Sickly Scoop

It's almost 4 in the morning and I am starting this post off on a positive note.. Brooklyn just slept from 9:30 until now! Oh, how life changing. I'm not getting used to this treatment but she sure has been doing good the last five days with going longer stretches. Proud of her.

On a not so positive note.. Our thanksgiving turned ugly when Sawyer woke up on Saturday night with a really bad asthma attack.We had gone to Andrew's hunting club to spend the holiday with his family and had a great week but Saturday night turned into our ever living nightmare. Poor Andrew had to deal with it without me b/c I had gone to Little Rock that morning to spend the night with just Brooklyn and get some rest at my parents house before making the trip home. Basically Andrew said that he woke up at 2 in the morning crying out for me (Break me heart) and when he got him out of his crib he noticed he was having a hard time breathing. He immediately woke up his mom and started our action plan. They sat there for about 45 minutes doing the abuterol treatments and decided to pack up and head to Little Rock. They were headed toward Children's hospital but about halfway there and after a vomit episode and another treatment he settled down and his lungs opened up. All I can say is, Praise our Heavenly Father! We are so sad that it happened again but are so beyond thrilled that his action plan and treatments worked this time. This is a first!

Come to find out he was having an attack not only from allergies that he was having from the club but also he became very ill the next day with what we now know is croup. He has been sick since Sunday.. I mean really sick. He has battled 102-104 fever since Sunday and has been dealing with this horrible cough and stuffy nose. He has been moping around for almost four days now. Monday and Tuesday he barely got off the couch or from my bed. Yesterday he was a little better, but his fever still keeps coming back. I'm praying so hard that he turns around tomorrow. It has been a hard few days being constantly worried about his asthma returning and watching him this sick is never fun. Andrew has been the biggest help, staying up with him most nights since I'm up with B for feedings. We are both exhausted. That is why Brooklyn sleeping till 4 was so needed. God knew how to refresh my tank.. :)

Anyway that is our sickly scoop. I guess wintertime has officially begun.. Praying it's not like this too often!

My poor poor sick buddy.. 

On another postitive note, this angel is still an angel. No kidding that after an hour of happy wake time in the morning, she is in her room asleep from about 9 in the morning until about 6 in the evening, obviously except for feedings and to be awake about 10-15 minutes after each feeding. She is definitely one sleepy baby girl. I enjoy my evenings with her, holding her since I barely do during the day. This girl likes her bed! 

She has been such a breath of fresh air these last few hard days. 

And on another positive note, I decorated for Christmas! I will give you a sneak peek... I loved how everything turned out and can't wait to show you pics. 

More updates on thanksgiving and other fun stuff later, but for now I'd appreciate prayers ONCE AGAIN for Sawyer's health.. Thanks friends. 
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Sibling Resemblance??

What do you think?? At first I didn't think she looked at all like her brother, but as time goes on I am starting to see the resemblance. Sawyer came out completely masculine... big cheeks, broad shoulders and masculine features. Brooklyn came out 100% feminine... She has the tiniest little features. They definitely have the same eyes and maybe even the same lips. See what you think! 

Here is Sawbear at 6 weeks.. 

Here is baby girl at 1 month.. 

I think they definitely have their own look but overall you can tell they are siblings. 

LOVE THEM! 

On the road again and again and again

We returned from Little Rock on Sunday night late after another fun filled weekend away. This means that we have only been home as a family one weekend since B has been born. I am exhausted from traveling and we are about to hop in the car in less than 24 hours for a 5 hour drive to Andrew's hunting club to spend thanksgiving with his family. I feel like all I have been doing is packing and unpacking bags.

This weekend we went to LR for two parties for some of my very dearest friends. Amanda and another friend Lindsey turned the big 30 and my other friend Whitney(Amanda's sister) had her first baby shower for her first baby girl that we are all excited to meet in January. I was technically a host for this shower but I literally did not do one thing. The other hostesses took it over (Since I just had a baby) and they did a beautiful job.

This is my gorgeous friend Amanda! Happy Birthday sweet girl! 

Whitney is due in January and she had one BIG baby shower, I have never seen so many presents. Can't wait to meet sweet Evie Jane! She is going to be gorgeous!! 

We of course had a wonderful time at my parents house. Sawyer played and played and Brooklyn did a lot of this. :) 

And then when we got home we spent our entire Monday doing ALOT of this.. 

And more of this... 

And now we are gearing up for more traveling and a fun thanksgiving! 

1 month!

Can't believe she is officially one month old! Here is a little bit about little Brooklyn at one month..

- Brooklyn weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces last week when we went to the doctor. Slowly growing :)

- She sleeps most of the day except for about 2 hours in the morning after she wakes up around 8:00 in the morning to eat and then in the evenings she is awake for a couple hours before bed.

- I put her in her bed around 8:00-9:00 (give or take a few minutes, every  night is different) and do a dream feed around 10:00 and then she sleeps until about 2:00. After that she wakes up every 3 hours on the dot. Even though I'm up a lot at night I can't complain b/c I'm usually only up for about 15-20 minutes and then she goes right back down when she is done eating. But.. I'm definitely ready for some longer stretches of sleep!

- She seriously is the most content little thing. Of course she cries when she is hungry or tired but she is easily pleased. She doesn't even cry when I change her diaper or change her clothes. She will be awake for a couple hours in the morning and she'll start fussing in her chair or boppy and I'll go put her in her bed and she usually falls fast asleep on her own.

- We have been trying to do eat, wake, sleep method with her and and putting her in her bed while she is awake so she will learn to fall asleep on her own. I never did that with Sawyer and rocked him to sleep every time and I honestly don't have time to do that with her :(. She is doing great at going to sleep on her own. A couple naps she will cry for about three minutes and then fall asleep, but other than that she usually just falls right to sleep without crying.

- Since her second day of life I have been toting her around everywhere and she is a champ at running errands and being on the go. The other day we went all the way to Rogers, ate lunch, went to the park, went to the pharmacy and dropped off dry cleaning without her ever making a peep or even waking up. I'm so thankful she loves her carseat b/c it makes our days so much easier to be able to get out and about instead of cooping up the energetic 2 year old. We try and get out at least once a day.

- She is obsessed with being swaddled. I swear she is swaddled 95% of the day. Even when she is awake she prefers to be swaddled up. She will be fussing and I'll get her in her swaddle and start wrapping her up and she gets really still and quiet. She loves it!

- The only time she is a little "fussy" is in the evenings. She doesn't care if she's held all day until about 6 in the evening and then she likes to be snuggled. It's perfect timing really b/c Andrew is home and one of us can give her more attention.

-During her wake times she is little miss smiley and she has even started cooing. Last night we had her on her bedroom floor and she cooed and made noises for over thirty minutes. Sawyer thought it was so funny. It's so fun to see her start to wake up more and grow into her personality.

One month down, many more to go and I can't wait for all the days ahead!! So far she has such a precious personality, we are truly in love with everything about her. Happy one month baby girl!!

Big Brother

I know right?! I about died when my photographer tagged me on facebook with this picture. So perfect. I haven't seen the rest but am so excited b/c I know there are several that she got of these two together that are precious.

Well I have looked over the last three weeks in posts and they are almost ALL about Brooklyn. So this post is dedicated to my first born.. he is definitely not forgotten. If anything he is louder and more present than ever ;)!

Sawyer has far exceeded my expectations with adjusting to this new baby girl in our home. I really was expecting the worst just because of everything I've heard from people who have two and the fact that he has never shown interest in babies but much to my surprise he has been incredible. Don't get me wrong we have many two year old moments but most of the moments are just normal 2 year old behavior. He is honestly in love with his sister. He doesn't spend his day paying attention to her but he does always want to know where she is. If she isn't with us he will immediately notice and ask. He loves to hold her at night when he is in his pjs, all ready for bed. He talks to her like he talks to us and thinks she totally understands him. It's adorable. He asked her the other day if she wanted to see his new toy and proceeded to show off for her. He is incredibly gentle and will randomly have the urge to kiss her forehead and give her love pats. Just last night we were all four sitting on the bed watching "Praise Baby" and he looked at Andrew and said "baby Brooklyn is awesome". I wanted to cry! I never dreamed that he would innately and truly love her and it is so amazing to see that he actually does.
I am so proud of his patience that he shows when I nurse and have to tend to her needs. I'm so proud of the way he is owning up to being a big brother. Watching him want to protect her, love her, hug her, etc.. truly makes my love deepen even more for him.

Some funny things about Sawyer that we have noticed since Brooklyn was born. He seriously is talking so loud now. I don't know if this is part of his adjustment but  I swear he screams and talks so loud now all day long. Every evening around 7:00 I will get headaches and I think it's because of his volume level. Also, he HATES for her to cry. I really think it's b/c he doesn't like to see babies or anybody cry so almost everytime when she cries he'll scream "no baby brooklyn, don't cry!". Thank the Lord she doesn't cry very often b/c I'd be hearing that all day long.

I'm so thankful for this sweet boy! He definitely isn't perfect and there are many days when he is thriving as a defiant two year old but I would not change one thing about him and could truly not be more proud. I'm also thankful for Brooklyn who is incredibly easy so far. She doesn't require very much attention so a lot of my day is still centered around Sawyer. I know that is a big reason he has adjusted so well. I also know there are harder days ahead when Brooklyn is awake more and requires more of me. I'm going take one day at a time, knowing that there are a million phases I will go through in parenting these two kiddos. Look forward to all of the coming days as I watch these to precious kiddos grow up together. Thank you Lord for these children, I do not deserve these blessings..

Never want to forget

The weekend Brooklyn was born Saywer, Andrew and I had a special two days together. I have been wanting to document it but Brooklyn was born on the Sunday after I took all these pictures and I haven't gotten around to downloading all of them .

I didn't want this post to fall through the cracks b/c it was such a special weekend and it's  weekend that  I never want to forget. We crammed in some major fun as a family of 3 before our newest addition arrived. 

On Friday afternoon I was in desperate need of a pedicure so for the first time since Sawyer was a baby I decided to take him with me. He was awesome. I took the ipad, his passy and a snack and he sat next to me quietly the entire time and enjoyed his little set up. It was perfect for both of us.

ON Saturday Andrew had to work for half of the day but decided to take a two hour lunch break. Sawyer and I drove to Ft. Smith to visit our sweet man at work. Sawyer loved wearing a hard hat and seeing all of the tractors at work. 

We took Sawyer to this amazing park in Ft Smith that has a huge playground and a train that goes around the entire park. I rode this tiny train 10 months pregnant.. I think this was what put me into labor ;) 

After the train ride and playground we went to this cute little park right by where we ate lunch that had this farriswheel (sp?). Sawyer was not one bit afraid even though his daddy was and Sawyer absolutely LOVED it!

Sawyer loved every second of that day and even though I was sooo uncomfortable and about to pop, I was so thankful for that chance to spoil our firstborn before he became a big brother. 

On Sunday (the day I went into labor) we woke up and headed to the botanical gardens and farmers market. We went on a little walk and went to buy some vegetables that we were planning on cooking that night.. Ha, that obviously didn't happen and those veggies were sadly thrown away.  

Have I mentioned how athletic this kid is? I think this picture kind of captures it.... 

Sawyer got to pick out which veggies we bought. 

And of course had to try and get a few pictures of my cutie. 

We went home that afternoon after lunch and Toys r us and then a few hours later took this picture right before we left for the hospital! So crazy that Brooklyn wasn't here just a few short weeks ago. 

I was so thankful for that fun weekend with just Sawyer and Andrew before the craziness started. Love these two boys! 

Obsessed

This girl has stolen my heart. I cannot believe how obsessed I am. I knew I would love my second but I still secretly wondered in the back of mind how that was even possible since I loved Sawyer so much. Let me  tell you... It was not hard to fall in love with this girl. She is absolutely precious. 

She started smiling when she was barely 2 weeks old and now she is smiling every day (only at me and Andrew's mom so far). I can't believe how early! Sawyer didn't really smile until 6-7 weeks so I barely believed it when she broke out into a huge grin as I was talking to her. It melts my heart everytime. 

Here are some pictures taken in the last few days. Of course they are all from my phone, so the quality isn't the best. 

Is it just me or is she not the cutest?! 

Love you little B! 

Colorado Crew come to visit

Last week my precious sister came in town to meet Brooklyn and hang out. Sawyer had a blast with his cousins and I soaked up some quality time with Brookie. I was so excited for Brooke to meet her namesake. It meant so much to have her there and she helped out with everything while she was here. She cooked, cleaned and best of all took care of wild man Sawyer. Brooke thank you for coming all that way to meet Brooklyn and to help out. We love you so much ! 

Brooke gave Brooklyn her first real bath. 

My cousin Kay came to visit from Alma while Brooke was here. We love you Kay!! 

These two have become the best of friends. They are so funny together. Brooke and I rolled our eyes about a million times b/c of their silliness. It's so fun to see cousins become best friends and these two are all boy! 

And sweet Becca was obsessed with the baby. She would sit there all day and hold her if we would have let her. She was such a big helper. 

I am so lucky to have sisters. Sometimes I really do feel like they are my lifeline and I am so beyond thankful for their relationships. Thanks again Brookie, Love you!!