Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Grami's Visit

Mom was able to come down for a visit from Thursday until Monday, so I was elated! Abby Kate and I got to spend a wonderful four days with Grami! We picked her up at the Pensacola airport Thursday morning at 8:30. It was a beautiful day: sunny and in the 70's. We spent the next four days playing with AK, taking long walks, going to the beach, out to dinner, shopping and just talking and basking in the warm sun. Mom soaked up the time with her granddaughter and Junah and me. Abby Kate had tons of smiles for her everyday.

We took lots of great pictures of AK on the beach, but they're in Mom's camera, so I'll upload them when she has a chance to send them to me.

We had such a nice time. I really hated to take her back to the airport on Monday morning. It sure is hard living so far away from home. I miss my family so much. I'm looking forward to several trips home this Spring and Summer.


Mike was out of town on a cross-country flight to Santa Fe, NM. It was an opportunity for him to get in several graded flights in just a couple of days. He got to ski while there, so he had a good time. He brought back gifts for Abby Kate and me - this adorable little maraca for AK and a beautiful turquoise bracelet for me (which I'm wearing as an anklet because it's too big, but I love it!). Thanks, honey!

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Pawpaw's Motorcycle

I wanted to share this clip I took back in January because I think it's hysterical. It's of my 8-month-old nephew, William, on my Dad's knee. Dad pretends his leg is a motorcycle and William just LOVES it! He laughs and laughs, and then sighs real loud each time the ride is over. Enjoy...

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Welcome to the World


Madeline Grace Brooks

My cousin, Jonathan, his wife, Lori, and their daughter, Hannah, are celebrating the birth of their newest family member, born yesterday at 5:32 p.m. Madeline weighed 9 lbs. 1.9 oz, and measured 20 inches long. Congrats guys! She's beautiful!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Our Valentine

Abby Kate received special cards and gifts from us even though she didn't know what they were for. Really more for Mike's and my enjoyment I guess. She wore her denim dress that Grami gave her. It'll probably be the last time she'll get to wear it though, because she's growing SO fast!

Thank you Mike for the very sweet cards, beautiful flowers and candy! I love you!












I decided to go back to my Kindergarten days and make Mike's Valentines myself. One from me, from Abby Kate and from "The Kid" (Junah). I covered AK's right hand in white paint for the inside of the card. It's taken me two days to get it completely out of her fingernails!

And this is the face that Daddy taught Abby Kate to make at boys...

We stopped by Sommer's house to give Griffin a Valentine. Griffin is growing fast, too! He's now almost 7 months old. Can you believe how tall he's gotten?! He is so cute. We can't wait until they'll actually be able to play together.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Just Call Us Fred and Ginger

Yep, that's right! We can Tango, we can Rumba, we can Mambo and we can Foxtrot with the best of them... or at least with some of them.

Mike gave me ballroom dancing lessons for Christmas and we took our fifth and final dance lesson with Rachel at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Pensacola on Friday night. We really enjoyed ourselves and were surprised how fast we learned the dances. And we only stepped on each other's toes once or twice. Rachel was especially impressed with our Tango. Well, she may just have been flattering us so we'd buy the next "advanced" dance lesson package for an affordable $1,300! Needless to say we didn't sign up for that. But we still have four "parties" to go to at the studio. They host one every Friday. Next Friday they have a Sweetheart Dance. So we're going to try to make that one and practice our stuff!

We are very thankful to our babysitters... Buddy and Debbie (our wonderful neighbors and friends) and Chad and Sommer (who I've never mentioned on this blog before. Oh, I have? Kay, so you know who I'm talking about then. ha, ha). Thanks, guys for taking care of Abby Kate all those times!

Friday, February 02, 2007

Busy Baby

Some days it hits me that there is this precious little girl and she's MINE! I'm so excited that I get to show her everything. She was watching me get ready the other day and I realized, "oh, I get to show her how to do makeup!" But lately I've been focusing on just getting her to recognize her feet. Feet first, mascara later. (MUCH later if it's up to Mike. ha, ha)

I'm so excited to play with Abby Kate everyday. She doesn't do much since she can't sit up, but just watching her concentrate on grabbing something and then smiling and making those "wet" sounds is enough to entertain me for hours. She is all about the gurgly noises she can make now. She is infatuated with the way they sound. She does it all day. Even when she cries, she stops between sobs to make a few gurgles before screaming again. It's hilarious. She's like "oh, I'm so mad, Whaaaaa! But oh wait, I forgot I can make these sounds... but no, no, got to keep crying... but I like to gurgle so much... "



She is growing and changing so fast. Now at 3 1/2 months, she holds her head up well and enjoys being on her tummy much more. She rolled from her stomach to her back all by herself today for the first time. We bought her a Bumba, which is this little seat that supports her back. It's supposed to help her strengthen her back muscles and show her how to sit up on her own. I like it because she can now play sitting up instead of always being on her back. It's a good way to avoid a flat head, at least!



She donned her first pair of tennis shoes this week. Aren't they cute? They're still too large. I'm not big on infants wearing shoes before they can walk, but anything that keeps her socks on while we're out and about works great for me. And these do the trick.



Her daddy has fun with her when she's in a playful mood. He plays with her and talks to her. She even had her first ride on Daddy's shoulders! But lately, she prefers Mommy. We've heard from lots of people that this happens in the early months. It's frustrating for both of us at times because Mike wants to spend quality time with her when he comes home, and I need a break for a while each day! We're told they grow out of it, though, so we're not too worried.



Her nights are still inconsistent. Sometimes she'll go 10 to 12 hours without waking once, like I told you about in the previous post. Other nights she wakes up every 4 to 6 hours. So we still haven't quite figured her out.

She is definitely showing more and more personality and alertness. When she's awake, she wants my undivided attention. This makes it very hard for me to work. I end up sitting her in her bouncy seat ontop of my desk. My left hand bounces her and holds her toys while my right hand works on my design projects. I've become an excellent multi-tasker!