Check out our family pix...

Welcome to SmilesByWire, the Internet-based portrait viewing and
ordering
service for JCPenney Portraits.

To get started, click below and enter your Customer Name (Ben Ingram):
https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0620105706JCP


or go to http://www.smilesbywire.com and enter the following:

Customer Name: Ben Ingram
Access Code: LTPP0620105706JCP


Note:  your Customer Name and Access Code should be entered exactly as
it
appears above. Access to your images will expire on 4/6/2008.

By using this exclusive online system, you can order additional
portraits
and easily share your portrait images with family and friends.
SmilesByWire is fun and easy to use, so start sharing your smiles!

Big smiles!

Brynn smiles and talks all the time now. She loved going to library today and talking to everyone that came up to her.






















































































Overboard...

Brynn is 7 weeks

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Brayden update...

He seems to like every fruit he tries. The new ones recently are small oranges and blueberries. He can go up and down the stairs on his own and jumps with both feet leaving the ground. He is awesome at navigating the mouse on the computer and is also good at the joystick on his VSmile game system. It amazes at how he can follow directions to the games. He is allowing us to take off his socks from time to time and will voluntarily take them off during the day. He now sleeps without them during the night.
We are able to ask him questions again without an automatic ‘no’ response. He loves sledding with daddy and art time with mommy. We turned downstairs into a playroom for him. He enjoys it very much. He is beginning to play a little more independently, and hums and sings a lot. He also runs around the house. He jumps over the back of the sofa, romps on the bed and helps mommy and daddy cook meals.
Brayden went poopy on his potty for the first time yesterday, so we had a party for him and started a star chart. We will see where potty training leads in the near future.
We started music class last week. Both children really enjoy it. We start gymnastics in a few weeks.

He says many funny things, and refers to daddy as ‘Ben’ more often than someone his age should. We have been practicing paying attention, and our guidance is reciprocated in turn. Brayden will ask “Do you hear my words?” if he is talking to us and not getting a response quickly enough for his taste.
He is making observations such as “The shower is louder than the TV is”.
When told it is almost time to change activities, he will state “I have two more minutes”.

We ran into a list of some older sayings and phrases that have not been posted to the blog. They are:
“I have lots of ideas...”
“You are my best friend ever.” Said to Mommy, Daddy and his friend Eva.

He loves to wear different hats: Santa, pirate, witch, fireman, etc. and he calls himself a pretender. When he puts on the witch’s hat, he says “I’ll put a spell on you”.
He can spell his name, and knows bath is b-a-t-h.
When Noni was here she bought him a blue and orange striped shirt. Brayden said he “looks like a bumblebee”. He would pretend to go around and sting everything. He put his rear end in the air and ‘stung’ his singing Rudolph.
He likes to sing, and he likes to spell things. He also attempts to count in Spanish.
When he pretends to vacuum the house with the vacuum, he makes the cutest sound effect saying “buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz”.
He always remembers to say his “Thank you’s” and “Excuse me’s” without prompting.

Brynne update...

Brynn is smiling during her alert times every day. She smiles at our laughter, and she smiles when we play with her cheeks and lips.
She is starting to coo. She loves her play mats and looking in mirrors. Her favorite thing to do is watch our faces. She loves it when she can get her fist to her mouth, and would love to sleep on somebody all day long. When she has her head on our shoulders, she loves to scratch and knead whatever she can reach. She is gaining more control over her eyes. We are seeing less cross eyes these days (did you find the picture of it?) Did you also see the pictures that show how Ben and I have our oun ways of holding her to get her to sleep?

5 weeks old and growing like a weed...

Here is an example of the chaos that is our life. Brayden is starting to show signs of adjustment. He is feeling comfortable with his place in the family. As you can see from his faces, he still likes to be 'independent'. He is doing very well listening to mommy and daddy, and he loves his baby sister. He kisses her all the time and wants to be close to her and play with her often. Brynn still continues to chirp, squeak and grunt through the nights. She is nearing 10 pounds and moving on to 0-3 months clothing. She has gone up a hat size, but they still don't seem to stay on without help. She seems to love playtime on her mat. Mommy calls her 'wiggle-worm'. She coos and talks to her toys. We get excited when she decides to smile at us. Mostly she still just smiles in her dreams. She has made a few longer car trips over the last few days and stayed happy for 15 long minutes. She is quite the snuggler. Her favorite way to fall asleep with mommy is on her chest, being patted and walked around. Her favorite way to fall asleep with daddy is being walked around on his forearm while lying on her chest. She loves to look at her big brother. He likes to call her "Little fussy". Brayden is used to all of Brynn's noises and is not as uncomfortable when he hears her cry. He will often say "Mommy, she needs some milky". Brynn made it through her first cold, which she got at four weeks old(Mommy and Brayden had it also and then gave it to Auntie Jen and Auntie Elise). Elise leaves on Tues. and we will get our first family pictures taken at JCpennies.