Miss B's weekend in pictures

After a long day at Target, Brinley watched Thomas the Train on Netflix and I napped. It was heaven. We stayed like this together for almost an hour. (yes, it really is warm enough to be wearing shorts and tees...it was in the 80's all weekend!!)

Cute new sandals from Payless! I want these in every size as she gets bigger. She hasn't complained at all with the in between toe thing! They fit her perfectly.

Upstairs getting ready for bath. Our ghetto "nursery chair" is stripped down by Brinley. She has now taught herself how to climb onto the chair by herself and will do it every chance she gets. Whenever we say bath time, she races upstairs to read her bedtime books. Getting into the bath lately has been hard, but after a minute of playing, she loves bath time.

I swear, the chair is usually really cute and comfy. Someday we'll afford actual nursery furniture! Keeps us humble!

Brinley wanted to get inside the toy box. She took all of her toys and put them inside around her. She loved it! 

Lunchtime! Grilled cheese and broccoli. Aren't her pigtails cute???

Snack before bed. Strawberry yogurt. She loves feeding herself but most of it ends up all over her face and hands. She's sure cute trying so hard!!

Here's the photo of the week. Brinley LOVES playing in our "ghetto" pantry. The cans are on the bottom two shelves and she loves to take them out, play with them, stack them, etc. She started crying and I ran over, saw what happened (grabbed the camera), and snapped a few shots. She had gotten herself stuck. I am SUCH a BAD MOM! I laughed SOOO hard. She was so upset that she had gotten stuck. All I have to say is, stay out of those cans and maybe it won't happen again!!! But, the next day, she was at it again.

Plate licking good!

Truth Tuesday

I didn't brush my teeth until 11:30am today. One day last week, 2pm. Yep.

I wish it was just me and Brin, everyday.

Ryan busts out the most random comments. "You know who has a great voice? Pink." (ahh oookay babe)

and he said, "I've always really liked that Lady Marmalade song." (WHAT!?)

I love keeping secrets.

Okay, I guess I spilled that secret about Ryan, but really, to show how manly he is, he knows EVERYTHING about sports. We watched the NBA all-stars all weekend on TNT. I loved it. It is fun to see him get so hipe about sports.

Right now, cooking dinner is a CHORE. I'd rather order out every night.

I ate a yogurt last night at 11pm in bed.

I wish my nannying gig was more fun. I know it's work, but really, I shouldn't be stressing this much!

I've been getting headaches everyday for the past two weeks. Not sure why...I usually know the triggers of my headaches, but right now, I am baffled!

I haven't had ONE sip of diet coke in over two months. I had a two week caffeine hangover with headaches everyday. It was the WORST. I don't even crave diet coke anymore. No really, it makes me sad. Diet coke was like, my bff.

Pretty sure Ryan and I say "Brinley, you are so cute" over a hundred times a day. I can't help it! She is darling. I love seeing her little personality blossom. She cracks me up. She is saying lots of words right now and it just makes me laugh. She repeats words back, but really, they all sound the same. But she tries SO hard to say them.

I feel bad, I judge everyone on The Bachelor. But isn't that reality TV is for??

I've been reading my scriptures everyday without fail for 30 days straight. I have a calendar where I check off if I did it or not. I know, sooooo elementary, right??? It WORKS. and with it as important as scripture reading, I am sticking to it!

I honestly have to take our situation one day at a time. If I'm not stressing about school and our future, I'm stressing about money. I know being in school is the right thing to do, trust me, I KNOW. But, it is a daily battle getting through it.

I feel isolated and alone for some of the day. It's hard staying home with kids and not having a chance to leave if we wanted to. I miss having adult interactions!

But, I wouldn't trade it for anything. With all the stress, tears, lonely times, we are building a future. And THAT is much more important than anything I'm doing. We are building something bigger than ourselves and I can't wait for our life after school.

I'm really trying to be more optimistic and go with the flow because I've realized that when I stress constantly about EVERYTHING, I just dig a big hole for myself. It doesn't get us anywhere. I've noticed a change in myself, so I think it's working!

Was I honest enough?

78 degrees

The summers may be killer, but the winters are magical.

Yesterday, 80. 

Today, 78.

Sunday, 78.

I mean, COME ON. Yesterday we went for a walk. Today, we played outside. It was awesome!! I have never lived in a place that frequently has temperatures over 70 degrees in February. I guess this isn't a norm, but STILL. I am not complaining.

But, at this rate, it will be well into the 100's in April. Sooo lets just enjoy the nice temps, and then go back to normal weather next week, okay??

So, maybe you guys can come visit?

{the dress} but improved!

I lengthened the hem by putting a white fabric strip (with a faint white polka dot) on the bottom. It turned out SO cute! I am SO happy that I did. I think it really cleans up the dress and makes it more formal instead of relaxed.

(next idea, finding white bummies)

--

Do you see her bandaid? Poor girl skinned her knee while we went for a walk yesterday. She loves to try and take it off :-) I love it too.

A Ryan Shirt to a Brinley Dress!!

The idea just came to me when after a few weeks debating if Ryan and I actually liked a certain shirt of his. Navy gingham. Come ON! Gorgeous. For some reason, it just didn't fit right. Actually, I know why, but he made me promise that I wouldn't reveal it on the blog. Ooookay :-)

So, I had an old shirt of Brinley's that fit her up top, but shrunk and was just too tight on her chubby belly. I should have gotten a 18 month size but I was desperate, and honestly, I don't think I had enough fabric from the shirt to make a dress any bigger.

Here's the shirt. From Target. 

Here is "the questionable shirt." It is a cotton flannel. Surprisingly really easy to sew with. I thought it would stretch like jersey, but it was great! ahhh I thought about tailoring it down to fit me, but honestly, I could not get the idea out of my head of cute Miss B wearing a navy gingham dress. To DIE FOR!!!!

I cut the shirt APART. Tried to salvage as much from the biggest parts as possible. I actually needed more fabric than I anticipated so I am grateful I just didn't go ca-razy with the scissors. I measured as I went and made sure the pieces were lined up (almost perfectly). I had a larger piece from the center of the shirt, and then two on each side that were probably...7 inches wide from the shirt front panels. I sewed both sides to the middle. Cut it down into a rectangle. Maybe about 15 inches long, I don't know...30 inches long? I didn't record the measurements, sorry!

I have NO idea how I did it, but I set my machine to what I thought was just a gathering or to lengthen the stitch, thinking I was going to have to pull my thread to gather it. ANd LOW and BEHOLD...It gathered it for me!!!!!!!!!! I was freaking out. I had no idea what I was doing to get this beauty so perfectly!

So I took a pic of the stitch info. 8 on the round turn-y guy on top, and my stitch length 5.0. I usually set mine at 3 and 2.5.

I sewed the raw edges together to finish the skirt portion.

Here is the skirt portion.

I cut, maybe 3-4 inches from the bottom. Just where I thought it should be.

Turn the shirt INSIDE out and the skirt RIGHT side out, and pin the shirt to the top part of the skirt,

Sew it together, and pull out the gathering stitches. Seriously, SO easy as to what I thought when I started this process.

I made a double hem. Iron 1/4 inch down, then fold over again and pin, and stitch!!!

Final product! It is SO cute. I am debating whether to do something with the navy buttons that came with the shirt. I probably won't do anything unless you lovely ladies inspire me!!

And....Miss B in her new summer dress!!!

(I already need to tweak the hem because...umm...it's short. I mean, she could get away with it with some bummies over her diaper OR leggings, but I know I have at least an inch that I can get on the hem, so I'm going to try to fix that first)

Tuesday dinner time

Even when I have a long day watching Brinley and the 'other' baby, I still love to have my family time at dinner time. I am SO exhausted when Ryan gets home and the THOUGHT of making dinner makes me just want to lay on the floor and pretend like I'm dead. Tonight, canned soup. It was actually really good. After our HUGE meal last night, we weren't up for another elaborate meal. 

One of Brinley's favorite things is feeding you her dinner. She is getting to be a PRO at using her spoon. She ate a whole bowl of yogurt by herself today!

I just LOVe her face in this pic!

and of course, reading books with Daddy. Brinley screams the second she hears the door knob open when Ryan comes home from school. "Dadddddddddyyyyyy!!!!" 

Sometimes it sounds like "Didddddyyyy!"

Tune in tomorrow! I have a KILLER dress that I made (all by myself!!!) and I am SO excited to share it with yall!

V-day, Briggs style

I know Valentine's Day isn't completely over yet, but when you're a wife of a first year law student, the party ends early! 

Ryan and I would be the first to admit that neither one of us likes to elaborate Valentine's Day. Why spend extra money on weird teddy bears and gross chocolates? Just because someone designated a specific day? Ask me in 10 years when we are out of school, working, and have money to spend on each other....then I maaaay want something more....sparkly shall we say.....BUT, right now, We are card givers. I really wasn't expecting any flowers, buuut of course, Ryan came home from class early, knocked on the front door, and when I opened the door, he gave me a cute smile and handed the bouquet towards me. It was great. Especially after a long day. Post Sunday's are always rough with kids.

Ryan's thing for V-day is to make me dinner. He didn't really even have to ask. He knows that I'm a steak and mashed potatoes kind of girl. So, Ryan whipped up yuuummy marinated steaks, mashed potatoes, an awesome blue cheese topped salad, and for dessert, Key Lime Pie. Ooooo baby. 

Brinley helping Daddy in the kitchen. She's wearing her V-day heart pants!

Me and Brin enjoying our salad! Well, she was eating apples and raisins.

Ryan's plate! He cooked the steaks on the George and they turned out PERFECT! Even mine at really really well done :-)

"I'm so tired I need to go to bed but I loooove mashed potatoes and juice!!!!!"

Ate it ALL! So yummy!

While we were cleaning up and waiting to bring Brinley up to bed, I found her like this. Can you even believe this is my child??? 

THIS is love. 

What a way to end the day by watching The Bachelor! WOOOO!

Love you Ryan. Thanks for everything, babe :-)

Sunday Fishing

Brinley was sad to see the "fishing game" go to her bff Greta for her birthday, so I just had to get it for her over the weekend. I didn't think she would try the fishing rod, but her first attempt at it was perfect. I could not believe her patience. She definitely got that from Ryan.

Enjoy!!!



Breakfast of Champions!

I'm learning more and more everyday that Brinley is a big girl who has opinions.

She complained all through breakfast and kept pointing to the left over cupcake from our play date yesterday.

After about 15 minutes, I threw up my hands and gave her the cupcake.

These days Brinley might stand still for a picture for 2 seconds.

And every other shot looks like this. She is moving non-stop!

We've had a great weekend so far. Nothing too exciting. We went to the mall last night and Brinley played at the play-place. It was a great way for her to get out of the house and get out some of her wiggles before bed. She is waking up later and later during the day so I'm thinking she is slowly kicking her 2 naps a day thing.

Last night after Brinley went to bed, Ryan and I turned on the TV to watch a movie. Of course, only Ryan movies were on. So I made a deal, if you play with my hair, I'll watch the movie with you. So, after him playing with my hair for 2 hours, I took a nice 2 hour nap!!! We made that trade off right after we got married, and it has been amazing ever since. We spend time together, Ryan gets to watch his movie, and me. I get my hair played with. Best. Idea. EVER!

Ryan has been studying all day so when Brinley wakes up, we are taking off for a mommy and Brinley date!

PS. Thanks for all the support with the Etsy store fiasco! Much appreciated!



You wanna know what?

I think I like gifting my headbands more than selling. 

I just feel pressure with my Etsy store! Everyone else makes cuter stuff than me and you know what? I really like giving away my works to babies that I just KNOW will rock it. It is nice to know who will receive and wear it. Ya know?

Am I totally lame for bailing out? I only had that shop for not even 3 weeks. No sales. But it's not even that. It just seemed like a hassle to create a bunch at first to post and wait and wait and wait to see if anyone would want to buy them.

What's funny is that my Mom is going to open a store to FINALLY sell her quilts and other random creations. If you know my Mom, she is ahhhh semi-Amish, without ya know, actually being Amish? I have been telling her for YEARS that she needs to sell them. She is SOO talented!! She does everything by hand, which is amazing in itself. I want to start a quilt but I am so intimidated! So, she is gonna give it a go. I'll let ya know when she actually opens shop!

So right now, we're just gonna go with:

creating headbands because it is FUN and not a job.

Wait, let me get the camera!



out

of

CONTROL!!!

But, I sure love her and her wild-ness.

(and can't wait for more words other than those whiny grunts)

First date in....20 months

Our friends started this baby sitting swap thing where every Friday of the month, a family is designated to babysit. Today was the first go at it and we decided to go out. After a long day here at the house, I wasn't too excited to go out, but I am SO glad we did. Ryan and I were trying to think when just Him and I went out for DINNER last. Not a short lunch date. Not a date to Walmart. Not a date to Dick's, a dinner date.

Isn't that sad? We think it's been almost 2 years. I mean, we've probably gone to dinner, but not like a dress-up feel fancy eating high class food kinda dinner. I've realized that it is SO easy to let the dating take a back seat. We are so caught up with our school and parenting responsibilities. We still need to nurture our relationship daily.

We got a rebate card from Verizon a few weeks ago and thought to spend it wisely, like on diapers or random household stuff that always falls on the same trip (why is that?). Instead, we decided to go out for dinner and fill our "date battery." 

Of course Brinley did marvelous at our friends house. There were 3 other kids and Brinley just goes NUTS when she's in a new house with new toys. She loves it. Plays non-stop. 

I am SO glad we went. We had suuuuch a wonderful time. The food had a high-class southern inspired feel. Ryan got the Wood Fire Pork Porter House with collard greens and mashed potatoes and I got a 12 oz sirloin with broccoli and a twice baked potato. Both were ammmmazing. There are So many great things on the menu and it is totally reasonably priced. 

We are already planning on taking my parents when they visit over spring break. 

Basically what I'm saying, I am thrilled we are doing the babysitting swap with our friends. It provides free babysitting and a MUCH needed outing for mommy and daddy. Brinley loves playing with her friends too! And second, I forgot how much I loved just being alone with Ryan and holding hands in public like we were just married. 

Babe, lets not go another 20 months before we go out to a nice dinner again, okay??

And the winner is....

According to Random.org, out of 37 entries, the winner is.....

#9!!!!

Laura said...

Such a cute barrette!
good luck with your etsy shop!

This was fun, huh??? Thanks for entering! I'll be sure to do another giveaway soon!

(I'll be emailing you for your address today!)

Three things this week

Brin seriously makes me laugh all day long.

She has turned into a jabbering toddler that needs to be doing something ALL. THE. TIME. For the love child, why don't we just sit together???

Well, there are only three things that we do during the day where she sits.

#1 we read books together. She brings me books all day long and wants to sit on my lap. I say, "Do you want me to read this to you?" She goes, "Ya" (while nodding her head 5 times). "Okay okay, sit down on my lap". She usually sits down on my knee and slides into my lap. I laugh SO hard when she tries to repeat words back to me. and I LOVE it when she tries to eat the food when it is pictured in the book.

Brinley loves to be in the kitchen with me. While I was at the Dollar Store the other day, I saw a pack of magnet alphabet letters. I thought she would stand there all cute at the fridge and put words together. Instead, she loves to flick them all over the house and push them on the ground. ummmmm...next time, Do NOT buy anything alphabet. I have 3 sets of abc things (26 items x 3 sets....shoot me).

#2 watching Spot. "Spaaaaaa" times that by 100 times while watching that short 30 minute DVD.

#3 eating. Apparently Brinley really liked what we had for dinner on Tuesday, because on Wednesday at lunch, she licked her plate clean. I'm happy at least one person in this house likes left-overs because I always have a hard time with it.

Also, I am THRILLED about this. My bff Julia is trying to help me with my home decor battles. And I saw that she did this awesome piece of art for her daughter's nursery and I just HAD to have it (picture frame on left). And then I FINALLY captured a picture of Brinley's profile that was peeerfect for a silhouette frame. Julia, again, transformed it while keeping Brin's hair bow pink. Toootally Brinley, huh? I hung the frames up in her bedroom tonight. They look ah-mazing.

Oh, and I did a post on Belly Mamas today! Check it out!