Our Little Climber

This morning I turned my back on Brea for a second to fill her sippy cup with milk and when I turned around she was sitting on the kitchen chair. She has been "practicing" whenever I've had her in the kitchen with me today.

Christopher Creek

Yesterday we drove up to Christopher Creek which is just east of Payson AZ with Grandpa and our friend Josh. Travis and I have been discussing trying to rent a cabin in the area to escape the desert heat in the summers. We drove up there yesterday to look at a place and ended up deciding to rent it for a few weekends this fall. It's only about an hour and a half drive but the temperature drops about 25 degrees. The area reminds me alot of northern Minnesota and it was good to smell the clean air again. Brea had a great time running around in the cooler weather!

Cousin Nate

Travis' brother Todd and our nephew Nate came to visit last weekend. They stayed with Travis' parents but came over to our house for dinner/swimming on Friday and Sunday. Brea had a lot of fun swimming with cousin Nate! We can't wait to see them again along with Aunt Lisa and cousin Tanner when we head to MN in a month!

Summer Fun

The Last 6 Months in a Nutshell

1st Easter

Books, Books, Books

1st Birthday

Goodbye Max

Walking Everywhere.......

Swimming

Bottle Free!!

So I used to think before I had Brea that I was busy. Now I wonder what I did with all of my free time! I just put her down for her morning nap so I thought I'd try and catch everyone up on our last six months.

Brea continues to grow right before our eyes!! She is now 15 months old and a ball of energy. She is still a healthy eater and as of last week weighed 26 lbs. Travis took her to the doctor on Monday afternoon as she wasn't feeling well so they weighed and measured her. He couldn't remember what her length was but he said the Dr mentioned she is in the 80th percentile for height. Mommy is excited that we are now officially a bottle free household!! Brea hasn't had any daytime bottles since the beginning of July but I was still giving her one before bed until about 2 weeks ago. She doesn't seem to miss it one bit so we're very fortunate!

We've had a busy few months and are excited for summer to be over. I remember growing up in Minnesota wondering how come summer went so fast but it's the opposite problem here. Before Brea I didn't seem to mind the hot summers but it breaks my heart when she stands by the window or patio door and cries to go outside. We try to take her swimming a few nights a week right before bedtime. She loves the pool and I think would stay in all night if we'd let her. We are all looking forward to mild fall and winter temperatures when we can take her on walks around the fountain and to the playground!

Brea had a great first birthday! We had a mini party on her actual birthday with Grandma and Grandpa and then another one the weekend after with Uncle Todd and Aunt Jessica who came down from Minneapolis. She loved her cake(s) and dove right in to the frosting. She started walking on Memorial Day weekend and has been scooting around at 100 mph ever since! She is fascinated by books which Travis and I are thrilled by. We can pile all of her books on the floor and she will always pick out Brown Bear, Brown Bear first. We've also noticed in the past couple months that she has really started "talking". She can say Dada, Mama, shoe and ball. She is constantly pointing at things and trying to say what it is. I think we are going to have quite the chatterbox on our hands.

On a sad note we had to put our dog Max to sleep in May. He was 13 years old and had been a great dog. He started not feeling well and stopped eating. He also developed a cough which we thought was a recurrence of his valley fever. When Travis took him to the vet she discovered he had fluid around his organs which usually means cancer. We had both decided prior to his appointment that if it was anything like that we didn't want to prolong his suffering. It was extremely hard on all of us including Brea who was used to Max coming in her room every morning when she woke up. Even after 3 months it's still hard and we miss him so much!

Grandma and Grandpa's Visit

We were fortunate enough to have my parents fly out for two weeks in late February. They hadn't seen Brea since September so they were both excited to see her. She took right to Grandma but it took until about day 5 to warm up to Grandpa. Thankfully they were here for two weeks or else he wouldn't have been able to hold her until the very end. We have discovered that she is very shy around men which Travis is hoping continues through the teenage years! We had a great time while they were here and will definitely miss them.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!!

Wow...I knew it had been awhile since I had updated but I didn't realize it was nearly 3 months. You can definitely say it's been busy around the Thoms household. We put our house up for sale on Jan 1st hoping to sell and take advantage of the buyers market to upsize. Unfortunately we are up against a lot of foreclosures/short sales so people can get a lot more house for less money. We had 40+ showings in two months with 0 offers so we decided to take it off the market and hang tight for now. I am relieved as I love our house and yes it may be small but I was worried that we were going to get an offer and then not be able to find a new house that I liked as much. I also will not miss keeping the house spotless all of the time with a 10 month old and a 13 year old dog to pick up after!

Now, back to the star of this blog - Miss Brea. She is doing great and is really starting to become a little person vs a baby. She had her 9 month checkup two weeks ago and weighed 21 lbs and measured 28 inches. She has been doing the military crawl for about two months but has now mastered crawling on all fours. She loves it when mommy and daddy get down on the floor and crawl with her. She talks all the time and has mastered da-da and pu-pu (puppy?). She has also started to wave and say hi! No such luck on mama yet!

Brea had to adjust to a new daycare provider right after Christmas. Tania and her girls moved to Texas so we found Laura through a friend of Tania's. Brea has fit right in and now has a playmate Camden who is one month older than her. It's fun to see the two of them interact with each other when I drop her off in the morning. Laura also has a 6 year old daughter Morgan who loves to help watch Brea when she is home. Travis and I both feel fortunate to have found two great women who love/loved Brea like their own.