For Mom...

this should hold you over....

updates on our trip to Florida later. It was......

Pic o' the day

I just couldn't resist posting this gem as soon as i got it.

Reading Rainbow

My Mom was down visiting about 2 weeks ago and spent a lot of time reading with Rye. Here are some shots of their special bonding time.


Look at how his little fingers are grabbing the book. Mimi had some problems finishing the story because he didn't want to let her turn the page.


Momentary distraction by the big black camera in his face...





Can't you just see the joy of learning already gleaming in his eyes?



This book is "I can Fly. " It was my favorite book as a kid and Mom and Dad got it for Rye for Christmas this year. It seems that he might like it as much as his Mom....

What a good Mimi he has!

Traveling Tips

Does anyone have any advice for flying with a baby? We are headed to Florida here in a bit and would love some tips for flying with our little bambino.

Here are some specific questions:
-Does breastmilk make it through the xray machine ok?
-Where do you change them if needed in-flight?
-Anything (besides feeding them) to help with the change in cabin pressure?

I looked online; some things were helpful, others, not so much.

Here are some of the funnier ones:

--Keep two diaper pins attached to your diaper bag. If you can get a window seat (most people will trade you) you can take a blanket and attach it to your seat and the seat in front of you for a privacy screen. People may even help you attach the pins when you're flying alone.

--Be prepared to lose stuff (and don't get fussed when you do).

--Work out responsibilities clearly between parents before setting off.

--Wear spunky clothes and dark glasses so that other passengers think you are someone famous enjoying quality time with your kids.

and my personal favorite,
--Take lipstick and a small mirror in your hand luggage - if you're having a bad time, take two minutes to put on some lipstick and give yourself a pep talk in the mirror.

5 things...the musical edition

just because:

1. I love the song "Strangers in the Night" and enjoy singing it at weird times.
2. Jingle Bells is my go to song, year round. PURELY subconsciously of course. I'll be humming it without realizing it and someone will say, "Really? Jingle Bells in June?" That's part of why I so love Christmas, because I appear more normal.
3. I've had the jingle "The ideal balance of softness and strength" in my head for the past week. I knew it was for a toilet paper brand but couldn't remember which one. Just figured it out yesterday.
4.I think all cds should be released right before Christmas. I don't want to wait for my birthday for these 3 exciting new CDs.
5.The last 2 new songs i bought on itunes i heard 1-in Old Navy and 2-on a Nivea lotion commercial...come on "Sparkle and Shine" is a wonderful song! :)

Better Late than Never

Long story short, here are our "new" old wedding pictures from (almost) 5 years ago.

thank you, Emily.

Enjoy!

p.s. there are a ton on here fyi...

Side Effects

I really miss my brain cells. I've still got a few left but i'm pretty sure all the smart ones are gone. The good news is that they've towards a good cause* but the bad news is that, sadly, I'm retarded.

This makes me especially sad because I used to be quite witty. I'll not say smart, but I was known to be pretty quick with the comebacks and the clever retorts. Alas, those days are gone. It wouldn't be so bad if I could remember that i was stupid. But no, I begin, expecting pure genius to flow freely and more often then not am met with one of two embarrassing situations. Either something comes out that makes no sense whatsoever (sadly this is the more desirable of the two outcomes) or else nothing comes at all. This is infinitely worse be case I am left to explain why I am making an astounded (yes, it still astounds me) and utterly ridiculous face and not finishing my sentence. Sad, but true. **

It seems that I have become a more boring version of myself. An unexpected and unfortunate side effect of motherhood. Sigh... It seems also that this has also carried over into blog land. I promised myself that I would not be one of those moms that only blogs with pictures and minute details of their child's life. Oh no, my blog would remain varied, hilarious, odd, comical and above all, interesting.*** Sadly, I seem to have underestimated the all consuming world of baby-mama-hood**** It seems that when you spend 24/7 in baby-mama-hood-land***** you have very little of interest to write about that that doesn't revolve around cute animal outfits and the daily sleep schedule update. This is what keeps me up at night, because you, my faithful blog audience deserve more. Granted 1/2 of you are content to see cute****** pictures of wild bears but some of you miss the crazy dreams, funny bird sitings and random pictures of robots that used to be the norm.

Well to you, I say, "I'll be back". I just need to get my head out of the baby-mama-hood-land clouds******* and I hope to be there soon. Don't give up on me. I promise to continue my research into brain regrowth and develop some sort of outside stimulus that will provide hours of endless entertainment.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. I hope to deserve you, blog friends.
Sincerely,

Briana

*Rye will most probably be witty and clever and not because he inherited it, but rather stole it from me.
**Note to self, spend time coming up with a clever retort for when your clever retorts don't come.
*** Yes i realize this is quite a bit presumptuous but please, humor me.
****oooh, i like this new word
*****I wanted to say it again
****** Ok, one more time!

Better than a Hallelujah...

the new single is playing on her site. Check it out. I especially love the first part....wonder why huh? ;)

Animal Kingdom

There have been quite a few animal sitings around the house recently. I decided to collect the evidence and offer it up for your consideration. Are these not, the cutest animals you have ever seen?

Family Ties

Time to cast your vote, who do you think Rye looks like, me or Trevor?

picture this

Here are some snapshots of holiday 09 at the Harts:

Kaley, reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas...


How Mom spent every free minute...


Sleeping and Sleepy...


Poor birthday banner...

I LOVE this picture of my Dad...

we call her Casual Kaley...

no comment...

I have no idea why this face, but i like it... Uncle Chaz and his nephew...

CRAZY Uncle Rex, he's always good for a laugh...

Victory, hallelujah

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Friday night Rye caught the inevitable 1st sickness. He was up most of the night and by morning he'd developed a lot of extra "friends" in his nose. Poor guy spent Saturday sniffing and experiencing the joy that is a fever.

We were worried enough about the little tyke as is but then around 5pm the power went out. Mind you there is a good 6" of snow on the ground and it is COLD outside. We waited (somewhat) patiently for the first couple of hours but by 9pm, with no light, no heat and a sick baby on our hands, we were becoming...perturbed. Thankfully we have a wood stove that heats the house quite sufficiently (when the fan is plugged in). Since it looked like we were in for the long haul (the message from EPB--local power company--said that they are experiencing quite a few outages so it could be a while) we began the preparations of barricading the house.

This included: closing all curtains (oh how i wish i had bought curtains that functioned instead of decorated), lighting all available candles (for heat reasons at this point), making a fire in the wood stove, closing all the doors upstairs besides our bedroom and Rye's so the heat would rise to those rooms, pulling out extra blankets and hats.

We managed to keep Rye's room at 70 until around 11pm (quite an accomplishment). Then we added more candles (yes they were safe). By 1pm it had dropped to 68 and at 3pm it had dropped to 64. At this point we decided to join forces and made a "bed" on Rye's floor where Trevor, the dogs and I all moved in and shut the door. The combined body heat (and for once, thankfully small room) got the temp back up to 68.

Unfortunately (as if the rest of this post wasn't unfortunate enough) we were running low on fire wood. Trevor figured that we had enough to last us until about 6am. So we stepped up the prayers a bit and hunkered down, so to speak. Wouldn't you know it, at 5:45am we woke up to the beautiful purrr of the heat pump and the glorious light shining brightly above us. Power!

By 6am we were crawling back into our bed (which of course is when Rye woke up again ;) and were so thankful that God took care of us.

Although we knew Rye's first sickness would be tough, we didn't think it would have the added "pleasures" of a candlelight dinner and family camp out. Guess that makes it all the more memorable, huh?