Lots to be Thankful for...

I'm thankful for my family

And turkey!!!

And that Mizzou beat KU for Daddy

My first time hunting down our X-Mas tree

Burr...it was cold

Grandpa Lee was there too!

I'm trying to figure out this train thing...

All aboard......

-We had a very nice Thanksgiving holiday. It started with Grandpa Lee coming into town Wednesday. Brooks enjoyed his first Turkey Day at the McCarroll's with the rest of my family. Unfortunately my sister Tara and her family were out of town this time. We missed them! Brooks ate some turkey, sweet potatoes, green beans, and pears. He seemed to enjoy it! Grandma always makes the best stuffing and pies! None of that this year for Brooks.

-Friday was so nice!!! I went shopping for 4 hours!!! I have not gotten away like by myself since Brooks was born. It is usually only for a few hours. He had a blast with Grandpa Lee and Daddy.

-Saturday we loaded up the dogs and took Brooks to cut down his first X-Mas tree. We go every year to the Millbrook Tree Farm in Yorktown. It is a fun tradition we have started. This year Grandpa and his dog Kap'em joined us. After several (cold) minutes of tree hunting....we found the perfect tree!! Brooks was taking it all in and thought it was funny that dad was lying on the ground cutting down a tree. He was even more confused when he woke up from his nap to find a tree in his play area!! Then imagine after his second nap, he woke up to a decorated tree with a choo choo train whistling around the tree!! He was a little taken back and pretty scared of the train. He crawled over to me and would not let go. However, gradually he started to think the train was pretty cool. By the third day he would ask for the train by pointing to it, saying "choo choo", and pulling the "air" horn. He is starting to think it is pretty cool! The train is so special because it is 60 years old and belonged to Grandpa Lee when he was 5. I love starting these family traditions with Brooks. This is what family is all about to me. Creating memories and sharing in past memories. It warms my heart to see him sitting in his daddy's lap playing "choo choo".

11 months old!! And He's Off....

Now you see me...

and

now you....

don't!!

Swim time with Daddy

Future Phelps?....ha!

Sorry....have to turn computer sideways. Bad videographer but fun images! Brooks learned to crawl in the shallow water today. It was a big skill that I had hoped he would get by the end of the classes...and he did!!

-Brooks is 11 months old today. He started off the day with his last swim class for this November session. I tried to get some shots of him and Daddy...but our camera did not do them justice. It is so precious to see them together in the pool. I hope Brooks turns out to be a fish like his Daddy. However, he seems to have got some of his mom's sensory issues. He does not like to get his face wet. Josh is now determined to cure him of this over the summer. Brooks learned to kick, splash, lay on back, reach for toys, go under the water, blow bubbles, and even crawl in the water! It was a fun session and we plan to do it again after the holidays.

-We then had his "1 year" pictures at Traders Point Creamery. We had to do them a little early due to the holidays. Having a December Birthday is not going to be easy! He did great and I am excited to see how they turned out.

-Brooks is now up the full flight of stairs and can go down a few with assistance. He stands 3-4 seconds on his own and takes steps with hands held. He points at everything and is soaking it all up. He can locate a dog, owl, train, and ball in a book and is working on locating a bird, eyes, elephant, cat, and tiger. He can find even more in his environment. He has about 8 word approximations. He is such a sponge. He waves "hi and bye" and is starting to use the sign "all done". Ok....can you tell I'm proud of him? He is enjoying food more, but again, would rather be down playing. He eats probably 90-95% table foods. He usually has his fruit and rice cereal in the mornings still. I have started to slowly introduce more wheat and dairy into his diet. He seems to be alright digestively, but still has the wonderful eczema. I hate to see him itch! Poor Guy. But, I know it could be so much worse. He continues to remind me of Josh in many ways...but is becoming his own little man. I can't wait to see what he'll do next!

Dog or Baby????

Meal time!

Vet time!

Play time!

-Ok...so are we raising a baby boy or a third dog? Ha! Brooks seems to fit right in with the dogs and just LOVES hanging out...or rather ON them. He pulls up on Sweet Pea, bangs her tummy, pulls her ears, and then gives her a hug. He is always taking the bone or ball from Brutus and laughing as he chases after it. I have mentioned before that he will not leave the dog bowl alone. He now goes up to it and stops....looks at me...shakes his head "no"....laughs and gives me an mischievous smile...then heads right into the water to play. He is testing us with everything and I love his little spunk. He is really such a delight to be around and makes me laugh all the time. He is such the little problem solver...not sure if that is good or bad at this point! I am a little worried about how we are going to keep him away from the X-Mas tree.....hum....the things I now ponder in my free time. "Free" time...what is that???

Past Pix from Grandma...

Can you find me??

Zoo time with Grandma

I was a little timid my first swim class.

But warmed up and even put my face in the water.

All smiles!

-Just some past pix that Grandma had on her camera. I already blogged about them but now you can enjoy the pictures!

Happy Veteran's Day!!!

Happy Veteran's Day to all the Veterans out there...especially Grandpa and Great Grandpa! Here's a fun video of Brooks cracking up...hope it makes you smile!!!

My Buddy...

Happy 4th Birthday Brutus!

I love my doggies!

-Today is Brutus's 4th birthday. He got a few extra treats today:) We started the morning with Brooks' first swim class. He had a good time but was very timid at first. We were running a few minutes late, so we just "jumped" into it. He warmed up by the end and was enjoying "drinking" the water while trying to blow bubbles. (I'll post pix later of his first class when I get them from G-ma) Josh woke up sick Sat. morning and was unable to join us. He got worse as the day went on. I think he got if from Brooks. He had been fighting his second cold and got some daddy time Friday night while I went out to dinner with the girls. It was my first experience taking care of my two sick boys:) I felt so bad for Josh. He worked so hard this past week and now has been sick all weekend. Ugh!

-Brooks is doing well and enjoying being a little boy. He is still into everything and starting to stand a few seconds alone. He is a chatterbox at home and seems to think anything round is a ball. He will look at a round light, pumpkin, ornament, dot, circle, tire, etc and say "ball". He always asks for his special ball that I keep on a shelf in his room at nighttime. It is the first thing he asks for again in the morning. He is even reaching/pointing for it. He also has word approximations for "mom, dad, dog, more, woof, hooo, bottle" and knows what a few more things are in his home. He is so fun and I love watching him learn new things everyday!

Happy Birthday Aunt Tammy!

Happy Birthday Aunt Tammy!

I hope you have a great day.

Happy 1st Halloween!! (Do you smell something?)

Yep..I'm the little "stinker"

I had fun trick or treating with Cousin Cassidy.

I did not recognize her at first as she was a Twister Board.

I had a blast with my Aunt and Uncles.

Aunt Tammy was not afraid of my stink!

I got some yummy candy for Daddy.

Mommy and Daddy's little Stinker!

My first fat lip!

Did not slow me down any:)

-We started off the Halloween weekend with trick or treating at the Indianapolis Zoo for the ZooBoo. We went with Grandma and had a great time. Brooks was able to see some of the animals and seemed to enjoy them. However, he liked the ducks the best! Kind of funny huh? He got to wear his outfit and got lots of attention. Of course he enjoyed that! (did not get to post pix of them yet as Grandma has them on her camera)

-Brooks got his first fat lip on Saturday. It was kind of my fault as I was doing some re-arranging of the furniture. Brooks was not aware of it yet and of course lost his balance and hit his lip on the bottom of the highchair. Oh well....the first of many to come I assume!

-Josh, Brooks, the bullies and I all went over to my sister's house to trick or treat. Brooks was nice and cozy in his outfit. He did not mind us all laughing at him and kept his outfit on all evening. Cousin Cassidy looked so cute (and all grown up) in her Twister outfit. Brooks was not sure why everyone looked so different...but seemed to enjoy it. He even got the hang of this trick or treat thing by reaching in the bucket for the candy. Thanks for Aunt Tammy and Uncle Brian for joining in on the fun. We missed Grandpa and Grandma McCarroll as they were down at IU for Uncle Tyler's soccer game....maybe next year!

-Also....good luck to Grandpa Lee tomorrow as he has to get his hernia repaired...ouch!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Lee!

Hope you had a great Birthday Grandpa Lee!

Love you.

Bullies, Bullies EVERYWHERE!

Does mom think I'm one of the bulldogs?

The boys (Brutus and Kap'em) were stuck in back.

Sweet Pea was in the middle with mommy and me.

I had fun at the Butler Bulldog Beauty Contest with

Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa Lee, Grandma McCarroll and

of course the bullies.

Morning time with Grandpa Lee and Daddy (all cheese!)

-We went to the Butler Bulldog Beauty Contest again for the 4th year. It is held at Butler University and is part of their homecoming weekend. There were 120 registered dogs this year! It is always so fun to see all the bullies. Sweet Pea and Brutus had a blast getting SO much attention. Brooks enjoyed watching all the dogs and even tried to "blend" in with his bulldog hat. We went with my mom and Josh's dad. What a good laugh!

Our Silly Boy...

My "Angel" Face

My Piggy Face

My monster face

Not sure what face this is...

-I think these pictures say it all! A picture really is worth a thousand words...or laughs! Man I love this boy!!!

10 Months Old: All grown up!

I love to get into everything

I like to look out the window and bang on it

Uh..what's this?

My Uncle Brian is really cool

My new hideout

I love making this new sound (with mommy's help)

This is SO much fun! Grandma's house is the best!

-Brooks is 10 months old today! It's also Grandpa McCarroll's Birthday!!!! Brooks celebrated by getting into Grandma and Grandpa's toilet paper. That is why we close all our bathroom doors. Ahh...the joys of hanging out at the Grandparents home. He is into everything...but having so much fun doing it. We are still working on "no" and making slight progress. He loves to get underneath the table to hideout with the dogs. He really enjoys pulling their ears.

-We went to Aunt Tammy and Uncle Brian's flag football game on Sunday. Brooks had fun watching all the dogs and playing in the leaves. He had never really been in the leaves before and really thought it was cool.

-Brooks appears to be working on his bottom molars. Ouch. He is putting his fingers back in his mouth more often and yelling out in his sleep at night. Poor guy. He is a tough kid though and hanging in there.

-Josh hung out with Brooks last Friday night while I went to get a facial! It was SO nice to relax and spend some "me" time. Josh and I have found that "me" time does not happen often. We need to enjoy it when it happens!

Mr. Independent

Grandma tells me I'm cute...wonder why? :)

Future golfer? I love Grandpa McCaroll's clubs.

I liked staying close to my Aunt Tara while I took

things in at Dave and Busters.

Check out Uncle Tyler eating this HUGE cupcake. Mommy let

me have a small taste of her icing.

I like to feed myself with the fork. It's so cool!

-We went to Dave and Busters to celebrate my new brother in law's (Brian) birthday on Monday. It was a lot of fun. Brooks enjoyed being with the family and got excited to see everyone. He really gets excited to see his Uncle Tyler who came in town from Bloomington. Aunt Tammy bought these really yummy cupcakes that were stacked up to the sky with icing. Tyler attempted to eat it all in one bite...good luck with that one.

-Brooks still does not eat much during a meal, but has fun eating! He loves trying the solids and now thinks he is really big by eating with the fork. My baby is growing up too fast!! He is starting to be the little comedian. He squints his eyes and smiles big then lets out a "fake" laugh to get you to laugh at him. Hopefully I can get this one on video, it cracks Josh and I up!!