first comes love.

...then comes marriage—to a man who loves me unconditionally.

Happy Anniversary, John. You captured my heart and it will be yours always. What a blessing you are to me. I love you with my whole entire being.

Oh yeah, then comes the baby in the baby carriage. Check!

three month favorites.

As the months progress, the favorites are really becoming more about Brooks as he is mesmerized by his surroundings and toys and less about me and what I love. But, I still included a couple of items of month three that I couldn't live without.

1. Cloud b Sleep Sheep On The Go Travel Sound Machine - Our little sheep goes hand-in-hand with the Gentle Giraffe and fan. Baby boy needs noise to rest soundly! The sheep is great for traveling, as it is smaller than the Giraffe, but still packs soothing sounds. And it's super cute. 

2. Cloud b Gentle Giraffe Sound Machine - This guy is bigger than the sheep so he pretty much stays put in the crib. Like the Sleep Sheep, there are four peaceful sounds to choose from, but what makes him different than the sheep is there is a "play" option which is a more fun, quirky sound that will get those little legs movin'. The Giraffe also has a heartbeat option, which Brooks loved as a tiny babe. 

3. Hunter Fan - Having a fan in the nursery kills two birds with one stone: it provides air circulation and white noise. We could have gone the cheaper route, but you can't go wrong with a Hunter.

4. Jacques the Peacock - Meet Brooks' best friend. Seriously. He is absolutely positively obsessed with Jacques. Like the paci, Jacques is always within arms reach. We attach him to the stroller, the carseat, and the play gym and also use him to bribe Brooks during tummy-time. If I remember correctly, Brooks rolled over for the first time to grab this faithful peacock. Buy him for your baby. You can thank me later. 

5. Sophie the Giraffe Teether - Brooks isn't teething quite yet, but he loves to stick Sophie's ears in his mouth. He is fascinated by her long lean figure too...

6. Cuisinart Bottle Warmer - Overall, I am very satisfied with this bottle warmer. It is sleek, has an integrated measuring cup, and warms both plastic and glass bottles. The night light is great for middle-of-the-night feedings, which was great during the first couple of months. It also comes with a baby food jar insert to warm baby food. And while we haven't graduated to baby food yet, this is genius and I think we will continue to get a lot of use out of it. 

7. GroVia Cloth Diapers - I am going to do an entire post on why I love these hybrid cloth diapers...stay tuned.

8. Ubbi Diaper Pail - Best diaper pail. Hands down. We chose to go with the Ubbi because of the versatility. You can use it as both a disposable diaper pail and a cloth diaper pail. You can purchase the biodegradable plastic bags or use just plain old trash bags (which we did when using disposables), which is a big-time money saver. Now that we are cloth diapering we use the wet bag insert and it has worked just as great. No mess and no smell thanks to the powder-coated steel. And did I mention it is fool proof? Doesn't get much better than that! 

9. Gund Baby Lena the Lamb - Okay, so her official name is Lena, but we call her Lollie. She was a gift and Brooks is infatuated. I don't know if it's because she is a music box, is SUPER soft, or because she moves that precious little head from side to side, but get her going and Brooks will not take his eyes off of her.

lucky.

Lucky to have this little man.

cool cats.

Brooks is clearly ready for the beach next weekend...

TGIF!

three months.

Three months...THREE MONTHS! Our little Brooks has officially graduated from the "newborn" stage and boy, is he changing—rapidly changing.

For one, my cuddly little baby no longer likes to be held like a baby. He is so interested in the world around him that he constantly wants to be propped up on my shoulder or standing in my lap looking around. With eyes wide open our wiggle worm takes it all in, noises and all. As far as noises go, he now startles at loud or abrupt sounds, gets really excited by the squeaks, crinkling, and crunching of toys, and loves to listen to mommy talk and sing.

Some important dates that I want to remember:

On Valentine's Day, Brooks got his first set of shots. More on that day here.

Brooks suffered from his first case of diaper rash and it was bad, really bad. He would cry every time he had a number two (which were really acidic (TMI?)) and scream every time we used wipes on his little heiny. So, on February 15th, we made the switch to cloth diapers. Within a few days the rash was gone! And surprisingly, even after being spoiled by the ease and convenience of disposables, I love, love, love cloth diapering. I will never go back to disposables!

On February 16th, we moved Brooks to the Moms On Call "8-16 Weeks" schedule. 8 days later, on the 24th, he slept through the entire night! We put him down at 8:30 and he didn't wake up until 6:45. He did rustle around a bit and made a few noises, but he never cried and soothed himself back to sleep! The next night he woke up for a diaper change, but went without a feeding. The next night, on the 26th, he slept from 8:30-7:00! We haven't turned back since (except for an occasional diaper change or if he gets out of his swaddle—we have a little Houdini on our hands). He has been sleeping so well, I now have to wake him at 7:00 for his morning feeding. Knock on wood.

Brooks has good nap days and not-so-good nap days. On the good nap days he sleeps for the two hour max and is not a happy camper when I wake him up. There is no telling how long he would sleep for if I didn't wake him! On the not-so-good nap days, he naps for about 30-45 minutes and then crashes again right before his next feeding, which I wake him up for. The good news is, his bad nap days don't affect his nighttime sleep habits. It is just more tiring for momma :)

On February 19th little JB held a block on his own for the first time and put a rattle in his mouth. On the 22nd, he started actively reaching for and playing with the toys on the activity mat. Now he sticks anything and everything into his mouth and can pull his paci out of his mouth. A couple of other things he likes to grab and hold on to? My hair and necklace. He is also becoming extremely interested in my phone. UH OH. And so it begins...

Little man is chunking up a good bit. I cannot wait to see how much he weighs at his 4 month well check-up. On February 23rd we adjusted the straps on his car seat to accommodate our growing boy. He can still fit into some 0-3 month clothes and true 3 month outfits, but they are rather snug. He fits best in 3-6 month outfits and can wear a handful of 6-9 month clothes. BIG BOY! The more rolls, the better I always say.

My favorite date this month: March 6th. Why, you ask? Brooks laughed for the first time! OH, MY, PRECIOUSNESS. It was after his bath, right before his nighttime feeding when he becomes a bit fussy. I put him on my knee and started to do "ride the little horsey" and he thought that it was the most fun/funny thing in the whole wide world. John was in the kitchen fixing a bottle and ran over to video it. I am so thankful he was around for this "first" and that we actually captured it! I could watch that video all day, every day. Priceless.

On March 11, Brooks discovered his thumb. When he isn't sucking on his paci or toys, the thumb is starting to become the finger of choice to stick into his mouth. Another "uh oh." I really hope we don't have a thumb-sucker on our hands!

Not only is Brooks sticking anything and everything in his mouth, but he is also drooling...A LOT. I don't think that he is in the beginning stages of teething, though. We will see.

Brooks' new thing is to reach down to his privates while I am changing him...boys.

He massages anything that he can get his hands on when taking a bottle. Typically it's one of my fingers and it gets me every time. He also likes to hold the bottle (with my help, of course) and stare into my eyes. I get a heart-melting grin every so often and I swoon. Also, he is taking 5-6 ounce bottles on average during the day, and a 7-8 ounce bottle at night.

Brooks caught his first cold this month and we have been battling it for almost two weeks. He is really congested and sneezes a lot. At night he coughs and sneezes up a storm. I listen to him do it from about 5:00-6:00 a.m. and it just breaks my heart. He seems to be doing better, but we can't shake the stuffy nose! Allergies maybe?

Our buddy is sprouting more hair! Goodbye dark fuzz, hello blonde hair.

If he is napping on the boppy his eyes have to be covered with one of his lovies. It is hysterical. Once he is asleep, I lift it away from his little nose and mouth so that he can breath. I love that he loves to sleep with something over his head...just like his momma! If he is sleeping in my arms, he loves to burrow his head into my arm. Again, I am always afraid of him suffocating, but this babe loves for his eyes to be covered! Another cute sleep habit? Holding his hands together like a little angel. It is so sweet.

You are our angel, John Brooks. This month has been so fun and mommy and daddy love seeing your cute little personality shine. Not a day goes by that we don't thank the Lord for you and your health. You are perfect in our eyes. Really. We look at you and think, "this little man is the cutest, most precious baby on the whole earth." Happy THREE months, Brooks! We love you.

baby blues.

I am trying to do a better job at capturing real life moments that overwhelm my heart so much that I don't want to forget them or the emotion that ensues. Last week, while lying on the floor with Brooks as he played, my heart welled up to maximum capacity. There was something about the jubilant coos and gurgles, the playful smiles, the nearness to those little reaching hands, and the warm beaming light coming from the window that reflected off those eyes, those beautiful baby blues, that made me want to bottle-up that feeling of contentment, of pure delight. I didn't want to forget it.

So I grabbed my camera. 

I can only hope that those feelings will flood my heart again one day down the road when I look back at these pictures of my sweet boy and his baby blues...

two month favorites.

I want to go on record and say that all of our one month favorites were still favorites going into month two. And to be honest, all of our one month favorites are still favorites going into month three, but let's not get ahead of ourselves...

Here is what we loved in month two:

1. Gro-egg - This little gadget gives me a peace of mind. Our HVAC is pretty much busted in this rental of a home. In one room it is 70 degrees and in the other it is 65. The nursery is either one extreme or the other; there is no happy medium. The minute we turn on the AC Brooks' room turns into the arctic and when we crank the heat up one notch, the temperature skyrockets 5 degrees. SO ANNOYING. With that being said, the Gro-egg is the perfect electronic to monitor the temperature. And I love that if the temperature of the room is "just right" the egg will give you a smiley face (and vice versa). We usually keep his room between 65-67 degrees.

2. Board Books - A couple of Brooks' favorites are "Farm Faces," "Little Blue Truck" and "Baby's Very First Touchy-Feely Animals Book". He loves being read to and is interacting more by touching the books instead of just staring at them.

3. Aden + Anais Burpy Bibs and Prefold Diapers (burp cloths) - Burpy Bibs are the best bibs because they can be used as either a bib or burp cloth. And when Brooks spits up, he spits up, so I love how big these are. The more coverage, the better. And no matter what bib we are using, we always have a back-up burp cloth. I have seriously considered sewing them onto the shoulders of my shirts. No? Too far?

4. Motorola MBP36 Wireless Video Baby Monitor - I know that I mentioned that we were borrowing Lea and Bradley's Summer Infant Monitor (which we appreciated so much), but little Bennett got his hands on it and left the poor electronic in not-so-tip-top shape. We were having problems with it freezing up and shutting off in the middle of the night. You can imagine how fast my stomach dropped when I realized that it wasn't turned on! Also, it would only run plugged into an outlet and after experiencing two overnight power outages and two minor panic attacks we decided to invest in a new one. I went with the Motorola and so far we love it. Some of the features that I love are the temperature display (now I don't have to walk into the nursery in the wee hours to look at the Gro-egg), the two-way communication, the lullabies, the color screen, and the position control of the camera from the remote. I highly recommend!

5. Empire Sterling Silver Rattle Teething Ring - Such a sweet gift from sweet friends. I cherish the engraving of John Brooks' initials on the silver rattle piece. It makes it a special memento for our family. Obviously it is pretty to look at, and I'll have to admit, I was skeptical to give it to Brooks because I thought it was too pretty, but he loves it. He likes to hold it, shake it, and stick it in his mouth. Sometimes he will just stare at it in awe (of its beauty, of course). 

6. Zipper Sleepers - These sleepers are a favorite of mine. Gowns are for the birds. So are outfits with buttons. Snaps are okay and zippers are the bomb. So convenient! We switched it up a bit and retired the bodysuits for bedtime and started using these (when we use the cotton swaddle versus the fleece). Long story short, add them to your registry!

happy birthday and happy hole-in-one.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POP POPS!

Brooks with his grandpa the day after we came home from the hospital. True love.

We love you so very much and hope that you have a wonderful day.

And I want to give the birthday boy a special shout out for his second hole-in-one last week. What a great way to start your 68th year, Daddy. SO proud. WHOOP WHOOP!

mimic.

We have a cooing and babbling boy on our hands who recently discovered his ability to vocalize. He loooooooves to have conversations with mommy and daddy, especially daddy! Brooks thinks that John hangs the moon and it is so cute to see these two interact daily. This past weekend they were hanging out together, you know, "talking" and John captured this video:

I think that it is absolutely adorable how little JB is trying to mimic big JB. He also loves to mimic our facial expressions and has the "tongue stick-out" down pat. He is such a smart, sweet, happy baby. We are enjoying Brooks and this stage so much!

stats.

Well, our little guy is smaller than we thought...but, growing!

Brooks is landing on the charts in the 19th percentile for height and the 32nd for weight. Our bitty 11 pound 12 ouncer has grown 1 3/8 inches and is just as healthy as can be. Praise God!

Waiting patiently on daddy's lap.

Unfortunately, Brooks had to get his first round of immunizations (Pediarix, Prevnar, Rota, and Hib). Three pricks to be exact. Poor buddy. John came with me to the appointment to help console baby boy and it proved unnecessary. Brooks was a champ, even though he belted out the most horrendous, shrilling cry when the nurse gave him the shots. John and I have never heard such a heartbreaking sound in our entire lives. Looking back, I am surprised I didn't cry myself! But, as soon as I picked him up the tears stopped and we were good to go.

Later that afternoon Brooks ran a fever of 101.8, wasn't eating, and was very tired and fussy. This was expected and luckily we were prepared. I gave him his first dose of Tylenol and let him snuggle with mommy all afternoon because every time I put him down he would cry until I picked him back up. He wouldn't even let daddy hold him! As tiring as that was and as hard as it was to see Brooks feeling ill, I soaked it all in because I know that one day those snuggles will be few and far between.