Sitting in a chair is a big girl thing

A few weeks ago I filmed Bria climbing in and out of her chair, she thinks she's such a big girl and makes sure to say, "Good girl," when she climbs in and out of it. Totally makes me laugh.



She has since gotten even better at climbing in and out. Although there was that one time the chair slowly fell on top of her. Don't worry she wasn't hurt, just confused.

Have I mentioned I love this age?

Because I do.

I'm terrified of the terrible two's, especially with my temper-mental little Bria, so I am soaking this age in as best I can. She is talking so much and loves to try and mimc anything we say. The other day we were sitting on the couch and she was "reading" a book to me. She found a tiny picture of Elmo, pointed to him and in the cutest voice you ever heard said, "Elmo." I about fainted. It is such a cute little sound and she says it so clearly.

We walk around everywhere, meaning she hangs onto the tip of my finger as we walk all over the place. The girl seriously does not need me but as soon as she feels my finger start to slip she sits down. Gotta work on her confidence, she needs to be like her father in that way. 

She walks on her own every so often, but it's hard to coax her sometimes. Last night she had a bite of a chocolate chip cookie for the very first time (assuming her grandparents haven't snuck them in...I wouldn't put it past them ;) and holy cow the girl was hooked. I had given it back to Brian and she walked right over to him to get more. We both couldn't believe it, guess it takes a chocolate chip cookie to get this girl walking. And when we asked her to say cookie she said it perfectly. Oh my stars.

Cheezing it up for the camera.

She is growing and growing so big. The girl has the biggest belly you've ever seen and when you ask her where it is she sticks it out and lowers her chin to her chest, HILARIOUS. I'll have to grab a picture of that. 

Love this picture, wish it wasn't blurry...and that there wasn't a BK cup in the background, or a dirty towel above my head ;)

She is very good at shaking her head no and when she does I turn to her and say, "Yes," so she starts nodding her head yes and smiles. I'm going to enjoy that little trick while I can.

She does not like when I tell her no. She throws a mini fit and it's not cute, my little spunky monkey.

Hello Miss Blue eyes!

But she is still the sweetest cuddle bug. When we ask for a hug she'll lean in and say, "Ohhhh," since apparently we always make that noise when she hugs us. She also gives the best kisses ever, and my favorite is when she kisses without us asking. It makes my heart melt. She totally exaggerates the kissing noise, "Muah!" and I love it.

She use to hate when Brian and I kissed, I think she got jealous. But now she giggles and thinks it's so funny that mommy and daddy are kissing. 

Making silly faces.

Bria does not lack facial expressions that's for sure. She is always making silly faces to get us to laugh and pay attention to her, my little ham. I can't help but laugh.

She loves the alphabet song and tries to sing along while dancing. She totally gets her sweet moves from me ;) 

Manners

I've always felt manners were so important, it's just how I was raised (that's a shout out to you Mom and Dad!). So that's something Brian and I talked about a lot when discussing our kids, we wanted to raise them with manners. Not only how to be polite by saying "Please" and "Thank you" but also at the dinner table when we eat. 

It's important to be lady like and remember to take small bites that we can safely swallow.

And also to keep the food off our lap.

And not to put too much food in our mouths at one time.

But it's also fun to throw all that out the window once in a while and dig in. What's life if you can't have fun and smash a blueberry muffin in your face!

Also, I got an email saying Bria was in the finals for the cover of Parents magazine! If you want to vote for her that would be great! http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/248896

Baby Gauchos and Gordie

We had a neighbor (they have since moved) with a little girl and she gave us all of her clothes before they left. My absolute FAVORITE piece of clothing that she gave us were a brown pair of gauchos.

I cannot describe in words just how cute these gauchos are on Bria, so I will just let you look at the pictures. Which I don't even think the pictures do them justice. They're that cute.

And the blond haired girl in them doesn't hurt either ;)

Oh the adorableness kills me!

We had some positively beautiful weather this last weekend so Brian worked outside on his bus. His friend Craig drove his bus down from Washington and so it's safe to say Brian was in VW bus heaven.

Penny on the left and Craig's bus on the right.

Craig mentioned that he was still trying to come up with a name for his bus but hadn't found one yet. A lot of his friends mentioned girl names. I looked at him and said, "Your bus is a boy, he needs a boy name." I think him and Brian thought I was crazy but cars talk to me, they tell me their name, just like Penny told me her name. So I thought about Craig's boy bus and it came to me: Gordie. Gordie the bus. Craig is going to paint him green so he'll be Green Gordie :)

And now Penny has a boyfriend.

Craig and Brian both agreed that Gordie fit him perfect and Craig was excited to finally have a name for his bus. I guess naming cars is my special talent. 

Too bad it wasn't singing or something.

Bria also enjoyed VW bus day because she got some driving lessons from Daddy, can't start too soon right?

It was such a nice day. Not only weather wise but I also got to do some yard work (which I really enjoy!) and Brian of course got to play with his bus. It was a good weekend for the Holcomb's.

Finding her Prince

We went to Garland Nursery this week and I turned to see Bria doing this.

Without a doubt the sweetest thing I've ever seen. Guess she wanted him to turn into her prince charming.

Rocking chairs and B's

So Brian has 8 weeks of classes left, and this time it really is the end. After this he will be DONE!!! He's working really hard each night and I'm so proud of him. Trying to do homework while your wife and baby are laughing and having fun can't be easy.
Neither can listening to your baby cry while your wife complains to you that she needs a break...not that I've ever done that.

In 9 weeks we will be heading to Shasta for a family vacation and I'm really excited. My whole fandamily is going and we rented a house boat! Usually when we go we camp so it'll be fun to be right on the lake and in the middle of all the fun. Not sure where we are going to put Bria yet, none of the rooms are big enough to put Bria's pack 'n play. That sucks because she does really well in her pack 'n play. She does not do well sleeping with us, I've tried a few times for naps and she has none of it. Hopefully we can figure out something that will make it so we all have fun. I'd feel bad if everyone had to listen to Bria scream all night because she was annoyed that we were in her personal space or that we were breathing on her.

Bria is loving little rocking chairs. They have two at the library and she spends her time climbing in and out of them so I knew we needed one at home. Lucky for us Grammy M. had one that has been in the family for a long long time, so not only is it adorable, it has sentimental value.

And Bria loves it.

"Does my butt look big Mom?"

So proud of herself.

Reading intently...my little bookworm.

I mentioned that I had ordered Bria a "B" bow holder and I finally remembered to snap a picture of it.

I just love it. It fits the decor in her room perfectly and it's so nice to have all her bows in one area. Plus it's freakin adorable.

Childhood

This last weekend we attended a wedding reception for my childhood best friend, Krista.

It was unbelievable to see her and her family again, it brought back sooo many wonderful childhood memories. We were inseparable as kids, from ages 0-9 we did everything together....we even tried to go potty on the toilet together. It didn't work but that didn't stop us from trying. We played barbies everyday and always took an hour to set it all up, only to get bored and move onto something else. At the annual church talent show we got in our swim suits and sat in a tub while singing some song about bubbles. While neither of us are tone deaf, we also should not sing in public. I think we also tried to sing Les Miserables' Castle on a Cloud, oy.

But to say we had fun would be an understatement, Krista and I had a blast together and it's crazy to see us all grown up. Her mom and dad couldn't believe I had a little baby and were so excited to meet Bria and Brian.

I hope Bria has a best friend like Krista, everyone deserves a Krista.

The recipe for a good night's sleep

By Bria Michelle

1. Make sure there are blankets in the crib, but avoid having them lay on top of you. Blankets are strictly for cuddling with.

2. Visit all areas of the crib, don't just settle in one spot, you wanna hit each area at least once a night. This means your head will face North, West, East, South, and everything in between.

3. Don't be afraid to kick up a leg or throw your butt in the air, it's really comfortable.

4. It's nice to have 2 different stuffed animals to cuddle with, make sure they both get some attention.

5. I use to suck my thumb and that is a great way to soothe yourself, give it a try.

6. Talk to your stuffed animals before you go to bed, tell them all about your day and give them loves goodnight.

7. Wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day (most mornings).

Happy sleeping!

Piggy tails and bubbles

I put little piggy tails on Bria for the first time the other day:

I freakin' love piggy tails and I love that I can put them in her hair now. It may be a bit of a stretch but it counts.

 I took her to an indoor park the other day and she had lots of fun. The place is huge and there are kids running around everywhere so she has lots of stuff to keep her entertained. I really wish she could walk though because I cringe every time she crawls on the dirty floor, ick. Plus I get so nervous kids are going to run her over.

I don't want to be an obvious first time mom and go around mopping and cleaning every surface she touches, but dang I wish I could. The first thing I do when we get back to the car is wipe her hands off. And I may have pretended she had something sticky on her hands once so that I could wipe them off. I really don't want a sick baby toddler.

Gabe and Erin came over yesterday for a visit. It wasn't raining out and the temperature was in the 60's which is heaven compared to what we've been getting so we promptly went on a walk.

Actually we let Bria and Gabe say hello and then we went on a walk.

After our wonderful walk and visit to the park (another place that makes me wish Bria could walk) we went back to the house and played with the bubble machine Erin brought.

That thing rocks. It pumps out hundreds of bubbles and Bria was loving it. 

Apparently it's at Costco right now and I am strongly considering buying it. It would be so nice to have this summer so Bria could run off some energy while I lay out back with a cold ice tea.

Oh I can't wait for good weather!

Easter Weekend

We had lots of stuff to do this Easter weekend and all of it rocked. We got to see lots of family and eat lots of really good food.

Saturday we went to Grammy M.'s house for a delicious ham and lots of other really good grub. Bria wanted to make sure she had lots of energy for the event so she took an extra long nap. So long that we finally had to nicely wake her up so we wouldn't be late.

Brian and I hate being late, even with a baby we still manage to make it to places on time, we really don't like being late. Did I mention we are not fans of being late?

As soon as she woke up we changed her and plopped her in the car. Poor girl was a little frazzled and still trying to wake up, but she was a good sport. I managed to coordinate our outfits, hehe. I freaking love having a little girl.

Bria got spoiled by Grammy and Aunt Heather. I guess I should say I got spoiled too because I LOVE getting clothes for Bria, almost more than getting clothes for myself. And that is saying a lot.

We learned that Bria loves bunnies. I didn't really know this until Saturday when she proceeded to kiss every single bunny that Grammy had in her house. She'd even say bunny although it sounded more like "buhh." She showed off her talking skills by trying to say every word we say, I think she's gonna be a little Chatty Cathy ;)

She also showed off her walking skills. I'm pretty sure the only reason she walks is to get people cheering for her, she LOVES when we all clap for her. Such a ham. 

Wearing Daddies UPS hat:

We got home that night and Bria crashed from such an exciting day. Brian and I stayed up and watched a movie together and then went to bed since Sunday was a big day. 

In the morning we went to brunch with Grammy M. at church so she could show off her cute little granddaughter ;)

Isn't that bow the cutest thing you've ever seen? I bought a "B" bow holder for Bria and the lady sent it to me in the mail and included this free Easter bow, so sweet. I'm definitely ordering more bows from her, not just because she sent me a free bow (although that didn't hurt) but because they rock and totally stay in Bria's hair. It's called KirraLee's Cute Clips Bowtique.

Making funny faces:

Kissy face:

Getting into her diaper bag:

After brunch we made a grocery trip to pick up some stuff for dinner at Jenny's house:

Bria fell asleep on the way home which she hasn't done in months. She woke up right before we got home, fed her lunch, then she played for 20 minutes and went down for a 2 1/2 hour nap. And she had diarrhea. All the moms out there know that I was of course worried she was sick again. I am praying it's teething because I don't want to go through another sickness, that virus she had at 11 months old just about killed me and I'm not sure I would survive another one. 

Anyway, we got dressed and headed to the Tegner's for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Dinner was salmon that made your mouth water, it was so flippin' good. Bria at it up, yay! All the food was absolutely awesome, I'm hungry just thinking about it.

We also got to skype with Lance!

I love technology.

Porter showing Bria how to set the table:

Then we did an Easter egg hunt for the kids. I put little yogurt melts in Bria's eggs so she felt like she was getting a treat too.

"Just let me open my eggs mom!"

"Much better, that's all I wanted."

All the kids with their Easter baskets.

Bria got spoiled again with all the cute eggs and a cute Easter bag filled with books and snacks.

Bria realized it was easier just to steal Cassidy's eggs than try and find her own:

It was such a fun day and Bria seemed to really enjoy herself. I know Brian and I had fun hanging out with family all weekend and eating delicious food. 

And I have to do it again because it's just so crazy how much she has grown. Here are pictures from last Easter. Unbelievable.

 

So funny!