And 19 turns to 20

Week 19 went by SO fast (and now week 20 is almost half over)!! I can't believe that my baby girl is almost 5 months old! Our friends had a baby a month or so ago and every time I see that sweet little boy I miss my tiny little girl. I know that Brooklynn is still little, but I feel like I did not savor her infancy enough. I miss holding that tiny little body in my arms and I really can't believe how fast they grow! I enjoy the baby that she is now and I love the milestones that she is reaching as she grows and develops, but part of me wishes we were back to the just got home from the hospital stage!

Brooklynn has been a little cranky lately, thank you teething, and is still not sleeping as well as she used to. Not loving the regression of waking up to eat every 3 hours! She hasn't done that since she was 2 weeks old! But she is still super cute and lovable.

She is getting so strong and usually exhibits her strength by pulling my hair! Ow!

One of her new favorite things is to stand on the floor in front of you, holding your hands of course. She LOVES doing this. If she is facing forward she will turn her head back and look at me with a huge smile on her face, she just thinks she is such a big girl! She also likes to stand and hold herself up on a table, the bathtub, or anything that is her height.

Speaking of bathtubs, I decided that it was finally time to move Brooklynn out of the infant bathtub and into the real bathtub for bath time. She loves it! She gets so excited to splash around and kick. 

Brooklynn has become quite the talker lately. And she seems to have found her voice in the form of screeching! Yup, we have a screecher! Makes for good times!

Her new talking face (when she isn't screeching!)

We have definitely had some exciting moments the last week and a half!

We started Brooklynn on rice cereal last Tuesday. A lot of days she was eating every two hours, or less on occasion, and I was hoping that it would help her to sleep better at night. She's still getting used to it, but I think she likes it. The hard part for us is that she doesn't like to sit still to be fed! And she would much rather be feeding herself, or at least have her hands in the mix. So far it hasn't helped the sleeping, but that's ok.

First bite...

and we got a smile!

This is what happens when you sneeze into your spoon!

Probably the most exciting thing is that Brooklynn has been working on her sitting skills! She's getting pretty good and will last a minute or two, unless she sees something interesting and has to reach for it! She still needs to work on her balance, but she's getting there!

Just some more pictures from the last week and a half:

I love it when they eat their own feet! So cute!!

This is how the cool kids use their pacifiers

Just hanging out with the girls!

Mauling cousin Chloe!

LOVE THIS FACE!!!

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Weekend of Fun

This past weekend we went to Wapato to see Eric's parents and to have a girls craft day. We had tons of fun spending time with his parents and our nieces and nephew. (It's kind of sad when Nicole lives like 15 minutes from us and we have to both drive all the way to Wapato to spend time with her and Bryson! Horrible!) We only saw Addison and Chloe for a short time, but they are cute as ever!

(The only picture I was able to get with Chloe and Addison in it. I just barely missed Brooklyn and Chloe giving each other loves)

Brooklynn seemed to really enjoy her time with Bryson. Anytime he was around she would crane to be able to look at him. She didn't even mind him sticking his fingers in her mouth and poking her face. And she definitely tried to eat him as much as he tried to eat her. Perhaps they will be good friends!

I LOVE this picture!

We girls ended up making Fall Wreaths. I have never actually made a wreath before, but have wanted to so it was great! I love crafting and I have really wanted to start some projects (I still haven't started mine and Eric's scrapbook or Brooklynn's) but I just don't have the space to do it right now. Hopefully that will change really soon!

My finished product.....I think it turned out pretty good.

We put her in the highchair while we ate breakfast...she looks so tiny in it! (And super relaxed!)

Big smiles for he Aunt Dani

It was FREEZING in our house when we got home so she snuggled under the blanket with Daddy.

Cuddle Baby

Lately I have really been wishing that I had a cuddly baby. Brooklynn is just WAY too active and doesn't like sitting still long enough to cuddle. Lately it is rare to get her to actually sit in your lap. She would much prefer to be standing in your lap than sitting in it! She does have her rare moments of cuddle time, but hopefully my time will come with her!

My little active girl is 18 weeks old (well, since it's Thursday she's probably closer to 19 weeks now)!!

She is seriously getting so big and learning new skills all the time! She is developing her hand-eye coordination and getting really good at putting her pacifier in her mouth! A lot of times she is just putting the flat side in to chew on, but she will on occasion get the nipple in as well! She is really into toys right now and will reach for them during tummy time. We have fun putting them out of her reach and watching her get them! 

Look at that reach!

Another of her new thing is to pick things up. She will bend in half so that she can get something that she dropped or just something that has caught her eye (like the remote on the coffee table)! She is way interested in whatever she can get her hands on and will grab at it like nobody's business, which can be very helpful when I am, say, taking a drink of water. It is so great to have someone tip the glass for you!

She is getting closer and closer to being mobile. Yesterday she started pushing herself up farther than I have seen her do so far, pushing enough to get her belly off the floor. And a few times she pushed herself high enough so that she was on her knees! 

Look at that! Watch out world!

 She has been turning herself in circles for the past month or so, and now she has added scooting backwards to her repertoire. Guess it's time to think about baby proofing! 

She is getting better and better at sitting herself up and is close to sitting on her own. She makes me laugh when she sits to far forward and she ends up face-planting the couch! So funny!! 

Brooklynn has also been teething for the last few weeks, if not a month or so. She continues to drool enough in one day to fill a kiddie pool! And she is chewing on anything that she can get her hands on, including our hands. She hasn't gotten to the super crabby, "I'm a beast" stage....but she has had small moments of it. 

I can't say enough how much I love my little girl! I have so much fun with her during the day and I am so glad that I can be home with her. I don't know if I have mentioned lately how great of a Daddy Eric is, but he is so amazing! He loves her so much and he is so good with her. When he comes home from work he spends as much time with her. I have to almost fight him for Brooklynn time on the weekends! He is the master at putting her to sleep at church (for some reason I just can't seem to get her to go to sleep at church)!

I am so grateful for my beautiful little family!

"I'm so glad when Daddy comes home!"

Love, love, love that sweet face!

4 months already??

It's almost impossible to believe that 4 months have gone by already! It feels like just yesterday that we were in the hospital and seeing Brooklynn for the first time (cliché, I know, but it's true).

So, what's new with our 4 month old??

First, and foremost, she finally rolled over on camera! She's rolled over a few times here and there but I hadn't been able to catch it on video. I still don't think she's made the connection that she is the one that is rolling herself over, but she is doing it more and more.  She also likes to scoot in circles during tummy time, she will do a complete 360 if she happy enough to last that long.

She has a recent obsession with sucking in her lower lip! I don't know what the obsession is, but it has consumed her since last Saturday!

She responds to tickling with some giggles. She even had a pretty big giggle fit when I was blotting her face with a blanket last week. Is there anything cuter than a baby laugh?

She grabs at anything within reach and will bring that item to her mouth for some quality "chewing"/sucking time (some of her favorite things to eat are mommy and daddy's hands!). She seems particularly interested in my cell phone as of late, maybe a foreshadow of things to come!

She continues to eat her hands as often as possible and drools like nobody's business.

She is a happy baby and has some of the best smiles. My dad summed up her smiles when he said that they have sound!

She is growing like a champ! We had her 4 month checkup today (and shots) and she now weighs 13 lbs 10.5 oz (60th percentile) and is 25.5 inches long (95th percentile), and her head is a whopping 15 5/8 inches (20th percentile). I think her tiny head is why everyone keeps saying she is such a tiny baby. She is definitely average people!

I am so in love with my 4 month old and I am so excited for all the new milestones that are ahead of us!

Conference Weekend

We are so blessed to have a Prophet on the earth and especially lucky that technology allows us to listen to his voice so often! What an amazing conference we just had! I am so very grateful to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, it's teachings are such a comfort and a blessing. I am grateful to know that my family is eternal and that through the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we can all return to live with our Father in Heaven once again.

So this was our first General Conference with Brooklynn and I don't think I have ever been more grateful for our modern technologies! We are so lucky to be able to watch from the comfort of our homes (or my parent's home in our case). It was so nice to not be sitting in a dark chapel where Brooklynn really wouldn't have room to play and we would be worried about keeping her quiet for the sake of those around us! Much more comfortable for all!

Brooklynn had some fun laying on Daddy's legs while we watched conference.

She was SO funny! She would bury her face in Eric's legs....

Then she would push her bum in the air! She is such a funny girl!

Eric "watching" conference

On Sunday we picked up Nicole's exersaucer and Brooklynn just loves it! You can tell that she is just elated at the act of sitting/standing all by herself and being able to play with all of the attachments. She is so proud of herself and gets this look that seems to say, "I'm a big girl!"

Giving the sheep some lovin'!