News

May 2, 2011
We had Brianna's Birthday party yesterday. Thanks to all that made the trip up to help celebrate. Her birthday is just around the corner!!!

Here are the photos from the party.

April 4, 2011
Not much new at the household. We are gearing up for our upcoming trip to Orlando for a visit with Mickey and his entourage with Hyla and Joe and their two boys.  So check back in a few weeks and we will have some new photos to share.  For now here are a few of Miss B.

February 19, 2011
Last weekend we went to Steamboat and Brianna had her first ski lesson. While she did not enjoy skiing with the ski instructor she did enjoy skiing with mom and dad. While we were there it snowed three feet in three days so the conditions were very good!

Here are some photos from the trip.

January 29, 2011
It's hard to believe it's January with the 60 degree temperatures we've have the past two days around here.  The forecast for Tuesday is a high of 2 degrees, so winter will be back soon.  A few weeks ago, Emily and Brianna escaped winter for a few days with a short trip to California.  They visited Aunt Diana, Pat and Cody, and of course, Mickey.  Yes, it's true, Brianna has visited Disney 3 times, and she isn't not three yet - she LOVES it - she definitely agrees that it is the happiest place on earth. This time, she got to meet some fairies, and her new favorite princess, Tiana.  Brianna also enjoyed playing on the beach - it was so nice, we spent one day out on the beach in our swimsuits - Mommy even got a little tan!  The water was a little chilly, but Brianna didn't care because she doesn't like the "waves chasing her."  She would much rather play ball with Papu or talk everyone into a game of ring around the rosie on the sand.  We had a wonderful time, and were sad to leave, but we had to get home to Daddy.

A week after our California adventure, we headed out to the National Western Stock Show.  Brianna really looked the part in her pink cowgirl boots.  We watched the draft horse show, fed the goats on the petting zoo ( Brianna wasn't so sure about it after one sneezed on her and another one knocked her over), and looked at lots of animals.  Brianna also had her first horse ride on the carousel, complete with real policies - she got to ride on a pony named Tiki.  She also got her face painted with a pretty pink heart. 

Well, one more week of hard work for us, then we're off to Steamboat for a week of winter fun - we know, it's rough!  We hope you all are enjoying the winter as much as we are!

January 3, 2010
Happy New Year!!  We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season - we sure did.  Brianna really got into Christmas this year - she loved handing out presents and opening them (she really liked opening her own, but wasn't too picky and would open any presents that were offered to her).  She also baked some cookies and wrote a letter to Santa - what a big girl.  We didn't have a white Christmas here is Colorado, unlike most of the country, but we did have a white new year - that was the first measurable snowfall of the year, so it was a great chance for Brianna to get out and play in the fluffy white stuff!  And fluffy it was  - Colorado is known for its champagne powder, which is great for skiing, but not the best for building a snow man (so ours turned out a little short)!  Brianna had a great time building Frosty, his friend "Rachael," and making snow angels.

December 13, 2010
With Emily off to New York this weekend with her good friend Lisdsey - Brianna and Josh got to spend some quality father and daughter time and what better place to do that then the Colorado Railroad Museum. 

December 2, 2010
The holidays are in full swing around our house – Brianna has been counting down the days until “Christmas Time” so that she can “wear her Santa shirt” (which we didn’t have until we found out that she was so excited to wear one)!  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week – Josh was lucky enough to have the day off, so we got to celebrate by having our whole family over to our house for a big turkey dinner – Brianna thought that the “Big Thanksgiving Party” was great (she also enjoyed the “small Thanksgiving Party” when mom and dad joined her for lunch at school the day before).  This past weekend, we broke out the Christmas decorations and put up the tree – Brianna was a great helper since she got to participate in her favorite activity – taking things out of boxes.

We were just reading back through some of our old posts and noticed that almost 10 months ago we posted that Brianna has started tumbling class and had made it all the way across the high balance beam with LOTS of help.  Well, here’s an  update – she is still doing tumbling and can walk quickly across that same beam while only holding onto one of mommy’s fingers – such progress.  Our last class for this session was this past Monday, but she likes tumbling so much (and yes, she still loves to wear her tumbling dress) that we will definitely continue with it next year.

November seemed to pass so quickly that we never posted our Halloween and Pumpkin Patch pictures – so here are a few for your enjoyment.  We hope you have a great holiday season!

Oct 27, 2010
– Really, October?  Where did the summer go?  Well, fall is setting in here in Colorado – that means it is time for Halloween!  Brianna decided (about three months ago) that she wants to be Snow White for Halloween.  That was just perfect because we started October off with a visit to Southern California, including Disneyland – what a perfect place to wear a Snow White costume.  Before seeing Mickey, we flew into Burbank and had a nice visit with Brianna’s Great Aunt Penny and Uncle Dick (and their dog, Barney).  We took a drive to the Santa Monica Pier where Brianna had a few firsts – her first carousel ride all by herself and her first dip in the ocean.  After leaving Penny and Dick, we headed to Anaheim and spent 2 days with the Mouse.  When we got to Anaheim, we met up with our friends the Ryersons, who’s son Cale is 5 months younger than Brianna.  We all had a great time visiting Mickey together.  We got to spend our second day at Disney with the Mauldins, who are Anaheim residents and Disney season pass holders – and whose 2 kids, Ashley and Zach, made great Disney tour guides.  While at Disney, we also took in the Halloween Party in Disneyland – Brianna had a great time trick or treating and enjoyed the Halloween Parade.

Five days into our trip, we left Mickey and headed to the beach again, then to the main event (and the real reason for this whole trip) – Nathan and Allison Nowack’s wedding.  This was Brianna’s first wedding - she had a great time watching “Princess Allison in Wonderland” marry “Prince Nathan” and dancing the night away.  After the wedding, we drove down to Carlsbad for a visit with Brianna’s Great Aunt Diana and Uncle Pat (and a brief visit with Cousin Cody).  We also visited the San Diego Zoo (where Brianna was more interested in sitting on all of the benches than looking at the animals) and the Sea Life Aquarium next to LegoLand.  It was a great trip! 

And – better late than never – we finally posted our Seattle pictures (which we promised you back in June)!

June 29, 2010
As mentioned in the last update – we have had lots of visits with family and friends recently.  Please check out our pictures from our visit with Jon, Clark and Quinn, as well as Great-Papa.  The weekend after we went to Glenwood, we spent two great days out on the water.  On Saturday, our good friends the Cannodes joined us (all 3.5 of them) for a day of fun at Horsetooth, and then we had another great day on the lake on Sunday to celebrate Father’s Day.  Brianna had decided that the boat is pretty fun – she even got on the water last time and floated around!  What a big girl – it must be the Disney Princess life vest that gives her the courage.

Yesterday, we just got home from a four day weekend in Seattle with Josh’s family celebrating his parents’ 60th birthdays (a year early).  We will post pictures shortly, but a fun time was had by all.  Brianna really enjoyed feeding the giraffes at the zoo and driving the helicopter at the Pacific Science Museum.  She also enjoyed being chased around by Uncle Eric and Aunt Christy.  She was so tired that she slept in until 9:30 this morning (she is usually up around 7am)!

June 4, 2009
As you might be able to tell from the video, Brianna is going to start dance class (just a low key class at the recreation center – don’t worry) and she got new tap shoes that she is really proud of.  Her class starts next Friday.  Last weekend we had a wonderful visit with Jon, Clark, and Quinn, as well as Katie’s parents, sister and friends.  It was great to see everyone and great to see how Clark and Quinn are growing.  Brianna and Clark had a great time playing in the back yard and really enjoyed playing ring around the rosie together.  They could have played all night, but their parents ended the fun and made them go to bed (although it was 2 hours after their bedtimes by the time they said goodbye).  This weekend we are headed up to Glenwood Springs to see Brianna’s Great-Grandpa (aka Great-Papa), and Aunt Chele and Uncle Mike. 

May 9, 2010
Happy Mother’s Day!  We have been busy little bees around our house.  We had a wonderful week vacationing in Orlando, Florida, at Disney World.  Brianna really enjoyed meeting all of the Disney characters that she spent months learning about – the highlight was eating dinner with the Princesses (Belle, Aurora, Ariel, Snow White, and Cinderella) on our last night.  Brianna wasn’t a big fan of the rides (although, she did like the Donald Duck boat ride at Epcot) but really liked watching all of the “shows” – this is a general term that she uses for all of the parades, concerts, and stage shows  (and the Country Bear Jamboree) that she saw in the parks.  We also had lots of fun at the pool during our vacation – Brianna liked jumping into the pool and filling cups of water in the fountains (and then pouring them on Mommy).    

Brianna enjoyed her vacation so much that she talks about it at least several times a day – she likes to name all the characters she met and list off all the shows that she saw.  She has an autograph book full of her pictures with all of the characters that she met that she likes to sleep with.  It is a good thing that we will be visiting Disneyland in October – Brianna has become a big Disney fan.  When Brianna got home from Disney, she told all her teachers about the princesses that she met, and informed them all that her favorite is Cinderella – at first she wasn’t sure about the fact that her teacher’s favorite Princess was Belle, but a day later decided that it was OK for Deanna to like Belle, even though Brianna likes Cinderella best. 

Less than a week after we got home, we celebrated Brianna’s birthday with a big bash!  Brianna was a little overwhelmed by all of the people that showed up in her house in such a short time, but really enjoyed opening presents and blowing out the candle on her Ariel birthday cake.  On her actual birthday, we celebrated by having her pictures taken in the morning, then she went to school for a few hours to share the special day with her friends.  We picked her up early from school that day and joined her class for a special birthday snack in honor of Brianna.  Brianna had fun telling all of her teachers and her friends that it was her birthday.  We ended the day with Brianna’s favorite meal – Mac and Cheese at Red Robin (she went into the restaurant and informed them that she wanted Mac and Cheese, Oranges, and a balloon – guess she knows what she wants). 

On Friday, May 7th, Brianna and Emily had a great time at lunch celebrating Drew’s college graduation.   Emily started babysitting for Drew when he was 2 – can’t believe that he is 22 and getting ready to venture out into the real world!  Brianna had a great time at lunch, which she refers to as a party – any excuse to party is a good time in Brianna’s book.  Congratulations Drew, we’re proud of you!

Things are warming up here in Colorado – you know what that means – it’s almost boating season!  We’re hoping Brianna likes the boat better this year than last year – we’ll update on that soon!

March 21, 2010
On Friday night, Brianna counted to 10 all by herself!  We’re so proud!  They have been working on that with her at school and we have been working on it at home.  She has been able to do it pretty consistently since then too, but sometimes gets tripped up by leaving out the 5 (she is a really big fan of the number six and really thinks that it should come after 4, or sometimes after 2).  She is now talking in complete sentences (occasionally, the words are out of order, but still sentences) and has a very large vocabulary.  She’s getting to be such a big girl, so they are moving her to the toddler 2 room at school next Monday, March 29th.  There is not too much of a difference between her old room and new room – the schedule is the same – but she will have new teachers (who she already knows) and they work on potty training in the toddler 2 room!  Also, she will get to be reunited with some of her friends that are older than her who have already moved up.

Brianna brought home her first “pet” yesterday (well, Hannah was really her first pet, but she didn’t get to pick her out and bring her home, so it’s different).  We went to the 4-H carnival where the prize for one of the games was a goldfish.  Well, the minute that Brianna saw those fish in bags to bring home, she wanted one!  We tried to go to other carnival games, but she kept coming back to the fish game, saying “fish, fish, I want fish.”  To win a fish, you had to make 3 basketball baskets – luckily for Brianna, Papu was with us and he made 4 out of 5 baskets – more than enough to win a fish!!  Immediately after winning the fish, Brianna wanted to hold him (more like squeeze him)!  She put the bag on the ground, and then laid down on her stomach in the middle of the carnival to get a good look at him.  On the way home, we stopped by the store to get the fish a “house” (Brianna picked out some nice pink and purple rocks to dress the place up).  After we got the fish all settled, we asked her what is name is, and on three separate occasions, she has named him “Rock,” so we are now the proud owners of a fish named Rock. 

Today, we are going to see Disney on Ice with Zach and Xander (they’re bringing Hyla and Joe along too).  It should be lots of fun…a great lead in to our Disneyworld trip, which we leave for in less than a month – we can’t wait!

Here are some new photos!

January 24, 2010
Brianna came down with a respiratory virus - RSV - a week ago. She has been handling it just fine, but we took her to the doctor when Emily noticed that she was breathing a little more rapidly than usual. The doctor was not overly concerned, but put her on a nebulizer to make sure she didn't get any worse and to help her get better faster. She wasn't a big fan of the nebulizer the first few times (we practically had to hold her down to do it), but now she actually likes doing it (probably because we let her watch TV while she gets a treatment - her new favorite is Special Agent OSO on Playhouse Disney - we actually Tivo it so that we can have it ready to go at all times). She went from one treatment every 4 hours and is now only doing it twice a day. We are almost finished with the treatments - just a few more days.

Brianna has also started taking tumbling classes at the Loveland rec center once a week. Her favorite part about the class if the fact that she gets to wear her "tumbling dress." Last week, she walked all the way accross the high balance beam (with lots of help) - what a big girl! Brianna is definetly her mother's daughter - her new favorite game is to "play clothes." She likes to take the clothes out of her closet and put them into piles. She also walks around and holds them up and says "it's cute" or "I like it." Everyone says we've created a monster - watch out credit cards!

January 5, 2010
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  We had a great time celebrating the holidays this year.  Brianna was old enough to understand about opening presents and really enjoyed putting her “party dresses” on.  We are lucky enough to be close to both of our families (and were lucky that Josh had lots of time off around the holidays this year) so we celebrated Christmas Eve with Emily’s family and Christmas Day with Josh’s family.   On New Year’s Eve, we celebrated a little early and had a “European New Year’s Party” – it was great, the kids played, the parents sipped champagne and everyone was in bed by 8pm (OK, maybe not everyone!)

We’re happy to report that two her dislikes that we posted earlier have gone away – she now agrees to wear her bib and actually likes taking a bath again!  YIPEE!  She is also sporting a new hairstyle these days – ponytails instead of bows (or with bows).  Of course, Josh hasn’t quite mastered it yet, so on his days to take Brianna to school, he drops her off hands the teacher two ponytail holders!  By the time we pick her up, Ms. Kasey has her all done up in two ponytails – what a great teacher!

December 23, 2009
Well, it’s almost time for Brianna’s second Christmas!  It’s hard to believe that she is already old enough to have experienced 2 Christmases!  Brianna had her holiday sing at her school last Friday.  She handled the whole experience pretty well given the fact that she had to be woken up from her nap to go (we had to take her to school in the afternoon since she doesn’t usually attend on Fridays) and had gone to the doctor in the morning to get a second H1N1 shot and another round of antibiotics for an ear infection that didn’t clear up after the first round!  Brianna is really enjoying all of the Holiday decorations – she likes to name all the ornaments on the tree and likes to take the presents out from under the tree and then put them back!

Unfortunately for Josh, it appears that Brianna may have inherited her mommy’s love of shopping.  This weekend, we were headed out to Target and, when asked if she wanted to go shopping, she said “shopping, yeah…purse” – as in, yes, I would love to go shopping with you and I will need to take my purse with me (and yes, she does have her own purse – she wants to be just like mommy).  She is also a big fan of parties – we were headed out to dinner the other night and when she saw us getting our coats and shoes on she said “party, coat on” – as in put my coat on so we can go to the party!  I guess she gets that from her mom too!

We took Brianna out to see the holiday lights at the “Zoo Lights” this past weekend.  She really enjoyed all of the pretty lights and also enjoyed naming all of the animals that she saw.  Brianna knows most basic colors and shapes.  She is also working on her numbers, but so far, she is only good at 1 and 2 – maybe that’s because daddy is not only teaching her to count in English, but in German too, and sometimes in Spanish. 

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  We hope that everyone travels safely and we hope to see many of our out-of-state friends who are visiting Denver for the holidays.  We promise to post some fun Christmas pictures after Brianna opens all of her presents and has a visit from Santa (and, in case you are wondering, Brianna has not made a visit to Santa this year – we just didn’t want to deal with the screams and cries that would result – she is afraid of strangers, and we certainly don’t think she is going to make an exception for some strange man in a red suit and a fake beard)!

December 7, 2009
Brianna has a first ear infection – not a milestone we were looking forward to, but it happened anyways!  She is actually doing just fine with it and hasn’t really been fussy at all.  Hopefully the antibiotics will clear it up soon!
It’s been a while since we have updated you on her likes and dislikes, so here is a brief list:
Likes:

1. Blankie – the pink waffle knit one that we got at a baby shower (thanks Amanda) – none of the others!
2. Coloring – especially with the new WASHABLE markers that we got this weekend!
3. School – she likes to go visit her friends and teachers every day and will recite all of their names for you!
4. Shortcake – as in the Strawberry Shortcake movie that we bought her – she doesn’t watch it all, but likes to have it on in the background when we are in the basement and she likes to tell you every time that “Shortcake is dancing”
5. The Christmas Tree – she is learning the names of all of the ornaments on the tree – her favorites are “Pooh Bear, Minnie House (aka Mickey Mouse),  Santa, Snowman, Doggy, and Little Girl (the German girl ornament)”
6. Jesus – as in the Jesus figurine from the nativity set that Emily mom bought her – she likes to remove  him from the set every morning and carry him around – we find him in new places at the end of each day
7. Shoes – especially “Daddy’s boots,” that she likes to wear around the kitchen (see new video)

Dislikes:

1. Scary Bunnies – as in the bunnies in our yard that she likes to look at but that scare her when they hop away
2. The snow – we have made several attempts to take her out in it since we have had a lot lately and all of those attempts end in frozen tears
3. Baths – she used to love them, now they are a struggle and she usually just stands there in the tub crying while we quickly wash her – we’ve gotten the whole process down to about a minute when necessary
4. Her bib – she used to put in on herself when she ate, now she will show it to us, but will refuse to put it on or let us put it on

November 19, 2009
 
Well, it's time for a fun update!  Brianna is now 18 months old and she had her well baby visit last Wednesday.  Her growth has really taken off since her 1 year visit.  She is now just over 28 pounds (90%) and is 32 inches tall (80%).  We can't quite remember her head circumference, but it was in the 75th percentile!  She is really living up to her "tiny tank" nickname (thanks to Katie for coming up with that one!)  She continues to amaze us and her teachers at school everyday.  Her vocabulary has really grown and she is starting to use sentences (basic ones, but they are still sentences).  She says things like "mommy soon" when she wants me to come home and "Elmo hug" when she wants to give Elmo a hug.  She learns words very easily now, so we have to be careful what we say!  She loves school now - in the mornings, we ask her if she wants to go to school and frequently, she says yes and runs to the door to leave.  Of course, as her parents, we think she is brillient; however, her teachers at school constantly say how smart she is!  We had her 18 month pictures taken last weekend - despite the fact that she was a little overwhealmed by the whole event, we got a few decent shots.  We've decided it would have been better if she turned 18 months old a little earlier in the year so that we didn't have to compete with all the people getting their Christmas pictures taken - it was a zoo at the photo studio!  Although they are a little delayed, we've also posted some pictures of Brianna in her Halloween costume!  Enjoy!!

November 8, 2009
You’re all probably expecting this post to have fun and exciting pictures of our trip to Germany and Italy and maybe a few pictures of Brianna at Halloween.  Sorry to disappoint, but so much as happened since our last post that the pictures aren’t ready yet.  As many of you have heard, our wonderful friend Katie Friedman, who we went to see in Italy, died on October 16, 2009, due to complications delivering her second baby boy.  Her new baby, Quinn Kat (after his mommy), is doing very well.  He and his big brother, Clark, traveled home with their daddy to bury Katie in her final resting place, the Air Force Academy Cemetery, on October 28, 2009.  Katie and Jon met at the Academy during a wedding that they were both in and were married in the chapel five years ago as well.  I was a bridesmaid in their wedding and as I walked into the chapel for her funeral, I experienced a rush of emotion as I had a bunch of happy memories of her wedding at a time when I was so sad about her passing. 

Katie was a dear friend to both of us.  She was the most carefree person I know.  She always had a wonderful, positive outlook on everything.  She was so patient – she taught me to drive a stick shift (which I never perfected, but she tried really hard) and she taught me to water-ski (which I did perfect, and will think of her every time I do it now – although I have never managed to do it with my sunglasses on and without getting my hair wet, as she did).    She was so patient with Clark – she always found humor in everything that he did, even when it left her with a big mess to clean up.  She was a great friend to Josh too – I have never seen him be for comfortable with any of my friends and I have never seen him laugh as much as he did when he was with Katie!  We will miss her so much.  I think one of her friends said it best, “Friends for life isn’t long enough when one of those lives is cut short.”

We both met her at Cherry Creek High School when we were in marching band.  When she switched from playing the flute to spinning the flags, she and I really hit it off.  We had a great time together going to her parents’ house at lunch and eating spaghettio’s mixed with raviolis – we thought we were very creative.  One year, we had a fabulous idea to spray paint our flags for the parade of lights with glitter, which we did on my parents deck and got glitter and adhesive everywhere – little did we know that the glitter would all come off as we marched down the street in a cloud of glitter –but hey, it was fun and it looked cool!  We had a great time going to high school dances with the same group and thinking of creative ways of asking our dates to the Snowball dance.  We also had fun tp-ing Jay’s house several times.  Katie was a year younger than me in school, and I remember how sad she was when a large group of us graduated and left her at Creek for another year – I just read what she wrote in my yearbook – “don’t leave me here – you better come visit!” 

Well, needless to say, she survived that extra year and went on to the University of Wyoming to get her elementary education degree!  Yes, Wyoming, which we all teased her about, but she knew what she was doing because she was able to get her degree with a certificate, which she couldn’t have done in Colorado.  She always complained about being in Laramie (where the best place to eat was Applebee’s) and about how much she hated the wind there, but I know she had a great time and met some wonderful people (she joined the Pi Beta Phi sorority, for which I forgave her since they don’t have a Zeta chapter there).

When Katie came back home after finishing her degree, we had a great time being so close again.  I loved it when I could call Katie from work and ask her to meet me for lunch in an hour and she would!  We loved to go to Chili’s and have chips and salsa!  She was nice and close when I was planning my wedding and was so wonderful at coming everywhere with me and helping me make decisions (and videotaping everything so that I would remember it all).  She was the perfect bridesmaid and I was so thankful to have her in my life and to have her so close – just down the street!   I remember the day that she called me and told me that she was moving to California to take a teaching position.  I cried – I was going to miss her being just down the street.  I knew that we would be friends forever, no matter where she was, but I still cried. 

While in California, she met Jon, who was stationed in Utah at the time.  I knew she liked him A LOT when he convinced her to leave California and come live in Utah (REALLY, UTAH ?).  It didn’t take too long until the big announcement that they were engaged – SURPRISE!   Shortly after the big announcement, she came home to go wedding dress shopping – I didn’t want to miss out on that, so I went with even though it was the day before the Bar Exam – but this was Katie after all, so the choice was easy!  I had studied enough anyway!!  Josh and I went to visit Katie and Jon once while they were in Utah – we did some skiing (Katie was a wonderful skier – my dad always said she was the most graceful skier he had ever seen) at Snowbasin, where we waved at Jon who snowboarded on the bunny slope!  We also went to Katie’s school to see her classroom where she taught both 5th and 6th grade – she was a great teacher and her students loved her.   At the end of our trip, we decided that we needed to go to the Great Salt Lake, so we went out to Antelope Island, in the middle of the lake, and searched for the buffalo herd that was supposed to be there – we searched and searched, and never saw them – UNTIL, we were on our way out – Katie thought the whole thing was hilarious, and to document the event, we had her get out and take a picture with the buffalos – it was a classic Katie picture.  Luckily, I got to visit Katie a few more times in Utah because I traveled there for work and made sure to see them each time!  I even stayed on base with them when they moved there and got to see what that was all about. 

Katie and Jon then moved to Korea, where they were stationed for 2 years.  I missed her tons and Utah seemed lonely when I went back for work, but I always enjoyed Katie’s stories of her experience in Korea.  I think one of my favorites is when was shopping for a new shirt in a Korean store and she wanted to try it on and the lady told her she as “too largy!”  Too large?  Little Katie?  I guess she was by Korean standards.  When Katie was in Korea, she became a word traveler – she went to China, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, and I am sure there is somewhere I am forgetting.  Even though Katie was far away, she was amazing at keeping in touch and making me feel like I was right there with her – we talked at least weekly and she was so good about sending pictures of her adventures.  She tried to get us to come visit her in Korea, but we never made it.

While Katie was in Korea, she found out she was pregnant with her first baby (well, actually, they were travelling in China when they really found out)!  She was so excited!  While she was pregnant, she moved from Korea to Italy, and she spent a few months in Denver during the transition – it was great to have her back again!  We went out boating several times – I loved how Katie showed off her pregnant belly in her bikini!  I loved how she brought all sorts of junk food out on the boat and used the baby as her excuse to eat it!!  Katie had Clark in Italy on December 12, 2007.  After she took Clark home, I felt like I was right there watching her be a mom – again with all of the pictures and video updates.  Josh even bought me a webcam for Christmas that year so that I could webcam with Katie and get to “see” her more!  It was great!  We would webcam while I was pregnant and she always wanted to see my belly.  Then, when Brianna was born, we would webcam so the babies could see each other because we knew that they were going to be lifelong friends just like we were.   Katie and Clark came home to Denver to visit when Brianna was just 2 weeks old – they had their first date and it was sooo cute!

Although we missed the chance to visit them in Korea, we knew that we weren’t going to miss out on Italy.  We planned that trip a year in advance!  When we made the plans, Katie told me that it was possible that she would be pregnant when we visited! WHAT???  I remember asking her, “well, it’s not like you are going to due when we come, right?”  Oh no, she said!  Well, imagine my surprise when, around Valentine’s day, I get an email with a picture of a positive pregnancy test.  I did the quick math and figured she would be due around the end of October – great timing for our beginning of October visit!  As she got bigger and bigger, she liked to harass me about the timing of our trip – which ended up being 2 weeks before her due date!  “Way to plan the trip, Prehms,” she would say, to which I would respond, “way to plan the pregnancy, Friedmans!”  Well, it turned out to be perfect timing, who knew that she would die a week and a half after we left her house.  We will cherish those six days that we spent with Katie forever!  We had so much fun.  Katie lived in an “apartment” attached to her landlord’s house.  I use the term “apartment” loosely because it was a beautiful house that was perfect for her family.  It had a huge yard that backed up to a farm with donkeys, roosters, turkeys, sheep, etc.  It was a great place for Clark and Brianna to play.  Brianna had a great time with Clark – she really liked to drink his juice.  Even better, she had a great time with Auntie Katie, who became Auntie Belly because I tried to tell Brianna that her name was Katie, but she continued to shout “belly” whenever she saw her (it was a rather large belly)!  She liked to sit on Auntie Belly’s lap and have her read a book.  During our visit, we went to Venice – where we ate gelato, shopped for Murano Glass, ate pizza the size of my head, and watched Katie strut her pregnant belly all around San Marco square.  We also went to some of Katie’s favorite local restaurants, where the food was amazing, drank lots of Italian wine, at went to the local Aviano market.  It was great!

I last talked to Katie the Monday after we got home.  She had just finished unpacking all of the baby things and getting set up for having a new baby again – she wasn’t able to do that before because we stayed in the room where all that stuff was supposed to go.  She was determined to make it all the way to her due date, October 20th.  She also told me that she expected us to have our vacation pictures up within the week!  Sorry we didn’t meet that deadline!  That Friday, I received the worst phone call I have ever received in my life – it was from Katie’s mom telling me what had happened. 

A week later, Katie’s friends started arriving in Denver from all over the country.  It was wonderful to see them, despite the circumstances, and to remember Katie.  Unfortunately, in the midst of all of this, poor Josh got the flu, followed by pneumonia.  Luckily, he is recovering well, but was so disappointed that he was unable to be a pallbearer in Katie’s funeral, as Jon had asked him to.  He was so honored to be asked.  Another of our long time friends (and long time friend of Katie’s), Jay, was able to fill in for Josh (thanks, Jay).  In an effort to stay well, Brianna and I stayed in Denver until this past Wednesday, so we ended up spending Halloween in Denver.  We went to “Boo at the Zoo” and trick-or-treated at the Wildlife Experience.  We also trick-or-treated at a few special houses in Denver.  Brianna was a bee for Halloween, and she liked to run around saying “bee bee” everywhere.  I tried to teach her that bee says “buzz,” but she still thinks that a bee says “bee.”

Thank you to everyone for your support over these past few weeks.  Thank you for sending dinner to us after you found out about Katie, thank you for sending food to Josh and doing his grocery shopping for him while he was sick and I was in Denver.  Thank you for your kind thoughts for me and for Katie’s family.  Thank you for coming to Katie’s services and for the hugs of support when I couldn’t keep it together.  Thank you for listening to me talk for hours about Katie.  And please, continue to keep Katie’s three boys, her parents, and her sister in your thoughts – they need a lot of support right now.

Please enjoy our “Katie” pictures from our trip until we have time to put up the rest.  Also, we hope you enjoy the slideshow that Josh created for Katie’s memorial service (it was played in the chapel before the service began, as well as at the reception following the service).

October 13, 2009 
We returned safely from our 2 week trip to Germany and Italy this past Sunday.  We had a wonderful trip and Brianna was an amazing traveler.  We will provide the details of the trip and lots of pictures soon!
 
The purpose of this update is not to tell you about the fun that we had on our trip, but to tell you about Hannah.  Yesterday, we made the very difficult decision to have Hannah put to sleep.  She had started to show some signs of decline just before we left on our trip, and went into a rapid decline while we were gone.  Luckily, she was in the caring hands of Josh's parents while we were away.  They took very good care of her and made it possible for us to see her one last time after we arrived home.  When we got home on Sunday, Hannah came home to spend one last night with us.  When we saw her, we immediately noticed that her belly was very swollen and she did not have her usual happy look on her face.  She also had very little interest in eating - she even refused the bones that Brianna tried to feed her (although out of her love for Brianna, she made an attempt to take the bones - it was very sweet).  We knew it was time, but slept on that decision for the night and called the vet in the morning.  Our vet assured us that we were making the right decision and reminded us that ending Hannah's discomfort was really our final show of our love for her. 
 
Yesterday at 10am we made the dreaded drive to the vet's office.  We are thankful that we were able to go together and leave Brianna with Emily's mom.  We were able to sit with Hannah and love her and pet her until she took her last breath.  When we left, she was "sleeping" comfortably on a soft bed, just like she used to do at home.  When we returned home, the house seemed so quiet and it was sad not to have our faithful Hannah greet us at the gate as we drove up.  We know we made the right decision for Hannah, but it is amazing how much we miss her constantly shedding hair and her nose smudges on the glass now that she is gone. 

August 29, 2009
To answer everyone’s first question, Hannah is still hanging in and doing quite well.  She has no noticeable signs that the cancer has made a comeback (of course, we’re not veterinarians, so there might be some signs, but we choose to ignore them).  It has been almost 3 months since her surgery and she has grown back almost all of the hair that was shaved off.  We are still spoiling her as much as we can – she has put on some extra weight from the extra treats she has been receiving!  We will keep our fingers crossed that she beats that 1-3 month life expectancy by a lot.

Our other baby is doing well too.  Brianna started daycare on August 10th, and after a week of being at the place where we had been on the waiting list for a year and a half, we decided we didn’t like it, so we made a move and Brianna started at a new school this past Monday, and everyone is much happier.  The initial transition at the old daycare didn’t go so well (lots of crying, not just when we left, but all day) and Brianna managed to get sick after only a week and was sent home with a fever on the second Monday.  We think she planned the sickness so that she wouldn’t have to go back to the old place because she stayed home the rest of the week.  She was feeling much better this Monday when she started at her new school and they say that she is transitioning very well.  She likes to talk a lot and giggle with her new little friends and she is very busy all day playing outside, listening to music and stories, and making “art.”

Brianna still loves to play outside in her sandbox and pool.  She also likes to play in the big pool too – we all went swimming today and she had a blast.  Her favorite thing to do, by far, is to read books.  She learns new things every day – she can tell you the sounds that the following animals make:  cow, pig, lion, kitty, doggy, duck, and sheep.  She can also identify the following body parts:  ears, eyes, nose, tongue, hair, head, chin, belly, and feet.  She really loves to give hugs and kisses (all hugs begin with a running start, so beware if you ever ask for one).  She also really likes to eat, so now our baby that used to have to go to the doctor twice a week for weight checks after being so little weighs 25 pounds!

Just before Brianna started daycare, we went on a boat trip to Flaming Gorge Reservoir with Josh’s parents.  We made the 7 hour trek across Wyoming and into Utah to enjoy the huge reservoir!  All the sitting was a little much for Brianna, so she took a break from the boating on the third day of our trip, but did have fun dipping in the water the day before. 

June 18, 2009
You might think, from the lack of updates, that nothing has been going on in our lives, but don’t be fooled, things have been busy at our house!  Brianna is officially walking now and using that as her primary mode of transportation.  She only crawls occasionally.  She is getting pretty fast at the walking and is almost running (especially when daddy chases her).  She had taken a few steps before her first birthday, but really started walking about 2 weeks after her birthday.  Brianna is also saying a few words.  Her first word, other than “mama” and “dada” was “doggy,” which she uses not only when she sees Hannah, but also when she sees other dogs (even dogs on TV).  Her other word is “tree.”  We think she has a few more words, but we are still deciphering them!

Last week, for Emily’s 31st birthday (kind of a belated 30th birthday present, since on Emily’s 30th birthday we were suffering from sleep deprivation due to caring for a 1 month old), we took a trip to Boston.  While we were there, we got a chance to visit with our very good friend Katie, who moved to Rhode Island at the beginning of the year – we miss her very much so it was great to spend time with her!  We also caught a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, visited the Boston Children’s Museum, and spent 2 days out on Cape Cod. 

It was a great trip, but we had an unfortunate development while we were away, which made it a little harder to have fun.  On the second night of our trip, we found out that Hannah was very sick and had to go to the emergency vet.  She had a large mass on her spleen that had ruptured and she was bleeding internally – she ended up losing several liters of blood.  Luckily, Josh’s parents, who were taking care of her, acted quickly and took her to the emergency vet.   It turned out that Hannah needed to have her spleen removed and a blood transfusion to save her life.  Prior to the surgery, the vet told us that there was a 60% chance that the mass was cancerous, but since Hannah is only 7 and a half, we went ahead with the surgery hoping for good news that the mass was benign.  Hannah made it through the surgery like a trooper and got out of the doggy hospital the day before we got home from our trip.  When we brought her home, she was like a new dog after a couple days! 

Unfortunately, the happiness was short lived because this past Monday, we found out that the mass was in fact cancer and it was the worst news possible because it is an aggressive cancer that spreads through the blood, so even though the spleen and tumor have been removed, the cancer cells are swimming around in Hannah’s body just waiting to make their reappearance.  We are now struggling with the reality that our first baby is dying of cancer and has one to three months left to live.  There is no cure for this type of cancer and while chemotherapy is available to prolong her life for an additional few months, we decided that we do not want to put her through that.  So, we are living it up with Hannah now while she feels good, recklessly spoiling her, and just waiting for the ticking time bomb to go off again. 

May 9, 2009
Happy Birthday Brianna - a little late!!! Brianna's first birthday was on Tuesday, but we celebrated in style with a party on May 2.  Brianna invited all her best buddies to party with her – which made us realize that our friends need to have more girls – of the 11 kids there, Brianna and Joanna were the only girls!  Brianna had a great time playing with the boxes to all of her new toys while mommy opened presents and daddy took pictures.  Her playroom is now stocked with new toys and her closet is filled with a new wardrobe.  Thank you to everyone for all of the wonderful gifts. After present time, it was cake time!  Brianna had a great time crumbling her cake into little tiny pieces – she didn’t each much as we expected since she refuses to put food in her mouth with her own hands - she prefers to use a spoon or have us put it in her mouth for her! What a princess! She did really enjoy making a mess of her cake, even if she didn't each much.

Did we mention that our friends need to have more girls?  Well, Lindsey and Jeremy just didn’t listen!  Yesterday, they welcomed Caden Paul into the world at 4:30pm.  Welcome Caden - you're a cutie!  We have already come to an agreement with his parents on sharing birthday party weekends for the next 18 years (OK, probably just the next 6 or 7 years)!!!

April 8, 2009
Tonight Brianna took three small steps. She was standing against the ottoman in her room while Emily was getting ready to put her down for the night. She turned from the ottoman towards Emily and took three steps towards her, falling down to all fours. It won't be long now until she will be up and about, running around the house!

March 18, 2009
Wow, it’s been a month since we last updated the site!  A lot has happened this past month.  Brianna is almost 20 pounds now and just celebrated her 10 month birthday.  She has become an expert crawler and gets around pretty quickly.  She also pulls up on the furniture and cruises around on 2 legs while holding on for dear life!  She has finally cut some teeth – 2 to be exact.  They are on the bottom in the middle.  Now that she has teeth, she seems to understand the concept of chewing, so she is exploring foods other than pureed fruit and veggies! 

Emily’s mom (Tutu, as Brianna knows her) is still taking great care of Brianna during the days when we are both at work.  We are thankful that Brianna doesn’t have to go to day care yet, but we try to make sure she gets some socialization with other kids every once in a while.  In fact, last Saturday, we had a “Little Leprechaun” playdate for all of Brianna’s friends.  It was a lot of fun – we had kids from 9 months to 8 years and they all seemed to have a great time!  The next big playdate will be Brianna’s first birthday party – can’t believe that is less than 2 months away!

February 18, 2009
Brianna is growing like a weed. We went to her 9 month check up last Friday - here are the stats: 28 inches tall (55%), 19 pounds 4.5 ounces (51%) with a head circumference of 17.75 inches (76%). In honor of her 9 month birthday, we bought her a new toy - it's a big mirror that has instruments she can touch (or hit) to play music. She absolutely LOVES her new toy and the baby in the mirror.

She is learning new things everyday. She recently started to walk when we help her by holding her hands. She isn't quite crawling yet, but she gets herself around by rolling and army crawling (pulling herself with her arms). She has gotten up on all fours and crawled a couple of steps a few times, but it is not her primary mode of transportation yet! She is also pulling herself up to stand - she especially likes to pull herself up using the coffee table and then likes to clear everything off the table once she is standing. Another one of her new favorite tricks is drinking water in the bath tub - we're not quite sure where she learned this one from, but it is pretty funny to watch! We tried to catch a lot of her new tricks on video, so be sure to check out the new movie on the home page!

She still doesn't have any teeth, although, we're pretty sure that they are working their way up. We'll see if they ever actually appear. Her lack of teeth makes it harder to eat solids - she loves baby food, but only if it is really pureed - she refuses anything with texture! Hopefully that will change once the teeth come in. She just started eating yogert and LOVES it!

Tomorrow, we are heading up to Steamboat Springs for the last time this winter. We look forward to some more skiing for Mommy and Daddy and swimming for Brianna!

January 31, 2009
On Tuesday night, Brianna figured out how to sit up on her own!  Yeah Brianna!  She did it about 10 times in a row just before bed and has done it a few times since then.  Unfortunately, Daddy was working that night and she has decided not to show him her new trick in person, luckily Mommy caught it on video!

Last weekend we went up to Steamboat Springs to ski and relax.  It dumped several feet of snow on us while we were up there which made for great snow to ski on, but it also made our legs work harder to get down the hill.  Brianna enjoyed her first trip down the bunny hill (just kidding, not for a few more years)!  The place where we stayed did have a pool, so even though Brianna didn’t hit the slopes, she got to have fun at the pool.  She had a great time splashing around in the water and even put her face in the water a few times.  We have her signed up for swimming lessons this spring, and it looks like she is REALLY going to enjoy them!

Enjoy the new January photos!  There aren’t too many for this month because Daddy has been working the night shift and is falling down on his photography job but, not to worry, he switches to the day shift next week and will take a lot more pictures!

January 5, 2009
Can you believe that Brianna was born 8 months ago, today?  We can't either!  More importantly, we know you are all awaiting pictures of Brianna's first Christmas - well, wait no longer!  Brianna really enjoyed her first Christmas.  She loves paper in general so she really enjoyed playing with all the of the wrapping paper.  She didn't quite get the concept of unwrapping the gifts - she would pull off one piece of paper and play with it while Mommy and Daddy finished opening the gift!  Of course, once all the gifts were opened, she really enjoyed playing with all of the new toys!  She received lots of pretty new clothes and fun new toys.  Santa brought her an exersaucer which she finds very entertaining; however, her favorite gift seems to be an electronic book that her cousin JoAnn in St. Louis bought for her.  Thanks to everyone for being so thoughtful this Christmas!

Brianna and Mommy rang in the new year together while Daddy had to work.  We went to a party at Carey and Kendall's house.  Brianna had a great time playing will tons of kids around her age (she watched them all crawling and studied closely so that she can do it herself soon)!  We didn't make it to midnight, but we did manage to stay out until 9:45, which is pretty impressive given the fact that Brianna usually goes to bed at 7. 

Brianna also enjoyed her holiday visits with her buddies Zach, Xander and Clark.

December 23, 2008
Well, we had grand plans of taking Brianna to see Santa this year, but here we are on Christmas Eve Eve, and still no Santa. Emily and Brianna tried to visit Santa last Friday when we went shopping at Park Meadows with Katie and Clark, but the line was way too long! Does Santa work on Christmas Eve? Maybe we can visit him tomorrow! We have pictures of our outing with Clark, but unfortunetly, those are on Katie's camera becuase Emily's camera battery was dead. Katie promises to send up the pictures when she gets back to Italy, so we will share then then!

We haven't posted any new pictures lately, but that will all change after Christmas, so be sure to check back soon to see Brianna's first Christmas festivities! We wish you all a Merry Christmas!

December 13, 2008
Josh is back at work now... what a joy. To top things off, its time in our rotation for nights... more joy.

Brianna continues to amaze us. Making new faces that make us cry from laughter. She still enjoys having food shoved up her nose despite our best efforts not to.

The basement - Josh is going to Home Depot today for a 'How To Tile' class - He is going to install the tile floor and shower walls himself. Once the floor is in, we will paint and the have the carpet installed and that will be just about it! We can't wait to have all of our stuff back in the house from the garage so we don't have to scrape the frost off the cars in the mornings.

Oh by the way - Josh is already looking forward to taking the boat out with Brianna --- and let her sea legs develop.

December 8, 2008
Brianna turned 7 months old last Friday.  It is so hard to believe - it seems like we just brought her home from the hospital.  She is such a big girl now - she sits up all by herself and rarely falls over (she doesn't pull herself up to a sitting position yet - but she is working on that)!  She is starting to babble and is working on pushing herself up to crawl - all this advancement, but she still hasn't figured out how to roll over from her stomach to her back (which still causes her to cry for mommy when she wakes up in the middle of the night on her belly)! 

Her menu of solid foods is increasing - she really likes fruits and most veggies, but she still can't stand to eat peas (mom resisted the temptation to buy her a bib that says "NO MORE PEAS"). 

Brianna is looking forward to a visit from her good friend Clark - Clark and his mommy are coming to Denver from Italy next week, just after Clark's first birthday!  Brianna can't wait to give him a big birthday hug!

Josh has been working hard on the basement and we hope to have it finished right around Christmas - what a great gift that will be!

November 24, 2008
Wow - Josh's time is flying by. He can’t believe that he has to go back to work in a week!!!  He will sure miss the time he spent with Brianna - their walks around the neighborhood, or manly trips to the hardware store to pick up a few items for the basement.  Josh is defiantly not looking forward to going back and would gladly take another month off if he could. 

Brianna is doing well.  Tonight she weighed in at 15 lbs 6 oz.  She loves ‘solid’ foods.  She enjoys sweet potatoes, carrots, prunes, pears, and apples.  But she doesn’t seem to enjoy peas.  Every time we give them to her, she makes a face that says ‘seriously, why did you just do that?’  We have given her apple juice and prune juice in a sippy cup, but she doesn’t care for the cup and prefers the bottle.  But at the same time, when we give her fruits and vegetables, she has to have her own spoon to play with while we feed her.

Keep checking in – in the next week Josh will post Brianna’s November photos.

The basement – the basement is progressing after a week or so of little/no activity.  We hired a company to come and hang/tape/texture our drywall.  They have made the ‘rough’ taping and will be back tomorrow and clean up the inconsistencies in the walls – then the following day will be texture. 

November 12, 2008
Brianna experienced snow for the first time this weekend.  We took a long weekend trip up to Steamboat Springs where we spent three nights relaxing and enjoying the mountains.  Since the weather has generally been nice in Denver with no real cold or snow to speak of, this was the first chance that Brianna had to really experience Colorado in the winter - and it was also a great chance for us to dress her up in her cute winter clothes that had been sitting in the drawer just waiting for it to get colder!  Now we just need to teach her to ski!!!

November 3, 2008
This past weekend was a busy one. On Saturday we drove to Denver and had Brianna baptized. After our private ceremony, Larry and Donna hosted a ‘Sip N See’ where many of their friends came by and met Brianna.  On Sunday, we drove up to Firestone (that’s between Denver and Loveland) and celebrated Xander’s third birthday. 

October 31, 2008
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

October 26, 2008
The Pumpkin Patch photos are up. There aren't too many from yesterday - we had to cut our trip short since Brianna appears to be cutting her first tooth! We're going to a Halloween party today, so look for pictures of Brianna is costume sometime soon!

October 25, 2008
As far as the basement is concerned - our plumber will be here on Wednesday to finsh up the rough in. Josh is making progress on the electrical - while it is easy to learn, it is quite time consuming. We will post new photos of the basement when we are ready for our rough inspections from the city.

Brianna is rolling from her back to her stomach - both from the left and the right. However, she gets stuck on her belly and does not like it at all. So needless to say we are up throughout the night turning her back over to her back. Josh hopes to teach her to roll from her stomach to back soon. Brianna is making lots of noises - making us wonder what she is trying to tell us. If we only knew! We are all going to a pumpkin patch today - so look for some new photos here soon!!!

October 13, 2008
Forgive all these little updates, but we put up some new photos of the basement. Our neighbor Bill helped Josh put together three HVAC registers. While we got the job done, we both walked away bloody. I guess we should have worn the gloves we had in our pockets. Also, we decided to hire out the plumbing, making sure that it is done right. Nothing like having all our hard work destroyed because we forgot a simple detail when putting some pipe or a fixture together. I guess this way it won't be my fault and I can blame someone else for the damage!

October 12, 2008
Brianna had a break through tonight just before bed. She figured out how roll to her stomach from her back... yeah Brianna!

October 11, 2008
Here is a quick photo of Larry and Donna in Australia. - Thie link has since expired....

October 10, 2008
While Larry and Donna are in Australia - we are watching their dog, Fergie (red dog). Thanks to her for redecorating my front yard.

October 6, 2008
As several know, Josh has started work in the basement. The finished plan isn't too complicated. A bathroom, closet and we will leave the rest open. Here are some shots... The framing is just about completed. Then on to the rough electrical/plumbing/HVAC.

October 1, 2008
Josh and Brianna took a trip up to Estes Park and shot a few photos... the aspens are in the height of their color and the elk are bugling. Josh is also putting together Brianna's September photos... so thoese will be out soon. So for now here are our Estes photos.

September 22, 2008
Today was Brianna's 4 month check up. She is weighing in at 12 lbs 9 oz (15%) // Height 25 inches (60%) // With a big noggen - 16 1/2 inches (65%). She also recieved another round of shots - three in the thigh and one was given oraly. There was crying (and screaming) of course, but she is doing better now.

She is grasping for objects quite regularly - nearly pulling over a lunch plate on Emily's lap. She can hold her head for a long time now when she is on her belly.

September 19, 2008
Brianna made a trip to Denver today and met her newest boyfriend - Cale William. Click on his photo for more photos.

September 16, 2008
First off - Congratulations to Carey and Kendall - yesterday at 11:20 in the morning Kendall gave birth to their first son - Cale William - tipping the scales at 8lbs, 8oz and pushing 21-1/2" long. Here is a link to Carey's blog. They have also posted photos at Shutterfly.com.

As for our family - Brianna took a car ride this weekend to the mountains to meet her Great-Grandpa in Glenwood Springs. She also met several other family members including Josh's aunt and uncle - Mike and Chele. Uncle John was also there, as well as Josh's cousin Cindy and her husband Dean.

The drive over was unevenful. The aspens haven't changed just yet, though they are hinting that next weekend would be the time to go. Brianna slept the entire trip, only waking to eat at Silverthorn.

September 6, 2008
It looks like Josh has the video problem resolved --- it had to do with -- just kidding, we're am not going to explain it. But if you do find any broken links or other multimedia that are not working, PLEASE email us and let us know so Josh can get it resolved.

Brianna is 4 months old now (as of yesterday). She is holding her head up all the time now. Josh has also taught her to hold her bottle; however, she has a hard time putting it into her mouth.

Emily went back to work this past Tuesday and everyone survived the week! The first day was VERY hard (especially for Emily), but things got better as the week went on. Josh is doing well as a stay at home dad. Josh and Brianna came to Emily's work on Friday to have lunch. We enjoyed showing her off at Emily's office - everyone loved meeting her!

August 30, 2008
Brianna had a wonderful visit with her Great Aunt Penny and Uncle Dick.  During their visit, we went to Estes Park and had a picnic in Rocky Mountain National Park.  This is a favorite day trip of ours, but it was Brianna’s first time there!  We had a great time and Josh enjoyed taking pictures, especially of the elk. 

Tomorrow is the big football showdown between CU and CSU.  We’re going to our friends’ house for the game.  Brianna is all ready for the game – she can’t wait to wear her CSU cheerleading outfit!

August 22, 2008
Brianna and Emily just got home from a trip to St. Louis to visit Brianna’s (and Emily’s) cousins.  It was Brianna’s first plane ride and she did wonderfully – she didn’t cry at all.  Poor Josh had to stay home because he couldn’t get the time off work.  While we were in St. Louis, Brianna had her first dip in a swimming pool and she loved it (she was well dressed for the occasion too,  thanks to Emily’s mom)!

Brianna’s great Aunt Penny and Uncle Dick are due in to Denver today for a visit.  Brianna is looking forward to meeting them.  She had the chance to meet her great Aunt Diana at the beginning of the month. 

August 10, 2008
We had our 30th birthday bash the other day. Many friends and family members made it to our house to celebrate and see Brianna. While Josh didn't take any photos at the party, he did post Brianna's July-August photos (they are on page two.)

Tomorrow is our 7th anniversary.  We will commemorate by having dinner at the Melting Pot in Fort Collins.  For those of you that couldn’t make it to our party, we are sorry that we missed you…

August 2, 2008
It’s hard to believe that it is already August.  Emily has to go back to work in exactly one month from today and then Josh will get some quality Brianna time – Josh will be off work playing “Mr. Mom” for three months. 

We are currently in the middle of a chicken pox scare – that’s right, Brianna was exposed to chicken pox at the new mom’s group that we go to at the hospital each week.  We’re hoping that she doesn’t get it, but until we know for sure, we are trying to stay away from our friends who have kids so that we don’t expose them too.  Unlike when we were kids, they have a vaccine against the disease now so it’s no longer a disease that is just part of being a kid!  Unfortunately, they don’t give the vaccination until 1 year, so Brianna hasn’t had it yet!

Be sure that you check out Brianna's Friends page that she just uploaded!

July 30, 2008
This past weekend we took Brianna to Kiddie Kandids to have her 3 month photo. I put two a few of them on the 'home' page, but here is the link to see them all.

July 16, 2008
We see that it has been a while since we have updated this. We have been quite busy as Josh is working a lot and Emily has been busy with Brianna. Brianna had her 2 month shots the other day, two in one thigh and one more in the other. Ouch. But she took it well. She was just a little more sensitive for the latter half of the day. She is still sleeping 5 or so hours a night. Her head strength is getting stronger, allowing her to hold her head up longer. We mimic Brianna's sounds that she makes and she sometimes makes them back.

Emily and Josh made our annual trip down to Pueblo Reservoir with friends.  It was very hot, almost 100 degrees.  I am glad that we brought our boat so we could cool off.  Emily's parents took care of Brianna for us while we were gone.  She is still a bit young to be out in the sun and heat.

July 2, 2008
It’s hard to believe, but Brianna will be 2 months old on Saturday!  She is getting to be such a big girl.  Here are a few fun facts about what she is doing these days:

• She can hold her head up on her own for quite a while before it flops back down
• She loves to be carried around on mommy’s shoulder so that she can see everything – this is helping with her neck strength too because she holds her head up most of the time that she is up there
• She has started to make cooing sounds and will engage in conversation with you if you coo back at her (mommy and daddy are enjoying the fact that she now has a method of communication other than crying)
• She is smiling up a storm
• She loves to play the “airplane game” with mommy (and mommy is building up some great arm strength doing it)
• She likes to lay in her crib and watch and listen to her mobile
• She likes to wear her sunglasses when we go outside

Check out the new pictures of our “big girl” on pictures page!

June 21, 2008
Photos of Brianna trying to smile are up for all to see...

June 18, 2008
Brianna has started to smile – well, a little.  She isn’t very consistent yet, but when we play with her, sometimes she will flash the cutest little smile (and no, she does not just have gas).  Josh has tried to catch in on camera and has gotten a few pictures, but none that capture how cute she really is when she gives us her biggest, happiest smile!  Hopefully we will get a good picture soon as she becomes more consistent with those smiles – they really are cute!

She is also starting to hold onto toys that we put in her hands – she doesn’t pick them up on her own, but if we put one in her hand, she will hold onto it and wave it around in her hand, until she drops it and then she forgets all about it.  Her two favorite toys are the giraffe and the monkey. 

Other good news – she was up to 8 pounds, 14 ounces yesterday – just under the 9 pound mark!  She will be out of those newborn clothes and diapers before we know it.

June 16, 2008
Brianna is 6 weeks old today!  She is gaining weight much quicker now – she was up to 8 pounds 7 ounces on the hospital scale last Tuesday and we’re expecting her to be close to 9 pounds when we go weigh her tomorrow (she was 8 pounds 13.5 ounces on our home scale yesterday, but we use the hospital scale for the “official” weight)! 

Brianna had her first day at the lake on Saturday.  Our family friends, the Hoffmans, invited us over to their lake so that Josh could have a much anticipate boat ride – he hasn’t had a chance to get our boat out this summer.  Brianna and Emily hung out on the beach and enjoyed the nice weather while Josh cruised on the water. 

Last Tuesday, Emily’s very good friend Hyla welcomed her second baby boy, Zach, into the world.  Brianna and Emily met Zach last week before he left the hospital and we are going to see them again tomorrow for a play date (the mommies will play more than the babies until they get a little older)!  We are so excited. 

June 7, 2008
We uploaded Brianna's 1 month photos here... it is under the 'Day By Day' in her new format.

June 6, 2008
Today Emily turns the BIG 30!!!! Congratulations!!!

Yesterday was a long day. Brianna had a crying spell for a long time.  Actually it was a screaming session that lasted from around 11:30 AM to about 5 PM.  We took her to the doctor to make sure that there was nothing physically wrong with her, which there wasn’t.  However, her weight is still at 8 lbs 1 ounce.  Meaning for the last week, she did not gain anything.  We guess on the plus side she didn’t lose anything either.  When we got home, the car ride had settled her down enough to ‘fix’ the problem – hunger.  She ate and ate and ate. 

That evening Jeremy and Lindsey came up to baby sit.  Allowing us to go to the Bone Fish and have a Birthday dinner for Emily.  After the long day, it was very much appreciated!!!  We will hopefully do a little photo shoot today and upload Brianna’s one month photo… Time flies when you are having fun!

June 2, 2008
Brianna is finally growing!  She passed the test at the pediatrician’s office on Friday, where she weighed in at 8 pounds, 1 ounce.  The doctor was happy enough that we don’t have to go in for weight checks twice a week anymore.  Our next visit (barring any unforeseen circumstances) won’t be until the beginning of July for her 2 month check-up.  In addition to getting heavier, Brianna is getting longer too – we haven’t been measuring her and neither has the doctor, but we know she is longer because she no longer fits into some of her newborn size clothes because she is too long for them. 

Yesterday, Brianna made her debut at her first social gathering – a 3rd birthday party for Joanna Pugliese!  Brianna was a perfect baby, well almost perfect – she didn’t fuss at all until half way home (which meant mom got to listen to 15 minutes of non-stop crying since it was just mom and Brianna in the car)!

This week we look forward to meeting Tristan McCrary tomorrow and celebrating Brianna’s one month birthday on Thursday (one day before her mother’s dreaded 30th birthday)!  Then, we are taking Brianna’s first road trip to Glenwood Springs for the weekend so that she can meet her only living great grandparent – Josh’s grandpa Ed – and her other relatives that live in Glenwood!  On the way home, we are stopping by Luke’s house – he is throwing his first party and Brianna wouldn’t miss it!

May 29, 2008
Brianna is 3 ½ weeks old!  The time has just flown by!  Today, she is going to have one more play date with her buddy Clark Friedman before he and his mommy head back to Italy on Saturday!  Next time they see each other Brianna will be almost 6 months old! 

While Clark is away, Brianna will have lots of other boys to choose from – her new buddy Tristan McCrary was born on May 23rd and she looks forward to the arrival of baby boy Schreurs on (or around) June 10th and baby boy Ryerson in September, not to mention the older men in her life, Colin Wise and Luke Krueger, who she has yet to meet!  Don’t worry – she plans on play dates with her girlfriends too – so Mady, Haley, Annabelle and Trinity, don’t feel left out!

If you haven’t figured it out, there has been a baby boom in our circle of friends and we look forward to Brianna developing lifelong friendships with the kiddos – we know she will be spending lots of time with them!

May 27, 2008
Early this morning Josh finished putting together and testing a new photo format. It enables us to share photos and videos in one easy to use interface. Let us know what you think.

May 25, 2008
We see that it has been a while since we updated this... we have been a bit busy - HA! Everything continues to go well. Not perfect, well. Brianna seems to have a little trouble putting on weight. She is back up to her birth weight, but it seems that is where she wants to stay. So the feedings will continue... but on the plus side, she sleeps 4-6 hours a night, probably contributing to the weight gain problem. Brianna's doctor is not too overly concerned yet, so we are trying not to be. Josh is putting together a new format to display our photos, so look for that soon.

May 13, 2008
Another quiet day. Not too much excitement. We continue to figure things out... becoming quicker at the tasks that Brianna demands. Katie is home from Italy. She came up for a visit and Brianna got to meet Clark, her 5 month old son. They had a good time together... not that they will remember.

May 12, 2008
It has been a busy weekend. On Saturday we gave Brianna her first bath. She didn't cry once and seemed to actually enjoy it. On Sunday we celibrated Emily's first Mother's Day. Today, Brianna is a week old and to celebrate we are going to the doctor.

May 9, 2008
We are home!!! We made the three minute trip from the hospital back home yesterday. We introduced Brianna to our dog Hannah and it couldn't have gone better. She did what we expected her to do - sniff a lot! Then every time Hannah was content and moved on or became distracted, Brianna would make a little noise and Hannah would come back and investigate. We think they could do that for hours. In any event, things are going well, Emily and I are both learning a lot and enjoying every minute of it! I added a few new photos - enjoy.

May 7, 2008
Since our previous night was a good one, we paid for it last night. We have since figured out that Brianna likes to cluster feed (she will nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry, nurse a few minutes, pull off, fuss/cry... on and on... for hours). Last night she did this - but now we have a solution given to us by our pediatrician. After a long feeding by Emily, Josh can now give her a small amount of formula. This way we can continue with the antibodies from Emily, fill Brianna so she doesn't fuss as much, and Josh is involved in the feedings - more than just changing diapers! Today has gone much better. Everyone is still healthy and doing well. With that in mind, we were told that we probably *could* go home tonight. But we opted to stay another night. So it looks like we will be bringing Brianna home on Thursday sometime. Again, thanks to all for your Love, help and support.

May 6, 2008
Last night was a good night. We all got 4 hours of consecuitive sleep. A lot more than we thought we would. This morining, Emily was able to get out of bed and take a shower. She has also walked the floor several times since the spinal has worn off. She tells every one that she is doing well. Brianna is also doing well. Emily and Brianna saw the doctors this morning and neither doctor found any concerns. None of us know exactly when we are coming home, but we cant wait! Thanks to all for the visits, phone calls, and text messages... Some new photos are up...

May 5, 2008
Last night Emily started contractions around 10:30 PM. But they were not close enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. So we kept with the original plan for an induction. However, through the night, they became closer together and stronger. At 6 AM today, we checked in. While on the monitor it was observed that during every contraction the baby's heart rate dropped. Indicating that the cord was becoming pinched somewhere under the pressure. To make a long story short, a cesarean section was performed. Brianna was born at 9:06 today; weighing in at 7 lbs and 11 ozs; 21 inches. Both mom and baby are doing WELL... as expected after major surgery. So with that in mind we will be at the hospital for at least 3 days.... more photos as they come in!

May 2, 2008
It looks like no one picked the right date in the baby pool (although we are still holding out for Julie's May 3rd guess, but it doesn't look too realistic at this point)! We went to the doctor yesterday and they scheduled us for an induction at 7am on Monday morning. We're keeping our fingers crossed that baby decides to come on her own over the weekend, but if she doesn't, she'll have a rude awakening come Monday. Check out our last "week by week" photo, the next pictures you see will be of baby!

April 28, 2008
Well, today is the big day, and the big news is...there is no news. We're still waiting to meet our baby girl; however, there is an end in sight. The doctor said that if baby doesn't come on her own this week, they will induce labor next Monday or Tuesday, so we will be parents in a week for sure.

April 18, 2008
It's springtime in Colorado - 80 degrees one day and snow the next! Everything is coming to life, even our tulips that we bought in Amsterdam last spring (we'll post a picture once they start blooming). Now we just need the baby to come so she can enjoy it too - we keep trying to tell her it's beautiful outside and she should come out and see it - that hasn't worked yet.

We're at 38 weeks now. Emily has been working from home the past week and plans to do so until the baby is born - yipee, no more driving to Denver and no risk of being on the news for having the baby on the side of the road on the way to the hospital from Denver (no joke - there was a story on the news last night about a woman who didn't make it to the hospital in time because she had a long commute - she delivered her baby in the car on the side of the road with a State Trooper)!

The doctor says everything looks good. Baby's heartbeat is 140 beats per minute - strong and healthy - and her head is down. She's all ready to come out, but we don't think that is going to happen for a little while still. We're trying to get things going by taking long walks every day, although that doesn't seem to be doing much, but Hannah sure is enjoying it!

April 17, 2008
Not much going on. Just waiting... Go Avalanche

April 8, 2008
Uploaded our 37 week photo.

March 26, 2008
Uploaded our 35 week photoand added a few more photos from the baby shower at Susan's house.

March 24, 2008
Josh took some updated photos of the nursery - they are a 'photo-merge' and might look a bit weird, but you will get the idea.

March 21, 2008
Last Saturday, our friends Susan and Kelly hosted a wonderful co-ed baby shower for us.  We had a great time and enjoyed seeing all of the kids that joined us for the shower – the special guests of honor were the two newest members of the group, Madison and Luke, who were born in January and February and are sure to be great playmates for our baby!

Since the shower, we’ve been busy putting the finishing touches on the nursery (don’t worry, there will be pictures when it is all done) and organizing everything that we have so we can figure out what we still need (which isn’t much because everyone has been sooooo generous in helping us get ready for this big event)!

We’re almost to 35 weeks – so look for a new belly picture at the beginning of next week!!

March 12, 2008
We just wrapped up a very busy week full of baby preparations! It all began last Tuesday with our "Happiest Baby on the Block" class where we learned all sorts of ways to (hopefully) calm our daughter when she is upset and crying - it is supposed to improve/lengthen her sleep! We hope it works. Then, this weekend we attended our childbirth class. We did the weekend "fast track" class to accomodate Josh's schedule, so we spent a half day on Saturday and Sunday in class, but we learned a lot. Finally, on Monday night, we went to "new parent night" at our pediatrician's office where we learned all about what to do when baby gets sick! After packing all of our classes into one week, we are officially finished and supposedly know everything that we need to know to become parents - yeah right!

Be sure to check out the 33 week photo - it is taken next to to super comfortable glider/recliner that Josh's parents bought for the nursery.

March 3, 2008
Yesterday, Emily friends Lindsey and Hyla threw her a wonderful baby shower!  Emily’s aunts, Penny and Chris, flew in from California and Texas to join in the fun.  Everyone had a great time and especially enjoyed the games that Hyla created.  The only disappointment of the day was the weather – after a record high in the 70s on Saturday, we barely reached 40 degrees with snow and high winds on Sunday!  Thank you so much to everyone who braved the weather to shower our baby with gifts – we are so fortunate to have such wonderful friends and family!

Feburary 25, 2008
The 31 week photo is up.

Feburary 17, 2008
Today Emily's Dad, Larry, came over and helped Josh put the border up in the nursery.

Feburary 12, 2008
We just uploaded our 29 week photo...

February 8, 2008
The past week has been a busy week!  Last Friday, February 1st, Emily’s office threw us a surprise baby shower.  Emily’s friend, Hyla, helped orchestrate the celebration, but then was surprised herself when our co-workers honored her at the shower as well with gifts for her second little boy, who is due to arrive in June (the perfect playmate for our baby girl)!  We received a lot of wonderful gifts, including a bouncy seat and a travel swing, which we are told we will really appreciate when we are trying to get baby to sleep!

Yesterday, we had our 3D ultrasound appointment.  The pictures are very different than the ones we have shared before – this time you can actually get an idea of what her face looks like (although, she had her hands in front of her face most of the time).  The ultrasound tech confirmed for a second time that we are having a girl (we had a different tech than the time before, so that is 2 people confirming that we’re having a girl)!

Now that we feel confident enough to wallpaper the room with the pink border, Josh and Emily’s dad will get that up on the wall next weekend and then we can finally get the nursery put together.

Check back at the beginning of next week for a 29-week photo.

January 28, 2008
We reached the 27 week mark today and are officially in the third trimester – exactly three more months to go!  The nursery is still a work in progress because the border is still in the box it was mailed in.  We hope to get it up in the next few weeks so we can get the room all put together and share the pictures with you.

We have our next ultrasound next Thursday – February 7th.  This one will be exciting because it is the first (and only) one that we will have in 3-D so we can actually see what her face looks like!  We will be sure to post those pictures next week. 

January 18, 2008
We have started working on the nursery. Josh added a little paint and a chair rail with the help of his dad - now on to the border.

January 15, 2008
We just uploaded our 25 week photo.

January 6, 2008
We’ve made the big decision…how to decorate the baby’s room.  We decided on pink, green and yellow to coordinate with the Laura Ashley crib set that we picked out (the pattern is called Gabriella).  Unlike the picture, we’re not painting the whole room pink – we’re painting the bottom half of the wall either green or yellow (although we are considering painting it pink too – Josh just isn’t sure about all that pink), then we’re adding a white chair rail about half way up the wall and putting the wall paper border right above the chair rail.  We are leaving the top half of the wall white.  When it is all finished, it won’t look very much like this picture, especially since we have a dark wood crib and dresser, but you get the idea.  We promise to post pictures when it is all finished.  Josh is in the process of getting the room ready for painting and then after that, he and his dad are going to work on the chair rail.

December 31, 2007
Happy New Year everyone! - We just uploaded a new 23 week photo.

December 27, 2007
My cousin Mark sent this to me and I can't figure it out... can you???
Or try this to see how well you can remember your world geography class...
Or for the engineer that has too much time...

December 19, 2007
Here’s the news that you’ve all been waiting for!  Drum roll please…..

Its a Girl!!!

We found out this morning during our 21 week ultrasound!  You can check out the ultrasound pictures and video on the pictures page. 

The doctor said that everything looks great.  The baby weighs 15 ounces and the heartbeat was in the 150s.  Now it’s time to think of names and start decorating the nursery!  We can’t wait. 

The 66% of you who guessed that we are having a boy will get a second shot at the whole thing – make sure to participate in the baby poll at the top of our homepage to guess the birth date, weight, and length (you get a freebie on the gender). 

December 9, 2007
We have made it to the half way point – 20 weeks.  Emily has been able to feel the baby move for the past week, but tonight, Josh was able to feel the movement too.  Josh is very, very excited.  Only a week and a half longer until we find out if we are having a boy or a girl.

December 1, 2007
Only 2 ½ more weeks until we find out whether it’s a boy or a girl (hopefully)!  So, get your votes in. 

Today, we took a tour of the hospital where the baby will be born.  It is a brand new hospital about 2 minutes from our house called Medical Center of the Rockies.  Josh was excited about the large, flat screen TVs in the rooms that are complete with the “get well network” system that lets you play video games, watch new release movies, and surf the internet.  You know what he’ll be doing during our stay at the hospital!  Yeah, our tour was a little early, but, thanks to his crazy schedule, it was on the only tour date that Josh had off before the baby is born.

Josh’s new project is creating a family genealogy tree.  So, if you are related to us, you will surely be hearing from him during his quest to collect information and pictures (it would help him out if you would send that information and pictures our way).

November 23, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!  We had a white Thanksgiving here in Colorado!

The big question we’ve been hearing lately is “how big is Emily getting?”  To answer your question, we’ve posted an 18-week picture so you can check it out for yourself.

CSU won today against Wyoming, bringing the ‘boot’ back to Colorado.   With that win our record is 3-9 and our season is over.  Oh well.  From what we have heard on the news, there aren’t any plans to fire Sonny Lubick… yet. 

November 17, 2007
The doctor said everything looks good.  The baby’s heart is going strong at 150 beats per minute!

On a different note, CSU made a triumphant win today against Georgia Southern, making our record 2-9 for the season.  Our last game this season is next week, against Wyoming.  We are not expecting to win, but oh well.  Instead, Josh is following hockey with the Colorado Eagles and the Avalanche.  We have gone to one Eagles game and plan to make it to several more. 

November 13, 2007
Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but there isn’t too much to update.  We hit the 4 month mark yesterday and Emily is hoping to feel the baby kick soon, but it hasn’t happened yet. 

We did a little baby shopping this past weekend.  We just went to the store to look (mostly because everyone keeps asking us if we have registered and picked out baby stuff, so we felt like we were supposed to) and didn’t plan on buying anything, but we ended up really liking a crib that we found and, naturally, it was being discontinued, so there were only 6 left – that didn’t allow us too much time to decide whether to get it or not.  Luckily, Emily’s parents bought it as a gift for the baby, so that made the decision easy!  Nope, we still didn’t register – we aren’t planning on doing that until after our December ultrasound when we will hopefully find out whether we are having a boy or a girl.

We have a doctor’s appointment this Friday and hopefully Josh will get to hear the heartbeat for the first time (he wasn’t at the first appointment when they found the heartbeat).  We’ll give you an update after Friday.

October 28, 2007
Rockies didn't have what it takes. They lost tonight for the 4th consecutive loss, making the Boston Red Sox World Champions. 

October 22, 2007
The big news in Denver - Rockies World Series tickets were supposed to go on sale at 10 AM today. Emily, Joe, Hyla and I were all on different computers in an attempt to purchase whatever we could. However, coloradorockies.com received 8.5 million hits this morning, resulting in a server shutdown. This shutdown affected everyone in North America who uses 'Paciolan.' Ticket sales will resume tomorrow at noon, so we still might get a couple of tickets.

October 21, 2007
So I was a bit bored last night and made another slideshow - this one is of our trip to Pueblo this year.

October 18, 2007
Today was a big day.  We had our first ultrasound and got to see the baby (and confirm that there is only one in there).  It was really amazing.  The baby was very active – bouncing all around and even flipping over on its tummy at one point.  The doctor said that everything looked perfect!  We will get another “peek” at the baby in 8 weeks when we have our really big ultrasound and hopefully get to determine whether it is a boy or a girl!  Check out the ultrasound pictures on the pictures page.

October 14, 2007
Baby when to its first baseball game today – best to get started early!  And what a game to start with – game 3 of the NLCS!  Emily and her dad braved the weather and sat out in the rain the ENTIRE game (you have to wonder why they even played) to watch the Rockies win!  One more game and then off to the World Series (Baby hopes to make it to that one too)!

October 9, 2007
Good news spreads like wild fire, so if you already heard the words "Emily is pregnant," you heard right! The doctor gave us a due date of April 28, 2008.

That is away.

That is not very far away at all. Both Emily and I are very excited! At Emily's last doctor's appointment, she was able to hear the heart beat. At her next appointment, we are scheduled for an ultrasound. So we will be able to 'see' what is going on inside!
Emily continues to work at the Department of Health and Human Services and Josh for Larimer County. Nothing has changed there.
Josh just recently took the boat down to Denver to get it winterized. No more boating this year. It is getting too cold.
Hannah is Hannah. She continues to eat, sleep, chew on her bone, and bark at the neighborhood kids when they come by (especially on their skateboards).

Europe
Larry, Betsy, Christy, Eric, Emily and I traveled to Europe this May. We traveled to Amsterdam, Paris, Germany, and Austria. We saw so many sites while we were there. Our beloved tour guide (Emily) always had something for us to do. Because of all of the sites we saw and my delight in taking pictures, there are way too many to post online. However, I have made a slide show, which you can view on the photos page. One highlight of the trip was when we met a distant cousin, Karl Graff. For a bit more information check out my uncle Fred's website. He has more information about Karl down at the very bottom.