24 weeks (May 14th-20th)

My little chunky monkey. Love that little smile.

 

Addie's first food...sweet potatoes. She's a slurper.

Mike, RB, and Mark on our sail boat ride.

Windy ride, but really cool.

The girls.

Mike and Mark.

Beautiful sunset on the lake.

The light house at the docking area.

At Dave Matthews concert.

Dave! Love it!

The ferris wheel at the Texas fair grounds.

Our favorite past time.

Gosh I am so far behind I don't really know what is new in the Brown household. I do know that Addie still has a cough and Izzy is saying the darndest things. She comes up with things so quick and she is so funny. I wish I could remember all the little things she says. We also started Addie on her solids. We started her on sweet potatoes and she loved them. To eat them she does this funny little slurp off the spoon. We couldn't do cereal because of the MSPI and they say to start with orange veggies first because green is in the legume family (peanuts and such).

Later in the week Mark and I went to Dallas to visit our friends the Launs and go to a Dave Matthews concert. DMB didn't tour last year so it was fun to get back into the swing of going to a concert. While we were there we went for a sail boat ride and just relaxed by the pool. It was great. One thing I really enjoyed.....sleeping in!

It was nice to get home. Even though I enjoyed the time to ourselves, I really missed my girls.

Talk soon,
Ari

23 weeks (May 7th - May 13th)

23 weeks and counting. We still have the cough. I don't see a light at the end. We are working on sitting and you can see we are only half way there. 

Miss Crabby!

Gamma and the girls at Heather's wedding.

Grandma and Grandpa at Heather's wedding.

Father of the Bride.

Miss Emme. My cousin's little girl.

The wedding cake.

My cousin, Hillery.

Here comes the bride.

Combining their family with sand.

  

My mom, uncle Jerry and Grandma and Grandpa.

On Friday we went to watch Nebraska play baseball. We won! Then we headed back to GI because we left for Wichita the next day. My cousin, Heather, got married. It was a very nice wedding.
Sunday was Mother's Day. I spent most of the day on the road back to Omaha, but once we got home it was a great day. We sat on the deck with ribs from Lazlos and enjoyed the weather. Becoming a mom was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. There are times I get so tired or frustrated that I want to pull my hair out but their little smiles, little hugs and kisses, and the sweet little things they say make it soooo worth it. I have never had anything make me feel the way they do. When they hurt I hurt ten times more, when they give me love I want to give it back ten fold... it is just amazing.

Hope all is well and I'll catch up soon.
Ari

22 weeks (April 30th - May 6th)

My sweet baby girl. I took this weekly picture late, not sure where the time went.

The clan. For being a non-smoking bar it sure looks smokey in here.

 Adam enjoying his trip to America again and hanging with Ashley's crazy friends.

 The girls. Don't know what I'd do without them.

 Enjoying ourselves on one of our few nights out. We stayed out until 12:30 am. We are getting crazy:).

Me and Sarah!

This is Izzy's favorite past time. She could spend hours in the sandbox.

Addie's first time in the swing. She seems to like it.

 

May 1st brought back the old tradition of May Day baskets. I was making the baskets the night before and was short a few things. I had to run to Target and Izzy came with me. I can't remember what we were talking about, but I said, "Izzy you are just crazy." She said, "I'm not crazy you're crazy. " Then she turned to the Target employee in the shoe department and said," Are you crazy?" The lady laughed and replied, "Sometimes."  Then we get to the check out area and she kept saying, "Hi number 3." I couldn't figure out where she was getting that from and then realized we were in check out lane 3 and she was calling the cashier Number 3. We just cracked up.  On our way out of Target we were looking at the moon and I almost fell over with what she said next. "Mommy see the crescent?" How does a 2 1/2 year old know what a crescent is?

On May Day we ran our baskets around and then it started to get late and we couldn't get them all delivered. Not many people did the May Day baskets which was kind of sad to me. I thought it was one of the best holidays when I was a kid.

Addie is getting to be such a wonderful little baby girl. When she gets home we feed her and she just hangs out until about 7:30 and then off to sleep she goes. She sleeps well through out the night. She did get her cough back this week and is really congested. This poor kid can't get ahead. I hope it is better by next week. I may have to start her on allergy meds soon and see if it's all the dust in the house from finishing the basement. She is started to sit a little better on her own. She will sit with her Boppy around her for a minute and then over she goes. I suppose I should have done a little more tummy time with her to build those back muscles.

On Tuesday I had dinner with my friend CP. She has two little girls that Izzy enjoyed spending time with. The one thing Izzy was not fond of was the trampoline. She said it scared her. Her dad and I are ok with that. No broken bones is a good thing.

My good friend Ashley is here from Austrailia. She moved there about 3 years ago and is loving it. She came home with her boyfriend Adam and we all went out on Friday. It was such a good time. It was like we lived in Lincoln again. Whew, it's a good thing we are not.

It was a great week to be with friends and realize how blessed I've been with the people I've met in my life.

Talk soon,
Ariann

21 weeks ( April 23-April 29th)

Addie sits great in her Bumbo, but we are still practicing on her own.

Open mouth, insert hands! You can always find Addie's hands in her mouth.

Izzy wanted in on the picture action. Getting ready to eat dinner.

Mark's cousin Kenzie came to help us with the girls at the game.

Huskers, number 1!

My Uncle Karlye getting ready to watch his son play baseball.

We started this week off with a bang! We took both girls downtown to the Nebraska vs. Creighton Game. It was a beautiful night and we all had a blast. Mark's cousin Kenzie came down to give us an extra set of hands. It really helped out. Not only was it a beautiful night, but the Huskers won.

On Wednesday, Mark left for Arizona for work. It was just us girls. Mark's mom came to help Wed-Fri and my mom came to help for the weekend. We had Izzy's dance recital pictures on Friday so my mom came early to help get Iz ready. I am so thankful for my mom and Barb. I couldn't do it without them. I get spoiled too often. Saturday my mom, the girls and I went shopping all day and the girls were real troopers. Izzy started to get sassy towards the end with no nap.

Izzy has definitley reached the terrible twos. Her listening skills are awful. I have to constantly bribe her with stuff to get her to do things. When does it end? It is amazing how blatant it is most of the time that she is trying her hardest to make me mad. In the mornings I am always rushed and usually late getting out of the door and I get a little fiesty. Izzy said to her dad, "Why is she so mean to everybody." I guess I need to really check myself and be more patient.

I am always learning,
Ariann

20 weeks (Apr 16-Apr 22)

Enjoying an evening on the deck.

She is growing way too fast. I love you Izzy Brown.

A daddy and his girls.

Sweet!

Emery and Addie, friends or foes :)?

Izzy and Avery. This could be me and Court when we were little girls.

Addie's favorite toy, Sophi the Giraffe.

Big sis reading to little sis.

Izzy is getting too smart for her britches. At our house Nick Jr. is stream lined through the television. Izzy was sitting at the table and goes," Daddy do you want to watch the news?" Mark was ecstatic and said, "YES!" Izzy said,"Maybe later, I'm going to watch this now." Mark's face dropped and back to Nick Jr. we went. She is very witty and knows way too many words, what they mean, and how to use them.

Addie is growing every day. She is now eating 6 ozs every 3-4 hours. Sometimes she doesn't finish the 6 ounces, because she is still congested. She is coughing still. It's worse in the evening and upon waking. I finally took the humidifier out now the weather is getting a little more humid. I just am afraid I'm putting mold in the air. I try to be diligent about cleaning it out, but sometimes life has other plans. She has also been very prone to diaper rashes. It seems like we get one cleared up and then another one is right around the corner. I don't know if it is because she has such loose stools with the MSPI or  what?

On Friday we went to my good friend Courtney's house to hang out. Her hubby was out of town so we decided to keep her and Avery and Emery company. Izzy and Avery played very well together and the two of them together looked like Court and me when we were little.  It was nice to catch up with Court. Her littlest, Emery, is so adorable. She wanted to pull on Addie's hair the whole time. It was cute to see them interact, but not interact. Kids are funny creatures.

Hope all is well and we just keep pluggin' away.

Talk soon.
Ariann

19 weeks (Apr 9-15th)

I love how she is holding the card in this picture. She is becoming a better baby with each day. We are blessed to have her in our lives. 

This is Izzy's new favorite thing to do. She loves to make her own pizza. Of course it is just cheese and more cheese.

Watching the rain.

A daddy and his baby girl.

My happy girl.

Sittin' on the Harley!

Addie is really talking and watching her hands. I found Addie's four month well check info and she was 15 pounds and 4.5 ounces and 25.5 inches. She is in about the 80% across the board.

On Tuesday I took my photography class that Mark got me for Christmas. The only thing I learned is that I need to know a little more about my camera. I wish I had the eye and the knowledge to be a wonderful photographer. I will keep practicing.

This weekend I had continuing education. Mark took the girls all by himself late Saturday and for two hours on Sunday. One of these days I'm going to make him take the girls for a full weekend by himself. On Saturday I left class early because they said we were suppose to get bad storms. The second wave of storms were suppose to be worse than the first, and they were to come through at 4pm. I got all the way home and all we got was rain. I am soooo happy it wasn't anything scary, but bummed I missed those hours. Now I have to find another way to make them up. Oh well, it is what it is.

I am actually writing this post three weeks late so my memory has failed me. I can't think of anything specific that happened with the girls, except I fall in love with them more and more each day.

Talk soon,
Ari