Yearly Archives: 2013

One Year Check Up

Posted on by
1

Today was Brooke’s one year check up with our favorite pediatrician Dr. Mink.  He said that she is still off the charts and a very healthy baby.  She is over the 95 percentile in height (we all knew that) and now in weight!  Have you seen her budda belly?!  Brooke is now 32.5 inches tall and weighs 24 pounds.  In 3 months, she grew 2.2 inches and gained 3 pounds.  Since her birth, she has grown 11 inches and gained 15 pounds.  Way to grow Brooke!

Unfortunately for Brooke this checkup came with vaccinations, four of them.  She did well with the shots but cried so hard when they had to draw her blood for routine one year labs from her finger tip.  Luckily a little breast milk in the office did the trick and we were off to meet friends and Daddy at the park as he got off work.

This afternoon, Brooke was supposed to go into the Chesapeake Bay for her first time, but unfortunately Bayleigh and Katie had to cancel.  So we had some water fun at home with a baby pool I bought for her.  She had fun chasing and then throwing her water toys as she learned the edges on the pool were much shorter than in the tub.

The last picture was just for fun.  I was holding Brooke in the kitchen and gave her a spoon for fun.  While she was eating, she had a good time waving it around and then handing it to me.  I would wave it around, she would laugh, and I would hand it back to her.  Then repeat.  This and some verses (with hand motions) of itsy-bitsy spider and hickery-dickery-doc kept her from throwing ANY food at dinner.  Yipee! (Brooke has now taken to throwing even her favorite foods off her highchair.)

Happy 1st Birthday Brooke

Posted on by
2

Brooke had a great first birthday.  She started it off with all her friends at stroller strides.  She enjoyed chatting and playing with them as she always does every morning and then she shared homemade cupcakes with the class.  Everyone sang her happy birthday and she was very happy and danced in her stroller.

Then after a long nap, we all went to the beach.  Brooke was born after her mom and dad had a day at the beach with a lot of walking so it seemed fitting for Brooke to spend her birthday there.  She played with her friend Mattie who joined us.  Brooke walked to the water several times and loved playing in the waves.  She kept wanting to go deeper and deeper into the waves that eventually her shorts got wet.  She cannot wait until the water gets warmer to go for a swim!  Also she sampled the sand at 17th street to see if it tasted the same as the 1st street sand she had in March.  She said she noted a slight hint of bamboo reeds in this one and less horseshoe crab flavor.

Once we returned home she opened her birthday gifts from family.  Thank you for all her amazing gifts, she will enjoy them all. Finally, she got a story from mom and dad, The Three Little Javalinas, and passed out from her busy day!

 

[youtube=http://youtu.be/V-vgveiRmlA&w=638&h=385]

 

[youtube=http://youtu.be/1bC2NHrnGBw&w=638&h=385]

 

Brooke’s First Birthday Party

Posted on by
2

Today was Brooke’s first birthday party.  Her birthday is Tuesday but we had some of her friends over to celebrate her birthday with all of us.  We had a house full of babies, most of which were Brooke’s age — one younger, one older.  Laura did an amazing job prepping all week and setting up for the party as I was lucky to get off work in time for the party to start.  Brooke played with her friends, and with many more baby hands our living room quickly converted to a busy toy laden playground.  Then Brooke opened presents and everyone was surprised how she understood how to get her cards out of the envelopes and how well she pulled the wrapping paper off.  She received a lot of wonderful things from her friends and still has all of her family gifts to open on Tuesday.  We tried to have her wear her cute birthday hat (thanks Allison) but unfortunately she didn’t want to keep it on for long.  Better luck with her birthday photos on Tuesday.  Afterwards, she had her first taste of cake which Laura made and decorated for her.  She was sort of puzzled at the consistency and overall stickiness of the icing, and didn’t get to much of the cake, but she did a good job sliding the cake over and ‘smashing’ it.  It was a very successful first birthday party.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/fbadb94JN7o&w=638&h=385]

 

[youtube=http://youtu.be/x8d2_RWllV8&w=638&h=385]

Oma and Opa Visit Brooke

Posted on by
2

Oma and Opa came to visit with us and Brooke after their trip to the Panama Canal.  We loved having them to visit and Brooke especially liked playing with them.  Thank you for taking pictures of us all!

We had a fun week! Story time at the library followed by a trip to the zoo on Thursday.  Brooke has three giraffe toys and must of recognized them because she tried to crawl the fence to get into their enclosure   Friday we all had to some fun at the amazing playground at Chesapeake City Park and went strawberry picking in the afternoon.  May is the month for strawberries in Virginia and Brooke did a great job picking them, putting them in the basket, and occasionally sneaking one for herself!  Saturday morning we went on a misty hike of Stumpy Lake in the morning and out to the oceanfront in the afternoon.  The 40mph winds didn’t keep Brooke from running up and down the stairs (her new favorite) and walking on the boardwalk.  Of course she loves wind. Sunday it stopped raining just enough for Opa to ride alongside Brooke and Mom around the neighborhood and some playtime in the garden.  We were lucky and the rain skipped us again on Monday so we could all go to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens and see the Azaleas in bloom and look at the many (30 total) glass statues up for the 75th anniversary of the NBG.  It was a wonderful and fun trip!

Brooke’s First Flight

Posted on by
1

We know that everyone has their own pictures from our trip to Arizona and even better you all got to see Brooke in person so we will just post pictures of something you didn’t see…Brooke’s first flight.  As you know it was a busy one both ways but we still got some cute pictures of Brooke.