Our little baby girl is ONE!

One year ago, this little miracle was born and we were just embarking on our new journey as a unit of 4 instead of 3. Brandon was a real trooper. He took it in his stride that he would no longer be the center of his parents doting attention. Instead, he'd have to share it with his little sister. He helped to look after her, watch her and even carried her at times. Now that the little sister is older, he is even playing with her and carrying her around! I think I must be the luckiest mom around. Most kids would likely rebel and demand more attention. Brandon just goes with the flow and bumbles around happily like before. Maybe he's a little sad that he no longer gets all our attention and love, but he seems alright with it. I must also remember occasionally that he is just an 8 year old boy and still needs my love, care and concern.

Even though this post is all about Brianna, I must salute the little trooper, Brandon!

Our Girl (Ikea Photo Frame)

Brianna (Happy Birthday)

This lovely LO was done by good friend and scrapping pal, Jaz. As usual, her brilliant style shines through even in this simple LO. I love the cutout flowers and the simple and effective layering.

Half and hour later.......

And she's done. Hopefully, she'll sleep for another 2 hours before wailing again. Where was I just now.... Oh ya, sucking hands. She seems to have refined it to an art in the space of only a week or so. Now she will suck our shoulders when we carry her upright. If we carry her in the lying down position, she'll cast surreptitious looks at us to make sure we are not looking and then promptly pop her hand in. Then the wet sucking sounds will alert us to her misdemeanour. Soon, she's gonna learn how to circumvent that too. Then we will just have to stay one step ahead of her!
All that sucking aside, she has been smiling since before she was a month old. However, it has been impossible to capture that smile. The moment the camera pops up, the smile automatically switches off. I've been pondering that question for the longest time and am still without a conclusion. Does she actually know we are trying to take a shot of her? Does the camera cover her view of us? Does she think we're trying to drop something on her?
But at almost 5 weeks, we finally captured that elusive smile! From that moment on, it was slightly easier to get her to pose a smile for the camera. Recently, she seems to smile on demand. Or maybe this is just a mother's indulgence that her child is growing faster, smiling earlier, understanding better, etc... Hahahaha! But whatever it is, Muffin is certainly living up to her nick. Her 2 cheeks have filled out to an extent that I keep thinking that she has something hidden in there. Others just cant resist plumping her cheeks. Through it all, she tolerates the attention with the aplomb of a saint. She must be thinking, " I shall not wail when that auntie squeezes my cheeks until my lips stick out!"
Muffin loves it when we talk to her. She'll coo and chuckle and make odd noises from the back of the throat. And that's when the problem starts. The back of the throat sound seems to cause the milk to flow back up her throat. So when she has been "talking" for a while, the milk will slowly but surely make its way up and out of her mouth. I wonder if anyone out there that has a baby with this odd problem?
Problem aside, she now looks forward to her Daddy talking to her. Even though Daddy isn't as eloquent as Mummy (pardon again my indulgence) Muffin seems to respond loud and enthusiastically whenever Daddy is around. In order to pacify the jealous mummy, Daddy says that Muffin is not talking, but shouting at him! Jeez....

Baby Cutie!!

Brianna's a real poser! Everyone thought that we posed her that way, but in actual fact, she seemed to like this postition alot as this was not the first time we caught her in this pose.

Brianna at 2 weeks seemed to call for a family shot. We were at home and apparently Brianna was the most well dressed!

She just had her bath and was finally dressed in her own pretty pink clothes instead of Brandon's blue stuff. She looked so adorable and I could not resist taking a few dozen photos of her!