Christmas in pictures

Christmas with Braylin was such a blast. I could write all about it, but I think I'll just show Christmas in pictures. Enjoy!

Our sweet little sleepy head. Christmas can be exhausting!








This picture is proof she was spoiled rotten with Nanna and Poppy here. She expected to be held every moment!

In the "Nick" of time

As you can imagine, things have been pretty crazy around here. Mom and Dad arrived Monday to watch Braylin while Joel and I took care of the store. We have been meaning to get Brayllin's picture taken with Santa, but just hadn't made it happen yet.

On Christmas Eve (just before Santa started packing his sleigh), Nanna and Poppy took her to see Jolly Ole Saint Nick....and she didn't even cry. She didn't really smile, but she didn't cry, so that makes it a huge success!!

Merry Christmas to all!!

In the whirlwind of retail...

So, I am starting this blog with a not so proud mothering moment. My mom called today to tell Braylin "Happy 8 Month Birthday" to which my response was...."that's today?!" SAD-- Zida is overtaking my life I haven't even kept up with the date. It has been another Crazy month. Just before Thanksgiving we went to LA to stay with Jill and Kevin to do a buying trip for Zida. (The whole time we were down there I kept thinking I should take a picture of her in the fashion district shopping with us...but I never did. SORRY!) Our trip was great (except almost all of us got sick) Mom and Dad also flew in and we celebrated early thanksgiving together. Jake got to come hang out with us 2 days. It was a nice slower paced trip. Then we arrived back home to the whirlwind of retail. We survived black Friday and just have a few weeks to go with crazy ridiculous mall hours. I have promised Braylin that in January it won't be so crazy and that we will slow down and do something fun. I love Christmas, but I am looking forward to it just getting here without all the hectic days leading up to it.

Braylin has now mastered saying "mama" and "dada" (even though they are just noises and she is not directing them at us, we count it!) She sits up like a big girl, rolls over, loves to stand and have you walk with her, but no crawling yet. We went for a solid week with her sleeping through the night, but this past week she has really digressed. I hope it is just the cold and when it warms up she will be back in routine.

Braylin is asleep right now so I am just going to post the most recent pictures from the last month. I obviously need extra grace with everything that is going on....January WILL be better!

She was supposed to hold the sign for Poppy's birthday, but couldn't figure out what to do with her arms.
With Uncle Jake at Jill's house.
Braylin got have Mashed Potatoes for Thanksgiving. She dove right in!

7 Months already??

How can my baby girl be 7 months old? The time is going so quickly, but Braylin and I had the talk last night that no matter how old she is, she will always be my baby girl.

Such a big girl sitting up in the chair. No, she is not crawling or rolling over much, but she can sit on her own. She loves to sit on the floor and play with her toys.
These pictures are completely out of order, but it will have to do! We went to Sunriver last weekend for a church staff retreat, and Braylin saw snow for the first time. She didn't go out in it, but she saw it!
I let her "paint" with yogurt. She didn't love it like I thought she would. She wasn't even interested in licking her fingers. It might have just been too cold.
This pic has nothing to do with Braylin, but we had some friends come visit from Minnesota, and the boys all got to go to the Duck game ...on halloween...when they worked USC. They had a blast!
Okay, so I am not the best at taking pictures. Fortunately Jess and Amanda are, so I borrowed these from Facebook. THANKS you two!
This was Braylin's halloween outfit. Jess made her the cute onesie and Amanda made the tutu. She looked so cute! (Y'all really need to start a business!)
We went to Hendrick park (which is beautiful) Braylin took this picture from her stroller. (Well, she was asleep in her stroller, but she stayed nice and still to keep the camera in focus.)

From left to right: Adam, Amanda, Me, Joel, Jess and Aaron
Playing in her jumperoo. (she loves it!)


Sweet Dad and Bray!
3 Men and a Baby. (The girls kept saying that all weekend when it was the boys turn to watch her.)
More snow (by the Willamette Pass on our way home.)
Family pic before Joel went to the game.
They are just too cute!!
On top of the butte overlooking Eugene.
So the not so happy part of the month... Braylin and I both got really sick. I ended up taking her to the dr. because she had such a high fever. We are not sure if it was the swine flu, but the dr wanted us to treat her for it just in case. She was so pitiful. She would fall asleep everywhere. It was sweet because she would fall asleep when I held her (which never happens) so it was good snuggle time. She did get better quickly, and we are so thankful for all the prayers for her.

I can't believe we are headed into month 8. It is going to be a good one. We are gearing up for the holidays. We have our tree decorated (pics to come) are headed to LA in 1 week for shopping/ early thanksgiving, and then the madness will begin. No promises on another blog anytime soon, but I will try my best to document the next month.