Brooklyn's Baptism

Yesterday was Brooklyn's baptism. She did great! She ended up sleeping through almost the entire service. I guess she was recuperating from all the crying she did last week :) Here are some pictures of her big day:

Eric's grandpa (who also married us) did the baptism.




By this point Brooklyn was sick of taking pictures..

No such luck...

So last time I posted how Brooklyn was doing better...well, those couple of days must have been a fluke. This week has been a struggle! She has done so much screaming in the last 4 days I don't know how her little body can handle it (I can't even handle it!!!). Today she was screaming and I couldn't calm her down so I just put her in her cradle, turned the vacuum on, closed the door, and left the room. I went in the basement to do laundry and she screamed for an hour and a half straight. I finally didn't have the heart to let her cry anymore so I went in and picked her up. She continued to cry for 45 more minutes in my arms until finally she wore herself out and fell asleep. I have taken her to the chiropractor twice this week and it doesn't seem to be helping. The chiropractor flipped out that she is on Zantac. He said it could do serious damage to her digestive system since she is so young. I am not sure if he is correct or if he is just an "all-natural" type of doctor that doesn't believe in medicine. Who knows!! I am willing to try anything and everything at this point! We just hope she outgrows this soon because it is stressful. I guess it makes going back to work in a week more appealing :) I am not sure how our daycare provider will handle it. She has twin daughters who are 2 and a 1 year old son, plus another teacher's daughter so she will have her hands full to say the least!

We would appreciate prayers for Brooklyn. The last few weeks haven't been much fun! Hopefully things will turn around and get better soon!

I think this is the first week since Brooklyn has been born that we haven't gone to the doctor's office! Hopefully that means things are getting better. We switched her to soy last weekend and haven't noticed a change yet. She has been very fussy this week. Wednesday was probably her fussiest day yet. I bet she screamed for 12 of the 24 hours. It was very trying. Eric and I had Youth Group that night so my sister and brother-in-law watched her. Let's just say after 2 hours of her screaming they were very ready for us to pick her up. I think they realize now how lucky they are with their 2 children who seriously never cry and have been sleeping straight through the night since 6 weeks. Too bad we weren't that lucky...:) So far we cannot tell that the soy has been helping but the doctor said it would take 2 weeks before we saw any improvements...so we are still hopeful! We are finding things that help calm her down--driving in a car and putting her in her swing and letting the vacuum run. We just pray that the soy formula will do the trick or that she will outgrow this quickly!

Yesterday I picked up Emma and Addison from daycare and they got to spend some time with Brooklyn. They actually sat still long enough for me to snap a picture. I was so preoccupied with getting Addison to look at the camera and smile that I neglected the fact Brooklyn was falling over. Oh well...I think it would be impossible to get a "perfect" picture with these 3!!!!

Just thought I'd update you on a couple of things. The last 3-4 weeks Brooklyn has been quite fussy, often screaming for hours at a time. I took her to the doctor last week and he thinks she has acid reflux so he prescribed her Zantac. We started her on the medicine last Friday and we thought it was working because Saturday and Sunday she was so good, but then Monday she was quite fussy and today she has been crying most of the day. It is so hard to hear her screaming like that because you can tell by her cry that something is hurting her but there isn't much I can do! Today she screamed for 2 hours straight in my arms and after feeding her, changing her, and holding her in every imaginable position, I realized there was nothing I could do to make her stop. I just put her in her swing and went in the basement for a few minutes just to clear my head! She eventually cried herself to sleep which was very hard for me to let her do. I have a doctor's appointment on Friday so we will see if there is anything else we can try. It is crazy how she will have 2 days in a row where she is so good, and then she will have a couple of days where she cries nonstop. Ahhhh!!!

Brooklyn continues to grow like a weed. At 5 weeks she weighed 10 lbs. 11 oz. and was 22 and a 1/2 inches long. She is in the 95 percentile! Soon she is going to be off the charts I'm sure!

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Check out those cheeks! :)

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Watching "The Office" with Dad. The show has the same effect on me (sorry all you Office lovers!)

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Tummy time--trying to develop those neck muscles...

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which, probably due to the size/weight of her cheeks, she HATES!!!

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Checking out her new toy

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Hanging out on the floor

Wal-Mart Supporter

So those of you who know me, know that I am a big Wal-Mart fan. Almost everything in our house is "Equate," "Parent's Choice," or "Great Value." Towards the end of my pregnancy I was starting to get things ready for the baby and figured I'd better buy some diapers and wipes. Many of our friends/family members told me, "Don't bother buying the Wal-Mart brand diapers...they leak and are worthless." Because I am a loyal Wal-Mart fan, I didn't listen to their advice and I purchased a jumbo pack of newborn "Parent's Choice" diapers. I used up this pack and had no problems with them. Well yesterday I was re-organizing some of Brooklyn's things and came across a pack of diapers that we had been given at our prepared childbirth class. Since they were newborn size diapers I figured I'd better use them up while she still fits in them. After giving Brooklyn her bath yesterday I put on a Huggies diaper. Brooklyn was somewhat fussy so I put her in her swing so I could get the dishes done. A little while later I walked into the room and picked up Brooklyn only to find a big brown spot on the outside of her blanket. As I unwrapped her, I noticed she managed to not only poop through her onesie and outfit, but also through her blanket onto the swing. Lovely... a blowout :) I changed her and put on a "Parent's Choice" diaper. This afternoon I decided to try one of the Pampers brand diapers that we had been given at the hospital. I put it on her, fed her a bottle, and set her in her bouncy seat. A little while later she was crying so I went to pick her up only to find everything was wet. Yes, she peed through.
So, to make a long story short....my advice to new moms is to buy the Wal-Mart brand diapers....the other brands leak!!! Our daughter may look like Eric, but at least she inherited one trait from me...my love for Wal-Mart!!!!

Almost a month old

It is crazy to think that Brooklyn will be a month old on Thursday. Where does the time go? As you can see from the pictures, she has filled out quite a bit! Last week Tuesday she weighed 9 lbs. 15 oz!!! Most of the weight has been gained in her cheeks :) She is becoming more and more fussy and we are hoping this is a temporary phase. We do a lot of walking around and bouncing. She also has figured out how to instantly wake up the minute I set her down...whether it's in her cradle, bouncy seat, etc. It's crazy how she will be sleeping for 15+ minutes in my arms and the minute I set her down she wakes up and cries.

Yesterday Brooklyn made her first appearance in jail. I took her to visit Eric at work. Let's just say that when a relatively "clean" woman and an infant walk into the jail, they get a lot of looks from inmates and jail staff :) Once they figured out I was Eric's wife it made a little more sense to them :) I forgot my camera at home yesterday so I didn't get any pictures of her at the jail. Grrr...

The weather continues to be really cold which is getting old. There are weeks where going to church is the only time I leave the house. I am ready for spring!

Here is a picture of her first "real" bath. She is not too sure about bath time. She either has a horrified/confused look on her face (like below) or she screams the entire time. Her hair has some curl to it when it is wet which you can see in the picture.

This past weekend good friends of ours came to visit. Their daughter is almost exactly a year older than Brooklyn. It's crazy to think that Brooklyn will be that big next year!

Of course, we had to play Settlers. This is how Eric multi-tasks. It's way too fun of a game to take a break to feed your daughter :)

More hospital pictures...

I don't have much more to post here but wanted to share a few more photos. Brooklyn continues to do well. She might have had some sort of bug the last two days but seems to be doing better today. Sunday and Monday night she was up during the night quite a bit and was fussy. She also had some awfully runny diapers (maybe she gets this from her Dad :). She also woke up in the morning wet with sweat (hmmm, another trait she might have inherited from Eric :) Today she seems to be feeling better though.

That's about all that's happening right now. It's crazy how fast the days go by and I seem to get nothing accomplished. Oh well, I'm enjoying my time off. Here's some more pictures:

A picture with Dr. Crabtree
My sisters and I (remember...I did just give birth hence why I look the way I do!) Brooklyn with her cousins Emma and Addison. Jazilyn wasn't feeling the best so she had already gone home.