Before and afters

This beauty was so much work. Hayley and I sanded down the whole thing then primed, painted, and sealed it. I think we will stick to smaller projects from now on. There was so much glass so we had to put tape around all of it. It took 3 coats too. But it sure looks pretty!

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

I got this table and 2 chairs at a yard sale for $12.50 total. Yep it was a smoking deal.

BEFORE

AFTER

This isn't the mirror I painted, but it was this same color. I forgot to get a before pic of it.

BEFORE

AFTER

7 months!

Westen is 7 months today! Some of the new things he is doing are:

-pulling himself up on furniture

-Climbing into things

-reaching to be picked up

-loves to scream

-going longer in between meals during the day

-Can get up on hands and feet while on the ground

Things that are still the same:

-Still no more teeth

-still bites almost every time he eats

-Wakes up every two hours to eat at night

-Same cute personality :)

Tricks

Our baby is getting so big! He's started pulling himself up onto the couch. I'm not ready for him to be completely mobile yet. He's not even 7 months! Sheesh

I'm a Briggs!

It is about time! I've been a huge procrastinator getting my name changed to Briggs... Its just taken me a long time to get around to it. So when Elliot's SS# and liscense got stolen, I figured we would get it all taken care of in the same day. I changed my name at the Social Security office and then we went to the lovely and oh so time consuming DMV. I got my new name and a new driver's license and I didn't know they spelled it wrong until a couple days later! Great... Sanders definately has an R in it. Elliot was going to get an AZ liscense too but they were going to make him take the writen and driving test over again haha unless he can get a paper from NC's DMV. So currently he is liscense-less until we can get back down to the DMV haha

What I'd give for Ice cream!

Today I made homemade pizza for lunch and I could not help but laugh at it. This is what all of our meals look like. Elliot's meal usually looks and tastes a lot better than mine. I end up making two versions of the same meal, mine just doesn't have any dairy... Oh what I'd give for some cookies n' cream ice cream right now. Yum

Chiropractor

Westen seems to be sick a lot. I found out from our chiropractor who is also an allergenist that tested Westen to find that he is allergic to high fructose corn syrup and dairy which means I can't eat it because i am breastfeeding him. Lovely. When I say that it is in everything, I mean EVERYTHING! I took him back to the chiropractor this past week because he hasn't been sleeping well and his allergies have gotten worse. Well the chiro said his neck was pretty stiff. He adjusted Westen and on the drive home Westen fell asleep for a 3 hour nap! Seriously Dr. Jensen is a miracle worker! Westen went 3 times last week and is scheduled for 2 times this week. He's been sleeping great during the day. I wish he was at night but hey you lose some and you win some lol. He loves our chiropractor and always reaches for him to hold him. He's such a spoiled kiddo.

What I signed up for

I've been thinking a lot about how being a mommy has changed my life.
When we had Westen, it was a hard transition... My sleep went out the door! I hate when people ask me if he sleeps through the night... well no actually he wakes up 6-8 times a night if I'm lucky! Then the response is ALWAYS have you tried the "cry it out" method... Really?! I wish I could say "I know too much about what it does to their brains and self worth... and why they stop crying is because they lose trust in you answering their cries."... but I can't because it offends people so I just say no I haven't tried it... Elliot and I have talked a lot about how we want to parent our children like our Heavenly parents would treat us. I know that Heavenly Father answers my cries for help, and I want to do the same. Easier said than done right? I keep reminding myself that "this too shall pass." Westen is almost 7 months so I am going to try getting him out of our bed and into his crib to sleep from now on. I think that will help him because when he is sleeping by me, he thinks he can be "on tap" all night long... Hopefully it will help! Elliot has been so good at helping in the middle of the night and taking him after I feed him to get him back to sleep. Life is crazy... but this is what I signed up for :)

Chicken Scratch

Hayley and I started a new project of buying used dressers and mirrors etc and painting them and fixing them up to resale them. This mirror was one of those projects... I got it for $15 and it was an ugly light wood color. Im in the process of painting it all black... Well I was folding laundry and Westen crawled over to it to look at himself and I hear these scratching noises. I run over there to find little teeth marks on the bottom of the mirror lol. Good thing it still needs a couple coats. This kid cracks me up.

Westen's Teeth scratches

Be Mine :)

This is Westen's 1st Valentines Day. He's such a cutie! I keep thinking how special I am to have two valentine's this year. :) We LOVE our Westee Boy! Thanks Hayley for the pics:)

goin' to be a heart breaker

Splish Splash

Westen loves his bath time! We need to get him some rubber duckies to play with...

The jumping king

Sometimes I feel so bad for the people beneath us in our apartments. Most of the time we are quiet. Westen hardly ever cries and Elliot and I try to keep the noise level down... usually... BUT Westen happens to really LOVE this toy as you can see from the picture and video below. I feel like our whole floors shake when he bounces in this thing. Haha the whole jumeroo shakes, its hillarious.

6 months and lovin' life

6 month pics- more to come

6 months

Westen is 6 months old today! Time has gone so fast! I wanted to blog about his milestones so I wouldn't forget them later on. He currently has 2 teeth and a few more coming in. He loves to say "mamama" when he's cranky. He knows how to scoot/crawl! He loves tummy time. He still wakes up every two hours to eat and I'm still nursing him exclusively. He weighs 16 pounds and is off the chart for height. He wears 9 month clothes and size 3 in shoes and diapers. He's such a happy boy!

He wants to be just like daddy when he grows up :)

Best Pals

Elliot and Westen all ready for church. Westen's got more church clothes than Elliot does.... I sure do love my boys!!!

Great Grandma

Westen met Grandma Perkins for the first time at the Family reunion on New Years Eve. He loved her! We wish she lived closer!!!

Ma ma ma

I am on a volleyball league that plays every Tuesday night... Usually my mom comes and watches Westen or Elliot does while I play. Elliot wanted to stay home and keep Westen so I pumped a bottle and kissed Westen probably twenty times before I left haha I never leave him so it was a little traumatic. When I got home Elliot told me that Westen started crying as soon as I left and was looking around the room for me. Elliot calmed him down but said he kept saying ma ma ma over and over. I'm not sure if he realizes that i'm mama but he knows how to say it! I love my little man! :)

NC for Christmas

We went to North Carolina for Christmas this year. Westen did so well on the plane ride. I was worried about his little ears hurting so I made sure to feed him on the way up and the way down. I heard that is supposed to help. He did great! We went to Myrtle Beach for the Briggs reunion and it was good to see everyone. I was especially excited to see Elliot's great grandma. I love her so much! She is such a sweet lady. I love that Elliot has such awesome grandparents. It makes me wish I was closer with mine.

Westen's great great grandma!

5 generations~ so cool!!!!

Westen's Christmas gift to daddy :)

1st Christmas!!

Suns Game

Our friends had tickets to the Suns game and invited us to tag along. I wasn't sure how Westen would do, but he LOVED it. He would not stop bouncing on my lap. He loved all of the lights and noises and particularly the blimp that floated around the stadium.

Our little family

Westen is 5 Months

Westen turned 5 months old on the 23rd of December! I decided to blog about what he is up to at 5 months!

• He has 2 teeth
• learning to scoot around
• loves to "sing" along with me while I rock him to sleep
• likes to scream when he's happy or bored
• loves looking at himself in the mirror
• likes to bite mama when he is being fed- ouch
• loves to bounce in his jumperoo
• favorite toy is a bag of wipes because it crinkles

Early Christmas Present

Elliot let me open my Christmas present early! He got me this crazy awesome camera. So excited to use this!!!