Brooklyn Crawling

It was only a matter of time. 

Brooklyn has been army crawling since January 2012, so we knew it wouldn't be long until she was "really" crawling. We are at her great grandparents house right now, and she loves to crawl around on their floor! Here is a small clip of her crawling for her book!

She is getting way too big, way too quickly. :/ Bittersweet. I think it will only be a couple months until she is walking. Thankfully, we have our video camera so we can capture all these moments, and keep her our baby forever <3

NOTE: For some reason, the quality is crap. I'm not sure what the issue is, as when I view it on my computer it plays just fine. Blah. I'll figure it out later and upload a better video.

Video of Brooklyn

Being a mom isn't easy. 

It's amazing the things you take for granted before you have children. Don't get me wrong; I love Brooklyn more than anything, and she has enriched my life in ways that I never knew possible. But sometimes, I miss the carefree days of being childless! Being able to stay up until midnight or later, and sleep in until noon, jumping in the car to go to the store without making sure I have 2 extra sets of clothes, relaxing in general... But every time I look into her gorgeous brown/green/grey eyes, and she gives me that smile, I know that it's all worth it.

Below is a video Anthony took on his cell phone last night. The quality is poor, and it's pretty dark, but it was taken for the sound. I had just changed her diaper, and began tickling her feet (where, as you can see, she is super ticklish!). Enjoy! :)

Brooklyn giggling. Best sound ever.

Peas, Please!

When we discovered that I was pregnant, we knew that we wanted to do most of Brooklyn's things ourselves; we wanted to buy her car seat, we wanted to buy her Holiday outfits, we wanted to breastfeed (well, I did anyways), and eventually, we wanted to make our own baby food. Luckily for us, Anthony's dad and stepmom bought us the Baby Bullet for Christmas!

Making Brooklyn's food has been interesting to say the least. I am not the most electronic savvy...in fact, I tend to break anything that is electronic simply by looking at it. The Baby Bullet was no exception. The first pureed food I made her was sweet potatoes. She loved it. My kitchen after I was done making it however, did not. Apparently, when you're making runny food with the BB, it can come out of the lip thing (spout?).. all over your working space. The kitchen counters, walls, paper towels and knife block were all covered in a whitish, orange sticky goo. That was the least of my problems, however.

My little miss loves to feed herself. Since she was only 5 months old when she started eating solids, she didn't quite have the whole fine motor skills necessary to complete the task without getting most of it on her face:

Or her bib for that matter....

So far, she has tried sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, avocados, rice cereal and pears. Last night, we introduced peas. That one has been the most fun out of all the foods we tried. 

   

GIVE ME MORE PEAS!

As you can see, peas were a messy experience. Fun, but messy. <3

Bunch of Random

Brooklyn is beginning to be quite a handful--in a good way! She has begun to develop quite the personality.  I love being able to stay at home with her everyday, watching her grow up and learn. Lucky for Brooklyn and I, Anthony gets to stay home now too! :) We are in the process of moving, so he's helping out with the packing and cleaning. Less than a week, and his dad & stepmom will be here in Portland to move our stuff up to Montana! Super excited to start this new chapter in our lives!

Brooklyn has started pulling herself up from a sitting position:

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!

She loves her puppy dog!

Such a big girl in her stroller!!!

6 Months&More shots

It's been awhile since I've posted! Hopefully, I will be able to commit more time to updating my blog, since I have decided to delete my Facebook.

I came to the decision to delete my Facebook fairly easily; I've been spending way too much time on it, and lately, there seems to be a lot of drama. I wanted to start fresh. We are going to be moving to Montana in less than a month, so this change just seemed fitting.

Brooklyn is now 6 months old! I can't believe that the time has gone by so quickly! I swear it feels like just yesterday that she was a newborn. She is doing amazingly well. She has been rolling over since 2 months; sitting up unassisted since 4 months, and she started army crawling on January 18! She's hitting all her milestones sooner than expected, and it's bittersweet. I'm so proud of my little girl, but at the same time, I want her to just stay this little forever.

She had her 6 month check up yesterday. 18 pounds, 7 ounces. Holy. Moly. She's getting huge! They measured her length as well, but obviously messed up. They said she was 26 1/4 inches, but at 4 months she was 27 inches, so that isn't possible! So, we aren't sure of her length right now, but I'm thinking she's around 28 inches. Brooklyn also had her shots yesterday; 3 of them. :( But she was a trooper! She cried a little, than napped. Then she was back to her old, goofy self! At dinner, she even sucked on carrots, celery, and a surprising new favorite, lemons!!!

2 months old & Doctor visit

Yesterday, Brooklyn had her well baby check-up. Anthony and I had bets on how much she weighed (Anthony: 13-13.5 pounds, me: 12.5-13). After we stripped her down to her diaper (which she promptly soiled, leading us to change her into another), they weighed her. 

My 2 month old baby weighs 12 pounds, 10 ounces. 12. Pounds. 10 Ounces. How did she get so big?! Remember: she only weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces at birth. Insane. She certainly feels that big, and she's been eating a ton, so it makes sense. But, it makes me sad. :( She's growing up so quickly, right before my eyes. Brooklyn is also 24 inches long! Jeeze. She's growing like a weed!

When we finally saw Brooklyn's doctor, Dr. Weill, I was able to ask him some of the questions I had accumulated over the last 6 weeks. One of them being getting Brooklyn to take a bottle. After I explained to him the steps we had taken to get her to take a bottle, he suggested we see a speech therapist to see if there was a reason she's not taking a bottle. I'm not sure what a speech therapist really has to do with my 8 week old baby not taking a bottle, but we'll see. I called and left a message last night to make an appointment. Hopefully they'll be able to do something, so I can go find work, or so Anthony and I can go out by ourselves one night. :)

Then came the shots. She got all the 2 month shots, the oral vaccine, plus the first round of Hep B (we opted out of the shot in the hospital). I couldn't even look at the needles. The nurse was really quick with all the shots, and Brooklyn just laid there...

...and then she cried. Boy, did she cry. She might have been quiet at first, but she was just saving up for the scream that came out of her. I have never heard anything so loud, or anything as heartbreaking. I lost it. I started crying, and feeling bad that we were the reason she was in so much pain. I tried to breastfeed her, to get her mind off the pain, but she wouldn't even have any of that. No amount of cuddling, or anything would calm my poor, screaming baby down. :(

2/3 of the band-aids

Fast forward 10 minutes. She is fast asleep in her car seat. We get home, and leave her in the car seat, so she can sleep. Anthony takes Gunther on a walk, and I watch Brooklyn. She woke up, crying. I picked her up, and all she wanted to do was cuddle. I was happy to oblige. She fell asleep on me within seconds, and I was happy to just cuddle with her. 

And that was our night. Brooklyn was a sleepy, smiling baby for the rest of the evening. I'm so very grateful for that. I was afraid of a fever, and an extremely fussy baby, but she's my little trooper, and took those shots like a champ!

October 12, 2011

Brooklyn's 2 month birthday. She gave us the present of sleep. She slept from 9-12:30, 1-4, and 5-8. I am in Heaven! Haha I actually woke up before she did. As I laid in bed, she started giggling and cooing. I peeked over the crib, and this is what I saw:

Can you believe she just had shots, not even 15 hours earlier?

I love her. She's my entire world. <3 

2 Month Check-up Stats

Length: 24 inches------------------94%

Weight: 12 pounds, 10 ounces--90%

Head circumference: 39 cm-----53%

6 Week Check-up Stats

Length: 22 Inches

Weight: 11 pounds, 1 ounce

2 week Check-up Stats

Length: 21 1/4 Inches--------------------77%

Weight: 8 Pounds, 10 ounces----------53%

Head Circumference: 36 1/2 cm--53%

Pumpkin Time!

This last Saturday, Anthony, Brooklyn and I all went to the Pumpkin Patch at Sauvie's Island to get Brooklyn her very first pumpkin! I know it's a little early, but Oregon weather is incredibly unpredictable, and with the weather being rainy and windy for the next week and a half, we decided that Saturday was the day to go!

We arrived early, around 11am. Brooklyn started to be fussy, but quickly fell asleep...and stayed that way the entire time we were there!

Sleepy Brooklyn

Anthony carried her in the baby Bjorn, and we went to look for the perfect pumpkin for Brooklyn! It was the perfect weather for pumpkin hunting. Cool and crisp air, a little sunny, but partly cloudy.

Which one will be Brooklyn's?

It's almost as big as she is!

I shouldn't be in charge of looking for pumpkins. Or making any decision, really. I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist, and even if I was faced with the perfect pumpkin, I'd find some flaw in it. We spent roughly looking for a pumpkin just for her. We found one that was small and round...almost like my little Brooklyn!

We tried looking for a pumpkin for me, but, surprisingly, none of them were perfect. :P The weather in Oregon was colder than normal this year, which led to a shortage in pumpkins. After searching for a little bit longer, we gave up, and decided to get us pumpkins either from the store, or, weather permitting, we'd go back to the pumpkin patch again!

Tomorrow is Brooklyn's 2 month appointment....which means shots. :/ I am not looking forward to that, which is why I made the appointment for later in the day, that way daddy could hold her and be the bad guy! 

Happy Family <3