Happy 4 months!!

Happy 4 months old to my precious daughter! I can't believe Christmas has come and gone and she is 1/3 of a year old. I dreamed about this time in my life for a long time now. When I found out last New Years Eve I was pregnant, I thought...I can't believe we will have a baby next Christmas...and well here we are. Christmas was a good time. We spent the few days at Lake Lure with my family. However, I must say that she is a different baby than 2 weeks ago...and well I hope this personality does not stay around too long.
I guess what I mean is the past 7 days have been so trying on our patience. We have a different child on our hands...she has been tuff. What's wrong you might ask? I am really not sure...is she teething?...doc says no. We started cereal...is her stomach upset? We are so confused as to what is causing our daughter to be so fussy. We go to her 4 month well visit next Monday, so I hope we will get some in site then.

On a better note, she is developing so good. She was 15 lbs. 6 oz a week ago, so she has slowed down quite a bit, which is a good thing. However, she is still really long for her age, is is wearing 6-9 months already. WOW. She is still not able to roll over on her own (she has done it a handful of times), but she is starting to grab things a lot. She wants to rub on shirts and blankets and fell the texture. She also loves to hold her bottle, when she gets one! The best part for me right now is napping with her. I have been off work for the holidays, so the last 2 days I have laid on the couch with her and taken a morning nap...which has been great for the both of us.. She is not so fragile anymore, so it's easier to lay with her. She has always been such a good cuddlie!!I also love her laugh...she is starting to giggle out loud more and it melts my heart. Love it!!

Happy 4 month Bday to my precious (sometimes fussy) little baby girl!!

Christmas Eve Miracle...not what you think!

What did I get for Christmas? Well I will tell you what I was begging for on Christmas eve eve...Christmas Eve until 6pm... Can you guess? Remember Brinlie eating rice cereal? Well, the poor thing got constipated from it...I know you are saying well yes that is common, it makes sense doesn't it? Well yes it does make sense, something she has never had in her body before, but going from having alot everyday to nothing in 2+ days...will cause a mom and dad to worry. We ended up calling the doc to make sure this was normal and sure enough some babies can go up to a week with out having a bowel movement. Who knew? That is a long time.

Well, it was a moment we celebrated...My family will never forget the moment that our miracle happened...I will not gross you out anymore! We were blessed and not worried anymore. Enough about that...

Cereal..hmmm

So I knew the day would come when my daughter would need more than just breast milk to survive, well we have hit that point. We dove in head first to the adventure of feeding with a spoon. I must say I am glad we had the camera and video ready, it was a "must" capture moment. First step was to get out the fantastic high chair and make sure we knew how it worked, these things are more complicated these days. Brinlie has plenty of room to grow in this high chair, but with a little recline mode, she fit great. We put a bib on...and off we go, but wait, how much, mix with? Well we mixed with breast milk, b/c we know that she is not allergic to that. We started with 1 tbsp cereal, 3 tbsp breast milk. However, rice cereal does dissolve in breast milk, so you must be quick.

Well off we went...Brinlie loved staring at the spoon, she thought that was so cool. She actually did really good and loved the taste of the cereal. She did get impatient with us, as we could not feed it to her quick enough. It was funny...she would scream when we took the spook away. Hope her body takes this well!

Brinlie...Take a NAP...PLEASE!!!

OMG- my child is the spawn of me...her inability to take naps during the day is our biggest struggle right now. My thriving daughter does not like to nap during the day, I know I should be thankful she is sleeping 10 hours at night, but she needs to nap. The biggest problem is she gets so tired during the day but does not want to sleep for longer than 20 min naps. Without taking naps, she will get cranky at some point during the day, which is not a fun experience. We have tried putting her in her crib to sleep, her swing, bouncy seat, someone's arms...still only 20 mins.


Okay, so here is my plan...back to my books...what does it tell me to do about napping...I need HELP! Well, I re-read Babywise on the way to Ohio and it tells me to place her in her crib, same time everyday. (I have tried this, but we will try again) It tells me to let her cry for 20 mins, wow that is so long in "baby crying land." I have gotten better, I can let her cry for 8-10 mins at a time, but 20 is a long time. But I will try it...let's see if it works...It will be a great thing if we can get her to take 2 naps during the day!! A great Christmas present to her parents!!

DRAMA QUEEN..funny too!

Well, she is starting to get such a sense of humor, her personality is really starting to show. She has begun to do this high pitched laugh or squeal. I do not think she realizes that she is making this noise, but when she hears it, she wants to do it more. She is so loud and funny. She gets tickled at herself and so do we. She is laughing away and smiling all the time now!

However, I must say my daughter is a "DRAMA QUEEN" already. How can it be that a 3 1/2 months old and can be so dramatic. I could understand if she was to learn this drama queen style from her mother, but she is too young to have learned this so soon. Could this be in her DNA? Gosh, we are in trouble if she keeps this up. Everything needs to be done just so perfect for precious Brinlie and it needs to be done as quick as yesterday. Let's hope she grows out of this drama queen style and becomes a sweet little girl!! Fat chance...

1/4 of a year old...

3 months old...Brinlie that is. She is really starting to show her personality. It is starting to get more fun, each day seems to bring a new expression, a new sound, or a new outfit! She is laughing all the time now, which is the coolest thing. It really makes my heart melt to see her face light up with a big smile. My most favorite time is when I get her out of her crib in the morning...she always has a huge smile, like she is thinking..."Mom, I have been in here way to long, get me out and feed me, change my diaper, and then make silly little faces at me, so I can laugh at you." Her sounds are getting louder too, could she have her mothers loud volume, help us if she does!

Looking back on the past 3 months, our lives have changed forever. We have come from not getting much sleep at all to sleeping all night. Brinlie went from eating 8-10 times a day to now eating 5 (Awesome for a breast feeding mom!). We have gone from way too many diapers to count in one day, to being able to count them on 2 hands. We have gone from size 0-3 months to 3-6 and some 6-9 month clothes (she is so long). The best thing is...we have gone from a newborn baby to a 3 month old, healthy child...which we grow to love more everyday.

My Perfect Dress Up Doll

A topic of conversation was sparked with my great friend Corey, the topic was: Brinlie is
"My Perfect Dress Up Doll"- Corey noted that Brinlie is wearing a different outfit in every picutre. She said "you must dress her up and snap a picture of her... then change her outfit and snap again...and keep going..." My response was, do you expect anything less? Of course I snap lots of pics when she is dressed cute, which is daily!! Brinlie is a real, live dress up doll, that I am having so much fun clothing. She will probally turn out to be a tom boy (because that is so opposite of me)...so I figure, I need to get the girly dressing up while she is young, just in case! The only problem with this dress up doll is she cries, eats a lot, and poops way too much. But we love our dress up doll...

Lots to be Thankful for...

The setting...Thanksgiving week, very cold and windy outside...Christmas lights starting to go up...Black Friday fast approaching...and well...on the home front there is so much to be thankful for. I am so thankful for my health and my families health, we are truly blessed each day we wake again...another day to live! What a blessing it is to be healthy. Health is something that I take for granted on a regular basis, like I expect to stay this way my whole life (don't I only hope). I just want to challenge myself to be more thankful that I am healthy and that my family is also. Another blessing in my life is my fantastic family, who never seem to amaze me. Matt is just a GREAT father, I am so thankful for him, we make a good team. My friends are such gems in my life, I really have the best friends in the world. Lots to be Thankful for...

First "Real" Laughs

What a fantastic feeling it is to hear your child actually "laugh" at you...are we really that funny? Well maybe we are...or maybe she likes to make us feel good inside! What a treasure it was to hear her first giggle (with a facial laugh) responding to her dad tickling her! She is starting to interact with us more...it is starting to get fun! I know everyone says things go by fast and I am not disagreeing that they do, but why? Why do they have to...we look forward to such neat things and events in our lives and then they arrive (hopefully we capture them on camera or video) and then they become a memory. I guess that is what life if all about. Capturing the memories!

Going back to work......

Well, the new mom is preparing to go back to work next week. Wow, I just can't believe my time is up at home, wow it has flown by. I have gotten to do so much while I was off work. I must say that I have enjoyed my time with my precious first born! I am actually looking forward to getting back to my normal life, well on some sort of schedule life. I have loved being off, but it would be hard for me not to work. If I had a full time nanny and could play tennis all week or volunteer, then I could stay at home. I admire people who do stay at home, but it's just not for me. (maybe part time one day:)

My biggest reason for not wanting to go back to work is missing some of the small things. Since I am with her all day, I get to see everything...all the small details, which I LOVE! I will only have a few hours with her at night...so that will be tough to miss some of her details. That is life though, the grass is not always greener!! I am sure that I will cry the first day I leave and it will be hard...I need the strength to get through!

1st Halloween

Can you say cute...imagine walking up to trick or treat at a house and seeing a Goldendoodle and a Pink Poodle. Well if you came to our house on Halloween then this is what you would have seen on our front porch. Brinlie was dressed as a "sleeping" pink poodle, just adorable. She slept through her entire 1st halloween, but it was still fun to dress her up! She was so worn out from all the trick or treaters, she actually slept 8 hours at night, for 2 nights in a row...this was a first for her! Yeah, let's only hope it continues!

2 months...Actually getting sleep

Can you believe that, Sleep. I thought that was a thing of the past, however I feel great for having a 2 month old child. Matt has been loving life with sleeping, why you might ask? Well he has not had to get up once since the first week she was born, lucky man. I guess that is what the breast feeding commitment is all about. Nah, it really is not bad at all. We have been so blessed to have a really good baby. She eats, sleeps, and poops on command!! Wait not command, well she just poops all the time. I just can't figure out how she is in the 95% for height and weight when she poops so much. It seems like everything she eats is coming out of her!

Matt and I are enjoying her so much and loving this new phase of our life. It is not as hard as I thought it would be. We are excited about the holidays coming up. Matt is on his way to his annual guys trip to watch the Cleveland Browns play football. So I am heading to Lexington to hang with the "Rents" and friends, a fun filled few days. It will be nice to get away!

New to Blogging

Well today I am trying to understand the "blogging" world. As many know I am not good with computers and/or internet things, but I am branching out due to my lack of sleep. This is a big time for Matt and I as we awate the arrival of our first child, Brinlie Brooke. We have no more than 3 days left to we get to meet her and introduce her to this great world! We are so excited to embark on this portion of our life and can't wait to see her face!!