natalie is 2 months old

Our little Miss Natalie is getting so big! She had her two month appointment today, but she is really 2.5 months old! She is a big girl! She is in the 80th percentile for weight (12 lbs 2 oz) and 75th percentile for height (23 inches)! To explain the percentile thing...being in the 80th percentile means that 20% of kids her age are heavier and 80% of kids are lighter! (More on her appointment later...)

I kept trying to get her cute smile on camera but I kept missing it! Hopefully we can do a real photo shoot soon and get some of those adorable grins!

Sammi and Natalie were with Grandma and Grandpa Brand while we were on workation. Sammi always has so much fun at grandma's and always comes home so tired from all the playing! 

Her first day home she went from reading and playing...

...to sound asleep on the floor in blankets she brought out from her bedroom! How funny...this was not during naptime, but 10:00 in the morning! :)

Natalie has not only been working on her beautiful smile, but has also been cooing and "talking" a lot lately! It's so sweet!

When Sammi was at grandma's, grandma had her do "chores" everyday. Sam was in charge of filling the dog bowl everyday. She was so excited about her responsibility that we made it her chore at home too! 

She lifts the lid and fills up a scoop with food...

Very carefully walks it around the kitchen table to the dog bowls...

Dumps it into the dog bowl...

Then loves to run back and get more!

I have mixed feelings on paying for chores. I know Sammi's way too young to learn about budgeting money, but I also feel it's never too early to start teaching. Part of me feels like the only way to teach about money is to let your children earn it and teach them what to do with it. (How would you learn without having any?) The other part of me feels like responsibilities around the house are all a part of living in the house and should be expected without pay. 

I really like an idea I heard a few years ago... The three piggy bank system. You get your child three piggy panks. One is for saving, one is for spending, and one is for giving. Of every dollar they earn or receive, 50% goes to spending, 40% to saving, and 10% to giving. (Of course, you can set them however you want, as long as you're consistent.) I don't really think it's too early to start this with Sam. I want to think on it a little. For now, I am enjoying the fact that she is enjoying her chores!

And now to Natalie's Doctor Update...

Natalie has a multitude of problems, all stemming from her acid reflux problems. The first few weeks of her life we thought she was an easy dream baby.... but she is a little (er, a lot) more difficult these days. Poor baby spits up all the time. She spits up while she eats, when she burps, and even 2 hours after eating has been known to randomly projectile vomit curdled milk. Ew. The spitting up itself is not a big deal, but the fussiness that it has brought on is very difficult.

Not only is it hard to see her in pain, but non-stop screaming for what sometimes is for hours is unbearable at times. When she is happy, she is the cutest thing! But, she cries a lot in the day and around 6pm goes absolutely psycho until we lay her in bed and she falls asleep.

Also, she has had a stuffed up yet runny nose for 3 weeks. I wondered if maybe she is allergic to something or has a cold. Dr. Rupp said that although it is totally possible she has a cold, that reflux babies tend to have upper respiratory problems which are causing her to not be able to breathe well and she chokes on the drainage. It's terrible.

We are going to change the way we give her the reflux medicine (all at once instead of 1/2 twice a day) and are also switching her to 100% AR formula. (We were mixing it with regular so her BMs wouldn't be so difficult.) Because we have to switch her formula, now we also have to put her on a stool softener. If all of this doesn't help, the doctor is going to double her medicine. 

Regardless of all of this, she does sleep pretty well at night, although her sleeping hours are totally unpredictable. Some nights she sleeps almost 10 hours straight and then goes back to sleep for 4 more hours. Other nights she's up every 4 hours but goes right back to bed. Hopefully soon we can expect her to sleep through every night! 

Other than her reflux problems, she is doing great. She HATES tummy time so she can't hold her head up when she's on her stomach. This worried me, but the doc said she does not like tummy time because her tummy is so sensitive with the reflux. She's not worried at all because Natalie has great head control when you hold her. She smiles and coos and grabs onto things, which is very fun to watch. 

So that's our update for now...I'm off to a photographer webinar! 

Love and Hugs!

workation

Our 4-day class in Virginia was just 45 minutes away from friends of ours, Chris and Dana, who live in Washington DC. We couldn't possibly drive the 12 hour trip without spending an evening with them before heading home! It was absolutely fantastic. Good friends, good food, good sightseeing, and a nice break from business before heading home.

I should have taken a photo of us trying to figure out the metro...even with our detailed directions from Chris! 150 people must have come and gone while we stared at the machines, trying to figure out: "Fare or pass? One way or two? For how much? Huh?!" What tourists we were!

We did make into the city, and arrived at the Navy Memorial station... 

From there we walked to the National Air and Space Museum.

We saw lots of amazing things, including the Apollo 11 command module and the lunar lander (not the one that's still on the moon, but one just like it)... so cool!

We walked by the Capitol Building the day we arrived. The next day, Dana had set up a tour through the Capitol for us. We also received special passes to sit in on the House of Representatives. For two politically-uninvolved people, it was very interesting and we felt so honored to get to see it! 

We also walked by the Washington Monument.

That night we met Chris and Dana at a fabulous tapas restaurant called Jaleo for lots and lots of food and catching up! (Bye bye, diet!!!) After that, they drove us all around the city, giving us a personal tour at night. The buildings were gorgeous and we learned a lot too! It was so fun. That night we stayed with them and stayed up way too late chatting --- well worth it! :)

Their dog, Puppy, joined us too!

Chris was sooo sweet to take the next day off to drive us around the city again! (He even cooked us an awesome breakfast!) After our Capitol tour, he drove us to the Lincoln Memorial. It was enormous and absolutely beautiful. 

Looking out the other way was the Washington Monument.

Chris and Dan.....high school buddies and college fraternity brothers!

On our way home we found an Ikea in Pittsburg to stock up on some shelves for the studio! It just wouldn't be a Brooke and Dan road trip without a stop at Ikea!!!

We loaded the car!

It's a good thing we did not pick up the girls until the next day!

Our trip was a wonderful experience...mostly work with a little vacation, that we are soooo glad we had the chance to do. Thanks so much, Chris and Dana, for being such amazing hosts and taking us in! We really hope to do it again soon...there is so much to see, learn, and appreciate in DC! And, it's always wonderful to see such good friends. :)

big head

I have a very big head right now. But not the arrogant kind of "big head".... the kind of head that has been stuffed with so much information over two days that I feel like it might just explode at any minute!!! (And we have two more days to go!)

Dan and I drove through six states in 12 hours on Thursday to get to Virginia for a photographers' financial software class.

A smile before ticket #1 for speeding in Indiana... #2 was for going through a yellowish-red light in Virginia...grr!

About 8 hours in, I jumped in the back seat to watch a movie...

3 hours to go... many coffee breaks!

We are transferring all of our books over to this new financial software, and it does so much more than I ever imagined it could that I think we need to come back every year to learn more! 

So I'd just like to say thanks...

Thanks to my amazing husband of 5 years for sharing this experience with me.

Thanks to this seminar and the people teaching it to allow us to grow our business.

Thanks to the great photographers we've met for sharing their businesses and lives with us here.

Thanks to Dan's parents for taking our two daughters, one of which isn't even sleeping through the night, so we can be here.

Thanks to my parents for taking care of our house, our studio, and our dogs so we can be here.

And thanks to God for giving us this amazing life! 

Here are a few photos of the girls last week (as I am looking through them anyway because I already miss them!) Don't get me wrong though... I am savoring EVERY minute of uninterrupted sleep this week!!!!! :)

Reece and Sammi playing at the park-

A cat came by to say hello.

Sammi likes to lean way back when swinging!

She is such a big girl!

At the studio one day, admiring the "beautiful princess" in the mirror!

Still loves to jump!

Making daddy laugh, as usual!

Jessie came in from Texas for a visit! See Cooper's photos on our professional blog by clicking HERE.

Playing "chase you" before leaving work one night, Samantha's FAVORITE game!

Good thing we have a nice big camera room to run!

"Come get me daddy!"

The night before we left Reece knocked on our door and Joe and Lisa asked if Sam could come out and play while we packed and got ready for our trip. Then, our next door neighbors came over and asked if they could walk our dogs for us because it was so nice out! We definitely have the Best. Neighbors. Ever. 

Best buds. :)

"Uncle Joe" teaching Sam how to pedal. 

We'll be home Wednesday with more photos to share! Now off to bed before another day of stuffing my head tomorrow!!!

Love & hugs!!!

that's what it's all about

I have more photos from our week, but I'll leave you with this for tonight! :) We were working at the studio today and I heard Sammi singing in our extra office space so I snuck around the corner with the camera to catch her... She was in one of her dress up gowns, singing to herself in the mirror. And just in case you need a translator for Sammi's hokey pokey.....

"You put your belly out...

You put your ponies out...

You put your hand out...

You put your left foot out...

I am so beautiful!

That's what it's all about!!! Yea!!!!"

time is flying

Welcome, spring (soon)!!! Where has the time gone? This weekend was beautiful and busy and I am exhausted! I will try to remember all that we've been up to in this late-night blog update! :)

Samantha likes her sister about the same as usual...not so much. In the rare occasion she decides to acknowledge her, it seems pretty sweet, but it is always short lived, and only on her terms. Things were really hard at first and now they're pretty neutral. I'll take it! :) 

Last Sunday we were getting ready for church and Sam walked out of our bathroom looking like this... (note the soaked pajamas). She mindlessly laid down to watch tv with her Dora doll and I went to the bathroom to see why in the world she was drenched!

We have a basin that we keep next to the sink to wash Natalie's bottles each night. Sammi had climbed up on my vanity stool and dumped the entire basin over. It might not have been as big of a deal, but the caulk around our sink has been in need of repair, and all of the water drained through the crack and into my makeup drawer. (EEEK!) We quickly emptied everything out and set it all out to dry and wiped everything down, including the soaked carpet and inside of our cabinets. I forgot how much stuff I can actually cram into a makeup drawer...

(Oh, and while we were doing this---by the way----Samantha, in the next room, decided to strip down until she was naked and peed all over the floor. Needless to say, by this time we cleaned that up, we missed church.) Two year olds are oh, so much fun! :) :) :)

Our hair stylist and friend, Amy, has a client whose daughter has cancer. Last weekend Amy threw a huge fundraiser for her at the salon. All of the stylists and nail techs donated their entire Sunday to do haircuts, nails, and massages to raise money for her. It was awesome. There were balloons, food, a raffle, and it was packed with people there to support the cause. We took Sammi to get her hair cut and contribute a little to the cause. 

Sammi got a juice box to keep her occupied and we talked about the ocean animals on her smock so that she would sit still.

Doesn't she look pretty? 

She got a sucker for being such a good girl. Amy really thought of everything!

Natalie has been growing, growing, growing! She is changing so much and is becoming more and more alert! She loves it when you talk to her, and she pays attention to everything going on around her!

Yesterday we attended my great aunt's memorial service in Fort Wayne. I forgot to take photos of us having a wonderful (and healthy) feast at Dan's parents'  before the service. (Thanks so much, Kathe...it was fantastic!!!!) The service was nice too...Mary was 99 when she died so she definitely had a full life!

My aunt Taff (Taff is her nickname but all I have ever known her by) flew in from her home in Africa for the service and stayed with my parents. Today my brother and Ashley met us at mom & dad's house for lunch and visiting (another great meal with calorie counts provided---thanks, mom & dad!)

We spent a long time looking through Taff's photos of Africa and hearing stories about life there. She is married to an awesome man named Sonkoi, who is a junior elder of the the Massai tribesmen of Kenya. They have a unique life full of amazing stories, so different than that of our lifestyle here in the USA. I LOVE LOVE LOVE visiting with her!  

Natalie loved snuggle time with her great aunt. :)

I love you, Aunt Taff! Dan and I would love to visit you....as soon as we get rid of our fears of lions, elephants, and tigers, oh my! :) (Actually our fears are more of the lack of electricity, plumbing, and tribesman drinking blood for nutrition...but I know you'd take good care of us!!!)

And one last photo of cute little Natalie enjoying her Baby Bjorn time tonight. Most of the time she isn't so fond of it but tonight it worked great!

We've had a lot of fun seeing some friends lately. Otherwise, most days are just the usual...work, work, work.... get Sam to school.... make dinner.... fret about how messy the house has been lately... try to sleep... and start all over! :)

Dan and I have downloaded the "Lose It!" app on our iPhones and it may just save our lives. Seriously! It keeps track of our calories, weight loss, and goals, and it makes us think before we put anything into our mouths lately! I've lost 3 pounds in my first week so far, and Dan has lost 14 pounds so far. (He's been doing it a little longer.) We are both really excited to get into better shape. 

Natalie scared us with her first fever of 100.5. After about 12 hours of her crying and her temperature going up steadily, Dan rushed her to Urgent Care where they looked at him perplexed and said "Well, she doesn't have a fever anymore!" He brought her home and she slept 9 hours straight. I am so glad, but still so confused by that day. ???

I'm off to bed, too late as usual, to start a new day tomorrow! Much love and hugs to you all!!!