Snippet

I am not sure if I have ever gone quite this long without blogging. And wouldn't you love if I had some super fancy excuse? Truth be told, I just lost my camera. I think it's in the apartment somewhere . . . who knows? I haven't looked very hard.


I have just this one picture my friend Wendi took of Bria. Wendi watches Bria two mornings a week and I watch her son, Carter on whole day a week. It's a nice little trade we have set up so I don't have to work only during Bria's naps. Hooray! Because I've been working a lot more lately.
And, as evidenced by this picture, Bria has a blast with Wendi and Carter. I really think it's helped Bria's ability to share, and I love seeing her innate nurturing qualities come out. I frequently hear things like "Careful, buddy!" or "Come here, Carter! Let me tickle you!"

And Bria's fashion sense has not let up. Sam snapped this picture on our way out the door this morning. You can't quite tell, but that crazy, curly hair of hers is officially past her shoulders. She's getting so big. One of my favorite cheesy mothering moments was last week when we were on a walk, and she out-of-the-blue said to me, "I love you sooo much, Mommy."
Le sigh. I love that girl.

Project Runway

Now, of course, one of Bria's favorite ways to express herself is through fashion . . .

(notice the shoes on the wrong feet. they are also 2 sizes too big. she keeps digging them out of the closet.)

(notice the "scarf" which is a hood liner to my winter coat. it was also about 85 degrees outside.)

MTV

A glimpse of Bria's vocal repertoire:
"Sing a Song of Sixpence"
"Ring Around the Rosies"
"ABCs"
"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

Five years ago (today!), Sam and I took the plunge in that crazy world of marriage.
We started dating when I was 19. (look at us! we were babies!) Which means I have spent over 1/5 of my life with Sam.
Sam and I nearly immediately fell head-over-heels for each other. When I told my parents I wanted to get married at the young age of 20, they thought I was a little crazy. But I knew I had struck gold with Sam.

Sam is 100% perfect for me. In every. single. way. We're actually fairly different from each other, but I could not have asked for a better match. Of course, I am also perfect for him.
Plus, we made a really cute kid.
Happy Anniversary, Sam! In five more years, I'll get to say I have spent a THIRD of my life with you. And I think that's fun.

Bria is excited to share the news:

(Don't ask me how she got that knife in her hand.)

Sam got a new job! We went out to celebrate a couple weeks ago when we got the news. And Bria was hammin' it up all night. She even attacked me a couple times because she was just too happy to contain herself:
Sam's started working yesterday at a production company based in Bethesda working as a junior editor on the show American Loggers, which airs on the Discovery Channel.
Three cheers for Sam! We're so excited about this new step.

Fairfax County Fair-apalooza

Last weekend, we went to the Fairfax County Fair with Matt, Jen, and kids.
The day started on a potentially horrible note when we parked, got out of the car, and realized Sam's phone was missing. After a long and thorough search, we headed to the front of the park, where, upon entering, we had switched drivers (from me to Sam-- the parking situation was stressing me out). There was Sam's phone, lying face up in the middle of the street, hot from being in the sun for probably 30 minutes. It so easily could have been stolen or run over. Let's just say it would have put a damper on our day. But, disaster averted! Hooray!
The weather was a little cooler-- in the 80s-- so we enjoyed a nice stroll around to see various animals and county fair what-not. Bria, as always, was full of rapture as she surveyed the animals. She even got to pet a baby chick.
We paid an arm and a leg for mediocre food (as expected) and let the kids run around. Bria loves her cousin Mallory:
The highlight of the fair may have been Bria's first (and second) carousel ride. She named her first horse "Blue" and her second horse "Friend." She's really creative, that one.And, just like any time we do anything out of our typical routine, Bria has been talking about the fair non-stop. Oh, Fairfax County. You're such a delight!

Don't Want to Forget

At age two and three months:

My favorite things Bria says lately is "Hi! I'm Bria!" She says it constantly and usually in a high, squeaky voice. It is often accompanied by a hand shake and a "nice to meet you!"

Her imagination is starting to blossom. Apparently, Swiper the Fox has been living in our couch (behind the cushions) and Bria lives in a constant state of terror that he will get her. There are also frogs and elephants who live in her blankets, who all have to be removed at nap and bedtime.

She also loves to talk on the phone (usually a tv remote or a domino) to her various cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and friends. One of my favorite pretend conversations she had was with my oldest sister, Amy:
"Hi Amy. What a doin? I watchin' Dora a Boots. You wanna come? Oh. You in Cannafunna (california)? Oh. Ok. I love you! Bye!"
Her favorite books are Sandra Boynton books. On the back of each book has a small picture of many other books by Boynton. After we read any of the books, Bria points to each picture, we tell her what book it is, and she says "I have it?" If the answer is yes, we continue to the next book. If the answer is no, she says "at the library?" to which I say yes.

Bria has started to understand some reasoning. Today she asked if she could walk on a sloped ledge by some outside stairs and I said no. She said: "it's too dangerous?" I replied yes, even though it was actually because I just wanted to go inside. She also asked to go to the play place at Chic-Fil-A, and I said no (I don't always say no!) and she said, "the slide is too big for me?" And if I tell her not to pick something up off the ground, she responds, "it's dirty?" or "it's not ours?" She may not always truly understand why she can or can't do certain things, but at least she gets that reasons do exist.

Bria is a real daddy's girl. She is always anxious for Sam to come home from work. He usually calls when he leaves work, and then he calls again when he's close to see if we feel like picking him up from the metro. The other day, Bria and I were in the car finishing up some errands when Sam called as he was leaving the office. Bria was so excited, and she called out from the back seat, "is he close?" to which I responded, no, he wasn't close, we were going to go home and make dinner, and then it would be time for Daddy to come home. She was really upset about this. She kept saying "no go home! no make dinner! get daddy!" I explained that he wasn't close yet, he was just leaving work, and he was just getting on the train, so we couldn't get him. Bria then proceeded to tell me to drive to Washington D.C. and get Daddy at his building. I was astonished that she understood the situation well enough to know that there was more than one way for Dad to get home, and the fastest way would be for us to drive directly to him. As charmed as I was by her quick thinking, I couldn't not be lured into rush-hour traffic, so I had to take a tantrum-throwing Bria home with me. I have a feeling she will be very crafty teenager.

Bria's favorite imaginary friend is her sister. And, no, that is not an announcement. But Bria's "sister" follows her everywhere. In fact, Bria told me today that they are getting married. I'm not even going to try to explain the problems with that one.

One of the cutest things I have ever seen Bria do is try to catch a butterfly. She was running in circles, reaching for it, calling "no butterfly! no fly away! come back here butterfly! get over here! stop it! come 'ere butterfly!" so darling.