The Fraser Family: January 2011

The month of November and December were so much fun for our family. Where do I start?! Simon finished his quarter of classes strong, and as usual.. got all A's. He also got all of his Medical School applications in along with all the secondary applications. It was very time consuming and a lot of work, especially since he applied to 21 universities! Now we just sit and wait to see what universities want to invite Simon for an interview. He has heard from one school so far and it was OSU! He has an interview scheduled for sometime in March.

We started November off with the twins getting their 1st hair cut. Mia sat on my lap in the chair and loved it! Brynn on the other hand scram the entire time! During mid November, Simon and I had the chance to go up to Cleveland to spend time with our friends that still play for the Browns. We went up early on a Sunday morning, watched the game, then had a great dinner and a relaxing evening with our friends. We spent the night in Cleveland and drove home early the next morning. It was nice for Simon and I to get away and also see some of our old friends :)

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun for us! Simon's family joined my whole family at my mom and Garth's house. We spent the night eating, sipping on delicious wine and playing the game "Apples to Apples"... wow, is that game fun! I then celebrated my 26th birthday on November 27th and my present from Simon was a trip to New York City. Neither one of us had ever been to New York, and we have always talked about going. A trip to New York in December was perfect timing because, not only did I want to visit New York, but I wanted to visit New York around Christmas time, so I could see all the decorations and of course the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. After searching for the perfect weekend, Simon and I decided to spend the weekend before Christmas in New York. We had so much fun! Our hotel was right in the middle of everything so we were able to walk to Time Square, 5th Avenue, Rockefeller Center, etc. We were even able to meet up with our friends Ben and Amy and their precious little girls Whitney and Lindsey that live in New Jersey. Simon and I now say when we retire, our dream is to have an apartment in the city! Now all Simon has to do is invent something of find a cure for something when he is a doctor and we have have the luxury to afford a $10 million dollar apartment near Central Park :)

Christmas for us was a blast this year. Three weeks before Christmas my mom and Garth surprised us.. they told us that we were going to stay in a 4 bedroom Villa at Star Island Resort & Club in Orlando, Florida for a little R&R over Christmas break. We planned on leaving mid day on Christmas to drive down to Orlando, but because we heard a bad snow storm was coming, we decided it would be best to leave mid day on Christmas Eve. So, we celebrated Christmas with my dad the Sunday before Christmas, and then celebrated with Simon's family on December 23rd. We arrived in Orlando Christmas morning and got to enjoy Christmas dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe in Downtown Disney. While in Orlando we went to Universal Studios for 2 days and Sea World for 1 day. I think the twins favorite park was Sea World. They loved the aquariums, and watching the Dolphin and Shamu shows. They also enjoyed Universal Studios, but Mia started out with a sour taste in her mouth. Simon decided that it would be a good idea to take Mia on the ride ET. I told him just because she made the height requirement, didn't mean it was a good idea to take her on it. This was going to be the 1st ride she has been on (excluding the carousel) and she was going to have to sit all by herself on a bike. But Simon insisted that Mia went on the ride... So, I told him to take Mia and I would wait with Brynn.. and once again, I reiterated that she was going to be scared and HATE it! Needless to say.. Mom is always right! Mia scram "All Done and Up Please" the entire ride. Maybe one day daddy will listen to mommy :) However, after Mia got over the shock of being trapped on a dark scary ride.. both Mia and Brynn enjoyed the rides.. "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" and "The Cat in The Hat". The twins did so well on the trip! They were amazing in the car for the 17 hour drive, they took their normal nap in the stroller while at the parks, ate a yummy dinner around 6:30 and were asleep by 8 at night. They adjusted very quickly and slept though the whole night.. every night! They are just amazing kids!

Brynn and Mia now have a new playroom filled with all of their new toys from Christmas. They were so spoiled by everyone this year! Their playroom consist of tunnels, tents, a pony, a kitchen, cleaning supplies, babies, big foot, a go go pet, an easel, doctor supplies, instruments,puzzles, book, etc, etc, etc!! If anyone wants to have a play date come on over!!

Lets start with Miss Mia! She has grown into quite the little lady. Her vocabulary is expanding daily and we now have to watch every word that comes out of our mouths because she is repeating everything! While at the pool in Florida the DJ said "Lets hear it for the people fromCanada" and Mia then started saying "Canada, Canada"! The crazy thing is, when she says words they are very clear! Some of her favorite verse are "I'm coming", "No way", "Oh my", "Oh no", "Oh my goodness", "Up please", "Open please", and "Sit". She even pointed to a knife the other day and said "cut". She will show you all the parts of her body and name things that are inside her books. I am now starting to work on colors with her. Mia also loves dancing and singing. Her favorite songs are.. "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Skinamarinkadink", "Little Teapot", and "Ride Away Johnny". She even has an obsession with taking her shoes and socks of in the car. While we are driving to our destination, Mia will take her shoes off, then socks and put her socks on her hand and use them as hand puppets! She is so silly! Mia also loves to accessorize. She always wants to have her shoes on and of course she can never be without a hat! She absolutelyloves hats! Mia also loves sharing. She loves giving people bites of her food or drinks out of her glass. If she is eating it, she wants everyone else to enjoy it too! But on another note, Mia is still in her testing phase! If I say "no" to something she has to do it again... right away.. so Mia is getting used to the timeout corner! One of my favorite things that Mia does right now is.. she will grab a bag (any bag), put it on her shoulder and say "bye". She will then walk to the door, look at me, say "bye" again and then blow a kiss. It melts my heart every time! But I have to say my absolute favorite thing that Mia does that just lets me know that God blessed us with such abeautiful daughter with such a loving, gentle soul.. is the love that Mia has for Brynn. I get tears in my eyes as I write this because she is just so amazing and nurturing towards Brynn. The first thing that Mia says in the morning is "Brynn". If she wakes up before Brynn, I have to tell her that Brynn is sleeping and she will say "Shh". Then if he is sleeping too long, she makes me take her into their room so she can check on him. She also ALWAYS grabs 2 things and then will say "Brynn". She has to make sure that Brynn always has what she has. Regardless if it is food or a toy.. Mia will always have 2 in her hand.. one for her and one for Brynn. If Brynn is on the floor, Mia will try and pick him up. If he starts throwing up.. Mia will run to get a towel, and if Brynn is crying, Mia starts crying and says "Brynn, Brynn". We have to show her that Brynn is okay and then she is able to calm down. It just amazes me, because I never knew at 21 months a little toddler could be filled with so much love and compassion. Thank you Lord for this amazing little girl you blessed us with!

Moving on to Mr. Brynn. Brynn has accomplished so many things during these 2 months. When Brynn first got his gate trainer (a walker) he would just sit in it. Now he cruises all over the house! He can walk forward, backwards and sideways. We didn't realize that there were two speeds on his gate trainer.. turtle and rabbit. He was on turtle speed forever until Simon discovered and changed it to rabbit speed.. he could sneeze and shoot across the room! Because of this and him running into walls, furniture, etc. we tried changing him back to turtle speed.. however it was mad! So now he cruises at a speed in between! Brynn has also learned how to pull himself up in his crib. First he started out getting on his knees and now he pulls himself to standing and jumps, jumps, jumps! Because of his hips being dislocated he doesn't have the range in his hips to gradually get down to his knees from standing, but he has figured out how to fall to his right side and catch himself on a blanket so he doesn't get hurt. He is so resourceful! Brynn is also now CRAWLING! He finally figured it out yay! Brynn will crawl to the thing he wants and then find something to pull himself up on. It just such a joy watching him finally get around. He is still saying "daddy", "nana" and the occasional "mama". Because his vocabulary doesn't allow him to communicate with us, he has learned how to point to whatever he wants! And trust me.. he lets us know if we grabbed the wrong thing by yelling "Eehhhh". He uses this word when he is excited, angry and frustrated but you can tell by his facial expressions what emotion he is feeling at that time. Brynn is still not eating but he always wants a piece of food in his hand and now regularly takes tastes of the food. He mostly likes to hold crackers or chips because he enjoys the salty flavor. Brynn can show us where his mouth, hands, and hair is. He also can clap and wave his hands and will show you where the light and fan is. Brynn has even finally learned to put objects into a container. He enjoys taking blocks out, giving them to be when I ask for them and then putting the block back into the container. I get so excited every time he meets a milestone.. even if it is months later then it should have been :) My favorite thing about Brynn right now is.. I can tell how proud he is of himself that he has become independent. I love that when I lay him down for a nap I can hear him jumping and when I walk into the room to lay him back down... he just has the biggest smile on his face and is laughing as he jumps. It is so precious. Everything that Brynn is doing now just reiterates what a miracle he really is. We thank god everyday for giving us such a special son with a smile and eyes that just makes your heart smile! If I'm ever having a bad day, I just take one look at Brynn and my day turns right around! One last bit of news... Brynn is finally having his hip surgery! He is going to have his right hip done on January 21st and his left hip done on February 11th. The only bad part is.. Brynn is going to have to be in a body cast (from chest to feet) for at least 3 months and then will have to be in braces at nap and bedtime for an additional 3 months. With Brynn being immobile for those 3 months we are going to work on his fine motor skills, his language and eating skills. Please just keep him in your prayers that his surgery goes well!