Happy Easter!

Hi again! I'm a crazy blogger today!

I just wanted to share this picture of Berkley's first Easter. We went to East Lansing and had brunch at the University Club with Grandpa and Grandma Bruner, where Jon's dad, Dick, is the General Manager. This was taken at Dick and Sharon's house before brunch.

Berkley also got to have her picture taken with the Easter Bunny. I think you'll have to come to our house for a visit if you want to see that picture. Maybe I'll find a way to scan it, though I'm sure that breaks some sort of copywrite law. Ah well . . .

Tammy and Jon

Go State!

Michigan State may not have won the NCAA Tournament, but this is just too cute not to share! We LOVE this picture of Berkley!

Tammy and Jon

April 10, 2009 - 4 Months Old!

Hi All,

Well Miss Berkley is 4 months old already! My, how time flies!

At her Pediatrician appointment, she weighed 11 lbs, 15 oz, which is just below the 20th percentile. Her height was 23 1/8th inches, which is just under the 25th percentile. She's growing well, but we did increase the size of her bottles to get that weight up a little bit. With how well she's been sleeping, she's only eating four times per day.

Speaking of sleeping, we couldn't be prouder of this little girl! Since she was 3.5 months old, she's been sleeping between 11 and 13 hours per night. Sometimes she goes down without crying at all and sometimes she cries for awhile (still letting her cry it out so she's learning to go to sleep by herself). It's FANTASTIC! Her naps are getting better, too. She usually takes a 2-3 hour nap (in her crib - YES!) in the morning and then a couple shorter naps in the afternoon (45 mins - 1.5 hr.). I have a lot more free time now that she isn't sleeping on me for all of her naps! She's doing so well!

She's "talking" a lot more and making funny sounds with her mouth. She's also a little spit monster. She's started spitting and drooling, but she's not teething yet. It's so funny. We don't even have to be in the room. She can be hanging out in her swing and I'll be in the kitchen and hear her start talking to herself and making noises. It's so adorable! She loves pulling herself up to the standing position using mommy and daddy's hands.

She smiles all the time and loves to play games with mommy and daddy! She just gets more and more fun every day! I'm so happy to be her mommy!

We attempted giving her her first solid food, rice cereal. Yeah, she wasn't having that! She still has the tongue reflex that causes her to push objects out of her mouth. This includes food! Hardly anything even went in. It was basically me pouring goop down her chin. We'll try it again this weekend!

In other news, Jon has resigned from KPMG, effective May 4, 2009. He has accepted a Director level position in the Internal Audit Department at GMAC. He begins there at the end of May. He'll have three weeks off between jobs to spend with the family! YAY! Also, I was laid off from KPMG, which is effective June 2, 2009, which was supposed to be my return date after maternity leave. So, no more KPMG for this family. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do yet. It's going to be interesting looking for work in this job market!

We also wanted to say thank you to Jon's Godmother, Ruth. Ruth came to visit during the NCAA Tournament and we had so much fun having her here!

I hope you all enjoy the pictures I'm attaching from Berkley's fourth month of life! She's our little doll! The ones where we're dressed up were taken at Jon's cousin's wedding (before Berkley spit up all over my black dress!). Congrats Lindsey and Tyler! And, yes, we're the only parents who dress our child in MSU gear for a wedding - there was an NCAA game that night! We must keep our priorities straight! :)

Tammy and Jon

Berkley's Newest Achievement

We are proud parents! Not only is our little girl sleeping better (she goes to sleep around 8:30 - 9:00 pm and wakes up once to eat before we go to bed and then sleeps until 6:30 - 7:00 am - of course this could all change tonight!), but she is learning to put herself to sleep!

The pediatrician said at 15 weeks we could start sleep training her (i.e., letting her cry it out). She's 15 weeks today and last night is when we accidentally let her cry it out. I honestly expected her to cry for hours the first time we did this, but we got lucky. I'm probably totally jinxing us by even telling you all this, but here we go.

She was really fussy last night around 8:00 pm. At 8:50 Jon put her in her crib because she was screaming in his face and he needed a break. She cried until 9:00 and he went in and gave her her pacifier. She cried for four more minutes and then, I kid you not, the girl fell asleep! She slept until about 11:45 pm and then needed to eat. She then slept until 6:30 this morning. I gave her her pacifier so I could prepare a bottle and she fell asleep until 7:30!

Next up: naps! Today she started to fall asleep on me in the chair, our usual napping spot. I decided to see if she'd sleep with me in our bed. I let her squirm there for about ten minutes before she started to fuss. I swaddled her and put her in her crib. She cried for ten minutes and then I gave her the pacifier. She cried for another seven minutes and then just stopped. I crept into her room to see if she was asleep, but she was awake. I decided to leave her there for awhile and she passed out! She's waking up now, though, so I have to go. It was a short nap as far as morning naps go, but we'll try again this afternoon. I don't even know what to do with myself while I have free time! It's a whole new concept! There are so many options! I hope this napping thing works!

Oh and one more thing . . . GO SPARTANS!

Tammy and Jon

March 10, 2009 - 3 Months Old!

Our little Berkley is another month older! She’s getting so big and strong. She can hold that head up all by herself (and loves her Bumbo seat), can support her own weight when she “stands” on us and has a mean grip with those tiny fingers! She smiles a lot more and cries a lot less. She can grasp her own rattle when it’s offered to her. And, best of all, SHE ROLLED OVER! I’m posting a video of it! The day she turned three months old (March 10, 2009) was the first day she rolled over. It was so cute and we were so excited and proud! She’s done it a couple times since, too, so maybe she’ll keep it up! Her newest thing is sticking out her tongue and trying to imitate mommy’s and daddy’s sounds. She also blows a lot of spit bubbles!

We took her to Traverse City for the first time. She was such a good girl. She slept the whole way there and back (thankfully – she’s usually good in the car but sometimes she decides to scream)! She did have a little (okay, a BIG) breakdown in Macy’s! Now we refer to her screaming at the top of her lungs as “Macy’s crying.” Seriously – who knew SUCH a loud, blood-curdling scream could come out of something so small and cute! Whew!

Last week when it was warm outside, I took her for her first walk in her stroller. It was nice. She seemed to like it. I can’t wait for spring so we can take daily walks.

She’s starting to sleep longer. She still gets up once per night to eat and still needs to be rocked to sleep, but we can deal with that for now. I guess technically she’s been sleeping through the night for the past few nights, but we can’t wait until she starts sleeping for 10+ hours! We all know how much Tammy likes (liked) her sleep! Plus, she tends to have a 3 or 4 day pattern and then, once we think she’s starting a routine, she changes! The pediatrician said that once she hits the 15 week mark we can let her cry it out . . . we’re just not sure yet if mommy’s sanity can take that yet.

Thanks to everyone who has come to visit us! We really appreciate it! It’s just so much easier that way than us having to pack up and go somewhere else (we don’t travel lightly these days!), though it is fun to get out of the house every now and again.

Tammy and Jon

February 10, 2009 - Two Months Old!

Hi Everyone!

Our little sweet pea (as daddy calls her) is already two months old! She's so much fun!

She's absolutely adorable! She's been smiling and cooing at us. We have fun "talking" with her! She's getting better at sleeping longer, which means mommy and daddy sleep longer, which means we are happier people! She absolutely LOVES her swing, as you can see from the picture above! Her neck is so strong! She's getting really good at holding up that noggin of hers (also in a picture above)! She had her first poopsplosion . . . on Aunt Tracy! I'll refrain from posting a picture of that one, but I do have a couple! She also cried her first real tear . . . sad, but cute!

She had her two month appointment yesterday and she's doing well. She now weighs 10lbs, 1 oz and is 22 1/2 inches long - both put her in the 25th percentile. She's our little girl. Maybe she'll take after her mommy! :) She is fitting nicely into her 0-3 month clothing now, though. That took awhile. It helps that she's been wearing her G diapers - she's a "green" baby girl! I digress . . . She got her first vaccines at the appointment. She wasn't a huge fan, but she wasn't as wussy as her mommy! She handled them like a champ and was fine the rest of the day - just slept a lot.

We are going to take her to Jon's parents' cottage near Traverse City this weekend for her first of many visits! We can't wait! She also gets to meet our friends, Jason and Amy, and their kids, Jensen and Jake. She's very excited to meet some new friends! :)

Tammy and Jon

PS - Here's a video of our smiley little girl. Please ignore my voice! :)

January 10, 2009 - One Month Old!

Hi All!

We can hardly believe our little princess is a month old already! Where did the time go?

Berkley had her one month check-up a couple of days ago. She is up to 7 lbs, 15 oz (25th percentile) and 21 1/4 inches (75th percentile).

She's had quite a few visitors lately, which is always fun! She's been sleeping better and better. Last night she had a 4 hour stretch of sleep and a 4.5 hour stretch.

She's just so beautiful! We still love to just sit and stare at her. Hope you're all enjoying the photos!

Tammy and Jon