our little valentine.

 

Love, our little valentine, Brooks

two months.

Is it true? Is our teeny tiny newborn really two months old today?! He sure is...and while I am unsure of his height and weight (his 2 month check-up is tomorrow), he is not so teeny tiny anymore. SNIFFLE. 

This past month has been quite eventful...

On January 12th, we took Brooks to Flip Burger for our first dinner out as a family. He did great! A.K.A, he slept the whole time.

On January 26th, he grabbed his links on his own. I am not sure that it was intentional, but he grabbed them, nonetheless. Way to go baby boy! This past week he discovered his hands and has become obsessed. He is always looking at them, holding them together, or sucking on them.

Brooks started off sleeping 3-4 hour intervals at the beginning of month two, calculated from the start of one feeding to the time he woke up. On January 24th, he surprised us by sleeping 4 1/2 hours straight. I jumped out of bed that night at 2:12 freaking out because he had not made a peep since 10:00. I actually got up out of bed to put my hand on his chest to see if he was still breathing! When I realized that he was, I huffed a sigh of relief and did a mini nighttime happy dance. Progress!

We decided to put Brooks to sleep in the nursery on January 29th. I bought the "Moms on Call" app for my phone and started him on the "4-8 weeks" schedule. I am happy to say that, thanks to the schedule and the solitude of his own room combined, Brooks is now only waking up once at night for a feeding (typically between 4:00 and 4:45)...almost 8 hours straight! YAY! After that feeding he goes back down and sleeps until almost 7:00. Also, he is a great napper. He does not fuss when we put him in the crib and falls asleep within minutes and naps for 45 minutes to an hour. Let's just say, we have one happy and better rested mama on our hands!

And speaking of sleeping in his crib, on February 1st I got my first "crib smile" when I approached him in the morning. OH.MY.STARS. Best thing ever.

His smile is my absolute favorite thing. He comes alive when he is on his changing pad. One day he squealed so loud with excitement he startled himself. I laughed and asked, "did you just scare yourself little buddy?" and he gave me the biggest smile to date. It was too funny. He smiles at mommy when I stick out my tongue, dance around, kiss him, and walk my fingers from his toes to his nose. He also kicks those little legs with delight. But, it's not always with joy that he flails them. When he is hungry or upset he pumps his legs with vigor, especially his left leg. John gets the biggest kick out of it (no pun intended).

Our boy love, love, loves to eat and makes the cutest grunts whilst doing so. I think that he went through a growth spurt between week five and six because he wanted to eat all of the time and jumped from taking about 4 ounces to a whopping 7 ounces. He was also fussy during those few days and sleeping a lot. Now, on average, he eats anywhere from 3-5 ounces during the day and 5-7 ounces at night.

We try to burp Brooks every ounce because he spits up a good bit (we had an incident this month that looked like a scene out of "The Exorcist.") Burping him is not an easy task, but it is incredibly entertaining. Every time, without fail, he squeal cries, locks his legs, and stands straight up as soon as we attempt to put him in "burping" position. SO dramatic. Hungry much?

Brooks still loves his pacifier. He will work that thing ALL night. We never leave the house without one in his mouth and several in the diaper bag for backup. And if he's not sucking on his paci, he is sucking on his hands...or bib...or swaddle...or the air. And I promise it's not because he is hungry. He is just going through an oral stage of development, I guess.

He is beginning to tolerate tummy-time and his activity mat. He can lift his head 45 degrees and turn it from side to side, but he favors the right. His favorite spot to do this exercise is on daddy's chest.

Baby boy still has baby blues and they don't seem to be changing. What is changing is his hair. It's getting darker and a lot thicker, especially in the back. But, he has a little bald spot from where his head rubs while lying on his back. We have a mullet in the works...

This month has been bittersweet. Brooks is constantly changing before our eyes. While I love watching him grow and reach milestones, there is a piece of my heart that wants him to stay a newborn forever and ever.

Every ounce of mommy and daddy love you SO SO SO much Brooksie. Happy TWO months sweet baby boy!

love sweet love.

Love is in the air in the Bryant household. We can thank our newest addition for the palpitating hearts. Obviously, this year's approaching Valentine's Day means a bit more to us than it did last year. With that being said, I wanted to spread the warmth of my heart to the house by adding some love notes here and there for my hunka-hunka burning love and heart-stealer of a son to enjoy.

I made a quick run to Hobby Lobby to grab red and white heart doilies and pre-cut burlap tags. I already had twine and a steel yarn needle at home. Before I got started, I had to take our Christmas cards down...yeahhhh.

What can I say, I love my friends.

All that I did was hot glue the red hearts onto the burlap tags. Once dry, I wove the twine in and out of the tags and doilies. When I finished with this banner I got carried away and made three more and a little something for the garage door. Now we are definitely feeling the love over here.

And of course we had to spread the love in our littlest love's nursery...

XOXO.

happy happy.

meeting gigi.

Last weekend we took our first road trip as a family to Atlanta to introduce Brooks to his GiGi, my sweet 91 year old Gram. And what a precious moment it was.

It is hard to grasp the number of years and life experiences that separate these two. Oh how I wish that Brooks was old enough to sit down with Gram and chat. But, more importantly, I wish that Brooks was old enough to sit down with Gram and listen. She has so much wisdom and love to pour into him. 

I don't know if that day will ever come. I pray that it does. But, if it doesn't, Brooks will come to know his beautiful great-grandmother and her sweet, servant heart. I will be sure of it.

Four generations...a beautiful thing.

I also took some pictures of Brooks with his Nanie and Pop Pop. I can't say thank you enough for the huge help these two were over the weekend. They watched Brooks while John and I went on our first date since he was born, kept him in their room both nights so we could get a full night's rest, and I was also able to slip away to pamper myself with a manicure and pedicure! 

Mom and dad, muah. Love y'all! 

And last, but definitely not least, we had a short, but very sweet visit with my brother, sister-in-law, nieces, and nephew before they dipped out of town to spend the weekend with Katye's family. This was a first introduction too! And I was super shocked that Abby and Daley wanted nothing to do with cousin Brooks and William wanted everything to do with him! Too funny.

I miss ALL of them already! Hugs and kisses from us and Brooks...