18 months old

At 18 months, Brynn:

Weighs 21.25 lbs (8th percentile) and is 31.25 inches long (33rd percentile). Her head is in the 89th percentile!

Is learning how to be a good helper with Evan - when he cries she pats him on the back or tries to put the pacifier in his mouth like she sees us do.

Is entertained for long periods of time by covering her baby doll in Evan's blankets or clothes and carrying her around. She also likes trying to put Evan's pacifier in her doll's mouth.

Can follow simple instructions like "Bring me the book on the chair" or "Go get your baby". She will usually listen too! (Unless she is playing with my cell phone...when I ask her to bring me that, she'll usually say "no" and go the other way!)

Has been good about trying new foods lately - lentil soup, pulled pork, and clementines have all been enjoyed.

Loves going "bye-bye" and gets excited everytime you put her shoes on since that usually means we're going somewhere.

Can name several people in photographs: Mama and DaDa (Mema and Granddad), Mommy, Daddy, Jay-Jay, Josh, Keely and Evan.

Big Sister

Brynn is a little jealous of the new baby, but has been very good with him - she likes saying "Hi, baby" and patting him gently. I am a different story - it has gotten a little better since we got home from the hospital, but at first she wanted nothing to do with me! She has always been a Daddy's girl, but now she doesn't like to leave Dwayne's side. Yesterday I went into her room to get her up after her nap and she greeted me with, "Want Daddy! Want Daddy! Where's Daddy?" (Thankfully, she will still cuddle with me sometimes!)

My mom got Brynn a new baby doll right after we got home from the hospital. She had one doll before, but never showed much interest in it. Now, she carries her new baby around with her everywhere. She holds it up to her shoulder and pats it on the back, puts it in the baby swing, tries to wrap it up in the Evan's blankets and insists on sleeping with it every night. It is pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Dwayne is on his third week of vacation from work, so he has been mostly taking care of Brynn while I've been busy with Evan, so it will be interesting to see how next week goes when he is back at work...

Welcome Evan James!

Our little boy is finally here! (Although he's not actually that little since he weighed 8 lbs, 15 oz!)

My induction went really well - I didn't think it would take long since I had been almost 5 cm for about a week, and thankfully I was right. Dwayne and I got to the hospital at 7 am on Monday morning. After filling out paperwork and getting an IV, they started me on Pitocin at about 8:30. Rachel came over to our house to watch Brynn, so my mom was able to get there soon after that. I didn't make too much progress over the next hour, so my doctor broke my water to get things moving - at around 10:30, I got my epidural. Less than an hour later, Evan arrived at 11:47! For some reason the epidural hadn't fully taken effect - it was definitely WAY better than not having one, but still a little bit painful. Dwayne didn't get to cut the umbilical cord with Brynn since it had been wrapped around her neck, so it was nice that he got to this time.

Evan has a ton of dark hair - I'm curious to see if it's going to fall out! The second day in the hospital, his poor eyes were completely swollen shut and he had a bad rash on his face. They weren't sure exactly what it was, but supposedly it was a reaction to the eye ointment they give them after birth. By Wednesday when we came home, it was mostly cleared up.

We are so lucky to have two beautiful babies in our family now.