Time Flies

I'm down to my last couple of day on maternity leave and I'm not sure how 8 weeks has gone by so quickly. I also can't believe that Brooklyn will be 8 weeks on Saturday. I feel like her size hasn't changed much. She is still my petite little baby, but her personality gets bigger and bigger every day. It has been fun to see her start to smile more and really recognize my voice. She will turn her head to find me when I start talking and gives the biggest grin when I pick her up in the morning. We have grown pretty fond of each other lately. 

We are still working out our bedtime schedule, but we are making some progress. I feel like with her reflux and gas issues it makes her bedtime routine so tricky. She falls right to sleep, but almost exactly 30 minutes later she wakes up shaking her arms and moving like crazy. She can't be swaddled and HATES to be swaddled, so we are just hoping that we can grow out of this phase. Once she is asleep she usually stays asleep for much longer stretches. We even got 8 hours out of her the other night. Hopefully we will get better at this routine thing, because I'm going to be one tired teacher come Monday! 

 My little snuggle bug will sometimes fall asleep while she eats. Lately she has started snuggling with her burp cloth and I think it is just about the cutest thing ever.

 The Provo City Center Temple open house was amazing. Mark and I had both really been wanting to go so we decided to brave it with our inconsistent evening sleeper. Luckily she was a champ that day and slept through the whole thing! The temple is gorgeous. I'm so glad they were able to restore so much of the old tabernacle.

 We have started going on walks almost every day. This day I remember taking this picture and thinking how grown up Brooklyn looked. She was wide eyed and ready to go.

 The tongue...she loves to stick it out at you all day long!

 She still loves her hands by her face while she sleeps. Of course she looks extra cute trying to pose here.

 This picture reminded me how tiny she still is. She looks so beautiful when she sleeps.

 We went to Vernal for cousin Max's baby blessing. It was a quick trip, but we had a great time visiting with family.

 I've fallen in love with Brooklyn in sweaters!

 My little girl showing off all sorts of silly faces

She loves to watch tv...which is kind of funny to me! She has really been enjoying Fuller House

 We read books every night. Lately she just likes to crinkly the pages of this new book though.

 Afternoon naps are a struggle for Brooklyn. I feel like by then her reflux is a little worse and she usually needs to poop. Both of these things make it hard for her to sit in her rocker and nap. I often have to rocker to back to sleep, which can take FOREVER! A lot of the time she needs to fall asleep on my shoulder so that her tummy feels better. IF she can fall back asleep I often end up putting her down on the couch close by me wrapped up in blankets and propped on pillows. My hope is that someday she will get a good afternoon nap!

 We found out day one that Brooklyn had a click in her hip. By day two the doctor could hear it in both of her hips. We got an ultrasound and saw a specialist only to learn she has hip dysplasia. It sounds a lot worse than it really is. She just needs her hips in a better position so that they can fully develop. We are hoping she won't have to wear this brace too much longer, but we know it is best to take care of it now. Our hope is that by having her in the brace for a couple of months now, we will eliminate the need for braces as she gets older and or surgeries. It took a lot of adjusting on my part to deal with the brace. She only notices it a little bit when we change her clothes. For me it has made feeding her more challenging, diaper changes SUCK, she can't wear pants, and I miss snuggling her close to me. But she does look super cute in her little brace!

 We finally made it back to church! We only lasted for sacrament meeting our first Sunday because we were all exhausted from a long night. Mark let me go upstairs and take a nap. I woke up to these two snuggling on the couch.