Not to compare kids or anything...

Sometimes I compare my kids to each other.  Probably shouldn't do this.  Okay, so usually it's just something like how they look and at what age they are doing what. Don't worry I love them both.

Sometimes  I can't even remember what Brinley looked like when she was Elsie's age.  I feel like Elsie must look just like Brinley did.  The other day we pulled out Brinley's photo book and compared.  They do look a lot alike and in some pictures they are VERY similar, but they definitely are different.  

Here is a comparison of the two at about 3 months of age:

Brinley.  Nice and Chunky

Elsie.  Not quite so chunky

Their smiles are very similar.  Big and wide open.

Brinley

Elsie

 And of course sleeping. Gotta love a sleeping baby.

Elsie

Brinley

Sisterview Blog

I just wanted to let all of my diligent blog readers - I think there may be 3 or 4 of you - that you should check out this blog www.sisterview.com that I now contribute to(a whole 1 post).

My sister in laws started this a few months ago and were kind enough to invite me to participate in it with them. They are all amazing women and always have something interesting to share.  I hope that I can live up to their expectations. 

There is currently a give away on it for some beautiful velvet pumpkins going on until tomorrow night.  Go on over and check it out!

Christa 

Brinley is two!

This little cutie had a birthday a few days ago.  I cannot believe she is two.  But she is.

She is growing up.  Literally.  She is 2 feet 10.5 inches tall.

Here is a little about Brinley at age two:

• She has just begun potty training and is doing marvelously.  Except for when she is not..
• Her favorite toys are stuffed animals.  Especially the giant Minny Mouse she got for her birthday
• She loves playing at the park and digging in the dirt.  She is a playground pro
• Her best friend is Charlie.  Maybe even her only friend.  They love to hold hands when in their strollers
• She is finally starting to talk and loves to tell us that she loves us 
• She knows her colors (although they get a bit mixed up at times), a few shapes, how to count to three (minus the number 1), nearly all her body parts,  and pretty much any animal sound and name
• We just realized she knows how to distinguish between movie, show, and tv. Isn't that great (sarcasm)
• She LOVES her baby sister and is always the first to hear when Elsie is crying
• Her favorite food is beans and current favorite color is blue
• She can recognize cougars, the letter Y, and a BYU logo.  She can also do the "ra-ra" part of the BYU fight song with us.  Her father has taught her well.
• She has the cutest laugh that is quite contagious

Here are some pictures from her 2nd birthday

We had a blast with a hot air balloon themed birthday party.  Brinley still has a good stash of balloons covering the floor in her bedroom

We love you Brin bear!

Halloween 2011

Oh Halloween how I love you. There is something about the pumpkins, the leaves, the smells, and the cool air that just gets me excited. It reminds me of all the good memories I have had in the fall in years past.  

This year did not  disappoint.  We had dinner with friends, went trick-or-treating with the kiddos, and watched a -not so scary-movie.  I have decided that the reason I have children is so I can go trick-or-treating.  Okay so that may not be the only reason, but it does give me a good excuse to get out on Halloween night.  Brinley absolutely loved trick-or-treating.  I have been working on getting her to say trick or treat for a while now and couldn't get her to say it.  However, as soon as we started and she heard one or two kids say it and magically get candy, she was all about saying it. What a fun holiday for kids.  

This year Brinley was a cow (thanks grandma!), Elsie was an owl, I was a cat, and Brent was a....you can fill in the blanks on that one.

Brinley with her first piece of candy.  Wrapper still on.

 A few minutes later she managed to get most of the wrapper off.  By the way never try to take a half eaten sticky sucker from a toddler.  It doesn't go over so well.

Brinley with Charlie.  They are best friends.

I hope you all had a wonderful day!  Now on to Thanksgiving...

2 Months and Counting!

Elsie is already 2 months old!  Oh this little girl.  How I love her.  

She is now 10 lb. 4 oz  and 23 inches long. 

Elsie has recently become a champion sleeper with stretches of 7 hours almost every night.  How any one ever survives the lack of sleep a newborn brings is beyond me.  Yet somehow I have done it.  Twice.  

She is full of smiles, and especially loves smiling at Brinley. Here are some of her first smiles:

She is growing up too fast. 

And the name is...

Well - to all three loyal readers out there who took a stab at the pronunciation of the name Daljuqela - here is what you have been dying to know.

The name is correctly pronunced Day-qwon-uh.  I don't really know how it works but I promise you - that is the correct pronunciation.  Shocking.  I know.

Daljuqela

With a new crop of Freshmen comes a new crop of names.  This name is by far the favorite this year: Daljuqela.  I like it because of the mystery that goes with it. It isn't exactly pronounced how it is spelled. Can you pronounce it?  I will give a $5 Amazon gift card to anyone who can pronounce it. Disclaimer:  If you already know this name please do not reveal it so that others can make guesses.

Please make your guesses in the comments below.

Brinley the big sister

Brinley has adjusted to being a big sister like a champ. She loves Elsie so much and is always willing to give her kisses and pat her head and of course touch her eyes.  With some of our attention elsewhere however, Brinley has found some creative ways to keep herself entertained.  She is now an expert at pulling all of the wipes out of any wipe container she can get her hands on, carrying an armful of diapers around the house, wiping diaper ointment all over her face and crib, and climbing to the top of anything she can.  She is just having fun being a toddler with a little more freedom then she is used to.  Here are some ways we have found her lately:

Wearing her dad's shoes, or anyone's shoes she can find.

Wearing her bowl as her hat

She was found swirling her hands and feet in the toilet.  Consequently she got to take a little bath in the sink.  I don't think that was much of a deterrent in keeping her from doing that again.

Climbing into the dryer.  She seriously loves this.  I now check the dryer when I turn it on.

Along with finding Brinley doing interesting things lately, I have found Brent doing a lot of very uninteresting things like this lately:

He works so hard I can hardly blame him.  Plus he is working at keeping the baby happy even while he's sleeping.

 Here's Brinley with her first piggy tails using all of her hair.  She loved them.  And so did I, as long as they lasted.

Brinley is the biggest sweetheart and has already learned to manipulate her parents.  Who could turn away this little face?

Elsie's newborn photos part 2

Elsie is already a month old.  Can you believe it?  Well you probably can but I can't.  She is growing up so fast already.  She even has a BYU football game already under her belt (or diaper?). We may or may not have brought her to the football game at Ole Miss last weekend.  Call us crazy but she loved it and so did we. A lot of Brent's family came in town for the game and to meet Elsie for the first time.  It was so good to have family in town. Now that they are gone I will no longer have someone else to take care of my kiddos for me.  Sad day.  They will be missed.

Now that I am way off topic,  here are more of the pictures we took of Elsie as a newborn.  Maybe one day I''ll post a current picture of her. Oh I love this girl. 

Elsie's newborn photos part 1

Elsie is now over 3 weeks old.  I can't believe it.  It is already going by so fast.  I want her to stay exactly the way she is right now.  But then I look at Brinley, and I feel the same about her.  I think I will always want them to stay how they are in each moment.  Ha.  Jokes on me.  They are both changing at a million miles an hour.  And I will always want them just how they are.

Anyway, when Brinley was born we had an awesome photographer take newborn pictures of her.  Unfortunately, Elsie was born in Mississippi. Photographers aren't exactly in abundance here like they are in Utah where everyone and their mom is a "photographer".  So since we couldn't find a good photographer to take newborn pictures, we decided to just take our own.  Here are some of the pictures we took!  I just love these girlies.

Of course here's our crazy Brin.  She definitely keeps us entertained

I have a few more pictures to post but I still have to sort through all the bad ones.  You know, for every good picture we take we probably take 10 bad ones.  Coming soon....

Elsie Marie Sheffield

We finally decided that Elsie's full name is:

Elsie Marie Sheffield

And.... We made it home from the hospital today!   As much as I LOVED the hospital, it is good to be home.  I love seeing how Brinley interacts with Elsie in her own environment.  Both girls have been champs.  Everything is just so much more peaceful at home. 

One thing that has been hard for me is not having any family here. I want them to meet her. I can't wait until some of our family members can make it here to Mississippi.  We have had some great friends help us with the transition and with watching Brinley though.  I am so thankful for them. Sorry for any picture overload, I just want everyone to get to see every side of her like we do since they can't see her in person!

Here are some pictures we snapped the day before Elsie was born.  Classic prego pictures.  I guess it's about time I gave up and let people see some pictures of me pregnant.

And of course, here's Elsie!

We had to compare and see how big Brin has gotten by putting her in Elsie's bassinett

I love baby feet

The three girls chillin in the hospital

Elsie has already changed so much in 2 days.  It's crazy how fast it all goes by.  All I want to do is soak it all in and relishes these moments with my little family.