Playing with Dallas!!!!

Sunday morning I worked in the nursery and pulled out the camera when Brookelynne and Dallas started playing. I added quotes so that everyone can know exactly what went down!


Dallas: "Would you like this one, Brooke?"


Brookelynne: "No thanks, but you might like to try this one."


Dallas: "Well that one is nice, but if you're giving up toys, I'd really prefer this one!"


Brookelynne: "Umm, that's a negative, this one's mine..."


Brookelynne and Dallas together: "Lets play with eachother's bows instead!"

Brookelynne got her ears pierced...

Thursday night Brookelynne got her ears pierced! I went over to Regency to get something at Hobby Lobby, and Josh and Mom met me for dinner. We had a very nice time catching up and then went to Bealls. When we left Bealls I called Jeanna, so that she could come up to the mall with us and headed to Claire's.

When I got there, he was piercing two other little girls' ears. (Twin girls who were 7 days younger than Brooke). I really didn't like hearing those other little girls crying but sucked it up and still did it. I was going to let my mom hold Brooke, but then realized that I needed to be the one to do it, so I traded with her.



She was fine until I had to hold her still so that he could mark her ears. She. Hated. It. A Lot! :) She was crying for almost 5 minutes before he even got close to piercing her ears, but believe me, I knew exactly when he did it because her whole little body tensed up and I got a big scream. She was SOOOO sad!





I gave her to my mom and mother in law to console her while I paid and got follow up instructions. We just have to put the solution on her ears 3 times a day and twist them several times. (Which she's had no problem with, doesn't even seem to notice I'm cleaning/twisting them!) They got her calmed down but when I walked over to her and she saw me she started screaming again... :( Anywho, it was fine and she's doing great now. Soooo cute too! :)

Gate River Run

Some of my friends and I decided to do the Gate River Run together. Four of the six of us are new moms so we just walked it, but we had a great time! We had all four little ones in strollers and Rachel and Susan were honorary mom's for the day because they took turns pushing stroller so that none of us had to push a stroller the entire time. :)

Since my car is still broken down, Mitch dropped Brookelynne and I off at Julie's house and I rode with her, Susan and Collin. This is Brooke and Collin in the backseat together...aren't they adorable?


We started near the back but were passing people for most of the race. Our goal was to less than 20 minute miles and finish in less than 3 hours. We crossed the start line at 9 minutes after the cannon/gun fired (there were 15000 racers after all) and we finished the race at 2 hours and 55 minutes. :) We were very proud of that.



The race is 15K (or approx 9.5 miles long) and we start on Bay St, go over the Main
St Bridge, through residential San Marco, then around to Atlantic Blvd and over the Hart Bridge.

(Me, Brookelynne and Rachel near the top of the Hart)


While the Main Street Bridge wasn't easy, nothing compared to going up the Hart at the end of the race! The wind was BRUTAL! But we and the babies all did great! We had a pretty uneventful walk, with only 2 stops and one emergency feeding while walking. (Angela was a champ! We let everyone else keep the pace and I hung back helping her stay covered while she walked and fed Dallas, and then she gave Dallas to me and we ran/jogged a quarter/half mile to catch back up!)

This is all of us at the END of the race, we looked pretty darn good, don't you think?

[Angela and Baby Dallas, Rachel, Whitney and Baby Maxwell, Susan, Julie and Baby Collin and Me with Brooke!]

Mom's Doctor's Appointment

Yesterday we went to Shands Gainesville for Mom's lung transplant appointment! It went really well. We got down there at 7:45 and they had to re-draw Mom's blood because of a confusion in Jax. We went upstairs and they were really backed up. We checked in and went downstairs for her xray, which looked good. Then we waited almost 2 hours before we got to see anyone. Jennifer was the coordinator that came in to go over Mom's meds and she was really nice. Then we saw Dr Akndinae [A-kin-de-na], whom I had never met before. He was really nice and took seriously the issue with Mom's gallbladder. He got us in for another ultrasound and while it took another hour for them to get that done, we did have it done, so that they can get us in with the General Surgeon and HOPEFULLY set up a time to get it taken out on a non-emergency basis.

We went over to Aunt Doris's house and got to spend some time with her, and several of my cousins. Before we left we got to see Carla, Danielle, Cameron, Courtney and Courtney's boyfriend Adam. We laughed our butts off! It was so much fun, they crack me up! :)

5 Months and Counting

Today my little girl is 5 months old! I can't believe that it has gone by so quickly! :) She's becoming more and more expressive and independent every day. I'm going to do a bullet style list of the things she's been up too!

-She is eating up a storm! She's up to 3 ice cubes per serving (2 stage one jars) with two or three servings per day. She's had carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, plums, pears, apples, butternut squash, and today we tried prunes! (Which she seemed to really like!)
-She's 15 lbs and 4 oz, 26.5 inches long, and I feel confident that her eyes aren't going to get any darker so I can officially say that she has her Mama's eyes! Yesterday we were looking in a mirror and our eyes have the exact same rings in them, hers are just a shade darker than mine!
-She has been able to pull herself up to standing when she's holding your fingers for 2 or 3 weeks now, but is now able to stand by herself for 5 to 20 seconds at a time. (She doesn't let go voluntarily yet, but she doesn't get scared or mad if you let her go)

-We began working on her sitting up by herself and it only took a couple of days for her to get it pretty well. A week and a half later, she can sit up by herself for 15 or 20 minutes at a time, as long as you make sure she's steady before you let go of her! (Of course we don't let her do this just anywhere, but I'll sit her in the middle of the couch and sit a little ways down from her and she is so cute! She looks around at everything and then the dogs come over and she pets them on their noses, SO ADORABLE!
-She found her rubber ducky...She's had a rubber ducky since before she was born and its always been in the bathtub, but about 10 days ago was the first time she noticed it! I know this because she was looking around and when her eyes saw it her whole face lit up and she started laughing! Now we play with it every night in the bathtub and she sets it on her belly and stares at it while I sing the "Quack Quack" song!
-She doesn't want to lay down on her play mat anymore and look up at the hanging toys. She gets fussy as soon as you put her down there, but she will sit up and play with a toy if you make sure it is one that she can hold herself up on.
-She's wearing 6 month or bigger clothes, and starting to pop out of the 6 month ones! People keep telling me that her growing will slow down soon, I sure hope so! :)

-She loves her songs (We have three that we sing to her over and over, the "I love Brookelynne, yes I do, Brookelynne is my sweetie and I love her true" song, the "My name is Brookelynne and I was getting mad" song and the "B-R-O-O-K-E-L-Y-N-N-E" song where we spell her name out) If you start singing one of those songs, she'll almost always stop crying.
-While she still likes her swing and takes naps in it, she has many new toys that she's really starting to enjoy! Between the Car Walker, Activity Station Walker and her Bouncy Horse, she's always got something to do! I put her in her car and she honks the horn by biting it! Its so funny because she has her mouth as wide as she can with her tongue out and then looks up as hard as she can without moving her mouth...so cute! When she goes in her activity station walker (in which she still can't quite touch the floor) she kicks her feet and looks very intently at all the different things! (She only really plays with the light up buttons right now, everything else is a little confusing for her!) And then when we put her on her horse she laughs and laughs! She loves leaning over to the side and petting Tama or the couch. Seriously, if the dogs aren't around her she leans over until she can reach the couch and literally pets it! She is also reaching and grabbing the mobile on her swing now which is really fun to watch!
-She's quite a little grabber too! She reaches for EVERYTHING! From her own bottle, to the fork you're putting in your mouth, to the straw in your drink. Anything and everything is what she wants to put her hands on!
-The most recent thing to make her laugh is any kind of animal sound. "Quack Quack" or "Ruff Ruff" are her favorites, but she also laughs at moo, oink, cluck and ribbit!
-She is getting more and more expressive, laughing and talking a lot! She hates when no one is interacting with her, if she's in a room then you have to include her in what's going on or she tells you all about yourself! haha.

I'll leave you with this last picture of my adorable babies! Tama, Brookelynne and Toby! :)

ENT Appointment...

Well, yesterday we went to the ENT and had Brookelynne's neck checked. I have to say that I was very impressed with the offices, staff and doctor at this place and that makes me feel better. We saw Dr McMillian, who was an older lady with tons of experience. She was very nice and listened to what I had to say, not acting like she was in a rush, which I have to say is extremely important to me in a doctor, but anyway... She looked at it with the naked eye and felt it and told me that she didn't see a sinus tract or feel one, but wanted to check it under a microscope. So they held Brooke down and she was looking VERY frightened of that microscope coming near her, but she was a trooper and didn't even cry! (She did scream when the doctor pinched the spot, but that was right at the end and I was able to pick her up before she got too upset). She then told me that because of its placement and the fact that there was some drainage when she pinched it, she's confident that it is a sinus tract but they don't want to do anything about it right now.

They set us up an appt for 2 months from now so they can keep an eye on it, but are fairly certain that no action will need to be taken before Brooke turns one. At that point, depending on what it looks like, we will have the decision to make as to whether we want it taken out. The down side is that if we don't she'll always have a red spot on her neck (in a very obvious place for an adult) that is draining fluid every time her nose runs. The surgery to have it removed is fairly routine, but the risk comes in that they never know how far the tract goes into their head. It could go one millimeter or go all the way into their sinus cavity and to get it out, they have to follow it all the way to the end. Sooooo, for now, we just keep doing what we're doing and pray that when the time comes, the Lord has given us the wisdom to make the decision He would have us to make. :) That is all! :)

PS Wasn't her ladybug outfit ADORABLE?!? The girls at the doctor's office sure thought so!

Pictures and a movie!

Today we have a doctor's appt for Brooke's neck, so I'll be posting a real update either tonight or tomorrow, but I wanted to take a minute and share these wonderful pictures and sweet video of my beautiful little girl! Isn't she a doll?


Standing next to Tama! I love the look on both of their faces! haha


My little flower!


Laying on Daddy!



In one of her consignment sale finds!



A video of my funny little girl laughing with Mommy!