Brittany {& Chase}

Phebruary Photo Phun.

2012-02-01T10:43:00.001-07:00

My cousin Jerilyn posted this and it seems like a fun thing to do. I've always been interested in the one photo a day for a year posts, but I think my commitment level would dwindle after a month. Plus this way I'm told what to photograph. I'm sure others doing this will be using nice cameras but I'll just use my iPhone. If you do it too, I'll link you at the bottom, so let me know.

my man.

2012-01-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

Chase needs a little tribute right about now.

my man plows snow... with great style.

He studies and does homework all the time. He runs his business and works hard to provide for our family- and does a great job.

{A lot of moms tell me I am lucky that I don't have to work. It doesn't feel like luck. It feels like a husband who is willing to sacrifice a lot for his family.}

He also cleans our house, does a lot of laundry, cooks some of our meals and is absolutely the most doting father around. Annabelle is HIS little girl. If we are both around, it's him she'll want. She cries and cries every time she see's him go, seriously.

my man puts annabelle to sleep.
she's so cozy in his arms.

my man gives our baby pop rocks.
she loves them.

Thank you Chase for all you do and keep up the good work! I love you so so much and I'm excited for our growing family.

Xoxo, your wife.

my man mops the floors.
and looks hot doing it.

me & the girls.

2012-01-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

Breakfast at Over The Counter

starring:

Michelle & Cory, Lizzy & baby Liam, Andrea & Elliot and Chase, Brittany & baby Annabelle.

Love these get togethers! This one happened to be extra fun because we, as in the girls, did a Zumba class together before-hand. It was really fun but I sure need practice.

Girls Post March 2009 - who "we" are.
Girls Post March 2011 - breakfast.

happy birthday bethany.

2012-01-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

It's Bethany's Birthday today, hooray!

(She's my sister, the one just older than me...)

To celebrate her birthday, this weekend my mom arranged a family cook off. I don't watch any cooking shows, but other in my family do and loooove them. This is how it went down. We each had to bring one food item. We drew numbers to see which basket of food{that my mom supplied} we got to use with our one item. We got into four teams, we each had to make enough food for our team to have dinner. After it all, we were judged on presentation of food{we won}, taste of food, healthiness of food{we won}, speediness of making the food, good sportsmanship, as we only had one kitchen to all share and overall best!

Baskets we each got = Meal we made

TEAM ONE

chase, brittany, katelyn

TEAM TWO

Kimball & Bethany

TEAM THREE

Ryan & Leah

TEAM FOUR

Ned & Brooklyn

And here you go, enjoy the other photo's of the night:

Annabelle eats blueberries by the handfuls.

kate & brit making the candy-heart salmon

kimball and beet-stained bethany

leah (& ryan) creating rice paper trout

ned (& brook) creating the asian themed masterpiece

chase & i preparing the salad

mom (& bruce) judged the contest

the kids table: oliver, eleanor & annabelle

ryan & leah

katelyn & brittany

i like the card i made for bethany

bethany made a white chocolate milk cake with chocolate frosting
it was delicious

and she ended the night blowing out 27 candles...

then & now : siblings

2012-01-21T13:33:00.003-07:00

Because I've been looking at old family photos lately, I wanted to share with you my siblings! There are 6 of us children and between the days 19 and 30 in June, we are all 2 years apart in age. I don't know for sure which year these photos were taken, but it would have been one of the last couple years in the 1980s.

Here you go, from oldest to youngest, then & now style:

Jarom

Tiffany

Andrew

Brooklyn

Bethany

Brittany

ps: i hope they don't mind i took the pictures of them from their facebook profiles.

pps: My siblings are great: meeting Annabelle.

vintage style.

2012-01-17T12:31:00.003-07:00

I was going through old photos at my mom's house last Sunday. I found a picture of our living room when I was a baby.

I love it so much.

I obviously don't remember living in it, but I certainly remember all the furniture and decorations because they came with us to our next homes. In fact, when I got married, I got two of those blue love seats, they're downstairs. That coffee table is still in my mom's living room, even though at one point my mom did give it to me {then took it back.} The white cupboards on either side of the love seat were in my bedroom right before I got married. And I have one of those beautiful Bessie Pease Gutmann pictures in Annabelle's room right now. {Actually I have 3 of the pictures, but just one from the set in the living room.} The white chair in the corner is one a set of dining room chairs that is still in my dad's dining room. Oh the memories that all this furniture holds! It's lastly quite nicely too.

my living room when i was a baby

I would be happy to have this entire room as my living room right now. I love my mom's style. Instead of a living room though, I think it would a beautiful color pallet for a child's room, especially a little baby boy. I love the high back & arms of the love seats. When we were little we would push two together to create forts and have sleepovers in the square it created. I'm excited to let Annabelle do this too with her hopefully lots of siblings.

In the late 1990s this look was very dated and my mom redid our whole house and a lot of these things went into storage. It's funny how things go in and out of style. I'm glad they went to storage and not the DI, because I certainly continue to benefit from them.

Now because of the recent snow we've {finally} received here in Salt Lake, here are a few pictures of me as a young girl {3-5yrs} in the freezing Canadian snow.

Oh how I wish those snowsuits went to storage so I could get then out when Annabelle became old enough to fit. They just don't make clothes in pretty colors for babies and children anymore. It seems everything has to have big patterns and ugly colors all over... nothing like the old days. Especially all that light pink and light blue.

Brittany & brother Andrew
{check out both our mittens.}

Little Brittany
{Mom behind me buttoning someone else up.}

Brit & Beth
{with our little snowbear.}

Brit & Mom
{i love my boots & hat-scarf!}

Hello 2012.

2012-01-12T12:01:00.002-07:00

Here we are in the first couple weeks of the New Year and I've already made a trip to my home and native land.

My Grandpa Olsen died last week so I flew up for his funeral. I loved being there and I felt like the whole weekend was a great start to my new year.
This year I'd like to spend trying to be more like C. Lowell, my Grandpa Olsen.

C. Lowell Olsen

He was dedicated to the gospel. Serving a young mission in England (where he met my grandmother) and an older mission with his sweetie in Iceland. Holding many callings and fulfilling them well. Serving in the Temple with Grandma and then set apart as a temple sealer, sadly he was too ill to travel when I married Chase.

He was "fiercely loyal", as was said at his funeral, especially to his wife. He loved his family and was always there to love and support them. He would do anything he could to make sure they were taken care of.

He was educated and loved education. Growing up he could only finish grade 10 because his family needed his hands on the farm after his Dad had a heart attack. After serving in the war, his mission and starting a family, he finished his high school education and college. He became a teacher and then principal. To him death was a graduation to the next life... and graduate he did.

He endured to the end and I love him for his good example. Thank you Grandpa.

Aunt Anne, Grandma Olsen, Dad, Uncle Gane

Siblings with Dad

Me & Dad

Funeral Program

Grandma thinks Dad looks so handsome in Grandpa's hat.

Me & Grandma

Along with trying to live more like my Grandpa,

this year I'd like to build my relationship with my Grandma.

goodbye 2011.

2011-12-31T15:21:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of people blogging do a big recap of what happened over the year... In my head I've tried to make a list, but I can't ever come up with much. I decided to try to write some things down in hopes I would come up with more.

1. Annabelle survived being 3 - 14 months old. {and had many exciting and not so exciting baby-milestones.}

2. In the Spring, Chase built a chicken coop and we bought 5 chickens. We've been enjoying their fresh eggs every day since.

3. Chase was in school the entire year, summer and everything. This was hard for him and also ME. Nights are hard with a baby! {especially when you've already spent the whole day alone with the baby.}

4. I started working out this summer- for basically the first time in my life. I went here and there and did this and that, but I've never been consistent until this year. {plus, i got down to my pre-pregnancy weight}

5. We took our first family vacation to New York City, to see my sister Tiffany and her hubs Jimmy. {Annabelle's first flight went well.}

6. Annabelle and I drove to Canada so she could meet her great Grandpa and great Grandma Olsen. {Her first 15 hour road trip also went well.}

7. I started working at Studio Cove a couple days a week for a couple hours. Annabelle loves playing with the other kids. {and I've been using that money to hire a housekeeper, which I love!}

8. Ummm, if I thought longer I'm sure I would come up with more but I'm going to stop there-- so that is my whole 2011 review, hah.

Happy New Year!!

Xoxo, Brittany.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

2011-12-23T17:09:00.000-07:00

December has been a fun month. We've been enjoying having our Christmas tree up... Annabelle decorates {and then undecorates} the bottom of it with our wood ornaments just about everyday. She plays with out singing snowmen decoration non stop, I'm so sick of the song "We Wish you a Merry Christmas!" That's all it plays. Annabelle does not like keeping her socks and shoes on. It's crazy that she's so good at taking them off. One time I didn't realize and so all I had left were her mittens to were as socks to keep her tosies warm. :)

We've gone to see the lights at temple square, to the Festival of Tree's, to Christmas breakfasts and to see Santa. I've had lots of days spend baking Christmas candies and making presents. My brother, Andrew and his wife, Janelle have us for Christmas and they sent us an advent for the whole month! That's been one of the highlights. We got to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert and it was beautiful. I loved the snow falling on the stage. We listened to the First Presidency Devotional. I always love that.

Annabelle has been so much fun to celebrate Christmas with. I look forward to our three Christmas celebrations this year! One with just the three of us on Christmas Eve morning. One with the Nielsen's family, on Christmas Morning. The last with my family on the 27th Morning. Celebrating Christmas is wonderful. I really like that we've been enjoying the season by focusing on the Savior.

Merry Christmas and enjoy the many {of many many more taken} iPhone pictures we've taken this month.

Annabelle has two best friends.

2011-12-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

our thanksgiving

2011-12-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving was great this year. It turned into a weekend event because we had family in town.
On Thursday we had our typical Thanksgiving dinner. I can't remember which days we did what, but we played a lot of games and had a lot of fun. We went to the Temple Square lights, which are so beautiful! One morning we all went to the gym as a family and did a boxing bootcamp. It was awesome and I was so sore after- yay! I miss being sore, which it seemed I was all summer... I obviously need to start doing bootcamps or classes more often.

Annabelle's eye turned really black, poor thing! She's also been teething. She has two bottom teeth, one middle and one to the left. She's a lot of fun and is old enough to enjoy family gatherings and playing with the other kiddies.

I'm thankful for her and Chase and family. I know it's late, but I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year... I'm so excited for Christmas and even getting ready for Christmas.

Xoxo, Brittany.

two black eyes for baby.

2011-11-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

Annabelle got her first black eye. She fell from her stroller onto the hard mall floor, face first on Monday night. {I won't name names, but she wasn't with me or chase.} Her forehead bruised up and then today, the swelling by her eyebrows got worse and the color appeared. Black, in The corner of each eye.
This picture actually makes her look a lot better than it looks in person. She's a tough little girl.
Oh and that line above her temple? It's from falling onto a chair last week... It's actually healing up quite nicely.

My Annabelle turned ONE. {She had a party, opened presents, ate lots of cake & here are the photos to prove it!}

2011-11-21T19:11:00.001-07:00

We love our one year old!

myself, my husband, and our baby.

2011-11-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

brittany anne nielsen - 1 year old

chase g nielsen - 1 year old

annabelle bea nielsen - 1 year old

my baby likes to eat.

2011-11-07T16:35:00.004-07:00

sneaking into marshmallows covered in chocolate

carrots

peas... mmm

checking out the almost empty fridge

no need for a spoon

her mouth and finger work faster

in fact, no need for hands, she has toes!

my birthday & halloween.

2011-10-31T14:11:00.001-06:00

my birthday is the day before halloween. i'm kind of tired of having a halloween birthday, but i guess that won't ever change.

annabelle was little orphan annie for the trunk or treating we did at olympus hills shopping center on saturday. i didn't have black shoes, so she wore black tights and white shoes and she doesn't keep things on her head, so she was a bald annie. i think she was still cute though. she ate one of those long skinny tootsie rolls. the entire thing! which is quite the feat considering she doesn't have any teeth. (i can feel one coming up on the bottom side, but it's not visible yet.)

sunday was my birthday. chase woke me with annabelle and breakfast in bed. i said thanks and then told him i was going to sleep longer... i sure did. i re-woke up at about noon. heavenly morning. especially because i was up at 4:30 with my baby. ever since she was sick last week, she hasn't been sleeping through the night as well.

chase spoiled me with gifts, as he always does. a new banana republic dress, with sleeves, high cut, to the knee and with pockets. every mormon's dream dress, which always seems so hard to find. also pretty silver leaf earrings and a mirror decoration with two little love birds.

i went to sunbeams and they sang happy birthday to me in singing time. annabelle was adorable in sacrament meeting. no crying or yelling or anything distracting. she did play in the aisle with some friends though, but quietly so i didn't mind. mostly the looked at each other holding their own toys.

after church we went to chase's parents for a chili dinner. it was a lot of fun. it's nice to get together with them without all the siblings once in a while.

we came home and i got to g+ hangout with my entire family! the siblings at least. it was so much fun to have all six of us siblings and spouses there- besides jimmy who was out of town and working... which seems funny to say he couldn't join in cause he was out of town, because that's the best thing about g+ hangouts. we can be (and were) in nyc, chicago, arizona, provo and slc & all still get together. yay!

it was a good day and i loved all the calls, texts, emails and facebook messages. thanks everyone!

happy birthday to me.... and happy halloween today.

ps: check back tonight for added pictures, i'm too tired to get them off my camera right now. :)

my week {last week}

2011-10-25T17:02:00.001-06:00

I wrote this on Friday the 21st of October:

"I've been sick all week. It's hard to be a {good} mom AND be sick. At the start of the week, I just had a mini cold, barely noticeable. This morning it got 100 times worse. :(

Besides being sick, I did have some fun.

I've been making Annabelle a quilt for her 1st birthday. I've never made a quilt before, which will be obvious if you count the number of mistakes I've made along the way, but I think it will turn out just fine. Hopefully I'll have it finished for her birthday!

As I stated in my last post, I want to do more sewing and watercoloring, so I made invitations to Annabelle's little first birthday party next week. I drew it and added a couple watercolor pictures, then had it copied. The copies aren't as pretty, but I'm still proud of myself. I gave some, mailed some and just emailed a picture to some people.

For a Halloween activity, I marshmallow ghosts with my sister and her kids. Marshmallows dipped in white chocolate with mini chocolate chip eyes and some with a caramel center, on a stick... Mmm.
Oh and I painted my nails ORANGE for Halloween."

That is where my Friday post ends. Since I didn't get around to posting it, here's the update as of today:

I'm still sick.
I've made progress on the quilt, but not enough.
My house is a little mini- disaster.
My baby turns ONE tomorrow morning.
Chase got really sick yesterday.
I don't feel like doing anything right now.
Oh yes, and one more thing.....

my attempt at watercolor

2011-10-15T14:56:00.000-06:00

i love to water color paint. i'm not good. i want to get better. i painted chase a couple things. it was before the summer that i would paint every week with my mom and some of her friends. annabelle was little enough that she would just sit around and play with toys. now she is much too active. i wish i had more time for myself... hah, don't all moms?

i want more time to paint and sew. perhaps i just need to buy more baby movies for annabelle. :)

my hunt for the perfect rug.

2011-10-10T18:58:00.000-06:00

We rearranged our living room to accommodate our crawling, standing, almost walking baby. We put our coffee table in the corner beside the chair and now the center of the room is just a wide open space... waiting to be played in!!

i took this quality panoramic photo right now on my iphone.
notice the computer? that's where i'm sitting right now, writing this post.

I love our hardwood floors, but I think Baby wants it to be a little softer when she falls. Although it adds a lot of color, the little bright pink blanket just isn't cutting it. Ha. This means, we are on a hunt: to find the perfect rug.

I was at Ikea today and I actually found the perfect rug. The only problem is it's $400. I mean, I'm sure it's worth four hundred dollars, but we don't have that much to spend on just a rug. I'm thinking I'll sell some things, to try to come up with the difference between what this Dagny Rug costs and what we were thinking of spending. Do you think I have a couple hundred dollars worth of ~~junk~~ really nice stuff to sell? We'll see. Perhaps instead, we'll find another perfect rug that is in our price range. Ideas?

it's a pretty rug, now isn't it?
do you think it would look good in my living room?

ps: i am currently taking donations. {in the form of money, really nice stuff to sell, or simply in the form of this rug. :)}

my baby loves the cold!

2011-10-06T13:12:00.001-06:00

getting ready to go to her cousins house.

on our way, eating her gloves.

she was slipping all over the place
with her mittens and footed jammies.

super excited to play with o & e.

i love my winter baby.

{It's time to buy her some winter gear though! She doesn't even own a coat yet.}

i on the other hand, do not love winter.

my growing {or not so growing} family.

2011-10-03T22:48:00.000-06:00

"The bearing of children is a sensitive subject that can be very painful for righteous women who do not have the opportunity to marry and have a family. To you noble women, our Heavenly Father knows your prayers and desires. How grateful we are for your remarkable influence, including reaching out with loving arms to children who need your faith and strength." -Neil L. Andersen

I follow A Cup of Jo's blog. Today her Motherhood Monday post today was about infertility. A mother shared her story about her struggle to conceive, which only eventually happened though medical intervention. Which is really a miracle that they are able to help a lot of women have babies, although if that doesn't work, maybe it would make it harder to deal with because you'd expect that IVF would work. It really made me feel sad to read her story (and the many others out there) of struggling to get pregnant.

i should{should i} be happy with just one?

You're probably wondering what this has to do with me? I obviously was able to get pregnant, carry full term and deliver a happy little healthy baby. But lately I've been really emotional about getting pregnant. I always imagined that I would have two babies really close in age. Like REALLY close, as in, I wanted to be pregnant by now. I know, I know, I really do not have the place to complain, but it's my blog, so I am going to. I STILL have not started my period since having my baby. I know that it's normal to go a while before it starts again after having a baby, but I didn't think it would be THIS long! Annabelle is almost a year old and I haven't been breastfeeding for a few months. I know a lot of friends who's period came back while they were breastfeeding, only a few short months after their babies were born. Not me. It's something so little-seeming, but to me it's big. I hate the feeling of knowing that my body right now CANNOT make a child right now. It's scary to think, and often I do think, what if Annabelle was an only child, or what if we don't have another baby for ten years? It would be so different than what I imagined for my family.

i want lots of these babies.

After LDS Conference {more specifically Neil A. Anderson's talk on children}, Chase said to me, "So when ARE we going to have another baby." I flipped out at him thinking, "Why would he ask me such an insensitive question? He's so rude. How horrible of him to bring that up without even thinking of what my body can, actually cannot, do right now! Etc etc..." I didn't even realize I was being irrational at the time, I was just so hurt.

I'm sorry to any of you who are also wishing for a baby right now. My little trial right now is just exactly that, little. The likelihood of me being able to get pregnant within the next couple years is strong, I know.
At least right now I can say I have a lot of sympathy {and perhaps a tiny bit of empathy} for those women who want to but are not having babies.

"It is a crowning privilege of a husband and wife who are able to bear children, to provide mortal bodies for these spirit children of God. We believe in families and we believe in children." -Neil L. Andersen

my blog stalkers.

2011-10-01T15:45:00.004-06:00

Hi readers... yes all of you! Even you, that person I don't know.
I've had a few people that I don't know well {or really at all} tell me that they embarrassingly enough read my blog, Gasp!

momma & baby

I think this is funny that they feel embarrassed about reading my blog. They say sorry for "stalking" me. Now if my blog was private and they{you} were hacking in to read the personal details of my life because you were obsessed with me, yes, that would be stalking. But I have a public blog, which I often link to from The Facebook, and when people just read it, it is not called stalking.

I feel like with facebook and blogs, people use the term "Stalking" too much. It diminishes the real use of the word: To pursue obsessively and to the point of harassment or To follow or observe (a person) persistently, especially out of obsession or derangement. Now THAT is stalking and illegal and often dangerous.

So to all you blog-stalkers out there, let's find a different name for you.
From now on say:
You read my blog.
You follow my blog.
You find my blog interesting.
You like my blog.
You found my blog.
You have my blog on reader.
Or etc etc etc...

daddy & baby
yes, in the crib playing.

ps: Don't worry too much about it though, I've used this term too. Lots.

my job.

2011-09-27T12:14:00.000-06:00

Hi readers. I got a job a few weeks ago. It's silly to even call it a job, but I go and I get a pay check every two weeks.

Mom and Babe - at work.

I've been working out at Studio Cove a lot lately, as I've mentioned before {here, here and here}. I love it.
They have a little Kids Care room that is open from 8:30-11:30am. This is where Annabelle hangs out while I work out. She absolutely loves it because there are much more exciting toys there and there are usually 1-6 kids there, so she's gotten to know all the other kiddos that go there.

Annabelle, the drums are one of her favorite toys.

So back to my job... I got a job at Studio Cove's Kid's Care and I love it. I only work two days a week- so I can work out four days a week. {Chase is home with Annabelle on Saturdays} It has worked out really quite well. I basically get paid to hang out with my baby and her friends. It also forces me to play play with Annabelle, not that I wouldn't otherwise, but it's nice because nothing can get in our way- like blogging, dishes, laundry, errands, etc, etc... Oh and did I mention I get paid? :) It still makes me happy that I found something so fun to do with my time that I get money for. Hah.

playing, before the other kids got there.

Do any of you mom's have jobs? It's always interesting to hear what other people do with their time and with their babies/children.

Speaking of my baby... Annabelle can stand up on her own, only for a few seconds at a time, but I'm proud of her that she's taken that mini step towards being an independent girlie. She likes to walk and walk and walk, holding on, of course. One time she tried to take a step not holding on, but she promptly fell. I'm having a lot of fun being her mom.
Chase loves being her dad too. Annabelle can not get enough of her daddy! When he's around, she only wants to be with him. She doesn't even want her momma when Daddy's home! She also calls him Dad, Dadda, Daddy, and she calls me... oh ya, nothing. She doesn't know Momma, Mum, Mom, Mommy or anything similar yet.

Also she loves spending time with her cousins, Eleanor & Oliver. She wishes she could run around like them, but they're nice to play with her in her crib sometimes, ha. {I'm not sure why Annabelle isn't in any clothes.}

My night at the General Relief Society Meeting.

2011-09-25T07:03:00.000-06:00

{It's Sunday you say, what about the sabbath unplugged you blogged about last week? It's not for me. Right now it's Saturday night and I am going to schedule my post for the morning. Why you ask? Because I posted something this morning and it bugs me to have two posts from the same day. OCD? perhaps.}

---

Last year I went with my mom to the Conference Center, 8 months pregnant. It is always nice to be able to go to the actual building it is in. I think the few years before that I watched the meeting either on the TV or on a computer.

This year I went to my mom's stake center for a dinner at 5 and then watched the broadcast in the chapel. I was with two of my sisters and our mom. It was nice to watch it with a large group of women. *even though situations like that often give me anxiety

It was a lot of fun to get together with my mom and sisters. It was the 4 of us that moved to Utah together over 10 years ago. We used to always do things, just the 4 of us because we lived together and were all single. Now that we are all mature married women {haha}, we usually have our husbands and family in tow. I'm glad my mom invited us to go with her this year.

Mom, Brittany, Brooklyn, Bethany

Aaaaaand, it was really nice to not have Annabelle with me. I rarely (especaily lately, which Chase being in full time school and working full time) go out without her. It was a nice break and I loved coming home to her smiling face. It was also nice not having to pack up a big diaper bag to walk out the door.

---

If you are{or know a} LDS/Mormon, you {probably} know what the General RS Meeting is. If you don't know, I'll tell you. It is a Meeting in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, that is broadcast through out the world to all the members of the Relief Society (which is the organization in the LDS church for women), in which the 3 presidency members of the Relief Society & one of the members of the Presidency of the LDS Church speak.
You can click here to watch and read the highlights of the broadcast this year.

This year, Elder Uchtdorf spoke to us. I like his talks a lot. He's funny and straightforward. He talked about the Forget Me Not flowers and told us we are not forgotten.

Also he mentioned 5 things we are to "forget not":
To patient with yourself.
To make good sacrifices, not foolish ones.
That happiness surrounds you, look for it.
To focus on the "why" of the Gospel, not the how or what.
That the Lord loves you.

Now I'm excited for General Conference next weekend!!

"the three little girls"
- as we were called growing up.

*having misophonia, I often cringe thinking about having to be in a quiet place with a lot of people, especially women, because they tend to chew gum more loudly than men. If it's very quiet, except that little chewing or popping sound in the distance, I cannot focus on anything but that noise. It's especially bad when I have to SEE them chewing. I always want to sit on the side, so I can face away if needed or at the front or back of rooms. I need little escapes. Also, if I'm surrounded by people, the chance of one of them having gum is much higher. Luckily my family is starting to understand my problem and are very willing to not chew gum around me, which is very much appreciated!

my hoarding, part 2

2011-09-24T12:45:00.003-06:00

I am a hoarder. It's true. It's sad. It's hard. It's emotional. It's real.

Although I'm not as hoardish as the people on the A&E show, I'm getting there.

This week I decided it was time I did something about it. I asked my sister to help me, she's come over twice and we cleaned out a whole room {this is big for me!} It was packed wall to wall and floor to ceiling -- seriously. I can't believe how great it feels to have a little bit of free space. The room is pretty small. It's not even perfect yet, because some of the things in there need to go in other rooms, that are also jam packed, so in order to move them, I need to get the other rooms cleaned out. Sigh.

This is the room we cleaned out. It makes me happy.

I am going to turn this small little room into an Esthetics room. Did you know I am an Esthetician? I am. I want to start working a little bit from my home I've decided. Obviously I need a lot of work to make this room pretty and useable but it used to look like the other spare bedroom downstairs. Eeeek.

this is the room that i still need to clean out. it scares me.

Now that I've cleaned a lot of stuff out, I need to do a run to the DI. {Unless anyone wants some speakers that work and are large, or lots of clothes from size 4 - 14, or some purses.} All that is in the DI pile outside. I know the pile will get bigger and bigger as I clean out and de-junk more and more. Perhaps my hoards could be your treasures. Ha.

DI pile outside our house.

Wish me luck as I try to take control of my house.

my workout ramblings.

2011-09-21T23:16:00.004-06:00

Are you watching Biggest Loser this season?

I am.

I haven't watched since Season 5, when Ali Vincent won. {i had to look that up, i didn't remember}

As you know, if you've read my blog, I've been working out hardcore every morning. It was 3 hours a day and now it's 2 hours a day. I love it.

I hate it. {and I love it!!!} It's hard. It's really hard to get up every morning. It's hard to get to the gym. It's hard to start the workout. It's hard to keep pushing myself. It's hard work. It is really hard work!!

And it is SO worth it. Seriously, I've been loving it. I want everyone to do it with me!!

{for real- i want everyone to do it with me, call/text/email/comment if you want to come with me, anytime! it's much more fun to workout with someone you know. plus they give 2 days free to anyone who wants it, so you don't lose anything if you don't like it, ha, but you'll love it.}

an after workout stretch with attain fitness.

I work out with Attain Fitness, up at Studio Cove. I'm doing a Fitness Camp with them. When I started, I thought the workouts were so weird. They had all these strange ways of exercising they were making us do. I had never done ANY of them. {I'd never really worked out before. I've done some cardio here and there and I've done Yoga classes and Step Classes, recently I'd done some Body Pump classes that Studio Cove offers.}

But back to the workouts... I thought they were weird, but as I was watching the Biggest Loser contestants, they were doing all the same things as my trainers were having ME do. I couldn't believe it really. Back when I used to watch, I thought I could never do anything they were doing... but I can and I do. Ok, perhaps I exert {a tiny bit} less than these contestants, because I'm obviously not losing 20+ pounds a week! Ha.

But I have lost 8 inches in my abdomen already! I'm pretty proud of that. I just wish I didn't carry my weight in my arms, I've only lost one inch on them. Regardless of my inches and weight, which both are decreasing, each time I work out, I can do SOOO much more than I was able to when I started.

I am very proud of myself!

{can you tell?}

yes, i know i look like a man in the picture up there-- but we sweat so much working out, that any make up you have on, runs down your face. seriously, just this morning my sweat was dripping into my eyes. my hair felt like i was in a swimming pool and i even had little balls of sweat all over my arms.

is that typical you ask? yes.

I was watching the show online and writing this post during the boring parts, it just ended and I am more motivated than ever to work my hardest each time I work out and to reel in my {not perfect} eating habits.
Who's with me!?
Anyone else want to be THE BIGGEST LOSER?!!

on a hike with my family, it was short and hard.
but i know i wouldn't have even wanted to go on a hike two months ago.

Our 20th of September trip to Dee's.

2011-09-20T22:39:00.000-06:00

As you can see, my family went to Dee's tonight. We don't particularly like Dee's, but it's a tradition. Each year on September 20th, Chase and I go to Dee's. This was our 5th year there!

{Read why this started here.}

We always order hot chocolate with whipped cream, as we did the first time we went together. We always order something to share. We always wish we didn't eat anything. We always leave with tummy aches. Seriously. It's not overeating, cause tonight we just shared some french toast but perhaps they poison their food?

It was really fun to bring Annabelle along, because besides last year, when she was living in my tummy, this was her first time. We taught her about people who are different than us, and that not everywhere we go will always be clean. She also tasted some whipped cream, hot chocolate and maple syrup for the first time... she was on a mini sugar-high.

All in all, it was a successful family date night.

Until next year Dee's...

my sabbath unplugged review.

2011-09-19T13:45:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was SO nice. I woke up and checked my phone, oops. It's just such a habit I didn't even think about it. Anyway, I showered and played with Annabelle a little before Chase took over. I then wrote in my journal and in the journal I keep for Annabelle. I hadn't written in almost a month, so it was good to get caught up again. I planned out my upcoming week and I decided that each Sunday I will only listen to church music. I love Lex de Azevedo's songs. I opened my laptop and clicked Safari, my gmail popped up! I did it again, it's just habit to open Safari when I open my laptop. I closed it and opened iTunes.
I usually would read blogs and check facebook, perhaps write a blog and upload photos, check the news and this and that. It felt good to have such a free open morning. Oh and I read scriptures and I reread those talks I posted, so I did sneak onto the internet to read them. But I'm making the rules, so I can change them. Like NO internet unless I'm reading LDS talks. :)

My church starts at 1pm and I'm NEVER on time. I always intend to be, but never quite make it. Chase and I hardly ever get to church together- one of us either needs to be there on time or we're staying with Annabelle getting her ready or something. Yesterday I was on time. In fact we all walked to church together. It was nice, we haven't done that for a while. I didn't bring my phone to church, like I committed to. That was nice too- I'm always tempted to text or look at pictures or sneak in checking my emails, but none of that this Sunday. We had Sunday afternoon naps after church and then ate dinner. I cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes and read to Annabelle and we played with her toys together before bed. I always put her to bed with some lullabies and a prayer. I think I'll start reading her scriptures soon too.

I was very present all day. I liked it.

...and here is annabelle, nakie in the bathtub.
she pulled the plug and i just let the water drain so she'd learn.

my sabbath, unplugged.

2011-09-17T23:32:00.000-06:00

this is my family. we love each other. a lot.

Tonight I was reading the Parenting magazine that comes to my house every month {that i didn't sign up for... did anyone else start getting that magazine randomly when they had a baby? i think the hospital gives them your address or something.} There was an article about a family that goes "unplugged" every weekend. If it has to be plugged in to work, they don't use it. To be honest the article was kinda stupid and confusing. I hate when you can't tell the gender of the writer... doesn't help when his/her name is Shawn.

That all aside, what I took from the reading was my own idea. Each Sunday I am going to go unplugged.
Here are my new Sabbath Unplugged gaols:
1. No internet, as in blogs, emails, facebook, etc {this will be the hardest for me!}
2. No bringing my phone to church {yes, sadly i'm one of THOSE people}
3. No apps on my iphone
4. No TV/ DVD watching {this won't be hard, except perhaps for Annabelle.}
5. No mindlessly using my phone to look things up

*I am going to allow the usage of my phone to call, text or take pictures though... which I think is reasonable.

I hope to have more time to play with and read to Annabelle {and teach her about Jesus}, write in my journal, write {handwritten} letters to my grandparents, read my scriptures and/ or conference talks, bake or cook and just hang out with Chase, enjoying each others company.

Annabelle eating raspberries & my favorite portrait of Christ, which is in her room.

Wise counsel from Conference and the Ensign, which in regards to my new goals, fit perfectly:
"...a day to be marked by sincere sacrifice of the pursuits and pleasures of the world." -H. Aldridge Gillespie

"The Lord counseled us that we as a people may keep ourselves “unspotted from the world” by properly observing the Sabbath." -Elder Earl C. Tingey

I especially loved the remark, "unspotted from the world" - that takes a whole new meaning to me when thinking about facebook/ blogging on Sunday.

Sooooo, who's with me? Do any of you already do this? Want to do this? Part of this? I want this to last.... Forever!!

our dinner tonight.

2011-09-15T22:57:00.000-06:00

Yum yum yum.

Tonight I had no plans for dinner {as if I ever plan my dinner in advance} and it was near 7pm already. I improvised a simple but yummy meal.

I went down to my storage room and found some organic whole wheat spaghetti and alfredo sauce. I cut up some fresh zucchini and tomatoes, picked from our garden and cooked them in the bottom of the sauce pan. When they were done I added the alfredo sauce.

I know this dinner boring but it was SO delicious. I also realize there was no protein in the meal, but we had to do with what we had. I absolutely love eating fresh vegetables from our garden. It makes me feel so green and healthy.

Not only did Chase and I enjoy the meal, but Annabelle couldn't get enough! Tomatoes & zucchinis are some of her favorite foods, probably cause those are what were most bountiful in our garden this year, but she'd never tasted spaghetti before.

She had so much fun eating it and playing with the strands. She devoured the meal... I'm pretty sure she ate more dinner than I did.

That cute girl, she looooves eating dinner with us.

not from tonight, but this is her checking out her broccoli

my sailings. part 2.

2011-09-14T13:01:00.000-06:00

Remember my post about ships?

Well, I found another ship painting that I perhaps even like better than the first.

Ain't it purdy?

{I'm thinking chase would like this one better because it's less feminine than the other.}

I just did a google search for ship paintings and found this butterfly boat. It's sorta magical in a silly way, I think I kinda like it though. Do you?

The colors are fun and I have a special place in my heart for butterflies because my good friend Jim collected them. He passed away almost 2 years ago and I still miss him a lot. I think I should write a post about him one of these days.

my latest news-find.

2011-09-13T15:12:00.000-06:00

Did your Mom and Dad tell you that your brain would rot if you watched too much TV? Well, perhaps they weren't too far off.

I've read about a lot of studies lately that say babies under 2 shouldn't watch ANY television, if they do, they are more likely to be a bully later in life.

And for the kiddos over 2, sure, as long as it's not spongebob. Seriously. http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/12/study-some-cartoons-are-bad-for-childrens-brains/?iref=allsearch

Make sure they watch only 2 or less hours a day of quality programming.

Well duh! Don't we all know this?

The average kid watches 6 hours a day{or uses other media for entertainment}?! Um, when do they find 6 hours a day? Do kids not go to school anymore, or do they wake up, turn the TV on, go to school, watch TV at lunch and turn the TV back on after school until bedtime? Hm, what are the parents doing all this time? I really don't get it. They must not ever turn the TV off.

---

On an unrelated note, Annabelle loves her some Baby Einstein! She watched the farm one in french (oops), and then watched the Head to Toe one for the first time today. She didn't like it as much. She's getting so smart!! :) {don't worry, i never let her watch it on TV, just on my laptop.}

oh no, it looks like she's already turning into a bully! no more baby einstein for you annabelle.

my secret: i have misophonia and it sucks.

2011-09-12T06:42:00.000-06:00

What is Misophonia?

"Misophonia – literally the hatred of sound -can be defined as a hypersensitivity to background sounds or visual stimuli that are generally ignored by other people. More importantly than the individuals inability to block out the offending stimuli or “trigger” is the acute negative emotional response experienced as a direct result of being in contact with a trigger.

The response has been described as a reflexive emotional flood of rage and panic with a storm of fight-or-flight reactions becoming paramount. Adrenaline flooding, face flushing, heart-pounding and/or shaking and the need to physically flee or attack are often experienced. The mindful thoughts that the emotional reflex/response is unreasonable given the facts of the stimulus is often actually harmless come only after the fight-or-flight response is in full force and the affected person may find themselves in a constant mode of “talking themselves down” into a normal state of calm.

The majority of trigger stimuli are counted as harmless or just part of every day to day life by the “normal” person, but to a person inflicted with Misophonia, they are a tremendous burden, often the analogy of nails down a chalk board or exposed nerves have been used to describe the disturbing response." -source

Can you cure Misophonia?
No.

_

I've had this as long as I can remember. It's caused countless fights between me and my family and friends, as I didn't know I had anything wrong with me. I just thought they were always being very inconsiderate with the noises they made and felt like I had no control of my reaction to the triggers.
When I married Chase, he pointed out that I had "something" wrong with me. I've looked and searched for answers, coming up with nothing. I had been told by doctors it was Bipolar symptoms or OCD, but it still didn't add up!

I worked hard to not lose control when I was bothered. I started wearing earplugs every night, turning on fans or music to drown out noises, asking people to stop chewing gum or eating certain things around me. But often I would just have to leave gatherings early (and usually in a huff) because I couldn't stand it and felt like I couldn't control my urge to punch someones lights out. Seriously.

My sister texted me a link to a New York Times article last week, titled "When a Chomp or Slurp is a Trigger for Outrage." That sure sounded like me. I was instantly interested and read the entire article and was dumbfounded. All my searching and she just happens on an article that describes me to a T?! There were other people out there like me? There is a name for it? Wow.

Please read this article if you are close to me.
It will greatly help you understand what I go through and why I react the way I do!

Questions? Comments? Reactions? I am curious to know what you think of all this.
(I know people in the past simply don't believe me when I tell them what I go through, perhaps with a name and diagnosis, people will be more understanding?)

my little annabelle wants this dress.

2011-09-09T08:23:00.000-06:00

Really truly my baby ~~wants~~ needs this dress.

Her birthday is coming up {and so is Christmas.} Right now at Gateway they are offering it for 20% off! Size 12-18 months... if they're out then18-24 months, if they're out of that too, any size will do. It's so beautiful, I know I will want her to wear it at any age!

I wish there was a wedding coming up so I could justify buying her another beautiful dress. {Anyone close to me planning to be wed soon and wanting Annabelle to be in their wedding party or even just come to their wedding? :)}

So lovely.

my sailings.

2011-09-08T23:25:00.000-06:00

I found this pretty picture today on Etsy.

You are welcome to get it for me!

{pretty please}

My husband has a vintage model sail boat from his grandpa and this picture would be a perfect companion.

Right now the sailboat is sitting on our fish tank {which is the home to only one small fish} in the basement bedroom. It's sort of dreary down there so I would rather display it somewhere a little more pretty, with something a little more pretty.

{and we will play this song on repeat, always}

sail away sail away sail away...

my goodness, i am so boring!!

2011-09-06T23:49:00.000-06:00

i just found my cousin's blog tonight and read the entire thing! i fell in love with her blog {i already was in love with her} and it made me miss myself. sound strange? it was. she's in college at byu and has so much fun all the time. i used to have so much fun all the time. life used to be one big party. i procrastinated. i stayed up all night. i had dance parties. i loved being by myself. i took billions of pictures {i still do this one, but now my pictures are all of my adorable baby it seems}. i did exciting things. i had fun clothes. i kept up with the new artists. i loved music. more than any of these other things, i was myself and i felt authentic, like i see katelyn is. i don't feel like that right now though.

i guess it's a stage of life that everyone goes through, having all that fun 24-7. and i guess that's part of growing up. i just didn't realize i already had. i need to embrace my new life more fully.

in one of her posts she said something like, when people ask her how old she is she wants to still say 17, even though she's older. i feel that same way. i am turning 25 next month, but when people ask me how old i am, i have to stop and think. i instinctually want to say 21.

i am certainly not 21 anymore. i am married now. i am a mom. we have a family. we have a house. we have a business. we even have pet chickens and fresh eggs every morning. we have a great life... but tonight i feel like i am so boring. i have become so boring.

i pledge to not be so dang boring all the time!

{...and here are some pictures of me and my cousin katie, playing at the park yesterday- yes, the very cousin who's blog i just found and also the very cousin who i just found out spells her name katey. not katie, which i thought all these years. one more thing about this cousin. i remember the night she was born. i sat on her moms lap that night, big belly and all. she's about 6 years younger than me and we lived in the same little neighborhood until she was about 6 ish or so. and i think of her like a sister, she's just that great.}

my nyc adventures.

2011-09-04T00:19:00.000-06:00

Last month, I flew with Annabelle to New York City! She was very well behaved on the flight, only once did she throw a toy which landed on the lady's lap two down from us.

My oldest sister, Tiffany, lives in Manhattan with her husband, Jimmy. I went to visit them for a week and Chase met up with us for the weekend. We did loads of things and had so much fun. This is just a little glimpse. Thanks TBO & JJ for a great time.

we shopped.

i bought shoes.

we ferried.

for a while.

we libraried.

we pianoed.

we gamed.

we ferried more.

we bridged.

we statued.

we empired.

we cousined.

we museumed.

we love ny.

we farewelled.

so long.

Xoxo, Brittany

my third anniversary ♥.

2011-08-30T22:52:00.002-06:00

Chase and I were married three years ago today.

and we're still in love...

photos:

1. where it all began, the lds sl temple

2. chase gave me the gold mirror tray and bracelet

3. dinner at the dodo, yum

4. surrounded by ducks at sugarhouse park

5. the two people i love most. ever.

my baby is ten months old.

2011-08-26T21:30:00.000-06:00

Little Miss Annabelle Bea is ten months old.

photo by brooklyn
08.26.11
picnic at sugarhouse park

In month number ten, Annabelle actually has done quite a bit, which I'll try to summarize below:

She had her first airplane ride, which was to visit her Aunt Tiffany in New York City.
She did all sorts of first in NYC.
She will walk if you just hold her hands.
She can "crawl" backwards. {more like wiggle back}
She gets up on her hands and knees finally.
She open mouth kisses things.
She talks and talks and talks.
She will repeat the noises I say to her.
She figured out how to rewind and fast forward on my iphone.
She can drink from a cup now, but not a sippy cup yet, they're too tricky for her.
She had her first bubble bath and tried to eat the bubbles.
She can sit up from laying on her tummy.
She can just barely pull herself up while in the crib.
She can go to sleep without nursing or a soother. {yay!}
She plays really well with other babies and kids.
She wishes so badly she could run around with them.
She gets very vocal when she doesn't get her way.
She squirms around a lot when she's falling asleep.

Still no real crawling, no hair, no teeth, no meaning behind the words she says {at least that i can recognize}, and we love her so much, obviously! I seriously cannot believe that she will be a year in just two months. She's amazing.

Xoxo, Brittany

my summer trip

2011-08-18T00:12:00.001-06:00

we went to new york city.

we had so much fun staying with my sister and brother-in-law.

we did a lot of things but our favourite was visiting THE restaurant in the pouring rain.

Xoxo, Brittany.

my nine month old baby.

2011-08-07T03:26:00.003-06:00

Annabelle is just over nine months old now!!

She doesn't crawl. {Let's just get that out of the way because it's the most common question I answer about her.} And no, she doesn't not only not crawl, she doesn't scoot or army crawl or any other variation of mobility that you are wondering about.

Annabelle is 19.9 pounds and 30 inches long. Which means she is in the 55th% for weight and off the charts for height. I forget what her head circumference was, but it was about the 50th%.

Annabelle at her 9 month check up in the Winnie room.

She got a prick in her toe at her 9 month check up. {similar to the one I got the other day} They squoze blood out of her big toe and put a bandaid on it. She was obsessed with the bandaid and kept ripping it off- she went through 3 of them. She also looooved the room we were in, it was decked out in Winnie the Pooh decor and she couldn't get enough! Especially the stuffed animal mobile above the bed.

Her least favourite* part of the visit was when the Doctor needed to check her ears. Annabelle just wanted to see what she was doing SO badly. We had to pin her down and she was screaming. :(

Daddy bought her a wooden choo choo train. He buys her a toy after each Doctor visit. He's a good daddy. She loves her train. She'll take it all apart and bang the pieces together and then throw them across the room, it's quite cute.

She loves sitting with toys all around her and banging them together.
She loves banging toys together to make loud noises.
She loves reading books and flipping through them herself.
She loves sitting in her high chair and watching me do whatever I do.
She loves playing with her new friend Molly. {who is older and wiser}
She loves splashing water around, especially into her face.
She loves feeding herself, by bottle or finger foods, like her favourite, yogurt puffs.
She loves nursing to sleep for naps and nighty time.
She loves snuggling her face into her {actually, my} goldie blankie.
She loves talking gibberish and nonsense.
She loves spending time outdoors, in the back yard or at a park.
She loves rolling around. {and in fact rolled off our bed last week- oops}
She loves standing, with a little help of course.
And, she doesn't love being on her tummy. {sigh}

i still feel proud of her when she feeds herself.
even though that's old news.

Xoxo, Brittany

*you may notice i spell favourite with a u after the o. this is not an error; i grew up in canada and i do not want to let go of some things.

and lastly, she always puts the blankie over her eyes to sleep.

my results.

2011-08-05T17:50:00.000-06:00

Alright everybody, brace yourself.

Tuesday morning I went up to the U {really early in the am} to do some testing. I'll do it all over again at the end of the month to compare my results! {...and this is because I am doing a 3 hour a day, 5 days a week fitness camp with Attain Fitness at Studio Cove...}

I did a RMR Test, that looked an awful lot like what this guy {sorry to this guy- i just stole his photo from google} is going through--

Clamp on nose. Tube in mouth. Breath through tube, sitting as still as possible for 10 minutes straight.

Apparently if I just did not much else in a day besides sit and breath through a tube, I burn ~1900 calories.

Then the decided to prick my finger-- youch :( --Literally squoze some blood out of my finger, put it in a machine & poof! It printed all this information about my blood. To be quite honest, I don't really know what the results mean. But here they are:

And here comes the fun part-- I got to take a turn in the BodPod!! Here is another stolen photo, this time of two random guys beside the BodPod.

{ok, i actually know these guys-- they are the trainers i work with everyday.}

So, you sit in that little machine and it tells you how fat you are. Seriously. It's like magic.

Anyway, I am 45% fat right now. Gross, I know-- but at least I am doing something about it.

Plus, I "just" had a baby, so I have an excuse right? Ha.

Well, I'm down 4 pounds since I started last week and I can see lots of new muscles popping up all over the place. Yay.

Xoxo, Brittany

my fines.

2011-08-01T10:10:00.000-06:00

I borrowed some books and DVDs from the library a while back.... but I forgot to return them on time. Did you know they charge you 50 cents each day for each dvd you don't return on time?
I sure didn't.

I had to pay $27.80 today in late fines. Best part? I never ever got around to watching the movies! {they were Baby Einstein DVDs for Annabelle, but I just never could find the time to put one on for her.}

Oh well, the library has to be funded somehow- I may as well help them out.

On another note, I checked out the book The End of Overeating. I also checked out some other "healthy" eating books-- getting pumped for Monday, when I start my month long, 3 hour a day Fitness Camp! I'm glad I did no sugar in July, it will be a lot easier to resist yummy foodsies now that my body is used to not being filled with sugar ever five minutes.

Xoxo, Brittany

my body.

2011-07-30T01:25:00.000-06:00

I recently started working out at Studio Cove. I have been going to the body pump classes about 1-3 times a week for the last month. I've felt great knowing I'm getting fit and healthy- especially after all the weight I gained while making Annabelle for those nine months.

Even though I've been working hard, it just didn't seem like enough... but I think I found what I've been looking for!

Attain Fitness. They are a Fitness Boot Camp at Studio Cove. They've been offering free 2 day trials, so I went. Yesterday and today. Each day was a 3 hour workout. Yikes. 3 hours?! I've never done such a long workout in my life. My LONG work outs were usually an hour on the elliptical.

Anywayyyyyyyyy, I am going to do Attain Fitness' program for an entire month! 3 hours a day, 5 days a week for 4 weeks and I am so excited and scared. Just from the two days I did, I feel like my body was beat up-- I can't imagine what it will feel after a whole week, then two, then three...

Ok, no pictures today. Perhaps someday I'll post before pictures and my measurements and weight etc... Just maybe.

Xoxo, Brittany

my grandpa.

2011-07-28T06:24:00.001-06:00

my handsome grandpa

My grandpa is dying. It's sad to know the next time I see him will most likely be at his funeral. {unless i can find a way to go up to canada this week...}

He had multiple heart attacks a couple months ago and was in the hospital for a while. He regained some strength but just took a turn for the worse. I guess his doctor said he has days, perhaps weeks but certainly not months. They were uncertain of his future a few months ago, so I made a last minute trip up to Canada to see him and for Annabelle to meet him and Grandma. He was so sweet and gentle towards Annabelle. He tickled her toes and told her he loved her.

His final words to me were, "Thank you for coming".

Those four words made the trip very worth it to me.

I love you Grandpa.

visiting in the hospital

Grandpa and Grandma Olsen

Xoxo, Brittany

my snacks.

2011-07-27T08:23:00.003-06:00

i don't love celery.

i don't love peanut butter. {ok, i kinda do}

and i sure don't love raisins.

But, I love Ants on a Log... don't you?

ps: chase hadn't ever had this little snack but now I make it for him all the time. he loves them, as do i.
my mom made us this snack a lot when we were kids.

Xoxo, Brittany

my hoarding.

2011-07-26T21:47:00.006-06:00

This morning I decided to watch Hoarders because I think I have a problem. After watching the show, I've decided I do in fact have a problem. I am a hoarder. It may not be quite as extreme as the people on the show, but I sure do have hoarding tendencies. eeeek.

For the rest of this week, I am going to clean out an area a day. The area may be a drawer, a room, a box or just a shelf, but I'm putting an end to this madness. One day at a time... Who's with me?!

Xoxo, Brittany

my oh my.

2011-07-22T23:49:00.000-06:00

Recap.

In December 2004, I started a blog. It was an MSN Spaces Blog{later renamed Windows Live Spaces.} It was attached to my MSN/Hotmail account. Because of Spaces small size, I got to know a lot of the first bloggers on Spaces pretty fast. I made a lot of friends with other bloggers and my family sure thought I was a weirdo for communicating with people I didn't know in real life. Hah.

I lived in Peoa at the time & had no life. I would blog about how lame my life was and about the jerky guys I dated. Pretty soon I realized my internet/blogging presence was a little too negative and that anyone that knew my email address could read my blog. I tried to change things up.

I stopped actively blogging on Spaces in 2006. I looked at it every now and again and updated a little bit here and there all the way up until, oh about, Summer 2010. {Like as in, just a handful of posts since 2006.}.

Alright let's bring this back to last night.

I signed into my hotmail account. {my very first email address that I created in July of 1999!} I check it a couple times a year to see if, amidst the junk mail, anyone has tried to contact me. {they haven't.}

I looked around for the link to Spaces. It wasn't where it used to be. In fact, it wasn't not where it used to be either. It wasn't anywhere. After a few google searches and a few tears, I learned that Microsoft deleted ALL of Spaces! Yes, you read that right. Gone. Poof. No more. How can they just delete 30 million blogs?!

I found out in September 2010 {just a month or so after i had last logged into my account} they announced they were getting rid of Spaces. By January 2011, you could no longer blog at Spaces, BUT you could transfer for free your entire blog to wordpress.com. Obviously you could actually only do this if you knew this was happening! {Which I didn't.}

In March 2011, they deleted it all. If you didn't migrate your blog, you're now out of luck!

{sigh} {sigh} {sigh}

On a not entirely unrelated note, I've been thinking of Google Wave - perhaps you never surfed the wave, but my family did for a couple of months... It was quite useful for us until Buzz came along and outperformed.

just a glimpse at how useful google wave was for our family

It turns out they are going down too, just like Spaces. So if you have ever waved, get them exported now, or else {dun dun dun}

3 years ago.

2011-07-21T00:46:00.003-06:00

3 years ago, I did an abc's thing about myself.
i'm going to do it again. i'm leaving the answers i wrote 3 years ago and my current answers will be {in these.}
Here it is:

McKensie did the little tagging thing... so here go my answers:

a. attached or single? Very attached {even more attached, sealed in fact}

b. best friend? Chase {and annabelle}

c. cake or pie? Quality cake, or homemade peach pie. {ditto}

d. day of choice? Sunday. I get to have dinner with my whole family- nothing beats that. {ditto, but whole family means chase and annabelle now, before it meant my mom and sibs}

e. essential items? Lip stick, chase and my camera. {oh if only life were that simple... now it's my iPhone, a fully stocked diaper bag & annabelle}

f. favorite color? Yellow. {light pink}

g. gummy bears or worms? Bears. I like to pull the legs and heads off and then switch the colors and put them back together... {i haven't had either in a loooong time.}

h. hometown? Salt Lake City. or Calgary, where I was born. {i still can't decide which city qualifies.}

i. indulgence? Wallets and purses... I have too many. {napping with annabelle or nail polishes}

j. january or july? July. It's warmer. {it's july right now and it's too hot, i long for january.}

k. kids? I'll have a lot someday. {nine month baby girl, annabelle bea nielsen- more to come soon}

l. life isn't complete without? Chase and my Family. {my family, which is chase and annabelle}

m. marriage date? .... {oh cute, i wasn't even engaged yet last time i filled this out, august 30, 2008}

n. number of brothers and sisters? 2 brothers. 3 sisters. {plus 5 sisters-in law, 6 brothers-in-law & 11 step siblings/in-law.}

o. oranges or apples? Oranges. {apples}

p. phobias or fear? I fear scary dark things. {spiders and snakes}

q. quote? "The first step to getting the things you want in life is this: Decide what you want."
--Ben Stein {i'd forgotten about that quote... one i heard recently that stuck out is "True gold doesn't fear the refiners fire."}

r. reasons to smile? Everyone looks better when they smile... even ugly people. {haha, oh brother}

s. superman or wonder woman? I have stamps with both on them. {those were fun to use in the mail- and superman.}

t. tag 5 people: No. I don't want to. {still don't want to}

u. unknown fact about me? I'm watching the Man in the Iron Mask right now. {i reek of garlic right now.}

v. vegetables? are delicious. {and there are lots growing in my garden right now.}

w. worst habit? Picking at my broken nails instead of just filing them. {it's nice to know i broke a bad habit over the last three years!}

x. xray or ultrasound? The is absolutely no point in picking one of these. {ultrasound-- when you are pregnant!}

y. your favorite food? Chocolate bars. {mmmm, yes chocolate bars}

z. zodiac sign: Scorpio {with all the kufufle going on a while ago, i'm not sure.}

if ya wanna know what i am, keep reading...

2011-07-20T23:34:00.008-06:00

Could the Pointer Sisters get any better?

i think not.

ps: i'm going to visit my sissy in new york city and iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'm so excited!!!

Eat your greens.

2011-07-14T17:11:00.000-06:00

This afternoon I cut some lettuce & spinach from our garden to make a salad.

I ~~felt~~ am cool.

Wetting.

2011-07-13T00:40:00.000-06:00

When I was a little girl (you know, way back when young children didn't have to be strapped into little baby-seats while driving), I wet myself on my Aunt's lap.

Our family was driving the 14 hours from Calgary to Salt Lake and she was kind enough to let me sit on her lap in the front seat. I had said I needed to "go" but was told to hold it. I guess I couldn't. We had to stop to get into the trunk to get the suitcases so we could change. I don't remember much but I do remember not really knowing why she would be upset with me. I'd given plenty of warning!

That was just a little random memory from the past... Now on to present times...

{no, it's not my milk leaking}

The other day Annabelle was nakie and standing on my tummy. She was being so cute and playful.

Unlike me, she gave no warning.

{i added this picture to show my pretty lilac nails on my giant hand}

i am canadian but i still will celebrate.

2011-07-08T21:52:00.000-06:00

happy july 4th to all my american friends. (late, obviously)

my husband is american, i am canadian, our baby is an american/canadian mix and we just had the best independence day together this year!!

we played with my family at canyon rim park.

{a picnic, playground, jackpot and duck duck goose}

we had a delicious bbq with chase's family that evening.

{no pictures, sorry.}

after all the extended family fun, chase and i went home and lit some little fireworks for annabelle. she loved them and would scream at them.

enjoy the pictures

daddy took annie on her first slide ride

yummy eats.

the newlyweds.

chase swinging with the kiddies - front

chase swinging with the kiddies - back

daddy loves playing

grandparents

jackpot!

cute e.

chase was being a bully

taking a break

duck duck ...

goose!

reading to annie about usa

ooooh, daddy does a great show

he did such a good job

big show, eh?

sizzle sizzle

And that was our day!!

cinderella

2011-07-07T18:56:00.006-06:00

I'm sure you've all seen this comparison photo, but I just saw it again and remembered that I thought it was so funny. I have seen it ALL over, so I don't know who first came up with it. Whoever did must have changed the step sisters dress color and darkened Cinderella's hair to match Kate's because I'm pretty sure Cinderella was a blonde princess.

{I'm posting this in honour of the Royal Couple being in my hometown of Calgary right now... I don't even mind that they didn't don the white hats- it probably would have messed up their hair.}

Xoxo, Brittany.

ps: my ever talented brother in law just happened to post this today, a photo of the princess being so kind, so i thought i must link to him.

Alphabirds.

2011-06-28T10:54:00.000-06:00

i stumbled upon this beautiful print.

it would be so beautiful in annabelle's pink nursery.

i'll take one, thank you!

911, what's your emergency?

2011-06-24T23:46:00.003-06:00

Today I had a scare.

Annabelle was sitting on the sofa beside me eating her little yogurt puffs. She started coughing quite a bit. She seemed to really be struggling and I instantly felt panicked. She went a few seconds not breathing at all so I grabbed her, grabbed my phone called 911 and laid her on her tummy face down on hand and patted her back over and over! It seemed like forever before anyone answered the phone, which was propped between my shoulder and ear.
Annabelle started throwing up. I felt bad but I just kept patting her back until she stopped throwing up and then I heard it, "911, what's your emergency?"
I felt stupid cause she was breathing now. I told her my baby had been choking but I she wasn't anymore. She asked all sorts of questions, as we were talking I was looking at Annabelle's throw up and there I saw it, a piece of plastic. Perhaps as long as my little finger. I'm not sure what it came off of, but I think it was a wrapper to one of her teething biscuits.

the culprit

I kept telling the 911 lady she was fine but she insisted she send someone out to check if she was ok. And also insisted that she stay on the phone with me until the paramedics arrived. She kept telling me to make sure Annabelle was breathing and if she stopped, not to hit her back, but wait fir the paramedics. (that confused me but she explained that you shouldn't hit their back if the are upright) I heard the sirens soon enough the paramedics were at my door. Annabelle took one look at the two big men holding all sorts of bags, and started whimpering and crying!

the big scary men

They said it was normal for a baby to be upset after something like this happened to her- I didn't have the heart to tell them she was actually just scared of them! I got her calmed down and they listened to her heart and her breathing and reassured me that she was fine. I showed them what I did and they said I did everything perfectly.

Before they left they told Annabelle that she had the prettiest blue eyes and that her mom saved her life today.

That made me feel kinda heroic.
{until I remembered it's my fault she ate plastic in the first place - so I better be the one to get it out!}

the sweet baby

On the first day of summer...

2011-06-21T22:41:00.002-06:00

We went swimming! Annabelle just loves the water and it was such a lovely day that she stayed in for quite a bit longer than I expected.

She didn't mind Oliver constantly splashing her in the face (accidentally, of course) and she didn't mind Eleanor trying to teach her how to blow bubbles under water. She actually loved it all. She liked swimming on her tummy and her back and loved just observing everyone else play around her.

I hope we have many more days like this one.

Xo, Brittany.

trying on E's hat

loving laying down

floppy hat and little scrunchie face

my little wet puppy

on her tummy

Pretty pretty golden birdie please?

2011-06-18T06:54:00.002-06:00

I have a lot of pretty jewelry.
Chase knows my taste well and is always spoiling me with new pieces.

I take it off everywhere though. In my room after I lay down in bed, in the bathroom right before I get in the shower, in the living room as I walk in the front door, in Annabelle's room if it's distracting her while trying to put her down, downstairs in the family room as I'm trying to get cosy watching a movie, ok, you get the idea, all over.

The problem with this is, I always am forgetting where in the house I left my jewels.

Solution = more jewelry dishes.

I saw this gorgeous jewelry dish in Anthropologie last week. If you're reading this, please buy it for me and save it for my birthday or Christmas or anniversary (ya right, chase never reads our blog). Really though, I am willing to accept this beautiful gift for any occasion. Or even on no occasion.
I will love love love you forever if you surprise me with it.
I promise.

Xoxo, Brittany

Married.

2011-06-13T22:40:00.000-06:00

My sister, Bethany, got married on Friday. Congratulations to her and Kimball. Annabelle was delightful all day.

I didn't bring my camera to the wedding, just my iPhone. I hope my family shares their good pictures with me!

bonjour!

2011-06-08T20:56:00.001-06:00

my mom went to europe last month with her husband, bruce.

i would love to be able to go one day.

i hope that day is this year.

really, who wouldn't want to go to paris? especially for free!

http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris

if i made it there for free,
i would spend all my money on fancy clothes for wee ones.

Look Ma! Two hands!

2011-06-04T14:38:00.000-06:00

This picture may not look special because Annabelle has been able to hold her bottle on her own for quite some time... but today was the first time she picked the bottle off the counter with both hands without my help and got the nipple in her mouth and drank a whole bottle unassisted. I obviously was holding her though. Oh my dear sweet Annabelle is growing up too fast.

annie-bellie update.

2011-05-31T23:51:00.039-06:00

I brought Annabelle to the Doctor today for her 6 month check up. {yes, she's over 7 months already.}

She has had a lengthy growth-spurt.

Last visit, she was at the 50th percentile for weight and height. Today she was at the 50th percentile for weight, but the 90th percentile for height. My oh my! No wonder she's already stretching out of her 6-12 month footed onsies but her dresses are too loose. And in case you care, her head went from the 40th to the 55th percentile.

she weighs 16lbs 9oz

Annabelle can sit on her own, without support.

She can stand really well, with support.

I was told to put her on her tummy a lot more, because she's not very good at rolling.

She's very strong and active though.

sitting on the doctors bed, looking up

She had a tooth(bottom right fang) pop through two weeks ago, but it went back in her gums last week. Now this week, it seems like she's teething again, perhaps her two front bottom teeth at once? I'm seeing some white coming in around there.

Poor little girl was sickie sickie this weekend. I'm not sure if her fever/diarrhea/lethargy was because of the teething or perhaps she picked up a little bug. Chase has been sick, so it's very possible he passed something on to her. This is luckily only the second time she's been mildly sick (or sick at all.) The only nice thing about her not feeling well is how cuddly and sleepy she is. It's adorable.

she rarely will sleep without blankies.

2011-05-23T00:38:00.000-06:00

Today I went to church, after spending the morning preparing a lesson, only to realize it was stake conference today and I had missed it.
My lesson was titled "I Am Thankful for My Eyes"- how darling is that? {Read John 9:1-7} I really am thankful for MY eyes. All the beautiful things to see, the wonderful things to do, there are far too many things we need eyes for. I am glad my eyes work.

I read Freakonomics yesterday. I bought the book for Chase, but after I read the first couple pages, I was hooked. Have you read it? What did you think? I love how he comes up with new ways to present boring data. I was a little offended when I saw my name was on the poor-white person list, though I was relieved to find out I spell my name correctly. {unlike the thousands of Brittney, Britney, Britni, Britani's out there, etc}

Well tonight Annabelle was really having a sad time. She's teething and quite uncomfortable. She wouldn't go to sleep and stay asleep, so because I felt desperate to comfort her, I got in her crib with her. I layed beside her, head on her sleep sheep, and cozied up to her by nursing. Oh my previous little girl, it was so comfortable in there I wished I had thought of getting in with her sooner. Chase walked in and was very curious what on earth I was doing laying in the crib.

Tonight was a rant on my iPhone. No pictures cause I don't know to upload them in my phone. Anyone else know?

Xoxo, Brittany

fun fun fun fun

2011-05-13T10:44:00.002-06:00

i love it.

Happy Easter.

2011-04-28T23:06:00.058-06:00

Happy Easter everyone.

Chase and I had lots of dorky-fun dying Easter Eggs together Saturday night!! I'm glad we did because we hadn't dyed eggs since we were dating. I should have bought more eggs though. 18 was NOT enough this year-- we wanted to keep going!!
{We didn't even dye eggs our first married Easter}

Brittany & Chase
Easter 2008

Sunday morning, I taught my darling little Sunbeams about the REAL meaning of Easter - Jesus and his atonement, crucifixion and resurrection. I am so grateful for all He did for us so that we can live again.

That evening we had a yummy dinner with Chase's family.
Chase got his Easter basket on Monday afternoon. (this way i could buy the candy for 75% off monday morning, because the stores thought easter was over! silly stores.)

Don't think I left Annabelle out- she got a little yellow easter bag with a little toy and mini bunny in it from my mom. I ate the bunny for her... which I'm sure passed through my milk into her little tummy.

And now for the pictures of this year's Easter:

six months old today.

2011-04-26T22:28:00.000-06:00

Annabelle Bea Nielsen - the love of my life...

photos by brooklyn.

Blessing Annabelle.

2011-04-20T16:21:00.000-06:00

I have something special to share with you...

On December 26, Chase gave Annabelle a name and a blessing. It was a beautiful winter morning and Annabelle was more than pleasant all day long. She couldn't have looked any more gorgeous than she did that day. My mother, thankfully, saved the dress and bonnet that I was blessed in, so sweet little Annabelle was able to wear them to be blessed in as well. I bought her little booties, a pearl bracelet, a silver rattle and cream knit blanket from Four and Twenty Sailors to complete her outfit.

The morning of, my brother-in-law, Jimmy Jeong, came over to document the special day in Annabelle's life. He and my sister Tiffany, live in New York City. Jimmy is an award winning photojournalist and he took the most STUNNING photographs for us of the morning getting ready for Annabelle's special day. Not only that, but he made Annabelle a video of it all AND surprised us by sending us a link to this video. {password: olsenjeong} I seriously watched it over and over!

Tears came to my eyes while watching, just thinking about how precious my baby is to me as well as how lucky we are to have such talented and sincerely thoughtful family members surrounding us. I cannot stop watching it. It was a very spiritual day. Chase and I could not be prouder parents. We know Annabelle will grow up to be a beautiful girl and we are honored to be the ones chosen to help her grow.

You are welcome to watch the video... in fact, you must watch it... if not to oooh and awww over Annabelle, then to oooh and awww over Jimmy's talent. {You will also get a sneak peak inside our house.}
Click Here for the Vimeo link... password is: olsenjeong.

Thank you Jimmy!!

or this...

2011-04-13T13:06:00.000-06:00

may 2009 - chase & me

one day i'll be back to this.

2011-04-13T11:53:00.000-06:00

august 2008 - me

conference weekend

2011-04-11T12:51:00.000-06:00

it was a wonderful conference weekend this year.
saturday morning, annabelle and i watched on my laptop as we snuggled in bed - she watched the whole session.
saturday afternoon, we {daddy, mommy, baby} went to my moms to watch - she fell asleep in her swing.

saturday evening {while the gentlemen went to priesthood} the ladies went to park city. we swam and had dinner and hung out with the kiddies.

sunday morning we were able to watch as we had a delicious breakfast at nielsen's. orange rolls... yum.
sunday afternoon we went to my moms. we had a big dinner afterwards and we facetimed with chase's sister which was fun.

i love family-time.
i love conference weekend... it feels like it should be a holiday.

xoxo, brittany

ps pictures:

aunt carol and happy annabelle.

snuggling in bed saturday morning.

swimming in pc.

snow.

the ladies.

the gentlemen.

pps: my favourite talks were...
Richard G Scott's, The Eternal Blessings of Marriage
M. Russell Ballard's, Finding Joy in Loving Service
and Dallin H Oaks's, Desire.

random iphone pictures in march.

2011-03-26T23:16:00.008-06:00

breakfast outing.

2011-03-22T14:04:00.000-06:00

Annabelle and I were invited out for a breakfast with a couple friends from high school.

The food was delicious and the company even better.

Thank you, hope to see you both again soon.

Annabelle learns to pucker.

2011-03-19T12:41:00.002-06:00

I was giving my baby lots and lots of kisses, as well as kissing the air in front of her... and all the sudden she started to make little kisses back to me!

I love seeing her learn new things, it's amazing!

swinging annabelle.

2011-03-15T17:41:00.000-06:00

first time swinging in the park swings...

my happy baby loved it.

we're loving the newly sunny weather!

Annabelle's first time at The Zoo.

2011-02-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

She loved the monkeys.

We went with her cousins.

This big gorilla started hitting the glass. Scary.

Us sissy's.

Me and my babe, after a fun {and free} morning
at the zoo.

happy valentines day.

2011-02-22T00:40:00.000-07:00

LOVE
i made this little valentines decoration with some friends a couple weeks ago.

my valentines day this year was one of the best.

in the morning, i babysat these two adorable kids.
after we made valentines cards, we...

dipped strawberries in chocolate

and ate them...

they didn't eat much of their strawberries.

i made some decorated strawberries for chase.
try not to be jealous of my skills.

then i dropped annabelle off at grandma's house!

and we went to mazza for a valentines day lunch.
after we took a walk through frescos and to kings english bookstore.

it was one of those really romantic and giddy times.
it was wonderful.

in the afternoon, i hung out at grandma's with annabelle.

and found this drawing, that is kinda creepy, under my mom's coffee table.
the coffee table used to be in my bedroom{yes i had a huge bedroom} when i lived at home.
me and chase drew on it a long long time ago.

that evening, chase gave annabelle a duck for valentines.
he's a wonderful daddy.

he gave me an apron and an amazingly beautiful bouquet of pink roses.
and made a delicious meal for us!

i've been trying to watercolor paint lately.
chase has been very supportive, which i love
i framed my first flower painting and gave it to him.
don't laugh, i know there is much room for improvement.

i also made one of my little paintings into a card for him.
and wrote sweet nothings...

{Thank you Chase, for making my day wonderful... I love you.}

christmas.

2011-02-08T22:55:00.004-07:00

our family with our little christmas tree.

CHRISTMAS 2010!! {yes, i'm posting about christmas in february- so what?}

I don't know where to begin! Christmas was extra amazing this year. Besides the fact that my brother Jarom, his very pregnant wife and their girls couldn't travel to Utah for Christmas, it was perfect. Each of my other siblings were here and for most of the holidays (that we stretched out over a month!) and we all stayed up at my mom and Bruce's house. {though, yes, it was hard for me to always show up to everything and stay over all the time because of the baby...}

We did all sorts of fun Christmassy things, like acting out the Nativity on Christmas Eve and seeing the lights at Temple Square... and we sure played a lot, and I mean A LOT, of card games and board games!!
My siblings who don't live here also got to meet Annabelle finally. My sister, Tiffany, was especially attached to her and was a MAJOR help to me! I wish she lived in SLC, but sadly she's in NYC!

We also got to spend a lot of time with Chase's family, which was great. His sister showed up 5 months pregnant... She kept it from us so she could surprise us! It was so fun to see her and her family and for them to meet Annabelle finally!

I'll post some pictures, which are all pretty random and not in any order because that would take up way too much of my time. :)
Enjoy!!

annabelle on my lap as we play ticket to ride.

lots of time spend warming up by the fire.
like chase's ice?

niece scarlet holding annabelle.

nephew kai holding annabelle.

new years eve dinner with nielsens.

showing off my waxing skills to janelle.

our first picture of 2011.

bethany and kimball on new years.

bruce and mom on new years.

i drove andrew and janelle to the airport on new years day.
back to chicago.

lots of time spent playing iphone games with jimmy.

warming up after a day playing outside.

saying bye to jimmy and tiffany.
back to nyc.

new years eve drinks.

this was how a lot of tiffany's time was spent-
taking care of annabelle.

christmas eve diner.

dinner

acting out the nativity on christmas eve.
annabelle was baby jesus.

sibling matching jam jams.

the grandkids on christmas morning. so sweet.

annabelle on christmas morning with her candy cane.

our family of 3 decorating gingerbread houses.

daddy liked eating the candy.

walkers meeting annabelle.

brandon with annabelle.

seeing the lights at temple square.

the whole gang minus me, taking the picture.

Annabelle is 3 months old.

2011-01-27T22:05:00.048-07:00

Hi Blog Readers,

It's been over a month since I've blogged. Obviously you know that, because you've been checking my blog over and over hoping for an update, right? Or you're just reading this now on your google-reader and you had forgotten about my blog. Or perhaps you clicked the link on facebook and this is your first time to my blog ever and won't ever read it again.

Either way, I am going to give a good and long update... {or perhaps just a short one, because the shorter it is, the sooner I can go to bed!}

Annabelle turned 3 months old yesterday! She's not a newborn anymore. She is simply the best thing that has ever come my way. I am constantly amazed with the way she learns and grows. She has changed so much over the last month. Here's a little bit about her...

She coo's.

She smiles.

She growls.

She giggles.

She screams.

She holds toys.

She kicks her legs.

She reaches for things.

She makes eye contact.

She stares at her own hand.

She loves to move in her swing.

She loves to get her diaper changed.

She loves bath time and getting all wet.

She does not enjoy changing her clothes.

She loves looking at herself in the mirror.

She loves listening to music with her daddy.

She loves being read to and staring at pictures.

She cries if she's in her car seat, unless it's moving.

She has slept through the night 5 times and counting.

She takes up all of my time and energy and I love her!

So much.

I hope that gives you a little glimpse into my baby's life. There is so much more I could say, but that would take time. And wouldn't you know it, that's not one thing I have extra of. I love blogging, but it hasn't been a high priority in my spare time... I am usually doing dishes, napping, laundering, eating or trying to squeeze a shower into my little breaks.

Chase is still working on the bathroom downstairs in between school and the snow.

Life is busy but life is good.

Xoxo, Brittany

ps: i got an iphone as an after-christmas present... i love it, but i rarely pull out my real camera these days, here are a few pictures of my baby... taken with my phone:

sticking her tongue out is a favorite thing to do.

i know it's mean to take a picture of her crying, but look how cute she is.

bathtime in the sink.

this is first day she started sucking on her own hand.

one of the few pictures of me with her.

i love seeing her smile with her tongue out.

this is the first onsie me and chase bought her when i was pregnant.

this is the first time i saw her reach to grab something.

those are her toes she's playing with.

her shape is so cute.

she's SO long.

and lastly, this is the first picture we got of her smiling.

daddy-daughter date.

2010-12-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

Last night Chase took Annabelle on their first daddy-daughter date. I had previously thought of this as an event to help promote the bond between daddy and daughter... now I realize it also has another purpose. To give Mom a break!!

A few weeks ago, my sister-in-law wrote this for her facebook status, "has a question for mothers with young children. What is the longest time period you have been alone in your own house since your children were born? I'm just curious if I am an anomaly." I responded that I had never been alone at my house since my baby was born! Hah. Mind you, it's only been 7 weeks now and I have had breaks, just no breaks in my own home.

Back to tonight, I prompted Chase to invite his little baby girl out with him for the evening. He was excited and nervous. This would be his first outing alone with Baby. I helped him pack the diaper bag and sent them on their way... of course taking a couple pictures first.

Chase took Annabelle shopping for their date. Annabelle loves to go on rides in her stroller and the mall is a perfect place for walking when it's cold outside. Chase is adorable as a dad. I can just imagine how great he looked pushing the stroller, diaper bag in hand... shopping. {he even came home with some new clothes for baby}

Sadly{for all of us} while they were gone, I flooded the basement doing laundry and had to call Chase to come home early. I nursed Annabelle while he was wet-vac-ing up the mess and afterwards I took some pictures of them playing in her room together. Chase is seriously so cute with Annabelle. He loves playing and interacting with her. {notice the photo below, she's holding her toy!}

Annabelle is getting much more interactive too. She smiles and has seemed to laugh a couple times. Her eyes zoom around and she will make eye contact now. Her hands are always moving and she's learning how to grab things too... it's just hard to capture these moments on film.

She's growing up so fast!! I can't believe she's almost 2 months old already!!! She's so much fun. Below is her about to smile...
Xoxo, Brittany

ps: this morning chase let me sleep from 7am to noon. when i woke up he had scrubbed the bathroom, kitchen, mopped the upstairs floors and tidied the house. all while taking care of our baby... amazing!

home update.

2010-12-17T20:37:00.007-07:00

When we bought our house, there was a big unfinished room with the washer and dryer, an old nasty shower and a big hole in the ground. We planned to finish this room into a nice laundry room and bathroom. I thought it was going to be one of those "one day..." projects. Turns out Chase was very excited to start this project- he started last week!!

I wish I got a before, before picture. Before Chase ripped out the shower and before he started framing the room, but I didn't- so here is the after, before pictures. The second set of pictures below is after the plumber came and fixed all our plumbing. {and after Chase had put up the drywall in the laundry room and framed the shower.} Our home wasn't originally meant to have a bathroom in the basement or anything that needed a drain really... but with the new pump he installed, we will be set. You can't see in the photo, but he also put in the lines for a toilet and the sink against the wall on the right.

I'm really proud of my hubby for being so motivated. He has a landscaping/ snow removal business so, in the winter, if it's not snowing {or he's not plowing}, he's got a lot of free time. He spends this time improving our home... and helping me with Annabelle. I greatly appreciate both.

Thank you Chase!! I love you a lot.

Xoxo, Brittany.

ps: i told chase he had to take the next two weeks off from working on our home so we could have a lot of christmas fun... but i look forward to him finishing the project in the new year.

pps: what's a blog post without a picture of my baby? here i am with her during her second tub bath ever:

On Target.

2010-12-08T23:46:00.004-07:00

Today I spent the day shopping with my mom and sister and her kids and obviously with my baby Annabelle. We went to Target, Walmart, Costco & Michaels. It was very fun and I got lots of my Christmas shopping done- which I previously hadn't even started!! I'm excited to start wrapping everything. I love giving gifts! Don't get me wrong, I also love receiving gifts! :)

I don't really have any gifts for my baby. My 6 week old baby girl. She will be 2 months old, shy a day, on Christmas Day. Obviously she will not know what this joyous holiday is yet. Plus, we just spent big bucks on her... And everything she has is brand new!!
Did you buy or do you think you would buy your brand new baby Christmas presents?

She was a very good baby for most the day. The only time she really cried for no reason was when we were in the checkout line at Target. I was in one line, my mom was in another and Brooklyn was in yet, another. Brooklyn's cart had my sleeping baby in it {as well as her two restless children in it.} I looked over and saw the lady in front of her tell her that her baby was crying. Ha. Oops! I ran over and heard her little cry. It's so quiet and tiny. I tried to calm her with her soother, but then I had to go back to my stuff because it was my turn in the line! I hoped Baby would be fine. Aparently not, because next thing I saw was my mom taking Annabelle out of her car seat and bringing baby into her checkout line. I guess I need to keep her with me so we don't a scene like that again...

At Target I had to change my little one, so I used a cart. Here's the photo evidence:

Ain't she a doll? Xoxo, Brittany.