First off.... when did my little girl get so big?!? I feel like in the past month she has grown a foot. She looks like a little girl. Please time slow down. I mean look at that gummy grin. We decided to take the photo shoot outside which lasted .5 minutes. Texas is HOT baby. You can already see her hair starting to curl from the humidity in the picture.
Summer came at the perfect time for our family. We needed some quality time for the 3 of us. Tom has sacrificed some sleep to wake up early and spend time with his girls. Brynn is so much fun right now and adores her daddy. I would be lying if I said I'm not jealous of the smile Daddy gets when he walks in the door. I wouldn't change it though. They are going to have such a special bond.
{Daddy introducing her to the important stuff... Like Cabellas}
Little girl is on the MOVE! She had perfected the army low crawl but on July 4th at the family get together she crawled. It was slow and steady at first but now, there's no stopping her. If she sees something she wants, away she goes! Down the hallway, in the kitchen, EVERYWHERE! Needless to say playtime does not consist of sitting on a blanket anymore.
LITTLE LADY IS STRONG! I'm not very good at estimating but I believe she will be walking before 1 year! This girl is strong. After she started pulling up on the crib rails we headed to Target to get some new toys. He favorite is the interactive activity table. It's bilingual! Arriba!!! The table creates so many smiles and squeals of delight! Her balance is pretty steady. She has stood byherself for a few seconds, but not on purpose. Only when she gets distracted by the toy in her hand, which in turn has led to a few tumbles. Her brave spirit earned her 2 bruises on her face this past month. One on her forehead from the crib rail and the second from the door frame. When she gets excited, she bounces while sitting on the ground. Well she got a little TOO excited and face planted into the door frame. This Mama felt so bad.
Her favorite toys are anything that makes noise, sings, flashes lights or is a stuffed animal. Brynn's the queen of hand me downs. Tom's 2 older sisters have been such a blessing. Brynn's Aunt Christie delivered the mother load!! An activity table, Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Door and Fisher Price Baby Gymtastics Play Wall. She LOVES them!!! Tom's "Man Cave" is slowly becoming the play room, one corner at a time. Both of the toys are the perfect height to practice pulling up on and Brynn can walk and scale them, shuffling side to side.
{Blurry, I know, but check out the JOY}
Brynn is so close to saying her first word. As much as I want it to be Mama it will most likely be Dada! She says it repeatedly over and over but we haven't "officially" counted it. Last month she was taking everything in and didn't talk too much but it must have been an observing stage because Lordie, her voice is back. The babble, the squeals, the screams, the raspberries, and fake coughs. She's a hoot!
Another {Baby's First}... Brynn has her first tooth! FINALLY... it popped through about two weeks ago and with no crying fits or fevers. We are so lucky. She has acquired the new nickname Snaggletooth! It's on the bottom left. The right one is barely poking through. We have been giving her pieces of cold fruit and veggies to chew on for teething pains. Did you know that celery has a natural numbing agent inside? We have the gel and tablets on standby... just in case. This past week she was using her tooth to scrape the apple chunk! Smart girl... baby genius! She was quite proud of herself.
Have you seen these Teething Necklaces? {Chewbeads} Brynn's Memaw gave us these a present. At first I thought they were a little silly but they are anything but silly. In this picture though you can see she is simply wearing them as an accessory :) I am loving their website.
Brynn is officially a formula baby now. This past month my milk started drying up and could tell she was getting frustrated during our feedings. Rather than fight a losing battle I decided to give in. There was part of me that was kind of depressed and sad, but I was proud of how hard my body had worked for almost 8 months. I was just happy to make it past the 6 month mark where breastmilk can aide in allergy prevention. Brynn transitioned really well to the formula. We supplemented with breastmilk but not for too long. We were nervous about the cost of formula, since before Brynn was born, and cringed when we bought the first tub for a whopping $25!!! That thing wasn't going to get us through a week and half. Sister in law to the rescue once again... my sister in laws neighbor is a rep for Infamil and hooked us up with the mother load! 7 cases of formula, each with 6 cans!!!! 42 cans! Brynn drinks the Infamil Gentle Ease formula. The cans that she gave us each cost $17.99... that is $756 we would have spent. {Yes I used my calculator} Praise the lord, we are LUCKY!
She is loving her solids. This month we have tried; plums, carrots, blueberries, peaches, spinach mash and pineapple. We have also done a few of the pouches because they were on sale and had a mixture of breakfast grains with fruits. Tom also wanted her to "get her protein in" so a few pouches were a chicken veggie bake and veggie lentil bake. So far there has only been one food she's not fond of which was... the veggie lentil bake. I mean, can you blame the girl?!? I try everything I give her and this was dog food.
A for your Friday night entertainment...
{I think food pictures are the best}
Big girl feeding herself... well kind of
Don't you know the only way to drink a bottle is with your feet? Little monkey.
First time with chunks. Avacado everywhere. Ears, nose, eyes.
Pea pop! These contraptions are a Godsend. A great distraction when mama is making dinner.
This past week Brynn has started to sleep through the night again! Amazing. This does not make me go to bed any earlier though. Mama is a night owl and enjoys her "me" time. She usually wakes up around 6:45ish and is waiting in her crib for her daddy to come home from work. Tom has been SUPERDAD and even after working all night will wake her up, change her, feed her oatmeal and her bottle and play with her for a bit until he can't keep his eyes open anymore. He says he feels bad I don't get to sleep in on my summer break. SWOON. Secretly I know he adores that time. She is the happiest in the morning and he says its the best part of his day. I think it would brighten anyones day after fighting the "bad guys" all night. We have transitioned to 2 naps. She usually goes down around 9am, 2 hours after she wakes up and then another long nap in the afternoon. She may doze in the car but we can count on the 2 for sure.
When nesting/decorating Brynn's nursery I put my baby blanket in a basket. Mostly for decoration and filler. But when it got cold there were a few night we would lay it over her she snuggled to it as much as she could all swaddled up. Of course when summer came, the blanket went back in the closet. Somehow it was thrown into the hamper and went through the laundry. Brynn was "helping" me fold laundry and when she saw the blanket she pulled it down and started snuggling to it. She remembered the blanket!!! Luckilly I had my camera/phone right there to capture this special moment with her mommy's blanket. I cried! {thebottompicture} Guess it's not mine anymore. Now she can't sleep without it.
This girl is a hoot! She has such a personality and has the sweetest laugh. We try and get her to giggle when she's tired, because its WAY too easy. Here's 2 of our top favs. {Sorry about the singing} Mama's gotta do what mama's gotta do.
Oh Lord, my heart is so full. Being a mother and loving someone so deep makes your love even more real. And to imagine you love us so much more... I am humbled.
