Only Two More Months til Birthday Time!

Sydni turned 10 months old this past Sunday, and I finally got around to taking her picture on Wednesday, and now I'm finally getting the post done.

This month has been another great one for our family - We got a new baby cousin on the Brown side of the family, and we got to celebrate a first birthday on the Bowers side of the family last weekend, too! So, we've stayed busy and on the move.

Sydni's still as sweet as ever and only cries when she's tired or hungry, and I suppose that is reasonable. I always feel like crying when I'm hungry or tired, too!

Here's some highlights from the month, followed by a few sweet pictures:

• As of last weekend, she now has 7 teeth, 3 on top and 4 on bottom.


• She can eat just about any food we give her. If she sees us with food, she is immediately pulling up on our chair begging for food. She has chewing with only front teeth mastered, and makes the cutest little face when she's chewing - she just purses her lips out and chews.


• She is a master crawler now, and she just shakes her little hips back and forth so fast as she moves along.


• She is pulling up on everything and can move herself around pretty well that way.


• Yesterday, she started letting go and standing for about 3 seconds at a time, holds her arms up high, and then just squats herself on down to the floor. So, it won't be long now. My guess is that she will be walking around 11 months. We'll see!


• She refuses to wear her big bows for now. I had to get this month's pictures taken quickly with the bow before she tore it off. She tolerates the little snap clippy bows well, though, so we've moved on to those for the most part until more of her hair grows in.


• We're working on drinking out of a sippy cup, but she's not quite ready for it yet. I remember being worried about Dane with this, but he transitioned just fine around a year old and gave up his bottle completely, so hopefully she'll do the same, too.


• She still claps all the time. Last weekend at church in San Antonio, they had Senior Sunday, so there was a lot of clapping for the graduates. Sydni was having so much fun, and I think that she clapped for everybody, even though she didn't know any of them! How nice is that?


• She started pointing this past week, and we spend a lot of time pointing at each other.


• She also has learned how to wave and say "Bye, Bye". She did it the first time at Sam's to a worker, and now she does it all the time. She's doing it in one of the pictures below.


• She loves to tackle her big brother. I have a feeling that she's going to give him a run for his money and will be able to keep up with him in no time. She just gets to laughing so hard when she's got him pinned down. Poor Dane has the most sensitive head and can't stand to get his hair pulled, and I'm afraid that Sydni has already discovered his greatest weakness and goes for either his hair or ears every time! As usual, he just yells, "No, baby!" It's really funny!

She's just the sweetest girl ever, she's so much fun to be around, and I just love her so much! She has completed our family in the nicest way, and we're so glad God has given her to us!

Here's our little strawberry girl!

It looks like she's so excited to see Miss Monkey!

"Bye, Bye!"

My Entrepreneurial Future is Looking So, So Bright!

It's been really hard for me to understand why people aren't willing to pay $100+ for hair bows?! Apparently, I am grossly out of touch with the pricing and supply/demand structure for hair bows and accessories.

Just kidding! I recently learned how to make Sydni's hair bows, and since I usually have leftover ribbon and extra accessories, I thought that I would try to sell them, too. The good news is, I've had two sales...the bad news is that, after the EBay listing fees and shipping costs, Lane and I figured out that I am paying people to buy my bows. Very disheartening!

Anyway, I made a website, too, and I thought that I would share it with everybody, in case you or anyone you know, are ever in need a hair bow for your little girl. Like I said, I'm just starting out, and my inventory is a bit limited, but I hope to add more to the website as I go along.

So, please spread the word. My website is http://www.bowsformysweetgirl.com/. I'm sure things will turn around soon, and my business future will be bright!

Here's a few pictures...

A Very Fast, Fun Trip to Aggieland to Meet Baby Colton

We made a fast and furious trip last night to go and meet the newest member of the Brown side of the family, Baby Colton! He is such a sweet and calm baby, and we're so glad we got to see him. Dane was very sweet and careful with him, so he was able to get a little closer to him than Sydni could. Dane's had practice with babies - Sydni, not so much! Colton has the prettiest, blondest hair, and he has a cute cowlick in the front just like his dad. Here's some pictures of the little guy.

Colton with his Uncle Lane and Big Cousin Dane

This is about as close as we let Sydni get - these two will have wildly fun times together, I'm sure!

I like how it looks like he's smiling in this picture - actually, he was whining because of the flash, I think.

We spent the night in College Station, much to Dane's delight, and we took a couple of hours this morning to take the kids on a walk around campus. Dane is at such a fun age right now, so other than his legs getting tired from walking, the sights and sounds around campus really kept his attention well. He kept on pointing out Aggies to us - he would yell in astonishment, "There's an Aggie!" to most people wearing Aggie shirts, which we discussed and estimated to be roughly 45% of the student body population. We stayed at La Quinta, so of course, we ate breakfast at Denny's. Well, there was a group of Old Ags meeting in the banquet room, and we found out that they were actually former fighter pilots and were all graduates of Texas A&M and former Corp of Cadets members. They all had on matching maroon polo shirts with "BSA - Been Shot At" embroidered on the front of them. So, as they are starting to leave, one of them walked by our table, and Dane announced loudly, "There's an Aggie!" The man just turned around, and with the proudest look on his face, smiled and said to him, "That's right!". They all looked to be around the age to have fought in either Korea, or most likely, Vietnam, we thought. It was neat, I thought. Anyway, here's some pictures from around campus.

Dane, in front of the 12th Man statue at Kyle Field.

November 18, 1999, was a tragic day for the Texas A&M community - the collapse of Bonfire, and sadly, 12 Aggie students died as a result. I can't believe it has almost been 10 years. Well, the University made a memorial on the site of Bonfire, in honor of those students and of the tradition of Bonfire, itself. Lane and I had visited several years ago, but I had forgotten what a moving memorial it really is. I really think they did such an incredible job, and they paid tribute to each of the fallen students in such a personal way. It is really very touching and was done in such a respectful and meaningful way.

There are notches for each year of Bonfire along the walkway, starting in 1909.

A nice shot of Dane sitting on a pillar in front of the Administration Building. I think he looks so grown up!

We were walking along across campus, and Dane spotted this pulley on the side of the library. He insisted that we stop and take a closer look, so we did. He's big into the show, Sid the Science Kid on PBS, and he learned about pulleys on that show. As a side note, one afternoon a few weeks back, he came up to me and said, "We need a volley." I asked him, "What?" He said, "A volley!" I said, "What's a volley?", and he replied, "Well, it's a simple machine that helps you pull your toys up to your treehouse." Then, I realized, from his very accurate definition, that he meant pulley, and I said, "You mean a pulley?", and he said, "Yeah, a pulley, we need a pulley." So, Lane helped him install a pulley on his playground, like Sid, the Science Kid. I thought that was pretty smart of him. So, in honor of all pulleys everywhere, here's Dane with his A&M pulley!

Me and my babies under the Century Tree

Outside the MSC, the student center, one of the guys' dorms had an old beat up car for people to hit with a sledge hammer, as a fundraiser to help fight cancer. So, Dane donated $1 for 3 swings at the car. Here he is helping to fight cancer. He had fun, but he was a little confused about why the sick people were letting other people hit their car. We tried to explain, but I'm not sure how successful we were. I think all the students had the most fun watching him. They let him keep on hitting it and were taking lots of pictures, too. They even gave Dane a broken piece of the car as a souvenier! Lane and I figure the pictures will really help Dane out a lot in his campaign for either Student Body President or Yell Leader someday.

Two neat guys beside Rudder Fountain

Sydni and I, relaxing poolside while Lane and Dane swam at the hotel last night.

Now, for the big news - Welcome to the world, Colton Brown Whitaker!

Lane's sister, Torri, had her baby this morning, and we are so happy to welcome Colton Brown Whitaker to the family! Being an aunt is so much fun, and I can't wait to get to know this little guy! He weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and measured 19 inches long. We haven't gotten to see him in person yet, but we plan on heading down there some time this week.

Torri had a very short labor and delivery (about 5 hours), and they are both doing great! I think he looks very alert and intelligent!

Here's a couple of pictures of him with his proud mom and dad! Congratulations, Whitaker Family! We love you!

Yes, we're weird - we had a 10th birthday party for our cat, and we're proud of it!

Our family will find any reason to celebrate and eat Ice Cream Cake! This fantastic cat has been a part of our lives for 10 years now, and I'm so glad he's my cat! And, yes, that is his present sitting on the table. Besides the ice cream cake, Dane wrapped up a flea treatment in the bag for C. John to open. Needless to say, the cat was less than enthused. He did eat some cake, though, and he seemed to enjoy it until he got scared away by the crazy 3 year old that lives in our house!

So, Happy Birthday to C. John Ronnie Brown!