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We bought a gate. I love the disclaimer that comes on any type of child safety item that reminds the buyer the product is not a substitute for proper adult supervision... really?! You don't say!

Anyway, we don't leave Bryce alone now that we have a gate, if anyone was concerned... But last night I discovered not only does it slow him down from getting to the stairs, but it's loads of entertainment! We take turns squishing our faces up against the screen, and lucky for me he's not old enough to handle a camera.

Check out those eyes, too bad he didn't squint like that in our Chinese New Year's pictures.

Happy Chinese New Year! I love, love the traditions and festivities surrounding Chinese New Year. Fireworks, red pockets, new clothes, oranges, lion dancing and parades... I hope I can help my children love it a little too by making it a tradition in our home. Obviously I can't do it all, and I wouldn't mind leaving some of the traditional foods out of it, but having a little bit of China in my life has blessed me so much and I would love it to bless my children too.

On the first day of Chinese New Year, everyone is suppose to only wear new things. New underwear, new clothes, and for children, they all get these awesome San Lihn (New Year's) clothes to wear. As I was getting ready to leave Hong Kong and come home, I decided to buy some traditional New Years clothing for my future children to wear, and for me to take pictures. I think they are adorable! I suppose it would be very sad if I went to a culture rich country like Hong Kong, and did not make it any part of my life. I owe a big part of who I am today to the people I served in Hong Kong, and maybe in sharing such celebrations I can maybe honor them for the amazing people they are. I will forever be grateful to them, and to Heavenly Father who knew that's exactly where I needed to be. Ty wore a Tie that was made in China! And isn't Bryce fabulous in his clothes! He says,
"Happy New Year Everyone!"

And an honorable mention to the fact that it is also Valentine's Day.... my mom, the queen of aprons, made me an apron for this love-filled holiday!

Recent Favorites.

The kid is getting so big and strong. If there is something too high for him, he's just a few dangling feet short of a pull-up. If his mouth can't reach the savory textures, he'll make it reach! I've seen children with an attachment to a blanket or a book, it's funny at times, sad when it's needed... Ty and I have made it a point to not encourage reliance on any particular toy, blanket or book, so we never find ourselves in a tragic situation when the "woobie" is not there to comfort. With that said... we have come to experience what it is like for a child to love a belonging so much, that it calms, excites, fascinates...you get the idea. "I love You Through and Through" by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak... Bryce loves this book. He can go to sleep without it, but he just loves this little book. Everyone who knows Bryce, knows he is a happy baby. But you oughta see him when we pull out this book. Every other book, when read to him, he is so antsy and squirmy, this one... he sits patiently, grinning ear to ear, cover to cover.

It's so fun to see him love a book so much.

Together Again!

Last night Ty and I returned home from our trip and it was so great to be back with our little Bryce again. While waiting for our luggage, dad Biggs circled the airport and mom Biggs brought Bryce near the baggage claim to greet us. It's amazing how much a child can grow in just one week. He looks older, his noises sound older... We love him so much!

Ty and I had free Southwest flights we had to use, so we basically flew as far as we could and hopped on a boat. We sailed on The Navigator ship of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and had a wonderful time. We were able to visit Labadee and Ocho Rios, and think cruising is a fabulous way to travel. I noticed one thing as we traveled home, I take a lot more pictures when Bryce is around...

We love shuffle board, and yes, these pictures are posed, but only slightly exaggerated.Dinner time. A chance to eat great food and get all dressed up.

It's not very often we have a schmancy event to get all dressed up for, and since Ty already had a tux, we decided we'd go all out for the 'fancy evening'. I should also mention, Ty was really annoyed with himself that he forgot to do his hair this night. It really does make a difference, and I look like a 40 year old cradle robber. Oh well. Royal Caribbean has a great resort at Labadee, Haiti so we just layed on the beach, got a group together for beach volleyball and toured the resort. When we went to Jamaica, we went to the very popular and 'must do' Dunns River Falls. This was probably the highlight of our trip. I had a waterproof camera with pictures I have not yet developed, but here is a digital picture of a picture.

The name of this tree has escaped me at the moment, but the roots grow down in the ground, not up. Some other things we learned about Jamaica: Most people build their own homes and it takes 15-20 years... To borrow money from the bank, 18% is considered a good rate. The English planted the first fern in their rain forests and now they cover the rain forest floor.

There is no wildlife in Jamaica... Just a couple non poisonous snakes, a few birds and mongoose that seem to give them a lot of trouble. Our driver shared lots of interesting things, those are what came to my mind at the moment though. This is only one tree!

This is our ship, taken from the hills of Ocho Rios, by yours truly.Every day our stateroom guy would make a different towel animal for us...

Two of the days were spent at see, but there is always plenty to do... volleyball/basketball courts, table tennis, eating, shuffle board, swimming, dodge ball, eating, rock climbing, ice skating, mini golf, eating, belly flop and sexy leg competitions, hot tubing, eating, shopping, dancing, and plenty of pool chairs to relax and read.

Ty and I had a brilliant time and part of that was knowing our little boy was well taken care of. Thank you mom and dad Biggs.

Eight Months old!

Hooray! Yesterday I turned eight months old! I kept reminding mom to post my pictures, but I kept her too busy, oops. She tells me I am really good at that. Eight months is pretty cool. Every month people ask me if I feel any older, heck yeah I do. I have doubled the teeth in my mouth, doubled my crawling speed, and I can feed myself the itty bitty flavorless crackers mom gives me (I tend to be less messy with those). Just a few days ago I learned the chasing game! It is the funniest thing ever to see grown adults crawling on the floor, drastically decreasing their normal speed so I can have a fighting chance, I love this game!

Now that I am a crawling machine, my recreational activities include: pulling down the bottled tomatoes on mom's pantry floor, pulling myself up to suck on new and exciting things, the oven door, television, toilet, and the stairs! Being able to move on my own has opened a whole new world for me and I love life. I am always happy and cheerful. I love making people smile and letting them feel the biting sensations of my four front teeth! I love shouting "BAA"... and I have started saying syllables like "ma" and "da"... for some reason unknown-to-me, mom and dad get really happy when I do. I keep saying them just to humor them. Have I left anything out? I love grown-up food, I hate the food processor, that thing is evil. I hate bibs. I love the vacuum and unfolding clothes. I find the different flavors of shoes fascinating, mom hates that! She says shoes are "yucky", but I'd call them delicious! The bottle is half full and I can't wait to see what my ninth month brings! Well, that's my eight month update!

The furnace broke this past week, we had some very cold days...

Best Coupon Ever!

A cheeseburger, two crunchy tacos, a chicken soft taco, and one shredded beef taco = $0.06

(Practically) Free food tastes soooo good?!

Movin' Machine!

Our little boy is a crazy mover now! His favorites are the bottled tomatoes that grace our pantry floor, and any surface he can pull himself up to a standing position.

In just a few days he'll be eight months old and we are shocked everyday with the new tricks he has to show us.

With the holidays over, we are enjoying being home as a family and having life get back to normal. I guess we are still spending a lot of time at mom and dad Biggs' house since our furnace pooped-out on us, but the slightly slower pace is always appreciated after the holiday hustle bustle!

Here are a few recent pictures of our favorite little boy!

Bryce works out everyday so he can be big and strong like his dad. Oh, and disregard the tampons at the bottom of the picture... I meant to leave those out of the picture. Uncle Jare, Ty and Bryce. I put this picture in so it's clear where Bryce gets his silly facial expressions from. Really, this kid loves sticking his tongue out these days.
We've been trying easy finger foods for Bryce to get better at feeding himself... I tend to go for the less-messy options, these noodles only served one purpose in the end though."Find a drawer, pull it out, hoist self up, pull stuff out."

I just love baby skin, baby bellies, toes... it's all so fun and cute!