Fit as a fiddle!

Brixie Lee's pediatrician, Dr. Warren, said that she is "fit as a fiddle" at her 15 month check-up today! She has dropped down to the 60th percentile in height and weight (high 90's during her first year) and is doing really well all around. He asked me if she says 5 or 6 words and was pleased to hear that she has a huge (50-60 word) vocabulary. Mama soooo proud!

Then he said he heard a VERY SLIGHT heart murmur. That brought me back down out of the clouds. He believes it is a very mild murmur and that no action will need to be taken at this time. But, just to be safe, he's running a couple of tests (EKG and X-Ray) and sending those to his preferred specialist (Dr. Loits). We should hear back next week with the test results, but we're all very confident that she'll be just fine.

Make a plan... make God laugh!

I've said it for years! One way to make God laugh is to make a plan. Well, turns out that is still true. Don and I planned our first weekend away... WITHOUT Brixie Lee! Huge step for me, but Grandma made it as smooth as butter. Grandma agreed to come down to Chino Hills to watch Brixie Lee while Don and I went down to La Jolla (our favorite quick get-away place for about 4 years now).

Here was the plan...

1. Stop in Temecula for lunch, olive oil and ice cream. Done! Check! Perfect!
2. Check into our favorite hotel and take a nap. God laughs... the hotel is under construction and it was impossible to nap with the constant hammering on the ENTIRE floor below us. I know, I know, I know... we should have said something, but I just wasn't in the mood to argue with anyone.
3. Walk to a nearby brewery and enjoy a couple of beers and a pizza. God laughs... all 8 beer options were nasty and the pizza crust was made from some kinda cake batter. Not sure what chef thought that was a good idea!
4. Hunt down a REAL corn dog (not that frozen junk that you get at Hot-Dog on a Stick). I take a look at the menu of one of our favorite bars and they have corn dogs on the menu! Can't believe it! Sooooo excited! We ask the waiter if it's a REAL corn dog and he says, "Yup... best in town!" Sign me up waiter man! Delish!!! Done! Check! Perfect!
5. Find a bar with music and park our butts for the evening. Turned out that our hotel had just what we were looking for and our bartender was outstanding! Done! Check! Perfect!
6. Turn in for the night ;) and sleep in as late as we like. God laughs... Don got food poisoning sometime that day and spent the night praying to the porcelain gods. Trust me, this was not from the alcohol! We were both up all night and he finally started to get some sleep around 5am.
7. Read my book club book on the beach while I sit back in my pop-up recliner chair and sip on raspberry ice tea (Don was going to be taking pictures). God laughs... at Don mostly... I did get to read my book in the hotel room while Don got some good sleep from 5am to 2pm. I asked him if he needed to go home, but he insisted that he was feeling better and that we should stay another night.
8. Enjoy a 2nd night ;) and sleep in as late as we like. God laughs... the a/c went out in our room. Too tired and frustrated to call the service desk, we decide to open the window. We just couldn't get the temp right. It was too hot, too cold, the down comforter was too much, no down comforter was too little, etc. Another night with no sleep. It was like the first few months of getting up all night, every night when Brixie Lee was a newborn.
9. Enjoy a cup of coffee down at the cove before we head home. God laughs... after 2 nights of no sleep we were just not in the mood to enjoy the cove and Don's tummy was still not feeling up to his favorite Starbucks triple-shot, non-fat latte, no foam.
10. Get home and enjoy the afternoon with our baby girl. Done! Check! Perfect!

Even though we enjoyed only 40% of our plan, we enjoyed each other's company 110%. Don is still my best friend and I think he's the best husband/father in the world. Love you honey and I can't wait to try again!

Special thank you, thank you, thank you to Grandma for taking care of Brixie Lee. We never worried about her because we knew she was enjoying her wonderful time with Grandma and the puppies! Love you Grandma!

Carters Rock!!!!

Auntie Diane and Tracey (the Carter's) took care of Brixie Lee tonight while Daddy and I went out on a much needed date. Before we left it already felt more like Daddy and Mommy were getting out of Brixie Lee's way so she could play with Tracey's toys (yes, Tracey is 18 but she has had several boy "friends" that have provided her with numerous toys. Lucky Brixie Lee!).
Here you can see that Tracey was having just as much fun as Brixie Lee.
Oh yes, Tracey is also an expert on the piano (just like her Dad). Do I hear free lessons in Brixie Lee's future???? Hehehe!
Thank you Auntie Diane and Tracey for taking such good care of my girl! You girls rock!!

Davy's Birthday Fish!

Uncle Don took Davy on a fishing trip for his 7th Birthday and we couldn't have been happier with the day! Unc picked up Davy at 5:30am and they took off to the lake. Don said that Davy got the hang of it really quick (no surprise there!) and that he was having a blast telling Don where to go on the lake. Brixie Lee and I saw them when we arrived at 9:30am and Davy had just caught this HUGE trout! Great job Davy!

Donny caught a monster fish right after Davy! You boys are naturals!
Both boys couldn't stop talking about showing off their fish to Papaw Jerry! They knew that Uncle Don and Papaw Jerry liked to go fishing, but now they know WHY! I'm so glad you boys had such a good time!

If you would like to see all the pictures for Davy's Birthday fishing trip, check out Don's gallery.

Let's meet at... Anza Borrego!

So last night Don Lee asks me if I want to go see the wild flowers in Anza Borrego with his family. I ask, "Where is Anza Borrego honey?" He says, "Just east of Temecula!" I say, "Great! Lets go!" The next morning I find out that "just east" actually means a hour east of Temecula. Not quite as excited as I was before, but still happy to spend the day with the family! Little did I know when we strapped Brixie Lee into her car seat (pic below), she would end up spending 6 hours in the car and 10 minutes touring the wild flowers!

We had planned to go before Don's family so we could have some lunch and get situated (stroller, sun block, diapers, etc.) We ended up getting there about 2-1/2 hours before them because they got stuck in traffic on the way out! Below is Brixie Lee talking to Grandma (or so BL thinks) about our adventure.

In all honesty, it was one of the best 2-1/2 hours I've had in a LONG time. We sat in this little park, under a beautiful shade treed, had lunch and relaxed the entire time! Don Lee even took care of Brixie Lee for about an hour straight and I just laid there. I know that was something most of my family would not find enjoyable, but I loved every single minute of it! Even Brixie Lee joined my relaxing effort and it just made my day.

Daddy was able to some super cute pictures of our lazy wait. I think all three of us needed this time together. Brixie Lee was her usually social self and went around greeting all the people in the park. She even found Mommy a stinky little flower ;) Thank you sweet girl! We picked up some ice cream on our way to meet-up with the rest of the family and I bought some yummy fudge too! By the time we met the rest of the family it was just half an hour till I needed to get back home for a book club meeting. We ended up hitting road after one 10 minute tour of the flowers near the visitor center. Didn't bother me one bit after my relaxing afternoon and ice cream! It was a great day!

If you would like to see all the pictures from our Anza Borrego trip, you can check them out on Don's gallery.

Does Brixie Lee look my me???

OK, I got a question from my friend Vivian about whether or not Brixie Lee looks like me when I was a baby... so I'll let you decide for yourself. I'm not sure how old I am in the pictures below, but I'd guess somewhere around 2.
Brixie & Mommy
Brixie & Daddy

So you tell me, who do you think I look like? And, do you think Brixie Lee looks like me?

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter!!!

We spent the day down in Mission Viejo with Auntie Steff, Lissie 3, Dony 5, Uncle Darren and Davy 7. In the picture below, Davy and Dony are holding up their hands because Uncle Don just asked them "Who's going fishing with me next weekend?" This fishing trip is Davy's Birthday gift, so Don is picking him up at 6am next Sunday morning and the rest of the family is coming down later. Have fun Davy!It's so funny to see Brixie Lee's eyes when she's around her cousins. She's like, "WOW! Their crazy fast!" Below is a picture of her watching them after they were released into the backyard for the first egg hunt. After 10 minutes and lots of help from Grandma and Papa, Brixie Lee found two eggs and she wouldn't give them up for anything. We tried to get her to put them in the basket, but once she got them in the basket she wouldn't let them go. She finally got the hang of it about an hour later! Silly girl!
Below you can see her hunting an egg for the first time. This was her little flower bed and Papa make sure she had plenty of eggs to find. Thanks Papa!
Finally, we got an awesome family picture! I can't wait for Don to get it printed so we can put it up on the wall at home. Auntie Steff took the picture and she did a wonderful job. Thank you sooooo much Auntie Steff.
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Chino Hills Easter Egg-Citement!

Brixie Lee and I went to the Chino Hills Easter Egg-Citement event today and we had a pretty good time. The positive thing is that Brixie Lee looked soooo cute in the Easter dress her Grandma got her. See the matching hair band too! So cute Grandma!
The bummer part was the 85 degree weather that felt like 100 degree weather on that artificial grass. We were sweating like crazy as we waited and waited for the 0-2 year old egg hunt. There were so many people there that I had to stampede inside the gate with Brixie Lee on my hip, grab two eggs for her and push my way out so we could breath.
Once we were out of all the craziness, we had a really good time. Brixie Lee ran all over the place while I chased her trying to take pictures. My personal photographer, Daddy, had already made plans with Papaw to go fishing today while he's on spring break. Next year I'll be sure to plan it better so that Daddy is with me to fight the good fight. In the end the only thing that mattered was that Brixie Lee had a great time shaking her eggs.
I stripped her down, tossed her in the car with some juice and we drove home with the AC on high. As you can see, her favorite place is just like mine... at the dinner table. We enjoyed a good lunch with some oranges for dessert and now she's enjoying her afternoon nap. We're both as happy as could be.
Love you Brixie Lee!

St. Patrick's Day Celebration

Grannie's birthday is on St. Patrick's Day so each year she gets a green celebration. This year we went all out and got matching outfits! How cute!!!!
We had a really nice visit and Grannie seemed much better than the last time we saw her. She has forgotten Brixie Lee's name, but I'm pretty sure that she knew that she was my daughter. It's hard to see her mind slipping away. I'm so thankful for everyday that she gets to see Brixie Lee grow-up.
We Love You Grannie!!!!

CALM Field Trip

Papaw Jerry took his grand kids to the California Living Museum today and we all had a blast! Below is a picture of Papaw Jerry, Tommy (cousin-2 yrs old), John (step-brother), and Brixie Lee (14 months).
Grandma was able to introduce Brixie Lee to her first donkey. Look at those beautiful, green, rolling hills in the background. That's pretty rare for Bakersfield, so we really lucked out!
Here's Papaw and his two favorite kids in the whole-wide-world! These kids absolutely adore their Papaw! Mostly because he acts their age... even when they are not around ;) Love you Papaw!
This is such a cute picture of the cousins! Tommy is such a good boy. He shared really well with Brixie Lee every time we visited them. Love you Tombo!
Thanks for such a great day Papaw. Looking forward to going again in a few months!