Terrible...seven months?

I feel like I'm going through the "terrible twos" with Brigham. Isn't he a little early on this one!? Ever since Brigham was 2 weeks old he has LOVED his bath. He lounges and has a great time....Then this week, its like I have a new baby....I put him in for a bath, I even got out some toys and he screamed BLOODY MURDER...I mean, lip quivering full on freak attack. I initially pulled him right out and thought maybe the water was too hot...but it wasn't in the least bit. He screamed all through the bath...Every bath since then has been as excruciatingly painful. Is that normal? To all the sudden just change on something he's never had a problem with before? Another thing that has driving me LOCA is I can't leave his sight...not even his sight...I have to be right there next to him, playing with him, giving him 100% attention. From the beginning Briggy has been very attached and never a great "independent" player...but its getting worse and worse each day. He screams and has fits if I get up from the floor and sit on the couch, put him in the jumperoo and walk into the kitchen...I even put him in the highchair when I was cooking this evening so he'd be in the same room as me....not good enough! unless i was singing, write up next to him, handing him snacks or praising his water drinking, he'd flip. I am surely going to lose my mind. Is this a common phase in babies his age? Please tell me this is a passing one....or I will never get anything done...ever.

Apple Crazy

(Doesn't that look like fun!? Holly will be able to do that on her birthday in a few years....)

For over month all that seems to have been on my mind is APPLES! Brianne's shower was last night and the theme was "Apple of My Eye" I had a lot of fun planning it, and I hope she and everyone had a nice night!
Anyway, I posted up some pictures of the apple decorations(at http://homemakinghaven.blogspot.com), and as soon as I have some pictures of us girls enjoying all the apple-action I'll be posting those up as well! Last night was a nice, crisp fall night...I love this time of year!

Michael's Coupon

I just got this coupon through my email. Hopefully it will be of use to some of you.
Just go to this link and click print!

http://www.michaels.com/coupons/09222008222750/coupon.html

So sad....

As you may remember in a blog entry a week or two ago, I shared a picture and my delight in the lion costume I planned on getting for Brigham this year....Well today was the day I planned on buying it.....(I have checked the status of it everyday since friday...when I was sick I didnt check....) And guess what apparently happened this weekend....a world-wide shopping spree on lion costumes. Diapers.com sold out! I checked the ten other sites I looked on before diapers.com and they were still all sold out...amazon.com has ONE left for almost 70 bucks (thats with shipping) As adorable as that lion costume is, I cannot spend that much on it...thats crazy! Hopefully next year they'll have it and it will be at the "last season" discount price. Anyway, I found a replacement costume for Briggy...it was one of my other favorites on the site....the only thing I just realized though...is that it doesnt come with those grey slacks...so I'll have to find some black pants or (tights) for Briggy to wear.

I really wanted that dang lion costume...I was even thinking of dressing up like Dorthy and making Tom the scarecrow...oh well, this little spidey is very cute.

Happy Seven Months!! Pictures from last week

I had left my camera battery charger at Grandma and Grand-dad Tillotson's on labor day weekend...so after I took pictures of Briggy on his 7 month mark, the camera died, and I wasn't able to transfer the pics online....so, without further ado....

This is how Brigham greeted me on the morning of the 15th:






Then as a treat (that turned into a discovery of what we THINK is a milk allergy) Brigham enjoyed his very first taste of yogurt:







His little "birthday" gift: The collection of Sport Squeaker Sesame Street books! (He loooooves these!) and his new favorite snack:





Other than Brigham breaking out in a scary rash after eating the yogurt, and many hours of panic...it was a pretty nice day. I am going to try and give him some yogurt again next week to see what happens---hopefully it was just a fluke and he won't be allergic.

Cough, Sneeze, Drip, Repeat....

Briggy and I are sick! Briggy just has a runny nose (for now)...hopefully it won't progress into anything more...but I'm pretty sick. The medicine I have doesn't work that great, and I can't even take it regularly because I'm afraid it will dry up my milk supply. I always get sick at the MOST inconvinent times---like right before and during and after Briggy's birth....and now, when I am in the process of a total cleaning spree in our house, taking out all the fall decorations....and finishing up all my "apple of my eye" baby shower details. And to make matters worse, I can't sleep. I can't sleep during the day, because Briggy is fusssssssssssssssssssssy, and I can't sleep at night...well, because I havent gone to bed before three am the past couple weeks. Anyway, I googled "How to defeat the common cold" and I came up with this funny blog entry I thought I'd share.

"The common cold is actually any of over 300 different viruses. Each one of them, like the chicken pox, can only be caught once in a lifetime."

As I've already said, I have iGoogle set up as my homepage. One of the widgets that I've placed on it is the "Gullible Info" widget. What that does is it gives out a quote every time I refresh the page. And the quote that started this post is just one of them. You should check it out when you have the time. There are really quite a few interesting things there.

But the reason that this one caught my attention is, well, because I have a cold. Not something out of the ordinary. I mean everyone has one at least once a year. And whatever you do and no matter how much you take care of yourself, you still catch one sooner or later. What intrigued me was the fact that you can only catch one form of the common cold once in a lifetime. That means your organism develops immunity to that particular form of the cold. I didn't believe that. So I decided to do a little more investigation. And what other better resource there is that the good old Wikipedia. And right from the start, I had my answer: "once one has caught one of the many cold viruses, one is immune and may never catch that particular strain again". Bummer, I was sure they got it wrong. I'm only counting the times I caught a cold. It 's possible there weren't 300 colds in my life time, but each year I catch another one? It's like I'm a "common cold magnet".

After that, I tried to find out if there are indeed that many forms of the common cold. But I don't think it was there. It's even possible that no one knows how many there are, so I assume the information is somewhat correct. Three hundred seems like a reasonable number. And then it hit me. My genius plan was set: I will catch every single form of the cold so I will be immune to the damn virus(es). So I started to do a little math, just to see how long it will take for me to become invincible.

Invincibility calculations

* if I catch one cold per year I would need more that 300 years. Since I don't plan to live that long, I deducted I would need to speed things up;
* if I manage to catch a cold about 4 times in one year, it would take me about 75 years. Awesome but I should have started a little while ago. I'm 24 already I should have caught about 96 forms of the cold so far. And I doubt it. I need to speed things up even more;
* if I can get sick about 10(ten) times in one year it would only take me about 30 years to pull this through. Since I think I managed to catch about 50 strands so far, maybe even more, I'll be somewhere in my late 40's when I will be totally immune to this horrific disease.

OK, now that I've got all those things sorted out, what's the easiest way to catch a cold? My mom always said to wear a hat and gloves when I go out. "You don't want to catch a cold", she said. If she only knew of my great plan. But apparently Wikipedia doesn't agree with my mom: "experiments so far have failed to produce evidence that short-term exposure to cold weather or direct chilling increases susceptibility to infection". That's not so good for me. What this means is "seasonal variation is instead due to a change in behaviors such as increased time spent indoors at close proximity to others". And there you have it. The best way to catch a cold. Thank you Wikipedia. There must be some other cool informations in there, but I'm not in the mood to go into any further research. I have what I wanted.

And now, let me get on with my plan. The only thing I need to do now is put my body through a lot of temperature changes like jumping from the fridge to the oven and look around for people that have a cold and make them cough on me or rub against me. That sounds pretty easy. And I only have to do this for the next thirty years. This way I'll break once and for all the myth that says: no one is immune to the common cold.

Boy, I sure hope it will be worth it. That's a bad way to waste your life.


She actually posted this Feb. 13 2008---which was when I was in the midst of my last cold/bronchitis/pnemonia! How fun.

Craft Boutique

I know, I know...we are stuck all the way out here away from all the *glitz and glamour* of Utah crafting....but I know most of your families are from that neck of the woods...and I thought I would help promote my friend Liza's in-home boutique she is hosting October 11th. She makes the most beautiful things...I pretty much emulate her in all my craft *attempts* anyway, I thought I'd post the info in case you want to let any of your family in on it, that may enjoy seeing, buying and enjoying good company. If you are interested in the information, you can email me for her address, or email Liza at: chadliza@digis.net
And, if you are like me and fall madly in love with her products....you can always buy them off her online store: twigsandtwine.etsy.com --- you just can't find cute stuff like this out here!



Liza's blog also has more pictures and information--and I'm sure she'll have more posts leading up to the event.

http://twigsandtwinedesigns.blogspot.com

Happy Seven Months!

I have some really cute pictures....but I cant find my battery charger for the camera....so until I can get my hands on it....I cant transfer my pictures to the computer :(
We have had a fun...then NERVE wracking day. It starting off great, by me walking in to see Briggy sitting up in his crib nice and straight, just chillin. That was a cute pic....then we had Yo Baby banana yogurt for breakfast for the first time! Well, Briggy loved it, and ate it faster than I thought humanly possible. Unfortunately thats where the nerve-wracking comes from. When he woke up from his afternoon nap, I changed him and noticed redness on his neck....so I undressed him, and his neck, tummy and back were covered in pinky-red blotches. AHHHHH. As you know, I freak out over EVERYTHING and started panicking thinking I just poisoned my child and he has a milk allergy....well I called the doctor and she said if its like that tomorrow to bring him in...if its not a reaction to the yogurt, what could it be? I did give him about 5 of those gerber sweet potato puffs today too...the rash looked like what he had when he had contact with a blanket washed with highly fragrant detergent/fabric softener....but he didn't have contact with anything like that today. So of course I am a nervous wreck thinking that he's going to have a milk allergy and not be able to eat anything normal. *cross your fingers* and say a prayer for my little guy...I would hate for him to have allergies. Hopefully I'll have the pictures up later tonight or tomorrow.

All about 8

In Babylonian myth there were seven spheres plus an eighth realm, the fixed stars, where the gods lived. As a result, 8 is often associated with paradise. Muslims believe that there are seven hells but eight paradises, signifying God’s mercy. In Buddhism 8 is a lucky number, possibly because of the eight petals of the lotus, a plant associated with luck in India and a favorite Buddhist symbol.



My 8's

8 Things I am Passionate About

1. Thomas Tillotson. I love my sweet husband, and think about him all day long!
2. Brigham Wills. My handsome son, and my side-kick!
3. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Its been my passion for four years now, It's hard to imagine I ever lived my life without it. I am so blessed to now be AWARE of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's love.
4. Blogging. I used to love journaling when I was younger, but I quit awhile back. Since I type a lot faster (and can insert pictures with a click of a button) I prefer my online journaling now. (And I was notorious for trying to sneak and read my sister's diaries, and now, with blogs, its like sneaking a peek into others lives...which is always interesting)
5. Cooking/Baking. Growing up my mother never really showed me the ropes in the kitchen, which I really wish she did. So when I joined the church and saw how all my "molly mormon" friends were whizzes in the kitchen, I decided to teach myself. I read from at least one cook-book a day, learning new recipes, jotting down skills and watching the Food Network. I even got Tom watching it!
6. Crafting. I love making things cute! I love decorating and jazzing up things that are not-so great to begin with
7. Homes. Ever since I was little, I used to love going to open-houses or the model homes in new developments. I love seeing and planning out different layouts and learning about interior design. And even though I am not handy with a hammer (or any tool for that matter) I get so excited walking into a Home Depot!
8. Binders. Organizing the different facets of life through bindering..thats what I do. I like being able to go to my specific binder and find whatever I need!

8 words or phrases I say often:

1. I Love You!!!
2. Can you rub my back for a minute? (Sorry, Tom)
3. Jeeper Creeper! (My new one for my little creepy-crawler)
4. You have a stinky hiney!
5. Oh my gosh!
6. The Itsy Bitsy Spider.....(Briggy loves that one!)
7. Crab-Apples! (Thanks jess!) I say this now when things seem to go wrong
8. I'm hungry!! (I started that mean detox diet again, and thats what Ive been saying since yesterday)

8 Things I want to do before I die:

1. Visit Italy, Greece, Egypt, Israel, France, The British Isles, Nova Scotia....
2. Attend all of my non-member family's baptisms
3. See all of my children married in the Temple with families
4. Serve a mission with Tom.
5. Meet Paul McCartney
6. Learn to play the piano
7. Learn to sew/knit
8. Go to Dollywood

8 Things I currently want or need:

1. A beautiful house
2. To lose 40 more pounds
3. A new hairstyle and color
4. Tom to find his dream-job
5. To live in the West
6. To have my family and close friends nearby
7. Baby # 2!
8. A scrapbooking room filled to the brim with everything I could ever possibly need!

8 People to Tag:

1. Amy
2. Andie
3. Brianne
4. Devon
5. Jenn
6. Jocelyn
7. Mindy
8. Sariah


Oooh! I almost forgot. Greg had these pictures up on his Facebook. I love the one with "Uncle" Matt.

A time to BRAG!

I am going to be a BIG BRAG and rave about how BEAUTIFUL my family is. Brigham has a brand-new cousin, Dominic Victor. Isn't he sooo cute!!? Im not sure how its possible, but the Tillotson/Rains offspring are just about the best it gets. Meet the best-looking nieces and nephews a gal could ask for....

Here is the newest Tillotson! Dominic Victor was born on Monday!!!

Look at that head of hair!!!!



Sariah and Marcus Tillotson are so excited to have baby Dominic! Sariah plays soccer and is sooooo good at it (the prettiest soccer player ive ever seen!). And Marcus is just as cute as a button and sweet as sugar. We wish we could all play together---But they live all the way in California!



Then there's the beautiful Addison America Rains. She just turned one...and not only is she a skilled swimmer, she is also a happy little yogi. If we have any daughters *i hope* they will be as pretty as Addy!


Last but not least, my very own Brigham Wills. Okay, so of course I'm biased, but I do have to say, he is pretty darn cute. I couldn't have asked for a sweeter, cuter little boy :)



So there you have it. I have an amazing family. I just wish we all didn't live so far away from eachother! I'm so JEALOUS of the West's who have a huge clump of their family all living in Western Mass....Maybe someday!

Bumming around

Briggy and I have just been bumming around the house the past week. I don't know what it is, but I have NO energy. I'm always sleepy/lazy feeling---I hate feeling that way....which is why I turn to Diet Mountain Dew or Pepsi....but that's not even helping. Wah. Sorry for whining...I just need to get my big booty in gear. Speaking of "booties"...a few nights ago when it was really really warm, I thought it'd be best if Brigham just slept in his diaper. Well, the way he scooches and twists before he falls asleep, led to his diaper coming undone. Thankfully there was no mess, I just thought it looked cute with a little bum poking through. The rest are just some cute pictures I took in between mope-ing around the house!






Here's a silly one of Tom. Tom is ALWAYS very meticulous about his hair, its always gelled just so...but before he cut his hair yesterday, we had fun "messing" with it.

Reflections of Christ

Maybe you've seen or heard of this, maybe you havent...I came across it over Labor Day weekend, and thought Id share it with you all. It is SO beautiful. The song is beautiful, the photographs are stunning...I honestly watch it everyday--it puts me in such a good mood. You cant feel lonely or sad or stressed out when you watch this :)

Halloween Costume Search!

I have been checking up on websites constantly the past couple weeks for a cute halloween costume for Briggy. I finally found the one I wanted!! Its the cutest lion costume...(it was a toss up between the lion and monkey) It was sold out in 75% of the sites, but I found it at celebrateexpress.com its for $50 PLUS shipping. I knew that was ALOT, but I had my heart set on it...but I just got an email from diapers.com saying they are NOT CHARGING shipping on halloween costumes! I checked it out, and they have the LION costume for a cheaper price--plus, the shipping is free---yea! anyway, just want to let all you moms in on it, because theyre prices are competitive with all the other online stores (trust me, ive looked at at least 10) and you cant beat free shipping! if you do buy on the site, I think they MIGHT ask who referred you. (We sometimes buy diapers and baby stuff on that site) so if you plug in my name and email, I think they give us points toward money off....Im not positive though. In any case, that would be nice!
kelly tillotson: kelly-tillotson@hotmail.com

hope you find some cute costumes!!!

PS-Im calling SHOTGUN on the Lion costume to ANYONE in the Greater Springfield area!!!!! hehehe. I want Briggy to be the ONE and ONLY! GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

So many pictures....so little time.

(Briggy is my leaky faucet. drip drip drip)


I have taken a lot of cute pictures of Briggy the past week, but we were up in Bellingham/Cape Cod visiting Grandma and Grand-dad Tillotson....and when I am home I have VERY limited time to be on the computer (unless very late at night when my boys are asleep...if you look, you'll notice a lot of posts are at midnight!) So, here goes nothing...

The first pictures are from last Wednesday. Briggy always likes being read to (more specifically, HE "reads" to me....) but on this day in particular, Brigham would not put the books down. I caught him looking at the book throughout the entire day...im not sure if this is a sign that my little Briggy is a book worm...or if he found his new favorite chew toy--you be the judge!







Next are a couple silly shots of Brigham..."Cleavage" Shots, to be exact. Don't mind me being a goob.




So as you all know from my rant last week, Briggy has been teething and being a real crab-apple lately. Well, I forgot I bought this little contraption until the other day and it has been a life-saver...Briggles loves it! You put food in it, and babies can suck the food out through the mesh, so as to get the benefit from eating fresh food that isnt pureed...without choking. I have been putting frozen banana's in it...to sooth his little gums, and give him a mid-morning snack. Lucky boy.






Last but not least, a couple shots from our labor-day weekend. We hung out with Grandma and Granddad on Sunday and Monday at their house...biking, walking (enjoying the PERFECT WEATHER!) and then on Tuesday, driving up to the Cape. We stopped in Chatham and Provincetown. I love the grassy sand-dunes and rickety fences. So beautiful. (The picture of us next to the Buddhist statue was at WA, a insanely gorgeous asian store that had a garden in the back with koi ponds and pretty statues. Dont mind how icky I look--and focus on my cute boys!