Thanksgiving in December!

Yes, I know Thanksgiving was in November. November 22nd to be exact. And I also know that I should have already posted pictures of Thanksgiving. However, I'm a busy girl! Do you know that Christmas is coming - not to mention a particular little girl's first birthday! Anyway, here are some lovely Thanksgiving pictures.

Thanksgiving Meal #1

Thanksgiving Meal #2

A little drink after the second meal!

Fun with my cousin Cale!

Leaves aren't fun!

Just a quick note...We did the major leaf raking this week and brought Brooke out with us for a while. Jumping into a pile of leaves is definitely not her thing! Maybe next year!!!

Before we put her in a pile of leaves = Happy!

Not seeing the fun in a pile of leaves!

Be sure to really look at her face - it really shows just how much fun she was not having!!!

Brooke's Milestones - An Update

Well, I have been slacking on uploading pictures and posting. So, I wanted to update. Brooke is growing up so fast. She can clap and wave. She says Hi, Ma-ma, and Maggie. She is very vocal but those are the only real words we can identify. She stands and has even started to take her first steps. Its very exciting. She is currently getting more teeth in and its just a matter of time before she is completely walking.

Brooke saying "Hi"


"Look at Me!!"


A couple of first steps to daddy


"What's going on in there?!"


Our little climber!!!

Halloween Pics (Better Late Than Never!)

It's been a long and tiring week. Brooke was sick on Monday night and Kevin & I were terribly sick Wednesday night. So, hopefully its run its course through this house.

Anyway, the reason I didn't post the Halloween pictures right away is because being the bad fur-mommy, I didn't get any pictures of Maggie in her costume until tonight! But it will be worth the wait because both costumes are adorable. And both were made with love by my mommy!!

Brooke - the little lamb




Yummy - Whoppers!


Maggie - Underdog!

Surprise!!

Well, we did it. Completely surprised my mom that is! Not that I thought it would be very hard, but you never know. On October 27th we threw my mom a surprise 50th birthday party. She thought it was a house-warming party! And she never got suspicious! My mom is pretty trusting so I didn't think it would be a big deal, but you never know when someone could inadvertently say the wrong thing to make her wonder. But everyone did great (thank you) and she was totally surprised!

The reaction!


Blowing out the candles


Party people!

Sweet Potatoes!

Well, its finally happened! The first eating mess! Brooke is primarily a pretty clean eater - even when she feeds herself. So, there I was thinking, hey she doesn't need a bath tonight because her hair is still clean! That was the jinx!!

About maybe 2 minutes after that thought Brooke decided it would be fun to rub sweet potatoes in her hair!! So, yes, she did in fact need a bath!

Fall is here!

It's sure a chilly one today. I think for once, I am ready for fall. Maybe it has to do with having 80 degree temperatures through the beginning of October.

So, to get you in the fall mood...here are some pictures of little Brooke at the pumpkin farm!












In other news, poor Brooke has an eye infection. She had a virus which caused 3 days of fevers and then resulted in this eye infection a few days later. Its worse on me than it is on her because it looks bad. But, luckily, she doesn't even seem to notice or be bothered except when we have to wipe out the goopy stuff or add the drops.

Prelude to a walk...

Well, Brooke new favorite thing is walking with her toy. I am not sure that I want her to be independently walking yet, but she seems closer everyday. She also now will stand for a few seconds without holding on to anything. But it is fun to watch her with this toy.







Ok, if anyone noticed...in the "Watch Brooke Grow" section. It would appear she is shrinking. Well, I didn't want to lie so I put in the measurements as they were given to me at the doctor's office. However, I will explain.

Since we moved, we got Brooke a new pediatrician. And this one and the old one measure height completely different. This new one stretches her along side a ruler basically. And the old one, would put a dot at the top of her head, then stretch her out and put one at her heal and then measure dot to dot with a tape measure. I can't say which I think is a better method because they both have their flaws. However, the bottom line is that she really hasn't grown much, if any in length over the past couple of months. But the doctor says as long as she is growing in weight...then there are no worries. She said kids will go through a growth spurt for their height at different times. The stats: Weight is about the 5th percentile, Height about the 10th percentile and the head circumference was 17", about the 30th percentile. So, she is just proportionate!

In other news: Last Saturday night Brooke woke about about 20 minutes after I put her to bed (which is unusual). Luckily I decided to investigate instead of seeing if she'd go back to sleep. When I got her out of her room and into the light - her whole face was slightly swollen and her eyelids were majorly swollen and red. It was an allergic reaction so we ran out and got her some Benedryl. She seemed ok otherwise, as through it all she was smiling!

We are not certain what the allergy was to yet. The only thing I can come up with that she had new exposure to that day was cheese. So, we are going to try the cheese again this weekend to test it out. If its not that - then we are clueless. I guess just a freak thing. But it was a bit of a scary experience nonetheless.

A Busy Baby

On Saturday, Brooke was busy as ever - she has learned how to climb the stairs.



So, we'd let her climb the stairs while we stood behind her. She is pretty good at it, but has no concept of how to do down and we wouldn't just let her do it without watching her. Or so we thought.

Kevin was in the living room and I walked into the living room from the kitchen and I looked around and asked "where's Brooke?". I back tracked to make sure I just didn't miss her...but she was no where to be found. Kevin & I both looked at each other and ran up the stairs. There was little Brooke just sitting in the upstairs bathroom - just smiling away. In complete silence, this little girl pig-tailed it up 10 stairs. Since she was fine - it was pretty adorable. But I did have the whole "what if she fell" thought in the back of my head.

Needless to say - there is a gate up on the stairs now!


Also on Saturday, I was sitting in the living room and Brooke was in the kitchen. Although I couldn't see her, I could see that she was in one of the drawers, which was fine as she always plays in there. After a bit, I realize that she is too quiet and had been sitting still way to long. So, I get up and look over and this is what I find:




Somehow (maybe the new teeth) she got a hole in a tube of blue colored sugar and it had spilled in the drawer and on the floor. And boy did she like to eat it!!!

Illinois Wonder and other things...

We visited Starved Rock last weekend. It was for a wedding. Starved Rock is one of the 7 Wonders of Illinois! I know everyone is excited for me! Anyhow it was fun, we went hiking and swimming. And the weather was great. The only downfall was that the ceremony was outside and the bride was "fashionably" 20+ minutes late and we all got about 100 mosquito bites while we waited!!!

Brooke proving she really can fall asleep anywhere (see also previous pics of her sleeping at both the Cubs game and Bears family night!!)





Ok you are going to think I am completely crazy - but if you look REALLY REALLY close - you can see Brooke's first tooth! Speaking of - tooth # 2 broke through on Monday September 10th. But you can't really see it yet.


Ok...and there is not too much cuter than these two Bears fans!!

The Grocery Box

A story in pictures...

Hmm...what's in here?!

What? I'm not doing anything.

Well, what do we have here?!

Now what am I going to do with this???

Ah...put it in my mouth...isn't that where everything goes!!!

August Happenings

We have been very busy lately. So, I thought I'd update with the highlights of the past couple of weeks.

We joined the Park District Aquatic center so we have been hanging out at the pool (when its not raining!!!) The Aquatic center is really nice. Its got a nice fitness center and indoor pool as well. I just started a water aerobics class on Saturday, and Brooke will begin swimming lessons in October!

Brooke & I on the lazy river

On August 21st, Kevin & I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. Time really flies. We went out to Branmor's for dinner to celebrate (just the 2 of us).

Kevin got me an Edible arrangement (very sweet and Weight Watchers friendly!)

Brooke Madeleine turned 8 months old! I can't believe it myself! Seems like we just got her yesterday! She is such a beautiful little peanut. Still crawling (and fast!) and cruising and getting into everything! But she is such a good girl! Her first tooth broke through on the 21st also. But its not out enough to get a picture yet. And she seems to still be going through some major pain/teething, so we are guessing that the other bottom tooth may be arriving soon too.

8 months old!!!


This past Friday, we visited a new pediatrician in Naperville. The place, and doctors were very nice. We got Brooke weighed to make sure she is gaining weight. She gained 15 ounces in just over a month! She now weighs 14 lbs, 12 oz. That still leaves her at about the 5th percentile in weight for little girls her age - but all that matters is that she is making her own growth curve! We also scheduled her 9 month appoint for the end of next month.

We decided that although the whole "How big is Brooke" "So big" thing can be cute, it was more important to teach her that throwing up her arms was "Touchdown"! I mean its less than 2 weeks until the season officially starts! Mommy kept practicing with her and nothing seemed to be happening and then...out of no where on Saturday she started to do it. Totally cute. Now she does it randomly b/c she knows we like it!

Touchdown!!!!


Other cute pictures:

"Just kicking my foot up, waiting for my dinner!"

HI!

Brooke eating baby Carson's foot!

Getting a kiss from dog friend Cletus!