Brylee- Five Weeks Old

What a busy week we've had! Before we get to the week recap, let me tell you about what new things Brylee is doing. On Tuesday we were having play time like normal. I was talking away to Brylee girl. She had her first awake smile! And she smiled two more times after that! I was one happy mommy! My heart just melted. She also started laughing....or what I believe is her laugh. She makes this very high pitched noise when she is talking that I am calling her laugh. I love it! Brylee started grabbing hold of my hair and pulling it (unbeknownst to her, I'm sure!) That will make you want to cut your hair! She is becoming so much more active. She follows toys and bats her hand at them. She loves her play time! 

Time for the weekly recap:

-Thursday- We went to the doctor's office for our one month check up. I can't believe she weighed 10 pounds 4 ounces! That's up exactly 3 pounds from her birth weight. She had also grown TWO inches since birth and is 22 inches long! Wow! Here is a comparison photo from 8 days old and 4 weeks and 1 day old. 

-Friday- The Halton Doula Group has a bi-monthly mommy group called Breastfeeding Cafe. We had a great time meeting other mommies and will definitely be going back! I learned about baby lead weaning and am interested in trying it. 

-Saturday- Happy one month sweet Brylee girl! Learn more about her first month on the one month blog post!

I got a nice morning out at Wal-Mart and Target! I racked up on some Christmas clearance. (It was 90% off!) I also bought Brylee back a little surprise....a red sparkly bow :)

-Sunday- We got to meet baby Caleb, the newest addition to the Pineland Baptust Church family! We also took a family picture since we hadn't taken one since the first week Brylee came home from the hospital!

Sunday night we had an awesome dinner with Wes, Robyn and the boys! Here is a picture of our dessert! Yumm!!

Monday- We had a play date with some of our sweet friends from ROCK! We haven't seen some of them in a while since they graduated from the program so it was great to catch up! I failed to take a photo since Brylee slept most of the time. 

Tuesday- We went to our normal ROCK group meeting where we learned about introducing solids. Oh boy! It will be here before you know it!  

Also, Daddy gave Brylee a bath for the first time! She slept SEVEN hours after that. I know I know. Growth spurt. 

Wednesday- Brylee saw her first movie! Well....kind of. Some mommy friends from ROCK and I went to see Saving Mr. Banks at the Stars and Strollers event where every Wedneady at 1 they turn two theaters into a baby friendly place. They keep the lights dim so you can see to feed, the volume is kept low, there are changing tables in the theaters, and they give moms $2 off the ticket price! Brilliant marketing if you ask me! It was so much fun!

Brylee- Four Weeks Old

I'm not going to start out this weeks post with Brylee stats as I'm going to save those for her big one month post on Saturday! However, I do need to mention that I was incorrect in Brylee's weight last week. You see, earlier that morning, Matt had taken our scale out in the garage to weigh our garbage. Our garbage is picked up twice a month and each time you can only have three 50 pound bags. You can image what a challenge that can be with diapers! Anyways, I brought the scale inside and weight Brylee. I later found out the scale was a little frozen and wasn't reading accurately! I think you will be surprised how much she has grown in  one month! Stay tuned!

Bylee loves:

-Her activity gym- Gaga bought her the activity gym and boy does she love it! She stares at the toys and even hits them with her hands.  We love to see her eyes follow the toys when we move them. Her little legs and arms go to town when the gym plays music!

-Sun bathing- Brylee loves looking out any window, so I often will lay her by the sliding door in our living room. Another plus is that she gets some vitamin D since we can't be outside for too long in this freezing Canadian weather. 

-Dancing with Daddy- When Matt gets home from work, he instantly grabs her and starts to dance with her. If she is wide awake, she just stares and stares. If she is sleepy, it puts her to sleep. If she is crying, it stops her from crying. Those two love each other  so much! (I don't have a recent picture of this, so here is an old one)

-Baby Bjorn- While Brylee no longer likes the Moby Wrap, she loves the Bjorn. I tried it on Sunday and it puts her to sleep faster that you can say "Good night!" We used it during the day several times this week. (Excuse the selfie....and unshowered selfie at that!)

Brylee doesn't love:

- Car seat- I know I posted last week that she now liked it. Nope. Boy was I wrong. We took a trip in the car this week to Michael's and she cried the entire time. Poor girl!

Hiccups- Nothing is changing there. 

Four week recap:

Thursday- We cheered on Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Brylee's face tells you the outcome of the game. 

Saturday- Mom took her first trip out solo. I just wandered and wandered around Wal-Mart and Toys R Us. This was the day Brylee got her activity gym!

Monday- What a morning we had! Here's the story: We were all dressed and ready to go exercise with some mom and baby friends. The car is pulled out of the garage, on and hot. (Our garage is too thin for me to open the door and be able to slide Brylee's carseat in). I put Brylee in her carseat, and I don't even get one arm strap around her arm....And spit up. Projectile spit up. (Okay I am exaggerating but still) Her entire last meal. On her. And everywhere. So I strip her and start the bath. I lay her down on her play mat, run outside, pull the car in the garage, close the garage and hear crunchhhhhh. Yep, closed the garage door on my car. Oh Mondays! The rest of the day we played and relaxed in the comfort of our home. 

Tuesday- I had a big to do list on Tuesday. We started off by a 15 minute car ride to Michael's where Brylee cried the entire time. I fed her in the car in the parking lot and then we shopped. She whined (in the car seat again) until we were checking out which is when she fell asleep. We then headed to ROCK for my weekly mommy group. Brylee slept all of 10 minutes when she ate and quickly fell back asleep. The group was two hours, just so you have an idea of how long she slept. Since she was still asleep, I decided to conquer grocery shopping and a stop at Big Lots. The girl didn't wake up until we got home. She ate another quick meal and was out again for four hours. She must have worn herself out crying on the way to Michaels. 

We also got to see our full newborn session gallery on Tuesday! Oh I can't wait to get them printed and hung up in our house. Robyn did such an amazing job capturing our sweet girl!

Wednesday- Finally at four months I got Brylee's footprints. They don't do that in the hospitals here, hence the stop at Michael's on Tuesday to buy an ink pad. You can tell just how longer her toes are by the massive gap in between the ball of her foot and her toe prints. I still haven't conquered her hand prints because she likes to ball up her fists. I'll have to wait until Daddy is home and Brylee girl is asleep. 

Brylee-Three Weeks Old

Surely the dryer is shrinking Brylee's newborn clothes and something else must be to blame for shrinking her newborn diapers.....These ideas are coming from a mom who is in denial that her daughter might actually be in size 1 diapers and 0-3 months clothing at 3 weeks old. 

Based on my scale, Brylee weighs 8 pounds and 2 ounces. At least she has only gained 3 ounces since her doctor's visit on December 19....and this is clothed Brylee so perhaps we can knock off one more ounce :). 

At three weeks, Brylee loves:

-Naps on Daddy's chest- Also known as skin to skin time. This helps regulate her body temperature to within 2 degrees of Matt's temperature and promotes bonding. 

-Gripe water- Also known as gas drops. We have tried these out a few times over the past week and she sleeps like a champion when you give them to her. Plus she licks her lips like she loves the taste! 

-Carseat- Brylee has disliked the car seat from day one....until this week. We have had two successful outings where she didn't cry a bit, even at the stoplights! Woohoo! 

-Nakey time- The girl loves to be naked. 

Brylee does not like:

-Tummy time- We had one successful tummy time. Other than that, she cries when on her stomach. 

-Being still- Prepare to walk and bounce and dance and do squats, etc when holding her at awake times. Brylee seems like she has a little bit of her Mommy's personality.....always on the go!

Laying flat when sleeping- Brylee still dislikes flat surfaces to sleep on. I had her asleep, swaddled and in her bassinet for the first time since night 1 at home. She slept for 5 minutes, and I felt like a champion. Just keep trying, just keep trying.... :)

A recap of this week:

Thursday- Honey, Pops and Joy arrived from Georgia!

Friday- We hung out at the house most days just enjoying each others company! We are so thankful for the help from Honey, Pops and Joy! We had delicious meals, a clean house and a happy baby (minus times where Brylee got hungry. She has quite the set of lungs and lets you know when she is hungry!) Joy and Pops did enjoy some time in the snow making snowmen and Coke icees!

Saturday- Matt and I had our first date night since Brylee arrived. It was so strange to be without her but we enjoyed great food (Fraticello's) and conversation! 

Sunday- Brylee and I attended all of five minutes of the church service. The girl are the rest of the time. 

Tuesday- We took the Franklins downtown to see Lake Ontario. It was FREEZING (hence the bad picture)! We stopped for hot chocolate at the Belgium Chocolatier! It was delicious and as an added bonus you get a chocolate car with the hot chocolate.

Wednesday- The Franklin's headed home and we enjoyed a nice relaxing New Year's Day! I did finally clip Brylee's fingernails and toenails for the first time. I had been dreading it because I was scared of hurting her. I had just been filing her nails. But I got over my fear and it was actually very easy! Success!

Brylee- Two Weeks Old

I started this post the day Brylee turned two weeks old. Unfortunately, I am just now finishing it. So here you go:

I can't believe our sweet Brylee Marie is two weeks old! Time is already moving far too quickly! 

Two Thursdays ago (12/19/13) when Brylee was 8 days old, she weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces! That means that in 6 days she gained an entire pound! She was in the 50% for weight, 50-75% on her head size(36 cm) and 90% on height! She is one tall girl. 

Here are new things Brylee enjoys:

-Awake time- She has much more awake time where Mommy and Daddy just talk and talk to her. 

-The swing- She LOVES it! And a plus for me, she loves sleeping in it. This is when I get to take a shower :)

Baths- While Brylee didn't love her first or second bath, she is now in the groove and loves them! Mommy had her first bath fail when she forgot the all important plug......hello flooded kitchen :)

Let's talk about what Brylee does not like:

-the hiccups: The girl hates them. This is probably because they violently shake her whole body. 

-Hunger- She wails when she is hungry....but who doesn't? That little lip quiver just hurts my heart. I have now started feeding her and then changing her to cut down on her crying when she wakes up hungry. 

Brylee is now sleeping for three hour periods at night, eating a small amount (maybe only 10 minutes of feeding time) and then hitting the hay again. She is no longer a co-sleeper :( and is doing very well in her rock and play. Her poor Mommy misses her nighttime snuggles so I make up for it during a daytime nap or two. 

Week 2 Recap:

Thursday: We went to the doctors for a check-up. Since I already gave you her stats, here is a picture:

Also, Mommy turned 26! Daddy brought home sushi so mommy didn't have to cook! Hooray!

On an opposite note, Brylee hit a growth spirt at 5 pm and it lasted until Friday at 3 pm. The girl ate and ate and ate.....constantly. It was a night of little sleep. 

Sunday- We attempted to go to or first church service, however after being dressed, ice shoveled and on our way out, we realized the roads were in too bad of a condition due to an ice storm

that hit us Saturday night. Brylee sure was cute though. 

Mike and Amanda, our sweet friends from church stopped by and dropped off a delicious meal for us! We are so thankful! 

Monday- We have met several Alabama fans in Burlington and one of them, Jamie, stopped by for a visit. 

We also were blessed with a visit from "Miss" Carol from church. She cooked shepherd's pie for us! She is so cute you just want to squeeze her!

Tuesday- It was Christmas Eve! We went to church for the Christmas Eve service where Brylee got to meet our church family including our sweet friends, Christina and Kevin!

When we got home, we had our first family matching Christmas pajamas reveal! Of course I had to add a Canadian theme to them for our first Canadian Christmas!

Wednesday- You've heard me talk about Robyn, our very talented neighbor who took Brylee's newborn photos. Well, she and her family invited us over for a delicious Christmas breakfast. I can't explain how much we love her family! Have I mentioned how absolutely precious her twin boys are?! 

For dinner, I cooked our family traditional meal: prime rib! I failed to take a picture but boy was it delicious!

And that's all! We have a two week old! #SlowDownTime