Bridget's Hair

I am happy to report that thanks to helpful tips from moms with girls Bridget's hair has gone from this...

to this. Much improved.

And in between, we have been having some fun with this long hair.


Such a good sport.

Tidbits

We were watching videos with Marshall this afternoon and found this from a few weeks ago. As I mentioned earlier, Bridget loves to throw herself around on the couches. Fortunately, she gets just as big of a thrill throwing herself around in the crib, much safer. And of course, she is still growling.

I decided tonight that I am an oblivious mother, at times. Just today a friend asked me how many teeth Bridget has. I immediately answered six, two on the bottom and four on the top. I went on to say that she has had six teeth for months, they all came at once, and she hasn't shown any signs of more coming in. Well, tonight during a screaming fit Richard and I realized that she has two more teeth on the bottom. When did that happen? Oh wait, that's probably why she hasn't been sleeping well for over a week. Bad mom.

This boy has developed a new favorite word in the last week...

Why?

I kid you not, I hear this question at least 100 times a day. I'm glad he's curious, don't get me wrong, but I don't think I have many more answers left in me.

And lastly, a moment of playing nice together. These times are few and far between, so I had to document.

My Workers

Marshall loves to be "a worker". There is hardly a day that goes by that he hasn't grabbed his tools to fix or build something. Well, here are my three workers and I love them all.

Bridget's Thoughts On Grass

Seeing as we are having such beautiful weather in Wisconsin we have been spending a lot of time outside. Poor Bridget has yet to take a chance on walking, so she is stuck crawling around on the grass. Maybe this will be good incentive? Who knows. At any rate, we got these funny videos on Sunday. Unfortunately, I grabbed the camera too late though. The first time we put her on the grass she held up her opposite arm and leg and screamed at us while balancing on just one leg and arm. We were all laughing, and I was also impressed with her core strength. Anyway, here are the videos that followed. :)

Bridget At One Year

As I've been going on and on about, little Bridget turned one! I am still in disbelief that she is one and I am very sentimental about it all. So, please forgive all of my reminiscing and rambling, but here it goes!

So, here we are at one year and here are some fun facts about Bridget:

*19 lbs. 4.5 oz. and 30 1/2 inches tall.

*Still takes two naps a day.

*Super speedy crawler, definitely her preferred mode of moving.

*She can stand up on her own, but has only taken one step by herself. She loves to cruise along the furniture, push toys around, and walk holding onto our hands, but hasn't come up with the guts to do it on her own!

*The only table foods she eats are: select cereals, select crackers, toast with butter, Nutri-grain bars, waffles, rice, mac n'cheese, chicken nuggets, and green beans sauteed in olive oil and Italian seasoning.

*Hates whole milk. We are currently mixing it in with her formula and gradually increasing the milk.

*We have been giving her a sippy cup for weeks, but she still has no concept of how to suck on it and swallow.

*She still growls and we always get lots of laughs and comments when we are out and about, especially at church.

*She knows what sound a monkey makes; it is adorable.

*She knows how to clap her hands, do "so big", peek-a-boo, and wave.

*She lifts her arms up and bounces on her knees when she wants to be picked up. This melts Richard's heart.

*When she is very excited about getting picked up she kicks her legs while you are picking her up. I love it, love it, love it.

*She is very dramatic and will arch her back or throw herself forward in a small temper tantrum if you have done something she doesn't like.

*About a month ago we took her to Monkey Joe's for the first time and actually let her play on the inflatable toys. Well, she loved it and she tries to recreate if every day and scare me to death. She loves, loves, loves to throw herself around on the couches and the Love Sac. She gets such a thrill out of it.

*She loves going up the stairs and is very good at it. But, she has no desire to learn how to go down the stairs. I tried to teach her the other day and she kept pulling her legs away and screaming at me.

*She loves to eat meals with Marshall and she thinks he is so funny (most of the time).

Richard and I just adore her. Marshall adores her sometimes. :) We are so glad that she is a part of our family. We love you B!

The Birthday Bash

We had a grand time celebrating Bridget's first birthday. Here are the highlights.

Picture overload, but have to share all the details with the grandparents!

The Saturday night prep...Marshall loved the door.

The birthday girl, first thing on Sunday morning. I think she was a little overwhelmed with all three of us running into her room saying "Happy birthday!" over and over.

We had Bridget open one present on Sunday morning before Richard had to leave early for church meetings. Marshall wanted her to open the present he got for her. (He and Richard had gone to Barnes and Noble last week and he picked out three books for her.) Well, as you will be able to tell, he was very excited about these books.



After church it was time for more present opening and other photo opportunities.

After Bridget had opened these two presents, Marshall just started tearing through the rest of them. Before we knew it, he had opened her last three presents...what a good brother. Here are just a couple random videos that the grandparents might enjoy.

Here's Bridget with her loot. As you can tell, she really wasn't interested in sitting still.

Look at these adorable little animals. My good friend Shay picked up crocheting this winter and has found she has quite the talent for it! She crochets animals, hats, and little food pieces. I have been admiring her work for months and in February I commissioned her to make these for Bridget. Shay was so sweet about it and I just love how they turned out. Bridget's favorite is the hippo and Marshall is quite partial to the unicorn. :) Thank you Shay!

Here's our little sleeping beauty getting a nap in between presents and her party. Adorable.


We had some friends over in the evening for birthday cake and ice cream. Here is my birthday cake creation. I saw it online and figured it was a step-up from my usual, but it wasn't going to consume my day. :)

Some of our wonderful Milwaukee friends. I don't know what we would do without these people.

Grace and Duncan were a huge help to Bridget blowing out that lone candle. Grace actually got so excited that she blew it out right after the singing ended. :) So, we lit it one more time and this time Duncan got in on the action too.

Bridget liked her cake more than Marshall did, but as you can tell, she did not love it. She only lasted a few minutes in her chair before she wanted out. She mostly played with the frosting and called it good. Maybe one day we will have a child who will go crazy with their first cake.

The next day for Bridget's birthday outing we took the kids to Gymboree open gym. We discovered this place back in the fall when Marshall took art class there and both Marshall and Bridget adored this gym. It is perfect for both of them. As you can tell, they both had a ball.


It was such a fun weekend. Happy birthday to "Miss B"! We love you!

Birthday Girl

Happy 1st birthday to our little Bridget!
We love you!

Zoo Day

We have been enjoying spring-like weather the last two days. Yesterday the high was 55 so after lunch I packed up the kids and we went to the zoo. We had a grand time.

Marshall reported that his favorite animal was the rhino.

It was so much fun to spend the entire afternoon outside; I cannot wait for the summer! And, one of the best parts for me is that the kids went to bed so well last night and both slept in until 8:00 am! Hooray!

Get This Monkey Off My Back

For our entertainment one night last week Richard put this monkey on Bridget. :) Oh, the things we do at the expense of our children! We all got a good laugh out of it and Bridget didn't mind it too much. Just this week she learned her first animal sound (aside from her growl). She now knows what sound a monkey makes, so this was fitting. Enjoy the video. I love how she keeps trying to find the monkey and just turns in circles. :)