Four Months Old

Our baby girl is four months old today. Parenting plays a strange trick on your perspective of time. In some ways, it can really drag things out (i.e. "When WILL she start to take a bottle? We've been working on this forever!"). But in other ways, it speeds things up at a breakneck pace. I already find myself battling between wanting to slow the clock down and treasure each day versus waiting excitedly for her next milestone.



In these four short months that we've been blessed with Brooke's presence, we've already learned so much about her. We know that she's a GREAT sleeper and that a surefire sign that she's fading is when she starts to suck on her right forearm. We also know that she almost never succumbs to sleep without some kind of fight. Sometimes it's a wail, other times a couple of whimpers. We know that she already likes to "talk" - and loudly. We know that she's good with her hands, and that anything she can get her hands on inevitably ends up in her mouth. We know that we're in for at least one explosive diaper and subsequent outfit change per day. We know that kissing noises and sticking our tongues out delight her and that "Five Little Monkeys" has an uncanny ability to calm her down and even make her smile mid-fit. We know that she still likes to cuddle on our chests for her naps and that we want to treasure this as long as it will last.



But there's also still so much we don't know about her. What color will her eyes (and hair, for that matter, now that it's falling out) be? What will her voice sound like? Will she like sports, or music, or art (Matt's already bracing himself for the latter two)? Will she have her mom's coordination and her dad's rhythm (or lack therof)? Will she be outgoing or shy? Impulsive or analytical? There's so much we don't know, and so much that we can't wait to find out.



Despite all those uncertainties (and all the times that we're going to screw up), the most important thing that we want her to know as she grows up is how much she is loved and delighted in - not just by her parents, but by the rest of her family and our friends. And that even though the delight that we take in her and the love that we have for her is so unconditional and overwhelming that thinking about it brings me to tears without fail , it pales in comparison to the unconditional and overwhelming love and delight that God has for her. If she knows nothing else in life, we pray that it's that single truth.



We are so thankful for this little girl and the privilege that we have of being able to take part in her life as she grows.

"Besties"

We were able to get down to St. Louis last weekend to visit my family. We spent a lot of time with my brother and sister-in-law, Tim and Krissi, and my cousin and her husband, Amy and Blake. Even better than those four, we got to spend time with my nieces, Alexis and Mati (Mati is probably technically my 2nd or 3rd cousin, but saying "niece" takes a lot less explanation). Alexis is arguably the cutest and smartest 19 month-old around and Mati is also ridiculously cute, as well as sweet and easygoing. Alexis is about 15 months older than Brooke and Mati is about 2 months older than her, so if we have anything to say about it, these two are bound to be Brooke's "besties". They've been around since the day she came home from the hospital:



And here's a picture from last weekend:


They're all getting so big, so fast! We really love spending time with our family and are blessed that they're also some of our closest friends.

Finally, here's a picture of Brooke waking up from a nap. The girl must have some great dreams, because she wakes up happier than anyone I know. She definitely does not get that from her Daddy!


But remember that post about her "frowny face"? Apparently she DOES get that from her Daddy:

Born Into It

Matt and I come from pretty polar opposite backgrounds when it comes to football. I have never attended a school that had a football team (high school or college) and my own city didn't even have a football team for most of my life. Matt, on the other hand, has always been a huge Bears fan. Brooke was sporting her Bears outfit from Uncle Joel at Uncle Scott's Super Bowl party this past weekend. She was a little confused about why the Bears weren't playing, but we told her to get used to it.

Adding to Matt's obsession, his high school football team won a couple of state championships while he was there - he was the QB, naturally. Matt has spent the last 2 years volunteer coaching QB's at his alma mater, Wheaton Warrenville South (Go Tigers!). This is Brooke at a basketball game sporting her first Tiger jersey.

The Tigers won the state championship again this past year in a 31-24 double-overtime thriller, while 4-week-old Brooke and I watched from home. Matt recently took part in a photo shoot complete with sweet orange and black tuxes. We wanted to get a picture of him and Brooke and unfortunately she was already in her PJ's due to a messy diaper incident. The girl can poop with the best of them, but we can get into that another time. Another thing I like about this picture is that she has her fingers in her mouth, which is pretty much her favorite thing to do lately.

Finally, I wanted to post a picture of our dog, Ozzie. He's a great dog (although he can be quite a spaz) and has dealt relatively well with going from being the center of my world to second banana. Someday, maybe he'll get a post all his own.

Drama Queen

It's been really fun to see more of Brooke's personality emerge as she gets older and more aware of things. Like her dad, she can be a bit strong-willed at times (it's taken a LOT of convincing to get her to take a bottle and she'll still fight it a bit). She's also pretty easy to make smile, like her mom. (This first picture was taken by our friend, Jeff, almost 2 months ago, but it's one of the best smiling pictures we have of her.)

One of the cutest things about her personality is this pout. It gives us approximately a 3 second warning pretty much anytime she's about to cry. Sometimes, she can be persuaded not to lose it. Other times, it's a lost cause. Either way, she's getting practice for manipulating daddy in the years to come!

Little Traveler

Since she's been born, Brooke's already been to Florida twice (once for a family trip and once for a work trip), St. Louis twice, the lovely town of Galena, IL, and a couple of other random cities in Illinois. So far, she's been a great traveler (we've been warned this is likely to change). Car rides are great, and on three of our four flights, the people in the seats ahead of us commented that they didn't even know a baby was sitting behind them. The fourth flight - not so much (in our defense, the flight was late arriving and taking off and timing is everything with 3 month-olds). The first photo is of her in the pool this past trip (about 12 weeks old). She's looking a little unimpressed. The second photo below is of Brooke's first experience "in" the pool at about 8 weeks old - clearly unimpressed. Don't worry, her mom will be sure to instill in her the value of sun, warmth, and water! (I told you I had technology issues - I can't figure out how to add text after I've put in a picture!)

First Post?

Anyone who knows me knows that technology is one of my biggest weaknesses (that and balance). However, we live far from many of our family and friends and also want a way to document some of the moments in our new daughter's life, both mundane and momentous.

For this reason, I'm jumping on the bandwagon and starting a blog. I'm not setting lofty goals for myself. I won't have pictures of cute crafts that I make and will probably not be very insightful most of the time. I'm just shooting for a weekly update and picture.



I'll start with one of my favorite pictures of Brooke. This was taken a few weeks ago when we were in Florida with Matt's family. She turned 12 weeks old yesterday. It's such a cliche, but I can't believe how quickly she seems to be growing up.