Here's to 5 Months!

My sweet Brinley turned 5 months today!

(yes I am that Mom who celebrates each months birthday!)

(doing a leg stretch with daddy!)

It is tricky with her b-day falling on the 31st of the month. so the last day of the month is her celebration day!

I celebrate because it is just ONE more month that I have conquered.

Brinley loves to:

> Be on her tummy. It is usually followed a big spit up, but I can't keep her OFF her tummy. Holy cow. She is non-stop.

> Loves to chew on everything. Her favorite thing as of yet, paper. I gave her a piece of paper the other day and she was so curious with it. I don't know if was because of the texture or what but she was busy with that piece of paper for over 30 minutes! That is a record!

> She loves to stand while holding onto our hands.

> Screaming. In church, in RS, at home, at the grocery store, at 3 AM (like last night...).

> Sweet Potatos are her favorite. She is really teething now so she has been on quite the Nursing Strike as of late, but cold baby food keeps her tummy full.

> Sort of sitting up on her own. She usually falls to one side but she likes the different view!

> Loves music time with Daddy. Ryan plays his guitar almost everyday and she just stares at him while he plays and sings. He hasn't learned any kid songs yet, but she is becoming familiar with Coldplay, Better Than Ezra, and this awesome Sublime song.

Everyday I am amazed at how much I love Brinley. Life is tough. but she is so special and always makes me laugh. It was promised in my patriarchal blessing that my home will be a safe haven from the world and I honestly already feel that blessing coming to pass. Brinley makes our home so warm and loving. It is amazing how one little baby can change everything.

Can't wait what MONTH 6 will bring!!

We love you Brinny bo bo boooo....

Refreshing

Sunday's are usually really difficult for me. I have no time to do any scripture study or eat, for that matter. Ryan has been the Elders Quorum President in our Ward for the past 8 months. It wasn't too bad while I was pregnant because I wasn't a fast mover or a talker. I was 7 months pregnant when he got called. I would just sit by myself...no big deal. After Brin came, it was a totally different issue. For all you women whose husbands have been called to such callings...I now know how you feel. Granted, I only have one kid...not 5. But still. I felt like every Sunday before Ryan came to pick us up from his meetings, Brin threw up ALL over her cute dress and I was scrambling to get things put together.

Ryan got released last Sunday.

My thoughts?

Pure joy!

Don't get me wrong, I have loved him in this calling. We have received countless blessings. It has been so amazing seeing him magnify is calling. It has been great getting to know people in the Ward, especially for me. I'm not the biggest social butterfly when it comes to people I don't know.

This morning was fabulous. Ryan admitted "Wow, Brin is tough Sunday mornings. How did you do this for so long by yourself?" I just laughed!!!!!!!!!! Now he knows why everytime he walked in the door I gave him "the look." Hahahahaha Oh my I am so glad we get to spend time as a family on Sunday now. I'll appreciate this time until one or both of us gets another calling in our new Ward.

But, these pics were from today. Our car is in the shop and conveniently, the stroller is in the trunk. So we walked to church. Ryan wearing the Bjorn.

Brinley ate Peas this morning. Hence, the Puma bib. Her spit up missed the bib and landed right on her new dress. Score!!

Brinley eating Prunes. You can sort of tell our difficulty with feeding her. She LOVES her toes...and loves her toes even more when she is eating!!!!

New Blog

Hey Peeps!

I got a fabulous idea from a friend to create a second blog. Since going private does not allow you to see if we have made any updates, I thought that you could add this other blog to your list to keep track of any updates we do!

the new blog address:

http://www.meaganupdates.blogspot.com/

Thanks for supporting this decision! I know it is SUCH a hassle.

I love that you guys love us (or maybe just Brinley) as much as we love you!!!

Private

Hey Guys,

After much consideration, and a few really unfortunate battles of people hacking into our bank accounts and trying to apply for credit cards under our names...I have decided we need to go private. I am so tired of this happening to our family. I think it's for the best! So please...email me your email address and I'll get you added asap.

I'll go private THIS Sunday!

meaganbriggs3.gmail.com

Thanks guys!

Sleepy Baby

The older Brinley gets, the less cuddle time she allows.

Brinley is SO good about sleeping in her crib. We have trained her well.

I miss sleeping with Brinley. Every morning practically, I leave this:

Usually, Ryan is sound asleep right next to her. Brin wakes up around 5ish and I feed her and most mornings just keep her in bed with us. She sleeps much longer when she is in bed with us. I usually get up with a kink in my neck from sleeping a certain way because I'm afraid I'll knock her in the head with my elbow or do something else. I HATE leaving Brinley. I hate it. She is such a cute sleeper.

So basically what I'm saying is when I have a moment to cuddle Brin when she should be taking a nap in her crib...I don't care. She slept for 2 1/2 hours on me today. I took a snooze too. It was so refreshing! And yes, my arm was like that for 2 1/2 hours too. Didn't feel too good when she finally woke up.

Sorry Guys

My Mother informed me yesterday that I share too much of our daughters personal business. Sorry if I offended anyone...I just don't know what to do when she gets so backed up!!!

Yesterday, we had a fun day! Ryan and I took Brinley and Ryan's bro Stu down to Idaho Falls! Stu's wife Julie works at Red Robin so we went and ate dinner in her section. It was so fun to see Julie in action! She just started serving and she is so good. She's a natural! Ryan considered that our date night even though we had Brinley and Stu. Hey, anytime Ryan and I are out of the house, is a date.

We stopped by Baby Gap (of course) because I had a 30% off coupon! I was SOOO tempted to buying the whole Spring collection. BUT I resisted. But I did get this:

And Ryan got me this. We are so in love.

Phew

Okay. Brinley Pooped.

Phew....I can relax now. Victory!!

Oh! And Ryan got wait listed from William and Mary!!! We are really happy about it because they are the highest ranked school we applied to and it isn't a death sentence. We are confused because we got rejected from a 51 ranked school, and wait listed by W&M which is 28! Oh well. The system is wack. We could hear back anytime from now until August! And yes, if we got in, we would go!

For me, I'd rather live in Virginia than Florida! Virginia doesn't have giant Burmese Pythons!!!

Day 3

Day 3.

No poop.

(for brinley...)

Any suggestions? Ped said there isn't any concern since Brinley just started solids.

Sweet Pea

This week

Brinley has been super cute. More than her normal cuteness amount.

She has started rolling front to back. EVERYTIME...seriously...everytime we put her on her back, FLIP, there she goes...onto her tummy. She has been scooting her knees underneath which is making me a bit FREAKED that crawling will be starting within the next couple months. Yikes.

Well, Ryan and I are getting closer and closer to moving from Rexburg. We have made some serious accomplishments in the last 2 weeks. These have been my thoughts:

> Sold our apartment contract for the summer.

> I got my internship with a dentist 2 miles from my parents house. Awesome dentist=cush internship. I'm excited.

> Ryan's awesome job at Melaluca has helped us out SO much financially this semester.

> Brinley is So healthy. No colds. No nothing since her birth. What a HUGE blessing.

> Generous parents (on both sides) who support us 100% and love us (and they love Brinley more of course)

> Wonderful bro and sis-in-law who are so willing to help us whenever we need it. Love them. We'll miss you Stu and Julie!!

> Holy cow. Wonderful friends. I have been thinking more and more how LUCKY I am to have such wonderful friends. Ladies...you know who you are. Rexburg is a dark and cold place in the winter and we have helped each other get through it! Hooray for Springtime!

> My semester is only 4 weeks away from being done. Trust me, a Pedicure is planned. No worries.

We are planning on pulling out of Rexburg on April 15th for our drive to Chicago. Yes. The 3 of us. Scary! After staying a few days with Ryan's fam, we'll finish the drive to North Carolina. We're planning on being in NC on April 23rd. We thought about flying Brin and I to Chicago while Ryan drives solo, but our mothers said "We drove cross country with ALL of our children. You can do it with Brinley." So we are taking our Mother's advice and doing it. We are planning on 3 days of 8 hour driving (or more if Brin allows). Trust me. Lots of prayers on pulling into Chicago with complete sanity. 

Yes, one month from tomorrow we will be leaving Rexburg (hopefully for good).

Here are some cute pictures!

(Yes, that is a jumpsuit)

(I love the MILK!)

Where has the time gone!!! She is getting so big!!!

My accomplishment

I definitely didn't get that "nesting" vibe that some Mom's get prior to baby. Putting aside that Brin is hands down the cutest thing ever...she definitely needs accessories. What baby girl doesn't!?

She is known for spitting her binky out every 10 seconds. I was fed up with it! I'm glad the binky isn't glued to her mouth, but it would be nice if she did it onto clean surfaces and not in the bathroom, at church, in the kitchen sink...you get the picture.

I decided to take action and solve this problem. I found the how-to-guide on This and That blog (which I looove) and finished it last weekend!

We took some cute pics too.

(i love the back of her head, she is sooo cute)

{4 Months}

F O U R

things that I LOVE about Brinley:

1. She isn't quite at the laughing/giggling stage. But, she does this breathy sigh and response to my smiles. It is pretty funny. I am just sitting on the edge of my seat for that laugh. I swear it is ALMOST there. It is like she wants to laugh, but doesn't know how! She has done a few 'laugh squeeks' as I call them, but they are few and far between!

2. Her after 'poo' face is classic. She isn't the most regular girl so it is a fight if you know what I mean. She is SO relieved when it actually happens that she usually just sits there in total smiles and kicking like crazy.

3. She is SO strong. Holy cow. I am amazing at how strong her little body. She seems like a miniture gymnist or something. I can't believe that at 4 months, she is able to hold her head up so steady. She loves to stand and do 'baby squats' as my sister, Jill says. Don't get me wrong, she has baby chubs, but her chubs are thick. No flabs on this gal. She is starting to put her knees under her tummy! YIKES. That means crawling is right around the corner.

4. Morning cuddles with Brinley are the best. I miss out during the week since I am at class, but I love Saturday and Sunday morning cuddles. This past Tuesday, Ryan and Brinley cuddled until 9am. Not fair! I don't exactly enjoy getting up at 3am to feed her, but oh my goodness her cuteness is so worth it. She usually passes out right after she eats and I sometimes catch myself just cuddling with her for a few minutes. The quiteness of that early morning is unreal. I don't know how to describe it, but I just feel so close to Brinley during those quite moments.

Her Stats:

Weight: 12.10 lbs (24%)

Height: 25 1/4 inches (82%)

Head Cir: 16.1 inches

Brinley is long and skinny! I can't believe how long she is. No wonder why her 3-6 clothes are already getting too short. She did so good at the Pediatrition today. More shots and she barely cried! I am so proud of her. We also started rice cereal. She wasn't too sure about it. I think we'll have a better time with it tomorrow morning when she is more hungry.

It was such a nice day.

We went for a walk and enjoyed the sunshine! I hate being inside all day and poor Brinley doesn't know the outside world! Sadly, a nice day here is 40 degrees. Hooray North Carolina is only 6 weeks away!

Best video everrr

I can't believe how interactive Brinners is getting.

(Kirsten...I've adopted your nickname for Brin...I love it)

Found

Just found this beauty on my computer...

kindergarten school photo

Sad because I LOVED that red shirt.

..

there were matching red shorts too.

Visit from the {bff+future son-in-law}

Jessie and Max

came to Rexburg a couple weekends ago for a wedding and decided to stop by for a quick visit!

Max is 4 weeks older than Brinley. They are future...lovers. Basically, we would like to see these two end up together someday.

At Thanksgiving, Jessie, her hub Danny and Max came up to spend their time with family and stopped by to meet Brinley and for us to meet Max! (and to see them too...duh)

Thanksgiving! So little! Brinley is so shlumpy! I miss it!

Goodbye Winter...I hope!

This weekend was:

busy, fun, and sleep-less.

Why? Here are some reasons...

1. My Dad came into town! It was a random visit because he had a work thing at BYU so he decided to drive up for the weekend to hang with us!! Mostly to see his grand-daughter but I like to think I still have a place in my Dad's heart :-) He l-o-v-e-s Brin. They had morning cuddles, lots of smiles, and he sure helped me out!

(and he fixed my vaccum!!! Holy cow. He said it looked like a years worth of CRAP backed up in the tubes! Goodness!)

2. Ryan worked alllll weekend. At the end of every month, he sells his soul to the Devil named Melaluca. He worked 12-12 on Saturday. And unfortunately, that night Brinley decided that sleep was for losers and she was up every hour. O the joys....Basically, Ryan and I were walking Zombies at church. Sooo grateful my Dad was here to help out. At Church, I passed Brinley to my Dad during Priesthood/RS so I could enjoy a quiet meeting...and about 15 minutes before it ended, I heard a baby crying in the hall and I thought...wow that sounds like my child...and come to find out it was!! She needed her mommy. I always wondered if I would be able to know my baby's cry when I wasn't holding her or in the same house. It was semi gratifying :-)

3. HW!!!!!!!!! This past week almost killed me. With a meltdown on Monday annnnnnd Tuesday night, I was ready to quit. I worked on HW all weekend. Thankfully, Heavenly Father has blessed me with spiritual gifts that help me get through the day...and be able to function on verrry minimal sleep! When is April 9th again?

4. I gave Brinley a hair cut. Her har was so....long. I couldn't handle it anymore. Between the thick mullet patch in the back, the long thin strands all over, the bald spots, and the loooong top...It had to go! I just trimmed it all down and I think she looks adorable. It is still long, but just cleaned up!

Ryan and I have been super busy planning for the move next month. I can't believe it is already here. If I think about the million things on my list, I WILL FREAK OUT! Things are getting complicated, but like my Dad told me:

"You have your end goal, Florida State. (or UNC...). You just need to work out how to get there."

Brin is now 4 months old!
Her appt is on Friday so I'll post with her stats and fun info about this girl. She really is such a joy...even when she doesn't sleep!!