Ready For Summer

Basically, winter has not been so much fun for poor Briggy. He has basically been sick for 80% which is hard to believe considering he is not a day care baby.  So here is the count down:

• reflux/GERD diagnosis
• croup 5 times
• three ear infections
• two eye infections
• breathing steroid started two months ago
• second breathing treatment for possible asthma started this week

For a seven month old, he has been sick ALOT! His doctor said is has to do with three things. He is a reflux baby so he is more susceptible to respiratory illness, he is most likely asthmatic, and babies that get one respiratory illness at the beginnin gof winter will most likely get sick throughout winter. Great huh!? Well thank goodness it is sunny outside and warm and hopefully it is uphill from here!!

Since we travel so much and have so much sickness, sleeping is always an issue. As soon as we get a schedule down packed, we either go out of town or he gets sick. Right now, he has consistently been waking up two times a night. And what used to be a 10 min sleep routine to get him to bed, took a whopping two hours last night. Mamma was a little frustrated and a lot tired. Thanks a lot time change!

Enough complaining, we have exciting news: we finally found our next move! I am so excited! In may we are moving to a place in between edgewood and moriarty. Corey will get to finally bring his cows down and have them right by us. The house is a really cute little house on two and half acres, but basically NOBODY close to us and miles of rolling grassland. It is so pretty! We have a huge back porch with a big back yard, all grass, and big trees! Bella can run and Brigz and I can hang out outside. The downside is the drive for sure. It is about an hour to my mom's :( I don't mind driving, but my mom does so she is not very happy about the move. It'll be fun though!

I can't beleive our little guy is almost 8 months old! When I was little, I would tell myself I was officially a teenager when I turned 15 because I saw the older girls I showed horses with and they seemed so old at 15. Now that I have had a baby, I have told myself that 8 months old means a big baby. I am so in denial that Brigz is almost there :( He is doing the funniest things right now!

• He is a pro at putting in his own pacifier. Even if he gets it upside down he does a little spinny thing to get it back right.
• He waves hi and bye... 75% of the time
• He does a vaccumm crawl where he legs push him around with his forehead on the ground. I am surprised he doesn't get carpet burn.
• He all of a sudden hates food. All of it but breastmilk.
• He has more hair than I have seen on a baby his age. He probably has almost as many strands as I do on my head. And it is fluffy, like a baby chicken.  
• He flaps his wings like he is trying to fly all the time
• He opens his mouth over and over like a fish when he having fun
• He an already throw a fit
• When he wants me rock him, he rocks his body back and forth. He looks like he has failure to thrive, but it is totally the opposite problem.
• His favorite toy is a fake coffee pot from his cousin McKenna's toys.
• He thinks "boo" is the coolest word ever. If anyone says it to him he immediately cracks up
• His favorite things are: his cousin mason, my mom's dog Otis, his daddy's hair, my eyelashes, his Popz's glasses, my Betsy Johnson shower gel in the bath tub, his stroller, being outside, Bella.
• Every one says he is the most smiley baby they have ever seen. For being sick so often, he is definately a trooper. He is generally always in good mood despite ear infections and not being able to breath :(
• His hair is white. His eyes are really light blue. His skin is clear. Corey thinks he is an albino.
• He likes to do anything that is considered wild. He likes to be upside down, scared, tickled...
• He does two really funny faces: one where he smiles reaalllly wide and all you see is his bottom teeth and he scrunches his eyes and one where he opens his mouth and eyes really wide and screeches at the top of his lungs.

Basically he is perfect. Every thing he does, we are in love with him! Now that Corey is home and not out of town sunday-thursday, we feel like a little family again! I am so excited! I am working at the salon on wednesday now and my sister is watching the baby, and her kids too. She is super woman. God is good. Life is good.

So Sad!

The middle of the night wake ups, the crying from separation anxiety, the fussiness of teething... it all comes into perspective when you think about this poor family. If you go to this blog, you will read the devastating story of a little angel who went back home very early. My heart breaks for her parents who are so much stronger than I could ever be in that situation. Please pray for their family.

I love that when you type "Lubbock, TX" into the search on google images, you get pictures like this:

Farmland...

Football...

:( I wish my whole family would pick up and move to Texas!

6 1/2 Months

It is hard to believe that we have had Brigz for more than a half a year now. I remember being pregnant at this time last year and wondering what our baby would look like, whether it would be a boy or girl, and trying to imagine life as a mom. A year later, I am totally in love with our crazy little guy and our wild new life as parents!
A little about our life with Brigz now:

• He is officially only eating from a bottle for 3 out of his 5 feedings a day. The world is just too cool to sit and nurse in a quiet place with mom. It is much more fun to be able to play and look at things while eating. He eats about 6-8 oz at a time.
• He is eating two solid meals a day of veggies and fruits. His favorites are avocados, but a close second and third are sweet potatoes, mangos, and fresh apples in his food net. He sometimes will eat a lot, and sometimes has no interest in even a single bite. Once again, there are cooler things to do than sit and eat.
• He wants so stand all the time
• He can hold his belly off the ground but not for long. He doesnt seem interested in trying to crawl yet. He rolls all over the house so he already pretty mobile!
• He wants to look behind him a lot. He will go into a back bend to do it!
• He is still waking up and eating one to two times a night since he was sick. When I go in to check on him, he is STARVING. Like, tries-to-eat-my-face-off starving. So, Im not sure how I am supposed to get rid of the middle of the night feedings. I'm not going to starve my baby, soo.....
• He has two adorable little teethies. So cute.
• He can sit all by himself and when he falls over and face plants, he thinks its halarious. He thinks any time he bumps his head or gets hurt is halarious. Im not sure what that means about his personality?!
• He is bouncing up and down on all fours, but he has a hard time lifting his belly off the ground. He is a crazy roller already so I can't imagine him getting any more mobile. When he does, I am in so much trouble because he is so busy! The doctor asked if his middle name was "busy" because he tried to single handedly destroy her office. haha!
• Going to eat has become more difficult. He has already dumped a glass of water (I don't know where he gets that from...). And I have started to go to bed a little more tired at night because he is more active, which I LOVE!
• He is so snuggly and silly! His little personality is sooo funny! He is such a happy guy!
• He makes funny little noises with him mouth all the time now. One sounds like, "paw" and he opens his mouth wide. I will do it to him and then tell him to do it and he will! He also spits with his tongue on command and will copy a pattern if you smack a surface.
• We also have been at home for the past three weeks so he is on a great schedule. He takes naps so easy (even though they aren't always super long) and goes to sleep so easy.

I am loving being a mamma! he is my little guy and makes me so happy every day!

Is is the age or the teeth??

So in the past few days, there has been little to no consistency! The past two days he took two small naps (15 min tops). Today he has taken like five. He will crash out in my arms and when I go to lay him down, he wakes back up SCREAMING! He also started fit throwing today. Like body flayling, feet kicking, arms swinging, high pitch squealing fit throwing. hmmmm.

He is definately wild now! We went to Olive Garden yesterday and he dumped a glass of water on me and picked up everything on the table three times. My dad says he is the wildest, most active baby he has ever seen! We all just kept laughing because he is so busy right now! He is so close to crawling, which is bittersweet! Our house is so not ready for him to be mobile. He already has a fascination with outlets. Great. He sits up and rolls all over the house.

Hopefully tooth number two will make its great arrival so that Mr. Mood Swings will feel better soon :( I feel so bad for his little mouth!

Today is one of those days. The conditions today are just not right. First of all, I miss Corey. Then, little man didn't sleep very well last night... AGAIN (I'll get to this later). Then, the sun isn't out today which always makes for a gloomy day. AND, all these things lead to me pondering our next step.... which is a usual occurance. On Mondays I usually go to my moms and help her watch my neice and nephew. We have fun, I get to get out of the house, I get to wear sweats all day, and Brigz is entertained by Mason so it is a good transition day from the wekend. Well  McKenna is sick with possible strep so we are staying home. I tried to get out of the house, but man, we are both too tired and mommies who are in zombie status should not go out into public.

Since Brigz had his major bout with croupe and an ear infection a couple weeks ago, sleep has been an issue. He is cutting tooth #2 and is having a crazy growth spurt right now and is eating every 1.5-2 hours. A combo of being spoiled, lack of a consistent schedule with Corey out of town, plus tooth and growth spurt, has made for a non-sleeping baby and mama. We have had probably two or three good nights of sleep in the past three week. And they still weren't great nights. Now in the past few days, his every 3 hour nap schedule has turned into one long nap and one or two ten minute cat naps. I have no clue. It is 3:00 pm and still no nap for the little guy today. We have slept the same amount and I am exhausted so I have no clue how that little body is still goin! So my plans of P90X and a nap for myself are looking not too good right now. He isn't cranky or upset, so I shouldn't complain except for that I am cranky and upset! haha!

So about the whole "next step" idea. Ugghhh life is so much more complicated than I thought it would be when I was 8 years old with plans to be a dentist, live in texas, and have lots of babies with an adorable hubby. The only thing that has panned out from my dreams as a kid is the hubby part. He is my prince :) And we made an absolutely perfect baby boy who is our whole world. So really, the rest doesn't matter at all and thank God for unanswered prayers! I am so glad I am not in dental school right now because I know that wasn't me. But where Corey and I get frustrated is figuring out when/ where our next step is going to be. Our pastor said, "You learn more in the waiting rooms of life than you do when you get to where you were waiting for." I know that we are learning something right now and I am loving every minute of our life, but I seriously don't want to live in this track home any longer!!!

So please keep us in your prayers for more zzz's and for "the next step" because our lease is up in May!!

Back on the map

Well I am finally back.... it has been quit a trip while away from Bloggerville. I have a lot of catch up to do on what has been going on in the life of the Bells.

• Christmas was AMAZING and so much more fun than I ever even thought it would be with a 5 month old. Even though he didn't totally 'get' the idea of Christmas, he loved the paper and was in the best mood ever! He never even fussed or cried all day. Seriously! My in laws came in for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and it was the first Christmas ever that Corey and I woke up at our own house since we have been married. Waking up on christmas morning to a new baby has to be the best present from God ever! aaannndddddd.... Brigz started sleeping through the night the week before Christmas and through the next week which was awesome!

• On New Years, we ventured to Clovis to spend time with Corey's side. New years eve was so fun and of coarse we stayed up late. Mr. Brigz decided to be a party animal and stay up all night also... after two weeks of wonderful sleep, a sleepless night felt really rough! We had a great weekend. Monday Corey was supposed to go out of town, so Shelley and I decided that Brigz and I were going to stay in Clovis so we could spend more time with the family. On Wednesday night, Brigz caught croup... again. Yes that is the 3rd time he has had it. I literally slept 15 minutes. Poor baby. He just cried and cried. Thank goodness for my mother in law who helped me so much. The next day we came back to ABQ and spent a few more sleepless nights.
• I took him to the doctor who explained what is going on with our little guy. Since he has GERD, his esophagus is inflamed more often which makes him more prone to respiratory sickness. He is also more mucous-y so he has more a chance of catching every little thing that comes his way. Since he keeps getting croup, they are worried he might have an issue with his bronchial tubes... possibly pre-asthmatic. He also was cutting two teeth at once and had a bad ear infection. All this equals a very fussy baby :( So now two weeks, an antibiotic, two breathing treatments a day, lots of baby orajel, and one little tooth later, we are doing much better! Now if tooth number 2 would hurry and get here, we would be in better shape!!
• We went back to Clovis this past weekend and it went smoother! there are quit a few things I have learned in the past three weeks:
• Brigz likes his routine, his bed, and his house, very much. I always wanted a baby that would go with the flow and be okay with staying out late and traveling. Brigz likes a bath a 7 and to be asleep at 7:30 pm in his own crib. Otherwise, mama is not gonna get much sleep.
• Abbey and Brigz need daddy. Life without him makes both of us grumpy butts. I give single moms so much credit. Even though my daddy taught me how to do things on my own and be tough, my life relies on Corey. If a light bulb goes out, I am like, "crap, Corey needs to fix that". haha! Simply put, I have an awesome hubby who happens to be the best daddy ever too :)
• The world is to exciting to nurse from mom. Brigz has decided unless the room is completely silent, there are no bright lights or ceiling fans, and mom doesn't have to sneeze or cough, he wants nothing to do with me! Therefore, the breastpump has had to become my friend... and I am not too happy about it. But you do what you gotta do. Since I had the cyst scare last June in my breast, I am supposed to nurse for 12 months to decrease my risk of breast cancer. So it looks like the pump better become my BEST friend quick. bummer.
• My baby is only happy in ABQ. When we go to Clovis, he is a grump. It makes me so sad because everyone probably thinks our kid is cranky. He seriously can go a whole day without getting upset here and he will not quit crying when we are in Clovis :( it probably goes hand in hand with not sleeping much.
• And I have learned that six months goes by way too fast!!! next week, our little guys will be six months old. I can't beleive it! I am so glad God blessed us with him and with a good doctor that brought him here because if we would have lost him in July, our life would not be filled with the joy of him!

I am going to be better about blogging now that life won't be as hectic. I am grateful for our healthy boy!

p.s. I am selling kalencom diaper bags for 20% off if anyone wants one, let me know!