Time to say Goodbye....

I love my sweet baby girl with all of my heart!

How could you not love this sweet little face?!

 I love her even when she decides to wake up at 1:00 am instead of 4:00 am for the last 2 weeks. And I even love her when she decides to get back to her good sleep schedule but stay awake for an hour after eating when I would much rather go back to sleep! I do not, however, need the extra pregnancy weight to prove my love to her! It is definitely time to be proactive about losing those extra pounds! So I am saying goodbye to my pregnancy weight, and I don't think I will miss it!

Brooklynn and I have started taking morning walks. We get up and go first thing in the morning because I know that I would not go otherwise. I found a great 5 mile (to my best estimation) loop and it takes about an hour and a half. And I think that next week I will start jogging part of it (I need time for my out of shape body that is carrying too much weight to work up to jogging with a stroller!).
Here's to losing weight!

So, my little girl is now 16 weeks old and will be 4 months in a week and a half!

She has been cracking me up with her love of her hands lately. She spends most of the day with her fingers in her mouth (I may have mentioned she is in the "gag yourself" phase) and will put anything she can get her hands on into her mouth. She gets so excited when she has something in her hand because she can't wait to eat it. More often than not her own hand gets in the way and makes it to her mouth first. This must not be as much fun because she gets this disappointed look on her face when she realizes she is eating her own hand! She now prefers her hand to her pacifier and will knock out her pacifier in order to get her fingers in there (which she has even done on occasion when she is eating. Who needs to eat for real when you have fingers to eat?!?)

She's about to get that cow!

Got it! Look at those eyes! SO cute!

Holy Cow! My little girl is getting so big!

Smiling at Daddy

Some cousin lovin'! I'm pretty sure she is eating Bryson as he eats her!

Sweet girl!

One Lucky Little Girl

(I've been meaning to do this post for quite awhile, but never got around to it)

Brooklynn is one lucky little girl!

She has so many talented Grandmas/Aunts/Great Aunts that love her!\

She was the recipient of 6 beautiful blankets/quilts, almost too many for one little girl! I love them all and I am sure that Brooklynn will love them as she grows.

Here are her beautiful quilts/blankets (in no particular order that would denote a favorite)
:

Beautiful butterfly quilt from my Aunt Gaye

Safari/Jungle Animal quilt from Eric's Aunt Mary Lou

Look at that cute appliqué zebra!

Blanket made by my Mom
(I'm so un-talented in this arena that I don't even know if this is crocheted or knitted!)

Love this pattern!

Nursery Rhyme quilt from my Aunt Sandy

Humpty Dumpty Fell off a Wall!

Quilt from my Aunt Penny....it is so big that I could only get a corner of it in the picture!
Brooklynn will be able to wrap herself up in this for many years!

Look at all those tiny squares! It must have taken forever to finish!

Blanket from Ali
(I'm pretty sure that this is crocheted b/c I don't think Ali knits.....)

We are so grateful for the love that has been showered on Brooklynn in the form of these beautiful blankets and quilts. Thank you to those who put so much time and effort into these wonderful creations!

15 weeks

Well, another week has gone by. Try as I might I just can't seem to stop the days from going by! And boy are they going by! It would even be nice if I could just slow down the pace of time...but no, we just can't control time.

Brooklynn continues to be a happy baby. She is still all about her hands and they are now constantly in her mouth. She prefers to suck on her index and middle fingers, but will occasionally just suck on her pointer or will add it to her other two. She is one of the slobberiest (spell check tells me this is not a word, but it should be) babies I know! She will soak through a teething bib (it is not confirmed as to whether or not she is actually teething) in less than an hour! She loves to put anything she gets her hands on into her mouth. She has recently become more interested in toys and her favorite is a little cow that we have named Molly. The look on her face when she she's Molly is very determined and says, "I am going to get you!" and then she does! Her grip and her grasp are improving, she still has a hard time holding onto things for long periods.

If you look closely you can see the slobber  dripping of her hand!

Molly!!

Slobber soaked bib!

I am so grateful that I am able to stay home with Brooklynn. It is such a blessing for me to be able to spend so much time with my sweet little girl and to have as much time as I have with her (even if it goes by way too fast). I love spending my day with her and being able to watch her grow and change. I love how she is so excited to see me when she wakes up from her naps (even though I know that it's not me she is happy to see, but that she is just happy that someone is coming to get her!) and sometimes her excitement even translates into exciting kicks and arm moving (if she managed to break out of her swaddling). I love that when she is really happy and excited she tries to eat me! I love how talkative she has become, especially in the morning. Most of all I just love her!

My cute little love bug!!

Camping Fun

This past weekend we went camping with Eric's family at Lake Chelan and it was Brooklynn's first camping trip! She absolutely loves being outside, so she had a blast! She did really well the whole weekend, in fact she slept 8 hours at night the whole time we were there (wish I could say the same about when we came home)! Camping to me is so relaxing that it always feels like I camping for much longer than I really am (definitely a good thing). It was so fun to spend time with Eric's family and to see all the grandkids running around and playing (there were 6 of them in all, including the 2 babies). Eric's brother, Steve, and his family (who we don't see all that often) came and so it was great to be able to spend time with them and their 2 boys. We even rented a boat and those brave enough to get in the water went on the inner tube as well. All in all it was a great long weekend filled with family, fun, and dutch oven cobbler!

Free photo collage personalized with Smilebox

Brooklynn is now 14 weeks old and, for the most part, continues to be a happy little girl. She is going through a phase where she will just randomly start screaming at the top of her lungs. As far as I can tell there is no reason for it. No fun for us at all!

When we got home from camping, I was getting a bath ready for Brooklynn and Eric was playing with her on the floor and he got a little laugh out of her. We've been trying to get her to laugh by tickling her and we've gotten these little grunts and a one syllable "laugh" (but mostly grunts). Whatever he was doing caused a string of her "laughs" and it was the cutest thing!

Speaking of baths, Brooklynn sure does love them!

Waiting for mommy to get my bath ready

Splish, splash!

Gotta wrap that baby up!!

Brooklynn still hasn't been willing to roll over for the camera, she's only done it once or twice since her first time and I think it's because she gets frustrated! But what she has been doing is turning herself in circles during tummy time. I put her down the other day and she turned herself 270 degrees! (She probably would have gone a full 360, but she got frustrated and was tired of being on her tummy so I decided I didn't need to torture her just to watch her do it!)

At this point she stopped to take a break and watch some TV (which I then turned off!)

I love how she crosses her feet when she is on her tummy, so cute!

If you look closely you can see that she is crying because she is so done!

I still have a hard time with how fast Brooklynn is growing. She just keeps getting bigger and bigger and along with that she gets stronger and stronger. I think I mentioned last week that she has started pushing her bum up when she gets her diaper changed. Well, the smart little cookie is understanding that she has control of her legs. When I put her in her carseat the other day (which she doesn't really like) she fought me! She pushed her bum up so that I had to struggle with her in order to strap her in. Little stinker!! 

Since we only have a one bedroom right now, Brooklynn just sleeps in a pack 'n' play in our bedroom. Her pack in play has a sleeper attachment that we have now had to remove! She kept kicking the edge of the pack 'n' play, which I am sure didn't really bother her but made me feel bad for her kick it and not take it off. Where did my sweet little infant girl go?

Our snug little baby in the sleeper her first week home

Just a few weeks ago...you can see her legs scrunched up! We even took the headrest thingy out and she still hit with her feet!

Such a big girl! No more sleeper!

How do you stop them from growing up too fast?!?!

I love this cute little face and her sweet smile!

3 Months!!

This happy little girl is 3 months old today! I feel like I am saying this all the time, but I really can't believe how fast time is flying by. I was looking at the picture I have posted of Brooklynn on Facebook and I already can't believe how tiny she used to be. I already miss that tiny little infant and holding that sweet little body. Brooklynn is just growing so fast and keeps getting bigger and bigger (there really is no stopping that, right?)

What does this adorable little 3 month old do? Let me tell you:

~She consistently sleeps at least 6 hours at night, and on occasion has slept 8 hours (like the last 2 nights!)

~She loves to stand up

~She loves to sit up (in your lap, in her bumbo, in the boppy...as long as she can do it she's happy)

~She rolled over (twice) yesterday, but has not been willing to repeat it so that we can get it on camera (and so Daddy can see it)

~She has really started to love her playmat. She loves to reach up and play with the hanging toys

~She has always loved her hands and now she loves to suck on her fingers (or her whole fist) or anything else that she manages to bring up to her mouth

~She loves having her diaper changed and gets so excited as soon you put her on the changing table. And now she likes to push her bum up in the air, which makes for a rather difficult time!

~She loves getting kisses (and mommy loves giving them, so it works out for everyone!)

~She has great head control and can lift her shoulders off the ground during tummy time

Aside from her amazing accomplishments she is the light of my life and the joy of my day. Her smile melts my heart. I can't imagine my life without her. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a mother and to have such an amazing little girl. 

Right after she ROLLED OVER for the first time!!

Can't get enough of those hands!

She'll even put them in Daddy's mouth

She loves to "eat" her mommy and daddy

With her friend Alice.

I wasn't fast enough getting the camera, but when Alice was first set down she grabbed onto Brooklynn's toes. It was SO cute!!

Since she was born in the summer I've pretty much always just swaddled her in a onesie because I didn't want  her to get too hot. It's started to cool off a bit, so I put her in jammies last night....can I just say that she is ADORABLE is her jammers!

I am SO in love with this girl! I can't get enough of her!!