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: