Here we go again!!

Tomorrow I start school. The beginning and ending of each school year is always bitter sweet. I am excited in some ways, yet nervous and anxious too. This year is going to be extra tough because I will have to leave Brooklyn each day (and be out of the house at 7:00 a.m. fully functioning on little sleep!!!). I know she is receiving awesome care while I am at school, but after being home with her every day all summer, it will be an adjustment for both of us!!!

We all have been sick here. Eric first had a bad head cold/sore throat. The next week Brooklyn got a bad cold and after a few days developed ear infection. Three days after that I went in and had a sinus infection. No fun!!!! I am hoping we are on the mends here and that the sickness doesn't continue on and on like it did during the school year last year. I guess that is one of the joys of being a teacher--you are exposed to a lot of crud each day! Hand sanitizer has become my new best friend.

We haven't really done anything fun lately so I'll share a few pictures of everyday life.

Brooklyn enjoying her duck tub that we got from her cousin. The first few baths she screamed because she was deathly afraid of the thing--especially when it quacked (you need to pinch its beak)! Now she loves it!!

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Daddy getting me out of the tub.

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Brooklyn cheesin' out

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Her first corn on the cob experience

Sorry these videos are so dark. Our digital camera isn't exactly high quality :)

Uneventful

Uneventful...that basically sums up our life right now. Last week Eric was gone on a fishing trip to Pierre so Brooklyn and I spent a lot of time outside going on walks, swinging at the park, and swimming in her little pool. I am going to miss doing this stuff during the day with her when I go back to school. I love spending so much time with her!!!! Brooklyn has been doing absolutely wonderful lately. Two weeks ago I took her back in because she was projectile vomiting after each feeding and I was sick of scrubbing my carpet 5+ times a day (and all the blankets, bibs, spit rags, shirts, etc. and everything else that got hit). We would sit her on blankets or towels on the floor and somehow she still would manage to get our carpet! The doctor put her on Zantac again and the combination of that and the soy formula has done the trick (when she was on Zantac at 4 weeks old, she was still on milk-based formula and not soy). After her third dose of the medicine she slept from 9:00 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. straight!!!!! She has basically done this now every night since then and sometimes even makes it until 6:00 a.m.!!!! It is wonderful to get a large amount of interrupted sleep again...it had been WAY too long! She is also napping more during the day. She is so happy and makes us laugh non-stop. She is at such a fun age and it is so neat to see her develop/change each week. Here's some pictures for you to enjoy!

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She likes to cock her head to the side now....hmmm, is this an Auntie Shelly trait?? :)

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Swimming in my pool...

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Just lounging in Dad's chair...

As you can see in the pictures by her many rolls, Brooklyn loves to eat. Awhile back I was unloading the dishwasher and Brooklyn was in her saucer watching me. As I took some of her baby spoons out of the dishwasher she started to shake and get all excited. I put the spoons in the drawer and she started crying. I took one back out and showed it to her and immediately she stopped crying and started to pant and get all excited. It was hilarious!!! Here is a video showing you how excited she gets when she sees food. I wish you could hear her panting in the video. Watch her arms and legs go though...she gets the shakes!!! ;)

The Fair

Two nights last week we took Brooklyn to the Rock County Fair. She loved it! All the animals, noise, and people to look at were right up her alley! Here are some pictures:

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So my Mom thought Brooklyn should get up close and personal with the sheep...

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and, by the look on Brooklyn's face, you can tell what she thought of that idea :)

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A beautiful rainbow after the rain storm. We decided to walk to the fair that night--bad idea! We were stuck in one of the buildings for over an hour waiting out the storm. We were a bit wet and muddy by the time we got home.

I have a funny story to share with you that happened today. A friend of mine had a baby yesterday so Brooklyn and I went to see her at the hospital. While we were there Brooklyn started to get fussy, so after pulling out every toy/object in her diaper bag in hopes of distracting her, I decided it was time to go home. When I buckled her in her car seat she started to cry and by the time I got on the road, she was screaming. Thankfully we live close to the hospital (I hate it when she screams in the car...way too small of a space for that kind of noise :) So I pull into our garage and quickly went to open the back car door, when I see a cop car with its lights on in our driveway. Oh great! The officer gets out of his car (and our neighbor kids come running out of their house to see what's going on) and tells me that I was speeding. I immediately apologized and told him that my daughter was screaming and I just wanted to get her home. On the verge of tears, I again told him I was sorry and that my baby was crying and I was just focused on getting home. At that point I realized Brooklyn was still in the car so I went to get her thinking that once he heard her high-pitched, deafening screams that he would understand and let me off the hook. So I take her out of her seat and she immediately is quiet and looks over at the police officer and smiles...SMILES!!!! Not just a little grin either--a big huge smile!!! Seriously!!! Not only did he pull me over for speeding, but now he is going to think I am a liar too!!! Thankfully her eyes were all red and she still had tears running down her face. Again I try to explain myself while he is running my license and then Brooklyn started to fuss again so he told me this time I was off the hook and that just because I have a daughter who is crying in the backseat, doesn't make it okay to speed. I thanked him and quickly grabbed Brooklyn and took her in the house...before she could look at him and give him another smile. I guess there are advantages to having a baby that can really scream :)

August already??!?!?!?

Summer is flying by! It is hard to believe that it is August tomorrow already. I am NOT ready for school to start in a month :( Life here has been busy. I have been babysitting quite a bit lately and just keeping up with yard work, housework, cooking, etc. I feel like I don't have any free time. Oh well....I'm loving it! :) Brooklyn is at such a fun age now. It is crazy how much she can grow up and change in 1 week! Her personality is showing through and she is a lot of fun. She still doesn't sleep very well. This past week she had numerous nights where she was awake for 2+ hours straight during the night fussing because of a tummy ache. You can hear her gut gurgling. Poor girl! I keep track of what baby food I feed her to see if a certain food is causing it but it is completely random. She has been spitting up a lot more than usual too so I am wondering if she should go back on the Zantac for acid reflux. Who knows! She will have some nights where she sleeps for 6 hours straight (we cherish those nights!) and then other nights where she is up every hour to hour and a half. When school ended last May I kept telling myself how next year would be easier because I would have more sleep because Brooklyn would be sleeping through the night then. HAHAHAHA!!! Unless things majorly change in a month, I think I will still be starting off the school year tired. Maybe by Christmas she will be sleeping through the night?!?! :)

Here are a few random pictures. I have pictures from the fair to post but will do so when I have more time. Enjoy!

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I love that smile!

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Her new fascination is with balls. She has even made

a basket on several occasions!

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This is her new smile--she raises her eyebrows and wrinkles

up her nose. What a nut!

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She loves making a huge mess with her sippy cup!

There have been times when her shirt is wet all the way

down to her belly button.

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Everything goes in her mouth--so when no toys are around,

her fingers have to do!

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I decided to take a bunch of pictures of Brooklyn in our backyard.

After 3 different outfits and 40+ pictures, this is the ONLY one that turned out!

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Brooklyn likes to sit with her feet slightly elevated and then

uses her arms for balance. Not sure if she is trying to work

on her ab muscles or if she's just weird! :)

Vacation

It's been awhile since my last post. Life has been crazy here the past few weeks. On July 1 Eric's brother got married. The next morning we left for our Buys family reunion which was Thursday through Sunday noon at Broom Tree Resort near Irene, SD. Then Sunday we left from the reunion and went to Yankton with my family for 4 days. We had a great time but I was glad to be back home and not living out of suitcases anymore! Vacation (and packing) is sure a lot more work now that we have a kid!!!! It's amazing how much stuff a 6 month old requires--especially one that spits up nonstop so half a suitcase was bibs and spit rags! We had a great time though as you can see in our pictures.

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Lounging in my tube in the Missouri River

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My first boat ride...well almost. I got pretty ticked off shortly

after this picture due to the fact that the life jacket was not

cheek-friendly!

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Me and my girl cousins ~ Jazilyn,

Emma, and Addison

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Hanging out with Dad at the campground

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Playing on the tube with my best friend Addie

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On the front of our cabin deck watching an evening storm

roll in.

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Swimming with Daddy at Uncle David and Aunt Paige's pool.

I LOVE SWIMMING!!!

Quick post

So I know I have a lot of videos posted of Brooklyn laughing but here's another I just can't resist. Sunday afternoon Eric's mom and grandma (who is visiting from Arizona) came up. We were sitting at the table talking and Brooklyn decided her toy caterpillar was pretty funny. Sometimes when she's fussy I watch some of her giggling videos and they put a smile on my face and remind me what she can be like :) Enjoy!

6 months old!

It is crazy that the month of June is almost over. I don't know where the time went! Next week we leave for vacation so I am sure July is going to fly by too! Brooklyn had her 6 month well check yesterday. I think I hate shots more than she does. She was up at 2:30 this morning screaming with a 103 degree temp. We didn't get her calmed back down until 6:30. Even with Tylenol her fever has still been around 101 all day and she is CRABBY!!! Every time I would lay her down today she would cry and cry and cry and cry. Tonight I let her cry in her crib for an hour just because I had to get supper made and I knew she was tired (she was up since 2:30 and only had taken one short nap during the day). After exactly an hour of crying she fell asleep...for 15 minutes. Grrr! Some days I just want to pull my hair out because I can't take all the crying. She does have her good days and I guess I just need to focus on those when she is having a bad day. It just is so frustrating because she is not a content baby. She can't lay on the floor or be in her jumparoo, etc. unless I am right there playing with her. The minute I leave the room she starts crying. I know this is a bad habit so I do just let her cry sometimes but she does not give up and then it just makes the rest of the day that much worse. She does the same thing in the middle of the night. She still gets up 4-6 times a night and I know I probably should be letting her cry it out but sometimes when I am so tired and out of it, it is just easier to get up and rock her in the chair for awhile to calm her down and get her back to sleep. I still think she has some tummy problems because a lot of the time she will start screaming out of the blue. So, all you moms out there, give me some advice! Do I let her cry it out and hopefully have her learn to be a little more independent?

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Brooklyn's appointment went well (besides her shots...I think the whole clinic heard her screaming!). She weighed 17 lbs. 13 oz. (90%) and was 27 and 1/2 inches long (95%).

Here is a picture and a video from this weekend. My parents were camping at Okabena so Brooklyn and I spent some days up there with them. She is so much happier when she is outside so I think we are going to have to plan some camping trips this summer!

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Loving her make-shift bathtub while camping!

Here is a video of Brooklyn's new giggle. It is probably the

weirdest noise you have ever heard come out of a baby's mouth!

(sorry it is sideways...I don't know how to fix that).

Today our niece, Addison Jo, turns 1. Here is a picture

from the day she was born. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDIE!

We love you!