family fall day

we had our annual family fall day.

we didn't make applebutter this year,

so it was a full day of eating lots of amazing food,

sitting around the bonfire,

losing in an apple eating contest

and going on a hay ride at dusk.

 

its one of my favorite days of the year.

and brette's first time.
last year, she was "there"
but no one knew yet and i spent the afternoon
trying not to fall down while playing football.
didn't want to hurt my girl.

isn't autumn your favorite?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dumping zone

i took pictures with ronnie's

phone over the weekend and realized

that he had some photos that i don't have on the blog,

so this makes it a good time for a photo dump.

 

keep in mind that some these date back a several months...

 

first of all.

holy hell.

me, pregnant

at home and then in seattle.

i'm so glad that is over.

 



 

 now jump to the hospital.

ronzo remembered to snap a photo of our white board

the day she was born.

i love it because now i know our room number

and my amazing nurse, annie.

 

then he had a play by play of the first couple minutes after she was born.

thank god, because i was being worked on during all of this

so i didn't get to see any of it.

 

 

 the one and only shot where i think b looks like me.

just minutes after she was born.

 

ronnie has always been obsessed with brette's toes.

he thought it was so weird how she would spread them apart.

and he was especially focused her big toe - - which led to one of her many nicknames: corntoe.

so it makes sense that he had to get a picture of her feet when she was born.

(look at her big toe in the picture above... he's kind of right.  it was long.)

 

cut to our first week home.

this is me bathing her in light to help her bilirubin score. 



 

 

 

 i honestly don't know how old she is in the next three pictures,

but they're adorable so i had to share.

 

and now we're back to present day:

these two are from last week.

 

 

  

sorry for the flashback,

but i just wanted to have all these

photos on here since, in a way,

this is her digital baby book.

 





october roads

something about october

sends ronnie and i into the woods.

we loved going on walks.

and since a frost is in the forecast,

we don't have to worry about any bugs for very much longer.

 

we went back to the trails we went to last year on

the day we found out we were pregnant.

its so weird

because now she's here

and going along for the ride.

we strapped on our little girl

and enjoyed the beautiful weather.
there is a huge field where we park and
the dogs run around like crazy animals.
they love it.

brette loved it

and she loves the bjorn.

next october, she'll be the one running around and leading the way.

life changes so fast.

 

its nice to remember to enjoy the simple days.

a sunday walk with my family.

(selfie)

(tater staying closed to his mamma)

(ronnie and leia running like crazy)

(ronnie staring at his jeep/b staring at me.)

(family shot)

 

 

and then i spent the rest of my day watching football.  go chiefs!

there and back

brette and i hit the road again.

after a week home after nashville,

we headed back down the highway to st. louis.

marge was on her fall break at school and she had

a week off, so we went for a quick visit.

the girls scheduled a play date since i was coming in.

i finally got to meet and play with all my sorority sister's babies.

it was crazy adorable and just crazy.

ten kids, six adults and one big dog.

 

 

loved it.

 

and i got to spend two uninterrupted days with cohen and crosby,

margie's two wild boys that keep brette entertained for hours.

 

 

i can literally lay her on the floor and she's good just watching them.

and marge has everything i could ever need so that made packing

super easy and light.

and i got to try b out in some big kid toys.

who knew she was ready for the play saucer?

such a big girl!

 

 

we also decided that we should walk around the mall

and stroll through h&m.

big mistake.

you can't go into h&m without ending up with an armful of clothes.

and they have a kids section.

if i hadn't just gotten a ton of clothes from madeline

i would have gotten brette a lot of new stuff.

so basically i just added to my stay-at-home-mom wardrobe.

i guess i wanted to be stylin' when i go to the post office and hy-vee.

when i got home,

ronnie was helping unload the car

and of course, that's the bag he brought in.

busted.

dang.

 

(you know you're in st. louis when the babies and the dog

 are watching the cardinal's game.) 

 

 

ps- this trip must have worn B out.

it's 10:30 and she's still asleep.

run forest, run

 

 oh hey.

no big deal.

just trying to start running again.
only took me four months after having brette.
my original plan was to be back in shape by my 30th bday.
i thought it would be somewhat easy.
i mean, hello, i'm burning an extra 500 calories a day
just by breastfeeding
and i go on stroller walks.
these pounds should be falling off me.
but no.
of course not.
so now i've resorted to the old fashion method.
running.

first time i went,

things were flying everywhere.

very jiggly all over.

i'm pretty sure my boobs might need three or four sports bras

instead of my normal two.

gross.

 

its hard when you haven't ran in over a year.

 i run out of breath super fast.

and you know what's shameful?

the first time i ran,

i ran a half mile.

whaaaa?
and i was sore after.

how embarrassing.

remember when i was trying for the half marathon

and ran seven miles?

yeah, me neither.
 

 

the second and third time i went running, i ran a mile,

so at least that's a little better.

and that's it.

i've only been three times,

but you got to start somewhere.

 

and i need to find a walking path

or start going on my treadmill,

because i took brette with me in the jogger

and she was rattling all over the place.

those sidewalks are junk.

 

this is where i should insert a bunch of

encouraging words and cheering,
but realistically i need more than one week of running before i can
call myself a runner.
hopefully i can be back in shape by christmas.

just in time to eat all the holiday food and gain it all back.

 

sweet plan.

 

 

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.