much she had grown and to see if she was another "off the charts" girl. She weighed 13.6 pounds and was 23 1/4 inches long. She's in the 75-90%. A little smaller than her big sister, but not much! She has an amazingly strong neck and she is still practing crawling all the time. Amelia loves the sling and is really enjoying her vibrating chair these days. Her legs are so strong that I believe she'll be bouncing in her Johnny Jump Up before we know it. I think that she might be another talker like Caroline. She's already trying to make conversation with everyone. Here are a few pictures from our flight to Georgia and from the first couple days here. She slept and nursed in her sling the entire flight. People didn't even know she was there! Thank goodness for www.360bebe.com I couldn't live without it!!

Cooking School!

Back on July 16th Ceci and Caroline took a cooking class at Batter Up Kids Cooking Shop. Even though it was 10 AM we decided that the girls would prefer the sweet snack over the healthy. They made Rice Crispie Ice cream Sandwiches with sprinkles. They were SOOOOO good. The girls were very well behaved and followed directions during the class. All of the ladies helping them thought they were much older than two =)....That is until the sugar kicked in and Caroline pitched a fit over a spatula. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted! Luckily I only ended up having to buy one princess crown cookie cutter that she smeared with ice cream and sprinkles. I can't wait to take Caroline back for another class. Here are some pictures of the girls decorating their aprons, decorating with sprinkles, and of course eating! They even helped clean up after finishing their snacks. Check out their website. They have great gift ideas for kids.
www.kidscookingshop.com

Run! We're surrounded!

The girls and I met Caroline's best friend, Ceci, and her mom at the chick last Friday for a dinner playdate. Well in case you don't know, July 9th is the day you can dress up like a cow and get free food at the chick. Caroline and I have ended up there on this day two years in a row unprepared. This year a few things were different. First of all, there were 7 ft tall cows walking around dressed up like firemen. Second, Caroline is TERRIFIED of cows. Nona took her to the Gainesville children's museum this past March and there is a life size cow that moos if you touch it or try to milk it. Caroline walked up to the cow not knowing this and touched it...the cow mooed and she ran, faster than I thought possible, straight out of the museum. She now warns strangers everywhere "THE COW- IN FRONT OF THE BARN DOOR." There are specific hand motions that accompany the very serious voice warning. So, back to last Friday....Caroline's fear must have been contagious because Ceci was also afraid of the cows. The girls were glued to the glass wall of the playscape at the chick frozen with fear as the cows walked by. They even tried to block the door at one point. I'm not kidding.
They ended up finding a "safe house" in this little bubble.



So, if you suffer from Bovinaphobia DO NOT go to the chick on July 9th.

The Penny!

We started off our July 4th weekend with a learning experience. Last Friday, Caroline swallowed a penny. I was running around trying to buckle car seats and load up snack traps, diapers, etc. for a last minute play date at the Austin Children's museum and I noticed that she was playing with something she had found in the car. Caroline has never been bad to put things in her mouth, but for some reason I asked what she had in her hand. She showed me the coin and I didn't think much of it. Next thing I know she asks me, "Where'd the penny go?" I said, "I don't know, Caroline. Where did it go???" She then pointed to her open mouth. I searched her mouth and no penny. I asked her if she ate penny and she said "Yes!" So, I called Dr Anna and left a message and we went on to the museum and lunch with Daddy. I wasn't going to let one penny spoil getting out of the house. If you've loaded the kids and all the gear, there's no going back! Anyway...Anna said that we needed an x-ray. When I pass this along to Alex, his reply is "Well, how do you know she swallowed it??" Ummm, she's TWO and she told me the penny was in her tummy! What else do I have to go with here? So, Caroline had her first x-ray and yes, she has a penny in her tummy. We are supposed to wait two weeks for it's arrival. Hopefully that will happen sooner than later. This will be one of those stories to pass on to her kids one day.

June Recap

We have been keeping pretty busy these last few weeks. I have found that it is best to get OUT of the house at least once a day. Everyone sleeps better! I knew Amelia would have to be ready to go being number two and so far she's a trooper. She's holding her head up really wel, looking around taking it all in, and smiling. She rolls over easily from her tummy to her back and scoots around on her tummy. I think I might have an early crawler. Caroline has loved being home, but she really misses her friends. She talks about them all the time and asks when she can see them. We finally got together for dinner with the Walker's and Caroline had so much fun playing with Lucas. We also had a play date with Ceci and Ethan from school last Monday and we're meeting again this week. I guess Mommy's just aren't enough! We did start a "Kitchen Garden" in the early spring that Caroline has really enjoyed. the only veggies that we have had success with are green beans, but the herbs have done well. Caroline loves mint. We have three different types and I'm going to have buy more because she harvests faster than it can grow! We had a great father's day and treated Daddy like a king! Caroline now thinks that every weekend is "Daddy's Day". Hmmm what happened to Mother's Day?? Grandaddy also came to visit us a few weekends ago. It is always wonderful to see he and Lily. Alex and I celebrated our four year wedding anniversary at the beginning of the month. A lot has changed since then! Here are pictures from the month of June.
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