Baby Briggs & More

Well, I must say, as excited as I am about the impending arrival of Baby Briggs in October, he sure did pick an outright FABULOUS time to come. These last two weeks have been the HOTTEST on record since 2003. Lucky, lucky me. Our energy companies are saying we have surpassed energy usage records (by a lot) and the power keeps going out due to too much air conditioners, etc… running. I’m a bit concerned about our electric bill for next month. Eek. So far I’ve been doing okay, though I did through a pity party for myself on Tuesday. I just felt miserable. Hot, icky, sticky, miserable. Even though our air and fans are running galore, the temp is still about 78 wherever you go. HA! Briggs you are a mover and a shaker. Seriously. I can NOT believe how much you move inside of me. I’m a bit afraid you’re like your sister too, you are picky about how I sit and what side I lay on. It’s now getting more and more difficult to maneuver myself in the middle of the night to get comfortable. You are kicking me so hard that I jump and that others can see it. Strong little devil you are. We’re excited to meet you and get LOTS of compliments on your name! Ella Bella, mommy had to go to Chicago this week overnight. I missed you so much you little booger. When I came home you kept taking me by the hand and this morning when we cuddled in bed before I had to come to work, you kept your hand on my face just to make sure I was there. You know ALL of your letters and you can count to 10 by yourself AND you can name all your shapes. You’re so smart and I have no idea how you picked up on all of those things. You LOVE to sing songs like “This little light of mine” and the “B-I-B-L-E” are your favorites. You know ALL of your body parts including your knees and your eyebrows and your favorite words right now are “See it?” “stuck” “hot” “ouchie” “Thank you Mommy” or “Thank you Daddy” or whoever is giving you what you want  HA! We love you both and I still can’t believe how much God loves me to give me gifts like you two.

Counting Queen

Ella Grace, Mommy & Daddy are SO proud of you!!! Last night, after a looooonnnngg night of our first swim lesson of the season and a 9pm basketball game for Olivia (in a gym that was 125 degrees, no lie), you counted to 10 all by yourself, unprompted. We are still in shock!! J Not that we didn't think you couldn't do it, but because we haven't even been working on it that hard. It was 10pm and you were trying to get me off of the couch to put you to bed (you're a weird kid, have I mentioned that). You had my hand and were trying to help me up and counted to 3 (which is when we usually move), but I didn't move at 3, so you kept on going….all the way to 10. WAHHOOOOO. We love you baby. PS. You did great at swim lessons too. The life guard made several comments about how you clearly aren't afraid of much! J

Sweetest Kid Ever

I know I'm biased. I should be, I'm her mom. But seriously, Ella is the sweetest 2 year old girl in the whole world. Sure, sometimes I loose my patience with her. Though, I will say that Ella you're lucky, because it does take me quite a bit to lose patience with you. I'm shocked at how much patience I have actually. Anyway, you seriously try to be the sweetest kid in the whole world. 2 examples. This weekend, we were in the kitchen and you were being VERY clingy. I couldn't get anything done (who does with a 2 year old?!) and you wanted "Up Mommy Up Up." I couldn't pick you up right then and there so you were pulling on my dress, a dress which didn't happen to have straps, so you pulled it down to the ground. There I stood in the kitchen with no clothes on. I yelled at you that it was a no no. You stood there, looked at me like I was shocked I was actually yelling and just stoically took it in. Then you said, "Mommy. Sorry." And ran into the living room, grabbed your blankey and laid on the floor. You were so sweet about it that it made me want to cry. Then last night when I was putting you to sleep, I was rocking you in my arms, and you put your hands on my face and I had this epiphany that one day you won't want me to hold you close, that you'll be pushing me away. So I had tears running down my face and I looked at you and said, "Ella, I love you so much, please don't ever grow up, okay?" And you responded…. "otay." Then I whispered, "I have to lay you down now in your crib, please don't cry, when you wake up you can cuddle with mommy and daddy, but don't cry, okay." And I laid you down, you rolled over and went to sleep. MELT MY HEART. In the middle of the night, you got up and I put you in our bed. You had a HUGE smile on your face, rolled over to daddy, put your hands on his face and kissed him right on the lips and said, night night. What a doll! A few hours later, (5am) we had bad storms and I had to get you out of your crib and bring you downstairs as the sirens were going off. You were still asleep when I carried you down. We laid on the couch together and you abruptly woke up, pointed as you gasped and said, "Mommy, Titan." He was in the living room and he's not supposed to be, and you were so worried about it. You crack me up. Tonight is swimming lessons. I'm as big as a whale, so we'll see how this goes…. Love you Ella Bella.

Big Girl, Big Weekend

Wowza, did we have a fun, full weekend!! On Friday night, we just kinda chilled. On Saturday, we had family day!! While Daddy went disc golfing in the morning, Mommy & Ella played, then while Ella took a nap, Mommy went to the grocery store, and then, when Ella woke up we all went to the Splash Pad in Palo. Ella, you had a fantastic time. The water was frrrreeezzzing and you thought it was hilarious to come up to mommy and daddy with glasses of cold water to splash on us (we didn't have our suits on). You were hilarious! Saturday night, we went to Grandma & Papa's house where we had dinner with Uncle Colton & Uncle Cary, Aunt Ginger & Tegan. You were a hot mess, up until almost 11 pm. That night we decided was the night to take away your beloved MeMe (aka pacifier). You cried and cried. I almost gave in so many times, it was a pathetic sight. I think it was harder for me than you, seriously. You said over and over, Me Me, Where Is It? Mommy, MeMe. You woke up 3 times in the middle of the night wanting it and in the morning as well. You searched EVERYWHERE for the dreaded MeMe. Then, at nap time, it was the same thing, you cried and cried, but when you woke up, you were in the BEST mood and you have been ever since. You did cry Sunday night at bedtime and at Monday's nap, but today, Miss Sara said you went right down without making a peep. Hopefully, we're on the up side. I'm so sad you're not my baby anymore, but so excited at how big you are! Sunday night we had a bonfire at our house and you loved it. You kept trying to be Keagan's mommy. You're going to be the best big sister. On Monday, after your nap, we headed downtown to "camp out." We had an awesome spot with a grill and a kiddy pool for you which you loved, belly flopped right in. You had bubbles and sidewalk chalk, you went crazy over it all. You barely made it until 9:40, but you did, and then you could have cared less about the fireworks. You kept saying, "Mommy, down. (from your stroller)." So you and I took a walk and then you adored then. Briggs, today, we had another ultrasound of your sweet face. It looks a lot like Ella and the nice lady said you had bones like Ella, long arms, legs and fingers! You are breach position, your bottom is to the side with your legs down which is why I feel you kick so low! We can't wait to meet you!! Love you both!

If at first you don't suceed, try try again....

Okay, here goes nothing. This is a 3rd (?) attempt at blogging. It is being fueled by a desperation to document our daily life and "journal" what things Ella and soon to be baby Briggs are doing. My wish is that I continue this so that one day we can reflect back on our family life.

Ella you are almost 2....hard to believe. Tears come to my eyes just typing that. I tell you all of the time, but you are SERIOUSLY the joy of our lives. Gosh you make us smile and laugh all day long. At the end of the night, we are exhausted and we lay in bed and just laugh at the things you have done. Right now, you are TAKING OFF with your words. You are repeating everything we say basically and talking on your own too. The other day we were at the park and a little boy asked you a question and you put your hands out and said, "I don't know." SO funny. You still eat pretty much everything like a champ, last night you ate 2 pieces of pizza. This week we gave you something new- strawberry milk and you went NUTS. You guzzled 2 glasses of it. You have always been observant, but you've started to notice things in the "outside" world too, like yesterday, we were at the pool and a little boy had Diego shorts on and you kept pointing and saying Diego Diego. Your diapers have Dora on them and that's all you talk about when you see a diaper! Right now you LOVE playing outside and at the pool (more on that in a minute), and you are obsessed with your baby dolls (feeding them, putting them in your stroller, giving them your "me me" (aka binkie), rocking them, etc...) and you are equally obsessed with letters and numbers. You count very good with us at the moment, though we've caught you doing it on your own too, we'll get to 5 and you'll say 6, 7, etc.. People comment all of the time on your letters. We went to TJ Maxx a couple of weeks ago and you looked up at the sign on our way in and said "A". You do this ALL of the time on EVERYTHING from cereal to tags. It's hilarious. You are loving the pool. We've been 3 days in a row and you scare me to death. You have NO fear (which is a blessing and a curse). You go down the kiddy slide by yourself without my hand, hold your breath underwater as you smile at me and try to walk into too deep of water. Last night as I put your PJ's on, I could see your little tan lines, so cute. Your hair is pretty much blonde. So funny that I have a blonde haired kid. You are SO social, you go up to anyone and play with them or say Hi. We went to the Balloon Glow on Tuesday night and you went up to a lady and started talking to her. Mindy McCright was talking to us and said, "do you know that lady?" I said, nope. You just love socializing. You LOVE it when we go places and you can run all around and explore. I guess the apple doesn't fall too fall from the tree, huh? At the same Balloon Glow, they had a huge stage with a band, you went straight to the front to boogie. You were on the ground rolling around and everywhere else. You are too funny! Some professional photographer started taking a bunch of pictures of you. You are also getting quite bossy. Last night you would NOT go to sleep (might have something to do with the fact that we gave you a Mr. Slushy right before bedtime). So Daddy laid you in our bed and went to sleep. I came in the room to go to bed and you patted my side of the bed and said, "Mommy, lay down. Mommy, sleep. Mommy, night night." You tell me how to rock your baby and you tell other little kids "No no" and try to usher them where you think they should go. You're going to be quite the big sister. One part of this age that I am anxious to pass is the sitting still part. We went to a patriotic concert last night with the whole fam and you didn't last 5 minutes in the church auditorium. You were everywhere. I had to take you out and play in the halls for 2 hours with you. It doesn't matter if we bring fruit snacks, videos, stickers, Mr. Potato Head (all of which you love), you just do not understand staying in one spot and being quiet! You are so smart too, its scary how you catch onto things. People comment all of the time that you are so inquisitive and determined to stay on something until you figure it out. I think you'll be an engineer of sorts :) . You are definitely left handed too, Boppa (Great-Grandpa) thinks that's great! :) And... Mr. Briggs, as for you, you are going to have quite the house to come home too. Ella is going to eat you up with love (and probably some jealousy too!). I'm very anxious as to how to do it with 2. Guess we'll learn soon enough, huh? Briggs, you are moving ALL OF THE TIME. Ella got to feel you kick the other night. You get mad when I'm sitting (like right now) and when I get hungry (so right now I'm getting kicked doubly as bad!). We love you like crazy already. Daddy is having fun "decorating" your room and tells me to leave the picking out of clothes to him. HA! Yeah right! We've been so adventurous this summer going to a Drive In Movie at a bank, the Balloon Glow, a kids imagination station, a parade, the pool, concerts in the park, all kinds of things and it's just now July! I'm a bit nervous for how to do all of this next year with 2. Hopefully Ella will listen a bit better and Briggs will be a laid back baby (famous last words, right?!). One thing is for sure. We are blessed beyond belief and SO excited for the days, months and years ahead to experience life at its fullest! Love you Ella and Briggs!!!