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!

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!