A Quick Catch-up in a Short Amount of Time

This is going to be a super fast entry because I've got approximately 4.5 oz. of bottle left to write this!
I just thought I'd give a little update on what's happening in the Bross household because we've been so busy the last little while that I haven't had a chance to write!

• Proud and impressed wifey moment here: Chris was asked by some members of the stake he grew up in to give a presentation at their ward youth conference. He gave an incredible presentation about stars, planets, and the worth of each and everyone of us as our Heavenly Father's children. It was very informative and exciting and left the youth wanting more. They asked him lots of questions about everything ranging from dark matter to gospel topics. I am always impressed by the amount of knowledge my husband is able to retain, his intense passion for the things he spoke to the youth about [who am I kidding? His intense passion for pretty much everything!], and his incredible way of teaching without making a person feel like they've asked a stupid question, even if what was asked is a little off-color. After his presentation they all got to look through his Orion 10" Atlas EQ telescope, named O'Ryan (we're so clever). He showed them Saturn, a globular cluster of stars, another galaxy or two, and several constellations, among other things (I wasn't down at the telescope the whole time however, when I was, I spotted the International Space Station!). Go Chris! Those kids sure love and respect you :)

Looking through the big telescope

And just because she's so cute, here's Lynlee napping at the cabin while they were down at the 'scope :)

• I'm going back to school this fall! We knew I was going to be going back eventually, but we were moreso planning for me to go back in January. However, both Chris and I have prayed earnestly about this decision, trying to decide what would be best for our little family (seeing as I'm the stay-at-home mommy and therefore spend all day with our little girl) and we feel that now is the time, rather than later. Can I just say how incredibly ecstatic I am about this!?!

• Speaking of college, Chris passed Calc 2! (AGAIN) For those of you who don't know the history behind this darn class, let me fill you in real quick: Chris first took Calc 2 about 1 1/2 years ago and passed with a C-. He went on to Calc 3 and was doing great until in the middle of the semester the math dept. informed him that since Calc 2 is a core class he had to pass with a C or better (the really annoying part is that he only got that grade because of not handing in homework - he was getting in the 90s on all of his tests!), so they made him drop Calc 3 and due to a lenghy series of annoying, unreasonable, and unfortunate events he has been unable to get back into Calc 2 and complete the course again until now. I'm so proud of him for sticking through it though! It's been so difficult to keep going with it when he kept getting put out in the cold for so many absurd reasons but he didn't give up! And now he can finally move on with school (did I mention that Calc 2 is the per-requisite for all the rest of his math and physics classes? That means he hasn't been able to even take on any productive classes counting towards his degree for that amount of time.)

• Lynlee is cutting not one, but two front teeth! Poor girl, she's been more fussy than usual the past couple of days but all things considered she's been in a fairly good mood collectively. She's growing up so fast! Lynlee loves blowing raspberries into the air and creates an impressive amount of spite bubbles when she does. She is also now a pro-roller-over, both ways. I lay her on the floor and within minutes she's on the other side of the room - seconds if there's a kitty over there. She's as talkative as ever and oh so smiley at the silliest things. Lovin' those solid foods, too!

•  The kitties have made some new friends...kind of. Our landlady upstairs has a bunch of her family visiting for the summer and they brought their two dogs: Teddy and Kitsu. Teddy is a sweetheart who loves cats (he followed Zoë into our house the last time he visited and just sat and watched her, tail wagging in new found friend bliss) and Kitsu...well...she's cute. She's a puppy (only 5 months, same as Lynlee) and so she NEVER stops barking (it seems). When they first arrived Zack and Zoë were terrified of them. Zoë would get her little "shark fin" going that she only busts out when she's spooked (see picture below). Now the cats have gotten used to them enough to sit at the top of the stairs and stare as Kitsu barks her little head at them off from across the yard.

• Chris is currently job hunting again. Our lives just keep getting turned upside down every time we blink!

 Well, I'm now hearing the sounds of the last drops being emptied from the bottle and with that follows a distressed baby because growing teeth was never anyone's favorite past time, right? Have a great day!
P.S. Upon previewing this blog entry before posting it I've discovered that my text and spacing is a little out of whack and I have no idea why...But, "no time for that now, the computer's starting!"...I mean, just ignore it, I don't have the time to investigate why this is at the moment.

She prefers to sleep on her tummy now-days. I found her like this one nap time after I left her alone to play in her crib for a few minutes

Daddy and Lynlee

An attempt at a picture of all 3 of us. We had a lot of attempts. Let's just say this was the best we could get.

HAHAHA her face is priceless!

Something Creative

My friend Dana has created/is creating a series of passion pursuing dares that she posts on her blog and I have decided to try them out along with her (although I'm a little slower on the uptake when it comes to completing them). I really think this is neat because I've [depressingly] discovered that other than my cute family, the gospel, and a couple choice other things I have no idea what I really am passionate about. "Ew. Marie, how could this have happened?!" I have thought to myself a lot recently. Being Chris' wife it seems near impossible for this to be the case when that man is so wonderfully passionate about so many things (for those of you who know Chris even a tiny bit you will know exactly what I'm talking about and are probably smiling to yourself about just how incredibly passionate he is). He has been expressing his concern for my lack of intense passion for some time now I just have had no idea where to even start (keeping up with the baby is a full+ time job I feel) until now.

So thanks Dana! Getting started is always the hardest part.

"First dare:  I dare you to do something creative this week.  Anything at all.  Paint it, sew it, write it, bake it--whatever.  Just get your creative juices flowing, make a big mess, and create something.  Go!"

About a month and a half ago we took a trip over to Blickenstaff's - the coolest toy store ever! Lynlee found a toy there that she absolutely loved but it was $16 and although we really really wanted to get it for her Chris and I made a [responsible] decision not to get it at that time. However, I was determined to do something for our little girl (even though she really had no idea what was going on I still hated telling her no). So I went hunting around our house and found some material, ribbons, plastic bags (for the crinkly feeling and sound on the inside), some beans in an old prescription bottle (for the rattling noise), and a bunch of other little knick knacks to attach to it for her to touch and explore. After putting it all together she wasn't too excited about it (FAIL I thought) but after completing today's creative task I pulled it out again and she LOVES it! Success!

 The two sides of the tube toy.

She hasn't let go of it all day!

The things I'm really excited about that I finished making today are these: little bean bags of every basic color. They're perfect for Lynlee to hold onto with her tiny hands and feel the different textures of the materials, she can suck on them as she pleases, and best of all, I think it'll help her learn her colors as she begins to understand more of what we say to her and teach her. She'll like playing with them (already does!) and every time I hand her one I can say "this is the color pink, do you like the bumps on the pink bean bag?" or "the blue beanbag is made out of corduroy material."

I'm excited :) Also, I really like to make things like this. I like to search the house for things we don't ever use that just take up space, imagining what they could become, and then watching it all come together. That could be considered a passion, right? I'm counting it.

You can't tell in the picture, but almost every one of them has a different texture: the white one feels like a towel, the red one is velvet, etc.

I Love My Side of the Bed

Every morning Lynlee wakes up around 7*, I get her some breakfast, take a moment to remember how very blessed I am as I look into the crib at her adorable chubby-cheeked smile, and then lay her down beside me in bed** to snuggle up to her before we really begin our day.

*she is such a good sleeper through the night!
**on our full size mattress; I lay her in the middle of Chris and me now since she can roll whenever she darn well pleases

So, with my approx. 2 feet of space on "my side of the bed" that's where I lie. A little cramped to be sure, since Lynlee keeps growing (will she ever stop?!) and our bed is already borderline big enough for Chris and me to begin with, but we are comfortably cramped up to this point. And then Zack comes.

Zack is technically the family's cat, but he's really mine. Chris got him for me for our first Christmas together (he was soo little then and is soo fat now!) and we are very attached to each other. Every night without fail Zack jumps up on the bed within minutes of us laying down to sleep, meows like crazy if I don't pet him within 1.5 seconds ("SSHHH!!! You'll wake the baby!" is our cry in our little one roomed apartment) and proceeds to cuddle up right next to my tummy and there he stays for most of the night.

This repeats itself in the morning time, or at least he tries to repeat it, bless his little furry heart.
Remember how I said that with just Lynlee, Chris, and I laying down we are comfortably cramped? After the baby and I get settled (Chris is still sawing logs p.s.) Zack jumps up on the bed and begins meowing for some lovin'. He doesn't stop (even if by chance Chris wakes up and pets him) until I reach behind me to where he is and pet his head. But he's not content with just that. He prowls around my side of the bed, never even taking a second to consider Chris or his side, until I scoot Lynlee and myself further into the middle and make about 8 inches of room for him on the edge. This apparently is satisfying enough because he curls up to the small of my back and falls right to sleep.
So, to recap, I would estimate our bed at being about 4ish feet wide. Every morning I share my side of the bed with a growing [almost] 5 month old, a tuxedo cat that weighs probably triple that, and myself. And Chris sprawls out on his side of the bed with all the room in the world.
I love it.

Lynlee and Zack

He's always gotta be right there, silly Zack :)

Much Ado About Everything

We have all been having quite the exciting week!
On the less happy side of exciting, Chris caught the cold I had a week ago, which turned into strep, which turned into some other ickyness that they had to draw blood to test for. Hopefully they figure it out because I can't stand seeing my man feeling so ill.
Lynlee on the other hand never caught the cold or strep (thank goodness!) and has just been her happy little self while exploring the world around her like crazy! She holds her head up really well now and is always looking out at everything around her. Her giggle makes my heart melt every time and her smile alone makes all hard parts of mommy-hood more than worth it.

She loves the kitties. No matter what she's doing (screaming bloody murder or playing contently with her toys) she will stop and stare as they do their thing. She's been reaching out to touch them lately and usually they just walk away from her but yesterday Zack laid down next to her and let her put her slobbery hands all over him for a minute (I seriously wonder how much cat hair this child has ingested already when I'm not looking and it sticks to her hands). I helped her to pet him gently and she broke out in the biggest smiles and started chatting away to him like they were the best of friends. She had a great time, Zack stood and left to take a bath a short time later.

Everything goes into her mouth now. Chris and I always joke that she's turning into a "real baby" now (things to the mouth, playing with her toes, loving to be naked - typical baby stuff). We always call her a ravenous baby because she gets overly excited about stuffing things into that little mouth of hers and it's actually quite adorable to watch.

I totally jinxed myself in the matter of blowouts. Recently I read a blog entry about one of my friends' adventure at the store with her baby and a blowout. I thought to myself "Self, I would die if something like that happened. I am so grateful that Lynlee has never really had a blowout." And then it happened.
A couple of days ago Lynlee was sitting in her high chair like she always does while I'm doing dishes or cooking or something (it's got wheels on the bottom! Very convenient.). All of a sudden she started crying and was so sad about something. By the time I dried my hands off and went over to her she was fine, talking and cooing as usual, so I dismissed the little outburst. A short while later I picked her up to go downstairs and did a little swoop move and plopped her onto my arm. I looked down and noticed something dark on my foot. "Hmm, I don't remember eating something that color" I thought. Ha.
I then felt a very disturbing warmth on my arm and looked to see poop squishing out of every single opening of her little diaper. EWewEW! I ran over to the changing table and laid her down on top of a blanket and first took a moment to get it all off my arm. And then, to spare all the rest of the lovely details, I took care of the mess of the diaper and got the baby all squeaky clean. Once that was all said and done I realized I should probably check out her high chair. I kid you not, there was a pool of nasty waiting there for me. Lynlee and Chris laughed at me the whole time I cleaned and disinfected, little punks. It was beyond disgusting that is for certain. So I can now empathize some with my friend although my experience was in the comfort of my own home and not out there for the whole wide world to see (although it is out there now for the whole wide world to read?). Hopefully Lynlee doesn't make this thing a habit of hers...

We've started solid foods! At first it was just some rice cereal in a bowl then after a few days we tried out bananas. Mmm! She likes those a lot. A couple days ago we tried sweet potatoes and this morning it was peas. I love how much she seems to enjoy eating with a spoon (although she gets those eyebrows going down every time the spoon goes into her mouth). Her doctor said that these next couple of month are just for fun and not to really expect her to get going much with it yet but Lynlee is pro already! I'm so proud :)

We [both] definitely get plenty messy eating with the spoon; today was probably the least messy time so far!

Also, Lynlee took her first swim this week. (Yes I dragged my sick husband to Seven Peaks with me and yes I do feel kinda guilty about it. We took it easy though and I think he had a pretty good time.)

All tuckered out. She had so much fun in the water! She talked to us the whole time :)

Taking a shower after swimmin'.

And finally, the most exciting news of the week (drum roll please..........)

       Lynlee rolled over all on her own!

I was watching her yesterday morning and she kept getting soo close to doing it and I told Chris: "Tomorrow's the day. She's going to do it tomorrow." So I had the camera ready and we just watched her for a few minutes this morning and BAM! She did it! No more leaving her on the bed anymore while I hunt for something to wear!

Some Thoughts On Bath Time

Lynlee loves bath time! She also loves to talk. All day long she babbles on to me, telling me the most interesting things I'm sure I've ever heard - the only problem is I have no idea what she is saying! But it is probably my most favorite part of the day, having conversations with her that is.
While taking a bath tonight she talked. and she talked and she talked and she screamed and she talked. It was oh so cute and I was able to record some of this (a feat that is usually nigh uncatchable seeing as the big, blank, staring eyes usually come out whenever she sees the phone or camera - perhaps I should just hold them in front of her face constantly so that she becomes accustomed to them ;)
At any rate, enjoy!
Perhaps you can decipher what she's telling Mom :)

Freeze Or I'll Shoot!

She didn't freeze...and they did shoot.
Lynlee had her 4 month checkup today along with two shots and an oral vaccine that she didn't necessarily hate. Time is really flying by (kind of like the fly in our house that my dear, dear Zack is trying so desperately to catch). We ran into two of our friends at the doctor's who were bringing their baby in for an appointment as well and one of them asked if this was Lynlee's 2 month checkup. It was so weird to say nope, she's older than 2 months now (by double, might I add). AH!
I'm so glad to say that our little one is no longer in the 1st percentile for her weight - she's jumped up to the 3rd! In less than a month's time I think that's pretty good; she's slowly but surely starting to pack on those pounds. As of today she weighs 10 lb 7 oz and is 24 inches long.
She loved the crinkly paper that they always have on doctor tables; it was really cute to watch her on her tummy with her little head held high (she's finally starting to be ok with tummy time) and run her hand back and forth on the paper before savagely grabbing it and forcing it into her wide open, extremely drooly, mouth. She was so curious about the man who kept poking and prodding her to make sure everything is ok with her tiny body. She was mesmerized by the giant giraffe painted onto the wall in our room and even stared at the "other baby" in the mirror for a few seconds before remembering that it was nap time and she was tired NOW. And then came the pokes.
Fellow mommies, today is the day we discovered the secret to an easy (easier) time for everyone with shots. Lynlee's appointment was right smack-dab in the middle of nappy time so when we took her in for her appointment she was just on the verge of cranky and in a good enough mood for the doc to do his thing before beginning to cry that sad, tired cry. She was at the very edge of that moment between awake and a good, deep sleep when the shots came so while she did cry out of pain (saddest. cry. EVER.) after a matter of seconds after picking her up to comfort her it was only a little whimper (an even sadder sound than the cry, in my opinion) and by the time we got to the car about 3 minutes later she was out like a light and didn't move an inch when I put her into her crib at home. It was definitely the easiest experience with shot time I've ever had/heard about.

We got Dora and army print band-aids today.

Slow down! Too fast!

Lynlee will be 4 months old this Sunday. How did this happen?! It seems like overnight (and it practically was) that our tiny baby girl went from being in the 1st percentile for weight (she got off to a rough weight gain start what with the acid reflux and all) to chunking up a bit and maturing so fast! I picked her up one morning and she looked almost twice as big as when I had put her down for bed the night before.
I absolutely love being able to be a stay at home Mommy and spend my days hanging out with her! She smiles and laughs so often now (mostly at silly things I do but also at normal things, like sneezing), holds her head up very well considering our constant struggle with tummy time and her extreme dislike of it, sleeps through the night (she just decided to fall asleep at 8pm one night and has done it every night ever since), is always looking out at her surroundings, and brings everything up to her mouth for a slobber-based inspection (although she hasn't completely mastered keeping a consistent grip on things she wants to hold so she gets frustrated when she drops them all the time). Sunday I discovered her sucking on her thumb instead of her entire fist and since then I catch her all the time like that. She looks so cute when she does that!
She's also in the process of discovering her voice. She's a chatterbox already, just like her mommy and daddy were (and still are) hehe. She'll start out cooing quietly to herself (or whatever giraffe is in her lap at the moment) and within a few minutes she is yelling at the top of her lungs, just happy to be heard. I wish I could figure out the stories she tells me, but she seems extremely content with the fact that I just sit and listen and talk back when she's finished. It was soo cute: on Sunday there was a lady in our ward sitting behind me with her 7 month old little girl, Ellie, on her lap. Ellie started screaming (happy, play-with-me! screams) at Lynlee and was so excited. Lynlee just sat and stared at this other baby, brow slightly furrowed, trying to understand. After a few minutes she started to coo very quietly at Ellie and would look surprised when the baby would scream back. I was giggling the whole time!
It's amazing to watch Lynlee discover new things - her feet for example. She first really discovered her hands about a month or so ago and spent so much time studying them until she looked past them and found her little feet one day. While giving her a bath she was munching on her hands, as usual, when she all of a sudden pulled them out of her mouth and started to reach for her toes, staring very intently at them. She grasped her soapy foot with wet hands and brought it to her mouth for inspection. When it was almost at her mouth it slipped out of her hands and she threw her arms out like she was falling and had a look on her face that suggested disgust and utter terror (this is her oh-my-gosh-I'm-falling-through-the-air-while-still-firmly-on-the-ground-I-just-don't-know-it stance). She did this repeatedly for about 10 minutes until finally getting frustrated enough to decide that bath time was over for the day.
I know that all babies go through these different "milestones" in development and so my stories are really nothing too new, but all the same it is so much fun for us to watch her discover and learn rather than just reading about it all online.
When we first brought Lynlee home from the hospital (it seems like eons ago!) I thought I'd never want her to get older because I loved how small she was and the way I could just cuddle up with her. However now that she's starting to play (she almost accepts the game of peek-a-boo) and interact more with people I vote for this stage to stay. She's growing so fast! As a new mommy I've heard it several times from other mommies: "Enjoy it now because they grow so quickly." This is very true and I'm having a love/hate relationship with this concept at the moment. I truly adore my child and wouldn't trade motherhood for anything in the world!

Love that sly little smile

Discovering Zack and trying to pet him

Hands and feet - two of her favorite discoveries so far

She LOVES this thing - thanks Ivy for letting us use it! Note Daddy's books underneath her - Physics and Calc 2 are handy to have around!