Happy First Birthday, Brynn!

Busy doesn't even seem to be a good enough word to describe the past couple of weeks! In the midst of preparing to move and packing up for our OH trip, Ben thought it would be a great idea to get appendicitis! This all started last Monday when he got home from work. He said he just wasn't feeling right, then was throwing up and in a lot of pain all night and decided to drive himself to the emergency room at 4 am during a thunderstorm. After some bloodwork and a CAT scan, the doctor told him that his appendix must be removed that day. Debbie (my mother-in-law) flew in later that afternoon to help out with Ben, Brynn, and me! She was truly a lifesaver and I'm not sure if I could have gotten through those few couple days without the extra help. One thing that was kind of ironic was Ben was in the same hospital exactly one year after I was there to give birth! He said he was trying not to complain too much about the pain, since he knew I was in much worse shape the year before ;)

While Ben was recovering at home, we decided on a realtor and our house is now officially on the market! The showings have already begun and it's hard to keep the house show-worthy with Hurricane Brynn tearing through, but we've managed! Please keep your fingers crossed! We go on our PA house hunting trip in a few weeks and already have quite a few houses that we would like to see when we get there.



Even with Ben's last minute surgery, we were given the okay to travel to OH for Brynn's first birthday! He even insisted on driving the majority of the way! So, that's right, Brynn is ONE!!! We were so excited about her birthday that she didn't get one, but TWO parties- one for each side of the family. As usual, our schedule was packed while we were home with party preparation, visiting friends and family, having the actual parties, a play date with some high school girlfriends, dinner at Skyline, and the list goes on. It will be so nice when we live closer to home and can visit more frequently and hopefully be more relaxed on our trips!




Brynn's parties were wonderful and it was great to see everyone. She did great with the big crowds, even though she usually has a longer acclimation period with "new" people and especially loved playing with her little cousins and they even helped her open presents. Then came the cake, which you never know what to expect when you give a baby cake for the first time. She was surprisingly neat about it, but she definitely loved it and got a pleasant surprise when she got cupcakes two days in a row.




When Brynn turned one, I reached my goal of exclusively breastfeeding her for a year! As any mom knows, whether you do it for a month or a year, it is a huge commitment and a very rewarding experience. We have already begun the weaning process and are down to two nursings a day and we've both handled it great so far.

Now that it's a week and a half later, Ben is doing very well and has healed great from the surgery and we are getting back to our normal routine. Right now we are planning for a much needed mini vacation to Hilton Head in a couple of weeks, which is funny because we just got back from "vacation" but this trip will be a little more relaxing than our Ohio trip. (I understand that this was a lot of information, but a lot has happened and we've been too busy to have frequent posts!)