Five Months

Our sweet baby Summer is now five months old. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly they change when they are so young. A few weeks ago we started giving Summer some solids. She was doing pretty good with them but didn't seem to really ENJOY them until just the last few days. She still loves bananas more than anything! Summer is now rolling over in both directions and is sleeping more and more on her belly. Speaking of sleeping, she's been doing a lot better during the day. Lately she's been coinciding her afternoon nap with Brooke's and that is going unbelievably well. She just watches Brooke until she drifts off to sleep and they both sleep great....I'm loving it! And speaking of Brooke, Summer is really loving having a big-sister. She loves to watch Brooke dance around and play, and Brooke loves to play with Summer. The best part about that is that there is a more than willing participant in the well-loved infant game of drop the toy, pick it up.

Summer is also really excited about toys these days. She bats furiously at toys above her and grabs at anything in front of her. Just yesterday, I noticed her switching a toy from one hand to the other. A couple weeks ago she took notice of her toes and loves to put them in her mouth...YUM!

Well, we just feel so blessed with the family God has given us and these two wonderful girls!

This is a pic that Sarah took at a recent get-together. So sweet!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

I'm a tad late in getting this posted but Blogger wasn't cooperating yesterday. As most of you know we had a crazy amount of snowfall in OKC on Christmas Eve. On Christmas day we thoroughly enjoyed playing in the snow. Bill was a trooper, pulling all the kids over a snow drift and across Mom and Dad's backyard. Even Brooke and I got in on the action. I haven't had so much fun in the snow since Bill and I were dating and took some sleds to an overpass on the turnpike before it opened in Yukon. Anyway, here are some great pics and a video.

This is on our way to the interstate. The car directly in front of us is moving but every other vehicle in the frame was stranded...including the mail truck which was surrounded by at least 6" of snow.

This was Brooke's first experience on a sled. She had a great time even after getting knocked over.

This is Shianne and Dylan on the sled being pulled by Bill. At the very last second of the video Brooke got knocked to the ground "funniest home video" style but it was just out of frame so you probably won't see it.

I came across this video of Brooke at 18mos. that I had to share. We had recently been on a long trip with my sister and her kids and Brooke was very interested in watching her older cousins jump. These were some of Brooke's first attempts at jumping. She's having a blast!

Christmas Joy

What a wonderful Christmas we have had this year! We are blessed in so many ways, but most of all to have the ability to spend it with the ones we love! Christmas Eve, we enjoyed staying at home, reading the Christmas story out of the book of Luke, watching some Christmas cartoons, and watching the Celtic Women sing Christmas carols. Brooke was sure they were princesses singing the "Baby Jesus" song she knows (Silent Night). She was mesmerized by them and clapped after every song!

When I was a child, one of our Christmas traditions was to open a gift on Christmas Eve. I can only think of one or two years that this gift was not a new set of pajamas, usually handmade by my mom. Although I have never made pajamas, I loved this tradition and continue it with Brooke. She opened her Disney Princess pj's on Christmas Eve and loved them, but wouldn't let me take her picture for anything.

Christmas morning, we opened our presents at home. We kept Christmas really small this year and Brooke could not have cared less. She was thrilled with her new Cabbage Patch baby named Brandy and a Dora puzzle.

One of Brooke's favorite parts about this Christmas was getting to open Summer's presents for her.

Showing off Brandy and Christa (Summer's Cabbage Patch baby)

After spending the morning at home we went to see family. We went to Jesika and Patrick's to hang out for a bit and let Hannah and Brooke exchange gifts. Then we went to my parents' to do gifts there. By this point, Brooke had opened presents so many different times she couldn't believe there was more. When we'd tell her to open one, she would ask, "It's for myself?"

My sister and bro-in-law picked a great gift for Bill. A Snufleupagus hat and a t-shirt that says, "You don't have to be crazy to work here. They'll train you." For those of you who don't know, he works at a state mental hospital..hehe...and I've always called him Snuffy because of his insanely long eyelashes that point straight down.

Amongst many other things, Brooke was really excited about this new board game.

Papa helped Summer open some presents

The two babies hanging out with Grammy and their new chew toys

We had a great afternoon hanging out with the Wood side of the family and the kids had a great time playing in the snow...another post on that later.

On Saturday, Larry and Vickie (Papa and Mema) came in from McAlester and we all got together at Jesika's again. It was a last minute trip, so again, Brooke couldn't believe there was more. She was thrilled again over everything.

Along with a set of Play-doh and a Tinkerbell doll, she got her very first Barbie from one of her aunts

And a really cute Tinkerbell treasure chest of dress up clothes. She's been Tinkerbell or one of Tink's friends since!

Correction

Okay, I just woke up and realized I made a mistake....Brooke has NOT grown 7in in 7 months. I was looking at her weight from a year and a half ago and thought it was just from earlier this year. So, while she has gotten quite a bit taller recently, she is not the amazing growing child I said;)

Shame on me

I am greatly disappointed in myself for not keeping my blog up to date. It seems that life just gets so in the way! I will attempt a very brief update of the last several weeks and try to post some pictures in the next day or two.

We had a good Thanksgiving with family here in OKC and then headed to McAlester to visit Bill's Dad and family for the weekend after. Bill did some hunting while we were there, but didn't get anything. He was disappointed, but is excited that he found a spot near Thunderbird Lake to go. While we were there we had a small birthday celebration for Brooke since Papa and Mema and all her cousins weren't able to come to her party here. She had fun picking out her cake and always has a blast playing with all the boys there.

Last weekend we watched as Bill's sister, Jesika, married her fiance Patrick. It was a beautiful wedding!

Both girls had well-checks with our pediatrician last week and are doing well. Brooke has really grown a lot! In the last seven months she has grown 7in and 8lbs!! Dr. M was really pleased with her and she cooperated fairly well for a 3yr old! Summer is also doing well and he gave us the go-ahead on solids to add a little more weight on her. She hasn't been too excited about infant cereal, but does take it. Today, however, after her bottle, she was eyeing my banana so we mashed some up for her to try. After the first four or five bites she would turn and just SMILE so big at us. You could tell she REALLY liked the bananas and was attacking the spoon each time! She is well on her way to eating a full solid diet in addition to her milk!

Summer has become known for being quite loud these days. When she's happy and playing she gets very noisy just talking and cooing to herself. I say she sounds like a singing bird...although I wouldn't say it's a pretty song;)

Brooke just loves being a big-sister and is so sweet with Summer. She amazes me with her ability to put puzzles together. She needs no help to put together a 20-30 piece puzzle and only a little help with a more challenging one! She takes after my sister April in this way.

I'm gearing myself up for another challenging semester in school starting in January. Other than that, we are just enjoying each other's company.