Goings On

Brooke

Brooke went to the pediatrician this week to get her 3 year check up. She was model patient, only tearing up briefly during the shots, but quickly recovering and asking for her treat. She's 28 pounds even (10th percentile) and 36 and 3/4" (50th percentile).

She's also a great older sister, who likes to hold Connor for at most 5 seconds at a time. Her main skills are getting him to smile and putting his pacifier back in.

She's also very camera aware...

...and silly.

I did want to put this in writing before I forget about it.
When we put Brooke down for a nap or to sleep for the night, often times she will yell out, "DAD!", right as I close the door. She then says, "Squishy and Lexie sleeping too?". Seems like she sleeps easier knowing that the cats are sleeping too. Sometimes she'll add her friends, or cousins to the question, especially if she has seen them recently. So wherever you are, know that Brooke is sleeping too.

Connor

I'm getting stronger and more aware of my surroundings. If you hold me I promise I will look you in the eyes, give you big smiles and the occasional coo.

Sometimes Mom and Dad are a little slow in getting me the pacifier, so I have to resort to other measures. Thanks for the tip Big Sister!

I like to dress up for church. All the ladies at church loved my smile and my tie shirt.

Or maybe because I'm growing so much, they loved my bulging muscles threatening to break through my onesie. These biceps can't be contained for much longer in these 0-3 month clothes.

Fun, Fun, Fun!!!!!

Happy, happy birthday Brooke!!!!!This past week was spent gearing up for Brooke's big day yesterday. After picking up my dad from the airport, we all headed to Coco's (my cousin, Jonathan) place to swim and have dinner. Brooke loves spending time with Coco and I think the feeling is mutual.Jonathan got Brooke floaties and a tube for her birthday last year and she was ready to go to the pool once we got back from the airport. I haven't put her in swimming lessons yet but she is definitely not afraid of the water. She even went out with just her floaties. We're so glad to have Jonathan live so close to us and hopefully we can convince him that he wants to stay in CO after he's done with pharmacy school.Brooke has also been entertained by Gong Gong. She needed to make sure he was just as comfortable as she was.

She also aided in rescuing a baby bunny from our window well. Troy had been gone for a few days at Scout camp and the little guy had been stuck for a few days so I had my dad help get him out.To finish off the week, we began Brooke's birthday festivities Saturday since we have church at 8 am.I caved and bought Brooke her very first girly, girly doll (although I don't think Tinkerbell is quite as girly as some other dolls). I think Connor was a little jealous with all the present opening.We continued the celebration Sunday morning with balloons and a rush out the door to get to church on time.Coco came by in the afternoon and indulged Brooke a little more.To kick off the end of the day, we had a wonderfully delicious dinner courtesy of my mom and cake and ice cream with friends.
Brooke is a fantastic girl and we love having her in our family.

2 Months!!!

2 months have gone by in a flash around here. The kids (I can say kids, plural. Weird) have been having fun with Popo (my mom) here. With the help of my mom, Brooke's been working in her preschool workbooks. In just a short time, she has finally started to recognize her letters, some numbers, and her shapes.

We been teaching Brooke how to properly buckle a baby in the carseat. She hasn't quite worked her way up to an actual baby but she's off to a great start. More times than not the buckles are buckled and snug without anything in there.

Connor had his 2 month appointment last week. His stats were:

Weight: 12 lbs. 5 oz. (75%)

Length: 23" (50%)

Head: 15 3/4" (75%)

At 2 months he's starting to:Sleep through the night. His last feeding is at 9 at night and he'll go until 5:30ish. He's been doing that for the past few nights so I'm thinking that this may be the new norm. We also just moved him into his own crib and I think we've all been sleeping better because of it.

He loves to coo and smile at anyone that will talk, coo, and smile at him. He definitely loves having Popo around.

He has learned to give many different facial expressions. Look at me, I'm cute and innocent.

I'm bored.

I can flirt with the best of them.

Oh, how I wish that the paparazzi would just leave me alone.

We went to a Rockies game Friday night. It took Connor a bit to get used to the sounds, smells, and sights but once he did he enjoyed the game.

The rest of us enjoyed the game as well especially because the Rockies won and we didn't get rained on. There was lightning and thunder and we could see the dark clouds circling us but luckily no drops of rain.

These past 2 months have been great. Connor is a great baby. He's super chill and easy going which makes everything else seem more manageable. :)

Man-made and natural fireworks

After the big fireworks last Saturday, Brooke was a little more excited for the sparklers we did on July 4th.

You can tell that we almost forgot to do them until it was bedtime...

After Brooke went down, Connor settled in for a high brow fireworks display over the nation's capitol.

Partially to help her appreciate how close she is to turning 3 and partially as an incentive to be good during the day, we made Brooke a paper chain to count down to her birthday.

Tummy time.

This came in the mail the other day, and she was so excited to get her own 'magazine'. She's been looking at it every day. Hope you enjoy the catalog Brooke, because that is the closest you are getting.

We visited Robyn and Aaron yesterday and this cloud formation was sitting outside of downtown Denver. It was crazy. I've never seen anything like it.

In case you're wondering, we drove right through that, and it was every bit as nasty as it looks. I think Tracie's water post last week invited the rain this week. A lot of rain. Denver has gotten 4 inches of rain so far in July, most in the last week. Good for the grass.

Connor and London are only 5 weeks apart, but Connor is a touch bit bigger.

Never to early to start working on your moves...

Atta boy!

Brooke and Taylor are great big sisters, but you've got to be quick on the camera.

Water, Water, Some Fireworks, and more Water

Thanks to the holiday weekend we were able to have some family come out for Connor's blessing. Troy gave a beautiful blessing and since Troy's mom knows shorthand we were able to have it recorded and saved.

Prior to Sunday, Brooke has had a blast with all her cousins. Will and his family arrived Wednesday evening and my mom followed Thursday morning. That afternoon we took all the kiddies to Chuck E. Cheese's. Brooke is a big fan of the place and loved the feeding the dog game. We walked away with a matchbox car, bracelets, rubber dinosaurs, candy, and very happy kids.

Friday, we headed to Pirates' Cove. It is a great place to take little kids and the kids were all thorougly spent after a day in the sun.

While the older kids played, Connor and Elena chilled in the sun.

By far, Brooke's favorite place to be was in the lazy river.

When we were leaving, we told Brooke that she should take a nap in the car. She replied saying that she only sleeps in her bed. Well, we weren't in the car for more than 5 minutes and she was out. She didn't even stir when we set her on the couch.

Saturday, we let the kids play out in the backyard. Troy did a wonderful job supervising. Can't you tell.

The kids were soaked after playing so they had to change before our annual cul-de-sac 4th of July party.

Since church is at 8, we thought we'd start the sparklers early and put the kids into bed afterwards. That didn't happen. They stayed up well past their bedtime...10:30.

Brooke wasn't a fan of the sparklers but eventually warmed up to them.

Nor was she a fan of the fireworks. She sat with her hands covering her ears for pretty all of it.

But she enjoyed watching them and told me to keep taking pictures of them.

This morning, Brooke was all on her own in keeping herself entertained.

Until she convinced Troy to come and join her.

Luckily she has Troy to teach her the art of drying off in the sun.

We had a fabulous weekend spending time with family. Now if only we could get Brooke back on her schedule...