Christmas dress up

While I assume she'll grow to love it, dress up isn't Brooklyn's favorite pasttime just yet. It's a little tedius for her liking. An unecessary interruption to her playtime. But it's Christmastime & irresistible for her mom. I hope she understands some day...

Her school hosted a birthday party for Jesus on Thursday. She signed up to bring the cupcakes and wore her red ruffle skirt for the occassion.

We've made 5 attempts to see Santa now. She's dressed up each day, only to either have an interruption in our schedule or a line of kids holding us back. So we killed some time ooh-ing and aah-ing over the Bass Pro Shop's sites. It's a pretty happening place, but I still don't understand what attracts hundreds of people here every day. Not sure I'll ever get it...I can think of many other places I'd rather be!

We entered the Rhema parking lot right as Brooklyn's eyes were getting heavy last night. But as soon as she was lifted from her car seat, her eyes lit up at the beautiful sight! It was much more entertaining this year than last (when she was but 6 weeks old!).

And this is just a bonus...her Lil Cupcake Apron & Chef's hat!  :)

Gymnast in the making

Brooklyn's been developing her gymnast skills since August by attending classes once a week at The Little Gym.

After school every Tuesday, we head to gymnastics for 45 minutes of pure fun! Daddy came to check her out today, and he snapped some pretty good photos.

Balance Beam Skills

Sometimes the boys distract her and she turns into a little flirt...

This is also where she's mastered her climbing skills. She's pretty fearless on these obstacles!

The 'Skill of Focus' for today was for her to walk across the balance beam on her hands, and do a somersault at the end of the beam. Below is a snapshot of her reaction..."whoa! Mom! Dad! I did it!!!"

 

Watch out, Alicia Sacramone...Brooklyn's coming after your gold! :)



Playtime

Brooklyn is inventing new ways of playing with things. For example, her dog has become a balance beam (such a focused gymnast!):

And instead of playing music on her music table, she climbs on it!

 She uses her dollhouse treetop as a hat...

...sometimes it gets slippery and falls to the side...

"Uh oh! Where'd your hat go, Brooklyn?!"

(This keeps her busy for several minutes, at least!) 

And water bottles: They're for playing, not for drinking, you silly adults!

The love for her puppy hasn't dwindled at all. He gets big puppy hugs every day!

 



Rock-a-bye, baby

My lullaby list is limited to say the least. A friend recently asked me if I sang to Brooklyn when she was newborn. My friend didn't want to deprive her new daughter of anything; singing included. But she was in the same boat as me, with a limited lullaby vocab. I fessed up that no, I don't sing to my baby regularly. And if I do sing, I don't do it in front of an audience that speaks the English language because the homemade rhymes and lyrics are an embarrassment!  But I told her that even a mom without a lullaby can be a good rocker! I love to rock Brooklyn in my lap. When she's cuddled up against my chest, blankie and all...these are the memories that will be cherished forever. Forget the seemingly endless, exhausting hours of cries, tears and fears that motherhood duties necessitate. It's nights like tonight when I hear whimpers coming from the monitor, and while I know she's okay, I just want to go check on her, hoping that she needs to be held. And even though 9 times out of 10 she doesn't need to be held or rocked, I sometimes choose to pick her up anyway. And tonight, as I stood in her room rocking her back and forth in my arms, I felt the baby squirm around and I realized: I'm rocking both my babies goodnight.  This of course, brought tears to my eyes, thanking the Lord for these blessings in life.

Metabolism envy?

For memory's sake, I have to post something about Brooklyn's eating habits. Some people don't believe me when I tell them how much she eats! She's an endless pit, I tell you!  Her diet today consisted of:

Breakfast
1+ cup mixed fruit
1 toasted (dry) waffle
1 scrambled egg
5 oz milk

Morning snack
Graham crackers

Lunch
4 BBQ Vienna Sausage 'hot dogs'
1 cup carrots
Ice water

Afternoon snack
A grilled cheese sandwich from Sonic (she ate the whole sandwich!!)
3 cookies
4 oz milk
(She was begging for more, but that's all I had!)

And now I'm preparing her dinner of
1+ cup green beans
Lasagna

She eats like an adult, & weighs less than 23 pounds. Look at her skinny little self! She's almost got a smirk on her face..."na-na-na-a-boo-boo", she says...

Yes, I'm jealous. I had a fried egg on toast for b'fast, a microwaved bowl of noodles for lunch, and a salad & a serving of lasagna for dinner. No morning snack. No afternoon snack. Oh no. Don't worry; I'm not going to post a picture of me in the bath tub. Guess this serves as another reminder that life's still not fair, as my Papa used to tell us...

Thanksgiving recap

We started the holiday weekend at Great Grandma Helen's house on Thursday, where Brooklyn played for hours with all of her second cousins, great aunts, uncles, and grandparents,

before crashing on Auntie Annettie for a little power nap...

Then the 3 of us rushed to Utica Square for their Lights On event, where we bundled up to stay warm in the freezing cold, and waited for Santa to arrive and turn the lights ON!

Friday morning was like Groundhog Day at our house...we woke up, cleaned house, cooked a side dish and loaded into the car with growling tummies for Thanksgiving...Round 2! We headed south to Beggs for a meal with my family before continuing on south to Texas to see my cousin and her family. Here are some pics from our TX visit.

Brooke & Brooklyn

Rockin cousins

Musical chairs at Gymboree

Homemade Double Stroller!

Chillaxin

While uploading my pics from the weekend, I realized that I only took pictures of the girls! My cousin Donna & her husband Darin have 3 kids: Conner, 6, Parker, 4, and Brooke, 15 months. I think it's just precious to see Brooke & Brooklyn together, so it seems my camera only snapped in their presence. The 4 of us girls went to lunch and shopping Saturday, while the boys played at Bass Pro Shop. I had such a great time! We continued the segregated party when the boys went to watch the Bedlam game, while Donna & I relaxed in front of a classic chick flick. Such a nice, relaxing weekend. Thank you, Wilson family!

Brooklyn goin for a stroll

 Finally, we ended the weekend with a short visit to McAlester to see Great Grandma & Great Grandpa Byrd:

More cookies, please, Great Grandpa!

Gettin sleepy w Great Grandma


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Brooklyn & Great Grandpa



We had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend...but there's no place like home! Brooklyn clapped as we entered the living room this evening. I think that says it all!

Happy Turkey Day!

Brooklyn wanted to share her artwork with you on this Thanksgiving Day. We all hope everyone has a thankful Turkey Day!

This isn't just a Turkey as anyone could see. I made it with my foot which is a part of me. It comes with lots of love especially to say I hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Love, Brooklyn

Tis the season!

I'm welcoming this season change with wide open arms not only because I love the holidays and all that they bring, but also because it's the last season of this pregnancy! My nose would grow if I said that I enjoy pregnancy. Frankly, we don't get along too well (although I do recognize and am thankful that I've been blessed with uneventful ones). Anyway, I was thrilled for Jackson to bring my decorations down from the attic this year! I cleaned all morning in preparation for the decorating. Then, after her morning nap, Brooklyn & I dug in! Wow, did her eyes light up when those strings of lights were plugged in! She hesitantly reached out to touch them, looking at me for approval. I encouraged her and showed her how I was wrapping them around the garland. Within minutes, she had her hands full with lights and was waving them everywhere. We had a great time!

 

Just a random funny

One really exciting part about Brooklyn turning 1 was that we got to turn her carseat around to face forward: yay! Now we can look back & see her face instead of the back of her carseat. It's so much fun. So on our way to school this morning, she was determined to get her shoes off. Most of the time I can distract her with a toy and she'll forget about the annoying shoes on her feet. But nothing was taking her mind off the mission today. So I gave up the fight on the shoes, and they were off in minutes. (She likes to play with the velcro, and I don't blame her!)  It was when she was tugging at her socks that I got involved again. "No, Brooklyn. Leave your socks on your feet, please," I say as I'm making eye contact with her at a red light. She looks smugly at me, "Sure, Mom. Now turn around and watch the road," I read through those big, mischevious eyes. So I follow her directions and turn around...and position my mirror accordingly!  As soon as she thinks my eyes are off of her, her fingers are on that sock & a grin is plastered on her face as she stares at the back of my head. Seriously?!  She really thinks she's got it figured out! And it is so cute! This was of course impossible not to laugh at! So I start to giggle...which in turn causes her to giggle, and before we know it, we're cracking up laughing at each other.

Now it's no secret that people sometimes change their behavior depending on who they're around. Well, we're beginning to learn just how differently Brooklyn behaves with us, and it's hilarious! While I was sick last weekend, Jackson was stuck caring for both Brooklyn and I. I don't think I picked Brooklyn up for two days straight! It was after all of this one-on-one time with her that he said to me, "she's a lot nicer to me when you're not around!" And I realized "she listens to you a lot better!" And "she doesn't whine with you like she does with me!" To which he responds, "Well I tell her 'no whining'!" And I rebut, "So do I, but she doesn't listen!" Then it dawns on us...she's figuring us out!  We're being manipulated! I can just see our future: Dad says no, and she comes to Mom. What do they say? Something about history repeating itself...?  Uh oh...

Birthdays

My Nona calls me on my birthday every year to relay the story of my birth day. For those of you who don't know, Nona is quite the story teller. She can make the most boring story come to life with her specific details...or when necessary, her embellishments!  She and my dad have what seem to be never-ending memory banks of jokes and stories.  With all this said, she tells the story better than I, but nonetheless...here goes. Snow was in the forecast on this January morning in Cedar Falls, Iowa. So much snow came, in fact, that we were snowed in the hospital for days following my birth. My dad was overseas with the Air Force, so my mom and sister had been living with her parents (Nona & Papa, to us). Just after my birth at 9:27 a.m. (in a birthing chair that my mom swears by), the nurse handed me over to Nona. You may be imagining a serene moment at this time. But oh, no! Nona almost dropped me! Thankfully, a joint effort between she and the nurse saved me from meeting the cold tile floor that morning.  (My future of falling would be saved for my time as a baby on the couch...and as a toddler living with stairs...but those stories will come in another blog!) 

Oddly enough, my birth certificate was filed in Black Hawk County on Feb 9, 1982...the same day my husband was blowing out candles from his third birthday cake hundreds of miles away in Tulsa, OK.  I might also add that he was born on a record-breaking snow day for Tulsa. At 1:19 p.m., to be exact. At Hillcrest Hospital. It would be more than 30 years later, on November 6, 2009 at 9:11 p.m., at Hillcrest Hospital in Tulsa, OK, that we would be meeting our precious baby Brooklyn for the first time. Funny; the details, huh? Coincidence? Or does it elude to the sense of humor that the man upstairs possesses? I like to think the latter. Makes the story better, anyway!

Now the tradition can continue, as we share the story of Brooklyn's birth day with her every year! I sang Happy Birthday to my little girl as soon as I laid eyes on her Saturday morning. I was so excited! What a day we had in store for her! With a guest list exceeding 30 family members, she was scheduled to be the girl of the hour. Arriving to the party in her birthday shirt, 'Princess' titled bloomers, a pink tutu and matching cowboy boots, she was dressed for the part! And boy did she deliver! She was on good behavior, with a pocketful of smiles for her audience. She displayed her walking skills and her affection for puppies to all. And in the end, we left with a truckload of new toys to play with! Here are just a few memories from the day...

A baby doll!

Practicing to be a big sister!

Puppy Love

 Thank you, everyone for coming to the party! And, of course, for all the great gifts, too!

Thanks Mimi & Grandpa for my new wagon!

Thanks Grammy for my jungle park!