Brooklyn is Growing Like a Weed

Well it didn't take long for our little girl to become not so little.  Michelle just recently took Brooklyn for her 2 month check-up.  She weighed in at 13lbs. 2oz. (95th percentile for her age) and 24.25" long (97th percentile).  I guess that momma's milk is doing its job.  The doctor was very pleased with how she looked and said that she is very healthy.  She even stated that her small hernia under her belly button seems to be healing well. 

It is amazing to watch her develop each day.  She is doing a great job with holding her head up and looking around.  She also love to lay on her jungle playmat and watch the world go by.

 Her sleeping habits seem to be improving as well.  She now goes down after her bath around 7:00 and sleeps unil 1 or 2 in the morning.  After her long stretch she proceeds to sleep anywhere from 1 to 3 hour increments.  It sure is nice for mommy and daddy to get that long stretch in there.

We are enjoying every moment we get to spend with her.

The Start of the Holiday Season

While Mimi Helle was visiting over Thanksgiving weekend, we decided to go see the beautiful display of lights at the James Island County Park.  It was a chilly night that started off with some hamburgers from Melvin's (Emeril Lagasse's voted them as his favorite cheeseburger).  Then it was off to the park.  The park offers over 500,000 lights stretched over a 3-mile drive.  Halfway trough, we stopped to enjoy some of the outdoor activities.  We toured some more lights, rode the carousel, and attempted to get a picture with Santa, or as Brayden calls him, Noah.  He has a little Noah figurine that he plays with in the bathtub that has a white beard and white hair, therefore making him think that Santa is Noah.  He said repeatedly on the way to the park, "sit on Noah's lap."  Well, he had different plans once we got into line.  As we approached the line to sit on Santa's lap, he through a royal fit until we got out of line.  Maybe next year?  Here are some of the fun pics we took while there:

Brayden thought that the Reindeer decoration was there for him to ride.

It's tough to see, but Brooklyn is all bundled up in her Baby Bjorn and under my jacket.

Our little monkey riding a monkey.

Brooklyn's Baby Dedication

On Sunday, November 21st we packed in the car and headed to the Longpoint Seacoast Campus for Brooklyn's baby dedication.  It was a very beautiful service and both Brooklyn and Brayden were excellent throughout.  We are so blessed to attend such a wonderful church.  Here are some pictures from before and during the service:

This Made Us LOL

We decided to try a red tutu on Brooklyn that Mimi Helle got her.

Apparently Brayden thought it looked so good on her, he had to put it on for himself.

Brayden is getting so BIG!

We cannot believe just how big he is getting and how much he is learning.  It seems like everyday that he knows something new.  He loves saying the alphabet and singing Baa-Baa Black Sheep. 

We are in the process of trying to get him potty trained.  He is regularly using the potty when we are at home, but we haven't gotten quite brave enough to take him out in public without a diaper.  Although he just got some new Sesame Street undies from Great Mimi and Papaw Helle, he still prefers the "all natural" approach.  It never gets old seeing his white hiney running throughout the house.

Five pairs of his new undies on at once.

Brayden's newest passion is that of watching Yo Gabba Gabba.  I can't wait until he finds something else to watch or do.  I have seriously gone a month now with nothing but Yo Gabba Gabba songs playing through my head all day.  It probably wouldn't be such a big problem if he didn't want to watch the same two episodes over and over.

His other favorite thing to do is play outside.  He loves to go into the backyard and watch his daddy "kicka the ball up high in the sky."  He also loves to push around his toy lawnmower that the easter bunny brought him.  If I could somehow get him to push around the regular lawnmower, I would be on cloud 9.  He also loves to go to the park and play on the playgrounds.  He could go down the slide all day long. 

At the Park for his friend's, Grayson, birthday party.

Some of his favorite foods are: string cheese, ham, yogurt, bread, gummies, fruit, and cheese balls.
 

The "all-natural" look trying to get some of his favorite foods.



Brooklyn Turns 1 Month Old and Michelle Chops Off Her Hair

Where has the time gone?  It feels like just last week that we were at the Hospital with a brand new baby.  I can't believe that she is already 1 month old.  She is doing so well and filling out just like her brother.  We went to the doctor this past Tuesday and she weighed in at 10lbs. 11oz. (up almost 3 1/2lbs from her birth weight).  She is still keeping mommy and daddy up quite a bit during the night.  She gets up consistently every 3 hours.  The good news is that she regularly goes right back to sleep after feeding.  We are both managing to make it with some timely naps here and there.  Here are some more recent pics of her:

I was finally able to convince Michelle to visit the Wild Dunes Salon instead of her normal Great Clips.  She has talking about wanting a new hairstyle but didn't feel comfortable getting one from Great Clips.  I have been getting my haircut at the WD Salon for the last few months and became fairly good friends with the stylist.  It doesn't hurt that we get a great discount through there.  I scheduled Michelle an appointment today, and she is thrilled with the result (I am a big fan also).  Michelle told Meghan, the stylist, to do whatever she thought would be cute.  Here are the results:

We hope everyone is doing well and can't wait to see everyone.

Some Recent Pics of Brooklyn and Her Professional Newborn Pics

Here are the professionals pictures of Brooklyn that were taken at the hospital, one day after she was born:

(Thanks Grandma Linda for the professional pics)

 Here are some more recent pics of Brooklyn:

Halloween

I can't believe that Halloween has already come and past and that we are in November already.  We had a fun-filled Halloween with lots of activities with friends.  The day started of with a visit to church where we listened to a wonderful guest speaker, Ron Hall.  He is the author of the New York Times Best Seller, Same Kind of Different As Me.  I haven't read any of it, but if it is anything like his sermon, I can only imagine that it is excellent. 

We followed up church with a bite to eat at Subway and then off to a birthday party.  One of Brayden's friends, Grayson, was having a birthday party at a local pumpkin patch.  There was so much to do while there.  We started of with a visit to see the farm animals.  They had cows, horses, sheep, goats, and chickens.  Brayden loved watching the animals and occasionally petting them when they came up close.  I then tried to get Brayden to join me in the Kiddie Corn Maze, but he was too involved in playing on the big John Deere Tractor. 

Next we all took a trip around the entire farm on a hay ride.  I think this was probably the highlight of Brayden's day. 

After some cake and present opening, Brayden and Michelle decorated a pumpkin while I held a napping Brooklyn.  Brayden had an absolute blast the whole time.

After a quick nap in the car ride home, it was time to get dressed up for some trick-or-treating.  Brayden dressed up as a monkey while Brooklyn was dressed up as a banana. 

We hit up a few of our neighbors houses and then went to the neighborhood across the street to visit a couple from small group. 

After spending a little while with Ben, Jen and Carter another family from our small group joined us to visit a few other houses.  Cristina and her son, Solomon, joined us while we went to 10 or so houses.  It took Brayden a while to get the hang of it, but by the end, he was a pro.  Brayden was able to fill up a small bucket with plenty of candy.  Brooklyn was a champ and slept almost the entire time. 

Altogether, we could not have asked for a more fun-filled day and beautiful weather.