Big Girl Brookie

The most accurate adjective for our 3-year-old Brooklyn is precocious.  Of all people, it was my visiting teacher who first used this word to describe Brooklyn after maybe the second visit to our house.  This post will illustrate exactly why the word is so befitting.  

Brooklyn had her 3-year check-up with the doctor the same day that Ian had his 6-month check-up.  So here are her stats:  weight = 37.5 lbs.,  95th percentile, height, (I don't actually rememeber the exact inches, and she is sleeping, so I'll have to update this later!) was in the 90th percentile.  What?!  She usually is about average here.  So I guess Stephen is right when he comments that Brooklyn has grown a ton recently.  I don't notice it as much because I'm with her all the time. 

For better or for worse, she usually cannot keeps her hands off of her brother.  He so has the just-woke-up-from-a-nap look in this picture.  Brooklyn loves that he now eats real baby food that she can see in containers.  "I think he needs some vegetables" or "let's feed him some rice see-yo," are what she usually says around mealtimes.  

She is also great at entertaining him in the mornings when I haven't yet retrieved him from the crib.  This morning I even showered while she entertained him at the safe distance of the outside of the crib.  Of course, half her body was leaning in towards him thanks to the help of her step stool.  

She loves dress-ups but has thankfully not outgrown naps yet!  Notice how loved the fairy wings are.  They already have a hole in them.  You should see how tattered the tutu is looking these days after a couple trips to the zoo!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my luck will continue in the nap department.  I feel so liberated to have a couple hours to myself on the days when their naps overlap.  Right now this happens about half the time.  But with a little more effort on my part, it could happen more regularly.
She is very creative at playtime!  She often can be heard mothering her dollies, changing their clothes, putting them into time-out, or putting them to sleep.  Can you guess what she's doing in the picture above?  Painting her toenails - with Play-doh, of course!
This was her clever rendition of "She'll be Commin' Round the Mountain."  These things she comes up with totally on her own.  I guess I really shouldn't feel guilty on the days we just hang out at home.  I love the white horse for the main gal, to go along with one of the verses in the song.  But check out how the guy is riding Pumba and I think the little girl on her knee is riding a bunny rabbit?  This is hilarious.  How could I not document this kind of stuff with photos?
Here we are at Brooklyn's grandma's house building a super tall tower.  You should see her excitement rising as it kept going up!  "Bigger, bigger, BIGGER!" She cheered emphatically as we added the last few "stories" to the top.
Here she is acting as my assistant chef and helping me whip up some delectable Texas Sheetcake.  And yes, I was wearing the matching apron.  Thanks Mom!  Chocolate and sour cream....Mmmmmm!  So scrumptious!
How would you love to walk past this little arrangement on your living room floor?  I couldn't help laughing to myself when I noticed the detailed attention that she gives to grooming not just her dollies, but pretend pets too!  The goggles on the mommy dog and the bone and bibs or doggie clothes on all three of them crack me up.
Who says white girls can't wear more than two pony-tails at a time?!  We are breaking the mold, people! 
The only downfall to this nifty life-vest is that Brooklyn thinks that she now knows how to swim like a big girl.  We are trying to instill the concept that the vest, not her swimming skills, or lack thereof, are keeping her afloat!  Is it already time for swimming lessons?  She loves going to the pool and ocean and is not afraid of cold water or crashing waves.  Uh-oh...

Ian: 6 Months

Usually Ian is not camera shy.  He knows the routine.  He sees the blanket being thrown on the rocking chair and he is cued up and ready to bring on the charms.  This month, however, he could barely hold still long enough to glance at the camera before attacking the giraffe!  Maybe it's because he's teething right now and painfully so!  The first breakthrough bottom tooth was immediately followed by the second, right next to it.  I feel so bad when he cries because I know he's in pain.  I've given him baby tylenol a couple of times daily, and have also distracted him with outdoor walks/stroller rides.  
Now for the stat's.  He and Brooklyn had their checkups at the same time, it was nice to get them together instead of two trips to the doctor's office!  (Sidenote:  I've got to talk to that hospital management!  They've double the price on parking!  You would think we're in some kind of recession or something!)  Anyway, here they are, enjoy the news, as I did!  Brooklyn will get a separate post, later.

Ian's weight: 17 lbs. 10 oz., 50th percentile

   height: 27 1/2 inches, 75th percentile

   head: 18 inches, off the charts! 

The doctor tried to lighten things up with, "Einstein's head was big."

If that's the case, then I'm sure Ian is destined to pursue a degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine like his uncle David.  Apparently he'll fit right in!  Check the side shot of the noggin below.  Now I understand why most babies I see these days seem to have unusually puny heads!  My kid's massive head is skewing my perception!

What a funny guy!  So things he's into right now are... trying out different foods and seeing which ones project the farthest.  Squash wins.  Rice cereal-thickened banana mush is a close second.  Hhmmm.  What else?  When he's not flaunting his Gaston-sized talent of expectorating, he enjoys grasping toys and passing them from one hand to the other.  He can also pull himself up to standing when he's sitting, holding onto my fingers.  He loves to stand upright with help.  However, he cannot sit upright unassisted very long.  It may have something to do with the difficulty of balancing a disproportionately large head.  We love him so much though.  He is very observant.  His most common look is the wide-eyed, loose jaw, drool hanging stare.  Unless he is smiling or laughing at one of his sister's wild antics, in which case he smiles and laughs.  He also says a very indistinct "hi" with an arm wave to greet his favorite people.  He also lets us know when he is NOT happy about us taking something that he is joyously sucking on, like watermelon or keys, by screaming and crying (fake) very distinctly.  

"Lemme tell you 'bout Sad-uh-day..."

T.J. and Michelle were nice enough to come and visit us this past weekend while they were staying up in Valencia at Michelle's parents' house.  This is Brooklyn's summary of the events that took place that fun day: (This summary was shared with Stephen and I from Brooklyn's "way-back" seat of the car on the way home from church Sunday.) 

"Lemme tell you 'bout Sad-uh-day... Michelle and Jeff came over."

Me, "Do you mean T.J.?"

Brooklyn, "Yes. T.J. and Michelle came over and we went to the beach...

and I got a lot of, lot of sand on my legs and on my feet and on my tights...
then we went to a picnic and had lunch and there were babies and mommies and daddies and kids.  We had a lot of, lot of watermelon and ham and cheese and mayonnaise and mustard and chips..."
"Wait, Brooklyn, can you tell me again about the picnic?  I'm trying to write this all down."

"I telled ya 'bout the picnic already, Mom." She stated this so matter-of-fact too, almost like another question she gave Michelle the day before.

Needless to say, it was quite entertaining to me and Stephen.  She was pretty accurate in her summary, except for mistakenly referring to Jeff, my sister's husband, instead of T.J.

Now I will share my own version of "Sad-uh-day."  When T.J. and Michelle visited, we first ate some home made BBQ chicken pizza, a la Stephen.  :) Then we headed out to that cool beach trail that Stephen and I walked a couple of weeks ago on our date night. (See previous entry for details.) The weather was cooler, it was the middle of the day, and Stephen carried the baby and a heavy backpack while I toted Brooklyn about half the way. 

We did eventually make it down to the beach, though.  And yes, Brooklyn did enjoy feeling, throwing, and make-uping in the grainy black sand.  Lovely.  The day was topped off with a fun picnic in the park with two other couples in our ward.  

Some of the highlights of our day included Michelle's brave back-seat experience next to Brooklyn on the way to the beach, (see the top picture!) during which she was randomly asked by Brooklyn if she needed to go poo-poo.  Also, T.J. fed Ian some rice cereal and mashed bananas (see second picture from the top). And, of course, we got to chat with T.J. and Michelle and catch up on things going on in their world!  (Can't wait to see the brace-face look, T.J.!  Be sure to take a picture with your matching son and blog it up!)

Date Night

A couple of weekends ago, Stephen and I decided it was high time for a real date night.  Actually, the idea was hatched when one of my friends asked me when the last time Stephen and I had gone out with each other.  I could only recall a handful of times since Ian was born, including a couple of trips to the movie theater when we were up at my mom's place and a quick dash to Soup Plantation on our anniversary in December, the same night we returned from a long road trip to Louisiana.  Does that even count? How embarrassing!  So we dropped off the kids at a friend's house and went for a fun little hike on some trails at the nearby Torrey Pines beach just a few miles north of where we live.  It was a gorgeous sunset that we enjoyed and I kept kicking myself for not having discovered and taken advantage of this awesome scenic escape just minutes away from our house.   I felt like such a tourist in our own backyard!  
Isn't he handsome?  I love how odd-ball this tree was.  It was a unique landmark and a crazy cool natural archway over the path, I thought.
I loved looking down below and the wave-laced shoreline.  Words cannot do this justice.
Okay, so I had to get a funny shot in of Stephen.  We picked up some sandwiches on the way and we intended to eat them as a picnic at the beach, but it was getting cold and late.  Besides that, I wanted to hit up a frozen-yogurt place before picking up the kids!  So here is Stephen enjoying a romantic candle-lit dinner at the beach, gazing into the eyes of his adoring wife.  Yeah right!
Our view to the northwest as we walked back to the car.
This was where we came out of the trail and down to the beach, behind us as we walked back to the car.  The stripes of colored rock and sandstone on the cliffs were very pretty.  They really looked golden - not in these pictures, but earlier ones - as the setting sun lit upon them.  I posed really ridiculously against them, pretending I was in a sun-tan lotion advertisement.  They pictures are seriously blackmail material, so for my own safety I will leave them out of this.
Isn't it weird how a sunset can last forever?  It was hard to tell for that last long while if it was still the sun lingering on the horizon, or if it was just trailing rays of light.  I'm not doing so well at explaining a probably basic scientific principle.  Any experts out there?
Stephen, pondering the eternities...or waiting for the other people to move out of the way so we could snatch "the perfect photo spot."

More Reception Photos

Here's the family photo shoot with the reception ambiance in the background.  It was a beautiful room in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
Brooklyn's expression here is the best.  

Thanks again, Auntie Carolita, for the cutest ever tux on our little squirt!
Grammy displays beautiful Pantene hair as she catches a smile from Ian.   
The men folk.  From top, left to right: Stephen, David, Taber, Eric, Skyler.  Bottom row: Mark, Terry, Ted, T.J.
The lovely ladies.

Rebecca's Wedding

I know everyone has already posted lots of cool pictures of Becca and Taber's wedding, but that doesn't mean we can't add to them!  Rebecca looked fabulous in her dress and more importantly, the happy couple radiated.  I couldn't have said it better than T.J. did at the luncheon, "Now I know what perfection looks like!"
I commend Rebecca for being so calm, cool, and collected throughout the whole weekend.  It seems like so often weddings and the events surrounding them can be stressful and exhausting, even though they are supposed to be enjoyable celebrations.  Weddings become even trickier to coordinate as the extended family continues growing. Great job to Rebecca, Evelyn, Bethany, Kimberly, Ted, and everyone who worked together to pull this off!  It was fun to see everyone even though it was a quick trip.  Best of luck to the new Mr. and Mrs. Taber Cope!  
My boys at the temple.
Cute cousins Brooklyn and Alyssa.
The gang in attendance. 

More pictures to follow!  The wedding weekend was definitely the highlight of our month.  So, the coverage of it is not yet complete!

Visit from a Vampire

Sadly, Ian got savagely bitten by a mysterious vampire that visited our home last night.  The assault was answered by a loud scream and some crying from the victim, which brought the off-duty police and detectives to the scene.  The accused declines to comment and would like to remain anonymous.
Unfortunately for the vampire, case workers have recently discovered two dangerously sharp white teeth emerging from the lower jaw of the victim.  Beware, vampire!  Next time you strike, your victim just may retaliate!

BYU Grads. and 5-month Ian

Congratulations to Rebecca, Jessica, Cindy, and Eric for all graduating from B-Y-Woo-Woo!  We celebrate your awesome achievement.  Now good luck finding jobs!
Brooklyn talked me into giving her a couple of gummy bears.  While they were within her reach, she then proceeded to line several more of them for her friends, just in case any of them happened to stop by wanting gummy bears!  Impressive display though, right?
Here is the boy child.  Happy and handsome.