Monday, November 26, 2012

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!

Friday, November 9, 2012

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!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

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. 

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

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.  

Friday, November 2, 2012

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."

Thursday, November 1, 2012

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!!