Friday Photo Favorites

Brenna is SO busy!  Her toys only entertain her for a short time now because she would rather be exploring every nook and cranny of the apartment.  It seems like every day I have to create some new barrier or way to keep her out of trouble.  At first I was totally disgusted and horrified at the thought of her playing with the shoes on the shoe rack, but after about a week of fighting it, I figured there were worse things to play with.  I'll let her have that one...

Here are a few photos that display her curiosity quite well.

 

 

 

From the tupperware cabinet to the shoe rack...every day.

Splish Splash

Brenna loves her bath time!

Fathers

They say that a girl is likely to marry a man who is similar to her father.  I would say that this is true in my case, and it is becoming more and more evident as I see Christopher interact with his baby girl.  The way he looks at her with so much love is the way I've seen my daddy look at me.  The way I can see his pain when she is in pain - I've seen that in my daddy's eyes when I've been hurt.  When she does something for the first time and Chris is so proud, my daddy has looked at me with the same pride on his face.  And when I can't handle Brenna's crying for one more second, Chris patiently rocks and calms her.  I've been the crying, fit-throwing girl, who my mom I'm sure couldn't stand, but my dad came in and patiently calmed me down. 

My dad and I have always had a special bond - not just because I'm his only daughter, but because we understand each other and we speak the same love languages; words of affirmation and quality time.  It's so easy for me to feel loved by my daddy because he loves me exactly how I need to be.  I can see this bond forming between Brenna and Chris.  We can tell already that one of Brenna's love languages is touch...guess which love language is Chris' primary?  Yep, touch.

Being a mother changes everything, obviously, and one thing that has changed for me is my perspective.  I appreciate so much more about my childhood now that I have the responsibility to try to create that same opportunity for my child.  But, having an earthly father who, in so many ways, reflects our Heavenly Father is never a bad start.  I'm so beyond happy to know that my baby girl will grow up having such a loving, caring, patient, fun, level-headed daddy just the way I did.  I know that Christopher will be her constant.  He will be able to reach her when I cannot.  She will confide in him when she's mad at me.  She'll hear his cheer above everyone else.  He will be the first man that she falls in love with.  His hugs will be more special than any other hugs...until she marries a man like her daddy.  And when she has a baby of her own, she'll really understand how much her daddy loves her and how stinkin' awesome he is.

I love you, Dad.  I love you, Chris.  You're two really stellar dads.

Friday Photo Favorites

Our little girl is growing up so fast! She's now standing up all over the place and just this morning made her way all the way around the walker! Good Lord, please help us finds house soon so she'll have space to roam!

Friday Photo Favorites

 

 

 

 

 

Emily's birthday inspired this photo shoot :)

Monday Mowers

Monday is the day that the mower men come to the apartment.  For a long time I had to hold Brenna and stand by the sliding door to watch, otherwise she would get scared of the loud noise.  But, last week (I think) we had a bit of a break through - she crawled over to the window where the sun was shining in, and put her head down to watch.  This was the best picture I could get because she kept looking up when she saw me, but she laid like this for almost the entire time the mower men were working.

I'm glad that she has overcome her fear of the mower men because she's stinkin' cute when she watches them.  Now we just have to work on her fear of the vacuum :)

Piggies Grilling Piggies

Brenna and I grilled some teriyaki pork chops last night.  Let the grilling montage begin!

  Proof that I wasn't just making an excuse to have a beer.

Proof that grilling is better with a beer and Pistons Coozy.

 The grillmasters!

Sampling my work :)

Here's to summer grilling!