Brizban's Blessing

Brizban Jean Cottle is going to be blessed on this coming Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 9 a.m. The blessing will take place at our brand new stake center:

3155 Eola Drive, NW
Salem, OR 97304

Hope to see you there! And if not, well, let's just say Brizban will remember.

Cousins!

Ann had her beautiful little baby girl, Ruby Lou, on Tuesday, June 9th. We went to visit her so Briz could get to know her second cousin right away. It was so fun to be with both of them.

Ann, Ruby, Briz, and me. It looks like Briz is staring at Ruby.
Briz loves to give kisses. I think its mostly because she thinks she's going to be able to suck on something.

Nick thinks that its time to begin tossing her already.

So cute! I love this picture! It looks like Ruby is already tired of Brandon loving her too much! Dad, geez!

Just chillin' with Dad.

Briz was a good sport while we were taking pictures. Ruby probably wouldn't have woken up for anything. Still so exhausted from delivery!

Just a little love nudge.

Their cute little feet.

The proud Dads and the girls they are already spoiling.

New moms. I can't believe how good Ann looks. I was not willing to show my face in any pictures a few days after pregnancy, because I was still incredibly hideous.

Great Grandpa Cottle with his great granddaughters. He was so sweet with them. He started welling up, and said that there is nothing better in life than this. He also said that this would be the closest he would get to the Celestial Kingdom :)

She is so sweet. I just love her. She is so fragile, and it already made me nostalgic for when Briz was a few days old. It feels like so long ago, yet it goes by so fast.

She has the cutest little cry. It's this hoarse high pitch thing. She sounds like a tiny little bird.

I am freaking out about her toes. They are really long like Brizban's.

Megan's Baby Shower

Saturday was Megan's baby shower, and I designated myself as her photographer, whether she wanted me to be or not. Julia threw it at her house, and it was SO nice. The food was scrumptious! Julia - I need to get that keish recipe from you.

Megan is the cutest pregnant woman ever, and I'm very excited for her to have her little girl. As they were passing around the cute baby stuff that she got, I was tempted to steal it, but don't worry, Megan, I didn't.

Poor tummy

All along Briz has struggled with her digestive system, and the doctors kept telling me she's gassy and she just needs to figure it out. But when Nick and I were in Hawaii and I was feeding her in the middle of the night, I knew that something was just not right.

We got to the doctor and just as I thought, she has acid reflux (I'm starting to get good at self diagnosis). When she's eating, she latches on and off, arches her back, cries a lot like she's in pain, and after she's done eating, she acts like she's starving. I have to take some time to calm her down after she eats. I feel so bad for her and her little tummy. It's the saddest thing when she's crying because she's in pain, and there's nothing I can do but try to comfort her. We have her on some medication, but it hasn't proven to make a huge difference yet, so we'll see.

She also got thrush for the third time, so she's on medication for that. Luckily, she's a pig and she will eat anything that enters her mouth, so she doesn't mind the medication. And the thrush medication is like her favorite part of the day because it has so much sugar. It's so funny, she smacks her lips together after having it.

Briz is growing well, she's 9 lbs. 1 oz., and we're guessing around 22 inches. And I'm very grateful for her because considering everything, she's a really good baby. She almost always sleeps well (except for last night!), and she is pretty content most of the day. Poor girl has endured her parents carting her around everywhere and has still managed to be good for us. She is starting to "talk" a lot and make cute little baby noises. Yesterday I was playing music and we were dancing, and she started singing along. I thought I would just pass out from sheer joy. She also loves to imitate people's mouths. I love her so much and just wish that she didn't have to have her stomach hurt so often.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Lot and Lots of Pictures of Hawaii

Now you may judge Nick and I after seeing this post. But I swear, we are good parents! On a whim, Nick and I decided to take our month old to Hawaii. About a week and a half ago, my mom was looking for vacation spots (as she always does) and found ridiculously cheap tickets to Maui. So Nick and I booked a flight for the very next day! Now anyone who knows me knows that I am quite a planner, so this was extremely spontaneous for me. But I figured when are Nick and I ever going to be able to just take off to Hawaii? And yes, Briz is a little young to be so spoiled, but we figured that she would be pretty easy to travel with. Plus, my parents and Sierra went; so we had lots of babysitters.

Brizzy did great on the plane; she zonked out. And she seemed to enjoy Hawaii as well. She loved the warm weather, but in particular she loved our stroller walks/runs along the beach and she loved the pool. It was really hot there, so the pool was warm like a bath. She acted like she could have stayed in the pool for hours. Every once in a while she would get a little nervous about the abyss of water surrounding her, so like she always does, she wanted to be held close to our face. People had all sorts of responses to us having her there, and a lot of that is because she looks even younger than she is, because she's so skinny. The swim diapers and bathing suits were pretty big on her, but we made it work. She looked so funny because she's got this big belly and these long skinny arms and legs. Grandma Cottle says she takes after her daughter and is an Ethiopian child. But Nick and I figure now we never have to take Briz anywhere for a long long time. We can always tell her, hey, you've already been to Hawaii.

Enjoying the warm pool water.

Papa and his grandbaby. She looks pretty white compared to him.

I explained to my parents that Nick in many ways is still like a five year old. He always has to be doing something. So here he is, entertaining the little kids at the pool with flips.

This is a pretty gross picture, but its the only one with all three of us.

I could just kiss her chubby cheeks all day long!

Nick boogie boarding on the North Shore. Look at how beautiful the water and the sky is. I love the Hawaii ocean!

Catching some waves.

Sierra being the daredevil she is and jumping over some waves.

Nick crashing. It's probably the only time he did, but I caught it on camera!

Nick is so good at boogie boarding, he can even pose while he does it.

Deep contemplation.

I think we may be different races.

After playing tennis at sunset. It was slightly challenging because every time I tried to hit it, I peed my pants a little. Gross I know, but I need some kind of justification.

Sierra making a very "sierra" face. And I'm shiny and sweaty.

I love this picture.

Nick's long legs, going after the tennis ball.

Sierra having a blast in Hawaii! She's already bored with her boring family.

The baby hog. I am very grateful he's a baby hog. It gives me a lot of freedom :)

The men coming back from a swim.

Night swim. Okay, I lied. I forgot we had this family picture.

She's passed out in the shade.

Giving Dad kisses.

Swimming with her Dad at sunset.

We were grateful she didn't poo in her swim diaper, cause who knows if it would have stayed in!

With Aunt Sisi.

During nap time. She loved the sound of the ocean waves outside our condo.

Looks like her Dad in this picture.

Laying out by the pool.

The view from our condo.