June Update

We had Parker's 1st birthday party last week and it was lots of fun! We kept it small and most importantly, out of my house! It was at The Little Gym in Pearland. Braelyn had a good time hanging on bars and walking on balance beams. Parker mostly just walked around and followed the bigger kids. He did eat the heck out of a blue cupcake and everyone else enjoyed some yummy cake. Yes, he is walking and has been doing so for over a month. I wouldn't have minded a bit if he had decided to wait a while, but he just wants to go go go. And where does he go go to? Anywhere he shouldn't. He likes to throw things in the toilet and bathtubs, play w/ the plants and all their dirt, and I think if he could manage it, he'd crawl into the dryer. He's just a fun little boy and I enjoy watching him explore and grow. He's full of smiles and he sleeps. Who ever thought that this little baby who wouldn't sleep in the beginning would sleep until 7:30 AM. Around our house...that's pretty late. One Saturday morning I had to actually wake him up so that Braelyn and I could go swimming at the YMCA. I felt I was breaking some type of cosmic rule by waking up a child on a Saturday morning.

Braelyn is just getting older and older by the day. The things she says sometimes just blow my mind because she can just figure things out. I think she is becoming frustrated with me because I don't have all the answers she wants sometimes. She is still doing Karate and has earned her orange and white belt. She finished up her dance classes at school with a recital. I'm hoping that Brandon will upload the video soon. I feel that her talent doesn't really lie in dance but maybe music (since she does want to be a rock star). During the dance, most of the little girls were doing ballet moves (though not necessarily the ones they were supposed to do) and my little one was acting out the song via hand movements. It was HILARIOUS! I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. Quite honestly I thought I'd bawl like a baby during her ballet dance, but I couldn't because of the laughing.

Brandon and I are doing well. The sell of our house fell through and that was quite a disappointment. We plan on keeping it on the market at least through the summer and then we might re-evaluate our plans. I've started back to work full time this week and I'm none to excited. I much prefer working from home and only going in 3 days a week...this 5 days a week is not cool. I don't really think I have the wardrobe to work 5 days a week.

Hope all is well!

Love from the Burdines!

the View from Behind

I'm just going to skip the normal apologies and excuses about updating and go right to the good stuff :)

Braelyn turned 4 in Feb and had her birthday at Jumpin' Jungle! Everyone had a great time and was so worn out. I didn't even jump and I was exhausted afterwards. She had a Princess themed cake and goodies. Despite all my attempts to dissuade her from the color pink...she loves it. O'well, maybe it is ingrained in her DNA? On March 1st, Braelyn had her first belt test for Karate. She's been doing Karate for a few months and we all really enjoy it. During the test the teacher tried to get various students to lead a group in a karate form. When one of the little boys didn't want to do it, my little girl volunteered and did a great job! She does it much faster then normal but does all the moves right and uses the same voice inflection the teacher does. Brandon captured it all on video...here's the link: Braelyn's Karate Video.

Parker is now 9 months old! He is sleeping great (knock on wood) and I now have to wake him up in the morning! I finally gave into his binkie usage and now he has 4 in his crib. When he wakes up, he cries a little and finds one and goes back to sleep. Binkies are like insta-sleep for him. He can be sitting up, when he puts the binkie in his mouth, he dive bombs into the bed and goes back to sleep. He's eating solids and getting teeth. Most notable though, is that Parker started crawling. I think he and Brae are more excited then Brandon and me. I've decided all babies have a death wish because he goes straight for the things that can cause him the most harm. His favorite toy is our portable "Shark" vacuum cleaner. He is infatuated by it and that's the first place he headed once he crawled into the kitchen. Even when he's in his walker, he beelines for it and moves it around. I'd like to think that this means he'll be my little cleaning helper, but somehow I doubt it.

Braelyn and Parker are priceless to watch. In the few moments I don't have to stop Braelyn from accidentally hurting him, I'm not prying her hair out of his hand/mouth, or going deaf from all the joyful screaming, I'm just giddy with pleasure. Parker loves to watch Braelyn and follows her around...though she's still too fast. Braelyn is great at making Parker laugh (see joyful screaming comment above) and in turn she laughs too. It really is fun and tiring to see them play and I'm hoping their bond just continues to grow. (It better because neither one of them are getting another sibling).

I've started back to work 3 days a week and moved to a new office location. Though my commute is completely terrible now, I have a good job and a fabulous boss. I'm lucky to have 2 out of 3. I have Mondays and Fridays off and I'm loving this schedule. I really didn't quite understand how much harder 2 kids would be when I went back to work. We are adjusting nicely but it has been a big change for me. Parker wasn't very happy at the sitter's at first, but now he doesn't mind as much. That has made it easier as well, those first few days were tough.

It's pretty certain that we will be selling our house and moving to another part of P-land. We are excited about this change and everything is happening so fast. We came into this possibility with "If it is meant to be, it will happen". I feel this is truly one of those times, where you pray about something, give it to God, and see what happens. He as been very busy on our behalf. I wish that meant I wasn't completely stressing about everything, but then again, a zebra can't change its stripes and neither can I. More to come on that later, assuming everything falls into place. As of right now, nothing is official.

If you want to see more pics of the Burdine kiddos, check out the Snapfish links to the right.

Love to All - Stephanie

Pillow Fight

I had to share this hilarious story about Braelyn:

One day Brandon and Braelyn were coming home from school and talking about God. Braelyn was asking where God is and Brandon said "All Around Us" or "Everywhere". Braelyn asks "Is He right next to me?" and Brandon says He is. Braelyn then grabs her pillow and says "I'm going to have a pillow fight with God" and proceeds to hit the space next to her with her pillow. I didn't ask Brae if she was upset that God didn't play back...then again He didn't have a pillow. :)