Brooklynn is Sitting!

Yup, my little peanut is sitting up. All by herself. She is a little wobbly still, but she is sitting! Where does the time go?

Little Miss Chatterbox

Brooke is babbling away! Her favorite by far is: "ba ba ba" although she can say "ma ma" and has said "da da" although for "Daddy" she does a distinct "Dd" sound. She tries really hard and it's always when she's trying to talk about Josh. It is SO cute. The other night he had to work his Valet job and I had him read a story and pray for Brooke on a voicemail message. (Our bedtime routine) I played it for her and TWICE during the message she concentrated really hard and did her "Dddd" sound. I said, "that's right, it's Daddy!" and she looks so proud of herself. So cute I can hardly stand it. She mostly says "ba ba" sometimes if she is more talkative she says it all the live-long day. I much prefer the talking over the crying or whining.

Bum Genius!

My Bum Genius! cloth diapers just came! I'm so excited, they are so cute. I love how easy to use they are. (So far; I did just get them.) They go on just like disposables and the thing I'm most excited about is that they grow with baby so they will fit Brooke as long as she's in diapers. They are kinda pricey, one diaper is as much as a pack of diapers (a small pack, though.) But I figured out if Brooke uses 8 diapers a day of disposable, it costs about $700 a year. SO...this will end up saving several hundred dollars, this year alone. So far we only have 12 of the Bum Genius. We still have some disposable to use up. I plan on using the cloth and while I'm waiting to wash them we'll use the disposable. I'm still not sure how many I'll need to use these exclusively, but I'm super excited about them; not only the saving money part but also the cuteness factor. I have one of every color; white, pink, hot pink, yellow, light green, dark green, light blue, dark blue, yellow, orange, and then an extra light pink, white and green one. I love the idea of having a lot of pink ones for Brooke, but if we end up having a boy somewhere down the road I don't want him to have to wear a lot of pink diapers, so I'm going to try my hardest and use more of the neutral colors. My favorite neutral colors are the green and white.

Brooke showed her excitement for these diapers by immediately grabbing them and chewing on them. She always goes for the blue things; I think it might be her favorite color.

Brooke's Crazy Sleeping Positions

I think Brooke takes after me when it comes to sleeping positions. When I was younger I apparently would take off my diaper and then go back to sleep with my bare butt sticking straight up in the air. (My parents have a picture of this proudly displayed in our family album). There is also one of me "hanging" with my legs in between the rails. Who knows what else I did.
My lovely daughter, Brooklynn, is very funny in her sleep. It is almost as if she runs in an imaginary hamster wheel at night. I'll put her head facing one direction and when I go to get her up most of the time she is facing the other way. Sometimes she gets stuck halfway and will try and stretch out and can't. Then she cries for us...not because she doesn't like it. Almost like a "hey, look what I can do!" She won't fall asleep any more unless her head is jammed right up against her crib bumper, or my pillow if she is in bed with us. It's pretty cute. That is, until you realize that it's because her legs never stop moving, even in her sleep and she keeps kicking you right in the side. So funny. I sleep hugging a pillow so I don't mind; she usually just kicks Josh instead.

Brooke's Dancing

This was last week and was the first day she was noticably dancing! It was so cute. She would start bouncing in time with the music and get so excited! She did it all throughout the worship music at church and boy you should see her now! It's getting more exagerated and is extra cute. She loves to bounce in general, but she already loves music!

Busy Baby, Busy Mama!

Today in my spare time I did 5 loads of laundry, folded it all, AND...get this put it away! (that is a major accomplishment for me.) It only took me 12 hours to do that. Yeah, I finished about 10 pm. Seriously, why does laundry take so long and why do I have so much of it with a baby? It's not like her clothes are that big or I'm changing her clothes every 5 minutes. (although sometimes I do.)
I think partly why it took me so long is because Brooke barely let me put her down all day. so I had to do most of it during her naps, finally finishing after she went to bed. Which, she is in our bed, because she wouldn't even let me put her down in her crib. Josh is working tonight and I think she was missing her Daddy. I'm looking forward to snuggling up to her in a few minutes.
Brooke has been very busy; I can hardly keep track of everything new that she can do! I think one of my favorites is her dancing. She LOVES to dance, or sortof BOUNCE along to music. She likes to bounce all the time, my arms are getting quite the workout. Brooke can even sit up all by herself for a little bit. This started officially yesterday. She does pretty good but then will kinda lean one direction slowly and then plop down. Usually she goes forward toward her feet. She loves to stand and then likes to jump. And, she has been sleeping all the way until about 5 or 6 in the morning! (Except the other night she was up every hour and a half. It was worse than I remember mostly because she has been spoiling me with sleeping so well.) She will then eat, then sleep until about 8:00.
Brooke is also loving all kinds of games, and is actually a little ticklish now. She loves to laugh but usually you have to do something funny to make her laugh. She loves peek-a-boo and Patty Cake. She still loves it when I put my hair right in her face. (Weird, I know.) She is quite the swimmer, too. We've been to the pool several times and she loves the water. She loves bathtime, too. We got a little kiddie pool for her, too, on our balcony.
Well, I am off to bed. No pictures or videos this time because I have no time right now! Maybe I'll put more on the computer when Josh is home and can play with Brooke. Until then...just take my word that she is cuter than ever!

Brooklynn is 5 Months Old!

Brooke turns 5 months old today. I can hardly believe how fast she is growing up. She is really getting to have a lot of personality! Sometimes (like all of last week) it comes out in very draining ways, but mostly it is very fun and cute. She is REALLY close to sitting up all by herself. She is very acrobatic; doing all kind of flipping and rolling...she even can do summersaults. (I will post some video of those later; she has been keeping me too busy and has not been sleeping incredibly well so it has been hard to make any time to put things on the computer. That and our computer is really slow.) She is laughing and saying a lot of "Ba ba ba ba ba" We started playing the song "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys for her; because it sound like she is trying to sing it. She loves it, she gets really excited and starts dancing to it when she hears it. We had a little turn for the better (finally) the last few days, she has not been nearly as whiny. She has really been whining a lot from her teething. I think she is getting used to it or it's getting better because she has had 3 pretty good days in a row. YAY!

Here are some pics from my birthday dinner at Olive Garden. (Thanks, Mom & Dad, for the gift cards!)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Josh!

It is so fun to see Josh as a Father. I thought I loved him a lot before, now when I look at him holding our baby girl, interacting with her, rocking her, even just looking at her my heart melts all the more.

Brooke can't talk yet but I know if she could she would say something along the lines of, "I love you, Daddy. Thank you for always being there for me, you are the best Daddy in the whole world. Now lets go watch some basketball together."

I'm excited to watch you continue to grow as a father.

Twenty Eleven

Josh calls my turning 31 "Twenty Eleven".
I don't feel any older. I do feel worn out. Brooke is still in her teething/whiny faze. She was a little better on my birthday which is nice. I just had to have her in the MobyWrap for 3 hours to accomplish that.
Josh has been spoiling me all week with "Birthday Week" giving me presents every day and hanging up cute signs throughout our apartment. He is such a sweetie. I love him. :)Thanks for making my birthday special!(By the way, one of my theories of Brooke's whinyness this week is because she is jealous that it is MY birthday week and she has to share all of the attention.)
We are celebrating on Friday by going out to dinner. I get to wear a new outfit. Yay! Clothes that fit me! Thanks, honey!

I am SO OVER the teething-induced whining!

Ever since Monday morning Brooke has been whining. All the live-long day. It's driving me crazy. I don't know what to do with her. I am pretty sure it's related to teething; she is chewing on everything in between her whining. I've tried Baby Orajel, I've tried Tylenol, I've tried putting her down for a nap, I've tried getting her up b/c maybe she's tired of sleeping. I've tried being very focused with her b/c maybe she feels neglected. I tried taking her to the zoo for some fresh air and some fun. (That actually helped a little, she didn't whine quite as much there.) I've tried changing her diaper, letting her be JUST in her diaper, putting her in warmer clothes, I've tried letting her sleep in her crip, letting her sleep in bed with us, letting her sleep in her stroller or in the car...basically everything I can think of and nothing is working. I can't wait until she cuts those teeth because maybe it will give all of us a break.

Storehouse Beach Baptism

Around 3:30/4:00 in the afternoon it got FREEZING! The baptism wasn't scheduled to start until 7:00 so that meant several hours of waiting in the cold. It was a bonding experience. Look how foggy it was! We all prayed that it wouldn't start storming and God heard us! It didn't rain until we went home. Yay! (I guess we also should have prayed for warmth?)


I think Brooke thought she was going to get baptized. Look how sad she was when we broke the news to her that she wasn't going in the water this time!

7 People got baptized! Yay!

Yay, we made it without any rain! Some of us wentto Mack & Manco's Pizza afterwards to eat. Yum.

How I Found Brooke This Morning...

So most mornings Josh takes Brooke out to play while he gets ready for work and I sleep for another half hour to hour until he has to leave when he brings he into me or wakes me up. Most mornings when I go out she is playing contently. This morning she was WAILING on her gym, almost like she was kickboxing it. I am NOT a morning person, but this actually woke me up, it was so amuzing. She is so funny.

Brooke's New Tent

We needed a beach tent for Brooke for the summer. We finally found one and we love it! Brooke is really excited about it. I didn't quite capture her excitement, but she was SQUEALING with delight when I first put her in it.

Silly Baby

Brooke figured out how to blow raspberries. She does it constantly now. It's hilarious. She is very proud of herself, too. Like she has been working SO hard for so long to do it and now she is like, "HEY! I finally got it! Did you see it? How about now?"

Uncle Dennis Comes for a Visit

Brooke's Great Uncle Dennis came over last night for dinner to meet Brooke! She was very excited about it. (So were Josh and I). Thanks for coming! It was great to see you!

Brooke was VERY excited about the clothes he brought for her! I've never seen a baby this small so in tune with fashion. She is going to make her Mommy VERY proud at the mall.

Brooke is Rolling!

Brooke's First Trip to the Pool!

So our pool is officially open! Josh and I celbrated by taking Brooke down for her debut pool experience. She LOVED it! We knew she would. The water was FREEZING but she didn't seem to mind. (Except at the end, her legs were in and when I put her down a little more so her belly got wet she started crying. I think she gets that from her Mommy.)

The Many Trials of Starting Solid Foods...

Well, we're very excited to get Brooke started on solid foods, the Doctor has given us the OK, I'm excited for her to take to them since she won't take a bottle and maybe then someone else could feed her while I did a Pampered Chef party or some errands or even had some time to myself...so far she likes to eat her foot more instead. I think she likes the food, but she still needs her foot in her mouth to make herself swallow? Or maybe she likes the skin contact? I'm not really sure. Maybe she like that she can reach them so well in her high chair. Or maybe she is being sneaky by breaking the good old rule, "no feet on the table" while she is still young enough to get away with it.
If she isn't eating her foot she is eating her bib or even falling asleep. Or pooping. Pretty much anything except actually eating. I know she wants to. I had her on my lap today while I at a bowl of cereal and she kept trying to eat my bowl and grab my spoon.
I know she is just starting so I'm not too stressed about it. I think it's pretty funny and am enjoying this cute stage.