Fun with carrots!!

This is what happens when Brynn grabs the container when Mommy doesn't have a good grip... it was bath night anyway!! ;o)









After her bath...

Why we live in the desert

She doesn't like grass...

Trouble...

Date night!

TJ and Jenn gave us tickets to last night's Coyotes Hockey game, against the St. Louis Blues!! Neither of us had been to a hockey game for a long time and we'd been wanting to go for a while, so we were pretty excited about it!! The Coyotes ended up winning, it was a pretty good night!! Thanks TJ and Jenn!!

I haven't been over to Glendale since before the University of Phoenix Stadium was finished so we had to take a picture with the sign in the background!! (We parked at the University of Phoenix Stadium and walked over to the Jobing.com Arena, where the game was.)




P.S. Grammie watched Brynn while we went on our date!!

7 months old!!

Brynn Maye West, you are officially 7 months old!! Over the last month (and really, just over the last week and a half or so) you have grown up so much. Your feet and legs are now too big for a lot of your pj's so today I am going to pull out some of your 9 month clothes and see what you might fit into now.

This week, you have been at home with GGMa, myself and Grammie. I think because you have received so much one-on-one attention, you are really starting to come out of your shell. We love that you are so amazed by other kids and that you want to interact with them but I think this one-on-one time has been great for you!!

Last night we went to TJ, Jenn, Matt and Luke's house. You had a great day but you took some short naps so by the time we got to their house, you were a little grumpy. I laid you down on the floor and their dog, Pepper, came over to give you kisses. I think she must have scared you because you SCREAMED at her. A little while later, Luke whimpered and then you pulled out your pouty face and cried too. What was up with that?

We have taught you the word "kiss", so you know when you're going to get lots of them!! When Daddy is going to give you kisses, you scrunch up your face and smile really big because you know it's going to tickle when he kisses you!! Last night when Uncle TJ went to give you kisses, you did the same thing! I think it's because he and Daddy look alike!!

You are always laughing and telling us stories now. You have also learned to whine and you know that Grammie is a sucker, so anytime she's around you get whatever you want!! She says that's what Grammies are for.

You now like any kind of baby food, especially if you feed yourself. What a mess!! (Pictures in another post!) This week, we let you try a "food net". We put a banana inside of it and wanted to see if you would like it. YOU LOVED IT! You were a big slobbery, sticky mess when you were all done but you ate it up!!



You are a rolling machine, you roll and turn your body everywhere!! You love it when your puppies come to see you when you are laying on the floor. We can't leave you alone on the couch anymore because you'll roll off, I'm sure of it. You tried yesterday but I caught you and took a picture in the process.




When we go to the store, you are a big girl and sit in the seat of the cart now. Yesterday, we had to give you a bottle while we were shopping and we laid you down in the top part where you would normally sit and you fit in there perfectly. You even dozed off for a minute or so after you were done with your bottle. You love to go shopping because there are so many things for you to see.

Baby girl, you are getting so big, so fast. We love you!

Jump, jump, jump!!

Grammie's here!! A video she took on Wednesday...

Sleeping

She has the entire crib to herself and this is how I find her pretty much every morning. She likes to rub her hands on the bumper and to listen to the noise that it makes.

Always chewing on something...

She was so excited to see Mel but she wouldn't let her get too close to the calculator!!

GGMa and Brynn time

GGMa has been amazing, she watched Brynn all day yesterday and today!! I think Brynn had a lot of fun!! Brynn seemed pretty happy to see her this morning!! GGMa took her on walks in her stroller and apparently she even ate (and wore!!) all of her prunes and bananas!!

Thank you so much GGMa, hope you enjoyed it has much as Brynn did!! ;o)

Weight loss

We're almost a month into the contest and I have lost a total of 3.5lbs so far. I need to pick it up if I'm supposed to be at 20lbs by 4/21!

Patch

For those of you wondering what the patch that Brynn has to wear actually looks like, here's a picture that I took today. It just looks like a big bandaid and you can find them at Walgreens. What a cutie!!

Ranch dressing

She seems to like it...

Happy Valentines Day!!

Some cute pictures I had to share...

Surgery is scheduled

The doctor had originally told me that we'd do surgery when she's around a year old but he's bumped it up. He said that she will be safe with the anesthesia that they are going to give her and he's completely comfortable with doing the surgery when she's 8 months old. He said that the surgery that she will need is very simple compared to a lot of the surgeries he has performed to correct crossed eyes, or "strabismus", which is the technical term for what she has.

He said there's a pretty good chance that she'll have to have another surgery at some point in her life but he said "the younger, the better".

The surgery is scheduled for April 1st (April Fools Day!). I tried to schedule it for a later date because to me, that just didn't seem like a good day to do the surgery. The next date available wasn't until May and I didn't want to put it off that long, since he had recommended doing it in April. So, I'm hoping it will be a good day for the West family. We don't know exactly what time the surgery will be yet, it depends on how many other kids are having surgery and how old they are. They schedule the surgeries from youngest to oldest and the nurse at the doctor's office said that we're most likely going to be the first or second appointment of the day. That means that we're going to have to be there anywhere from 4-6am. On a Tuesday. That's the only day of the week that he does surgeries. Why the heck would you do them on a Tuesday? Why not a Friday and then we'd be able to be home with her all weekend. That would make sense though, right?

In the meantime, he wants us to put a patch over her left eye for an hour a day, to attempt to strengthen her right eye. From what I understand, they're like big stickers that will cover her eye. We ARE NOT looking forward to taking those off everyday!!

I am going to get some patches tomorrow on my lunch and we're going to start them tomorrow night. She's had an exhausting day, it's 6:15 and she's already asleep.

Her next follow up/pre-surgical appointment is on March 17th (St. Patrick's Day!).

* UPDATE * A few people have asked questions so I thought I'd post them on here as well...

Q: Will the surgery just be on her right eye, or both?
A: It will be on both eyes, because they both cross but the right is just a lot more obvious than the left.

Q: Why did they move up the surgery, I thought she was going to have it when she was a year old?
A: He said "the sooner, the better". There's a chance that she might be seeing double right now and he would like her to be able to see normally ASAP. I still think that the reason that she always holds her hand in front of her and looks at it is because she's trying to focus. When I was 10, I had an accident that caused me to see double for a few minutes and I remember holding my arm in front of me so that I could try to focus on it. I'm convinced that's why she does it.

Q: Are you scared?!
A: Um, HELL YES. We know it's the best thing for her though. Honestly, I don't think it's really sunk in yet. He's told us for the last two months that she was going to need surgery but that was supposed to be six months from now. I keep thinking "It's an outpatient procedure, it's not a big deal". She's our little girl, our Baby Brynn, nothing is supposed to happen to her. It makes me sad that she is only 6 months old and we're planning a surgery. It's scary but she's a tough little girl and we know that she'll be ok. She has to be, that's all there is to it!! We love you baby girl!!

Breakfast with GGMa and GGPa

This morning we went to breakfast with GGMa and GGPa!! It was really nice to get together with them and Brynn was such a big girl at the restaurant, she sat in a highchair and ate some really yummy cinnamon roll and frosting off of a spoon!! Here are a few pictures from our fun outing!!

Brynn's First Car Show!

The weather is getting nice, it was in the mid-70's today. Couldn't you have guessed that a car show was coming up? I really like going to them a lot, it's nice to get out and do something different. However, Brynn and I can't ride in the bug because it doesn't have seatbelts in the back and I don't think I want her riding in it for a while anyway, she's too little, so we met Chad there.

We're going to be taking lots of pictures of Brynn and her Daddy in the Bug as the years go by, so here's one that we took today as her 1/2 year milestone (the color looked funny because it was so BRIGHT and SUNNY outside, so I changed it to black and white):

Happy Birthday Mom!!

(a.k.a. Grammie!)

Hope you have a great birthday - see you in less than TWO WEEKS!

Peek-A-Boo

Her two favorite activites all wrapped up in one... playing Peek-A-Boo and chewing on paper!!

Took these at Luke's party on Sunday.

First sippy cup!

She loves the cup but isn't a fan of diluted apple juice...

Happy 1st B-day Luke!!

Brynn's boyfriend, Luke, turned one year old on Saturday!! I can't believe he's already a year old. Luke is such a cool little (I mean BIG!) boy, he's almost always happy and he can always make you smile. TJ and Jenn had some family over on Sunday to celebrate and here are a few of the pictures from the party!!

Attitude

Um, she doesn't get this from me. Mom and Bri, no comments... ;o)

Photo from Jenn taken last weekend when we were at Monster Trucks...

Monster Trucks!

Last Saturday, we took TJ and Matt to go see Monster Trucks!! This was the third year that we have gone together, we got the tickets for Matt's birthday!

When Chad was growing up, he thought that Monster Trucks were the coolest thing EVER! A few years ago, Matt was really in to cars and trucks and those kinds of things so he thought it would be really cool to take Matt to see them in person. We've all been been hooked ever since.

The first year that we went, Matt's favorite trucks were Batman and Superman. Last year, he liked Batman and Gravedigger (a.k.a. "Graver") and this year, Gravedigger was by far his (and Chad's!) favorite. The people that were sitting next to him really liked Gravedigger a lot too... they went all out and the kids sprayed neon green stuff in their hair, the mom had green bangs and the dad had a really cool green goatee! (Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of them!) However, I did get a picture of a guy with a mullet. It reminded TJ and I of Ohio. ;o)



This year, TJ and my favorite was Batman. So, when TJ and I were chanting "Batman!... Batman!... Batman!" Matt and Chad were chanting "Gravedigger!... Gravedigger!... Gravedigger!" I think we all agreed that this year was the most fun we've had so far!! It's neat to get him a present like taking him to an event because it's one of those things that he'll always remember. (Like the camping/jetskiing trip we went on over 4th of July weekend in 2005! I think we'll all remember that one... especially the jetskiing part, right TJ??)

This year was really cool because Chad found a package of tickets that had included pit passes, so the four of us got to go early and see the trucks up close!! They had some cars there that looked like demolition derby cars (Dad, you would have loved it!) and the driver let kids sign it! Matt thought that was really cool. They also had these mini trucks that kids could drive that were kind of like ATV's but they were all decked out for racing. (I forget what they were called?) Chad thought that was super cool and wants get Brynn into them when she's older!! Matt seemed to think that it was pretty cool and he even got his picture taken with one of the drivers!!





OH and I even got a shirt! You know how at sporting events and those kinds of things they launch shirts into the crowd? Well, I snagged one! It's not even a Monster Trucks shirt, it's from UTI because they're one of the sponsors of the event but still... I got one! Yeah! It was a little chilly that night, so Matt was nice enough to let his Daddy borrow his sweatshirt!!



My diet didn't go so well that night... I had a hotdog and TJ bought nachos and Matt had cotton candy! Ugh. Oh well... it was all SOOO YUMMY!!

While we were at Monster Trucks, Jenn watched Brynn for us!! I'm sure Brynn had fun, especially because she was with her boyfriend Luke!! Here are some pictures from last Saturday.