Family Weekends

We've been fortunate to have a lot of visitors over these past couple of weeks.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Grotenhuis clan came back out to make a visit. Kathi's sister Kim and her 5 month-old daughter Brooke made the trip out because they hadn't seen Brielle yet and it just so happened that the Grotenhuis grandparents offered (okay begged) to drive Kim and Brooke out. It was a great weekend of relaxing, taking stroller rides, and introducing Kim to Giant Supermarket (she made Kathi proud...$ 60.00 worth of groceries for $ 15.00...way to go!)

It was fun to see Brielle and Brooke interact with one another. Okay...not a lot of interaction was made by the two of them except for Brooke throwing a few elbows Brielle's way while we were trying to get this picture taken. Despite the elbows...we have high hopes that these two will become good buds in the very near future!

This past weekend, Chad's brother Jeff and his wife Shawna made the trek out to PA for a visit. The weekend included a trip to Altoona to take a stop at our house (still weird to say!) and also to stop at the Penn State Altoona campus. We took Brielle out to her first bar scene at Home Delivery Pizza. Uncle Jeff & Aunt Shawna gave her a few pointers of the etiquette of the bar life...she was not an eager student as you can see she had passed out before making it home.

This Week in Pictures

Not all of you are interested in every detail of our daughters life and not every one of our blog posts will be about her. But cut us a little slack as excited new parents - this post is going to be about her.

Sleeping

Well Brielle is a very good sleeper...when she is sleeping on anyone in any awkward position she can find. We have been working very hard in getting her to start sleeping in things other than our arms because we've got things to do! (Like pack an entire apartment to move in 3 weeks!) We made great strides this weekend and think we're getting somewhere!

Eating

Eating, burping, pooping, farting - all of these are Brielle's fortei. She is a champ when it comes to this - enough said.

Bath Time

I think the pictures say it all. Brielle HATES bath time. She gets this look of fear in her eyes everytime we put her in the bath and does not let up until we have her dried off and fully dressed. We do have high hopes of better bath times in the future when we can put her fully in the water.

Stroller Time

We took Brielle out on a stroller ride. This is how it ended up (see below) Once again...she ended up in somebody's arms! (Are you sensing a theme here?)

All in all we are lovin' being parents - it is certainly not easy at times but fulfilling none the less.

The Life of a 5 Day Old

Hi Everyone! It's me Brielle! What a world this is...


First of all, I need to do a little pronunciation of my name. There seems to be a little confusion by some people on how to say it...is it all that hard? (I really haven't tried to say it yet!)


Well in my 5-day old spelling I'm going to give it a whirl. My name is Bre-yell Uh-Nay.


I thought I would give you a little recap of what life has been like here these past couple of days.


Mommy and I stayed in the hospital from Monday until Wednesday morning. While we were there, we had so many great visitors. First off, Grandma & Grandpa Carlson & Grandma & Grandpa Grotenhuis came all the way from Michigan to visit me. (I showed them on my hand where they came from) And they have been lovin' on me a lot! The Grandpas left on Wednesday night, but the Grandma's are still around, so the spoilin' continues!

Wednesday morning we came home from the hospital and needless to say I had worn Mommy out over the past couple of nights because I just kept waking her up because my tummy was growling and wanted food. So, she took a good nap while Grandma Grotenhuis cuddled with me. Meanwhile, Daddy and Grandpa Grotenhuis and Grandpa & Grandma Carlson went to Altoona to go find me a house to live in. Man...I'm alive only one day and I already demand so much! Well, they found a house for me and bought it (without Mommy even seeing it!). Check it out online - 214 Coleridge Ave. in Altoona. So now I have a backyard to play in with a swing set and a big playroom to play in! Yippee! Thanks Grandpas for taking the time to buy me a house and then get back to Michigan at 2:30 am. (I was awake at that time if you wanted to give me a buzz!)

Thursday was a travelin' day for me. I took my first trip to the doctors office with Mommy and Daddy. Everything checked out okay, so that was a good thing! I also was very proud because I didn't have any accidents while my diaper was off!

I also went on a road trip with "just the girls" to see my new house. Boy do I like it! I am going to have so much fun playing with cousins Grant & Brooke and Uncle Jeff, Aunt Shawna, & Aunt Bethany! I talked with Grant last night and his play set has monkey bars and a yellow slide. Mine only has swings...but I think we can still have fun!

I think I'm really going to like it here in this world. Mommy and Daddy have told me about all these great people that can't wait to meet me! Well, I can't wait to meet you but until then you'll just have to keep checking out pictures of me (which I am SO sick of - can you tell?) :)

Happy Birth

Name: Brielle Anae Carlson

Date of Birth: May 11, 2009

Age: 7 hours and counting

Favorite Activity: Sleeping

Favorite Food: Colostrum

Biggest Asset: She came early (one day)

Biggest Liability: She has the Carlson nose

Future Goals: solid foods, solid poos, and walking

Favorite TV Show: The Office

Favorite Color: Pink (dammit!)

39 Weeks, 2 Days and...

Still Waiting!

We know we're not at our due date yet, but we are getting SO anxious to meet this little one...and Kathi is getting SO anxious to see her toes again when she looks down!