1 1/2, 6 1/2, 7.

My little monkey is 7 weeks old today. I can't believe that 7 weeks ago, I became a mother, and my entire world changed. Nothing would be like it was before monkey came into my life. Things I used to be able to do before I had a baby would no longer be able to be done...at least, not in the conventional way of doing things. Running to the grocery store used to take 5 minutes. Now, it takes at least half an hour of prep time, not to mention the 5 minutes of getting monkey loaded into the car. Then we need to unload her from the car, get a cart (not for the groceries, but to put her car seat in...the little monkey is quite the chunker!), and then we can now grocery shop. It can be exhausting!

But so worth it. I wake up every morning, and after the little bout of pouting from the monkey, she shows me how worth it, it all is. She's gotten very good at smiling and cooing at me in the morning. It melts my heart every time she starts making faces up at me. I never knew I could love someone or something so much.

Monkey finally slept through the night last night! Well, as close as through the night as she's ever had. 6 1/2 hours!  I only got 5 hours though, since I was up every half hour, wondering why she was still sleeping! Ahh, the irony. Anthony and I have been waiting what seems like YEARS for her to sleep longer than 2-3 hours at night at a time, and when she finally does, I don't get to enjoy it since I'm awake, worrying about her. Oh well. Theres always tomorrow night.

I finally got a breast pump yesterday. It is hopefully going to allow me (and possibly Anthony) to be away from baby monkey for more than a few hours. Or so I thought. Last night was the first time we introduced a bottle. And baby monkey was NOT having it! We tried two different bottle types, tried warming the milk, tried giving it cold, nothing. I left the house to walk the dog (I read that babies can smell their mothers up to 20 feet away, and that they just know the the mother is there), hoping that would get her to take the bottle. She drank maybe 1 1/2 ounces during the hour long bottle feeding. Totally unlike her. Since it was apparent that she was not going to take a bottle, I resigned to breast feeding her. She acted as if I had starved her! She polished off the remaining milk in me, and promptly fell asleep, either from the milk she had just inhaled, or from the crying from the evil bottle. Ha, maybe thats why she slept so long last night! :)

"I'm not so sure about this daddy..."

The Back Story

This is my first attempt at blogging. A lot has happened in the year 2011, and I want to make sure that I remember all of it. We'll start at the beginning.

Anthony and I have known each other since we were in fourth grade. We used to play together at recess, and he was notorious for getting me into trouble. Although it's funny to admit this now, I had the biggest crush on him then. He, on the other hand, did not care for me the same. We drifted apart after fourth grade, not really talking. Anthony eventually moved away, and then came back during our junior year of high school. We began talking again, during our free period, and on the way home from basketball games. January 11, 2006 was the date that Anthony asked me out, and we've been going strong ever since.

We moved up to Portland, Oregon in September 2007, with our two rescue cats, Turkey and Jack (Turkey was an inbred kitten I adopted, and Jack was "found in a pipe" at my old work that I showed Anthony, and he fell in love with). We had our ups and downs, as many couples do, but we always made it through. In February 2010, Anthony proposed to me on the Golden Gate Bridge, in San Francisco, California. I said yes. :) July 2010, Anthony bought me Gunther for my birthday. We traveled 4 hours for that crazy, long eared purebred beagle. I figured that this was the completion to our little family.

Then comes December 8, 2010, when we discovered that I was pregnant. We were both ecstatic, and excited to share this next chapter in our lives together. We had the first ultrasound done in January 2011, and promptly informed all of our GB family via "I <3 my ___" magnets, that they would soon be grandparents/aunts/uncles/great grandparents. The first grandchild for my parents and Anthony's, they were excited!

In March 2011 we found out that our little peanut was a girl. August 12, 2011 our little girl was born. Brooklyn Nicole Mueller arrived in this world at 4:36pm, weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces, and measuring in at a whopping 20 inches! In that moment, I knew what unconditional love was.

So, here we are, September 26, 2011. Brooklyn is now 6 weeks and 3 days old. The last 6 weeks and 3 days haven't been the easiest, but they have been so worth it. She has started to smile, and started to "talk" to Anthony and I. I love watching her grow everyday. She means the world to me.

So, there you have it. That is our back story. In my blog I will express my thoughts, feelings, and Brooklyn's milestones. Hopefully, I'll have time to write something down everyday, but, with a baby that likes to eat every 2 hours, and be held all the time, we shall see if that is a realistic goal. :)

--Danielle