A Wonderful "Welcome Back!!!!"

My crisis communications skills were put to the test on my very first day back in the office after maternity leave. News about the situation didn't break until this Wednesday, but it's been nothing but a firestorm since!

Here are a few of the news segments from Wednesday - many of the comments on the blogs are pretty interesting.
Fox
CBS
NBC
Newspaper
We also made CW news, but their site didn't have a direct link to the story.

I feel terrible for the boys, whose emotions have been running the gamut since they found out. Angry, sad, disappointed, frustrated, concerned are just a few ...

Needless to say, I will be incredibly happy when I can slip back into a "normal" day again. Or at least one that isn't filled with conversations with police and attorneys or hearing rumors about the incident.

All Smiles

I was home for six weeks. Basically all Brynne did during those six weeks was sleep and eat.

Now that I've gone back to work this week she's decided that smiling is her new favorite thing to do for her dad, and sometimes even throwing in a laugh. I guess the "I Love my Daddy" outfit suits her well!

She's definitely going to be a silly one as she grows up!

Day Trip to Meet Aunt Heidi

Prior to Brynne officially came on the scene, Heidi outlined a few weekends that would be acceptable for her arrival since she was starting a new job and had training in Indy, meetings in Florida, etc. Needless to say, with Brynne being born on a Monday rather than the Saturday as planned, her Aunt Heidi missed the whole deal. She's been really busy traveling and learning her territory since and hasn't had time to come visit.

On Valentine's Day she was house hunting in Springfield (her new territory) and planned on dinner at Mom's. We decided on Saturday morning to pack up and let Brynne meet her aunt before her first birthday.
The trip home also meant meeting a few others... We didn't get a picture with James, my friend Eric and Cassie's 2-year-old boy who will soon be big brother to 2 little girls.

Mason and Brian and Lindsay. Mason also really liked Dream, who was pretty cool with him harassing her and laying on her.


Izzy, who was born in October to my cousin and his wife. What a difference a few months in age is!

An Eight Pounder!

This week Brynne had her one-month/five week doctor's visit. In the last few weeks, she's changed quite a bit both in "tangible" ways as well as with her personality. At the doctor's, Brynne checked in at exactly 8 pounds and was 20.5 inches long - still small for her age, but growing quickly!
She's also started smiling when we talk to her and say her name. We had pictures taken on Monday, so naturally she began smiling like crazy on Wednesday :).

Our friend, Lori, brought her son Liam over to meet Brynne this week. We haven't seen Liam since early December, and it's amazing how much he's grown since then. He was 6 months on Feb. 1 and already has several teeth and compared to Brynne, weighs a ton! It will be fun to see them play as they get a bit older.

One Month Old & Already Daddy's Girl

Pitchers and catchers report late next week, and St. Louis will have highs in the 60s this weekend. Looks like Rog and Brynne are ready for spring training!

Too bad she'll have outgrown her Sox gear by the time regular season rolls around - the pink Cardinals gear is a bit bigger and ready for summer :).

Brynne is officially one month old today, and it's amazing how much she's changed in such a short period of time. In the last week she's gotten too tall to wear newborn sleepers and has finally put on enough poundage to wear her BumGenius cloth diapers...YEAH!!!!

We go back to the doctor on Tuesday for official weight and length, but our guess is about 7 1/2 pounds and 21 inches long. Let's see how far we're off...

Super Sunday

By baby standards, Brynne had a super busy Super Sunday.

Erica, Jon and their twins, Lane and Caroline came over for lunch and to meet Brynne. The twins are six months old - it's amazing how big they are after weighing 4 lbs. 6 oz. and 5 lbs. 13 oz. when they were born. After a day of hanging out, all three kids were exhausted!

Or maybe just two...

Lane having tummy time and playing with Jon's sunglasses

We went to my co-worker John's bachelor pad to watch the Super Bowl later that night. He's got a pretty sweet setup in his basement, including 110 inch HD theater system. His 13-month-old neice Sienna was there and was completely enthralled by Brynne. I think they were more entertained by each other than they were with everyone else there. Mo and the Steelers won and I ended up winning $50, so it was a good night all-around :).

John and Brynne

Random picture of Brynne in her John Lennon "Imagine" onsie. This one's one of my favorites, too bad it's a newborn. It has some cartoony animals and "Imagine all the people" on it and musical notes on the stripes. We caught a John Lennon movie on VH1 Classic the other day, and she actually didn't fall asleep!