Happy Birthday to YOU!

We love you, Brinley!

Happy 1st Birthday!!!!!

Taken at the Ward Trunk or Treat!!

Brinley's glamor shot that I can't get enough of!! SHE IS SOO CUTE!!!

12 months

This is a Mama post. So get ready.

I really don't know what to say. I mean, I have a one year old. I have a one year old? WHAT? How did that happen? I always laugh with Ryan because I totally don't remember being pregnant or giving birth. I remember the experience and kind of what happened, but I don't remember how I felt, the pain, or really any details (like my placenta falling on the hospital floor...oops). Thank goodness, because going through it, I thought Brinley would be our only pregnancy. Thank goodness women FORGET childbirth!

Those 9 months were tough. Compared to most, I guess I had it good. My friend was throwing up all 9 months. but for me, my sickness was more that I was a student for 6 of those months. And I was in the summer heat for 5 months. That was tough enough. Sickness wasn't really the thing that was hard, it was the constant worry of throwing up in class and doing homework. I remember taking a test in the testing center 8.5 months prego. People STARED at me the WHOOOOOOOOLE time. Apparently they've never seen a pregnant lady. and I vow to never be pregnant in the summer again! We traveled quite a bit too. And any pregnant women who know about traveling, it is hard on your body. It took me dayyyyys to recover after a car ride just from Salt Lake City. My back pain still hurts.

Then came October 30th. We went to my 40 week appointment to only hear the disappointing words from my doctor "you are only at a 1cm. There hasn't been a change in 3 weeks." Awesome. Thankfully, I cried and got them to schedule an induction date the day my mom was flying in. That night, Ryan and I rented a movie, went out and got Taco Bell, and were in bed before 10pm.

4:30am. Yikes. POP. Jump out of bed. Water was trickling down my leg. I wasn't putting it past myself that I maaay have peed in my pants. Baby dropped=pressure on bladder. Sneezing=peeing. Just saying. I stood there for another moment and it kept coming. I raced to the bathroom and just stood there, shaking, cold, wet, and really anxious. This was the moment I was waiting for. The excitement came. I went into the bedroom and kept calling Ryan's name over and over again until he woke up. We were RUNNING around the apartment trying to get everything together. I remember just standing in the bathroom, with these granny panties I bought for the hospital with a giant pad to catch the fluid (TMI sorry). and I definitely did NOT pack my hospital bag well enough before hand.

Those 15 hours didn't exactly fly by. But, for the most part, it was good. College football on the TV, epidural in my back, raspberry flavored ice chips. I mean come on, dream land!! 

I pushed for a good hour. After 15 hours, you don't have energy AT ALL. The only thing I ate was a banana at 4:30am before we left for the hospital.

Finally, with a little more pushing, out came baby. Ryan went over to the nurses station. I remember him looking at her like he knew her. Like she has always been with us and he was just waiting for her. Finally she was here. His baby girl. I called at him "Is she a Brinley?" And he looked back wiping tears, "Yes, she is Brinley." Phew, at least she had a name!

I love remembering the first time I held her. I was shaking and really exhausted but I held her so close. I kept saying, "You know me. You know me, Brinley." Her breathing wasn't steady and neither was her heartrate, but after our cuddle time, she was good to go.

_________________

Looking back, a year later, I can't believe how fast time has flown by. I look at Brinley now in absolute amazement. She is incredible.

She:

stands

walks

claps

climbs

waves

twirls her hair

eats by herself

uses a cup to drink

takes off her shirt

points

babbles

says mama and dada

recognizes family on Skype, maybe not them personally, but that there are people behind the screen!

throws balls to us

flips the pages in books

tosses everything over her shoulders

gives wet kisses

blows raspberries on our cheeks

gives hugs (mainly by putting her head to our head)

points at facial features

laughs when she sees other babies

takes 2 naps a day and still goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up around 7-8am

eats pretty good but trying new things is not as fun

still LOVES cheese

always smiles when she sees pictures of Jesus

dances when she hears Dora and the "Hot Dog" song from Mickey Mouse

Brinley. I love you so much. I can't wait what year two brings. You bring me SO much joy and I am amazed that you are mine forever. We are sealed together as a family for eternity. Regardless of where life takes us or what may happen, you and me are together forever. You may hate that idea when you're 12, lol but right now, lets enjoy it. I love you and Happy Birthday sweet girl. My little Brinley boo boo boo.

Walking Nakey

Okay, now, this video CRACKS me up.

I can't get enough of her walking. Her hair. Her toots. And her giggles.

And since y'all are SO good at commenting on videos...geez. I know you're watching it.

Obsessed



(Don't forget to check out Brinley's B-day party pictures in the post below)

It's my Party and I'll cry if I want to (literally)

For the mooooost part of the night, Brinley was in a Great mood! But, like all 1 year old parties, the babies stay happy for only soooo long.

So yes, Brinley cried at her party. She didn't nap too well today but I was SO excited to have friends over and also an excuse to make some realllly awesome appetizers :-) We're all fat kids deep down right?

I made:

>the smokies, rolled in bacon, and cooked in brown sugar recipe I got from a friend in Rexburg. TO. DIE. FOR. And soo bad for you.

>The best cream cheese veggie dip ever!

>and cupcakes my mother-in-law sent us!

5 minutes before 4pm, Ryan goes, maybe I should dress up! hahahaha So we whipped up a "geek" outfit. I ended up making cat ears so I could be Brinley's Mommy Cat. I thought we looked super cute together :-)

Party favors on the left (definitely forgot to give those out before everyone left!)

Cupcakes!

Tiff, we FINALLY got our pics completed. I love it up there!

Me and my Kitty Cat

Geeky Daddy and his baby kitty

Brinley doing her zombie walk/run. She is now 80/20 walk/crawl ratio. Proud of her!

Thank you Martha Stewart for this idea! I love it!

Our great friends, The Browns. Cute idea right??? Their son is only 6 weeks younger than Brinley. We hang a couple times a week. Helps both Mommies to get out, right!? Lonely grad school wives with babies... tonight They won, Best dressed! Love you guys!

It was great to have our friends over. I LOVe any excuse to throw a party and get people together. Our great friends provided new jammies for Brin (because she is wearing 6-9 month ones that are just tooooo tight) and homemade hair bows and clips. So excited!

*

My mama comes this Wednesday!!!!!

A year ago today,

Ryan took this gem while baking Halloween cookies my mother-in-law sent us. I just LAUGHED when I found this today on the computer.

O MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Definitely happy to have my figure back and have Brinley OUTSIDE the womb!

That belly was SO big. I could barely breathe. And Ryan especially loved my 12 point pivit flip-over in bed 200x at night. HAHA! I loved being pregnant, but definitely not the last few weeks.

And yall were so kind to say I was cute preggo.

You definitely left out the word, elephant!!!!!!! yiiiiikes.



Craft time blah blah

I'm sure you're all thinking...you juuuuust discovered felt?

I craft at night. It is very theraputic for me. annnnnd Felt is easy to work with! And its cheap! Making hair clips and bows makes me happy! Just get ready my idea for her Happy Birthday sign. I have this image in my head, so lets hope I can translate it!

Here are some shots I took yesterday and today of Brinley in her daily routine. This girl, CRACKS me up. Seriously. Today, she woke up before 6:30am. She was SO cranky I knew she wasn't completely awake/ready to get up, so around 7:15am, I put her back in bed and she woke up around 10:45am. WHAT? And yes, I went back to bed too for a couple hours. She must still not be feeling well.

Right after I get her from nap time. Drinking her bottle while I change her bum and clothes. It's the only way she'll sit still and drink.

I love that cheesy grin!

Cute hair alert!!!

Brin after lunch time. Gogurts are her favorite! Still trying to decide if more ends up on her face and tray table than actually in her tummy...oh well. She enjoys it! Check out those curls!

 I saw this on a blog and I just DIED. I knew I had to create something. Cut out scrap book paper letters covered with mod podge. Love that stuff!

 I went a tad bit crazy making hair clips for my bff Julia's babe Greta. She deserves them!

This picture is for my sis in law, Chrissy. We did open one of Brin's b-day presents after you said we could. LOL Her new outfit just happened to match a new hair clip I made just a few days before!!! Awesome!!

Another Monday

I'm totally ready for Law School to be over. Just saying. This post is only 60% complaining.

This weekend was interesting. We plan all these fun things to do, and we end up going to Walmart, taking lots of naps, eating bad, and watching movies. Poor Ryan wants nothing else to do except watch some college football, stare at a wall, and take a nap. I want him to relax. I really do. Don't get me wrong, he deserves it. BUT when we want to do family things on the weekend, between the two of us, we vote to stay inside and relax.

Tuesday through Thursday he sees Brinley for about...30 minutes. So, I encourage him to spend as much time with her as possible on the weekends. Well, when he does, he wants to nap and lounge! This girl does NOT want to lounge. She has her hands (literally) in everything.

Thankfully, there isn't thaaaaat much in the house that I'm worried about. (except the other day when I left the baby gate open and I found her at the top of the stairs...ya not a good mommy moment).

There is SO much to look forward to in the next 2 months and I feel sooooo thankful because this semester has been extremely difficult for us. Man, I thought we had it rough doing our undergrad with a newborn! HA! If I only knew what Law School was about....I'd reconsider! jk, no life is good. I've made some great friends who help me get me through the week.

My mom comes next week for Brinley's b-day. YAY! I miss my mom. She has been a great support for us in Charlotte, but there is just something SO magical when your mama comes to visit.

My in-laws are coming for Thanksgiving. SO excited. The last time we saw them was in April on the drive out to Charlotte. We were stressed and probably not thaaaat much fun, so I'm excited to have them come here and see Tallahassee.

When we got home from church yesterday, Ryan noticed Brin seemed a little warm, so we took her temp and it was 101.4 under her arm, so 102! It has never been that high! So of course I freaked and we went to urgent care, and discovered where the hospital is! That's great, just another Tallahassee discovery.

The doctor looked at us funny that we came in just for a fever. Hello! First time parents here!!! Well, they checked her ears and took her temp, 102! I was happy to know our thermometer is pretty accurate. And, they weighed her. 18.3!!!!!!!! Go girl! She may be in a rear facing carseat until she goes into nursery, but still, it is great to learn that eventhough she is petite, she is still growing! Go girl! She woke up this morning with a slight fever, so we are definitely not over it yet, but pretty sure the worst is behind us!

Is Brinley reaaaaaaaaally turning one in 2 weeks? WHAT?

I swear, she was this small yesterday!

 (only 3 days old).

Taken this weekend.

ahh it feels good to vent a bit. But, I did get a calling yesterday in church. I am the new Laurel Advisor (age 16-17)  in the Young Women's. I am excited, but a tad bit nervous. Of course my first lesson next week is on Chastity. Geez...

Vid Chat

Last night, my bff Kristine and I FINALLY connected. She lives in Orange County in California...so that means it is a 3 hr time difference and the best we could do was 11pm here! Poor Kristine didn't see Brinley, but we have already decided that we MUST gmail vid chat frequently. Talking live is a MILLION times better than phone or email!

(don't you love my, trying to take a picture, face???)

Kristine and her fabulous bro-in-law Dave. I saw Dave last when I was a WILD almost 20 year old. We spent the week with his family in CA. Bless his heart for accepting Kristine's request that 4 of her girlfriends come stay for a week. YIKES! Best trip EVER.

We chatted about:

weather. florida. Brinley. Campbell being 18 pounds at only 7 months. orange county. apartment hunting. pepper spray. brown hair. kristine's job. me as a mommy, because it is silly. sisters. jared coming home from his mission in 2 months! and we decided that gmail vid chat is amazing!!!



Sarah's House

I never know when it is on TV so when I DO catch it, I stop EVERYTHING and just soak it in.

Sarah's House

is the BEST show ever on HGTV.

(oh my gosh, and she's Canadian...true love right there! and she is soooo Canadian. Her accent KILLS me).

#1 she is adorable

#2 and she was preggo while on her show (i love those working preggo women. Go girl)

#3 she knows how to mix the country/modern style which I LOVE.

I am SO excited to finally own my own house one day and be able to recreate some of these rooms. 

We've been busy...

On Sunday, we made a tent.

(Not sure if Brinley was tired or what but she hated being inside the tent).

On my first date with Ryan, we built a tent and watched Hook. We decided we should make it a family thing to make tents together! Sooo I'm hoping that the next tent we build, Brinley will love it, and not cry when she goes inside.

On Monday night, Brinley splashed violently in the bath. Her goal is to make EVERYTHING wet in the bathroom. She keeps her eyes open too while she splashes...she is wild!

Today, we smooched.

Played Dentist.

Brin still has zero teeth. Her crankiness is at a new level. There better be a bajillion teeth coming in at one time.

And after being inspired from my friend Jessie, I decided to create some finger puppets for Halloween. As my Mom likes to remind me, Halloween is a VERY special holiday in our family. My decorations are pretty pathetic this year, but I'm hoping that every year, I will make more and more projects to jazz it up for Brinley!

They turned out pretty cute, huh??





Hey, Mamas...

Calling all mamas.

--

I need some help.

--

The looks I get at lunch and dinner time from Brinley, I'm guessing she is telling me this:

--

 "I hate baby food and these sick puffs!? If you feed me one more I will throw a punch. Also, those really nasty cookies you feed me? Ya, I know they're saltines. And, I'm sick of them. I'm a big girl now. I need to eat big girl food."

--

Soooo, help a mama out?

What are some good "transitioning" foods? I need to be better and more creative, but I need YOUR help. Pass your Mama wisdom over.

Thanks!

-Meag

The True Piggy

Finally!

Notice her new "walking sneeks???" SOO cute! I got them for $2 and they look brand stinkin new!

When did my little girl get SO big?

Tonight at bathtime,

I was thinking tonight at bathtime.

I get these moments sometimes.

I'm sure every mom knows what I mean, and for those that aren't mommy's yet, I can't WAIT for you.

These moments go something like this:

"Are you really my baby?"

"You are soooo cute. Are you sure you're mine?"

"I can't believe I'm your mom!"

I get these feelings frequently. You would think that almost after a YEAR of these moments, those feelings would go away. But, I am grateful everytime I get those feelings because I feel more and more grateful for that little girl and my heart grows ten fold afterwards.

I wanted to just write some thoughts to remember how dang cute Brinley is right now!

Just Some Brinley-isms:

1. I love her bum cheeks. In the bath, she stands up to reach for the wash cloth and I laugh EVERY time because she squeezes her cheeks so hard. hahahaaaa don't GET me started on her bum dimples.

2. She is starting to point. Right now, we touch pointer fingers. I feel a tad bit like ET when we do it, but when she points that finger at me, I know exactly what she wants to do.

3. She always has her hand on her head twirling away. She LOVES her hair. I guess every child needs an addiction. My nephew STILL loves his bellybutton. Brinley looooves her hair and will twirl for hours if I let her.

4. Why do you STILL hate to get your diaper changed? She squirms and tries to roll over everytime. Every. Time.

5. I love when she snuggles before bedtime. She plops her head on my left shoulder (yes, left), and twirls her hair. We sway for a couple minutes and then I lay her down. We rarely have a upset baby when I put her in bed. Yes, we are lucky.

6. She HATES getting thrown into the air. I thought she loved it. hahaha But the look of deer in the headlights was actually fear and terror, not surprise. Sooo we've stopped. Poor girl.

7. I love it when she bounces to music. She only lasts for about 10 minutes when we have music time, but hey...it gets her bouncing and I love to see her enjoying it!

8. She has suuuuch good hearing. She hears everything. Our ceiling fan in the living room has this really annoying clicking noise and she always looks up and stares at it like, whhhhy are you making that noise!?

9. Her attempts at walking. She is doing great taking 2-3 steps and then PLOP! onto her bum. I know that one of these days she is just going to get up and start running.

10. She high 5's!!! hahaha Go girl!

I love you so much, Brinley! I love being your mommy!

I love hanging out with you all day everyday!

Please tell me you've seen this...

I saw this a few weeks ago and I've been OBSESSED ever since. WHATTTTTTTTTTT it is amazing!! He is doing that ALL with his voice and mouth. Amazing. That video has gotten over 2 million views!!

AND today, he was on the Ellen show!! Good for him! She's flying him to Miami to meet Timberland. I mean, come on!!! So cool!!!

Maybe I'll teach myself when Ryan is studying all night and I'm alone...just maybe...

Leg Warmer

Do you remember when my friend Nicole made Brinley leg warmers?

Well, it is "sorta" leg warmer weather here in Tallahassee. I mean, it is actually really nice outside! So, inside, I turned OFF the AC. I know, freaking out right? well, Why not turn it off?? We don't need it. (Don't ask Ryan because he thinks the AC should be set at 68 degrees. He is sooooo his Father's son). 

Well, you can tell that I'm having a hard time KEEPING them on those chubby legs...

Conference Weekend

It was so good, huh?

On Friday, Ryan and I decided on a question to focus on during Conference. Our question was, How can we be more faithful during trials?

Um, pretty sure every talk answered our question. I love that. I know at the end of the Conference that I can be better, do more, complain less, believe more. That, is true inspiration.

We slobbed around the WHOLE weekend. It was amazing. Brinley absolutely loved it when the Choir sang. Whenever she heard it, she came all the way to the laptop screen and just stood and stared. It was pretty funny.

And, the weather has cooled down. For a few days this week, it is only 75!!! That is remarkable!

O my yummmm Banana Bread!

And a sneak peek of Brinley's MANY costumes for her b-day Month!!! yayyyy!