And One (Month) to Grow On!

Do you remember the ole childhood favorite, "birthday smacks?" In elementary school, your whole class would sing you the birthday song followed up by smacks or spankings of how many years old you just turned + "one to grow one." Looking back, its kind of a disturbing concept.

But none the less, with my boy turning 11 months old- it just makes me think how close we are to the big ONE. I won't say that time flies, because some days (and nights) have been very long. Plus, we have jam-packed so many great memories in just short of a year.

While I have learned never to wish time away, I do believe that ONE will come with many more adventures, starting off with a big birthday bash. It's so much fun planning a baby's birthday party! While some may think I will be going over the top, I look at it as my creative outlet. I only wish I had more time to execute all the crazy, outlandish, embarrassing things I have reeling in my head...but we only have only one more month to grow on!


Always be my baby.


Mom, I'm getting way too old for this stuff!



A smooth criminal



My model man

Happy Birthday, Jesus!



Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Christmas Eve was spent at church with singing songs of praise and Briggy waiving to all...but he was very good during the service- he LOVED singing Christmas songs and raised his hands with joy!

We had an amazing day with our baby and his first Christmas. Our day revolved around our love for one another (especially the newest addition to the family.) The magic of Christmas is so much fun with a baby around! Come to think of it, everything is more fun with a baby around.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
A baby was most likely stirring and a little dog-like mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that a mommy still had her hair

Daddy was nestled all snug in his bed
While a million to-do items danced in mommy's head
And baby in his pj's and his little Santa cap,
Had probably skipped his afternoon nap.

When down in my heart I felt such a flutter,
And I thought to myself, "It doesn't get much better" 
Away to the nursery I flew like a flash
And kissed my sweet baby from his nose to every eyelash

With a beautiful baby, so lively and quick,
I'm so very thankful for every little bit
So I'm going to slow down and let it all in 
And give thanks for all the blessings given.

Now as I sit here in my home by Christmas tree light,
I wish Merry to Christmas to all, and to all a good night!










We are happy to say...Santa made it to our house!



Army Men & Birthdays

Yesterday we celebrated our Christmas with the Davis Family. We celebrated not only Jesus's birthday, but also my sweet mama's birthday too (which is on the 21st).

Briggsy was so excited about his new ride. He seriously went from being a baby in one day to being a boy. The way he rode his new zebra scooter around was like that of a 4 year old! 

Ryan and I got Jake and Drew REAL army uniforms. Ryan got them while he was on base. Since the boys are loving anything army right now (especially Drew), they were pretty pumped.



VROOM VROOM!


Army guys & the motorbike pro


 Birthday girl with all her favorite boys

If Briggsy was this excited yeserday, I'm so anxious to see how he reacts on Christmas morning! Babies definitely bring extra magic around this time of year.


Making Spirits Bright


Christmas cards went out yesterday! Here is a sneak peak if you haven't received them yet. It was definitely a challenge getting him to look at me during "the shoot." The outtakes are hilarious.

We hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas! I always like to remember that we wouldn't be celebrating this day without Easter...HE LIVES!

Merry Christmas!

"Lucky" Laughs

Thoughts going through Briggs's head these days:
  • Wait mom, you said I didn't like to crawl? Hahahaha
  • Mom, why would you not stuff my face with puffs right now?
  • C'mon mom and dad! Its 5am- Rise and Shine!
  • Lola, your toys are so much cooler than mine!
  • Hey everybody in this quiet room, want to hear how many cool noises I can make?
Sleeping has still been an issue- I have just learned to accept that if we only get up twice in a night and go back to bed quickly, its a good night. I'll be taking a much different approach with the next child though.

Briggs is a crawling maniac. He was always a crazy child- but add being mobile on top of that- its hilarious. One of his favorites is to crawl towards the entertainment center and stand up toward the tv. It reminds us of the little pup on 101 dalmatians- so Briggs's new nickname has been "Lucky" in reference to that. 

His noises are so funny lately. He likes to move his tongue to make a funny a noise. He is starting to giggle at everything....just like his father. We were at an Army Christmas party not too long ago. Briggs was in line to meet Santa and a little boy (around 8 years old) behind him was throwing a fit on the floor. At first, Briggs just stared at him, like "What are you doing, dude?" then Briggsy looked at Ryan and started cracking up while pounding on Ryan's chest to look at the bratty child. Then he topped it off with pointing and laughing! 

I have a lot to catch up on with our Memphis trip and Christmas happenings around the house...but for now, here are some pics of the sweet 10 month old (he doesn't point and laugh at everyone, he usually just smiles and waves and then gives his mommy baby kissies.)



Pretending to act innocent.



Why does the giraffe look like its in motion? Because it is- he was throwing it at my face.




Play Time with Briggs

Ryan was down at Camp Atterbury for Drill this passed weekend so Briggsy and I had some time together to run errands, clean up and my favorite- play!

Here are some pictures and updates on how play time goes down for us these days...


Such a happy and sometimes mischievous little boy! See his Mickey Mouse? He LOVES Mickey. (A boy after my own heart- how was I so lucky to get a baby who loves Disney as much as I do? Perhaps I had some influence.) We have 22 episodes (no joke) of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on our DVR- not that I am trying to encourage him to watch TV- but sometimes a mom has to do what she has to do to get some things done around the house. He get the biggest smile on his face when the opening song begins. 

During the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, he really didn't make a big deal out of any of the floats, until Mickey came along. As soon as he saw him, he started smiling and waving at Mickey. Ha!


Despite his crawling in all directions (FINALLY), his favorite place to crawl is up your leg or on your lap, just so he can give you this irresistible puppy dog look.


You can see some of his toofers coming in! He has two on bottom and one on top now! I can see the second big one on top is about to come in too. His new teefies are so cute but I am going to miss those gummy smiles!


He is a straight poser- he stood in this position for a good 10 seconds. I think he is used to all the paparazzi now between my mom and I. Poor kid!


Silly faces are one of our favorite games. He will mimic whatever face someone is making at him. We could sit there for hours making faces at each other- I even get some baby giggles out of some of my faces.

Briggle Giggles are my favorite.

How To Eat Mashed Potatoes


Besides learning how to eat mashed potatoes during thanksgiving dinner, we have so much to be thankful for this year. It goes without saying that we are beyond thankful for our baby boy. He has turned our light of life up high and bright since the moment we learned of his existence.

So I won't get all mushy gushy on how much I love my baby boy- this whole blog is dedicated to doing that. Instead, I want to point out three "in between times" I am thankful for, that if I don't note now, I may forget ten years down the road.

I am so thankful for baby noises. His babbling makes me think that he has so much to tell me. He talks with so much enthusiasm too. I think we are going to have quite the gabber. My favorite baby noises are his belly laughs. You could combine all the wonderful noises in the world and they wouldn't compare to the deep belly Briggy laughs.

I am thankful for the indescribable bond with my son. He is a very social little bug, but when mommy is around, he would prefer to be in her arms only. I will never take this for granted  especially on the days I have been working countless hours and worry that he is going to forget me- then when I see him, he ALWAYS reassures me of the mutual love we share.

I am thankful for my partner in this parenting experience who is willing to lower a crib to the lowest setting in the middle of the night because I catch our crazy monkey on the video monitor gathering the blankets in a pile to step on so he can try climbing out of his crib. Ryan and I may not always know the right answers- but we try our best to be patient with each other in our first experience with parenting. He is my teammate, my best friend and rock.

What an unbelievable year. We are truly blessed.

From our family to yours....


Her Baby's Baby

My parents have been on a trip to NYC since Saturday morning. I love that city so much. I am thankful they were able to escape for a few days together. I volunteered to watch their house and their pup while they were gone.

It has been nice sleeping in my old room. But its a little different than when I was in high school. These passed 4 nights, I have shared my full bed with my husband, two dogs and at various times in the night, a baby. Needless to say, it was "cozy". I know Ryan will appreciate getting back to our own bed soon.

I assumed that work would slow down this week since it was the week of Thanksgiving. Fortunately, it has not. (I truly am thankful for it.) I have more active buyers and sellers right now than I have ever had at one time. In the meantime, I am still trying to take care of things for two households. I am not looking for a pity party- but sometimes a girl hits a wall. So I am SO thankful to Diane, Missy, Ryan, Bev, and others who have helped me juggle working and being a mom while my primary babysitter has been gone.

I have always been so appreciative of my mom. (Even more so than ever this week.) Not only what she does for me, but how she extends that motherly loving grace to those I love as well. My husband, family and my friends have all seen the nurturing spirit of this wonderful woman.

However, the love she has shown my son since before she even met him has floored me. I can't even comprehend my own love for him, so how can I begin to comprehend her love for him? She would do anything for my baby. She volunteers (YES-VOLUNTEERS) to watch him for me while I work with my crazy, inconsistent schedule. And she does it with a happy heart.

I know I am so fortunate to have my mom watch my baby so I can work. It eases my stress to know he is with her.

So thank you, Mom, for loving your baby's baby.

Loving Briggsy before his arrival
This is love.
Sweet chubby baby.
He has no choice but to be a Sox fan.
Love for her froggy.



Precious Moments

One of our friends who met Briggs in person for the first time this weekend mentioned to me that he looks like a "Precious Moments" baby with his big eyes. I thought that was such a cool thing for her to say. No one had ever made that comparison before. Now looking through his pictures, it really is true.

It's ironic because as a young girl I used to collect the little figurines. They meant so much to me because my mom would help me carefully pick one out- one in which spoke to my heart. If you aren't familiar with them, they are a Christian company. Each product has a scripture written on it. Each Precious Moment has a purpose, a message to portray that glorifies God and the love he has for His people.

A warm sense of love wrapped around me when I thought about what this could mean. My Briggsy belongs to the Lord. I am blessed enough to be his mom but ultimately he is His. He is God's "Precious Moment" baby. God knows his purpose. I pray God will use Briggs to help spread His love. What more could a mother ask for?

I give all my praise to The Lord for giving me the opportunity to have such a special part in raising God's Precious baby for His Purpose.

Catching A Baby Frog


Baby's First Halloween has kicked off the holiday season with Baby's firsts. It was also a first for us because it was the first time since we've been married that we didn't pass out candy- which has always been a fun experience for me because Ryan always gets suckered into giving kids way more candy than he should. We usually end up passing out items from our pantry by the half way point.


So I'm sure the kids of the neighborhood were very disappointed when they found a sign on our front door reading, "Sorry we aren't here- we are out trying to catch a baby frog! Happy Halloween!"

Luckily, we did catch the baby frog. We took him to both sets of grandparents where he received more kisses than candy. We also took him down my parents street to see everyone I grew up around. I'm not going to lie, we brought Briggs's Halloween bucket with us to ask for candy. Is there a rule against this? Obviously, we are not giving the candy to our 9 month old son. Should we be ashamed that we are bringing our cute baby frog to see our neighbors and in return receiving candy for... ourselves?

Rhetorical question. I don't want to know the answer. :)

I hope you enjoy the pictures in our quest to catch our baby frog. Happy Halloween!

The Great Pumpkin Briggsy Brown!

The family trip to the pumpkin patch was one to remember. Briggs enjoyed his first hayride, Dad enjoyed his apple snacks, and the Ryans enjoyed picking out the perfect pumpkin!

Despite the cold (why don't we live in warm weather again?) Our day of "fall family fun" with the boy was a success...until we got home later that night to find out that Ryan's pumpkin was half rotted-ha! It's the memories that count, I guess.








Different Strokes for Different Folks

Briggs has hit the 9 month mark. This wild child has officially been rolling, kicking, laughing and screaming on the outside as long as he did on the inside.

Before our trip to Florida, I took him in for his 9 month check up. Our little butter ball of a guy has gone from the 90th percentile in weight (at 2 months old) to only the 15th percentile at 9 months. The doctor reassured a panicky first time mom that this is totally normal for breast fed babies. At 2 months old he was 14lbs. At 9 months old he weighs in at 18lbs 3oz. He was 29.25 in. long (80th percentile) and his head circumference was 46.2 (75th percentile- a Robinson for sure).

So those are all his stats on paper. In other milestones, he has 2 teeth (finally), he can wave hi and bye. He can nod yes and no. He is starting to answer us when we ask if he wants "more" food with the signs we show him. He is still not sleeping well through the night- (I will do things much differently with our next child in this regard.) He is still quite the snuggler. He is easily entertained. He is very chill when hanging out and meeting new people.

The funniest "development" for him is that he is ABLE to crawl but chooses not to. Don't get me wrong. He can get from point A to point B without any problem- its just his way that is hilarious. He will roll, crawl backwards, slip and slide, army crawl or even sit and pivot then sit and pivot. I'm honestly surprised I haven't witnessed him crab walk across a room yet. He will crawl to me when I pick him up after work, but besides that he is not interested. I get it though- he literally is marching to his own beat.

I love how much he is soaking in every day. He is learning at such an accelerated pace that I can't even keep up. It's like in some aspects I still want to treat him like a baby but he is ready to be a big boy. He is crazy and curious and very wild. His 9 month pictures were impossible to take as you will see by our "outtakes." I love his happy screams and his other idiosyncrasies. One of my favorites is that whenever he is tired he starts to rub his ear. At first I was worried that he had an ear infection, but it's his way to soothe his sleepy self. And once in a while, we will get a double ear rub- then we know we are cruisin' for a snoozin' for sure.

I love this kid and all the personality that comes with him.


He wouldn't even consider looking at me without the paper in hand.

Mr. Mischievous at your service
Man on the Move

Florida Blessings

Our whole family just got back today from our other home in Siesta Key. (Whole family including mom, dad, Kara, Ryan M, Phippsy, my Ryan and Briggs and I.) I am telling you, October is hands down the best time to go to Florida- especially with a baby. Unlike our May trip with a 4 month old, we found Florida's October weather to be much more tolerable and much less crowded. Plus having a 9 month old was fun because he was so much more aware. (Um yes he turned 9 months while we were there- I don't know if I have come to terms with that yet.)

I think just on the first day I was able to spend more time outside on the beach than I did collectively the whole time we were there in May. It helped a lot that Briggs was able to take his naps on the beach (thanks for that baby). This Florida trip created so many good memories with my wonderful family:

(I know some of these are minor, but when you have a little one, you tend to enjoy the little things that you didn't realize before.)
  • Beach Days with Briggs
  • Sitting by the dock and watching the boats go by
  • Bocce and other various sports
  • Reading by the pool
  • Enjoying dinners with a baby who was distracted by his sweet potato puffs
  • Family cookout on the beach
  • Boat day on the inter coastal
  • A Buccaneers game and meeting up with Tay
  • Sunset at the marina
  • Daily morning walks on the beach with my two boys
I'm happy to be home but I'm always so appreciative to have little breaks from the daily grind. It's nice to stop and just enjoy the blessings-

Adventures with Briggs 6,7&8 Months

Thanks to mostly iPhone videos, I was able to compile what Briggs has been up to these last few months. As you can see this kid is never happy :)

These past few months:
  • He celebrated his half birthday with friends and family
  • He goes to the park (a lot)
  • He went on some overnight trips with mom and dad to the JW downtown for mom's birthday and to Chicago for Sadie's wedding
  • He still loves music and loves to dance
  • He loves discovering new things to play with
  • He is quickly trying all sorts of new foods. His favorites are bananas and sweet potato puffs.
  • By 7 months he was finally able to sit up on his own without toppling over
  • He can't crawl yet (but he can lean with it and rock with it)
  • He is finally getting a tooth!
This guy is too fun. Enjoy!

The Naked Puppy

Briggs's new thing is sticking his tongue out like a puppy! He even tries to pant like one. I can see where he gets this because he is always around a dog- either Lola or Bailey (my mom's pup). So apparently he thinks in order to fit into the family, you need to be a puppy.

So we'll play along for now.

Puppy right before bath 

After All

Sadie's wedding this passed weekend was one of the most beautiful I had EVER witnessed. It was SO Sadie. It was so nice seeing my friends in Chicago and getting to spend the weekend with our whole family.

Funny story about the weekend- Ryan and I were so paranoid leading up to the trip because of the sleeping situation. My mom, dad, sister and her husband Ryan all shared a room with Ryan, Briggs and I. Since Briggs has not been sleeping through the night, we were worried about what kind of disturbance he would be and whether or not we would have to spend our night in the lobby with a wakeful baby.

It turns out, we didn't need to worry. Briggs did have his moments, but his Uncle Ryan snored so loud that he won the loud boy prize. So thanks for taking the pressure off, Uncle Ryan!

sweet, sweet chicago

the most handsome guy on the block

our family
On the actual wedding day Sadie, Austin and the rest of the bridal party traveled via trolley and went to at least 7 locations around Chicago for pictures. I honestly got a tour of Chicago and saw places that I had never seen before. They will have the most stunning pictures I'm sure. Hopefully she will let me post a few once she gets them back.

I think my favorite moment of the day is when Sadie walked down the aisle. She traveled down to the alter during the bridge to the most beautiful David Crowder Band song "After All (Holy)" I had never heard it but now... I. CAN'T.STOP.LISTENING.

Enjoy.