Brynlee

Brynlee changes so fast so I need to continue updating. I am happy to say she has changed for the better. She is so happy and smiley almost all the time. Sometime she can't even hold the bottle or pacifier in her mouth because she can't stop smiling. I still love showing her off and hearing from EVERYONE how cute she is. Brynlee used to be pretty high maintenance- requiring someone to talk to her, hold her, feed her, etc. every second. If she was put down without anybody paying attention to her- she would cry. Thankfully she isn't nearly that bad anymore and will play with her toys or watch Baby Einstein for sometimes 20-30 minutes at a time. The one thing she still hates is being in the car in the dark by herself. She's okay during the day when she has something to look at though. I LOVE that she will just sit in my lap and cuddle. Sometimes I can even work on the computer while holding her.
We had our first roadtrip with her yesterday. John's grandpa died earlier in the week so we went to Salt Lake and back in 1 day. She slept most of the way up, then played for an hour or so (with me in the backseat). On the way home she slept for 2 1/2 hours, then looked at pictures of herself on our cellphones for a while. As soon as the light from the phones turned off, she got upset. She went to bed at her normal time when we got home too, which was nice (and unexpected).
I didn't realize how lucky we are with her sleeping through the night. I have talked to a lot of new parents recently with babies a lot older than Brynlee and they don't sleep through the night yet. Brynlee has been doing it since she was 7 weeks old. But it did take a lot of trial and error on our part to figure out what she likes. I'm nervous that when we put her in the crib (and it doesn't vibrate like her bouncy seat does) she will go back to waking up frequently. She has moved her bedtime from 11 PM to 10 PM. I think she will continue to move it forward as she gets older. She sleeps until 9 AM sometimes, but more often between 8 & 9 AM.
I stopped nursing when school started as it was just too much time and stress for me to handle. She was drinking way more than I could produce anyway, so we just went to straight formula. She is back to spitting up frequently as she gets used to the formula, but otherwise is doing just fine. It's amazing how much she drinks. For about 3 weeks she would drink 6 oz. every couple of hours. It has slowed down a little and I've noticed a lot of times she is a snacker. She likes to drink a little, then play, then drink some more. So it may take a couple of hours to drink 6 oz. now.
She babbles so much and I absolutely LOVE it and can't get enough of it. I keep trying to get a video of it, but haven't been successful yet. She also likes to stick her tongue out when we kiss her on the mouth. It is pretty funny.
She has discovered her hands and likes to chew on them or stare at them. It is the funniest thing to watch her as she is concentrating on an object or trying to reach for it.

It is so amazing to me that she knows who her mom and dad are. She smiles for us almost every time we look at her, but is very picky about who else she will smile at. She is a little shy around strangers and definetely prefers mom or dad to hold her most of the time.

We love every second we get to spend with our cute Brynlee! It is so hard to go to work and leave her, but at least I know she is well taken care of. As always we are so grateful to have her in our lives!

Pictures will be posted later.