10 Months

I can't believe that Tess is almost a year old. This time we go a little smarter with our pictures and taped the paper to the wall. She was still able to pull it down but we got in some cute pictures. I think she looks so big in these pictures. I think she got taller overnight and we have officially grown out of 6 month pants, they have become capris. She is mostly wearing 9 month clothes. She maybe small but she is pretty consistently moving along her 25th percentile curve.

We have mainly stayed around the house this month. We have visited Daddy at the station. One of the guys that Clayton works with was growing out his hair and since Tess has some pretty ridiculous hair some days they needed to take a picture together. They both have since gotten a haircut. We bought Tess an actual high chair since she is getting more and more into eating more than baby food. She usually is pretty pumped when we put her in it because she knows snacks are on their way. One of my friends from work has two little boys; one is around 3 months younger then Tess but is already wearing 12 month clothes so she gave us this really cute frog sleeper. Tess was modeling it before bed one night.

 We try to get out and watch Clayton play soccer on Sundays. This was one of the last games and a cold front had come in the night before. So we bundled Tess up and headed out to the field. Mona and Kevin bought her this cute go pod and she loves being able to stand up and look all around her. As you can see she went from seriously watching the game to playing in a matter of shots. I love this girls personality.

 

Speaking of personality I love playing with this girl in the mornings. She is usually in such a good mood.

In the mornings now she gets to eat her Cheerios. She gets so excited and when you finally give her some she usually grabs a couple and throws her hands up in the air to celebrate. Here she is at daycare one morning pretty pumped to be having some cheerios

We tried to go to the zoo one Saturday but it didn't work out and we ran errands instead. On our way we stopped and ate at Zaxbys a new chicken place by our house and Tess was in a playful mood. She kept sticking her foot out, she would put it on the table till I moved the high chair and she couldn't reach it anymore. At least she has already learned to point her toes. She ate some chicken and had a lot of fun at lunch.

For Christmas Mona and Kevin gave Tess this walker thing and we put it together one weekend and she took off. She had gotten pretty good at walking around with it. Once she actually gets the courage up to try walking without holding on to something she is going to take off.

One morning while I was getting ready for work Tess was lying in bed drinking her bottle. She started holding the bottle with one hand. This was the first time I had seen her do it and since then she usually tries to hold the bottle with one hand unless she is really hungry. Well before I know it she is going to be 1. I cant believe how time is passing by so quickly.

The Grand Canyon

The Braun Family went on a family trip to the Grand Canyon over Easter weekend. This was our first big trip with Tess, and she did really well. We woke up early on Friday and hit the airport to start our day of traveling. Tess was pretty excited to get on her first airplane. She looks so big standing at the window by herself. We had two flights and she did well on both of them, only got fussy when she was hungry. We watched Kung Fu Panda on the way there until she fell asleep. She took a pretty good nap and when she woke up it was time to land.

We had a good layover in Phoenix and we found this cool kid place and let her crawl around and get some energy out. When we got on the second flight it was time for her next bottle and her afternoon nap. She slept the entire flight which was only about an hour but it was nice. When we landed we rented a car, had a quick Target pit stop and then headed to the giant hole in the ground.


Once we got there we checked in to the hotel and ventured over to look at the canyon. My mom is afraid of heights so while the rest of us took a little stroll down the canyon she kept Tess and walked her around. There was a 2 hour difference and we were trying to keep her awake till 6 Grand Canyon time which is 8 Houston time. She did good and didn't even try to wake up a 4 the next morning.

Day 2
On our first full day we took the car and drove down Desert View drive and made a couple stops along the way. We took a lot of pictures of the Canyon and even managed some family pictures.














We actually got a couple of good shots of our little family of 3. One of my favorite shots is one where the three of us are looking out into the Canyon.




My mom actually took the picture and did pretty well with us sitting on the edge. Tess wanted to sit on the edge by herself and was pretty happy to be out in the beautiful weather.






At one of the stops my brother and Clayton climbed down a little bit and my brother found a ledge and was able to climb down and act like he had fallen and was struggling to get back up.


My mom was not happy after this picture was taken.








We stopped at the Tusayan Ruins and museums and spent some time walking around looking at the fallen buildings such as storage rooms, living areas, and a kiva. It was a small stop but nice for my mom to be out of the car and not next to a cliff.

My dad held Tess most of the time. They play a little game; try to keep the pen away from Tess. If you know my dad you know that he always has a pen in his front pocket. Well Tess also knows this and every time he holds her she instantly tries to find the pen.

At the end of the day we all went out to a nice dinner and got a quick family picture without any sun glasses.





Day 3

On our last full day we took a couple of tours. While waiting for one of our tours Tess was playing with her Uncle. She has this fascination with glasses and Matt had an extra pair.  She played with them the whole time we were waiting for the bus.


Our tours took us around the other side of the canyon. This road is closed to people during their peak times and therefore if you want to see some of these points you have to get on a tour. We stopped at Hopi point and got out and took some pictures. Our tour guide was very hard to understand so there are probably a lot of interesting things we could have learned about Hopi point but no one could interpret for us.

One of the other places we stopped was hermits rest, a structure that was built in 1914. This building was originally built as a rest area for tourists on coaches that were on their way to Hermit's camp. Hermit's camp is no longer there but the building is still a big stop on the canyon. There is still a hiking trail that goes down to the Colorado River that starts just past hermits rest.


Tess was pretty excited about the bus rides, she didn't have to be in a car seat so she was cool with where ever we went. She was switching seats pretty often and had fun sitting in everyone's lap.





She really wanted to get down and crawl around in the dirt so we tried to at least let her sit whenever we had the opportunity. So here is another picture of little sitting on the canyon edge. The more pictures we took the better she will remember right?



Daddy also had some fun entertaining her at one of the stops. This picture pretty much sums up their relationship. They both have a lot of fun with each other and Clayton likes the fact that she is way more responsive then she was as a little baby.

The Braun sisters had to get a picture where we are actually taller than Matt. There may have been a ledge that we were standing on but the point is that we were taller. There is usually one of these pictures a trip since he was like 10.


After the first tour we went back to the hotel and had quiet time before we went on the sunset tour. Right before we headed out to get on the bus Tess and I took a picture. Good thing I have the pictures to prove I gave birth to her or people would think I am holding someone elses baby.


The sunset tour was nice, the only thing was the sun set a lot later than we thought it was going to. So Mom stayed in the bus with Tess who had fallen asleep. I think they both were a little Grand Canyoned out. It was actually really cold and windy, we tried to get a break from the win but there was no hiding from it. The sunset was awesome, especially seeing all the rocks turn different colors while the sun was setting.

We had a lot of fun and I would call Tess's first trip outside of Texas a great success.

 
  

 
 

9 months down

 I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast. We were running late on her actual 9 month birthday so the only picture we got was one after she had fallen asleep. The next day we tried to get more pictures and as usual we had a difficult time.

 

 
 It was Go Texan day at daycare and she was wearing one of the employee's hat. It's funny how her bib looks like a bandana. They did take western pictures but they didn't let one of the ladies from her room go with her so her pictures did not turn out so well. She looked like she was about to cry in all of the pictures. Needless to say we did not purchase any of those pictures.





Now when she sees a camera she likes to grab for it. So unless she is distracted these are the pictures we have gotten recently.  Even up close she is the cutest baby around.

 

One weekend we went over to Strake because they were having their annual Spring Fling. Tess really wanted to go down the slide so we made Clayton take her down. I think they both had a lot of fun.

 

Tess had a virus this month, her first real fever. Clayton stayed home with her most of the day. The whole time she didn't really act like she was sick. She is supposed to be sick in this video, she is really convincing isn't she.

One morning Tess woke up a little earlier then I was ready for. While I was still getting ready for the day Tess played in Bed while daddy watched ESPN. When I walked back into the room Tess was also watching her morning ESPN. She will love sports one way or another.

Later that day she was waking up from her morning nap and sat up and then I guess realized she was still tired. I looked over at the monitor and saw her back at sleep in a position that did not look very comfortable

While I was taking her 9 month pictures I snapped this picture and my first thought is wow she really is her daddy's baby girl. She looks so much like a Harris in this picture.

One morning while Daddy was sleeping in Tess and I were watching some TV. I took these pictures and I love them because they show her personality. Man I am in so much trouble; she is going to give me a run for my money!

 

Tess found out how fun swings can be. We took her to the park one afternoon and put her in the swing. She loved every minute of it and Clayton and I proceeded to buy her a swing for the backyard. She still loves her swing.

 

Tess also found her feet this month; she started to walk along things. This was the first time we caught her walking along while holding on to the chair. She has gotten pretty good at walking along things. It's going to be no time before she starts to walk on her own.