Dr Seuss knew what he was talkin' bout

Today we are being hermits. Locking ourselves in the house, watching movies, singing songs- just some good ol' Mommy and Briggy time.

Sometimes I wish that God had given me a little tougher skin. My whole life I have lacked the "feisty" characteristic. Instead, I tend to be quit the push over and people pleaser. Unfortunately, you can't please everyone you encounter, and that is when I was just a little feisty or could at least stand up for myself without feeling like I could possibly be maybe hurting their feelings.

In the past couple months, I feel like God is somehow trying to teach me something. I've had to deal with issues with people a couple times and let me tell you, that is not my forte. I would prefer my life to go in peace 100% of the time. I very much dislike drama or or problems. I have a "fix it" personality and I don't believe in talking about things behind someone's back. I believe in addressing the issue head on... In the kindest way possible. Oi. I never want to regret something I did or said so I try to take he higher road. But oh how I wish I could say what I really think and be as mean as so many people can be.

I have this awesome notepad (if you know me, you know that I LOVE stationary and I extra LOVE making lists, list, lists) that I got in Florida last year. Every page has a super cute quote on the bottom that tears off. A couple weeks ago, I tore off the quote by Dr Seuss that says,
"be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind".
Pretty good huh? Well I happened to put that up on our chalkboard frame this last weekend. Just in time. Just in time for me to need it. Why oh why does God have to be so good at how he teaches us these valuable lessons?

I had an issue with a client this week. I have NEVER had an issue with a client before. They are "always right" right? Well what if they are totally absolutely wrong? Well they are still right. Bummer. It is affecting me so bad! Any time things aren't totally right, I can't sleep and it controls my thoughts. I wish I could be tougher and things wouldn't bother me. I wish I didn't have so much patience sometimes. I wish I could say my opinion with out feeling terrible afterwards.

All I can ask is that God guides my mouth and my actions. And so far he has. But man, life can be rough sometimes :( good thing I have my little munchkin to keep me happy.

Date Night <--- Thanks To Cici and Papa

Briggy spent his very first night at Cici and Papas last night! He is in love with his grandparents and was so excited! Corey and I spent our Valentines day celebrations early since he will be gone this next week. We have only been out just us two one time before since Brigz was born, so it was much needed.

We went rock climbing at Stone Age and had a blast! I love getting a work out while bonding and trying something new with Corey. Corey was not surprisingly awesome and I definitely think we will do it again!!

Then Corey surprised me with going to Marcellos Chophouse. I have been wanting to try it for a long time, and it was soooo good! I am sure I consumed a ridiculous amount of calories, but well worth it!!

Then we decided to go dance a few songs and get to bed fairly early... NOT. We should know that wouldn't happen. We went to DB and Jo Seth Savage and Granger Smith were playing. Corey grew up with Jo Seth, so when we saw him, we ended up staying and talking and dancing til 130am. That's late/early for me!!

So now it's the next morning. We had a blast. Corey went to check cows while I am able to do some uninterrupted cleaning. Aaannnddd I finished in like 30 min. Seriously. It is crazy when you don't have a little guy begging for a sippy or a snack how much you can get done!

My mom said brigz did great and didn't miss us. hmmm bittersweet! So now I am waiting on Corey and I am soooo bored. My conclusion: I live alone time with my hubby, but our little guy definitely completes our family. I miss him so much when he is gone! I am so blessed to have such wonderful people around us to help watch our munchkin:)

My favorite mommy moment (so far)

Since Brigz has been such a chatterbox lately, Corey and I have really been trying to get him to say "I love you". He has been being a stinker about it and will just smirk and not even try to say it.
But yesterday at my moms, while in the middle of coloring, looked at me and said "love you mommy". My heart melted. Then again today, right after a time out in the middle of wal mart, I told him to say sorry and give me a kiss (like we do) and he kissed me and said "I love you mommy" clear as day!!! I think he can have whatever he wants the rest of the day.
It's crazy how these sweet moments make we want another one. CRAZY I know!! I had a check up at the doctor yest and he told me to start thinking of my options for the next baby- as far a c section or vbac. Even though the idea normally scares the chiles out of me, I actually got excited thinking of us a family of four.
BUT don't get any crazy ideas!! It won't be happening for a while!!

One Whole Year and One Half of a Year... wow

I can't believe our little guy is already 18 months old. I feel like he is still our little baby, but I guess he is more a toddler now :( Sometimes when I am rocking him, it freaks me out how long his little body is. He used to be soooo tiny and now is so big. Every day he does something new. Says something new. It is so crazy how fast it flies. Here on some stats on Briggy Banana.

• he will say anthing we tell him to say. HOWEVER, it doesn't sound exactly the same. In fact, we sometimes wonder where he comes up with his "version" of the word. For example, my mom is "Cici" and he calls her "Yii Ya". When he says it, it sounds similar to Cici, but still not the same. it makes me laugh! But other things he says are perfectly clear. He says lots of sentences right now like "did ya see that"? <---Which is my favorite,  "I want that", "That's all mine" (Thanks to his cousin kenna for that one, haha), "That is yuck", "Where arrrrrre you", and a few more. He finally calls me "mama" but lately it has turned into "Mommy" which I love. He definately says it very, very, very often though! He probably has about 75+ words in his vocabulary right now, but not everyone would understand what he is saying.
• He says the animal noises and names of horse, cow, sheep, dog, cat, elephant, bird, rooster, and goat.
• He knows how to say and point to his head, hair, cheeks, eyes, eyelashes, shoulders, lips, mouth, tounge, teeth, nose, arms, fingers, hands, knees, feet, toes, shoes, pants, shirt, hat.  
• He is trying really hard to potty train. I am trying really hard to not push it. He will go every time we sit him down on the potty. He will even turn red making himself go when he doesn't need to. But I am struggling with how hard to push it. I don't think he totally gets the understanding of it all yet. Especially the pee part. TMI?? So I don't want to push it at all, except yesterday, he brought his potty into the living room, sat on it, and pooped in his diaper. I think he gets the concept, but only part of the time. I would just prefer to not pack diapers with us when we go to Ireland this summer, so hopefully we can get it done before then.
• He is testing out every aspect of disipline right now. And I am spent. The past few days have been really good. But man, in two seconds his little mood can change and he will get so mad and start chucking what ever is in sight and wailing on me! Sooooo he goes to time outs. He spends a lot of time in time outs! Restaurants, check out lines, middle of the store, next to a fence outside, you name it. And talk about strong willed. Whoo. I knew I would pay for my raising. They didn't call me Hurricane Abbey for no reason.
• He is a little piglet right now! He is eating so well. We get surprised when he wolfs down his dinner because we are soo not used to it! It puts my mind so at ease knowing he is getting enough calories.
• He is also sleeping really well. I had to get a little tough again (sigh) and we also changed the sound on his noise machine and it seemed to do the trick. He is totally self soothing and not relying on sippys or mommy to go back to sleep. We even went to clovis this last weekend and he slept in the crib the whole time. He always has slept with us when we go out of town because he gets so scared.
• He is still a string bean. But an adorable one. He is growing up and out of jeans so fast!! He is in 24 month/2T pants for the length but the waist is not even close. He would seriously probably wear 9months for his waist. His tops are 18-24 month for his body length but very large around his belly and shoulders because he very narrow. He finally made the jump to size 4 diapers which I thought would never happen. I thought he would be in threes until we were done with potty training.
• His favorite things to do are being outside (even if it is 20 degrees and 60 mph wind), checking boos (cows), read, watch 5 minutes at a time of Fresh Beat Band, color, paint, climp, jump, dance and run.
• My favorite thing he does right now is sing. He closes his eyes, sways back and forth, and makes a funny noise that sounds similar to "llaaaaa, yaaaaa woooo yaaaa heeee lllaaaaa".

so little

so big

We are so in love with our little wild monkey! Even if he does wear me out, there is nothing else I would rather be doing than spending my days with him. The kisses and hugs and "mommy"s make all the fits worth it. 

Over it, sad and tired

Well it is 1:30 AM. And I am awake. Wide awake. Because for the last 3 nights, Brigz Foster has decided that he wants to be awake from 12:15 to 3:15. It's like clock work. And the most depressing thing I have ever heard.

For 12 months of this kid's life, he has been s.p.o.i.l.e.d. to say the least. After almost losing him, every little peep he made, I was up and at his crip calming him, nursing him, rocking him, whatever the baby wanted to feel safe. At 12 months, I got tired of being awake ALL night long, and decided it was time for some "sleep training". I taught him to go to sleep by himself (which was crazy hard), and then eventually got him sleeping thru the night. Now at 17 months, which has definately been the hardest age for me mentally during the day, the nights have become equally hard.

All day, he is testing his boundaries. He is constantly trying new things and seeing my response. When it is a good thing, life is great. We can both play and have fun. When it is a "bad" thing, he will test me over an over to get my response. He is THE most strong willed kid I have ever met. I have read countless parenting books and websites now, and there doesn't seem to be a "Brigz" response to anything. I think my next purchase is "The Strong Willed Child." I want him to know his boundaries without breaking his spirit, or ever feeling bad about himself. I want him to feel loved all the time, and it is hard to feel like I am doing the right thing when the kid could literally spend all day in time out if I chose to fight every battle. I desperately, DESPERATELY miss the days of fun, coos, and oos, when I never had to be the bad guy at all.

I pick my battles. I think we both might go crazy if I nagged at him all day. But for the past month, I have been saying, "God knows what he is doing, because my days are mentally draining, but he sleeps 13 hours at night so he must be giving me a break." Well, wrong. He is now waking up all night long so we are both a tired mess during the day.

When he wakes up at night, he screams for me. It is so hard and breaks my heart every time. I go in, get him calm, and leave again. So he knows he is "safe" but also that "it is bed time". It is working terribly the past few nights. Keep your fingers crossed, that this is just a phase and that he will be able to sleep well (for the both of us soon). It is crazy how much sleep affects your daily life. I can only imagine in a tiny little body that is already so confused and frustrated with trying to figure out how to communicate and learn every day life.

Life has been reallllllly good. Corey has been home and I feel like a "real" person when he is here. i swear I fall in love with him all over every day. He melts my butter :)

So brigz and I have been busy with our daily chores of checking cows, cleaning floors, laundry, and play, play, play. Sometimes I feel like a merry go round with the monotony of my every day, but it is worth every second. I try to keep up with my extremely messy child, but I usually just give into the mess so that I can enjoy my time with him. Because catching him on a happy note has been a challenge lately!! With the new arrival of four little pearly whites, we have Oscar the grouch living with us. He is always in the edge of an utter meltdown and any little thing will tip him over. He is the most strong willed little person I have ever met so I am trying to find the balance between teaching him discipline and not breaking his spirit. Oi. He could live in time out if I were to fight every battle. On the flip side, he is the sweetest most snugly little guy. After a time out he comes over an wants a kiss and hug and then typically repeats the exact thing he was just put into time out for.

We are happy to be debt free!.... But I'm thinking it is not gonna last long:( I busted a part off my car yesterday mud bogging (aka driving out of our drive way) so keep ur fingers crossed that it doesn't cost an arm and leg.

I majorly have the baby bug right now. Maybe I'm missing a sweet little baby that i don't have to discipline I don't know. Or maybe it is just pinterest and all the adorable baby nurseries:)

Here is our messy living room at the end of the day. Eek

Random, Random, Random

Soooo much to talk about!

First of all, we went to Las Vegas last week for the NFR and we had a blast! We went with our college friends Kevin and Amanda Burns and JC and Cheyenne Bouse. All of us left our little ones at home, which was heartbreaking and awesome at the same time. It was great to get to spend some MUCH NEEDED time with Corey and to get to let loose with some great friends.

Brigz did great. He stayed in Clovis and I am not even sure he noticed we were gone. I thought that once he didn't have his mamma he would realize how much I do for him and miss me like crazy and hug me and love me when he first saw me. Haha... wrong! He is still a definite Daddy's boy to the max.

Since we have been home, Corey continues to be out of town. I am not doing so well by myself :( I could NEVER be a military wife. I give those women credit. I am not cut out to be with out my other half.

We are in another crazy blizzard. We already have about five inches on the ground and it is only 1pm. So Briggy and I are spending a day in the house (pretty typical) and staying warm. I am feeling sorry for myself without Corey :( Brigz loves all the snow!!

Brigz is being a total maniac lately! I half way love it, but always hate it because I am having to be the disciplinarian. Bummer. I am reading books on how to approach and handle these situations, but right now it feels like total chaos. I am just trying to be consistent.... which is not my forte.

He is talking up a storm and my favorite words he says are macaroni "kikoi" and oreo "oweeoooo". very healthy choices right?! He is eating very well, but still doesn't seemed to have gained any weight. I think he may have broke to 20 pound mark which would be huge! He has grown up, though! He is in all 18 or 24 month pants for the length, but probably a 9 month waist would fit him. Last doctors apt said that he is in the 80th % for height and off the charts for weight. String bean!

We have applied for our passports to go to Ireland next summer! Woo hoo! It was expensive for our passports and now it is time to save, save, save for the actual trip! We are so excited!

I don't know what is worse right now.... baby fever or horse fever. I decided that I want to get back into showing because I really miss it. I want to just do reining and it is going to have to be when the kids are all in school. Corey is out of town too much for me to be able to ride while having a little munchkin running around. The problem is, I don't know if I can wait another 5 years +!! I found a cute little buckskin on craigslist and I keep dreaming of him! I want him so bad! In God's time, I know we will be able to get all our dreams back on track. This whole 20's business of figuring out life's plans is so frustrating and draining! I love our little life so much right now, but it is so hard to not dream for the future.

I am in a God draught right now. I haven't been able to go to church in 3 weeks and have just been listening to podcasts of Todd Cook, but it just isn't the same. I need to sit and read the word instead of blogging! I know when I am needing more God because I start feeling just all wrong. Life gets crazier and I know he is reminding me to talk to him. Ugh, I need to get my stuff together!

Random, I know! So here are a few pictures of our current life:

The Parade of Lights at the Bio Park

Our Christmas Angel

Probably my favorite picture ever

Love this kid