Brooke has the nicest Daddy.

Blake spent a good part of his weekend assembling and staining this table and chair set for Brooke. He also read her numerous books and took her to the park three times. He even goes down the slide, too. :) No wonder she gives him so many kisses!

Happy Friday!

Brooke was in a fabulous mood last night and this morning. She is starting to get really silly. Her new thing is to sit in her high chair, tilt her head, and pretend to be sleeping (with her eyes wide open) and say "Nigh-Nigh" and "Shhh". Then we say "Hey, no sleeping in your high chair!" and she smiles and smiles. :)



She also said "eye", "mou" (mouth) yesterday, too!

On pins and needles....

I think I worried the readers of this blog with my talk of accupuncture and needles. It wasn't bad at all! I had the "moxibustion" procedure done yesterday afternoon. The procedure began with a 1/2 hour back massage. Then the technician placed one small pin in each of my pinky toes. No pain! Then she began burning the "moxa" sticks - which smell like a very popular illegal herb and look like big cigars. She used the burning sticks to heat up the pins for a period of 15 minutes. It made my legs tingly. And that was it! Now, I am supposed to wave the burning stinky sticks around my toes once a day for 15 minutes for the next 5 days. No pins required. Let's hope it works. Baby #2 has been unbearably kicky, so maybe she is getting ready for the big turn?

Quiet on the home front.

Not much to post this week. The weekend was filled with errands and periods of sun followed by hail and rain. Brooke's vocabulary continues to grow - I think she is close to saying "all done" and she imitates all the animal sounds we throw at her. I think she got taller, too. Oh - and she gives Dada kisses - she knows how to butter him up! And for me, she spends her time saying "up" and wanting to sit in my lap and eat half of whatever meal I have in front of me.

Baby #2 remains stubbornly in the "frank breech" position, which means all 4+ pounds of her are hanging off the front of me unsupported. Yay! Tomorrow I go in for an accupuncture treatment called Moxibustion (it involves burning an herb called "mugwort" and poking me with needles). It is rumored to be fairly effective at turning breech babies. Let's hope it works!

Happy Tuesday!

Pictures of the KidS

Below are the ultrasound photos from Friday. Baby #2 is measuring about 4 pounds, on track to be 8 pounds by birth. Phew. I think her little cheeks are even bigger than Brooke's were!

Here are the latest school pictures. Her teacher managed to get her barrette in her hair! Brooke has this new thing with sticking her tongue out and she is showing off that skill for the photographer...

Weekend with Grandma Yoo Hoo

Grandma Yoo Hoo came to visit this weekend. We surprised her with an overnight visit to Seattle. We rode the Amtrak up on Saturday morning, Blake and Julie wandered around Pike's Marketplace in the afternoon and Blake and I went to the Mariner's game on Saturday night while Julie watched Brooke back at the Hilton. The weather was a spectacular 80 degrees - it was gorgeous out! On Sunday morning we had breakfast and headed back down to Portland on the train again. We had such a good visit!

Brooke loves the balloon from Grandma!



Trying on Grandma's Ugg Boots.

Holy Guacamole!

Mama needed 10 minutes of peace to make her dinner. Enter the bowl of guacamole and a spoon. Guacamole is one of Brooke's favorite foods! Blake was out of town and she was missing him - she must have said "Dada" fifty times last night.

Busy weekend.

The Baby still has her bottle before naptime and bedtime, even though her sister is not giving her much lap space these days....


Brooke has decided that she sits at the table now. And insists quite loudly.

The giant pregnant belly - failing miserably to camoflauge it with plaid pajama bottoms and a striped t-shirt. And I have 9 more weeks to increase in size!

Lots of spring cleaning this weekend. Thankfully no cell phones or car keys ended up down this vent. Brooke spent lots of time pointing at things she didn't approve of: Dada's power drill laying about, Mama's vacuum out of the closet where it lives and dining room chairs in the kitchen. She likes her surroundings to be power tool-free, the evil vacuum to be out of site, and chairs to remain at the table.

However, she WAS interested in using the screwdriver drill-bit to attempt to put screws back into the holes. I was SHOCKED when I saw her trying to that. She is verrrrrry observant. She is fiddling with the screw in this photo.

Here she is reading her FAVORITE book with Dada.

A little sunbreak - we hightailed it to the park for some fresh air.

Boo!

Brooke has another new word - Boo! She loves it when Dada or Mama jump out from behind something and say "BOO!". She laughs and laughs. She herself occasionally jumps out from behind things to scare us, too! Now she says "boo" when we play the game with her. Oh, so cute.

Last night Ms. Big Girl went and got her favorite book out and sat on the couch and read it - BY HERSELF. And when you point at the bananas and ask her what they are, she says "nana".

And when reading her vintage Lowly Worm book, she will tell you when she sees the banana, apple and possibly the choo choo train! Ooh, and whisper "shhhhh" at the picture of Lowly in bed with his dolly.

Vocabulary explosion. I must get it on video!

Helping Emily, a little girl Brooke's age

This little girl and her family need help. She has a rare form of brain cancer - only 30 cases in the country are diagnosed each year. I can't look at her sweet picture without crying. If you are so inclined, please read the story below and send prayers (and more, if possible) their way.

Emily's Story

Artiste!

She works with several different mediums. :)