Growing Up Together

These girls are growing up so fast! What a fun night we had at the McDaniel's house the other night.

Potty Training: Day Three

Another great day! Brooks went to school today, so I really can't take credit for today. His teacher insists on him wearing a diaper (so teetee doesn't get all over her carpet, I get it). But she made him a potty chart with stickers and took him to the potty every 20 minutes. She said he did great - only one accident in between nap and outside play time. He's really doing well. I'm looking forward to a future filled with no more size 6 diapers. Of course, it'll be a while before we are officially done with buying diapers...Laney is just now getting into size 1.

3 Months Old

Weight: On Monday she went in and she was 9 lbs 11 oz. So based on her weight gain patterns, I'm predicting she's a solid 10 pounder at 3 months old! She's gained 6 lbs in 3 months!
Favorite Things: Sleeping, sticking her tongue out, laying on her playmat, being held, and playing with her hands
Schedule:
We start our day at 6:30 am and then back down for a nap around 8:15.
At 10:30 she's up again to eat and them play until 12:30 when she goes back down for a nap.
Around 2:30 she's up again to eat and play. I pick her up from daycare at 4:30 and then bring her home for another nap.
She doesn't nap so well in the afternoon, so sometimes she'll wake up around 5:30-6:00. I'll feed her again around 6:00. She stays up and plays for a while before her bath around 7:45. Then she eats one more time and is in bed around 8:30. She's on a good schedule that seems to be working well.

"I'm a big kid now!"

Potty Training
Brooks has been showing some signs that he's ready for potty training, so we just decided to take a weekend and get it done. Sigh.

Day One:
Brooks woke up and we tried to go potty on the big boy potty (no luck). And then we put some Thomas the Train underwear on. He loves to wear underwear so he was super excited. I set the timer for 15 minutes (to tell us when it was time to go potty) and I started making breakfast. 12 minutes into our morning I noticed that Brooks' underwear looked wet. And then I noticed the huge pee spot on the kitchen chair where he'd been sitting. Really?! I was so close to just throwing in the towel right away. He fussed when I told him we had to go sit on the potty. He fussed when we put his underwear in the dirty clothes. I really thought I had made a mistake. Maybe he wasn't ready. But...we kept on going. Every 15-20 minutes the timer would go off and we'd run to go teetee. He had one more accident before lunch. We all got sad because Lightning McQueen got wet. Brooks said, "Sorry, Lightning McQueen." We changed underwear again, had some lunch, and then he went poopoo on the potty before nap time.
No more accidents during the afternoon.
I consider Day One a success.
Both of these pictures were taken on the potty. I did some cropping so I don't embarrass Brooks too much.


Day Two:
The day started out better than the first. The first accident didn't come until lunch time, and it was only a little bit. We extended the timer to 30-35 minutes. Sometimes he'll tell us he doesn't have to go...but we know better. And every time he went teetee without delay, collected his skittle, and went on his way. He went the rest of the day with no more accidents, and another successful poop on the potty. This time he actually told us when he had to poop...making progress!
Another successful day.

The poor guy is probably tired of us asking him every 5 minutes if he needs to go teetee. And 5 minutes after that asking him if he's still dry. It's definitely an exhausting process for us all. We'll see how the week goes at school. His teacher will have him in a diaper, but take him to the potty every 20 minutes. I'm hoping he continues to make progress and next weekend we won't have to be locked in our house.

This is just the beginning!

I can't wait to see Melody and Laney grow up together. The girls are exactly 2 months apart. Melody is younger, although she appears bigger. They weigh about the same, actually, but Laney is 2 inches longer which makes her look skinny in comparison. Jess came over the other day for our first little playdate. We went a little crazy with the camera...and the bows...and the coordinating outfits.
Having girls is just too much fun!

I just can't get enough!

I love this little girl so much! Poor thing has a camera flashing in her face all the time. I feel like she changes everyday and I just don't want to miss a thing.





And how could I forget this "little" guy. He is my best bud.

Parker and Brooks

Then...
Brooks was almost one and Parker was only a couple of weeks old:

Now...
Brooks will proudly tell you that he's 2 1/2 and Parker is 19 months:

It was great fun watching the boys interact, share toys (most of the time), and chase each other around the house. The last time Cari and Parker came to visit Parker was just crawling around...things have changed a lot since then!


It was special, too, because Aunt Cari got to meet Laney for the first time. Just some extra practice for her baby coming in April.

While Daddy is away...

I don't want to forget...

I feel like if I don't write this stuff down I'll never remember all the cute things Brooks is saying these days:

"Mommy. Mommy. Mom. Maaamaa! Mommy. MOM! Mommyyyyy!" He had to have said my name at least 100 times on our way home from church the other day.

The other day we were just hanging out in his room. He looked at me and in the cutest voice said, "You're my best friend mom!" Oh, I just melted.

Me: "Brooks don't you want to go teetee on the big boy potty?"
Brooks: "Naaa!"

Brooks' new favorite game is to tell us to lay down and sleep (a pretty good game if you ask me). The other day he was playing this game with Chad. Chad was trying to get up and Brooks kept saying, "No Dad! I tell you to lay down!" He's quite demanding.

When we wrestle with Brooks it's obvious when he's had enough: "No! Stop everybody!"

Chad: "What are you doing, bud?"
Brooks: "I'm doing stuff."

Brooks was acting silly at the dinner table and Chad called him a dork. Brooks said, "No, Dad. I not a dork! I a big boy!"

I've mentioned that he loves to sing songs, but he has gotten better at making up random songs for everything. He kind of reminds me of a walking musical. The other night he was singing, "I want an olive please, mom. I want an olive please, mom, please."


My little boy...such a great combination of silliness and sweetness.

Oh girl!

I love to nuzzle my face up against her cheeks. They may be small...but they are so adorable.

I love putting bows in her hair...everyday. Okay, so this bow was just for fun, and just for this picture. It's so big on her little head - it cracks me up!

I love that over Christmas she wore her first little dress with tights. I've been waiting to see her in tights. In my opinion there's nothing cuter than a little girl with tights and a dress.

I love how she holds her head up to look around. Her adorable little tongue sticking out is pretty darn cute, too. And check out those BRIGHT blue eyes.
Man - she's so stinking cute!

I love her smile. She is smiling more everyday and completely loves interacting with us. She has this funny smile where she opens her whole mouth.

And then she has this funny smile out of the side of her mouth.

I have to say...I love the pink! I never thought I would. I guess as long as it's not on me it's okay.

No White Christmas Here!

After spending Christmas Day in Austin, we traveled down South to Corpus to be with The Hoffman Crew.
Brooks had 4 cousins, 2 grandparents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, mom, dad, and sister to play with all under one roof.
Brooks (2 1/2), Brodie (4 1/2), Megan (almost 5), Delaney (2 months), Dawson (7 1/2), Bryan (7 1/2)

Delaney loved hanging out with her Aunt Jill.

This was a popular nighttime activity.

And this was a popular daytime activity.

And on the last day...some mini golf with Brodie!

Christmas Memories 2010

All ready for Christmas Eve service.


Christmas Eve service and Brooks was super excited to hold the candle.

Hanging out on Christmas Eve with our precious little girl.


Santa was here!

The best present under the tree this year was definitely our little peanut.

Brooks on his bike for the first time. Okay, so he can't reach the pedals, but he'll grow into it.

Opening presents was so fun this year. Brooks was totally into it. He loved his dump truck!

Christmas in the Kitchen

Between cooking meals, baking cookies for Santa, and making a birthday cake for Jesus - we were in the kitchen a lot. Brooks had a great time helping out!

Our family cookie tradition is making cookies with the cookie press. We make all sorts of shapes, color the dough and add sprinkles. In my opinion - they are the BEST cookies!

Brooks and Gammy were getting pretty excited to eat some cookies!

Can you tell which cookie Brooks sprinkled all by himself?

Making a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas Day.

And like every good baker...Brooks licked the batter off the beaters.


P.S. Brooks got that hat in the last box of his advent calendar. I knew he'd love it. He wore it all day.