The trudge

Here is a close up of her perma-face during my "photo shoot" gone wrong.

Fruit Snacks

We’ve been having so much fun! I’m experimenting with my camera, and although I’m no professional, I can see how a good camera makes a huge difference! I certainly feel like a profesh :) They load on my computer a lot faster too. Anyway, we’ve been all business as usual, and Brooklyn is growing faster than I can keep up with! She has added a few words to her vocabulary – light (lathhh), Jesus (sess), uh oh (ohh), and that (that!). She also makes her own doggie noises that sound like monkeys, and I can tell she is understanding me now. When I ask her where something is, she’ll find it. She loves to nod her head and say “yeah!” – it’s adorable. She can shake her head “no” too, but doesn’t say that yet. She sorts her food, and doesn't like to eat unless she puts it in her own mouth. She knows how to be soft with animals, and absolutely loves them. She sticks her face right in their face and pets them. It’s sweet.

Craig and I are going on a date tonight! I can’t wait! Dates are so precious – just me and him! I have learned to treasure those moments, even though I love being with Brooklyn. There’s something refreshing about conversing with another adult about adult things… It’s nice. And I always love spending time with my hubby, because I rarely see him! He has school two nights a week, and when he gets home from work, he often has to do homework.

I try to get my homework done during naptimes, but sometimes a 2 hour nap just isn't enough time! I read a blog post that emphasized how much children understand when they're being ignored, so I'm staying off the computer when Brooklyn is awake. I also try to stay off my phone as much as possible, and I see now what I've been missing. Not that I blatantly ignore her, but she is so much happier when I can give her my full attention. Since she's our only kid, I want to spend as much time with her one on one before we have another one. This is our time together! Just the two of us! Here are some fun times:

Bathtime! We have fun. She splashes and gets water all over the floor, and I splash her back and make her look like a Who from Whoville. :)

This was one of my attempted "photo shoots". It was a horrible failure. Brooklyn was in a terrible mood and wouldn't even crack the beginnings of a smile! She just trudged around like a grumpy pants.



And she got stuck in the fence. It took us awhile to get her out, and then she just went right back in.




This is the face she makes when I say, "smile!" It cracks me up. She looks like Craig's baby pictures to a T!

My little Elvin Princess.

She was eating an apple the other day, and she started hitting her chair and wanting more, so I turned around and saw this. When I pulled it off of her head, she looked at me like I was magic! She squealed and grabbed it from me and ate it.

Her new favorite game - carrying a pillow around the house and falling on it. It's. So. Funny. She does it on the bed too; she laughs and laughs until I'm laughing too. Simple pleasures.



Here I am a little ashamed. I put her hair in pigtails after not doing it for a long time, and I just couldn't help myself. I just used some water and a comb and those babies stuck straight up like antennas! This face says to me, "Mom, you're mean. I look ridiculous."


This was her face when she saw a dalmation running across the parking lot. She was ecstatic and chased him all the way to the next building. Unfortunately he went inside and she didn't get to meet him. :( Cutest face ever.

Another new trick is taking off my headband and putting it on her own head. Then back on mine, and hers, etc. I don't know why this is so funny to her but it makes her laugh till she's red in the face. This one broke after we played with it for awhile :( Lesson learned!

The other day I was having a terrible day (we're transitioning to one nap) and decided to comfort myself with a pack of shark fruit snacks, our favorite. I opened them up and dumped them out, and they were all yellow. Ok, there were two oranges, but those are just as bad. Seriously?!? No purples, no reds, no pinks... it was awful. I should write them a letter.

Back to December

Oh my. There's a lot to cover. But I am master of summarizing, so it won't be too bad. WARNING: there will be many pictures. Of my little sweetie!

Our Thanksgiving was nice. We went to Grandma and Grandpa Davis's, and had a great time.

Brooklyn's birthday was fun too. She turned 1! We had a Harry Potter themed party, and thanks to all the help we had from family and friends, it was a huge success! She loved opening presents, although she was more interested in paper and ribbon than what was actually inside. Typical kid.

She also enjoyed her cupcake! She was very dainty at first (she is a little ocd about messes), but after a little help, she got some chocolate on her face. :) It was fun to see her when everyone was looking at her! I thought she would cry, but she didn't. She just looked around and smiled at everyone. There goes my theory that she's shy. She loves being the center of attention!

This picture is from Wiggle Worms at the library. She loves to shake the maracas!

Christmas was really nice too (I didn't get any pictures of Christmas morning! I couldn't believe it. I will not make that mistake again!). Here are our stockings, filled to the brim with Santa's delights!

We spent our New Years in Las Vegas visiting my family. We went with Matt and Jen to a murder mystery party! It was a blast. We took a moment from our game playing adventures with them and Mom and Dad to acknowledge the new year. Brooklyn was an angel the whole time. She really warmed up to my parents and adores my dad. She was great on the road, too!

Buffalo Wild Wings in Utah. Best idea ever.

Brooklyn's most common face. When she sees dogs. She thinks they say, "Ooo! Ooo!" like a monkey.

Life with Brooklyn is fun. She is pretty happy most of the time, and she is learning so much! I can see how much she is growing and developing, and sometimes she surprises me. She understands a lot more than I think!

However, some days are like this.

She loves apples.

She loves to read! Books are her favorite toy.

And of course, she loves Bucket. Who doesn't?

She is her father's child.

Giving kisses to Bucket.

So my update was not nearly as long as I thought! Brooklyn is doing great :) She makes our life so special! And we're about halfway through the semester in school, which means Craig only has 1 1/2 left! Yippee!

Also, I have a new camera. I was complaining to Craig about how much I despise my camera, and he said, "Hey! I have this nice one in the closet that I've been keeping for like 6 years... why don't you see if it's a good one?" It is.