Balding...

The day has come. My baby is officially balding. My heart aches seeing her bald spots and seeing it grow back in blonde. I was hoping she would stay brunette big time! I knew she wouldn't, but I can dream! The Martin Family just needs a little diversity!!! I'm sure she will be a cute little blondie though!  Her hair is beyond hilarious right now. She has tons of bald spots but the top hairs are so long! She has a natural mohawk. And it all dries straight up and in random directions. There is no containing it. I seriously love it though, it leaves me cracking up all day long. So many people come up to me and comment about it. My favorite was at Sam's Club and an employee goes, "Did Mommy have a hat on you all day?" I was like, "Um, actually I just gave her a bath and slicked it down, this is how it dried." lol. Here are some pics of this craziness...

Goodbye my dark-haired baby, I will miss you...

Father's Day

We had a great time celebrating Father's Day. I never realized how special these days are until we had Brooklyn. I loved being able to spoil Scotty and let him know how appreciated he really is. These past 4 months have made me love Scotty more than I thought possible. Not only is he an incredible father to Brooklyn but he has been such an amazing husband to me. Seriously, I was not the easiest big, huge, uncomfortable, "get this baby out of me" pregnant girl, or post-pregnancy/recovery/hormones flying/sleep deprived girl to deal with. He went above and beyond to show me how much he loved and appreciated me. He would let me know that I was doing a great job, despite how much I doubted myself. He was so patient with me when I was a complete emotional wreck and cranky from being so sleep deprived. He always tries to make my load easier when he gets home from work and the best thing about it, is that he enjoys it. He wants to feed Brooklyn, change her diapers (ok, maybe he just doesn't mind it), and play with her. I think one of the things I love so much about Scotty is that he is so hands-on with her and has been from day 1. I know that he was really nervous to bring her home and doubted his ability to care for her, but seriously, he is a natural. He is also SO protective of her. Seriously, so much more than me, and that is saying something! When it comes to letting her cry it out a little bit at night, he is totally Cam and I am Mitchell for all those Modern Family fans out there. She really doesn't even get mad or cry hard, just fusses, but the second he hears it, he is on his way back there. I have to stop him and tell him that she is ok, just let her cry a minute or two. I instantly get told I "have a heart of stone." lol. Do you want to know what else was cool about yesterday? It was the day Scotty proposed to me 4 years ago. I made the best decision of my life to say yes. Here are some of my favorite pictures of Scotty and Brooklyn (sorry they all got out of order)...

Hard to believe she was ever this little...

Look at that little smurk... 

 We got the recipe for the Crusted Coconut French Toast from Hawaii and I made it for breakfast, yummy!

 Not only am I blessed with a great baby daddy, I have a great dad myself. I'm so grateful for all the love and support he has shown me...

And just for fun, here is a picture from 4 years ago...

New Recipes

One of my goals lately has been to cook more often to try and save money ($100+ in formula a month is brutal to a budget). I don't claim to be this amazing cook but I do like to try and improve. I love trying new recipes but I have a few rules I use to decide if I'm going to try it:

1. It can't have a million ingredients-meaning it can't cost more to make than us just going and grabbing something. I usually won't go above 5-8, unless I have most of the things on hand already.

2. I have to know what everything is and all ingredients have to be at the simple grocery store.

3. It can't take too long to cook.

4. I love taking recommendations before trying it myself but Pinterest has helped me be more open. There is nothing more annoying than taking the time to make a meal, and then we don't like it and end up going out anyways. So I thought I would share some successful ones we have found.

So with that said, here are some recipes that I have tried lately and have been added to our meal rotation...enjoy!

1. Chicken Salad Curry Wraps
-Both of us aren't huge fans of yellow curry so next time I'm going to use barely any, but if you like it then you will love these. 

2. Summer Spinach Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette
-I have yet to master the dressing part and it is always a little too thick but it's really good. If you want a similar type of salad but don't want to make from scratch, we love the Fresh Express Strawberry Fields kit. 

3. Big Kahuna Chicken Teriyaki Sandwiches
-I was a little nervous about this one b/c I like Teriyaki a lot more than Scotty, but he really liked them. Neither of us like Ham, so we omitted that. 

4. Steak Fajita Bowls

5. Bacon Avocado Grilled Cheese
-We both thought the Monterrey Cheese was a little overpowering, so we are going to try substituting it with Mozzarella next time.

6. BBQ Chicken Pizza
-Couldn't get the pic to copy, but this is really good! I made a big batch of pizza dough and food saved what I didn't use. I got the dough recipe from my SIL so let me know if you want a good one! But I have also used the Jiffy Pizza Dough-super cheap and easy! or just bought pre-made crust


7. Chicken Enchilada Soup
-I LOVE CROCK POT MEALS! I love just throwing everything in and letting it cook itself. This is perfect for a winter or rainy day. (couldn't get this picture either)


8. Easiest Pulled Pork Sandwiches EVER
-I make these ALL the time, in fact we had them last night. They are so easy and cheap-only 4 ingredients! We substitute the pepsi for root beer b/c I'm not a Cola fan. (Again, no pic)


9. White Chicken Enchiladas
-I love Enchiladas and loved this recipe. Disclaimer-so not healthy for you and enchiladas always seem to take longer than I want to cook but they are great leftovers. 


Ok, there you go, I'll post more if I find some good ones!

4 Months!

Stats:

Weight: 15 lb. 14 oz. (89%)

Height: 26 1/4 in. (95%)

Head Circumference: 16 3/4 in. (95%)

Big girl! Based on the growth curves, the Dr. said she is the size of an average 7 month baby. What?!

This little girl is so so fun!! She is so happy and has the spunkiest personality. It's fun to see her personality develop everyday and she brings so much joy into our lives. We both find her hilarious and just lay in bed at night and talk about all the funny and cute things she did that day. She definitely is stubborn and knows what she wants, which leaves me pulling my hair out some days! lol...I have met my match in so many ways with her. She is so active and wants to be moving all the time! These are some things that I want to remember about this month:
-She loves her playmat and grabs all her toys and tries to get them in her mouth and gets frustrated when she can't. She has also learned to kick the sides of the mat so that the whole thing shakes and she loves it!
-She is "talking" a lot more
-She gets really goofy and giggles at pretty much anything when she gets tired-just like her mom! Her giggle is adorable.
-Her favorite toys are her lady bug and "mr. bear"-she loves to attack and chew all over him.
-This Mother's Day was so special being my first-we didn't even know I was pregnant last one and even if I did, I don't think it would have felt like a real one. It's nice to have a day to be appreciated for all the hard work moms do day-in and day-out. And don't worry, Brooklyn decided to have a SUPER fussy day, so I spent the day doing what Mothers do best, consoling their babes. :) But she gave me a present that evening by rolling over back to stomach for the first time!! And she did it 3 times with witnesses which I was so happy about b/c I don't think anybody believed me. She is now pro at it and I think she actually prefers to be on her tummy now so she can look around. Pretty much anytime I leave the room I'll come back and find her on her stomach-I swear she is too young for that milestone but I'm telling you this girl just wants to go, go, go!! I'm not ready for it though...
-She is sleeping pretty well in her crib but this past week she has been waking up several times a night again and she usually ends up in our bed so that we can get some more sleep. Doesn't she know she can't tease us with a month of sleeping through the night and then go back??? She's been having some diarrhea and is waking up to poop which is unusual so hopefully that will clear up and maybe we will get back to where we were.
-She is becoming pretty independent and often times likes to do things herself-which she also gets from her mom. She has started falling asleep easier by us just laying her down (which I never thought was possible) and sometimes doesn't want to be held when being fed (weird, right?!). I love it sometimes, but other times I miss rocking her to sleep and holding her close to eat, so I cherish the times that she lets me.
-She does however love when you lay close to her for naps and falls asleep fast.
-She loves when I sing "You are my Sunshine" to her before she goes to sleep and gives me a big smile when she hears it.
-She likes to be held but only if she can see what's going on around her. DOES NOT like to be laid back in your arms unless she is deliriously tired.
-She gives pretty instant smiles to Scotty and me when she makes eye contact and often times will just stare and watch us from across the room. I think she is starting to recognize others as well.
-She recognizes her name and will turn to look at us once she hears it.
-She grabs and holds onto things now and wants to bring everything to her mouth.
-She has learned to grab her binkie and pull it out, much to my dismay because it takes 10x longer and many trips back to her room to put it back in-she falls asleep a lot faster with it in. I can't wait till she learns how to put it back in. She hardly ever keeps it in when she isn't tired.
-Has learned how to do a big girl scream and does it all day. Sometimes it's a playful, fun scream and other times it's when she is mad at something.
-Her hair is more out of control than it has ever been. She is getting some pretty big "power alleys" and has a balding line on the back of her head where she rubs it in her crib. It sticks STRAIGHT UP once it dries. We love it though, it totally fits her personality.
-The Dr. gave the go ahead to start solids and to try a milk-based formula. Given her past history of tummy problems, we will be starting everything very slow and see how she does.

We had a fun 4 month photoshoot...

Mastered her Bumbo, although she will only sit in it for about 5 minutes and then she arches her back to try and get out of it. Too confining for her taste I guess. 

She watches TV with as much focus as her Daddy...

 Loves her play mat...

Her first time taking a walk in her stroller w/out the carseat and she loved it! What a big girl!...

Oh hey blue eyes...

Can time just freeze now??