5 Months

 

Ummm, NO, you are not already 5 months old little love!  This cannot be!  Briggs continues to do more of the same as the past few months-melt my heart each time he flashes his smile.

 

Briggs is soooo good.  I mean really, really good, it’s crazy!  All of my playgroup moms are just amazed by him.  He never lets out a yelp or cry unless he is tired.  Otherwise he just lays there and watches.

He loves to be doted on and flirts like his big brother used to do.  He hasn’t started ‘stranger danger’ so pretty much anyone will do, but this boy likes his momma best!

He is still a super lazy laid back baby and is taking his sweet time moving around.  He’s rolled a few times both ways, but normally just turns to his side and chills.  Tummy time now solely consists of sticking his tush up in the air and shaking or giving up entirely and falling asleep.  There is no arm involvement at all.

He loves to cuddle things and suck on his plug.  When he’s tired he’s started to take his hands and push them against his eyes.  He is still an AWFUL sleeper.  I think this is the trade off for being so perfect during the day.  He will still wake every 3 hours or so to eat in the middle of the night.  He goes right back to sleep, but can’t seem to soothe himself into going back to sleep instead of eating.  This momma is pretty tired of this.  Two helpings of cereal a day don’t help this (nor do they make for easy poops).  We start green beans today.  Maybe, just maybe, these will help.

My favorite ‘development’ this month is his new fascination with Ben.  Briggs loves to watch him and smile.  He’s very interested in him and luckily Ben is starting to have more to do with him, too.  I think Ben is ready for Briggs to be able to play.  I just love, love, love these two little monkeys!

Briggs, I am in awe of how wonderful you are.  You just get better each day.  And as much as I hate that you get up so often, I do love getting to cuddle you while I can! 

Pawps

We had such a fun visit with Pops (or Pawps) as Ben called him.  Last time Pops and Ben saw each other Ben wasn’t the nicest little boy to him.  This time, however, Ben loved on him left and right.  It was so cute.  He loved playing with Pops and watching baseball.  We didn’t do much, but it was a very relaxing couple of days.  Ben loved waking up each morning to donuts (Pops goes on a Starbucks run each morning and made a quick stop at our favorite donut shop so someone would be happy.  We also hit up the lovely local fast food establishments for lunch each day.  Three days of donuts and burgers means this momma needs a detox/diet asap!  Thanks Pops for flying out.  Next time bring Grams!  We miss you so much already!

We took Pops to In n out for lunch one day (and only waited a few minutes compared to the normal hour plus)

We enjoyed swimming in the pool each morning before lunch.  Briggs loved splashing around in his suit that’s too small

Briggs’ middle name (Carson) is the same as Pops’ middle name (and the same as Pops’ grandpa-Boppa)

sweetness

Sacrament: Baptism…check!

 

This weekend our sweet Briggs received his first sacrament.  Again we had him Baptized at ‘our’ church in Austin where we were married and where I went through RCIA.  St. Catherine’s is very special to me.  Earlier in the week though, we weren’t sure we were going to be able to make the trip.  Tuesday night Ben spiked a fever and it rose Wednesday morning so we took a little trip to see our favorite doctor.  Just viral and Ben was back to normal by Thursday night.  Our worry was that baby bro would catch the bug just in time for his big day.  But God was watching over Briggs and he was perfect all weekend!

 

I took this at the doctor’s office.  My poor baby was just miserable.

Ben got pretty used to having his temp taken so he tried to do it himself.  Such a cutie!

Ben was so excited to see Boots and Gramma and get donuts of course!  The minute we walked in he looked at B and said, “where’s Boots?” (he was at work).  Ben has a very special bond with Boots and listens to him SO well that it makes me sick!  They golfed, wrestled, rolled and played with tons of toys together this weekend.  Pure joy in our sweet boy’s face. 

We were so proud of Ben.  He slept by himself so well.  He never even tried to get out of the room and was playing with a puzzle when I walked in Saturday morning.  Good job, Ben!

Saturday we left the boys with Gramma, Boots and Aunt Tina and got a much needed night away at the Hyatt Lost Pines.  I had a few tears as we left, but only because I knew I’d miss them.  We had a great time even if B rolled his ankle and couldn’t walk the rest of the trip.  I was very ready to come home though and see my loves.  And the little baby who keeps waking up in the middle of the night for me, slept until 6 for Gramma!  Sweet Tina was nice and sent me pictures even though Ben was SOOO mean to her.  We came home and B laid down with Ben to try to get the kid to sleep (he somehow convinced Boots and Gramma he didn’t need a nap on Saturday and got to stay up really late).  I woke them up with about 15 minutes to get to the church.  Oops!

There were only 6 babies being Baptized, but the church was pretty packed.  Our own sweet boy had over 20 family members there to witness and love him!  He was a perfect angel and slept the entire time.  Boots and Gramma kept Ben in the back of the church and he was perfect as well.  When we walked to the back to be near the water Ben could see us and wanted to watch.  When it was Briggs’ turn he yelled at the Deacon to stop putting water on Briggs and then cried that he wanted water on his head.  After that we let him up with us and he ‘played’ with Uncle Tommy during the closing prayer.

We asked B’s cousin Michelle and her hubby Matt to be his Godparents.

I love this picture.  Kristin kindly took pics for us and snapped this one of some of our family before the ceremony.  I love how no one is looking at the camera.  Just makes me laugh!

sleeping prince

Briggs woke up just a little during this part and made a mousy like fussy noise, but then cuddled back into Mommy’s arms and was so happy.

Ben helped blow out the candle (and then asked for cake)

someone woke up too late to change

He’s just perfect!  I loved the smell of the oils on his head.  It’s like how my Grammy wears a certain perfume and whenever I smell it I’m comforted.  The same goes for church oils.  I also love that I can still smell them after a bath.

The boys with their Godparents.

Briggs is such a blessed little boy to have two people who love him.

So Brad is amazing with babies.  He’s not just good at taking care of them, but he actually likes to play with them.  I find this odd for a guy, but amazing!

Ben and Gramma read a monkey book and he loved it!

Gramma took Briggs outside to watch the dogs play.  Poor dogs get booted to the laundry room when we come over to stay.  We had a GREAT weekend and were sad to come home. 

 

I never posted about last weekend.  Ben got a double dose of Tina and Brad because they came last week to visit.  And as luck would have it, Boots and Gramma were up for a job interview so we met them for lunch on Saturday.  Ben is now expecting to see them every weekend (working on that).

 

I love this pic.  Ben found a toy phone in the car and is talking on it as he walks into the restaurant with Aunt Tina

The boys and Gramma

Tina is such a fun aunt!  She even shares her ‘juice’ with him.  Okay maybe not…

Even though he was so mean to her this weekend, Ben loves his Aunt Tina so much!!!

So the next three pictures need to be framed side by side.  We went to dinner and had some time to kill waiting.  Ben has such a nasty habit of pushing Briggs when he’s ‘done’ with him so I must have told him a million times, “don’t push Briggs” and he would repeat it to me.  The pictures speak for themselves. 

Needless to say I was FURIOUS with him!  Oh Ben!  One day your baby brother will get back at you and I just might have to look the other way when he hauls after you!

My new job

Okay boys, it’s official!  Even though I’ve been hanging out with you everyday since Briggs arrived, today it became ‘official’!  Today all my teacher friends went back to work and I stayed home with you two!  It’s a very weird day for me.  With the exception of last year (and of course my first year), I really enjoyed teaching.  I hope you find something you love one day and do it passionately with all your heart.  I also hope you have the chance to work with amazing coworkers like I have.  Each year I’ve had some great people on my team, but NONE compared to last year.  I love and cherish each one of those girls as well as the other teachers and staff at Tadlock.  I’ve shed a couple tears about not heading back like when I saw the school supplies at Target for the first time or saw all the cars in the parking lot at school today on our way out the neighborhood.  I have many friends that had no problem making the decision to leave, but for mommy, it wasn’t that easy.  I was worried I was giving up a great thing.  But…I know that any amount of time I get to spend with you two watching you grow up is far greater than teaching.  We are all so thankful that Daddy got us in a position for this to work.  And poor Daddy.  I know how hard it is for him that we get to basically play all day and he has to work.  And I want to give Ben a special thanks for being a complete toot the past two days making me wish daycare were an option (okay not really, but seriously kid!).

My sweet friend, Michelle, threw a little playdate for a few of us who used to teach, but now stay home.  We enjoyed some yummy snacks, a craft and LOTS of playtime (and maybe a few timeouts, too) and then we came home and I got to put my sweet boys down for a nap instead of sitting through a workshop on how they’ve changed the curriculum (again) while being jealous of the teachers who gets to put my babies down for their naps and give them wake up snuggles.

Hopefully I can do this new job forever, but who knows what the budget will tell us or even what my heart will decide, but I do know that I plan on cherishing every second of this new job (even the bad ones)!

Addie, Ben and Rylee looping fruit loops on a pipe cleaner.  Ben and Addie did much better this time than when we tried it at our house.  But Ben got bored after a few minutes and decided to eat his while playing.  Typical boy!

When I left last year I gave away just about everything.  This is all I have left (besides a million memories).  If there’s one thing I had plenty of it was books.  These are what’s left after I gave Ashley 250 and put the hardback ones on a different shelf.

A Year of Briggs…

Dear Briggs,

It was exactly one year ago today that we found out about you!  The test Mommy took a few days before came back negative, but I still had an inkling about you so instead of working in my classroom all day, I skipped out early and took a test instead.  Daddy was at work and was headed to the Rangers game afterwards so I picked up Ben from daycare and off we went to find a special shirt to celebrate.  Ben did a little fashion show after bath time that night and we wrote Daddy a letter since he’d be home late that night and you were already making me very tired. 

this is what I put on the back door so it would be the first thing Daddy saw when he walked in after the game.

Just like you are different than your brother, your time in my belly was different as well.  We were lucky that we didn’t have the scares that we had with Ben, but that 2 night hospital stay you gave me at 25 weeks wasn’t much fun (although the week off of work was great).  I was more uncomfortable with you and felt quite a bit ickier at the beginning with you. Oh, but sweet boy I can’t tell you how thankful I am for the past year.  I look in your gorgeous eyes each day and just thank God for you.  I know I say it all the time, but I LOVE YOU!

Love,

Mommy

10 Reasons we love…

10 Reasons we love Ben:

1.  He could watch Toy Story 3 all day, but always wants to hold my hand at the end when they hold hands at the dump. 

2.  Covers his eyes every night when it’s bedtime thinking we can’t see him and says, “where Ben go?”  Still makes us laugh.

3.  Loves his quiet time in his room each day and always surprises me when I walk in to get him with what he’s done with the particular bin he is playing with.  I need to start photographing how he sorts, builds, or makes patterns. 

4.  Can’t get out of the house fast enough if I say we’re going in Daddy’s Jeep.  His love for that stinkin’ vehicle is more than B’s.

5.  Tells us he wants to use the big potty only to sit on it and read a magazine and tell us, “it’s coming” or “almost here!” with nothing to show for it.

6.  Remembers random things/events that happened months ago.  Also knows when we pass certain places what we get there (especially food places).

7.  Leaves each playdate by shouting, “bye friends” and waiving goodbye.

8.  His hair is growing so fast right now he looks like a chia pet!

9.  Gets excited to cook/bake, but has no patience for the cook and wait time afterward.

10.  Forms sweat beads on his nose.  Also doesn’t care at all that it’s over 100 degrees outside, just wants to play.

 

10 Reasons we love Briggs:

1.  Has a sneezing fit half way through his cereal each night.  It’s normally followed by me saying something close to a 4 letter word because he’s gotten cereal/spit all over me and the counter.  He just laughs at this.

2.  Pushes his head to the side when he’s tired. 

3.  Belly laughs when you tickle the top inside of his thigh or his collar bone (just like daddy and Ben).

4.  Is losing his hair very quickly, especially on the left side of his head.

5.  Flashes a huge smile in the bathtub and kicks his legs while squealing.

6.  Has started sucking on his fingers when he loses his plug.

7.  Make funny clucking sounds in his sleep.

8.  Like his brother, doesn’t seem to mind the sweltering heat (I’m not sure they’re our kids for this reason).

9.  Gets excited when I put the phone up to his ear and he hears Grams talk or sing to him.

10.  Loves to be sung to, but not by Mommy.  Ashley is his favorite.