Bernard

Opening his Christmas gift

We have had Bernard a year now and he is so much fun! Brooke loves him; sometimes he is the only thing that can make her laugh uncontrollably. He has learned that my day's consist of caring for Brooke, cooking, school, and cleaning. Most of the time you can find him asleep on the couch, resting his head on a pile of pillows.
There are times that he does require much attention and isn't afraid to tell you, literally. He will bark in my face or start attacking me with so much rubbing and kisses it is hard not to fall over. He started a habit of barking when he wanted to go outside, which happened way too often. Kyle bought him a doggie door and he seems to enjoy it. We are hoping that in the next couple of years we can let him stay in the house by himself and use the door when he wants to go outside. He isn't quite ready for it, as he still likes to grab things he shouldn't just to get attention.Sometimes Bernard is afraid to come in through the doggie door because his nails are a little long and when it rains his paws get wet. All of this contributes to major slipping and sliding and it scares him so much. It took him a couple days to come back in through the door after a traumatic run in with the wall.
He has been a lot of fun and I am glad to have him around during the day. He loves us so much and we love to cuddle with him every morning and night.

Sleeping without a swaddle

Last night, Brooke rolled on to her belly with her swaddle three times. Each time she woke up crying, because it scared her and woke her up. We knew she was getting close to doing this and had done everything to keep her on her back; we laid her against the bumper with a pillow wedged next to her to keep her from rolling. But even with all our efforts she rolled over anyways. This morning I put her down for her nap without a swaddle. It was hard for her at first to get comfortable, but after twenty minuted and a couple of positions, she was asleep on her belly. Her nap didn't last as long as they normally do, but I think with more practice she will start sleeping an hour and a half again. I am praying that the rest of her naps today will be as easy as this one. Twenty minutes of a little fussy and some crying is nothing.

5 months and much more!

It is hard to believe that Brooke will be turning 5 months in 6 days! She has grown so much these past few weeks and I love the new stage she has entered. The beginning of the year was very hard for us, because she wasn't sleeping well and Kyle and I were spending most of our energy trying to get her to sleep and having none for ourselves. Over the past few weeks, our little girl has transformed. She is always happy and she is going to sleep well and staying asleep much longer. She loves her new excersaucer and loves to scream. Every time we put Praise Baby in she gets the biggest smile on her face, she loves it! We are giving her rice cereal off and on. If I feed her before rice cereal she is usually not hungry for it, which is fine. A really bad habit that we started is letting her watch Praise Baby when eating. She HATES sitting in one place when being fed. We tried letting her watch it and it is the only way she will be content enough to eat her food. When we start introducing other foods we will have to phase it out. Enjoy some videos and pictures over the last few months!

Brookelyn screaming! The first time we found Brooke's tickle spot.

Christmas and much more!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from her three month photo shoot

Brookelyn had a great Christmas! We went to Fresno for a week and were able to visit with lots of family and some friends. She is a very active and alert baby, growing bored after time with certain toys; she likes to mix it up! Here are some fun pictures and videos from the last month.

She turned three months old on the 28th and what and interesting month it has been; she slept all night many times and was up in the night as well. Looking back I think she was going through a long growth spurt! Kyle figured out a new swaddling technique and that has also allowed us to get that 7 hour sleep period that were growing so fond of. She is particular eater and will only breastfeed well when she is actually hungry and will not let me hold her. I have to prop her up on the boppy or lay down and feed her. She has a sweet personality and also has a little stubborn attitude, which I love. She can't help it if she knows what she likes. She is quite the chatter box, here are some fun videos of the new sounds she is making.

Maternity pictures

We just got these pictures a couple of days ago and wanted to share a few of them.

2 months

Watching Brooke grow these past two months has been so much fun! I look at her now and I tear up (currently doing so as well) because she is growing fast. She is such a talker and a wiggler. I love laying her down and watching her kick like a crazy girl, jabber up a storm, and drool all over her hands as she puts them in her mouth while she is talking. She doesn't like to be held like a little baby unless it is bedtime. Her preferred mode of transportation is looking out and around. Her smile lights up the room and she turns to me when she hears my voice and smiles and squeals with delight. I love this stage, but I am already missing the true newborn stage. I asked Kyle the other day when we could have another, because Brooke is growing fast and I know that baby stage is almost done. For now I am trying to treasure every moment. She always sleeps about 45 minutes in her crib before she starts crying. I go and get her and she sleeps another 30 minutes in my arms. This week I have let her sleep in my arms for one of her naps. She sleeps so soundly that she went five hours between her feeding.
I love watching her sleep. I peek in on her all the time because she still looks like that little baby I brought home from the hospital 10 weeks ago. She is swaddled and all I see is her chubby cheeks and round face. When she sleeps she smiles, frowns, whimpers, and grunts- she is an active sleeper liker her daddy. She is still getting up for her early, early morning feeding (4am). Last week I thought I was doing something wrong because she hadn't slept through the night yet, but this week I am embracing those feedings because I know eventually she will no longer want them. Last weekend I had to work for a couple hours and then run some errands. Kyle stayed home with Brookelyn and fed her milk that I had lovingly pumped (me and the pump do not get a long). I was gone about five hours. When I got home and saw her smile I started to cry. It was the longest I had been a way form her and I missed her terribly. I didn't realize how much I missed her until I walked through the door and saw her face.Brookelyn is 11lbs. 2oz and 24in. long. The doctor said she is above average on her height and average on her weight. It seems she is going to be taller than me. This month Brooke has learned a lot about herself and her surroundings. I can't wait to see the new things she is going to learn next month.