Merry Christmas

We are off tomorrow morning for Brooklyn's first trip to Midland!! My parents are coming with us and we'll come home Christmas day and do Christmas with my side of the family on Saturday. Brooklyn is really excited for Grandpa Joe and Grandma Q to see her...because she has gotten so so big!!! Here are some pics from the holiday season...

Our Christmas Tree

Favorite "First Christmas" Ornament

Stockings still need to be personalized...

Having fun staring at all the bright lights and ornaments!


Ready for Grandpa's office Christmas Party

Khloe showing her festive holiday wear

Just a fun picture of Shelby

Labor of Love

Brooks and I decided that we would tile our bathroom for our Christmas present to each other. He did the tiling...and I tried to keep bring the tiles to him and keep them organized. Brooks did a great job....but it was a lot more labor intensive than anticipated...but worth it. We decided to do slate...so we had them laying all over the house so we could see all the different colors. Needless to say...the slate kicked us out of our own bedroom. Our room has become a mess through this process...and our toilet has been moved to the garage. So...it's like we are on a vacation. We have now been staying in our guest room and Brooklyn has officially moved to her own room! It has been an easier transition on us just being 1 wall away from her! For me, staying in the guest room is a nice excuse to be near her! It's much harder than one would think to move her so far away! Anyways, it is looking like it will be after the first of the year before we get our bathroom done and move back. We still have to seal it, grout it, seal again, put toilet back and get baseboards up.

Progress so far

Cute outfit mommy wanted to dress me up in...wrong season...but she made me show it off for a picture since I really never got to wear it!

Just for fun...happy girl

Speaking of being a happy girl...the other night she truly got tickled! She has had little single laughs and chuckles here or there...but she laughed for at least 2 minutes straight the other night! We got the camera out in time to capture some of it. Hope she makes you smile as much as us! Click here for the video!

Daddy Daughter Love

Just a fun picture from tonight...wanted to share :)

Happy Turkey Day!!

We celebrated Brooklyn's first Thanksgiving today at Uncle/Cousin Steven's house. She was able to spend time with family, friends and watch us all stuff our faces!! The funniest part of the whole day was when she got a good grip on her hair and couldn't let go. She was having fun lying on a blanket while we ate and all of a sudden started screaming! I looked down and she had a whole handful of hair in her right hand. I picked her up and she was still quite upset and wouldn't open her hand...we all got a good chuckle. She was back to being happy once we helped her to stop pulling her hair. She also got all dressed up today...(not really)...she was "dressed to the nines" in her black onesie that said "This is my little black dress"...I thought it was too cute.

A quick re-cap on our lives. She had her weight check a week ago and unfortunately only gained 7 ounces, weighing in at 9lbs 12.5oz. She was also still having quite a bit of spit-up...so the doctor sent her for an Upper GI with barium. I was quite apprehensive, but it didn't even faze her! She drank the stuff they gave her (I actually think she was a big fan) and then the doctor watched her stomach and esophagus...and sure enough it confirmed that she has reflux. As soon as she finished swallowing...it came back up...poor thing. So, it also verified that everything is anatomically correct inside of her and connected in the right spots...she just has reflux (apparently without the "normal" signs). The doctor has now started her on Prevacid...so we are giving this antacid a try. Since she was such a big girl, she was given a little stuffed fishy from the hospital. My mom and I took her for a second weigh in yesterday at the doctor’s office and she did much better!! She gained 6 ounces in 7 days!! (much better than the previous 7 ounces in 14 days)....so as of yesterday she weighed 10lbs 2.5oz...we are in double digits!! :)

Aunt Jamie and I took her to see Santa Claus on Monday...he was at JC Penny's...so we had her Christmas pictures taken...some with Santa and some without. Brooklyn really had fun grabbing his beard. They sat on a couch by the fireplace and Christmas tree...got to share secrets...and read a book together!

Today Daddy hung up all of our Christmas lights...he wanted to make sure and decorate for Brooklyn's first Christmas! The house looks great!! (on the outside and inside!!) We did some major cleaning this week, which was much over due. We had a little dinner party Tuesday with Melissa, Aaron & Tillie (yes, Brooklyn finally got to meet Miss Tillie...I think they will be buddies)...and Catherine & Greg! It was a fun night...we may just start up a little dinner club! :) Anyways, we have Christmas lights on the house, our little magnolia tree, candy canes in our flower bed...and hope to get the tree up this weekend!! Auntie/Cousin Jennifer is here visiting and staying with us...so maybe we will have time to decorate!

...and if you look below I finally posted more pictures!! :)

Brooklyn's Birth Announcement

Brooklyn's birth announcements have finally been labeled (wasn't going to hand address them), stuffed and mailed!!! Better late than never, seeing as they went out just after her two month birthday. However, we absolutely love them!! Catherine Lopez of FOUR Creative Studio (friend, photographer and designer) was so generous to make them for us. Hopefully our next kiddo's won't be as delayed since we now have our list of people...but I'm sure our life will be more hectic...so who knows! We are so excited to share her arrival with all our friends and family...even if she did arrive in September! :)

Brooklyn's newest discovery...

Just thought I would post a quick update about Brooklyn's newest discovery...and it is most entertaining! Lately we have learned that sometimes she is most happy and content to just lay on a blanket or the couch and "kick and squirm." Over the past few days she has begun to hold her hands, which has helped her control them...and she loves to lick them!! If she is lucky, a finger or thumb will land in her mouth and she will go to town sucking on them! It is so cute!!!

2 Month Check-Up

Just a quick update...Brooklyn had her 2 month check-up with Dr. Ferreris today. She looks great and got a good report. His only concern was that she is a bit skinny. She weighed 9lbs 5.5oz (10-25th percentile) and her length was 22.75" (70th percentile)...so he wants to see us back in two weeks and hopes for her to be 11 pounds!!! So...Mommy and baby have a lot of work to do! We are going to go to the lactation center again to see if they have any tips for us! We may have to start waking her up in the night for an extra feeding or two.

She also got FIVE shots!!! Three in one thigh and two in the other. Her only prize was two pink camoflauge band-aids. Someday she will get a chocolate milkshake. She did great! She cried and turned bright red, but as soon as they were over we held her and she was fine.

Happy 2 Month Birthday!!

Brooklyn is 2 months old today!!! Where on earth has the time gone?? She loves to lay on her back and kick and squirm. She is slowly but surely getting better at tummy time and somewhat enjoys being on her tummy (still not a favorite place). She is smiling more and more each day. We think she is beginning to tell us stories...some are long and others short. Her "coos" and "oohs" are so fun to listen to! She loves to lift her head up and look around...it is still a bit heavy and bobbles around, but she lifts it whenever possible. We are spoiled with her excellent sleeping skills!! She is sleeping from about 11 o'clock until just around 8...we usually wake up when Daddy does for work!! She has also begun taking a few naps during the day....we are still practicing with those...but getting better!! We are also blessed that she doesn't mind putting herself to sleep...and seems to be pretty good at it! She just looks around for a while listening to white noise and before we know it she is conked out!

2 months old!!

We went to Lake Texoma and Marietta, Oklahoma for Mame's services the end of October. She had fun in the cold weather at the lake. She was able to watch her Daddy fish and go for a ride in the stroller by the lake.

Bundled up in the cold!!

Taking notes on how to fish with Daddy :)

gorgeous sunset...

The house Mame and Aunt Jo grew up in...Marietta, Oklahoma

Going back home....riding in the car

Last week she helped (or watched) Mommy and Daddy carve her first pumpkin. She was a great supervisor. She got all decked out in her Halloween outfit, from head to toe! We didn't have a costume this year, but we learned she sure looks cute in orange!!

Tick or Treat?

This past weekend we went to New Braunfels for Wurstfest. It wasn't the same this year, but she had fun and has now experienced one of our family traditions! She had more fun during the day when it was bright outside. She people watched from her stroller. We went back and night and she napped through the loud German music. Sunday morning I took her to Landa Park with my parents where she rode David's train (the same man who ran the train when I was little!!). She made all sorts of sounds and talked to us...she definitely liked the wind on her face and looking around. She loves being outside. Last but not least my Mom and I took her to JC Penny today to have her 2 month picture taken...they turned out super cute!! Much better than her 1 month pictures (the baby acne was a bit bad at that time in her life). Brooklyn also visited her Daddy at work today and brought him Subway for lunch! It made his day!

Sharing one of my favorite memories with Brooklyn...the train will become a tradition

Brooks and I were just talking tonight about how 3 people live in our house now...and how we can't remember it any other way. It just feels right and we truly love her more and more every day. It is definitely a wonderful experience and we wouldn't trade it for the world. She is absolute perfection. She couldn't have come into our lives at a better time.

Our little wiggle worm...

We were pretty entertained with her wiggling, kicking and squirming...so we thought we would share! :)

6 weeks old!

I have no idea where the time has gone, but our little girl turned six weeks old on Wednesday!!! She is doing great! We get her down for the night by about 11 o'clock each night (sometimes earlier) and she sleeps through till about 6 or 7 in the morning! We feel very very lucky!!! Brooklyn has been blessed with a bad case of baby acne that appeared around 3 weeks and is now going away. She started smiling more about a week ago and lately she seems to be making more noises. She also loves to kick and squirm on her back when she has fun things to look at. On October 7th, my Mom and I took her to the "Weigh to Grow" station at the hospital and she weighed 8lbs 5oz...so she is right on track!! Brooklyn has truly been a blessing and we both feel so so lucky! She puts a smile on our faces all the time.

In celebration of her 6 week birthday, we went on a family outing to a pumpkin patch! We had fun and she was able to pick out her first pumpkin!! We are planning on carving it this week!!

Brooklyn - 6 Days Old

Here are some of our favorite (it's so hard to choose!!) pictures that Catherine took of Brooklyn when she was 6 days old. She is now 5 weeks today...so I need to post more current pictures, but we are so in love with these...just wanted to share!!!