Brooke is 6 months old today. It's bittersweet, I have to say. When we first brought her home from the hospital, I remember praying to just make it through the day. Then the next. Sleep deprivation and a steep learning curve played a part in it, of course. Now? I just want each day to linger. I want to press the pause button, and not miss a single second, because she's growing, learning, and doing something new every day.
If these pictures could talk, they'd be rambling on about cuteness in capital letters. Of course I can't choose from them, so you get (nearly) all of them. :) I just realized that all three outfits she's wearing in these pictures are all pink. We like pink, apparently. :)
Taken Saturday:
Brooke with her giraffe
The girl loves to play!
Cuteness with a capital C
"My TEETH!" First picture I've been able to get of them
Obviously VERY! EXCITED!
"Mom, I'm so over this"
Oh, how I wish this weren't blurry
Taken Sunday:
"Lookie what I can do!"
Little munchkin
We think this hoodie is hilarious :-D
Taken today, 6 MONTHS OLD!
Fisher Price activity wall, courtesy of Freecycle.org
Yay for new toys!
So, she can sit up all by herself now. :) THAT certainly didn't take long... we only just started practicing it last week. Now, she's like an old pro, though I still stay next to her in case she starts to topple over.
Ryan made it back home on Friday evening without any problems. Life is pretty much back to normal now, which makes me happy. :) I'm looking forward to the end of winter, and the beginning of warmer weather, though I still would love to see one more, big snowstorm! Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Ah, another week, another entry. It's been a cold, snowy, icy week here. It snowed twice this week, and they're calling for freezing rain (=ice) until 11 PM tonight. Then we have another chance of snow tomorrow. Ryan has been in Richmond since early Wednesday morning, taking classes for work, and he's coming home this evening. So, it has mainly been just Brooke and I this week, which has meant lots of fun and playtime, but has been a little tiring with everything on me. I miss him, and I'm sure Brooke misses him, too. I held my cell phone up to her ear last night for her daddy to talk to her, and she promptly tried to pull the phone into her mouth. I like to think that means she misses him. ;-)
Brooke is growing by leaps and bounds. She can sit up pretty well independently, so I've been letting her practice on our bed--a soft surface for the inevitable spills. She loves to "airplane," (holding her up over our heads) because, unlike on the floor, gravity is no longer an issue. Her face absolutely lights up, and she thrusts out her arms and legs in a crawling fashion with such speed and finesse that I am already dreading when she becomes mobile. :)
I call her my little daredevil, because she loves the thrills. She loves to be (gently) tossed in the air, and she loves to "fly" around the room. She can grab things with such accuracy that it amazes me. Wasn't it just yesterday when I cheered as she was able reach out and grab a toy for the very first time? Yet now she can see a skinny little hair tie around my wrist and grasp it with ease on the very first shot. Same goes for my earrings, necklaces, and hair, or whatever else she finds interesting!
Does anyone know when babies eyes typically change color?? Brooke's are still very much BLUE, and I'm wondering if they will stay blue or if they still might change to green, which Ryan and I both have. Her Grandmom is hoping and praying they stay blue, like hers are, but I've told her not to get her hopes up, since she has such a big chance of having green eyes. :) Anyone know??
Did anyone watch that show Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann? It was a spin-off from Dancing with the Stars, and we actually thought it was pretty boring. Anyway, the only reason we watched (a little bit) was because I knew one of the contestants, Phillip Bernier. He's my age, and we went to the same church and school. His family used to sit in front of mine. I really didn't know him all that well; I knew his older brother better, because we were in youth group together. His bio is pretty awesome; he talks about how important his Christian beliefs are to him, and how he feels his talents are God-given. The show is over now, but his team (team Bruno) wound up winning, so he now has a record deal. Small world, eh?
Here are a couple of recent pictures of my girl! :)
Beautiful Brooke... it's hard to get her to smile for a picture, because she's always "studying" the camera!
The SwaddleMe blanket has officially met it's match
I never knew how many couples bring along their babies to their Valentine's celebrations until last night. Of course, having never actually gone out for Valentine's until this year, I have nothing to base it on. It made me very thankful that we 1) don't have to find/research/worry about a babysitter for the time being, and 2) that we have my parents so close by. We didn't worry for one second about how Brooke was doing, and guess what? She did fantastic with her grandparents. We are ever so thankful. :)
We had 6:15 reservations at a restaurant that had been booked solid for over two weeks. (a lady in front of us who didn't make reservations was told she likely wouldn't be seated until around 9:30) Ryan had the filet mignon, while I had lemon shrimp linguini, which was so amazing I'm STILL talking about it today. And it's not even because I haven't had pasta in months. It was simply amazing. We splurged on dessert, and lingered for a while before heading over to pick up our daughter around 8:00. As much as we adore Brooke, it was nice to dine alone. It wasn't long, but for one evening we got to be just a couple again. :)
Picking Brooke up at the end of our evening. :)
Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day!
(P.S. - Trish, I signed up with Flickr just for you!)
Does it get any better than this?? (Taken last night!)
My most memorable Valentine's Day...
Ryan and I have had some very romantic, special Valentine's days together in years past, but none as memorable as our very first Valentine's together. We had just met a month prior, and we were doing the long-distance thing. (We lived two and a half hours apart for the first 8 months of our relationship, until he decided to find a job up here and make the move to good ole Northern VA.) I made a delicious dinner (had to impress him, you know) and we exchanged gifts. I had NO idea what to get him, since we had only been dating a short while, but I ended up getting him a royal blue, cashmere sweater from Banana Republic. (I know, I know, but I had a great job, and few expenses at the time, since I was living at home!) It was a beautiful sweater... and I knew it would look great on him, since he looks good in bold colors. I was right.. it looked so good on him! He got me a certificate to get a massage, which was an awesome gift, because I had never gotten a professional massage in my life. (it was heaven!)
Fast forward to a month or so down the road... I noticed he hadn't worn the sweater at all during any of his weekend visits to see me. He didn't want me to be sad, but he finally fessed up. He had only worn it once, maybe twice, and put it in the wash. He then left it to dry flat on top of the dryer. Well, during that time, he had recently moved back to VA from PA, and was living with his family for a little bit. The washer and dryer were in the basement. Well, his sister's dog was kept in the basement during the day. Yeah... you can probably see where I'm going with this. When Ryan went to retrieve the sweater, it had been lovingly destroyed. Ripped to shreds. Needless to say, I haven't bought him a cashmere sweater since.
Okay, your turn: What was your most memorable (good or bad!) Valentine's Day???
When you've been absent as long as I have, it's hard to figure out where to begin! After a while, you realize you have so much to update on that it becomes a little daunting! What little extra time I've had, I knew wouldn't be enough. So... where to begin?
Brooke's second tooth popped through just a few days after her first one appeared. She now has both of her bottom front teeth. (and boy has she let me know a few times that she knows how to use them!) After she had no trouble eating rice cereal, I started her off on Gerber Organics bananas, which she LOVED. After several days of bananas, I let her try applesauce. We got to see her "sour face" for the very first time with that one! Needless to say, applesauce was a no-go. She'd take a few bites, then fuss and spit it out. Unlike the applesauce we know and love, baby applesauce has nothing sweet added, so I think it's just a little too sour. So, bananas it is. For now.
She can roll over from her stomach to her back, and is just about able to get from back to stomach. She has to really be in the mood for it, though. She's doing great with sitting up, partially supported, but she'd really rather stand. I don't think crawling is too far off.. she knows what to do with her legs, but just can't figure out what to do with her arms. When she DOES push off with her arms, she doesn't do anything with her legs. :) If you ask me, though, I just want her to take her time! Unlike most first-time parents, I'm in no hurry to see her mobile. When she's ready, she's ready.
I flipped through my scrapbook my Mom made for me, (in addition to a regular baby book, she made me a lifetime scrapbook that covers my first day of life all the way through the day I got married. It's amazing. I definitely am going to start one for Brooke someday!) and I scanned in some baby pictures. The resemblance between Brooke and I is uncanny, so I just wanted to share!
After looking through pictures of me as a baby, I went back to my computer and looked through pictures of Brooke from the day she was born till now. I was thinking about how I can't believe how small she was, and then it suddenly hit me. She's not a tiny baby anymore. She's 5 1/2 months already, and I have no idea how that happened. On the one hand, it's amazing to see her grow. It's so amazing to wake up and think, "I wonder what new thing she's doing to do today." (because, trust me, she does do something new every day!) But on the other hand, it dawns on me... she's growing up. And a part of my heart begins to hurt.
Ryan and I have been doing really well. He's been very, very busy--in addition to his full-time job, he took a new, part-time job (Fri., Sat., and Sun. nights) to bring in a little extra income. I'm not going to lie, it's hard for him to be gone more. I don't get to see him as much, Brooke doesn't get to see him as much. Thankfully it won't last forever, and it really is needed right now. I tell Brooke all the time, "your Daddy is amazing. He does such a good job at taking care of us." Not that she knows exactly what I'm saying, of course, but someday she will.
I'm VERY excited about Valentine's day this year!! Ryan really wanted to take me out to dinner, so my parents are going to watch Brooke while Ryan and I go have a nice dinner by ourselves. Alone. As a real couple. What makes it extra special is... this will be our very first Valentine's day together where we'll actually go out to eat! Our past four v-days together have all been spent with me cooking a special meal... but not this year. Someone else gets to cook. I'm very excited!
Speaking of food, the diet has been going well... instead of being totally low-carb, we're doing the South Beach diet. (focuses on eating the RIGHT carbs) I'd say it's going pretty well.. I am officially down to my pre-pregnancy weight! Yes!!! I don't look completely like I used to, (pre-preg. jeans fit, but still not totally flattering) but nevertheless it feels good to be back down to a healthy weight. I plan on losing a bit more, though.
I've continued to use Freecycle, and have gotten some great things. I got some clothes, hats and toys for Brooke, (some new) a fantastic HIGHCHAIR!!! which cleaned up perfectly, (I have pics of that later) two 6 foot decorative trees from Michael's which I put in our home office, and in our dining room, and a Canon printer/scanner/copier which definitely isn't new, but is in good shape. Free definitely fits in our budget.
I realize a lot of my pictures aren't showing up on here right now. I apparently exceeded my limit on photobucket for the month, (since I use the free version) but the pictures will show up again starting on the 23rd. So, that's that. I made a new account, though, so I can still upload some pictures until then.
Speaking of pictures... I'm sure you all want to see some!
Brooke, 5 months to present:
First time in her highchair! (isn't it fantastic?! Just needed to be washed/scrubbed)
In her jumperoo!
I couldn't choose from the following three pics, so you guys get them all :)
Bright eyes~
My gorgeous girl!!
Lastly, here are some pictures of me as a baby. You guys have seen pictures from the day Brooke was born, so I'm not going to do side-by-side comparison shots.
I was 6 weeks early, so I was kind of a tiny thing...
See???
With my Grandmom (Mom's side--she passed away when I was 8) and brother (wasn't he ADORABLE?!)
I look scared to death.
This looks like it could be a picture of Brooke, 100%
Well, I will definitely try not to be such a stranger around here! Hope you all have a wonderful day! :)
