Weekly B&B Update

Miss Brookie: She is becoming a Mama's girl. Lately she wants to only be held by me and cries/reaches for me. She tries her hardest to keep up with Blake and has been standing really well by herself. She is too scared to step without holding on, but I don't think walking is that far off. I am starting to plan her first birthday party-- um, how the heck did almost 12 months go by so fast? We are working on getting her to nap consistently at school and sleep in (she is up by 5:15am regularly). 

Blake: He is all boy. He wants to discuss bad guys ALL THE TIME. He loves playing bad guys, santa's sleigh and train conductor. He has so much energy I have no idea where he gets it, yet totally crashes everyday and naps regularly. He might be too into bad guys because he is scared to sleep in his room alone so he has been sleeping on our floor (a habit we need to break!). He loves wearing costumes and if you stop by our house at any given time we ALL are dressed up to fight bad guys. He loves Brooke, but does not like it when she gets more attention from Mommy. 

Our Weekend

This past weekend we did a lot! On Saturday morning we had swim lessons and then ran some errands. In the evening we drove to Barrington to Pinstripes to celebrate my Mom's birthday. We rented a Bocce Ball court for an hour before having dinner. None of us had played Bocce Ball before and were excited. However, having two kids with us made it challenging to actually follow the rules while playing. I am super excited though because I think I found a sport that I can beat Louis at, YIPPEE!!!

Everyone getting ready to play!

Brother Sister Selfie

The Birthday Girl with her "babies"

Yep, another rare picture of Louis and I! 

Blake used the Bocce court as his personal playground and insisted on picking up all of the balls after we threw them.

Brooke just hanging out with Papa (he is protecting her from any runaway bocce balls)

After dinner Brooke fell asleep. I swear my Dad is the baby whisperer

On Sunday while my parents graciously offered to watch the kids, Louis got to work on painting the basement (we have a deadline of Brooke's birthday to get the basement done!!). This left Sean and I able to take the train into the city to see Melanie!!! She was in town for a work convention and had some free time on Sunday. We met her at the hotel (Adam was with her too) and we walked to Weber Grill for lunch. It was YUMMY! While it wasn't a lot of time together there were a lot of laughs (and inappropriate convo's) and it was nice to see her and get some time away from the kids. 

Blake and Brooke Happenings

Brooke's ear tube surgery went really well. Even though she was nervous and scared (she freaked out over seeing the scale) she didn't cry when they took her away. And plus, she was ADORABLE in her hospital gown. I love this picture, it is me trying to act like everything is fine (even though I was freaking out inside) and Brooke acting like what the heck are you doing to me. 

Daycare has magical powers. They get him to wear boots, snowpants, coat, hat and gloves outside. 

Her hair is so crazy and out of control. Lately she HATES any bows or clips or headbands. I can sometimes get a little ponytail in but that is about it. So, crazy hair it is!

This might be my favorite picture of Blake. He is in the zone at the computer. Those headphones on him are so cute!!!!

Our goofball

This age is absolutely hilarious. It is also a roller coaster of emotions. The other day he says to me "Mom, how was your day?" Haha, too cute!! Every night before bed he always says "Ok, I love you Mommy". Melts my heart. Makes all the meltdowns worth it! He is totally into pretend play, I think we are required to play "alligator" or "bad guy" or "santa's sleigh" every single night. He loves to color at school and play with his friend Brady (I am pretty sure the teacher is just being nice and saying they are silly during the day when that is code for, they are crazy together!). He loves to help cook in the kitchen and is very much a Momma's boy. He still loves Brooke but gets annoyed with her constantly wanting to be by his side. His new favorite answers are "probably" or "maybe" and he thinks that is so funny. He is in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle phase- he loves everything about them! He also is doing great at swimming and starting to swim a few feet on his own with his arms and legs going. I swear, I blinked and he got to be a big boy!

Brooke: Ear Tubes

Our poor Brookie has had several ear infections in her first year. The average baby has one, she is on five or six, depending on how you count. When she got her ear infection over the holidays, we knew that when we went back for her recheck we would get sent to a pediatric ENT for evaluation. This past Saturday we went to the ENT to find out she had yet ANOTHER ear infection. Needless to say, the ENT highly recommended that she get tubes. She constantly has fluid in her ears, which makes her hearing muffled. Plus, she is in constant pain and is becoming resistant to antibiotics. Putting in tubes does require surgery in which she needs to be put under (luckily, it is gas, not IV) so tomorrow we are heading to Lurie's Childrens Outpatient center for her surgery. I won't lie, I am nervous and feel terrible because she get so upset anytime she sees doctors and cries now. I will just be glad when it is all over and we can have snuggle time!!! 

Happy Birthday Seany!!!!

Happy Birthday Little Bro! We love you!!!!!

Our Winter Break: Part 2

As everyone is well aware of, every month we have a Kramer/Malic date. For December, we decided to do something over our break since the Kramer's also had off of work. Katie had the great idea of going to this place that basically was a big indoor playground that included an indoor carousal!! Genius!! It was only $4 for Blake and the rest of us were free. Blake and Raegan LOVED running around and burning off some energy. They rode the carousal 5 times and we got there right when it opened so it wasn't super crowded. 

Brooke and Weston

They are really excited to play!!

Blake was amazed!!

He is trying to figure out how this thing works!!

Even Brookie got a ride!

After the play area we headed to Red Robin for lunch, yummy!! Both kids fell asleep on the way home, that is the definition of success!!