Halloween Cuties

Brinley was so excited to be a cowgirl for Halloween. Her favorite costume acessory-the six shooters, of course (which Daddy insisted she have :)!! Cade was our little pumpkin-what a cutie! Brinley had fun trick-or-treating with her cousins and Cade and Mommy stayed at Grandma's.

Cade Brian Twitchell

He is Here! Our baby boy, born October 14th @ 1:40 AM. He was 7 lbs 4 oz and 20 inches! We are so thrilled that he is healthy and doing well. Brinley loves her baby brother and likes to give him lots of kisses and hugs...she is still learning not to put blankets over his face and what "soft" means when she rubs his head or face :) Cade is such a good baby, he is cuddly and so sweet. We are truly blessed.

Quick Update

At my Dr. appointment today, I found out that I am dilated to a 1 and 50% effaced...so something is happening! I am not in a rush though I still feel so unprepared. I have definitely been in the nesting stage. I have washed all the walls, doors, and trim in my house, have been feverishly stocking up food and other necessities, and lying awake thinking of all the things I still need to do-like put the car seat in the car, just in case the baby comes today!

When I brought up all the baby bottles, car seat, bassinet, and baby swing yesterday and starting packing a few things for the hospital, Brinley started freaking out a little and wanted her old binky and bottle and wanted me to change her diaper and put her in the baby swing. I think the hospital bag pushed her over the edge because she thought I was leaving right then and she wanted to come with me! I just did my best to reassure her that I loved her and that she was my big girl and would be my helper with baby brother...I am not sure she's buying it :)

Brinley has taken off in her potty training. I think she has finally made the connection and wants to move on from diapers. We are all still learning around here...she wants to get up in the middle of the night and at 5:30 AM to use the potty. Which I am glad she wakes up but that also means we have to get up and help her since every potty experience she wants someone (Mommy or Daddy) to "watch her go pee." I have already had my fill of public restrooms in the last 2 weeks and know it is just the beginning! Potty training is wearing me out!! But I am glad to be doing these first weeks before the baby comes and hopefully she doesn't totally regress after the baby. We are just hoping for the best!

Brinley's Big Girl Room

Brian and I have been working for what seems like all summer to get this room done. We have had to shuffle furniture to move the computer room out of the bedroom next to Brinley's and then to move the crib, changing table/dresser, and recliner into that room which will be the baby's room. Next was the painting! Brian was such a trooper staying up late to finish and get the room done! We are still in need of a dresser for her and to hang pictures up but at least she is in her new room!!

I can't believe she is sleeping in a big girl bed, as we call it. Yes, I cried the first night she just seemed so old...where did my little baby go? Of course, Brian was very sympathetic and said, "Well, you know you have another one (baby) coming." I am a little emotional right now, but men definitely don't have that maternal side :) do they?

Some August Highlights

I thought I would just cram in a few things that we did in August since I haven't posted in over a month.

We went to the Treehouse Museum with my sister and niece a few weeks ago. Here is Brinley riding a bull at the little rodeo grounds they have. It was so cute! She and Maryn thoroughly enjoyed all the dress ups they have from princesses to cowboys to firefighters to fairy tales.

Our trip to Bear Lake! We went to Bear Lake and stayed with Brian's parents over the Raspberry Days weekend up there. Brinley loved camping! She especially liked going on 4-wheeler rides with Daddy and swimming. I liked being away from the normal for a day or so and putting my feet in the sand.
The County Fair! Oh, it was so hot that day but we wanted to take Brinley to do the kids' games at the Fair in Morgan on our way to Bear Lake. She had fun decorating this little bag and crown. She had fun playing with all her cousins who were there too!

Yes, This is How Potty Training is Going!

Our sweet Brinley Mae! Oh, I had high hopes at the beginning of June that Brinley would be potty trained in a matter of weeks (that wasn't unrealistic I thought). But here we are at the end of July and I think she has only successfully gone on the potty maybe 5 times. I decided to back off and not pressure her, I think she is just not quite ready. The idea was to be all done by the time the new baby comes-I'm not holding my breath!! Anyone out there have any wonderful suggestions? I will take them!

Our Trip to Echo Island Campground

Brinley had so much fun on our camping trip! She went swimming and caught her first 2 fish, enjoyed all the treats Grandma had packed for her and she learned how to climb out of her pack 'n play-a very eventful trip!

This is a video of Brian and Grandpa Paul helping Brinley catch her first fish! Very exciting, I think her Daddy and Grandpa were almost more excited than her!! The poor fish was a gonner though so Brian had set it off to the side in the grass. Despite my telling her that the fishy could not just get up and walk back into the water, Brinley kept going over to it and saying "Go, Fishy, Go!"

A Typical Day

I was upstairs trying to get ready one day (why do I even bother sometimes?) And I heard Brinley "Mommy, I need a drink" I had anticipated this so I locked the fridge door water so she wouldn't make a mess, but I underestimated her! Need a drink, why not climb into the kitchen sink? When I came down after it was too quiet, I just burst out laughing! What a stinker...notice the knife inches away? We are surprised she has survived to almost 2 1/2 with out any serious injuries!! Got to love her!!

4th of July

4th of July Parade in West Point

Brinley had so much fun watching the parade and getting all the candy she could find-even if that meant going out into the road!! The bottom picture was inbetween floats...she is scary! She had fun at the fireworks the night before at West Point Park. I'm not sure how many fireworks she actually saw, she spent most of the time wrestling with her uncle Matt. On the fourth in the afternoon she had a well needed nap and then went up to Morgan to my mom and dad's for a BBQ and more fireworks!

Monkeyin' Around at the Zoo!

We went to the Hogle Zoo in between all the rain in June. It was a great day-not too hot!! Brinley loved the playground and she said her favorite animal was the giraffe. We also saw some really cute monkeys up close that she loved! I think her favorite part was the gift shop though, she was so excited about all the different souvenirs in there. We got her a little plastic camera which did not leave her sight for a week! Don't know where it is now... :)

Brinley's Favorite Things

I decided to record Brinley singing because it is so adorable! Then I asked her what some of her favorites were.

Favorite Color: PINK!

Favorite Story: Mommy Loves Her Bunny

Favorite Food: Cheese

Favorite Treat: Ice Cream

Favorite Thing to do: Slide and Swim and play babies

Favorite Song: I am a Child of God (which is what she is singing in the video, it was at night so sorry about the dark footage :)

We Are Having a Boy! And other Updates

We just found out a few weeks ago that we are having a BOY! We are very excited and grateful that everything looks healthy on our baby. Brinley was thrilled that the baby is a Brother! She now wants to talk to the baby and give him lots of hugs and kisses. She says that she also has a baby in her tummy but it's a girl :) She is so cute! I am so happy that I will be able to stay

home with her and the new baby. I am not returning to work in the fall.

I thought I would be a little more sad about it, but I am just grateful.

I thought I would add a few pics from the recent months, since I have been a slacker at updates.

This is from my brother Tom's wedding, May 2nd. Here she is with all her cousins. What a great-looking bunch!! Tom and Amy's wedding was a wonderful day for our family! We are so excited to officially have her as part of our family! Brinley was one of the adorable little flower girls. She was supposed to walk down the aisle first-she needed a little coaxing. And then at the end she had all these petals left so she just threw them right at Tom's feet it was so funny!

Brinley's favorite new thing-her Swingset! She would swing morning, noon and night if we would let her :)

This is what happens when Daddy babysits!!

Yes, this shirt was never the same...good thing it was $1 on clearance at Target :)

We Will Miss You Grandma Conder

We have sad news. Brian's Grandmother, Carol Conder, passed away last Monday June 8th. We were all deeply saddened and will miss her so much. We are sad that Brinley will not get to know her more. But I know she is with people who have been missing her and she has left the pains of this life behind and we will see her again. Brian was asked by his family to speak at the funeral service and he did an amazing job, and I am sure Grandma was smiling.

We will miss you, Grandma Conder!

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone had a Happy Easter! We are so excited Spring is here!! Although I feel like it might snow into May, hopefully not, but you never know! Brinley looked so adorable in her Easter dress we just had to share, her Daddy didn't look too shabby either :) These pictures were taken outside the Ogden Temple after our stake conference on Easter.

The grounds were so gorgeous we just couldn't miss this photo op!!

Baby Animal Days

On Friday we went up to Baby Animal Days in Cache Valley. We didn't know it was such a huge production!! There was hundreds of people...we envisioned a little quaint farm and baby animals to pet. It was at the Heritage of the American West Center-a huge farm-and there were lots of cute baby animals. Brinley, however, was not so sure about them. She screamed when Brian tried to put her down with the baby goats. She was ok to stand by the bunny cage for a quick picture. But she loved hanging out with Aunt Jackie, Uncle Matt and Mommy and Daddy and she did LOVE her hot dog!

Here are a few shots of the day.

Announcing Baby Twitchell #2!!!

We are so excited to announce that we are going to have a baby! Brinley is excited that she will be a BIG SISTER! I am 12 weeks along and am doing well. I have been tired and sick but I think that part is almost over! This ultrasound is from 3/27/09 and our little baby is about 3.7 cm long. It is not the best picture, but ultrasounds are glossy and hard to photograph I discovered. You can see the baby's head on the right and the body on the left, there is a little leg too. We took Brinley to this appointment and she thought it was cool that she could see the baby and see the arms and legs move!

We got Brinley this Big Sister shirt and that is how we told Brian's family. Paul and Caroline took us all out to dinner and we thought it would be the perfect opportunity. We had it on her under her jacket, and after our drinks came, Brian took her jacket off and everyone was surprised!

The cupcake is how we told my family about the baby. I made cupcakes and put little plastic babies inside...Brian said they had his hair. I got this idea from Brian's cousin, Mindy, whose sister-in-law did it to their family. Anyway it was funny because my nephew, Carter was the first to find it and he thought he won a prize, and then my brother-in-law Brandyn thought it was an April's Fools' joke!! But everyone was excited for us when we told them, they were in the cupcakes because we were going to have a baby!

The big Due Date is October 22nd!

Tag 5-5-5

Thanks for the tag, Mindy...Slow but sure :)

Rules: Go to the documents setting/my pictures on your computer
Choose your 5th file
Choose your 5th picture Blog about it...tag 5 people

Ok, but I decided to change the Tag to 5-5-5, it sounded nicer than 6-6-6.

But I still tagged 6 friends.

This was my picture! Wasn't Brinley an adorable kangaroo? This was Halloween 2007 before Brinley could even walk...maybe the kangaroo costume was a precursor of things to come!! Brinley certainly bounces off the walls sometimes!

I tag:
Jackie
Kath
Suzanne
Steph
Amber
Kerry

Happy 2nd Brithday Brinley!!

Brinley turned 2 years old yesterday! We had a birthday party for her on Sunday-with a jungle theme we thought it was appropriate for our little monkey! She was so excited about her presents and that everyone came to see her. We can't believe she is already a toddler!! Thanks to all our family who helped us celebrate! We took Brin swimming on her birthday with her cousins Maryn and Carter and Uncle Brandyn and Aunt Manda. She loved every minute and got to wear her new swim suit from Aunt Jackie and Uncle Matt.

Happy New Year!

Brinley went to the Treehouse on New Year's Eve and made this cutest party hat! She stayed up until almost 1:00 AM that night, she is a night owl that's for sure. We had a Sugar Bowl Party at our house on January 2, 2009. Go Utes! Brinley got this adorable Utah shirt for Christmas...I think her Daddy was more excited about it than she was :) We discovered a couple weeks later that Brinley has a future as a drummer in a rock band! We had a Young Men activity at our house and the boys brought Wii and Guitar Hero. We could not keep Brin away from that drum set! She got a better score than I did!

Christmas 2008

Brinley was not so sure about Santa, but accepted the candy cane, of course! She was so excited for all the treats in her stocking on Christmas morning that we had to convince her that she wanted to open her presents!

Fun Pictures