Brooklyn's Half Birthday!

Can you believe it?! She was 6 months old on Saturday. I can't believe it's been that long since she joined our family. We love her SOOO much! She is certainly growing fast. It's funny how she seems to be changing sizes exactly when the clothings tags say she should. I remember this happening when she turned three months as well. All of a sudden, she just didn't fit in her clothes any more and had to move up to the next size. Saturday was her first day wearing 6-9 months clothes. We started her out in this cute kitty outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Maner:

We celebrated her half birthday by going to Tucanos in Provo. We had a buy one get one free coupon. For some reason, Tucanos thinks Jason's birthday is in April so they sent it to us in the mail a month early. Oops!

There was a 45 minute wait for Tucanos so we walked over to Borders and read "Horton Hears a Who" as a family. Brooklyn rode in her new stroller. She LOVED the new perspective (she's only ever ridden in her travel system facing us in her car seat). She kept giggling and looking around and then looking backwards up at us to see what we thought. It was very cute. However, she still kind of flops around in it. She isn't sitting up AT ALL yet and I don't think her abs are quite strong enough to hold her in place. Anyway, here she is at the bookstore. She was smiling at everybody there. What a flirt!

(Notice how the stroller made her hair stick straight up... like it needed any help doing that!)

I did end up getting that little tool for her where you put food in the mesh bag for her to chew on. I stuffed it with fruit salad at Tucanos and she loved it. I didn't love it because she kept screaming for more whenever she'd drop it or suck it down too much. Jason says we're better off not giving her any food when we go out to eat because it always ends up putting her in a worse mood than before if she doesn't get exactly what she wants. I like introducing her to new things, but maybe a restaurant is not the place for it. Good thing Tucanos is noisy anyway.

We still have problems getting her to sleep at night. It's actually been getting worse lately. Her naps during the day are a little longer, but that's because she doesn't go to sleep until anywhere between 1-4 am and then still wakes up around 8:30. I don't know what her deal is. I have given a half-hearted attempt at the "cry it out" method, but I always give in when she starts crying too hard and go get her. It just breaks my heart to leave her like that. We do have to figure something out soon, though. It's getting ridiculous.

Jason is in finals this week, so we're expecting one last, stressful push before we head off to Florida for a family vacation. We are meeting my parents and my sister's family there. We are all flying standby and staying in my grandparent's condo on the beach. So, it will be a cheap, but really fun trip. We're looking forward to it. Let's pray that our little girl doesn't scream the whole flight!

We love our baby so much and are so glad she is here. She is still very smart and is starting to make the "mamamama" and "dadadada" sounds. She doesn't know what she's saying, but it still makes us feel good. She is such a light and a blessing in our lives. Te amamos nina linda!