6 months!

Brinn had her half Birthday the Saturday after Thanksgiving!  Our girl is 6 months old and loving it!  We've got some updates:

> She had her 6 month checkup yesterday, and here are her stats:
                 Weight: 17lbs 9.5oz (95% whoa)
                  Length: 26 3/4" (75%)
                  Head: 16 3/4" (50%)
Clearly no one feeds this baby :)  And, she obviously inherited my shrunken head.  She is absolutely healthy as can be, and the doctor was pleased with her progress.  Evidence of her 95% (chunky legs):

> We started veggies!  So far she has tried squash in Florida, sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving weekend in South Carolina, and now we are on carrots.  She's loved everything so far- SUCH a good eater (hence the 95% for weight...).  We are waiting 3 days before trying new foods, to ensure that we don't miss any possible allergic reactions.  Friday we'll try avocado, then peas, then we'll start on fruits.  Its really been fun so far!  (I'll post more about Thanksgiving and our trip to Florida in a seperate blog post). 

> Teeth!!!  Brinn has her two front, bottom teeth.  Teething wasn't too bad, she was just a little fussy during the day and woke up in the middle of the night twice, but easily fell back to sleep.  She did chew on everything (frozen washcloths were her favorite) and sucked on her bottom lip to alleviate the pain.  I hoping the arrivals of all of her future teeth will be equally as easy :) Teethy grin:

I feel like everyday I want to freeze time and keep her from getting a second older, but everyday she amazes me and I love her more and more.  I love her little personality- crazy curious, social yet shy, happy, needy, cuddly.  She has such curious little hands- always reaching for something; always playing with the tiniest detail on her toys: ribbons, tags, a strand of yarn.  Yes, she is sometimes a predator with her toys and bites their face, but most of the time she sits with them completely content to play with the tag that shows the laundering directions in 18 different languages.  I love her sweet little dimples and the fact that she got one from me and one from my sister.  I love her facial expressions and the way she raises her eyebrows in amazement when she sees something new.  I love that she sleeps on her tummy, with her butt in the air- like this:

I love that she reaches out for me wanting a hug or for help.  I love that she smiles and giggles when she wakes up in the morning, which has turned grumpy me into a morning person.  I love that she is a Daddy's girl.  I love that the mirror used to be her favorite thing, but now its old hat- like 'show me something new Mommy'.  But every once in awhile I catch her smiling SO big when she catches a glimpse of us in the mirror.  I LOVE that she sleeps through the night and still manages to give me 3 solid naps during the day.  I love that when she panicked after waking up in one of my friend's arms, my awful singing of 'you are my sunshine' calmed her down quickly.  I could go on and on for eternity, but most of all, I love that she loves me, and I can see it now.  I love you, Brinn.  Happy Half Birthday!!
XOXO,
Mama

5 months old!!

Brinn is 5 months old!!  I can't believe another month has passed!!  She has changed so much in such a short period of time.  She is pretty much sitting up on her own, but still teeters, so we only practice on padded surfaces :)  She's gotten so big too- she's busting out of her 6month clothes, so we've had to pack up another pile and move into the 6-12 month size.  Her next doctors appointment is at 6 months, so we'll have some official stats at that point. 
Big news- we started on solids!  Well, rice cereal isn't exactly 'solid', its super runny for the first feeding.  She first tried it in Utah with the Kalbs (video below), but it took her about a week to understand what was going on and to actually swallow any.  Then when she started swallowing it, she threw up, so we shelved the whole process for a week and switched rice cereal yesterday (she started on brown rice cereal- turns out the extra fiber is hard for babies' tummies to digest.  Hence the barf).  I'm happy to report that she is eating the new brand of cereal (brand: Earth's Best Organic) and keeping it down!  Win!  Next week we will try oatmeal, then we'll slowly move onto the yellow and orange veggies (squash, sweet potato, carrots).  Its definitely an exciting adventure.  Below is a video from her first try- its a little embarrassing since Chuck didn't tell me he started the camera... enjoy!

Halloween was this past Monday.  Brinn dressed up as an astronaut- we're promoting math and science :) I just figured that she has plenty of princess years ahead of her, so why not do something different as an infant.  She was really warm and comfy and had a blast.  Our neighborhood had a costume parade for the kids, so we sat Brinn in the front yard to watch the parade- she smiled and laughed the whole time.  So sweet!  She fell asleep around 7ish (girl can't hang!), so we gave out the rest of our candy to some lucky kids, turned off our lights, and called it a night.  I'm personally really excited for the kick off of the holiday season- Thanksgiving in Irmo is next!  YAY!!

Brinn & Abigail

I forgot to upload a short video of Brinn and Abigail from our visit to Utah- here it is...

Abigail is only  11 months older than Brinn (16 months), but she has the vocabulary of well over a 2 year old.  It was so fun to hear her talk and to interact with her- that Kalb girl is a smart one :) !!

Park City

Our family of 3 traveled to Park City, Utah back in October to visit our great friends, the Kalbs.  Travelling with an infant is definitely an experience!  When we stepped on the plane Brinn immediately panicked and started to scream cry.  We definitely got some nasty looks (right- because I pinched her to make her scream, totally my fault), but luckily she called down quickly after we gave her a bottle and slept most of the flights.  The Kalbs have a sweet little 16 month old little girl, Abigail, so we were lucky in that we didn't need to pack too much since they already had much of the necessaties for an infant.  Brinn loved hanging out with Abigail, she just smiled most of the weekend.  I think we may have some future BFFs on our hands :)  We had a great trip- Park City is absolutely beautiful- definitely a departure from Birmingham!  I only wish it were closer, so we could see the Kalbs more often- miss them!!  Here are some pictures from our trip:

Brinn & Abigail:



4 months old!!

Well, our amazing girl is 4 months old (actually, almost 5 months- I'm not too timely).  It really is scary how time flies!  I'm really trying to remember and enjoy every moment with my sweet baby girl. She has changed so much lately- here are a few highlights/milestones:

- She is consistently sleeping through the night (YAY!).  She started 'trying out' the idea at 2 months and really commited to it by 3 months.  We do still have maybe one night every 2 weeks that she will get up at 3 or 4am, drink a quick bottle and is back to sleep within a couple minutes.  We are THRILLED and very, very lucky!!  Mama is well rested :) 

- She is laughing out loud!  Hopefully I can get that on video soon- it is the sweetest thing I have EVER heard. 

- I think she is teething.  The drool is out of control and she is trying to put everything in her mouth.  I think she is proud of her hand eye coordination and especially loves gnawing on her Sophie giraffe (although sometimes she just smacks herself with it).  No teeth yet, but I don't think we are too far off. 

- She rolled over TODAY!!  And, even better, I caught it on video.  I knew she was getting close, because she has been rolling onto her side to sleep at night.  I was sitting next to her today, watching her play and she almost rolled over.  Mean mommy that I am, I kind of pushed her back on her back and grabbed my phone to catch her in action- haha.  Totally worth it, if you ask me :)  Check out the video below.  The high quality camera that is my iphone makes her look like she's in a Christmas outfit, when in fact her pants are pink and her onesie is white with pink flowers (thanks Aunt Paula!).  This is especially funny considering that she is currently sleeping in Christmas pajamas (Chuck and I bought her Christmas PJs before she was born in a size 6 months.  She has almost outgrown them now- whoops.  Since I am such a lover of Christmas, I decided she should wear them now so we can start getting in the holiday spirit- its never too early!  I'm sure the mall will start playing Christmas music any day now).

More recent pics:

We are headed to Park City, Utah tomorrow morning to visit our friends the Kalb Family.  We're so excited- wish us luck on our flights...

Love,
Corrine

Nap time? No thanks!

I put Brinn down for a nap this morning, and she decided that she wasn't interested.  I grabbed my phone quickly to record her talking to herself and making 'raspberries' (her new favorite thing):

She continued like this for 10 minutes, then cried for a little, then FINALLY fell asleep.  She's been real sassy about taking naps lately, but I guess I shouldn't complain considering that she sleeps from 7:30pm-7:30am... On Monday she will be 4 months old (whoa!), so I will write a longer post and update then...

Some recent pictures:

Bumper Jumper

Hope everyone had a great labor day weekend!  It rained all weekend here, so we spent most of the weekend playing indoors.  We put up Brinn's bumper jumper, and she loves it!!  Below is a video of her playing in it- you can really see her mohawk that I mentioned in my previous post... And yes, she does have the hiccups...

The girl is 3 months old!!

It is hard to believe that our Brinn is 3 months old already!  The time has FLOWN.  I've decided that I'm ready to freeze her at this age.  She is absolutely amazing.  Her personality is starting to show, and we can already tell that she will be a social butterfly- the girl loves a party!  She smiles, laughs, and babbles a lot and has reduced her crying to only when she needs something.  She's lost a lot of her newborn hair and is sort of rocking a mohawk and mullet combo, which is hilarious.  We had her 3 months doctor's appointment this past week; here are her stats: 23.75 inches (at birth: 19.25") and 13lbs 12oz (at birth: 7lbs 5oz).  She is in the 90% for weight (chunky!), 75% for length, and 50% for head circumference.  The doctor was really pleased with her development, so we are 2 proud parents :)  She is working on rolling over- she is able to roll from her back to her side and get her hips all the way over, but she hasn't quite figured out what to do with her arm in order to fully roll over.  This month we are looking forward to a visit from Marmi (my mom), a visit to Nonnie (Chuck's mom) and a football game- go Gamecocks!  Hope everyone is enjoying September so far- we are so excited for fall to start and get some relief from the summer heat!!

Since we started this blog a little late in the game, here are the previous months' milestone pictures:

Love,

Corrine

Welcome!

Finally... Now that Brinn is 3 months old, we've finally got our act together and created a blog.  We will use this blog to keep everyone updated with pictures and news about the happenings in our family.  You can subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by adding your email address in the box to the right... Hope you enjoy!