Andreia's Baby Shower

My sweet friend Andreia just had her baby boy, which I haven't seen yet, so I figured it was time to post about her shower that happened back in November!!  I co-hosted with a few of my Arlington friends, and I was super happy with how it turned out.  Andreia really wanted an outdoor shower with soup and bread, and I felt like we delivered, haha.  The weather was perfect, and the company was even better. 

The hostesses with the guest of honor!  Love these girls a whole lot, and can't wait to meet Baby Crumpton :)

Five Month Snapshot

We are loving this stage with Brooke!  She is so much fun to interact with and has become quite the curious little girl.  Things to note this month: Brooke loves bath time, and honestly, would probably love to stay there for hours if I let her! She loves to kick her legs and has started to grab at the water as I pour it on her belly. She learned how to suck in her lower lip, and makes sounds as she does it.  She loves to suck her toes, can hold the bottle all by herself, has the most infections little laugh as we play games with her, rotates herself around on her back, and rolls over from back to front and front to back :)  

She also had her first babysitter for a few hours and did so great.  I have to admit, I was very hesitant to leave her, but one of the girls in the ward has been asking me if she can watch Brooke, and of all the young women, I trust her the most with Brooke.  I have watched the way she interacts and holds Brooke, and I knew she would be in good hands.  Plus, I babysat lots of babies when I was her age, and I felt like a confident caretaker, so I figured I needed to have a little faith :)  Plus, it was only for like 2 hours since I was co-hosting a baby shower and Kevin would be coming home from work to take over.  I kept my phone close during the baby shower, and about 8 pm I got a text from the babysitter telling me thanks for letting her watch Brooke and that she was great.  I was relieved :)

Fall Activities

One Saturday, we decided to take Brooke to the pumpkin patch by our house.  We were pretty excited to take her and I made sure we had coordinating outfits so we could take pictures in the pumpkins.  Little did I know, but the admission was $12 per person!  Are you kidding me?? I was shocked, and Kevin just played it off like "Can we take a flyer?", haha.  We only had probably $20 in cash anyway, but we were not about to spend that kind of money to take a picture with pumpkins.  Maybe next year when Brooke can appreciate the activities and the petting zoo :)  So, we snapped a few pictures in the park outside the pumpkin patch since Brooke was looking adorable in her little dress. 

 She kept trying to eat her dress all day, haha.  I am just happy that the weather was so nice and warm so that she could wear that cute dress my mom bought for her.

 A few weeks later, we met up with Kevin's family at the Flower Mound pumpkin patch (which only cost $5 per car, thankyouverymuch!!). It was super cute, and there were lots of great photo ops :)

This was our first Halloween in our house, so we wanted to stay home and experience the trick-or-treaters :)  Jerry and Bev came over to see Brooke in her costume, and we enjoyed the evening together on the porch passing out candy.  Brooke was taking a late nap, but was woken-up by trick-or-treaters a little before 7.  Not sure if she was thrilled about her costume, but she was a good sport :)  We actually had quite a few kids come by, so that was fun.  When things died down, we went inside and had minestrone soup and bread, then we tucked Brooke in for the night.  I already told Kevin that next year,  we will have to think of fun themed costumes for our little family!

Four Month Snapshot

I figured it was time to post about the four month stats since she is almost 5 months old!  I took Brooke to get her 4 month shots on October 17th and she weighed in at 14.25 pounds (43rd%) and was 25.5 inches long (84th%).  I was dreading the shots again, but she did awesome.  She cried while she was getting the shots, but the medical assistant is wonderful and was so quick and efficient.  As soon as I picked Brooke up, she stopped crying :)  That definitely made me feel better.  She was a bit sleepy all afternoon, but she (and I) survived.  Dr. Joki was pleased with her growth and said that she looked great.  I brought up a few concerns I had with her head shape since she prefers to sleep with her head to the right side, and upon examination, he said that she did have mild plagiocephaly, so we are working on that. I had received a flyer for something called a Tortle at the hospital, but I threw it away because I thought it was a gimmic, haha.  Jokes on me I guess, because I ordered it a few ago and have been using it ever since.  It is basically a beanie that has a foam piece sewn-in that allows you to position the head from left to right.  She doesn't seem to mind it, so hopefully we can avoid a helmet!  

 I know that I say this every month, but I can't believe how big she is getting!  It hit be towards the beginning of the month when I was holding her one night.  She had woken up after about an hour of being down for the night, so I just picked her up and was holding her against my chest and rubbing the back of her head.  I looked over and saw our reflection in the mirror and couldn't believe how big she was.  I don't feel like she is a little baby anymore, and it made me kind of sad.  Obviously I want her to grow and develop as she should, but time is flying by faster than I am ready!

 We bought Brooke an exersaucer, and she really seems to like it.  Within a few days of having that thing, I noticed that she was putting a lot more weight on her legs when I was holding her or when I would put her on my shoulder to burp her.  This has become a great resource while I am cooking dinner as well.  As long as she can see me she is generally content!

We transitioned her from her Puj Tub (which I loved for when she was smaller), to this bath sling. This girl loves the water, and she loves to kick those legs and splash in the water.  When I pour water on her belly, she constantly tries to grab at it, which is adorable.

Other noteworthy things this month: Brooke has longer "conversations" with me, especially in the morning when she wakes up.  She laughed for the first time, had her first cold, slept 12 hours (a record), and went to her first football game.  She takes her pacifier out of her mouth and tries to put it back in, sucks on her lower lip, found her feet and loves sucking on her toes, and holds her head up high during tummy time.  She is still sweet as ever and we feel so thankful for our little one!

Amorims Visit

 Our best friends from Florida came for a visit, and we loved having them in our home!  We hadn't seen them since April, when they flew out for my baby shower.  They were anxious to meet Brooke, and we were anxious to see them and their twins :) We were horrible at taking pictures until the day they left, which was a Sunday.

 It is no easy task getting a picture of 3 babies where they are actually all looking..so this is as good as I was able to get, haha.

Daleth took some cute pictures of Brooke on her phone, and the one below is my personal favorite.

They are seriously considering moving to the DFW area, so we spent a lot of time looking at homes, researching therapy centers for their daughter, and talking about the "Texas Plan", in which they move out here :)  We would love to have them close again, but are thankful for their friendship even when they are so far away!

Birthday Boat Ride

We took Brooke for her first boat ride on September 14th to celebrate Jerry's 60th birthday!  Before we had Brooke, Kevin would frequently make comments about how we were going to take our kids on the boat when they were babies, but when it came right down to it, we were both nervous that she was too small before now!  I was only really nervous about getting her on and off the boat, so I made Kevin carry her :)  It was time to feed her shortly after getting to the lake, so I nursed her as we were on our boat ride, and then she slept the rest of the time we were out there!! (About 3 hours)  She had woken up with her first little cold, so I think her body was trying to fight whatever it was that she had come down with.  The rocking of the boat also probably helped a bit :)

 We all know how much Kevin loves boating, so he was pretty excited to be out there with his little girl.  And I love this picture of Brooke with her daddy :)

 Our first family picture at the lake!  The first of MANY I am sure :)

 
 The whole family.  We had to take Brooke out of her adorable swimsuit because she had a diaper explosion, which of course leaked all over my dress as well.  Thankfully, Kevin washed it in the lake for me so it was slightly less disgusting, haha.  I seriously need to remember to pack myself a change of clothes.

After the boat outing, we showered up and enjoyed a nice dinner at Mi Cocina, followed by a yummy chocolate bundt cake.  We enjoyed being together to celebrate the big 6-0 :)

Three Month Snapshot

At each month milestone, I really cannot believe that another month has passed.  She really had a growth spurt this month, and has filled out a lot! She has also been sleeping a lot more during the night, which is super awesome for me!! She generally goes down around 9 or 10pm, wakes up around 4 or 5 in the morning, and then will sleep another 4-6 hours, so I cannot complain :)  My favorite time of day with her is in the morning.  She gives me the sweetest smiles and makes the cutest sounds as she "talks" to me.  Her fine motor control is improving and she is able to grasp toys, bring things to her mouth, and she chews on things ALL DAY, haha.  She is a big fan of her rubber monkey toy and people's fingers and hands.  

Brooke continues to have explosions in her diaper quite frequently, so I do a lot of laundry and this little girl gets a lot of baths!  One Saturday, I left Brooke at home with Kevin to run to Target.  On the way home, I called to check-in.  Kevin informed me that Brooke had an explosion in her swing, that he had cleaned her up, but that he hadn't been able to clean the swing or her clothes yet.  I told him that I would help when I got home, but as I was driving, I was thinking about what he might have dressed Brooke in.  He has dressed her plenty of times, but I always had an outfit picked out for her.  When I walked into our room, and saw Kevin holding Brooke this way, I burst out laughing and had to get the camera.  I asked Brooke why she didn't have any clothes on, she spit out her pacifier and gave me a huge grin, and Kevin goes, "We didn't know what fit her", haha.  Gotta love Dads :)    

Brooke's Great Grandparents were still in town from the blessing weekend, and we enjoyed spending time with them.  Grandpa hadn't held Brooke at all, and kept saying that he didn't hold the babies!  The last night we saw them, he decided that he was going to hold her :)  I am sad she is naked (she was really warm that night, so I stripped her down to her diaper) in these pics, but at least it is documented!  Grandpa said, "Don't put these pictures on facebook, I don't want the other grandkids to be jealous.  Well, actually, put them on, then write 'Only in Texas will Grandpa hold the babies'."  Sure love them :)

Brooke is still sleeping in our room because I can't imagine putting her upstairs in her nursery yet.  Originally I thought she would only be in our room for 2-3 months, but we are about to hit the 4 month mark and I am not ready to transition her yet!  But I did take some pics of her in her crib because she was especially smiley one afternoon.