The La Jolla Aquarium

While in California, we took a gloomy day with the family to go visit the La Jolla Aquarium. Brooks seemed to enjoy the fishes and all the bright colors. He loved tapping on the glass, even though it made mommy and Gammy a little nauseous to get too close to the glass. Outside at the aquarium, they had tide pools with sea cucumbers, sea anemones, and starfish. It was fun sticking my hand in the freezing cold water to touch everything. Brooks wanted to play in the water so bad. I thought at one point he might just jump in. Even though it was a cloudy and "cold" day, we had a great view of the surf below and La Jolla's Cove off in the distance.

Mommy and Brooks with all the pretty colors:


Brooks and Gammy taking a closer look at the sharks:


Owen and Brooks:


Exploring the tide pools:


Gammy, Great-Grandma Ruth, and Brooks:

Who's that stud?

Oh - that would be my little boy with a mohawk!

Brooks has these cowlicks in the front of his hair line that make it impossible to comb nicely or get to do anything! He gets these from his daddy. My mother-in-law has already told me that they make things hard, and she can remember Chad wanting a flat top (back in the 80's) and that it just wouldn't work. Hope Brooks never wants a flat top. So, I figured out that a mohawk actually does work with his hair. I thought he looked pretty darn cute. Kind of like a tough guy.

8 months old

Holy Cow...time is flying by. When I think that in just 4 months Brooks will be 1 year old, I seriously cannot believe it. We are having so much fun these days. Brooks is really moving now. He is crawling pretty fast all over the house. It's fun to watch him crawl over to his toys and entertain himself. It's less fun to look up and see him trying to pull the speakers over. He loves crawling on mommy and daddy's legs when we lay on the floor, and he is starting to pull up and climb all over us and all over the furniture. My favorite is when I go to get him out of his crib and he's crawling around in a circle. Speaking of crawling around in his crib; The other night, Chad and I went in to watch our son sleep before we headed to bed. Brooks was laying there so sweetly. Chad and I hugged at the thought that we made that little baby. But Chad couldn't keep his mouth shut and he said, "Can you believe he's our son?" (or something sweet and cheesy like that). Brooks opened his eyes and Chad and I hit the deck. Brooks immediately started grunting and moving around. We didn't want him to see us of course, because then he would really wake up. I ducked down on the chair and Chad ducked down on the floor. When I dared to peek up behind the chair, all I could see was the top of a little head bobbing around the crib, so I didn't move, and tried really hard not to just crack up laughing. Then Chad tapped me and motioned to the door, so we quietly crawled (literally) out the door.
(That's just a fun story that has nothing to do with Brooks being 8 months old.)
Other than the crawling, Brooks' vocabulary is growing...he now says "mama", "dada", "bababababa", "up", and a farting noise with his mouth that I don't know how to put in words. Of course, none of the words are really associated when meaning - but we pretend that they are when we hear him say "mama" and "dada". My favorite is when it sounds like this: "dadadaDADADAda", sometimes he can get really loud. He is also getting one more tooth, which takes the grand total to 2 teeth. Hopefully now that we've started that process the rest will come in quicker and with less pain. These two have made Brooks quite cranky at times.
I don't know his measurements, but we go in next month so I guess it'll have to wait. I really love knowing his measurements because it shows me for sure that he is growing. He seems really tall to me, and still skinny of course...I'm guessing 15 or so pounds and 29 inches tall right now. He's definitely eating like a champ, but because he is also crawling then that also means that he is burning calories. He just looks tall and handsome to me. Gosh - I love this kid!



As you can see, all Brooks wants to do is crawl.

Brooke and Brooks

We were lucky enough to travel to California last weekend to meet up with family and friends. First, I got to spend some time with my dear friend, Lexi, and her baby girl, Brooke. Talk about confusion...trying to have a conversation mentioning Brooke and Brooks, and Brooke's and Brooks'...too much! Brooke is absolutely adorable, and looks a lot like her mommy. The kids didn't really play much, but us mommies sure had a nice time catching up.

Just some fun in the sun

Back when it was warm outside (last week) we spent lots of time outside. Brooks loved playing with the grass. He is so happy outside...just like his daddy. I also put a baseball hat on him for the first time. It's a little too big, but it was only a dollar. I was surprised that Brooks kept it on. Every once in a while he would look up and notice something on his head, but he pretty much just left it on his head. He is becoming such a ham for the camera - maybe that's because we are always taking pictures.

A New Noise

Brooks learned a new noise the other day...



He crawled around all day making this sound. It was cracking me up!

A BIG WEEK

I know I usually give an update each month on Brooks' "birthday", but this time I just couldn't wait. Brooks is exactly 7 1/2 months old, and it has been a big week for him. On Saturday, he finally made sense of the whole "crawling" thing. He was rocking back and forth on his knees and then picked his hand up and moved it forward...and then the other hand...and then he was crawling. And now, all he wants to do is crawl. It's hard to change a diaper on a baby that is trying to get away. On top of that excitement...my baby is FINALLY getting his first tooth. I just happened to feel around in his mouth the other day, and his gums felt a little different. I checked it out (which is nearly impossible to look into a baby's mouth) and sure enough - I could see a little bud trying real hard to poke through the gums. No wonder he has been fussing and drooling so much. All of a sudden, my little baby isn't such a little baby anymore.