B meets Santa

12.9.14

Brooklyn got to meet Santa for the first time on Dec. 9th at our local elementary school. 

It was a first for us seeing a Santa hanging out in a blow up chair. Coolest Santa I've seen! He forgot his glasses though, too bad. 

She obviously had no idea what was going on, but didn't seem to mind laying in some strangers lap. She did lose her binky RIGHT before it was her turn and Jeff and I both looked at each other like ooooh dear. Jeff mentioned to stick her thumb in her mouth (lol) and I was just going to get ready to take a screaming picture. Thankfully she was fine and enjoyed taking Santa's beard with her as a keepsake. 

She makes these little things so much sweeter. I have never been so excited to see Santa in my life! So much fun to be had with this little one. It's only beginning...

Our Life Saver

I had the pleasure of having my mom stay with us the first week Brooklyn was here on this big Earth.

I really had no idea what the meaning of that would be until she walked out of our door.

You see, my mom and I are extremely close, always have been. Well, other than when I turned her head gray in HS with all my nonsense. But she is my best friend. Very best. I knew it'd be nice having her here, but as tears streamed down my eyes for hours and hours after she left…it was much more than just enjoying her company.

She saved our life.

Seriously.

I can't put into words what went on in that week, but that were some of the most special memories to date.

She rode the emotional roller coaster with me as I went from happiness, to terrified, to frustrated, to happiness again. She was there through it all. Even at 1,3,5,7 o'clock in the morning.

I will never be able to tell her how forever grateful I am for those days. The days of her helping me feed Brooklyn even though it was extremely painful and hard. The times she would take her so we could get a few hours of rest. The look in her eyes as she held our sweet,  beautiful girl and rocked her. The diapers…oh the diapers. She never skipped a beat. And somehow she managed to cook, clean, and do laundry too. I have no idea how she did it. I always knew she was wonder woman, but she took that role into a whole new world.

I pray with all my heart I get to experience such a thing with my daughter someday. Because it meant the world to me. It still brings me to tears. I know Brooklyn may not remember that week, but I want to always remind her of that special week for all three of us. She is so lucky to have her as a grandma, and I'm more than lucky to have her as a mom.

I can't wait for her to experience life with her by our side.

We love you mom/grandma!

Neewollah 2014

As you can tell, I am a little on the late show on these posts. They are from a month ago, but I wrote them in a little private blog I have. I decided to share some of them here and continue to write in this one and keep more "private" things on the private one.

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On November 1, 2014 we headed to Indy for Brooklyn's first Neewollah.

We had been scouting out the weather like hawks a few days before and were bummed to see it wasn't looking very promising. High 52 Mr.Weatherman predicted.

The big parade started at 11 and it was supposed to be a whopping 40 degrees. Hellllllo freezing weather. I do not welcome you! Needless to say, we didn't make it to the parade.

We did, however, make it to Neewollah for a good couple of hours. I was bound determined to start little B's first tradition. I remember going to Neewollah as a kid and we wanted her to do the same.

The only slight problem we had was...someone, I won't name any names it was me, completely forgot the stroller at home. Kind of hard to walk around with nothing to put little miss in.

Stephanie to the rescue! She let us borrow her stroller to cruise around time. Unfortunately it wasn't the same brand as our car seat so Brooklyn was rocking the streets sideways. Literally. Poor girl. Thankfully Jeff wasn't as embarrassed as me and manned the crooked stroller for us. I may r=or may not  have stayed a few steps away. haha.

Mom fail number….let's not keep track.

We ended up just grabbing a few foods of fried deliciousness (mustard only corn dog please) and walked around the streets people watching and searching for the sun.

We can officially say she went to Neewollah! One down, a whoooole lot to go.

Brooklyn - Two Months

Brooklyn - Two Months
How another month has come and gone so quickly, I will never know. This month was a whole different ball game than Month 1. Well, at least the end of this month was. Most days I still wonder if I'm doing it all right, but she is growing into a healthy little girl so I guess we are doing something right! This month as been SO fun watching her little personality grow and her grow in general. We are finally figuring out this whole parent thing and are loving, loving, loving our new title. Some days are easier than others, but I would not trade it for a darn thing. Not even for wine. She is that awesome.

Weight: 12 lbs on the dot.
Height: I will update this when we go to the doctor on 12.11.14.
Nicknames: Sweet girl, baby girl, sweety, stinky (still , haha), boo-boo, B
Eating: She went through a growth spurt and was eating at least every 2 hours, but now she is back up to 3 (for now). She loves to eat, that is a FACT. At night though she goes about 6-8 hours without eating. Needless to say, she wakes up ready to feast. I haven't introduced her to a bottle yet, but I know I probably should soon. Confession: In a way I have been putting it off because the thought of someone else being able to feed her makes me a little sad. It's our thang. BUT I know it will be a little bit of the weight off of my shoulders and it will be nice for her to bond with daddy and her grandparents in that way. Call me selfish. Haha. 
Sleeping: What is sleep, she asks. Haha. She is a CAT napper for sure during the day. She barely sleeps during the day. Most of the time it's in my arms because she strikes against anything else. She occasionally will for about 30 min. in her rnp. We are finally figuring our our Maya Ring Sling and she sleeps in that, too. Speaking of, I just put her down for a "nap" I will call it, and already has woken up and is sucking on her little fingers. This is when I'm all like is she hungry, is she still tired, I wonder if I should pick her up, no I'll just leave her in there and see if she falls back to sleep……which usually leads to me finally being all like "she is NEVER going to fall asleep Molly…just pick up the poor child".
At night though I could kiss her for DAYS because she usually lets me get 6-8 hours of sleep. Praise the LORD! I pray this only gets better instead of worse. I am SO thankful for those hours of sleep. So thankful. Good girl :) 

Diapers: Size 1 diapers - pamper swaddlers are my LIFE. We have tried others but they are truly the best for her. And smell freaking good. Is that weird? Yeah…probably. 
Clothing: Oh my gosh clothes I thought would be huge forever and now fitting her. It's insane how fast they grow! She was wearing 0-3 at the beginning of the month, but now she is fitting into 3 months. Hold me!
Social: This one has changed so much from the first month I feel like. She is giving us LOTS of social smiles and I can feel the giggles are going to shortly follow suite. It has been so fun to see her explore the things around her. She loves to kick her little piano on her play mat and stare at herself in the mirror. She smiles back at you and I looove it. She also has been very intrigued with faces and watching things carefully. I keep reading her books and even though she has no idea what is going on yet, she will watch me and smile while I read (when she's happy…that is). Another new development has been lots of cooing. I wonder what her little lips are saying? Sometimes I don't think it is very nice things ;) I love (have I said that enough) watching her grow and I can't wait to see what she discovers next!
Dr. Apts: I had my 6 week appointment and everything was healing well. Down side is I had (and still have) hemorrhoids. Yippee :/. I am hoping they get better soon because this is for the birds! I am thankful though everything else looked good. I was a little worried. She also has had a couple of appointments for cold like symptoms and we have been giving her saline drops and sucking snot one day at a time. So sad to see her uncomfortable but I know it was going to happen sooner or later! Glad she is feeling better. I can't handle when she isn't happy. Well, don't like to handle it at least.

Likes: She likes eating (per usual), sucking her hands, kicking (a lot ), cooing, ceiling fans, her bouncer, her piano play mat, her grandparents, baths, stretching out, being sung/read/talked to, her carseat, smiling, her bink when she is sleepy, and the famous sleep sheep.
Dislikes: Being overtired or hungry, tummy time, her swing, being in one spot too long, stop lights (haha). 
Mama: I am finally feeling more like myself and it is great! Still a zombie at times,  but getting more and more like myself. Next step is working out. Yeah…I'll work on fitting that one into her 5 second naps. Lol. I need to start scheduling better and doing it at night once Jeff is off of work. We will pretend that will work out. 
My momma heart has grown more than I ever thought possible. She is the best part of every day and even when she wakes up at 5, as I pick up her smiling self I can't help but be thankful that I even have the chance to wake up at 5 with my little girl. I adore her so dang much and I hope I always remind her of that. She is so special to me.

Daddy: Daddy = king of getting her passed out. He is like a walking sleep king. I am so thankful for his help with that because she fights me for.ev.er and then he will get her she's out like a light. It's insane! He has been more than I ever imagined with her and loves her so, so much. He also is the nose frida king too. Thankfully he can do that things that I am no so good at. 
What we're looking forward to: Every day we get with her, CHRISTMAS, and everything else she throws our way. But mostly right now, CHRISTMAS! Ah, she makes the holidays so much sweeter!

Dear Sweet Brooklyn,
I pray that one day you experience a love like we have for you. You are the greatest joy we have ever experienced. You just roll with the punches and are one happy little girl. Well, unless you are hungry or tired. THEN you let us know we are the worst ever :) You LOVE kicking. And you kick…a whole lot.  You have started cooing and talking to us and pretty sure that is the cutest thing in the world. I try to talk back but I have a feeling we aren't on the same page :) You are so sweet, little girl. You give us lots of snuddles and I try to soak each and every one up. Naps though, aren't your thang. You would rather party or sleep on someone. I mean, I guess I can't really blame you. Just know you are our WORLD. Our everything. Everyone who meets you just loves you because you are such a special little gal. I can't wait to watch you grow. We love you more than life!
Love,  Your Momma

Brooklyn - One Month

Brooklyn - One Month

We officially have a one month old. I know everyone says it but how does time go so fast. I can't even BELIEVE it's almost November. I really can't. Holy cow Christmas is in 1.5 months. So much to plan for her first big Christmas. It's crazy to think how different our lives were just a short month ago and how much it has all changed, in the best way. 
This whole parenting thing is one of the hardest and scariest jobs I've ever had...I doubt myself all of the time, feel like I'm never going to have a clean house or look decent, long to spend time with Jeff, and I am running on baby fumes most days….but it is the BEST job and most favorite job I've ever had. I've honestly never wanted anything more and I praise God for trusting us to be her parents. There is no love greater. Even in the hardest moments, there is no where else I'd rather be. She is by far the greatest blessing and I will be forever grateful. And forever scared :)

Weight: 8.13 oz (last week) 
Height: 21 in. + (I totally tried to do this with a tape measure, not as easy as it sounds)
Nicknames: Baby girl, pretty girl, B, Stinky (from her daddy - who of course she takes after), an occasional Brookers, boo boo
Eating: She eats about every 2-3 hours, but I always wake her up at the 3 hour mark during the day to feed her if she isn't awake yet. That is very rare nowadays though. She's usually fired up ready to grub.
I do let her sleep through the night and she usually eats every 3-5 (5 is quite rare but HAS happened) hours at night. We are still using the shield and hope to wean off of it soon, for both of our sakes. She is not wanting to give that one up and honestly…I'm a little nervous to do so. I do love feeding her though, even though it is literally one of the hardest things I've done. I never knew it would be, but we are getting through it…together. 
Sleeping: During the day she tends to take short tiny little naps and they are usually longest when laying on someone or if we are riding in the car. One of these days I'll get brave and put her in the crib for her naps but for now I like having her close by. She usually sleeps in her rock-n-play, on me, or on her boppy next to me. At night she sleeps in her rock-n-play swaddled with her sleep sheep on. She did have her arms in the swaddle but now big girl likes those arms FREE, so we just swaddle her under her armpits. She used to sleep in the bassinet but she spits up so bad it started making me nervous so we switched.

Diapers: She is still in pamper swaddlers newborn diapers. We did like huggies snugglers too that we got from the hospital. We will probably stick with pampers though because I have a boat load I bought when I was pregnant. They seem to work well for her, that is if her mom gets her diaper on nice and snug. 
Clothing: She is currently still in newborn clothing. A few of her hands-me-downs are getting a little short though. Girl is growing and I love it, yet it makes me sad to think of her growing so fast. I mean seriously how is she a MONTH old already?! So big!
Social: Our bright eyed girl! She is becoming so alert and it's so fun to watch her discover things around her. She loves bright colors and tends to smile at them. She isn't a big fan of her play mat yet but occasionally she will get locked on something on it that catches her eye. She loves looking at walls, ceilings, lights, etc. She loves when you talk to her and just stares at you like she really is listening. I'll pretend she is. She adores walks and I need to get outside and do it more often. I'm always nervous if it is too hot, too cold, etc. I have been reading to her and she listens and stares at me for at least a few pages.  I cannot wait until she can really listen to them and find her own favorites.  She tends to listen longer to the more song like books, which makes sense. Or maybe because I'm overly excited when reading those ones to her. I hope she loves books as much as I do!
Dr. Apts: She had her two week appointment (looked great and passed her hearing test-yay!), and then we went back the following week because she had increased spit up that was curdled and I didn't know if it was normal or not. I really just called to ask about it but they had us come in to check her out. All was good, she is just a spitting up little lady. She also had to go to the doctor at about 1.5 weeks old for more testing on thyroidism because her numbers were off. Daddy was gone and Diana was with me and had to get blood drawn in both arms, heel, and then had to go BACK to the hospital when we found out they did not draw enough blood. I think I cried as much as she did. It was the worst thing EVER ever ever. Thankfully a NICU nurse did it at the hospital and her numbers came back fine. They thought my blood was still in her at the newborn testing at the hospital.
I did have a bout of mastitis but didn't have to go in as they just prescribed me some antibiotics, which I actually think gave me thrush. Ha ha, always something!

Likes: eating, going on walks, car rides, dancing with her daddy, being walked around to get to sleep, baths, being rocked, being wrapped in blankets, her hands (starting to find her thumb), staring as you talk to her, being held, sleeping on momma or daddy on her tummy, her sleep sheep (okay, maybe that's just me…but she tends to sleep more soundly with it), and her sister Piper…even though she doesn't know it yet. 
Dislikes: Being changed, fighting sleep, being hungry right when she wakes up, drying off after a bath, burping, the swing, and being on her tummy.
Mama: Still not completely back to myself, but getting closer and closer. I've had bowel movement issues but I won't even go there. Occasionally I'll have sharp pains where my stitches are but it's getting better. I'm hoping soon it will be all healed up. I feel much better during the day now that she is sleeping a little bit at night and is getting faster eating. I'm also a little less emotional about everything and can sort of control my crazy emotions. Key word on sort of. Sometimes I just get so overwhelmed with love, happiness, frustration with myself at times, exhaustion. Hearing songs that make me think of her and quotes that relate to her make me break down in tears. Even talking about her brings tears to my eyes. I just love her so so so dang much. So much.

Daddy: We are forever thankful for this guy. He has been so great with her and is learning along with me about what she likes and doesn't like. He is also the best calmer downer. He dances around the house with her and sings to her and I love every second of it. So does she. He has been so helpful as I've struggled to get back to myself with cleaning the house, cooking, and other things I just couldn't manage to do myself. He really has been our rock, even when I have gotten frustrated with him because he can't "read my mind", he has been the best and I'm so thankful for his help, love, and making me feel like a good mom even when I question if I'm doing it all right. He makes me feel good and I've never needed that more than now. Hopefully he knows just how much that is appreciated.
What we're looking forward to: Going home for Halloween (Neewollah), for her to "really" smile at us, watching her grow, more cuddles, and every single things that comes along with her. We love seeing her grow day by day. She has changed so much already!

What most of the pictures looked like :)

Dear Sweet Brooklyn,
I hope you know just how special you have made this past month. I honestly cannot even remember life without you. It was mostly just waiting and waiting and more waiting for you. And now you are here and it is more wonderful than I even imagined, yet also scarier than I ever imagined. You are such a cuddle bug and even though I know I should let you sleep in other places, I adore having you on my chest or in my arms when I can. There are so many times I just sit back and stare and you and am overwhelmed by love and happiness to have you…forever. I'm so thankful for you sweet girl. So thankful. I adore every little ounce of you and it's just fun to watch you grow, but you can stay little forever. I promise I won't mind. Thank you for showing us a love we never knew was possible and for being such a sweet, overall easy going little girl. I know we have learned a lot this month and will only continue to learn more as we get to know you better. Promise me you'll always know how much you are loved. Always and forever. Never forget that. And never stop dreaming big little one, because believe me…dreams really do come true. And you are everything I've ever prayed and dreamed about. You are everything I could have hoped for and more. Happy one month little Brooklyn!
Love,  Your Momma