Happy Valentine's Day!

Today was Valentine's Day and we woke up to see that it was snowing...again! I am so ready for spring and summer.

Nic came home from work about 8:30am, and brought breakfast home along with a card and another box of Turtles. We then proceeded to give Bryce his Valentine's Day card and gifts. I think he made out like a bandit.

Here he is 'sitting' in front of his gift bag.

With his Teddy Bear.

Here's everything he got. By the giant smile on his face, I assume he liked his new toys.

Here's an extra that I thought was sweet because it looks like he is kissing the bear's paw.

Here is the card we got Bryce, I couldn't decide if it was a little girly with the red and all, but the baby looks like a little boy. The little heart the baby is holding actually comes off.

Here's my goodies from Nic. The card as usual was great.

"A Valentine for my Wife

I'm not the best at keeping house or fixing things just right..."

"I know that sometimes when I cook you lose your appetite."



"I'm not the best-dressed guy in town."

"I sometimes lose things too..."

"But, honey, I did something right the day I married you!"

Aww!!!! I know it's super sweet! I'm very lucky that I have such a wonderful husband.






We're not brave (or crazy) enough to go out to dinner on Valentine's Day so I opted to make one of Nic's favorite dishes: Chicken Parmesan. Our very first Valentine's Day in 2000, I tried to make this for the first time and burnt it. Thankfully over the years I have mastered it. However, I did forget the Ceasar salad, and I was even going to put mini shrimp on it. Oh well, I guess when you have a baby that wakes up just when you are about to eat and insists on being held, I get the right to forget something every now and then.

For dessert, I made Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes. Several years ago I attempted these and they were disastrous. I found a recipe on the Pioneer Woman's website, that looked pretty simple and had rave reviews. I know I should have done a practice run before but fortunately only one out of four of the cakes collapsed and I'll blame that on having Bryce in my left arm, and the others were perfect and yummy. I even made real whipped cream to go with them (even if it wasn't as fluffy as it should have been). Wow, I don't think I will ever be able to look at Cool Whip the same again!

I had intended to take a picture of the warm gooey center, but we both scarfed it down so fast that I forgot.

Yea, yea...I know it's been a while.

My gosh, I can't believe it's been 2 weeks. Last time I posted we were having freezing rain and had the threat of a repeat of the December 2007 ice storms. We fortunately never lost power, but other parts of Oklahoma were not so lucky.

Bryce finished up his breathing treatments, though most of them he screamed and cried through but he's much better.

Bryce is 12 weeks today, unfortunately I didn't get his weight before I put him to bed tonight, but I'll definitely get it on his 3 month mark. As you know I was using the Wii Fit game and balance board to get his weight. I decided to purchase the Wii Fit Plus. The Wii Fit Plus game keeps baby stats (and pet stats) so Bryce now has his own little Mii and it's keeping track of his weight. Maybe I'll get a picture of it one day and post it.

And the beat goes on...

Here's some recent pictures.

I love how he watches the mobile. Unfortunately the swing is not one of his favorite things at the moment.

Bryce smiling at his Daddy, of course Fara is right there in the mix.

Here Bryce is playing in his Baby Einstein Gym, he likes it pretty well.

I thought this was super cute.

Another great smile.

A happier bath photo, he seems to like his baths much better these days. I didn' realize how brown his eyes look in this photo...they are still very blue, but you never know this could be a sign of things to come.

Until next time...

Ice storm and a sick baby!

Yep, we unfortunately had to take Bryce to his first sick baby doctor's appointment yesterday. Considering all the people (especially kids) he was around during the Christmas holidays I'm very thankful (and surprised) we made it until he was 10 weeks old before this dreaded visit.

Yesterday Nic stayed home with Bryce and noticed he was weezing pretty bad. So he called the Doctor and they wanted him to bring Bryce in. After a swab being stuck up Bryce's nose and a chest x-ray. The the swab was negative for RSV and the chest x-ray looked good, it did indicate he had some gas...but that's not news to us! He's had no fever, no runny nose, no coughing. Either way it's breathing treatments and a steroid prescription for him. Last night he completely lost his 'voice', wasn't able to make a sound, even when he was crying. It was pretty difficult for me.

Here we are doing his breathing treatment. He does pretty good during them. I thought it was cute how he put his hand on the mask and 'helped' hold it there.

Here's a lovely picture (especially of me) of Bryce and I napping last night. Nic, thank you soooo much for taking this picture! You were right, I do look like a chipmunk!

Today, as we expected we woke up to ice coating everything...thankfully so far it doens't appear to be a repeat of the December 2007 ice storm and we still have electricity. We're expecting snow on top of the ice later today. Also this morning Bryce has his 'voice' back and sounds much better.

Odds and ends...

Last Saturday we celebrated Audrey's 11th birthday, which actually fell on Tuesday. Here is Bryce, Kell, Melissa and Audrey.

Here's a sweet picture of Fara getting some love from Nic. Fara probably thinks her life has been turned upside down by this little boy, eventhough she still gets lots of loving and still gets to sleep in bed with us, albiet she may choose to sleep next to Nic more these days. All I can say is thank goodness for a king sized bed!

Here Bryce is being a big boy sitting by himself on the couch.




Here is Bryce enjoying his Christmas present from his Papa Randy and Nana Charlotte. He really likes it, and I'm sure he'll enjoy it even more when his feet can touch the ground.

Free time is hard to come by these days...

I've been slacking on posting...my evenings are so short and Bryce can be very demanding of us in those few short hours. So it's Saturday and he's napping, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to post.

My third week back to work has come and gone, so we're getting our routine established. Bryce has been staying with my friend Ashley and her two girls on Mondays. When I get there to pick him up, Ashley's oldest girl tells me to leave him there! It's so cute. This past Monday I decided to dress him in an outfit that many people have purchased us, "I WANNA BE A FIREMAN". He looks super cute in it!

This past Tuesday Bryce was 2 months old. Here's some pictures we took on that day.

This first picture might be his flirty look.


His shy look...


...and the usual!


Just another cute one.



I will note that on the 2 month mark he weighed 11 lbs 4.8 oz. The previous Thursday (8 weeks), just 5 days prior he weighed 10 lbs 9.6 oz. He's growing so fast, he's almost too long for the 0-3 month sleep & play outfits.



Also this past Monday was Nic and my 7 year wedding anniversary. Over the weekend we celebrated by having dinner at one of my favorite places, Shoguns, on Saturday night. Melissa was the volunteer for baby sitting that night.

On the morning of our actual anniversary, I knew when I was leaving the house that we were going to have a beautiful sunrise, so a mile or two up the road I was able to catch it in all of its glory. I don't know which is more beautiful a gorgeous sunrise or sunset.



Shortly after I get to work Monday my sweet husband showed up to my office with this card and a box of Turtles! Yummy! Needless to say the Turtles will last longer on my thighs than they did in the box!

The card he got couldn't have been more perfect! It definitely reflects the humor and sarcasm we share on a daily basis.

One week down...forever to go!

My first week back to work has come and gone. Bryce has survived without me all day, and he survived Granny's house with no incidents. Tomorrow we start it all over.

Nothing too exciting to post, I just thought I would share a few cute pictures and a video of Bryce rolling from his tummy to his back. I had suspected that he could do this, because he tried when he'd lay in his bassinet, but the area was so small that he would just roll into the side of the bassinet. Sorry in advance about the TV noise in the background and my excitement at the end of the video. : )

Hello 2010...

So it's a new year and with the new year comes New Year's resolutions...actually I don't do the whole New Year's resolution stuff. But with the new year came my return to work and Bryce's 6 week check-up.

New Year's Eve for us was very low key. During the day we went over to Nic's brother's house and watched the OU-Stanford bowl game with friends. YAY OU won! That evening I cooked dinner...I think...I can't really remember...either way I know we didn't eat out. We had some friends that live in our neighborhood come over and visit, and we played Wii bowling. I know VERY exciting. I only got to play one game because my motherly duties were called by my baby boy. We were getting up early the next morning to head out west to visit my dad, so we didn't stay up for the countdown to midnight. Unfortunately Bryce decided he was going to wake up every 10-15 minutes so I was awake to hear the nearby fireworks and gunshots when it did strike midnight.

Every year I try to get a picture of Nic and I on New Years Eve, of course this year we added Bryce to it. I was able to find some of them, so here they are from oldest to the present starting in 1999.

1999 to 2000

As we moved into a new millinea, we spent our first New Years together Nic's brother's (Brian) house with him, Wendi, Jesse and his ex-wife Amy.

2000 to 2001

One of my all-time favorite pictures of us. I didn't realize until later that we were color cordinated. This year we had a big party at our place with many in attendance.

2001 going into 2002

This year us and Jesse and Amy (the current wife) booked hotel rooms at the Embassy Suites hotel in Tulsa. It's a pretty memorable New Year's for many reasons, the best being that Amy and I took pictures with a couple Tulsa police officers and security guards, we asked them to wear New Year's hats with us and they did!

2002 going into 2003

This is the New Years Eve before we were married. It was spent at Brian and Wendi's house in Broken Arrow with Brian, Wendi, Jesse, Amy, RD, Jodi, Chris S and Dana . We sang Karaoke and played board games. At this time we werein the process of buying our first home and were 'homeless', so we were staying at Nic's grandparents' house while they were being winter Texans.

2004 to 2005

This year we had a party at our house with many in attendance as usual.

2006 to 2007

This year I had pictures from New Year's Eve but didn't have one of Nic and I together, so here's a picture of Nic with Jesse, and a picture of me with Amy. We spent this New Year's at Jesse and Amy's, along with Ally (who was just 5 months at the time) and Max. The thing I remember from this New Year's Eve was that Nic had to work New Years Day. He was able to have someone work a couple hours for him, but it was still an early night.

2007 to 2008
This year was spent at Joey and Trisha's house in Haskell, along with Brian S and Mindy. We played a board game and twister!


2008 to 2009
Was spent at Kristi and Bryan's house. I don't have any pictures from this year but I think someone does, so I'm saving this spot in case I can track them down!

2009 to 2010
The present. After being together for 10 years and being married for almost 7 we added a little person in the mix. Hopefully there will be many more New Year's spent together. Sorry I look a little ragged in this years picture. During my maternity leave I have enjoyed not putting makeup on.

New Year's day we made the 3 hour drive to Cordell to see Dad, Charlotte, Ashley and Brian. I wasn't looking forward to the drive with Bryce, but he did fairly well. He got fussy about 30 minutes before we arrived. He did the same thing on the return trip. It's funny how he can be like clockwork sometimes.

Here's a pic of Kell on the way, he's wanting the camera. As he says often "Kell, Kell do it!"

Here's a picture Kell took of Bryce and me. He's getting better at his photography skills.

At Dad's house, we had a delicious lunch with Grandma and Grandpa joining us. Kell played his heart out: boxing with Brian, playing the Wii, going outside and watching them shoot a few clay pigeons. Also I think he opened EVERY present, including the ones that were not his.

Here's Kell boxing with Brian using his new boxing gloves that Nic got him.

Here's Nic and Bryce. I think Bryce was just happy to be out of the car seat.

Here's Bryce and his Papa Randy. Dad was at the hospital when Bryce was born, but it was so late I don't think Dad got to hold him before he headed back home.


Bryce and his Great-Grandma Wenninger.

Bryce and his Nana Charlotte.

Sunday following New Years, we celebrated Christmas with Nic's mom's side of the family. Now Bryce has met almost all of his relatives.

Here's Papa Olin with all of his Grandkids.

Here's Bryce with his Great-Grandma Frisbie. I hope one day he will appreciate that he got to meet almost all of his Great-Grandparents.
So yesterday was my first day back at work. However before I went to work we took Bryce to see Dr Knippers for his 6 week appt where he got his immunizations for Rotavirus, Hep B, Tetnus, . He got a shot in each thigh and cried horribly, he even had real tears. I cried real tears too. He weighed 9 lbs 11 oz (24 percentile), and was 22 to 22 1/2 inches long (57 percentile). Everything looked good. He goes back next at 4 months. From there Bryce and Nic went on their way to spend the day together and I went to work, I'll admit I briefly cried when I kissed him goodbye. They both survived the day despite Bryce being REALLY cranky all day.