3 Months Old

Bree turned 3 months old this Monday.  We were lucky enough to be able to get a photography session with my friend that same day, so I'm looking forward to seeing the cute pictures she got of her.  Until then, this picture from before church on Sunday will have to do.

**Bree weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 pounds 10 ounces and 10 pounds 13 ounces (according to my kitchen scale)
**She has the sweetest little voice that is the mixture of cooing and a kitten purring.
**In the last week she has started to reach for toys and she has discovered her hand.
**Poor little thing has had a rough month sleep-wise, but I think we finally figured it out.  After her shots she had about 9 days where she was just super sleepy.  She was doing several naps that lasted 2+ hours a day.  She had one night that she slept for 8 straight hours!  Little girl was just exhausted.  At the same time, everyone else in our house was fighting off a cold.  Bree developed an occasional cough but nothing else presented itself.  All of sudden, just as quickly as the sleeping started, it stopped.  One night she started waking up every 2 to 3 hours.  I thought it was a growth spurt.  Over the next week I noticed that she wasn't having as many wet diapers, but I didn't connect it.  And then she stopped stooling as frequently.  And she was rooting around like crazy and mouthing everything.  It took a couple of conversations with my sister-in-law last week before I had the epiphany that Bree wasn't getting enough to eat.  Immediately I started offering her both sides at nursing time and increasing her feeding to once every hour and a half.  Within 36 hours we had a happier, more talkative Bree.  It took a little convincing for her to start eating off of both sides, but it was worth the fight.  Now she is eating quite well and has had a dirty diaper every day for the last 4 days.  Yippee!  Her sleep is starting to normalize again, too.  So, I have no idea how many naps will be her normal (probably 4), but I'm hoping to start seeing a schedule emerge for her in the coming weeks.
**Her happiest times are right after eating.  She loves to give big smiles and talk to you.
**She finally took a ride in the Baby Bjorn without throwing a fit.  She even fell asleep and took a nap in it!  I see this coming in handy in the next few months.
**She still refuses a binky.  However, for the most part, she doesn't seem to need it.  Walking and bouncing her can do the trick quite well most of the time.  She still likes to suck on her fist and I have been trying to help her find her thumb, but we're not there yet.
**My sister-in-law taught me how to make some simple headbands and now I'm in love!  There is no reason that Bree won't be wearing a headband whenever we go out.  She has too many of them now.  (The one in the picture is one I made on Saturday night.)
**I love my patient, mellow little baby girl!

The "In-Between" Time

July started out with a visit from Grandma and would end with a visit from cousins,  In the middle, we had 12 days to ourselves.  Here is a little of what we did with that time.

Finn is finally brave enough to hold his little sister--July 10th

Too sweet!  What do you think Bree is thinking?

Kai is starting to get confident enough to switch it up.  Bree loves to be upright.

July 11th--Kai had a school crossing class so Finn and I played at Toy Station.  Finn loved the puppets this day.

Not wanting to leave the puppet theater.

Bree's version of enjoying Toy Station

There's Christmas in July, why not Easter in July?  Finn really wanted to dye eggs, so I gave in.

One egg turned into Humpty Dumpty.  :(

And this is what Kai does most of the day.  He likes to play Legos by himself in his room or read.  That's why I don't have that many pictures of him.

Our homemade egg dye--with Daddy

They made 3 eggs (1 egg for each of them)

July 13th--my little kitchen buddy.  The swing or the bouncy seat is the only way I get things done

July 14th--This is how she takes her bath.  One warm washcloth on her head and one on her belly to keep her happy and warm.

They must of had a real fun day in Sunbeams.  This marker lasted nearly all week on his face.

Kitchen friends

Same thing--different day
This was a cleaning day as we were getting ready for the cousins.
That'll be our next post!

Visit from Grandma

We were lucky to have my mom come out for a visit at the beginning of this month.  She arrived in the evening on July 1st and left early on July 8th.  She flew into the Colorado Springs airport which made it easy to pick her up and drop her off and take the kids with me.  To pick her up Kai and Bree came along for the ride.  Kai really enjoyed watching the escalator for her to come down and then help her find her luggage.  It was a fun trip for him.

This is how Finn fell asleep on July 1st, so he stayed home instead of coming to get Grandma at the airport.

 We had a busy day on July 2nd with an appointment for Kai in the morning and then an appointment for me in the afternoon.  My mom took the boys to a park to play while I was at my appointment which was nice for me and for them.  And then we decided to do a bit of shopping while we were down in the Springs so that we wouldn't have to make the trek again.

Wednesday was a slower day which Bree needed as she was still in a pretty sleepy mode since getting her two-month shots the previous week.

Thursday was the 4th of July and the boys were very excited about going to the parade.  Reid, my mom, and the boys headed out about an hour before the parade and met up with friends from the ward right as the parade started.  Their timing was perfect.  Bree and I spent the morning at home, and honestly, she slept pretty much the whole time.  It was nice to have some quiet me time.  That night we decided to do Arby's for dinner.

Leaving for the parade

4th of July cleaning

Friday morning the boys had soccer and since Reid had the day off he came along as well.  Unfortunately, Finn had a hard time with his class that day.  Maybe it was just too many people watching him??

Saturday morning I was able to go out and get a haircut (it had been almost 11 months since my last cut) and leave the boys with grandma and Bree with her dad.  That was also nice, although the stylist was a tad too talky for me and took too long cutting my hair.  That afternoon we took a walk up and down the street with grandma.  And then that night grandma watched the kids while Reid and I had a "date night" to Carrabbas and then Hobby Lobby to grab something for Bree's nursery.

Trying out the blessing dress

playdough with grandma while mom and dad go out (Kai played by himself mostly)

Finally on Sunday the 7th we blessed Bree in sacrament meeting.  We had practiced dressing her up the morning before and took a couple pictures but unfortunately timing didn't work out that well to take pictures on the actual day of.  I did get a couple of her and me in the hallway, though.

He likes hats!

Monday the 8th grandma headed home.  The boys were sad to see her go and can't wait to visit her again!

saying goodbye--Bree just wasn't happy

The boys with Grandma