A couple of videos

Here is a couple of videos I was finally able to upload. One is of Brooke sitting up taken just a few days ago and another of Brooke laughing taken today. Enjoy!

Another Growth Spurt

I can't believe that Brooke is almost 6 months old. She is growing and learning so fast. I am positive that she is starting another growth spurt. The last couple of days she had been getting increasingly fussier and not sleeping as well. Last night she woke 3 times hungry and has been fussy all day and fed every 2 hrs! I just hope this one goes by fast. I have also had trouble getting her to take a nap the past few days, so now I am taking advantage of her napping in her crib to update the blog!
She is sitting better on her own. She has stop thrusting herself randomly backwards. She is all about moving and wiggling. She has also become very interested in our iphones and the tv remotes. So, I bought her one of those toy phones thinking that she would be more interested in that because it sings back to her and is more colorful. Wrong! She knows what is the real thing and is much more interested in that! It is cute though because if she sees it and can't reach it then she starts grunting and reaching for it. I told Ryan we should use the remotes to persuade her to crawl.
Last night while I was preparing her cereal, I had her seated in her Bumbo seat on the kitchen table. (I know they recommend not to do that, but honestly where is she going to go, and I am watching her) As I was talking to her, I started dancing and running towards her acting like I was going to "get her". She thought it was the funniest thing and was laughing for a solid 10 minutes. It was so cute, I wish I could have video taped, but I was afraid if I left the room to grab it she would stop laughing. She has also loved playing in her jumper. It is funny to see her. She bottoms out the springs. The other night we tried videoing her, but, of course, when we got the camera out she stopped jumping. I will have to secretly video her later.
I also think that she is starting to feel the pain of teething. She hasn't had any teeth pop the surface of her gums yet, but she has been chewing on everything in sight. She doesn't even chew on her pacifier like a normal baby (not that she has ever really wanted to take her pacifier). I bought her another teether. She likes these ones that Born Free makes. They are made out of silicone. I have one for her diaper bag and one for home now.
She is starting to help me feed her. She is putting her fingers in her mouth while I am feeding her cereal and grabbing for the spoon. Then she rubs her messy fingers all over her face, ears, and hair. There is a reason bath time is after cereal. Well, not very much longer and we get to start real food.
Awake babies! Nap time is over....


This is how Brooke chews on a pacifier




Messy cereal face baby

Galveston!

This past weekend we went to Galveston for my birthday. I wanted to get out of town and do something, so we decided to visit Galveston. We had not been back since Hurricane Ike. It has changed some. Most places are remodeling and back in business, but some are just a hopeless cause. All of the oak trees along the esplanade down Broadway are all dead and need to be cut down. It will majorly adjust the scenery along that historic road, so unfortunate. We arrived on Friday night and met up with Ryan's brother, Jonathan and his wife, Stacy. We went out to eat at Sonny's, which is a hometown seafood/American bar. Ryan actually got a scholarship for medical school from the owner of this restaurant and we got to visit with him for a few minutes. On Saturday, Brooke was up bright and early so I decided to take her and enjoy a few minutes of the sunrise and the peaceful ocean before the crowds. I really miss taking early morning jogs along the seawall. It was always so quiet and relaxing. Then after that we went back to the condo and ate cereal and joined Stacy at the beach some more relaxing in the sun. Brooke doesn't really know what to think of the ocean yet, but I took her in the ocean for a little while. The she took a nap on a towel on the beach. After that we went to lunch at The Sunflower Bakery, another hometown cooking restaurant near UTMB. It has moved down a block and is now three times the size of its old store. It was still delicious as usual. Then we headed over to Moody Gardens The Aquarium. Brooke enjoyed watching the fish and followed them along in their tanks. It was fun to watch her reactions. Meanwhile, the boys went on a guided fishing trip in the bay. They caught 9 trout and one sheepshead for eating and each caught 2 hammerhead sharks, scary! That evening we met up with my good friend from pharmacy school, Kelli and her family in Kemah. She has a 9 month old, Kolby, who is cute as a button. I am glad I finally got to meet him. We had a lot of fun visiting at dinner. On Sunday, we took some pictures of Brooke in the ocean and shopped on the Strand and then ate at Fisherman's Wharf before heading back home. It was a fun filled weekend and I am glad I had a wonderful weekend birthday. Enjoy the pics from our trip!


Me and Kelli with our babies



Brooke watching the fish

Shark and sea turtle at Moody Gardens

I love my baby girl!

Smile for the camera

Brooke playing in the water.

Stacy and Jonathan

Brooke reading Water, Water Everywhere at the beach.

Gulf of Mexico from our balcony in the morning


Sunrise from our balcony

I miss running on beautiful mornings in Galveston


The hurricane water line in the Strand

5 months old

I can't believe Brooke is already 5 months! I am just amazed by all the things she can do. Words cannot express how awesome it is to watch a baby grow and learn new things. She is getting a lot better about controlling herself while sitting. She can sit in the corner of a chair or the couch unassisted. She is starting to notice and want to touch more things around her. She now grabs at my face and pulls my glasses or jewelry. She is enjoys eating her cereal. For two nights this past week she slept for 8 hrs straight! Wow, that was wonderful.

We did have our first cold this past week. She never ran a fever, but had nasty nasal mucus and was congested. I took her to the doctor on Wednesday and he said it was probably viral. He had to clean out her ears, which she did not like, but I think she felt much better afterwords. Brooke and I are now getting over the cold and feeling much better.

We also went to our first Kindermusic class on Thursday. That was a lot of fun. This is a summer class that is only 1 day a week for 5 weeks. Her class is for 0-18mo. and is titled "busy days". The first week was about going to the grocery store. We sang songs about going to the grocery store and food. We danced and pushed the babies around in laundry baskets, which Brooke loved. There are two 6mo, one 10mo, and one 3 mo old babies in Brooke's class. She loved watching the older babies.

Here are some other pics we took this week.









Hello Ms. Monkey!











Fun in the morning sun.















My cool new shades!







Having fun in the sun!

Happy July 4th! We hope that everyone had a great July 4th weekend. We did. Ryan smoked a brisket that was delicious and we watched the fireworks on TV. On Friday, July 3rd, Brooke and I went out to lunch with Dot and then went to these cute shops where people sell items that they make like jewelry, clothes, candles, etc. I found this cute outfit that Brooke is wearing and I thought it looked festive for July 4th.
She is starting to gain some more weight now that she is on cereal. I can notice her legs are getting a little chunkier. She is still very active. She is constantly moving. Yesterday I propped her up in her Boppy pillow on her stomach and placed a mirror for her to look at while I went to get some laundry. When I came back she had pushed herself over the pillow into the mirror and had a huge grin on her face. It won't be long before she is crawling. When I put her on her stomach, she gets her weight on her forearms and just starts moving those legs, but she is only able to inch along because her belly and chest are still on the floor.
Yesterday, she started sounding a lot more congested and having a runny nose. Then last night I started to feel bad. I know this comes with the territory of daycare, but I hope it won't last long and thankfully she hasn't run a fever yet. (knock on wood)
On June 27th, Brooke's aunt Sara got married. It was a beautiful wedding. We had a great time and Brooke did very well with all the people and the length of the service and reception was not too long for Brooke. Here are a couple of pics from the wedding:





















The other baby in the picture above is Taylor, Sara and Lane's other niece from Lane's side of the family. She is 7mo. old.
I can't believe Brooke is almost 5 months old. Time flies... before I know it she will be starting school.

Yay, we're growing!!!

I took Brooke in for a weight check and she is now 11lbs 8oz, which means she has gained 11oz in 12 days. That is great! Yay, Brooke! She is now back above the 5th percentile. I can also tell that she has filled out more since we have started the cereal. She is also sleeping a little more at night. She usually sleeps for 5-6hrs and then feeds and then sleeps for another 2 1/2-3hrs. It is great! I feel like I am finally getting more consistent sleep, too. She continues to amaze me how much she is learning. She is grasping and reaching for her toys. It is very cute. She is doing much better eating cereal. She is also very wiggly. She is constantly moving and bouncing around. I don't think it will be long before she is crawling. My next task is to baby proof the house.
Until next time, have a great week!

4 months

I can't believe Brooke is already 4 months old! Time flies.... So, she had her 4 month doctor's visit and here are the stats: Head circumference = 40cm (25%), Height = 24.25in (50%), Weight= 10lb 13 oz(5%). This is how her doctor put it "she is doing great in every capacity except she is just skimming the bottom of the weight charts". I have still been exclusively breastfeeding. He did give us the okay to start rice cereal in addition to her feedings, so that would be a few more calories. He said that since her developmental skills are exceeding most of her peers and she is still an acceptable height that there is nothing to worry about. I told him that there hasn't been any changes to her spit up (he still wants me to continue the prevacid). I have however encountered a problem with pumping enough milk for her at daycare. I can't keep up. He said I could use formula for the milk I am unable to pump, but that shouldn't increase her weight any faster. So, today she got her first bottle of formula. Ms. Myrtle, her new caregiver, said she took it well and didn't have any spit up issues. This is a huge relief for me because I was getting up at all hours of the night and pumping throughout the day just to have enough for daycare. It wasn't as big of an issue once she started the new daycare and I am only leaving her there for half days, but I was giving her 3oz bottles and her doctor wants me to increase that to 4oz/bottle. We now need to watch for any changes, increasing spit up, continued no/decreased weight gain, or slowing of developmental skills, because then the next step is to take her to a gastroenterologist and have further testing done. I looked up information about failure to thrive because I am worried about my baby's weight. I know that she is meeting and exceeding most milestones and she is growing, but I just want to make sure I am doing everything possible for my baby and that there isn't something her doctor is withholding from me or something we should be doing now. From what I could find, there is no true definition, instead there are several variations. Some say that just a decrease in weight or no weight change for 3 consecutive months for babies <1yr. Most seem to agree that the previous statement in addition to slow height growth or developmental delays equals failure to thrive as well as a general "not well" apperance. The treatment would just be further tests to figure out why she is not growing/gaining weight. It kinda makes me feel like a failure in a way because my baby is not gaining weight. I know that she doesn't have failure to thrive because anyone that looks at her can tell you she is very alert, interested in her surroundings, and generally a happy baby. I still can't help feeling a bad because for her whole life, I have been the only one feeding her. I do hope that now we are starting cereal and increasing the amount in her bottles that she will gain some weight. Her doctor said that I can come in as often as I like for weight checks and I will probably start doing that every couple of weeks, just to keep monitoring. Ms. Myrtle also is fully on board about helping feed her cereal in the morning and letting me know when she is ready for more milk per feeding. I feel very comfortable with the new daycare providers at the church. Whenever I call and when I pick her up, they are able to tell me excatly what she did that day, played, how well she ate, if she spit up, how gassy she was...all that stuff a mom wants to know. I was wondering (and Ms. Myrtle agrees) if she has been starting to teeth. She is drooling all the time and is sucking on her hands and/or a toy most of the time. Lately she has been starting to focus more on her right side of her mouth. There are no teeth yet, but maybe in the near future one will pop out. As far as the rest of her doctor's visit, she had to get immunizations and she did great, just as before. No adverse reactions and no fever. She also hasn't gotten sick at daycare (knock on wood). I hope that now she is at the church daycare and there are fewer kids and caregivers that she won't have as many opportunities to get sick. So, for now we are just going to think fat! I am going to continue to nurse her as often as possible while I am with her and pump as much as I can, but not stress out about it. I think that there maybe several factors as to why I am not able to pump as much, probably most being stress (from changing jobs, daycare, everyday life), being sick myself, and pumping is just not as efficient as baby. I just want what is best for my baby and I have thought all along that if I have to start feeding her formula then that means I have failed, but I have just come to the realization that I can't do everything and there are times that I will need to supplement and it is better to just give her formula rather than stress and lose sleep over it, which will decrease my supply even more. I need to be healthy for her as well as keeping her healthy. We did give her first taste of cereal last night. We captured a video, which is cute, but I need Ryan's help to upload it. She, of course, got more on her and around her than in her. It was funny because the little bit that she did swallow, when it hit the back of her tongue she made this sour face. Ms. Myrtle said she did the same thing this morning when she gave her some at daycare. I was worried that the cereal would fill her stomach up and she would start refusing a feeding, but I haven't noticed any changes yet. I just pray that I am doing everything right and giving Brooke what's best for her. I want my baby to gain some weight. Think fat!! Isn't it kinda funny that the media promotes skinny as healthy, but for infants skinny means unhealthy.