all about Brooklyn

Oh Brooklyn...I don't even know where to start about this girl :)  As I've mentioned before, my brother Mike call her 'fidget' and occasionally it's just 'fidge'.  I don't know why that makes me laugh so much, but it's so true and so HER. 

I finally took her to her 18 month check-up yesterday (even though she is now 20 months) and wanted to write down a few things about her so I won't forget.  Her stats were...(going off the 18 month charts)...

weight: 26 lbs (84%)

height: 64%

She is a great big sis.  I've never had to worry about leaving her alone with Jake or never worried that she will hurt him.  When he was first born it was because she could care less about him, but now she is always concerned about him and wants to be by him all the time.  Sometimes if I'm in the other room and he starts crying, I'll ask her to go check on him and she does....then comes back and says "all better" (he usually is still crying though).  Recently I've caught her trying to feed him a grape and a fruit loop and she said..."Jake hungee (hungry)?"  So I tried to explain that he only drinks milk :) 

  

She always has to be by him...here I was just trying to get a picture of him and she insisted on being next to him.

 Look at that scowl on Jake's face!

 

 Jake loves her too - he just stares at her like this all the time.

 

 watching baby Einstein together

She is my big helper and shadow.  It doesn't matter what I'm doing...she is trying to do it too - sweep, mop, vacuum, feed Jake, dishes, make dinner, doing my hair, folding laundry, etc. 

She always has to be 'in' on the action.  Here I was trying to take a picture of John and Jake and she wasn't about to be left out of them.

The minute she sees/hears me start to set the table for dinner...she is up on a chair waiting for food to be put down.  Here she is having a big piece of bread for a snack before we sat down to eat.

She has always loved bath time...and still does.  She would play in there for hours if I'd let her...and sometimes I start her bath an hour early just so she can.  She sings, plays, and chats to herself...and I usually sit and watch and play with Jake on the ground.  

 I love her swimsuit tan lines.

what a cute bum.

Once again, up on a chair eating dinner before it was actually dinner time.  I had gone into the other room to get Jake and came back and found her like this...eating our nutella stuffed french toast...she is quick!

She is naughty!  She knows too that she is being naughty because when I catch her doing something she's not supposed to, she shakes her finger and says "no Brookin no!"

colored on the toilet seat

I lifted up the toilet seat one day to use the bathroom and found this.

She loves to color, play with play dough, paint, rip paper...all that good stuff.  One day I made finger paint (found the idea on Pinterest) and she LOVED it.  And I loved it because it kept her entertained for so long.   

And finally...these pictures just make me smile.  Brooklyn has now been in her toddler bed for about a month and has done great.  99% of the time though, at night, we find her like this...fallen asleep on the ground by her door.  It seriously is almost EVERY night.  She is definitely her dad's girl and apparently doesn't mind sleeping on the floor.  

 I love her little hand under the door.

video - Jake laughing

John got Jake to laugh so much last night, it was the cutest thing. 

I caught the very end of it on video.

Enjoy! :)

Jake - 3 months

Jake is officially 3 months (was on Sept. 1st).  I say officially because I feel like I've been saying he's 3 months for awhile now because he is so big.  People ask me if he is 5 or 6 months....nope!  Just a chubby boy!! 

He is usually the best baby.  There was a week right after we moved that he was fussy all the time and I didn't know what was wrong.  But thankfully he is back to his happy self.  He is such a good sport about being totted around with Brooklyn and I each day to wherever we're going - story time, play group, the pool, Little Gym, music makers, etc.

A few things about Jake -

• sleeping - sleeps through the night (8pm to 6am and then back down for another 3), takes 3+ naps throughout the day...some of them are short, depending on what we're doing that day.
• eating - breastfeeds 6 times a day....usually still every 3-4 hours.
• wears 6 month clothes and size 3 diapers....I know!
• loves bath time with his sister (she loves it too!)
• likes his binky...some days he hates it, other days he loves it.
• coos and "talks" back to you a ton - I love this.  He also has the best dimples.
• trying really hard to roll over and reach for things, but not quite there yet.
• gets really hot and sweaty when he is mad :)
• already loves his sister - she could still care less about him - but I catch him looking at her and he just smiles.  Or any time she does acknowledge him he gives her a big gummy smile back.

 I love this boy!

 

 love the chub

 

and we're done :)

Brooklyn's in a toddler bed

Yup, that's right!

My big girl is in a toddler bed.

In some ways that makes me so happy and in other ways it makes me so sad.

It has been over a week now since we've moved Brooklyn to a big girl bed and she has done great.  I was very hesitant about doing it because she is still so little (19 months), but we thought she had potential to do really well with it and we wanted to give her time to adjust before we move Jake into her room, in the crib.  It makes me sad that she is growing up so fast...and sad that in some ways she has to grow up a little faster because she has a little brother just 16 months behind her.

John and I put her bed together one night and showed it to her the next morning when she woke up and made a big deal about it all day.  I took the kids swimming that morning and knew Brooklyn was worn out by nap time.  I promised her a sucker when she woke up from her nap if she stayed in her bed...and she did!  She didn't get out once.  I knew it was too good to be true, but I was still so proud of her.  The first night she got out five times, the second night three times, and the third night once.  And since then she has stayed in her bed at nap time and bed time without getting out.  She has been promised a sucker every time she stays in her bed (I'm planning to slowly stop the suckers for staying in bed).  I love when she comes walking out in the morning or after a nap - she has a big grin on her face and is so proud of herself.  She never forgets to remind me of a "suckah" too.   

 these were taken the first morning after she slept in her big girl bed

 so excited about her sucker

my first car accident

I had never been in a car accident before..not even a fender bender.  Last week one morning was my first... 

So here's the story:  I run with some friends early in the morning a few days a week and was taking one of them back to her car.  I had stopped in the parking lot to let her out and we were finishing our conversation.  All of the sudden she started yelling "van....VAN" and then honked my horn.  Just as I turned my head to see a car hit us.  It hit me on my side, the driver's side, between the gas pump and back tail light.  We all got out to see the damage = none to her car, some scratches and a 1-inch or so dent in mine.  It was pretty awkward when we got out and I finally said, "I've never done this before, but I think we exchange numbers and car insurance information."  She then told me that we didn't need to, that we just both call our insurance company, tell them two cars hit each other in a parking lot, no one was at fault, and that's it.  In my head I thought.....ummm.......what???  

I gave my friend a weird look and then as nicely as I could told her that it actually was her fault.  She couldn't believe why I would think that.  I tried to explain that I was stopped and she hit me.  Her response was that the sun was in her eyes and she didn't see me.  Well right I thought..I never thought she did it on purpose, but it was still her fault.  So anyway, after a few more minutes of me trying to explain to her why I thought it was her fault, she gave me her name and car insurance information.  I took pictures of the damage right when I got home and called my car insurance to file the claim.  I hope there are no problems and that I can get my car fixed soon.  

The damage:

Silly woman...it was your fault!

school has started!

John finished his first week of classes this week.

I think overall it went well and he is excited to get in to the swing of things.  It was good for Brooklyn, Jake, and I too to get a feel for what a typical week will be like for us now.  John has a test every Tuesday...so I think we'll be having FHE on Tuesday nights because I doubt we'll see much of him on Mondays.

Here are his 'first day of school' pictures.

I think I was more excited/nervous than he was.   I drove him to class (we are looking to buy him a bike because it's too hot most days to walk....even at 7 am when it's only 95 degrees).  I felt like I was dropping one of my kids off for the first time - so proud of him!  And I did the embarrassing honk and "I LOVE YOU JOHN" as he walked away...which he didn't turn around to acknowledge :)