Brink party of 4!

Here's a sneak peak at Amelie's newborn shoot with the amazing Claire Pelella.

5 days 'fresh' !

ps. Where is Rue, you may be asking? Well. 

We did attempt to include our son in this shoot. Attempt, is the key word here.

He was quite hyper. Quite. He would get on the bed, stand up, jump, do a barrel row and fling himself off the bed. Sitting still for two seconds?? Out of the question!

So, we are not pretending that our daughter is perfect and that we don't have a son....

honest!

Photos courtesy : Claire Pelella

sand in all the right places

Florida. Was. Lovely.

[ignore the improper grammar and hear my sentiment.]

[I need to pause between each word for emphasis.]

Florida. Family. Vacation. Was. So. Lovely.

!!!

I *actually* rested. I didn't think that resting & relaxing on vacation was possible with a toddler. Honest. But we did, and it was magnificent. We grilled. We swam. We sunbathed. We walked. We played shuffleboard with the rest of the 65+ snowbirds. We fed seagulls. We rented a boat. We talked about baby girl names. We laughed. We played speed and Taboo [& I kicked Chris's butt] We didn't watch tv. We didn't sleep in [thanks to Runi]. We went on a date night to a swanky foodie restaurant [thanks to Coco for babysitting]. We got sand in all the right places. 

It was a glorious final vacation as a family of 3!

Photos to come.

xo.

brink family, 2011

my beautiful little family of 3 (& 1/2) captured by the lovely Brit Fray.

http://www.britfrayphotography.com/

this is what Joy looks like

We had the privilege of working with the super talented, amazing, creative, lovely, sweet [shall I go on??] photographer Brittany Fray, of Brit Fray Photography. On saturday night we took our family photos, with baby girl at 20 weeks. It was a gorgeous day, with the golden sun and beautiful broken down barns as our backdrop. Here is a sneak peek.

It's a GIRL

Just home from our ultrasound & celebratory dinner; cheeks hurt from smiling all night.

We are having a GIRL! A little baby girl, who at present looks just like her big brother did when we first saw him at 19 weeks. A little girl that we will raise into a woman; that I will get to dress up and clip bows into her hair. Dollies and tutus and sweetness, oh my.

I have a daughter.

le sigh.

2.10.11

This is my little man the day after his first birthday party.

After a crazy night of partying he was ready for some hydration.

Gotta kick that hangover somehow.

Forcing some smiles with Great Grandma-D.

Then he shared his breakfast with Grandma. Gave the term 'finger food' a whole new meaning.

After some serious playtime, this happened shortly after.

It was a sweet morning, and a great way to start his first year.

Baby trashes bar in Las Palmas

Sometimes, you just gotta laugh.

found via Erin

1 year old!

You aren't just 12 months, you are ONE.WHOLE.YEAR.OLD!

It makes me smile...and apparently makes me cry too. As I was checking out at the grocery store I told the cashier 'I am buying all this food for my sons first birthday!' and then totally.started.bawling.

I know being your mother makes me partial to liking you, but I think you are pretty dang remarkable.

You wake up with craaay-craaay morning hair. You must take after your dad in that department because my hair looks perfect every morning [at least that's what your daddy tells me]

You can walk now...just this week! But it's not a normal front walk - it's sideways like a crab! 'Walk like an Egyptian' is your new theme song :)

You say 'mama' now...just this week too!

You share your food with me [which as times is really gross because you like to put things in your mouth then share with me]

I can see your little sponge brain soaking everything up.

You and I roll your favorite ball back and forth...it's a game. It's crazy to me that we can play games!

You absolutely LOVE peek-a-boo and when we play you belly laugh. It's my favorite.

You have totally rocked our world this year little man. Daddy and I are better humans, and a little more grown up too. Today we will give you lots of gifts, but you are our greatest gift -

The one and only Ruehl Grayson.

I love you.

xo, Mama!

ps...does this mean I have to say my baby is a 'toddler'?

I haven't thrown the baby out with the bath water...

Doves, hello hello!
Welcome to my blog, new and old readers!
I want thank Leigh from Marvelous Kiddo for featuring Rue’s birth story as ‘birth story of the week.’ I’ve read her fabulous blog for over a year and been inspired many times by the beautiful pictures and words of mamma’s and their birth experiences. I feel blessed to have joined the ranks of women who have brought life into this world. Hopefully I can and have already inspired someone with my birth story.

For those of you who have been following HGBB for a while, you know I’ve been infrequent in my posts since the babe was born. Oops. It happens to all new-&- really-sleep-deprived-moms right? I seem to have about….an hour of free time a day, and it’s normally not at the same time! When the babe actually lays down for a ‘catnap’ my brain goes something like this:

“He’s sleeping………………………………
!? !?
Sigh.
What should I do?
Sleep?
Eat.
Pee?
Wash a load of dirty baby clothes?
Put away the clean dishes?
Load the dirty dishes that are piling up?
Dry the load that I washed two days ago, that’s been sitting in the washer and is probably musty by now??
Pluck my bushwacked Freida-esque eyebrows?
Brush my teeth today?
Put on ‘real clothes’?
Take out the dirty diaper trash that’s stinking to high heaven?
Blog?
Shower!!!

By the time I have figured out what to do, I’ve wasted 5 minutes of his naptime, and somewhere between the toilet flush and burning the grilled cheese sandwich, he stirs. I hear his little cry calling to me ‘come hold me mama!’…So I shove a piece of blackened bread in my mouth and I run to grab him. That’s love folks.

Well, what can I say about being a new mom? It’s beautiful, and exhausting. I’m so in love. My arms are getting stronger by the day because he loves to be held 24/7.
We don’t sleep much and we both have cried a LOT these first 4 weeks, but it’s getting better. I’ve heard that 6 weeks is a milestone for newborns, so my fingers are crossed. I hope to have more ‘me’ time in the coming future, for one, to blog. I’ve missed it, and I really love to stay connected to you all. Thanks for all the wonderful sweet comments! They are the butter on my bread!!

Stay tuned for a new series: Confessions of a New Mom.

All my love,

Yana

Ruehl at one month!

The Little Prince

oh.my.word.

I'M HAVING A LITTLE BOY!!! And let me tell you, we were so stunned. All three of us thought without a doubt, girl. It's in the bag. I even disregarded the midwife's comment about not performing circumcisions...I thought, oh no worries there. But, we were wrong. Happily wrong.

You couldn't find a disappointed face in the room. We were all smiles. [seems to be a trend...]

The ultrasound was beautiful. I could've watched him move for hours. The 3D images of our son amazed me. He's already SO CUTE!! Ahh! He was a-movin' and a-groovin', and I kept laughing, which btw, doesn't help the technician get a clear shot. But how could I NOT laugh when he was flexing his muscle at us? He was saying 'look dad! look at me! I'm strong too!' He already has his dad's chin, and my nose. Wow.

I couldn't fall asleep last night as my mind was a flurry! Everything is different now. I was picturing flowers, and dresses...and lambs, but not anymore! Bring on the Forts. Dirt. Bugs. Hammers. Water balloons. Tents. Swords. Tree-houses.Trains. Trucks. Superman capes. Legos.

It's actually not a far stretch from my own childhood. Don't get me wrong, I loved my dress-up clothes, Barbies, and Princesses just like any other girl, but growing up without silbings and only boy cousins, I was kind of outnumbered in the girly department. I became a pro at dirt, wrestling, GI Joe fight scenes, jumping off roofs, and playing Ninjas. I had a permanant tooth knocked out during a sword fight with a PCV pipe. Not so fun. We had contests to see who could climb the OUTSIDE of the house the longest, as well as the who could climb on the furniture on the Inside with out touching the carpet. We were monkeys...houligans at best. But it was FUN.

So maybe I'm not clueless as to how to raise a boy...well except for the whole potty training penis part. Thank God I have some time before that comes.

There's a party in my belly! and it has a little peepee. heehee.