The Bracken's

I suppose I wasn't paying very good of attention to Natalya this morning as I was making breakfast. For some reason I decided to check on her and found her sitting on the second draw of our entertainment center. She got there all by herself and was watching the TV. What's even more funny is that she started standing up and then when people came on the screen she was waving and saying "Hi" to them.

At 13 months 2 weeks, I believe we have a walker on our hands. A couple days ago she started venturing out from her normal walking along the furniture to out in the open room. Now she is all about walking, falling down, getting back up and walking some more. Pictures of Talya on the move.



Oops! Fell down.

...Except for herself!

Natalya loves to sit or stand in the corner. I decided one day I would carry my camera with me in my pocket and take a picture everytime I caught her in the corner. Check it out for yourself...

Talya celebrated her first birthday over a month ago and I am now just getting around to doing a little blog about her and her 1 year old pictures. She is still a happy baby and enjoys playing by herself. She would rather play with stuff like remotes, cell phones, or the laptop instead of her own toys. She is 22 lbs 8 oz and 30 inches tall. Her hair is starting to get really long. It is still kind of dark blonde and just the tiniest hint of curl. She loves bread and bananas and occasionally I can get her to eat other things but those two she'd eat any given day for all meals. She says, "wow" "OttO" "Mom" "Da Da" and she shakes her head no when she doesn't want to do something. It's kinda cute. She can make the animal sounds of a lion, doggy and kitty. She is not walking alone yet but stands up to everything and walks alone all furniture and even the walls. She gets where she wants to go.

Thank you Jess for taking some pictures of Natalya.

On Christmas Eve we went with all of the Bracken's sledding. The kids had a blast, all except for Talya. She didn't find much enjoyment in Christmas this year, as you will see later in the post.

On Christmas Eve it was a tradition when I was growing up that we got to unwrap one Christmas Eve present that always consisted of PJ's. Natalya was thrilled about getting new jammies. Can ya tell?

Now there's a smile! whew... finally.

Is there a single kid actually looking at the cameras smiling in this next picture? Nope. Don't think so! It appears to be quite difficult to get a Bracken grandchild to look at the camera and smile. But boy aren't they cute in all their new Pajamas!

Santa managed to find us in Utah this year. Being an adult at Christmas time is quite boring so Colten and I decided to go shopping one day with a small budget a get a few surprises for each other. He surprised me with a few great gifts, one that was a hit amongst everyone. The enjoyable head massager! It is pretty great. I got lots a other fun stuff too and I gave Colten lots of small stuff, like a car mount thingy for his iphone, gloves, ear muffs, chulula, etc. Natalya got a baby stroller to go with her baby she got from grandma Hunt for her birthday. She also got a little bike, some books, a stuffed lion, big pink chair, and an outfit.

What a wonderful Christmas! And I actually really enjoyed Christmas on a Sunday this year. It's hard to always "remember the reason for the season", but by attending church it made Christmas seem more spiritual and special.

We ended up having to wake Talya up in the morning to come join everyone in the front room to see what Santa had brought. Boy that was a bad idea! We let her sleep an hour past when everyone started opening presents. The next few pictures shows you how much Natalya enjoyed Christmas...

A few days later we did capture a pleasant moment of her watching her new dvd she got for Christmas. She loves it!