LONG time, no post!

Things have been crazy around here... not bad just busy. I appologize to those of you who follow about not posting in a LONG time!

Where to start... Well, we are in the process of buying our first house. Right now, its kind of at a stand still because we are waiting to hear back on a few things. But we are excited about the prospect of our first place. Its back up in Milwaukee and the tentative close date is June 12th. Here is a pic of the front of our hopefully new house.

Brianna had her 6 month half birthday this week as well! I cannot believe how much she is changing and growing! She has hit every one of her milestones and is ahead in most aspects. She can sit unassisted (for a short time), can put all her weight on her feet and will stand there (as long as we are close to balance her), she rolls everywhere and is trying to figure out the crawling thing (this one can wait a bit), she is officially eating solids 2x/day now (loves sweet potatoes, tolerates peas and hates squash) and she is 'talking' (more like screetching) up a storm! Oh yea and how could I forget to mention, she is sleeping like a champ (will sleep 14 hours straight if we let her)!

She had her 6 month shots yesterday and our poor baby has a little knot under her skin where the second one went in and its all red :( She was also a bit cranky! - Anyone who knows our little girl knows she is NOT cranky so we feel so bad for her!

We also got our 6 month stats yesterday as well: Head circ. 16.75 inches (50th percent), weight 15.4 lbs (50th percent) and height 27.5 inches (97th percent). Our little baby is going to be a tall one! Just like her daddy~

Here are some pics that I took yesterday on her 6 month birthday!

Rolling on camera and squash

I have a pic of Brianna finally rolling over. She has gotten to the point where she doesn't want to go to bed. The second we put her down to sleep she will roll to her tummy and stay wide awake. Hopefully this phase won't last too long as it takes about 20 minutes now to put her down as compared to the five it used to take!

We decided to start Brianna on squash this week. No particular reason why other than the grocery store we were at didn't have many organic veggie options. Todd and I have decided that we are going to attempt to make all of Brianna's baby food. Its not that hard, so far! We found a little food processor and some containers that fit the perfect amount. All it takes is a few minutes to steam the organic veggies then throw them in the food processor and we are set for the week... Next weeks menu - maybe peas or green beans???

I have a pic of her first few bites of squash. After day 3 she still isn't sure if she likes it or not, but towards the end of it, she will tolerate it much more.

Picture Time...

Not a whole lot to report... Brianna is starting to roll more often though still not consistantly. She can go both belly to back and back to belly and we have to say its pretty cool! She has also found her feet. They have yet to go totally to her mouth, though Im sure thats not far behind seeing as how EVERYTHING has to go into her mouth right now :) She is also starting to sit more independantly - and can even support her entire weight on her legs for an extended time. If we lean her against our ottoman, she will stand there for about a minute - so neat~

Anyway, I figured it would be fun to put up some pics we took tonight. Enjoy~

Solids, out and about and 4 month appointment!

I have been slacking on the updating thing lately - sorry! So much has been going on... where to start...

We decided a few nights ago to try and start Brianna on some solids. She officially got the OK this past Friday, but we were anxious to see how she did. Here is some pics...

As you can see, we haven't invested in a high chair yet. Thats on our shopping list once she starts eating them more regularly. She did great though! I was surprised she didn't just play with it and spit it out - she actually ate it! We just gave her the rice cereal. But tonight, Im trying some oatmeal and then next week, Todd and I will be making her own food.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous around here lately (minus today). Last weekend we went to the arboretum and to Biltmore estate and walked around a bit. We got Brianna a new stroller and front carrier so she can look out... much happier than the inward facing Beco!

Finally, she had her 4 month appointment yesterday. Of course, this meant more shots, but she is a trooper. With everything she has gone through, I don't think it really phased her much. Todd took her and said she only cried for a second during the shots and then was back to her old happy self. Dr. Martin saw her and gave us the official diagnosis for her eyes - unfortunately I don't have the sheet with me so I can't tell you all. But it is completely benign and is just the way she is... Our little girl weight 13 lbs and 5 oz (50th percentile), had a head circ. of 16 (50th percentile) and was 25 1/4 inches long (90th percentile - yea thats right 90th!) So she is definately taking after her daddy!

Oh yea - she also rolled back to belly earlier this week! Of couse Todd and I both missed it as it took place at about 2 am. She must have been up working on it because all of a sudden we heard her crying over the monitor. Anyone who knows how Brianna sleeps knows this isn't normal as our little girl will go to bed around 8 and not get up - or at least let us know she is awake - until around 8am. So Todd went in to see what was going on and sure enough, she was on her belly and was not happy about it! Silly girl~ Now all she has to do is repeat it!

Picture time and laughs...

Its amazing to me that after so many tests and things Brianna has been through that she is so relaxed and happy so much of the time. This past week we went and had her 3 month pics taken and she was all smiles (until the end). She had the cutest little grin on her face most of the time which made it pretty easy to take pics. We are waiting on getting the CD from the photographer so I will post some when we get the official copyright version.

Brianna is to the point where she has to put EVERYTHING in her mouth. I know this is just the start and she will be doing this for quite a while. It is so neat to see her actually pick things up or reach for them and bring them to her mouth. Her all time favorite is her giraffe. Here is a pic...

She is also getting really good at trying to sit. We got her a bumbo not too long ago and she loves sitting in it. She can sit up nearly unassisted already which is really neat. (we put the boppy behind her in case she falls)

About a week ago, she started laughing. I went to pick her up from daycare one day and she just started laughing when she saw me. It is so cute. Every night Todd and I try to see if we can make her laugh. Tonight I was able to catch just a bit of it on camera. Im trying to post it, we will see if it works!

Happy HEALTHY 3 month old!

Today was a good day. We were up early and had Brianna's MRI. It wasn't easy watching her have to be sedated, but she didn't have to go under general anesthesia afterall so it was much easier than we thought. They did head, neck and chest MRI. The whole test took about 1 1/2 hours. Afterwards, she was a bit groggy for a while but is now back to her normal self. At about 4 today, we found out the great news... no tumors or cancer to be found! We can now concentrate on our beautiful baby and not have to worry there might be something wrong. Todd and I are so relieved and happy.

Today was also her three month old milesone. Its hard to believe she was born just three months ago! Now she's sleeping through the night, smiling, laughing, holding things, and starting to try to roll over. Im posting some pics that we took today (granted she is still a bit groggy from her MRI this morning)...

This past weekend, we got a chance to go down to the Pisgah National Forest, just 30 minutes from our house. The weather was great and everything was so beautiful this time of year even without leaves on the trees. Im posting some pics from our weekend...

Ultrasound results

We were up early this morning for Brianna's ultrasound. The tech was very thorough and looked at all her major organs (I thought she would only be looking at her kidneys/adrenal glands). The scan didn't take too long - only about 20 minutes and Brianna did great until the end when she got a bit hungry. She is definately an old pro when it comes to these tests now!

I was worried we wouldn't find out the results until next week and while at work today the office called. Everything in her abdominal cavity looks good! No abnormal masses/tumors - SIGH. We couldn't be more relieved.

Next big step is the MRI on Thursday to look for any brain masses. She has to be sedated for that, and it could be the scariest to find out the results for, so wish her the best of health and luck~