in the name of the father

we had miss brette baptized over the weekend.

we took the baptism class back in august

and have been waiting around to schedule it.

i'm glad we took the time to do it.

it was a special day for us and our family.

 

ronnie wasn't raised in the church

and i was.

something we discussed before

we got married was if he was okay raising our kids catholic.

i wanted to and he doesn't have strong feelings either way.

so it's always just been known that b would grow up catholic.

we've made it a point over the years to try to go to mass.

i wouldn't say we're regulars,

but i do feel better when we go.

this weekend we went on saturday for her baptism

and then again on sunday.

 

um, hello god, did you see that?

twice.

in one week.

we're going to heaven for sure. 

 

here's brette with us, the deacon and her godparents/grandparents.

 

and we had it at our beautiful church - holy spirit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we took lots of family pictures with brette in her christening gown,

which was my mom's gown when she was baptized. 

how cool is that?

b wore her gma's 60 year old garment.

(hence the bib. i totally didn't want to be the one that let her kid puke all over it.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and some adorable close-ups of brette.

 

 

 

then it was time for the actual baptism.

 

 

my grandma was so happy.  i am in love with these two pictures.

 

 

 

her special blanket from aunt mickie.

 

and our keepsakes from the church.

 

 

 

being this blessed really wore out our girl.

 

 

but she finally woke up for her party back at our house.

 

 

 

i made cupcakes and soup for everyone.

 

 

big day.

big success.

big blessings.

 

lots to be thankful for.



ps- amazing picture, right?  my cousin took them.
thanks, kelly!

my life, our life

ronnie and i celebrated our anniversary yesterday.

five years.

doesn't seem possible.

 

wasn't just a couple years ago

that ronnie and i made the trip to chicago where he proposed?

i was freaking out, i mean, we had barely begun to date.

who is this guy?

 

graduating from college and moving back home

to be with ronnie wasn't SIX years ago... was it?

 

 

 

 

wasn't it just the other day that we decided to move, buy a house,

fix it up and make it our home?

 

 

aren't my beautiful puppies still puppies?

or are they really old enough to enter kindergarten?

 

 

it doesn't feel like i walked down the aisle

half a decade ago in front of our family and friends

and promised to make my life, our life.

 

 

and now, after five years,

we decided to make our life into her life.

 

 

 

what a crazy, wonderful, blessed five years.

happy anniversary, ronnie ray.

i love you.

 

 

 

dress me up and take me out

brette's very first halloween.

 

it was short and super sweet,

just the way we like it.

it stopped raining

and the sun actually popped out.

unfortunately, it was still pretty chilly.

this meant trick-or-treating only lasted about one block

before the girls were ready to call it a night.

madeline's exact words: i'm done with this.

 

 

but who cares when they're this cute.

am i right?

we had doc mcstuffins and her lamby pal,

along with mommy witch.

then we had two 1950's babes.

brette was more "sandra d" and i was more "rizzo".

(we also had a couple of dads and a grammy)

i think this family shot would have been
a thousand times more adorable if ronaldo
had done his part with jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket.
dammit, ronnie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pass me a candybar.

the scare affair

the calendar on my phone went off this morning

making sure i knew that its halloween. all day.

good to know.

 

but my little boo has been dressing the part all week.

 

 

not only does she have her pumpkin jammies

but three others as well.

ghosts, more pumpkins and candy corn.

(thanks grammy!)

 

 

 

 

and tonight?

us girls are dressing up like 50's gals.

poodle skirts and all.

dear ol' daddy was supposed to have a leather jacket

and be a greaser, but as of last night he still wasn't ready, so

i'm pretty sure he is opting out of the costume portion of the program.

loser.

 

 

ps- not only is it all hallow's eve,

but its also 5 year anniversary eve.

time to celebrate.

 

happy halloween! 

parents as teachers

b and i had another meeting with

parents as teachers.

i've been meaning to write about this since last time,

so now i have two sessions to cover.

 

parents as teachers is a free, volunteered-based program

through the school district that comes into your home to play

and check on your child's development.

(you can actually start the program when your pregnant,

but i waited until after brette was born.)

then they give you ideas and tools on how to help

your kiddo progress to the next level...

therefore making the parent the teacher.

get it?  :)

they also provide classes that a parent might like.

i took infant massages a couple months ago

and i'm signed up for baby sign language soon.

 

i love my volunteer.

her name is hillary and she was a kindergarten teacher,

turned stay at home mom. 

she's a couple years older than me and has two girls of her own.

and she makes me feel like i am the best mom with

the smartest little girl in the world.

 

we check brette's neck control,

her head control,

how well she is able to sit up,

reach and grasp for toys,

and follow objects with her eyes.

b is still too little to do actual activities with,

but hillary has books and toys that i don't have,

so i still think she likes it.

 

hillary comes every other month,

so she gives me activities and games i can

play for a five month old and a six month old.

i like it because it helps me track how much

brette grows and learns every month.

 

and here's a little project for mamma's with babies.

the first time  hillary came she suggested a really simple toy

to make and brette loves hers:

a picture box.

all you do is take a kleenex box and tape black and white pictures to every side.

we use ours for tummy time and the contrast of the pictures helps

with brette's vision.

plus you can roll it around to all the different pictures so

it keep brette interested.

 

free toys.  love that.

our little pumkin

brette had her four month well-baby visit on tuesday with our pediatrician.

she weighs 13 lbs 12 oz (50th percentile)

her height is 24 inches (48th percentile)

and her head circumference is 16.5 cm (75th percentile).

 

since birth she has gained 6 lbs 12 oz and grown 4 inches.

go baby, go.
and the doctor thinks she is doing great.
no troubles so far that we should be concerned about.

 

she also got four more shots.

i hated it, but we spent the rest of the day and the day after snuggling.

she isn't really a cuddle bug so when she rests on me, i love it.

 

isn't she adorable?

 my baby pumpkin.

(thanks, gma donna for our new halloween jammies)

family fall day

we had our annual family fall day.

we didn't make applebutter this year,

so it was a full day of eating lots of amazing food,

sitting around the bonfire,

losing in an apple eating contest

and going on a hay ride at dusk.

 

its one of my favorite days of the year.

and brette's first time.
last year, she was "there"
but no one knew yet and i spent the afternoon
trying not to fall down while playing football.
didn't want to hurt my girl.

isn't autumn your favorite?