Warm fuzzies

1. Spending time drinking my coffee and reading my newspaper (aka blogs, the fort, email, etc) in the morning before Bria wakes up.

2. When Bria wakes up in such a good mood that she'll stand in her crib and laugh while I dance and sing for her. I feel like Britney Spears. Best time ever.

3. Watching Bria climb all over "Jungle Daddy" as we call it. She loves to try and climb over him, around him, on him, it's adorable.

4. Sitting on the couch with Brian, watching our shows and sharing a bowl of popcorn after Bria goes to bed.

5. Seeing my siblings, parents, and in-laws with Bria, it makes my heart melt to see how happy she is to be with them and vis versa. Family is such a wonderful thing and we are blessed to have the best.

6. Watching Bria's face when Brian comes home from work, she is so stinkin' excited.

7. Reading a book on the couch while Bria naps, with the sun coming in the window and a big bowl of chips next to me. And a glass of milk. And MJ is usually sitting by me.

8. Looking at pictures of my baby girl and marveling at how amazing she is.

I can always count on Aunt Heather to take lots of pictures when we visit her:

"Yeah, who 'dis?"

"Oh Mom, I gotta take this."

"You are not gonna believe this, oooh!"

We went to the Saturday market in Portland last weekend and it was so nice to soak in some sun:

Aunt Amy:

On the drive home MJ decided to cuddle up with Bria and Bria LOVED it:

Lance Armstrong

On Saturday my brother's girlfriend, Kayla, threw a surprise party for him before he leaves for Afghanistan on Friday. It was nice to have one last big hooray before he leaves.

I don't want him to go. Pretty sure my parents don't want him to go, and I know Kayla doesn't want him to go. We are sad that he's leaving, sad that we won't get to see him for so long, sad that he'll be in a rough place. And then there's the fear of something bad happening, but I really don't want to go there. I'll pray that God places a protective bubble over Lance while he's there and keeps him safe and out of harms way.

It's crazy to think my little brother is old enough to go off to war. I still think of him as that little boy I had to babysit during the summers instead of hanging out with my friends. My little buddy that watched Tommy Boy with me 5 times a day, everyday. Lance and I had a blast growing up...well I did, hopefully he did too.

You see, I kind of love my brother and want him to come home in one piece.

I'm so proud of him. Proud of his courage and bravery. Proud that he's in the Navy and serving our country.

Proud that Bria has a wonderful uncle who is not only courageous, but freakin' hilarious and a ton of fun.

That Lance, he's a character.

A man and his bus

I want to tell you a little story, a story about a man and his bus.

Once there was a man named Brian. When he was 16 years old he fell in love with VW buses. Was it the roar of the engine? Or maybe the bright colors they come in? Or maybe he felt all 'make love not war' when he saw them. For whatever reason, they caught his attention.

For years Brian spent his time fixing up and selling VW buses. His poor mom had to endure stares from her neighbors while her son brought home rusted old buses and parked them in her driveway. But Brian made some great memories with his buses and loved to take them camping. He became especially fond of the 1966, 67 buses. So much so that he decided to get one tattooed on himself. Did I also mention he grew out his curly hair into an afro? {Bet you didn't know I married a hippy.}

Brian eventually focused on college and the buses took a backseat. But Brian never let a bus go by without commenting and longing for another one. Then he decided to get married to a frugal, yet beautiful and intelligent, woman who didn't like spending money, so instead of buying a bus he dreamed about them. Then he decided he wanted to be a daddy so they had a baby and she was the cutest thing you ever did see. His dreams of owning a bus were getting further away, but the hippy was happy and loved his family.

Well, one day God decided to reward him for his patience. While on route with his driver, Brian spotted a beautiful yellow VW bus in the parking lot of an apartment building. It was in beautiful condition and it just so happened that yellow was Brian's favorite color. There was no for sale sign on it, but that didn't stop this determined hippy from inquiring. After all, the tags were expired and there was algae in places so obviously the owner wasn't driving this beauty. So Brian did what any VW bus lover would do, he stalked the owner. Well, not really. But he did find out which apartment she lived in and left her a note on the bus. When he didn't hear from her he decided to go and leave a note on her apartment door. As luck would have it she was just walking out of her apartment so he asked her about it. The reason she hadn't driven it was because she inherited her grandmother's truck when she passed away and couldn't afford the insurance on both vehicles. She didn't want to part with the truck since it had sentimental value. Brian's stomach did flips as his dream of owning a bus were getting closer and closer.

After a little more talking and persuading, the owner decided it was best to sell it. And since Brian was such a nice guy and since his wife was tight with their money, she gave him a steal of a deal.

Brian was so happy, his dream was coming true. His pretty little wife was surprisingly excited too, she knew how happy this made her hippy husband and knew that he deserved his VW bus.

So they had Grandpa come watch their cute little girl while they drove down to get the bus. It was an exciting ride down filled with lots of anticipation.

They finally arrived and got the bus started. The tires needed a little fill so they drove around the block to the gas station, their first ride together in the bus.

The wife was a little nervous, it may be a classic car but it's still old.
But don't worry, she warmed up to it.

Once the tires were good to go they headed to a car wash to scrub the algae off. She cleaned up real nice.

The way home was slow going, the throttle needed some tweaking, but that didn't stop the two from smiling all the way home.
They pulled the bus in front of their driveway and stepped back to take a look. Penny the VW bus was home.

A dream come true, and a long time waiting. Welcome home Penny.

Sunny days

This week we've been having some sunny days and it's just wonderful. We've been taking lots of walks and going to the park. It's still a bit chilly and when the wind blows holy cow it's freezing, but the sun is out and that's all that matters.

Brian's officially on spring break and just has 1 class left. 3 months to go. June cannot come soon enough.

Things are going pretty good here. Just the usual.

Here Bria is before one of our walks:

"Mom, I think I'm growing green and pink fur on my hands."

"Oh good it's just gloves, I like them."

"Hehe, they make me feel fuzzy and warm."

"Hooray for gloves!!"

So swim class ended the other week and I finally remembered to grab the camera and snap a picture of Gabe and Bria in the locker room. They were the hit of the locker room:

Gotta love baby rolls ;)

Bria is amazing us everyday. She tries so hard to mimic our words and it is too funny. We were trying to get her to say "love you" and she was focusing so much on our mouths, it was adorable. She tried to say it but it came out like, "vv" Hey, I'll take it!

She's also becoming a bit of a daddies girl and Brian is over the moon. She'll reach for him when I'm holding her, she gets sooo excited when he comes home and wants him to hold her right away. She loves climbing all over him when he's laying down, I think that's her favorite game, she is happiest when she's climbing on Daddy. It makes Brian feel really good and I love seeing it. They are adorable together.

She isn't walking yet, the most she's taken is 2 steps. She is definitely cautious so I think it'll take her a little while before she gets confident to walk, but it's fun to see her stand all by herself and she gets really proud of herself.

It's funny how much of a ham she has become, I wish she was like this at her birthday party! She seriously LOVES when people clap and yell for her, it makes her so happy. The girl loves when we have people over and she can show off, you can see her trying to think of something cute to do. Silly girl.

That's the update for now, so glad it's the weekend!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

One year ago:

Today:

It's quite amazing how much one ages and matures in just a year. Hope everyone had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

Precious babies

Everybody says that you get baby amnesia. Meaning, you forget how hard those newborn days were and that is why people have more than 1 baby.

I thought, "No way, I blog so I won't forget how hard they were and how little sleep I got, and how my body hurt, and how I was so overwhelmed, and scared, and stressed, and hungry, and tired, and cranky, and did I mention tired?"

But it's true. I think it's because 1 is a pretty fun age, but it also makes you realize your little baby is not a little baby. They are a toddler. And then soon your heart misses that little newborn that nestled on your chest so perfectly, so you go look at pictures from the newborn days. And since you're smiling in the pictures those newborn days must not have been that bad. And then you watch videos of your little baby cooing and waving her arms up and down at the crib mobile or your hand so you think, that doesn't look very hard, look how easy it is to entertain them. Then you look at pictures of your baby daddy with that little newborn and your heart does more pitter pattering. Your big strong man with a tiny baby in his arms is enough to make you skip a few birth control pills.

It's true folks, I am starting to understand how people have more than 1 child. But don't read into it, I'm not ready for number 2. I still feel overwhelmed enough that I know I couldn't handle another baby right now. I need to learn more calming techniques before I had another blond haired, blue eyed, big bellied baby to the mix.

But it's nice to know that someday I will be ready. I'll be ready to give Bria a sibling and playmate that she will love and be annoyed with at the same time. Maybe a sister who she can share her secrets with or a brother who she can laugh with.

For now though, this little girl is enough.

She's more than enough, she's our whole world.

Pictures courtesy of Jaime. She rocks, 'nuf said.