Quick Update

In addition to photo refusals, here's a little of what we've been up to lately (sorry for more crummy camera-phone shots):


Playing "horsie" before bed with Daddy every night. I have a cute video of this that I'll post when I have time to wait for it to upload. Ever since she's been in her new room, when I put her to bed, the routine ends in tears. When Matt puts her to bed, all is quiet. I refuse to believe that he's that much more fun than me, so I think I'm just easier to play for sympathy.



We went to the fire station to have the baby's car seat checked. While they did make some adjustments, at least they didn't laugh at our installation this time (I believe, "Good thing you came by here," is what we heard before Brooke was born). They also let Brooke check out the fire truck and "Clambulance" as she thinks it's called. Thank you, Bubble Guppies. That was also the day the Brooke decided to start telling people that she was six when they asked how old she was.


"Playing" with neighborhood friends. At least they're outside?


More "helping." I was also hoping to be able to brag about Brooke's brackets this year. She chose the whole first round of the South and West by herself (granted, she almost always went for the second option - thus correctly picking Lehigh over Duke). But then decided she was bored and said, "Um....I think that's enough." We went with chalk for the rest of her picks and now she's 12th of 15. Better luck next year.

*One more story without an accompanying picture (I won't be writing any "How-to Blog" articles anytime soon): We say prayers with Brooke every night before bed as well as before many of our family meals. We always give her the option of praying, but usually she just lists the people that she wants to pray for (usually whoever we've seen recently or been talking about). Yesterday she twice opted to pray. We heard, "Dear Jesus," then some mumbling, "safe," some mumbling, "healthy," mumbling, and "In Jesus' name, Amen!" It was precious and adorable and brought me pretty close to tears...but so does everything these days. All that to say that we're lucky to have such a special little girl.

Spring!

Like most of the country, we've had AMAZING weather the last week or so and are trying to take every opportunity to enjoy it.



That's meant lots of trips to the park, zoo, and arboretum with friends, as well as lots of time playing in the backyard and with friends in the neighborhood.


I'm trying to soak up every minute that I have left of it being just me and my girl (& Matt, of course)...even when those minutes include having her scream at me for taking her picture.



Happy Spring!

Big Girl Bed

After waiting for a month, we finally got the toddler bed that we'd ordered for Brooke and two weeks ago took the plunge and moved her into her new room with her new bed.


It's really gone as well as we could've hoped. Our biggest issues were her being sad/scared about her new room ("I want my crib!") and a little "hands-down-the-dirty-diaper" episode loveliness that lasted a few days.

*Apologies for the horrible photo quality.*

She's only gotten out of bed one morning, and then she looked at books until we came to get her. Otherwise, she sings or talks to herself until she falls asleep or we come get her. We realize that in some areas, she's really making things too easy for us and setting the bar high for any future siblings.

Classic

These photos are a classic example of the difference between Brooke's personality and her cousin's, which in my opinion, are quite similar to my personality and my brother's.


Krissi and the kids came up for her future sister-in-law's bridal shower last weekend and we went to visit them at their hotel. While she did get in the water for a little while, and even tried Lexi's water wings, Brooke was content to cheer Lexi on as she jumped and swam fearlessly among the "big kids."



I'm looking forward to Lexi pushing Brooke to be more daring as they grow, while also holding out hope that the daringness won't lead to any unnecessary hospital visits.


I didn't get any photos of Luke on this visit, but as you can imagine, he was grinning and laughing at the girls the whole time.

Dr. Brooke

We went to Matt's YMCA basketball game last weekend and he had a nasty fall/got slammed down but still charged with the foul. He and I were talking about it on the way back and when we got home, Brooke ran to get her doctor kit (thanks, Auntie Di!) and her Boo Boo Bunny for him.




As she gets older, I'm seeing more and more tenderness and compassion for others from her. She watched the beginning of "The Lion King" a few weeks ago and started crying when the baboon (?) took Simba from his parents to present him to all the other animals. She was worried that he wasn't with his mommy and daddy. She was also really worried about a car that was being loaded onto a tow truck and asked if it was sick. I pray that her heart stays soft as she grows. It doesn't necessarily have to be my style of cry-at-commercials-and-and-greeting-cards softness, but softness nonetheless.

When Daddy's Away...

Matt's been out of town quite a bit the past couple of weeks so Brooke and I have had to keep him updated through phone photos. I apologize that these aren't the highest quality, but I'll take what I can get these days. Also, in case you can't tell, she's really only into smiling when she can see herself.

Shopping with me at Petco.

She tripped and bumped her head. A band-aid made everything better.

Good night! (A little aggressive on the flash, I guess.) I love her curls in this one.

Lunch time! PB&J is her new go-to.

"I'm going to check my email." - literally what she said as she climbed into the chair. Sorry about the disgusting mess that is our desk. I'm putting off organizing it until we order the new desk with lots of storage.

Now I Know My ABC's

Brooke has recently rediscovered her nesting blocks and was really excited when I pointed out to her the letters that were on the side. This is what she spent a fair amount of Friday night doing: