6 Month Stats

Head: 16 7/8 in. (50-75%)

Height: 26 3/4 " (75-90%)

Weight: 14 lbs. 10 oz. (25-50%)

k./'''b,.hc m4- Brooke really wanted to type and this is what she came up with.

Her check-up went well and she was champ during her 3 shots. I'm still clueless on where she's getting her height from but hey, I'm not complaining. Now for the highlights of what she's up to:

-she can roll over from back to front but she hates to roll from front to back. She forgets that she can do it and ends up spreading her arms out and rocking on her belly. Most of the time it leads to a tantrum.

-she started eating solids at 4 months. She likes oatmeal, green beans, and applesauce. Not so much on peas, bananas, peaches,and plain rice cereal.

-she's starting to sit up although she prefers to stand. She can sit for a good couple of seconds then she tips over.

-she has found her tongue and loves to stick it out all the time. Makes it difficult to feed her sometimes.-she's sleeping through the night which is fabulous for Troy and I.

-she loves to play with her pacifiers and yank them out of her mouth with a popping sound.

-she loves to grab anything and everything within her reach. She especially loves to eat paper.
(sorry no pics of that)

All in all she's a great kid and we love her to pieces.

Here's a little bonus of her talking while trying to be fed.

Gung Hay Fat Chow

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!!!! My mom would be proud. I hosted a Chinese New Year dinner last night and we had some of our friends from church come over. I made egg drop soup (I know, so authentic), chow mein, potstickers, and almond jello. I do have to say everything was muy delicioso. Troy helped wrap the potstickers and he even crimped the edges. I never do but since we were having guests over, I didn't want to be outdone by my white husband. Thanks Troy!!!!! The other highlight of the week was car hunting. Troy had Monday off from work so we went out to lunch to celebrate his passing his exam. We even had Brooke sit in a highchair. I think she liked not being stuck in a carseat. Like Troy mentioned in the post before, we checked out and test drove the Honda Pilot. Saturday, we went to the GMC/Chevy dealership and test drove the Acadia and Traverse. I'm still a big fan of the Honda Pilot and I think we're leaning more towards that way. Stay tuned. Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll have some pictures.

Making silly faces with Daddy

Just hanging out

I forgot to mention the fabulous weather we had last week. Monday, we were in the 60s. It was windy so it made it slightly chilly but Tuesday and Wednesday were absolutely gorgeous. I believe we broke the record high Wednesday with 71. I wore capris and Brooke was able to wear one of her spring dresses. It was a great couple days but a cruel teaser to spring since it's still January. Currently we are sitting at a whopping 14 degrees. I am so ready for sunshine so we can go on walks. Yesterday we woke up to frost on all the plants and trees. It stayed cold enough all day for it to last. It was pretty to look at but I wish the sun had decided to show it's face.

Brooke loves the beanie uncle Brett made her.

As for Brooke, she hit her 6 month mark on Saturday. Can you believe it?!?!?!?! She's 6 months. She has her Dr. appt tomorrow so I'll post her stats then but to give you a tidbit of what she's doing now, here's a video of her playing peek-a-boo with Troy.

I have a dream...

First, happy Martin Luther King Day to all! He was a great man, who did a lot for this country, without whom a day like tomorrow may not be possible. I'd also like to personally thank him for allowing me to have the day off today!!
Saturday night, we had dinner with Stephanie and Taylor, and it was a lot of fun. It's always good to get out of the house, spend time with other adults, have people make food for you... :)
Speaking of food, Brooke continues to eat well, and stick out her toungue when she is done.

Here she is getting bundled up for a walk to the neighbor's house. This isn't really necessary during the day, since it has been in the mid 60s for the past couple of days, and will be for the next few days. I think the snow and cold gods are just waiting to release their fury!

Our cute little sleeper and her sleeping bear blanket.

What happens when you flick a nipple out of your mouth with warm milk inside? It gets all over you nose!

Tracie and I are off to Old Chicago for lunch, and then on to some car dealerships to get some ideas about how we can stimulate this economy ourselves!

Exam Results

So, exam results came out today, and I passed! Now I can add a ,EA to the end of my email signature! Hooray!! Thanks to all for your support, especially you Tracie. Is it really possible that we may only have one more year of this? Let's celebrate with lunch on Monday, you get to pick the place!

I'm a Big Kid Now

Okay, maybe not a big kid but Brooke is growing up. We bought her a high chair this last week since the bouncer proved to not really hold her in. She seems to like it and I love the fact that I can pin her arms down with the tray so she can't swat at the spoon when I'm trying to feed her. She has also started sleeping all the way through the night as in from 8-7. Not too shabby. She's close to rolling over too but hasn't quite figured out how to get over the arm that's underneath her. I expect that she'll be able to figure it out by the end of the month. Other than that she's still the same easy-going kid and we love her to pieces. So much so that we could eat her cheeks.

This is the face she likes to make when she doesn't want to open her mouth. What a stinker.

We had guests this weekend. It was my old friend, Elise and her family. We didn't get any shots with all of us but we did of the kiddies playing together. I think Brooke liked the entertainment.

Dream

Have you ever had a dream so vivid, you thought it was real? Last night, I was asleep on my back, and I was dreaming that I was throwing Brooke up in the air. On one of the throws, Brooke drifted away from me to the right. So naturally I leaned forward and to the right and made an effort to grab her... and then, contact... with the sides of Tracie's head! I made a couple efforts to grab Brooke before I fully woke up, and realized that I had scared the crap out of Tracie. Sorry babe! At least I wasn't snoring!!!

As promised, video evidence

Happy New Year!!

Well, this has been a weird week from a timing standpoint, since Wednesday and Thursday both seemed like Saturday, and Friday seemed like Monday. Nontheless, it was a nice week to ease back into the routine after the big vacation.

Lexie has enjoyed having us back, especially since we brought home a new fuzzy blanket for her to sleep on.

We celbrated New Year's with some other friends at the Steele's home. The food was good (it always is) and the company was fun. We were going to leave at 10, but then Brooke fell asleep in her car seat. We ended up staying until 11, and by the time we got home, got everthing settled and had just started to doze off, our neighbors set off a nice fireworks display. Luckily it was visible out our bedroom windows, so we watched that and immediately fell back asleep.

On Saturday, we woke up to these ominous looking clouds. The sun was definitely deceiving and the 60 degree temperatures from Friday were quickly a thing of the past. In fact, the high on Saturday was 49, which happened at midnight. We ended up with some snow on Saturday and probably ended up with 3 or 4 inches by the end of the day.

On Saturday morning Brooke woke up with a little bit of a cold and a stuffy nose. She has handled it pretty well for the most part. It was easier to feed her food, since she had to open her mouth to breath. Yet today, she figured out how to breath with her mouth just barely open, making it harder to get the food in. Add that to her talents of smiling with her mouth barely open, laughing with her mouth barely open, and crying with her mouth open, and she has a full repetoire of skills to make feeding her difficult.

Brooke is starting to fill up her bathtub. Once she is able to sit up, we will transfer her to the big tub.

For perspective, here is a shot from 5 months ago.

Christmas in a Nutshell

Our Christmas vacation started as expected...weather caused delays delaying our flight that was supposed to leave at 6 pm, then 7:40, then 10, 11:15, 12:30, then finally at 1:30 am. Luckily Brooke did really well. She is now at a point where she won't fall asleep in our arms and she loves to see what's going on so during the 9 hours we were at the airport she took 2 naps about 20-30 min. long each. By the time we made it out of the airport in Salt Lake she was completely zonked out. Saturday was a very chill day. We relaxed and slepted in then headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Burt's to watch the Las Vegas Bowl. Monday was the Ware Family Christmas party. It was fun seeing all of Troy's relatives that we hadn't seen since 2005. There were a ton of little kiddies running around. Tuesday we met up with some old friends for dinner. (Thanks Ashley, Steve, and Kalli!!!!) Wednesday was Christmas Eve and we opened presents from the Troy's family. We were even able to include Jer and Kenz via the webcam. That was pretty cool. Christmas day we another lazy and relaxing day. We opened presents from Santa then spent the rest of the day playing games or duets on the piano. Friday was the Burt Family Christmas party. And Saturday we met up with my family. Thankfully our flight back Sunday went smoothly and we came home to Lexie ready for some lovin'. We didn't take as many pictures as we wanted but here are some of the highlights.

We had Christmas at home the Friday before we left. Brooke liked her bow the most.

Troy did a photo shoot of Brooke with her new beanie Uncle Brett made. I think we have a future model on our hands.Ware family tradition - making sugar cookies and frosting them for Santa on Christmas Eve.


Brooke hit her 5 month mark Christmas Eve to and got to celebrate by eating peaches and green beans for the first time.Kristin and I learning how to dance to Wake Me Up by Wham. We were a sight to see. Luckily only Will and Troy were there.

Some Funny Things

Brooke has started to really enjoy her jumper. She can actually get pretty good air. It also helps that we have something underneath her feet. She's still about 1/2 in. shy of touching the floor. She has been somewhat lazy in there too. I found her all scrunched up resting her head in the seat and her legs curled up underneath her.

The other night I was feeding her rice cereal in her bouncer. She was super tired by the time she was done.

Lastly, I gave her the green pacifier that everyone gets from the hospital. I guess there's another meaning to having a green thumb!!!!

Ummm, it's really cold outside

So, all that warm weather we had in November was not excess warmth for the year, turns out we were just borrowing warmth from December. We are looking at overnight lows tonight of -14, but don't worry, we should warm up to 7 for a high tomorrow!

We got Brooke all warm to head to choir practice. Notice how cool she is with her collar popped! Props to Shane for getting the hat back to us in time for the cold weather.

We've had our tree up, and for the most part, Lexie has been content knocking an ornament or two off of low hanging branches (The proverbial low-hanging fruit). Well, now that there are presents under the tree, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities. This is how we found her this afternoon.

On the cuteness front, Brooke has discovered her feet and toes. She grabs them at any opportunity. She had tights on at church today, and proceeded to soak her left foot as she sucked her toes wet.

We must be getting close to Christmas, because it seems like we have some planned activity every night. And on nights were we don't have anything planned, like Thursday when Tracie brought cookies to the office and we went to Spaghetti Factory for dinner, the nights still seem to fly by (maybe because we spent forever getting home, I mean how much traffic can there be on a Thursday night at 7, when the weather isn't bad?). We are looking forward to the vacation starting on Friday, and hopefully Brooke will be ok on the flights and sleep well while we are there. At least we know that she will be a help around my parent's house while we are there!

Christmas Time is Here

Last week went by quickly. Monday we bought our Christmas tree. We decided to go with an artificial one since we would be gone for so long during Christmas. We got a great deal and I think it looks pretty real to me. We finally hung the ornaments on Saturday. Troy gave Lexie 2 days before she knocked some off. I gave her less than 1. Troy won. This morning I found a few strewn on the ground.

The week of Thanksgiving, Brooke started rice cereal. It's been going so so. She's really good at pushing the food out so I don't know how much she is swallowing. Here's a before and after shot. She has been doing a bit more tummy time. We haven't been really good about doing it and we want her to learn how to roll over completely. She's not a huge fan of it but hopefully she'll learn quickly.

She also has found her feet and loves playing with them. She even likes to suck on her feet!!!!

We bought her a beanie since the weather is getting pretty chilly here. We're looking forward to the ones that Grandma Ware and Brett are making her.

Last but not least, I had finished feeding Brooke and she had fallen asleep. Lexie didn't want to be left out so she decided to join us. Brooke wasn't a fan.

Saturday, Troy surprised me with a Day in Paris. I woke up to breakfast croissants and mmmm they were delicious. We put up the rest of the lights and ornaments on the tree then played a little Wii Fit. Apparently, Troy and I are not well balanced and the game asked us if we trip a lot. We had French Bread pizza but as a amuse bouche. They were also yummy. We headed to the mall to do a little Christmas shopping and people watching. Afterwards, Troy made me a delicious dinner of Cordon Bleu, vegetables du jour (as he liked to call it. It was zucchini), roasted potatoes, and for dessert...pumpkin souffle. We then went to a friends house to "play games." The guys watched the Missouri/Oklahoma game and the girls chatted. It was a ton of fun. Even Brooke decided that she would stay up way past her bedtime to socialize too. It was a great week and we're looking forward to spending more time with family next week!!!

Here for your viewing pleasure is Brooke finally getting the hang of her jumper thing.