Wednesday, June 15, 2011

3 Months Old Today

I can't believe that it's already been three months since Brooklynn was born.  It just seems like she's been with us forever.  She truly is my dream baby!  She is an excellent sleeper both day and night.  I always say that she's a great #2 baby because she is really good on the go, and we're on the go all the time.  At three months old, her skills, likes, accomplishments, and milestones are few, but she does have some. 

She loves to: stare at the fan, listen to me sing (she just stares and smiles), eat (I think she would eat all day if she could), get bundled up and go to sleep, chew on her hands, and sneak a peek at the TV any chance she can.  She is smiling more and more each day and I swear she laughed a little bit today.  I just bundled her up to go to bed and I looked down at her smiling face.  I said, "Ohhhh" and she had a little chuckle.  I kept making that sound and it must be an inside joke with her because she kept laughing (just a tiny bit).  I can't wait until she can actually laugh for real at things.  She is really strong and loves to hold up her head.  She's so grown up that she now likes to be held facing out.  I put her in the Bumbo the other day and she is almost ready to sit up and join the real world.  She does not like tummy time or being hungry.  I love my little Brooklynn and I'm so glad she's a part of our family!

On Sunday we blessed her in church.  It was such a great day.  All of the family was here--even my Grandma and Grandpa Mosher drove down for the special day.  She wore the beautiful blessing dress that my Grandma Miller made for me when I was blessed.  The dress has now been worn 7 of us--me, Tera, Toni, Keri, Kate, Bailey, Josi, and Brooklynn.  I love it because I feel like Grandma Miller is there with us on the special day.  I sent Brian up with a bottle for the blessing just in case.  As soon as he was in front of the chapel, she started to cry but quickly stopped when she had her bottle.  Brian gave a great blessing, but he sounded a little bit like Darth Vader.  It was a horrible microphone.

After the first hour of church, we headed back to my parents' house for a yummy brunch.  We had a photo session with Brooklynn in her dress, but she was more interested in her hands than she was at smiling.  I'm going to have to do a take two and try again to get some smiling pictures.  It was a wonderful day and so much fun to spend it with our families.

Here's the day through pictures:

Here's the whole crew.


Bailey was not a fan of taking pictures after church.

Our family with Grandma & Grandpa Mosher


Cute coordinating family pic of Kyle & Sam's family.

with my Mom

Handsome Owen & Ty

Aaron and Josi showing off her new trick of pointing or saying how old she is.

with Roxann and Dan

Here she is in her angel baby dress that my Grandma Miller made for me.


This picture captures how she felt during her photo session.  All she wanted to do was chew on her delicious hand--no smiles...

until the dress came off, but she's still chewing on her hands

This was the best smile we got

But she quickly turned back into focusing on those hands.

Here's half of the table at our lovely brunch.

Brooklynn was just talking away to Grandma Mosher.  Grandma said that she was telling her all her secrets.

Grandma & Grandpa Mosher with the two newest members of their ever-growing family.  We had an early birthday party for Josi since she's turing one at the end of this month.

The Best Week Ever! (as Bailey would say)

Last week Kyle, Sam, and the kids were in town for a vacation.  They recently moved up to Oregon, so it was so much fun to hang out with them.  We packed the 10 days with fun activities for everyone; we were on the go the entire time.  We didn't realize it until yesterday before they were going to leave that the kids got along perfectly.  Last time Kate, Owen, and Bailey were together for a long time there was a lot of fighting, crying, screaming, and other fun stuff.  This time it was pretty peaceful with very little fighting.  I guess it's because they're all getting so much older and wiser! 
Best Buds: this is right before they left to go home.

This morning when Bailey woke up she asked when we could go play with her cousins today.  When I proceeded to tell her that they went home last night, and that their home is far away, she began to bawl her eyes out.  She was truly heart broken that her cousins weren't there to play all day long.  I'm so sad that they live to far away, but we aren't going to let the distance keep these kids apart.  It's important to us that they stay close friends forever.  We had so much fun hanging out everyday and I can't wait until Christmas when we can all be together again.

Here's our fun filled week in review:

They got in Saturday afternoon, so we just hung out at the house and played games.  Sunday was a regular church day.  I had to post these pictures of Bailey and Brooklynn because they looked so cute.
Bailey was a little patriotic in her dress.

Brooklynn was a tiny ballerina.

Tuesday was Legoland day.  None of us had ever been before, so we didn't know what to expect.  My mom was a chaperone with her school for the day, but really she chaperoned all of us.  It was great because she was able to buy tickets for all of us through her school for a true bargain.  It was slightly crowded because of all the schools that were there, but it was still fun.

Here's most of us--Tera, Kyle, Ty, Owen, Kate, Mom, and Bailey.  Toni, Sam, Josi, Brooklynn, and I weren't in the picture, but we were there.

The rides were pretty slow, but the kids loved them.  They rode planes, helipcopters, and cars.





Brooklynn was a dream baby and slept in the carrier for a really long time.  We couldn't resist a picture of her adorable sleeping face.  Later in the day an lady came up and moved her hat because it was covering her face.  I said, "Yes, because she's sleeping, or should I say was sleeping."  I wasn't very happy with her.

This is a classic Josi face!

The kids really did love all the legos.



They had an entire Star Wars land made of legos.  We had to pose with Chewy and R2D2.  (This picture is for Trisha!)

This was my favorite ride.  The kids were all able to drive a car around a mini track all by themselves.  The worker girl asked each of the kids how old they were to make sure that none of them were too young or old.  The kids are the ulitmate lie detectors!  We weren't sure how they were going to do, but I was sure excited to find out.

Here's Bailey and Kate on the straight away.  This was a rare moment when Bailey wasn't crashed into the side of the track.  If I had to rank them, Owen would come in first, followed by Kate, and finally Bailey.  We were cracking up the entire time at their driving skills.

After their time on the track was over, they each got a driver's license.

They were all excited, despite these slightly solemn faces.

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all beach days.  The first two days were great weather; the second two beach days were cold and even misty!  Kids don't care about the weather, they just want to enjoy the beach, sand, and water.  They were all great beach kids and lasted many hours all four days.  It was great because after we were done with the beach, we'd simply walk up to the Carlsbad Inn (where Kyle and Sam were staying)and jump into the pool to swim and clean off.

This was a sunny day.  Bailey could not be bothered to even look at the camera--much better things to do.

Josi is one cool chick!

This is Toni's favorite picture to prove that Josi actually liked her.  Josi was hesitant all week to jump into anyone's arms, except for Ty.  She loved Ty!  So all week we all tried to be her friend, but she didn't truly give in until the last day.  We know that deep down she loves all of us.

This was moments after my mom was teaching Owen one of the finer skills in life--going to the bathroom at the beach.  She was trying to get him to just go while sitting on the sand and none of us were paying attention to the waves.  Right at the wrong moment, a wave came up and kind of crashed on Owen.  The water went right up to his face!  He survived, but might possibly be scarred for life from this experience. 

Josi loved looking at all of the birds at the beach.


Twinners!!

This was one of our cold and cloudy days, but they didn't care.  They ran and played all day.

Brooklynn got all dressed up for the beach--such a beach beauty!

Saturday we had a big BBQ at my parents' house.  It was for fun, for Josi's birthday, and because we had a big jumpy.  This thing was awesome!!  It had three slides, a bball hoop, a pool area at the bottom, and it sprayed water.  All of the kids that were over played on it for at least an hour.  I kind of want to buy one from Costco.  If I had a big yard, I probably would, so I guess it's a good thing that I don't have a yard.  They played until they were worn out for the day.




Aaron was able to come down Saturday afternoon.  What a good uncle!

Bailey wore herself out--not only from the day but the entire week.

Throughout the week we also squeezed in: Xmen movie, Sushi lunch, Padres game, Super 8, lunch at Harbor Fish, shopping, and lots of games.  It was such a fun week with almost the whole family together (Toni stayed down the entire week!).  I'm so glad that Kyle and Sam were willing to make the super long drive.  I truly am already looking forward to Christmas when we'll all be together again.  I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful family who actually enjoy spending time together!!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Livin' the Life

I love my life!  I love being home with my two girls every day.  You won't find us home much of the time, but at least it's an option if we want it.  Our days are filled with beach, swim lessons, Disneyland, play dates at the park, shopping, or whatever we want to do.  I even cleaned my floors yesterday!  Because we've been so busy, I haven't been posting much at all.
I don't know why, but right after Brooklynn was born we bought these 2 day Disneyland passes.  Those two days quickly turned into annual passes and every Wednesday has been Disney day!  We pick up Toni on the way up there and then meet Becky, Hailey, and Chloe.  Most of the days we even stayed until close--my girls are troopers!  It does make it a lot easier that Toni is able to come with us.  Brooklynn usually just sleeps and eats the day away.  Bailey has been able to ride the tru big kid rides.  A couple of weeks ago, Toni and Aaron took her on Tower or Terror and Big Thunder Mountain.  She said it was scary, but fun and she talks about it all the time.  She is 39 1/2 inches tall and you have to be 40 inches.  We have been stuffing folded up napkins in her shoes, but this last time Toni just bought her some flip flops with enough height to make it work.  This last week was the best Disney day yet!  We went on the sneak peak of the new Little Mermaid ride.  It was a very cute ride.  I wish that Disney Wednesday could last all year long, but we didn't have enough money for those passes.  We still have one more chance to go this summer, but it may be too crowded even for us. 
Here we are on the Buzz Lightyear ride.  I love the look on all of our faces.  Also notice my super high score--baby and all!

In addition to all of our fun adventures, Bailey has been saying some super awesome stuff lately.  Two nights ago, she said the best dinner prayer I've ever heard.  It went a little something like this: 

"Bless that daddy will give me blessings and keep the monsters away so they don't come in our house; bless Brooklynn so she won't throw up; bless mommy will be safe."  There was more, but that was the best part.  I kept looking at her in amazement because her prayers usually just bless the food and amen. 

That night when I went into her room before I went to bed, I noticed that she had her field hockey stick next to her.  In the morning I asked her why.  She said, "To bash the monsters with!"  I don't know why  she is kind of obsessed with monsters lately, but if her field hockey stick keeps her safe that's great.  She has a great imagination and uses it often.  She will  just play with her toys and make up beautiful songs and funny stories.  And on most days lately, being three isn't that bad.

She's also in swim lessons and, finally, loving it!  The first three lessons she cried and tried to grab onto her teacher for dear life.  I don't know why she was so scared.  I think it was because she usually had one big intake of water through her nose.  I am not above bribing her to do things, so we started getting kids cones from McDonalds if she did good.  Both lessons this week were awesome!  She is doing so well and she might even start learning how to actually swim.  I'll bring my camera next week to take a pic of Bailey and Hailey at swim. 

Brooklynn has been such an angel baby.  The past couple of nights she goes down around 8:00ish, then I waker her up to eat around 11-12 and then she's down for the night.  She wakes up between 7-7:30!  It truly is amazing!!  She smiles so much more now and really wants to be able to talk.  She makes adorable little sounds if you talk to her.  I don't know if it's because there's so much less stress with Brooklynn compared to Bailey, but I'm enjoying this stage so much more. 


Other family news:

1. My sister Tera graduated with her Masters. Yeah for Master Miller! I'm so excited for her that she never has to write another paper again.  I'm glad that we were all able to help her celebrate her big day.

I love this picture of Tera!  She looks so cute!

I agree with Brooklynn that graduations are a little boring.  The only exciting part is screaming as loud as you can for the person who is graduating.  I'd like to think that our family is always the loudest.  Our screaming did wake Brooklynn up.

Mom & Dad enjoying the cermony

Hmm, what should I major in?

Toni & Aaron

Tera and her friends

A sugar addict at such a young age.  Look closely and you'll see that she's hugging a candy bar.

2.  Toni got a job.  I don't know if I should celebrate or cry.  I'm happy for her to finally end her search for a job.  But I'm sad that we won't be able to hang out all the time.  It's been so much fun to have Toni around.  I will be sad and Bailey will be sadder :(

3.  Kyle, Sam, Kate, Owen, and Josi are on their way here!!  They'll be here for about 10 days!  I can't wait to see them--especially baby Josi who is almost 1 year old.  We'll have almost the whole family together for a week and I can't wait!