Hope Beyond the Battle: Half way to somewhere...

July 26th, 2012, we made it to half a year! I can't tell you how many times I thought ahead to this time in her life and wondered what it would be like. I had no real clear picture of what I was aiming for...really just survival, to be honest! But now that we are here, I have been able to take a look back and realize how far we've come and I'm so proud of my little family-human and furry!

Brynlee Paige is wearing a solid 6 month size in clothes and is starting to bust out of some of those even. We've broke out some 6-9 month which are a little big, but the growing room isn't obnoxious...I just can't believe we're to that point!

We have her 6 month appointment next week, so I'll know her new measurements then, but I expect nothing but good stats. She's definitely not missing any meals. :) We don't have any teeth yet, but I'm kinda partial to her little gummies. Considering she' still nurses too, I'm kinda freaked out about it, but I know the time is coming, so I'll just have to get over it and enjoy her little gummy smile while I can!

Her eyes have still not committed to a color....One is half brown/green and the other is a greenish-greyish blue. I had certainly thought they'd be set by now, but maybe this is being set? Kinda cool if it is!

She's solidly sitting up now and throughout the month is using her hands less and less to sit propped up. We do the belly swim constantly and she'll arch that little back and push up getting so close to the crawling position, but as soon as she does she froggies out flat.
Right now her mobility is limited to being a little pinwheel on her tummy, spinning around in circles from toy to toy. She's tried to go from a tummy position to leaning up to her bum, but right now it really just makes her roll back over to her back. We let her fall quite a bit when she sits, not doing much to cushion, catch or prevent it. She's only fallen "bad" a couple times and I think she's only cried cause it startles her, not really cause it hurts! She has this nice little fall/roll she does and when the dust settles she acts like she was doing it on purpose all along, so we roll along with it and usually act happy and clap a lot when she falls.
She's started to make waving motions with her arms and hands, sometimes prompted but most the time not. She has, however, started shaking her head, with no prompting and although it makes me hang my head, it's seriously precious to watch her do.

Taylor and Brynlee-11 days apart!

We've graduated B to a 4 hour eat, play, sleep cycle and it's been working great. Contrary to her early newborn ways, B has ultimately become a great sleeper and I couldn't be more thrilled with that. It was a painful process to get her that way, but once we hit that groove, we haven't looked back.

With starting a 4 hour cycle, it eliminated her late night feeding, changing to just 4 feedings a day and also moved up her bed time to 8-8:30 pm. With the guidance of my Baby Wise guru and mother of two, Katie Jensen, she coaches me on what to expect and aim for when it comes to these transitions. Having her youngest 11 days older than B is such a blessing because I look at what Taylor is doing and know what's coming up in the near future for me!

The four hour routine/schedule couldn't have come at a better time because my parents and brother came over the 4th of July! I had missed them SO MUCH and couldn't wait for Drew to meet his niece! This is something I had looked forward too since her birth, so I couldn't have been any more excited for a family week. I get so envious of all my friends near and far that live so close to their families, some even in the same towns. I would settle for one closer time zone let alone in the same town, but that's what makes these trips that much more memorable.
Driving to Raleigh to pick them up from the airport was the first time I have left TOWN with Bryn. I was pretty nervous but she always seems to prove me wrong when I'm picturing the worst. We got to the airport in enough time to walk around and take in all the Raleigh husle and bustle...she was in absolute awe. I love watching her see new places and things...she just sits in her Ergo taking it all in. I could watch her watching all day, LOL.

Meeting Uncle Drew for the first time!

Part of my family's trip, unfortunately for them, was to help John and I pack up our house. I felt bad putting them to work, but at the same time I wasn't sure when else I would ever have so many babysitters and able willings hands. As of now our house is pretty naked, with nothing on the walls, and most of the houses "extras" that aren't necessities are packed and stacked awaiting a future storage unit.

Independence Day.

For the 4th of July we BBQ'd here at the house but joined the Albaeck family for dessert and fireworks on post. With the Albaecks moving, it was nice to have one more big "family" outing before they left!

82nd AA Family Fun
Day watching daddy
get "attacked" by the
K9 dogs.

Before leaving town to Myrtle Beach, I got a last minute text from John that he and another K9 team were asked to do live demo's at the 82nd Airborne's Family Fun day at Sicily Air Field. We packed with a hurry and headed to Sicily just in time to watch the demo. Not only was there the K9 demo, but they also did airborne jumps, equipment drops, and missile launches for everyone to see. During the K9 demo John got to be the "attacked" so it was really cool to see him in his element, even if he was getting attacked by K9 dogs! Bryn held in amazingly, sitting in multiple laps, with plenty to look at...the missile launches were a bit much, luckily she and I were walking to the car when they started so we weren't in the loudest place, but it was still crazy loud and she grabbed onto me like never before!
After the demo's we headed out of town, for our first interstate trip with John following on his motorcycle a couple hours later.
The next morning we ventured out onto the beach for the first time. It was SO exciting to get to take B to the ocean for her first beach experience! We went out first thing in the morning when it was cool and still breezy. She was, again, very perceptive and almost in awe of it all. It was really fun and a special family memory for us.

Aquarium awe. :)

Aquarium.

Later that day we took the bro and parents to our Myrtle Beach tradition of going to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch, then we went to the Ripley's Aquarium. I could not WAIT to take B to the aquarium and the first thing she did when we got there was fall asleep! But she woke up in time for the underwater tunnel and her awe face was just spectacular. I loved being able to wear her and see all her reactions to everything.
We had one more beach morning, just the three of us, and then took some family photos down by the Cherry Point Pier before leaving town.

Family shot!

We used the last day of my family being here continuing to pack up the house as much as we could. Taking the fam back to the airport was definitely bittersweet. We stopped on our way to Raleigh at the Airborne Museum which is a must here at Ft. Bragg.

My "babysitter" and friend, Jenn Albaeck, and her fam moved from Bragg to just outside Charolette forcing me to take B with me whenever I leave the house. I knew this day was coming but I'd been avoiding it for as long as possible! I know it seems extreme to have gone this long without going out alone with her, but our track record going out in public just hadn't been that great and it really stressed me out, so I really just avoided it altogether, or waited til I could leave her with Jenn or John! Well, once Jenn moved, it was getting to the point where I hadn't left the house in days and I just needed a change of scenery. We went to Target, and of course, she puts me to shame by doing just fine and not making a single peep while we were out and even gave people smiles while she bounced along in her Ergo while I made my way around. Since then sometimes we've gone out at least once a day and she's been great.

LOVES to help feed herself.

After her five month "birthday" I started giving her rice cereal to try. I bought the Earth's Best Whole Grain cereal and she LOVES it like whoa. I never thought of consistantly giving it to her but she gets so animated and excited when I bring it out, I decided to give it to her in addition to her afternoon feeding.
We have tried introducing solid foods such as sweet potato, apples, banana, winter squash, and avocado really to no avail. She broke out with banana, made faces at apples like I gave her a lemon, and threw the avocado as soon as it squished in her hands, like it grossed her out. Sigh...I know it something not necessary for her, health wise, but it's something I was looking forward to and wanted to try while John was home so he could experience some firsts with her.
The only thing she didn't seem to mind was steamed/pureed winter squash. It was the only food she'd try solo and it's the only one she'd eat without protest mixed in with her rice cereal.
I have really enjoyed making our own baby food so far. I have bought some organic jarred of some foods we have yet to try because I got tired of buying organic fruits and veggies just for her to not like them and me using some of my milk stash to make it. If we weren't looking at moving here soon I'd just freeze it and wait, but for now this seems to work the best.
Once we get to Colorado I would love it even more if I could grow some of my own ingredients. These are all high hopes and aspirations, some of which might not happen, but I'm optimistic in at least trying!

Last day of certification with Denzel
- he passed! Therefore, now deployable.

John has continued his training this month with certification and deployment headed our way. This deployment has been the most prolonged one we've experienced yet, and from what I've been learning it's really just proof to how all units are different and handle things differently. As odd as this sounds, we're ready for him to just go already. I know my other Army wives can relate! We both would like to just get it started,get it over with, and get our family back home together.
With the house half packed up it's made things seem more real than they have so far. Lots done yet so much more to do!!
This will be our third deployment but yet, each one has it's own significant difference than the last. We don't have actual paper orders yet, so the details are still ?? to us, but being that he's in a smaller unit, things are already different in a lot of ways, so we're both pretty anxious to see what challenges this deployment will hold.
The silver lining, and purpose of going to CO altogether, is getting to be close to family again. Everytime I get anxious or down about the situation, my spirits are raised when I think about the love and support all three of us (six with the pets!) will be surrounded by. Bryn will finally get to meet the rest of her uncles and her aunts, as well as her cousins and continue to grow in her relationships with her grandparents, great-grandma and hopefully her great aunts, uncles, and cousins!! She and I will have many friends and family to hang out with I'm almost giddy thinking about it. It's hard to picture having fun with all these people that mean so much to us, without John there though. Having a kid in the picture changes things so much!
I constantly flip flop back and forth between my giddiness to guilt in that all these friends and family will get to see her grow up her first year instead of her daddy. Overall though, considering he should have been gone months ago, we are extremely grateful that he's been home to experience what he has so far and it just makes us more determined as parents to make sure she knows her daddy loves her and will do anything for her, even if he's not physically there.

We aren't sure when things are going to start, but we anticipate it'll begin in the next 30-60 days. Even though we've been saying that for a while, we feel more secure in that time frame because of deployment forms and leave dates John's had to turn in thus far.
Until then just keep our little family in your thoughts and prayers. We really enjoy the lifestyle we live and John loves what he does, the Army has given us ups and downs, but overall we're so grateful for the opportunities it's given us so far and look forward to the future, even the hard parts!

Until the next update, we're half way through her first year which seems so small in comparison to the rest of this little babes life, so here's to half way to somewhere!