Santa Baby

This was Brooks' reaction to Santa...

I was not expecting that reaction from him at all. He never gets scared of people he doesn't know. Must have been the big furry hat and the bushy beard. Everyone in line watching was dying laughing- it was pretty funny!

2 More Playdate's

We had another playdate with my two friends from Stewarts and our boys. My child is officially a giant. These two boys are both older than him (Aiden by a month and Asa by a week)! We had a lot of fun, hope we can do it again soon.


Asa, Brooks, & Aiden (Hope it's ok that I stole this picture Annie!)

Last Saturday we went up and hung out with Courtney and Andrea two of my best friends from high school. We don't get to see each other very often so it was a lot of fun to catch up- especially now that we all have kids. Brooks loved Cash and just followed him around. Linley is so adorable and tiny. Thanks girls for a fun afternoon!


Me & Brooks, Andrea & Cash, Courtney & Linley

Halloween Picture Overload!

Halloween was really fun but really busy! My mom and Tom came up Friday night and then Saturday morning we headed down to Fairview to visit my grandma because it was her birthday. She hates that her birthday is on Halloween but I think it's kind of cool. We took Brooks' costume with us so she could see him as a monkey.


After that, we headed home so Brandon and I could get ready for our ward's "Trunk-or-Treat". We are on the activities committee so we had to be there early to set up.





After the trunk-or-treat my mom and I made a quick shopping trip to Old Navy and then we went to dinner. Then we headed up to Jared and Jamie's house for our family Halloween party. It was so fun to see everyone's costumes and just hang out.


Uncle Jared and Brooks

Brooks, Miley, and Phoe"bee"

Brandon and I were a pair of "blue jeans" haha

Brooks and his Grandma Peggy


Brooks and Adie




And that was our Halloween!

8 Months Old

Our little buddy just turned 8 months old! I can't even believe how fast time seems to be going. He is getting so big (he's already wearing size 12-18 month clothes and size 4 diapers) and has learned so many new things even in just the past month. Because he's 8 months old, here are 8 funny things about Brooks:

1) He has learned to "crawl". He doesn't crawl on his knees yet (although he gets up on them and will rock back and forth) but he pulls himself using his arms and his toes.



2) He says "dada" non-stop. He can say "mama" too but usually only does if he's sad or mad.



3) He is obsessed with shoes and he can always find them. If they are on the floor, no matter how hard we try and hide them, he gets them every time.



4) His favorite toy right now is a white plastic spoon. He carries it with him wherever he goes as he scoots himself around on the floor. Sometimes he'll throw it and then scoot to it and pick it up.



5) He is such a cuddler when he's tired (but only when he's tired). He will always just lay his head on my shoulder and put his arms around my neck and then he will start to hum to himself. It is the cutest thing!



6) He has started to mimic different things we do. He'll mimic different sounds we make and he'll even match the tone that we say them in. He will also shake his head no. He does that on his own mostly but if we do it, he will copy us.



7) He hates it when we try to touch his face. That includes wiping it after he eats, putting shirts on, putting lotion on it, and even putting his bib on. Any time we do any of those things, or even if he only thinks we're going to, he will spit at us. It's pretty funny. On the other hand, he still loves sleeping with the blanket over his face.



8) He loves the kitchen floor. His favorite thing to do is scoot over to the edge where the carpet meets the linolium and he will just smack it with his hand and laugh at himself. He loves anything that makes noise like that, especially if he can make it himself. He loves the vents around the house for this reason.

He got his legs stuck under the TV stand so he just laid there and watched TV for awhile. I thought it was funny.

Those are just a few of the funny things he does right now. He is such a fun and happy little guy! I love this stage, even though the whole mobility thing is a pain sometimes. I just love watching him figure out how to do things. He is a curious little man and is learning new things so fast. Brandon and I feel so blessed to be his parents and we love him so much!

Privacy

So I'm thinking I'm going to make our blog private. Since I use it mainly as a journal for Brooks now, I'm not entirely comfortable thinking that anyone could look at it. If you want to be added, please leave me your e-mail address!

Brooks Crazy Tongue

Brooks' New Trick

He kind of gets distracted but you can tell he's learned how to scoot himself around.

Random Pictures

I finally found my camera cord and have a few pictures I have been wanting to post...

He rolled over and managed to get his arm through the loop of his backpack.

His chubiness in all his glory

This is from my birthday

This is how he likes to sleep

This one is just cute!

Hogle Zoo

So a couple of weeks ago my mom and step-dad came up and we took Brooks to the zoo. I think he liked it, he just likes being outside. He didn't really react too much to the animals but he loved the carousel! He knew just what to do and held on for dear life, but he was grinning practically the whole time. Here are a few pictures:

Brooks loves his animal book...

And this is why.






I think he was more entertained by his ticket to get into the zoo than he was by anything in the zoo!

I had to throw this one in because: look at those legs!

Who knew

An apple could be so funny?

6 Months Old!

Then

Now

Today Brooks is 6 months old. I can't believe how fast it has gone. It seems like yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital and I was wanting to die! :) Things have gotten so much better since then. I am absolutely loving being a mom and I'm so grateful that I get to stay home with Brooks everyday. He has become the sweetest, funniest, chubbiest little guy. His personality is becoming more apparent everyday. Not only is a perfect mixture of Brandon and I lookwise but his personality is too. He's usually pretty chill and happy and sometimes hyper like his dad but when he gets mad, he isn't afraid to let you know (he'd get that from me). We took him in for his 6 month check-up yesterday and he weighs 21 lbs 7oz and is 28 inches long. He's still in the 97th percentile for weight and the 90th for height. I love how big and chubby and cuddly he still is! Brooks is such a happy content little guy for the most part. I love the stage he is in right now and I wish he would stay this age forever. A few things about Brooks at 6 months old:
-He has gotten really good at sleeping. Before he got sick, he was sleeping through the night. And now, he'll fall asleep on his own for naps and at bedtime which has been great. Things have gotten so much easier and we have a great routine going which is so nice.
-He loves to play with his toys. It is so funny to watch him because he'll have a pile of toys around him and he'll go through and play with them one by one.
-He still loves to suck and chew on his hands and everthing else he can get in his mouth.
-He still likes to put his blankets and burp cloths over his face only now he'll pull them off and play peek-a-boo. He loves it and always laughs when we do it.
-He loves his tongue and 90% of the time has it sticking out. He'll blow spit bubbles and click it. He's really very talented.
-He also still loves the water and bathtime and will kick his legs and splash like crazy anytime he's in the pool or the tub.
-He has become obsessed with his toes. He loves to grab onto them and he tries so hard to get them into his mouth but he's only been able to do it a couple of times. The entire time though he grunts because his belly is so big!
-Lately, he has started shaking his head back and forth like he's telling you "no" when you talk to him. I have to get it on video because it's funny.
-He rolled over from his back to his belly for the first time on his own today! Usually I'll have to help him a little but he did it all by himself. Uh oh, that means he's gonna be able to move around soon...
-He loves loves loves his dad! As soon as Brandon comes home from work and Brooks sees him, he gets so excited and just starts giggling. It is so fun to watch them play, Brooks just thinks Brandon is hilarious!
-He has started to cry when I leave the room. I'm not gonna lie, I think it's kind of cute and it makes me feel loved.
-He loves his baby food and has become an expert eater. The whole time we're feeding him he'll make little "mmm" sounds. It's the cutest thing! We're just starting to work on the sippy cup thing.
-He has gotten over his fear of strangers and now pretty much loves everyone. He is the smiliest baby still and anytime you talk to him or play with him he just grins and laughs. He loves to be around people and he gets so excited to play.
-He loves to hear his own voice and just jabbers and squeals and talks non-stop.

I thought these pictures were hilarious. The first one is his first bath when he was like a week and a half old. The second is of him just a few days ago. He has grown a ton- literally!



Here is another funny picture to give you some perspective on how large my child is. This is him with his cousin Maron who is 4 months younger than him. He is huge and she is tiny- opposite ends of the spectrum!

Update

So I still can't find my camera cord but fortunately my mom came up this weekend and she took lots of pictures of Brooks! It has seriously been a crazy couple of months: with moving, holidays, my birthday, a family reunion, and being sick. After our Christensen Family reunion Brooks and I both came home with colds. It is NOT fun to have a sick baby. Even though he didn't have a fever or anything, I just constantly worry about him. He completely lost his voice and it was so sad for a couple of days because he could only squeak. He has been happy though through it all which I'm grateful for. He is such a good boy and he's doing better now, his voice is back anyway, but he still has a little cough. Luckily his 6 month check-up is this week so I'll have the dr check him out. I can't wait to see what his stats are now. It seems like he has grown a ton in the past few weeks. He has gotten so fun- I know I post that all the time but seriously, it just keeps getting better. He has got the sweetest funniest personality. Everyone in our family just loves him and can't even look at him without just laughing. He's that chubby. Anyway, Brandon and I are doing well and things are going pretty good right now. He's just working and I'm just being a mom. I really want to find that cord so I can upload pictures from my birthday and just other cute ones of Brooks but until then, here are some from this weekend.