2 Months Old

Brie is now 2 months old!

She is doing so well. Still eating like a champ.  She nurses every 2hrs when she is awake.  Has been sleeping pretty well.  At night she usually does a 7hr (ish) stretch, eats, then goes back down for another 2hrs.  Sometimes she will wake up around 3am though and want to eat.  Naps are a little rough.  She cat naps during the morning and then takes a 2-3hr nap in the afternoon, but usually needs to be rocked and comforted half way through the afternoon nap.  

Today we had her 2mon doctor appointment.  She did pretty good considering all the poking and prodding. She had to get shots, which was heart breaking to watch.  She screamed bloody murder.  I nursed her right afterwards then she feel asleep on the way home.  I gave her some Tylenol and she has been sleeping on and off ever since.  

Weight: 11lbs 12oz  (90th percentile)

Height: 24in (95th percentile)

I can't believe Christmas is already right around the corner.  We are going to Michigan for almost a week.  We have to come back right after Christmas though because I go back to work!  These past 10 weeks have been amazing, I love being home with her all day.  I have mixed feelings about going back to work, part of me is dreading it and another part of me is kind of excited.  I am nervous a little about remembering how to be a nurse!  I'll just not tell my patients I've been off for 12wks......probably for the best :)  Knowing that she is in great hands with our babysitter, Shelly, and the rest of the time with daddy makes me feel MUCH better about leaving her.  It'll be good for me to do my own thing a couple days a week.  

Here are a couple more pics of baby girl.  Josie is still on and off with caring about Briana.  Sometimes she likes to lick her hands and sniff her, most of the time those she totally ignores her.  That will change with Brie is able to start moving around, Josie will NOT be able to ignore that!

Picture Re-creation

I saw this idea on Pinterest, to re-create an old family picture.  There were some really funny ones I found online.  So we decided to try it out!  Allyson and I spent some time looking through old pictures looking for the perfect one.  We knew we had to find one that was fairly easy to recreate the outfits and such, so that eliminated all the ones where we are wearing matching Christmas outfits.....why mom, why?!  We really wanted to find one where Travis was a baby and one of us was holding him, but no such luck.

This is the old picture we decided on.  I was 12, Bryant 9, Allyson 7, and Travis 5.  

And here is our attempt at re-creating it!  We tried to be as accurate as possible, Travis was STRUGGLING to make that stupid face he is making the in original so we gave up on him.  I think Allyson's hair is my favorite.  Brandy (our dog in the first pic) is no longer living, so Josie had to stand in for her (which she was none to pleased about....).  All in all I thought it turned out pretty funny!  We are a bunch of crazies......haha.

Thanksgiving 2012

For Thanksgiving we went to Michigan for an entire week!  It was great to see so many family and friends, and fun to not be so rushed like we usually are when we visit.  We spent the first half of the week at my parent's house in Dearborn and then migrated to the west side of the state and spent time with Alec's family.  It was exciting to introduce Briana to tons of new family members and friends.  We had a great time.

DeKruyter family:

My brother Bryant and his girlfriend Kaitlin, such a cute couple!

Merin (Travis' girlfriend) and Allyson, they came for the weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving early even though they still had classes that week!

Getting some love from Uncle Travis

This picture is really special because this is four generations.  My grandma (my mom's mom) has Alzheimer, so sadly she didn't really understand what was going on and who Brie was.  But all four of us have the middle name Louise!  

Grandpa time!

Family picture.  Allyson chased down some ladies taking a walk near our house to ask them to take our picture.....thankfully it turned out great!

Grandma wasn't sure who Brie was but she LOVES babies and absolutely just loved holding and snuggling her.

Brie was such a good girl, she had to spend a LOT of time in her car seat this trip but did great!  On the 6hr trip from Milwaukee to Dearborn we only stopped once to change and feed her.

Josie was a little confused why I sat in the back for a good portion of the trip....she isn't the best car rider though.  She likes to sit on someone's lap, and when that isn't an option she gets a little nervous and annoying.

On Thanksgiving day we went to my grandparents DeKruyter's house.  This is my cousin Ana holding Brie.  I have no idea what the relationship between Brie and her is, but they are cute together!

Smiles for Grandma!

On friday we kept with DeLange tradition and all went to pick out a christmas tree!  It was SO COLD!  I bundled up Brie in a snow suit, then had her in the carrier with a coat over both of us.  We spent most of the time though in the car, it was just ridiculous cold out.

This is our tree that we hauled all the way back to Milwaukee with us!

Tried to get Josie to look at the camera....not successful though

Group DeLange picture!

Feeding time!

Brie with her cousin Evelyn, they were so funny next to each other trying to get pictures!  We weren't very successful, we'll have to try and get some better ones over Christmas time.

Auntie Orna and Brie

Evelyn wanting a piece of Brie's headband, and NOT wanting to cooperate for pictures. 

1 Month Old

Briana is 1 month old!  Hard to believe she has been here for a month already, but at the same time it seems like she has been here for a long time!

She had her 1mon doctor appointment today.  She is now 10lb 2oz, and 23in long!  She still has a heart murmur that she was born with, but no concern at this point.  We will continue to monitor it and probably do an echo in a couple months.  A heart murmur is a common problem, often times they close on their own but sometimes people just live with benign murmurs their entire life.  So we will see, I am trying not to freak out about it and stay positive.  Its just hard since I work on a cardiac unit and know too much!  But I'm staying positive and know God is taking care of little Brie :)

She has been doing some longer sleep stretches at night recently (6-7hrs), but not every night.  She also takes a 3-4hr nap most afternoons, which is awesome!  She eats about every 2hrs when she is awake.  I wouldn't say we are on a schedule yet but we are definitely getting into a pattern and close to a schedule maybe?!  

We are looking forward to our first trip to Michigan since she has been born.  We are going for the entire week of thanksgiving week, with half the week spent in Dearborn and the other half in Grant.  There are so many people that are excited to met Brie and we are so excited to show her off!

Today all 3 of us woke up early and went to vote!  Alec wanted to get it done before work, and I figured lets just all go and get it done with.  We did have to wait outside for 15min before they opened the doors at 7am and it was chilly!  I had Briana in the baby Bjorn and she had a snow suit on and then I had a big coat zipped up over both of us.  She was plenty warm!  

Meeting Great Grandma and Grandpa DeKruyter and Uncle Bryant!

We had more visitors from Michigan this past weekend.  My Grandma and Grandpa DeKruyter were able to come and meet Briana.  My brother, Bryant, and his girlfriend Kaitlin were able to come with them and this was their first time meeting Brie as well!  This is my grandparents first Great-Grandchild, so very exciting!  It was such a great weekend, we are so blessed to have family willing to come all this way to share this special time with us!

Bath Time!

Brie will probably be super mad at me someday for putting a mostly nudey picture of her online, but its too cute not too :)  She LOVES bath time, she just lays there in the warm water and takes it all in.  So nice now that her cord is off (fell off around 2wks) that she can actually go in her tub, no more sponge baths for her!  

Pumpkin Patch

We decided to brave it and go get a few pumpkins at a pumpkin farm 45min away. Well after arriving to the place we realized Briana needed a diaper change, so got that going then got her all bundled to go in the carrier. Well then of course she filled her pants again, changed her again. Then she decided she had to eat right then! So 40min later we finally made it out of the car!  We opted out of taking the hay ride to the field, and picked a few pre-picked pumpkins. Much easier!  All that work for about 15min of pumpkin picking :). My how things have changed!!  It was fun though to get out as a new family!

Newborn Pictures

I have said this so many times, but I am so thankful my mother-in-law is a photographer! I look around my living room and all but a couple pictures are ones that she has taken. She is so talented and enjoys doing it!  Once again she out did herself and took amazing newborn pictures of our little Briana.