Brenli's First Year!

One Month:

April 14th • 6 pounds, 12 ounces • 20 inches

We were not planning to have you 5 days early, but we are so very blessed to have those 5 extra days of your life.

You are 1 month old. It’s been a challenging month where we’ve cried, laughed, and learned so much!
We’ve had the support of friends and family through all hours of the night and a huge range of emotions. We’ve been encouraged, loved on, and prayed for.

At 1 month old, here is what we’ve learned about you:
•You hate bath time unless you’re sitting up.
•Skin to skin time is your favorite with both me and with your dad.
•You LOVE tummy time and now hold your head up for several minutes at a time.
•You are incredibly alert and like to be seated up to look out at everything around you. You especially like to look around outside.
•You track our voices, faces, and some of your toys when we play with them.
•Hillsong United and white noise calm you down.
•You like to be bounced around when held and to have your butt tapped.
•You have a love-hate relationship with the car seat. You seem to love it when you’re sleeping, but as soon as you wake up you cry...a lot!
•Walks make you fall asleep, and when you wake up and start crying, we remove the carrier and rock it back and forth, which puts you to sleep almost instantly. You basically just love movement, which is likely my fault with how active I was while you were in my tummy.
•You love being swaddled but like your arms to be free.
•You love being wrapped in the Moby Wrap! You could sleep (and have slept) for hours wrapped up close to me.
•You make silly faces and sometimes look like an old man. We have enough photos of those expressions to embarrass you through your teenage years.

We love you more than we ever thought was possible, Brenli, and are so blessed that God chose us to be your mommy and daddy. 💖

Two Months:
You’re 2 months old and here is what we know about you:

•You have adjusted to bath time as long as it’s on the warmer side.
•You loves cuddles with me and with daddy. It’s how you fall asleep best! Or in your swing.
•You don’t like tummy time as much as you did before, but you do like laying on your back while looking at your toys. •You are still so incredibly alert and like to be seated up to look out at everything around you. You especially like to look around outside.
•You track everything you see and hear.
•You still like to be bounced around when held and to have your butt tapped.
•Are getting used to your car seat and have even stayed awake in it a few times without crying.
•You are SUPER expressive which gives us tons of laughs.
•Speaking of laughs...you laugh now! You’ve only done it a few times, but we are not short on smiles. 😊 You smile most in the morning.
•You’re almost ready for size 1 diapers and fit newborn to 0-3mo clothes, depending on the brand.
•You’re discovering your hands and feet! You stare at your feet and watch them move in complete awe.

It’s not always easy, but even through our most challenging moments and lack of sleep, we are completely in love with you, sweet girl.

Three Months:
You’re 3 months old now! Here is what we’ve learned about you:
• You smile a lot - especially when smiled at.
• You have a favorite toy! It is the one from Nikki that crinkles and is perfect to freeze for teething. You hold it and shake it around.
• You like to be outside. There are lots of sights and sounds to take in.
• You do tummy time for about 20 minutes at a time. The better the mood the longer you’ll do it.
• You love your piano play mat. You can kick it and make music.
• You and daddy have a new special song: Even Though I’m Leaving by Luke Combs
• You’re in 0-3 month clothes but can fit some 3 month onesies.
We love you so much, Brenli. 💚

Four Months:
It’s been 4 months since you’ve graced us with your presence. Here’s what we know about you:
• You LOVE your daddy. You smile really big each time you see him.
• You roll over to your tummy, and have rolled over to your back just a couple of times.
•You laugh often.
•You LOVE bath time. You love to splash and get water everywhere!
•You love the elephant song and lovey!
•You fit in 0-3month clothes and occasionally 3 months outfits as well.
•You’ve got some teeth coming in!
We love you so very much, love bug! 💚

Five Months: 


You are 5 months old and I feel like we are finally figuring this thing out. This last month has been the easiest. Here’s what we know about you:
•You smile super big when you see me and daddy after a long work day. I think that means you like us. 😉
•You roll all over the place.
•You smile, laugh, and are definitely finding your voice.
•If I sing to you while putting you in your car seat, you don’t cry.
•You fit in 0-3month and 3 months outfits.
•You are showing signs of teething.
•You love walks and being outside.
•You really like story time - of course bright colored books are your favorite. You also like to bite on crinkle books.
•You fight sleep but your swing always wins.
•Your favorite toys are your piano, drums, teethers from Nikki and Liam, and your elephant lovey.
•You’re trying to crawl and are learning to sit up.
•You pet Cobie now. You guys will be such great friends.
•Today it sounded like you said “Hi” after putting your hands on my face. But if could just be part of the sounds you make nonstop.
It’s such a joy to watch you grow. We love you so very much, love bug! 💚

Six Months:
6 months! This has somehow been the fastest 6 months of our lives. Brenli, you have challenged and made us grow in so many areas. We’re learning to understand that not all of your days will be good ones, that you’re super ticklish on your sides, you love to see us after a long day, and each of your cries mean something different...which takes some real patience, if I’m being honest.

Here are a few other things we’ve learned about you:
•You wear size 3 months and are starting to break into 3-6 month clothes.
•Still teething with no actual teeth cutting through just yet.
•You’ve had bananas, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Carrots are your favorite so far. You like to feed yourself too. You hold on super tight to your spoon and cry when we take it away.
•We sing the @philadelphiaeagles fight song when we put you in your car seat. It silences tears and makes you smile.
•You’ve been enjoying car rides a bit more - as long as you aren’t hungry.
•You get really hangry. A trait you definitely got from your dad.
•You’re starting to crawl. It’s really just a ton of rolling with the occasional scoot forward.
•You sit up! But you also fall down but you’re getting stronger each day.
•You LOVE being read to. You try to turn the pages on your own.
•You’re really chatty. We love having conversations with you.
•It’s about time to start buying bath toys for you because you love playing in the bath tub.

Half a year down. We love you so much, love bug. 💛💚💜

Seven Months: 
Thumbs up for being 7 months old! Here is what we’ve learned about you this month:
•You’re eating solid foods! So far you aren’t super picky. Bananas, apples, and sweet potatoes are always a win. You absolutely hate eggs though.
•You’re crawling a bit - getting better each day!
•You pull yourself up to get a better view.
•You most definitely say “hi!”
•You cry less. Praise! 🙌🏼
•You are in 6 month clothes - but still fit a good amount of 3-6 month ones.
•Today you sat up on your own completely!

This month has been full of some big milestones, and we can’t believe time has gone by so quickly.

We love you so much, love bug. 💚

Eight Months:
Here is what we’ve learned about you this month:

•You are trying really hard to walk. You pull yourself up and take big, confident steps with just a little support.
•You can crawl, but you don’t prefer to.
•You like pretty much every food now. I can’t think of a single one you won’t eat just yet. Today we tried meatballs and you loved them!
•Today you sat down on your own after standing. It was not smooth, but you went for it.
•You wave a lot!
•You like people with beards. 😂😂 I think they remind you of your dad.
•You dance to music and sing on key.
•You wear size 6 month clothes.

Happy 8 months, love bug. We love you so much! 💚

Nine Months:
We have a 9 month old! I’m not entirely sure how that happened so quickly, but here we are. Your personality has really started to shine. Here is what we’ve learned about you:

•You are learning to walk! You stand up by holding on to anything around you. On Sunday to stood up on your own for about 3 seconds!
•You play peek-a-boo! You hold up your blanket, clothes (anything really) in front of your face and bring them down with a big smile!
•You clap! We say “yay” and you clap instantly.
•You also wave to say “hello” and “goodbye”
•You’ve started making a really funny noise. You scrunch your nose and breathe in and out of it with your lips pursed - or sometimes in a big smile. It makes us laugh pretty hard.
•You have a solid night routine. I change you for bed, read you a story, nurse you a bit, and then daddy sings you to sleep. He even made you a Brenli playlist to play throughout the night. You usually wake up around 5 to nurse again, and then you’re out until 8am.
•You’ve been sleeping in your crib since December 21st! Auntie Jacki put you to sleep in there while Daddy and I were on a date and you did so well we decided to keep you in there each night.
•You wear 6 month clothes and weigh 14.2lbs!
•I started taking you running with me. When we start running after our warmup walk, you laugh.
•Speaking of laugh, you started making this tiny laugh sound, and it’s probably the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.

We love you so much, love bug.

Ten Months: 
This is my 10 month old, guys!
Brenli, this last month has been one of the best yet! We are so close to the 1 year mark and birthday planning is in full force!
Here is what we’ve learned about you this month:
•You stand up on your own! And you walk with us holding one hand now instead of two. The best way to get you to stand on your own is to clap and say “yay!”
•You can say, “Hi” “Hey” “Bye bye” “mama” “dada” and “love you”
•You blow kisses, raspberries, and give kisses to me, dad, and your cousin Emily.
•You love blueberries, broccoli, and chicken - and pretty much everything we give you. Eggs are hit and miss right now. You really like water too.
•You dance by a shaking your hips or bouncing your legs.
•Your favorite books are “Night-Night California” “Snowy Day” and “God Gave Us You”
•You wear 6 month clothes and fit a few of your nine month outfits as well - AND you just hit 16lbs!
•You smile so much and are so happy (most of the time). We love you so much, love bug.

11 Months:
11 months old! These photos are getting really hard to take. 🤷🏼‍♀️
Here is what we’ve learned about our girl:
•You don’t stop moving. You are so full of energy and always want to be doing something.
•You still don’t enjoy your car seat or the stroller. *sigh* Maybe someday...Until then, I wear you when we go out for longer periods. Yep...I wore you for most of Disneyland.

•You still like all the foods.
•You wear size 6-9 months. Definitely getting into the 9 month clothes more often, especially because of your long legs.
•You prefer people with beards.
•You like to play peek-a-boo, mostly when you’re the one hiding.
•You’re wanting your bottle less and less.
•You like books that have things you can feel.
•You took your first steps, but still need help when walking. I can tell that you’ll be running as soon as you’re able to.
•You are so very determined. We prayed you would be.
•This week you started covering your mouth when something really makes you laugh. It’s so cute!
•You have two teeth taking their sweet time to break through.
•”It’s A Small World” is your favorite ride.
•You LOVE Cobie! You always want to play with him. He really makes you smile.
•The pacifier is nearly gone! We are hoping to be fully off of it by 1 year. Right now we use it for “emergencies” and long drives.
•You love the water. Bath time, showers, you love it all!

We are officially done breastfeeding. We lasted almost 11 months and I’m so dang proud, but home girl was ready to be done. It’s bittersweet and I’m so grateful that I was able to make it so long, especially while being a working mama!

We love you so much, love bug. 💚

One Year:
One whole year of being able to hold our love bug in our arms. Here’s what we’ve learned about you:
•You have two teeth - both on the bottom.
•You love Moana! It helps keep you busy while I’m working from home. #QuarantineLife
•You finally don’t seem to mind your car seat or stroller.
•You love being out side and always ask “that?” about everything.
•You wear size 9-12 months.
•You LOVE books! Especially ones with animals and other babies. We read “Are You My Mother?” around 20 times a day.
•You are silly and you know it. When you do things that make us laugh, you do it again to make us laugh more.
•You are for sure testing the word “no.”
•You blow kisses. You also give sweet wide open mouth kisses.
•You are super chatty and very busy.

It's been such an incredible year for us and it just keeps getting better. So excited to see what this next year has in store for us. <3 

-jennilea

How We Met You

Brenli,

Today you are 2 months old, and what a wild 2 months it has been.  On April 13th I got test results back that said my bile acid levels were too high which is dangerous for you.  I had just finished grocery shopping when I got the news.  My plan was to spend the weekend meal prepping.  Those plans were put on hold because they would be inducing me at 3:30pm - just 3 hours after I got the call.  I immediately called your dad.  He was almost to work.  We were both so shocked when we realized we would be meeting you so soon!  To be honest, I was terrified.  I had a specific birth plan in place that  I wasn't sure would be able to happen.  Go figure that a birth plan wouldn't work out.

I met your dad at home.  He was packing his bag and taking care of some house things while I showered again before going to the hospital.  We sat down at around 2:45pm because we were done with everything.  I looked at your dad and said, "So...You want to just head out now?"  He quickly replied, "Yep!"  We took one last photo of the two of us with Cobie to document the last time it would be just us.

We checked into the hospital, got our room, went over our birth plan and a few other decisions before the process finally began - which was around 7pm.  They gave me misoprostol and used the folly to get things moving from 1 cm to 3 cm.  At 10:31pm, they gave me more misoprostol to get things going again.  By 1:00 AM, I was dilated 4 cm and my water broke!  I had said to our nurse, "Um...I just went to the bathroom, and I'm not entirely sure if I just peed again or..." She laughed, checked, and found that it had broken!

Things really started moving the, and it was painful!  I tried to labor in several different positions to help with the pain, but each time I did, your heart rate would drop - so they I just stay in bed to labor, which was disappointing for me, but at least I knew you'd be safe!

By 4 AM I was around 5 cm dilated and had barely any time between the intense contractions.  It felt like only seconds between contractions, and the pain was so much and I finally decided to get the epidural, which was around 5 AM.

After getting the epidural, I fell asleep almost instantly.  A few hours later, I woke up and was 9.5 cm dilated and it was almost time to start pushing!  Every contraction that hit, we would push for 3 sets of 10 seconds each.

I'll never forget the look on your dad's face when he saw the top of your head.  He looked so excited and said, "She has so much hair and it's dark!  Oh my goodness!"  The doctor echoed this and said your hair was definitely long!  Just a few more pushes, and you made your appearance after 8 hours of active labor, and 43 minutes of pushing.  I was instantly enchanted by you.  Brenli, you were stunning and just so amazing!  I knew I loved everything about you in that instant.

The next hour was a whirlwind.  I got to hold you the entire time.  We tried to feed you and you latched right away.  Dad cut your - and after that golden hour, they finally told us your birth details:  Time: 8:34am, Weight: 6 lbs 12 oz. Length: 20 in.  Your dad and I were speachless and so in love with you.  We prayed for you each day and here you were, 8 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days later.

We were moved to our room where we learned to bathe you, breastfeed, diaper, and a ton of other fun things, including swaddling, which you dad is a pro at.

We went home the next day.  It was crazy that they just let us leave the hospital with a tiny human just over 24 hours later.

And that, Brenli, is how we met you.

Today you are 2 months old.  This is the most challenging thing we've ever done, but you are so very worth it.  Your dad and I love you so much, Brenli Lynn Arruda.

<3
-Mommy-

Baby A is a...

Well, friends, we found out the gender of our little one!  Before we get into that, I want to say a huge "Thank You" to Meloney, Chris, and Emily for putting together such an incredible gender reveal party, with tons of touches of my favorite show: How I Met Your Mother.

I mean, look at some of these details!
This board was made by our Aunt Tammi, including some old wives' tales to help people guess the gender, which they did using their thumbprint on this super cute umbrella page.  Most guessed baby is going to be a boy.
















Brian and I didn't have a preference either way.  I didn't have any sort of gut feeling - but I think part of me was hoping girl just because boys are terrifying.  Haha!

We did the reveal using a colored smoke bomb under my How I Met Your Mother umbrella.  Our brother-in-law lit the smoke bomb and out came...

PINK!

Brian and I are so very excited to welcome our little girl into the world in April 2019!
Brenli Lynn Arruda, we cannot wait to meet you!

-jennilea

Almost 17 Weeks!

It's been such an exciting time and I think week 16 has been my favorite so far.  I started feeling Baby A move around!  Not huge movements, but movements nonetheless.  It definitely helps things become more real for us, though I'm still waiting for the moment that this will REALLY sink in.

Last week (at exactly 16 weeks), we went to The Baby Connection for an ultrasound where they would determine the gender.  The hardest part is that we didn't get to see much of it.  Why?  It's completely our own fault.  We decided that we want to be surprised along with our extremely close family and friends when we find out the gender at our gender reveal party.  That being said, currently the only person who knows the gender of Baby A is my sister-in-law, Meloney.  Don't try to break her; she's been a great secret keeper thus far.

Luckily for us, the entire ultrasound was placed on a DVD which we are so excited to watch after our gender reveal celebration in just a few weeks. 

Here is what we did get to see though:

• Baby moves around, a lot!  All of that energy no doubt comes from me...not just because I'm physically providing all of it, but it's kind of a personality trait of mine as well. :)
• You can see baby's face on the ultrasound, and it looks like an alien.  So weird.  Haha.  The profile is super neat to see though!
• Baby prays...sort of.  They had us look at the ultrasound in this moment because we can't see the body, and because it looks like baby is praying. How cool is this!?  One of the things Brian and I (and anyone with our prayer list) have been praying for is that baby would have a passion and heart for serving God.  Seeing this makes me so excited for the hopes, dreams, and lots of prayers that we have for the future of Baby A. Feel free in joining us in prayer for baby.

Another update for the week is that I think my belly is finally starting to show a little!  I'll take a photo on Friday when I'm officially at 17 weeks, but my pants are definitely at a point where they are getting tight but at the same time maternity pants are still too big. A few people have suggested bands that help extend the pants I've got now, so I'm thinking I may go that route in the next week or so.

I'd like to end this blog with a question for Moms:  What style of maternity pants did you find more comfortable, and where did you get them from?

-jennilea

Sharing Our Story

Well, it's just about time.  Tomorrow we will be 12 weeks which means we get to share our secret with all of you.  Let me tell you, it is about dang time!  When you get exciting news, all you want to do is share it with the world.  We were blessed enough to be able to tell our closest family and friends, and through them, we are telling all of you.  If you haven't already, head over to my Facebook page to see our pregnancy reveal.

So now that you've all enjoyed that, I wanted to share with you how I told Brian:
My sister is a photographer (http://jackiraney.com/ if you're interested), and I instantly knew I wanted to tell him in a way that would also capture his reaction. We told him she was working on a couples project, which she does from time to time.  On letter boards, she had us say what we loved most about each other.  His said "I love her heart and her passion" while mine said "You're going to be the best dad! 2019"  We stood back to back and then faced each other when she told us to.  At that point, we looked at each other's signs (well, I looked at his face while he read my sign).  He had this look of confusion, and then it clicked: He is going to be a dad!  When we were talking about it later, he told me he was confused because he thought I did it wrong.  Haha!

Here are photos from that moment.  We hope you enjoy sharing in our joy:

-jennilea

11 Weeks!

Here we are: 11 weeks!  Yesterday we got to see baby.  We were expecting to hear the heartbeat, but my doctor told us they err on the side of caution during the first trimester because doppler could potentially lead to miscarriage.  So we wait until our next appointment at the end of October to hear it.

Here is a picture of baby A, who is starting to actually LOOK like a baby:

Measuring exactly to where it should be to keep that due date of April 19th.

New things for week 11:

• I'm getting my energy back! 
• I haven't really had any morning sickness.  As long as I eat breakfast, I haven't gotten too nauseous.  
• I can smell all of the smells.
• Aversions:  Minty gum (so sad), fish, fried food, eggs (except in quiche and the spinach egg wraps from Starbucks for some reason), and garlic.
• Having gained a whopping pound and a half, I'm not showing much yet.  Here is a photo from week 1 to now. 

So far we are doing pretty well. :)

-jennilea

Waiting Is Hard

Here I am, on August 30th, waiting...again.  By the time you reach this, we will have announced that we are pregnant (hopefully), and alllll of these posts will be available to the world, but for now, we are waiting in secret, and my heart is pounding because it's been a rough few weeks.  Here is a recap for you:

I am 6 weeks and 6 days pregnant today, but we found out around 4 weeks. Week 4 was actually pretty easy.  Nothing felt different, a few light cramps here and there, but almost right after week 5 hit, I began experiencing some really awful cramping.  I have a relatively high tolerance for pain, but these were put me in the ER, radiating to my back, and I can hardly walk cramps.  They happened often, and went from lasting about 10 minutes to over 45 minutes of the worst pain I have ever felt in my life.

When I went to the ER for the first time, I was by myself in Southern California for work.  It was 3am, and I was exhausted, and terrified.  By the time I got to the hospital, the pain had stopped.  They ran tests, did an ultrasound, and everything thankfully came back normal.  They said the cramping is normal during pregnancy and can sometimes get pretty bad but (as long as there is no bleeding) everything is fine. "It's just from growing and stretching." I was back at my hotel by 8:30am.

I had a follow up appointment with my OBGYN a few days later, and she mentioned that my symptoms are tough, because so early nearly everything is a sign for your period, miscarriage, or a normal pregnancy.  I was already aware of this though because...Google.  That being said, she wanted to run more tests before having me come in a week and a half later to see if we can get a heartbeat.  My blood tests came back showing hormone levels were still rising correctly, which gave us some peace of mind.

On Tuesday, the fear set in again though as the cramping was the worst I had felt of all the days.  Remember me mentioning cramping that radiates to my back?  The part about not being able to walk?  Bingo.  That was it.  My incredible husband took me to the ER, where we once again had tons of tests ran only to be told that it's still from growing and stretching.  Good news, but at the same time, is this life for the next 9 months?  I don't know how to experience this amount of pain while also living life and working, but I had to do something.

With much hesitation, I decided I needed to take whatever could help the pain so I could start getting rest again, and get back to work.  Tylenol is the only thing that I'm able to take, and 500mg doesn't help at all, so they recommended 1000mg, 3 times a day until it stops.  2 nights ago was the first time I've been able to sleep through the night in almost 2 weeks.  Last night was even better.

The pain is scary, and it makes me sad that I couldn't tough it out - especially because I'm really hoping for a natural birth without an epidural.  This is the first time I've felt like I can't do that;  a failure before I've even gotten to that point.

There are a lot of mixed emotions happening right now, but right now the biggest one is fear.  We are just a few hours from meeting with our doctor where I am praying there will be a heartbeat and that everything will be okay.  Pregnancy is actually pretty scary, way more than I had expected - and waiting is really hard, but that's all we can do for now.  So...we wait.

-jennilea