Day by Day

Things are going pretty good. Bria slept through the night for a few nights, then woke up once a few nights. Not sure what makes her wake up on the nights she does, but I'm wondering if I should switch her bath from the morning to night. We'll see, I love our morning routine so that might be tough, but if it ensures she'll sleep through the night then it's worth it.

We had a great weekend since the weather was so nice. While Bria took a nap on Saturday, Brian and I worked out in the yard and it felt wonderful. The yard is looking sharp and I look like I was out in the sun :)
Bria did great at the Daddy Boot Camp class, and Brian of course had a good time with the Dads and spending time with his baby girl. Bria even got a little pink camouflage onesie that says: "Boot Camp, I AM basic training," isn't that adorable?

I got my wisdom tooth pulled on Thursday. Ouch. I do feel fortunate that I only had one wisdom tooth since most people have 3 or 4, but it still hurt. I didn't go under or get nitrus, just got numbed so I had the pleasure of hearing them crack my tooth and yank it out. It still makes me shiver. I thought it would take a day to heal since it was just one, but I was wrong. It's still a little swollen and is sore. Hopefully soon I'll feel normal again!

I think that is all for today, tomorrow Bria will be 3 MONTHS OLD!!!!

One of my friends made Bria this little hat and bootie set, it's so cute!

"Thug for life"

The day I got my wisdom tooth pulled I layed on the couch and Bria was so good to lay there with me so I had to take a picture of my little angel:

She loves her cousins, and Jaidyn and Kailey love to entertain her:

I got her a summer hat but it's a little big:

I had to snap a picture of her in these jammies since it was the last time she wore them, she is just getting so big!

CUTEST.LAUGH.EVER.

Little Miss Bria thinks Daddy is quite hilarious, way funnier than Mommy. I'm ok with that because I think he's pretty funny too, plus it means I got to hear the cutest laugh in the world. I was laughing pretty hard so sorry about the camera work, it's a little shaky:

That was cool

I'm remembering how Bria slept through the night for almost 2 weeks, that was cool. She would go to bed around 8 or 8:30 pm and wake up around 7 or 7:30 am. It was heaven and every morning I would sing her a sleep through the night song and she would smile.
The last 3 nights she has woken up, but just once. The paci isn't working and neither is rocking her to bed so I feed her and put her back to bed. I guess she is going through a little growth spurt, or maybe she just needs to be fed once in the night. I have to admit, when she started sleeping through the night I worried that she wasn't getting enough food, lol. If it's not one thing it's the other :) But honestly, when I heard myself complaining about her getting up ONCE in the night, I had to mentally smack my own head because that is still very good.

So, Brian attended a Daddy Boot Camp class while I was pregnant and just raved about it, he absolutely loved it. He said it was very informative and they had veteran Dad's there with their babies to offer advice and tell them what to expect. Well, Brian is going to be a veteran Dad this Saturday :) He's taking Bria for this 3 hour class, from 9-12. I am beyond thrilled because I think it's great, but in my mind I'm going crazy. Bria and I won't do our morning routine?! I'm sure she'll survive but I don't think I will. I'll just walk around the house aimlessly. Anyway, I think it'll be fun for them.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day, Brian and Bria got me flowers, an adorable card, and a Jeep jogging stroller! We took it out for a test drive and man is it smooth. I love it.

Tummy time is a bit frustrating, we are suppose to do it 15-20 minutes twice a day. Let me just say, there is no way she can last 15 minutes on her tummy. At first she doesn't mind it, she finds her hand and sucks away. But then she starts to get bored or frustrated and is ready to be on her back again. I'm not sure how we are going to build her neck strength up, she needs some serious head control. She is getting better but still wobbles a little bit.
She does love her hands though, she can suck on those things for awhile and be pretty content. She finds her thumb every once and awhile but right now she attempts to fit all 5 fingers in there.
She's been doing this new thing where she sucks on her bottom lip, it's funny to see it disappear.

Let's see, Brian is still busy with homework and work so nothing new there. I am loving being a SAHM so nothing new there either. Bria enjoys her bath, going for walks, and being outside. Luckily it is suppose to be really nice out so I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time out there.

Other than that we're just plugging along. I'll leave you with some pictures as always.

Finally, a picture with me and my little girl :)

I could do this all day, I love it.

Oh yeah, and I cut my hair. I told my hair stylist that I didn't want to do the mom thing and chop it, but I needed a style that only required 2 minutes from me each morning. He did deliver! It's not my favorite in terms of how it looks, but I do love how low maintenance it is.

Bria loves Peter the pig, she'll smile and smile at him. I think it's her favorite part about being in the car.

It looks like she is about to punch him, but she is just very animated when she talks to him

Smiling for mommy

"I gave you a smile, now can we be done with the pictures?"

That was the last time she wore that onesie, it is officially too small now. Sigh.

Tiny Giggles! We have some tiny gigles from our little Bria, her favorite is to tip her head back and make the "o" sound, so I do that over and over to get her to giggle. It's pretty cute, minus my annoying voice:

1st Mother's Day

I feel so incredibly blessed to be a mother and am so grateful that God sent me Bria. Ever since I was a little girl I couldn't wait to be a mother and raise a family. After Brian and I got married I was itching to have a little baby, but we had to pay off debt and get financially stable first. Finally after 2 years (I know, I'm impatient) it was time and I can't tell you the joy I felt when I saw that + pregnancy test. Our little miracle was on her way.
Spending 9 months with Bria in my belly was absolutely wonderful. I loved watching her wiggle and squirm in there and felt so close to her already. I was anxiously awaiting the day when I finally got to meet her and hold her on my arms.
I'll never forget arriving at the hospital that Thursday night and walking into the labor room, the room where we would finally look into Bria's eyes and tell her how much we loved her.
And then, she was here.



And I was in heaven.

I remember her laying on my chest and just being in awe. Then they took her away and cleaned her up, and handed her to Daddy. When I saw Brian hold her for the first time I felt my heart burst and grow 2 sizes bigger. It was the most precious sight.
I am eternally grateful that I am a mother. I'm not perfect, sometimes it's hard and I cry right along with Bria. But then I remember what a miracle it is that she's here.

Today I am also thinking about all the mothers: the ones who have been a mother for years and years, those who are brand new mothers, those that just found out they are going to be a mother, those that have angels up in heaven, and those that are dying to be a mother. My heart goes out to those that want a miracle and are facing obstacles. I am thinking of all you mothers out there, and wishing you a happy mother's day.

I'm feeling honored today, to be amongst some amazing women:

My mom, who is so supportive of us and would do anything for our happiness, I love you mom.

My sister Jaime, I admire her so much and look at her in awe, she is an amazing mother. Love you sis.

My stepmom Anna, who works so hard and is the most patient person ever, love you.

My mother-in-law, who has the biggest heart, love you.

My grandmother, who has amazing strength and is incredibly wise, love you forever Grandma.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you.

Good stuff

I put Bria in this little yellow outfit for one last time, it is too small now but it's adorable. She wore it when she was just 1 week old so it fits a little differently now:

1 week old:

Is this not the sweetest face you've ever seen? I love those pouty lips.

Back to the outfit, here is Bria wearing it at 2 1/2 months:

Those chunky legs really fill out the pants :)

Warning: This is about poo, I'm sorry but I just can't help it, poo is what we are about these days.

So Bria usually goes #2 once a day, but on Wednesday when I put her to bed I realized she hadn't gone all day. This was not a good sign as it meant she would probably go in the middle of the night and trying to clean that all up, change the sheets, and put her back to bed is a long process. When I went in at 7 am (yes she is still sleeping through the night, 8-7!) there was no sign of poo. She finally ended up going later that morning but it wasn't very much. She didn't go the rest of the day either. She definitely seemed crabbier than normal and wasn't smiling as much. Do you see where this is going?
This morning it finally happened. All the backed up poo came out and it was big. I walked in her room at 6:30 am and right away I could smell it. Poor thing, she was covered in poo from the chest down which could not have been very comfortable. It took awhile to clean her up and of course she wasn't happy because she had just woken up and here I am stripping her clothes off. But once I got her changed and clean, I fed her and she was the happiest girl ever.

Here she is talking and telling me all about the Big Poo of 2009. I have to hide the camera when I film her otherwise she stops what she's doing to stare at it, so at first you can't see her very well but it gets better.



Bria loves her baths, she splashes and splashes so much that I am usually drenched by the end of it. It's so worth it though, she has a blast. I even sing her a bath time song that I made up for her:

It's bath time it's bath time
Bria loves her bath time
She wants to shine all the time
Bria loves her bath time

I'm thinking I'll send it in to some artists, it'll probably go platinum.
My favorite time is after her bath, I dry her off, get her changed into one of her cute outfits, and then we sit and rock. She usually falls asleep pretty quickly, but I rock her for at least 15 minutes because I'm in heaven. Then I'll put her down in her crib for her morning nap. Mmmm, it's heaven.

It's Ghost Whisperer night! I LOVE our Friday nights. One, Brian is awake to enjoy it with us (he takes a nap when he gets home from work so he can stay up with us), two, we watch Ghost Whisperer together. Occasionally we even indulge in some popcorn. I look forward to Friday nights all week long, they are my favorite.
Hope you enjoy your Friday night and the weekend! It's time for me to take a shower since the little one is sleeping.

Grandma

We love our grandma. Having her visit has been such a treat for us.

Grandma and Jenny

Bria of course loved her right away and just smiled and smiled at her. There is just something about her that draws you in, babies and all.

Watching my grandma sing lullabies to Bria and rock her to sleep is just such a good feeling, I love it.

Bria was sleeping peacefully on Grandma and then started waking up and of course spit up. Then she decided to turn her head from side to side and spread it all over her face, it was priceless.

Before the spit up incident:

Grandma rocking and singing Bria to sleep:

Aunt Jenny holding little Bria:

Grandma taught us how to make Swiss steak and I am so excited to make it for Brian, I think he'll really like it. We also made fresh strawberry jam, although I was feeding Bria through most of it but I heard what they were doing in the kitchen. We played games, talked, and just had a wonderful visit. I'm sad she is going home tomorrow to Arizona, but I know she'll be happy to see her little dog and go visit Grandpa.

When Brian finishes his master he'll shoot his resume out just to see and Arizona is one of the places he'll look at, wouldn't that be fun :) Nobody freak out, it's just a thought.

So as you can see we've had a great couple days. Bria has been wonderful, especially at night, I feel like a new woman. I have such a good sleeper!

Speaking of sleepers, her 0-3 month sleepers are just about too short. It's so sad, but at least she wore them all. Her 0-3 month onesies still fit her perfectly, but the sleepers just don't allow her legs to stretch all the way out. So I opened up my 3-6 month tote and got out the 2 sleepers that were in there, I may have to go purchase a few more. It's sad to start putting away her baby clothes, she is growing so fast.

Bria loves to talk, it's fun to lay her down on a blanket or put her in the bouncy and just listen to her talk, she gets very excited as you can see:

Her onesie says it all, she is just perfect.

Friday

I am so glad it's Friday, I love the weekends! Plus, this weekend is extra special because my grandma Armstrong is coming into town!! We are so excited to see her and can't wait for her to meet little Bria. I've been talking to Bria and telling her to be on her best behavior so that she can be the favorite great grandchild ;) I am looking forward to learning lots of little songs from my grandma that I can sing to Bria. My grandma is the queen of cute songs and mantras.

Schedule?
It's funny how Bria will be on a good schedule for a week and then for a few days and nights she'll change it up on me. Just when I think we start to have a routine the little booger switches it all up. Fortunately it is not stressing me out like it was, I'm learning to try and be flexible and go with the flow.
For awhile she was going to bed around 8 pm, waking at 2:30 am, 6:30 am, and then up for the day around 9 am. Then for a few nights she woke up at 3:30 am, and then woke up for good at 7:30am. Those were nice. Then she did 1:30am, 5 am, and 7 am. I didn't like those nights very much, she had spoiled me for so long that I wasn't use to her getting up so often. The other night when she woke up at 1:30 am I decided to try and just give her the binkie and see if she'd go back to sleep. She doesn't always take her binkie when she sleeps, just sometimes. And usually it falls out after 5 minutes which doesn't bother her so I never thought to give it to her in these middle of the night wakings. Plus, she didn't sound very awake in the first place, it was like she was crying in her sleep. Well, it worked! The little angel went back to sleep and mommy was very happy. It is definitely true what they say, don't rush in when they first start crying. Bria usually fusses a little in the middle of her nap or in the middle of the night, but it doesn't mean she is awake. Realizing this and the binkie thing has helped tremendously.

We sat outside for awhile yesterday because it was so nice out, Bria loves it outside. She was very content just sitting on my lap.

Bria during her tummy time

Wide-eyed
Something else I want to note about Bria so I don't forget, is how wide-eyed she is. Right from the start Bria looked around and you could tell she was taking everything in, and it made you curious as to what she was thinking. When you hold her she looks you over very carefully and focuses on your face, I love it.

The Battle
The battle has begun. Mom vs Dad, which will she say first? I say Mommy all day long hoping that it will be her first word, knowing full well that Daddy is easier to say and the odds are against me. But a mom can hope!