4 Months Old

June 22, 2013
12 lbs 13 oz
23 1/2 inches
size 1 diapers
size 0-3month clothing
 

I know I say it every month and that I will continue to say it, but I can't believe how much she has grown and changed in the last month.  She continues to be a good baby. She decided to have a little spell of not so great sleeping while my parents were here (when I say "bad" sleeping it wasn't really that awful) but has slowly gotten back on track.  Most nights we feed her around 7:45 and then lay her down for the night and then she will sleep until 6 or 6:30am and every once in a while will sleep until 7:30 or so.  Sometimes in the night she will kick off her blankets and will wake up, but so far every time she has done that I just wrap her back up and she will fall back asleep within 10 minutes or so.

This last month we have started to transfer from nursing to formula.  We have been doing it very slowly but she seems to be doing well with it.  I always knew I probably wouldn't nurse for a whole year but wasn't quite sure when I would make the switch, but I had to take a strong antibiotic for a few weeks so we had to supplement a few of her feedings each day with formula and she took to it really well so I just decided to go ahead and finish the switch.  Now if food stamps didn't cover the cost of the formula we definitely would have stuck with nursing longer.

She continues to chat up a storm and has started to squeal.  She loves to make a lot of different noises and faces as she makes those noises.  Craig and I just bust up when she decides she wants to talk during church.  She has found a little friend she likes to chat with during priesthood opening exercises. We finally started to take her to the gym's child watch while I workout and for the most part has done really well, there was one time she had a little bit of a melt down and they had to come get us.  She still sucks her hands like crazy, well it more of licking then sucking, but she has also discovered that she can stick just one or two fingers in her mouth at a time. This month she also had her first baby sitter when I had a doctors appointment.  It was only for about 2 hours but she did great and had a smile on her face when I got home.

We continue to do as much tummy time as possible to try to help her head round out.  The doctor said not to worry about it, that it will slowly round back out.  We are keeping our fingers crossed.  Her check-up went well, she is growing as she needs to. he is still in the 25th percentile for weight and about the 50th for height.  The shots were still not fun but she did well. She is still a happy and healthy baby, thank goodness.

Here are some random pictures from throughout the month:

 Still loves bath time

 One of her favorite new poses

 Trying out her new sunglasses. I think she looks pretty tough

 Finally decided to buy her a few toys

 Swim time in our new blow-up pool in the backyard

Father's Day

Poor Craig didn't get a very special first Father's Day.  Again no presents so all that he got was a card from the dollar store.  At the beginning of the week I asked Craig what meat he wanted me to pick up and the grocery store for dinner on Sunday and he said he didn't want to have to grill, all he wanted for Father's Day was to be able to watch the U.S. Open.  So instead of some delicious steak dinner we had enchiladas, but the TV was his all afternoon.  We have learned that Brooklyn really enjoys watching golf with her Daddy. We don't know if it is actually the golf, Johnny Miller's voice, or getting to sit on her Dad's lap. Whatever it is she is sure zoned in.  Brooklyn is definitely a Daddy's girl and I am so grateful for what an amazing father Craig has been so far to our beautiful daughter.

 

Swimming

It has gotten really hot here this last week and all that I can think about is getting into some water to cool off.  I've been wanting to take Brooklyn swimming but wanted Craig to be able to come with us for Brooklyn's first time.  Craig got done with school early today so we were able to head over to the YMCA and go swimming.

 

She was a little unsure about the pool at first but soon seemed to enjoy it once she got used to the water.  We only stayed in the water for about 20 minutes because she was getting tired but hopefully next time we can stay a little longer cuz I would love to get a tan of some sort this summer. She didn't like her sun hat a whole lot but she seemed to accept the fact that she had to keep it on and soon forgot it was there. I am hoping that she will be a water baby and love the water as much as her mama.

 

 

On Thursdays we get together with some friends for a play group. Brooklyn and I just normally hang while all the other kids play but it is nice to get out of the house and for me to have other adults to socialize with.  This week we were at Sam's and she had her little pool and water table set up in the back yard. Brooklyn was a little confused at first but seemed to appreciate the cool water on her toes since it was so hot outside. I keep telling Craig that we need to get a little pool for our backyard, but seeing as Brooklyn can't even sit up on her own it would definitely be for my benefit and it might be a little weird for a grown woman to be hanging out in one of those tiny pools, but seeing as it is so hot here and it is just going to be getting hotter I wouldn't even care how ridiculous I would look.

 

Brooklyn's Baby Blessing

We finally blessed Brooklyn at church on Sunday, June 2.  I know she is already 3 months old, but that's just how it worked out.  Craig gave her a beautiful blessing and we were so lucky to have a lot of our friends and my parents there to support us. My mom brought out the dress that I was blessed in and Brooklyn was able to wear it as well, I just updated the bonnet that I wore to a head band for Brooklyn.

L to R: Kings, Moss', Rothlisbergers, Kowallis' (the Coles were there as well but had to sneak out after the sacrament)



So glad that my Dad was able to be in the circle



My sister Melissa made Brooklyn the beautiful white blanket



My parents were able to come out a few days before the blessing and we were hoping to do a few touristy things but of course it rained all weekend, especially Saturday. So instead of walking down Beale street and seeing the ducks at the Peabody and visiting the Botanical Gardens, we drove around Memphis pointing out things while it was pouring rain.  Hopefully next time we can actually get out of the car. We did go get some yummy BBQ. We took them to my favorite place, Germantown Commissary. You can't go wrong with the Boss Hog Special (Ribs, chicken, sausage, pulled pork, cole slaw and baked beans) and of course we had to finish th meal with banana pudding.

Brooklyn had a lot of fun meeting her Grandpa Williams for the first time and seeing Grandma again.  We were so glad to have them come out and can't wait to see them again in a few months when Brooklyn and I get to head back to Boise for my sisters wedding.

3 Months Old



May 22, 2013
3 Months
11 lbs 3 oz

This past month I feel that Brooklyn has changed a lot.  Her personality has really started to come out.  She has started to respond to our smiles and will laugh when we make a funny face or have a big smile plastered on her face when we change a poopy diaper.  She continues to sleep well at night.  Most nights we feed her at about 7:45pm and then lay her down and then I will feed her again around 6 or 6:30am.  Normally a couple times a week she will sleep until 7 or 7:30am.  The other morning I went to go check on her at 7:30 because she hadn't made a peep yet and she was just hanging out in her crib talking to herself.  Most days she just takes cat naps through out the day but recently she has started throwing in an hour long nap at some point during the day which allows me to get things like this blog post done.  Some days she has these major freak outs and we can't figure out what causes them. She will be totally fine and then start screaming and give us this look of "why aren't you helping me" and then ten minutes later she is totally fine again. I am not a big fan of those, but for the most part she is a very happy baby.  She also loves to chat, whether to herself or to us. We have started doing quite a bit of tummy time because she has developed quite the flat head on the back left side.

Big girl holding up her head

Here are a few more random pictures from throughout the month:

I finally captured her sad face.  Just look at that bottom lip.

Whatever face Craig was making at that moment she thought it was hilarious

Yes she spends a lot of time naked, it is hot here people!

Before it got hot. Such a happy baby

All ready for summer

1st Mother's Day

Ever since we found out we were pregnant with Brooklyn we decided that we didn't need to purchase each other gifts for birthdays and holidays, which was supposed to include Mother's Day, but Craig decided it was okay to get me flowers since they were from Brooklyn.  Craig really did make it a special day for me.  When we got home from church he made banana chocolate chip pancakes (my favorite).  He then hung out with Brooklyn, who didn't want to nap, so that I could take a nap. 

When I came out from my nap this is what I found, Craig and Brooklyn watching the Players Championship (golf).  Tiger was playing well, so Craig was very focused.  That evening Craig grilled up some delicious chicken and made roasted potatoes and asparagus.  It was delicious.  It really was a great day and I am so grateful to be a mother to our beautiful baby girl.  Being a mother has really made my appreciation grow for the mother's in my life.  I am so grateful for my mom, mother-in-law, grandmothers and my sisters and the examples they are to me.  They all have greatly influenced me and I love them so much.

Nashville

Craig had a week off school in between semesters so we decided to take a little road trip to see Nashville, TN.  It is about a 3 hour drive from Memphis and thought this would be a good first road trip for Brooklyn.  We left for Nashville Monday morning May 6th.  Brooklyn got up to feed at 5:45am and we left right after she ate and luckily she slept the entire way.  Our first stop was at the Pancake Pantry.

We couldn't check into our hotel yet so we decided to grab some delicious pancakes and I mean delicious. I had crepe like pancakes with chocolate ganouch rolled up inside with chocolate syrup on top and whipped cream and a raspberry compote.  I mean seriously that is my kinda of breakfast.  Craig went for the classic buttermilk but he said those were great too.  After breakfast we headed downtown to pick up our city passes and then on to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

We didn't want to do a guided tour just in case Brooklyn decided to have one of her freak outs so we just wondered the museum our selves. They have a cool museum with the history of country music and then have the actual Hall of Fame.

Garth Brooks: Craig's Favorite country artist

After the Hall of Fame it was finally late enough for us to go check in to our hotel.  Brooklyn took a short nap and then we headed out to dinner.  Some friends of ours had told us about a restaurant that had a huge aquarium in it and it just happened to be really close to our hotel so we decided to head over there for dinner.

The food was a little over priced but it was a pretty cool atmosphere. There was a 200,000 gallon tank right in the middle of the restaurant.  Brooklyn slept all through dinner, which was awesome, but she woke up just before we left so that she could take a look at the fish.  Back to the hotel and off to bed. We are not used to sleeping in the same room as Brooklyn, she only last in our bedroom for 1/2 a night when we got home from the hospital and now I remember why, she is a noisy little sleeper.  Needless to say Brooklyn slept great and Craig and I were a little tired the next morning. Tuesday morning we headed just outside the Nashville city limits to the Hermitage, which is where President Andrew Jackson lived before and after his presidencies.


Brooklyn started off in the front back but that only lasted until we got to the front door, Craig had to run back to the car to get the stroller

The first part of the tour was a museum

Andrew Jackson's Mansion/Plantation 

It was an audio guided tour which was nice because we could go at our own pace with Brooklyn.  We were able to go through the mansion and all over the grounds.  There were these cute 4th graders all dressed up and scattered all over the grounds to tell you about the history of it. Next we grabbed some lunch from a little BBQ shack that was recommended by Food Network and then we were off to the Parthenon.

An exact replica of the Parthenon from ancient Greece

Inside the Parthenon on the first level was a museum about it being built and Nashville at the time it was built and then on the second level was information about the Parthenon and the figures that are on the outside of it.

Huge gold statue on the second level of the Goddess Athena (I think)

 We decided that was enough for the day and we headed back to the hotel for Brooklyn to take a nap somewhere else besides her carseat or Craig's arms.

Brooklyn hanging at the hotel

  That night we made a quick stop at the Grand Ole Opry.  We couldn't go to Nashville without seeing it. 

We didn't go inside because we didn't think Brooklyn would handle a 2 hour guided tour very well so we just admired it from afar. Wednesday morning Craig woke up a little more refreshed because he was able to tune out some of Brooklyn, but I still somehow heard all of her noises.  After we ate breakfast and packed up we headed off to the Nashville Zoo.

Brooklyn slept the entire time at the zoo so we don't have any pictures with her.  It was a pretty small zoo but kept up really nice.  After the zoo we started our journey back home to Memphis.  We had to stop just once to quickly feed and change Brooklyn, but other than that she was an absolute trooper.  We would definitely consider it a successful trip, although we were glad to have Brooklyn back up in her nursery.