Brooklyn - 4 Months

How is it even possible that my baby girl is 4 months old already?  I know I say that every time I do one of these monthly posts but really its like the time just flies by.  Our sweet B is such a blessing to our family.  She has such a calm, laid back disposition! She pretty much just goes with the flow, which makes my life much easier!  And can I just say, she has the most AMAZING eyes!  A lot has gone on in her 4th month of life.  We took her on our trip to the Northeast. She got her first fever and cold.  She started sleeping in her crib.  She went to the nursery at church for the first time.  And she started rolling over from her tummy to her back.

We had our first well check with our new pediatrician and I really liked her.  Finding new docs is hard work but i think we have a good one.  She said Brooklyn looked great and was growing and developing right on track so that is always a blessing to hear!  She had to get 2 shots and 1 oral vaccine and that has made her a little grumpy and clingy.  Hopefully she is back to her happy self soon!  She has grown a ton in the last 2 months.  I told you the dr was a bit concerned that she was in the 5th % for weight at her 2 month appt but not she has jumped all the way up to the 49th % so she is growing like a champ!  I am thankful she was able to put on some weight without an supplementing!  The dr. said we can start introducing solid anytime between now and 6 months.  That is always a fun adventure.  We will start trying out some cereal, fruits and veggies before too long.  I am contemplating making my own baby food this time around but we will see if that actually happens :D.  

At 4 months our little miss is...

* 13 lbs 14 oz which is the 49th %tile

* 25 1/4 in which is the 70th %tile

*wearing 3 month cloths

*wearing size 2 diapers

*nurses every 3 hours during the day

*goes to bed between 7-8 and sleeps on her back until daddy gives her a bottle around midnight and then sleeps until between 5-7.  I am really looking forward to her starting to sleep better soon!!  

*She still naps at least for a little while after each feeding.  I try to get her to take at least 1 long nap a day but she doesn't always cooperate and often the long nap starts in her crib and ends in my arms (which is really ok with me :D)

*She loves being in the water, so the pool and bath time are big hits.

*She enjoys sitting in her activity bouncer.

*She giggles but hasn't given us the big belly laugh yet.

*She has the cutest dimples when she smiles.

*Her new fav thing to play with is her toes.

We are just loving watching her little personality come out.  I am just so thankful that God chose us to be this precious baby's family!  I feel like she is getting bigger every day and while it makes me sad to see our last baby grow up it's also exciting to watch her learn new things!  I can't wait to see what her 5th month holds!

Sleep Training

This past week we (and by we I mean I) officially began sleep training B.  Unfortunately, a part of her crib was lost in the move so between that and the move and our trip we are doing this about 6 weeks later than we did with her brother and sister.  We tried to find the missing part but since our crib had been discontinued we couldn't find it.  I ended up finding a nice crib on craigslist not far from us and we bought it.  It is a convertible crib so if we decide to keep and buy the conversion kits it we can make it into a toddler bed, day bed and then a full bed.

The first night we put her in it she did alright.  She had already fallen asleep so we just laid her down.  She woke up to eat at 10:45 pm, 3:15 am and 6:15 am.  It is a lot harder on me having to go upstairs every time she wakes up so hopefully she will stop waking up so often soon.

The second night in her crib I started the dreaded cry it out process.  It is definitely not one of my favorite parts of parenting.  It makes me so sad to just leave them in there screaming.  But I know its what needs to happen and in the long run it will be better for us all.  Thankfully, she only cried for about 30 minutes which is way better than her brother and sister did on their first night!  Hopefully, it will only get better from here.  

With her being my last, I have to say it was a little sad to move her out of our room and into hers.  Every milestone is a last and I get a little nostalgic when each one happens.  I will be glad though when she starts sleeping though the night because this momma is quite tired after over 3 months of not getting a full nights sleep.  So here's to sleep training and sleeping through the night soon!

The Big Move

We have officially moved to Texas!  We have TX license plates and TX drivers licenses and all of our things are finally here in our new house.  Saying goodbye to our friends in CO was really hard.  Lots of tears were shed.  Colorado was home for 6 years and all 3 of our babies were born there.  Denver will always hold a special place in our hearts!

sweet little friends

Daniel's Park 

Collin's Last Sunday preaching at Littleton

our sweet going away party

our last Rockies game

The whole moving process was not the smoothest ever but it eventually all got done.  The movers were actually supposed to be here sometime between July 19-24 but we found out on the 22nd that they had been delayed and weren't going to be able to get here until the next week.  If them being late wasn't frustrating enough we were going to be out of town the entire next week and the house was being painted.  So we were able to get them to hold our stuff until we got home the next Saturday.

So fast forward to the day we come home from our trip I posted about earlier...my mom is at our house to intercept the movers until we get home that afternoon and a staff member is at church to let them in to drop off Collin's office stuff.  Well we get a picture from the church of ALL of our belonging unloaded from the truck and sitting in the parking lot.  AWESOME.  Turns out they had moved our stuff from the original truck so all of Collin's books that were loaded last were now at the very back of the truck!  So several hours and a lot of work later they get Collin's office dropped off and arrive at the house.  They are about 2/3 done by the time we get home and the house is a disaster.  There is just stuff everywhere.

Now fast forward another week and here we are.  We are pretty much completely unpacked and done with boxes.  We have a few things to put up in the attic for storage, a bunch of trash to have hauled to the dump, and then all of the decor to hang on the wall.  The house is starting to feel more and more like home and I can't wait to get it all decorated! I will post some pics once we get it all done :D.

I really love our new house and have prayed since we bought it that it will be a place for our family to grow, learn and serve in.

And now we have our first Sunday at Greenville Oaks behind us too.  It was a wonderful day but boy was I exhausted after.  We got to meet so many of our new church family that morning and then even more at our welcome party that night!  We are so excited for this new adventure God has sent us on.

My Big 5 year old

Well I realized that i never posted Maddox's 5 year post.  Its unbelievable that we already have a 5 year old.  He is such a sweet boy.  Maddox is our black and white rule follower.  He is very cautious and doesn't typically like to try new things.  He is a thinker and has a sensitive heart.  He cares for others and is typically the quiet one in a group.  I just love his sweet spirit.  We decided with this move that we would go ahead and hold him back on starting kindergarten.  He will do another year of preschool and we will start next year.  I definitely think he is smart enough to start but with his birthday being late we chose to wait to give him just one more year to mature.

We had a little birthday party for him before we left Colorado and he had fun hanging out with his friends.  At his 5 year doctors appointment he had to get 4 shots but he took them like a champ.  I had been preparing him for a while and told him that if he was brave then he could pick out a prize at the toy store.  He did awesome and didn't even cry.  Unfortunately, I can't remember where I put his paper from his appointment to see how much he weighed and how tall he was but if it shows up I will add it in later :D.

We are so proud of our little buddy and love that we get to be his mommy and daddy!

love this precious boy

his reaction to getting his new golf clubs on his bday

he chose a Monsters University cake this year

Brooklyn in Brooklyn

I thought this should get its own post because we took some fun pics of B in her namesake. I took lots of different pictures of things with her name on them and I am going to get several of them printed and I got the last one of her blown up on a canvas to put in her room!  Can't wait to get it all up on the wall!!

Anniversary Trip

The last week of July Collin and I celebrated a decade of marriage.  I can't believe 10 years has already gone by since we said "I do."  So much has changed in the past 10 years and I am so thankful I get to go on this life journey with my love, Collin.  To celebrate this milestone we decided to take a trip.  With Brooklyn being so small still we had to take her with us but she was great and we had a blast.  We talked about the beach but ended up deciding to go to the Northeast.  We flew into NYC and spent a few days there and then rented a car and drove up to Boston for a few days.  Both are great cities and we had a blast.

We went to the MET and MOMA and got to see Starry Night.  We went to 3 different baseball games and got to hit 3 different stadiums, Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, and Fenway Park (we want to go to them all at some point).  We got to see a Red Sox/Yankees game at Fenway so that was awesome!  We did Top of the Rock and took Brooklyn to Brooklyn.  We also saw the the 9/11 museum and that was really amazing.  On our drive up to Boston we stopped in Cape Cod and it is beautiful! We did the Freedom Trail and walked to MIT and Harvard too.  It was a great trip and we got to see so many new thing!  I am so glad we were able to take this trip to celebrate our anniversary before Collin started his new job.