We made it!

I'm sure Melody will write a detailed blog about our trip to Florida but I just wanted to let everyone know that we made it!


This is from our bedroom window!

Sitting Duck... or Bear

I guess if I had taken Brooklyn's picture in the little ducky dress she wore to church today, I wouldn't have had to amend the title! I've mentioned that she doesn't like to be put into the sitting position. She always throws herself back to lie down or stiffens her legs to stand up. And she is surprisingly strong! However, I have been trying to get her to practice sitting at least twice a day. Other babies her age that we know are sitting without help, so I thought it was important even if she hated it. She is starting to do a lot better. As long as there isn't something she is trying to grab, she can stay up for a minute or two on her own. However, I must admit that a couple of her "sitting" pictures ended up like this:

I guess she still needs a little work! =)

At least what she lacks in talent, she makes up for in looks. There's our sweet Baloo!

The Stats

After our doctor's appointment yesterday, I decided that I gave birth to a worm. She is long and skinny with a relatively small head. And she wiggles a TON. (By the way, who knew you would see so many interesting things by searching "worm" on google images?)

As of yesterday, Brooklyn weighs 16 lbs 4 oz (55%), is 27 inches long (90%), and her head measures 42 cm (40%). The doctor says everything looks great. We saw a different doctor this time. She looked in Brooklyn's mouth and said that she didn't see any teeth coming through, whereas the other doctor said he saw two of them at her appointment TWO MONTHS ago. So who knows who is right? Worms don't have teeth anyway... do they?

What was funny is that Brooklyn seemed to remember the doctor's office. I guess the emotional trauma of getting 80 (okay, 3) shots, all at once, is hard to get over. She was totally fine in the waiting room and exam room until they told me to undress her. As soon as I layed her down on the table, she FREAKED OUT!! I have honestly never seen her like that. She flipped and kicked and screamed and wiggled up a storm. And she usually loves to get her clothes taken off! From then on, whenever we would put her on that table, she'd do the same thing. But as soon as I picked her up, she was fine. We had to do most of the exam with her on my lap because she wouldn't cooperate otherwise. She did have to lie down for her shots, though. They didn't seem as bad this time. She screamed when she was on the table, but as soon as I picked her up, she was fine again. She took a long nap afterwards, my poor little traumatized wormy girl.

***WARNING: IF YOU ARE OPPOSED TO THE ARBITRARY SEDATION OF SMALL CHILDREN, YOU NEED TO STOP READING NOW.***

So I'm really nervous about the plane ride to Florida. Brooklyn is actually a seasoned traveler (this will be her 5th flight), but this time we are flying over night. That means that the 149 other people on the plane will be trying to sleep. Thus, if she decides to throw a fit, we will be subject to the limited mercies of an angry mob. Many of my fellow airline workers claim that the only way to travel with small children is to drug them. Some of them even recommend this to customers who are bringing their infants. I figured that this would be a good solution, but only if it was safe. I asked my doctor about it, risking all hopes of her having any kind of respect for me as a mother. She was actually quite non-judgmental. She told me that it is officially not recommended to give anything but Tylenol to children under the age of 2. However, if I wanted to give her a little Benadryl before the flight, it shouldn't be more than 1/2 tsp. She also gave me a prescription for some numbing drops to put into Brooklyn's ears 10 minutes before takeoff and landing.

I haven't decided if I'm going to do the Benadryl or not. My sister tried this with her little girl (18 months) and she was hyper as could be for the next little bit. So I guess sometimes it has the opposite effect. And I don't think the numbing drops are necessary. On our 4 other flights, the altitude has never seemed to bother Brooklyn. I guess at this point I can just cross my fingers and hope for the best. Wish us luck!

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!

Tick Tock

Brooklyn invented her own dance move yesterday. When I first saw it, I honestly thought she was having a little seizure or something. It freaked me out! It's just such an unnatural movement. I soon realized, however, that she was just expressing herself through dance. She's done it all day today and yesterday, especially when she's happy. I told her she looks like a cuckoo clock because she moves her head back and forth between her arms like a pendulum. So whenever she does it, I tell her she's going "tick tock." Now, I say "tick tock" and she responds with her little dance. It's quite adorable. Enjoy!

So much time, So little to do

Play

Eat

Poop

Rest

Cry

Destroy

Play more

Eat more

Sleep

A day in the life of

Miss Brooklyn Rose.

Flash!

Didn't get enough basketball with March Madness? Jason's work gave him 4 tickets to the Utah Flash basketball game this Friday. I work on Friday nights, so we won't be able to use them. If anybody wants any or all of them, let me know and they're yours! The game starts at 7:00. I could probably even mail them to you if you just tell me your address before Monday. (That should be enough time to get there, right?) Anyway, speak up! I'd hate to see them go to waste.