Haircut

Before:


After:

Brooks had his second haircut while we were in Arlington last weekend. The special part about this haircut is that he got it cut by Lynn. Lynn has been cutting my hair since THE EIGHTH GRADE! She was so excited to cut Brooks' hair. She pampered him and showered him with kisses. There was no flat screen TV with Baby Einstein's and no fun booster seat, yet he still did just fine. And when he did start to get squirmy - we gave him a sucker (looking at the pictures I realized we gave him 2 suckers - one before the haircut so he wouldn't run around the store and break stuff, and one at the end of his haircut).
He looks so different with his new haircut. It's so short! And when I look at him I see a big boy instead of my little baby...tear.

4 months and counting...

In 4 months I will have a 2 year-old. A 2 YEAR-OLD!!! That sounds old. But, right now we are enjoying the time inbetween 1 and 2. I taught Brooks to put up his one finger to show how old he is. Seems kind of silly since in 4 months I'll have to teach him how to hold up 2 fingers. Anyways, Brooks is 20 months today. He amazes me with something new everyday. He is constantly on the move and will sometimes stop for a quick hug. He still loves reading, food, and playing outside. He is independent in every way, but he is learning to ask for "help". I love that he is able to communicate with us, even if it's just one word at a time. I love to hear him call out, "Mommy!" - even if it is 47 times in a row. I love to watch him wrestle with his daddy. He will run full speed at Chad and Chad will pick him up and "throw" Brooks down on the ground to tickle him. It's the cutest thing. I can only imagine the amount of wrestling that will happen on our living room floor as Brooks grows up. Today was a fun day because all the wrestling and fun with Daddy happened outside in the SNOW! I know it snowed in Dallas last week, but Austin - REALLY?! Today Brooks learned how to say "snow" and "snowman". It was fun having the snow and thinking back and remembering our home in Colorado. Brooks could really play this time (notice the comparison below).
Then:

Now:

Then:

Now:

Team Hoffman

Words cannot express how much I LOVE my family.

"We love because He first loved us." 1John 4:19

More Bath Time Fun

I've been having so much fun with Brooks lately just listening to him talk and try to communicate. He's getting easier to understand when he talks and he is talking ALL THE TIME!

After bath I tried on his robe. This robe is special because his oldest cousins wore it (Bryan and Dawson) as well as his other cousin (Brodie). It's been in the family for 7 years and now it's Brooks' turn to wear it. I just cracked up watching him playing with his Daddy and running around in his "new" robe. So cute!

Just Melts my Heart

"Hats, Hats, Hats"

There is a children's non-fiction book called "Hats, Hats, Hats" by Ann Morris. It depicts hats from all over the world. Tall hats, soldier hats, baseball caps, etc. Well, apparently, Brooks LOVES hats. His teacher told me that he loves to put all the dress-up hats on his head. I've seen it at home, too. If he doesn't have a hat, then he usually finds something else and pretends that it is a hat. I guess I need to go get some hats for him to play with. It's great, too, because when I want him to wear a hat when it's cold - he loves it and doesn't even take it off. I've also always loved him in hats. I think he looks absolutely adorable in a beanie (not that I'm biased or anything).
He's worn a lot of hats since he's been born...
The first time I saw him he was wearing a hat:

Coming home from the hospital he wore a hat:

One of my favorite pictures with Aunt Cari is one where Brooks was wearing a hat:

He wore a hat to his first baseball game:

He had a hat for Halloween and a hat for Christmas:


Some hats were knitted by friends:

Some hats were down-right silly:

And some hats were floppy, and perfect for the crazy/hot sun in Texas:

And lets not forget the infamous "naked baby in the cowboy hat" picture (although I cropped it a bit for this post):

Some hats almost seem like they were made to bring out my baby's beautiful blue eyes:

Here's an example of his recent excitement over hats:

We finally got rid of it.

Well, the one good thing that came of Brooks being sick was that we finally got rid of his paci. I never really thought that he would be using it still, but it just happened that way. He liked the paci and I went with it. I always had excuses not to get rid of it like, flying or being too busy or being away for the weekend. You know how it goes.
Well, he's been sleeping without it for naps for the past 2 weeks, but I was still dreading taking it away at bedtime. With him being so sick he was too tired to notice that he was going to bed without it. Perfect. Now we're set and we finally got rid of the paci.