6 Weeks Old

Dear Brynlee,
    Right now you are six weeks old. I am writing you this letter so that you can know, and I won't forget about all of the things going on in our lives right now. For starters, you are starting to get some chub! Your cheeks are getting nice and full and even your chicken thighs are starting to feel a little bit squishy! There is finally something there besides skin and bones!

Look at that thigh!

 You are also becoming very alert. When you are awake, you are AWAKE. You open your pretty blue eyes and you look all around. I guess the world would be pretty interesting to me too if I was seeing most of it for the first time! Now...why the blinds are interesting, or the ceiling...I'm not sure. I bet it's the angels.
    When you were just over a month old, you started sleeping really long blocks of time through the night! We decided that since you could make it through the night without waking up, we would move you to your crib in your very own room. Since then you have slept there every night. You did so good for a while, but now we are struggling. It's taking you a while to get to sleep and then you only sleep for 5 hours rather than 7 or 8 like you were doing before. I know we are lucky that you even sleep 5 hours, but mommy like the 7 hour block of sleep! Let's work on that :). You have also graduated to sleeping on your tummy all day during naps. You LOVE it! You sleep so good on your tummy. You even slept on your tummy for the whole night last night!

 You are my little snuggle bug. Sometimes if you are being wiggly trying to fall asleep, I just go over and put your blanket over you, right up by your face, and you calm right down and fall asleep.

The little binky lines you get around your mouth are so cute :)

Sleeping at church

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE that. You also like to snuggle with me. Sometimes if you are grumpy, I will wrap you up like a burrito and hold you really close to me. You don't fall asleep, you are just happy and look up at me. It's a good thing I like cuddling, because we have lots of it ahead!
   Last week you started really smiling. I mean, it's not professional yet, but you are reacting to us talking to you and you will keep smiling for a while, not just one little one. You get so excited and your arms and legs just start moving all over and sometimes we have even gotten a little laugh out of you! I can't wait until you do get pro at smiling and laughing, you will be so fun!
    You have had two blowouts so far, and on my two favorite outfits! Come on girl, pick one of my not so favorites to poop on!

Right before the blowout at your first Higley football game. GO UNCLE HAYDEN!!

Right after the blowout. As you can see, you were a little bit peeved that I was messing with you. You were also hungry. What a night!

You are still in newborn diapers and they are just barely starting to fit you well. I might switch you up to size one here pretty soon because you keep soaking through these ones! You are starting to feel less fragile, it makes it even more fun to hold you and a lot easier too. You are quite the gassy baby. Sometimes it's so sad because I can tell that your bubbles are hurting your tummy. Daddy and I try our best to help you out, but sometimes it just doesn't work. We have basically become avid users of Gripe water. You love it and it seems to help you calm down when you really don't feel good.

    You do not like the car seat. You do not like when we move your arms to buckle you in OR get you out. You scream in the car like you are being attacked by something, and you stop breathing because you are crying so hard. You are not like most babies who LOVE the car seat. Sometimes, if you are asleep enough, we can get you in without you waking up and crying. Yesterday we did and I took this picture of you watching TV with dad. He likes to watch shows with you, play music for you, and play games with you. He is going to try and get you into video games, but I won't let him, don't worry!

  We have started to try and play with toys with you, but you don't really get them. We have one little hippo toy that we can sometimes get you interested in. You like it when we make it give you kisses. You open your mouth so cute every time it comes and sometimes it even makes you smile! I love watching you sleep. Right now you are sleeping on the bed next to me and I just keep looking over to stare at you. Everywhere we go, someone tells us how cute and tiny you are, even though I think you are getting big! Even a group of teenage boys at the mall were so interested in you! At least it makes me know that I'm not just biased...you really are that cute! Well, I think that's good for now. There will be lots more letters as you grow up. I think it will be fun for you to look at them later in your life and know what a stinkin' cute little girl you are/were. Mommy loves you so much baby girl, so so much.

Mommy

September...it's already exciting!

September has already been full of adventure! Well, not really. But I have gotten a bunch accomplished!

September 1st: Brynlee was blessed on Sunday. We spent the entire day with family and I got to see my sweet husband give my beautiful daughter a blessing! It was a pretty amazing day.

September 2nd: Labor day! That means no school OR work for Spencer. That means from Friday night until Tuesday morning, I had Spencer all to myself! Well, actually Saturday Spencer had the boys over for some big game night thing so I went to dinner and milkshakes with my mom and dad, but other than that, he was MINE!! It was a bit unfortunate that he has been sick for a while, he's not as fun that way...but at least he is still home! We went bowling and to lunch with the Hons. Spencer and I did awesome right when we got there and then I started sucking and he kept doing awesome. Then we went out to lunch and ran some errands. It was a long day but I loved it :).

September 3rd: Spencer has long school on Tuesdays (until 10:00). Tuesday morning I cleaned up Brynlee's room (it was a disaster!!!) did my paperwork. Grandma and I went and got her groceries and then we hung out at her house until dinner. We came back to my house and ate, and she helped me clean my house. Our place has not been all the way clean since we moved in. I am not good at finding places for things. I always think that I am going to need it or just really can't find a place that makes sense for it in my brain so I leave it in the living room...it was time to change that. It got worse once Brynlee was born...adding all of the baby stuff into an already unorganized home is a death sentence for cleanliness! Luckily, my AMAZING grandma came to my rescue. We probably spent over 3 hours cleaning my whole house. I went through all of my junk baskets that were laying around, I swept and vacuumed, I cleaned up my room (most of Brynlee's stuff is out of there now, we even moved her bassinet to the living room and converted it back to the pack n play), and even did 2 loads of laundry. I have not seen my house this clean in ages and it makes me feel so good!!! I am so glad grandma was patient enough to come help me. (To be honest, she probably did more cleaning than me...)

September 4th: Today was just a fun relaxing day. I took Spencer to work, I went to Grandma's house and watched the snitch (actually a pretty good movie), then went out to my mom's to hang out for the rest of the day. It's always fun hanging out with mom. She's nuts. I love her to death though! And she made cookies so that's always a bonus. I tried to get my car aligned but we are having some issues with that...(add it to the list of issues that our car has!). Brynlee has been really fussy all day and has been eating every 2 hours or less...maybe she is having a growth spurt!?

September 5th: Tomorrow is my 6 week doctor's appointment! I am really excited to go and make sure that everything is healing ok and see if I am ok to go swimming again! (I have been dying to go swimming...) I also am going to Amy's house to work on invitations for Whit's bridal shower and introducing my baby to one of my best friends in the whole world...McKenzie!!! While her reason for being here is somewhat sad, I'm glad I get to see her. I want to see her as many times as I can before December.

So all in all, it's been a crazy few days! I am excited for what this month will bring and I am excited to see my little baby growing! She is fitting into pants that used to fall off of her and her cheeks just keep getting bigger and bigger! We are a happy family. We are working through the struggles of life, but we are doing it with a smile and we are doing it together :).

She literally does this on her own...a perfect little angel :)

She tucks her knees up and had her bum so high in the air! It makes her toot too. So cute.

Baby blessing

This past Sunday was Brynlee's baby blessing. It was such an awesome day! She looked so BEAUTIFUL in her dress that Grandma Green made for her, her shoes she sewed for her, and her headband we found that matched her dress perfectly. We got her all ready and went to church. We had so much family support there and everyone kept telling me how beautiful she looked. Spencer gave her the most beautiful blessing and I am SO GLAD that I married someone who is so in tune with the spirit that he could give her such a special blessing. I have more pictures, but they are all on Kathy's camera. I do have this one though :).

My sweet baby girl looked so pretty!! I love her so much and am so happy that she is my daughter and my little princess!! :) 

Date Night!

Spencer and I went on a date! Without Brynlee! (I guess that part isn't that exciting...I missed her a TON!)

Friday night Whitley came over and I spent like 20 minutes explaining everything I could think of to her. I'm sure she thinks I'm nuts, but I was so nervous! I met Spencer at Jump Street (I only called Whitley twice on my way there!) and we started jumping. Man! Having a baby is rough on your body. For one thing I was hungry so I kept getting really light headed, I couldn't jump for more than 5 minutes at a time without being soooo tired and needing to sit down, and I really had to pee. I felt really lame. It is not a cheap place to go and I feel like I didn't get my money's worth. It was fun just being with Spencer though. We ended up just sitting at a table and talking about things. We don't have tons of time to just sit and talk anymore. We left before our hour of jumping was up and went to Subway to get dinner. We sat there for a while too and talked and then we decided to go get him a new phone. His had been having issues and he qualified for an upgrade. (I was texting Whitley the whole time at Jumpstreet and called between each activity to make sure the baby girl was ok). We were at the at&t store for a long time but Spencer got his new phone!! I was so happy to get my baby girl back when we got home, but it was really nice to have time just to the two of us. I miss my husband when he is gone every day and night. I hope we can make a habit of these date nights!

Milestones

We reached two milestones last night!!
Last night, little Brynlee slept for 8 hours strait! AND she did it in her own crib in her own room!! I was so nervous to move her into her own room. I felt like she was so far away and that something was going to happen to her. I know it's silly, just call me a protective mom! Well, I laid her down about 11:00. I went in and checked on her every couple of minutes to make sure she was falling asleep and in a good position so I wouldn't worry. Once I saw her asleep, I went to bed. I woke up at 3:00 so I could pump (starting to save up breast milk!) and checked on her...still sleeping! I then awoke to her crying...at 7!!! I couldn't believe it! She had never slept that long before! The past three nights she had slept just over 7 hours, but 8?? She must love me. I am proud to say that I made it through the night without a full fledged break down and me, Brynlee, and Spencer all got a really good night's sleep!

Speaking of Spencer. Time for an update. Spencer started school this week and it has already been kinda crappy. For one thing, his online math class is a joke. It's so hard. His teachers give insane assignments 3-5 times a week that take at least 3 hours to finish. That is at least 10 hours a week if there are only 3. That is added onto his other two classes and 40 hours of work a week. It's so brutal, I feel so bad for him. Add on top of that that he has been sick twice this week, it just has been rough. I love him so much for what he is doing to support Brynlee and I. I am so glad that I married someone who is willing to work SO hard to make sure that we are taken care of and happy. I know that the next while is going to be long and hard, but we are working through it and I am just really excited for when the school part of this is all over!!!

We also are about to hit another milestone tonight...leaving Brynlee with a babysitter while Spencer and I go on a date. I am so nervous. I get so much anxiety leaving her anywhere. I have done it twice but never for more than an hour and I had just fed her so I knew she would be ok. Tonight, we have a date planned for when I pick Spencer up from work. I don't know when I will have fed Brynlee last, so she might get her first full bottle feeding tonight. I am leaving her with Whitley, who I am positive is going to do an awesome job! I am just so scared!!! :/ Spencer and I need some time without her though. Even when she is sleeping, we don't really get any US time. So tonight, it's all about us. This will also be our first date since Brynlee was born!

Last milestone of the week? Brynlee is getting blessed on Sunday! Grandma made her dress, we are making her some shoes, and she is going to look beautiful! I can't believe how fast things move with a baby!! :)

See you in 2!

Tonight we got to attend one of my favorite cousin in law's setting apart! He has been called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Ecuador!! He leaves for the missionary training center (MTC) in the morning. This was such a cool experience. Logan is such an amazing kid. He is so kind, helpful, funny, and genuinely a good friend. Even though he is only 18, he and I are buds. Tonight I got to watch him take a big step in his life. For the next two years he will be serving the people of Ecuador and sharing the wonderful message of the gospel. He is going to be an amazing missionary!! His mom and dad should be so proud of their little boy (he's 6' 7"). There was such a strong spirit in the room as his mom and dad bore their testimonies along with his bishop, a member of the stake presidency, and the stake president. I am so grateful to have the church in my life. It was amazing to hear his blessing and how personal and specific it was to him. I am sure that he will remember the things that were said and that they will give him strength throughout the next two years. The people of Ecuador are lucky to get this boy, and they better take good care of him for us while he is gone!

My One Month Old

I can't believe it!! My pretty little princess is 

1 MONTH OLD!!! 

It's been a crazy month full of ups and downs and lots of tears, happy and sad! It has been full of smiles and frowns from our little baby princess, lots of late night feedings, and tons and tons of love. This little girl is the biggest blessing in our lives. I cannot believe I get to be a mommy to such a sweet little baby. She sleeps so well, she is happy when she is awake (for the most part) and she loves to snuggle. She has the skinniest little chicken legs always pulled up like a frog, she has the sweetest little lips that are almost always in a little 'O', and she has the prettiest blue eyes. I am such a proud mommy and can't wait for her to get a little bigger so we can see her smile more and so Spencer can actually play with her!!

Brynlee, Mommy and Daddy love you soooooo much!  I can't believe you have already been in our family for a whole month! It feels like just yesterday they put you on my tummy for the first time and I heard you cry. It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital being visited by family and friends. It seems like just yesterday they took you away from me to put you under the lights. It seems like just yesterday that they brought you back to me and said we could go home! From that moment on I have kept you right by my side :). You did stay with Grammy for about an hour and with Grandma Green for about an hour, but besides that? You are my buddy! We go everywhere together! Even though you don't like being in your car seat or riding in the car, we have started to figure out some tricks to make you happier. I hope one day you start to like the car, apparently that's what all the babies do! Keep growing :). You are already starting to get your little baby boobies and they are so cute!! I can't wait until you will actually fit in your onesie that says, "Chubby Babies Cuddle Better". Right now, you would swim in it!!! You have also finally gotten back up to your birth weight! 6 pounds 11 ounces at your last visit to the pediatrician. You also grew 3/4 of an inch! Keep it up!!! Since you were born you have had a very strong neck, but right now you can old your head up for a pretty long time all by yourself! Daddy and I are so proud :).  We have also nailed nursing in public. We have had lunch at Red Robin, Barro's, Some Burros, and at lots of people's houses! Grammy isn't your favorite person, we can't figure out why! Maybe it's because she always holds you when you are hungry, but she says you hate her...I assure her you don't, but you will have to tell her yourself with some cute smiles in the near future. You used to only like laying sprawled out. Every chance you got you had both arms and legs out flat on the ground. One time aunt Kristi bundled you and you fell right asleep. We decided to try it and now you LOVE IT! Even if you aren't ready to go to sleep, if you get bundled up you are the best snuggle bug :). You also love bouncing...on your bum, on your feet, it doesn't matter! You love it! I also have a complaint...don't only give daddy the pretty smiles, mommy wants some too!! Always remember to burp after you eat, you forget sometimes and then your tummy hurts later. I will try to help you out with that one :). I love you baby girl. Happy one month birthday :)

Aunt Sherry made the cute backdrop for pictures last week :)

Your hands are always in the perfect poses! It looks like I made you do this but you did it ALL on your own!

You did this to yourself...

These are from today! Happy one month our little naked baby!!

Punching the camera!

Thanks for the smile!!

We love you Brynlee Lynn!!!!!