4 months Brooklyn Clare

Brooklyn,
      Time is flying way too fast!! We can't believe we have had you for FOUR months!! Where did the time go? 
       You are such a joy to be around. Our little angel baby! You are so sweet and very cuddly. You still prefer to be held but you will hang out in the swing, bouncy seat, or the baby jungle.  We have had a turning point with the car and as long as you are fed you will fall right to sleep (thank god!). And then you end up napping in the carseat for much longer.
       Sleep. Hmm. You are a cat napper anywhere between 20 minutes to an hour. Which isn't too bad because you are just so happy! Night time you nurse to sleep around 7:30 and then are up at 12:30 and 4 sometimes you will skip the 12:30 time. We have room for improvement!! 
      You found your voice and love to use it around 5:30 am. Read mommy is tired!! But it's pretty cute.  You are a rolling machine- rolling back to belly more than belly to back (the opposite of your brother). You are reaching and grabbing for toys now too.
       This month you celebrated your first christmas and New Years! Basically you slept through both :) although when daddy was dressed in his tux you found your first crush! Apparently daddy is very handsome all dressed up ;). Mommy also went back to work which has been a big transition for everyone but it's getting better.  
        Your big brother just adores you! Maybe a little too much but you tolerate his constant head rubbing, getting in your face, and trying to help you roll over. You do not like him hitting you (on accident) with toys, you makes the most awful cries when he does that.  Although you tolerate it, I think you would maybe enjoy some space sometimes.  BUT on the other hand he had your cracking up the other day being silly.
        You are still eating 7-9 times a day- exclusively breast milk and mostly nursing. Hopefully next month you will drop a feed or two... My little piggy! You are healthy and happy! The hemangioma has lightened a bit but hasn't changed in size. You are still on medication for it for at least six more months. 
       We can't wait to see what next month brings!! Hopefully time will slow down some.

16 Weeks Brooklyn Clare

Our princess! Can she get any cuter?! She wakes up with a smile on her face! 

16 Weeks

Weight:  I'm not sure we will find out in a couple weeks.

Sleep: It's hit or miss. Some nights she sleeps until 4am and then other nights she's up a lot. She's getting a tad better taking naps in her crib. Jackson is getting his molars so even when she sleeps he doesn't. I'm tired!

Diet: Exclusively breastfed. I lost another 4 ounces this week from my stash. I did see a huge difference in my supply when I ate more so apparently I wasn't eating enough calories. Even with the increase in calories I was still off. I'm debating started solids earlier than I would like to help my supply/stash last longer but we will see.

Clothes: Mix of 3 and 6, size 2 diapers but her little chunky legs say she might need a size 3!

Visitors: No one new this week

Out and About: No where new

Baby Gear Love:  

The stroller blankets from Pottery Barn!! They are thick, warm and soft. Totally worth the money.

Crying:  She had a random night of crying but since then very little. She is one really happy baby!! 

Milestones:  
She can roll both directions and is a rolling machine!! She has found her voice which is hilarious.  She screams happy screams a lot. She has a giant crush on daddy now which is so freaking cute. He can get her to laugh much more than mommy can!

Medical: Nothing new.

Postpartum: I haven't checked my weight so who knows. I start loosing my hair about a week a go. Yuck!

Christmas Eve 2014

This Christmas season was crazy busy but so much fun! We didn't get to do all the things I had planned but lets face it we have three month old, I just went back to work, and then we all got sick. Life happens.

We introduced the Elf on the Shelf this year (man is that a lot of work). Jackson was so cute everyday, "where the elf? Where is he? Oh he move!!" "There he is!"Our elf was really boring this year and often forgot to move to a new hiding place but luckily Jackson didn't mind. Jackson named him "Blue" by the way.

We went to Disney the first weekend for Mickey's Christmas! This needs a separate post all on its own!

We decorated cookies with Jackson's best friend Emma. Still more eating than decorating :)

We went to see Santa, who apparently is a big scary man still to Jackson…maybe next year??

Look at his handsome bow tie made by mama :)

Brooklyn just looked extremely worried the whole time!

Before heading to mass we sprinkled reindeer food out in the front lawn. Holy cow I have to remember this for next year it was ADORABLE! Jackson loved it! He kept calling for the reindeer and throwing the food all over the lawn, it was seriously the sweetest thing ever. I should also mention he is way more into the reindeer than Santa. 

Christmas eve we went to mass and actually made it through the entire service! Christmas miracle!! It helped we were in the gym and next to his best friend. I also had to bring a ton of snacks and toys. I should have brought wine ;) After mass we went to my parents to open gifts and have dinner with my brother's family.

Brooklyn pretty much slept through it.

Jackson was SOO good, it was past his bedtime and he just kept playing. This was probably one of his favorite gifts- cars.

That night we  put the kids straight to bed since it was way past bedtime. Although we had cookies for Santa we didn't get to put them out, maybe next year. The elves got to go to bed pretty early since there were no presents to assemble this year which was nice I have to say! 

15 Weeks

And yes we missed a couple weeks- everyone has been sick multiple times!! We were living at the pediatricians office but everyone seems to be on the mend.
15 Weeks

Weight: 13.6 + She is in the 75th percentile for weight now :) And 50th for height!

Sleep: She was going to sleep at 7 waking at 2:30 and 5/6 which was awesome but then the weekend hit and she's been up a lot more. AH! I won't transition her to the crib at night until she is sleeping 8-5. We are working on naps in the crib now that we have all recovered from the million colds/virus we had!

Diet: 100% breast milk, about 8 times a day still. This week I didn't pump as much as she ate which was really discouraging. So with around the clock pumping and working I managed to only loose 4 ounces. I calculated how much of a stash I have in the freezer and if I had to use 1 bottle from the freezer everyday I work I could make it to 7 months…but that means not using any on the weekends. I'm really hoping this was a one week thing and I won't have to worry about it. I really want to make it a year exclusively breastfeeding if possible but it was really awful pumping a million times (which takes away from either documentation time or lunch at work), trying to work, pumping at home while getting two kids ready for bed, washing bottles, packing lunches, etc. I had that moment of is it really worth it? And then the I really don't want to supplement because what if my supply really drops and I can't breastfed her on the days I'm home?! Such a mix of emotions. BUT I can proudly say we have made it 15 weeks :)

Clothes: 3 months are too tight and way too short so mixing in the 6 month clothes.

Visitors:  Uncle Dustin, Aunt Laura and cousins Lexie and Luke for Christmas

Out and About: We did our first outing with big brother too. And while it took way longer everyone survived with just some coffee spilt all over me. I don't think the two of you even realized the other was along for the ride. 

Baby Gear Love:  

We LOVE our woombies, Aden and Anasis sleep sacks, City Select stroller, and Ergo carrier everyday love love can't live without them.

I also really love these wubbanub pacifiers with the stuffed animal attached! Now that Brooklyn's older it stays in better with the stuffed animal, plus it's cute and way easier to find. 

Crying:  Really only getting her to sleep. It's like she has to throw the big one and then passes out. She has cried the most awful cries when Jackson accidentally hit her on the head. She seriously only whimpers to eat at night, it's really amazing I wake up to that.

Milestones:  
ROLLING over! In slow motion but she's doing it! A lot more babbling now :) She will grab and hold things but mainly hair… She loves to stand (being held). And she kicks her feet in the swing or bouncy seat as fast as she possibly can. I see a cross country runner in our future! She also loves kicking in the bath! Another water baby I'm sure.

Medical: The hemangioma seems to be fading! So we have a two month break from cardiology but continuing the medication.

Postpartum: 4 pounds which at this point with Jackson I had 5 pounds left so it confirms my thoughts that breastfeeding really doesn't help weight loss. Liars.