Our Little Fish

We'd been trying to sign Brynne up for swim lessons since June, but could never get a session that worked with our schedules. Finally, we found one that worked and that had an opening. I figured she'd do well with the lessons since she's pretty fearless, but she's totally exceeded my expectations! On the second day she and I moved away from "toy time" to work on floating and kicking, and the next thing I know she's trying to work her arms with her feet. This is hopefully a fantastic sign of things to come....

At swim lessons we:

Warm up kicking our feet with the dumbbells


Float on our backs and kick


Try to swim freestyle


Jump in


Get water up our noses!

St. Louis Sports Scene 2

I thought Rams were supposed to be tough?

Watching with Dad from the suite

Gaining more yards than a few of the Rams did

This Sunday we took Brynne to her first NFL game when the Rams played the Vikings on breast cancer awareness day. We got tickets from my ad rep at paper for their suite. Can't turn down free tickets, parking, food and drink even if we could care less about the outcome of the game. It was pretty cool to see Brett Favre, though.

After the game, the Energizer bunny had a 20th birthday party on the field and let some kids down to help him/her celebrate. We never did see the bunny, but picked up some foam bunny ears, got to play on the field and even got on the stadium big screen!

St. Louis Sports Scene

During a typical summer, we'll go to about 8-10 Cardinal games, and having brynne with us this summer wasn't going to make us watch from the couch. Fortunately we had tickets for the indoor/outdoor Bank of America Club all-inclusive area for her first game, on a night that was 90+ degrees with humidity that was off the charts.

She was pretty crabby and hot outside, but when we moved into the AC she had a great time! We even got to visit Fredbird and Cardinal legend Jack Clark during the game. She wasn't too sure about Fredbird at first but then thought he was great!

Has It Been Two Months?

I realized that it had been awhile since the blog got updated, but I didn't realize exactly how long. Two months....that's pathetic!

As you can imagine, a lot has happened at our house over the course of two months. Brynne is now 9 months old, and is getting close to walking. She's been pulling herself up for about a month, shuffles from one end of the couch and/or table to another and is thinking about letting go to take a step on her own.

In the last pictures posted she was wearing 6-month clothes. She psent 2 weeks wearing 9-month before going all in to the 12-month...and those are getting small! We go to the Dr. tomorrow to see how it's all going...

She's also getting to be really fun, and have a funny personality. Some of the things that she thinks are fantastic, like trying to bounce on her mattress until she can vault out of the crib, are something frowned on by us, though!

I'll try to get more pictures from the last month or so posted this week...and try to be much better about updates!

Brynne @ Seven Months

Loves the Exersaucer

Two Teeth

Our 2 Girls

Another Baptism

We'd planned on trying to get Rog and Brynne baptised on the same day, but he had to go through a series of classes in order to get baptised as well as confirmed. He whined for a bit about having to go to 10 one-hour sessions, until I pointed out that the kids that get confirmed in 8th grade have to go for 2-3 years!

Sorry for the poor quality pics, the camera was left at home so these are courtesy of the BlackBerry.

Rog's confirmation class



After baptism

Brynne's Baptism

It's been so long since I actually posted on here, I had to have my password e-mailed to me. Yikes!

We've been pretty busy since the last actual post. Lots of visitors, baptisms, birthdays, etc.

Brynne is now 7 months old, and has more than caught up with the normal-sized babies her age. After starting out small she's now in the 98% for height and 70% for weight, which translated to 27 1/2" long and 17.1 pounds when we went to the doc last month.

Here are a few pictures from her baptism, on Father's Day.

With mom and dad, Godparents Heidi and Brian and Pastor Schwab

Just before the water...she didn't cry at all, just looked at the pastor like "It's NOT time for my bath, what's your deal??"

With all three grandpas

Kickin It Old Skool

Since it's been about a month since I've posted anything, I've felt guilty. But yet still too lazy to upload, post and type. It's been a busy month!

One of the things I can post without much effort is a shot from a BBQ at the end of June. My high school friend Jim, in the gray t-shirt, was kind enough to host some out-of-towners for a mini-reunion BBQ. The guys were in Springfield for a wedding, we just did a quick trip to see them.

Hadn't seen Jason, on the right, since he ushered our wedding, which could have something to do with him living in London these days. Corey (left) and his wife also joined us, and hadn't seen them since Milstead's wedding 2 years ago!

Random Pics

Laughing hysterically with mom

Rollen, rollen, rollen - she got mad one day and somehow mastered tummy to back and back to tummy on the same day!

Hanging out with Dream D and Mason over Father's Day/baptism weekend

Like my Puma socks? I LOVE them!

Brynne's First Ballgame

Several weeks ago, as an early Father's Day gift, Brynne and I treated Rog to a White Sox game in Kansas City. The stadium was redone prior to the start of the season and was much nicer than the last time I was there a few years ago.

Like Miller Park in Milwaukee, KC 's stadium is away from the downtown area and has tons of parking...and tailgating is encouraged!

When we went through the gate, the usher sent us to guest services, where they made Brynne a certificate for attending her first major league game. Thought it was a kind of coll thing to do, even if it says she'll be a lifelong Royals fan :).

The guy sitting on the tailgate reminded me so much of Mike Dexter from Can't Hardly Wait. Instead of Trent McNealy, this guy had Phil Simpson, who just happened to be parked directly behind us.

The insanely enourmous video board that I could probably read without my contacts. Check out how small the centerfielder looks!

Memorial Weekend BBQ

Anna, Caroline, Erica, Lane and Brynne enjoying the first weekend of summer. ISU girls notice the dress...thought it was appropriate since most people there had some link to the alma mater

The twins and Brynne, the future BFF Club

Watching an intense game of washers

Cereal Killer

First ever bite

Brynne hit the four-month mark in May, and has added cereal to her dining options. We figured taht since she's had rice cereal mixed in with her formula that she'd take the more solid version right away....WRONG!

Not impressed by her first taste of solid rice cereal

Or any other attempts that night

Or the following night, even when Grandma tried to bribe her with ice cream!

Rog tried, I tried and even Grandma when she visited, but still not a big fan. After about a week or so or fighting, she finally really enjoys it! We're still not terribly clean when we eat, but that will surely come later.

Tahney's Wedding

Must say I look quite Amazon-ish next to Tahney and Fanchon

Since I very rarily have time to actually post anything of substance these days, a ton has gone on since my last real post. Like Tahney and Brad's wedding over a month ago on April 18!

We missed the ceremony since we had a few things to do in STL that morning but made it to the reception. Not that I've ver been to a bad reception, but there wer several interesting/memorable moments at this one "). Rog made friends with the DJ when the guy wouldn't play a song for us. The guy played some Garth Brooks or something retarded and headed out for a second...sooo Rog hops behind the table and plays DJ for a bit. Went over well with the crowd but not so much with the DJ.

Yeah... I'm with the DJ

Aside from the occasion at hand, the weekend also marked the first time we Brynne spent the night with her grandparents. And, we're pleased to report that they all survived! We crashed at Heidi's house. The girl needs to learn that even though you're in Mexico, if someone is staying at your place, you MUST have junk food and liqour!

Our next wedding: Jeff and Fanchon

Three Month Pictures

Here are some of the photos taken of Brynne in her Easter attire at her three-month shoot a few weeks ago...

She wasn't in the greatest mood for the majority of it, until some singing and dancing took place in the studio to lighten the mood a bit.

May Day May Day!!

My camera was missing in action for about two weeks, hence no posts! It was recovered earlier in the week, so we should have some new stuff up shortly. For now here are a few I took with the trusty, rusty BlackBerry.

Summer's just around the corner, it hit 90 twice last weekened and the seniors finished classes yesterday ... crazy.

Chillin in the Bumbo, watching the Cardinals.

Action shot, flailing arms and legs, trying to rip down her favorite toy on the playmat - which is naturally the redbird! Notice the shirt, too :).

Happy Easter!

After church we thought it might be nice to try to get some pics of us with Brynne in her dress. Disclaimer: It was pretty windy and relatively bright in the back yard at noon, hence why Rog and I may not look outstanding. Isn't the tree pretty?

Totally cracking up at her dad as she tried her dress on earlier in the week.

Mad tummy time skills on display this Easter. A multi-tasker, reading during her workout.