I LOVE THIS GIRL!!!

Brinley is growing too FAST! I just can't get enough of her. She is soooo sweet and loves to give Greg and I kisses and hugs all day! She is starting to talk and become very aware of everything we do. If we are eating anything she finds us and screams until we give her some. She is walking all over the place and getting into everything. Since it started getting warmer out Brinley LOVES to go outside! All I have to say is "outside" is she runs for the door! I love this little girl more and more each day!!

Greek Fest

As some of you know Greg is a quarter Greek. He is VERY proud of his heritage and so is his family. Each year we celebrate Greek Easter. It's usually on a different Sunday than American Easter so it works out well. Since Greg and I are not in Utah to celebrate with his family his YiaYia will usually send us money to go to a Greek restaurant instead. This year we decided to be a little more festive and throw our own Greek Easter feast!
I made lots of traditional Greek food and invited some of our friends over to share it with us. I was in the kitchen for two days straight but it was all worth it. I made Pastitsio, which is like a Greek lasagna, Cheese triangles, Greek salad, Baklava, and yummy Greek rice pudding! It was all fantastic and I must say I did a pretty good job for my first time making any Greek dishes.

Girls trip to utah!

While Greg was busy studying and taking finals, Brinley and I went on a lovely trip to Utah. We had a great time visiting with family and friends.

I have to share a funny story about our plane ride to Utah. For those that have ever flown solo with a child/children you know that it can be a scary experience. The whole time you're on edge trying your hardest to keep your little one entertained and avoiding bugging others. I hate flying as it is so adding all the stress of a baby makes it even worse. I'd flown twice before this and have been very lucky. There have always been extra seats on the plain so Brinley had her own place to sit, but this particular time there were no empty seats so she was on my lap.
We sat next to this couple in their mid 50's and they seemed nice, but didn't really say anything at first. After we had taken off I started feeding Brinley that only lasted about 10 minutes, then I read her a few books that was another 10 minutes, I gave her some toys that she played with for a minute or so, then I went to the back and changed her, came back played some more, read books, gave her some treats, and then I started running out of ideas. It had only been about an hour, maybe, and I had 3 1/2 to go! I started to get nervous. Then all the sudden the lady who was sitting next to me asked if she could hold her. She told me "all kids love me." I gladly let her, but thought that she would be back on my lap in about 5 minutes after this nice lady got bored with her. Boy was I wrong! This lady was right, kids LOVE her! Brinley took to her like a bee on a Popsicle stick! (Sorry for the cheesy analogy) She had no kid things with her but she made everything around her exciting. For example, the Sky Mall magazine! Who would have thought it could be so interesting? Brinley sat and looked through it with her for at least 15 minutes! The lady made everything look so cool. It made me want to buy some stuff! Anyway, after a little while more of playing Brinley started to get a little fussy so I went to grab for her and the lady told me "No"! She said she still wanted to hold her. Whatever, I guess if she wants to hold a crying baby she can. Well she put Brinley on her shoulder and within about 3 minutes she was asleep. Brinley never falls asleep on anyone!!! I couldn't believe it. Well to sum it all up Brinley slept on the lady all the way until the last 30 minutes of the flight. It was wonderful!!! I was grateful to sit next to such nice people!

Here are some pics of the trip!


Brinley helping my Mom make her famous rolls!!


She loved playing with the dough.


Brinley had a great time playing with all her cousins!!


We took Brinley to visit my Grandpa's farm and she loved looking at the cows!


Then she went on her first Tractor ride with her Grandpa Egginton

We had a great Easter also, but those pictures are below.

Happy late Easter

Sorry its been a while since we updated. Brinley and I have been in Utah visiting family and friends while Greg is at home doing finals. We've had a wonderful time so far. Here are some fun pictures of us on Easter. I'll write more about our trip later when we get back!


Seeing her basket for the first time.


The Easter Bunny brought Brinley a new swim suit and hat.


And of course a new book!


So pretty in her Easter dress.






I guess Brinley was a little tired of getting her picture taken, so she decided to tell us she was done.


First Easter egg hunt


She did a good job finding the eggs.


The only thing that would have made our Easter better, would have been having Greg there!! We miss you honey!!!

Spring Break

Last week was Greg's spring break. We had a wonderful time and just loved not worrying about school for the week. Brinley thought she was heaven because she got to play with her Daddy all day.

The first day we took Brinley to the park. She had never been on a slide before! She LOVED it. At first we would go down with her, but after a while we started laying her on her back and then I would push her down by herself and Greg would catch her at the bottom. After each time she would get a huge smile on her face and point up to the top of the slide to go again. It was so much fun watching her. I honestly don't know who had more fun Brinley or us.



On Wednesday, Greg and I left Brinley with a babysitter and we went to New York to see Wicked!! It was "wicked" awesome!! Right after it was over I told Greg that I will be seeing it again before we leave here. I LOVED it.



On Thursday night Greg's parents came into town for the weekend! We had a great time with them and Brinley enjoyed every second of the attention.

Happy 1st Birthday Brinley!

Today our baby girl turned 1! I can't believe it. We had a great day with her and only wish that we could have enjoyed it with family and friends, but here are some pictures and video of the day. It was 70 degrees today so I took Brinley on a walk in the stroller Then we went out and got some good ole fashion Cheesesteaks! Next it was time to open presents!!! She got a lot of clothes! Thanks Grandma Julie! Here she is in her new princess chair with her new bath toys. And finally on to the cake!!

IT'S FINALLY MARCH

I have been looking forward to March since February 1st! February for Greg is midterms and that means that February for me is being a single Mom and having no husband. I think Greg had somewhere around 9 tests this month. Anyway, I knew that this month would be very long and difficult, but little did I know just how difficult is was going to be.
WE made it through the first half pretty well. I had many dates with our local Red box and caught up on a lot of scrap booking. We managed to have a nice dinner at home on Valentines Day and I thought that I would just coast through the second half of the month just fine! WRONG!! On the 16Th Greg and I were woke up at about 4am to Brinley throwing up. We went into her room and both she and her crib were covered! As soon as I got her all cleaned up she, of course, threw up all over again and again and again. We couldn't get her to stop! WE tried giving her something to drink to keep her hydrated but she wouldn't take anything. After calling the Dr. we were told to take her to the nearest ER. Well, it so happened that Greg had a BIG test that day so he couldn't come with, so I ended up calling my friend Miranda, who is a teacher but had the day off for Presidents Day, and she came with me. Thank heaven for good friends that will still love you even after your child throws up on them. We were in the ER for about 6 long hours. After a few rounds of an IV, Brinley started to act like her normal self again and she began to drink. They let us leave and being very tired we both came home and slept.
The next day was pretty normal, Brinley still didn't feel great but at least she was no longer vomiting. I spent most the day trying to get all our throw up clothes and sheets cleaned. I went to bed that night thinking that everything was going up hill. WRONG AGAIN!!
Brinley woke up at about 11:00pm with a very high fever and very congested. I gave her some medicine but it still didn't seem to help. It was a VERY long night for both of us. I think she slept maybe 3 or 4 hours and that was on me. The next morning her fever got up to 104 so the Dr had me bring her in. She told me that there was nothing for us to do but just wait it out and keep giving her Tylenol and Motrin. The next two days were the longest of my LIFE. Brinley would only sleep if I was holding her and during the day all she wanted to do was to be held standing up! I felt like was I pregnant with a 20 baby because she was always attached to me. I was so sore from holding her. The only time she would let me put her down was when she was watching her baby Einstein DVDs!! Those DVDs were a life savor!!! On Friday morning she woke up and seemed to be doing a lot better. Her fever broke and other than her being really tired she was her normal self! I finally felt like there was a light at the end of the tunnel......WRONG!!!!
On Saturday evening just before Greg and I were about to go out for the first time all month, she got another fever and became very lethargic. We cancelled our date and just kept an eye on her for the rest of the day and made sure that she was drinking. On Sunday morning I went to church and Greg stayed with Brinley. When I got home she was laying on his shoulders with this far off look in her eyes. All she wanted to do was sleep and that is NOT like her at all. Greg called the after hours Dr. and they told us to take her to the ER to run some tests! So we got in the car to go to the ER... again. We got there and they took her in to take some X rays of her chest to make sure it wasn't pneumonia. After she got done with the X-rays I was putting back on her shirt and she threw up ALL over me! After doing a few more tests they came back and told us that she had the influenza B virus. So much for getting her a flu shot this year. They told us that as long as she would drink we didn't have to admit her. That night I put her in her crib to sleep and about midnight I went in to check on her and again she had thrown up all over herself and her bed. At that point I had pretty much reached my limit! I had been doing really well dealing with taking care of a sick baby by myself and not getting much sleep, but when I saw the huge mess I was going to have to clean again I just couldn't do it by myself! I woke up Greg and he called his parents and the next day PAPA MIKE was here to save us!!! Thank goodness he can fly for free whenever he wants! He took Brinley from me and slept with her all night! She got up about 3 times or so but he would always get her back to sleep so I could rest. The next morning she was doing much better and she never threw up or got a fever again. That night she slept all the through the night in her own crib, which was a huge milestone!!! Papa was able to leave the next day and now all of us are doing much better. Greg has one more test tomorrow and then he is all done until April!!
So here is to March being a better month than February!!