First Christmas

Brennan's first Christmas was wonderful, busy and tiring! We started the holiday at Gammi & Poppy's house where we had Gammi's famous spaghetti for lunch. After lunch we opened presents. Brennan got some new outfits, a Bible and a toy. We then went to my grandparents house and Grammi, Papa, Uncle Eric & Evan were there (as well as my aunts, uncles & cousins). Brennan got an embroidered blanket that said "Brennan's First Christmas", a stuffed animal, clothes and toys. She had a hard time taking naps all day so I finally put her in the sling and she passed right out. She slept for a couple of hours there!


On Christmas morning Brennan slept until 10:15! We were all awake by 8:30a so we let Ethan & Evan open their presents from Santa. My parents, brother, nephew, sister, my sister's boyfriend and my paternal grandparents were all here. After all the Santa presents were opened we started opening presents from each other. Brennan got some more outfits, toys and books. My dad picked out this this sign for Brennan's room that says, "I didn't ask to be a princess but hey if the crown fits". So cute!

I decided to do a family picture while my whole family was here, we haven't had one in a really long time. They turned out really well!!!















On Saturday we went to Memaw & Papaw's house where Brennan got to see her cousin Kaylee. Memaw had bought them matching onesies so we took their pictures. Kaylee is 6 months older than Brennan and she is on the go! It was a little hard to get a picture of them but when we did it was so cute!!

After we left Memaw & Papaw's house we went to my cousin's house (Brent & Anna). Brennan got more clothes and a purse that is actually a toy. It's really cute!!

We had a very busy holiday but it was great to see family. Everyone was so good to Brennan and we appreciate everything she received. We are blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Random News

A week from today baby girl will be 3 months old, it's so hard to believe. Where has the time gone? She has started smiling at other people. Before it was just either Stephen, Ethan or myself but now if someone comes up and talks to her she will most likely give them a smile.

Last Tuesday Ethan had a fever with cold symptoms and as much as I washed my hands and tried to keep him away from Brennan she still got it. She woke up Friday morning and while I was nursing her I noticed her body and head were really hot. I took her temperature and it was 102.2. I gave her tylenol and then called the doctor and they told me to bring her in. When the doctor checked her ears & throat he said they looked fine. Because of her age he wanted to run some blood tests. So a nurse came in and pricked her toe to take her blood. It was hard for her to get blood so she was having to massage her leg & foot. The entire time Brennan is screaming (I'm holding her) and Ethan was sitting in a chair just watching. When the nurse got enough blood she left and as she was closing the door Ethan looked at me and said, "That was not cool Mom." Well a minute later she comes back in and says that the machine malfunctioned so she would need to get some more blood. So she pricks the other toe and Brennan is screaming the whole time. It was pretty traumatizing for all of us. Her white blood count was normal but her red cell count was low. The doctor explained that it is kind of normal in babies her age but it should be going up by now. Because of the low number he wanted to do a urine test to test for a UTI or kidney infection. By this time I'm starting to freak out. So they had to put in a catheter and this time two nurses did it so I could focus on Ethan. I was afraid that if he saw Brennan go through that he would really freak out. The urine test came back ok so he said that he thought she just had the same thing Ethan had. He wanted us to come back the next day for a re-check though. The next day we go back and she had an ear infection in her right ear. Funny how fast they can become infected so she is once again on antibiotics. By the way, she weighed 14 lbs 12 oz!!! She's now doing much better but hates to take her medicine.

Tonight we were sitting on the steps watching Ethan & Stephen play air hockey. It's a little cold down there so I wrapped us up in my blanket. When Ethan was done playing he came over and said he wanted to get warm with us, so I wrapped us all up. Here are some pics Stephen took of us.



















Ethan & Brennan snuggling





















Mommy and her babies





















Brennan trying to kiss her brother

First Thanksgiving

We had a really good Thanksgiving! My parents, brother & nephew drove in Wednesday night so we spent a little time with them Thursday morning and then my parents & brother went to my grandparents in Jefferson to eat Thanksgiving dinner. Me, Stephen, Brennan, Ethan and Evan (my nephew) all went to Stephen's parents house to celebrate the holiday with them. Memaw & Papaw also came! We had a delicious lunch of ham, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, peas, dressing & cranberry sauce. Brennan slept through lunch and finally woke up around 2p. After she ate she let everyone hold her for a little while but started to get fussy so I put her in the sling and she soon fell asleep. I think she slept for another 3 hours! When she woke up I fed her and then we took some family pictures, they all turned out great.

Brennan is really starting to smile a lot more. Every time she smiles it just melts my heart! She's also starting to follow objects (or people) with her eyes. Also if Ethan comes up behind her and says something you can see her perk up a little and turn her head. It's really cute how she recognizes his voice.

Also this weekend was the first time that my nephew, Evan, got to see Brennan. He took to her immediately and couldn't wait to hold her. When he finally got to hold her he held her for a really long time! He always kept an eye on her too. If she would start crying and I wasn't in the room he would come get me and say "Aunt Stephie Brennan is crying". It was so sweet!

2 month appointment

Brennan had her two month appointment this morning. She weighs 13 lbs 7 oz and is 23 3/4" long. She is growing so fast! She got 5 different immunizations. One was oral, 3 other immunizations were in one shot and then a single shot. She did great when they gave her the shots, one in each leg. She only cried for a second. She was fussy today and I could tell her left leg was sore but after I gave her some Tylenol she was feeling much better, we even got some smiles out of her!

I had to take her to the doctor on Monday because on Thursday night she started with some congestion and coughing. By Sunday night she was really fussy and after we went to bed she slept very little and stayed up crying a lot. I was worried that she had an ear infection. Sure enough her left ear looked a little infected (he said the right ear looked perfect though). So at only two months old she has her first ear infection. I had them really bad as a child so I hope she's not following in my footsteps. I remember how painful they were and I don't want her to have to go through that.

So tomorrow we'll be celebrating her first Thanksgiving. Too bad she can't eat all the yummy food yet!

First Smile

I gave Brennan a bath on Saturday morning and planned on taking a couple of pictures of her in the bathtub. I sat her in her seat while the water filled the tub and was talking to her. She started to smile a little so I quickly grabbed my camera and kept talking to her. I finally got her to smile big and got a picture of it. She has smiled before but it was always in her sleep or if you would rub her cheek. This time it was what I call a true smile! I haven't been able to get her to smile again but I'm sure it will start happening more often soon enough.

Go Gladiators!

The four of us went to see the Gwinnett Gladiators play Monday night. Stephen's company has season tickets and no one was using them so we decided to go. It was a bit risky since that is usually Brennan's fussy time but we thought we would try it out and see what happened. The evening was quite a success! Brennan was an absolute angel and Ethan did great too, we actually got to stay for most of the game. It was nice to get out, do something we enjoy and spend some time together.

One month check-up & 1st Halloween

Friday was Brennan's one month check-up. She weighs 11 lbs. 3 oz and is 22 1/2" long. She definitely has grown!! She had to get one shot and did great. She cried for about 2 seconds and then she was fine. The doctor prescribed Zantac for her since she agreed with me that Brennan has acid reflux. Hopefully the medicine will make her more comfortable.

Brennan's first Halloween was a busy one. The day started out with her doctor's appointment and then we went to Duncan Creek Park with our Mom's Group. That night we went to our friend's house, Scott & Theresa, and went trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. We dressed Brennan up for Halloween and she was Batgirl. She was the cutest Batgirl I've ever seen!! :) More on our Halloween festivities here.