Brie rocking away

Loving it!

A little Brie

Some live action of Brie playing with items from the cupboard.

Tantrum Central

Our home was tantrum central this morning.

All because I wanted to change Brie's dirty diaper.

It was a 10 minute struggle, but I was finally able to change the diaper.  But the end of the diaper change didn't mean the end of the tantrum this morning.  She continued to flail and fling herself around for about 5 minutes and I was worried that she was going to hurt herself on the toys and chairs around the front room.

So I put her in her crib and left her screaming.

Then I heard a thud.

There was no break in screaming but it sounded louder than her bottle being thrown out so I went and checked.

And, yep, she had thrown herself out the crib and was still hysterically crying and wouldn't let me hold her. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt.  (note to self: see if mattress can go any lower.)

The only thing that finally calmed her down was to go outside in the less than 10 degree weather and watch the ducks and the bald eagle that had flown in to fish.  From start to finish that was a 30 minute screaming/flailing tantrum! 

I'm exhausted and I'm not so certain changing her diaper was worth it.

Asheville Holiday Trip

Sheesh, where to start.  Well, we were happy to arrive in Asheville after 15 hours of travel without any incident...most especially without an oil leak (note previous trip here.)

Photo courtesy of Naomi

We had another Christmas on Christmas morning (see previous post) with the Levine family for Brie.  She received an awesome rocker that has been in their family for many generations...Naomi and her brother had it when they were little and it was passed around the Goldberg family and then Mat and Sara used it when they were wee kiddos and now Brie gets to use it.  And she loves it, she can even get into it herself.  We are still working on having her sit in it and not stand in it.  I think some pain might be in her future from that learning experience, but we are trying to have her just "sit" in it and rock.  Then we had a lovely turkey dinner that Naomi prepared.

Mat was able to get out on a few bike rides and Brie and I visited with bunches of friends.  I wasn't so great at taking photos of all the people we saw, mostly enjoyed the visiting.  But we got out for a walk with her friend, Ava, who was born 2 days before Brie was.  We went on a few walks with friends, it was really nice weather and a great way to visit.  :-)

Photo courtesy of Naomi

Mat also helped his dad install barn doors that would slide on the barn.

Then we celebrated New Year's Eve at Sara's new place high above Asheville.  So we had a terrific view of all the fireworks that went off around Asheville at midnight.  It was amazing!  Wish I had a picture to share, but wasn't thinking about that, we were just enjoying the show.  Brie did not make it to midnight, but she had fun until about 10 or so.  (I didn't make Brie go to bed by 7 while on vacation!  And she only had a few meltdowns for me.  Thankfully, she was a perfect and happy child for everyone else.)

Our last night in town, we had dinner with everyone.  Here's a shot of us after a very lovely flounder and salad dinner.  It was a great visit!  

Merry Christmas 2011

Opening her first set of presents at home. 

Enjoying Christmas in Asheville.  Brie was having so much fun that she didn't want to go down for a nap even though she was super tired.  As this last picture shows, she still wants to play but can not even sit up or stand up.  She has to lay on the floor and play with her toy.

Happy Holidays 2011

Levine 2011 Holiday Newsletter

      In early March, Mat accepted a full-time position as a field conservationist with The Nature Conservancy.  In late April we said goodbye to family and friends and rented out our home in Asheville to move to northern New York.  Brie has moved four times since she was born!  It took a little bit, but we finally found “our spot.”  Thankfully, we were fortunate to find a beautiful spot on a harbor of Lake Ontario.  

     Mat has settled into his job and has loved learning more about eastern Lake Ontario and the wetland areas that he manages.  I love getting to stay at home with Brie and am amazed at how much she’s changed in this year.  Not only in size and mobility, but personality.   Brie turned one in October and is now toddling around getting more and more confident in her walking abilities. 

     Mat enjoys fishing off the dock after work to unwind and I enjoy taking photos of Mat and the fish that he catches.  We’ve explored the area by hiking in the Adirondacks, along the Finger Lakes and on the shores of Lake Ontario during Mat’s weekends and found many special and beautiful spots.    

     We are thankful you are in our lives and we wish you a wonderful holiday season and a New Year full of peace and happiness.

Love, Mat, Amie & Brie (and Maddy)

I miss my washer and dryer

I have ever since we moved, but I've adjust to my weekly laundry day and it really hasn't been so bad.  Until this week.  I did laundry on Monday because that is my weekly laundry day.  Monday afternoon Brie vomited every where and then Monday night she threw up over her second set of sheets and all her blankets and had diarrhea.  So we went and did laundry on Tuesday.  Tuesday night was a repeat of Monday night.  Laundry and doctor visit Wednesday.  Wednesday night was a repeat Monday and Tuesday night.  So we'll be going to do laundry again today otherwise our house would just smell like puke and diarrhea.  Have to admit all my plans of making holiday goodies to take around to the neighbors probably not going to happen.  Actually.  It is not going to happen.  I do not want to pass around what Brie has.   Hopefully, people will understand...

Luckily, Brie is not sick very often because it is not pretty here at our house.  I can't wait until we get to the other side.