Brooke has always sucked her hands and prefers them to any pacifier. Now she is organized enough to suck and chew her thumb.

Brooke, Marcella, Mattie and I took an afternoon stroll at the always amazingly beautiful gardens. It was good for moms and babies to get some fresh air.

Mom and Brooke in the rose garden. Too bad Brooke doesn’t like her sunglasses.

In the butterfly garden.

Brooke busy eating her ladybug in the butterfly garden.

When it got chilly, we bundled up but Brooke still wanted to chew on something.

So I have worked my whole adult life, since I was 15 1/2 in fact. And part of having a career is the performance evaluation, which usually occurs yearly. Well now that I am taking time off from working as an RN to take care of our beautiful baby Brooke I found I still have performance evaluations, and now they are every 2 months.

Dr. Mink was very impressed with Brooke’s growth and weight gain. He asked me about my diet, vitamin, and water intake to provide nutritious breast milk and was pleased. Saying “you’re doing everything right and it shows”.

Also usually AJ has all the right answers to the pediatrician’s questions because he treats children regularly but today I was the one who knew the ingredients to a pediatric medication and had spotted Brooke’s skin rash as something other than a typical ‘it will go away baby skin’ rash (and now we are treating it).

She is topping the charts at 27 inches and 15lb 14oz wearing 9 month clothes at 4 months. In fact we talked to him about a new 1 year old car seat because she is within a month or so of outgrowing the infant car seat!

Also what started as a fun game of me putting her foot near the mouth because it made her laugh now progressed to her eating her toes every chance she gets. “She’s got all five toes in there, that’s a 5 month old skill!” He exclaimed. Something AJ and I learned happily today.

She never cries during his assessment and seems to have fun with him. She would not smile at him when he smiled at her, though she would smile for AJ and I. “She seems very happy.” I guess a lot of other babies cry at the doctor?

She was a champ this time and only cried a bit during the vaccinations. Though we attribute this to pre-doseing with tylenol and the nurses quick hand, she was great, as babies cannot really control their pain response. Brooke stopped right when I picked her up and was back to smiling at AJ and playing while we put her in her car seat. Now to keep her world easy and comfortable for the next two days as her little immune system goes for a whirl.

It is good to know that all the months of hardship and difficulty with breastfeed has paid off with our persistence. The nights AJ and I spent sleep and nap training Brooke worked. That all the hours I spend playing with, engaging, and attending to Brooke when you could be eating, showering, cleaning, etc gives way to a happy healthy stimulated baby. I am so happy she is doing so well.  She is truly the best baby ever.

I have always worked hard at all my jobs and this one is by far the most rewarding. It is THE BEST JOB I have ever had and I love it!!! Also I think Brooke thinks I’m doing a pretty good job too and is going to keep me on for at least another 2 months until my next evaluation. 🙂

Today was Brooke’s 4 month checkup where we get to see how big she is and she gets her inoculations. She measured 27 inches and 15lb 14oz!