16 Months

Well, I just realized B is over 16 monts! I was in Orlando on a girls reunion when she "turned" 16 months old so I guess I forgot! Oops! We have had a lot of fun this June. We had a baby shower for Michelle in Nashville the first weekend, then the second weekend I got to go to Orlando for a girls weekend while Bebe kept Brookie for me. And next weekend is me and Matt's 6th anniversary! I can't beleive how fast time goes by, I think having a kid makes it even faster. Anyway, Brookie has had a really fun June, she is loving the water toys outside because that is the only way we can stand this heat!

Here are a few things about her at 16 months....

- She is a little more pickly or particular on food than she was. She loves fruit and veggies but notices pizza more when we have it! She is doing great drinking milk, she loves her "mi mi" as she calls it. She also loves apple juice watered down in her sippy cup. She loves veggie sticks, dried fruit, and goldfish for snacks and she loves yogurt.

- She is saying a bunch of words but not when we want her too (on camera or in front of other people). She says "mi mi" (milk); "nana" (nanny); go-go; goo-goo; shs (shoes); jsh (juice); bebe (my mom); JJ (her new fav, my aunt's grandma name); apple; baby; mama; dada; outside; she knows what a dog says (woo woo); and a monkey (o,o,e,e)...we are adding words as quickly as she'll pick them up!

- She knows where her nose, mouth, chin, eyes, hair, ears, belly button, feet, and hands are and she loves to point out mommy's!

- She loves to suck her thumb, this has increased a lot since she turned 1. She sucks it when she goes to sleep and sometimes in the car when she's bored. She sucks it anytime she is angry, sad, or mad (after crying).

-Her hair is finally getting long, she doesn't like me to put a bow in it but we are slowly reconciling that battle :)

- She loves Elle and she tries to sit on her all the time, she tried to give Elle a kiss this week and Elle willingly met her with a HUGE dog kiss right on the face, it was hilarious.

- She will kiss mama and dada and sometimes bebe over the phone (facetime), she mostly loves to kiss her books.

-She is obsessed with books still, it is so cute, she will just pick one up and sit by herself and look at the pages. This helps on long car rides (so does the DVD).

- She loves to be tickled and chased through the house which is our usual after dinner routine before her bath.

- She loves her bath, she could stay in there for hours!

- She is really loving soft things like blankets and towels, and she loves pillows. We can spend almost an hour playing on our bed and throwing her on the pillows, she loves them.

- She weighs about 27 - 28 pounds and she is 33 inches tall and wears 18-24 month clothes.

She is a joy most of the time, laughing and loving to play. She plays best when other kids are around, so we try to stay around other kids most of the week if we can. She laughs a lot and LOVES attention. Every day of her life is more and more fun!

Here are a few pics of us playing outside in the pool and sprinkler yesterday!

I guess it's time to admit it..

Well...most people who ever look at this blog already know that I'm pregnant...so I guess I should go ahead and just make it known on the blog...meet "Micro-Spann" as Matt has so hilariously named our second child... This ultrasound was at 12 weeks and it looks to me like its already sucking its thumb!! We have no clue what this baby is. Pregnancy wise, I've felt pretty much the same with maybe a little worse sinuses, so maybe a girl?? I'm secretly (or not so secretly) hoping for either one...haha...a girl b/c I love my sister and I really want Brookie to have a sister...but a boy b/c I love my brother and would equally love for Brookie to have a brother too...so either way we are just thankful. I mean, if its a boy, we do already have a name...so that is super easy...if its a girl we are going to need some major help with a name. I have some names that I am trying to convince myself that I "like"...but I really don't even like those. Either way the child will get a name and we are just thrilled!

I can't believe that Brooklyn is going to be a...

She's excited, although she doesn't really know it yet :) hehe - I think she'll have a lot of fun with a sibling! We are so thankful and realize this is a true gift from God!

A preview of B's wedding day dance

Seriously, how do kids know when you are video taping them? Every time Brooklyn starts doing something cute like saying words or dancing and I get out my phone or the flip, she stops immediately. It is crazy, like she knows what I'm doing, maybe she does, weird. After a LONG time this morning trying to capture her cute little dancing, I finally got a little clip. I hope she and her daddy can copy this on her wedding day! Hilarious!!! I'm blaming Matt for these moves...

Beach Bums

I think if you get slightly depressed the two weeks after being home from a beach vacation then that means it was a good one! :) We had the best time with Brooklyn on the beach. It was so nice that she is down to one nap so we could play all morning then she (and usually us too) would wipe out for an afternoon nap. Here are way too many pics :)

First time toes touching sand...dad is in heaven!
After dinner in Baytowne, Brooklyn was pretty tired! This picture is my favorite, she literally fell asleep during lunch one day. I have heard of kids doing this but thought, "oh my kid would NEVER do that, she HAS to have her bed to fall asleep"...well she proved me wrong! After a bite of turkey she just put her head down in her hands and that was it! Hilarious.

me and Brookie

Beach pics!

So happy

Who doesn't love milk on the beach??? Gross!

Matt's parents were able to come down to see us because they live so close! They brought Gabby and Braden and we had a great time with them on the beach!

B and dad after dinner one night

We decided to burry Braden in the sand and Brooklyn thought she needed to go sit on his tummy!

She loved this pink sand toy that The Collins fam gave to her for her b'day...thanks cousins!

Sandy butt

Loving the water!

Brooklyn with cousins, Gabby and Braden

Family pic after dinner

We had so much fun, 15 months was a great age to take B to the beach! Can't wait to go back next year!

15 Months!

I can't believe I'm actually posting on THE day...Brooklyn turned 15 months today! I don't think I've ever posted on the day...always late...so we'll chalk this up to her taking a good nap right now. We just got back from the beach and oh, how fabulous it was. Don't get me wrong...my back is burned from chasing her around on the beach but it was worth it. She had such a good time. But that's for another post...I'll put a few beach pics on here to be her 15 mo pics and then do another beach post later with more pics...I only took about 800 so I'll have a few to post :).

Brooklyn is doing some funny stuff at 15 months...here goes...

- she is biting our hands when we force her to hold our hands...because she wants to be ON HER OWN...this is obvious in all she does.

- she is trying to run but usually falls down, she takes it pretty good though and tries again.

- she is getting a little more particular on food...she still loves to eat but I've seen her spit a few things out lately (carrots, peaches)

- she loves to be tickled...especially her thunder thighs!

- she loves anything soft right now, she is burrying her head into pillows, blankets, lovies, towels, soft animals, she usually falls right on top of them like she's going to take a nap then giggles, its pretty cute.

- she loves WATER - her bath, the ocean, the pool, a nasty fountain at the botanical gardens (that was today), anything having to do with water she loves

- she likes to drink from a big people cup but usually gets too much and spits it out

- LOVES books - it is ridiculous, I find her sitting on the floor with a book all by herself many times a day

- she is trying to say the following (I think)...juice "oosh"; shoes "shsss"; ma-ma; da-da; nanny "na-na"; pa-pa "gaga"; bebe; baby; go-go; waffle "wa-wa"; milk "mi-mi"; she also tried to say "woof" like a dog after pa-pa last weekend, it was cute.

- she shakes her head no a lot, but I'm not sure she knows its for "no" yet because I don't shake my head, she just does it and then laughs so I think she's just being silly

- she can recognize a lot of her stuffed animals by name

- she takes a good 2 hour nap in the afternoon and still sleeps all night

- she is still getting her last two eye teeth - they are being stubborn and won't come in

- I don't know her height or weight b/c I'm a bad mom and forgot to get her 15 mo apt...so it will be in like a month, oops.

Here is a pic from the beach...at 15 months. We love you B and can't wait to see what you do this month!

Playing Outside

We've been trying to play outside as much as possible in this nice spring weather before summer heat gets us! Here are a few pics of Brooklyn in the back yard, she was cracking us up! Enjoy!

13 and 14 Months...Late of Course

Did I give up blogging for lent? Um no...our computer crashed and so did blogging for a while. We thankfully got it repaired and are up and running again (after a three week no-computer stint). Anyway...here's a post to document what B's doing around 14 months then tons of pictures below it of our trip to Nashville the week before Easter.

Brooklyn is more fun everyday, exploring new things, and learning new things. She is usually very happy (unless she's sick) and has fun playing. Here's some things about Brooklyn at 14 months (and 13 months since I never made that post)...

- she loves to crawl - on EVERYTHING. we find her on top of most of her toys, inside her toy box, on our couch, on our ottoman, on top of her kitchen, on top of her play table, on top of her sand and water table. its crazy how the first thing she thinks of when she sees an item is...how could i get on top of that??? its fun to watch but sometimes a little scary. she pushed her choo choo train over to the coffee table and used it to stand on top of the wooden chest (not really a coffee table) before I could stop her.

- she is a good eater. she loves green beans, potatos, fruit, squash, turkey, cheese...i hope it lasts. she does good with milk and loves juice and water in her sippy cup. she likes to give Elle bites while she eats!

- she probably weighs around 25-26 pounds, doesn't seem to have gained much since her b'day.

- her hair is getting longer and we can get a bow in it but she usually pulls it out quickly.

- she can say "ma-ma", "da-da", "juice" (sounds like oooosh), "baby", "Be-be", "Nanny", "cheese" (sounds like eeeze)

- she knows how to brush her hair if you had her the baby brush

- she loves it when daddy comes home, laughs and usually runs to the door when she hears the garage door go up.

- she is taking one nap in the afternoon, usually 2 hours but sometimes we get lucky and get a 3 hour nap.

- she loves to sit in someone's lap and she backs her little rearend up to you if you are on the floor and plops down with a book in your lap. She has even tried to sit in Elle's lap which was hilarious!

- she is obsessed with books and turning the pages - she could look at books for 30 minutes to an hour straight!

- she is sleeping later in the mornings due to dropping the morning nap (I guess anyway), therefore mommy is sleeping later :)

We couldn't be more blessed with a fun and healthy baby girl, we are so humbly thankful for her!

Here are some pics from Nashville...Bebe wanted to have an egg hunt and my best friend from high school, Michelle was going to be in town the same weekend, so we made the trip up for a few days. It was great seeing Michelle and Chris. They are expecting their first baby in September and Michelle looks great! She is starting to show and its so cute! They are having a baby girl and we can't wait to meet her!

Here's Jesse in the back yard after the egg hunt (these pics are going to be in reverse boo blogger upload).

Levi is chasing a rabit through the yard!

Brooklyn with her basket, she isn't sure what the point is just yet.



All the kids after the hunt (from left to right - Caroline (5), Jesse (3), Christian (7), Levi (3), Brooklyn (1), Avie (8 mos), Peyton (2) and you can't see Benjamin (2) but he's behind someone's leg.

The cute Collins family - minus Uncle Wade, Brad, and Elena

Brookie and me

Brooklyn and Avery

This is a pic of Brookie sleeping, she was knocked out this day - the flash barly woke her up!

Avie came to visit us the weekend before we went to Nashville because Em was throwing a bridal shower in B'ham. Brooklyn decided to show Avie how to ride in the wagon, they had a fun time!