A Week of Many Firsts!

On Saturday July 3rd, we celebrated Brianna's 1st Birthday! And did we have a reason to celebrate! Throughout our pregnancy we were given less than a 50% chance that Brianna would survive and were given the daunting prognosis that she would require surgery immediately after birth... if she would make it that far (more on that story later). Brianna not only has survived, she has conquered!

We began our week long celebration on Saturday, June 26th with a Birthday Party Extravaganza. Over 50 of our closest friends and family came to celebrate our miracle baby. Yes, I said over 50! Our little lady is loved by a lot of people! We were so happy to get to see everyone and share some great food!

On Tuesday, Brianna went to her First Brewer's game. She doesn't care for television yet, unless its watching the Brewers with Daddy - it's true!

On Wednesday, Brianna went to her first Concert on the Square. She loved it! Since she was the size of an orange in-utero, Brianna began listening to classical music. Upon being born, music became part of Brianna's daily lesson plan. Studies have shown that having babies listen to classical music promotes cognitive development, improving language and math skills later on... that, and its relaxing! So, we had our first family picnic on the Capital Square, listening to the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. Great food, great music, great weather - who could ask for a better way to spend an evening? Brianna was dancing, Cliff was eating, and I got to take pictures!

On Thursday Brianna had a VERY important First... she said MA-MA!!!!! I was picking Brianna up from Grammy and Grandpas, and she kept making the "muh" sound with her mouth. Jokingly, I said to her, "Brianna, if you say Ma-Ma, I will buy you some toys." Two seconds later, she shouted MA-MA! My brothers Jon and Ken and my sister Kaylene were all witnesses! We couldn't believe our ears! I quickly replied, "Brianna, if if you say Ma-Ma, I will give you Ice-Cream when we get home,"... two seconds later, she said MA-MA again! I of course held up my end of the deal, getting Brianna a few new toys and giving her a spoonful of organic frozen yogurt. Hey, I'm not above positive reinforcement! Brianna has been saying Da-da, All-Done, and More for such a long time now - I was definitely happy to finally hear ma-ma!

Saturday, July 3rd was Brianna's actual Birthday. We made our First trip to Toys-R-Us and let her pick out the toys she liked. One of the favorite toys she picked is a Jeep Liberty Renegade Baby Walker which she now zooms around our kitchen in. She also picked out a Baby Doll with a bunch of accessories. If you say to Brianna, "Feed your baby her bottle," she will do just that. She also knows how to comb the baby's hair, feed her with a spoon, and to give her kisses. We are so proud of our smart little girl! We then spent the day at Grammy and Grandpa's house enjoying Grandpa's famous shish-ka-bobs. Brianna got to blow out the Headless-Hockey-Player candle, a Fiala tradition. After such a fun day, we headed home to watch Rhythm and Booms from our front porch. Although Brianna enjoyed the fire-works, she was more concerned with caring for her new dolly.

Well, this was a rather long blog - but it was an eventful week! I promise to keep coming blogs more succinct. Have a great day everyone!