skyler + i have been overwhelmed with joy these past six months because of our little mr. it literally blows my mind that our Heavenly Father trusts us with such delicate, sweet spirits; + i need to be better at thanking Him for mine. we celebrated briggs's half birthday on the 7th of january, ok so we didn't really celebrate, we couldn't, we were both working. also, skyler makes fun of me for celebrating half birthdays, but i think they are a big deal. briggs's stuffed friend, mr fox is sitting next to him for his growth pictures, so you can really see how much he's grown from picture to picture. they are buddies, briggs + mr fox hang out in his crib during naps + at bedtime. :)
little dude is still long + lean, it's from his 6 foot 2 inch dadda. briggs is currently 29 inches long + weighs 16 pounds. it doesn't matter if he's being fed with a bottle, or straight from the source {me}, as long as food is coming out, he's a happy boy. we also started feeding him fruits + veggies. he would always be eyeing our food + kind of going for the spoon like, "you know you're gonna gimmie some of that, right?" haha, so we for sure knew he was ready for da big boy foods. briggs is a very active boy, he: rolls over, scoots, does superman position, loves his bouncer {he doesn't just bounce, he literally jumps in that thing}, gets on his hands + knees; even beyond that, he will get into the pushup position + hold plank for about four seconds, + he sits up very well on his own. i think he just burns all his calories so quickly because he's such a goer. sounds like i need to get down + workout with him (haha). i mean, the boy has biceps for crying out loud!
this boy was a snuggle bear; he would sleep on my shoulder {which i loved so much} + would cuddle right up to me like a little puppy when we would take naps on the bed. he still snuggles with me on the bed; but only when he is so so tired, will he lay on my shoulder. I really believe solly baby wraps help your little one want to snuggle close to you always + if you continue to use it as the babe grows, babe will want to stay close to you longer. i don't use the wrap as often anymore, i think briggs wont snuggle me as much any more because of that. but when little buddy doesn't want to sleep, unless he's in my arms, this wrap saves my life. it's nice because, he is still cuddled by me, gets my body heat, + i am hands free. baby wearing is bomb.
did i mention he's a big time talker? not just little new born coos either, he is loud, i mean every time he talks, i feel like my ears are going to fall off. one sunday, when our young womens president was teaching all the girls combined, briggs was mr talky talky over here, little flirt! it's not like he was whiney or anything either, so i wasn't going to shush him ya know, i just let him talk during the lesson. what would you have done? skyler + my bed, is briggs + my favorite hang out place; it's where the cool kids in the house are ;) {when dadda's at work, + momma's off work}. we snuggle, read books, listen to music, eat, + of course, talk!
this last summer was non existent. the only time it felt like summer at all, was when me, my momma, + baby briggs headed to st. george for a week, it was the bees knees! there was only one flaw, skyler had to stay home because he had two entire weeks of paid paternity leave with me + the babe, so he was due back to work. this trip contained a lot of 'firsts' for briggs; first time to st. george, first time swimming {which he really did like, despite the picture above}, first time to zion's national park, first time on a long car ride {actually, he had gone to idaho for my cousins wedding, so second long car ride}. it was a nice little getaway fo sho.
briggs is the ultimate little boy. if someone says what most would consider 'potty words', or if someone makes a tooting noise, briggs laughs extremely hard. then they will say "oh, he's such a boy"{like girls wouldn't laugh at that?} does that determine his gender if he laughs at those things? haha. skyler would just say to me right now, "calm down michelle, it's just a phrase," but i really think it's funny when people say that. apparently another determiner that makes him 'such a boy' is that he is a rough houser. sky + i play with briggs pretty hard, because he loves it so much! so if those are his gender determiners, then yes, he is such a boy, no question.
like most babes, briggs boy loves his bath time. he also really likes his water hot, not just warm..hot. his skin always gets a little pinkish because he likes it so toasty. i guess it must bring back memories of him being in his own personal hot tub for nine months. besides being all squished + claustrophobic, i would enjoy it too + wouldn't want to come out either. this puj flyte tub is the perfect tub for newborns. briggs got to enjoy it until he was about 5 months old, so we got some good use from it. and although it is specifically for travel we loved on it for on the go + at home all the time. it's small, so it stores nicely for next baby + for travel; this tub has a rubbery feel to it so it's comfy for babe + easy to clean. i also think it's pretty stinkin cute, reminds me of a little pea pod + briggs is the pea :). we bathe briggs in the big boy tub now, with the water up to his ears. he can move so much more in there. he goes crazy, splashing, talking, laughing, oh + peeing, of course. haha
autumn is my favorite season, + i wish i had more pictures to show for it, especially now that i have this little human to photograph. but i did promise myself that i would put the camera down, + enjoy mother nature + all the beautiful things she does with my own eyes. i'd say i succeeded, with only a few pictures + lots of outdoor time with briggs. we enjoyed many evening runs, hikes, walks, + some nice naps outside together on a blanket in the backyard. we had to take advantage of that crisp, fall chill before it turned into a brittle winter frost.
happy halloween, love baby bear briggs. his costume was literally a big fuzzy, brown, zip up bear one piece, it was 'beary' cute. i was his momma bear, but he looked a million times cuter than me. it was fun to dress up + coordinate with him though; don't ask about skyler, he was a big lame wad + chose not to participate on halloween night; and let's face it, i'm not about to make him dress up; aint nobody got time to make their husbands do stuff anymore. haha
{what briggs wore: bow-tie from janie&jack, sweater + pants from zara baby boy collection, moccs from freshly picked}
first Christmas with briggs, + everyone asked me questions like "oh, did you spoil your little man?" or "was his first Christmas just magical?" truth is, we did not spoil him, he had one present under the tree, + it wasn't from us; it was a belated baby gift from our good friends (haha). i had thought about this during my Christmas shopping + decided, i have been spoiling the kid since before his birth + for the past six months. so no, we surely did not spoil him on his first Christmas. {doesn't mean everyone else didn't though, that's for sure}. he is loved you guys, we promise. i am also almost 100% sure that this Christmas was not magical for briggs; in fact, i know he won't remember a darn thing ha. but, this Christmas was magical for skyler + myself, because we got to open our present in july.
it snowed all day on Christmas, + i loved it. i always say it is allowed to snow on Christmas day until February, but then it has to start warming up for spring. briggs was pretty wide eyed at all the bright snow coming down. he had no idea what was going on all day, but he was curious + wanted to be involved, he's a funny little fella like that. and can we talk about his Christmas outfit? i die every time i see pictures it's so flippen cute. the only thing that bugged me about it was, every time i had to change him, there were so many buttons i would have to undo + do, not snaps, buttons. let's just say wearing that outfit one time was enough, haha.
the entire family was home for Christmas this year, + we spent it in our parents recently remodeled home, it was lovely. yes, of course we had to uphold our family tradition of taking a picture on the stairs, but i do have to apologize for the poor quality of the two images above. the lighting was horrible, + it was a little crazy at these moments. also, this one of papa, cadence, + briggs was the only decent one i got; i could not get any good pictures with briggs's other cousins, bracken + oaklyn dang it. but, it was pretty funny to watch all the kids trying to sit still, + my parents trying to hold them. even for three seconds, it was impossible. i'm sure everyone has these similar experiences, merry Christmas right? (haha)
briggs has been to many basketball games. two jazz games, {once in a box, thanks robby + callie}, two byu games, {thanks oma + papa}, + one westminster game to watch uncle trevor play. he was either too mesmerized by all the music, lights, noise, basketball action, + people, or, he really did like it! also, he fell asleep at two games, once in my wrap at the jazz game, + once in oma's lap at the byu game. who knew the little dude could fall asleep in a stadium full of 20,000 people.
briggs makes weird faces + weird sounds. when he is in the car, he likes to hear his own voice, so he makes kind of like this tired, bored sound; he definitely thinks he's alone, thats for sure. it's kind of like when you think no one is around, so you are talking or singing to yourself, ha. recently he's been doing this thing where he squints his eyes + sticks his tongue out like a little freak, but it makes for a cute picture (hehe).
i think we can all say that we love babies after they wake up. they are in their own little world talking to themselves + laughing, {best. thing. ever.} one time when skyler + i were both home, briggs had just woken up from a nap, i was going to go up + get him, + skyler was like "no i'll get him," + then we were chasing each other up the stairs trying to get to him first. i mean we were like pulling each others ankles from behind (haha) i remember the exact picture in my head, just to be able to be the first to look down at briggs's happy little face. now don't get me wrong, i love nap time! i'm not going to sit here + tell you how much i miss my baby during naps, + how much i want to just wake him up. i love my baby, but i love nap time too, that's my yoga time.
my most favorite thing between briggs + i, is our bed time routine. i mean after all the chaos. after bath, jammies, lotioning + oiling, {sandlot, haha}. sky makes fun of me hard, because i literally lotion + oil him up before bed. briggs + i sit in our favorite room, in our favorite chair, with the lights off, only the hall light creepin in, + i nurse him to sleep. his room is so nice + toasty, all i hear is the humidifier going + briggs swallowing. he will fall asleep after twenty minutes or so, + i just sit there looking at him on the bobby pillow sleeping. sometimes he will wake up, + {this is my favorite part} he will look up + study me, then smile. i can't help but tickle him, then he is wide awake giggling. another twenty minutes go by of us sitting there, giggling, making noises at each other, + pulling faces. it is the sweetest time with me + my little man. he will then calm right back down, i lay him in his crib, kiss him seventeen hundred times, lean up as he's smiling at me; then he closes his eyes as i walk out of the room + close the door. this is just one of many beautiful 'motherhood in the raw moments'. this is my life.
love, mrs b
love, mrs b