For Die-Hards Only

I had to post this video. The quality is horrible and it's pretty boring if you don't love her.

I love when Brooke makes the connection to people in her life even when they aren't around. Brooke was playing on her "inside car" and randomly decided she was going to see Papa T and Grandma.

Baby Country Club

I finally got around to taking some photos of Brooke at My Gym (aka "Baby Country Club"). It was tricky keeping the other kids out, so the shot selection is a little iffy.


This class is seriously one of the highlights of both of our weeks. Brooke wakes up asking, "Gym?" and is SO happy when I say yes. She's been singing their "Hello" and "Goodbye" songs since about our third week there. And being an OT who works in a preschool, it's obviously my thing. I hate to brag, but I always know the songs and am not afraid to sing them loud and proud.


It's fun to see her trying new things and branching out on her own. It's also good for her to learn to be around other little ones. She seems to need it - as evidenced by her hitting one of them on the head, twice, for sitting down next to her.


I'm hoping Miss Shaniqua won't mind being posted on here. She's one of Brooke's favs and I figured the chances of her knowing one of the 3 people who read this are slim.


Classes for the summer are unlimited so I have the feeling they'll be seeing a lot of us!

Must-Have Accessory

Brooke was fascinated by my "ea-ings" (iPod Shuffle) when I came back from a jog the other day, so I let her try them on.


Of course she figured out how to start the music. Now we have to hide them when we're going out or coming in. Otherwise we have to say "no" to that face.

Party in the Back

Brooke's hair is really starting to grow...on the back of her head, at least. Her hair wasn't well combed here as she'd just woken up from a nap, but let's be honest, the combing really doesn't help that much.


I don't know if I'd call this a "party", but she definitely has something going on "in the back". I see a baby-mullet trim in our future. I'm also toying with the idea of Baby Bangs. (Thanks for the link, Jamie.) Seriously, though, I had always wanted ear piercing to be a fun significant-age-birthday surprise, but I'm totally understanding why people get it done on infants/toddlers.


And speaking of hair, this poor guy now look ridiculous thanks to a butcher-job haircut the day after I took this. It's a good thing he's too busy being scared of random inanimate objects to notice his reflection or he'd probably be scared of that, too.

Return to the Backyard

Brooke LOVES going "si" (outside). We had our backyard reseeded several weeks ago so we've been having to play out front lately. This mostly consisted of chasing Brooke away from the end of the driveway or following her along the same section of sidewalk on the side of our house over and over again.


The grass is finally a healthy length (according to my Matt, who's practically a horticulturist) so we've been able to play more in the backyard. This makes life a little less stressful and hoosier-ish and a little more fun for all of us.


Best decision I made last week: letting her pour out the bubbles. She's totally content to carry around the empty container and "blow" them herself.


We finally got around to putting together the play castle that Brooke got for her birthday (hey, it was only 6+ months ago) from Grammie Deb and Grandpa. She's working on climbing up the rock wall, but she loves the slide and the telescope that also serves as a phone.



I hit the jackpot at a yard sale last week and found a Cozy Coupe, Picnic Table, and Push n' Go Tricycle all at one house. (Wow. After reading that sentence, I completely understand if any of you want to pump the brakes on our friendship.) Anyway, Brooke loves it. I think she really feels like a Big Girl sitting at it.

I'm looking forward to much more time outside. Life just seems a little happier when it's sunny and warm. Remind me why we don't live in Florida?

Impromptu Visit

Krissi called me the day before Mother's Day and asked if we were free for the next couple of nights. We were (even if we weren't, we would've dropped everything) so they decided to make a quick trip up to see us.



They were kind enough to watch Brooke while I went to work for the morning on Monday and when I got back we went to the park.



Luke enjoyed just chilling in the nice weather.


Krissi had Luke and I was trying to take pictures, so Tim stayed busy with the girls.



I really think that Brooke would swing ("weee") all day if she could.


We were SO happy they were able to come visit, even if just for a short time. Brooke still says, "Letsi? Tim? Tissi?" daily. I think it may be a couple of months before she realizes Luke is here to stay. Then she'll start asking about him.

We love you guys and can't wait to see you soon!

Deb.

Brooke's been pretty good at picking up on names for some time now, so it's been odd to us that she hasn't called Matt's mom, who she sees very regularly, anything. (Unless you count the stage where she said, "Ep!" anytime she needed something). We've been referring to her as "Grammie" for the past 18+ months.


We kind of think that Brooke realized that she'd be the only one calling her that, so a couple of weeks ago, she decided to start calling her "Deb" or sometimes "Debbie". Popular belief (I'm not naming names) is that the mornings that Grammie has Brooke and Grandpa is around, he's so frequently saying, "Deb!" followed by a thought or question, that Brooke has picked up on it. She's nothing if not observant.

Mother's Day

Brooke was still feeling under the weather on Sunday, so our Mother's Day went from being pretty booked to laid back - and I wasn't complaining.


We started with brunch at Medinah. As you can see, Matt REALLY enjoyed the brunch. (I'm actually not sure why he looks 6 months pregnant. For the record, he has annoyingly nice abs.)



The weather was amazing so I was able to go for a run and spend some time reading outside. We also got to have dinner with Matt's family and (surprise, surprise) watch the Bulls game. It was a great day that I was happy to spend with my little family that I'm so thankful for.


I'd be remiss if I didn't share something I thought about a lot this year. While Mother's Day is such an important day to remind us of how blessed we are to have the mothers (and children) that we have, it also breaks my heart to think of those who have lost mothers or children, or haven't been able to have children of their own despite their desire to be mothers. For what it's worth, I think about you and pray for you often.

Meet Me in...Bloomington?

If we go more than a few weeks without either us visiting St. Louis or my parents coming up here, we try arrange a meeting midway. So, on the Saturday before Mother's Day we met my parents in Bloomington, IL. We've realized over the past few years that Bloomington has quite a bit to offer. We met my parents at a park since it was 80 and sunny there as opposed to 60 and rainy up in Chicago. Then we went to the mall. This was Brooke's least favorite part as she was NOT a fan of having anyone tell her where to go. She's kind of a kamikaze when walking in crowds. She was happier when we got to the ride area where she could roam more freely. The ice cream truck was her favorite.


After the mall, we went to dinner and Papa T was happy to follow her around when she wanted "Down!" after eating. It was great to see you, Mom and Dad. We love you. Sorry I didn't get better pictures!

While Mom's Away...

Two weekends ago, I was able to get away for a couple of nights with some girlfriends from work. We went down to Florida and got some desperately needed sun while having fun and relaxing. I'm so thankful to Matt for encouraging me to go and being so happy to spend (mostly) one-on-one time with his little girl.

While I was gone, I received frequent and much-needed photo updates of my girl. I must disclaim that Brooke spent some time with Grammie while Matt was at work and with Aunt Jamie while he golfed. However, I was only able to upload the photos from Matt's phone since I'm still on the Zach Morris plan.


It turns out all that it took for the weather to turn decent around here was for me to get out of town, so Matt and Brooke (and Ozzie, of course) enjoyed some time outside.


They also went to a new BBQ place for dinner. Twice. In two nights. He's learned that I'm not likely to step foot in there outside of his birthday or Father's Day so he decided to live it up.

It was nice to get away, but it was great to get home. Who wouldn't want to come back to these cuties?

Taste of Her Own Medicine

Because I'm waiting for Matt to upload the photos he took on his phone last weekend, I'm going to have to do a post out of order. I know, I know. That makes it really hard to keep up with our exciting lives. Try to bear with me.


I came back from a girls' trip last weekend to a very happy girl - for about 6 hours. She woke up Sunday night feeling very warm, but seemed to feel better after a little Tylenol. She wasn't quite herself Monday, got a pretty nasty cough on Tuesday and then Tuesday night her breathing sounded horrible. We were ready to take her to the ER if she woke up one more time with wheezing. I took her to the doctor on Wednesday (of course she didn't cough ONCE the whole time we were there). Her breathing still didn't sound great, though, and the doctor diagnosed with her with stridor. After one dose of steroids, her cough and breathing sound much better but she's still got a pretty nasty cold.


I'm hoping that her recent tantrums are more a result of 'roid rage or teething, but I'm kind of thinking it may be the Terrible Twos rearing its ugly head. Time will tell, I suppose.


In the meantime, we've been laying low at home, toting around her Easter Bunny balloon. We've also done some coloring for Grammie's and Grandma's Mother's Day gifts (shh!) on a vertical surface to promote strong proximal stability (there's your OT tip of the day).


And Brooke has become quite the fan of "me-cine". So much so that she's all about giving her baby "wa-wee me-cine" (water medicine). I love to see her imagination blossoming!