Merry Christmas!

Yummy

Brianna ate green breans for the first time today!  She seemed to like it much better than rice cereal.  And today she licked on her toes for the first time... I've been dreading that lol!  Her grandma had her sitting in her lap in just the right position lol... I know her feet are clean but still! 
I think she is teething because she has been drooling and chewing on her fingers a lot.  I hope she handles it well. 

I have been really busy at work... this is our busy season after all.  Looking forward to making some changes soon.  Praying it works out. 

4-Month Check-Up

13 lbs., 14 oz.   25 inches long

I made it to her doctor's appointment just in time for them to give her shots... ugh it broke my heart.  But I thought she handled it pretty well.  Stephen said the doctor thought Brianna was incredibly healthy... so healthy that she wanted her to start rice cereal.  She said give it two weeks, and then start baby food.  I can't believe she has reached that point already!  My how she is growing.  I was thrilled to know our baby girl is so good though.  I just love that little girl so much.  She makes everything better. :)

4 Months Old!

Daycare

Brianna started daycare today.  It broke my heart.  I didn't cry when Stephen and I dropped her off, but once I got into the car and headed to work and she wasn't with me, I thought I wouldn't be able to stop crying.  I didn't think I could get back to the daycare fast enough.  And after I got home, I cried again for another hour or so.  I just can't hardly stand it.  Being at work helped distract me, but it was such a difficult day.  Thankfully, everyone I work with was really encouraging.  So far it seems like people are willing to be flexible and accommodating.  My job can be pretty demanding, and I am returning just in time for busy season.  I am going to do my best to be home by 5:30 p.m. everyday, even if I have to work from home at night.  Busy season will pass quickly I hope.  I hope I can survive it all.  We are short-staffed so it's going to be super busy the next few weeks.  I am starting a new role, getting new clients, and adjusting to a new partner for our group.  Seriously, it's like I have started a brand new job.  But I am looking forward to the new opportunities.  I just need to find that work-life balance.  It is essential in order for me to have a happy family and stable career.  Wish me luck.

Soon to be... a working mom

So I return to work August 9th.  Yep, in just a few hours I will grace Deloitte with my presence once again.  Am I nervous?  A little.  Anxious is really a better word.  I never thought I would be a mom, much less a   working mom.  I never wanted to put my child in daycare, but this is how it is for now.  Brianna is the most precious person in my life.  How can I trust another person to care for her?  This is going to worry me to death... and all I want is for her to be happy.  I want to be able to give her all of the love and attention she needs.  No one loves their children more than their parents.  It's just not possible.  I'm trying to remind myself of all the positive things I am doing for her by working.  I am providing her a good life and hopefully a great future.  But I still can't convince myself that it will make up for not being able to be with her when she is so young.  Maybe in time some things will change... but tomorrow will be hard.  Very hard.  I hope we can both get through this...

16 Weeks Old!

8/5/2010

You are 16 weeks old today!

Today was a big day for you. Mommy took you to Kids R Kids for two hours and you played and napped in the nursery. You seemed to like all of the teachers very much, and you had a lot of fun. Of course, mommy missed you sooooo much!

You are now wearing size 2 diapers! My, you are growing!  And you are close to sitting up by yourself!

You have become so talkative! You squeal, coo and shriek! It's fun guessing what you might be saying. One day your grandmother and I were discussing taxes, and you politely asked us to change the topic. ;)

You hold your rattles really well.  You play in your gym and watch all of the toys swing above you.  You laughed at Daddy one day when he was playing with you.  It was so cute! 
You went to the mall with mommy - just you and me!  I look forward to many more shopping trips together!

This week you went on a girls' lunch with me and Grandma. We had a blast at Casa Mariachi! You enjoyed hanging out with just the ladies.  Tonight you tried a little sweet tea.  I hope you like it... it is a must in order to be a southern belle!  :)

You let your daddy rock you to sleep tonight. That has been mommy's job for many nights now, but tonight you fell asleep in your daddy's arms.  It made him very happy. 

Still Catching Up!

Well, I am still playing catch up!  And guess what?  No luck fixing my camera... not sure why I can't transfer photos from my camera to the computer.  It is so very frustrating.  I am still trying to find a solution.  It is a Canon and I've only had it a little over two years.  Surely it can be fixed! 

A/w, I will post later about our trip to Maryland.  It was great!

I went to Babies R Us tonight and bought Bri a few things... she got a Baby Einstein DVD and a pink BUMBO!  Hopefully she will enjoy it all.  I also bought a mirror to put in the backseat so I can see Brianna while she is in her car seat.  This has always been a concern for me so I hope this will help.

I'm off to bed... heading to the daycare tomorrow to get Brianna registered.  Wish me luck!

15 Weeks Old!

7/29/2010

You are 15 weeks old!  Tonight, Daddy and I bought you a pink BUMBO.  You LOVE it!!!  You are starting to hold your neck up really well.  You have been trying to sit up, and you are not quite strong enough to do it on your own.  Now you can sit up in your seat and look at everything, which you love to do! 

You are drooling more and more each day... I have started putting bibs on you! 

You really love your rattles.  If you are upset, sometimes playing with them will calm you down and make you happy again. 

You spent part of this week in Maryland visiting some of your family.  You met a lot of people and had a lot of fun!  Then you came home to Daddy. :)  He was so very happy to have you back!

You are still wearing your 3-month clothes, but you are starting to wear 3-6 months.  You are a growing girl!

14 Weeks Old!

4th of July

Late post but better late than never, right?

We drove to MS for the 4th of July to visit my family and Stephen's family.  It was Brianna's first road trip, and I was really anxious about how she would handle such a long car ride.  She doesn't seem to like her car seat very much.  Well, we left fairly early on Friday morning and it took only 8.5 hours to get there, with only two stops.  Not too bad considering it is usually 7 hours for just us!  I was super proud of her for handling it so well. 

However, once we got to Byram, things began to unravel... she was very tired from the trip and was introduced to lots of new people.... her aunt Stephanie, Nanny, Uncle Mike, her cousins... it was overwhelming for her.  We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and she was not happy!  I ultimately held her all night to calm her down and put her to bed as soon as we got home.  Poor thing was just exhausted!  I learned my lesson after that night: Brianna comes FIRST.  I know her better than anyone, and it is my job to keep her happy.  So the rest of the weekend I used that philosophy and things went a lot smoother.  When we were invited to Fight Night at Stephen's sister's house, I stayed home with Brianna so we could stick to her routine.  It was totally worth it.  She was a happy baby for me and we got a great night's rest!  And Stephen enjoyed some guy time with his fam. 

It was exciting for Brianna to celebrate her first 4th of July!  Stephen and I both really enjoy this holiday since we are quite patriotic.  We spent the day visiting with his grandmother and my family.  Philip and Papa were so happy to see her! She was much more alert than the last time they saw her. She was in such a great mood and was all smiles. Unfortunately, Becky and Andy were out of town but I know they were enjoying some time together on the coast. And Stephen and I got to have a few Krystal's, our favorite!  Later we went to visit Stephen's good friend, Misty.  We love Misty and her family!  She has two beautiful daughters (her oldest was my junior bridesmaid) and a handsome stepson.  It was great to see her and her new home, which was so lovely!  Both of her parents were recently diagnosed with colon cancer... yep, both of them at the same time are going through treatments and Misty is caring for them.  She is so strong and I am praying for her family.  I was glad we could hang out for a bit.  Her situation just doesn't seem fair, but I know God is watching over them.

Later that evening, we went to Stephen's parents' house for a little BBQ and fireworks.  My sister drove from Oxford to see us for a few hours... it was really sweet.  Stephen's friend, Grant, also joined us for fun.  We had a really good time with everyone.  Brianna had a blast visiting, and even though she missed out on fireworks this year, it won't be long before she is enjoying them just as much as we do.

We left the next day... later than we wanted to.  And it didn't help us at all.  I lost count of how many stops we made... Bri was just not happy and did not want stay in her car seat.  And you would be surprised how many places don't have changing tables in their restrooms... I changed several diapers in the car in a hot parking lot LOL!  It took us about 11.5 hours to get home... it was pretty dreadful!  Next time, no matter what, we have to leave earlier!  Her mood just deteriorates as the day goes so the earlier the better! 

Overall, it was great fun to go home and introduce Brianna to everyone... now I know we can make it through a road trip! 

M.I.A.

Sorry to be so behind, folks!  I have been super busy.  We went to MS for the 4th of July so it got a little crazy for awhile!  I will be updating soon about that weekend and Brianna's progress.


Other News:


I found my camera cord but for some reason my pictures will not load onto the computer!  Really?!  Ugh!


Megan dropped by my house tonight!  It was great to see her.  I really needed that!


Tomorrow I meet with one of my managers for lunch.  This meeting will affect my future at Deloitte.  I really hope it goes well...


I leave next Thursday for Maryland to see my dad, brother, and other family.  I will be traveling with Brianna by myself, and I am super worried!  But I CAN'T WAIT for Bri to meet her grandfather and uncle!  I also have tons of cousins, aunts, and uncles there that I have not seen in a long time.  It will be a great visit I'm sure. 


I have to get some rest now.  I hope to be back and blogging soon!

3 Months/13 weeks Old!

12 Weeks Old!

11 Weeks Old!

Fun at IKEA!

The past weekend was super fab!  My hubby took me to Smash Burger so I could try a burger with a fried egg on top.  He swore it was awesome.  Well, I liked the fried egg on the hamburger, but it would be better on someone else's burger!  Ha!  But they did have great fried pickles.  I am currently loving Five Guys... yum. 

I finally found a swimsuit in Brianna's size at Macy's.  It was the only one so I'm glad it was cute!  It is perfect for the 4th of July!

I have had this idea forever that I want to hang my pots and pans in my kitchen.  We have a perfect spot over the countertop for it.  So we went to IKEA to grab a ceiling rack.  We took little Bri and she was a perfect angel.  We picked out two cute wall lamps for Bri's room also.  Come on, you can't go into IKEA and just get one thing...

We have basically been working on one room at a time in our house.  Our living room is pretty much complete.  We want to redo the floors, but that will be at a much later date.  The kitchen will be finished once we add knobs to all of the cabinets.  I just cannot stand not having knobs on the cabinet doors!  Once I finish the kitchen, we will probably work on getting the floors redone in the nursery and game room.  We received a queen bedroom set this weekend also... it's slightly used but looks brand new!  So now all of my bedroooms are completely furnished.  I hope we don't decide to move anytime soon because it will be a pain to deal with all this furniture! 

Yesterday we worked in the yard... I haven't been able to do that for awhile so it was nice, even if I am sore today!  Gonna try to get some mulch today to finish the flower beds... although there are no flowers right now... everything I planted last year died when there was a freeze a few months ago.  Ugh, so now I have to start all over.  But that's okay, it just gives me a chance to do something awesome with it, lol. 

Well off to feed Brianna and do some laundry!

Grrrr

Well I am super sad!  I can't find my camera cord to upload photos to my computer!  Grrrrrr!  Not like I really have time do it, but if I ever have a spare 5 minutes I could but not without my connector!  Blah.  Well, no pic updates to my Facebook albums or blogs until I find this thing... :(

So Much Love...

This weekend has been so nice... and I will describe it later... but right now I am cherishing the moments I had with Stephen and Brianna tonight.  I was always amazed that I could fall in love with someone, and REALLY love them and want to spend every moment with that person and never grow tired of being with them.  That's what I have with Stephen.  And now I am feeling that same strong feeling for Brianna... I never thought I could love one person like that, and now I find that I have TWO people in my life that I love so much I can't hardly stand it. 

 Last night and tonight, I rocked Bri to sleep and just sat there in disbelief and awe and watched her sleep in my arms.  It was lovely.  I love moments like that one, and I know that I will never grow tired of them.     

10 Weeks Old!

6/24/2010

This week you celebrated your first Father's Day with your daddy!  We had a great time together as a family. 

You have been all smiles this week!  In the mornings, you  are such a happy baby.  You have been staying up a lot throughout the day and taking very short naps.  You sleep about 5-7 hours at night before waking up to eat.  Mommy has been thankful for the extra sleep, dear!  ; )

The World Cup has been going on and you have been watching the ganes with Mo mmy and Daddy!  You love to lay on your Kick 'n Crawl Gym and watch TV!  I think you enjoy watching the movement on the big screen and hearing all the sounds. 

You hand-eye coordination has been getting better and better.  You grabbed your Soothie pacifier from lap lap and pulled it to your mouth.  It was too cute. 

***Pics to come soon ***

Weekend Fun

So yesterday we celebrated our first Father's Day with Stephen!  Which of course meant I had to do some shopping for great gifts!  What I thought would be a quick trip to the mall turned into a 6-hour shopping spree on Saturday and lunch at Panera Bread with Stephen!  I finally decided (well, Brianna told me) to get Stephen a Craftsman tool storage chest, The Hurt Locker on Blue-Ray, and a digital photo frame so he can always see his daughter while at work.  He really loved everything!  It was great!  I stopped by Kohl's as well... they had a great sale on baby clothes so I couldn't resist getting Brianna a few new items.  It's so hard to not buy her everything!  I have to remind myself that I have to save something for her college fund! 

I also intended to make him breakfast that morning, but we had a really long night with Bri, so we settled for Wild Grape Pop-Tarts at noon lol... aren't we fancy?  I did make him breakfast Saturday morning though... that counts right?  A/w, after our yummy breakfast, we rushed to the movies and saw 'Prince of Persia'.  Even if you aren't a fan of the video game or this type of movie, you would enjoy it!  It had a little bit of everything.... love, action, drama, great graphics, comedy and good actors (Jake Gyllenhaal!)  It has been a long time since Stephen and I saw a movie together so it was a nice outing.  Oh, and I wore my pre-pregnancy jeans for the first time!  That was a great feeling!!!!!!!!! 

For dinner, Stephen grilled drunk chicken and hot dogs!  Yummy!  I made a no-frills dessert.. yellow cake with homemade chocolate frosting.  It may not have been decorated but it was delicious!  Hey, with a 9-week old baby I was lucky to get it done! ;)  Overall, it was a great day!

Saturday we tried Papa King Pizza... delish!  They had awesome artichoke and spinach rolls... can't wait to try more of their pizzas! 

Brianna in her car seat on the way to do some shopping... she did great even though she doesn't look too happy!

What a wonderful weekend!  So thankful for my family!

Father's Day

Happy First Father's Day, Stephen!!!

  

9 Weeks Old

6/17/2010

Brianna, you are 9 weeks old today!  You have had an exciting week.  Yesterday was your 2-month check-up at the doctor.  You had your first set of vaccinations.  You did soooo good!  You cried for a minute, but then you were my happy baby again!

I also took you to your daddy's work to meet everyone.  He was so happy to see you and show you off!

This week you have started to use your hands more.  While you still love to hold on to my hair, you now cling to clothing or washclothes.  You like to hold them while you are eating.

You love to play in the afternoons!

You also really enjoyed being rocked to sleep.  It is your preferred method at bedtime! 

You are making cute little sounds and noises.  We love it when you talk to us!  We discovered you are ticklish on your belly!  It's so cute!  You are smiling a whole lot more these days.  It's adorable. :)  You love to smile for your daddy in the morning before he heads off to work. 

Health Update

Well, I am have been extremely busy to say the least!  Brianna has definitely been taking all of my time lately, but I am not complaintng!  It just means I don't often have time to blog lol!  A/w, just to update  everyone on the latest word from both of our doctors...

My blood results came back looking good - zero concerns.  That's what I wanted to hear!  However, they still don't know what caused the issues during the c-section.  There's a chance I will have problems again if I were to have another child, but that's something we can deal with later... and that's a big IF.  Stephen and I don't have any future plans for more children right now!  Brianna has all of our love. :) 

Brianna's test results also came in.  Good news - she does not have galactosemia!  She is happy to be back on milk!  However, she does carry the gene for the mild version of the disorder.  She could have gotten this from me or Stephen or it could have been caused by a mutation from our genes.  Basically this means if she were to marry and have children one day and her husband carried this gene as well, then their children would have this disorder.  It is pretty rare though... the doctor said she had never seen anyone with this before.  The funny thing is she had another couple with the same issue that week and had the same results!  Strange! 

Well, it is past my bedtime and I have a long day ahead of me... Brianna gets her first set of vaccinations later today.  =(  Wish us luck...

2 Months Old!

                6/15/2010

I can't believe you are two months old, Brianna!  You have

already changed so much.  When you were just a tiny newborn, you slept a lot and didn't respond to very much.  Now you are smiling, kicking your legs, throwing your arms about, and even chuckling a little bit!  You are starting to hold your head up a little... I can't believe how strong you are!  Time is just going by too fast.. I am cherishing every moment with you,  even those when I don't seem to be making you very happy!  I just hope you know how much your daddy and I love you. 

7 Weeks Old!

6/3/2010

Brianna - we have so many nicknames for you!

Mommy's favorites:

Sweet Cheeks

Chunky Monkey - haha as a newborn you had the cutest hamhocks!

Little Angel

Honey Bee

Turtle

Daddy's favorites:

Peanut!  - He has called you this since they day we found out we were having you.

 Pea Pie

Turkey Butt

Sweet Pea

Grandma's favorites:

Possum - you like to pretend to be asleep ;)

Moon Pie

Piglet - You snort and grunt sometimes when you get hungry!

This week you spent time with your Aunt Jenny

Showing off your awesome TMNT outfit from Aunt Jen! 

You are beginning to enjoy holding on to my hair while I feed you.  It's long and curls right around your little fingers.

We took you to Grandma's boss's house for a Memorial Day party.  You were pure tuckered out after meeting all those new people!

Your first Memorial Day!  Ha, you were so excited.

This week you practiced tummy time!  You like it for a few minutes, but then you are ready to be on your back again.  Below are cute pics of you on the Boppy:

Daddy is so silly...

Gorgeous eyes!

Gosh you are just adorable!!!

8 weeks old!

6/10/2010

This week you met more family! 

You and Papa - your great-grandfather.  He was so happy to meet you and was all smiles when he saw your sweet face. 

You and Aunt Becky - your Great Aunt

 She brought you some very cute outfits, including that cute little striped dress!  You will look adorable in all of them!

You and Uncle Philip - your Great Uncle
He was smitten with you! 

Daddy and I took you to the park!  Weren't you just a happy little girl!

This week I heard you giggle and chuckle for first time!  You were asleep in my arms but you must have been dreaming about something wonderful!

It looks you have your hand in a pocket lol!  You were in the kitchen helping mommy cook!

My beautiful girly girl!  You can thank Becky for this gorgeous dress!

6 Weeks Old!

5/27/2010

Wow, 6 weeks old!  You had a big week.  Today you met your Aunt Jenny!  Guess what... she is totally in love with you! 

You had another trip to TCH!  You did so good! 

You are beginning to enjoy some of your toys.  We will play with the Kick 'n Crawl gym sometimes, and you love to flail about! 

Oh, and we still don't know what color your eyes are going to be!  First they started out dark blue, then looked brown, then your daddy swore they were green.  Then one eye looked brown and one eye looked green lol!  Now they are a gray/blue color so we are patiently waiting to see if they will change again!  ;)

Look what Daddy did to your hair!  Don't worry, I won't let him do this to you anymore lol...

You were my little Dharma baby for our LOST party

 

Oh the fun we have with you! :)

To the lab!

So last week Brianna and I both went to the doctor!  I had my 6 week check-up and we were also making our second attempt at having her lab work done.  To my surprise, I had to have my blood drawn as well.  My doctor wanted to run additional tests to make sure my blood levels are fine and platelet count is still good since I lost so much blood during the c-section.  Let's pray all is still great!  Other than that, everything was looking pretty good, and I can start working out again.  Yay!  I made my goal to start working out again after Memorial Day so we'll see how it goes.  It has been so hard to eat healthy since everything has to be quick and eaten with one hand during the day.  I will try to plan out healthy meals/snacks that I can eat on the go, but how I will find the time, I'm not sure! 

Brianna had to have her blood drawn at TCH... it was so awful!  The nurses had to try three different times to find a vein.  My little angel was not happy.  The results will be back in another week or so.  Here's a pic of her in her cute outfit and matching bandages at the hospital:

My sister came to Houston over the weekend!  It was so great to see her and so very exciting for her to finally meet Brianna!  We had a great time together.  Saturday my mom, sis, and I went shopping!  I so needed a day out.  I even found some CUTE capris that I can button!  Yay for not being maternity clothing! ;)  And I found a cute top and sandals.  I can't wait to go shopping again after toning up.  When I got home, I thanked Stephen for watching Brianna so I could get out for a bit.  He told me I should never thank him for taking care of his daughter.  How sweet is that?  So I thanked him for giving me time with my family instead.  :)

That evening we went to my mom's bosses' Memorial Day party and had a good time.  They had a gorgeous home on the lake.  Sunday we went to BJ's Brewhouse, which we all love, and then to Prince's for peanut butter milkshakes.  If you haven't had one, you need to try it ASAP!  It was the perfect end to my sister's visit.  I miss her so much!!!  She had to leave that day unfortunately.

Memorial Day was pretty relaxing.  I did some housework and Stephen grilled ribs and sausage that night.  What a great day and weekend!

LOST - THE END

After six years of mystery, questions, and polar bears, LOST finally came to an end.  The last episode aired on May 23rd.  After much thought, I decided I didn't particularly like the ending.  It did not have the predictable end that a lot of people worried it would have - everyone dying in the initial plane crash.  Instead, the writers took us through an adventure of time travel - through the past, in the future, and into a 'sideways world'.  The Sideways World is what I wanted to be real.  Everyone did.  Instead, all that happened on the Island was real, and the Sideways World was a mix between Purgatory and a fantasy world that the characters created in their minds.  It was their waiting period before they were ready to crossover.  This sounds confusing, and it took me awhile to think about the ending to fully understand it.  And even though I understand it now, I still just don't like it.  In the end, pretty much everyone died before ever being able to escape the Island and enjoy a good life again.  So they saved the world though, right?  I guess that was the upside!  Jimmy Kimmel had the cast on his show after the finale, and I haven't been able to watch alternate endings yet.  It doesn't really matter though; this is the ending they chose and that was aired so to me that is the real ending. 

"The rest is just progress".  :)   

Since we were all so bummed that LOST was coming to an end, I decided to throw a LOST party for the fam so we could truly end in style.  Call me crazy but it really was a good time and definitely something we will remember.  Afterall, my mom sent us to Hawaii on our honeymoon just so we could see the LOST film locations.  After going to O'ahu, watching the show was even more fun.  We could point out places we visited and get to relive our honeymoon all over again.  I have a totally awesome mom, right?

Here's a few of the pics from our little party!

Dharma Staples

 

Airline tickets for Oceanic flight 815

 

Good and Evil

Mr. Cluck's

Lil' Smokey Monsters

Good overcomes Evil

'Locke' Lips

And from our honeymoon...

Amazing view...

Thanks for the memories, LOST.  I don't think another show will ever provide the intellectual curiosity that you provoked.