5 months old

Five months ago today Brooklyn was born. It's crazy how fast the time has gone! The other night I was looking at some of her newborn pictures and I couldn't believe how small she was and how different she looks now. She has 2 teeth already and possibly working on a 3rd. She's balding big time too. Every morning I find more hair on her crib sheet and blanket :( She has a huge bald spot on the left side of her head...Eric tries to give her a comb-over to cover it up, but that doesn't work so well (or look any better than the bald spot:) Her new hair coming in is blond....I can't really picture her as a blond since she was born with such dark hair. We'll have to wait and see! She's been doing pretty good. She's been fussy at night from about 6:00-8:00. A lot of times Eric or I will just walk outside with her in the stroller because that is the only thing that will quiet her down. She used to always take a 30-40 minute nap in the evening, but lately she hasn't been doing that. I am not sure if she's fussy because she's tired and won't give in or what. She can be a real pill sometimes! She has been sleeping much better though. The last 2 nights she has slept through the night!!!!!!!! I swear the little stinker knew when the school year ended and purposely waited until I was on summer break to sleep through the night! Oh well....we aren't going to argue! She does get up between 5:30 and 6:00 in the morning which is much too early for my liking. Hopefully she will break that trend soon!

I am officially done with the school year. Yesterday was our last day of school. It is such a bitter sweet feeling each year. I love the fact that I will be able to stay home with Brooklyn each day, not have to be out the door at 7:00 each morning, have more time for housework, not have to worry about lesson plans, etc. However, I miss my kids during the summer. After being with them for 9 months straight, I get pretty attached. Once I get busy with summer activities, I am fine. It's always the first couple of weeks after school is out that I do actually miss it!

Here are a few pictures and another video of her giggling. Focus on Brooklyn in the video, not me....I sound/look so stupid! Apparently she thinks it's funny when I fake burp :)

Chubs sitting on the couch

Hanging out with Auntie Amber

Ear infection, hair cut, rice cereal, and doctor's appointments

That basically sums up our last 2 weeks. Brooklyn spiked a 104 degree fever one day so I brought her in and she ended up having ear infection. So she was put on Amoxicillin first and after a reaction to that they switched her to a different antibiotic. She is much happier now, but still has her stinking cold! We were at the doctor 4 times in the last 3 weeks...hopefully it will be a while before we need to go back again :) At her last appointment she weighed in at 15 lbs. 4 oz. with a full diaper on (80%) and was 25 & 1/2 inches long (80%). Brooklyn also got her first hair cut. I guess I should have gotten a before and after picture, but I didn't think of that until now :)

Brooklyn has started eating rice cereal at night. The doctor thought this might help her sleep better at night. No such luck so far! The first few times were quite a mess but now she is getting better at it. This week I've been feeding it to her in the bathtub....it saves on laundry :)

Brooklyn loves being outside. We go on lots of walks. We hung up a swing in the backyard and she enjoys that too. I bought a bike trailer on a garage sale last weekend so we will have to see how she likes that. Speaking of garage sales, I made a haul at one for Brooklyn. I got 14 Carter outfits and my total was $20!!!! The lady had $1.00 or $1.50 on each outfit. I was pumped!!!

I will leave you with some pictures and a video. Brooklyn loves to giggle. The video isn't the best quality but it will have to do for now. Have a good week!

Brooklyn had her pictures take at Penney's

"Eating" her cereal

Tummy time on the floor

Here's the video of Brooklyn giggling. Try to tune out my lovely mother :)

We Need SPRING!!!!

I am soooo ready for spring! Brooklyn still has a bad cold/cough and I can't wait for the warmer temperatures that are coming this week. I took Brooklyn to the doctor last week because her cold wasn't getting any better. After ruling out ear infection and sinus infection, they had her get some chest x-rays done because it sounded like she had fluid in her lungs. The x-rays showed her lungs were clear but that her airway is smaller than average. The doctor thinks that it will grow with time but meanwhile, she can't get air as easily as she should be able to (which is why she gasps at times) and the mucous has a more difficult time draining since there isn't as much room (which is why she is so "rattly"). They said if she isn't better in 2 weeks to come back in and they might give her antibiotics...as if waiting 2 months wasn't long enough! Grrr...sometimes health care makes me angry! :)

Another reason why I can't wait for spring is garage sales. I don't know why, but I get so excited about garage sales. Last week at a garage sale here in Luverne I got a Bumbo seat and two garbage bags of adorable clothes for Brooklyn for $30!!! Yeah!!! I can't wait for the city-wide rummages :)

Here are just a few pictures of Brooklyn. Have a great week!

Brooklyn in her jumparoo

Having fun in the tub

Chilling out on the couch next to Dad

Happy Easter!

We hope you all had a happy Easter celebrating the resurrection of our Lord! We had a nice Easter. Our Youth Group was in charge of leading the 7:00 sunrise service and I had to play piano for it so we were up at 5:30 getting ready for church. Eric had to run sound so we had to pawn Brooklyn off on some friends of ours during the service since there wasn't nursery and both Eric and I couldn't have her. Then in the afternoon we had my niece Emma's birthday party. She turned 5 yesterday! Crazy! Then we came home and Brooklyn and I took a 2 hour nap on the couch :) Gotta love Sunday afternoon naps :)

We finally got around to taking Brooklyn's pictures this past weekend. They turned out cute. I was a little worried because she loves to eat her hands and pull on her hair so I was afraid her pictures wouldn't turn out because she can't keep her hands down, but she did well. We had to wake her up from a nap so she looks a little dopey on the first few!

Brooklyn still has an awful cold. I now know why people say they don't want winter babies! I have been giving her Mucinex at night time and it helps somewhat with her cough. She still has a lot of phlegm that she just can't get rid of. Eric calls her a percolating coffee pot and that is exactly what she sounds like when she breathes. She still sleeps only 4-5 hours a night. It is getting old!!! Eric and I cannot even function on that little of sleep so I don't know what she does it. She takes about two 1-hour naps a day. We have been learning to just let her cry during the night but boy, is that hard! She doesn't eat anymore during the night so we do a lot of putting her pacifier back in and letting her fuss. Some nights she will go back to sleep after 5-10 minutes of fussing, while other nights are over an hour. We are still eagerly waiting for the time when she sleeps through the night....we are beginning to wonder if it is ever going to happen though! :)

I'll leave you with a few pictures. Have a good week!

Brooklyn loves to give us cheesy smiles!

Before church on Easter morning (Brooklyn has her baptism

dress on...I am too cheap to buy her an Easter dress when this

one still fits her!)

She fell asleep while playing this morning...this is so unusual

I had to take a picture of it!

Sickness...round 2

So just when I thought we were on the mends from our colds, we get the flu bug. Eric got the flu during the night Thursday and still isn't feeling 100%. Friday night we moved Brooklyn upstairs to the nursery and at 3:00 in the morning we were awakened with a crib full of puke. At first I thought maybe it was just a fluke thing but Saturday morning she threw up 4 more times...two of which were in the car. Eric and I refinanced our mortgage and we have had an appointment to sign the papers for almost a month and so I didn't want to cancel (especially since the bank was willing to let us come in on a Saturday so Eric wouldn't have to take off work). Well, we hadn't gotten very far out of Luverne and she threw up....I will spare you the details but let's just say it soaked through her car seat liner, through her car seat cushion, and poured out the holes in the bottom of her car seat and filled up the base. LOVELY!!!! At that point there wasn't much we could do so we went and signed the papers and then leaving Edgerton, she did the same thing. Yesterday at noon I started giving her Pedialyte and she has managed to keep that down. This afternoon I gave her a bottle of milk and that has stayed down too. So she's gone 24 hours without throwing up so I am hoping she is better now. It was so cute because every time after she would throw up, she would look up at me and smile. She definitely isn't crabby so that is nice. I am praying that I don't get it. So many of my kids in school have had the flu this past week so it must be going around. So hopefully by tonight Eric and Brooklyn will be better and we can be done being sick for awhile!!!

Our life in a nutshell...

Life is crazy! The past 3 weeks have been nuts. I am back at work which has been going really well. My first few days back were a bit stressful and then after her third day at daycare Brooklyn spiked a 101 fever and threw up. She ended up getting an awful cold and cough. For 2 weeks she couldn't breathe through her nose and she would throw up at least once a day from her coughing. Our doctor wouldn't do anything for her since she is so young. She is finally on the mends and doing much better now, although I am still trying to catch up from all the puke laundry. :) Daycare has been going well. She gets a lot of attention from our daycare provider's 2 and 1/2 year old twin girls. They love "baby Brooklyn!" I am so thankful that it's going well at daycare. Leaving the house by 7:00 each morning is a different story though... :)
Brooklyn still gets up at least once, if not twice, during the night and we are anxiously awaiting for the day when she sleeps through the night. Hopefully that comes soon!!! Now that she is on soy milk she is a different child. She no longer has all of her crying spells and is so much more content. Before when we would lay her on the floor she would squirm, pull up her legs, fuss, cry, etc. Now she just lays there and smiles at us. It's so cute! I haven't been able to capture a good smile yet on camera....hopefully soon! I will leave you with a video clip of her talking. She loves to talk--which isn't surprising...she is a Buys after all! :)

2 month well check

Brooklyn had her two month well-check on Tuesday. She weighed 12 lbs. 10 oz. (95%) and was 24" long (97%), so she is a chunk but at least she is long so the fat balances out :) She also got 4 shots and did not like that very much! She has been doing so well--no major screaming sessions for the last 5 days...but that luxury ended today. She has been quite fussy and very agitated. It's hard to see her in pain and we feel SO helpless. The doctor wanted us to stop giving her the acid reflux medicine so maybe that is why she is fussy. I am still taking her to the chiropractor twice a week but I am not so sure we will be able to keep that up since I go back to work on Monday. The doctor thinks it's colic and that she will outgrow it around 4 months. We hope it doesn't last any longer than that!!

Brooklyn and I got to meet up with 2 of my college roommates and their daughters. That was fun! We laughed at how we need to have them play together so that they can be roommates when they go to Dordt!!! Here are some pictures of our week:

Her legs after her shots


She let us know how she felt!!!

Brooklyn & I, Steph & Sage, Holly & Avery

The kids--Brooklyn didn't feel like cooperating!