A Laugh to Cure the Common Cold

Well it may not cure the common cold but it sure makes us happy and I think laughing and being happy helps more to stay away from the doctor than an apple a day.  Now I know our dog is licking her in the face but I checked all the parenting guideline books and it only breaks 7 rules.  : )

4 Months

Four months old.  Wow.  Each month that goes by I am just amazed at how fast time flies.  Everyone always tells you "Enjoy this time, it goes by fast!"  I always smile and say "Oh I know, I can't believe she is this big already," but what I am really thinking is "Ummm I know please stop reminding me because I want time to stop!"  Being a parent is still awesome and I love having her as my precious daughter.  She is so much fun.  Doing all new things as a family is different than what we were used to but I sure enjoy it all.

Weight: 15.2 lbs, in the 90th percentile

Length: 25 1/4 inches, in the 90th percentile

Favorite Toy: Anything she can put in her mouth.  She got a little monkey for Christmas and Chris named her Chewy because the first thing she did was put it straight in her mouth and start gnawing on it. 

Favorite Food: Formula

Favorite Game: She loves when we pretend to nibble on her toes.  She loves when I dance with her.  We twirl around like crazy, bounce, make funny noises together, dip her.  She loves it all.  She is so fascinated by the dogs now and of course Maggie, our female dog, loves the attention.  She constantly tried to lick her and when she succeeds we get the cutest little laughs from Brielle.

Sleeping Habits: She was sleeping through the night and then her mouth started bothering her and she would wake up during the night.  We left her sound machine at Chris' mom's house also over Christmas so we tried other things at night to make noise or play music, nothing worked as well as the sound machine we had before.  When Chris' mom mailed us her machine she started sleeping better.

New Skills:She is giving us big laughs now, not just giggles.  Each day it is more and more.  She is holding toys a lot better and pulling everything to her mouth which has been kind of nice because she can chew on them instead of me holding everything in her mouth for her to chew on.  She can sit up here and there for about 15 to 20 minutes at a time.  She sat up almost the whole majority of her 4 month photo shoot.  When she is laying on her back at an angle she sits up straight from the laying down position.  You would think she would have a nice flat stomach as much as she does it.  ; )  She can just about roll over from her back to her stomach and rolls over from her tummy to her back a lot more now but has been doing that for quite awhile now.

Size of Clothes: 3 month to 6 month size.  Size 2 diapers but we have found a few more size 1 that we are finishing up.

  

Christmas in Paragould

Brielle's very first Christmas was fun, exciting, a little stressful, disappointing for two reason but awesome all at the same time.  The stress of Christmas was the driving part.  Have you ever drove almost eight hours with a small baby?  Wow, it is a chore in it's self.  Brielle isn't a huge fan of the car to begin with.  She like most babies who immediately fall asleep when they get into the car, she is more of the "I hate to be pinned down, hot or bored" type of baby.  She needs a lot of stimulation and a lot of attention therefore me sitting in back with her (which is usually Chris for short drives) entertaining her the duration of the long drive.  She did like watching videos from Netflix on my phone for a little bit but when all the colors and movement got boring it was on to the next idea, then the next and then the next.  I think you get the idea.  She was pretty good but I was exhausted at the end of the drive, each way.  Before we left Tulsa there was a lot of talk about how Tulsa might get snow on Christmas day.  Chris and I were pretty sad by this due to the fact we weren't going to be in Tulsa and really wanted to see it coming down.  We obviously got over it and left to go to good ole Paragould, Arkansas.  If you have never been to Paragould you might ought to know there is so much to do there there is nothing to do there. 
The night we came to town Chris' mom and sister were going to a Christmas party and wanted to take Brielle with them so we took advantage of the opportunity and went on a date since it isn't very often we get to do anything without a baby.  Went to a few places to have a few drinks and then to an awesome meal.  Needless to say I enjoyed myself a little too much and didn't feel too great the next day.  Before heading home Chris took me to my first first experience at Roy's to meet up with some friends.  Lets just say I ended up drinking water the whole time so I could be a good mother when I got home. 
The next day we got the house ready for TONS of people to come over because SANTA WAS COMING!  This by far was the biggest "Santa" party I have encountered while being with Chris thus far.  We had at least forty people if not more there and each and every person received a gift from Santa and HAD to sit on his lap.  It was a great time.  Kids running all around, tables and tables full of fabulous food, laughing, family, friends and of course SANTA.  Perfect first Santa party for miss Brielle even though she slept through part of it. 

 

(Santa really wears a girl out) 

Christmas Eve was a nice day to spend with Family.  Coffee, homemade scones by aunt Ashley which were my very first ever and I'm pretty sure I could eat them EVERYDAY, a walk, spending time with Brielle, watching Christmas movies, taking naps and of course Midnight Mass!  Brielle's first one!  OK, OK I must confess it wasn't technically midnight (they didn't even offer a midnight Mass) so we went at 6:00 instead.  

(She sure looked cute on Christmas Eve)

So back to the weather, all this hype that was in Tulsa was slowly making it's way to Paragould and Chris and I began to get a little nervous.  We were leaving the day after Christmas which was the day after this huge storm was projected to hit.  We started talking about how we might have to leave early so we did not get stuck at his mom's house.  Normally it would not matter and would happily like to get stuck there but my dad and grandma were driving up from Dallas to visit and see Brielle for the first time so I really wanted to get home in order to spend time with them as well.  Christmas day came around and as we listened to the weather and watched what our friends were posting on the oh so helpful facebook for times like these we decided we needed to leave on Christmas day.  When we awoke there was a blizzard warning for Paragould so we knew we needed to leave soon after Christmas presents were opened and Christmas dinner was consumed.  We were disappointed to leave early but scared about driving with an infant and getting stuck on the side of the road.

(Handmade stockings by Grandma Jenny)

(Brielle's stocking was trimmed with lace that I wrapped a "Mother's Poems" book in for Chris' mom for Mother's Day.  The lace was on a gift for me when we announced our pregnancy so it already has a nice little history.)

 (What a great Christmas morning outfit, Chris)

 (Somebody was in a very good mood)

 (excited about her bike trailer!)

 (Grandma Jenny and Brielle Christmas morning)

 (Aunt Debbie and Brielle)

 (Aunt Debbie, Seth and Brielle)

(Now a lonely Christmas Tree)

We packed the car with all our awesome gifts, extra water, extra food, extra coats (because we didn't bring any due to the weather said it would be in the 60s before we left Tulsa) and headed back home.  While we were driving Chris and I thought driving to Tulsa through Little Rock instead of going 412 would be best in case we did get stuck because we would be on the highway and easier to find if something bad happened.  As I talked to my dad he thought maybe going up through Missouri would be best which we never ever thought of.  We ended up going 412 the entire way and only saw snow for about 30 minutes and it didn't even stick on the road.

This is where the other disappointing part came to be because I would have loved for Brielle's first Christmas to be white.  Oh well.  So Paragould ended up getting slammed and had a beautiful day after Christmas.  Lucky them....

On the way home we got hungry and Brielle really needed to get out of her car seat so the only thing that was open was a Chinese restaurant.  Go figure.  Every year "The Christmas Story" is watched so eating at a Chinese place just added to our Christmas Day experience with Brielle.

Brielle got so many presents for Christmas, I think she is a very loved little girl!

 

 

(I feel like this dress was made for MY daughter!)

Grandma Jenny Comes to Town

A week and half before Christmas Grandma Jenny wanted to visit her sweet baby girl so she drove the long 7 hour drive to stay with us for a few days in Tulsa.  We did all sorts of things while she was here; ate Wawee burgers (burgers from the deer Chris' brother Eric killed), visited Santa so Brielle could meet him for the first time, made Christmas candy, Brielle got to stay with Grandma Jenny for a day instead of going to Mrs. Cathy's house, made foot and hand impressions and finished some Christmas shopping. 
First lets start with the oh so fun meeting Santa visit.  Thank goodness Santa was a good sport and hopefully had a stuffy nose.  Did the last sentence give you a clue as to where this story is going, if so then you are 1.) a parent 2.) have been around babies or 3.) have been around babies and situations like these are amazing birth control!  We decided to go out to eat to Charlie Mitchel's which Chris is not a fan of but is a great husband because he knows how much I LOVE the BLTA there (BLT with AVOCADO).  Anyway, Chris was holding Brielle for awhile and then he passes her off to me.  I immediately "smell" something so I gathered all my changing diaper tools with me, you know the usual things rubber gloves, head to toe plastic coat, helmet with face shield, water hose, hand cuffs, pine tree scent air freshener (you never know what could happen), the mother-in-law and of course the baby.  Typically the mother-in-law in not included but thank the Lord she was for this particular visit.  We get into the bathroom and find the changing table.  Giving that this night Brielle was going to meet Santa and have her picture taken we did not pack another "Christmas outfit" and she had completely pooped straight through her onsie.  Thank goodness it did not get on the pants or the dress that was covering the onsie because there was a huge stain on the back when we were all finished.  We used about fifty bajillion, (bajillion is a number right?) wipes to clean the mess and tried as much as we could to clean her onsie but the poor kid stunk for the remainder of the night.  I used a citrus scented lotion on her to try and cover no make that mask the smell a tiny bit but it didn't work so well so I had to go to Bath and Body Works and spray her with something to help it since we were at the mall.  We still caught a small whiff here and there so we explained to poor Santa that Brielle had had a tiny explosion and we were very sorry.  The first picture they got was a little frown because she had just woken up.  I had noticed her dress was messed up a little so I quickly asked if I could fix it and when I did and sat down in front of the camera Brielle spotted me and gave the most adorable smile I could have asked for.  It was the perfect first Santa picture and a great story to go with it. 

The next night was a little less exciting but still a great night.  We tried a few times to get hand prints and footprints so the trial and error was quite interesting.  It was pretty simple to make though.  Salt, flour and water.  Mix, kneed, roll into a ball, flatten, make the impression and bake for three hours at 200 degrees. 

 (This is us torturing my child just so we can have a hand print to gaze upon later in life to remember how tiny she once was.  To me it sounds like it is totally worth it)

 

A Christmas Photo Shoot

We got to use a really cute Santa outfit while Chris' mom came to visit us so we decided to do a Christmas photo shoot with Brielle.  It turned out so cute.