HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

We had a great Thanksgiving! Although it was a little stressful at times it was one that I'll always remember. The best part was defiantly the fact that Justin was home and our little family could be together. He's been away in Anchorage and got to come home and spend 4 days with us - we dropped him off at the airport a couple of hours ago to go back. :( Anyways, since we haven't got to spend much family time together we decided to just have Thanksgiving by ourselves as a family. We cooked the whole dinner all by ourselves!!! (For any of you that know my cooking skills, you know this was a huge accomplishment!) I now kind of feel bad for all those years that I didn't help my mom in the kitchen - she's a trooper. :) Thanksgiving is a lot of work! But the food turned out great, it was so yummy! I did however miss the pumpkin pie. Justin hates it, and I didn't want to make a whole pie just for myself, so we ended up having triple chocolate cake - which is pretty tasty too. The only bad part about the day was Brianna was so ready for a nap right about the time we sat down to eat, so for most of our dinner she was crying in her highchair until her dad finally got her out and held her for the rest of the time - she feel asleep about 5 minutes after we finished eating. But it was such a fun

day, we just hung out, cooked, stuffed our faces and nothing else! I'm so thankful for my little family and am so happy I got spend the day with them.

BEANS & CRACKERS

I started Brianna on green beans for the first time yesterday. Although she pulled some really funny faces at first, she did really good. I forgot to have the camera all ready on her first bite which was the best face - the rest of the faces looked more like she was sad or hurt that I was feeding her this. But she never really spit anything back out at me and she even opened her mouth for every bite. She ate the whole serving I'd prepared for her and was even smiling at the end.

She also has started eating little rice crackers. They're the ones that basically just turn to mush in your mouth. She thinks these are pretty tasty and will chow them down in no time.

FRUSTRATED

Okay so I know I shouldn't complain about church, but I have a little gripe.

The Mother's Room...

I always thought that this was a room where nursing mothers could take their children to feed them. Well apparently not in my ward. This is a room where you bring your rowdy children to play and run around, prepare your Sunday School lesson, or maybe even take a quick nap (yes, I've found people sleeping in there - hello, go home if you're really that tired.) Now normally I really wouldn't care what people do, you know to each there own, but Bri gets very distracted when she eats. So as kids are bouncing off the chairs or people are talking, all she wants to do is look around and check stuff out instead of eat. Not to mention that usually I'm not really all that bashful when it comes to breast feeding (I cover up as much as possible to be discreet), but I really don't enjoy trying to feed kid while some one's 4-8 year old is wanting to see the baby. I don't know, it just gets on my nerves some days.


So anyways a plea from one breast feeding mom...

The Mother's Room = The Mother's Room - please try to use it for what's it's made for. :)

TEAR JERKER

I just got finished reading an amazing book - One Tattered Angel by Blaine Yorgason. Some of you might have heard of it before, but if you haven't you defiantly need to read it. I borrowed it from a lady in my book club, it was one of the books that they read last year. All I have to say is make sure you have a box of kleenex with you when you read it, I literally cried the whole way through it. It's about the author and his family, they adopted a little girl named Charity, who was born with a brain stem but no brain. It goes through her struggles, which were terrible, but it also goes through her good times and how this little "tattered angel" affected everyone for the better that she came in contact with. I believe that she was truly an angel that God sent to this earth to bring us Christ's true love. I won't go to much into it because I really think that everyone should read this book, your life will truly be blessed in doing so. It's also a really quick and easy read for those non-readers out there. (wink, wink :)).

On another note I've decided it's better if your child cries when they get their immunizations. No, not really, I know it has nothing to do with it, but poor little Brianna had the worst day yesterday. Her poor little legs hurt so bad, I felt so sorry for her. She was so whinny the whole day and every time I would touch her legs she'd cry. The bad part is that I always pinch her chubby little thighs cause it usually tickles and makes her laugh, well I kept forgetting that her legs hurt and would grab them - I'm so freakin mean! :( Anyways she's doing much better today, back to her normal happy self. Poor little pumpkin! No fun at all.

GETTING BIGGER

Although Brianna turned six months a few weeks ago, we had her check up today. (We missed her original appointment because we were in Anchorage.) She did so awesome with her immunizations, she didn't cry at all, no even a peep. I was so proud of her! She's such a tough little cookie. Here are her stats as of today.

Weight: 17lbs 6oz - 75%
Height: 26" - 50%
Head: 17" - 75%

And here's a few things that she can do...

* Roll over (both ways) - She rolls around the whole house instead of crawling. She rolls so much that by the end of the day her cheeks are so red because she uses her little face to push off of and she gets almost a rug burn on her cheeks. She's gets stuck under the coffee table quite often and rolled under her crib yesterday.

* She's eating cereal like a champ. She loves it! She opens her mouth real wide for almost every bite.

* She can say "mama" and "baba". (Sorry the videos are kind of dark - I learned after that I need to make sure all the lights are turned on in the room because the flash doesn't come on when you record. Oh well.)

* She can growl like a monster. :) I'm really not sure what's she's really doing, but I told everyone I taught her this for Halloween.

*She's starting to become sneaky now that she can get around the house. She wants everything she's not supposed to. She'll find the remote/phone after you thought you hid it. She loves to get into her diaper bag and pull things out. She also loves to grab/kick her diaper stacker. She'll lean really far off her bouncy seat and grab everything - mom's clothes, belts, plastic sack from the garbage, towels, shower curtain. (In case you were wondering she is usually placed in the bouncy chair when mom is taking a shower). I'm sure going to have my hands full when she starts to crawl.

*She loves bath time! Which is a surprise to anyone that saw her first couple of baths. (Oh she cried and cried the whole entire time) But she has so much fun in the tub now. She is a crazy splasher and soaks her mom every time (I have to make sure I'm not wearing the outfit I plan on wearing for the day because I'm always wet after).

*She has the cutest giggle! I laugh every time I hear it - I love it!!!

*She can sit unassisted.

*She loves to give "kisses" or try and bite your face - I'm not quite sure which one she's doing. :) But it's really cute - she'll grab your face/hair and pull you to her face and give you a big slobbery "kiss".

*She loves her puppies. She loves to pet/grab onto them. I've even found her sucking on Daizy's tail, and luckily caught her before she started sucking on her toenails once - Yuck! Daizy of course loves her and will come and sit/lay by Bri when she's on the floor. I'm not sure Alley likes her, but she's tolerating her quite nicely - so far. :)

*She's very social and loves to play with most people. Everyone adores her and she'll give everyone we meet a huge smile. I've only had her cry once when I handed her off to someone - but I think that was because it was 1.5 hours after her bedtime and she was tired and wanted her mom so she could go to sleep.

*She loves her face and head tickled. It's so precious, this even makes her fall asleep sometimes. It reminds me of both of my grandma's and how I would beg them to tickle my face when I was a little kid. Good memories!

She is at such a fun age right now, it's so fun to watch her little personality develop. I love watching her little mind work. She is such a blessing in our lives and her dad and I couldn't ask for a more perfect daughter. Oh we love her so stinkin much!!!

SIPPY CUP

Well I think she finally figured it out. I gave Brianna a sippy cup 2-3 weeks ago and although she thought it was a great toy to chew on, she really didn't get the whole gist of it. I would try to get her to suck on it and after me putting the spout in her mouth a couple of times she's get really ticked off and want nothing to do with it. So I decided to just lay off and let her play with it anyway that she wanted to. She'd take a few sips every so often, which usually surprised her and made her gag, but no actually drinking. I tried again the other morning and she actually sat and drank the water for a couple of minutes. She does drool a whole lot when she drinks (I think she learned that from her puppies :)), so she has to wear a bib. She still thinks it's a pretty cool toy to chew on, but she's also enjoying the "treat" that comes out as well.

Lately she also has become quite fond of my water bottle. (Basically she loves anything that she can't have.) So I started giving her little sips sometimes. Let's just say most of the time it's a huge mess, but she gets so excited I can't resist giving her a taste.

We're both missing daddy a whole lot. I know this is nothing like a deployment, but I still hate when he's gone. Bri really misses his mosquito kisses! I really do think that sometimes she gets sick of being with just me all day - she loves when her dad comes home to play. Anyways at least we get to talk to him every day and I don't have to worry about him being in danger. We've thought about going down and visiting him, but he's been really busy studying and doing homework that I think we'd just be a big distraction - so we'll probably just wait until Thanksgiving when he comes home for a couple of days.

Brianna and I have been trying to keep ourselves busy. It's becoming dark during the daytime again and it makes me just want to sleep, so I've tried to get us out of the house as much as we can. Even if it's just to run to the bank, or anything to get us out. We go to a yoga class every Tuesday and Thursday morning. And then we went to a baby shower on Wednesday and our Book Club on Thursday. (I think everyone enjoys seeing Bri more than me cause she's so cute, oh well! :) I guess I can't really blame them - she is pretty fun to play with!)

GOOD MORNING

Look what I woke up to this morning...

Jealous?

THANK YOU!!!

Veteran’s Day Tribute

When America had an urgent need,

These brave ones raised a hand;

No hesitation held them back;

They were proud to take a stand.

They left their friends and family;

They gave up normal life;

To serve their country and their God,

They plowed into the strife.

They fought for freedom and for peace

On strange and foreign shores;

Some lost new friends; some lost their lives

In long and brutal wars.

Other veterans answered a call

To support the ones who fought;

Their country had requirements for

The essential skills they brought.

We salute each and every one of them,

The noble and the brave,

The ones still with us here today,

And those who rest in a grave.

So here’s to our country’s heroes;

They’re a cut above the rest;

Let’s give the honor that is due

To our country’s very best.

By Joanna Fuchs

ROAD TRIP

Well we had quite an unexpected road trip this last week. Justin was scheduled to start NCOA school on Friday morning in Anchorage. Or so we thought...

He had spent all day Wednesday hanging out with us, and then he was going to leave early Thursday morning to drive down. Luckily he had forgotten some paperwork at his office, so after we ate dinner Wednesday night we drove out to get them. He came out of his office shaking his head and told me that he had misread the email about his school and his class really started Thursday morning at 7am! Here it was 7:30pm and he needed to be in Anchorage in less than 12 hours. So we rushed back home to get him all packed up to make the drive down in the middle of the night. But Justin was so tired already, he was even telling me earlier when were driving to base that he couldn't wait to go to bed. Even though he kept telling me that he'd be fine, I was really worried that he'd fall asleep on the drive, so I hurried and packed Bri and I a bag and we went with him. I drove for a little over half way there while he slept and then Justin took over for the rest of the drive. So we ended up leaving for Anchorage at 9pm and got there about 3am, We checked into our hotel room and finally settled into bed at 4am, and then we had to wake up at 6am to get him to class. Let's just say we were just a little tired!!! We were both walking zombies, but at least he made in to class on time and we all made it there alive.

Unfortunately our trip wasn't very long so we didn't get to really do anything in Anchorage except hang out in our hotel room and check out the base. We didn't have anyone to take care of our dogs past Friday morning so we had to turn around and come home as soon as Justin got out of class. We ended up getting home about 1:00am Saturday, and we were all pooped!!! Brianna was an angel. I was really worried about screwing up her sleep schedule with her sleeping in the truck for so long. Especially Friday night, she was so ticked to be put back in her car seat - which I really couldn't blame her for, I wanted to scream and cry too. But after pulling over, feeding her, and playing with her for a little while she went back in the car seat and cried herself to sleep for the night. She even went back to sleep when we got home and slept for the rest of the night, which we were so very thankful for because we were dying.


This was the scene around our house for most of Saturday. We just vegged out all day.

Poor Justin had to drive back down again Sunday morning - Ugh! But he made it with no problems and will be there for the next 6 weeks. He does get to come home for Thanksgiving, so at least we get to see him in a couple of weeks. Anyways, I'll bet he double checks his emails from now on. :)

TRICK or TREAT

Well what was Bri for Halloween? A Horse of Course! And a darn cute one I might add. I had a real hard time finding a costume for her and had pretty much given up. Everything was either made of too thin of material that I would have to really layer her, or was really bulky with lots of padding that she wouldn't be able to wear for the whole day. So I had decided that she wasn't going to dress up (she is only 6 months old - as my husband would say), so I just had bought the candy corn outfit for her to wear on Halloween. But after I'd given up, I was shopping at Wal-Mart and I thought I'd look down the costume aisle just to see - I couldn't find anything. I was searching the racks for anything in her size and only found a really ugly pink lamb outfit. But I buried myself in costumes digging all the way to the back and spotted something in her size... it was a horse. But isn't that a boy outfit, I worried? But then I saw the cute little face on the horse and I knew Bri's big cheeks would look so adorable in it - I was sold. Hey, and I even stuck a pink bow on her tail, just so everyone would know it was a Girl horse. :)

We ended up having a pretty laid back Halloween. First, I took Brianna to the grocery store because we needed milk, and showed her cuteness off. And then we met Justin at work and had lunch together. It was fun seeing him show her off to all the guys in his office. Even though they thought she was a cow. Hello, cow's don't have manes! :)




I love Bri's little face in this picture! I know I'm biased, but I think she is so freakin cute! But I wanted to crop my BIG head out of it, but Justin said I had to keep it like it is. He said that if I post pictures of him stuck in a coat, that I had to post big faced pictures of myself as well. :) Love you babe!

I was thinking about taking her Trick or Treating for a little bit, but since it was -13, I opted to just stay home and watch a movie with Justin. And really it's not like she can eat the candy anyway, which means it would just add to the pounds I need to lose from my behind. I was really surprised that she didn't mind wearing the outfit all day long. She didn't even fuss when I would put the hood up and she couldn't see because the it kept falling over her eyes. Although I didn't make her wear the "hoove" gloves and the bandanna all day, just for some pictures.

She was getting cranky with me at the end of the picture taking session. So I gave her the plug and she was okay to pose for a couple more shots.

To end the evening we actually had our first Trick or Treaters. They never come to our house! Mainly because the houses in our neighborhood are really spread out and you'd have to walk a lot just to get some candy. Not to mention that we live at the end of a unlit driveway that every mother would agree is not a "safe" house to go to. But as we heard a knock on the door I ran to the kitchen scrounging for something to give these kids. I hadn't bought any candy for this - as I said we never have Trick or Treaters! I knew we had some Twix, but didn't realize that they're weren't many left in the bag and as Justin ran out he turned to me and said, "There's still one more kid." All I could find was a bag of Tootsie Rolls and threw them to him - which he promptly threw back at me, telling me we couldn't be one of "those" houses. I guess I have to agree, these kids we're freezing and they didn't deserve some lousy Tootsie Rolls. So Justin came and helped me look for something, we found a full size Kit-Kat and sent the kids off on their freezing way. But just in case more kids came Justin went and grabbed some Glow Stix out of our emergency bag. But luckily our doorstep was quiet for the rest of the night. :)

All in all it was a pretty fun day. I LOVED our little Horsey!!!