Starting School

The last two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind in the Black household!

January 2nd marked the date that had long been looming, the day that I returned to work and Briggs started school at Clemson First Baptist Child Enrichment Center (CEC).  In preparation I had some anxiety about a few things:  1. Getting us out the door, 2. Briggs adjusting to the school schedule, 3. Ensuring that the teachers knew everything they needed to know about Briggs and that I brought all the right accessories, and 4. Pumping at work.

Getting out the door has certainly gotten better with several days of practice!  Lately Briggs wakes up around 3am to eat, so with the new schedule I have been waking him around 6:30am to eat again.  Then I hand him off to David for burps, diaper change, and school clothes (some mornings this has been up to 3 outfits) while I continue getting ready.  The goal is to get out the door between 7:15 and 7:25.  The first week I never left the house before 7:45am!  Luckily my work is understanding, so no biggie!  This past Friday (the 13th), Briggs threw a little curveball into the schedule and slept 9.5hrs, waking up at 5:30am!  It was a great treat and I'd love for that to be our new schedule!!

First week at school had some cold mornings!

Briggs adjusting to the school schedule has also improved with days of practice.  Throughout the day, the awesome ladies who keep the nursery keep a running report card on each of the 7 babies.  This allows me to go home knowing when and how much he ate, slept, and even an exit (diaper) report!  At first, Briggs didn't eat much and didn't sleep much.  The ladies were very impressed that for his age he will nap in his crib, but they have perfected that when he wakes, he'll sleep more if he is moved to a swing.  As of Friday, he was finishing all his bottles and taking some good naps!

We post the reports at home, keep us all on the same page!

I didn't have much anxiety about the separation or missing Briggs, I was downright (and shamefully) excited about going back to work.  I certainly learned over our 14 weeks at home, that I am not cut out for the stay at home mommy thing.  Even though the ladies in the nursery obviously have WAY more baby experience than I do, I was nervous about them knowing what all his grunts mean and just how he likes things.  David came along with me the first day of school and we were like dorky freshman at a new high school.  At first we couldn't find our classroom so we had to walk a few halls and then finally ask for help!  Once we found his room, we hung around for about 20 minutes learning the drop off and pick up procedures and telling Ms Amanda a little about Briggs.  I struggled to back out the door and leave, I kept feeling like there were things I should tell her.  I guess it was good David came along or I might have stayed an hour!

Ms Amanda & Briggs - Week 2

Pumping at work is just as bad as I thought it would be.  The first day went ok, but by the second day I was getting busy and already working right through pumping times.  So, I needed a routine.  Now I have an alarm set on my phone twice a day and these 10 uninterrupted minutes are now the time when I get to play with my new iPhone!  Sure facebook is fun, but I am totally addicted to Words with Friends now!!   It definitely is an inconvenience when I'm in the middle of something, but I know it's totally worth it for Briggs man!

Forget turning his back to the TV!

Now something I didn't have too much anxiety about was keeping up with the house and THAT has turned into the bigger issue!!  The first week I had planned well and had dinner ideas and supplies set and ready to roll, it was the first weekend when things went awry! 

Last Friday David called me at work to say he wasn't feeling good and was headed home.  By the time Briggs and I got home, David was in the bed with a fever.  I immediately Lysol'ed the entire house and busted out some Clorox wipes to tackle every surface.  I quarantined David and moved Briggs and I to the back bedroom.  By the time I put Briggs down, I wasn't feeling so great either.  To put it nicely, David and I were certain that we'd gotten food poisoning from the Mexican restaurant where we'd eaten his birthday dinner on Thursday night.  We struggled through the weekend mostly laying around and hydrating.  By Monday, I was back to 90% so I headed back to work.  When I dropped Briggs off, I started telling Ms Amanda about our weekend.  Turns out, we weren't the only ones who thought we'd been poisoned ... a stomach bug had obviously attacked!!  THANKFULLY, the only symptoms I ever saw in Briggs were some extra dirty diapers.  He stayed his normal, happy self through it all and was even nice enough to let mommy sleep!!

Briggs in the Johnny Jump Up

Now this weekend I luckily have an extra day off for MLK.  I'm going to need it!!  I'm headed out today to restock our groceries and meal plan for the week and then to tackle cleaning this house!!

Now some videos that make me smile!

 

David and Briggs are WAY to cute when they spend time "talking" with each other!

I love Briggs' face at the start of this video, then he gets a little shy!  He LOVES putting weight on his legs, so it was no surprise how much he liked his bouncy even if we had to do all the work!!

3 Months & Christmas

Briggs you are now 3 months old and already have more nicknames than Logan, the "Doo-Doo" Dog!!  Monster, Briggs Man, Booger, Boog-Boog, Goober, Goobie-Goo, Sugar, Shnukums, and Shug-shug are just some of the ones daddy and I use the most!

Watching football with Daddy

You have been sleeping longer at night, most nights you sleep 6 or 7 hours and occasionally hit the record breaking 8.5 hours!  Mommy really appreciates the rest!!  You are packing on the pounds and are now up to 14lbs, 4oz.  I think right now you are going through a little growth spurt as you always seem hungry!!  You are getting really good at sitting up now, your head control is amazing!!  You continue to love to stand up and are starting to get yourself pretty darn excited about it too!  All in all you are a very happy baby and rarely cry.  The only time you seem to get upset is when we've pushed you a little past the point of being hungry or sleepy and then you can really put up quite a fuss!!

Sitting up

Dad's first solo bath

You have continued to be very verbal, cooing and making all sorts of noises!  You even have started to mimic us when we stick our tongues out.  You are determined to get your thumb into your mouth and you are SOOOOOOO HAPPY when you get it there and are able to use it to doze off!  We keep trying to encourage the pacifier, but I'm not so sure you're into it.  You not only love to put your hands in your mouth, you also are starting to use them more.  You love to bat at your toys, rub your hands together, grab your blanket, my shirt and my hair.  I have noticed lately how much your hands have grown too!! 

Sucking that thumb

During our Christmas vacation, you got to meet your Grandad Harold.  You really thought he was great and didn't take your eyes off of him all throughout dinner! 

Meeting Grandpa

We celebrated your 3-month birthday on Christmas day and it was a heck of a long day for all of us, but especially for you.  I'm not so sure that you actually enjoyed Christmas, but I promise next year will be so much more fun!!  You got so many toys and clothes from our family and friends who love you so much!!  So many toys that Grammy and Grandpa had to come up after Christmas to bring the rest that wouldn't fit in our car!!  Right now your favorite toys are the "jungle gym" play mat and your "coo-coo-clock" from Granny Brenda.  When you are on the mat you just kick and play and the coo-coo-clock seems to just mesmerize you!!  I'm sure it won't be long until you start enjoying all your other toys too!!

Christmas Eve

In our PJ's waiting for Santa

Christmas Morning

Dinner @ Aunt Angela's

Snuggling with Oma

Aunt Sandy's got the touch

HAPPY Baby!

We have been having a BLAST lately with Briggs!  Not only does he give us the BEST smiles now, but we've had LAUGTER!!  On Friday (Dec 9th) Briggs laughed while he was awake for the first time!  I was getting him into the carseat to head out to run some errands and David was luckily home grabbing some lunch.  Briggs was wearing some camouflage pants so I was asking him if he was going goose hunting.  He thought that was HILARIOUS and gave us a few good giggles, it was great!!  No video of the laugh, but hopefully we'll have more of that soon to capture! 

SMILES

Now we are routinely getting some gibberish talk out of him, it's so much fun!!  I have pieced together a some videos, one from a smiles session along with a few of our talking sessions!! You'll notice that most of his smile pictures and videos are when he's wearing PJ's, Briggs is very happy in the morning!!  I am definitely going to miss this time with him when I return to work next month.  I guess I'm going to have to watch this at work whenever I'm having a bad day!!

These are really just snip-its from multiple videos I've shot, if you are having a really bad day and need more, you can watch them all at our YouTube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/MrBriggsMonster

Briggs loves our Christmas tree.  It's a great tool for settling a fussy baby, so we may have a tree in our house for a few extra months!!

Babies love Christmas Lights

On Sunday, Briggs and I went with Jess to the Pendleton Christmas Parade.  It was quite chilly out, so I buddled him up in his new snowsuit and hat!  Briggs slept the ENTIRE time, aside from when the Pendleton Band's drum section went by!!  Seriously, he slept through music, police sirens, and even a crazy parade woman who came over to fuss over him and to give him a lollypop!

Watching the Christmas Parade

2 Months

Briggs you are now 2-months old!!  With each week that passes you change so much and continue to amaze us.

The most exciting thing is that with every day that passes you are perfecting your smiles.  You have the BEST smile - it lights up your entire face!!  We all try our best to get these smiles from you and you especially like when your dad sings the Bonanza song, "Chicka-chicka-boom-boom", or when I touch your cheeks. 

You are such a strong little man ... you have been rolling over (from your belly to your back) now since you were 6 weeks old.  When you are on your belly or laying on my chest you are a pro at lifting that head up so that you can see the world.  Most of the time you like to face forward so that you don't miss a thing.

Holding up that Noggin

You also really enjoy it when we stand you up so that you put weight on your legs.  It's amazing how strong your legs are and you wobble around for a few minutes until you tucker out!  You are getting big fast too.  You have doubled your birth weight and I have already started to put clothes away that you no longer can wear.  Right now you are wearing 3 month old clothes and can fit into most of your 3-6 month outfits.

You are finally starting to enjoy bathtime!  You love getting wet and when I spray near your face you like to open your mouth to get some water in it!  You think it's hilarious when I tell you I'm getting all your stink off!  You love to lay on your back and stare at the ceiling fan, the windows, lights, TV, and whatever else might catch your eye.  We all try so hard to be the center of your attention, but mostly you are amazed by the ceiling fan (on or off).  As of right now you really like to nap either in your swing or just laying on a blanket on the floor.  Often you will fall asleep after playing on your playmat.

Zonked Out!

You are really working hard on your sleep for me and I appreciate it.  In the last two weeks you have gone from sleeping at the most 4 hours to now sleeping 5, 6 and even 7 hours at night!  Hopefully by the time you start daycare next month you'll be a bit more consistent!  I love to watch you sleep and sometimes it's even more fun to LISTEN to you sleep!  During your naps you often coo, snore, or "call in the geese".  This is also a noise you like to make when you're eating, quite entertaining!  Often when you are falling asleep or waking up, you smile and laugh or will make a horrible face and cry out.  Those little laughs are what I'm waiting so patiently for!!  You also seem to get the hiccups all the time, luckily they don't phase you. 

Recently you have discovered your hands and you are trying your best to get that fist into your mouth!  This can get pretty frustrating and often you will settle for the pacifier.  This can also be pretty dangerous and as of today you have a big scratch on your nose from your fingernails.  Another recent discovery is your hair.  You love to play with your hair when you are laying down for playtime and twice now I have found you screaming because you are pulling your own hair!! 

Today we went for your 2-month check-up with Dr. Bruce.  She was very impressed with how well you are holding your head, and said this is more like the way a 4-month old should.  At today's check-up you weighed in at 12 lbs, 6.3oz, you measured 23.5 inches, and your head has grown to 16 inches in diameter!  This puts you in the 50th percentile which is great!!

Unfortunately today's check-up also meant that you had to get 3 shots.  I was very nervous about this, so I brought your dad along for support.  Of course you squalled when you got the shots and for the first time you cried real tears.  This really broke my heart.  I was glad that you were able to be tough for me and within a just a minute you stopped crying.  Unfortunately, we relived all of this later in the day when your band-aids came off.  Thank goodness for grape flavored Tylenol.

2 Weeks of Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving the Black Family has so much to be thankful for.  Above all, we are thankful that Briggs is a healthy and happy boy.  I am also extremely thankful that Briggs and I were able to spend 2 full weeks in Summerville on a Granny-Vacation!  We had some great family time with my mom, dad, and grandmother.  Unfortunately, my grandma is doing time at my mom's recovering from a broken foot, but it was great to have her right there for visiting with us.

We headed down the Thursday before Thanksgiving and settled right into the Black Family Suite (aka my parents room above the garage).  This visit was great for me to relax some and great for Briggs to soak up some love.  It was way better than my leave days at home because I didn't have to do any cleaning, minimal cooking, AND there was someone to watch Briggs while I showered, pumped, and I was even able to sneak off for a dinner with girlfriends!

Briggs and I were able to spend some time with Aunt Krista doing her favorite thing, shopping!  Not nearly the marathon trip that I'm used to with her, but we powered through the outlets between feedings and actually got a lot accomplished!  Aunt Kris bought Briggs a great Christmas sweater vest and of course an "I Love My Auntie" shirt.

David got into town the night before Thanksgiving and was certainly missing his boy after nearly a week away from him!  Not sure Logan shared those feelings.  Although I didn't HAVE to cook while I was home, I did whip up a total of 6 apple pies, a Hulse family favorite!  We had a great Thanksgiving day with a dinner at Billy & Angela's house and then a second dinner at my moms house.  Briggs loved meeting his cousins, aunts and uncles who also slobbered all over him!

On Saturday, Granny Brenda took us for Briggs' first Christmas photos, an annual Granny Brenda tradition.  We had such a good time dressing him up and posing him, for 2 months old he was quite a trooper and he gave us some amazingly cute shots!  The hard part was narrowing down the nearly 90 shots to the few that we selected!

On Saturday evening, David and I geared Briggs up for his first Palmetto Bowl.  If you aren't aware, David is a Gamecocks fan and I (of course) am a Clemson fan.  Since Briggs can't quite cadence count yet, I have to be fair to David.  SO, I spent a day fashioning him some appropriate attire for the game!  The game didn't have the outcome I had hoped for, thankfully David wasn't too hard on me.

On Sunday, Briggs and I made another visit to the rehab facility to visit Nana.  She was in great spirits and we all enjoyed some nice time on the patio talking and again, spoiling Briggs with love.

While we were home I was able to catch up with my high school bestie, Amanda, who also has a new addition.  Blaysen was born just 2 months before Briggs and they are already best buddies!  I love those friends who you can pick back up with right where you left off, regardless of how long it's been.

And finally, David spent his week off working to get his "new" truck repainted.  Quite an amazing job, don't ya think!?

Road Trip

This weekend Briggs made his very first ROAD TRIP!!  We headed to Summerville to make a quick visit with family and to attend a baby shower for David's best friend, JC, who is expecting twin girls in December!!

As first time parents we did a lot of planning and THANKFULLY the drive down and back were both uneventful.  Briggs was great, he slept most of drive and only woke up ready to eat just as we were arriving.

We packed a lot of visiting into just two days.  Meeting Great Grandparents was certainly the highlight for us!  Check out the video at the bottom, we surprised Nana at rehab, certainly the kind of happiness she needed!!

Briggs' First Trip!

                                                                 

Big Brother making sure he's buckled up!

Meeting Pop

Meeting Uncle Rick

Meeting Oma

JC's Little Family

Meeting the Westbrooks

Meeting Nana

Four Generations

Meeting Aunt Summer

Chunky Monkey

Here we are at 6 weeks old and there have been so many changes!!  For starters we finally took Briggs up to David's work on Friday for a weigh-in.  We've been wondering how much weight he's gained and our scale at home just wasn't measuring up.  Get ready ... Briggs weighted in at 11lbs, 2 oz!  CHUNKY MONKEY!  This inspired me to buy a better scale so we can keep up with his growth at home.  This weight gain has caused some leaky diapers, so now Briggs has moved up to size 2 diapers too.

Briggs has been more alert (both day and night) so because I can't hold him ALL the time when he's awake, I went out Saturday and bought him a play mat.  On Saturday he hated everything about it.  We tried again on Sunday and he decided it was a blast and played in it most of the evening.  He spent most of the time on his back checking out all the toys, then we turned him over for some tummy time.  He's getting so strong holding his head up and looking around.  He never lasts long with tummy time though, he'd prefer to be on his back.  So, Sunday he decided to show us when he was done with tummy time, take a look ...

And just so you all don't think we have forgotten about our first son, I wanted to post a funny video of Logan too!  David had been using some adhesive while replacing the headliner in his truck and Logan decided it was the nastiest stuff he'd ever smelled!! 

Sorry for the bad lightening, I tried to enhance it, but it looks weird.