Thankful Beyond Words

Shawn and I have so very much to be thankful for.  We are very thankful for getting to spend this Thanksgiving at home together with our two beautiful baby girls.

 Em helping Mommy crush Frosted Flakes for the sweet potato casserole.

 Maybe if y'all would let me have something like these rolls, I would be willing to try something other than formula!

 Emerson seems very thankful for her baby sister!

 Braelyn is thankful for her big sister playing with her!

I could sit and watch the two of them together for hours!

Still No Luck

Well, we tried cereal with the high chair and still no luck.  She didn't get quite as frustrated in the high chair but I am pretty certain that no cereal made it to her little tummy!

 I like my new chair!

 She looked so tiny!

 You really think I am going to swallow this stuff?! That's hilarious!

I really don't think there is anything wrong with my bottles!

5

Five months?!  Are you kidding me?!  There have been some very long days over the last few months but it is still so hard to believe that sweet Braelyn Faith is five months old today!  We fall more in love with her every day.  She is all smiles with some giggles sprinkled in now!  Just three days ago she started rolling from her back to her stomach, both ways.  Now as soon as you lay her down, she immediately flips over.  It seems that she has forgotten that she knows how to go from her stomach to her back because she gets pretty frustrated after being on her tummy for a little while!  We have been working the last couple of days to break her out of wanting to be swaddled with very little success.  Tonight she stayed in her bed for about an hour and a half without it, sleeping off an on but it definitely wasn't her usual sound sleep.  Part of the problem is that Mommy and Daddy really like the sleep we get when she is swaddled so we have not been pushing too hard to get her out of it!  She is still not at all interested in cereal, however it doesn't seem that she is staying full on formula any more.  Shawn got the high chair out of the attic so we are hoping if we can recline her a little bit that we might be able to keep it in her mouth long enough for her to get used to it!  She absolutely adores her sister and watches her every move.  It does not appear that she is going to be a social butterfly like her sister was.  In a crowd she definitely clings close to Mommy or Daddy(and Mommy and Daddy are fine with that!)!

 Anything she can get her hands on goes straight to her mouth!

 You would never know that this was the day that I had to take her back to the doctor for a terrible cold and nasty cough!

 Daddy's Littlest Princess

 Big Sister always brings out a smile

 Could you eat her up or what?!  Maybe I am a little biased!

Mommy, what is Emerson doing?!

Trying Couple of Weeks

Well, after a very happy Halloween things kind of went downhill at the Brooks' residence.  When Braelyn woke up the morning after Halloween, she sounded like nothing I have ever heard before.  The only way I could describe it was that she sounded like a little baby seal.  She had this horrible sounding cough, she was hoarse when she cried, and within no time she started wheezing.  The verdict:  croup.  This would be bad anytime but given that I was supposed to leave for a work meeting the following Sunday and the girls were supposed to stay with GranSan.  Luckily we got her to the doctor in time to just treat her at home with oral steroids and breathing treatments.  She got a great follow-up report on Thursday and the doctor said that she would probably be fine to stay with my mom so we got up early on Friday to head that way.  Of course on Friday she was worse but it seemed more like a nasty cold rather than the croup.  Cold or not, it was making me a wreck about flying to Chicago on Sunday.  Thankfully on Saturday, she had a really good day and seemed so much better.  Sunday rolled around and I went out to the car to head for the airport...the car wouldn't start!  The good luck just kept on coming while I was in Chicago.  I was supposed to fly out Tuesday evening at 7:10 and get back into Shreveport at 11:35.  The weather in Chicago was terrible on Tuesday that I managed to get stuck until Wednesday morning!  We finally made it back to Shawn at 7 on Wednesday and were beyond happy to be back together!  The girls had so much fun on the farm but unfortunately, par for the course, GranSan, Janet, and Patsy all ended up sick too!  We couldn't thank them enough for all the help.  Mommy having to leave during football season is impossible to manage without lots of help!

 Poor baby!!!

 Em LOVED getting to hang out with Nate!

 This was Braelyn's first time to try the bouncer...it took some getting used to but she loved being able to stand up.

 Staying at GranSan's is great!

 Janet got lots of good sugar while helping GranSan out.

 Em with one of Mommy's Cabbage Patch dolls-Joycelyn.

 Jenna and Braelyn

 Sisterly love!

 Braelyn hung out on the kitchen counter helping Patsy cook!

 GranSan hated this part of the visit!

 There wasn't much room left in GranSan's bird bath for the birds!

 Bailey and Em

Braelyn modeling one of the Christmas dresses we found before I left on Saturday...so cute!

While I was in Chicago, I got to go to Table 52 with a few of the other girls.  It is the restaurant opened by Oprah's personal chef.  The food was sooooo good!



Halloween 2011

I thought long and hard trying to come up with costumes for the girls that would coordinate but couldn't find anything that I really liked.  What I came up with seemed a little more fitting given how opposite our girls are:  a red chili pepper and an ice cream cone!  We figured the chili pepper was perfect for our little fiery one and ice cream is by far Emerson's favorite food...hot and cold for our 2 opposites!  We went trick-or-treating with a couple of the other coaches and had a great time other than we walked way too far in one direction before turning around.  By the time we realized Braelyn had had enough we were VERY far from the truck...oops!

 Emerson's ice cream cone ended up probably looking more like a cupcake but still pretty cute!

 I was very surprised but Braelyn loved her costume...she actually cried when I took it off!

 She was very ready to go get some candy!

 How precious is this?! Trick-or-treating with Cannon.

The Brooks family is definitely bigger than last Halloween!  What a blessing!