Brooklyn-7 Months

Brooklyn Paige is 7 months old!! Wow!! My little baby girl changes each and every day! She has her own personality and she makes me laugh every day! She is the most amazing little girl and I love her more each day!!

Unofficial Stats:

weight: 19.2 pounds

length:

Clothes: 9-12 months

P.J.'s: 6-9 month, 9-12 month

Diapers: size 3

Schedule:

wakes between 7-7:30am, bottle (7 oz) nap around 8:30/9am.  9:30/10am-solids (oatmeal and fruit).  11am-bottle (7 oz).  Nap.  Play.  Run errands.  3pm-bottle (7 oz).  Nap.  5:30pm-solids (oatmeal and vegetable).  6:30pm-bath. 7pm-bottle (8 oz).  7:30pm-in bed 7:45pm-asleep!

I am loving this schedule and loving the fact that Brooklyn is taking longer naps! Wish I would have asked the doctor about her short napping a long time ago! I think she is starting to love sleep just like her mommy!! 

The plan is to keep on this schedule through this next month and at 8 months start introducing meat/protein foods and start feeding her lunch.  My goal is to have her down to 2 naps a day (morning and afternoon) by 9 months and also to have her down to 3 bottles at 9 months! We will see what happens!!

I am still pumping 3 times a day (hoping in the next month or so to start eliminating my mid-day pump).  I am pumping about 30 ounces a day still.  I have started using some of my frozen milk from December and January (since we don't have a deep freeze frozen milk in a standard freezer stays good for 6 months).  So, Brooklyn's 11am and 3 pm bottles are thawed milk and her morning and bedtime bottles are pumped from that day! It works for us, but I am truly getting tired of pumping! I am hoping that around 9 months when she gets down to 3 bottles a day that I will have enough stored milk to last until she is 12 months.  If I think I have enough to last 3 months then I will most likely start to wean myself of pumping! The end is in sight!! Woo Hoo!!

This month has been wonderful! My baby girl is getting so big and I feel like I bond with her more and more each day! She is my little side kick! I love it!!

What Brooklyn has been up to this past month:

• found mommy's hair (ouch!)
• found her ears-she pulls on them when she is tired or drinking a bottle.  Sometimes she pulls so hard on them she hurts herself and cries!
• Brooklyn is starting to become a daddy's little girl!! It is the sweetest thing! In the mornings when she wakes up we change her diaper and then if Ben is still home we go into the master bath where he is getting ready and she gets the biggest smile on her face when she sees him! It is adorable!! When Ben comes home from work, when we hear the garage door open I say to her "Dada's home!" She smiles and starts looking around for her! So cute!! Ben loves it too! It melts my heart to see them together!
• Went swimming at Grammie and Grandpa Brunker's house for the first time! She loved the water!

daddy blowing up the pool float

loves it!

swimming with daddy!

Hi Mommy! This is fun!!

big girl!

•  She babbles ALL the time and just last week (6/21) she started saying "babababa" and "dadadadada".  When she 'talks' her voice changes to a sweet feminine voice! I love it!  When she is not 'talking' and just making noises she sounds mean! Ha!
• She sits up like a pro! No help or support needed for her! There is the occasional time where she will get lazy or tired or sitting up and just fall backwards or to the side, but when she does fall she never cries like it hurt or anything! 
• Brooklyn is very strong!! 
• Celebrated Daddy's first Father's Day (separate post)
• On 6/4 she took her longest nap EVER!! It was 2 hours and 15 minutes!! Since then she will take at least one 2 hour (or close) a day! 
• Her Axid medicine for her Acid Reflux is just about gone! Hopefully she will be fine without it, I really don't want to have to refill it.
• When you ask her if she can say "dada" she will just start babbling/talking like she is trying to say it-so cute!
• We are working on clapping!! When you clap and ask her to clap she moves her arms all around and brings them in front of her.  She claps with her arms, she doesn't have the hand part down yet!!
• She loves riding in the shopping cart at the grocery store and Target! No more carrying her on me in the baby Bjorn! Thank goodness! It was getting very difficult to grocery shop with a 18 pound child on the front of me! I have a shopping cart cover that I use and she loves it! While at the store she just loves to stare at people! It is pretty funny!
• Brooklyn always has her tongue sticking half way out when she isn't smiling or talking! It is the funniest thing! 
• Went to her first Royal's baseball game (separate post)
• She was eating rice cereal at each meal but one day she decided she did not like rice cereal anymore so we switched to oatmeal and she LOVES it!! I am not going to lie (I try everything that she eats) the oatmeal is really good!
• I started giving Brooklyn her lovie at naptime and at bedtime.  Naptime does not stress me out because I can just turn on the video monitor and look at her to make sure the lovie is not over her face.  I do the same thing at bedtime, when I am still awake.  But, right before I go to bed, I go in her room and try and take it from her.  Usually it is out to her side and she is fast asleep that she is not holding it anymore so it is easy for me to take.  There have been a couple of night though, that I have not been able to get the lovie out from underneath her so I have left it in her crib all night! I was a little paranoid those nights! I know that if she started having trouble breathing she would be able to move to get her lovie off of her face, but it still scares me!
• Went to her first Goetze Golf Tournament-she just attended the banquet, not the entire tournament! (I am so mad/sad that I only got one picture from that night)
• Finally-Brooklyn started putting her paci in her mouth on her own!! This was a huge milestone in my book! I had read some things that said to get rid of the paci before they could put it back in their mouth, but the paci is our saving grace sometimes! I will fight the paci battle later in life if it is giving me some sanity now! I have started putting 3-4 pacis in her crib at night so if she wakes up she will find one and put it back in her mouth and back to sleep she goes! It is truly amazing!! I love it!!
• Brooklyn fake coughs all the time!! 
• She makes the funniest faces and the loudest noises! Ben and I really think that our child is the loudest child EVER! I don't know where she gets her set of lungs from....maybe me? (If anyone has ever heard me scream at a Chiefs game, you would say she gets her yelling/screaming/squealing from me!)

My little girl is such a joy to be around!! She is still a little shy/timid/scared when other people come around, but she is slowly getting better! It takes awhile for her to warm up to anyone new and she doesn't really like for others to hold her, except for mommy and daddy! She is pretty much spoiled rotten!!  We love our baby girl so much and can't wait to see what the next month brings!! *I am hoping she stays immobile for another month, or two-I am really not ready for a baby on the move! Ha!!*

Random photos throughtout the month:

big girl sitting up in her bathtub.  It was very difficult to wash her hair while she was sitting up!

loves bath time!

Goetze Golf Tournament. With Kathie Lumbard and Kenley (Brooklyn and Kenley are like 6 weeks apart)

When Brooklyn is fussy all you have to do is put on Baby Genius DVD and she will calm down and lay on the floor and watch! So funny!

silly girl!

Brooklyn's 1st Royals Game

On Sunday, June 24 we took Brooklyn to her first Royals game! This was our second attempt to take her to a game-earlier in the season we were planning to go to a Sunday game, but it was storming so we decided to stay home.  It turned out to be nice weather for the game so I was bummed we didn't go.  We decided to go to the Sunday game of the Cardinals series.  The weather was not stormy this time but very hot!! Luckily, the seats we have are part of the Diamond Club so you can either sit outside in your seat or you can hang inside in the Diamond Club.  Since we had this option we decided to take Brooklyn and just sit in the Diamond Club-it was way too hot to have her outside for too long!

I decided that I did not want to carry the diaper bag around and thought I needed/wanted a backpack. So, before heading to the stadium we stopped at Dick's Sporting Goods and picked up a backpack!

 We went to Guest Services to get Brooklyn's first game certificate!! So cute!!

 

Brooklyn enjoyed drinking her bottle in the cool A/C while mommy and daddy enjoyed drinking their cool ones! 

Hanging out with dad!

Kim and Murry were at the game and we met up with them and ventured to the outfield.  We stopped at the Royals sign and put Brooklyn in the "O" for a photo shoot!

Brooklyn got to ride on the carousel!! Thank goodness Ben had $2 in his wallet (we hardly ever have cash on us).  It was $2/token and 1 token got you a ride on the carousel. Rip off!! Don't know what we are going to do when Brooklyn gets older and wants to participate in all of the outfield activities!  It will be an expensive day at The K! 

she loved holding on to the pole in front of her!

Family pic at the Royals game!

Brooklyn wanted to watch the game and not take a picture! 

 It was so hot that day! We didn't last long outside.  We went back to the Diamond Club to enjoy the A/C for a bit.  Ben went to start the car and I stayed and cooled off a little bit and changed Brooklyn's diaper then we went out to the car and left! I think we were on the road by the 3rd inning!! Brooklyn passed out after being in the car for 20 seconds! Poor baby was tired and hot!

look at those red hot cheeks! 

It was a fun first day at The K for Brooklyn-I want to take her back when the weather cools down! I think she would love to sit in our seats and watch all the people and the players! Hopefully we can go again before the season ends! Go Royals!!!

Brooklyn-6 Months

Brooklyn Paige is 6 months old!! WOW!! Such a big girl! This past month she has really changed! She is becoming such a little lady and growing too fast! She changes every day! She is becoming more interactive with her toys and it is so fun! Sometimes I just sit and watch her play with toys and wonder what she is thinking! I love my little girl to pieces and I can't imagine life without her!

What has Brooklyn been up to this month...?

Official stats: (this post is a little late because we just had her 6 month well check yesterday 6/4, so I was waiting to get all the stats before doing a post)

Weight: 18.2 pounds (87 percentile)

Length: 25 inches (23 percentile)

Head Circumference: 17 inches (73 percentile)

 (looks like we have a short and plump little girl on our hands.  I sure hope she gets some height to her...I don't want her to be as tall as me (5' 7", but I don't want her to be too short either-ha!)

Clothes: 6-9 months and a few 12 months

PJ's: 6-9 months

Diapers: Size 3

• I think the most exciting thing this month is that Brooklyn can now SIT UP on her OWN! She loves sitting up and seeing the world from a different perspective! I feel she is so much happier and enjoys her toys more! Yay!! 
• Brooklyn is becoming quite the good night sleeper! We have a bedtime routine that we do the exact same every night! Bath at 6:30, bottle at 7, books at 7:20, snuggles and rocking at 7:25 and in crib (awake) at 7:30pm.  She will wiggle around, talk, squeal/scream and then fall asleep.  Some nights it takes her 5 minutes to fall asleep, other nights it can take 15 minutes.  She has not cried in quite some time! She will then sleep until 6:30-7:30am. There have been a few nights where she will wake up crying and instead of listening to her cry herself back to sleep I will go get her and we will go sleep in the guest bedroom! I have a push over!! I enjoy snuggling with my little girl!
• Naps, are a different story! She is a 30 minute napper.  She will be awake for 2 hours then nap for 30 minutes.  How I am supposed to get anything done around the house is beyond me! The doctor gave me some suggestions on how to lengthen her naps so we are trying that today.  He said she needs a good 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon!

taking a short nap in her swing-precious!

• On 5/7 we started solids again!

• Loves: sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas and prunes



• Hates: peas, green beans and apples 
• Morning: She gets 2 tablespoons of rice cereal with a 1/2 tub of fruits.  
• Evening: She gets 2 tablespoons of rice cereal with 1/2 tub of veggies
• carrots (5/7), apples (5/8), sweet potatoes (5/11), prunes (5/11), bananas (5/14), peaches (5/19), pears (5/17), green beans (5/18), squash (5/16) and peas (5/13).  *(I wrote this for my memory-sorry! Also-we did NOT follow the 3 day wait rule before introducing a new food! She hasn't had any allergic reaction)* 

flying around with daddy!

• On 5/8 she rolled over from back to belly in her crib on her own and put herself to sleep on tummy! Ben and I watched her on the video monitor! It was fun to see and watch! Such a big girl!
• After she learned to roll from back to tummy she started sleeping with her face down in her bed.  Nose smashed, face down.  For one, it looked very uncomfortable and two, it scared me to death! I was worried she wouldn't be able to breath! I would check on her every few minutes until I went to bed then I would wake up every 30 minutes checking on her.  She did this for about a week or so and now she lays her head to the side-thank goodness!
• We celebrated My first Mother's Day!
• Ben put Brooklyn to bed for the very first time in her life (5/12)
• Mommy went out with Kim to a concert and left Brooklyn with daddy for the evening and Brooklyn had her first solid poop-she had this poop in her sleep and it woke her up and she screamed!! Daddy got to experience it and deal with it all on his own!! ;)
• Brooklyn loves to go outside and get the mail.  Sometimes she will pull the handle down on the mailbox.  When she looks inside and sees there is something in there she kicks her feet so fast! Then, on the way back to the house she wants to try and eat the mail!
• She loves sitting on the front porch!
• When you go to open the front door she gets all excited.  When she hears the storm door unlock she really starts kicking her feet! So cute to watch her get excited!
• When she is fussy I just start singing the ABC's and she smiles and looks at me and calms down! It is pretty funny and amazing! 
• She loves to fly around the house with daddy! 
• 'Talks' ALL the time!
• Started doing a fake cough! Pretty funny! If you cough back at her she will cough back at you! It is funny unless you are trying to feed her food! 
• Loves her jumperoo! Still waiting for her to actually JUMP in it, but she loves the toys and loves moving around the circle to all the different 'stations'.
• Celebrated her 1/2 birthday (will do a separate post on this)
• daddy got her a swing that he hung from the deck-she loves it
• mommy got her a leap frog toy (it is quite big) and she hates it.  She cries and gets scared when you turn it on or bring it close to her.  Silly girl!
• She had her first lake trip!  (Will do a separate post on this)
• Brooklyn still loves bath time!! 

flying around with daddy is so much fun!!

Big girl sitting up all by herself!! Woo hoo!!

watching Baby Genius DVD

 Here is the 6 month photo shoot....someone found the sticker....uh-oh!!

what is this?!?!

Does it come off?

It's off! Am I in trouble...?!?!?

My baby girl seems so big and I can't believe how fast time is going! It is crazy to think that in another 6 months she is going to be 1.  WOW! She is such a joy and I can't wait to see what she does this month! I love you, miss Brooklyn!