So much fun

We had a great weekend. Seriously, it was awesome. It was the kind of weekend that makes you smile for the rest of the week. We spent oodles of time together as a family and with our families too.

She requested I take her picture, that has never happened!

And then she wanted one with me! I was so happy :)

Saturday we went to the Zoo and although we didn't see very many animals, Bria had a blast running all over the grass area with her absolutely favorite doll, Jessie.

Aunt Amy came to visit on Friday and brought Jessie over and she hasn't left Bria's side since. Bria insists on taking her everywhere, including to bed. It's really sweet. Aunt Amy gets major kudos for her awesome gift.

Heart melting.

Sunday we went downtown with Nate and Amy and walked around the Sunday Market which was fun. It was a little cloudy but it was kind of nice since it didn't get too hot.

Bria enjoyed running in and out of the fountains of course.

I've smartened up and brought extra clothes with us everywhere we go.

We tired ourselves out for sure. Brian and Bria took a very late nap when we got home. I think Bria was excited to be sleeping in our bed, I thought it was a fun treat for her and Daddy was in heaven taking a snooze with his little girl. Kind of wished I would've joined them but the alone time was nice too.

Where's Bria?

There she is :)

Doesn't this picture make you want to go take a nap?

Sunday Sara came into town and we had a little BBQ with them which was fun. Monday was the 4th and we were pretty busy the whole day. We went out to breakfast with Sara and Gabriel, dropped them off at David's house (Brian's dad), stopped by our friends house to say hi, dropped off some scuba gear for our other friends, then finally headed down to Albany for the BBQ at Jaime and Schuyler's. Bria had a blast with all the family and she stayed busy the whole time, which meant she zonked out when we finally put her to bed at 9:45 pm. The fireworks were scaring her anyway so we took her inside and she fell asleep pretty quickly.

Tuesday was a gorgeous day and we did a little relaxing in the morning, took a nice long nap and then made the rounds to 3 different parks that day. We came home and made dinner and just spent quality time together, it was the perfect day.

I'm excited it's already Thursday and the weekend is almost here again, I love summer time.

Cousins

Bria got to meet her cousin Gabriel for the first time on Sunday and she was thrilled. I was pleasantly surprised at how gentle she was with him. She was also hilariously adorable by mimicking my baby talk to him and it was really sweet.

When we woke up Monday morning and he was still here she was thrilled. He was taking his morning nap when she woke up though and she kept wanting to go and wake him up.

She was very excited when he finally woke up :)

I couldn't help but do a little photo session with these two and I was surprised I got them both to look at the camera and be the photographer! Maybe I can handle 2 after all. ;)

Love it. Can't believe how big my Bria looks.

Adorable. It looks like they are looking at MJ down there or something.

He's got a Holcomb dimple, love it :)

Gabriel: "Bria, why does she keep flashing that light in our face?"

Bria: "It's called a camera and get use to it, they do it a lot."

Bria: "Just look at it and smile, that seems to make it stop faster."

I'm looking forward to more photo ops while Sara and Gabriel are here.

I have a few pictures from the 4th of July but my sister has plenty more so I can't wait to post those pictures :) We had a wonderful family BBQ at Jaime and Schuyler's, they had a pretty big pool that was about 2 1/2 feet deep or so and the kids had so much fun in it. We had great food, good fireworks, and fabulous company.

I'm 28 years old now

Last Sunday, Marna took us out to celebrate mine and Heather's birthday. Heather's birthday was the 29th and we are 10 years apart, almost to the day. Don't worry Heather, I won't tell everyone your age :)

We went to a local restaurant that we love, Stanford's. They have delicious food and it has a fancy feel to it. Plus, they are pretty family friendly which is nice.

My blond-haired beauty and me...and an extra 5 pounds in my face...amongst other places.

Kisses

Studying me intently.

Waiting to be seated. So lady like ;)

Dinner was amazing. I ordered a virgin strawberry daiquiri to be fancy and it was delicious. Then I decided to go out of my comfort zone and ordered a crab artichoke sandwich. Oh my word, it was to die for! Seriously, it was cheesy goodness. I cleaned my plate. Yeah. It was good.

Family photo time.

Bria helped Heather open her card from Grammy. When Bria saw the money in it she said, "$20.99!"

I don't know where that came from but we all got a good laugh.

Brian and his wonderful Mom.

Us birthday girls.

They also gave us free creme brulee's because it was our birthdays, score! It even had a candle in it which was a nice touch, Bria enjoyed blowing them out for us. I enjoyed eating it.

I should be careful wearing this dress, I got all sorts of lady lumps and bumps sticking out.

And another of my sweet and sour girl ;)

Isn't her dress to die for adorable? She enjoyed twirling for us and showing it off. Such a girl.

We are enjoying our 4-day weekend immensely. Yesterday we went to the Zoo, took a nap, played outside in the kiddie pool, and went to our neighbors for a BBQ. It was jam packed of fun and Brian and I were so excited to have a social life up here in Portland since it's taken awhile. So far we have met and clicked with 3 of our neighbors and that makes me giddy :)

Today Sara (Brian's twin) and her little baby Gabriel are flying in from Kentucky! Can't wait to meet our little nephew, he's already 5 months old!

Tomorrow I believe we are headed down to Jaime and Schuyler's for their annual 4th of July BBQ and some fireworks. Happy 4th to everyone, God Bless America!!

Terrible Two's=Panic Attack

Bria has recently hit a new phase in the wonderful terrible two's. It's hard to explain the phase, it's weird. She gets really hyper and you think, "Oh, look she's being silly and fun, how lovely." Then you realize she's going a little too crazy and she will not listen to you in any way, shape, or form. And you freak out because she must have lost her hearing, there's no other explanation for why she is blatantly ignoring you. Then she starts talking baby talk, sticking her tongue out as she talks and her lower jaw, and then you realize you have morphed back in time. Only this baby talk is not cute, it rates up there with nails on a chalkboard and you want to plug your ears.

The baby talk-well I'm assuming that will eventually go away. And although it's super annoying and not cute, I can somewhat deal with it. What I can't deal with is her completely ignoring me/us, especially when we discipline. I feel like I've lost my authoritative role with her and I don't know when or how that happened. But my stern voice is barely affecting her and I'm at a loss. Time outs seem to work short-term, but she still seems to ignore punishment and I just want to scream sometimes.

Yesterday she smacked Aunt Heather right in the face and I nearly lost it. I don't think Bria did it to be mean, I think she was playing around in one of her uncontrollable silly moods and just went with it, but I was livid. Even after I disciplined her and she apologized, she went back to being crazy silly and although that should be a good thing, I don't feel like she's phased by my discipline anymore.

I spent the car ride home in utter panic, how can I deal with Bria and a baby? How am I going to control Bria's crazyness and deal with a newborn on little to no sleep? How in the world do people get through this?

Seriously, it was a rough night, just ask Brian. I'm doing better today but I'm still nervous and wondering how it's all going to happen. I know somehow I'll get through it, everyone does, but that doesn't help me freak out any less.

What added to my panic attack was Brian's overnight trips. He takes a few for work here and there and he has 2 hiking trips planned this summer, one is a 4 day hike. I'm just freaking out because I don't like when he's gone overnight, it's hard to do it alone and my heart goes out to single moms, this job is tough. Especially when they are young and need constant attention.

So yeah, I'm in a little funk of panic. Anxiety/panic attacks (what's the difference? I'm not sure if I'm using the right term or not) come and go in my pregnancies, sometimes they are over trivial things. Like the time I was pregnant with Bria and started freaking out that Brian's commute was too much driving for the Bug. Random, but true. Anyway, this attack is for realz and I'm not sure how to cope with it, I guess I don't have a choice :)

I don't want to be all doom and gloom so I will say we have fun times too. I felt all crafty when I mixed corn starch and water together to make Bria some putty.

She had a blast squishing it and the mess was minimal and easy to clean. A win-win really :)

Overall I am so excited to add to our little family, I can't wait for Bria to have a little sister and I look forward to all our family trips together. I'm just worried about the beginning of it all where we are getting to know each other and stuff. Praying it goes smoothly, and if not, praying for a really good pill prescribed from my doctor.

Shasta-The final

So let's complete our look at Shasta with more pictures. I actually wish I had taken more, but when you are busy relaxing and having fun you don't always remember to whip the camera out.

We got this little floaty last year for Bria but she enjoyed it even more this year. She called it her tent and I think she liked having a break from her life jacket.

Brian vs. the kids

He dunked them all once and then the second round put up a good fight but let them be victorious :)

Captain Lindsey, that's what they call me ;)

I really enjoyed driving the big party barge, it was relaxing and fun. Plus let's face it, I was the only one 100% sober ;) I even docked it up which is a little tricky.

Bria loved going through the first aid kit. Man am I glad we brought that, we had lots of little boo boo's that required bandaids. And let's just say Bria and Brian didn't need them. I'm so clumsy.

We had a Zombie themed night and some friends put black lipstick on Bria, she thought it was pretty cool.

I can't tell you how much I love this outfit and hat. LOVE.

"Oh hello, yeah it's hard being a diva."

One of our favorite parts was riding out to a cove on the barge. It topped out at 16.8 mph so it usually took 1/2 hour to get anywhere but we loved it. So peaceful and relaxing.

Again, I loved driving.

My co-captain was a huge help.

I got to lay on my belly! The blue floaty that my lower half is on had a hole for your feet, well I put my big belly in there and then layed on another floaty. It felt pretty darn good to lay on my stomach. Baby girl was moving all over when I did this...the one in my belly. Although Bria enjoyed climbing on me too :)

We love Shasta!

She looks like such a big girl in this picture. Sigh.

And of course, Bria got to have a few ice cream cones while we were there. Funny how it took her awhile to learn how to eat one, I thought that was a trait we were born with. She caught on fast though.

Nothing like ice cream after a day on the lake.

We had an absolute blast and it was such a wonderful week. Nobody got burned (in the Holcomb family, Lance and Kayla are a different story ;) which is a huge positive. My back did get a little toasty in the beginning but I corrected that. We all left with a nice tan and Bria and I have blonder hair now. I love the sun.

Things that shocked me:

• How well Bria did in the car, she was such a trooper!!
• How well we all slept, guess we tired ourselves out. I was not expecting to sleep in until 8 am or later
• How happy Bria was, she is a born camper

Things that I could've done without:

• The ear wigs, ick. They were everywhere
• Losing power. We had a little hiccup with the trailer's electricity that needs to be fixed, fortunately we were able to rig it to where all the outlets worked, just not the lights inside.
• The trailer rocking (not that kind, get your mind outta the gutter!). Seriously, anytime sometime moved a muscle the whole entire trailer would rock, this did not help the feeling that I was still on a boat.
• Having to go outside and walk to the bathrooms in the middle of the night. I did stop drinking at dinner time to avoid this but 2 or 3 of the nights I did have to get up.

Overall:

I give our Shasta 2011 trip two big thumbs up! An A+. A job well done!

Bria agrees :)

We headed home on Saturday morning, my birthday. The big 2-8. What a way to spend my birthday, in the car ;) That's okay, my Mom made me my favorite for breakfast: strawberry shortcake. On the way home we stopped at my Dad's and Anna made me a delicious dinner of shake 'n bake and mashed potatoes. Plus, dessert was strawberry shortcake! What's better than a helping of strawberry shortcake? TWO! Oh, and I had a brownie, yum. We continued on home and that night we got to sleep in our own beds and sleep we did.

We miss Shasta but it's always nice to be in the comfort of your own home :)

Shasta Part 2

So let's continue our lovely look at Shasta. The weather warmed up quickly and by Tuesday it was in the 100's. But fortunately the water was refreshing and we had lots of shade on the boat. I did overdo it a little on Tuesday and woke up in the middle of the night to some intense contractions. They lasted about an hour and then went away, I think I just got overheated and swam and walked too much that day.

Anyway, we were able to stay cool in our tent trailer with a fan and we kept a window/vent open. It was a perfect little set up. We also bought dark out fabric and it Macgyver-ed it around Bria's side of the trailer. People may think we are crazy, but we got to sleep in so we know we're not crazy.

Bria and Kayla chillin'

Stare down with Daddy

Lance and Kayla attempting to fit on one floaty together

Sitting around the fire

The evenings were fun because we'd go around to campsites and visit our friends (that we usually only see once a year in Shasta) then head back to our site, put Bria to bed, and build a fire. A few of the nights Bria was still up when we made the fire and she did get some s'mores so don't feel bad for her. Plus, she was eating licorice every single day, among crackers, and other healthy food.

Bria started doing this little game where she'd go in the cooler and get ice, then spit it out in her pink bucket. Hilarious.

"So, we just hang around the fire, huh?"

Bria and Sammy with the same look on their face.

Uncle Lance and Bria

2 of the mornings I got up and went for a walk and it felt great. I should've gone more but sleeping in was wonderful too. Plus I figured I did a lot of swimming with Bria so that was good exercise. Of course, I also indulged in licorice, s'mores, and ice cream so I probably should've done some daily doubles. At least I wasn't drinking beer, that saved me some calories! I enjoyed refreshing VitaRain, Izze, and good old H2o.

My Hawaiian sweetheart.

I'm not going to lie, I loved picking out her swim suit and cover up each morning :) Although most mornings we went without a cover up because it was so dang hot.

We couldn't wait to get Bria out on the tubes since she's such a huge fan of water. She seemed to be indifferent to it, but I think she was just surprised at what was going on. Once we hit bumps she was thrilled to pieces and got the biggest smile on her face.

I must be explaining the philosophy of tubing or something.

We kept it somewhat slow, but fast enough to get some good bumps.

Lance and Kayla had a much crazier ride than us.

Of course, Brian and Lance went all out. Brian fell off more times than I can count (he's going to love me for saying that) and each time Bria was sooo worried about her Daddy. I had to reassure her that he was having fun and splashing in the water. She didn't believe me until she could see and talk to him.

I have one more Shasta post and then we should be all caught up on our sweet vacation :)