Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Brooke and I went to St. Louis for Labor Day weekend and I did a pathetic job of capturing our visit. We went for my "pseudo-niece", Mati's, birthday party and Brooke slept through it and I took zero photos.

On our last day, I took Brooke for a laundry basket ride and she played with Grandma Gigi.


If I ever have aspirations of designing vacation pamphlets, I don't think I'll put this entry on my resume.

*Edit - now that I'm back at work, it seems to be easiest for me to do a blog-entry dump about once a week. So for those of you who like to check daily, I'll suggest just reading an entry every couple of days.*

Back to School

School started last week, so I went back to working half-time. I'm really thankful that I not only have a job that I really love (I'll give OT a little shout-out here), but we also have Grammie who's able to watch Brooke most of the time when I'm at work.


These photos and this video have nothing to do with my going back to work, but I mentioned that Brooke is really into her stacking cups lately. What's funny is that she's more excited by our building the tower than knocking it over.

10 Months

What to say about Brooke at 10 months? It continues to be so fun to see her develop as a little person. She LOVES her food and is actually quite self-sufficient at meals now - except that after taking a drink from the sippy cup she throws it over the side of her chair. EVERY TIME. She now says, "Num-Num" to indicate wanting food or drink (which we find extra funny as Lexi did the same thing). There are times that I would swear she says "Dada" deliberately, but there are also times that I'm convinced I'm giving her WAY too much credit.


She's now mobile enough to be dangerous. No more leaving her on the couch or bed unattended. She's also started sleeping on her tummy sometimes, which she never used to do. Her favorite book is "Where is Baby's Belly Button?" and she's really excited by her stacking cups. She always giggles when daddy throws her up in the air and she loves walks, bath time and cuddling. I keep forgetting to mention that her blocked tear duct cleared up about three weeks ago, which we were very happy about.

She's the light of our lives and we're thankful everyday for her!

And Now, a Word from Our Sponsors...

The football season officially began a few weeks ago, but the Tigers had their first game last Friday. Even though Brooke didn't attend, she dressed up in her orange as a sign of solidarity.


This is Matt..... This paragraph was originally butchered by Jaimie. She wanted me to contribute, so I'm doing it. I also thought I'd post some links, although most of the girls that read this probably aren't all that interested! I guess the way to get me involved in posting is by making errors regarding Wheaton Warrenville South Football.

This is Matt's third year coaching the QB's there and even though I give him trouble for it, I'm really proud of his dedication and how much he pours into the kids there. Did I mention that they won the state championship last year? Did I mention that his QB this year is getting a full ride to University of Illinois? Did I mention they're ranked No.1 in the state of Illinois and No. 37 in the nation? Did I also mention that they're going to be on ESPNU this Friday, September 3 at 4:00? Make him (me) happy by tuning in. Then I guess I also forgot to mention that we're selling advertising space on Matt's shirt that day. (Since he's only a volunteer coach, we're looking for some ways for this to pull in a little extra cash.)

As you can imagine, this headband no longer fits Brooke's head.

Told You!

Here's Brooke hanging out in her favorite new chair reading her favorite new book. And this wasn't staged at all.

Trick and Treat

The other day, I was eating a nectarine and letting Brooke take nibbles of it. I knew she was enjoying it, but didn't know quite how much until she started crying when I went to throw it away. I decided that then was as good a time as any to try her little fruit-in-the-mesh-holder thing. I put a chunk of nectarine in it and she munched on it for about 10 minutes until it was virtually all gone. That's my girl! I got a video of it because she was being so vocal in her enjoyment. This video also shows her new trick of "sharing" her food -this time with Ozzie. (Sorry for my obnoxious baby voice. I really don't realize when I'm doing it.)

Statement Piece

Since before Brooke was born, I've had a gift certificate for The Stork's Cradle, a very cute (but also somewhat impractical) boutique in downtown Wheaton. We stopped by there yesterday and found this kiddie-sized chair. I love it and Brooke seems to, too.


Ozzie isn't so sure, though. Not sure what this chair has been through but he cannot stop sniffing it.

I'm not a big fan of decorating (I hate it, actually), but if we ever sell our house and I have to decorate a new room for Brooke, I think I'm going to design it around this chair.


I love that I can picture her sitting in it for the next few years, just chilling and reading a book. Plus, her future sisters will be able to use it, too - right, Matt?