Surviving

We ended up staying at my Dad's for 2 days and it felt wonderful being in an air conditioned home, I was ecstatic. We hung out at my Mom's too (they live right down the street from each other, so convenient!) and had a good time. It reached 108 on Tuesday and almost that much on Wednesday. It was miserable.

Bria playing with Sammy:

We are back home and since it's cooling down at night our house is staying pretty cool. We had the a/c going in Bria's room all night so it stayed at 75 degrees in there. Unfortunately she decided a 4:30 am wake up would be nice, just like the night before. It seems she'll sleep good for 2 weeks and then have a few nights where she wakes up.

Since yesterday wasn't quite as hot we ventured outside and took a dip in the kiddie pool.

How adorable is she in a bathing suit?

Those rolls just kill me. Which reminds me, some lady in Target asked how old she was and when I told her 5 months she said, "Oh, she is very healthy. I love rolls." She is healthy that's for sure! Then the lady followed up with, "She's pretty bald." And our pleasant conversation ended.

Although, it's true, little Bria doesn't have a lot of hair. She was born with lots of dark hair and now that she's lost some and it's lightning up you can't see it very well. She does have hair though, I swear! It's just blond. Both Brian and I had light blond hair as babies so it doesn't surprise me.

Back to the kiddie pool, even Daddy dipped his feet in:

Then Bria got a hold of his glasses and would not let go.

Instead of helping I laughed and took pictures :) Hey, I was thinking of the blog.

I never thought I would say this, but I miss the rain. I've lived in Oregon my whole life and I thought I hated the rain, but I've come to the realization that I secretly like it. That doesn't mean that I want weeks of rain-it gets old. But I realized I can't go long without the rain because I miss it too much. Now I understand why Arizonians want the rain so much. I want it to rain!
Next March you will be reading about how much I hate the rain, just go with it, I change my mind a lot.

Bria is rolling all over now, I laid her down on a blanket in her room and went to grab something from the laundry room. When I got back (about 20 seconds later) she had rolled herself into the closet and was so proud. I should have grabbed the camera, but you'll have to trust me that it was quite hilarious.

Today our plans include grocery shopping and dinner out. I want to try and go for a walk too since it's a good temperature outside. Sounds like a good Friday to me, minus the grocery shopping.

SO.HOT.CAN'T.STAND.IT.

We are getting a heat wave here and it's in the 100's. When you don't have a/c, that is hot. Really hot. Hotter than hot. And oh so miserable. Our portable a/c works great in Bria's room, but it flips the circuit really randomly, at like 3 am. So we're going to get a new one that doesn't have quite as many BTU's so hopefully it won't cut the power.
So I won't be blogging much since the computer room is the hottest room in the house. I hope this heat wave ends soon, this is awful.

We did have a good weekend though. We went to see Heather and Amy in Portland for Amy's birthday and Bria did so well. It was a lot of fun. I was so happy that Bria did so well, it makes traveling much happier :)

We are going to stay at my mom's tonight and possibly tomorrow night since it's still suppose to be sweltering.

Okay, I'm sweating profusely just sitting here so I'll leave you with some pictures:

Bria in her new high chair:

Bria being a cutie:

These are the cutest shoes ever, thanks Aunt Jenny!

Playing with Aunt Heather, she had so much fun with her Aunt's and Grandma this weekend:

Not sure about carrots:

I always lay Bria on the counter while the bath tub is filling up in the sink, I never take my eyes or hand off her, but even with my loose grip she was able to roll over. She loves her new found freedom, and we are keeping a closer eye on her!

Loves to eat her feet:

Family Pictures

Jaime took family pictures for us when Bria was around 3 months old. I absolutely love how they turned out, Jaime is so talented.

A favorite:

Can you believe these were done in her backyard? They have a perfect yard for picture taking :)

Isn't that little bracelet adorable? Courtesy of Jaime's sister-in-law, Jessica. She also sent us the headband with interchangeable bows, I can't tell you how much I love them!

I'm so grateful to have a photographer in the family!

Things are going well here at the Holcomb house. Bria is so-so about rice cereal, she eats it but doesn't act like she loves it or wants more. Soon we'll start trying the vegetables, that should make for some good videos :) So here is a question, when is the best time to feed her rice cereal? I haven't quite figured out when a good time is.

I can see 3 little white teeth below Bria's gums, I think those are the reason for her fussiness sometimes. Can't blame her, I'm sure that doesn't feel good.

We got a high chair. Yeah, I said I didn't want one because we didn't have room and they were more expensive, but we found a cheap one on Craig's List. The cool thing was the people selling it live about 10 houses down from us. They were really nice too. It's a Graco one and it was a third of the price of a brand new one so I was of course thrilled. I still may get that one I mentioned in the last post, since I heard how it travels well. The good part about the high chair is the straps go around the waist and over the shoulders (they probably all do) which holds her in nicely since she hasn't mastered sitting by herself yet.

Bria is starting to notice MJ more and more and loves to pet her. I have to hold MJ down to make her stay so Bria can pet her. And Bria doesn't pull on MJ so I know it's not hurting MJ, she is just a brat. I'm going to force MJ to like Bria!! Or else she goes to Grandma's. Just kidding. Kind of. ;)

Waiting for Poop

Yes, for the last 5 days I was waiting for Bria to poop. I would sing to her about pooping, I would push her legs up to help the poop come out, and I almost stuck a thermometer up her bum to help. But she did it on her own. Finally! I was getting worried thinking about where all the milk and rice cereal was going. She would toot some stinky toots each day (poor girl is going to kill me when she gets older) but no poop. So finally yesterday she let it all out and boy was a it big. The trusty diaper held up which is good. It is true that solid food makes poop smell bad, Brian and I were gagging as we (yes we did it together-it required 2 people) changed her diaper. So now I can stop stressing about her pooping :) For now.

Bria was sleeping really good for a week, but the last 2 nights she's decided to regress quite a bit. Dang. Oh well, it's what babies do best, keep us on our toes.

I couldn't get over how big Bria looked playing with this little toy:

We had one as kids and I was so excited when her Aunt Heather got one for her, so sweet. She is my punky monkey because the girl grabs onto everything with her little feet:

While nursing her she takes her leg and pushes on my arm or grabs ahold with both legs, so funny.

She's also been known to pull out daddies arm hair with her toes, she has some strong toes!

The Jensens' stopped by the other night to drop off a dresser they gave to us and the kids love Bria. She is so entertained by them. Jaidyn loves holding her and I realized I rarely get a picture of it so I made sure to grab the camera this time.

That's all for now, I'm tired and need to clean my house.

5 Months

Oh wow, Bria is 5 months old. I don't think I'll ever stop saying how fast time is going, just like everyone told me it would.
Bria has been doing lots of new things this month:

Sits up in her boppy (a little slouched and falls frequently, but it counts!)
Has sat up all by herself for a few seconds!
Rolls from back to tummy (rolls to her left)
Rolls from tummy to back, both left and right
Sucks her thumb, she favors her left one but either will do
Sticks out her tongue really far
Started eating rice cereal and likes it (she sucks her thumb after each bite, we think that's to help her swallow it)
Makes the noise da a lot and I fear I'm losing the ma-ma vs da-da battle
Loves to watch MJ and smiles at her
Really likes Sammie (my Mom and Randy's dog) and he likes her
Got her first cold :(
Wearing size 2 diapers still
Wearing 3-6 month clothes, but soon she'll move up to 6 months
Pulls mommy and daddy in to give them kisses
Likes when I read to her (finally!)
Plays more independently and likes to shake her toy keys
When she's on her tummy she tucks her legs up and attempts to move up, I think she'll be crawling sooner than I thought.

"Oh it's you again..."

"Yeah, why don't you go ahead and get out of my photo shoot, thanks."

"Ha, just kidding mom, we are totally fine."

"I'm just going to kick you over there a little."

This is my favorite:

"Thumper, I have a secret..."

"Psych, I just wanted to tackle you."

"1, 2, 3, pinned!"

I am absolutely in awe of this precious little girl, she is so cute I just can't get enough of her. I feel so blessed to be able to stay home with her and I love that I get to teach her things and spend so much time with her, I really do love it.

Firsts

So Bria had her first taste of solid food on Friday. We fed her some rice cereal with breast milk mixed in and it's safe to say she liked it. It was really funny to watch her try and suck the spoon like it was a paci and then promptly shove her thumb in there to help suck it all down. I was surprised at how much she actually ate, I was expecting it to be all over but she actually ate most of it.





Bria and I went to my Mom's on Saturday to give Brian some time to do homework and also to enjoy their AC :) My Mom has a little high chair for her grandkids and I thought it was time to try Bria in it. We shoved a towel around her to help her sit up. Oh my goodness, she thought she was such a big girl, it was the cutest thing ever. At first she kind of sat there looking around and then she got so excited that she was able to look around. It was pretty darn adorable.

"Oooh, this is a nice view."

"Yeah, I'm a big girl."

Sammie trying to eat those baby toes (can't blame him):

Looks like Brian and I need to go shopping for a high chair. We are thinking something like this so that we don't have another bulky item in the dining room, our dining room is squished as it is. Plus it's a lot cheaper than buying a big highchair.

She absolutely loved little Sammie. She would smile and smile at him, it was the cutest thing. He of course loved licking her toes and hands, and even got her face twice before I could catch him, ha! I'm not use to a dog that gives Bria attention. Bria kept trying to grab his tongue and he was so good and just kept giving her kisses. It was so fun to watch, but it kind of made me sad that MJ is not interested in Bria. I tried all weekend to make MJ like Bria and it did not work. I even gave MJ treats. But that doesn't stop Bria from petting MJ and smiling at her. Sigh, MJ better like her soon!

How can you not, she's such a doll.

Who does she look like?

My Dad with Baby Bria:

Little Bria:

My Mom and Bria:

Ok so this isn't really fair because I only have my baby pictures on here. But that is only because we don't have a scanner so I can't scan Brian's baby pictures in, I've been meaning to do that at my mom's house. Anyway, I think she is a pretty good mix. Sometimes I see a lot of me in her and other times I see a lot of Brian.

My Dad with me:

Me and my Mom (I think this looks a lot like Bria):

Me when I was a bikini model:

Me sitting in a forest: