Overdue Baptism Recap

On February 2, 2014, we baptized Cooper.  It happened to be Super Bowl Sunday, so we thought it was a good day to bless our little baby.  I mean, if he grows up to be an NFL star, it would only be fitting that he was baptized on Super Bowl Sunday, right?!?  Considering it was a Sunday in February in Nebraska, the weather miraculously cooperated so that everyone could travel to Lincoln safely.  We are so grateful to our families for making the trip at fairly short notice to celebrate our little man.  With the impending arrival of the newest Bryant cousin, and the big wedding coming up this Spring, we wanted to get this little event checked off the list before it was impossible to get scheduled.  

Delaney had the job of "towel holder", so she thought she was pretty special.  Cooper cried for just a little big after he had the water poured on his head.  He wasn't overly dramatic.

Uncle Chip provided pyrotechnic support, while Delaney kept a bird's eye view on everyone.

Cooper with this parents, godparents, & sister.  Uncle Chip & Aunt (to-be) Lauren & Uncle Brent are Cooper's godparents. 

Here's Cooper with all his grandparent's on his Baptism Day!  I never had the chance to have all 4 of my grandparents alive while I was, so pictures like this are very special to me. 

 We finished the festivities with a little lunch in Cooper's honor at Lazlo's here in Lincoln.  The food and family time was just perfect!  It was a wonderful day for our blessed little boy!

Catching our breath

It's been a crazy few weeks around here. This coming weekend will be the first (and last) for quite some time that we will actually be home in Lincoln without any major plans. We are all looking forward to it. We have had many fun (and some not so fun) times lately, but all the running around and traveling is starting to take a toll. We have made numerous trips up North to Tekamah for various family events and visits. Craig's grandpa has had another bout with illness, but is not doing much better and recovering in Tekamah. Delaney has held up pretty well with the constant business, but she did have a run-in with pink eye last week! Nasty stuff! We spent Thursday and Friday home doing drops trying to get un-contagious before the big weekend! I think we have successfully gotten rid of the bug, and managed to not get anyone else sick! Phew!

I have been continuing with my running program. After battling nasty shin splints for the first few weeks, I am finally starting to feel better when I'm running! I think my new shoes definitely help! I about 3 weeks away from the 5k, I'm not as scared now as when I started the program...it seems doable now! Considering how anti-running I have been more whole life, this is quite an accomplishment!

We had a great Fourth of July weekend! We started it off by celebrating a friend's recent marriage at a wedding reception in Gretna Friday night. Congratulations Grant & Maria! Delaney spent some quality time with her Uncle Brent, Auntie Buff, and crazy cousins Sydney, Jaiden, & Tyler while we went out. She had a big time!

Saturday, we headed up to the farm. We all managed to take some much-needed naps Saturday afternoon, so we were ready to take in the festivities at Northridge Saturday night. They had live music, kiddie games, and awesome fireworks! I think this is going to be a great, new tradition for Tekamah! After the fireworks in Tekamah, we headed back to the farm for Craig & Brent's show. It was actually fairly impressive! (Delaney wasn't too into the firework this year, so she went to bed before the show at the farm!)

Sunday we celebrated Chase's baptism! It was a wonderful day for everyone! I was honored to become his godmother! Craig did a fine job standing in for Nick's brother, Brandon, as godfather. Brandon is serving in the US Air Force in Afghanistan right now, so obviously he couldn't be there with us on Sunday. Everyone did get to visit with him via Skype Sunday afternoon, which was nice! Chase did wonderful throughout the ceremony. He didn't even cry when the water was poured over his head. We may have another water baby on our hands!

Monday was the annual 4th of July parade in Tekamah! As opposed to last year, Delaney was far more entertained by the parade this year. She loved the candy, people watching, and floats! She even stayed out of the street, which I consider to be a huge victory! We enjoyed a family lunch in Tekamah and then headed home to Lincoln Monday afternoon. We made it home to enjoy some dessert with our new neighbors. We also discovered we live in a neighborhood full of pyromaniacs! Our house was actually shaking with some of the fireworks! We could feel vibrations in our bed! It was a little nuts! I suppose we were annoyed because we had already done the fireworks thing twice, and were pretty much zombies by Monday night!

I hope to get some pictures posted from the weekend soon! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

One Blessed Baby...

We had one very special weekend! Delaney Jo was baptized on Sunday! It was a great day. She got to spend it with all of her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She truly is one blessed little girl! She tolerated all of it very well. She got hungry right before the actual baptism, but we managed to feed her quickly and she did very well afterwards. She was so cute when Fr. Kelly was anointing her with the oils and giving her the blessings. She just stared up at him with her big, blue eyes! Here are some pictures from Sunday! Enjoy! We're busy this week preparing for our big trip to Lake Okoboji next week! Yippee!
Here she is getting baptized! She squirmed a little big, but didn't cry much, even when the holy water got in her eyes!
This is how she was for the rest of the baptism ceremony...wide eyed, taking it all in! It's almost like she knew how important it was and that it was all about her!
Here's Delaney with her godparents...Uncle Brent, Aunt Jessica, & Uncle Nick. She's one lucky little girl to have all of them looking out for her!Here's a family photo of the day. Craig ditched he tie as soon as we got to Lazlo's for lunch, but I think we all look pretty good nonetheless! Didn't Delaney look cute?!?
Here's the Bryant clan! We were a rather colorful bunch on Sunday! I'm so glad everyone was able to share the day with us!
We finally took the 4 Generation photo on Sunday. Here we are, baby, mom, Grandma, Great-Grandma! We're pretty lucky to have this opportunity!
Here's the Mencke family! We were so excited Brent, Buffye, and the kids were able to spend Delaney's special day with us! They made a special trip back from Colorado just for her! We missed Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa Wortman, but I hear Grandma's feeling a lot better!

Like I said, it was a crazy, fun weekend! We cannot thank our families enough for taking the time to make it such a special day for Delaney! We are so blessed, and Delaney is one loved little girl!

Frustrated

Well, as our Biggest Loser competition continues I continue to get more and more frustrated. After 2 1/2 weeks, I'm in dead last and have only lost about 2 pounds. Chip & Craig are both down over 10 pounds and Lauren has lost about 5. I stayed exactly the same from week one until now. I don't understand. I have been more active and paying better attached to what I'm eating, but still no real results. I have noticed my 30 Day Shred is getting easier every time, but I have been skipping a few too many days. I'll be able to move up to Level 2 after a couple more workouts, maybe that will do the trick. Right now, I'm sort of sorry I ever said anything about starting this silly competition.

Delaney has reverted to getting up at least once a night over the last two weeks. I think this is part of the reason I've had more excuses to not do my video. She was doing so well, sleeping at least 6 hours a night for a few weeks straight. Now, we're up around 3-4 a.m. every night. I'm getting really tired. I think I'm developing narcolepsy...I feel asleep this morning while I was burping her! Oops! Don't get me wrong, it's all worth it, but boy am I tired! I hope she finds her way back to the longer nights soon!

Other than the sleeping thing, Delaney's been really good. She seems to be smiling more and more every day, and she likes to "talk" to us. We're taking her to her first wedding this Saturday, we'll see how that goes. I'm prepared to request a seat in the back just in case! We have her 3 month pictures scheduled for Monday. I'm so excited for them! I loved her newborn pictures, so I just know these will be great too!

Another big event we are planning is Delaney's baptism. Craig and I went to the baptism class last weekend at Blessed Sacrament. We have schedule Delaney's baptism for July 11th. We are so excited, she'll have all her grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, & cousins there! Brent, Buffye, and the kids are even making a trip back from Colorado for the big day! I'm really looking forward to it! We will also get to spend the 4th of July with them, which should be a lot of fun!

Today's been a pretty nice day. I decided to treat myself to a quick pedicure at lunch. It was so nice! I definitely needed one, and my toes look so pretty! When I got back to work, I was surprised to hear it was our monthly massage day! Oh, how I've missed those. I haven't gotten a work massage since probably November before my belly got huge! We are go lucky to have Stephanie stop in once a month, it's definitely one of the best "perks" of the job. Talk about $10 well spent! The only bad things is, after all this pampering I still have a headache! ugh!

Last Day at Home

For having nothing really planned, we had a fairly busy weekend! We saw a lot of people and did a lot of fun things! I think it was good because, I'm having a very hard time facing the fact that I have to go back to work tomorrow. I have so loved the last 10 weeks here at home with my little girl, but tomorrow that all changes. I have to leave her at daycare and go back to work. She will be in very hands and fine, but I'm still incredibly sad about it!We've had a lot of "firsts" this last week. We had our first trip to the zoo last weekend and our first shots last Monday. Here's a picture from last Wednesday, when I took Delaney to her first baseball game with my friend Kaitlyn and her two babies Henry & Julia. We all had a great time watching the Saltdogs!
Here's Delaney all dressed and ready to go to her first barbecue at the neighbors. The food and conversation was great for us, and Delaney enjoyed the attention from her buddy Greyson! Izzy even got to come play too! Yesterday, we went to Delaney's boyfriend Parker's baptism party. It was fun to see the babies together. Delaney is starting to catch up to the boys size wise! We even got to see her other boyfriend, Reed, for a while yesterday evening! Her Mencke grandparents came to visit and have dinner with us Sunday night! She always like visits from them!
Here's a pictures from today. We decided since it was so nice this morning to take Delaney on her first picnic. We loaded up and took off to the closest park. She loved being outside and looking around. Izzy also had fun watching all the bikers and squirrels. She was a pretty happy girl chillin' in the shade! We spent the rest of the day with my parents and brother. As always, Delaney was doted on and loved all the attention. After they left for home, we were outside on the front porch and Delaney thought it was pretty funny to spit up all over me and started giggling for the first time. It was definitely the highlight of the day! I could listen to her laugh all day!