Sweetness

We had another great and busy weekend that included lots of holiday treats. Every year my mom and sisters and I have a baking day which is always a ton of fun. We talk and bake and eat delicious treats for hours and hours. The cool thing is now Jaidyn and Kailey are old enough to get in the kitchen and help, it's so fun having them there and I can't wait until Bria is old enough to enjoy it with us. Not that there's an age requirement, but she's a little young to be frosting cookies. Or eating them for that matter.

I had Brian snap a few photos before we left the house, she just looked so darn cute:

I just love her.

While I baked with the girls, Brian took Bria to his step-sister's house for her daughter's birthday.

Here she is chillin' with Grandpa Holcomb:

Afterwards Brian and Bria came to pick me up and try all the goodies. Bria was really tired so I had Brian go upstairs and put her to sleep. This is what I found a little later:

So sweet.

Anyway, that evening we had some friends over for dinner, cookie decorating, and games. It ended up being so much fun we stayed up way too late. I am big on getting a good nights' rest so I was stressed about our lack of sleep, especially since I despise naps. But I decided I would just nap when Bria did on Sunday.

Sunday rolls around and we're having a lazy morning in our pj's. It was nice. Then came nap time for Bria, we did our usual nap time routine and I laid her down. She talked and talked and talked some more. Then she started crying and fussing so I went in to calm her down. She had pooped, I could smell it. So I changed her thinking to myself, Now she'll go to sleep.

I put her down and she cried and cried. So I gave up and got her out. I was very sad I missed a nap since that was the only thing that was getting me through the morning.

Bria took a nap about an hour later, and it was 20 minutes. Little did I know that was the only nap my daughter would take that day. I'm not sure why she didn't want to sleep, but she didn't. I was nervous for the night because bad naps usually mean a bad night for Bria, but she slept great. Phew. Brian and I went to bed nice and early which felt wonderful.

Did I mention Bria cut her 4th tooth? The girl got her 2 front teeth before Christmas :) It's crazy how old she looks with so many teeth in that tiny mouth.

I went to a mom's club playgroup today at Erin's house. Her and I have become close and we hang out at least once a week, she's been a life saver. Her little boy Gabe is 4 months and such a cutie, Bria and Gabe have fun smiling and talking together.

Bria loved their tree and the ornaments:

I decided it was time to put Bria in the big bath since she couldn't straighten out her legs in her little bath tub. She had fun and liked the space. I had Brian snap a few photos.

"Dad, are you seriously taking my picture in the bath tub?"

So apparently the Prevacid was working. We only got 2 weeks worth and when it was gone she was still spitting up. I knew it took awhile to start working but I thought it would've been working by then. Anyway, we decided not to get it refilled just yet to see what would happen. For about 3 days she didn't throw up at all, just a small spit up here and there. But then she started throwing up again. I think the Prevacid was finally in her system and doing it's job, but then we stopped giving it to her so it came back. Let's just say I called the compounding pharmacy and we are getting it filled pronto.

I am so happy that we found something that works, thank you Prevacid!

I am loving this age and it's going by way too fast. She is being such a ham and it cracks me up daily. She'll squint her nose and snort to make us laugh or give us a goofy smile. I just eat it up, she's so sweet.

Sigh.

Smarty Pants

I swore I wouldn't be one of those moms who bragged about how smart her child was. So don't think of this video as bragging, think of it as my proof to Brian that I don't sit around eating Bon-bons and watching Oprah. I really do teach Bria things. Not that he needs proof, but it makes me feel better :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We were pretty productive this weekend which I think deserves a pat on the back ;) Well, Brian does since he did finals in the midst of our busyness.

Saturday Brian stayed home with Bria while I went out and did some Christmas shopping and errand running. I know shopping shouldn't be that hard with just one baby but it kind of is. Shopping alone felt really nice and it was so much quicker. After I was done we went and got our Christmas tree, decorated it, and wrapped all our presents.

It was FREEZING even though it looked nice and warm.

So Bria and I went inside their little greenhouse type place where they had free hot chocolate and a cute train that Bria enjoyed watching.

Funny story about decorating the tree:

I like when things match and am kind of type A, so our Christmas color theme is red and gold. That is what I put on the tree. Well Brian finds these silver and red streamer things from our Blazer days and thinks we should put them on.

I disagree and tell him they are NOT going on the tree. I didn't think he'd fight me on it but I was wrong. He wasn't giving up and I was not in the mode so I got mad. After I threw a 5 year old tantrum I realized it was Christmas time, and it didn't matter if the tree matched perfectly or not. We were all there together as a family decorating our tree, who cares if there is silver on the tree?! So I laughed at myself and told Brian to put on the streamers. He was very happy and everyday since then he has stopped to look at the tree, turn to me and say:

"That's a beautiful tree, those silver and red streamers look awesome."

He's right, they look awesome.

Here are our stockings hung with care:

Sunday we had Jaime take our Christmas card photos, I got our cards made and ordered (just picked them up this afternoon), I did laundry and other boring stuff, plus we even relaxed and watched Amazing Race. It was a really nice weekend and they'll only get better now that Brian is done with Fall term!!!

That's right, he is done with his finals and now he has a couple weeks off before he starts his FINAL term of his Masters. He has ONE term left, can you believe that!? Not 3, not 2, but ONE!!!!

Did I mention Brian only has one term left. Just one.

I purchased a baby gate on Saturday so we could keep Bria from tumbling down the stairs. She thinks it's a fun new toy.

Now it's a new game for her and she just smiles and laughs, good times.

Bonk

Bria got her first goose egg . She was climbing over my leg and went head first onto the hardwood. She cried for a long time and I felt awful. When she was somewhat calmed down I nursed her and she fell asleep in my arms, where she took her afternoon nap and I soaked it up. Her noggin' has a tiny bruise but I haven't taken a picture because then I'll feel even worse and I'm finally starting to get over it, 3 days later.

Now that we have ourselves a little crawler we're keeping busy. I use to shower while Bria played in front of the mirror in our bedroom (where I could see her), now she crawls into the bathroom or over to MJ's water bowl and gets into everything. Just like everyone said she would :) Right now I still think it's cute, ask me again in a week how I feel about her crawling everywhere.

She definitely wants to stand up, in fact while her hands are on the ground she'll straighten her legs and stand up, with her hands and head still on the ground. It's quite hilarious and I'm realizing I should snap a photo of this.

Bria does not like it when you take something away that she wants to play with. The camera for instance. I was using the camera as a way to entice her to crawl and then I let her pick it up and examine it. Before she destroyed it I nicely took it away and this is what happened:

So I took pictures and laughed at her cute little lip.

Then I found her another toy and she was fine. My little drama queen.

Bria also finds it amusing to wrestle MJ.

Brian and I encourage this because it makes us laugh. MJ is such a good sport and takes it. We definitely keep a close eye though, don't need any more scratches to the eye.

I couldn't help but smile when Bria spent a good 1/2 hour playing with her pretty bows, she's all girl!
This weekend we are going to get our Christmas tree and hopefully take our Christmas card photo so we can get those printed and sent out. I can't wait to get our Christmas tree home and decorated, then it will officially feel like December.

What a wonderful weekend

Brian and I keep saying what a wonderful weekend it has been for us. Brian had his first 4-day weekend in 5 years and we took full advantage of it.

1. Thanksgiving at our house

2. Heather & Amy's house in Portland

3. A party at a high-end grocery store (I'll explain)

4. Shopping

1. Thanksgiving at our house.

I think it was a success and hopefully our family felt that way :) We kept it pretty chill but still had tons of food. Brian and Randy deep fat fried the turkey which is just delicious. We listened to Christmas music, played with the babies, and had a wonderful time. It was a nice way to start out the holiday season.

Brian was too late to capture Bria and Bristol talking to each other, but he captured me cleaning up Bria's throw up. Those are the moments :)

The guys chilled in the living room with the babies while we prepared some dinner.

Bristol didn't want to miss out on the excitement by taking a nap, just look at those kissable cheeks!

Kayla playing with Bria :)

And of course we ended the night with a nice warm bath. Bria loved it as you can tell.

2. Heather and Amy's

We headed up to Portland on Friday. We dropped Bria off while we went to see a friend's new house that he just purchased. Then we came back, had a delicious dinner that included mouth watering filet mignon, and played with Bria.

Bria playing with Amy and their dog George in the background.

Clapping for Daddy.

Bria is so happy when she eats, she definitely loves food!

You would think Bria was screaming in these pictures but absolutely no sound comes out, she just likes to be silently animated.

And she loves to eat the water.

3. Party at Zupan's

So after we put Bria to bed on Friday, Brian and I got to go out and have a date night with Nate and Amy. Where did we go? A grocery store :) See, Heather got some tickets to a party called Bubbles After Dark. It's the owner's way of saying thank you for shopping at my store by providing free champagne and o'dourves. It was from 10 pm- 1am and only 150 couples were given tickets, we felt like big shots ;) It was a lot of fun and felt awesome to get out and spend time with friends sans a squirmy baby.

Not that we didn't miss our baby girl, but I went a couple hours without any baby throw up on me. Score!

Brian and I tried caviar (is that how you spell it?), oysters, weird but delicious cheeses, it was awesome. We even got Brian to try a chocolate covered strawberry (he doesn't like berries, I know, he's weird), but he didn't like it. At least he tried it though. They also had the most delicious oreo type cookies, they were divine. It was all so good.

We didn't stay until 1 am because we were all pretty tired, but midnight is still late for us these days.

We definitely crashed in bed that night.

4. Shopping

After we got up Saturday morning (Heather and Amy let us sleep in, it was so nice) we ventured out in the Holiday shopping. We picked up some cute clothes for Bria and a Christmas present for her. We shopped for hours and Bria did awesome, just hanging out in the Snugglie with Aunt Heather.

When it started getting dark we decided to head home.

It was such a nice weekend and it felt great to be with so much family. Bria barely spit up at all which made me think that the Prevacid was starting to work, I was ecstatic.

Then came Sunday, where she threw up all day long. Ugh. Nevermind.

But it was still a wonderful weekend and I think it's safe to say Bria enjoyed her first Thanksgiving.

Can't wait for Christmas!

We have a crawler!!

It's official folks, Bria is crawling. She decided today that she was sick of being stationary and always depending on mom or dad to take her places, so she just crawled her little self over to MJ's toy (of course) and grabbed it. Lucky for us MJ shares her toys (and thought Bria was going to throw it so waited excitedly beside her, tail wagging).

She is still trying to master the crawl but she definitely gets to where she wants to go.

To do list:

Baby Proofing stuff

Thanksgiving 2009

This year Thanksgiving is going to be nice and relaxing, both Brian and I are looking forward to it. My sister's are spending it with their spouses' families so Brian and I decided to host a little one at our house. My brother and his girlfriend are coming over, along with my Mom and Randy, and my cousin Lanie and her husband and little girl. It's going to be pretty chill but I am still really excited to have everyone over and eat some delicious food. We'll whip out some of our games and play those too, it should be some good times here at the Holcomb Hideway :)

This little girl is very excited, as you can see she'll be our centerpiece in the middle of the table.

And she'll be downing the bubbly all night from her UPS mug.

Bria got her 3rd tooth a little bit ago, her top right one :) It looks like she'll be getting her 2 front teeth by Christmas, how appropriate. And of course with another tooth comes 2 weeks of a snotty nose. We've got the humidifier going every night in her room, vapor rub, Boogie wipes, and the booger sucker- she hates the last two. I also admit to picking her nose, I can't help it.

Brian is finishing up fall term, wahoo! Just one more week and then he has a couple off before he starts his LAST term. Oh this is just glorious news, music to my hears. The end is in sight and it's a beautiful thing.

I am just trying to stay busy with Bria and get out of the house at least once a day, the sunshine helps. I'm also attempting to teach Bria everything I can, but she prefers to talk and for me to listen. Who am I to argue, I love that little voice.

She has started yelling when she talks now which is kind of funny, until it's been for 10 minutes straight and I'm driving so I can't pay attention to her and she keeps doing it until she starts getting really mad and cries. Then gets tired and falls asleep.

It's almost time to put up the Christmas decorations, yay!

Who needs toys when you have a UPS mug to play with?