Dad/Daughter Time- Ken Reid

On Saturday James took Brynn for a hike at Ken Reid so I could take a nap. I laughed when he took the tripod, but now I'm happy he did! I'm so glad he enjoys spending quality time with Brynn- mostly because it means I can nap. :) Hope you all had a good weekend with all that lovely weather!

Cousins

Many of us are lucky to have cousins close in age. I, myself, have three cousins born the same year as me, and a few more just over a year older/younger than myself. These are the cousins that are especially dear to my heart (this will get me in trouble with all my other cousins, who are also dear to my heart!). Therefore, we were so excited when we found out that this Groenwold clan would have two babies born just a few months apart! I started picturing little buddies, BFFs, etc... and all the wonderful times in store for cousins who grow up together... 

... too bad the babies didn't get the memo! 

 ... or maybe they don't like sharing Grandpa!

Thankfully the next day they were getting along much better!

This may be the start of a beautiful friendship. :)

Brynn also had a great time playing cards with her cousin Hayden, although the game may have gotten a little out of hand:

And since we are on the topic of cousins, here are a few oldies of me and my cousins, for your enjoyment. I love looking at these pictures and remembering the fun we had!

Erin, Marten, and I

Jess and I

I sincerely hope that you have had the opportunity to spend time with cousins who are close in age. There's nothing quite like it!

{2 Months}

Tuesday marked 2 months since Brynn was born. I tried to take a few pictures, but she wasn't having any of it. Hope you enjoy the grumpier side of our lovely Brynn Aspen!

This not-so-little porker is now 12 lbs 1 oz- that puts her in the 65th percentile. She also measured 24 inches in length- 97th percentile! Are we going to have a tall daughter? I guess time will tell...

In other news, Brynn is getting pretty strong and pretty good at holding her head up. She loves this toy that she borrowed from Grandma: it makes lots of annoying music that Mom loooves too!

"What are you looking' at?" 

And lastly:

I just couldn't resist. She is so adorable when she is tired and we go for a walk.

Childhood and Parenting

Lately I've been reading some great articles about parenting and childhood. Of course, as a new parent, I want to be perfect in my parenting style, but I know that this is practically impossible :). I am interested, however, in reading up on the different styles and figuring out what might work for me. I'm going to put up a few links about some articles that I've really loved and want to share with all of you.

The Overprotected Kid

I'm Done With Making My Kid's Childhood Magical 

Last Child in the Woods

New Zealand School Tosses Rules

Although I'm convinced there isn't one perfect way to parent kids (because all kids are different), I do think that I am trending towards a more "old fashioned" style of parenting. As the first article states:  

One common concern of parents these days is that children grow up too fast. But sometimes it seems as if children don’t get the space to grow up at all; they just become adept at mimicking the habits of adulthood. As Hart’s research shows, children used to gradually take on responsibilities, year by year. They crossed the road, went to the store; eventually some of them got small neighborhood jobs. Their pride was wrapped up in competence and independence, which grew as they tried and mastered activities they hadn’t known how to do the previous year. But these days, middle-class children, at least, skip these milestones. They spend a lot of time in the company of adults, so they can talk and think like them, but they never build up the confidence to be truly independent and self-reliant.

This really resonates with my sense of how a child should be raised. The problem is how to connect and mesh the freedom of the "old days" with the social boundaries of today's society. I love the idea of my daughter experiencing the freedom that being outside and free can give her. I want her to find joy in just being a child rather than us having to make her childhood wonderful with extravagant parties and activities every second of the day. I want her to explore and wonder and just be a kid.

It's definitely something to ponder as Brynn grows and develops. I'm always interested in hearing others' opinions and reading more articles on the subject.

What do you think?

A Message for Nana

Last week James' mom had surgery to repair a hernia and ended up staying in the hospital a few extra days due to complications with blood clots in her lungs. We visited on Friday and Saturday but we won't be getting down again for a while, so Brynn has a message for Nana:

She's not so talented at posing yet, but we'll work on it.

Hope you feel better soon, Nana!

Bathtime

This little munchkin loves her bath.

The problem was, she didn't like the baby bath tub, and grew out of the sink real quick (read: loves to kick and push). So I started taking her in the shower/bath with me, but really, I don't always want to get wet when she does (read: explodes out of her diaper).

Today we solved the problem. I found this bath sling at the second hand store, and voila!, problem solved! It was, I will brag, $3. Sold! I wasn't planning on using it just yet, but Miss Brynn here decided she wanted a bath after all (read: poop everywhere), so we got the water running and the result was the above picture.

What a cutie, eh?