So instead of updating on the whole past month, I will just update about our day yesterday and then maybe some other random things will work their way into this post.

So yesterday was one of those days. Briggs and I left just before 9 to get the alignment done on the Jetta. It had been in the shop Monday and Tuesday and then Wednesday we were stuck at home all day because Brigham had a case of strep throat. We did go to the doctor and Target to get his antibiotics but those were not fun trips to make. This was the first time he has had strep and the poor boy was miserable and on top of that he absolutely hates the antibiotics he is on. He normally loves medicine and in the past he has been the one to remind us that he needs to take his antibiotics. At the end of the 10 days he will probably be traumatized. It is always a big ordeal and he screams the whole time. This morning I had to hold him down on the floor and squirt the meds in his mouth while he screamed. So back to yesterday, the guy at the shop told me my battery was going bad. I said thank you and paid for the alignment and left. It was now just after 10 and we were on our way to Fort Mill to pick up some new bar stools. I have been trolling craigslist for months and months and months (ever since our kitchen remodel a year ago!) for bar stools that I wanted. Last week I gave up and just spray painted the ones we had so that they would look better. On Wednesday I just happened to stop by craigslist and saw that there were the very stools I have been wanting all this time for a mere $20 each! What a steal! So I get there yesterday and get the 4 stools loaded in my car and of course my car doesn't start! My battery wasn't going bad, it was bad! So my son with strep throat that is still contagious is sitting in his car seat in a blazing hot black car that is sitting in the middle of a residential street (I tried popping the clutch as I rolled out of the driveway but that obviously did not work). The lady I got the stools from did not have a car or jumper cables and her neighbor was not home. She invited us in but she had a house full of children and I did not want to spread the strep throat so I said we would just wait outside. As I was on the phone with our roadside assistance, a little old lady from the end of the street pulled up. She had a car full of grandchildren that she was taking to a birthday party. She offered to jump me off but she did not have jumper cables and my jumper cables are missing. Then she offered to drive us down to her house where we could watch tv and sit in an air conditioned home while we waited. I could not believe it. We were 2 strangers that she opened her home to and she left us there to take her grandchildren to their party! Her 13 year old granddaughter was at home but she was upstairs the entire time we were there and we never even saw her. I was so grateful for Miss Georgia. She was truly a life saver. The guy arrived 40 minutes after I called and the lady who I got the stools from gave me a call when he got there and we walked on up to her house. Brigham held up like a champ even though he was feeling crummy and we didn't get home until an hour and 15 minutes past nap time! I stopped and got him a vanilla milk shake on the way home since he was so good. He drank some and he played with it more. When Mark got home we went to Wal-Mart to get a new battery. We ended up not getting home until nearly 9:00. I thought it would be a good idea to have some fried zucchini, chicken, and rice. I pulled out the mandolin to slice the zucchini and sliced off a small piece of my thumb. Talk about extremely painful. It is still hurting. It bled for a couple hours but I had a band-aid on it and wrapped it in a towel and continued cooking. I laughed today when Mark asked me if I was embarrassed that I had cut my finger. I said no and asked if I should be. He said he thought I must have been embarrassed because I didn't tell him about it when I first did it. I didn't have a reason to tell him about it. He was getting Briggs ready for bed and I was trying to get dinner made. but now that I think about it, most people probably would have said something about it. All I know is that it is the most painful experience of my life.

In other news, Brigham is getting so smart! He is so observant of so many things we do and it amazes us when he will do whatever it is we are about to do! He says lots of words and even some sentences. He LOVES Blue's Clues more than life itself and whenever he sees the remote he points it to the tv and keeps saying Boo's Coos, Boo's Coos. He gets so excited when we oblige him. He sings along with Mark when Mark sings him his lullaby each night and he also sings along the the Cee-Lo song "Forget You." He loves cars and that is pretty much all he plays with all day long. He can also pick our car out when he sees it and he gets so excited and just keeps saying "car" "car" "car." He will say please and thank you at the proper time and most of the time we do not have to prompt him. He is still pretty conservative with his kisses but he will blow anyone a kiss. He also says "I yuh yoooouuuu." He doesn't say a lot of his words correctly yet but most of them are very easy to figure out. It is amazing at how many words he knows now especially since just 3 months ago he only said amen and shoes.

Milk is like gold to this child. If he spills it, he will lick it up. He actually does this any time he sees liquid on the floor/ground. You would think we deprive him and that he is extremely dehydrated. I think he must just like the extra flavor the ground give to milk and water. And yes, he is in only shoes. Nothing else.

I forget what he was eating here but Mark and his head got most of it.

This was when we were watching the 4th of July fireworks

I have introduced the potty and he loves sitting on it and wiping himself but that is about it. He hasn't peed or pooped into it one time yet. He will say "pee pee" and go and sit on it but that is all. He has however become very good at cleaning pee up off the floor and carpet.

He carried his grinch around for a couple of weeks but that has now stopped. It was cute while it lasted.

This bike was a Christmas gift that I actually just pulled out of the closet. He loves this thing but he doesn't ride. He just pulls it around the house.

Oh Brigham how we love you! You just light up our world and we are so grateful to have you!

Mark took Brigham to his first stake priesthood meeting tonight. He brought him along so he would have an easy excuse to leave early. Well Mark enjoyed the speakers and Brigham was well behaved so they stayed the entire time. I meant to get a picture of them but I forgot to. I enjoyed my time home with no responsibilities. I watched the Real Housewives of Jersey marathon and gave Reagan a MUCH needed haircut. When Mark was driving home I got him to commit to paying $25 for her to get her haircut. After he agreed to it, I told him thank you for giving the rest of the money I needed to my new bathing suit fund. ha ha The bathing suit I want is $55 and I don't know if I will really be able to spend that much money on a bathing suit. I normally just get them at Target but Target has failed me the last 2 years.

AWFUL

That is what I have become when it comes to blogging. Last summer I did a picture a day (I think it actually only lasted a month rather than the whole summer). Well I am thinking of doing that again to get my blogging mojo back. Brigham has grown and changed so much and we have had so many fun experiences that will never make it to the blog since I have an awful memory and they are now long forgotten. I have been taking the occasional picture so as I add them in here, hopefully they will jog my memory and I will have some fun stories to tell. So once again, here is an update in pictures.

Brigham loves this chair! We had it on the couch so we could vacuum and then Mark took Brigham to take a shower. As soon as he got out, he ran straight to the couch and climbed up into his chair. It made us laugh because it seems like the entire time he was showering, all he could think about was getting into his chair that was on the couch rather than on the floor like it normally is. Mark likes this picture because Mark sits this same way all the time and Briggs does too!

The boy has become VERY independent. He doesn't want help doing anything unless he knows it is something he can't do on his own (putting his shoes on). Gone are the days of us feeding him. He has to do it himself. He is getting better though and for that I am grateful!

When we go out to eat the first thing he looks for is the sugar caddy. He then proceeds to eat packets of sugar. I hate this! He learned this from Mark. Mark pours Splenda into his mouth. I try to hide the sugar before it spotted. This kid gets enough sugar as it is!

This is his first time playing in the rain. Mark took him out in it and he was in heaven! I don't even know if he realized it was raining. ha ha.

Before Mark started his summer internship at TIAA-Cref on June 1st, he and Briggs would cuddle in bed together and watch a mix of sports center and Nick Jr. Now, whenever Briggs is on our bed, he rushes to this spot, pulls up the covers over his legs, and presses the power button on the remote.

This is another thing he has learned recently. He has figured out that he can pull this stool up to things so that he can reach things better. Lucky for us he doesn't have a ton of interest in the water dispenser on the refrigerator. Our next one definitely needs to have a lock on the ice and water!

Mark and I have ALWAYS hated our poor excuse for a pantry. I wish I would have taken a picture of the inside to give the full effect of it crappiness. The first time I saw this thing, I couldn't believe they even made doors this small! The door is only 12 INCHES wide! This is right after Mark cut around the door to expand the opening.

Here it is with our NEW roll out shelves/drawers and newly painted walls. Mark wanted to paint the drawers white to hide some of the imperfections in the wood but I didn't. I like the look of old, soft wood (this wood is neither). I probably should have just painted these drawers. I think it definitely would have been prettier with the green. I love green and white. Honestly I was tired of painting and was just ready for this project to be done! It took 3 times longer than we planned because the walls in this house are all so crooked. It makes everything so much harder and the end product can be a little disappointing because it doesn't always turn out how you imagined because of all the imperfections due to the imperfections the builders made when building this place.

Here is this beauty with the doors attached to drawers. All of Mark and Nate's hard work ended up doubling our storage space in the pantry! We LOVE this thing now. It is so much more organized and we can see everything that we have! My favorite part is that now my baking supplies are so much more easily accessible! I used to have to take out 3, 4, or 5 other things just to get to my flour or sugar! I am so grateful for the talents of Mark and Nate. They built each shelf and made all the necessary adjustments for each shelf/drawer to fit into our trapeziod shaped pantry.

Over the last couple months, Brigham has started saying more words and doing more things. By doing more things, I mean he understands most of what we ask him to do and he does it. One funny thing he does is put on deoderant. He doesn't put it in the normal place a person puts deoderant. He rubs it on his butt. ha ha. Mark was joking around with him and telling him all the places to put deoderent which ended up being basically his entire body. Well all Brigham remembers from that life lesson is to but it on the butt. Mark has shown him how to put it on just his underarms dozens of times since then but the kid must think his dad is crazy for putting deoderant on his underarms. He just laughs at him and refuses to put it there. Crazy kid.

His vocabulary has also expanded.

Words he uses:

go

no

yeah

yep

shoes

mo (this means both milk and more)

dude

whoa

stop

uh oh

buh (ball, balloon)

book

please, thank you (he only says these when we ask him to)

tickle, tickle, tickle

jump

do it

amen

*He will "say" anything we ask him to if we say "do it"

He has also recently started "singing" along with his fridge radio. By singing I just mean he makes noises to go along with the tune on the radio.

He will also make a pig sound and howl like a wolf. The howl is our absolute favorite!

Now, for the less fun updates on our life here.

On May 20th my grandma left this world. It was unexpected, tragic, and shocking. She was 76 years old and lived like she was 30! She didn't look anywhere near 76 and she definitely didn't act like someone in their 70's! I hope that I am that young when the number says otherwise. After her death, I kept thinking of the last time I saw her in August and I can remember everything about the time we were visiting her. The other memory of her that I think of often is when she came to Charlotte to see Arden when she was a few months old. We were standing in Krystin's kitchen and I can't remember what she said but we were laughing so hard we were crying. That was my grandma. She would always make you laugh. She was a strong courageous woman and we love her so much and are so proud of her!

My grandmother has been in and out of the hospital since January. She has had tons of tests, MRI's, ENT's, ect and until she saw a neurologist 2 or 3 weeks ago, no one knew what was causing her weakness she was experience. She has to rely on a walker and has no appetite at all. They neurologist discovered that her heart meds were not supposed to be used by anyone over 65 and they have caused her nerves to die. Yesterday she was moved into a nursing home while her body works on regenerating these nerves and she goes to physical therapy. It may take up to 6 months for her nerves to regenerate. She may be able to leave the nursing home in 2-4 weeks. We are hoping for a quick and full recovery. Briggs and I went to visit her this morning. When we go back next week I am bringing her flowers or something to brighten her room. It is so drab and boring in there. There is a bed, tiny dresser, closet, and small television. That is it. We need some happiness in that place!

On a happy note, on Mother's day we were at church and the primary kids and male leaders were asked to come up front to sing the rest hymn for the mother's. Well Mark was the only adult to go up with the children. The girls were on one side and the boys were on the other side of the podium. During the boys part in "Love Is Spoken Here," Mark sang a solo because none of the 4 boys were singing anything that was remotely audible. I could not stop laughing (like much of the congregation). I actually laughed the rest of the day and I am laughing now just thinking about it. Poor Mark came back to our pew and his arm was soaked. He did a great job especially for singing a solo on the fly. It was a wonderful mother's day gift and will be remembered forever! I do love that man. I don't know of anyone else that could do that be be good at it! He has so many talents in so many areas and Brigham and I are truly blessed.

Another Spaced Out Update

Our little Briggs has entered his mimicking stage. He is starting to try to copy us and sometimes will even try to copy what we say. The kid isn't very motivated to speak but he will be talking one day and we may miss the days now where he doesn't say so much. ha. He has become rather observant the last week. When I picked him up from the child watch at the Y, before he would come to me, he went to where the diaper bags hang and pointed to ours. I never talk about needing to get our bag or anything so I was so surprised when he noticed that I get it before we leave each day we are there. He also knows how to get matching shoes out of his shoe box. This really surprised me because he had to dig through the box to get the matching shoe when I asked him for it this week. Recently he has started to lie on the floor when I tell him we need to change his diaper or if he is ready for bed, he will lay down (without me asking) so I can change his diaper and put his pjs on.
The day of the last post, he quit taking 2 naps a day. It hadn't been that long since I had tried one nap a day and he just wasn't ready. He is so independent though so I guess he was going to do it on his own time and no one else's. He is the same way when it comes to eating. He will not eat anything we try to feed him but he is more than happy to feed himself. It is almost always a huge mess but it is so fun to watch him. On Saturday we were eating dinner and he kept pointing and grunting at the bowl of broccoli. I thought he was pointing at something else because there was no way he wanted broccoli. Well, he did want the broccoli and he ate a bunch of it! He didn't even eat his mashed potatoes which are his favorite thing. We could not believe it. Maybe he is finally getting back to eating fruits and vegetables again! He is still a vegetarian. He just isn't a fan of meat.
He is such a good, fun kid and we are so grateful that we have been blessed with him. We just love him to pieces!!

Frozen Waffles

That is what our boy loves. By frozen waffles I mean that he likes to eat them while they are still frozen. I tried trading him his frozen waffle for a warm toasted one this morning and he wasn't having it. Crazy Kid.

So last Monday he had his 18 month check up. The doctor was concerned that he only says 3 words. Mark agreed to not watch tv so much while Brigham is up and for a week he did just that. Briggs was allowed 20 minutes of tv time a day and that is all he got. Our week without television was so wonderful. I also noticed that Brigham was definitely more chatty. The words he says are: No, nok (milk (and he only says this occasionally)), o (hello (he says this anytime he is talking on a phone. A phone is anything he decides to hold up to his ear. ha ha)) and he has started saying uh huh. That's not really a word but he says it when he is nodding yes. The television is off more than it used to be but not completely off any time Brigham is awake. That only lasted a week.

On Tuesday I was hanging some decorations in Brigham's room and he was happily playing around the house. Eventually he brought me his pajamas and he wanted to wear them. This kid loves getting dressed and wearing shoes so I took off his shorts and put his pajamas on him. He then went to his crib and pointed. I put him in and he laid down. I could not believe it. It was his nap time and I hadn't realized it but he did! I wish he did that everyday. He goes through phases with his naps. Right now he is in a love them phase and when you ask him if he wants to go to sleep he will nod and go down without a peep. I love this so much more than the "cry for 5 minutes after I am put in my crib" phase.

He is growing so much. He has a great memory and loves being outside. He also loves piggy back rides and tickling people. He loves strangers and is good at sharing with others. He also loves music and dances when he hears it. We love this boy so much!!!

Now for some pictures from the past month:

From Today: See that card box? Well that is his favorite thing today, along with the cards that were inside it.

This is from a couple days ago. Mark had to have a picture of him sleeping the way he would when he was just a little baby.

Last week I opened Brigham's lawn mower that he got for Christmas. He loves that thing. He also loves the box. He backed himself into this box and then I drug him around the house in it. He loved just being in this box so much.

One day Mark heard him making his "help" noises. Mark found him underneath his cozy coupe. I guess he got stuck when he was changing the oil. We may just need to cut out some of the sugar in his diet so he doesn't get stuck next time :)

We love bubbles in this house. He mainly likes to try and catch him in his mouth but he also enjoys blowing bubbles himself.

For Mark's spring break we met up with my aunt and uncle at a cabin they rented in Gatlinburg, TN. Krystin, Derek, and Arden were there also. We stayed for a couple days and I didn't get very many pictures. I will need to get some from Krystin. This is a picture of Brigham's first time on one of those mechanical rides. He LOVED it!

This is how he fell asleep on the way to Gatlinburg. He was really attached to this spatula for a couple days before we left up until we got to the cabin. He hasn't touched it since.

One of Briggs' favorite things to do is play in this cabinet. His most favorite thing is to open up the Abuelita hot cocoa and the baking chocolate squares and eat them. Here is is with the white chocolate.

His stats as of March 15th:

Height: 33 1/2 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 22lbs 4oz (10-25th percentile)

He is in the 1 percentile for his weight compared to his height.

The Night of the Cocoa Massacre

This is what I found in my kitchen tonight. I knew he was in the kitchen and was kind of listening as he pulled out pots and pans and other things from the cabinets. This is a norm so I was just kind of listening. Well I realized it had been quiet for a couple minutes and was surprised to see this!

I laughed so hard.

When he saw me, he ran away.

He was not too pleased about the clean up process and as you can see, he was a little skeptical.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Not only is today Valentine's Day but it is also catch up on the blog day. I am going to play catch up with pictures.

This year we had our first white Christmas in Charlotte since 1947! Here is Brigham enjoying his cozy coupe as the snow started.

Here it is on December 26th. Brigham was very unprepared clothing wise for such cold weather! This coat is a little too small and I think it is actually a girls coat because I noticed flowers on the tag when I took it off him. Poor thing. The hat was also a little snug but it kept him warm and I was a little better prepared for our 2nd snow.

I had to get a picture of Christmas lights and snow! Definitely may not happen again for a very long time.
We spent New Year's eve at home with Daniel and Katelyn. After putting Brigham to bed, Katelyn and I watched Mark and Daniel play Call of Duty Black Ops until about 11:50pm. I think we ended up just reading while they played. We rang in the new year with Dick Clark's Rockin New Years Eve and then Mark began to really complain of abdomen pain. He had been feeling bad since the night before and just as Daniel and Katelyn were about to leave, Katelyn suggested it could be his appendix. So at 12:45am we got in the car and I drove him to the VA Hospital in Salisbury. It was about 40 minutes away. We got there and they did some x-rays and ran some tests and it was determined that he was severely dehydrated. They told him to drink lots of water and to come back on Monday if he was still in pain. We were home by 4am and that was after a stop at Wal-Mart. I would be happy to go to the VA Hospital any time if we can always get in and out so fast!

For Mark's 30th birthday I surprised him with 3 days at a cabin near Pigeon Forge with some friends and family. The surprise didn't go off as I had hoped because I had to tell him about the surprise the day we were leaving so that he would definitely go because he was still in pain and extremely nauseas. Originally the reason we were going to go to the mountains was to meet my aunt and uncle for a couple nights and the day we were to leave Mark told me he wasn't going to go if he still felt bad. He later told me that he would have gone anyways. So who knows. I was disappointed that I put all the work into a great 30th birthday surprise and it didn't get to go off as I hoped but either way Mark was surprised. Everyone met at our house at 1 and we drove to the cabin. Five minutes after leaving Melanie and Kenny diagnosed Mark with gall stones. Everyone had internet on their phone so at some point or another almost everyone was researching gall stones as we drove. Daniel said he had a cure that included drinking a drink made with grapefruit juice and some other things. Mark woke up on Monday feeling a tiny bit better and after his birthday dinner at Johnny Carino's we stopped for some epsom salt and he drank a glass of epsom salt water when we got back to the cabin. Before bed that night, he passed most of the gall stones. HALLELUJAH! Tuesday morning we all packed up and headed home. We all had such a good time and have declared that it needs to become a yearly tradition. I got 3 pictures the whole time we were there. Two were of the view from one of the decks and one was of the cabin name. I wish I would have gotten pics of people in our balcony hot tub, playing the Wii (super mario bros 3 was the star of the show and everyone took turns playing), meals together, ect. Those that were there were: Melanie, Kenny, Madison, Daniel, Katelyn, Nate, Scarlett, Carolina, and Mark, Brigham, and myself.

On January 9th and 10th we got more snow! It was then coated in ice and the city was shut down for nearly a week. I still didn't have a good coat for poor Brigham but he did have a better fitting, better looking hat to wear this time. I put lots of layers on him to keep him warm for the 10 minutes we were outside. The kid loves eating snow. Whenever he would see it on the car, ground, anywhere; he would reach out to get some to eat.

This is the second time that Brigham has fallen into his toy box reaching for a toy. The first time was a couple months before and funnier but I didn't get a picture of it so I jumped at the opportunity when I saw this scene unfolding.

Here is Brigham doing one of his favorite things; playing on the phone and sitting in his rocking chair. I love seeing him rocking in his chair and he sits in it often.

He has also turned into a bit of a picky eater. He isn't a fan of fruits (except mandarin oranges and squeezable apple sauce) or vegetables or meats. He will eat them occasionally but not regularly. He does love mashed potatoes. They are also great for helping him learn to feed himself with a utensil. When we have potatoes they end up all over him and anything surrounding him. It is always fun to watch! He also loves pasta and spicy foods. He is such a funny boy.

On January 24th he had a doctor's appointment for his 15 month well check. We were a month behind so he was 16 months for the appointment. Here are his stats:

Height: 31 1/2 inches

Weight: 23lbs 4oz

Head circumference: 48cm

He loves milk, water, protein shakes, and Clif bars. I am so grateful for Clif bars because at least he is getting some nutrients since he won't eat those fruits and veggies!

On the night of the 24th we had fhe at Nate and Scarlett's. They had clams they brought back from their weekend in Florida. They were nice enough to share with everyone. I of course couldn't bring myself to eat them. Brigham was eating a chocolate brownie Clif Z bar and once he saw the cocktail sauce for the clams he had to dip his bar in it. We tried to keep him from ruining his Clif bar but eventually gave up. Well that crazy kid loved it so much that he couldn't get enough and I have never seen him eat so fast.

Last week Brigham began stacking his blocks completely on his own. He has always brought his blocks to us for us to build a tower for him to knock down. I was so excited when he began doing it all on his own. He was able to stack all of the big blocks before it fell. It has been so fun watching him. He is such a good kid and so much fun! He is cuddly and sweet. He doesn't say any words now but will shake his head yes and no and he will say no sometimes. When he is thirsty he will take your hand and lead you to the refrigerator and when he is hungry he will take you to the pantry. We miss him saying amen at the end of prayers but someday he will be talking so much it drives us crazy. ha ha.

Brigham has gone to nursery at church 2 times now and he does so well. He loves it in there and I love that he is in there. I miss him a little but it is so nice being able to stay in YW the whole time and also Sunday School.

As for Valentine's day this year, I made Mark this little padding thing for his XBox head set and gave him a card. He wrote me a really sweet email and made a steak dinner. Daniel and Katelyn came over for dinner with us and the boys then played Back Ops for a couple hours. Lucky for us they ended at about 8:45 and we had the rest of the night with them.

I have a lot of catching up to do but I am choosing to go read a book instead. Here are some pics from our morning and a quick update on Brigham's tooth count for posterity :)

Between December 12th and 13th he had 3 teeth break through his gums bringing the tooth count to 8. This past Saturday I noticed the corner of a molar poking through so hopefully more will follow soon so that eating gets easier for him!