15 months old

Brigitta feeding herself dinner one night, she is becoming quite good at holding a spoon and feeding herself. And, she is going to be a 'righty.'

Brigitta Ruth is now 15 months old plus some and here is what she has been up to:

*walking more and more without assistance - still scoots when she loses her balance or something is in her way

*teething - hooray! - we can see some of those top teeth starting to cut through

*sings along to 'Twinkle, Twinkle', 'ABC's' and 'Old MacDonald'

*when you ask her, "what does a kitty say?" She responds with, "meow!" in the meekiest, sweetest little voice you've ever heard

*eats a wide variety of foods and still loves all of her fruits and vegetables...and don't worry to those concerned that my vegetarian lifestyle is somehow 'hurting' my daughter...she eats meat occasionally, but truly loves gardenburgers, soy hot dogs and tofu mixed with blueberries and strawberries - she is actually getting 'more' protein from the vegetarian food choices rather than meat alone!

*still sleeps 12-13 hours a night with one nap a day for 2-3 hours!

wrapping presents

Brigitta helping mom wrap presents last week. She was trying to wrap her own books for Christmas, pretty adorable!

gingerbread house

the second annual sutton/olson gingerbread house. this year uncle scott made the house with the twins, who absolutely loved it! having the candy out in little bowls within their reach was pure toture, by the end they were sneaking little pieces!

7-10 inches of snow

Scott took this picture on Sunday with our makeshift ruler. Who would've thought in a household with a teacher, there is no ruler to be found? So strange!

This shows 7 inches of snow on Sunday morning.

our backyard from the deck

monday morning's snow results...10 inches! it just keeps falling and falling!

Decorating the tree

Brigitta helping get out the decorations

Our tree, notice most of the ornaments are near the top, this way little fingers don't do too much damage

All lit up!

More on the farm...

At this tree farm, the kids could roast marshmallows.

Here they are 'roasting' sticks rather than marshmallows.

Super Brigitta

So happy to be in her stroller

O Christmas Tree

At the beginning of December, we ventured out to a cute little tree farm in the boonies of Snohomish to find the 'perfect' tree!

Mom and Brigitta

Dad and Brigitta

The lambs in the manger, we could feed and pet them.

Sutton Family shot

Happy Thanksgiving

A happy late thanksgiving to everyone!! This year we are very thankful for a healthy baby. Let me get you up to speed on our past two days.

Yesterday morning, I went in to get Brigitta up for the day and was definitely surprised to see her covered head to toe with large, red hives! I was a little upset not knowing exactly what to do. So, I called my mom, who immediately called a good family friend who is also a nurse. Our immediate thought was a reaction to her latest dose of antibiotics for an ear and sinus infection. She originally was on amoxicillin and that didn't see to do the job, so we went to augmentin.

I then got on the phone with the on call nurse since the doctor's office was closed and I feel such a sense of relief when our nurse was from Children's Hospital in Seattle. We stopped her antiobiotics immediately and started her on Benadryl. That seemed to help keep everything at bay. We were told to watch her breathing and make sure her eyes didn't swell shut. Thankfully, nothing like that happened. We enjoyed Thanksgiving with no major problems.

This morning she was whimpering and crying in her crib at 5, so I went into get her and her face was very swollen and her eyes were almost shut. So, yet again, I called the on call nurse and I was told to up her benadryl and see the doctor as soon as possible.

We got to the doctor early this morning and his diagnosis was that she is allergic to penicillin based drugs just like her mom and this was her body's way of dealing with it all. She is now on prednisone for the hives and swelling and another antiobiotic to still deal with her ear infection. I'm also rubbing cortisone cream all over her body to deal with the hives and any itching that can come from it.

She is currently napping soundly while we relax a little that our baby girl is getting better and I'm ordering vitamins galore to get her immune system back up and running strongly!

We hope you all are having an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family!

fourteen months old

Here is what Brigitta is up to now that she is an amazing 14 months old! (where did the time go?)

*continues to cruise around furniture and objects
*walks behind toys
*will take a few steps at a time to get to a destination - currently 9 steps her highest
*still only has 2 teeth
*eats everything we will eat, but especially loves pasta, blueberries and green beans!
*sleeps through the night with no complaint, other than playing her mobile for us occasionally
*and currently has an ear infection and a sinus infection - she is on her second round of antiobiotics to kick these nasty infections

The Lee Family

This past Friday in Arlington, WA a terrible tragedy occurred. A local foster family (The Lee Family) lost their home and 2 foster children in a horrible house fire. This tragedy hits me particularly closely because I had one of the foster boys in my classroom two years ago. Tyler was a wonderful little boy that had been given a rough deal in life, but was truly a kind hearted soul. It is such a tragedy to both the biological families of the two boys as well as their foster families.

They are accepting donations at any Bank of America branch in honor of the Lee Family to help them get back on their feet. They lost everything in this devastating accident.

You can go to the blog that was set up to keep the community involved. If you can help, thank you!

www.themarkleefamily.blogspot.com

Vegetarian

Okay, so most of you already know that I made a personal decision about a month ago to go vegetarian. I stopped eating beef over two years ago after watching a cow slaughter and I was horrified to say the least. I'm not a huge meater anyway, so this wasn't a huge change to my daily diet. I just feel that the way that many animals are treated, mistreated and pumped full of hormones all so I can have food on my table, is disgusting. There must be a better way and I'm hoping that my interest in the vegetarian lifestyle will help me find a better way for myself and for my family.

As a matter of fact, Brigitta ate garden burgers and vegan hot dogs this weekend and LOVED them!! :) For those of you wondering, Scott is not going vegetarian and I'm not asking him to, this is all for me and all about me. I just ask that you please not judge me and I will not judge you for eating meat.

Now, I was just sent the following video from PETA (don't judge) about the mistreatment of turkeys. So, before you get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving this next week, please watch and see if there are alternatives. I don't think the Pilgrims and Indians treated their turkeys this way.

I can't make the video work, damn you blogger, but if you are interested, go to www.peta.org and you can see that video along with many more facts.

Change

As I type this, it has been projected that Senator Barack Obama is the next President of the United States! I am so overjoyed, elated and on top of the world right now. As you can see by the signs in our yard and by the magnet on my car, who we 100% supported in this election.

I have never felt so empassioned and involved with the election than I have been with this election. As a woman, mother and educator; I not only had to vote for myself but also the future of this country and for my daughter. I want her to be raised in a nation where her voice counts and where her rights are upheld and supported.

This is only my third election and I am pleased to see my candidate win one, hooray!!

Now we just wait on the Governor's race in WA!

studious

Brigitta being super studious this weekend, I guess having a mom as a teacher definitely is wearing off!

reading books...

working on the computer...

Happy Halloween

Brigitta as the most adorable lion ever!

Spider-Man and Cinderella aka Anthony and Angelina

Trick-or-Treating at the neighbor's house...they actually knocked and said, "trick-or-treat!"

Our little lion...roar!

Pumpkin Patch

This past Sunday we all headed down to Craven's Pumpkin Patch in lovely Snohomish.

You can't really read it (I didn't take the picture), but it the hay bales say, "Happy Halloween"

Brigitta enjoying the patch in her own personal carriage

The twins posing for the camera...don't they look happy?

thirteen months and sixteen days

Miss B is now thirteen months old and some days. I've been bad about blogging, sorry everyone! Here are some recent pictures of Brigitta from this weekend after the pumpkin patch.

What she is up to now:

*standing on her own
*cruising along the furniture, the walls and walking behind toys
*still only has two teeth, we keep waiting for more, anyone ever hear of a 13 month old with only 2 teeth?
*her hair is starting to curl (yeah!) and is turning more red than blonde (yeah!)
*still sleeps 10-12 hours per night
*eats a wide variety of fruits and vegetables with few complaints (yeah!)
*loves to chase lena around the house, when possible....lena often runs away before a 'pet' can be applied
*still the pure joy in our lives