Brooklyn 6 Months

Oh my goodness! How has it been half a year since this little girl came into our lives!!!??? Everybody warns you when you are going to have a baby that it goes by too fast and they are so very very right.  On Brooklyn's 6 month birthday I was feeling super nostalgic so I put on the no slip grip socks I had gotten at the hospital and I looked through the blog book pages of when she was born.



Some noteworthy things about Brooklyn at 6 months:

1) This little girl just babbles and babbles and smiles away.

 2) I love catching her looking at me and then the BIG smile I get.

3) She is getting so good at sitting on her own.  I still need to be close-by cause she is a little wobbly.
4) Stats: 14.62lbs (18th percentile), 24.75 inches (7th percentile), 16 inch head circumference (15th percentile)
5) Brooklyn is VERY attached to Mama.  If I leave her sight she starts crying the saddest little cry.  We were at the grocery store the other day  and I was pushing her stroller and stopped for a minute and she couldn't feel me pushing so she thought I had left her and the tears just welled up in her eyes and as soon as she saw me she was fine.  It's really hard for me to leave her because I know it's hard for her and whoever is watching her cause she will cry for a good 45 minutes straight :( What can you do? They say that good or bad everything is a stage so we'll just go with that.
6) Brooklyn loves our neighbor girl Maha.  Whenever Maha comes over she is all smiles.


7) She has FINALLY slept through the night!! And it's been all my fault that she hasn't been sooner.  I had been feeding her about every 2 hours cause I would get nervous that she was hungry and didn't know any better.  I was reading some online forums at babycenter.com about getting your baby to sleep through the night and somebody suggested that if your baby is snacking throughout the day they will do the same at night. So I decided to try feeding her every 3 hours and keeping her up for two hours at a time rather than only one.  And lo and behold that very same night she only woke up once to eat.  Then I switched to every four hours and she slept for eleven hours straight!!!!!!!!! Two days after I had read that comment and implemented those things I got from the library per recommendation of my sister and aunt the book "The Baby Sleep Solution". And it says the same thing get your baby to eat every four hours during the day and they will sleep through the night. WHY didn't somebody tell me this!?!?! It was the easiest fix ever.  Oh well sometimes we just learn through trial and error (and google searches).
8) Her bottom two teeth came in! I didn't even really notice she was teething.  But one day she grabbed my hand and stuck my fingers in my mouth as if to say "Feel these mom!" And there were to little teeth popping through her gums.
9) Wearing 6 month clothes and size 1-2 diapers.  
10) Eats rice cereal, peas, and carrots.

Oh Christmas Tree!

This past Saturday there was a Christmas tree lighting downtown at an outdoor plaza called The Grove.  We took Brooklyn all bundled up and in the baby jogger.  There were a ton of people but it felt very small community'ish.  When we first got to the plaza we were handed candles and asked someone to "give us a light" haha.  There was a really great band singing and playing Christmas carols that we sang and danced along with. At 6:30pm they lit the huge tree in the middle. It felt so festive. When we got home we all got in our Christmas pajamas. We decided that rather than open Christmas pj's Christmas Eve we would open them right after Thanksgiving so we could enjoy them the whole Christmas season. Brooklyn's were the only Christmas themed ones. We put Brooky Bear to bed and got out the Christmas decorations and started decorating the tree to the sound of Michael Buble's Christmas CD. Each year I have gotten a few more decorations to our tree but stuck to the same theme. Our tree has gotten more and more full of decorations and I love it. My two favorite ornaments this year are the Baby's First Christmas ornament I made for Brooklyn and the Orphanage Support Services Organization ornament I ordered to help support one of the orphanages down in Ecuador. My husband always knows how to make me laugh Brooklyn's First Christmas tree ornament The final product. The next morning I sat Brooklyn in front of the tree to get her reaction. I'm actually surprised she isn't more mesmerized by the lights and sparkly ornaments.

Our Lil' Fam's Thanksgiving Meal Together

I was a little bummed that Thomas and I didn't have a chance to sit down and really enjoy a Thanksgiving meal together.  To remedy the situation I decided to make our own Thanksgiving meal the following weekend.  I had been wanting to try out some recipes anyway so it gave me a good excuse.  We got a small Butterball turkey, made homemade cranberry sauce, candied yams, mashed potatoes, gravy, and then poppped some pre-made frozen rolls in the oven.

 I know I have had candied yams and cranberry sauce that I like but I wasn't a huge fan of the ones I made this year. The sauce was a little too sour (probably because I made a healthified version that didn't have any sugar) and the yams too sweet. But the rest of the meals was oh so yummy and it came together pretty quick. I love having Thomas around to help prepare food because he doesn't mind doing the slicing and dicing which is the part I hate. We make a good team. Brooklyn sat next to us in her chair and was happy as a clam so we all were able to enjoy a nice meal together.

Brooklyn's First Thanksgiving

Saturday before Thanksgiving we headed to Yakima to help my mom paint.  Brooklyn had some good Nana and Pops time.

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That Tuesday we did a mock Thanksgiving feast at Old Country Buffet with Thomas' parents, my parents, Grandpa Clement, and niece Lexi.




Afterwards my parents and I continued the tradition of seeing a movie after the Thanksgiving meal and went to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2. Loved it! It finished up the series so well.

On actual Thanksgiving Day we started off with a Turkey Trot I had planned. I made an event for it on Facebook and Thomas handed out fliers at work. And.... we were the only ones to show up. Haha.  Oh well.  Looking on the bright side of things, we were glad we had made the commitment to go out and get some exercise (and we didn't have to pay any money for it) and we want to make it a tradition on Thanksgiving morning.



We tagged along with our friends Dan and Lyndsay Howell to Dan's sister's house to celebrate with their family.  They were all so nice and inviting I totally felt at ease.  Thomas could only stay for about an hour before he had to leave for work.  Brooklyn and I stuck around.  She helped me not overindulge by keeping me on my toes and from eating much at all :) Poor baby was exhausted and couldn't sleep with all the action going on.

So We Had a Bad Day

We haven't had the best of luck with the Brooklyn and church combination.  She isn't old enough to stay awake for three hours in a row and even if she was it seems that nap time always coincide with church time.  We have had to skip out on church a few times or leave early because of a meltdown.  Today Thomas and I were in our jammies all day dealing with a VERY cranky baby.  We have never had such a hard time calming her down and getting her to sleep as we did today.  It took us 2 1/2 hours to get her to sleep for her first nap of the day and she cried the whole time.  It didn't matter if we were holding her or she was laying down in her crib.  We tried a warm bath, gripe water, teething gel. bouncing, rocking. walking, just letting her be... and nothing work.  Til finally Thomas went to Walgreens to get some more gripe water and a laid her down but with her head propped up in the Boppy and put the mobile on and lied down next to her and she fell asleep.  Buuuuttttt only for thirty minutes which I don't consider a real restorative nap for her.  So then after thirty minutes of being away the crying commenced again.  Thomas decided to take her on a walk in the stroller and let me stay at home to de-stress.  They were gone for about an hour and she slept pretty much the whole way.  I enjoyed a nice hot bath with bath salts from the farmer's market and then felt the urge to clean my messy house.  Sometimes a clean house is just the ticket to a better mood.  By the time they got back the laundry was sorted and washer started, bedroom clean, and dining room table cleared of the accumulated junk with a vanilla creme brulee candle going.  Ahhhh! So much better.
We are thinking she might be having tummy issues because of starting solids.  She started being more fussy than normal the day after we tried avocado's so we will eliminate those and hope that helps.  Poor baby it just breaks my hear hearing her cry and not knowing how to help.
I'm hoping we survive this week alone without the help of Thomas!

November Book Club

This was my third book club and I was the host this month.  My friend Jillian was in this book club and her and I had a couple of conversations about good books so she thought I might like to join and she was right.  I am always looking for a good book to read. We take turns hosting and whoever hosts picks that month's book.  I chose the book "Bloom" by Kelle Hampton.

 This month everybody brought a pie in honor of Thanksgiving.  There was a little smaller of a crowd this time so we had lots of pie for the six of us!

Oreo peanut butter fudge pie. So yummy found the recipe on Pinterest.

We had lots of really good discussion about the book and I loved hearing people's different opinions.  It's fun hearing a viewpoint that is different than your own. Lots of chatting and eating yummy pies.  Brooklyn didn't want to miss out on the fun so she woke up and got some lovin' from the ladies. 

Next month we are meeting at Carino's and wearing ugly sweaters, should be fun!

Brooklyn's First Sick Day

Sunday night when I got up to feed Brooklyn at 1am she started throwing up and then dry heaving about every 20 minutes or so for a couple hours. Broke my heart! I was worried to put her back in her bassinet after the first time she threw up cause I didn't want her to choke so I held and rocked her in the glider.  She would fall asleep and then start whimpering and I would hold her over the garbage to throw up.  We later ended up in bed together.  Luckily it was just a couple of hours that she was sick and there was no fever.  I'm thinking there could have been a few reasons she got sick: being on an airplane with lots of germs, not getting enough sleep that weekend from traveling, and from drinking a bottle of breastmilk that had been in the fridge for 4 days (They say 3 days but up to 8 days is safe. We'll stick with 1-2 days for now on.). 
So glad my girly is all smiles and healthy again. 

Time Out for Women

My MIL, three sister in laws, niece Tiffany and her friend, and I (and my little sidekick) all traveled to a Time Out for Women event in Portland this past weekend. 
Brooklyn and I flew to Portland.  I was nervous all week about flying with a baby but she did wonderfully.  And people are so kind when you have a baby.  Every step of the way I had strangers asking me if they could help.  There are good, kind people in this world.  The first flight I tried sitting next to a lady with two kids, a toddler and a baby, because I figured she wouldn't mind if the baby cried or if I nursed Brooklyn.  But the flight attendant let us know that there can't be two lap children in one row because there are only 4 oxygen masks per row.  So a lady behind me switched me and I sat in between her 11 year old niece and boyfriend.  I felt bad for the guy cause I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable with me nursing next to him but he was really nice and even commented that he liked my nursing cover haha.  Brooklyn ate and then fell asleep for the rest of the flight.
My MIL and sister in law Wendy picked us up from the airport and then dropped us off at my best friend from high school's place so we could see her and her family, including her two week old twin boys.  They are SO tiny and adorable and just slept the whole five hours or so I was there except when they ate.  I remember those days :)

 And her little two year old Collin is so sweet and read to Brooklyn and gave her hugs and kisses.  It was so nice to be able to catch up with Rachel.  I was thinking about it today now that we are home and amazed at how refreshed and energized she seems with two new babies and a toddler! Rachel is one of those friends that I can always pick up with right where we left off.
That evening we met the rest of my SIL's at the event center and heard some great talks and performances by a beautiful violinist Jenny Oaks Baur.  My favorite talk from that night was about forgiveness.  The speaker explained that how we can know that we have truly forgiven someone is that we can talk or think about the situation without getting emotionally charged over it. 

That night we stopped at Red Robin for a late dinner.  I stayed in the car with sleeping Brooklyn while everyone got dinner to go.  My MIL was so sweet and ordered mine for me to take back to the hotel. 
The next morning we were back at the event center at 9am til 3pm.  A lot of the time I was out with Brooklyn cause she wanted to be moving around but they broadcast it out in the big hall and in the big mother's lounge.  I got some good snuggle time with my girl while being uplifted by insipiring messages. 
It made my heart so happy to have Brooklyn be around her Grandma and Aunt's and cousin Tiffany.  I worry sometimes that she won't be loved as much as I want her to be loved (Is this a normal mom fear? ).  Having everybody ask to hold her and loving on my little baby just put my heart at ease.  It's the best to see your child be loved. 
Brooklyn cracks me up because she is SO social. As we are walking through the airport she makes eye contact with people and will just stare at them smiling till they notice her and smile back.  On the airplane ride back she was fussing a bit at first and the ladies in the row across from us would start talking to her and she immediately would stop fussing and get this huge smile on her face.  She was quite the attraction on the plane.  After eating and playing a bit on the last flight she fell asleep for the last little bit. 
We were both happy to see our man and spend the rest of the day together as a family.  

Return of the first grade funnies

Since I am tutoring a first grader I am excited to keep adding to the first grade funnies. Here are some conversations that have come up recently:

She saw me kiss Thomas goodbye and told me that you shouldn't kiss in front of your kids.  I told her, "When you grow up you will kiss your husband." To which she replied, "No, because I am going to be a fairy.  First fairy."
I'm not sure if first fairy is like the first lady in which case she would have to be married to the first fairy/wizard president. 

I am tutoring her in reading and writing and sometimes randomly she will interrupt the reading to say things like this for example: "You don't look like you  from America.  You look like you from France.  Cause you have gold hair."

Halloween Costume

Brooklyn had some more opportunities to show off her costume on Halloween.  First we went to her daddy's work.  She was laughing and babbling away as we walked in and then she was literally swarmed by everybody and it kind of scared her haha.  Thomas' boss took us to two different departments cause she wanted to show them Brooklyn's costume.  When I was leaving and in the elevator this lady was admiring her costume and says "Ooooo! Look at those ruffle panties!"  Haha!
Then I took my little witchy to visit teach Carol who lives in an assisted living home.  Everybody there loved her costume too.  And one lady who worked there had me take her to the front desk so the ladies there could see her.  EVERYBODY all day kept asking if I made her costume.  I wish I could have said yes but I was honest and let them know that my sister did it and gave them her ETSY shop name.  Thanks so much Bea!!! I think that would be a cute tradition to have each baby's first Halloween costume be crocheted by Aunt Bea.
At the ward trunk or treat I even had somebody ask to take a picture of Brooklyn in her costume.
Here is a shot of her guarding the candy like a good little witch :) I was really surprised that she didn't mind the hat at all.

She took her job very seriously! If anyone took more than one piece of candy she had that broom ready to swat em' with.

If you are looking for cute baby crocheted items my sister's ETSY shop is called "Love Wrapped Hats and Props".  She is also on Facebook.  I found the hat pattern and diaper cover pattern and she custom made them for me so I'm sure if you have an idea she can make it happen.  
Thanks again Aunt Bea!!

Brooklyn's Halloween Photo Shoot

My sister Briana has always gotten her kids pictures taken for Halloween and I've thought it is the cutest idea.  I knew I wouldn't be able to capture the cuteness with my own camera and lack of photography skills so we found a local photographer to do it. 
You can tell in the first pictures she is just staring at the camera like "what is going on?".  haha although I wanted her to smile it is fun to remember "the look" she gets when the camera comes out. 
Towards the end the photographer pulled out a toy that played music and I started dancing and the smiles appeared. 
Love that little witchy of mine.

5 months

This little girl makes me SO happy! My favorite thing in the world is going to get her from her bassinet/rocker when she wakes up from a nap or in the morning.  She gives me the biggest smile ever and is so happy to see me.  It doesn't matter that it's 6:30 in the morning, I am a happy mama to see that smile.

At 5 months Brooklyn...
- Goes to bed around 7pm and generally sleeps for 12-13 hours. Wakes up 2-3 times to eat.
- Takes 1 hour naps randomly throughout the day.

-  Is working on sitting up.  She will lean forward over her spread out legs and can balance for a few seconds before she starts to topple.
- Loves to watch us eat.  I noticed that she starts to move her mouth and imitate the motion of chewing and will start to drool even more when watching us eat.
- Will tolerate tummy time if she is laying horizontal across my tummy or on my shins airplane style.
- Is starting to be more interested and engaged when I am reading her books.  (She really tries to eat them)
- LOVES dancing with us to music.  Her faves are Taylor Swift and Justin Beiber (a girl after my own heart).  She smiles and giggles when we dance.
- Giggles when I make exaggerated faces at her, when dancing, and when getting kisses.
- As soon as a camera comes out she gets a straight face and just stares at the camera.
- Wears size 1 diapers
- Still really enjoys being out around other people. But she wants her mama nearby.  During the day if I set her down and walk out of her sight a lot of times she cries.  I really want her to be able to go to anyone and not have separation anxiety but it's hard when she is just with me the majority of the time.  She loves her mama.
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