Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was a great weekend!  Kersten was off to Gainesville for the Alumni soccer game and Orange & Blue game.  We missed him lots, but glad that he had some time to reunite with his old buddies!!  Mom and John came down to visit.  They arrived on Saturday and we took off and went to the mall for Braelyn's first picture with the Easter bunny.  It did NOT go as well as I'd thought it would.  I guess the Easter bunny is scary?!?!  She was not having it :(

For dinner that night, we ventured out to a Greek restaurant out towards the beach.  My food was ok (although I didn't have anything Greek....),  but John and mom enjoyed theirs very much.  It just wasn't the same experience inside a stuffy building in Bradenton, Florida as it was sitting outside at a taverna overlooking the Mediterranean in Crete.  No comparison.  But, the company was great!! :) 

We had plans to get up and go to Easter service at church Sunday morning, but Braelyn was up so much through the night with a cough, that we decided to sleep in some on Sunday morning.  I was very sad about not going to church, but continued throughout the day to remember the reason for the day!  We will definitely be there next year, in our pretty Easter dresses, to celebrate! 

The Easter bunny waited to visit Braelyn until her daddy got back home from Gainesville.  That was awfully nice of him..... He brought her a Mega Blocks activity table, some Gator onesies and a shirt, a book, bubbles, sand toys, and Easter eggs.  In total shock that the Easter eggs were (and still are...) her favorite toys!

We then packed up and headed out to Bradenton Beach for the day.  It was some of the prettiest water I remember seeing in Florida!  Destin has been the most beautiful, clear water I'd seen to date, and this water was right up there with Destin.  We only stayed out for a couple of hours, but it was so nice to sit along the beach, soak up some rays, and stare off into the gorgeous water!!

Finally, we made our way home where John cooked us up a scrumptious dinner of ham, black-eyed peas, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and greens (well, yuck about the greens....but Kersten and John liked them...lol).  We had carrot cake for dessert and we were all full and happy and tired.  A great combination for a perfect night's sleep!

Mom and John left Monday morning and I took Braelyn to the doctor.  I always hate saying good-bye to them, but then remind myself they are only a 4 hour drive away and that is much closer than we were when we lived in Scotland! 

It was a super fantastic weekend and thank Mom and John for coming down to make it extra special!! :)

Braelyn 11 months

So hard to believe our baby girl is 11 months!  She surprises us every day with some little new trick!  This month she has taken her first steps - aaahh!!  They came out of nowhere and I don't even think she knew she took them.  She was standing, holding on to her box of Legos, then turned and took 4 steps to her walker.  It didn't even phase her, lol.  All last week she was taking sets of 2 or 3 steps here and there.  It was so exciting to see!!

 

Then, last week she came down with some really yucky virus :(  It started Saturday night and just got worse.  She was down and out for about 5 days.  She slept most of the days last week and wasn't eating very much.  I KNEW she was sick if she was sleeping and not eating - that is NOT my child!!   She was on breathing treatments 3-4 times a day and we started an antibiotic on Wednesday.  It was so hard seeing her not feeling well, but I loved all the cuddles and her sleeping on me during the day.  It is a great feeling to be the mommy and make her feel alllllll better :)  Finally, on Friday she started to come out of it and feel much better.  She is just about back to being 100%, but I can tell she is still recovering and getting rid of that congestion.

Braelyn's also has two teeth coming in now - FINALLY!  She loves being able to bit into things with those two teeth.  Cheese sticks and grapes have taken on a whole new level of interest!  She also loves to brush those two teeth.  She watches mommy and then tries to do it on her own - complete with rinsing the brush under the water.  It is tooo cute!






Braelyn loves dancing, eating, waving bye-bye, walking across the room to give hugs, playing tickle monster and chase.  She can sign the word "milk" and we are working on signing "more" and "all done." She giggles and giggles and giggles and it just warms my heart!!  She is at such a fun age right now - exhausting, but fun! :D

Sea World :)

We have been wanting to get to the theme parks and take advantage of being Florida residents and our special discounts.  As a teacher, I get a free Teacher Study Pass at Sea World good for the whole year.  Kersten ended up purchasing an annual pass good for Sea World and Busch Gardens.  I will have to get a pass to Busch Gardens when we go this upcoming Saturday, but we plan to take full advantage of the passes and enjoy the parks as much as possible!!

Braelyn slept more than we thought she would during our visit.  I guess getting over that nasty bronchiolitis, along with the super stimulation of the day, just wore her out!! :)

She loved the Shamu show and the carousel the most.  She couldn't take her eyes off of the orcas during the show and loved playing peek-a-boo with daddy on the carousel!  Luckily, we can go back as many times as we want this year, so we didn't feel like we had "wasted" any money on our short visit.



It was also great meeting up with my very dear friend, Jennifer and her son, James, and mom, Cindy.  They live in Orlando and also have season passes, so they can meet us there whenever we go.  James loved the splash park and dancing with the penguin characters at the Viva La Musica festival they had going on in the park.  It was a great time had by all!!

This coming up weekend we will be going to Busch Gardens.  We look forward to all the fun stuff for Braelyn to experience there!  Until next time....

Just getting started...

Well, I guess I could have started one of these a long time ago, but it's never too late - right??  I'm sure there will be plenty of  things to write about in the future and things to reflect upon in the past! So....here goes :D  Hope you enjoy reading about the adventures of us!!

But...right now I must go deal with a fussy, sick baby :(  It's not been a great week for poor baby girl!  Until next time.....