Did I miscalculate??? Is she really 9 months old???

It just doesn't seem possible that Baby Sister can be 9 months old. It can't be!!! I know I say this every month but she is SUCH A DELIGHT! When she beams from ear to ear she makes everyone in the room melt into mushy-baby-lovingness!!! Especially her adoring family! See what I mean? Are you turning to mush yet?

Within days she will be crawling around the house and lookout world!

She is a mover! She is a shaker! She is a dancer, a kicker, a roller, a giggler! She loves to bathe, loves to splash, laughs with her brother, jabbers and sings! She delights in eating, playing, standing, playing, jumping, sitting, playing, laughing, and did I mention playing??

Here's our cutie valentine!

Her sleep habits are not the best at present. While she CAN sleep through the night, she hasn't done it for a couple of months. :( Mama Bear keeps assuring everyone that she is teething, but no teeth have appeared yet. She takes two regular naps a day and is on a pretty regular bedtime schedule which works great for a family who loves routine. She still eats milk from Mama Bear a few times a day and enjoys meals at the table at least 3 times a day. No one can make her laugh as hard as her big brother can. They adore each other! We are thankful everyday for our little Braun blessings!!!

Visiting Daddy Bear

What a relief it was to finally arrive in Daddy Bear's neck of the woods...Er, desert. We spent all week making lists, packing, preparing, and quarantining ourselves to keep from getting sick AGAIN which could potentially keep us from going to see Daddy Bear! Friday finally arrived and we were ecstatic!! We barely made it to the airport in time due to the extra rain and extra traffic but we got on, got seats, and buckled up for a straight flight to our Daddy Love!! With the exception of a little motion sickness for LB (nothing a complimentary "barf bag" couldn't take care of) we made it through the flight with little trouble. It was hours past bedtime by the time we spotted DB at baggage claim but both children were wide awake and LB was bubbling with excitement! It had only been a month and a half since DB had left but what a long 6 weeks it had been!

We played at the park.

Played in the room.

Visited a "circus" and rode the carousel.

We saw dolphins.

And white tigers.

Rode the monorail.

Danced.

And played some more.

(this is LB's photography--not bad for a 3 year old!)

I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful and complete it felt to be together again as a family! We left after a much too quick weekend with tearful faces and sad hearts. We aren't quite a third of the way done with this icky chapter of our lives but we are doing all we can to communicate often, love much, and pray more!

“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 29:11-13

God brought us here and He will show us the way out!

Winter fun...and not so fun!

We have had some amazing weather since Daddy Bear left for his LONG months of school. First we had a GORGEOUS, sunny, you must be crazy to stay indoors day! Little Bear had a great time at the park, especially since many of his friends in the neighborhood were out too!

We enjoyed dinner and fellowship with some of our neighbors and Baby Sister got to play with her favorite neighbor babies.

Then we had a couple of snow days in a row where we got an inch or less but enough to enjoy.

Even enough to make a "snow dad" with!

What a pick-me-up for us! The rainy winter days can get a little dreary when you are feeling cheerful but especially when Daddy Bear had just left! We welcomed the change of pace and had a blast! Then it snowed some more! Beautiful right??

Then more snow. We were living in a winter wonderland! It was magnificent!!

All we could think about was snow--even when playing Legos!

And it was still pretty fun!

We would play in the snow and get chilled to the bone!

Then bundle up with our warm blankets in our warm houses!

That is until the ice came and brought along with it the END OF OUR FUN.

We were without electricity, snowed AND iced in, cold, spending all our free time holed up with neighbors, also without electricity, which was great and all but without Daddy Bear to help us we weren't finding much enjoyment in it all. After 2 1/2 days without electricity it finally came back on for good and we rejoiced! It could've been, and was, much worse for many others in our area but one day would've been long enough to stress Mama Bear a little. It's no cakewalk trying to keep a baby warm, a cooped up 3 year old sane, and a dog pottied in an ice storm with no electricity. All as a single parent. But we made it through and what didn't kill us...I suppose made us stronger. ;)

8 Months OLD!

It is absolutely unbelievable that we have an 8 month old!!!

And my oh my is she fun!! This is her excited,playful face. So animated!

As you'll see in the video, if it works, her laughter is infectious, she's reading books, and talking non-stop. The video is low quality and the orientation is weird--clearly done on the phone. They were taken with the idea of sending them to Daddy Bear so he doesn't miss out while he's away, not for sharing with the public, but they are too cute not to share! I, Mama Bear, am HEAD OVER HEELS for my little sweeties!

Oh my goodness, is she cute or what???

First Christmas Comparisons

I thought it would be fun to take a quick look back at Little Bear's first Christmas and compare it to Baby Sister's first Christmas pictures. They were only 2 weeks different in age in these pictures.

Babies' first Christmas (on the same futon :D)

Daddy Bear and Babies

Family photos (notice Daddy Bear has the same Christmas sweater 4 Christmases later? And Shaddie Bear didn't make it to the photo this year--it's hard enough getting the four of us to all look at the camera, let alone the dog too.) :D

Christmas!!

We had such a fun Christmas Eve!

As we waited for California Uncle to arrive at the airport, and for Washington Uncle's family and Grandma Bear to come over, Little Bear and I took down the Advent decorations and prepared our tree for Christmas! We like to celebrate Christmas Eve somewhat as Daddy Bear did growing up. Though in Daddy Bear's family the children did not help decorate the tree. Since this was one of my favorite parts of growing up (putting on the ornaments) and since Little Bear's great grandmother is continuing her tradition of buying a Hallmark ornament for each kid every year we decided we wanted the children of our family to help in the decorating stage. But then we don't light the tree until the children are up in their rooms Christmas Eve evening. When they hear the bell ring, they know that "Christ has come" and they come into the room to see the tree lit in all it's glory for the first time and we sing a couple of Christmas songs and read the story of Jesus' birth. It is really quite magical, and while we have decided to let the "magic" of Santa Claus/St. Nicholas come at Christmas time, we want the excitement of Jesus' BIRTHday to trump all of that! I would say we were fairly successful this year.

All of the family finally arrived and we enjoyed a lovely dinner of crepes (made by our amazing chef, Daddy Bear). We talked, played, and had a fun Christmas pj photo session of the kids. They were somewhat cooperative...

The family went back to their homes that evening and we awoke the next morning ready for our Braun family Christmas at our house before joining up with the others for Christmas dinner.

Little Bear was CRAZY EXCITED about all of the gifts under the tree. Naturally.

He was thrilled with his gifts and ready to play!

Baby Sister also enjoyed her gifts and wanted to get into everything! Even Mama Bear's toothbrush.

Next we ate breakfast and headed to Christmas Mass, then came home and opened stockings. Look at these happy faces!

Our sweet little Christmas babies!!

We enjoyed spending time exchanging gifts with Grandma Bear and hanging out with all the family for Christmas day.

Mama Bear got to blow out MORE candles on ANOTHER cake for her birthday (NOTE: the candles do not represent MB's actual age)!

And we went home feeling very blessed and ready to celebrate Christmas for 11 more days!! Merry Christmas and Happy Epiphany!!!