I Have Writer's Block!!!

I haven't had much to say lately, huh? It seems like life has been so "routine" that there hasn't been anything too interesting to post on here. Usually I can think of something, but in these recent days I've been totally lacking inspiration!

Let's see... John's been off the last few days (which greatly contributes to my lack of writing) and we've really enjoyed one another, as always. We went on a date last night and went shopping, to dinner, to the movies, and then out for ice cream. I love the times when we're able to be carefree and do fun things together. John goes back in tonight and I'm so bummed because having him home really makes my world. He's my best friend and I hate not having him home:-( Such is life...

Brooke has been great! She's a little crack up and I'm telling you, her language is getting better by the minute. I called her a pistol the other day and now she walks around saying "pistol." Lol! My favorite new thing that she's been doing is shaking her head. Every time you ask her something she'll shake her head yes, except she looks more like a Bobble Head Doll when she does it. It makes me laugh every time! My only complaint with the princess is that she's waking up super early (around 6:30) and her naps have been too short, like less than an hour. I so hope that this is just a phase because I'm exhausted BIG TIME!

Well, that's all for now. Like I said, nothing new is going on and life's been great, but quiet. That's how we like it though!

Snuggly Brooke?

Last night we left church at 6:30 because I wasn't feeling too great and before we could even get out of the parking lot Brooke was passed out. I was less than thrilled because I just knew that that would throw off our whole schedule. However, Brooke went immediately into her crib and passed out like normal... UNTIL 10, that is. I heard her fussing so I went in her room to reassure her and she said, "All done night night!" I left her room and she cried for a few minutes but then she just lied in her bed singing and talking. It was really precious to listen to.

After John left for work, at 10:30, I went to check on Brooke again and she was just laying there wide awake. She looked so pitiful... Her hair truly looked like she stuck her finger in the light socket, she was sniffling, and she had little tear running down her cheek. She looked up at me with those big, beautiful blue eyes and said, "Mommy hold you. Carry you." Instantly, without even thinking, I scooped my precious baby up and took her into bed with me. Once we got there, she lied next to me and rubbed my arm for a few minutes and then, only moments later, she drifted peacefully off to sleep. We snuggled the whole entire night and I loved having her right there next to me. I woke up at 3 A.M coughing and Brooke looked up at me and said, "Bless you, Mommy!" Little moments like that are what keep me perpetually addicted to motherhood:-)

Brooke has continued to be extremely snugly and attached to me today. I love it but it's just so weird because she has NEVER been a snuggler. I think that her issue last night was just that she missed me. I have been so sick and she's spent a lot more time away from me than usual and I bet she just needed that reassurance that I was still there for her. I'm so glad that I was able to give her some extra, extra loving!

I was a little bit worried that Brooke would think that sleeping with mommy was the norm, but she went down completely fine tonight and has been sleeping soundly every since. I can breathe a big sigh of relief for that! I must admit that I'll miss having her tonight but I know that it's best for her to sleep on her own.

A Very ROUGH Couple of Days

Wow, I don't even know where to begin! The last three days have been absolutely horrible for me. I have had a very, very bad case of bronchitis, on top of my asthma flaring up out of control. I have not able to sleep because I've been coughing so bad and breathing has been so difficult and painful. On top of that, all of the medicines that are making me better (inhalers, steroids, antibiotics, breathing treatments) make my stomach sick so I feel crummy altogether. I have battled asthma for my entire life and I can't think of a time where I have had this bad of an episode. There were times this week when I had no idea how I would muster up the strength to simply breathe because it was just so hard for me. There were also times that I was completely dizzy and incapacitated from lack of oxygen. All I have to say is thank God for doctors and medicine to fix me! Though I'm not 100 percent, I'm feeling MUCH better now.

More so than feeling sick and everything, I really struggled this week with my pride. I don't like to let people take care of my family, my house, or me. I like to be self sufficient and I always strive to be "super mom" or "super wife." It's hard for me to admit when I need help but this week, I have needed all of the help that people could give me. John was amazing... He cared for me so gently and sensitively. In the midst of my pain, I felt safe in his arms and reassured that I would get better! He took care of the house, the baby, meals, etc... I don't know how he stayed so strong! Patty, my dad, my mom, Alison, and Josh (my brother-in-law) all bent over backwards to help out with Brooke when John was working. There were several times when I tried to care for her but I simply had no breath inside of me to carry her down the stairs. That was really hard on me:-( Anyways, I determined that I'm just one very blessed and lucky girl to have so, so many people in my life to help me in out in my times of need. I don't know where I would be without my husband and my family!

So, now that I'm on the mend, I look forward to loving up on my baby and spending some extra one-on-one time with her. We're way past due! My house and I are also past due for a cleaning so tomorrow I'm sure that's what I'll be doing during Brookie's nap. I'm so excited for life to return to normal! (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!)

We're Sick:-(

Brooke woke up this morning with a runny nose. I didn't really think anything of it because she's getting her final eye-tooth and I assumed it was all related somehow. I kind of brushed it off and went through my Sunday morning ritual of rushing out the door to get to worship practice by 8:15. When we got to church she was SUPER fussy and clingy and when I left her for Sunday School she was a disaster. Poor baby! Apparently she sat in the rocking chair with my mom the entire time and rested. I feel so bad that she felt that awful to not even want to play! I ended up playing the piano for worship and then taking her home instead of staying for the sermon. She was asleep before we even left the church parking lot so I felt as though I made the best decision for her.

Brooke has continued to be fussy throughout the day and her nose is running like a faucet. She's also sleepy and has no appetite so it has been a difficult day in our camp. To top it all off, my allergies are completely out of control today too. I can't breathe because it's caused a horrible asthma flare up and I, too, feel like garbage due to a runny nose, coughing, and sneezing. I sure hope that this isn't a preview of what our winter will look like!

I'm teaching a women's class this Fall at our church on Sunday nights and I had orientation for that tonight. John sent me on my merry way and stayed home with Miss Brooke. He gave her a bath, fed her dinner, and played all sorts of silly games with her. I am so blessed to have such an amazing daddy for my little girl! It was so nice to be able to go out and do something I enjoy and then be able to come back to a happy, well-cared-for princess. Life is good!

Alrighty, John's off tonight so it's time to go rest with him. This will be the perfect ending to our long day!

The Queen of Shoes

Have I mentioned that my baby is obsessed with shoes? Holy cow! I've never seen a child who gets so much satisfaction out of taking her shoes off and then putting them back on. She could do this over and over and over again all day and I don't think she would get sick of it! It's hilarious because now she's getting selective about what shoes she'll wear. For instance, the other day I was attempting to put her brown sandals on and she arched her back, screamed hysterically and yelled "CONVERSE!" (While pointing to her bumble gum pink Converse sneakers... don't worry, not the high top kind) Because the shoes didn't match her outfit I wouldn't put them on her and it took John and me a good ten minutes to convince the child that she was wearing sandals. Lol!

We've been doing a lot of shoe shopping lately with Fall just around the corner and Brooke has become mesmerized by shoe stores. She gets very angry if we go to a shoe store and she can't sit in the aisle and try on every single pair. It's horrible taking her shoe shopping for that reason! Tonight we went to buy Nathan his first pair of Nike's (Shhh, don't tell! We haven't given them to him yet) and Brooke was absolutely beside herself because we didn't let her try them on in the store. On the way home she kept yelling for "Naynay's shoe on!" And she's only a toddler! Can you imagine her as a teenager? WOW!

We are currently missing one of Brooke's brown sandals and to this very minute I'm baffled by it. We came home from running errands this morning and Brooke had both shoes on her feet. While I cleaned up around the house she played with BOTH of her shoes too. When we went to get ready to go out to dinner, one shoe was missing. I came home and scoured the house... Every crevice of Brooke's toy room, in the cabinets where she plays, underneath the seat cushions on the coaches, and the silly shoes is still NOWHERE to be found. I'm starting to feel like I'm losing my mind! I sure hope I find it because the sandals are brand new and I'm not quite ready to part ways with them!

So, you get the point, my girl is VERY crazy about shoes. Imelda Marcos WATCH OUT! Lol

My Visit to the ER

Last night at about 10:30 (right after John left) I got a really, really bad headache. I took sinus medicine, along with a pain killer, thinking that it was just a sinus headache. By 11, I was dying. It hurt to move, talk or look at the light and I kept throwing up and I was running a fever. I was seriously in agony and I couldn't get John and the phone because he was at the office where he doesn't have a signal so, Sarah, my sister-in-law, was in the area so she stopped by. She was amazing and took great care of me until we could get a hold of John. I ended up taking John's migraine medicine, which took the edge off of the pain but didn't take it away.

John got home about 11:30 and I asked to go to the hospital. I didn't WANT to go because who likes going to the ER but I knew that I wasn't going go get any relief. Finally at about midnight we got there and they put me on an IV with some fluids and a heavy duty pain killer. I had a fever and the doctor said that fevers and migraines don't go hand in hand. I told him that I've been battling reoccurring UTI's that almost always start with a fever so he did a urine culture and found that I was right. So we killed two birds with one stone. Lol

We got in at about 3:30 and Brooke was up by 7. John woke up with her and fed her breakfast and dressed her and then Patty came by to get her shortly after so John could sleep. I didn't wake up until 2:30 (thank the narcotics for that!) and now I feel completely spacey and groggy. Don't you just hate that feeling? I can't stand it! I'm about to go pick up my baby now and I can't wait to give her some loving! I'm sure just seeing her will make me feel all better!

The Hilarious Life of Parenting a Toddler

Brooke has been keeping me in stitches lately! It seems like every 5 minutes she's doing something silly or new that amazes me. I'm really loving this age and I'm soaking every minute of it up! Here's some of her latest antics/developments:

*She now refers to herself as "baby." She walks around saying "baby hungry," "baby thirsty," "baby sleepy," etc... It's so funny! I guess we do refer to her as "the baby" a lot.

*When she claims something as her own she always calls herself "B." When she wants a juice box it' "B's box" and when she wants her toothbrush it's "B's brush." On and on the list goes...

*She has this little toy car that's big enough for her to ride around on. Instead of riding on it, however, she stands on it and THROWS herself on the ground. cracking up hysterically each time. Over and over again she does this and she's getting so good at it that she's now jumping off of it and landing on her feet. Quite the gymnast, I'd say! I thought this game was harmless because the toy car is only about a foot off of the ground, but this morning when she tried to jump off of our very high sleigh bed, I decided that maybe it wasn't such a great activity for her. Now I'm all nervous!

*She still continues to be a horrible eater, though she's showed marked improvement. She's currently addicted to oatmeal (we hear about it ALL day long) and get this... American cheese dipped in yogurt. Can you say DISGUSTING???? If I, heaven forbid, break out the yogurt without cheese too she says, "Cheese, dip yogurt." I cringe every time I watch her combine the two foods.

*I'm thinking that I'm going to pick back up on the potty training because now after she goes to the bathroom (poop or pee) she comes up to me and says, "Diaper change please." I read somewhere that that's a sign of readiness so I'm going to use her interest to my advantage.

*She loves to have pretend tea parties! For hours on end today she had her tea set out and she kept pouring me imaginary glasses of tea and saying, "Here go, mommy. Drink." Acting excited about each and every drink got a little old after the first 100:-)

*She can count to 3 and she knows A,B,C!

*She just got another tooth.. Her bottom eye tooth. She only has one more tooth to go (besides her two-year molars)!

*She's now starting that phase where she follows me around all day long saying, "mommy, mommy, mommy" over and over again. It's so cute (most of the time)!

*She talks endlessly about vacation... the things we did there, having Aunt Sarah there with us, riding on the plane, seeing the animals at the zoo, and going to the ocean. Most of all, though, she talks about the "messy sand." I think we've scarred her for life!

*I know that I've been saying this a lot lately, but her vocabulary is AMAZING. She says pretty much what she wants or needs to say.. when she's hot or cold, hurt, hungry, thirsty.. and she also knows how to properly name the majority of the things around her. She's speaking in 3-4 word sentences all day long and she also repeats every thing we say.

*She likes to put "you" after a lot of her phrases. Today she looked at the stove and said, "Burns you!" "Hurts you," and "Bites you" are also popular.

*She says "Wuv you" (Love you) and it melts my heart every single time that she does!

*Everywhere we go Brooke walks around waving and blowing kisses to people. It's like she's Miss America or something! People get a real kick out of her too and she knows it.

Well, I think that's all that I can think of for right now. I'm writing these things down for my own personal record because it's so easy to forget all of these silly little things! It's fun to read back every couple of months and she how my princess has changed. I LOVE being her mommy:-)