FINALLY!

Traveling is done, laundry is complete, returns and exchanges have been made, Christmas decorations are back up in the attic, house is clean, and my sweet bundle of joy is laying down for a nap! As much as I love the holidays and visiting with friends and family, I really appreciate when things go back to normal and back to my everyday routine:) My goal was to update the blog and write one more letter to B before the new year. I think I am going to make it!
I am going to try and catch you all up on what has happened over the past couple of days and I am going to use some pictures to  help me.

First, our sweet Brantley turned 21 weeks on Christmas day:)

On the day before Christmas Eve, our little family went through our stockings and got to open one gift.

 

B seemed very interested in this big ole thing in front of her.

 

 

Yes, of course, my sweet Sadie has her own stocking as well!

Brantley and Sadie got Eric an Amazon gift card.

I got some trail mix to munch on during all of our travels.

Christmas Eve we traveled to Charleston to celebrate with my Dad's side of the family and then we went to my Dad's house to spend time with Papa, DeDe, Aunt Katie, Dixie, and Izzy.

Brantley with Aunt Laurie

My Dad has a direct line to Santa and he always stops by to say hello to our family and bring an early Christmas gift for all of the kids.

B opening her gift from Santa. He brought her a seahorse that lights up and plays music. She loves it, but she LOVED the paper.

Now it is off to my mom's house to stay the night and get up the next morning to celebrate Christmas. Brantley had to be woken up on Christmas morning because she was so exhausted from all of the festivities the night before.

 

I had to stick this picture in here because it is a new face that Brantley has started making. While we were opening gifts we noticed her doing this. We think she is rubbing her gums together since she is in the process of teething. She looks so cute and funny when she does it.

One PROUD Daddy! Brantley's adorable outfit was from some of our best friends, Nathan and Christy.

All the girls!

After we opened all the gifts, ate breakfast, and B took a nap, we headed to my grandma's house to visit with family.

Brantley with Uncle Hendrix. This was Uncle Hendrix's first time meeting Brantley.

Okay, now I am exhausted just thinking about all of that again:) It was a wonderful first Christmas with Brantley! Eric and I look forward to the many traditions that we want to start next year with her and make lots of memories as a family.

I will see you in 2010!

Happy New Year!

So much fun!!

We have been quite busy around the Soong house and enjoying the holiday season. I thought I would catch you up on some of our latest happenings.....

By far my favorite part of the day! I love when B and I (and sometimes baby doll as you can see) snuggle together in her room and read books.

One of my best friends, Debra Dele, and I packed Brantley Boo up and headed to her first trip to see the Lights at the Zoo. We had a great time!!!! ( Sidenote: My sweet hubby couldn't go because he was sick.)

Brantley staring at all of the fun lights.

Me and my sweet DD!

Momma and her girl:) (Can you tell someone is getting sleepy?)

Brantley loves her Santa ornament from DD so much that she wants to give it a big, wet kiss:)

DD, Santa, and Brantley Boo:)

Our family celebrated our annual Christmas at the Turner's this week. We have so much fun hanging out together and eating Momma Dawn's yummy cooking. This year was extra special because we were blessed with the sweet noises and smiles of Brantley Renee.

Momma and Brantley all dressed and ready for Christmas at the Turner's.

Brantley with her Momma Dawn.

20 weeks old!

Our little Brantley Boo is 20 weeks old today!

Hospitaliano!

Eric and I planned at the beginning of the week for all three of us to go out to eat at Olive Garden on Wednesday night and we had been looking forward to it all week! Though we didn't discuss it with one another, we later found out that we both were a little nervous about going out to eat because it was our first time going out to dinner as a family. We had it planned that we would feed her at 4:30pm and then we would pack her up and head to dinner. We thought going early that we would beat the crowds and catch her at a "happy" time during the day. So.....we arrive at Olive Garden....we take our seat in our booth.....Brantley chews on her baby doll.....so far so good! We order our food, things are going well........it starts to get a little bit noiser....and then......the world ends!!!!!!!!!! First, Eric gets up and walks around with her, while he is gone this sweet little lady leans over to me and encourages me by saying "Hang there, I have been there before and it gets better!", then he comes back and tells me that she needs her diaper changed. Well, I go and change her diaper and you all know how much I love public bathrooms!!! UGH! She and I come back to the table and we sit down and she quickly lets me know that she is not happy.....So I walk around with her for a while and to make a long story short.........we ended up having our waiter pack up our things after 30 minutes of dining and we finished our meal at home.
I am so thankful that I have an incredible partner to experience these things with! Geeat Memories we all made together tonight!
We will try again soon on another dinner outing:)

Our family has been quite busy the past couple of weeks getting ready for Christmas, hanging out with friends, traveling to visit family, and loving on our sweet little girl. It is amazing to look back over pictures and see how much she has grown. It is going by way too fast.

Today our friend Andrea and her adorable little boy, Grantham, came by for a play date! He has grown so much and is all smiles. Of course, Andrea and I were too interested in playing with Grantham and Brantley that we didn't even snap a picture of the two of them. I will make sure to get one next time so that we can compare what these two babies looked like when they were first born and how they look now.

Hope that you and your family are enjoying the holiday season!
Here is our precious little girl at 19 weeks old:)

18 Weeks Old!

Our Bundle of Joy is 18 weeks old today and growing like a weed! She even gave you a smile this week for her picture!

I could eat her up with a spoon!

B and I were just laughing and playing and I caught a couple of precious pictures I thought I would share. Moments like this make me smile so big that it almost brings tears to my eyes!

 

 

 

B's First Thanksgiving

My house is a mess right now as we decorate for Christmas and I am loving every minute of it! Brantley loves looking around at the new lights and the huge tree in the middle of our family room.

Our family had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving visiting with family. Thought we would share some pictures of B's first Turkey Day and then I need to get back to taking care of the house. Enjoy!

                 Playing with Daddy after a yummy Thanksgiving meal!

Brantley in her Thanksgiving dress from her Sassy!

Sittin' with my Sassy!

Yes, our sweet little girl turned 17 weeks old on Friday! By the way, I am fully aware that her socks do not match her outfit. Her Daddy insisted that she wear them for the USC/Clemson game!

Brantley Update

Our sweet little girl continues to laugh daily and it is so contagious! I mentioned before that Brantley did her best laugh only with her Daddy, well that is up until this past Thursday!!!!!! She laughed so hard at me for making this funny noise and then as she was laughing I started laughing at her which made her continue to laugh at me. It was awesome! Yes, I did have the camera close enough to me that I quickly turned it on to catch the moment and to have proof when Eric got home!

Brantley made a great accomplishment this week......she rolled over!!!!! For weeks she has been rolling to her side and with my camera in hand I was ready to record at any moment. She would get to her side and then stop and I think it was because she wasn't quite sure what to do with her arm. Well, she finally made it all the way over! I was able to catch it on video for Eric to watch when he got home! I was so proud of her. She rolls over all the time now. I love it, but she obviously can't get back over onto her back yet, so I have to help her out often!

This is a great moment to talk about my awesome camera as well. Before Brantley was born, Eric bought me a Vado HD camera. It is so small that it fits in my pocket, my purse, anywhere! It is really easy to use. I honestly think it only has 6 buttons! I love it! It has definitly come in handy this past week and I leave it out all the time to catch fun times with my girl!
Speaking of my girl....she turned 16 weeks old this past Friday.

Tummy Time

We have been enjoying some tummy time lately and Brantley is getting so much better at holding herself up. Thought I would share some pictures of our fun tummy time together. :)

 

 

 

Me and My girl!

Brantley's Sweet Laughter

Megan had mentioned Brantley's sweet laughter. Here is the video of her laughing at the noises that I make for her. I could absolutely eat her up! We love hearing her laughter! It truly is one of our favorite sounds. Enjoy!

15 weeks old!

Miss Brantley turned 15 weeks old on Friday. She gets cuter by the minute and we just eat up every bit of it. She recently has started to really laugh! She mainly laughs at her Daddy and the silly noises he makes! Her laugh is already contagious. When I figure out how to put a video on here I will be sure to post a short clip of her laughing. I guarantee you will LOVE it!

Look at me!

We continue to be amazed at how fast our little girl is growing. She truly is our blessing straight from heaven.

B sitting in her Bumbo for the first time. 

 

14 Weeks old today!

B's First Halloween

What a fun day! We dressed Brantley up in her pumpkin onesie that my mom bought and got to admire this adorable pumpkin all day. We later put her in her Halloween costume and drove down to see some of our favorite people, Steve and Dawn. Steve and Dawn are Brantley's Godparents so I am really glad that she got to spend her first Halloween hanging out with them. She even got a new book from Momma Dawn and Papa Steve! Here are some pictures to show our fun day:)

Brantley turned 13 weeks old on Halloween:)

Brantley and her Daddy being silly!

Trick or Treating at Papa Steve and Momma Dawn's house.

Momma Dawn loving her Bumble Bee Brantley.

Good Gracious! I could just eat her up!

So, when it is 80 degrees outside on Halloween it isn't a whole lot of fun to be sweating in a heavy costume.

Papa Steve has rescued me from the costume. Now I am just a cute little pumpkin.

Papa Steve puts me to sleep after a fun and exhausting day.