20 Weeks

Miss giggle cheeks!

Piper & Bridgette discuss Foucault.

Give it up for my photo-skillz. I caught this slobber mid-drool.

We took the pups back to Vineyard Park this weekend. They loved it and practiced finding & herding us. Piper got a little confused sometimes and ran way past her quarry.

Typical Jeff - Winter Coat plus Shorts

The pups (probably Piper) ransacked the nursery while we were at church. Evidently we did not latch the door. Mmm... poopy ostomy trash. The toys, fortunately, were spread out but not gouged. No missing eyes or limbs.

Davina celebrated her 28th this week at P.F. Chang's, and she had Bridgette belly-laughing.

Happy happy birthday, Nini, dear!

In my Small Group Health Promotion Interventions class, I promoted saccharide-intake by covering the table in brown, sugary treats. Ah, sweet intervention!

Babs, taking one of her infrequent and short naps at school.

After Utah's football team soundly hammered BYU on Thursday, baby dressed for both schools. She wore a blue dress, in loyalty to her alma mater, with a red tie, admitting token-homage to our conquerors.

This was Bri's expression after one of Max Hall's interceptions & subsequent personal fouls.

We enjoy our annual BYU/U of U game-day party with the Read's. He went to the U and she to the Y, thus the "House Divided" t-shirts. Curtis finally had a reason to celebrate this year. ;)

This last one is just for fun...

p.s. - For the first time since birth, Bridgette took a bath this week without crying!

Visits & Visitors

My apologies to Bridgette's loyal fan(s) who check(s) the blog consistently. I'm afraid my "free" time on Monday wasn't free this week.

And so, on to a series of visits and visitors:

Most importantly, my mother came to visit us from Texas. It was a short but lovely reunion.

This is what happens when you compliment the captain's landing. FEMA regulations just disappear.

Gram's visit coincided with my first major test in Chronic & Infectious Disease, so she came with Bri and me to campus on Tuesday and helped care for the babe while I racked my brain for details on various helminths and polysaccharide v/s conjugate vaccines.

Gram & Bri went on a long walk in the chilly outdoors which Bridgette enjoyed immensely.

Playing on the couch at BYU. Bridgette is really starting to look like "herself" now that she's into her fourth month of life.

Gram participated in the day-to-day: feedings, bathtime, bedtime, bag changes. And she made sure Bridgette wore her little red shoes for the first, and last, time.

We were also visited by the Cold Fairy over the weekend, and she sprinkled us with virus dust. We all inhaled deeply then spent a few days tired, coughing, sneezing and taking Tylenol. I'm grateful to be able to nurse still, so those tiny Antibody Fairies could help Bridgette recover quickly. She seems to be doing well. We've only dredged up a few goobers today.

We visited Vineyard, a short way from our home, on Sunday. We found open fields galore, and the dogs had bounteous fun. As soon as we unleashed them, Piper took off and ran in huge circles, back-and-forth, everywhere! She's a loyal pup, and I wasn't worried about her running away. Only I don't know that I've ever seen her so excited simply to romp! She and Chewy played hard (very hard) for about 45 minutes before resting - panting, pooped, and happy. Then we took them down to Utah Lake for a visit to the marshes. They were both a bit skittish about the noises coming from the reeds.

p.s. - Bridgette goes to sleep now by sucking not her binky or fingers, but her own tongue. It's pretty cute.

4 Months, as the Calendar Flies

On November 8th, Bri turned 4 months old. We celebrated by taking her to Costco, her first foray into the madness we call Saturday shopping. New sights, sounds, and (sadly) smells galore. She observed everything with rapt serenity then slept beautifully that night as her brain processed all the items she can overbuy in her future.

On Friday Bridgette attended her 4 month check-up, and we found out just exactly how chubby she is.

15 pounds 6 ounces - Way to go babs!

If there is one thing I've learned at school, it's that when I expect a C+ on a paper or test, getting a B seems fantastic. And so, with the assumption that my baby's weight would be off the percentile chart, I was thrilled that it was only 80%. Big? Yes. But so much smaller than expected!

So, here is the run-down: height = 50%; weight = 80%, head circumference = 50%.

This is Bri's pediatrician, Dr. Savage.

Babe had just gotten vaccinations (thus the band-aids on her thighs,) so she wasn't in a particularly good humor for this photo.

Video #1 (3 min) -

Jeff waking Bridgette up, stretching and smiling. So cute!

Video #2 (10 sec) -

Bridgette talking and laughing with our neighbor, Matthew Liechty. Again, so cute!

O Hour, Where Art Thou?

This week we forgot to set our clocks back and showed up to church an hour early. If only they changed the time every week, we'd never be late again.

School for me was cancelled because most of my classmates & teachers were traveling. At the same time, Jeff's team at TGN launched a big Jewish database that had everyone working extra hours. The collision of my free-time and his lack-of-time were coordinated beautifully, though accidentally.

Of course, we celebrated All Hallows' Eve, as is our wont. We attended Heidi's annual party on Thursday, participated in trick-or-treating at TGN on Friday afternoon, and finished by hanging out at Jeff's parents' house Friday night.

Bri now says Mama. She first developed a special I-Want-Mom cry that included the word "mama" as gibberish. Fascinating.

Bri Getting Some Halloween Love-Candy from Grandma Mary

We had themed costumes, and Bri was adorable. She went as a caterpillar, I was a butterfly, and Jeff went as an entomologist, or "butterfly catcher." Bridgette's costume was a little large, so the hood kept falling over her face. She reminded me of Boo in Monster's Inc. My friend Alyse made my costume, and it was gorgeous. I was a butterfly princess.

We got a few funny looks as we made the candy rounds at TGN. Afterall, Bridgette was not requesting or eating candy. It was her Mom fighting the crowds of children at the bowls. And why? Because I didn't go shopping for Halloween candy this year, so I recycled the afternoon goods and gave them to the neighborhood kids in the evening. Shhhh...

The following photos are as fine a description of Bridgette's first Halloween as anything I could possibly write:

Ellie, Heidi, & Jer as posh matching vampires.

Cousin Matthew hitchin' a ride with his daddy, Mark.

Uncle Paul Cuddling Our Little Bug

Props to the talented Miss Alyse for my stunning wings.

Bridgette with papa at TGN before the advent of trick-or-treating.

CAPTURED! (But which one?)

The scheming butterfly queen and her two minions.

"Mommy's Under My Spell" - a gift from Bri's great-grandma Summa.

I love the hand on her hip. I expect to see this more over the years.