She's so bright she has to wear shades!

Briana has been obsessed with Mommy's glasses for a long time, but never would wear her sunglasses, until she found them in her diaper bag last night. She spent most of the evening taking them off, and putting them back on. Silly girl!

Taking a "bath" at camp

Grammy and Papa's camp is not equipped with a bathtub, and the high pressure shower head isn't conducive to bathing Briana, so we improvised by filling a kiddie pool with warm water. Briana loves the water, and was very excited to have Mommy join her in her pool. She kept giving Mommy BIG hugs!

Briana's 15 Month Stats

Briana had her 15 month well baby visit yesterday. Her appointment went really well, her pediatrician was impressed by her vocabulary (even though she really didn't say very many words while we were there). She continues to maintain the same growth curves that she's been on for months now.

Here are her measurements:

Weight: 20lbs 12 oz (20th percentile)
Height: 30.5 inches (50th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18.5 inches (80th percentile)

She received 2 shots at yesterday's visit, and did very well with them. She only fussed for a minute, and then was excited to leave so that we could go visit daddy at work.

Briana continues to grow and learn everyday! She's now running! Her fine motor skills are improving daily. She eats using a spoon and a fork, likes to draw (scribble), and is quickly mastering her shape-sorter toys. Her vocabulary is huge, she strings words together to form short sentences, and keeps testing out words that are more and more difficult. Briana also enjoys trying new foods, her latest favorite are raisins! She would eat them all day long if we would let her. She's now chosing her own shoes to wear everyday, and likes to pick out which pair of pajamas she'll wear to bed. It's really enjoyable for Mommy and Daddy to see her grasping at independence.

With her new found desire for independence we're also experiencing some negative sides of it. Now when she decides something, it's harder for Mommy and Daddy to persuade her otherwise. Gone are the days of simple redirection, we're now being forced to learn how to compromise with a determined toddler! All in all though, Briana is a very well behaved little girl. She rewards us with kisses and hugs, and those belly laughs that melt your heart! She's brought so much joy to our lives in the past 15 months, it's hard to remember what life was like for us without Briana there.

How to grow a beautiful BIG girl!

The process of growing a BIG girl may seem difficult, and the steps may seem a little backwards, so we thought we would share them with you.

Step 1: Water - It takes more water than you might think

MORE WATER....

Keep watering!!

Step 2: Plant your baby in the sand!

After you have watered and planted your baby, you should be rewarded with a BEAUTIFUL (although, somewhat soggy) BIG girl!

This lesson in gardening has been brought to you by Tetreault Family Farms, and the letter 'W' for WATER!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Daddy and Briana on Father's Day

Daddy and Papa - Posing with Briana's new chair

Briana trying out her new chair for the first time

Casual lounging, watching Elmo

We had a really nice Father's Day weekend at home. Grammy and Papa brought over a new chair that they had purchased for Briana. She's always sitting on random things around the house, so they thought she might enjoy having her own chair. They were right!! Briana likes the cup holder, since it keeps her sippy cup close by, and also makes a good hiding place for little toys. She likes to put a toy in the cup holder, and then take it out to show us. When she pulls the toy out she announces, "TEE DAH!" Which is Briana speak for TA DA!

Grammy and Papa came over on Father's Day to help us celebrate. We had a yummy dinner of roasted chicken, grilled potatoes, and a very yummy dessert of grilled pineapple and ice cream!! We all had a very nice relaxing day!

Elephant!

Among the many new words that Briana has learned lately, there's one in particular that makes Mommy and Daddy smile. Briana can say "elephant"! She calls animal crackers "elephants" and also can recognize an elephant in a picture. For her birthday she got a toy elephant that has other toys that hide inside. She can name each of the toys as she pulls them out, ball, flower, peanuts, and of course, the baby elephant!

Briana and Gabe

These are some pictures that Auntie Heather took of Briana and Gabe over Memorial Day weekend. Gabe is a very good BIG cousin, and enjoyed giving Briana pretend rides on Grandpa's motorcycle, and lawn mower. He was even nice enough to let her "drive" him on pretend journeys too!

Another Weekend at Camp and a Happy Birthday to Grammy!!

We had another fun-filled weekend with Grammy and Papa at camp. Saturday was Grammy's birthday, so we celebrated with yummy cake (which Briana loved), and presents (which Briana helped Grammy open). Briana was very good at camp again this weekend. Thankfully the weather was warm enough on Sunday afternoon that Briana could go play on the beach. She really enjoyed dumping water on herself, and making mud! She's still not really sure what to think of the water, mostly because it's cold. She like splashing on it, and enjoyed it when Mommy would dip her in it, but wasn't keen on testing out her floaty.

We hope that Grammy had a wonderful birthday! We were glad that we were able to be there to help her celebrate it!

The "artistic" side of Mommy's lens.

Fun at the Lake

This weekend we went to Grammy and Papa's camp for the weekend. Briana got to go "swimming" for the first time. She waded into the water up to her waist. The water was pretty cold, so we didn't spend a lot of time in it, but Briana really enjoyed it. She built sand castles with Daddy, and enjoyed sitting on the dock with Grammy and Papa.

Saturday was a very nice, relaxing summer day for us. We all played outside, and then took a nice long afternoon nap. Briana had a lot of fun. She enjoyed spending quality time with her grandparents, and loved watching Bear (Grammy and Papa's dog). She recently learned that dog's say "arf" and spent most of the weekend "arfing" at Bear.

Poor Baby!

Briana's had a rough few days! On Sunday she was playing on the bed, and jumped into the wall! Thankfully she didn't fall off the bed (Mommy was right there with her), but she did bump her head, and the result is the yucky bruise on her forehead!

Over the weekend Briana's eyes were runny, Mommy and Daddy looked online and came to the conclusion that it was likely plugged tear ducts since the pictures online of pink eye didn't really look like Briana's eyes. On Monday, Mommy took Briana to daycare, when we got there Joyce (our AMAZING daycare provider) told Mommy that she thought it looked like Briana had pink eye. Mommy and Briana got back in the car and headed to the pediatrician's office for their urgent care hours.

At the doctor's office, Briana's doctor (Dr. Emily) confirmed that Briana did have pink eye. Dr. Emily also looked in Briana's ears and found that she also had an ear infection! So Mommy and Briana went to the drug store to get Briana's perscriptions filled.

By Tuesday Briana was feeling MUCH better! YAY! Briana went to daycare, and Mommy and Daddy went to work. Around lunch time Joyce called Mommy to tell her that Briana had fallen down while she was playing. She scraped her chin, and drove her bottom teeth into her lip. Joyce assured Mommy that Briana was fine, but she wanted to let her know that Briana had taken a little tumble.

Briana's rough few days in review:

• Bumped her head
• Pink eye
• Ear infection
• Scraped chin and bruised lip

Hopefully the rest of the week goes better!!!