Bria - 5 months

This pretty little girl was 5 months old Dec. 2, 2014!

I don't know where the time has gone but I think maybe this picture shows a little of your personality. We had to go get you weighed the week of your 5 month birthday because at 4 months you weren't weighing quite where the doctor wanted you to be. So, for 5 months you are 13 lbs 14 oz, we didn't get your length or head so I'm not sure what those are.

You are still wearing size 2 diapers and 0-3 months clothes. You are so tiny and clothes vary so much depending on the company that you even have some stuff that is newborn that you still wear. The only place we really notice a difference is your length, some of your parents fit the waste but are too short. Just a long, skinny girl. Hopefully that last forever for you!! :)

In the last month you also got your first tooth! Unfortunately with that you haven't been sleeping near as good as you use too, mommy and daddy are not use to that! 

You have also been sitting up a lot more and love playing in the exersaucer at daycare. I even got to witness today that you try to jump in it. I have a feeling when you do figure out how to get going we are going to be chasing you everywhere!

This last month you also got to celebrate your first Thanksgiving! You loved all the attention but sadly didn't get to enjoy any of the food. Don't worry your dad and I ate enough for you! :)

Even though you didn't get to enjoy any of the food you sure did pass out like you did. By the time it we were ready to go home you were out like a light!

Lately you have also started noticing your puppy dog and you love him!

Sadly, puppy is still not as fond of you! Once you are able to start tossing food his way I'm sure you both will be best friends!

You are definitely a jabber box and love playing with cousin Colton at daycare. 

Up next for your 5 month of being alive: Meeting Santa, Christmas, then New Years!

It has been a busy time with you and we are loving every minute of it, except the not sleeping all night anymore but hopefully we get over that soon.

We love you very much baby girl!

Bria - 4 Months old

Better late than never!

Little behind on your 4 month post but we have been busy.

What has been happening. Well November 2nd you were officially 4 months old, but you have been busy.

Slowly you are growing. We had your 4 month check up on the November 3rd. You weighed 12lbs 12 oz which is only the 19th percentile and the doctor was a little concerned. She advised us to try and up the amount you are eating and if you still appear hungry after you are done to go ahead and give you more. She wants 6 oz but you are usually good anywhere between 4.5-5.5. We have been successful with 6 oz only a handful of times. Your height was 25 1/4 in which was the 81 percentile, so you are long and skinny. Enjoy it now sister because that may quickly change! 

We finally got you into size 2 diapers and just over the weekend with the help of grandma started putting you into night time diapers. You had been waking up just completely soaked in pee because you don't wake up in the middle of the night and we feed you right before bed so it was all a bad combo. So, far the night time diapers are doing the trick, lets just hope it holds up!

As mentioned above you are still sleeping through the night and usually just lay in your crib until we come get you to feed you and get ready for daycare. 

Daycare is still going good. Colton loves having his sissy there. Every KSU home game you get to spend time with cousin Connor as well. The last game you pinned his arm that he was holding binky and he didn't like it very well. 

You got to celebrate your first Halloween. You dressed up as a pumpkin because anything else mom and dad could find didn't come in your size. You got to go "trick or treating" or sleeping wrapped in a blanket while grandma carried you with your cousin Colton aka blue monster and Connor aka Charlie Brown.

Also, you got to enjoy trick or treating at the Union the weekend of the OSU game I believe. While there you got to meet Willie, but everything else you could care less about. Most little kids were afraid of Willie, but you didn't really have a choice. Mama tossed you right over so she could snap a quick picture, but you still did pretty good. Plus you look good with Willie, just starting you young!

This past weekend you made a trip to Bucklin with Mom, cousin Megan and her roommate Lauren. You did pretty well most of the trip out, thank goodness for Elmos World on youtube and Lauren's quick thinking on it. You got to hang out with grandma, papa, great grandma and grandpa plus your cousins and aunts and uncles. You also got to watch your mom, cousin megan, cousin morgan, cousin juliann and their friends take 2nd place in a volleyball tournament for St. Jude. Yes, these has beens still got it! It was a fun day, and your mom will teach you how to play once you start walking!

That is all for now. Next up on your plate is Thanksgiving and then Christmas. It has been a busy few months and won't slow down until January! You did have your first snow at grandma and papa's but we will take pictures when you get your first real snow at your house with your dad and puppy dog.

We love so much little girl!! 

Bria- 3 months!!

Today you are 3 months old and growing like a weed!! We don't go back to the doctor until your 4 month appointment so your size is a guess. I'm guessing your around 12 lbs. Still wear size 1 diapers but we are starting to wonder if you need to go to a size 2 because you have peed out of it a few times. It may also be that sometimes you don't pee during the night, then let it all out in the morning

Love to smile, especially if you are laying on your changing table. You are definitely a jabber box! Always talking or telling stories.

Had another busy month with lots of KSU games, Connor's Baptism and Colton's 2nd birthday party!! 

The biggest milestone for the last month... You rolled over!! Took us a few times before we actually caught it on film but we did after about the 2nd time. You go from back to stomach but haven't figured out how to get from your tummy to your back. 

That is all for now baby we girl. We love you lots!!!!

Bria- 2 months

September 2, 2014- 2 months old!!!

We had your 2 month check up today. You weigh 11 lbs (47% for your age) 23.5 in long (83%),  at this point you definitely got your height from either side of our families. It just skipped your dad and I and went straight to you! Everything checked out, you stood on the table for the doctor which she said they don't check to see if you are putting weight on your legs until 6 months so you are ahead in that category. We also did tummy time for the doctor, which you love! During tummy time you showed her how you hold your head up and even pushed yourself up, which impressed her because she said they don't usually see that until 4 months! I keep telling everyone you are going to be moving on us soon because you are definitely a wiggle warm. You unfortunately had to have shots today which didn't go well, mommy did ok for a little while then I will admit I teared up! 

Of course doctor told us how important it was that everyone close to you in the upcoming months need to have their flu shots. Which we completely understand, especially with everything that is going on around lately. I wasn't too happy when we were sitting in the waiting room and 2 little boys came over to stare at you, then when they walked away started coughing without covering their mouths. They were also licking the check in desk and everything else. I was very disgusted that the mother was letting this happen. I made sure to pull the cover over on your car seat and put you between my legs so they couldn't come look anymore. I would of hated to push them away because I don't want you getting sick!

Even though you are long you are still little. You are still wearing newborn clothes and every now and then 0-3 month outfits but they are a little big on you. Still wearing size 1 diapers and I don't see this changing anytime soon, they are still plenty big on you! 

Love bath time and being outside. Aunt Amy said she took you and Colton outside one day to play and when she brought you back inside you threw a huge fit! Colton loves you so much, he calls you sissy and if you are crying he wants to make you feel better. I have a feeling you 2 are going to get into a lot of trouble once you are older. 

I think that is all for now. You don't go back to the doctor until 4 months so hopefully mommy can remember to do a 3 month posting!

Mommy, Daddy and Miller love you little girl!!!

Here are a few other postings from your 2 month photo shoot, minus the ones on my phone. 

The First of Many

It has been awhile since I posted anything because it has been super busy around here.

First Mom went back to work. This wasn't as hard as everyone said it was going to be, but I was also ready for some adult interaction. Since we moved to Wakefield I couldn't exactly just leave and go to the store, target or the mall. I believe it also helped because you went to daycare at Aunt Amy's!

This has been going good so far, but sometimes I think Aunt Amy lies ;). She tells us you were such a good little girl and either hardly cried or calmed yourself down after a few minutes. You don't do that at home, most evenings you cry a lot or don't want to be left alone. I think its just because you miss us during the day and want to snuggle :) and I am perfectly ok with that! Aunt Amy does have another baby she watches and another toddle part time but this past week the baby was sick so you got lots of snuggles and good conversations with your cousin Colton.

 Cousin Colton absolutely loves you! He likes to help try and calm you down or give you pacy and thinks he can hold you. This only last for a few seconds or minutes but he so proud of himself if you let him pretend to hold you! I have a feeling you two are going to get into some trouble when you get bigger.

The next big first: Your first K-State Football Game!!!!!

Even though it was really hot you did so well! While tailgating you mostly just laid around or someone was holding you and took it all in. Then during the game you started fussing a little when we first got in there but you finally fell asleep and slept most of the 1st half. Daddy and I kept a wash cloth damp and around your neck to help keep you cool.

You also attended your first High School Football Game. Wakefield played Blue Valley and let's just say we were home by halftime! Not because you did bad but because Wakefield killed Blue Valley!

Lots of first with you sweet baby girl and many more to come. We will go in on Monday for your 2 month check up and see how big you are!!

Love you baby girl. 

Miller "High Life" Sturges

So far I'm doing pretty good at this blog thing... GO ME!

I forgot to mention in my last post for Bria's 1 month that she also got to meet her cousin Amy Ansley, Great Aunt Georgia, Great Uncle Randy and Great Grandma Mammy. The pictures of you with Mammy are on daddy's phone so I unfortunately can't post any! :(

Now on to the main man of my post today. Puppy dog Miller.

The week of the KSU spring game Miller and I had gone over to Jordan's to play and hang out with the family while Brian golfed. When it was time to go home Stu took Miller and I back to our house. Once we arrived I opened the car door and Mill jumped out, just like he always does when on car rides. Unfortunately we were in mom and dad's big expedition and the jump down was a little bigger than what he was use too and on the way down he hit his back left leg on the running board. Stu heard it from the other side of the car but Miller took off like nothing had even happened, so I wasn't too concerned. 

Later that evening he started limping around, really favoring that leg. I felt his leg to see if it had a bump or something and he would barely let me touch it, but would let me put an ice pack on it. He wouldn't even jump up on our bed without some assistance so I knew something must of been wrong. I started texting Brian about it, with me being pregnant I started to feel really bad and honestly even started to cry but Brian assured me everything would be ok and it was probably just bruised. We even talked about picking Brian up from Aggieville and taking him to KSU vet clinic. 

I did end up going to pick Brian up and took Miller with me, he of course was acting fine and excited to be on another car ride so we just let it go. After that off and on he would favor the leg, limp around, and wait for us to assist him when trying to get up on our bed or the couch. Which if you know Miller that is not his normal behavior as he is a wild dog and usually running and jumping on anything he can get his little paws on. 

So, we decided to take him to KSU vet and get things checked out just to be safe. Well we were wrong when thinking it was just bruised, at this point it was a partial tear and we were to keep him crated and on pain medicine for about 4 weeks. HA, yeah right that will not happen with our dog without feeling like we are torturing him!

We tried to restrict him as much as possible and gave him his pain meds and eventually he seemed to act fine again. 

Then we brought Bria home! Not to mention our house was all boxed up and a mess, so I think the little guy was confused. He wasn't sure why his house was in boxes and why there was this new tiny human taking away all his attention, not to mention screaming at all hours of the day keeping him from getting his much needed naps! 

He really started limping and got to the point he wouldn't even use his leg anymore. So, the Friday we moved mom took me to Manhattan so I could take Miller to the vet and get it checked again. Unfortunately they informed us he had fully torn the ACL and the only way to fix it without causing him arthritis and more problems down the road was surgery. 

We gathered all the information we could on this surgery and weighed our options on what to do. We even looked into taking him to Nebraska for the surgery because we got a quote that would be cheaper than KSU. After Brian got back from Oregon we decided to just take him to KSU and do the surgery. 

He had the surgery last Tuesday August 5, 2014. I actually had to drop him off that Monday so they could run test and make sure he was healthy enough for the surgery. Got a call Monday night and everything was set to go and he would have surgery at some point Tuesday afternoon. They said they would call us once the surgery was done unless something goes wrong during and they need to speak with us. During this time we decided to paint our living room/entry way so I kept myself busy doing that and taking care of Bria or I was going to go nuts sitting around thinking of my puppy all day. Brian eventually came home around 3:30/4 and I was getting anxious because I hadn't heard from KSU, but they had called Brian and informed him Miller was out of surgery, everything went fine and he was in recovery! 

I felt so much better except we couldn't pick him up until Thursday. I think the last time I was away from Miller longer than that was our Honeymoon and he was with Jordan then so I wasn't worried at all, but for some reason being alone in a kennel at the vet worried me. 

I went and picked him up Thursday and knew he was happy to be escaping that joint but not happy with me for taking him there. He gave Brian a ton of kisses when he got home from work and would stick his nose up at me. Luckily things have changed and he likes me again, but still not as much as he likes Brian. 

Now we are just on the road to recovery of 8 weeks. Which means pain medicines, physical therapy and being kenneled except to go to the bathroom. He can get out and sit on our laps as long as that is all he is doing, which he has a few times. We just have to be really careful that he doesn't jump down, jump on the back of the couch or anything else!!! 

1 week down..... 7 more to go!!!!

 

Bria- 1 Month

Weight: 9lbs 11 oz- 78%

Height: 22 in- 58%

Head: 36 1/2 cm- 35%

They say time flies by and man did the first month come and go! 

Your first month of life was probably more eventful than most newborns. Of course you didn't get to enjoy the 4th of July because that is the day we came home from the hospital and daddy and I were still trying to figure things out! 

Thankfully grandma stayed the first night you came home to help us. You got your first bath at home and brother miller wanted to help!

This was also the first bath you pooped in and I'm positive it won't be the last since you have already done it a second time!! :)

At 1 week old we moved! You lived in your first home for 1 week and then we packed up and headed to our new home in Wakefield. Luckily you and mommy didn't have to do a lot since mommy was still recovering from the c-section and you were still trying to figure out what your arms and legs were! Luckily we had help from friends and family. Also, that same week we took your puppy to the vet and found out he had fully torn his ACL in his leg :(. 

The second week was pretty calm, mostly still trying to figure out this parenting thing and putting the house in order. 

The third week your dad decided to leave us for a week in Oregon. I tried getting him take us with him but we didn't figure you should be riding on a plane yet and mommy shouldn't leave you. So, you and I stayed home and grandma Kirk came up for the week to stay with us and help out mommy. She also helped get your room put together, which I must add that your Uncle Dustin painted it for you so it wasn't the ugly blue it was when we moved in. I also believe this week must of been the period of purple crying because you would not stop unless someone was holding you and that didn't make it any easier for grandma or I to get things done. This week you also made your first long car ride to Topeka to shop and visit your cousin Connor. 

Daddy returned home that Friday and that afternoon we loaded up the car and headed to Bucklin. I was nervous how you would do on this car ride, honestly I was expecting to want to pull my hair out. But you slept the entire way home!!! We headed home for Great Grandpa Fisher's 80th birthday party, while we were there you got to to meet your great aunts, uncles and cousins as well as your favorite "aunt" Emily and my old teacher Mrs. Harden. I didn't get any photos of you and your cousins with Grandpa and Grandma Fisher but you were bawling your head off the entire time. 

That is all for now. Below are some random photos from your first month!

First Family Photo

Hanging out with Dad and miller on your first day home- July 4th

Chilling in your boppy

Your first book!

Hanging out with daddy. 

Taking a nap in your new house!

Love you baby girl!

Bria Marie Sturges

Well I'm going to try this blogging thing again. I'm hoping it will go better this time around since I have something or someone more exciting to write about. Don't get me wrong, Brian keeps things entertaining but not exciting enough to keep up a blog on and Miller just lies around on the couch!

Anyways I'm hoping to write monthly updates on Miss Bria and hopefully stuff going on in our lives in between.

So, let's get started on the real reason I am trying this blog again.

Miss Bria Marie Sturges

We went to the hospital July 1, 2014 to be induced. I was over being pregnant and I didn't want her born on July 4th or 5th and my Doctor was going on vacation July 3rd. So, we get to the hospital around 7pm on July 1 and around 9 they began medicine to help start the labor. This evening was pretty uneventful. Brian got to sleep on an awesome recliner chair/couch thing and the TV channels weren't a lot to choose from. Neither of us slept well that night but we did get some sleep.

Around 7 am on July 7 they came in and removed the medicine and started me on pitocin and broke my water. At this point I was not allowed to eat until she decided to arrive and I was hoping mid afternoon she would be out and I could eat again. Unfortunately Bria had other plans! Throughout the day contractions obviously got worse and I was not progressing at all. I would say around 2:30-3 I finally asked for the epidural. Brian was in charge of helping me sit on the bed and help ease with the contractions and the pain of the needle. If any of you know Brian he does not do well with blood, needles etc. so the plan was that he wasn't to see the needle but that didn't work out as planned and he thought he may pass out. Thankfully he didn't and held himself together! :)

After the epidural I finally got to take a nice nap for probably about an hour while Brian hung out watching TV and visited with our parents in the waiting room. The doctor came back in around 4:45-5 and checked and I had only progressed to a 3 throughout the entire day, and her heart rate kept dropping. Dr. Gros discussed doing a c-section even though he knew I didn't want one but it was either that or who knows when she would have came naturally and for the sake of her since her heart rate kept dropping we decided this was our best option. So, I said let's just do the c-section and end this! I text Brian so he could come back into the room and know what was going on. We weren't sure how long this process would take so Brian asked and the Doctor told him we were headed to the operating room in the next 10-20 minutes. A lot quicker than we were thinking! Off to the waiting room Brian went to let everyone know the plan, then he came back in and got dressed in booties, hat and gown and off we went!

Once in the room all the medicine made me nauseous so they got that under control and me situated in case I vomited. Still not knowing how long anything would take I made a comment about my arms being numb not knowing at this point that they had already started cutting me open. It's amazing how quickly all the drugs work and how quickly they worked to get me on the table and cut open. After being in the room for probably 20 minutes Bria was out!

July 2, 2014 at 5:38 PM Bria Marie Sturges was here. She weighed 8lbs 10 oz 20.25 inches long and a full head of hair!!

Brian asked when they pulled her out and told us she had a full head of hair if we were sure he was the dad. I promise he is that is definitely his lips and chin she has!

Stay tuned as a month has already passed by and she has changed a lot already. Hopefully she is a good girl and will let me write that post. Plus a lot of other things happening in our lives as July was eventful!