Crazy times

We went to Gabe's first birthday party on Wednesday night and Bria had so much fun running around with all the kids and playing with all Gabe's toys. It was a perfect evening for a party and delicious food everywhere.

Stopping to cheese for mommy

Gabe watching the kids play while eating his dinner

Erin and Gabe

Bubbles everywhere!

I think she likes bubbles :)

Bria not eating but enjoying sitting at the kids table

"Why did you put a cherry tomato on my plate? And a strawberry? You know I don't eat anything that grows in the ground."

"Seriously, I'm not going to eat this."

The birthday boy making a wish

It's about to get crazy for the Holcomb's. Brian's first day at Intel is fast approaching and thus will begin a crazy month for us. Heather and Amy have generously offered to let us stay with them for a little while so we have time to find a place (and fingers crossed sell our house!). So we'll pack up our essentials and head up to Portland where we'll stay for a week. Then Brian is flying to Arizona for 2 weeks for training and since I love Arizona and have family there, Bria and I are going to join him :) We get to hang out with my grandma for a week and soak in the hotness that is Arizona. I can't wait!

Then once we get back we'll move a few more things up to Portland and apartment hunt. So I feel like we'll be kind of homeless for awhile just because we won't be settled quite yet. But we'll make it work and it's all worth it in the end.

We did have someone come look at the house which is exciting. I cleaned and cleaned while Kayla watched Bria and then Bria and I made cookies so the house would smell good. I'm hoping they like it and want to make us a great offer...and yes I realize I'm being incredibly optimistic. I can't help it.

More boating

Once again we went boating last weekend and as always had a blast. This time we invited Jimmy, Erin, and Gabe to join us plus my nieces were camping with Mom and Randy so it was a ton of fun. Plus, Erik and Marcianne (who go to Shasta every year) and their girls camped that weekend so we had another boat to have fun on :)

The water was pretty choppy due to wind and 50 bazillion boats on the lake, so we spent a majority of the day just anchored and playing in the water.

Then Erin and I took our little ones for their first tube ride! I was such a nerd and so excited for Bria. She seemed pretty neutral to the whole thing and just kind of looked around.

Then she decided to get really comfy and lay like everyone else does when they go tubing. She even grabbed the handle, it was pretty darn cute.

In the early evening the water started looking better so Brian, Jimmy, Erin, Gabe, and I hopped on Erik and Marcianne's boat while all the kids (including Bria) hopped on my Mom and Randy's boat. It was so nice of my Mom and Randy to take all the kids and we had so much fun wake surfing on the boat. Wake surfing is by far my favorite water activity, it's low impact, easy to get up, and you're so close to the boat that you can talk to everyone. We had so much fun and apparently Bria was having a blast on the other boat and back at the campsite. In fact, we should have stayed out longer because she got all cranky when we showed up. It's good to know she is good for everyone else I guess.

Then I made the mistake of letting Bria ride on Jaidyn's razor scooter. It was all over, this girl wanted to do nothing but ride on the scooter, which is back breaking for anyone trying to push her. So Brian, my Mom, and I took turns pushing her around the park and she was in heaven. If we tried to stop or take her off she would throw a massive fit and throw her body around like a fish out of water.

Zooming by at 50 mph

My daredevil with just half a foot on the scooter

We were sad we didn't reserve a campsite because we wanted to stay and make s'mores and hang out by the fire, but we had to head home. It was 8 o'clock before we got on the road so I thought for SURE Bria would fall asleep on the hour and a half drive home.

Nope.

Not for one single minute. Ugh. She did go right to sleep when we got home and I put her in her crib which was nice. I thought for SURE she would sleep in a little since she went to bed 2 hours past her bed time.

Nope.

She was up before 7:30 am and cranky. Then we had the open house during Bria's nap time so we took her to Kyle and Jenny's to nap where I thought for SURE she would take a 3 hour nap.

Nope.

1 hour later she woke up VERY cranky. And well, I informed you in the last post of just how cranky she was the whole day so I won't go into that.

But I must say, she did so well all day on Saturday with boating that I shouldn't complain too much about her crankiness, she was an angel boating and we are very grateful for that because we love us some boating!

What is taking so long?

Would you like me to help you picture just how impatient I am? Our house has been on the market for 1 week. We had a realtor viewing last week and an open house yesterday. I am SERIOUSLY annoyed that we have had no interest in our house. I thought for sure my phone would be ringing off the hook with people wanting to look at our house and then make an offer. After all, we cleaned and cleaned and organized and sprayed good smelling stuff so why wouldn't they want to buy our house? Seriously, someone buy our house...like now :)

I think Bria's virus is gone which is great. She is still sleeping a little wonky (meaning she is not sleeping 12 hours at night with a 2 hour nap) and is clingy, but she still may be recovering. Yesterday was quite a day, Bria was absolutely impossible to please. Brian and I were both at our wits end. She was put in time out multiple times and this was our first day trying time out. She does not get the concept so she doesn't stay in the spot we put her, maybe it's too early? Who knows, but I had to think of some way to calm her down yesterday...and give me some time to calm down because wow, she was testing every last bit of patience I was born with. I know she was tired because we went boating on Saturday and she only took a 45 minute nap on the boat and then went to bed late and woke up at her normal time, but still, she was sooooo cranky!

Today she fell asleep while eating lunch. I WISH I had the camera because it was hilarious. She was eating her crackers and her eyes were slowly closing. Then she eventually just laid her head down on the table and closed her eyes. Don't worry, I didn't leave her there, I carried her up to bed where she promptly zonked out.

"Cheese!"

Investigating the camera case and wondering where the camera went.

"Oh Mom, you have it!"

"Why can't I have it?"

"Here, let me get closer."

"Mom, I'm being patient, can I please have the camera?"

"The world is over! I need that camera NOW!"

I finally gave her the camera to play with.

"K, thanks for letting me play with it. Was that so hard?"

Play date and a bad night

On Wednesday we had a realtor viewing at our house so Bria and I had to find a place to go from 10-2. Right in the middle of nap time, awesome. In the morning we headed to Erin and Gabe's for a fun play date, Gabe and Bria played pretty well together, despite a few hitting episodes from Bria. But she's getting better, or so she is making me think.

They had a lot of fun outside with the water table

Gabe attempting to press the water button while Bria takes notes

Then we went to my Dad's where Bria took a little nap and woke up on the very wrong side of the pack 'n play. She had a fever of 102 the night before but Brian and I thought it was because we'd been out in the sun and mix that with teething we thought for sure she'd be a little warm. However, after I left my Dad's I went home to find out her temperature was at 103. Ugh. I called the doctor to find out what I needed to look for and what I should do. They gave me instructions of lots of fluids, Tylenol/ibuprofen every 4 hours, make sure she has wet diapers, and call in the morning if the fever is still that high. That night she falls asleep in my arms at 7 pm when I was rocking her in the brown chair downstairs. It's been a long time since she's done that and I soak in the moment.

Thursday morning her temperature was 99.9 so I thought, phew, she's getting better! I decide there is no need to take her in since her fever is going down.

Fast forward a few hours, Bria has a not so good nap and wakes up with a temperature of 102 ish (the ear thermometer said 103.8 and the under arm one said 100.5, I think they say the under arm is the more accurate right?). I call the doctor again and give the symptoms and wait for the nurse to call back. More Tylenol and a trip to the store to walk around, Bria all the sudden becomes her normal self and is totally happy walking all over Old Navy and pulling shirts off the shelves. So I think she is done and there is no need to go to the doctor. Oh silly me, that's just what they want you to think!

I put her down for bed that night and she fusses for a few minutes so I go in and rock her to sleep again. Bad habit, I know, but it's so darn sweet. I lay her down and think, maybe she'll sleep good tonight. Once again, I'm being so naive.

Half hour later she fusses and whines and thus begins the horrible horrible night. I felt like we were back in the newborn days, she woke up almost every single hour. I would scratch her back or rock her and she'd go to sleep, only to wake up soon after. Sometimes she wasn't awake, she was just crying in her sleep. It was a rough night.

I took her temperature again today and it said 97.9. Now, I want to say: phew! But I'm not celebrating early this time, it'll be a couple nights of good sleep before I celebrate. I really do hope she is getting better, I know it's worse for her because who wants to feel icky and sleep so poorly? My initial worry was an infection, like a UTI or ear infection but she isn't showing symptoms of either of those and the doctor's office agreed. Although if the fever persists we'll check anyway because she just might have different symptoms for those. Here is to hoping that she is on the mend and that darn fever stays away.

The Hotness

This weekend it was in the high 90's and that is hot for a/c less people like us. We made sure to spend lots of time outside in the water fountains or our little pool to cool off. Bria gets the window a/c unit in her room so she sleeps pretty good and with our window open and fan in front of it we haven't been too hot so we aren't melting which is nice.

Brian's start date is set for August 16th so we are looking forward to that date :) He is giving his official notice to UPS tomorrow so hopefully that goes well. His boss knows and most of his co-workers do as well, but he just haven't given his official notice.

So we are selling our house and getting it on the market this week which is taking a lot of work. We are hopeful we can sell it fast, the sooner we sell it the sooner we can get an apartment in Portland.

Brian was gone last week for work and it was a rough week alone. My patience just wasn't were it needed to be and I didn't do a good job of staying busy so when Brian got home on Friday I was soooo ready for a break. Saturday he took Bria to the fountains while I stayed home and cleaned and packed our house to get it ready for showing. Although it would've been fun to see her run through the fountains, it felt wonderful to get so much stuff done and not have to worry about entertaining a toddler.

I use to think we were good about not having clutter around the house but this whole packing thing has proven what a hot mess our house is and how much flippin' stuff we have! Where did we get it all? It feels wonderful to de-clutter and I wish I would have done it a long time ago. But it also has taken a lot of work so I can see why I procrastinated.

Bria is talking more everyday and her latest word is, "Awesome!" with tons of enthusiasm, makes us laugh every time. She's also starting to string words together and getting a lot better at it. Car rides are still tiring because she wants attention the whole time I'm driving, if I'm not looking at her she says, "Mom, MOM, MOM!!!!" until I finally turn around. It's already begun!

She definitely has Brian's skin. We load her up with sunscreen every time she is outside and she still gets a golden brown tan all over. Couple that with her blond hair and blue eyes and you'd think she was Swedish ;) I am grateful she doesn't burn easy because I know that's something I would stress about all summer.

Bria is still a picky eater and I feel like it's getting worse. I really don't know what to feed this child and I'm starting to lose patience at meal time and snack time. What am I suppose to feed this child 5 times a day?! She doesn't even like 5 different foods! I'm grateful she loves her milk, I know she's getting her calcium. I'm starting to understand why parents give up and give them whatever they want, it's better than her starving to death. By looking at her you wouldn't think she was a picky eater so I have to focus on her rolls and then I feel better, plus it's just fun to kiss her chunkiness.

Okay, I better go clean or pack or something since both my babies are sleeping.

Here's a quick video of when we went the lake, girl loves her some water!

BIG hugs

I can't tell you how wonderful our summer weather has been, it took awhile to get here but it was well worth it.

Bria and I are outside everyday either going for a walk, playing in the backyard, or going to the park. I'm so glad our neighborhood has a park because when we are bored and can't think of anything to do (and Target is off limits because I shouldn't spend any more money) we just walk down to the park and play. Usually there are other kids and moms there so we get to socialize.

I'm learning that Bria is not shy with other kids, in fact she loves to walk up to older kids and say, "Hi," in her sweet little voice. And she loves giving hugs, she squeezes so hard they usually go tumbling down and then I'm so embarrassed.

"Ahh, I'm so excited to give you a hug!"

No one fell during this hug :)

Fortunately it's a slow motion fall so no one is hurt. Plus I can't be too mad because she's being a lover and I'd rather her do that than hit. She does tend to be mean to babies younger than her and that is really frustrating. I discipline her every time she takes a toy away or hits, but it doesn't feel like we are getting anywhere, I guess it'll take awhile.

Bria continues to have a love affair with my phone. Only now she has full on conversations and it cracks me up, especially how she fluctuates her voice. Most of the time her conversation starts out with, "Hi Daddy."

And she's even learning to text ;)

I caught the infamous Briiiiiiaaa face on camera, wahoo! Usually she is straight faced when she does it but I still caught it.

I look at her like this with my head down and say Bria in a way that sounds like she's in trouble and she totally does it back. I crack up every time.

"Duh, Mom."

"See this, I'm texting my Daddy to tell him to bring some milk home, ASAP."

Eating her favorite food: crackers

"What? Like crackers aren't healthy for you?"

"I could eat crackers for every meal!"

Check out that hair, it's getting so long!

She loves to hand me a book and say, "Lap!" then she turns around backs up and sits on my lap. Who wouldn't want that adorable bum backing into them and then plopping down to read a book?

One of her phone conversations:

Family Fun

A few weekends ago we went up to Heather's for a family dinner with Sara. She was in town so we all gathered together to get the dish on her man, she's engaged! You can tell she's a woman in love that's for sure, and we are all so thrilled for her. We get to meet him later this year and can't wait.

Amy and Heather made an AMAZING dinner and we all sat outside and ate and talked and ate some more.

We had a great time and it was fun getting together with everyone.

Dad and Kathie

Bria had oatmeal for dinner

Sara and Mom

Heather, Sara, and Amy

The twins

And here's a cute video of Heather and Bria playing in the pool (please ignore my incredibly annoying laugh, I need to remember to mute myself when video taping):