Totally Late and Worth the Wait!

Our little Brynnlee Bear hit the 10 month mark a week and a half** over two weeks ago. Double Digits!!!

The past month has been a huge one for this sweet girl of ours. 

She is completely on the move and into everything these days.



She pulls up to surf the furniture and more recently has come to the realization that she can squat down and pick things up while she's standing as well! Her balance without assistance gets better by the day and she loves to practice with a huge smile on her face!

Her first word was "Hi" just a couple weeks ago, but she only says it when she wants to! She has also started saying "Bye Bye" and waving, but refuses to do once I pull the camera out. I think she has also started saying "DooDoo" for Snickers, but I have yet to get confirmation that she actually knows what she's saying and not just mimicking us.Along with her first few words, she loves making all kinds of new OOOOOOOOooooOOOoOo sounds and I briefly got a mamamama out of her, but only ended up with this on video...

Her sign language has blossomed a bit and she uses the milk sign quite frequently. You'd think we had our very own cow in the backyard or something. Oh wait, that's me! I also saw her practicing the "more" sign and she definitely understands "all done", but does not use it until after I use it.  She has also taken to pointing and can shake her finger "no" in the cutest way ever. PLUS....she now knows how to give those awesome, open-mouthed, slobbery baby kisses too!

I've decreased the amount of milk that I leave when I go to work and she now gets three 6 ounce bottles instead of 7. While this made me feel a little less stressed about the fact that my pumping levels have decreased a ton, I don't think I'm doing myself any favors. She's been waking up earlier and earlier over the past few weeks and I'm starting to think that it's because she's not getting enough milk. Doh! As a result, I turned to power pumping last night after I put her down and I pumped for 10 minutes on and 10 minutes off for an hour. Allegedly, this pattern mimics a growth spurt and triggers the body to release more prolactin, resulting in more milk. We shall see! Hopefully she will start getting more milk before she goes to sleep and I can at least be able to sleep past 6am on the weekends. Pretty Please?
Along with the decrease in bottle size, we hit a huge milestone and put away the bottles last weekend. B is officially a sippy cup girl only now! GAH! Slow down, please!

 
She's still hanging out in 9 month clothing, but can totally pull off some of the bigger stuff as well.

We had a little stomach issue with both girls (pretty sure it was old watermelon) and they both woke up one morning covered in throw-up.

Neither one of them seemed bothered by the events at all, and after early morning baths and stripping bed sheets, the incident was over. As a result of needing to strip B's bed and her bumper, I took the opportunity to lower her mattress as well. I know that before long, I'm going to be converting it into a toddler bed just like J's and it makes me so sad! I also left the bumpers off and it allows us to see her on the monitor easier when she curls up at the foot of her crib.

B's personality grows and grows as the days go on and I EAT.IT.UP! Regardless of the fact that I can't put her down or leave the room without her throwing a fit, she's the sweetest, cutest, smartest, funniest 10 month old I know. 

We love you to pieces Brynnlee Bear!

Eight Months!

These last couple months have made me realize how much I love this stage of babyhood. From about 6 to 9 months is my favorite. This little munchkin is so aware of her surroundings, is so fun to interact with, is so loveable, and is still so dependent on me, but yet she doesn't talk back and she isn't mobile! It's the best of both worlds really. 

She's still only moving backwards when she's left on her belly and will only momentarily pull her legs into get up on her knees. 

Her reaction to me when I have been away from her for an extended period of time makes my heart skip a beat. She gets so excited and gives a little pouty face and whines till I pick her up. Her separation anxiety has really picked up though as well. If I set her down to play so I can make dinner, do laundry, clean up, etc. she throws a little fit as I walk away. A lot of the time she'll get over it after a minute or two, but sometimes she wont calm down until I tend to her. 

B is eating lots of different foods now. I touched on purees for a bit, but have since moved into anything she can gnaw on and break down on her own. It's been so much easier and she has taken to it really well. Some new foods that she has tried are shredded cheese, green beans, black beans, pinto beans, baked beans, toast, hummus, apple, and red bell pepper. She has enjoyed all of these foods, but is always very cautious when taking her first bite of anything.
Her pincer grasp has improved greatly over the past couple weeks as well. I love watching her little hands and fingers working so hard to grab a tiny piece of food and then attempt to find their way into her mouth. Usually after the entire fist has been shoved inside. 

I've been working on getting her to say Mama, but Dada is still winning the race and takes credit for both of her shout outs...dadada and bobobob. 

B has turned into quite the chomper when she gets bored while nursing and if it weren't for the ridiculously adorable smile she beams up at me after she does it, I think I may have taken the boob away from her by now! {Note to self: teach her not to bite before she gets any teeth!}

She is starting to leave a couple ounces in her last bottle when I'm at work, so I'm thinking about cutting back on the amount of milk I'm leaving since she is now eating three meals a day. I've been keeping up with her intake pretty well and am pleased with the volume of my freezer stash, but cutting back on a couple ounces a day would help even more. I'm still pumping three times a day at work, unless I get scheduled in a meeting that conflicts with my pumping time and I haven't been pumping before bed since we went on vacation, but I plan to pick that back up soon. 

That pesky cradle cap is still hanging on strong. I haven't been diligent about using the coconut oil or trying any other remedies and I know I need to.
Whether we do bath before bed or not, I am thoroughly enjoying the special time that we have together, just the two of us, as I put on her jams and get her ready for bed. Her mirrored closet doors make for such fun pictures and I love smooching on her and enjoying every bit of who she is in that moment. Taking in all of her rolls, smiles, her smell, and her soft skin.  

Her sleep is still the same aside from her wake up time getting earlier and earlier. It's not rare for her to be awake before I head to work at 6:30 or shortly after.

Naps are still crappy at about 20 to 40 minutes and it never seems to fail that she will take a long nap (anything over an hour) when I'm expecting her to wake up so we can go somewhere or do something. 

I look forward to B learning to crawl and do new things, but I'm in no hurry. I truly, truly love this stage!!

My sweet and sensitive Brynnlee Bear, 

Words cannot describe the love that I feel for you. Watching you take in the world around you is amazing and so rewarding to me. I wouldn't mind one bit if you could slow your roll toward your first birthday. I can wait awhile, I promise. Keep sharing your infectious smile with everyone you meet and your loving, tender heart will be admired by all. 

I love you THIIIIIIIIS much, sweet pea! 

B turns 4 Months Old...and then 5!

The title of this post was almost, "B Stops Sleeping!" No joke. I don't know if it was the 4 month wakeful period, teething, the transition of me going back to work, that she was not eating enough during the day, all of the above??? But good heavens, this mama needed some solid ZZZzzzzzzZzZs! We spent a solid month or so dealing with an off the wall sleep schedule and once she was about to hit 5 months, she fell into her groove. We still have the occasional night of more than one wake up, but for the most part, she may fuss for a bit, fall back to sleep, wake around 2 or 3 to eat, fall back to sleep, fuss for a bit around 5, and fall back to sleep till 7:30 or 8. I can handle this!

She still napping multiple times a day for about 30 to 40 minutes, with the occasional 2+ hour nap. I have to remind myself to leave her in her crib when she wakes around the 30 or 40 minute mark because sometimes she will lay there and talk a bit or fuss a tad and 10 minutes later, she's asleep again.

She goes to bed between 7 and 8 and is up for the day around 7 or 8.
We do wash wash (bath) with both girls every other night.

 

 

It's so fun having them in the tub together and getting them all snuggly warm in their jams on our bed before I take Brynnlee to bed and Bobby takes Jordan to bed. 
About two weeks ago, I couldn't be bothered to swaddle her back up after she had wiggled one arm out, and I started leaving her right arm out of the swaddle from the get go. She took to this as if she knew no different, so after a week, I went for both arms. I still wrap the swaddle around her body because I really think she uses the swaddle as a hug sleep cue. Again, she took to both arms out seamlessly, so now I just need to pull the trigger on the whole thing and stuff those swaddles in one of the tubs under her bed!

I also decided to ditch the pacifiers too. While she took to one and used it on occasion, she was never dependent on it and is more apt to suck her thumb {ughhh} or hand when she needs that extra comfort to fall asleep. So, into the drawer they went. 
Through her fourth month she was getting three 6 ounces bottles while I was at work (every three hours) and in the last couple weeks, I have slowly added more to hopefully help with her night sleep and avoid having to nurse her and give her a bottle at night (I was doing that for a week or so). Now, at 5 months I am leaving three 7 ounce bottles. Yes, I said SEVEN! Dear god, this child is an oinker! It's like a daily challenge with myself to try and pump more than she takes while I am gone (HA!) or to be home before she takes her third bottle so that I can nurse her instead. While I'm at work, I have gotten myself (not that this post is about me...) in a decent routine and I pump three times a day. At 8, 11, and 2. On the rare occasion that I didn't nurse her after 5am or so, I will also pump on my way to work and if I'm being a good girl, I will pump after I put her to bed. Every little bit helps, but dang, my nipples get sore!!

Right around four months, she finally started standing on a regular basis and thought she was so funny while doing so!

She's giggling SO much these days and I find myself in hysterics just listening to her!

The birthmark on her head is now a huge bump that causes her hair to stick up a little, but as with the others, it doesn't raise a cause for concern and should go away on it's own.

At her 4 month appointment she was 15 lbs. 13 oz (82%) and 26 inches (97%) head is 42 cm (79%)

Going back to work was a huge transition for the both of us. Just like her sister, she would get frustrated with the boob when I was home because she liked the instant gratification of the bottle. I ended up ordering these and whether it was the bottles or time that helped, it took a couple weeks for us to find our rhythm. Her sleep was thrown off a bit and she was majorly struggling to put herself to sleep. I was SO upset over this. I am such a sleep nazi and seeing all of my hard work go out the window because I had to go back to work was incredibly frustrating. But, like always, that hurdle was overcome and we got back to where we left off and she seems to nap better for the nanny than she does for me now.

At four months she was wearing all 6 month clothes and now at five months, she has broken into some 6-9 month stuff as well.
She is in size three diapers and, I can't believe I'm saying this, I have already contemplated putting her in fours! AYKM??? I can't do it. I seriously can't. She's not even 6 months old yet. Good grief!

I have been wearing her in the moby with her feet hanging out instead of all bundle up in the fetal position since about 4 months. She stopped sleeping as well in it, but I think that has more to do with how aware she is now, as opposed to the position.

We put the jumparoo together just after she hit four months. It took her a few days to really get it going, but she enjoys it.

Nursing has become an Olympic event in the last couple months. Between her clawing at my chest, craning her neck to watch the TV, coming off the boob to see what her big sis is up to (as I then spray milk all over the both of us!), the days of leisurely nursing are long gone!
Just like J, she enjoys wrapping her tiny little hand around my thumb while she nurses or falls asleep in my arms. This is one of those things that I soak up every bit of. Feeling her silky soft skin wrapped around mine, looking at all of the beautiful knuckle creases and her tiny little fingernails....I wish I could bottle it all up and save it forever.

The cradle cap is still hanging on, but it's not noticeable unless you really inspect her scalp. The bit between her eyebrows (you can see it in the pic below) can be tamed with lotion for now. Just the other night, I tried out some coconut oil before bath time and it seems to have help to get a bit more off, but I'm sure she will still need a few more rounds of it.

For the past two months, she has been trying to sit up on her own while lying down or while in her lounger on the couch, so as of this past weekend, I have officially put the lounger away. She can sit on her own temporarily, but needs a bit more work!
She enjoys laying on our Mickey Mouse blanket in the front yard on sunny afternoons while J chases bubbles, plays with acorns, or draws with sidewalk chalk.

She discovered her feet big time over the past two months and loves hanging out on her back, grabbing her toes and rolling back and forth and watching them move. I just love seeing her feet dance around in front of her face and her chunky thighs getting in the way of everything!

Chunk A Monk,
You have been an absolute joy in these first five months. Your calm, sweet nature is so fun to see and we can't wait to see more of your personality blossom in the coming months. You love to smile and laugh and are so curious about the world around you. Don't you worry, your big sis is so ready to show you the ropes and help guide you along the way. As you approach your half birthday, I can hardly believe we've already known you for almost six months. Keep sleeping, eating and thriving as you have been. Your family loves you to the moon and back, Brynnlee Bear.
XOXOXOX

Brynnlee is 3 Months!

And five days!

After we had Jordan, I was so worried that I had things too easy and that the rest of my babies would be nightmares. Boy was I wrong. Brynnlee started out a bit touchy with the diaper change and cold wipe freakouts and her hatred for the bath and carseat, but once she got over those things, she has been a breeze! I'm probably jinxing myself as I write this, but it's the truth. Aside from the 12 week growth spurt/Wonder Week (I'll get to that next), she has been such a joy. So easy going and rarely cries. She complains some here and there and I have nicknamed her "Squawker" because of it. She just lets out these little squawks letting you know she's not 100% happy, but she's not going to cry about it. 

Around two months, I started working on getting her to sleep in her crib more. I started with naps just because it made things easier with Jordan wanting to play and make noise downstairs, and at 10 weeks I moved her to her crib for nighttime as well. We were consistently getting long stretches of sleep to where I was only getting up with her once before I got up for the day and she was only nursing on one side for that wakeup. I thought for sure she'd really be sleeping through the night at any time. That was until we went to my mom's for Thanksgiving. She slept fine there, but the night that we got home, she was all out of whack and I was up 3 or 4 times with her. It continued for a few days and then I just assumed that it was an early 12 week growth spurt. Seemed reasonable, right? It made complete sense until she really hit 12 weeks and then things got really ugly. I could barely get 3 hours at a time out of her at night and it would take more than just laying her down and walking away to get her back to sleep. She has become so much more aware and I can tell she is actually looking at me and seeing me walk away now. Her naps were still wonky as well and some days she would wake around the 45 minute mark and then go back to sleep, other days she couldn't even make it more than 30 minutes. This all lasted for a full 7 days (SEVEN days of minimal sleep was brutal! I swear the newborn days are NOTHING compared to the random wrenches thrown at you after you've gotten used to your sleep again). But, even though I was frustrated and getting so much broken sleep, I still consider her easier than Jordan because there was no inconsolable crying and not once did I have to analyze every little thing and wonder why she was not sleeping. I'd get up, feed her both sides (dead giveaway for it being a growth spurt), lay her down and rock her with a hand on her chest and then go back to sleep. A few nights were spent in the upstairs guest room just to make it easier on me and hopefully keep from disturbing Bobby and Jordan. Now that all of that is over, she's back to 6+ hour stretches at night and her naps during the day....AH-MAZING! It seems like she occasionally still struggles to get through that first sleep cycle and will cry out or wake up and talk to herself for a bit and then she falls right back to sleep. I'm getting 2 and 3+ hour naps out of her once or twice a day. It's totally thrown my planning for a loop because I like to get out and run errands in the morning and come back for lunch, but now she's sleeping right through that time. I doubt it will last long though, so I'm soaking it up. 

She nurses about every three hours unless she's sleeping and then she could very well sleep right through that mark. When she wakes up in the morning, we come downstairs and she is totally content hanging out and watching TV or Jordan and I know I have plenty of time to get my coffee, Jordan's breakfast, etc before I sit down to nurse her. 

When left with a sitter, I have been leaving 4.5 oz bottles and she seems to do just fine with that.

This girl can also talk up a storm. It is so fun to listen to her coo and babble and her expressions make you think she's just going to start talking any second. And the laughs??? I die. Seriously. It should be illegal to be able to make such a cute noise. I am determined to get a bit of it on video because it is truly something that I want to be able to remember forever.

She is such a smiley girl and will smile at you by just seeing you smile. I have been able to catch so many amazing smiling pictures on my phone, but more recently she has become fascinated with the back of my phone and makes the weirdest face when it pops up in front of her now. It looks something like this...

LOL! She juts out her jaw, purses her lips, and gets her tongue sticking right up against her lips and she kind of shakes her head a little too. It's so random! Needless to say, getting those huge smiles on camera has gotten a bit harder because of this. 

She has rolled from front to back a number of times now.

Just like big sister, she has her share of birthmarks. I thought she was going to get by without any, but one started to pop up on her chest and another one on the top of her head. 

Birthmark just below her cheek/chin

Over the past month, she has had a strange amount of green poopy diapers, but nothing mucousy, nothing frothy, and nothing consistent, so I am not too concerned with it. She has no other symptoms along with it, so I think it just comes with the breastfeeding territory. 

She's still wearing size 2 diapers, but has moved into 3 to 6 and 6 month clothes already. All those adorable tiny little outfits that I was so sad to put away when Jordan outgrew them have barely made an appearance this time around. I think I've managed to get them on her once, maybe twice. 

Her cradle cap is still hanging around, but looking MUCH better that past couple weeks. I'm still using olive oil on it at bath time, but moved to a fine tooth comb instead of the soft bristle brush and I have been able to lift so much more of the dead skin. 

Speaking of bath time, Brynnlee and Jordan shared their first of many baths together the other night while Bobby was working late. 

That last picture should exemplify why I'm struggling at keeping this girl swaddled as well. She's huge. Plain and simple. Hercules busts out of her swaddle every time now. I attempted to get rid of it cold turkey the other night, but after getting up three times before we even reached midnight, I gave in and swaddled her right back up. I may reattempt the process tonight and just give her one free arm to start, but we'll see. 

Clearly, I have already ditched the survey that I attempted from her last update. It's just too boring for me. 

Brynnlee Elaine, you bring more and more joy to our lives with each passing day. As my maternity leave is coming to an end, I am getting so sad to know that I wont be with you all day, every day, but the fact that we get to share you with someone else that will take wonderful care of you helps me get through it. I cherish every day with you and your big sissy, but these last couple weeks at home are going to be spent nom-ing on your cheeks and kissing every roll because I know those adorable things are going to fade faster than we want them to. Keep up the good sleep patterns and the ear to ear grins! We love you with all of our hearts, sweet pea!