Big 'tude, lil package

I'm without much witty/ironic material for today's blog and thus, decided to enlighten the world on one of the people who makes up my life and w/ whom I spend each day:)

This is our first little girl, second child: Izabella Marie. Now, her name means Merrily Sanctified to God, but there's not an awful lot about Iz I'd call "merry." Merry alludes to a plump, slightly addle-patted female possessing nondescpit brown hair either caught in a bun at her neck or fizzing slightly 'round her face.

Izy is none of those things. This gal is joyous, clever and sweet as a that pup peering out at you from under the covers, but most of all...she's sassy:) My daughter learned to say her first words at 7 mos old, and those words were: mama, dada and MINE! soon followed by NO! Now I'm just saying, but we should have seen it coming w/ the introduction of the latter two. There is a great deal more 'tude and willpower in that little body than there are sardines shoved in a can.

Is this simply a stage? Pre-terrible two's? Allow me disabuse the masses of this opinion with a little story.
Socks, as we all know, were created for a reason, yes? A good reason. A sensible reason. Frostbite and gangreen are commonly considered undesireable companions. Most chil'ens adore the putting on and taking off of the sock...most chil'ens don't simply reject the very notion of sockdom out of hand. Most children are not Izy:) You might not think a toddler with fewer than the average number of hairs upon her head could, with such fevor, protest the addition of cloth on her tooties...you'd be wrong. Apparently, feet must feel the death-cold, hard wood floors some loony deemed wise to place in our home w/out the added addition (haha) of insulation. They must be free to..well, to be free. Or else victoriously captured within the rubbery confines of a purply-pink sneaker. Yes, before our daughter introduced herself to our lives, we were obviously under great dillusions as to the actual purpose of the sock. Toes everywhere rejoice at this new fount of knowledge, wisedome and I-know-besthood.

And that is our daughter; clever, undeniably precious, sweet, joyous and the sassiest little thing you ever did meet off a side street of silverton road:)

Double Blogger

Hey all.
I'm starting another blog. Really. Today...or rather tonight. Here's the why and wherefore (actually as you English buffs probably know, wherefore means the same thing as why. This is the reason it annoys me when people cry out "wherefore art thou Romeo" when looking for someone. Read it w/ the true meaning and they sound ridiculous right?lol) .
Numerous persons have asked (quite frequently) how we get by spending only $200 per month to feed our family (of 5, though only 4 really count as the 5th is currently getting her food stuffs from the Mama). Mr. Dave Ramsey himself spent $500 when his family was tight on money. so to my way of thinking a blog w/ tasty, inexpensive meals would prove a most helpful addition to the internet world, yes? Besides which fact, I LOVE to cook. Love as in LOVE. All in caps, and (if the computer would let me do it) surrounded by little heart thingys too:) Sharing ideas etc. is just an extension of that happy hobby/necessity:) Also, in taking on this blog-erific idea, I shall achieve the elevated status of a Double Blogger. And we all know that is a BIG deal. SO stay tuned, for tonight the first entry shall appear...

An Unrequited Death Wish

This is my permanent roommate, the conqueror of trees, daddy of my chil'ens, mechanic/detailer of my car, mover/lifter of various large items, killer of bugs, destroyer of the evil moth, general do-er of manly-type things (refer to pic) , bring-home(er) of the bacon, my (cliche but true) best friend, that amazing dude I married: Matt.

In case you have been residing in a swamp or don't know him all that well, Matt is also huge on justice/non-allowance of hooligans running amok. It is to this end that he has: driven after and called in numerous drunk drivers, followed young men doodling foul signs on neighborhood fencing, gotten into numerous fights as a kid, called into the Oregon Rep. offices, chased down some dude breaking into a (his) car, and confronted shifty(Is it just me, or does everyone else envision a scruffy looking dude in black with a french hat, 2 days growth of beard and tiny, little red-shot eyes when they hear the word "shifty?") looking characters in front of our street.

Last night produced such a confrontation.

The scene: Day has breathed it's last and surrendered to late evening, a darkened street in the almost-not-so-nice section of town, winter trees twisting in a buffeting wind, a stray cat ambling out of the shadows. Four young men, garbed in hoodies and various other baggy textiles, are gathered on a street corner, faces indecipherable within their hoods. ---Questionable enough, no?

Well, those persons remained on that street corner (our street corner) for upwards of 30minutes. Since we happen to live in that almost-not-so-nice part of town, Matt heads out of the house to "get a look at faces and see what they're up to." Not only does the man go outside to the very edge of our yard...he crosses the street and strides up to that corner they've apparently staked out! Please note he had no defensive mechanism on his person. There was one of him and FOUR of them. Yes. That's right. Four. Can you understand how this might make me, the wife, that person peering from our front window, nursing a baby while visually scanning the room for her phone in case of an emergency, nervous?

Yes, I thought you'd understand.

From my perch on the edge of our couch, I watch one of the "hooligans" saunter right up to this very mortal man that I married.

Frowning in both concern and a fair dose of irritation at his blatant lack of caution, I wait as Matt slowly returns home (well, mostly I keep an eye on that little group...just in case.)

Once inside, he says, "Bunch of junior high kids. Just waiting for a ride. One of 'em lives up the road from us. No problem." ...Ugh! Guess they weren't so shifty after all. Hmm, that whole exchange appears a lot different in light of this hither fore unknown piece of info...

(this is just another great "man" picture.)

Dance of the Happy Nudist

The other night was bath night. (yeah for bath night!) and no, i'm not referring to mommy bath night, I mean little kid bath night so you can calm those concerns cropping up about how often i shower and how close you actually have to get to my person when we bump into each other at Wal-mart. :)

Bath night...a good thing. Bath time produces some of most ridiculous future black mail pictures in childhood(a good thing), occupies the blank space between dinner and bedtime (a great thing) and provides multiple opportunities for accidental drowning(a bad thing).

But the time right AFTER bath time is the absolute BEST! It's run-through-the-house-naked time!! yes!! (In case you missed out on the awesomeness that is the nudist dance; you must fling yourself from your towel, out into the slightly chilly air and prance about in wild abandon all the while screaming "NAKED!" at the very tip-top of you vocal cords...it's amazing. trust me.)


I'm wondering when we lose this urge to vault through the front rooms, in full view of God and everyone screeching on about our nudity? Told the resident head-of-the-wife I want to join in the revelry after bath and asked what he would do?...."Buy curtains." :)

So what i'm wondering is, is that another phrasing for "go ahead?" ....

T.M.I

Remember this phrase? Back in elm. school or junior high somebody lets just a little too much slip and it's, "Gosh, Georgiana-T.M.I!" (not that I've ever met anyone named Georgiana but the sentence seemed to call for it.) This was always said in that huffy, valley girl voice we all know and mock so well:) Ok then consider yourself warned; this is a bit of a TMI situation.

Please note before beginning 1) there are 3 kids ages 3 and under in this house and 2) I'm nursing the new baby.

Yesterday, I most likely resembled nothing so much as a cockroach with it's head cut off. (chicken is much too cliche and cockroaches are more disgusting, and cooler owing to their ability to live for 3 days w/ no head!) Yesterday Matt was gone from 7:30am until 8:30 pm. Yesterday, I attempted to mop. Yesterday I didn't get dressed until 11am. Yesterday was the terrifying epitome of all those "inept mother" jokes.

7am: Attempted to ready self, children, various paraphernalia, husband and husbands lunch for departure in 30 minutes.

7:30am: Failed miserably.

7:35am: Need use restroom. Realized all cloth diapers with the inconsequential exception of 2 were dirty...changed baby.

7:40am: Realized NOW all cloth diapers with the inconsequential exception of 1 were dirty.
(7:41am: washed diapers) Notice need to use restroom increase.

7:41am: Sent hi-jacker of my car (Matt) off to work. Skipped MOPS meeting on account of car hi-jacking.

7:50-8:30am: Showered, Make-uped, Ate and answered 3 phone calls in between. Told 3 yr old off for whacking 18mos old. Really need to pee.



9am: Told 3 year old off for playing in curtins. Phone rings--answer. Attempt to politely end convo w/ chatty relative for next 20 min. Told 3 year old off for attempting to jump over back of couch onto bookshelf. Head for restroom--baby cries, milk lets down- pick up baby and go to change my now drenched shirt. Notice going to have to pee soon or risk lose of bladder due to internal combustion.

9:30am: Calm 18 mos old with promises of snack time. Make snack. Must. Go. Potty!

9:50am: Tell off 3 year old for crashing snack into his sister's snack...tell 18mos old off for throwing food on floor. Tell 3 year old off for telling 18 mos old off for throwing food on floor. --Clean up floor. Change baby w/ last diaper. Begin dancing about while finding a place to set baby so can RUN to "go potty."

10:15am: Set baby in vibro-chair. Explain children must stay at the table to eat snack.

10:20am: FINALLY- went potty TWO HOURS later! oh geez.

Where is the bread crumb trail?

Our house is currently under attack from one of the Egyptian plagues/pestilences...that of the bugs. At one point there were small sugar ants crowding into various nooks, crannies, crevices , cracks in our house. You name it, and they were forcing entry from it.

Fortunately, there is a sleek, chic method of ensuring those little sugar minions DIE. It comes in a spray bottle even! no mess, no fuss...just death:) love it.

Then came the flies. What?? We never have flies; but we did. FRUIT FLIES. how do you get rid of fruit flies?! ...such is the abundance of internet info. we soon had our answer. --apple cider vinegar (tiny bit) in the bottom of a glass w/ a funnel on top and a small drop of dish soap in the vinegar breaks surface tension so they can't climb back up.) it's quite literally a death trap:) and within minutes we had nigh on 50 little black bodies floating/sinking to a vinegary end. yeah!

But that was not the end.

Now there are slugs! ugh! SLUGS!

It began with just one fairly fat creature. Matt kills bugs...I do not. (unless needlessly provoked as in the case w/ the little sugar addicts who started this parasitic parade.) But in this case, Izy was discovered attempting to suck on it's head. EWW!



This was one slug in the wrong house...I sent him home to the sewers. Over the last couple nights there have been 3 other mini-slugs we've found in the shower or on the bathroom floor...was the slug not fat but pregnant?? And where are they coming from? We can't find a point of entry! But one thing is certain...this is undoubtedly WAR! Really. All in caps. and even proceeding an exclamation point! Now to plan our attack strategy. It may be tough as the enemy seems to have created a few waves of alliances, but we multiple digit fingered, higher brain developed beings of the house shall prevail! Besides, we have the advantages of squishing on our side:) ....

Booger Baby.

Now would this be considered sibling abuse or "helping a sista out?" This is Will and Izy. Not really sure how old Iz is here..I'm guessing she's around 4 mos but who knows? I'm loving that there seems to be about as much hair sprouting from her head in this shot as sits atop her cranium currently!



Been going through a brief period of shock of late: looking through old photos, and pulling out Izy's baby clothes (for her sister) wondering how she is already techinically a toddler! My babies are in fast forward! Isn't there some movie involving a remote to control the speed of life? I want that! Can we just pause them at the infant stage? Where there's no real discipline to distribute in a fair and even manner?, no tantrums to subtley navigate around? Just the squishable, snuggly, drooly stage (with strategic fastforwarding for night time wake ups?) Think that's achievable...hmm, well on the plus side those scary toddlers are doing pre-school and mastering it with a vengence! we'll call that 10 points to the Briggs team!


Back to the pictures at hand. I'd like to point out that not only does Will generously pick his own nose and that of his sister...he ALSO disposes of the evidence in an environmentally friendly manner. yes, it's revolting but still my boy is eco-friendly! Go Will!

Also note, his sister seems pretty darn pleased with his generosity! With that smile, you know she's just thinking," thanks brother mine, that booger's been tickling my nostril for ages!" ...or not, in any case an stellar series of pictures that just happened to catch one of life's nastier sides:)

Am I Right??

This is not Izy (the comparative abundance of hair probably gave that away.) This is me...at age 2ish. Thought it might be nice for some to see the blonde Genna so folk don't continue to mistakenly say "all of your kids look like Matt."

They don't.

They look MOSTLY like Matt, but there's just a little bit of their mama present too! --Really!...There is! You have to look fairly close-and may be required to procure a magnifying glass and study the images at length...BUT you CAN find the resemblance:)

Aside from that, I just wanted to put another picture of their overwhelming cuteness up:) We have three now, it's kind of hard to contemplate...not that we really have any spare time to mind, but it's just a funny concept. THREE...in 3.5 years! wow. The tall, handsome blonde I married says that's an amazing rate of productivity...we could open shop, take requests, charge a flat rate..that sort of thing. --He's an odd cookie that man.

He does have something of a point though; at this rate, in another 3.5 years, how many Briggs kids might there be strapped into our (by then necessary) full sized van?? geesh! Aside from sheer numbers...how would one go about naming all those munchkins?...oh wait, one of those gals I count friend owns the market on names. Though she did consider the name "Fabritcio" for her son. hmmm....:)

Randomization

Today I learned five (a WHOLE five!) new facts and decided to share them w/ you, my anonymous mystery stalker crew!

Fact 1. (or A, take your pick)- apparently putting your placenta into pill capsules after the babe is born and eating them helps w/ postpartum depression...wierd.

2. The gestation period for the worlds largest mammal (the blue whale) is 1 year...but the gestation period for an elephant is 22 months (aka almost 2 years). this confuses me...














3. eating too many cookies will make you just as ill as eating too much batter...

4. a group of geese sitting/standing etc on the ground is a gaggle but once in the air they're a skein. --i have no comment for the oddities of the English lang.

5. The state of Florida is bigger than England. --just wow.

Funnily enough, I will probably remember these few facts more accurately than I will recall how to do proofs for Geometry; and we spent a few weeks on the latter! oh well.

Little Miss Mia

Here she is folks! The babe you've all been waiting for: Little Miss Emelia Briggs!

Ok, I gotta say I'm nuts about this kid! If you hadn't noticed, she's all kinds of adorable and comes w/ the added bonus of being just about the most relaxed baby I've ever met...or at least the most chill baby we've raised so far:) She's also the only babe we've had so far w/ any substantial amount of hair...have you seen the girls' sister? Still nothing more than the faintest wisps of blonde and she's 18 mos old! Now that's not totally abnormal but it certainly puts a crimp in mama's hair fixing, curling, do-dadding ambitions:) On the other hand, Mia doesn't really have enough to sooth those dreams either...oh well.

Her full name is Emelia Audria Rose. Audria is a family name we thought to include since each of our children has a family connection in their name somewhere. (aside from the obvious "Briggs" caboose.)





Here's another pic...yes, you may ooh and ahh--she's that cute. I know.
And for those of you about to ask the question: yup, we still want another! Who wouldn't with the 3 awesome prizes God's given us so far?

There's Will, Mr. 3 year old, gotta conquer the world & climb it all too. And #2 was Izy- Miss 'Tude & style, all into her babies and pretty clothes:) Now we have #3...I guess we'll see who she becomes. Thanks for your love peoples!