Play dates

We've been having fun the last couple days, lots of little play dates and get togethers. Way back on Friday afternoon we got together with my friend Shauna, and her little girl, Aria. Aria is 1 1/2 and is such a cutie. We went to lunch and Shauna and I had a good time catching up from our cheer days at OSU, it's crazy that we are both mom's now.

Fast forward to Monday, Bria and I went to see Aunt Jenny at work and Jenny had gotten her the cutest onesie. It has Filmore from Cars on it, and it's PERFECT because he's a green VW bus. For those that don't know, Brian is obsessed with VW buses and had many growing up. So needless to say Brian was thrilled when he saw the new onesie :)

Thanks Aunt Jenny!

I put MJ's bone on Bria's boppy to lure MJ over there:

Unfortunately it didn't work, she just stared at it.

Tuesday my friend from high school, Adrienne, came over with her little girl, Talara. She will be 2 in October and is such a smartie pants. She could talk so well too and was asking all sorts of questions. Adrienne actually lives in the neighborhood which is so exciting, we'll be getting together a lot now.
So that brings us to Wednesday morning. Bria woke up grumpier than usual and it just got worse. She seriously cried almost all morning, only taking a break to nap for 1/2 hour. I tried everything, feeding her, changing her, rocking her, Tylenol, teething tablets, you name it. Nothing was working. I finally got her to go down for a second nap (I don't even remember how) and although it was a short one, she woke up happier and did fine the rest of the day. Which was a good thing because Brian's mom came over and took us out to lunch, so she behaved for Grandma.

Bria even helped me with some laundry:

I thought this little Dr. Seuss onesie was cute, and the baby legs go quite well:

After lunch with Grandma, Bria decided to check out underneath her crib to make sure everything was working properly:

Pausing to smile for mommy:

She was having a good time exploring her crib.

I'm not sure what made her so unhappy in the morning, but I do know that her nose is STILL stuffy. It has been a week and I'm not sure what to do. She will choke on the mucous sometimes because her nose is so full. And of course she screams bloody murder when I use the booger sucker on her, but today I pinned her down and got out quite a bit of snot-hopefully that helps.

Bria tried Oatmeal for the first time the other day. I was wondering how I would know if Bria didn't like a certain food, she seems so chill about new foods. But I found out. She screams and cries until you:
A. Feed her something else
or
B. Get her out of the high chair

I can't believe she likes peas but doesn't like Oatmeal. This is the 3rd morning I've tried Oatmeal and it was the same thing, she screamed and cried like I had hurt her or something. So then I grabbed some applesauce and life was better. I ended up mixing the 2 which worked pretty well, but I think she was starting to catch on towards the end.

She is doing so well with sitting up, we practice quite a bit every day and she is getting stronger and stronger. She is still wobbly and doesn't sit long on her own, but I realized today that a lot of that is because she is so interested in looking around which throws off her balance. I put all her toys in front of her and she did better, but got bored of them and wanted to look around. She doesn't like to look at one thing for too long, hopefully she doesn't have ADD like Brian.

I am in utter shock that my little baby is going to be 6 months next week, ahhh! That is just crazy. I am taking in all the moments I can, especially when she grabs my fingers, lays her head on my chest while sucking her thumb, gives me kisses, smiles her gummy smile, and so much more. I just love her.

Finally!

Blogger finally let me upload a video. At about 29 seconds she says it, she has been saying even clearer than this, but at least you'll get an idea of why I'm so excited:

Busy weekend

It seemed like we stayed pretty busy this weekend. Friday we went over to see our friends' Dave and Cinnamon and their little girl Scarlette, it was so fun catching up. Cinnamon is due in October with their second little one :) Oh my goodness Scarlette has the most beautiful hair, it is white blond and just gorgeous. Pair that with her blue eyes and she is adorable :)
Bria had fun watching Scarlette play and Scarlette was really good with Bria.


Saturday we actually had a pretty chill day which was nice, so I guess we weren't busy the whole weekend, but it felt that way. Little miss Bria has had a stuffy nose. I thought she was getting sick (Brian got sick again, 2nd time in 5 weeks, 3rd time in 5 months! so annoying) but she never acted sick, just had a really stuff nose. Maybe teething? Anyway, she started doing better Saturday which was good. Friday night was her worst night, I think we got about 4 hours of sleep. We had to hold Bria on our chest while sitting up otherwise all the snot would collect and she couldn't breath very well. We had the cool mist humidifier going which helped, but she had a lot of snot.

Fortunately her stuffy nose was gone by Sunday and we headed up to Portland to see my cousin's little baby!! She just had her on Thursday evening (one day before her due date) and I was beyond excited to see a brand new baby again. I must say, it's dangerous to hold a new baby because it makes you want one again, lol. Her name is Bristol Lyn and she is the tiniest thing, she weighed 5 pounds 12 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. Oh my goodness she was precious, so stinkin' cute. She slept pretty much the whole time we were there. She did make the cute newborn squeaks when she was hungry and I just loved them. Now I understand why Jaime kept wanting to hear Bria cry as a newborn. It's the cutest little sound.

Lanie and I with each other's babies (yes Lanie is wearing jeans, 3 days after birth. I was all happy that I fit into them after 2 weeks, pfff.)

The cool thing here is that Lanie is 5 months younger than I am, and Bristol is 5 1/2 months younger than Bria. Also, our cousin Tasha (who is 7 months older than me) has a little girl that is 3 months older than Bria. Follow that? Either way it's pretty cool we all had girls in the same order that we were born.

We thought it was funny that Bristol's feet were the same size as Bria's:

The 2 lil' cousins (we're not even going to try bother with the whole 2nd cousin thing):

Bria looks ginormous, ha!

Now we just need to add Payten (Tasha's girl) to these pictures and we're good :)

My Aunt Loann (Lanie's mom) had fun kissing on Bria's chubby thighs and even put her to sleep for a little bit:

We had so much fun visiting with the family and we're so excited for Kris and Lanie, congrats parents!

While in Portland we also stopped by to see Aunt Heather and Aunt Amy. They took us to breakfast and then we did some shopping. Heather carried Bria through all the stores which is very impressive because that little girl can get heavy :) Bria was not complaining, in fact she took a little nap. She was definitely spoiled yesterday, getting to take all her naps on somebody's chest.

We were all pretty tired when we got home, but fortunately Bria was still in good spirits. She enjoyed rolling around on her blanket and eventually off the blanket:

"I just wanted to get to my toys Mommy."

Bria tried squash last night and LOVED it. The girl could not get enough, it was so funny. She ate the entire Gerber 1st foods container which she has never done, usually she eats half. It's good to know she likes squash, I'm going to need to learn how to prepare it when she gets older.

I've tried that last couple days to upload the video of Bria saying Mama, but blogger is not letting me. Very frustrating. I'll keep trying though.

Mama

So Bria has made the "da" noise for awhile and finally started making the "mmm" noise in the last few days. Well, yesterday, she said it. She said mama! It actually is more like mom and I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that come out of her adorable little mouth. I throw a party every time she says it and she enjoys that.
So who won the Mom Vs Dad? It's hard to say, she was making the da noise first, but it was random and she didn't do it when she saw Brian necesarily. I'm not 100% sure she is correlating me with mom but she only says it when I'm around as opposed to saying it while she's laying in her crib babbling. Either way we are both thrilled that she is saying da-da and mom, THRILLED.

It's amazing how much pressure I feel as a mother. Did you know that 75% of brain development occurs by the time your baby is 1? 1?! And 90% of brain development occurs by age 4. So before we even send our kids to school, 90% of their brain is developed. Holy cow that puts a lot of pressure on parents. So of course being a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) I put even more pressure on myself. I need to constantly be teaching Bria and helping her learn, it is tiring. Often I feel like a failure as a mother if I let her play on her excercise mat while I shower, or let her lay on her blanket and suck on her teething toy that she loves so much.
But then my wonderful husband builds me back up. He was watching Bria and I play games yesterday and the following conversation occured:

B: "You love being a stay at home mom, huh?"
L: "I absolutely love it, why?"
B: "You have been sitting here for the last hour and a half playing games with Bria, I'm tired just watching. You're a really good Mom."

It just warmed my heart and gave me strength.

And now for a cute video of Bria eating, this is how she tells us she is ready for a new bite (around 45 seconds she gives the camera a little curtesy smile):



I think it's time to teach her baby sign language for "more, please".

Adorable Smile

WARNING:
This post contains a picture of the cutest smile ever.

Bria has this adorable smile she started a few weeks ago (well her smile has always been adorable but she is adding to it) where she sticks our her tongue and scrunches up her whole face. It absolutely positively is the most wonderful thing in the world. I can't get enough of it and I dedicate my day to making her do that smile, which fortunately is not hard.




Sigh.

I want to remember what a happy napper Bria is, I love going in to see her in the morning or after a nap because she is almost always happy to see me or her Dad. She gets a big smile on her face (the one mentioned above) and starts babbling. I just love it.

Bria also loves when you give her something to push her feet against, whether it's the cubes in our living room or your tummy, she'll just kick and kick.


For one of my baby showers my neighbor got Bria the cutest Beaver cheer outfit ever. It's still a little long which is perfect because come football season it should fit perfectly.

Here she is demonstrating a toe touch:

Her fascination with tongues has resurfaced. When she was just a newborn she loved sticking out her tongue and watching you do the same.Well it's back and bigger than ever. This little girl has got a big tongue and loves sticking it out.

And I will leave you with a drunk picture of Bria, she had just eaten some good breast milk and was loving life:

6 am

Bria has decided that 6 am is a better wake up time than 7 am. I disagree, but she ultimately wins. I do let her lay there and talk until the talking turns into fussing/crying. Then I get her up, nurse, and we go downstairs to officially start our day. Which consists of lots of singing, dancing (I actually injured my neck dancing for her), talking, reading, and playing games. I can't tell you how happy I am that my day consists of this, I am forever grateful.

The weather has finally cooled off and I am beyond ecstatic. I can take 80's, that's easy compared to the 100's we had for 3 days in a row, ick. Now we can get outside for walks and kiddie pools, I love it.

I actually jogged for the first time since before I was pregnant (over a year ago!) and it felt pretty good. Although I will need to get a better sports bra. I took Bria out in the jogging stroller, which I love by the way, and I would jog for a few blocks, then walk. It felt really good to work up a sweat. Bria enjoyed it too because she fell asleep pretty quickly. That jogging stroller is a smooth ride for sure.

"Oooh, that was a nice nap Mom."

On Friday night we went to dinner with Jenny and Kyle and Bria did ok. Normally she is really happy and looks around the whole time, but we woke her from a nap, whisked her in the car, and then drove for awhile. She was hungry and still trying to wake up so she was a little fussy. I fed her some carrots and 3 oz of a bottle but she was still hungry so I nursed in public for the first time. It wasn't so bad, I don't think people stared, although I didn't look around so maybe everyone was staring. Either way I wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought I was going to be. Bria did manage to knock over a water glass while we were there, guess she takes after her clumsy mama. It was a fun trip though and nice to get out of the house.

Bria is starting to wear some of her 6 months clothes now. It's fun to open up the 6 month tote and find a whole new wardrobe for her, but it also means her 3-6 month clothes are getting too small which makes me sad. The funny thing is Bria's feet are TINY, have I mentioned that? I compared them to her footprints at birth and they are barely bigger. I'm not sure how those little feet are going to hold up her chunky thighs and big belly :)

I was thinking about my favorite toys the other day and I just have to get Bria these blocks. We had them growing up and I absolutely loved them, they were my favorite. Plus, blocks are great for creativity, as are Legos. She probably doesn't need them right away, but I am definitely going to make that purchase, maybe for her 1st Christmas? Or first Birthday. I must say after looking online for them I didn't realize how expensive they were, I'll have to do more research when it comes time to buy them.
I also want to get her a little farm animal set so she knows her animals and all the sounds they make. Those are a little spendy too but it's worth it.

Bria tried peas the other night and did so good. She ate them just like nothing was different, I couldn't believe it. Those peas were disgusting compared to the carrots so I was expecting the famous face, but nothing. I'm not complaining at all, I love that she is eating her vegetables! It did make for some gross spit up though.


And I leave you with some little giggles:

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.