Our 1st Family Vacation

Jennifer and I decided that since we were both moving into new jobs that this was quite possibly the best time to take our 1st family vacation. The timing and location of course were picked because of my love for the greatest sport, football. Since taking the position in which I work every weekend it has really cut into my football time. Thankfully the NFL has games on Monday and Thursday nights. So I talked Jennifer into letting me go to a Thursday night in Baltimore. The only way that I was able to talk her into this was by saying that we would leave early in the week and travel to Washington DC and spend a few days there before heading to the game in Baltimore.

We booked our hotels and Jennifer made a proposed schedule for our trip, with all of the daily activities depending on weather and the amount of time that we had. I had to work night shift on Sunday, so after getting off from work I came home and we packed up the car and fed Brinley a bottle and then set out on our first family vacation. Brinley and I slept in the back seat while Jennifer drove, because I was in no shape to make the drive. We stopped every few hours to give Brinley some time out of her car seat and to feed her. We made pretty good time considering all the stops we made. We got to bed early so that we would be well rested for the next day's adventure in to Washington DC. (I fell asleep watching MNF, which was the controversial Packers-Seahawks game, that ended the days of the replacement referees)

Brinley really enjoyed her new stroller.

Brinley woke up around 6 in the morning for her breakfast and we all decided to sleep in a little more before heading into the city. We decided to drive ourselves into the city because we were bringing so much stuff for Brinley that it would have been a complete disaster to try and take the subway system. We found a parking garage and then headed off on our journey. Our first stop was the White House. Brinley got a bunch of smiles from locals and other tourists with her cute patriotic outfit. We got a few pictures at the back and then headed around front for a few more. Brinley was hungry again, so she ate her lunch at the White House. 

Our first family vacation.

Brinley eating lunch at the White House.

When Brinley finished up we headed to the Museum of Natural History. Jennifer had found out about a butterfly exhibit that was free only on Tuesdays so we headed that way. We are not sure how many of the butterflies that Brinley actually could see because they were moving around pretty fast and then when they landed they sometimes blended into the surroundings. I am sure that a few caught her eye at some point. We got her pretty close to a few just to make sure.



Jennifer even had a few that landed on her while we were in the exhibit.











Brinley was tired after the exhibit so she laid down in her stroller for a little nap. We headed for the monuments. To save a little time and money we had packed our lunches, so we ate our lunches as we walked over to the Washington Monument. I was pretty upset when doing some of our research because the monument has been closed for about a year due to some cracking from an earthquake that had happened in 2011. This was one of the things that I was looking forward to because I didn't get to go up the last time I was in Washington DC with my family. I guess it will be added to the list of things to do next time.

Brinley was still taking a nap, so we let her sleep and I just took a picture of the two of us.

Our next stop was at a newer monument that I had never seen before. It was the World War II monument that had just been finished in 2004. Of course we had to stop by the pillar of Kentucky. We just so happened to be there at the same time as hundreds of veterans from the state of Oklahoma. I can't even begin to imagine how many friends and relatives that some of the men and women had  probably lost in this war. It would have been neat to sit down and listen to their war stories, but I refrained because I didn't want to bother them.

After a long walk down the reflecting pool, we ended up at the base of the Lincoln Memorial. This was just moments before Brinley decided that she had a little surprise for me. I was just looking around at something and when I looked back I had spit up all over my shoulder, but how can you really get upset with such a cute face.

We headed down to see the Vietnam Memorial. 

I was a little sweaty after walking up all the stairs with our stroller, but we had to go up to see Honest Abe because he was born in Kentucky! 

Korean War Monument

Another new monument for me was the Martin Luther King Jr. Monument. There were also multiple quotes of his that were carved into stones around the statue.

We made the walk around the tidal basin and stopped to see the FDR memorial along the way. Brinley decided to take another nap on the walk or else we just might have let her sit on FDR's lap, but I highly doubt Jennifer or the other tourist would have approved. The only thing that we didn't get to see on the walk were the Cherry Blossoms in bloom, maybe we will have to come back in the spring sometime.











We finally made it around to the Jefferson Memorial and I somehow missed the sign for the handicapped entrance so that we could take Brinley up to see the statue. We were pretty tired from all the walking and didn't feel like walking around it again, so we just opted for the family picture at the base of the monument. Brinley was asleep and Jennifer and I had both been to it before so it made the decision that much easier.

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Next we headed towards the Botanical Gardens and United States Capital Building. The Botanical Garden was really neat. It had all different natural environments that can be found in the USA and all the plants that are from the area. Apparently Brinley thought something was pretty funny while we were there.

Our last stop of the day was at the US Capital Building. We got our picture and then headed back towards the parking garage, which was about one and a half miles away. Overall we had a great first day in the city, but we were all exhausted  As soon as we got back to the hotel we all quickly fell asleep.

DAY 2 in Washington DC

We once again headed into the city to explore some of the museums. We started by heading to the Library of Congress to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. This was the first time that I was able to see these documents because when I went with my 8th grade class I chose to hang out with them instead of seeing them and I have been told many times by my mother that I really missed out by not going to see it. However, you cannot take pictures inside so I have no evidence, but I did see it and the majority of the time I was just wanting to see the map on the back of it. Our next stop was the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Brinley even decided to take a picture behind a podium just to try it on for size. I do believe that she would go down as the only president to wear a headband and bow. (Can't say for sure if she was the first in diapers.)



The next stop was at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. This has always been one of my favorite museums because you get to see a lot of animals that most zoos don't have and you see just how magnificent nature really is. It is also neat to see all the different things that came to life in Night at the Museum 2 as well.

Of course we had to get our picture with DUM DUM

Family picture at the front entrance.

After seeing all the museums we headed towards the National Zoo. I had been to this zoo before, but I was really excited about getting to see the pandas because I don't remember seeing them the first time I was there with my family. However, there had been some recent problems with the pandas and their exhibit was closed. The female panda had just given birth, but the baby panda had some medical problems and didn't survive. The female panda had been mourning ever since and the zoo was giving her some time to grieve. The gift shop did have some video cameras that filmed the pandas while they were in their cages, so we at least we got to see them.

Picture of the video screen of the male panda.

Brinley with the Gorillas.

 After seeing all the different exhibits in the zoo we headed back to the hotel for the night. We were completely exhausted from the past two days in the city. We woke up in the morning earlier than expected and got all of our stuff packed up and decided to make an extra stop before heading to Baltimore. We headed to Arlington, VA to visit the cemetery. Thinking that every thing would be fairly close, we opted out of taking the stroller because it was packed nicely into the car and just carried Brinley. (Big mistake) After walking about a half mile I stopped and asked someone how much further to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and she said about  a mile, so we just decided then that we would just be seeing JFK's eternal flame. We then headed out  for the Iwo Jima Memorial Monument, another one that I didn't see on my previous trip with my family. We quickly snapped a few pictures and then got out on the road.

The statue was much bigger than we had realized from just seeing it on TV or in pictures.

Overall our trip to Washington DC proved to be a great first family vacation. One of the best parts about Washington is that all the monuments and museums are free. I know that we will have to take Brinley back someday when she can actually appreciate it. We also found out just how difficult it is to travel with an infant, but we really did have a great time together in the city. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Brinley is now 4 Months Old!

Brinley at our 1st twilight clinic

We didn't start out being 3 months old on the right foot. For the first few days of the month of September Brinley started screaming when it was time to eat. She would take about an ounce of milk and after burping she would have no interest at all in eating. In fact, she would scream and was very hard to console. After calming down again she would take another ounce and the process would start again. This happened for a few days and by day 3 we were at our wits end. So we decided to head to the doctor, the only problem being that it a Sunday and only the twilight clinic was open. We couldn't take seeing our daughter miserable with every feed so we headed in to the clinic. The doctor examined Brinley and took a look in her ears and said that she thought she possibly saw some infection in her ear and to start on antibiotics. However, since I have worked in the health care field I questioned if this was really the best decision. I just didn't want to start antibiotics for a possible infection and then later in life when she really needed the antibiotics, they wouldn't be as effective. So I reviewed the facts with her again (only fussy with feeds, arching her back with feeds, no fever, and no other signs of ear infection) and she talked with her upper level attending doctor and they agreed with me that it was probably just a little reflux and that she should be started on zantac. They said it might take about a week to see any results from the medication, but if she didn't get better then maybe schedule an appointment with the pediatrician.

Up until now, Brinley was not really wanting anything to do with tummy time, so I had to show her a little tough love and make her spend more and more time on her belly even if she didn't like it. We were really wanting to see her finally roll over.

This was right after Brinley rolled over for the very 1st time. I was the only one to witness the event, but a few days later I was actually able to catch it on film.

Brinley at her 2nd twilight clinic visit

We went home and tried this out for about a week. Brinley started to eat slightly better over the next few days and then she started to eat very poorly over the weekend. We really didn't want to go to the clinic on the weekend because we couldn't see our pediatrician, so we decided to keep working with Brinley to see if it was anything we could fix on our own. We tried 2 different bottles and Jennifer even went out and bought hypoallergenic formula to try instead of the breast milk she had been getting since birth because she thought that Brinley could possibly have a milk allergy. However, all of these attempts were a failure. We decided that we would call early Monday morning to see about getting in to see the pediatrician. Brinley decided that Monday morning that she was going to eat again, so we decided to hold off on the doctor's visit. Everything seemed to be going great until 4pm that afternoon when Brinley decided that she wasn't going to eat at all. Being the first time parents we are, we immediately called the doctor's office to see if we could be seen. They said that the first available time slot was for the after hours twilight clinic, so we decided to take it. We had the same resident doctor come in for the inital examination and this time she added even more news to our already hectic thought process when she said "Is her heart murmur something that her pediatrician is just watching?" Well this was a shock for us because out of about 10-15 doctors and nurses that had seen our daughter, not a single one had mentioned a heart murmur. Again being nurses probably made us a bit more scared that the average person and of course my thoughts went to the worst possible scenario. I had recently taken care of three patients who had developed heart murmurs and ended up having to have open heart surgery. The upper level attending came in to exam Brinley and she verified that her problems were probably related to reflux, so we increased the dosage of zantac and she also said that the breast milk would be the best thing for her to eat because she didn't think it was an allergy. The attending slightly calmed our fears by telling us that most children develop a murmur at some time during childhood and that Brinley's didn't sound like one that presently needed to be followed up on. We headed home with even more than we had bargained for, but over the next few weeks we finally got our little eater back. The heart murmur is still being watched by our pediatrician and we even made a deal that if it is still present at her 6 month check up that we will do further diagnostic testing to ensure that nothing needs to be done to correct it. That is enough with our eating problems, now to some of the new and fun things that we did while we were 3 months old!

Aunt Sarah came up to visit with the rest Jennifer's family for a BBQ.

Aunt Amanda also came up for the to visit little Miss Brinley.

Four generations: Great Granddaddy Clayton, MiMi, Jennifer, and Brinley.

We took a little stroll through the arboretum before mommy had to go to work. Brinley has really started to enjoy taking walks in her stroller. We have been trying to take her out every night after it cools off a little.

We would have gotten out for some photos, but Brinley had just fallen asleep. If I have learned nothing else it is to not wake a sleeping baby!

Miss Brinley was a much happier little girl after a couple weeks on the zantac.

I walked out of the room for a few minutes and when I came back this is what I found. I was pretty impressed myself.

Again I say we had a much happier little girl again. This was right after a night time feeding and getting ready for bed. This was also one of her last nights with a swaddle blanket.

A new hobby that Brinley picked up was blowing raspberries and blowing spit bubbles.  She is very amused by all the noises that she can make.

Another hobby that Brinley enjoys is putting her hands, or any object for that matter, in her mouth. Every spare moment of the day Brinley is trying to figure out what things taste like.

Brinley playing with her new favorite toy that was sent to her by Aunt Andrea. It is an elephant teether and crinkle toy. 

Brinley also got a late night visit from Andy Bates.

My beautiful girls sitting out on the back deck. I sure am a lucky guy!

I have also decided that I might have to contact Michael Jordan and see if we could get Brinley a modeling contract to help boost the sale of infant apparel. 

A big investment that we made this month was a new car. We decided to buy a SUV because on our trip to Indianapolis last month we couldn't even fit all the stuff in our car. So, it was time to expand and our new Toyota Highlander has plenty of room for us and all of Brinley's things.

The downside to getting the new car was getting rid of the Chevy Cavalier. Brinley and I were the only ones sad about this transaction. Brinley was sad that she never even got to ride in it and I was sad because the car had been a part of our lives for about 12 years. This was Jennifer's first car, the car we drove off in after our wedding, the vehicle that protected us when a semi veered into our lane and hit us, and many more memories. However, it was time to go!

Since Jennifer and I were both off for the other two summer holidays, we were both scheduled to work Labor Day. We couldn't switch with anybody, so we called up the grandparents. They came up to stay all weekend and watched Brinley that night while we were both at work. She was pretty easy on them because she slept all night long. I didn't know what kind of trouble these 2 were going to get into.

Our happy little girl on her 4 month birthday! At our 4 month check up she weighed in at 12 pounds and 9 ounces (25th percentile) and 23 3/4 inches long (3rd percentile). So it looks like she is going to be on the shorter side like her mother.

Jennifer and I were now both back into the full swing of things at work and taking care of our precious little daughter, but halfway through the first 6 week schedule at work together we knew that something had to change. Since we didn't feel comfortable leaving her at a babysitter we had just been working opposite shifts at the hospital. Not only was it difficult to arrange our schedules, but by doing this it meant that we really only had 1 day a week to spend any time together as a family. So I applied for and was able to get a WEPP position at the hospital. This meant that I only have to work 2 days a week, but end up being paid for 3 (only downfall is that you have to work every weekend). The other catch was that I would have to leave the PICU. This was really hard because I have really enjoyed my time in the PICU and made a lot of great friends while working there. However, I have come to find out that having a child (some one that depends on you) can really change your life and if losing out on my weekends meant having more time with my girls then it was an easy decision. After I made this decision to change jobs, it made Jennifer want to be able to stay home more too. So she informed her boss that she would like to go per diem, which means that after orientation she can work throughout the Children's Hospital but she gets to tell them what days she will work. Overall it has been a pretty busy month and I wouldn't change it for the world. I consider myself a very lucky man to have Jennifer and Brinley in my life. I can't wait to make many more memories with the two of them. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

3 Months and Counting!

I cannot believe how fast these last 3 months have flown by. It seems like just the other day that we were bringing Brinley home from the hospital. The past months have been extremely busy and I have completely fallen behind in my posts. I try to spend as much time playing with Brinley when I don't have to work and there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to get everything accomplished as I had wished. Now I know first hand exactly what my parents were talking about when I was growing up. Sad thing is that I only have 1 child and they had 3. This past month has been very eventful and we got to experience many new things as a family of three. During the month I was scheduled to work a lot of day shifts at the hospital. The original thought when I took all these day shifts was that I could be at home to help at night. However, ever since about 1 month old Brinley has been going to bed around 8 pm and sleeping through the night. I am very happy that she sleeps through the night, but on days that I worked I would leave before she got up and when I got home it was time to put her to bed. I just felt like I was missing out on so many things while at work. These are just a few pictures from the last month.

The month started off with a visit to the doctor for our 2 month check up.  Everything was great and Brinley was now 10 pounds, 3 ounces and 23 inches long. She is getting to be such a big girl. The bad part about our check up was that Brinley had to get her first immunization shots.  

We took a trip to Indianapolis to work the 7-on-7 camp with Aunt Andrea and we made a stop by the YMCA to see some of our good friends, Tony and Myra Duritsch. Our visit just added more fuel for the fire of Myra's baby fever. We didn't get to spend too much time together, but we are looking forward to seeing our friends more often because they are moving even closer to us in the next few weeks.

Brinley got to spend a lot of time with Mommy in Indianapolis because I was busy working the camp. They did make a few stops by the office to see me. Indiana was Brinley's first state that she traveled to outside of Kentucky. She only has 48 more states to go before she catches up to me.

One day while Brinley was napping I was just playing around  and seeing how many Swedish fish I could put on her with out her waking up. Looks like 6 is the number to beat.

I took the girls out for dinner while in Indy and we asked the waiter what some tourist spots were in the city. After some thought and asking his co-workers the only thing he could come back and tell us was the monument at the square. So we stopped by to have a little photo op. In fact Brinley had already been to the square once before. This is where the roman numerals were at during the Superbowl festivities this past February and Brinley was still in Jennifer's belly. 

I picked this little football rattle up one day when I had to pick something up at Babies R Us. This has by far been one of Brinley's favorite toys. Only problem that we have is that Brinley tends to try and eat the football as opposed to throwing it. I have plenty of time to try and teach her everything I know about the sport.

Our big accomplishment of the month was finally getting to where Brinley could hold her head up enough to be able to sit in her Bumbo. She has really enjoyed her time in her chair. It also gives her a different perspective and allows her to be amazed with her toes.

Our little girl loves to play with her ears while she is eating. 

Aunt Andrea came to visit after we worked the camp together in Indy. We enjoyed spending time  with Andrea and getting to celebrate her birthday even if it was a week or so early.  McKinley is still trying to learn how to hold a baby, especially one that enjoys to move around while being held.

We had some sparklers that we forgot to use on the 4th of July so we had a little fireworks show on the back deck. As you can see Brinley wasn't that amazed with our display.

Mommy and her girl before having to go into work. Jennifer was not excited about having to go back to work after having 11 weeks off to spend time with Brinley.

I was supposed to take many pictures and send them to Jennifer on her first night back to work so that she could see what our baby girl was up to while she was at work. I took this one right before bedtime with all of her stuffed animal friends.

Brinley also enjoys books. This really makes Grandma very happy.

We have tried so hard over the past month to get Brinley to spend time on her belly and she doesn't like it for more than a few minutes at a time.

Brinley sitting in the rocking chair for the first time. We put her kangaroo with her to kind of prop her up a little bit.

Brinley got word of my Swedish fish picture and decided to get a little payback. So Brinley and mommy got me good one morning while I was sleeping.

By far the best investment that I made was picking up this football rattle. Since she can't pick up things as well yet this fits on her wrist and she practices her touchdown dances all day long.

Mimi came to visit Brinley one weekend. Brinley enjoyed getting to spend some time with her. 

Jennifer snapped this photo with her Curious George stuffed monkey. This is such a happy little girl.  She is getting so big.

Brinley really racked up the gifts for her party. Her favorite gift by far has been the toy elephant that Aunt Andrea gave to her.

I have to take credit for the smile in this picture. It never fails that I can get Brinley to smile by making funny faces and silly noises. 

 I hope to keep this more updated in the future. Brinley is definitely getting big and she is developing more of a personality everyday. We love her so much and I enjoy getting to share just a few of the many pictures that we take. Thanks for reading and God Bless!