Pinterest Day!

Well more like Pinterest morning but hey...

Since Brynlee's birth we have been at home a little more than we use to be and some days I feel like Brooklyn is going a little stir crazy....or maybe it is her momma ha!  Anyway, I LOVE Pinterest and  although I don't get on it very much these days, I did pin a lot before Brynlee was born.  I just wish I had more time to make projects for Brooklyn to do when we are at home for the day.  Lots of great ideas out there! 

Anyway I didn't see this exact project on Pinterest, but something like it I think.  I saw the finger paints in our drawer and I figured what better way to paint than in the tub where you can just turn on the water when you are done!!  Brooklyn loved it :)

My little artist!

"All done mommy!  What do you think?!"

All clean....that was fun!

This I know I repined from someone on Pinterest and had been meaning to try it for a while! I filled her tray with cracker, turkey, cheese, broccoli, strawberries, bananas, and red bell pepper (just to try something new and different...Brad and I love red bell peppers).

Here it is all ready to go!

 Hmmm...lets see what did she go for first??  Yep go figure...the crackers!

 Water Break

 What's next after the crackers??  Ahhh good girl....... going for the broccoli!! 

She loves broccoli!

 Well I think this was pretty much a success!  

She ate everything...except of course for the red bell peppers Ha!

I hope to write about more Pinterst Days that we have!  Like I said so many fun ideas....its just a matter of finding the time to put the ideas together and do them :)  Happy Pinning Everyone!!

Big Sister Brooklyn

I was looking for a sweet sister quote, one that would make someone say "Awwwww", but instead I came across this one and just had to use it....hahaha!

I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.  

~Author unknown, attributed to a 4-year-old named Lauren

Well if you asked any of my family and friends about what I was most nervous about during my pregnancy it was how Brooklyn was going to adjust to her new baby sister!  I was pretty worried...in fact I probably cried about it a time or two lol!  It's just such a big change and I didn't know how much it would change up Brooklyn's routine, really just her life in general!  I didn't know if she would be jealous, resentful, act out, regress, withdraw, hate her momma!....I was just thinking about everything :(

Lots of prayers were said and Brad would always tell me (my raging hormonal self ha) that brining a new baby into her world was normal (meaning lots of people do it) and that it would probably be good for her.  Also, he would tell me that she would love it ;)  Then I would feel better...until my emotional self got the better of me and I would worry all over again HA!

Anyway, I know it will not always be perfect, and believe me we have had our days, but overall Brooklyn has done amazingly well and really made this transition such a blessing!  I am so grateful and so thankful for the sweet girl she is :)  UGH I really just can't get enough of her!

Here is just a quick letter to my precious Miss B.....

Dear Brooklyn,

Well you pretty much ROCK!

I just wanted to share with you how you have been with the arrival of your new sister.  You may not remember all of this, but maybe on the days when you want to pull your sisters hair out, you can read this and it will remind you just how much you LOVE her ;)

• When you saw your sister for the first time you had THE BIGGEST SMILE on your face I have ever seen.  Your eyes were so big and you just wanted to hold her right away.  Oh it just melted our hearts.  We gave her to you and you just looked her over and were so careful.  Then you pointed over to your 'bunny' and you wanted us to get YOUR bunny to share with your sister.  You put it right up to her face so she could love on it just like you do :)
• When we came home from the hospital you were in your playroom and we were calling for you but you didn't come right away.  We rounded the corner and set Brynlee down, who was in her car seat, and your eyes just lit up and you came running!  You could not get her out of that car seat fast enough and wanted to hold her again :)  You help daddy unbuckle her and we went straight over to the couch and you just held her and stare at her...I felt like you were looking at her like, "She is all mine ;)"
• The next few mornings, after we came home, as soon as you woke up you were pointing to the door. You would go running out to look for Brynlee.  You just couldn't get enough of her. Eventually after about day 5 you didn't go running out the door anymore, but you still like to go find Brynlee and say hi to her in the morning :)
• GENTLE! I know that is a word you are hearing a lot lately, but overall you do a great job being gentle to your sister.  You like to pat her back, like mommy does when I am burping her, but sometimes you pat her like you are trying to get a burp and all the contents of her stomach up!  Or you want to give her a hug but it is more like your mommy and daddy hug when you squeeze the life out of us (which we LOVE by the way). Or you might grab her arm or leg and pull depending on what you are trying to get her to do....yikes!  We practice on your baby doll which helps, but like I said you really just love on her for the most part :)
• So there is this thing that I know other moms do to try to get their little one to sleep that I do for Brynlee (and I did for you too).  When she is really sleepy and just not shutting her eyes I rub my hand over her eyes, starting at her forehead and then down across her face, and she will close them and go to sleep.  The other day I saw you doing this to her...it cracked me up!
• I LOVE LOVE LOVE your unsolicited hugs and cuddles you give Brynlee.  It is so sweet when I turn around and you are snuggled up to her while she is in her bouncer or swing. Sometimes you will point to sleeping during church and you want to give her a cuddle...which we let you do :)
• You are such a big helper!!  When she is crying you have brought me her paci.  The other day I was changing a big poopy diaper and when you saw it you brought me 3 bags of wipes!!  You are just a Little Mother!
• You are learning to share and you like to share with your sister although we have to be careful right now.  You have tried to share your cherrios, your food pouches, raisins, water, toys, etc.... I could name more but you get the idea lol! 
• You like to have Brynlee try things you do...like you grab her hands and try to get her to clap when we are all clapping.  Or say your memory verse with the hand motions...you move her hands like you do. The other day you tried to give her a marker so she could color.  It was funny to see you try to put it into her hand by opening up her fingers...but you are also good about stopping when mommy tells you that Brynlee doesn't want to do that right now ;)
• We ALWAYS give you a good night hug and kiss and when we first brought Brynlee home you would remind us by pointing to Brynlee that you wanted to hug and kiss her too.  Now we never forget but it was so sweet that you would reach for her and include her in your night time lovin' right from the start! :)
• There are a few things mommy does not let you do for Brynlee, like give her a bath or change her diaper all by yourself, which you don't like one bit and have gotten pretty upset at times.  But you are only 21 months old...one day you will understand ;)
• Speaking of doing things yourself,  which you are really into now, when you want to hold her we go to help you and you push our arms (meaning let go so I can hold her all by myself).  We have let you do this a few times under our supervision and lots of pillows around ha!  You feel so proud!
• You brush Brynlee's hair whenever you brush yours.
• The other day you read Brynlee a story and daddy and I laughed so hard cause you stuck the book right in her face, and I mean RIGHT in her face, to show her the picture...it was so cute and funny :)
• Whenever I see Brynlee smile (which isn't a whole lot yet) I tell you and you come running over to see!  It will be so fun when Brynlee starts to really interact with you...I'm super excited about that! I know you can't wait!

You just LOVE LOVE LOVE her so much! We tell you all the time, "Ohhh Brynlee loves Brooklyn!" and you just smile real big!  You both are such a blessing to us and we are SO PROUD of you! We pray that you will always be there for one another and always remember you are blessed to have each other :)

Love,

Mom

The Zoo

"Daddy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow....."

This is one of the songs Miss B likes to listen to in the car,

 I start singing it every time I look at these pictures.Y

Yes, one of the "blessings" of being a parent is getting 

all your children's favorite songs suck in your head right?! ;)

My parents came back for another visit so we decided to head to the ZOO on Saturday!  I tried to dress the girls appropriately, Miss B in an elephant shirt (she wore an elephant shirt the first time we took her to the zoo) and Lil' B in a monkey onesie!  It was a lot of fun and the weather was PERFECT!  Not too hot and a little breeze.  Brynlee slept almost the entire time (we will have to take her back when she wakes up more ha) and Brooklyn's favorite thing was feeding the giraffes oh and the petting zoo. It was a fabulous day!  

I realized as I was picking out pictures to put on here that I was the picture taker that day, hence all the pictures of Brad with his girls....I might have been a tad jealous Ha!

All ready to go!

Headed to the elephants! 

Brooklyn makes the BEST elephant sound!

 Oh Yay one of ME...uh...I mean the family ;) 

Nice Hair Miss B!!

About to feed the giraffes!!!

She was not scared at all!

 OK Daddy I know you like smiling for the camera 

but PLEASE watch your daughter as she is feeding the giraffes....

her arm looks like it might be sucked in just like the letuce ;)

Brushing the goat!

 "Would you like some hay Mr. Goat?"

Here are 2 more pictures from the first time we took Brooklyn to the zoo.  She was 3 months old!

Brynlee is 1 MONTH!

Hard to believe you are a month old today! 

I don't have a whole lot to write since I have been writing weekly.  I plan to write monthly updates on Brynlee now with a picture of her next to her elephant :)  Stay tuned as you watch this little bundle of joy grow and grow!


PS:  I weighed you on my scale today and you are 10lbs!!!  Go Brynlee!

Brynlee Week 4

Brynlee:

• You are one super laid back little girl!  I remember Brooklyn being so active, just always moving, and unless you have gas pains you are just chilled! You slept the whole time during both morning and evening church services....people are anxious for you to wake up so they can see your eyes :)
• I am not sure exactly how much you weigh but I think you are getting close to 10 lbs...I am going to weigh you next week on my scale on your 1 month birthday!
• We have a bassinet that we have borrow from a friend that you sleep in.  For a while now you make a lot of noise for about an hour or so before you wake up.  You kinda make grunting and stretching noises about every 5 minutes.  I would always check on you to see if you were awake but your eyes are always shut.  Then one time I might look and you are awake!  Well this had made mommy very exhausted cause I keep checking on you. Daddy can sleep much better then mommy listening to all your little noises.  This week we moved your bassinet into the playroom and Daddy sleeps on the floor next to you.  When you actually wake up he brings you to me so I can feed you and then brings you back to the playroom.  This is actually working out very well.  I feel bad for you dad having to sleep on the floor but he can sleep anywhere!  We will probably move you to your crib here soon and have him sleep in your room...we just want to make sure this works for us and we aren't too loud for Brooklyn whose room is next to yours :)
• I should have put this on last weeks but you are holding your head up really well.  It still wants to flop but you sure like to look around.
• Sometimes when I try to burp you you push so hard with your legs like you are trying to stand up!  You are one strong girl!
• You took your first bath in the whale tub!!  You love your baths and have not cried once :)
• In the middle of this week you went 6 hrs at night between your feedings.  It was from 7:30 pm till 1:30 am!  We went to bed thinking you were going to wake up around 10:30 but you never did.  I woke up around 1 and ran into the playroom to make sure you were ok and you were just sound asleep.  I couldn't believe it!!
• You took a bottle for the first time!  We decided to try it since we had a ton of milk pumped (I had 80 oz pumped by the time you were 3 weeks old...YES I am a cow HA!) and we were thinking about going out to dinner with some friend on Friday.  So we tried it Thursday and you took did great. We ended up going out Friday and we left you with Grammy and Brooklyn.  It was a quick dinner trip because I didn't want to leave you at all, but it was a nice little break after not having one for 4 weeks straight ;)  Oh how I missed you and Miss B though!
• Today I decided to challenge myself and I took you and Brooklyn to Wally World by myself.  I put you in the Moby Wrap and Brooklyn in the cart and you both did AWESOME!!!  Gave mommy some much needed confidence that I can DO this :)
• Brooklyn is mommy's little helper...she loves getting your paci, diapers, and just anything for me. Everyone asks how she is doing and I tell them she is like the "other" mother HA!
• You are just growing and growing and we love you more than you will ever know my sweet Brynlee!  
• In just a few short days you are going to be 1 month old....you can slow down already *wink wink*

Enjoy the pics:

My little helper (supervised of course) :)

"Would you like a cupcake sissy?"

Bright Eyed

Yep this is pretty much how you are most of the time....our sleeping beauty :)

She is patiently waiting for the day you can play with her.....hehe!

Well someone has outgrown the playmat....

Brynlee Week 3

Brynlee:

• You are 3 weeks old and still doing great!  You are such an EASY baby :)  (I keep knocking on wood when I tell people that)
• This week was lots of fun because you got to meet some very special people!  Your Auntie Andi came from Colorado!  She made you a quilt!!!  It is beautiful and matches your room!!!  You also met Uncle Adam and you initiated him into the "baby club" my spitting up all over him hehe! Nana and B-Pa came back for a visit too!
• Your Umbilical Cord fell off after 20 days.  We were very ready for it to come off!! Brooklyn's only took 9 days so it felt like we were cleaning it for forever!  And we couldn't wait to give you a bath in the whale tub instead of just sponge baths ha!
• I took you and Brooklyn to Story Time at the Library.  Aunti Andi was there to help...this was your very first time.  Brooklyn sang all the song to you (but you were asleep).  Everyone at story time was excited to meet you.  One of our friends, Arismel and her daughter Isabel, gave you a blanket :)
• We pretty much have decided you are no longer in newborn clothes!  You are growing so fast and your newborn clothes are getting very snug.  
• You are now in size 1 diapers :)
• Your first piece of mail came this week....your social security card.
• Your eyes are blue but still pretty dark.  Your skin is still pretty dark too.  I'm wondering if it is going to stay that way or if Brooklyn and I are going to be jealous of your tan ha!
• Your Big Sister Brooklyn can't get enough of you!  She bends over to give you kisses all the time and cuddles her head to yours....we are so proud of our two girls!

Here are a few pics from the week:

Brooklyn playing "Horsey" with Aunti Andi

 Brooklyn coloring with Nana

Brooklyn flying a kite with Adam

Your first piece of mail ;)

 One Proud SISTER :)

(This is what Brooklyn does when we tell her to say "Cheese!" HA)

 Uncle Adam....someone has to get messy ;)

 Aunti Andi loves you sooooo much!

 Beautiful Girl!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from the Walkers!!

 Me and My Girls!

Family of Four :)

 I love how Brooklyn held Brynlee's Hand :)

Brynlee Week 2

Brynlee:

• You had another fabulous week!
• You are so content!  You are still a "Sleeping Beauty" ;)
• We took you to your 2 week check up and you had gained a whole pound!  You are now 8lbs 12 oz!! You are also 22 inches long!
• You are having some difficulty latching, which causes you take in air, so you have been a little fussy due to gas.  It hurts mommy to see you in pain, but eventually you get it out and then you are back to sleep.
• Daddy had to go back to work this week so Grammy was here helping mommy and playing with her Grandbabies ;) I was feeling a little better this week so I was able to get out of bed some and spend some more time with my two sweet girls!  This made me sooooo happy :)
• You are waking up about 3 times in the night.  You eat about every 2-3 hrs.  You are growing growing growing :)  At night daddy always gets you and changes your diaper and then gives you to me so I can feed you and burp you.  You have an AMAZING daddy!!!  He loves you so very much and is such a help to mommy!
• We took your newborn pictures this week....I CANNOT wait to see them!  You are such a cutie and did beautiful during your photo shoot ;)  We also took some of our new family of 4 and a few with just you and Brooklyn :)
• Easter is coming up on Suday. Brooklyn went to an Easter party, Grammy took her while I stayed home with you, and when she came home she wanted to tell you all about it and let you play with some of her Easter toys....See picture below ;))

Can't get enough of these smiles :)

Pretty in Purple

Easter Accessorizing ;)

Umm....Checking on her Sister!!

(yeah I kinda put a stop to her climbing on the bassinet pretty quick ha)

Brooklyn is taking her role as BIG SISTER very seriously!  

First up: teaching Brynlee all of her favorite songs :)

Due Date

Today was my official due date.....

glad this CUTIE decided to come early!!!

Fun Facts:

• My water broke for both Brooklyn and Brynlee at 38 weeks...pretty sure I can predict what might happen if we have a third ha!

• We were married 6-26, Brooklyn was born 7-27, and Brynlee was born 3-23 :)

The night before Brynlee was born Brad and I talked about how cool it would be if she was born the next day because of the date haha..... little did we know that she would be!!