August iphone gems

Brooke (AKA Dr. Meador) is in love with her doctor kit from the Hawkins family.  She gives regular check-ups to Kevin and I, her babies, and all her stuffed animals.  She prefers to give the check-ups on this particular couch :)  She also has a book about going to the hospital and going to the doctor, so she knows all about the stethoscope, otoscope, and blood pressure pump.  It's pretty cute to see her in action.

Going to Kroger is no big deal because Miss Brooke loves to "drive" these carts.  Depending on the day, you will find her in the blue, green, or red car.  This particular day, I made the mistake of going near the toy section of the store. She immediately told me that she wanted to get out of the cart, so we browsed for a few minutes.  Not surprisingly, she gravitated towards the baby dolls and wanted to carry them in the baby carrier.  I was actually planning on buying her one for when our baby gets here, so I was glad to see that she liked it.  I let her play with it for a bit, and then made her put it back so we could go pay for our groceries.

This picture cracks me up!  She was super tired after two days of no naps.  She would play in her crib for 2+ hours, and not go to sleep!  She would sing to herself (favorites were "I hope they call me on a mission", complete with actions, and "Wheels on the Bus"), and play with her animals, but for some reason could not fall asleep.  On day 2 of not napping, I finally went upstairs to get her.  I said "Brooke, are you having a hard time falling asleep", to which she replied, "I already waked up!", hahaha.  I told her that she never actually went to sleep!!

One evening, we went out front while Kevin did the yard work.  Brooke would repeatedly say "Go Daddy", and "Good Job Daddy".  When I told her that Daddy couldn't hear her, Brooke said, "Can I shout?"  Hahaha.  She really is such a good little cheerleader :)

My friend Joanna is one of the nursery leaders, and she sent me this picture of Brooke a few weeks ago.  She said that Brooke wore those glasses for a solid 15 minutes and did not want to take them off.  What a goof!  And of course she had the baby dolls close by.

It is still super hot here in Texas, but we play at the park regardless.  I just take multiple showers a day!  Brooke can now climb up on the teeter-totter by herself, which she is pretty proud of.  She also "needed" to wear my sunglasses, so I let her for a few minutes.

We call this the "Brookie trick".  Not sure when she started doing this, but she does it pretty often and has really good balance.  She thinks it is hilarious.  And her favorite treat is chocolate chips (pictured in her bowl).  One afternoon, I asked her if she needed some water.  She said, "Yes, and chocolate chips", haha.  A girl after my own heart.

Despite the heat, we had one random day of 70 degree weather, which was so amazing!!  Reminded me of Spring.  So, we took advantage and went to feed our ducky and turtle friends.

Since I knew the rest of the week was supposed to be super hot again, we ventured to the backyard so I could pull weeds and trim up our trees.  We had been out there about an hour, and I was just finishing up with the last of the weeds, when I noticed something moving by the wood pile.  I freaked out when I realized that it was a snake!  Brooke was literally two feet away watching a bug that was at the bottom of the rain gutter.  I wasn't quite sure what to do, and I had the stupid idea that maybe I should try and cut it since I had pruning shears in my hand.  Just typing that out reiterates what a dumb idea that was.  Thankfully, I didn't attempt the cut.  But, I did grab a large piece of wood off the pile, threw it down on top of the snake, and tried to push down on the wood with my foot in an attempt to sever the snake.  That was a big failure though because the ground was a little soft and the snake slithered off into the wood pile.  I grabbed Brooke and we headed to the front yard.  I texted a picture to my Dad, and when we talked later, he mentioned that it was probably a garden snake, which would help keep rodents away.  I have no idea what kind of snake it is, but I DO know that I don't want any kind of snake in my backyard!  I hope that maybe somehow I injured it with my log trick and it slithered away and died.  But, I am afraid that's probably wishful thinking.  Now I am just afraid to go in the back :(

I figure we're safe to just play bubbles in the front yard, which we did a few days later. 

 Or do some coloring in the house...

 Help Mama make the dinner...

 Or help with the grocery shopping...

 Not sure if I wrote about this on the blog, but Brooke has grown 2.5 inches since July 5th!  I knew that she was growing because all of her clothes were short on her.  When we were at G & G Meador's house a few weeks ago, we measured Brooke on their laundry room door, and sure enough, she was 2.5 inches taller!  She looks so grown up to me, and her legs look so long in this picture from the dinosaur park over at the shops in Cedar Hill.

 Last Saturday, we went to Kinley's soccer game, which was a lot of fun.

 I adore this picture of Brooke and Aubrey!!  Brooke tends to not want to hold hands with friends because she likes to do her own thing, but she went right over to Aubrey, took her hand, and was leading her around the field while the parents made a bridge for the little girls to run under after their game.

August was a busy month, but we were able to enjoy lots of time together as a family.  Oh, and the boat is finally fixed, so we went for a little boat ride on Saturday evening, followed by dinner at the marina restaurant.  Hard to believe that today is September 1st, and most likely, our baby boy will arrive NEXT MONTH!!  Woo-hoo :)

Nursery Prep

This whole "nesting" business is totally real, haha.  I have been reorganizing closets to make room in the new nursery closet for what seems like weeks.  I have just felt really anxious to have the room ready to go, even though the little guy won't sleep in there for a while. First order of business was to install a new ceiling fan/light combo.  We picked one out at Home Depot and while Kevin assembled the thing, Brooke did some coloring on the styrofoam packaging. 

When it came time for blade assembly, my girl Brooke was ready to help.  I gave her a screw to hold, and she immediately placed it where it belonged, and reached for another one.  She was seriously helpful!

Project completed!!

While we were at Home Depot, I went down the paint aisle to look at paint chips.  I picked out a few that represented the colors I wanted to go with.  The color I liked best was called "Fairy Queen", so I was hoping Kevin wouldn't ask the name, haha.  But he did, and I prefaced my response by saying that it didn't really matter the name of the paint color!  After matching the paint chips at home with the fabric and accessories, I am happy to report that "Exquisite Emerald" is actually the best match.  So our little boy doesn't have to worry about a thing.

These curtains turned out to be quite the labor of love.  Not the actual sewing part, but the fabric finding!  Before we even knew the gender, I had zeroed in on this emerald color, and had taken a picture of this fabric on my phone one day while at JoAnn's.  Fast forward a few months, when I actually went to purchase the fabric, and to my dismay, it was GONE!!  I tried asking a few store associates, but they just suggested that I look for the fabric online.  I went home and spent several hours looking through thousands of fabric swatches online, to no avail.  I then texted my mom to see if she could possibly check her store in California.  She of course was willing to help, despite being super busy getting ready to go back to school.  Her store didn't have it either :(  I was getting frustrated because there were ZERO other fabric choices in this color.  I was thinking I would have to switch to navy drapes, which wouldn't be the end of the world, but it wasn't what I really wanted.

The other Joann's close to me is permanently closed down, so I drove about 30 minutes away one afternoon to check a different store.  No luck there either :(  I was mad at myself that I hadn't thought about writing the style number down when I first fell in love with the fabric.  (Oh, and I also emailed customer service and attached the picture of the fabric to see if they could help.  They couldn't!)  I decided to check one more store, so I loaded Brooke in the car and we drove another 25 minutes north.  I am certainly glad that I did because that store carried my fabric!!  I literally was so so happy.  I said a prayer with Brooke in the aisle at the fabric store because I felt so grateful that all the driving was worth it.  I bought the entire bolt, which was like 4.5 yards.  I was assuming that I would have extra to make pillow covers, but I definitely wasn't estimating carefully because i didn't even have enough to make them as long as I wanted.  But, I am still happy with how they turned out.

My helper girl assisted me as we put together the baby's bookcase that week as well.  She was super happy about doing the electric screwdriver "all right by self" (by herself).  Although these projects take longer with her assistance, I love having her involved in what I am doing and I love her sense of independence and pride in a job well done.  She is always so excited to tell Daddy all about what we did during the day!

The furniture arrived on Friday, so we spent the majority of the evening trying to move things around to choose the perfect placement for the dresser, crib, and bookcase.  I tease Kevin about how he likes things placed at an angle, but in the end, his idea was my favorite, so we went for it.  All furniture is placed, and we even hung a few things on the wall.  More pictures coming soon :)

We are definitely having fun with this process, and my mama "nesting" heart is happy that we are making progress on baby boy's room.

Inside Out

We had our first adventure to the movie theatre with Brooke a few weeks ago.  We saw "Inside Out" at the Parks Mall. I really liked the movie, but it probably wasn't the best choice for a toddler.  She sat through the whole thing, but spent the majority of the time on my lap rubbing her ears like she does when she is tired.  (And it wasn't during nap time!)  She was really excited about the whole prospect of going to the movie theatre though, so that part was fun :)

She "held Daddy" while we waited in line for tickets, then headed up the escalator to the theaters. 

After a quick pit-stop at concessions, we were ready to find a seat.

I absolutely adore this picture of Brooke and Kevin.  The look on her face is sheer joy!

She started out in her own seat, but she quickly moved to Kevin's lap.  The volume in the theater was super loud, and I think Brooke was slightly overwhelmed.  Or terrified :(  I actually think a few people went to complain because they eventually turned it down a bit.

Overall, it was a fun family adventure, and one that we will repeat in the future :)

outings with brookie

Since I am not a huge pet person, and don't plan on having pets in the foreseeable future, I take my little animal lover to the pet store so she can still enjoy seeing the animals.  We have a Petco right by Target (which I frequent WAY too often), so it is pretty convenient.  Her all-time favorite thing about the pet store is seeing "puppy hair cuts", haha, in the grooming station. This particular day she was also enamored with the turtles who were swimming all over the place, and the kitty cats.  She kept telling me in the car that "Brookie needs a kitty cat", and "Daddy needs a kitty cat", haha.  I told her that Daddy doesn't like cats, he likes puppy dogs.  Then she started in with, "Brookie needs puppy dog, too".  

I also took her to Barnes and Noble for the first time last week, which did not turn out as I expected!  I kept talking to her about going to the bookstore and looking at all the different kinds of books, etc, but as soon as we arrived, she was only interested in all the toys for purchase!  I was a bit irritated that they had so many toys in the kid section of the bookstore because it totally took the attention off the books!  And then she saw the train set, and of course she wanted to play with that.  We did manage to read a few books together, but it was short-lived.  (I guess we need to start going to the library instead!)

She did a little tap number on the story time stage, then settled in to read some mine craft book another child had left behind. After seeing this picture, I realized that I definitely needed to retire this little dress.  When standing it doesn't seem too short, but the proof is in the picture I guess, haha.  I was feeling pretty confident that my girl has grown at least 2 inches in the last few months, and I confirmed my suspicions last night at G & G Meador's house.  They started marking their granddaughter's heights on the door to the laundry room, and after measuring Brooke, we saw that she had grown 2.5 inches since July 5th.  That is pretty crazy, but makes since because all of her clothes seem considerably shorter on her!

I really do enjoy taking my little sidekick on outings with me, and I am realizing that I need to take better advantage of the one-on-one time I have left with Brooke.  There are many teaching opportunities throughout the day, I just need to slow down so I don't miss them!

Baby Icky

On July 22nd, I had another 4 week check-up, and everything seemed great with the baby.  His heart rate was in the normal range, and I was measuring at about 24 weeks (I was 25 weeks at the appointment). Baby boy was moving a lot as the nurse was trying to hear his heart beat.  She made a comment about how we had a really active baby.  They say this EVERY time, which makes me kind of nervous for what lies ahead, haha.  I mean, it's comforting for me to feel his constant kicks and movements, but he moves way more than Brooke ever did.  Hopefully he isn't going to be hyperactive, haha.  This was also the appointment where I did the glucose tolerance test, which came back normal.  Brooke was great during the appointment, but started asking me for her lollipop about 15 minutes after arriving at the office. 

I finally gave in once we were back into the lobby and waiting the last 15 minutes until they could draw my blood.  She decided to make herself comfortable on this bench :)

And Sunday marked 27 weeks, which is kinda crazy!  In a way, the fact that we are moving into the third trimester seems pretty nuts.  On the other hand, I feel like I have been pregnant forever, so I wouldn't really say that time is flying by for the pregnancy.  Hopefully the next 13ish weeks go smoothly as we get ready for our little man to arrive.

Oh, and the title of this post comes from a name suggestion Brooke came up with!  I have asked her several times what she wants the baby to be called, and she always says something like "Baby Big Sister".  One morning, after she said good morning to the baby (my tummy), I asked her again.  This time she paused, and said "Icky".  I started laughing, and she said, "Baby Icky", with a huge smile on her face.  I was cracking up, so of course she kept saying it over and over.  Since then, she still brings up the name, so we've documented her vote :)

bowling with the big girls

I had been anxious to take Brooke bowling, but we just hadn't made it to the bowling alley as a family yet.  The Young Women were having their mutual activity there last week, so I jumped on the opportunity to take Brooke along. (And Kevin wasn't home yet, so I really had no choice.)

They gave her mismatched shoes, but that didn't stop her from rocking them :)

Equipped with a special light-weight ball, we were ready to rock and roll.  Sort of, haha.  It was a lesson in patience for this toddler since we had about 7 girls bowling on each lane.  When it was finally Brooke's turn, she was so happy. The girls opted for bumpers in the gutters, but they didn't have a ramp for us to use, so I either assisted Brooke in trying to roll the ball, or we simply counted to 3 and chucked it down the lane. Once the ball landed, she would immediately start walking away saying "I did it, I did it", haha.  I had to remind her to watch where the ball went so she could see if it knocked any pins down!

All the pictures are pretty blurry, but at least I have something to document our first trip to the bowling alley.  My family bowled a lot growing up, so I am a big fan of the sport. Hopefully Kevin can come next time :)

"Kinley Aubrey"

We enjoyed another fun swim day with Kinley, Aubrey, Auntie Mel Mel, and Grandma.  I think it's cute that anytime we do something fun, Brooke wants her cousins to come to.  But she doesn't refer to them as individuals, it is always "Kinley Aubrey".   

We spent a few hours at the pool, and even ate a picnic poolside.

Brooke has never really understood how to use her kick board, and whenever I would try to demonstrate, she simply wanted to do it "right by self", so I just let her do what she wanted with it.  Kinley actually knows how to use her kick board, so she was a great example for Brooke to follow.  They had a good 'ol time with their boards in the shallow pool.  (And I'm grateful that Melanie was able to get a few pictures.)

The days are hot, but it is totally bearable when you are in the water. And all the tables are placed in the shade, which is so nice when you need a break from the direct sun. We're thankful to have 2 out of 3 cousins close by :)