Post Prelay

After the Prelay and the boys got some sleep, everyone seemed to be in a better mood. We were all relieved that it was a successful event, but even more than that, that it was done!!! We attempted to take two toddlers and one infant to downtown Portland. We went to 23rd and then the Rose Garden, where we got some great pictures.

My favorite rose, the orange one with a bit of pink on it (although that's not its technical name, but I don't really care).
Such a cute picture of Shaun and Preston.

Will is smelling the roses.

Mr. Mom. I kept calling him that and he was getting extremely irritated with me. But hey, he's the one that wanted to wear the front pack!

I love this picture of Preston. He has such pretty eyes. And man, he's a photogenic kid!

Isn't my cousin adorable? She came along, acting as Brizzy's second mama. That's what she's named herself.

It totally looks like we're posing, but we're not. I'm not sure why we're all staring and laughing at Briz, but she looks like perhaps she's screaming. Will wasn't too excited about the situation either.

We shoved her into the roses because they were matching. Didn't even plan it!

Already rolling her eyes at her Dad.

Beware, lots of kisses coming up. Briz has already kissed two boys. And she's already started the open mouth, french kiss. No seriously, when you go to kiss her now, she opens up her mouth and sticks out her tongue. My favorite thing about this picture is how she's grabbing his shirt. She's just a little aggressive :)

Are ya kidding me Mom? Seriously, who is this chick.

Brizzy is being smothered by her second mama. She looks like she's enjoying it too.

The face that I am making is because Briz is giving Presto the frenchie. I am for sure bringing this picture out when these two are older, if nothing else just to embarrass them. That's pretty much why I take pictures! It's all in the name of blackmail.

Da Deck

Nick's magnificent father built a deck on our house. Nick helped and learned. It is the nicest deck I've ever seen!!! Okay, that might be a bit exaggerated, but I do love it. I asked Mike one of the days how he learned how to build decks and he said, "It's a gift of the spirit." It truly is.

It has completely opened up our yard, and I now have a much greater desire to entertain. Maybe cooking will come next :) I am eternally grateful for having such a great father in law who has so many handy skills and a husband who has a desire to be as talented as his Dad :)

additonal shout out to Britt who helped the final day to put up the railings and to my uncle James who got us a sweet deal on the cedar and trex (I don't think I give enough shouts outs on my blog).

Prelay

July 10 - 11 was the very first Prelay. Nick and some of his friends started a company where they put on very long relay races. The Prelay went from Portland to Eugene. I was able to help out just a little, take some pictures, and just see the runners and the trail. It was a beautiful trail along the country of Oregon. I was jealous of the runners, and I really hope I'm in good enough shape to run it next summer. It was a small race, and there are definitely things that will be improved upon. But for their first event, it was a big hit. They did so well, but I think Nick is still recovering from not sleeping for a few days. A bonus was Shaun and Michael's wives and kids came up to visit as well. It was fun for us all to be together.

Happy at the beginning of the race.

Very very tired at the finish.

Shaun and Preston at the finish spot in Eugene.

Hanging out along the race

Papa, who wants to be the Grandpa for every little kid he sees.

Kristi and Will admiring the little birds up in the trees.

Will sportin' the sweat band.

Presto.

2 months . . . kind of

Briz is 11 weeks, so not exactly 2 months. I sort of forgot that her 2 month appointment was an important event I needed to document, because she goes into the doctor quite a bit. It's been about once a week. But she did go in for her 2 month check up around 9 weeks, and these were her "2 month stats:"

Weight: 10 lbs. 3 oz. - 25%ile
Head - I don't remember the exact number, but it was the 50%ile
Height - 22 1/2 in. - 50% ile

She is still not the biggest. I never expected my baby to be in the 50%ile or below!!! Whose kid is this anyways? But at least she's healthy and growing well. At her 2 week appointment, she was 25%ile for pretty much everything, so she's on track and getting tallER. That's what is most important!

She handled her 2 month shots wonderfully. She cried more when we got her naked than she did when they poked her. She got pretty tough from having her heel poked a bazillion times after she was born. And she's already been through quite a bit, poor little girl.

Yesterday, we went into the doctor (again), and she is now 10 lbs. 15 oz. (don't know the %ile, sorry). So she's gaining weight right on schedule, but the sad news is all her tummy issues. She didn't go to the bathroom for 4 1/2 days, which I'm told can be normal. Except she acted like she was in a lot of pain for that whole time. I ended up giving her a suppository to help her. Her acid reflux seems to be getting worse: she drenches about 2 cloth diapers every time she eats and is very very sad for most of it. All of this is happening while she is pretty much on the most heavy duty medication she can be on. She had an ultrasound yesterday, which she did really good for most of, to determine if she had something else wrong with her stomach. Luckily, everything looks normal. It can be extremely frustrating trying to find answers with doctors. And I'm convinced they know nothing more than I can google. And then their answer is to shove another medication in your face rather than actually figure out the problem. I've tried a few things on my own, like going off dairy for about 2 1/2 weeks so far. I think I may try wheat next. But its definitely discouraging. I just love little Briz so much and think she's such a good baby, but I wish she didn't have to be in pain as often as she is.

Cottle Reunion

A couple weeks ago, we had a Cottle Reunion at Black Butte. There were 54 of us total, and it was SO much fun. I love Black Butte and I love the Cottles, so the combo was excellent. I feel extremely lucky to have such a great family in law. I really do feel like one of them.
We played a lot of tennis and swam in the pool. So Briz was either in her stroller at the tennis courts or in the water. She went under quite a bit, and loved it. Every night we had a big family dinner, followed by games at the park. The soccer games got a little bit competetitive, and there were a couple injuries. Grandpa even tackled a grandson in law, and landed on his side. But its all in the name of healthy competition! Brizzy also had a ton of cousins that were fighting over holding her. If it's possible to be loved too much by too many people as a baby, then that is Brizzy.

As always, here are a ton of pictures.

With Grandma Cottle at the pool. They're having an in depth conversation. And Briz sort of has a guilty look on her face.
Torturing Briz at the pool. I love her little chicken legs.

More torture. Although she likes to be dunked.

She's cute even when she's crying! Thank goodness.

More talking with Grandma.

She loves her Grandma Cottle and misses her already.

The Cottle clan, minus Seth, Whit, Kloey, and Libby (although Kloey and Libby were still in utero at the time the picure was taken).

All of the family members with Grandma Cottle, Mary Lou Olsen's name.

All of the family members with Grandpa Cottle, Thomas Dean Cottle's name.

The 8 Cottle kids with Grandpa and Pat.

All of the grandkids.

all of the great grandkids.

Marissa skid on her bike and tore up her face a little while we were there. Very sad.

Cute picture of Jacci and Britt.

Wednesday morning, our last morning there, we celebrated Grandma Cottle's b-day. She passed away 16 years ago, but we could feel her presence very strong when Grandpa was talkinga about her. I have never met her (along with some of the grandkids) but we all feel a strong connection to her. This is Olsen getting emotional that morning.

Grandpa talking about Mary Lou and eternal families.

Lisa, Jeff, Mike, and Anita getting emotional as they listen to their Dad talk about their Mom.

Aunt Molly and cousin Ann, with her new baby, Ruby.

Family soccer game.

Wyatt won the contest and got two swim noodles.

This is the cutest picture of McKenna. She looks like she's posing like a super model.

Grandpa Cottle and Pat

On the Hawaiian Dinner Night.

Cousin Ammon demonstrating his baby skills with Briz. Ammon should post this on his facebook page as to attract a potential wife.

Cousin Isaac's little girl, Dani. She has the prettiest eyes.

Cousin Matt getting a little defensive about his gas.

Aunt Michelle laughing hysterically after Matt let one rip. She was surprised, but no one else was.

Such a cute picture of Brittany. After the reunion, Brittany came back and helped finish our deck. And she definitely had the special touch with Brizzy. I offered for her to move in with us and be our permanent nanny. But apparently, she doesn't want to work for free! Sheesh, what's her problem.

She has started to make very very sad faces. She is excellent at the quivering bottom lip.

Ava, Marissa, Ella, Tanna, Ashley, Dani, McKenna, and Kylee. Ethan is in the background. Grandma Tanna with all of her grandkids. It's hard to keep all of their names straight.

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Michelle, Thomas, Sydney, Nathaniel, MJ, and Sam eating dinner on "Hawaiian Night."

I am cheap

I am a very cheap person and normally I pride myself on this. But this last time I was particularly cheap came back to bite me in the butt. When I was in Utah, Nick once again brought up the idea of going blonde. Now I didn't really want to go all the way blonde, but I sort of thought, okay, you know what, I'll try going lighter. And I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to do it while I was in Utah, because they have all of these cheap hair schools.

I planned it all out and had my sister, Bri, babysit Briz while I was gone. Long story short, it ended up taking 6 hours, and my hair turned out bright copper yellow!!!! While I was in the salon, my main concern was leaving so I could get to my baby and feed her. So I don't think I really looked close enough at my hair. I remember not loving it, but sort of though, oh well, maybe its okay. Wrong. It was definitely not okay. It wasn't like highlights. I'm talking a weave on every strand of my hair! I spent that whole night crying and calling people I knew that know anything about hair.

Luckily my friend Kristi does hair and walked me though how to dye my hair. I dyed it back to brown, and I will admit, I was sort of proud of myself. I still have a few random copper spots on my hair, but you can't really see them. And I'm grateful my hair grows fast. It was a truly traumatic experience and I am not sure I can emotionally handle getting my hair done again.