Much Better

Fortunately Bria is feeling better which means we all feel better. I am so glad she can breath through her nose again and she isn't coughing all day.

Today we did some yard work outside and it felt really good to get some vitamin D. Bria hung out in her pack 'n play right inside the screen door and did really well, meaning we were able to get lots done.
I was also able to get some inside cleaning done while Bria and Daddy hung out. Then Brian put her down for her nap and did some homework. I seriously cannot wait for him to be done with school, just 9 more months!

Bria is going to try rice cereal this weekend and I can't wait. She is very interested in our food lately and likes to grab onto our cups, it makes me realize how big she is getting. I'm not sure where we are going to put her when we feed her. We don't have a high chair yet and the Bumbo is not working for Bria yet. She slumps all the way forward in it and will not sit back, no matter how much I try and help/push her. I'm thinking I'll put her in the bouncy, that should work right?

Okay I better go but here are some pictures:

Me with Bria and my nieces on Saturday, Bria was feeling her worst this day so the Moby worked wonders:

Bria sucking her thumb:

Poor thing was so sick:

Now she's all better, yay!

Sitting up in her car seat like a big girl:

"What's that in your hand mom?"

"Wow, can I touch it?"

"Haha, yeah just kidding."

Sick Baby

So we found out why Bria was sleeping so much and being so fussy last week, poor thing has a cold. It is awful listening to her stuffy nose and horrible cough, I just hate it. I think Saturday was when it was at it's worst, just looking into her eyes you could tell she was sick. The booger sucker thing has been right by my side every day so I can suck all that snot out. Surprisingly she doesn't hate it most the time, unless it's in the middle of the night. I've ended up bringing her in our bed the last 2 nights, hopefully that hasn't created a bad habit. She is just so stuffy at night and it's hard for her to sleep so I like being right next to her. I just pray this cold doesn't give her an ear infection, how would I know if she developed an ear infection? Needless to say the past week has been challenging and we're all pretty tired.

My happy girl waking up from a nap (this is before she started getting sick):

Also before she got sick:

I love this little dress on her, so sweet:

Before Bria got sick I caught video of her rolling over, she is so proud of herself :)

Reading and stuff

Not a lot to blog about since we are keeping it low key this week. Bria is such an angel during the day, she just goes with the flow and is so serene. Yesterday she took awesome naps, and every time I put her down in her crib she snuggled up without so much as a whine.
Then the night came, dun dun DUN! I bathed her, fed her, and read her some books. I laid her in her crib and WAH! I walked out and let her cry for a little bit, but she was getting really mad so I went in to try and calm her down. She was screaming crying which is not her normal cry. What is it with the night and this girl? It took me awhile to calm her down, and the whole time she was incredibly tense and shaking.
It's just so weird, why doesn't she like going down at night? She only fought me for an hour and then gave in so that's good. Unfortunately Brian worked really late last night so I was on my own. It's amazing how a screaming baby can wear on your nerves.
But she's so darn cute and her crying face is so sad it breaks my heart at the same time. So apparently her screaming fits are not entirely related to her routine during the day. Motherhood is such a guessing game!
By the way, I reread my last post and I feel like I should make a little edit. At the end I said strict schedule and that is really not the case. First, we don't have a time schedule where I make Bria take her naps at the exact same time everyday. On the contrary, I let Bria tell me when she is getting tired (rubs her eyes, yawns, etc). She is usually up for an hour and a half to two hours before she starts getting sleepy. The key is to put her down for a nap before she gets over tired. Anyway, it just sounded wrong when I read it so I wanted to clarify that it's more of a routine than a schedule for us, and babies crave routine.

Not a lot of plans for this weekend, Brian is going to have some guy time and play poker. Girls night for Bria and me! :)

"Sup mom."

"Yeah, I'm just chilaxin'"

Bria thought MJ was pretty funny last night. She kept smiling at her and it was the sweetest thing.

Why are all the cute smiley pictures blurry?

After I read Bria some books she wanted to read them to me:

"I'll read that one next Mom"

Bria and I went to Target and Old Navy today. I had a gift card for Old Navy and it was fun picking up a few shorts and of course a little something for Bria. She is such a good little shopper. I wore her out and she fell asleep on the walk back to the car.

Look what I can do!

What a big girl!!!

Bria did another fun milestone, she sat up in the boppy! I was thrilled beyond words and she was all smiles when she realized what a big girl she was.
We start rice cereal in just 2 weeks, I'm excited for her to try some food. She has been showing interest in food when we eat so it'll be fun to see what she thinks of eating.

Bria also watched a little bit of Michael Jackson's funeral. I am a big fan of Michael even though people think he is strange. I can't tell you how sad I was when I saw on TV that he had died. It was my birthday. Yeah, that's right, he died on my birthday (as did Farrah Fawcett, what a birthday it was). The funeral was quite emotional.



Apparently all my stressing and routines are a good thing. Let me explain. Yesterday I was ultra care free and didn't think about Bria's schedule, she took quite a few mini naps, only one of which was in her crib. One of her naps was on the couch (with me right there) and another was in her car seat (ran to the bank), and another was in my arms and Brian's arms. Well, bedtime came and she had just taken a nice bath. I was putting her pajamas on and she was all smiley and happy. I laid her down in her crib and left. 10 minutes later she is starting to whine and fuss, no big deal, sometimes babies need to let off some steam. I let her do it for a little bit and then went in to try and calm her down, little did I know it was the beginning of a 2 1/2 hour battle where Brian and I will take turns holding a screaming baby who REFUSES to go to sleep. I have no idea what happened and why she was so unhappy. But I do know that anytime we brought her in our bedroom that had a lamp and tv on, she would calm down. Brian was convinced she was afraid of the dark. I just thought she wasn't ready to go to bed. After googling it (yes, we googled, we were at our wits end) it seemed as though maybe she wasn't feeling good (even though we gave her Mylacon drops and Tylenol) and the TV was a distraction that helped calm her down.
So what finally put her to bed? A little kids DVD where they sing songs. Brian and I were so confused as to why she was so upset. At one point nothing was making her happy and I seriously did not know what to do. Brian and I made a pretty good team, although we got snippy a few times. He kept asking me if I thought this was wrong, or that was wrong and I finally said "I don't know, stop asking me!" Then I lightened the mood and threw in a Friends quote, "We can't turn against each other, that's just what she wants!" So at 11 pm we crawled in to bed, tired, confused, and ready for a good nights' rest.
So I think I will be going back to stressing and a strict schedule (*edit-routine), obviously it works.

A little video of Bria doing sit ups ;)

4th of July

It was Bria's first 4th of July and we packed our weekend full. Saturday afternoon we headed to the Red, White and Blues Festival downtown. It was fun but it is more fun when you go a little bit later, plus the heat was in full force. But luckily they have some nice fountains for kids to run around in so I took Bria over there and put her feet in them to cool her off. We kept her in her stroller nice and shaded the rest of the time.

Looking at all the kids playing in the fountains:

Sticking her feet in:

Then it was time to head over to the Jensen's for a BBQ. We had a great time and played tons of games including jump roping, we learned Schuyler (my brother in law) rocks at double dutch (is that what it's called?). Once it got dark we let off some pretty awesome fireworks and the kids had a blast. Bria was in the house sleeping away in her pack 'n play, she is my heavy little sleeper!

Isn't her 4th of July outfit cute?

From left: Jaime, Schuyler and my Dad enjoying a delicious BBQ meal (MJ is heading towards my Dad since he feeds her):

All the girls enjoying their 4th of July (from left: Cassidy, Abby, Jaidyn, and Kailey):

Big Daddy B sporting the cutest accessory ever:

Once we got home we put Bria in her crib, she barely woke up on the drive home and went down so nicely. But, it was hot in our house, very hot and we found out Bria does not like the heat. Poor thing was up every half hour to an hour from 12:45 am and on. It was rough. Finally at 4:30 am I brought her in our room since it was a little cooler, not sure why I didn't do that sooner. She woke up around 7:30 am, I fed her, and then about 8:30 she went back to sleep and we all slept in our room until almost 11:30 am! It was a wonderful and much needed nap.

Once we woke up we hurried to get ready and head to Brian's Dad's house for a BBQ. Bria slept on the way there which I thought was kind of weird since she had just taken a 3 hour nap, but I figured the car ride put her to sleep. She started getting a little fussy shortly after we arrived and just wanted to be held and cuddled. Aunt Heather was happy to oblige.


For the remainder of our time there Bria slept in our arms. I started to get really worried because this wasn't like her, where was my smiley Bria? Heather was so sweet and ran to the store to get a thermometer so we could take her temperature and even picked up some Infant Tylenol since we didn't bring ours. Her temperature was only 99.6 which seemed pretty normal considering it was warm outside. I tried not to worry but I just didn't understand why she was so tired.

On the way home she would fuss, sleep, fuss, and sleep. Then it got really bad and she started screaming and crying to the point where I don't ever remember her crying this hard. Her pretty blue eyes were covered in crocodile sized tears and her face was all red. It was freaking me out. Once we got home I fed her and then she fell asleep on me. She slept and slept and slept. She woke up for a few minutes to fuss and then I fed her again. After I fed her she seemed like she was starting to do a little better, I just had to cuddle and hold her-good thing that is my favorite past time. Around 8 pm I gave her a bath which she seemed to enjoy a little bit. After that she layed on a blanket and talked to us a little which was a great sign because she hadn't done that all day. She started to get tired so I gave her a little Tylenol and put her to bed. Fortunately Mother Nature gave us a nice cool breeze so her room was a lot cooler. She slept beautifully, all the way until 7:30 am. We all slept better and I think it is due to the cooler weather, which we are suppose to have all week, thank goodness.
So I'm not sure if Bria just got worn out from our busy weekend or what, but I was really scared on Sunday because she was just not her normal self.

She seems to be doing fine now and I can't tell you how grateful I am. I just prayed and prayed on Sunday, I hated seeing my little girl in pain, it was the worst feeling ever. If there is one good thing that came out of it, the silver lining if you will, it's that I realized how I need to chill out when it comes to Bria's schedule. Jaime kindly brought to my attention how all my posts have to do with Bria's sleep schedule. And I had to laugh because that is what's on my mind 24/7, it's all consuming. It is to the point where I constantly look at the clock and calculate when she'll take her next nap, when she'll eat next, and most importantly, when she will be ready for bed. It's ironic that I stress so much about her sleep schedule because she is an awesome sleeper. I have gotten so focused on the fact that her bedtime is 8:30 pm that I let it rule my life. Who cares if she goes to bed at 9 pm or heaven forbid 9:30 pm? So I'm going to try and take a chill pill and just enjoy our day and not worry so much about the exact time she goes to bed and the exact time she wakes up. Can't promise that I'll NEVER think about, but I'll try to sit back and relax a little more.
I'll let you know how it goes :)

Baby Pool

Bria went in our little kiddie pool on Friday for the first time. As I mentioned, it has been deathly hot here so we needed to cool off. I blew up the little kiddie pool we got last year (I think I almost passed out-we need a bike pump to inflate that thing), stripped off Bria's clothes and hopped in. I only filled it like an inch but it was enough to cool us off...until Bria peed on me. But I was expecting it, after all she was naked and diaperless. We had a fun time and it definitely helped cool us off.
We sent Daddy a picture of Bria's first pool experience :)

In the process of blowing it up:

Bria watching MJ and waiting patiently for Mom to blow up the kiddie pool:

"Um, it's ok Mom, kind of cold."

She liked it better on Mommy's lap:

Her little feet taking a dip:

So it was nice to cool off for awhile but the heat kept coming and our house got hotter and hotter. I took Bria to my Mom and Randy's so we could enjoy some AC, it was wonderful. Once Brian got home we headed to Costco for a portable AC, but Costco only had one choice in the store and it was an expensive choice. We checked out Home Depot but didn't like their selection so we are going to order one from Costco online. In 7-10 business days we should be a lot cooler in this house. Anyway, after we got home from Costco our house was hotter than I'll get out, so we packed up and stayed the night at my Dad's. It was wonderful and we are very grateful to them for sharing their AC with us.

Sleep routine & random thoughts

I must say how thankful I am that Bria goes down relatively well. Now, that is not to say we don't have difficult times where she is over tired and refuses to go down. In fact, just the other night I let her get over tired (on accident of course) and she did not want to go to sleep. I rocked her, put her down and she immediately rolled onto her back and fussed. I would calm her down, sing to her, rock her, let her fuss, nothing was working. Finally I decided to put her down, rub her back, tell her I loved her, and then walked outside to get a breather. She was crying pretty hard but I needed a break. I came back in about 5 to 10 minutes later and I heard silence. I went in to check on her and sure enough she had put herself to sleep. Usually she goes down much easier and either wines a little or goes right to sleep. So it was hard for me that the last noise I heard was her crying.
Our sleep routine usually starts by me singing Hush Little Baby once or twice and then putting her down in her crib. She will snuggle up, find her thumb, switch positions a few times, and then is off to dreamland. Occasionally she will fuss and whine and then go to dreamland. This isn't something she was born with, we have worked hard to get to this point and I know it will be a continual work in progress. Nonetheless I am thankful, so very thankful. My back is thankful too, 14 pounds gets heavy after awhile. Have I mentioned I'm thankful? Because I am.

Bria has decided however that she wants to get up nice and early. Wednesday and Thursday she got up at 6:30 am and today it was 5:45 am. Fortunately, she went back to sleep this morning after I fed her. I must say even when she wakes up early it's so fun to go in there and see her big smile, she is always so happy in the morning. Waking up from her naps though, she is like her mom, very cranky.

Well, Oregon is heating up, we're in the 90's. That is so not cool when you don't have AC (ba dum ba). Yesterday was quite miserable, until we stripped Bria down and then she was happy as can be. Last night was not fun though, it never cooled down so even though we had our window open and fan right in front of it, nothing. It was 77 degrees in our house when I woke up, and that is downstairs! So, we are going to Costco tonight and getting a portable AC unit. We have a window unit that my cousin so graciously gave us and I think we'll try that in our room and put the portable one in Bria's. I really hope this works out because it is so horribly hot in our house. If it was just us I think we could deal with, we have for the past 2 summers. But I hate making Bria suffer through this, it's just not fair to her.

I thought this was a cute little outfit, her shirt has fishies on it. I had to make sure and put a headband on though so people know she's a girl. I still get annoyed when people ask me if she is a boy or girl.

This is one of my favorite pics, she is just so scrumptious.

And her latest trick, she found her feet! She absolutely loves them, especially the right one because that is the one that ends up in her mouth. Who needs toes when you have your feet?

Incredibly Random Thoughts by Lindsey
I decided I like the lighting in our bedroom as well as our big mirror. I look pretty tan in it. I always take a look in the mirror and think, "Perfect, I have a little tan, I can wear white." Then I step out of the bedroom, stand next to Brian, and turn around to go change into black. Darn Brian for being so naturally tan, I hope Bria gets his skin.

I sleep better when the house is all clean, especially our bedroom. I don't know what it is, but it makes me feel complete and relieves some anxiety. I realized this the other day when I found myself picking up Bria's room and thinking to myself, I bet she'll sleep better now that her room is clean.

I love the feeling of taking of my running shoes and socks when I get back from a vigorous walk with Bria. My feet are all warm and I feel productive.

Video
Bria playing with her feet, she found her feet on my birthday, June 25th! I was so excited, for some reason I've been looking forward to this milestone, along with her sitting up.
Anyway, it's funny because in the video you can hear Brian in the background wondering where we are, instead of answering him I just let him follow the screams of Bria :)