O' Christmas Tree

Jeremy and I put up the Christmas tree last night after Brooke went to bed. It was almost like she knew....she woke up this morning in a great mood. Instead of her normal whining "Mommy...Mommy...Mommy" she was saying "Mommy! Mommy! Mama! I am upstairs...come and get me!!". It was the cutest thing! It was a great start to the morning. When I walked her downstairs, she looked around in amazement. It was like Santa had already come. She looked at the tree and just adored it. She loved the lights, the ornaments, and the feel of the tree. She looked around at all the other Christmas decorations around the house and wanted to know what each thing was. It was certainly a great morning.

I can't wait to see her face light up when Santa comes! We have been talking about it for a little while, but I don't think she really understands what Santa really means. While getting in the Christmas spirit, we have been singing some Christmas songs. She knows Jingle Bells and Ruldolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I love listening to that little girl sing!

Today, I bought the "Elf on a Shelf" for Brooke. If you are not familiar with this, it's an elf that you sit somewhere in the house and he goes back everynight and reports back to Santa Claus what you have done that day...whether you have been naughty or nice, essentially. I don't know that Brooke will fully understand, but it will be fun to see if she can find the Elf sitting in a new place every morning. I hope that she will eventually look forward to finding the elf in the morning. I also hope that she's not scared of the little guy either. He is sorta weird looking. I will let you know how it goes in another post!

Thanksgiving

I have to say, "Life is good". I am sitting here (when I should be fast asleep) being sappy and thinking about how good life is right now, so with Thanksgiving on Thursday, I want to write a post about being thankful.

First and foremost, I am thankful to have a wonderful husband and a nearly perfect child. I am thankful to have a roof over my head...a place that is not just a house, but a home to my wonderful family. I am thankful for my family...my parents, grandparents, brother, sister in law, sister, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins, and yes, even the in-laws (LOL!). I am fortunate to have such a wonderful, loving, and supportive family. A family where we talk...have actual conversations - not just calling to say hello. I am thankful, knowing that if I ever needed anything, all I would ever have to do is pick up the phone and ask...someone...anyone...and they would be there in an instant.

I am lucky to be able to afford to put the roof over my head and make my house a home. I am lucky that we don't have to go without. I am lucky to have a job, one that I actually kind of like ;). I am thankful to be able to make a career for myself, to continually grow and learn. I am thankful to have an employer who is flexible and understands that although I like to work, my family comes first.

I am lucky to have been born in the United States and have freedom in my life. I am thankful for all those who have given the ultimate sacrifice to ensure my freedom.

I am lucky to have a husband who loves his job, and gives it his all. I am thankful to have a family who understands what he does, appreciates it, and helps me out when he is not here. I am thankful that he has found a career that he loves and that the career involves helping others in need. I am thankful that my husband loves me as much as he does. I am thankful that I love him too and want to share life's most important events with him. I am thankful that he is the father of our child.

I am thankful to have such wonderful friends in my life. People who are a phone call away, share their important news because they want to, and are excited to hear what I have to say as well. I am lucky to have a select few friends who have seen me at my worst, but still love me for my best. I am thankful that I can call these people friends, as they make my life richer just being in it.

I am thankful for the decisions I have made in my life to get me where I am today. Life has sure had it's ups and downs. But right now, right at this very moment, I am happy all of these decisions were made...it's because of those decisions that I sit here right now, and am thankful for everything that is in my life.

I am thankful for a lot. A WHOLE lot. After this post, I am going to go upstairs, just like I do everynight, and give my little girl a kiss goodnight...because most of all, I am thankful for her...the sweet little girl who is upstairs peacefully sleeping...waiting for whatever joys tomorrow may bring her.

Potty Training

Brooke had a great week of potty training at daycare. Her teacher, Ms. Melissa said that she stayed dry almost all week long. She peed and pooped in the potty at daycare. This weekend hasn't been so great thus far. She is too interested in playing...she doesn't want to stop what she is doing and go to the potty. I am hoping that tomorrow is a better day as far as potty training is concerned. Because she was catching on so quickly, I was hoping that the potty training would go very smoothly. After yesterday and today, I am not so sure. The other problem is that we have been so busy the past two days, we haven't had time to sit her on the potty every 20 minutes like we were doing. I need to kick that back in gear and get her trained while she is still interested! Oh, the joys of motherhood. I never thought I would be blogging about peeing and pooping in the potty! It's hilarious how life has changed!! But, I wouldn't give it back for the world.

Update

I know I keep commenting on how big Brooke is getting, but it absolutely amazes me. She says new things every single day. She learns new things every single day. She picks up on things so easily now. She is such a great child.

On Halloween, Brooke dressed up as a bumblebee. Trick or treating in our neighborhood lasted from 6-8 that evening. At 6:00 we had our first little trick or treaters. Brooke happened to be standing at our glass front door as the kids walked up the front stairs. She started crying hysterically. Imagine this....you are two years old, have no idea what halloween is all about, and three kids walk up to your front door. One is dressed as a princess, one is dressed as a toy story character, and the other as some scary goblin. Poor little Brooke had no idea what was going on. All she saw was that a scary goblin was coming to her front door. Once we went out trick or treating, she was a little better until she saw very scary costumes. She would ask, "What's that mommy". I would tell her that it was just a person dressed up in a costume. She was okay with that answer, but would not go up to the door by herself. I had to hold her the entire trick or treating adventure, but it was worth it. I think she enjoyed herself.

We have sort of been working on this whole potty training thing. I have not pushed it really hard, but we have been asking her every hour or so if she has to go potty. When she sits on the potty, she will go pee once out of every four times on the potty. She keeps her diapers dry for hours at a time, and then when I ask if she has to go potty, she will sit on the toilet and actually go. We have not gotten to the point yet where she will tell me that she has to go. I have to keep reminding her to sit on the potty. We try to make it a very big deal that she is going to the bathroom on the potty. At this point, I am just trying to figure out the best next steps to take. Do I go ahead and put her in big girl panties all day long? Do I just keep doing the pull ups and asking her when she has to go potty? Not really sure...but time will tell what works for us. I am hoping that she is going to be pretty easy to potty train. Afterall, she has been pretty easy to train on everything else. I couldn't ask for a better little girl.

We went up to Dover this past week to visit Chris, Jenn, Abby, and meet baby Lizzie for the first time. We had a great time. I loved watching Brooke and Abby play together. They are so close in age, and are into the same things, so it was fun watching them interact with each other. Lizzie was the sweetest. She hardly ever cried, and was content just being. I loved holding her, although Brooke did get a little jealous and kept telling me to put Lizzie back in her bouncy seat. Brooke wanted to help Lizzie whenever she didn't have her pacifier ("pass seat" as Brooke called it). She was trying so hard to help, but was very rough with Lizzie. I thought it was sweet that she was very concerned about Lizzie not having her pacifier, but she was a too rough for my liking...it made me very nervous! I sat Brooke down and told her that Lizzie was not a toy and that she had to be gentle.

Brooke did extremely well on the car ride up to Dover and on the way home. She played in the backseat by herself for a while, but when she got cranky we let her watch movies on the portable DVD player. It worked wonders! She loved watching movies in the car. I just hope that she doesn't expect to watch a movie everytime she is in the car now. Momma ain't playing that game ;).

I am enjoying my time off before I start back to work at Ernst and Young. I wish that I would have taken some more time off....two weeks is flying by! I am able to get things done around the house that I have wanted to do for a while now. I still have more things on my list, but have a few more days to complete them. That's all for now...time to do more stuff around the house!

The Last Few Weeks

Well, it's been a busy last few weeks. Between work and planning for Brooke's birthday party and her actual birthday, I am surprised that I remembered to breathe.

Brooke's birthday party went off without a hitch. We were missing a few members of Jeremy's family, so we missed them, but were very that we had a great turnout. The cake was absolutely awesome. It looked just like I wanted it to, if not better, and it tasted great as well. Thanks to Aunt Paige for spending the day with me to help decorate the cake. It took about a total of three hours to ice the cake and cupcakes. My hands ended up being dyed purple from the black food coloring. I scrubbed with peroxide, bleach, and gasoline before it finally went away.

Brooke had a great time at her party. She loved seeing the family and being the center of attention. She especially loved that Lily was there. It's quite amazing how much Brooke looks up to Lily. I think it's so cute to watch them play together. They are just too sweet.

On Brooke's actual birthday, we spent the day as a family. Jeremy took the day off, and we went to my mom's work to visit. After that visit, we went to Huber's and ate lunch and picked pumpkins. We got a lot of great pictures. Check back soon for pictures of her birthday party and her actual birthday adventures. After Huber's, Brooke took a much needed nap. Later that evening, we went to GattiLand. We were torn between GattiLand and Chuck E Cheese. The final deciding factor came down to the pizza. Jeremy and I can not even tolerate the pizza at Chuck E Cheese. Not that the pizza is the best at GattiLand, but at least it's edible. Brooke had a great time at GattiLand. Between the pizza and the games, she was a tired little girl before it was all said and done. And to boot, she was a lucky little girl. The games we played at GattiLand were a little old for her, but were all about timing. We played games that when you press the button, it lands on a spot, and you get that amount of tickets. We played several different versions of that game, and she won more tickets then Jeremy and I did combined. It was hilarious.

Last week, Brooke and I went to the grocery together. She has always been really good about staying in the grocery cart until recently. I decided, after multiple arugments, to go ahead and give in to her, and let her get out of the cart. I had about two more aisles to go when I let her out. She got out of the cart, started walking backwards and waved her hands saying, "Follow Me, Mommy. Follow me". It melted my heart. Whenever Brooke says new things like this, I realize how much she is growing up and how much she is more like a little girl, rather than a baby.

Today, I was taking a bath before the UofL game, and Brooke was in the bathroom with me. She realized that I had a hair rubber band on my wrist, and looked at me and said "No, no, Mommy. No bracelets in the bath tub. No, no, no". Jeremy and I tell her that she is not allowed to bring bracelets in the bath tub. So, she was scolding me for taking a bracelet into the bath tub. Again, I thought this was adorable.

I have been teaching Brooke her last name and address this past week. Since she is old enough to remember things, I thought this would be a good time. I worry about her getting lost, or wandering off, so I wanted to make sure that she was able to tell someone where she lived and what her name was. So, when you ask her what her name is, she will say Brooke. Last name? (she tells me what her last name is, but for privacy purposes, I don't want to put it on here). Where she lives? (She tells me the name of the street she lives on, but not the house number, and again, for privacy purposes, I don't want to write it here). The way she says all of these things are just adorable. I am still working with her, and want her to know the house number and either Mommy or Daddy's cell phone number.

I also wanted to tell everyone thank you again. Thank you for everything you do. Thanks for just reading this blog and caring enough to want to know what's going on in our lives. Thanks for being a part of that. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Love you all!!

Shopping Adventure and Muffins Please

Brooke and I went to the Summit tonight in order to look for something for her to wear for her birthday party. We went to Old Navy first, and she was cracking me up! She would walk over to something, and say "I want this", she would pick it up and then carry it away. She would walk over to another item of clothing and say "It's pretty". After we walked out of Old Navy, she spotted the water fountain. Every time we go to the Summit or the mall, she has to throw pennies into the fountain. I gave her a few pennies to throw in...what a cheap thrill!

We hit a couple more stores before our shopping adventure was over. At baby Gap, she wanted to try on shoes. So, we took her shoes and socks off, and she put on a pair of flats. She walked around the store in amazement. This little girl has a shoe fetish already. Boy, Jeremy and I are sure in trouble!

We had a ton of fun shopping. I got a few things for her to wear on her birthday party day, but you will just have to wait to see them!

On another note, my child is not only obsessed with shoes, but also muffins. For whatever reason, Brooke becomes obsessed with a certain item of food for weeks at a time. The first food obsession was yogurt covered pretzels. I finall had to put her through a yogurt covered pretzel detox, to which she came out successful. The next obsession was bananas. Now, the obsession is muffins. She loves the blueberry mini muffins. She wakes up - wants muffins. She eats a little lunch, tells me all done, and then will look up at me with her big blue eyes, and ask in the sweetest little voice with a sweet little smile, "Muffins?". The other night we had pizza for dinner. She ate about half a slice and then asked for muffins. That's all she wants to eat right now. I am thinking about buying stock in the muffin company. Oh, and she also loves the song "Do you know the Muffin Man". LOL - she might just turn into a muffin!! I have called her muffin from the first few weeks she was born. I guess she just may live up to that name!!

Busy Month of October!!

October is so busy for me! I am starting to stress out a little...I know, it doesn't take much for me to stress out. I like to have all my little ducks in a row, and right now I feel like my ducks are straying a little bit. I have a ton of stuff going on at work - HUGE deadline October 15th. I only have 4 more state returns to prepare, but still have to clear review notes, process returns, and get them signed and out the door before the 15th.

I want Brooke's birthday party to be perfect, so I keep planning, and keep planning, and then plan some more. The trial run of her bumblebee cake turned out really great, so I am thankful for that. I can't wait to do the actual birthday cake with the icing. I will post more about the cake once it's actually done. I will take plenty of pictures, I promise! This is a task I have never taken on before, and am sort of looking forward to it - but, I just want it to BEEE perfect.

I keep thinking of more and more things I need to do before the party. Buy this, buy that, don't forget about this, clean the house, finish buying birthday presents, clean the house again, wrap the presents, make the food. And the list goes on and on and on.

I love Louisville football, but am wishing that they didn't have quite so many October games ;). There are two coming up...one this weekend, and one next weekend (the night before the birthday party).

At this point, I am just trying to keep my head above water. Between the party, work, house stuff, and Louisville football, I am sinking quickly. I always do this though - stress out, and then look back when it's all done and wonder why I stressed out about it. Hopefully I will do that again this year. I keep telling myself to take one step at a time and things will be fine. So, here's to another step!!