Big Changes

I decided to put Brooklynn in her crib tonight. I'll probably bring her in our room for the rest of the night when she wakes up (baby steps) but I'm pretty proud of myself. It only took a really hard last couple of days to get over my slump of separation anxiety.
I also realized that I put her to bed in our room and then get her up to feed her when we go to bed anyway. She's by herself in either room so I might as well get her used to her crib. I'm still debating if I should wake her up like usual to feed her before I go to bed or see how long she'll go without waking her up.
Side note: Brooke took an entire nap on her tummy today. I can't believe it. She has grown to love tummy time so much she hardly rolls back over to her back at all anymore. Now she'll roll from her back TO her tummy because she likes it. I'm not sure if she still knows how to do it anymore.

My New Friends

We spent the day at Sadie's house today (and Jasmine and Brady's house). Brooke has two new friends now, Sadie and Madeline. Thanks for playing with Brooklynn! We can't wait to see you again!

New Milestone

Brooke rolled over from her back to her belly today! She can now roll in both directions. She is still perfecting both of them. She likes to be on her tummy so she doesn't try to roll over to her back very much. I'm nervous she's going to constantly roll onto her tummy now.
I think this is very early, but I'm pretty sure it's due to her tall/skinny nature.

Taxes

Brooke had to help me (She won't let us put her down except at night to sleep) but we finally got our taxes done! Yippee!

More Bathtime Fun

Brooke continues to love the bath. In fact, if we ever can't get her to stop crying; we start filling up the bathtub and she calms right down.

Getting out is always sad...she would stay in the tub all night if we let her.

Look how curly her hair is getting!

Brooke's New Favorite Toy

We tried putting Brooke in her Exersaucer a few weeks ago but she was just too little and floppy and only lasted about 30 seconds. She has been doing SO good with her head control lately that I decided to try again today. (After a much needed nap). She did great! We still have to watch her really closely when her head starts to get heavy but she lasted about 10 minutes or so. She is even playing with the toys a little. It's so cute. I can tell she will REALLY like it in a few months. Thanks again to the Falcones for this awesome gift! She LOVES it!

Up to No Good...

So, Brooke was suppose to be taking a nap. I actually put her in her crib sound asleep and when she kinda opened her eyes, she noticed the crib mirror. She talked an laughed and even fake cried for about 45 minutes. It was hilarious. This mirror has been in her pack and play for a while but I'm guessing she hadn't noticed it because of where it was. I think I might need to move it if she's ever going to get any sleep.

Homemade Blankets

My Grandma made both of these blankets for Brooklynn. (Her Great-Grandma). They are gorgeous and Icherish them. It's so special to have something homemade, especially by your Great Grandma.

The blanket on the left was made by my friend Julie for Brooklynn. I love it. I'm especially excited about this one for the warmer months because it's thin and most of our blankets are super-warm because Brooke was born in January. We don'thave many thin ones.
The blanket on the right was made by my Mom's cousin Kath. It is beautiful! She said she made the border purple for a boy OR a girl (pink plus blue is purple). She also made mathing booties that aren't in the picture.

The yellow straggly one was Mommy's security blanket. I can see why she liked it, it tastes pretty good!

These other three I made for Brooklynn when I was pregnant. The green and yellow one matches my nursery and is knit. It took my whole pregnancy. The blue one and the pink one were crocheted and were much faster. I made a pink one if we had a girl and a blue one if we had a boy. I love them and we use them both (even though we had girl we still use the blue one, too.)

This banket was made by Nell (pictured below). Nell is one of the girls that I used to babysit. Nell just turned 10 and is VERY good at knitting and crocheting. We are super excited to have an entire blanket made by Nell.

Thank you, everyone who made us a blanket! Brooke has a lot of blankets already, and she loves them all! We will cherish them always.

Brooke's 2-month checkup

Brooke had her 2-month checkup today! She is still tall for her age, measuring 24 1/4 inches (that is still above the 95 percentile.)

Her weight is up to 11 pounds, 8 ounces. That made her jump from the 50th percentile to the75th percetile! So, she is getting plentyto eat! We thought she looked a little more evened out so that is encouraging.

I forget what her head measurement was because they forgot to write it down. But it was similar to last month.

Brooke had to get 5 immunizations today. :( One was oral like medicine and she was alreadycrying her head off for that one. The nurse kinda laughed and said, "This is the EASY one!" Then she had the other 4 by needle and boy was that tramatic for both of us. She was very upset. Each time she kept looking at me like, "WHY are you letting them do this to me?!"

The good news is that she did NOT have an ear infection. She had been playing with her ears lately and I was slightly nervous. Turns out she just is discovering her ears. She still pulls her hair all the time. I have to ground her from using her hands sometimes when she pulls so hard it makes her cry(by putting mittens on her). I am convinced that she is trying to get our attention by crying but she is such a happy baby she can't just cry, she has to hurt herself to make herself cry.

Today she was in her crib exhausted and trying to sleep but she has discovered the mirror I have in there and she kept laughing and staring at herself. This went on for at least half an hour until Josh came home for lunch and rescued her. When he went in she went from laughing to developing a huge, dramatic pout. She definitely knows how to work Daddy. It's hilarious. I tried to take a picture of this pout and she just smirked at me like, "See...Daddy will take me out. Ha ha, Mommy."

She is doing really well overall. She slept through the night twice now, both times we were at our church retreat. When we came home she was back to waking up a couple of times a night. I'm not sure why. She goes right back to sleep, though and barely makes any noise. Josh hardly ever wakes up and she is still in our room. I just moved the bassinet out into the living room and set up the pack & play in our room. (It's a test run, we had the pack & play at the retreat, I'm wondering if it's because she's more comfortable in there?). I've also been trying to give her naps in her crib in her room to get her used to sleeping there. We'll see. I'm still not emotionally ready to let her sleep at night in there. I also love the convenience of her being so close when I do have to feed her. I don't even have to get out of bed. We're slowly transitioning and maybe by next month she'll be sleeping in her room. (or at least we'll try it by then?)

Brooke Visits the Zoo!

Brooke loved her first trip to the zoo! It was a beautiful day, but a tiny bit chilly. She warmed up with her animal-print hat and gloves that was a gift from her Great-Aunt Bobbie. She slept through the first half of the zoo and then was very interested in everything (animals as well as random things like trash cans, I think she was taking in EVERYTHING). She loves to be outside, loves people and I think she loved the animals. It's hard to tell because she just stared at everything, but I was excited to get a little exercise in the zoo. I love the zoo. I plan to take her there often.

Aunt Betsey Comes for a Visit

Aunt Betsey came to meet Brooklynn and to visit Josh and I for her spring break. We had a great time, even though we didn't do tons of stuff. We did venture out to the park, go for a walk and get ice cream. Mostly we all just hung out and Betsey and Grandma Bean had some time to get to know Brooklynn. She loved all the attention.

Brooke and Betsey BOTH took a nice nap together.

Brooke participated in a push-up contest with Aunt Betsey and Daddy. Brooke won, of course.

Grandma Bean came, too, and Brooklynn was SO excited to see her again!

Thanks for coming to visit! We love you and miss you already!

Brooke Dreaming

Brooke is quite the active dreamer. (Just like her Daddy.)

Brooke Rolling Over

Brooke Talking to Josh

Brooke Meets the Murrays

Brooke finally got to meet the Murrays this last week! (The Murrays are the kids I babysat for the last few years.) We were all very excited for this moment to happen, especially Brooklynn.


Here is Brooklynn with Nell, the oldest. Brooke is modelling a blanket that Nell made for her. Nell is very excited to babysit for Brooke when they both get a little older. (They all are...they think it is fascinating that I babysat them and now they can help babysit my kids.)


This is Brooke and Camille, the second oldest. Brooke helped Camille to change her first diaper, ever. Brooke did her best by making it a poopy one. Camille is quite a natural.

This is Page holding Brooke. Page is the youngest, but he just turned 5, which means he is pretty old. Page was REALLY hoping to share Brooke's birthday, and so were we since we were in labor the ENTIRE day (January 22nd) but it came and went. I guess now you still have your own special days.

Here are the kids with Laura.

Even Deechen, their cat, wanted to sniff around. He was VERY interested when it was time to feed Brooke, but I had to explain to him that cats don't get to drink human milk.


Thanks for playing with us! We're excited to see you all again soon!