100th post, Christmas post, 8-month post

Yes, it's true. This post is triple fold. First, let us celebrate the 100th post of this blog. Now, in order to make this easier for myself, I'm just going to caption each picture in the order they uploaded. So if things seem out of order, that's because they are.


We spent Christmas with my entire family in SLC. We took some family pictures and had this one of all the babies born in 2008. So here is Bria (April 25), Abby (September 28), Cameron (September 2), and Stone (April 1). Yes, Bria is huge.

Sam thought it would be great fun to make the dads of the '08 babies refuse to smile. Needless to say, my mom was not thrilled with their pact.

We took this family picture just outside my parents' house.


My two oldest nieces' Christmas presents were getting their ears pierced. So we all went for moral support (mostly for my sister), and Sam thought it would be cute to dress Bria up in Hannah Montana gear while we waited. I'm not so sure what I think about that, but I took a picture anyway.

On Sunday night, my sister Amy, her three girls Lindsay, Lucy, and Sophie, and my sister Whitney and I went to see the lights at temple square. There weren't as many lights this year, but I'm glad the church is recognizing the cost and effect of using so much electricity!


Ah, back to family pictures. This is Bria's incredibly happy face. Adam and Kathleen, do you think she looks a little Lena-esque here?


On the 26th, all the girls went to lunch at Market Street Grill. YUM! We talked about things that were hard and things that were happy this year. Then I made us all divulge on our celebrity old-man crushes (young-guy crush for my mom). S0 here we have Whitney (Brad Pitt), my mom (Matt Damon), me (Colin Firth), Lindsay (George Clooney), Amy (Harrison Ford), and Rachel (George Clooney).


We didn't take a ton of pictures on Christmas morning, but here is Bria with her Santa gifts, including some cute clips to put in her hair. That should help more people know she's a girl. (She's also wearing her traditional Christmas Eve pajamas). This will also work for our 8-month picture, since Bria turned eight months old on Christmas Day. I can't believe how big she is! She has crawled a few crawls with her belly off the floor, but mostly she just scoots around (with incredible speed).


Sam, Bria, and I each opened a present on Christmas Eve earlier in the day. I had to work on Christmas Eve, so by the time I got home, it was a whirlwind to throw our stuff in the car and start driving to Salt Lake. We opened out presents and Bria got these little barnyard animals, which are a hit, to say the least.


Last but not least, we got a new kitchen table! My sister Lindsay was letting us borrow theirs while they have been living with my parents. Now they are moving into their own place and need theirs back. So we were searching KSL Classifieds and Craigslist (as well as Target and IKEA) for a while. The other day, Sam saw this table for $25! We called right away and Sam left to pick it up within 15 minutes of our talking about it. When he was almost there to pick it up (in West Valley). The guy called and said that he had moved the table, and while doing so, cracked the corner, and if we still wanted it, we could have it for free! So, the crack wasn't too bad, so we got this free table! It is pretty nice, and we are really excited about it. Sam fixed the crack with some wood glue, and you can barely tell. So here's Bria enjoying the new table.

So there you go. The marathon post. We hope you all had a lovely Christmas! We are home in Provo now, and it feels really nice to be home. I am now hammering out some details of my New Year's Resolutions, so I'm sure I'll post about those next year in a couple days. Until then, I will just enjoy these last few days of '08. It was a good year.

Christmas is in one week!

The calendar might not say it, but it is definitely winter in Provo. It has been snowing a ton, and I'll admit, I'm so over it. I think I'd like to move to California right about now. Oh well. Bria is rather interested in the snow, however, so I guess we'll make the best of it. Here is a picture of Bria in the Snug-a-Bug clothes we won last week.Later that day, I let her chew on an apple. This was right as she started getting big chunks in her mouth, and I had to take it away. Try to notice how soaked her clothes are from drool. She loved that apple.

Bria has become quite the scooting pro. I am trying to rework how things go around here, because it seems the second I turn my head, she is playing with a cord or licking the wheel on her stroller or gnawing on a small piece of paper. I'll get this babyproofing thing down soon, I'm sure. But it's definitely added an interesting element to my life.

We are eagerly getting ready for Christmas around here! We are just almost finished shopping, and my family will start getting in to town soon! I took some pictures of Bria today by our tree-- which I may regret now, because now she is fascinated with the tree and all the presents.
Now I am just analyzing this year's resolutions from January and trying to think of what resolve I want for 2009. Hmm . . . maybe I should just take the year off.

Scooting

Within the last three days, Bria has learned to move forward. She has pretty much mastered the army crawl and is finding all sorts of ways to get into trouble. I have this video I took the first day she started to scoot around, and as you can see, I like to lure her with plastic bags. Today I got her to scoot all the way from our bedroom to the front room by wiggling a plastic bag in front of her. Why do babies always go for the dangerous toys? We may never know.
So here she is, folks . . . The newly-mobile Bria! (oh and don't mind the camera shaking-- that's me laughing. and don't mind my shrill voice either-- that's just the way I sound.)

This is my favorite week.

I was going to post yesterday about my great day, but I'm glad I waited because it looks like this is going to be a great week!

Before the clock struck nine o'clock in the morning yesterday, I feasted on homemade-bread-toast for breakfast, I had a nice phone conversation with my old roommate Alexandra, and I found out that I won $100 of Snug-a-Bug baby clothes from Your Heart Out. Can you believe it? I am not one of those people who just wins stuff. The last thing I won was the 5th grade spelling bee. (actually, I did win a drawing at my first college job [Western Wats] for a $15 gift card to Media Play. maybe I do win stuff!) So, the day got better and better when I went to Costco and got to sample a cream puff (what, did you think I'd win something there too?). And then we had some friends over and I ate little smokies wrapped in bacon with brown sugar. Holy deliciousness.

I thought all my luck would end when I went to bed last night, but then . . . Bria slept in until 8:45 this morning! And THEN, I got a call from work saying we had won some Thanksgiving competition and I get a free griddle pan (calphalon, I think).

And lastly, just before I took Sam to work, I discovered that Bria's hair is long enough to turn her into a Who (see below). Christmas has come early this year, my friends.

Video, finally

I finally got that video to work! So here you can see the way Bria gets around these days. Also, don't miss the post from yesterday with the recipe for the famous cranberry pear cake.

This recipe is just too good not to share.

Cranberry Pear Cake
2 c flour
2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 t baking soda
1 large can pears, with juice, mashed
1 bag cranberries

Combine all ingredients. I like to add everything except the cranberries and then use my hand mixer, which effectively mashes the pears, then add the cranberries. Pour the batter into a greased 9x13. Bake at 350 degrees for at least 40 minutes. (My mom swears hers bakes in 40 minutes, but mine always takes infinitely longer.) Do a toothpick test to be certain it is done.

Sauce:
3/4 c cream
1 c sugar
3/4 c butter
1 t vanilla

Combine in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Drizzle over individual pieces of cake and top with a hefty dollop of whipped cream.

You will die of culinary delight.

Thanksgiving on Hands and Knees

We had Thanksgiving with my parents, my sister Whitney, my grandma, and my dad's brother. We had all the classics, and then I made some new dishes: butternut squash in brown butter, brussels sprouts with vinegar glazed onions, and green beans with bacon and almonds. I also made a pumpkin cheesecake and a apple cranberry pie. It was a great meal! Here is Bria watching us eat.

Also, that morning my sister lindsay and I ran a 5K.

Hanging out at my parents' house this weekend:


Just over the weekend, Bria has started expressing interest in crawling-- much to my dismay. It is very cute, but I'm not excited to babyproof the apartment. She is just getting up on her knees, so I figure I still have a couple weeks before she really takes off. Here is a video of her newly-found talent and a showcase of how she currently moves (the tummy pivot). Forgive her outfit-- she was just about to take a bath due to a messy prune dinner a few minutes earlier (pictured below).
The video is taking WAY too long to update. I'll try to do it again later.

California and Seven Months!

I just got back from California yesterday, and I miss it already. It was so nice to be in a busy house with my sister's family-- tons of stuff to do and always someone to talk with. Bria and I had a great time. Ultimately, I did survive watching my three nieces, and I am left in awe of mothers-of-four (or more!). It was also great to see my brother, Scott, and his family. So here are some pictures of the trip.

Lindsay, Bria, and Lucy yesterday morning (Lindsay and Bria have the same birthday, seven years apart):


Bria right after waking up.
Bria liked to attack Stone by grabbing his face, feet, diaper-- basically anything she could get her hands on.

Stone was born three and a half weeks before Bria:


Amy, Stone, Me, Bria, Scott, and Cameron


I got baby Cameron to smile! He's so cute. And Bria loves all babies-- Cameron definitely included.


A common sight-- Sophie and Bria were buddies:


Sophie calls her Bri-Bri


A preview of what I am making on Thursday:


Sophie wanted to hug her:

Lucy, Bria, and Sophie. Fortunately, Bria loved being mauled by her cousins:


Finally, Bria is seven months old today! She tries really hard to push up on her knees, and she is getting more and more mobile and she pivots around on her belly. The day before I went to California, I slept at my parents' house. I put Bria to bed on the floor in my parent's closet (one of the few dark, quiet places in the house). When I got up to feed her that night, she had somehow gotten about three or four feet away, underneath some drawers all the way by the closet door. You probably need to see the closet to see what I mean, but I guarantee you, it was quite shocking to find her there. So, the seven month picture is a common pose. We just love to put Sam's glasses on Bria! We think it is so funny.

This Could Be My Last Post

Why? Well, I have been babysitting my oldest sister's three kids for the past two days. there's a chance i won't survive, and then i won't be posting anymore. I honestly don't know how my sister does it. her kidsare great actually-- very well behaved and very fun-- it's just so much work!

The plus side is that I am in California! My sister lives in Mountain View, so I get a nice little trip out here to see my nieces as well as my sister and my brother (who lives a couple streets away). The weather is lovely, and I am having a really fun time with everyone. i will definitely post some pictures when i get back.

Also, just a little tidbit is that Bria's favorite thing to do is to suck on her thumb through cloth. right now she has her thumb hooked through my sleeve and is sucking on her thumb. So cute. So wet. Love it.

post by numbers

My friend Liz has done some posts in this format, so I thought I'd borrow the idea.

1 -- Times Bria still wakes up at night. She'll sleep through for about a week, and then she'll change her mind. She eats and then goes right back to sleep so it isn't so bad.

2 -- Miles I ran today. I almost died because most of it was uphill (from the stadium to 9th east).

6 1/2 -- Months Bria is old today exactly.

7 -- Gifts I wrapped at my first shift at Williams-Sonoma on Saturday.

8 -- Total miles I am hoping to run this week.

8 -- Weeks left this year! I'm trying to cram in some work on those resolutions I made in January.

15 -- Books I have read since Bria was born.

16 -- Ice-cube-sized portions of baby food I was able to get from one butternut squash.

18 -- Days until Thanksgiving.

20 -- Members in my family, all of whom will be in Utah for Christmas.

1200 -- Pictures I have taken since Bria was born. No, I don't think it's excessive.

Infinity -- Cookies I have baked this year. I crave them day and night. Today I'm making cookies of the applesauce variety.

And a picture of Bria for good measure:

17 more things

I got tagged by Kelly was well, with a few additions to the eight-ness. Also, I noticed there were only SEVEN shows on my tv list. And really, I have to love eight of them. And since I love to waste time on the computer, here I go . . .

1 more tv show I like to watch . . .
8. Everyday Italian

8 things I love about fall . . .
1. The vibrant colors covering the mountains
2. Pulling out the winter wardrobe (though I will admit, I need some new clothes! Yesterday I thought to myself "what did I wear last fall and winter?" and then I remembered that I was pregnant and wearing maternity clothes.)
3. Soup! It's just too hot to eat in the summer
4. Looking forward to the holidays
5. Being cold. Yes, I like being cold.
6. Pulling out the down comforter. I LOVE our duvet.
7. Socks and shoes. I HATE wearing sandals, but I do it all summer long anyway.
8. Watching football with Sam

8 things on my wish list . . .
1. A house that I own (if someone could buy that for me-- that'd be great, thanks)
2. A second car
3. A whole set of Calphalon pans
4. To move to Virginia tomorrow
5. A maid to clean my apartment for free. BLECH I hate cleaning.
6. (I'll steal this one from you, Kelly) A shopping spree!
7. A new hair style
8. To be taller (what? none of the other things are realistic. except maybe #7)

Halloween + Patriotism = Pumpkins for America

I thought I would put up our Halloween pictures. But before I do so, I will spell out the DRAMA of Halloween this year. (Sam pointed out to me the other day that I don't use color in my posts, so I'm trying it out.) I always wanted Bria to be so cuddly and cute for Halloween. I mean, come on, it's her first Halloween! Sam was DEAD-SET on a Star Wars theme: Darth Vader, Princess Leia, and Yoda. Oddly enough, I hadn't imagined my sweet little daughter as being Yoda on her first Halloween. I know, right? But Sam was so excited about it. We didn't want to buy a Yoda costume, and I just had visions of failing Yoda costumes and the ensuing frustration. I finally swayed Sam from the Star Wars theme by explaining that I would only go for Star Wars on Halloween once, and wouldn't he like to wait until we can have a more complete cast with future children? If he did it this year and then asked again later, I would just have to say, "We already did Star Wars. Sorry." He agreed this was fair.
So we thought and thought and came up with some ideas that we just weren't that excited about. So we finally decided she could be the classic pumpkin/ jack-o-lantern. Unfortunately, decisions like these should be made before Halloween. We went to Target on Halloween afternoon, and, you guessed it, there were slim pickens in the ways of Halloween costumes. Nary an orange onesie in sight! We looked at the selection of baby costumes, but they weren't so cute. But, an idea popped into both out heads. Bria is small. Bria could even be the size of a small dog. (You see where I'm going with this, right?) Yes, I dressed my daughter in a costume made for a DOG. Oh well. She was so cute. Yes, there were holes for ears in the hat. Yes, it was the right size to fit my parents dog. But look at the pictures-- it was totally worth it! (Plus, the costume was 30% off, since it was Halloween day.)




So Sam pulled out his Robin costume (of Batman and) from last year, and I pulled out my handy cat ears. We went trick-or-treating with my brother-in-law Jason and my nephew Hunter. For one of my least favorite holidays (I blame an infected tetanus shot when I was 12 for ruining it), I had a great time!

Lastly, I just watched the newly-elected President Obama's speech from last night. If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch it here. I am PUMPED to be an American right now. I'm excited to see what Obama will do for America. Here Sam, Bria, and I are at an election results party last night (for which I made Obamadoodles [snickerdoodles made with chocolate] and McCainCorn [white chocolate covered popcorn-- thanks for the recipe Jean!]):
P.S. How did I do with the color? I think I went a little overboard.

Happy Election Day!

Today marked a momentous occasion in my life: I voted for the first time. I admit that I have not been moved to vote in previous elections, but today I reconciled my patriotism with my actions. This is not a political post-- I am not saying who I voted for, but I did want to say how grateful I am to vote. My right to vote has been recently attained. In Switzerland, women could not vote until 1973-- this makes me even more grateful to be an American living in 2008. It doesn't matter than I am a woman who doesn't own any land. I have a say in who leads our country, state, city, and county because I am a citizen of this country. It's a fine thing.

I used to feel that my vote was useless. Living in Utah, it doesn't matter whether I vote Republican or Democrat, Utah is not (and probably never will be) a swing state. I'll admit that I wish I lived in a place where my vote had more weight, but it remains the same, I vote because I can. I vote because millions of humans in other countries cannot. I vote because women before fought tooth and nail for me to be able to. I vote because the founding mothers of my church (Zina D. H. Young, Bathsheba Smith, Emmeline B. Wells) fought for and gained women's suffrage in Utah before all other states besides Wyoming. I vote because I care about what happens in our public schools, in Iraq, in our economy, in our environment, and in our hospitals.

I should have written this post before the voter registration deadline to move all those non-voters to action. But if you happen to read this post, are registered to vote, but hadn't planned on voting, go vote! We are blessed to be able to vote. And whether you vote for Huntsman or Schanze*, Obama or Nader, Yes or No-- excercizing that right is a way to say thank you to all those who fought for your right.



*If you vote for Schanze, however, I'd like to know why-- unless you thought it would be funny. Which it would be.

Huit

Tagged by Jenna
8 Tag

8 TV shows I like to watch:
1.The Office,
2.What Not to Wear,
3.Scrubs
4.Heroes
5.Chuck
6. Grey's
7.Jon & Kate Plus 8

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
2. Bought some new jeans
3. Hung out with Jason, Lindsay, Hunter, and Abby all day
4. Ran two miles (I'm starting out slow)
5. Talked to my sister Whitney on the phone
6. Bought Halloween candy on sale for $1 because Sam and I felt slighted that we didn't get any
7. Watched Sam and Jason play Mario Kart on the Wii
8. Watched the Cougars beat the Rams

8 Favorite places to eat:
1.Cafe Rio
2.Cheesecake Factory
3.CPK
4.Carl's Jr.
5.Fleming's
6.Panera
7. PF Changs
8.Sub Zero (does it count if they only serve ice cream?)


8 things I’m looking forward to:
1. I am going to start working at Williams-Sonoma part-time this week!
2. My sister Whitney moving back to Utah tomorrow
3. Running a 5k on Thanksgiving
4. Going to the library this week to check-out another slew of books
5. Bria's second tooth popping through (as opposed to hanging out just below the gums as it is doing now)
6. Thanksgiving
7. Implementing the new things from IKEA I bought this past week-- some storage items to keep Bria's things more organized
8. Christmas! (I usually don't start getting excited this early, but I can't wait for all the McPhies to be together this year)


8 people I tag:
Lindsay Hickok, Maranda Anderson, Calixta Ashby, Kathleen Mangum, Jean Mangum, Jen Mangum, Kilee Nickels, Joanna Farnsworth

Six Months

Our little Briebe is six months old today! Not only that, but I also discovered that she has her first tooth! Excitement abounds at the Mangum home. I was a little curious why on Thursday night Bria woke up at 11:00pm and then again at 5:00am. And all week she was only taking 35 minute naps. I think this tooth explains all of that!
At six months old, it is clear that Bria is the joy and the queen of our family. She continues to be such a calm, good-natured baby. She is trying to get up on her hands and knees, so I think we'll have a crawler pretty soon.
I can't believe it's already been six months since she made her appearance-- half of a year! She is growing up so quickly. Sam and I are constantly telling each other how happy we are to have her and how much we love her.

Then:

Now:

Bria takes the Cake

Hi everyone, this is Sam. After months of encouragement from Courtney I finally made a video of Bria. It took several attempts to get a good compression that didn't stretch the 16x9 picture. Without further ado (grab some popcorn, silence your cell phones), I give you . . . Bria!

A Note on Swaddling . . .

So, I've had some comments on how we keep Bria swaddled. I'm not one to proclaim myself an expert on mothering subjects, but I do have a tip-- the tip-- on swaddling.

USE A FLANNEL BLANKET

I heard this tip while I was pregnant, and I am so glad I did! The flannel material kind of sticks to itself, which helps keep that baby in tight. What we have done is just go to the fabric store and pick out some flannel material and have them cut a square (however long the fabric is naturally wide). My mom was nice enough to make us some double-thickness blankets, but we also use single flannel sheets as well, when she doesn't need to be quite so bundled. We also have some flannel blankets we got from Target, but they aren't quite big enough. It's better to get them from a fabric store where you can ensure they will be big enough to swaddle your 90th-percentile-behemoth baby.
Also, we wrap both of Bria's arms under the first wrap-- for some reason, that has helped her. And, of course, we pull the blanket tight, tight, tight. And we don't wrap her feet up. Bria does wiggle her arms out often, but usually only once she has woken up.

And there you have it: your completely unsolicited advice from me on swaddling.


Back when Bria was little and I still took pictures of when she was swaddled:

Early Winter :(

It has turned cold quite quickly here in Provo! Things had been so lovely until this past weekend when I, the Queen of Cold, actually got cold enough to turn on the heater! It even snowed. I'm still pretty sad about it. It was, however, fun to bundle Bria up in some new clothes-- winter clothes, and a new size, 6-12 months.
Some other random bits are that Sam is back to a shaved head. I'm not sure why we follow the pattern of shaving his head in the winter and growing it out in the summer. Anyway, while I was buzzing his head, I thought he should have a mohawk just for fun, so he sported one for a couple days.
My mom bought this little seat for us as a high chair. There really isn't room for a high chair in our apartment, plus this is machine washable and much easier to store once she grows out of it. We love it!
The past couple nights Bria has been rather sleepy before bedtime-- we are in that limbo of not knowing whether she should take a cat nap and still get to bed late or if we should just push her to stay up and go to bed at her regular time (8:15). One night I pushed it, and she fell asleep while I was getting her ready for bed. I set her on the bed to wrap her up, and had to take a picture of my sleeping beauty.
Here is just a random picture of today. She is just getting so big so quickly. I am usually anti-huge-bow-on-the-top-of-the-head, but I think this one is cute once in a while.
This is what I see when I open the door to get her up in the morning or from a nap.
And this is the close-up. She is always so excited to see me!