My Life as a 7 Month Old Baby

Hi! I have been a busy little girl lately!
I can crawl anywhere very quickly. Often though I get side-tracked and decide to pull off a piece of carpet, pick up a piece of dirt or paper, pull off some toilet paper, or find a cord (or anything else in my reach) and chew on it. I never find very tasty things, and Mommy usually spoils the fun by digging it out of my mouth. A couple times I have swallowed a piece of paper I bit off or a piece of dirt, but then I threw it back up along with my last meal, so that was not much fun.
I can pull up on anything- furniture, the wall, windows... I can walk if Mommy holds my hands, and I can stand up for a few seconds by myself without holding on to ANYTHING! Sometimes I loose my balance when I pull up, or I pull up on something not so sturdy and fall over. Twice I have busted my lip! Ouch!
I love to babble. I can say mamama, dadada, bababa, and many other blends when I want to.
I am getting to be a better eater. I usually eat rice cereal once a day. I also eat a vegetable most days. Mommy makes them for me and purees and freezes them for when I need them. They are pretty yummy. I love green peas and sweet potatoes. I just tried green beans and squash this week which I have eaten great. I have some other veggies I enjoy too. I really love fruit though. I sometimes will suck on fruit while Mommy holds it. Other times she will cut up a banana, peach, or apricot and feed it to me. I don't chew them up very well, but they go down easy and taste so yummy. I can't get enough of my fruit!



I love to bang on the window and look outside. I especially like it when I see Daddy out the window grilling. Outside is my favorite place to be. (That is why I want to move to the country in Mississippi :)

Here I am chewing on a camera case. I am allowed to play with this, but many things Mommy doesn't let me play with. Their things are so much more fun than my toys. I want to be a big girl too!

I really use to like my exersaucer. I still like it now as long as I can play with it while being outside of it. I don't like being confined because then I cannot explore.

I LOVE helping in the garden. I often eat the dirt, grass, and sticks. Here I wanted to help Daddy water the garden. The mosquitos gave me some war wounds, but now I usually go outside with my Off fan.
Mommy says that she read a study that kids who ate and played in dirt had less allergies growing up. I am trying to have NO allergies!

I love going on walks. I like to be at the park close to my house. They have a swing just my size!

I went to my friend J.R. Mureen's birthday party at PUMP IT UP. Daddy played with my on the bouncy playgrounds and took me down the slide!

Sometimes I go a few days without having a dirty diaper. Mommy and Daddy feed me prune juice after a few days. It sure does help, and I think it is pretty yummy. Mommy thinks I am so cute when I hold my own bottle.

I love walks because they are outside. I sit up straight and watch everything around me- cars, people, dogs, fire hydrants, signs, shadows, trees, etc.

Life is pretty hard at times being 7 months, but I enjoy it most times!
Love, Brieleigh

Madeline's Dallas Pictures

Here are an assortment of Dallas pictures that I stole from Maddy. She took them while she was here.

Dressed for the wedding

Pure concentration

Mom bought B an infant Rangers hat. She never took it off in the store but then did as soon as we walked out. It is so cute on her though!

Mommy and Daughter

Daddy and Daughter- airplane!

Our Fourth of July outfits- so festive!

I sing a song that goes, "D-O-L-L-Y, it's Dolly!" while waving Dolly in front of her and Brieleigh lights up everytime!

She got her Dolly. (I love the quality of this pic!)

You too can have this much fun at a Rangers game!

I can eat watermelon all by myself!
(But Daddy told me not to eat the rind because diarrhea lives in the rind.)

Family Fun in Dallas

My mom and little sister came to Dallas July 1-7th. We had a great time with them, but no matter how long they stay it never seems long enough. We had a very full schedule, and we barely even brushed the surface of the list I made so they will just have to return soon! And maybe Cal can come this time... and Katie, David, and Peter.
They kept Brieleigh for us two days (Thursday and Tuesday) while we worked which was great and so sweet! Mom did laundry and Maddy vacuumed during that time. Thursday night we played games and ate ribs, corn, and zucchini cakes. Friday, we girls went out for breakfast at Main Street Bistro and Bakery... YUM- for instance, I had nutella french toast with strawberries and Maddy had strawberry romanoff crepes and of course I had a coupon. :) We ran errands to Target, the eye doctor, and Sprouts then went home and got ready to pick David up for the rehearsal for Wes and Katie Baker's wedding. We dropped David off at the winery in Grapevine (after tons of traffic fighting) then I dropped Maddy and Mom off at the outlet malls to shop while we Willers went to the rehearsal dinner (through much more traffic and a torrential downpour). The dinner was at La Hacienda Ranch. Brieleigh did great, and as usual she drew lots of attention. We then went the the hotel where most people were staying for cookies and Blue Bell. Mom and Maddy came as well. We got home late, and David got home even later after the bachelor "party" if you can call it that.

Saturday we had to get a wedding present then pick up David's tux (yes, he waited until the day of- miscommunication) far far away.
Madeline and Brieleigh laughing at "Frankie the Fish" and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Brieleigh thought he was quite entertaining. We should have bought him. He was on sale for $5.

We then at lunch at a random country restaurant/diner we passed called Norma's Cafe. We dropped David off to get his hair cut with Wes while we went to Sam's for samples, browsing, and lots of giggles.

This is Brieleigh in a big box of pillows in Sam's. She would make a good commercial for promoting these.

We went home and got ready for the wedding. David left before us for pictures. Unfortunately we have no pictures of the wedding. :( I think Maddy has one of her and I dressed up? It was a fun wedding. Our babysitter's daughter got sick so Brieleigh got to come too and Madeline kept her in the lobby during the actual ceremony. I was so releived not to have to leave Brieleigh anywhere. I have never left her at night except with David. She usually screams for him and want sleep. She likes her night nursing a great deal. So it made it much more relaxing to have her with us. We ate, talked with friends and old friends, danced, ate some more, and had alot of fun. It was of course another late night.
Sunday we went to church where David and I had nursery. Sadly, we couldn't sit with our family, but they survived without us. We ate fresh tamales for lunch at home then all took long naps. Brieleigh and I got up before everyone else and went to the park. I made a sausage casserole for supper, and played Settlers of Catan while it was cooking. We packed limeade, cookies, and watermelon and took it with us for a picnic dessert to the Richardson fireworks which was at a park. We rode the shuttle and had front row seats on the lake. Brieleigh loved crawling around on the blanket. Maddy has some good pictures of her outfit which said "Little Firecracker". Brieleigh was fasinated with the fireworks, and kept trying to keep playing but kept having her attention drawn back to the awesomeness. Best fireworks I have ever seen, Period.

Mesmerized!

We had to wait about an hour-ish for our turn on the shuttles, but thankfully Brieleigh conked out for that. We got home around midnight again!
The next day we got up and tried to go to a bakery for breakfast which was closed for July 4th, so we got mom coffee at McDonalds and just headed straight to the zoo. We got there a little before 11. I LOVE the zoo and was so very excited to take my little girl. The Dallas Zoo just opened up a Savannah area which has all the cool elephant and looks very nice.

We were trying to see how far we could jump. I think I was a grasshopper along with David and Maddy. Mom was a rabbit or something.

Brieleigh got to pet the goats in the petting zoo. She loved it when they stopped eating to pay her some attention.

An albino crocodile!

Elephants are my favorite hands down.

First family trip to the zoo

Hot and tired but still oh so cute!

Look how close the giraffe is!

"Rest Rooms: Everybody gotta poop somewhere" :)

I LOVE the baby chimp! So adorable.

We left the zoo around 2:00. It was getting a little hot and we were hungry! We ate at Cantino Laredo for lunch then went to Central Market to get some snacks to take to the Rangers game for supper. We came home took a short nap and packed our supper. The Rangers sadly lost, but we had a great time. Mom bought Brieleigh a little infant Rangers hat which she now wears to the games. PRECIOUS! We got free taco coupons too since the Rangers scored in the taco inning.

My two Rangers fans. Brieleigh loves her Daddy!

Mom and Maddy- we took the elevator to get up this high so that Mom didn't have a nervous breakdown.

We got home around midnight again that night. (Are you noticing a pattern here? Fun, but super exhausting week!) Tuesday, I worked. That night we grilled out and played Nertz and maybe Carcassone. Wednesday, we girls got pastries, swang and ate them at a park and talked about old days, visited Emma, picked David up for lunch at Celebration Cafe, then took the family to the airport, and cried. Ok, so it still isn't easy living in Dallas even after almost 3 years. I give up! We had so much fun! Come back soon because Brieleigh has learned so many new tricks for y'all to see!

Brieleigh Learns to Stand

Brieleigh learned to do this for the first time today. I was so proud of her. She is growing up fast. I am thinking walking is not far away.

Beach Vacation 2010

June 19-25th we went with my side of the family to Fort Morgan, Alabama for vacation. My family always went every year to Perdido Key, FL from before I was born up until a few years ago. My dad referred patients to Dr. Woody who would let us stay at his condo every year for free. We affectionately called the area "Dr. Woody's", and it was a huge highlight of every year.
So this year most of us missed going the past few years and wanted to return. We decided to rent a little house this time though since our family has grown. Most of the house on the beach were on Ft. Morgan... about 30ish miles from where we used to stay and about 20 miles from civilization. It was nice being secluded, but a pain to drive at night to restaurants, grocery, etc esp since Brieleigh hates being in her carseat at night. We enjoyed much family time squeezed into a car with B screaming her head off.
Us Willers drove from Texas the night before, stopped by David's familys' house for a short visit, then caravaned with my family to the beach. It was an 8 hour (or more like 10 with the Bug) trip to MS and a 5ish hour trip to the coast. Needless to say B was VERY tired of her carseat by the end of this trip! Katie, David, and Peter came for three nights. Peter got burned by a curling iron though so he couldn't swim or be in the sun sadly!
Brieleigh LOVED the beach, ocean, and pool. When I first stood her up to let the waves wash over her feet, her little legs were shaking so bad. I knelt down beside her and after that she warmed up to it. Every time she saw the ocean afterwards she waved her arms and legs and cooed. We bought her a yellow baby float which she rode the waves in and floated in the pool with. She didn't even cry when waves hit her face (though I tried not to let this happen).
We spent most all of our time at the beach. We made sure to get a house with a pool for the babies and because of the oil, but we ended up being able to swim in the ocean. It was so clear most of the trip! The next to last day we saw a tarball washed up on shore here and there but nothing in the water. The last afternoon you could see very small balls in the water and a lot more on shore that you often couldn't help stepping on. Thankfully that was our last day. We went further down the beach 30ish miles in Gulf Shores one night and there was a solid foot of oil washed up on shore and it smelled very strongly of it. Then several miles past that in Perdido Key there was no oil again. It was weird how scattered it was, but thankfully we picked the right area to stay! It was neat to see all the clean up crews and ships and boom everywhere too.
We also did other activities besides swimming. We ate out most nights. Some restuarants were empty because of the oil, others where still hopping. We ate at Tacky Jacks, Calypso Joe's, Lambert's, Grazie, and Louisiana Lagniappe. All pretty yummy food. We had some seafood- shrimp poboy, Mahi-mahi, flounder, shrimp and grits... A couple of mornings we joined Cal in his Insanity workout videos. Wow, intense! I say we, I did two days, Maddy, David, and Katie did a few minutes, Mom did most days, and Cal did everyday- so motivated and determined was he. So proud because it was intense! We shopped at the outlet mall in Foley for about 2 hours. Cal put us on a time limit. We didn't get much- dress for a wedding and shirts for work. I was looking for a new swim suit since most all of my swimsuits are one pieces (which I prefer!) from high school, but everyone made fun of their saggy-ness. Somewhere I lost some weight in there?? I thought they were fine, but David banned me from wearing one of them on the trip anymore. We drove to our old stomping grounds which brought back alot of childhood memories. We went to an old country church Sunday where we heard a Father's Day motivational speech- well he eventually threw in a Bible verse here and there, but we mostly learned about his life and heard a solo on "Daddy's Hands"- quite the experience. We watched alot of the World Cup and some Walker, Texas Ranger (a childhood favorite).
We really enjoyed our trip, and it was so relaxing and so refreshing to be with family and to see such beauty in God's creation. The ocean boggles my mind- so peaceful and breathtaking, yet so huge, deep, endless, and scary. Thanks, Mom, for letting us come on such a fun family vacation!!

First ocean view

Siblings- and they pose alike too!

Overcoming her fearfulness

Mom ("Millie") and Brieleigh chilling on the beach together and holding down the fort

Building sand castles

A merry-go round at Calypso Joe's

Crab hunting and wave riding. The waves got decent later in the week. We caught a seahorse, some silver fish, a half dead long fish (that cut Maddy's tummy), 20 sand dollars, and shells.

Blue crab- he was fiesty

Aunt Maddy with Brieleigh and Peter. The babies had such a great time together. Brieleigh's face would light up and she would smile and laugh everytime she saw Peter.

Uncle Cal and Brieleigh- they became best buds by the end of the week.

The only time we laid on the sand for just a few minutes. Laying out is miserable we decided. Riding waves is so much more fun!

Cal and Maddy

Cutie!

Napping in the sand under the unbrella :)

Pure beauty

A tarball

I accidentally stepped on one.

Oil covered egg carton

I love waves!

Brieleigh does too!

I love her so much! Everything was so new and exciting to her and it was such a joy to watch her discover her world.

The Gulf Shores oil further down the beach.

Quite a bit more there!

Our little family- so sad to leave!