Brooklyn's 1st Birthday

Well I can't believe it, my baby girl turned one yesterday.  It seems like this past year has just flown by.  It goes so much faster the second time around when you have two little kiddos to chase.  I still remember there being so many days with Brady when he was her age when I thought this stay-at-home mom thing is sooo boring.  I've definitely not had time to think that since Brooklyn came along.  She is such a busy little bee.  She isn't walking on her own yet but she is oh so close.  She loves to hold on to Brady's trucks and walk behind them.  She walks really well she just doesn't have the confidence yet to let go.  She is such a happy little girl.  I constantly have people saying to me, "what a happy baby."  It's true until it's not. :)  She can be very happy and very mad.  She really knows how to commit to her emotions.  When she gets mad it is full on diva mode.  She can arch her back and scream and get the reddest little face.  I'm a little concerned that she is so good at throwing tantrums at one.  That can't be good for our future. :)

We go to the doctor tomorrow for her checkup so I don't have any stats on her yet.  She is so much tinier than Brady was at this age so I'm curious to see how much she's grown.  She's very short and petite.  She can say quite a few words when she wants to but overall she's not much of a talker.  Her favorite words that she uses daily are Daddy, Mama, Brady and Hi.  She is such a cutie pie and we love her to pieces.  Here are some pictures from her birthday party this past Saturday.

 Playing with her cousins.

 I love this picture because she has pure joy written all over her face.  She got a truck of her own and she was in heaven.  

 I love this picture of her with my parents.  She is looking at my dad like she is in love.  Precious!

 Brooklyn with her Mimi and Aunt Rachel.

 The theme of her party was pumpkins as you can tell.  

 I totally forgot to take pictures of the table before the party so this is the next day.  Just an idea of how things were decorated.

 This is a wreath my mom made for my front door.

 Me and my little princess.

 Brooklyn had fun putting her hands in the icing but refused to eat it.  When I put a dab of icing in her mouth she got mad and cried.  She can't stand sweet stuff so it didn't surprise me.

 Brady thought it was hilarious. :)

 Wednesday was her actual birthday so we took the kids to the park to play and for a picnic.  Brooklyn loved the swings.

 She didn't so much love the slide.

 Brady did though. :)

Summer Wrap-up

I'm finally able to sit down and update my blog.  Life just seems crazy right now and I don't have time to do anything.  I figured since I haven't blogged since Easter I better at least get on here and do a quick wrap-up of our summer.  We ended up having a pretty laid back summer.  We were forced to have it that way though.  At the beginning of summer Brady had a pretty traumatic incident.  While in Sunday school, he fell off of a stool and hit the back of his head.  Later that evening we ended up in the emergency room where we found out that it was a concussion and a small skull fracture.  Physically Brady was fine after about a week, but emotionally, he was shaken up.  After that incident he didn't want to do anything where we were not right there with him.  We had scheduled a class at The Little Gym and swim lessons but neither one worked out because he would just scream and cry at the thought of leaving our side.  He also had a hard time going back in to Sunday school but we kept at it and now he goes in with no problem again.  It was a tough summer watching him struggle with this new fear and also a very boring one for this stay-at-home mommy.  We made  it through though and now he seems to be getting over his fear about things a little quicker.  We started him back in preschool a couple weeks ago and he still cries a little at the door but he ends up having a blast.  

I don't know why but both of my kids grew so much this summer.  Brady is quite a bit taller and his feet have even grown.  Brooklyn is really starting to burn calories with all her crawling because she's turning into quite a petite little thing.  Brooklyn has learned so much this summer.  She is now officially a crawler.  She started off army crawling but now does it the hands and knees way.  She can really move when she wants to.  Especially if you are saying "Brooklyn no no."  She is even pulling up on things to the standing position and can walk a little bit.  I have a feeling she will be walking before Brady did.  He walked 2 weeks before he turned 1 and she is already moving like crazy at 10 months.  We'll see.  I think she is doing everything faster because she wants to keep up with him.  She adores her big brother.  And he loves her to but is too busy to notice her most of the time.  

I will say that life with 2 kids is so much crazier.  Especially with everything else going on too.  I often wonder if I could handle anymore kids but then I look at my precious babies and think there is no way I could be done.  They bring so much joy to my life and I feel so extremely blessed to call them mine.

 I had to include this picture to show how much thinner her hair was at the beginning of summer.  It has gotten really full now and it is so soft.  I love it!

 Our little crawler.

 Brooklyn gets in to everything now that she can move around on her own, so we decided it was time to put up the baby gates.  She stands up and shakes them like she is in prison.  Cracks me up.

 She loves being outside.  Even if it is blistering hot this girl loves being out.  Too bad mommy hates the Texas heat. :)

 My sweet little angel face.  She has the most beautiful smile.  I can't believe she is already 10 months.  More like 10 1/2 now.

Another example of Brooklyn getting in to everything.  She has her own buckets of toys but she much prefers going through her brothers.

 One of Brady's favorite activities is Playdough.  He will sit for almost 2 hours doing it completely unassisted.  I love this activity because I can put him at the kitchen table with it and I can cook or clean and not worry about him.  Yeah for Playdough!

 Brady's favorite indoor activity is riding his hotwheels.  This has been ongoing for about a year.  He rides that thing everyday.

 His favorite outdoor activity would be riding his bike.  He has one of those balance bikes and he is so good at riding it.  We go on neighborhood walks a lot and he has recently started riding his bike alongside us.  

 First day of preschool!  This look is "are you done taking my picture yet mom?"

 Brady loves going to the lakehouse.  He absolutely adores swimming in the lake.  He is so independent now too.  He wears a life jacket but he wants to swim all by himself now.  He'll even jump off the back of the boat. 

His first soccer picture.  It took a lot of tries to get this picture too.  He is loving soccer but I haven't figured out yet if we have a soccer prodigy.  He is too nice and won't take the ball from anyone.  I guess I need to toughin' him up. :)

Easter

For now this is all you get.  More to come!