brette: 4 months

growth:

i'm not sure what her height and weight are.

we have her doctor appointment next week,

so stay tuned for a percentile update.

but her cheeks and legs are chunky monkey
... in the cutest way possible.

 

she's still in size one diapers.
we are on our last bag,
so she'll be in two's within the next couple weeks.

she is wearing both 0-3 and 3-6 month clothing.
the 0-3 stuff fits her great but
a lot of what we had was summer attire so
we had to pack those away and bust out
her long sleeves and leggings.
(ps- if you follow madeline and eden's blog, you'll
see a lot of repeat clothes.  sanku, jaime & brian!)

her hair is still dark,
but she's losing some of it.
her eyes are still blue
and her head/neck control is awesome,
but not sitting up on her own yet.
she does roll over on her side but hasn't
mastered getting completely over.
we're working on it.

 

sleeps:

nights are a non-issue.
she sleeps 10 hours,
then gets up for a little breakfast break
and goes right back down.
we still start our day around 9:00.
naps are still not good,
but i am trying my best to be consistent with our routine.
i put her in the swing everyday around 1:00
and she falls asleep without crying.
she'll sleep anywhere from 30 mins to an hour.
then she sleeps the next hour on me.
i'm still trying to figure out how to put
her back to sleep and keep her in the swing for that second hour.
suggestions welcome.
 

eats:

we've lengthened out our eating times,
but not by a lot.
we get past 2 hours now,
but only to about 2.5 to 3 hours.
every once in awhile, if we're out
and she's constantly entertained we
can go four hours.
i honestly think i'll always need to feed her more often during the day,
just because she goes so long at night.
but all in all, nursing has become second nature
and we're both still hanging with it.
 

 

plays:

we play all the time.
and we even get some giggles now.
my sil, jaime, got her laughing for the first time on our way to nashville,
and now its ronnie and i's goal everyday.
i love hearing it.
it's pretty deep,
which is surprising because her squeals are so shrill.
which ps - she is getting louder and louder by the day.

she also puts everything in her mouth.
i'm trying my best to keep things clean,
but who knows what all she gets past me during the day.

her favorite toys are the ones that have
lights and play music.
she also has love for her sleep sheep and her pacifier,
but we might have a finger sucker on our hands
because that's her go-to when the pacifier is not around.
or her feet. she loves her feet.
she also loves books.
i read to her and she stares at the pictures and
smiles at all my voices.
and she loves to be sang to.
even by me.

 

firsts:

she went to her first sporting event - a football game.
she laughed! (its adorable)
she had her first out of state vacation.
she went on her first run. (more on that later)
and she went to the zoo.
i feel like i'm forgetting some,
but its hard to remember a whole month of firsts.

so we're still doing really well over here in coxville - -
loving on b and watching her grow.

 

 

still hating those tummy shots.

wah wah.

and i'm now able to sit her in the middle of the chair because

she doesn't need the arm to rest on.

love it.

 

 

wanna see brette grow?
month one
month two
month three

 

look in the mirror

the day after i got back from nashville,

ronnie and i were sitting around talking

and he said that he thought moms were really

hot when they were all put together.

 

at the time i was sitting there

nursing brette in his old shirt.

i had on my bass pro hat

and no make-up.

 

cool, ronnie.

thanks.

i get the hint.

 

 

in my defense, i left my luggage with my parents

to give us more space in our car,

so i didn't have anything to even get ready.

 

so there.

bitch.

happy feet

an update on brette is coming soon.

i can't believe she'll be four months this saturday.

she has been growing - - in an extra chunky kind of way.

and she found her feet.

they are her new favorite thing

and it makes diaper changing extra hilarious/challenging.

 

(my little leg mcmuffin)

 

speaking of feet,

brette is finally able to wear shoes.

at four months, she fits into her newborn sizes.

its adorable.

let the shoe obsession begin!

 

behind the scenes

behind all the pretty pictures from yesterday's posts

are a few tricks, a few stories and a few tips.

 

originally, we were scheduled to go on our annual trip

to estes park, colorado.

apparently, that vacation was doomed.

the town flooded and then our government shut down,

so we wouldn't have been able to get in the national park to go hiking anyway.

can you imagine how mad we would have been if we had traveled to colorado

just to get there in time to not go hiking?

 

so we decided on nashville and quickly booked a couple of hotel rooms.

first mistake.

we really should have considered the three little ones more.

lots of naps needed.

plus nursing time.

travel time.

eating out.

packing all their crap every time we left.

and bedtimes.

it was a lot.

so we spent more time in our hotel than we normally would have.

most mornings, so brette and eden could get in their naps.

and then every night because all the girls were in bed by 8 or 9.

there was a lot of tip-toeing

and watching tv in the dark.

we've already decided that our next trip

must include a house.

somewhere we we can make our own food

and have a living room for the adults once the kiddos go to bed.

if it would have been available, we would have liked to have stayed

at the opryland resort.

it is around 15-20 acres and has lots to do.

but since this was last minute we had to take what we could get.

my tip?

when going to nashville either stay downtown (if you're going out)

stay at the opryland resort (if you want a lot to do without getting out much)

or stay in franklin. (if you want to be near nashville,

but have a family friendly downtown and lots of history).

those were my three favorite things we did

and it would have been nice to have been close to one the whole time.

 

 

also, when traveling with three little girls

we packed lots of snacks, games, toys, dvds, and slings.

getting to nashville and back was what i dreaded most.

a three month old in a car for 8-9 hrs?

could be heinous.

on our way there we split up the trip into two days

and drove into st. louis the first night.

this means i got to see my good friend, marge, and her second born, cohen.

he is almost exactly three months older than brette.

 

(here they are when b was born and again in our hotel room)

 

on our way back we left the grandparents and drove the girls through the night.

it was honestly the best thing we could have done.

the girls slept (most of the time)

and we got to drive without 14 stops along the way.

in fact, we only made one stop to refill on gas.

and that's my second tip.

if you can drive while the little ones sleep. do it.

so much easier.

but we drove around lots once we were in nashville too.

everything was at least a 20 minute drive.

so the girls got lots of car time.

and in most cases, either jaime or i were sandwiched in between

brette and eden,

bottle in one hand, pacifier in the other,

trying to sing and shush at the same time.

whew. but we made it.

and it worked out great since ronaldo

didn't go, we could all fit in brian's pilot so that made

getting around easier instead of having to take two cars everywhere.

but is nashville known for traffic?

because i've never seen anything like it.

unless you're in new york, la, chicago, but nashville?

who knew.

 

even though we had to plan around naps

we still got out and saw most of the town.

we toured the grand ol opry,

which took an hour.

it was kind of overkill,

but at least i can say i've seen it.

 

we walked around music row.

there were so many amazing country bars

and live music in every one.

i would love to go back for a long weekend

with just adults.  its totally my scene.

but my family is not into country and

obviously not the right place for little ones.

 

franklin was adorable.

i heard tim and faith live there.

i can see why.

too bad i didn't see them.

where's a country music star when you need them?

 

it was a good trip.

good times with the family.

and i got to go somewhere i'd never been before.

we learned what not to do

and what works.

oh and my last mandatory new rule:

ronnie must go on all family vacations, no matter what.

 

it just wasn't the same without him.

 

 

 

nashvegas

 a picture says a thousand words, right?

so i'll just leave you with a bunch of pictures from our trip

and elaborate another day.

 

roadtrippin

 

 

first stop: the grand ole opry

 

 

and stopped by the  play things at the mall because

the battery in our car died.

whaaaa?

 

then dinner downtown

 

 

 

second stop: the zoo

 

 

 madeline was in charge of our map.

something she took very seriously.

 

 

third stop: music row and the ryman auditorium

 

 

 

 

third stop: country music hall of fame

 

forth stop: radnor lake and trails 

 

 

fifth stop: franklin, tn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 sixth and final stop: cheekwood botanical gardens

 

 

 we did a lot in one week.

and i think brette slept through about 75% of it.

more tomorrow with all the details.

 

 

over and out

whew.

i'm packed.

that was hard.

i'm pretty sure brette has everything she could ever need.

me?

i'll probably look like a homeless person.

oh well, nashville - - here we come!

 

i'm really nervous about the road trip.

normally its my favorite part of vacations,

but with a three month old,

i just want to get there.

 

pray for us.

 

 

here's brette today.

notice the bib?

she's quite the slobber queen.

i hate it.

so in order to keep a shirt dry,

we change out bibs a couple times a day.

i packed a lot of those.

wish us luck.

 

i'll be back in a week!