Sickness has come to our home!

John was sick last week. I felt so bad for him. He suggested I pack up the baby and go stay with his parents to keep from getting sick too. I did that. We did everything we could to keep Brooklyn and I safe from the pukies. Well, it's just bound to happen I guess.

Brooklyn and I both got sick around the same time, Friday. Which I guess is good since they won't let her go to daycare while she's throwing up and I prefer not to go to work while I'M throwing up. I figured I'd just stay home with her and take care of us both. But John stayed home with us and he took care of BG while I rested and ran to the bathroom every 15 minutes. Ugh. Soooo unpleasant.

Today I'm starting to feel better though. Thank God for John. He makes life so much easier. I'm so thankful for him. He takes such good care of us.

Nicknames

So I plan to do a scrapbook page on Brooklyn's nicknames:

Butter Bean, Bean, Beanie Baby
Sweet Pea
Crunchy, Crunch-n-munch
Squirrel, Squirrel Butt
BG, Baby Girl
Sprout - by Grandpa Robert
Peanut - by Grandpa Freebie
Poopsie
Smiles Davis
Droolia Roberts
Milk Dud
Mini-Muffin

Daycare Day 1, How did it go?

It went great. I got a good report from a close friend (Traci) who's infant son also attends this same daycare. Traci saw Brooklyn when she dropped off her own son in the morning. Traci told me that Brooklyn recognized her and waved to her when Traci left. This is amazing to me because we've not seen her wave before. She does this neat little wrist motion that looks like she's revving up her motorcycle. Little did I know this was her way of waving. So yay....add this to the list of posts labeled 'firsts.'

Then I went to visit baby girl at lunch. She was sleeping soundly in a swing. I chatted with the teachers and they seem like really great women.

And this morning when I dropped Brooklyn off, the sweet little boy from yesterday remembered her. His name is Brady and from across the parking lot he yells "It's BROOKLYN!!!!!!!" as his mommy walked him to the building. I thought that was the cutest thing ever. She's already welcomed by some of the other kids.

First Day of Daycare....

So we tried the grandparent/nanny care thing for as long as we could manage. I really enjoyed knowing Brooklyn was with family or close friends during the day, but schedule conflicts and poor health have made it necessary for us to go the daycare route. At first I was really annoyed that, with all the people and family that we have near us, we STILL have to use daycare. But now I realize that it worked out for 8 months and for that I'm thankful.

I thought today would be hard, leaving her with strangers, but I feel like I handled it well. It helps that Brooklyn is a social baby. I dropped her stuff off in the infant room then strolled her out to the gymnasium where all the kids gather (under supervision) before being separated into their individual class rooms. She watched two little boys playing with some toys and did her I'm-so-excited "ooo! ooo! ooo!" noise. She smiled at the teacher and was her normal curious happy self. One little boy came over to meet her and was so sweet and gentle as he reached out to shake her tiny hand. She doesn't get the whole hand-shaking thing so she grabbed him and probably would have tried to nom-nom-nom on his hand if he'd let her.

I'm sure things will go great for her today. And she's not far from where I work if anyone needs me.

Have fun sweet angel. Take good naps, eat well & make friends. You are loved and prayed for today.

Not fair!

So Brooklyn has gotten to the wiggly stage where she doesn't want to hold still to be cuddled. She wants to look at everything and turns around right away once you pick her up. I'm not ready for her to move on to the next phase. Yes, I'm pouting! I don't feel like I got enough cuddle time. Is there such a thing as 'enough cuddle time?'

8 Month Update

Okay Brooklyn, so you are really starting to grow some hair. I looked at pictures of you from Christmas, only 3 short months ago, and I can definitely see the difference.

You are sitting up really well. Occassionally you fall backwards so we prop you up in the corner of your crib to play. You are also eating very well. You seem to like veggies more than the fruit right now, which is fine by me! You love to hold carrot sticks in your little hand and slurp on them. I don't let you do this for very long because I'm afraid you'll gum off a little carrot chunk and choke. I'd like to start putting apple slices in a mesh teething baggie and let you go to town. Maybe this weekend.

You check everything out...and I mean EVERYTHING. You love to smile. You say mama. You do patty cake, which is really just the baby version of 'give me 5'. You get excited about most things and start kicking your legs around when you see new people. You are babbling a lot. You've been making a cute little bulldog face where you scrunch up your mouth and nose and breathe in and out really quickly, then smile. It's hilarious. You also smile after you sneeze when we say "God bless you!" You've also taken to squealing. I guess John and I shouldn't laugh because that only encourages it, but it's so darn cute. For now. You get super moody when you are too tired. But honestly...who doesn't?

As for toys that you love right now, you are fascinated with your glow worms, purse, & stuffed pony. Your eyes light up when Daddy brings you the white fluffy teddy bear with the yellow ribbon. It's almost as big as you but you reach out to hug it and promptly put it's bow in your mouth.

As for height & weight, I am guessing here but I think you are 23" tall and maybe 17 lbs? You were 16 lbs in January.

All in all, we love having you around. I think about you all day long. I race home from work to go pick you up so I can hug you and smell your sweet baby-ness. I know your daddy feels the same way. We can't believe how much you've changed our lives for the better. And we had pretty awesome lives before, so you can imagine how much better things are...next to heavenly. =)

**** Correction ****
We weighed and measured Brooklyn today (3/20/2010) and I was way off on the guess. She's 19 lbs and 26" tall with a 4" foot.

Rollin...rollin....rollin....

....keep that baby rollin'.

Yep, she is getting really good at it. And since she isn't a fan of being placed on her belly, she immediately rolls over to her back, as if to say "Puh-leeze, mom & dad. This isn't even a challenge for me any more." Such a show off! =)

The other day she dropped her binky and it rolled across the floor. I watched her to see what she would do. Would she cry immediately, knowing she can't just mosey over and get it? Or would she try and figure it out? She flopped over on her side and did the log roll over to get it. I was amazed at her ability to discover a solution to her problem.

Look out World! Brooklyn is coming to get ya!

Yay.....Our pictures are in!!!!

Fact: We are one hot family!

Eating like a big girl!

So John has been sick this week and stayed home. Today Brooklyn stayed home with him, rather than go to Grandma's. He called me to report that she ate a whole container of sweet potatoes. Wow! Normally she finishes a container in like 2 or 3 meals. You go girl!!!

Doing Something New

Today we went kayaking around a wildlife preserve in our area. Neither of us had 1) been to that part of our area and 2) been kayaking before. I LOVE doing new things. And I can't believe I've been surrounded by water my whole life and have never been kayaking, but hey, I'm doing it now!

Our instructor told us to think of your body as a stack of blocks...keep your head (block #1) over your shoulders (block #2) over your torso (block #3) and you'll stay balanced in the boat. Okay. Will do. As John and I settled down into our tandem boat with me in front and him in the back, I realized the great tip-potential of these tiny little vessels. And holy crap was that water cold! Um....did we really think this through? We push off the beach and I'm desperate for us to get into a paddle rythm. I feel our boat start to lean starboard (that's 'right' for all you land lubbers) and I yell to John "Your blocks! Stack your blocks!!!" He corrects himself and the boat straightens out.

Now we've been canoeing together before and learned that I'm a strong paddler and good at steering the boat. We also learned that John is not so much good at either of those things. Let's just say we saw many tree roots up close along the river THAT day. Hahahaha! In his defense, I think it is because he hasn't had much experience. Nothing wrong with that.

I admit that today I had low expectations as he took the spot in the boat that controlled our direction. But you know, we REALLY worked well together. He got the hang of dragging his paddle in the water to get us to turn and we both learned how to "paddle hard right" to turn right quickly and "paddle soft" to help us straighten out if we started zigging or zagging across the inlet.

We saw a manatee up close, we avoided running into any fishing lines from the shore fishermen, we watched and applauded a guy on a motor boat who reeled in this huge fish, we didn't get eaten by gators, didn't crash into another boat or tip over, and realized that we'd love love love to do this again. And I can't wait for the time when we can bring Brooklyn to go kayaking. Yay us!

Patty Cake

So today Grandma Linda taught Brooklyn patty cake. If you hold your hand out to her and say "Patty cake Brooklyn" she'll take her tiny hand and smack it several times. It's SO cute. I love how smart she is.

Our First Family Portraits

So today we went to JC Penney's to do our first family portraits. Brooklyn is 7.5 months old and I do regret not getting her in sooner, like around 1 or 2 months old, to do the really cool newborn pictures. But I can't keep beating myself up about it. She was premature and couldn't go out in public for 3 months. So yeah, I'm over the regret. Anyway, the photo shoot turned out really well. Brooklyn was in such a good mood and so very smiley. Every picture preview turned out amazing. It was not difficult to decide with shots to buy....we just bought them all! Can't wait for them to come in.