Thanksgiving 2014

This year we had Thanksgiving at our house which is awesome because the kiddos can nap when they need to without everyone leaving/going home. It was a very stress free Thanksgiving! The morning we got up and go a run in relay style. It was way to cold to take the kiddos with us so we had to take turns working out. After our runs we watched the Macy's Day Parade while getting ready for our company. We had my parents and their friend over for the day. We started with appetizers and pumpkin spice white Russians- yum! And then had our main meal of fried turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing and Silver Oak wine. Desserts were mini pecan pies and and baked apple pie inside of an apple. 

The table:

 Our thanksgiving blessings :)

Watching Cars per Jackson's request :)

That evening we headed over to our friends house to play a card game while the kids went wild from the lack of naps, too much sugar, and being up past their bed time. It was so much fun! 

We have really been counting our blessing this month! We are extremely lucky!

10 Weeks

10 Weeks

Weight:  11.8 pounds-60th percentile 23 inches- 30th percentile

Sleep: She is sleeping 6-7 hours at night usually waking up at 2:45 and then 6am. 

Clothes: 3 months- some 6 months (ahhh I can't handle this happening so fast!) I swear the measure her wrong because she seems so long to me but whatever

Visitors:  Gigi Perry and cousin Ashley came all the way from Indiana and Kansas to visit! She loved snuggling and smiling with them.

Out and About: She's been to a lot of lunches and Jackson's play dates! She does great! Even if she's tired or hungry she'll just hang out waiting. 

Baby Gear Love:  
Our stroller the City Select Double. LOVE it. It can be a single or a double in a million different combinations. It's really easy to put in your car. Super easy to steer and it doesn't feel big. It's $$$$$$$ but we used our completion coupon and they were having a sale- double win. 

Crying:  Only if she's hungry and some crying if she's tired. But very little crying.

Milestones:  
Lots of coos and smiles. I've heard the "m" sound a couple times and some little giggles. About the same on tummy time. I keep thinking she's going to roll from back to belly because she's so close but it hasn't happened yet.

Health: Her blood pressure finally went up so we are waiting a month to increase her medication and to see cardiology again. Thank goodness. 

Diet: 100% breastmilk and very few bottles mostly because I'm lazy and why pump if you don't have to? And it's our time together. Going back to work is going to be extremely hard for both of us. Did I mention it's happening in two weeks :( She's nursing every 2.5-3 hours.

Postpartum: I still have 6-8 pounds to loose. We have hit that stand still point that is so annoying. With Thanksgiving coming up I'll probably gain a couple. 

Misc:

We have introduced nap sleeping in the crib. I'm just so not ready. I know when I go back to work I won't be able to snuggle like we do now and it's killing me. But I guess she has to sleep in there… the swing is great but she craves quiet and dark. And apparently cuteness is not a good excuse for not sleeping in your crib. I did not make these rules.

9 Weeks

9 Weeks

Weight:  11.8 

Sleep: 5-8 hours!! 

Clothes: 0-3 moving to 3 months and moving to size 2 diapers (how is this happening?!)

Visitors:  Nana and John came to visit this weekend!

Out and About: We go everywhere! I've had a few people make comments but what are you suppose to do when you have another child to take places? 

Baby Gear Love:  
I can't remember? Baby brain.

Crying:  Only when she's hungry or over tired. And let me tell you if you stick the pacifier in her mouth and she's hungry..tsk tsk she will let you know!! My kids love to eat.

Milestones:  
Brooklyn found her hands and fingers weeks ago (should have wrote that down) she's getting slow close to sucking on them consistently which I would LOVE. She hates the pacifier so I would take anything!

Postpartum: The official weight loss is 23 pounds- 8 left. I can fit in some non maternity jeans. I actually packed 90% of the maternity clothes away. I've been doing some home work outs and trying to run when I can.

Confusions: Brooklyn is no where near a schedule- as I was with Jackson- oops. I haven't even tried. I haven't even attempted the crib. And I really don't care! haha I've just been enjoying her! BUT with a nanny coming in a few weeks I need to get her on some kinda schedule. I guess :) Brooklyn is my hippie baby- all natural birth, breastfed, half co-sleeper, baby wearer, just go with the flow. What has happened to me?! LOL

2 Months Brooklyn Clare

Brooklyn~Button, Bear, Princess,
      You can't get much sweeter! Mama is going to have a REALLY hard time leaving you to go back to work. We are two peas in a pod these days. You rarely cry and if you do it's because you are hungry or over tired. You are a tough cookie to get to sleep but once you are you sleep great! Right now you sleep in the swing during the day and rock-n-play at night. You sleep 5-8 hours a night before waking to nurse. You nurse 8-10 times a day with no problems! You are very healthy at 11 pounds 8 ounces and 23 inches. The only health concern you have at the movement is the hemangioma in your mouth. But with lots of ENT and Cardiology appointments we are hopefully treating it with Propranolol and not surgery. 
       You are such a sweet, smiley thing! Although I can't catch those smiles on camera yet. Everyone comments on how calm you are. You took your two month shots like a champ the nurse was super impressed. You love to be held and snuggle. Somehow how managed to trick your way back into bed with mama occasionally around 4am- pretending to need to nurse for oh about five minutes before falling asleep in my arms.  You love to coo and coo especially when looking in the mirror. You aren't a huge fan of the bumbo or baby jungle but that could be because big brother gets a little close when you are in there… 
      Your big brother is obsessed with you! He loves to hold you and has figured out how to jump in your crib when you are playing in there. You seem to get a little worried about him being so close but you never fuss. I hope this means the start of a great friendship :)

I mean can you two get any cuter?!

      You make the newborn stage so fun and easy! I am loving every minute of it! I know we cannot wait to see what the next month brings!!

Look at those sweet double chins! I love me some chunky babies!

Almost caught your smile!

What a big girl!!

8 Weeks

Brooklyn partying at girls night :) 

8 Weeks

Weight: 10.13 I know this because we live at the cardiologist who weigh her frequently.

Sleep: Sleeping all night in the rock n play. Sleeping between 5-7 hours for her long stretch

Clothes: 0-3

Visitors:  No one new this week. 

Out and About: The same as usual- lots of doctors appointments, going to Jackson's school, your first playmate with Piper (you both slept through it :) ), and going to Jackson's gymnastics class where we saw Shannon Miller!

Baby Gear Love:  

Nothing new this week

Crying: Much less! I can't decide if it's from the block feeding we are doing or my decreasing dairy from my diet. Either way she has been one happy girl! 

Milestones:  
We tried the Bumbo between Jackson yelling "my seat!!!" and her first attempt in it she wasn't a fan… I'll try again when he's not home :)

Postpartum: I think I lost another pound. I'm running 1-2x's a week (hoping to increase) and doing some pushups/crunch workout Jamie made me. 

Diet: Exclusively breast fed! She gets the occasional bottle but dang it's way more work to pump. I HATE pumping.  I'm down to pumping once a day which I know I'm going to kick myself for if my supply goes low but I just hate it. 

Health: Brooklyn has a hemangioma in the inside of cheek, lower gum, upper and lower lip and a tiny spot on her face. If you don't know what a hemangioma is- short story it's a vascular abnormality. They do not know what causes them so no it's not anyones fault. Girls are more likely to have them boys. Usually you just wait and see BUT hers is in an area that could bleed easily, cause feeding disorders, and if it raises or spreads the surgery could cause scaring. It grows the most in the first year. We have been seen by two ENTs and are now followed by one and cardiology. She is taking Propranolol which will hopefully reduce or eliminate the hemangioma. Propranolol is a beta blocker which causes your heart rate to slow which is why we are very closely followed by cardiology. The side effects of the drug are poor appetite, growth, lower blood pressure, lower heart rate, and lower blood sugar. She's not tolerating the drug very well at this point. We are on a very low dose and are gradually increasing it. If she doesn't tolerate the drug- surgery or laser therapy would be the next avenue. We are also seeking a second opinion from Boston Children's VAC. This has all been pretty stressful and extremely expensive so we are really hoping it works and we don't have to do surgery!  Luckily baby girl is such a trooper! 

Halloween 2014

I should probably go back to our fun day at the pumpkin patch or watching Halloween movies and making treats but I have limited time so this will have to do!

We did some pumpkin carving on this nice fall day in Florida (it was in the high 80's)...

Happy girl hanging out!

The boys carving pumpkins

Jackson was pumped about his pumpkins and lollipops (no he didn't eat them). 

He cried when we made him come in :(

Our fall door! Pretty impressed I did this with a newborn ;)

Halloween day we went to visit daddy and Poppi at work with their day outfits on. Then we went out to lunch with Mimi. Everyone was well behaved and extremely cute :) After some naps (ok Jackson didn't nap but Brooklyn did) we ate some pizza and got ready for the big event. Jackson was WIRED! It was near to impossible to get him to stand still long even to put his outfit on. 

Our little Minnie! Who did not follow the schedule for feeding so she was STARVING in this picture.

And our wild Mickey

This is pretty much all he did..

Trick or Treat! Jackson loved putting all the candy in his bucket and walking around the neighborhood. We had some much fun seeing the TONS of kiddos in the neighborhood. 

Minnie was very good just hanging in the stroller taking it all in. I can't wait until next year when she will be walking!

Our neighbor asked if he wanted rats or candy. He picked rats.. and didn't want to leave them

Jackson did a great job trick or treating!! We had so much fun!

7 Weeks

The sweetest Minnie button ever!! 

Weight:  10.13 pounds

Sleep: At the beginning of the week she was getting a 6-7 hour stretch…and then a growth spurt hit. We are lucky to get one 4 hour stretch. Yuck.

Clothes: She is way too big for newborn! 3 months are too big but we somehow don't have many 0-3 and I decided it wasn't worth buying a ton of those for a short period of time. 

Visitors: Hmmm no one new this week.. I don't think.

Out and About: Baby's first Halloween! Hopefully I'll get a separate post for that one.

Baby Gear Love:  
The woombie! It's the best swaddler out there. It stretches so they can move around but keeps them swaddled.

Crying:  
She did a lot of crying over the weekend during the growth spurt but she is doing much better now. Poor Jamie thinks all she does is cry but I swear she doesn't!

Diet: Exclusively breastfed. I'm proud to say she's been exclusively breastfed for 7 weeks and it hasn't been the easiest. I know I'll make it until I go back to work and I'm really hoping I don't have to supplement when I go back to work but we will see. Jackson is a perfectly healthy and smart formula baby so no hard feelings towards formula either. I have started limiting my dairy intake because her tummy has been really upset and it seems to be helping. 

Milestones:  
More smiles and talking!

Postpartum: I have made it two runs- one with the double jogger (holy moly arm workout) and one sans kiddos.. my whole body is so SORE. I'm also trying to do some core workouts. No new weight loss (sigh) but everything seems to be tightening up a bit. I still refuse to diet quite yet.. And what the heck where is this whole breastfeeding weight loss?! LIES!! I'm losing weight the same as Jackson and I had weaned him at this point. BABY brain has totally hit. And I'm tired this week- this growth spurt got me.

 She really is as sweet as candy corn! I just love her so much!