Christmas...Round Two

On Christmas Day we flew down to Corpus Christi to be with Chad's family. Brooks was such a trooper on the flight, considering that he was up for about 6 hours straight. We got up on the 26th and had our second round of Christmas. Brooks opened lots of presents with his cousin Brodie, took a nap, and then woke up and opened more presents. We spent a week down there - and had tons of fun. Brooks got so much attention from everyone, but especially Brodie. Brodie is his 2 1/2 year-old cousin, and he is absolutely in love with "Baby Brooks". He would hug and kiss him all the time, share toys, and try to console him when he was sad.

It was so warm down in Corpus that we also got in the hot tub a couple of times. Brooks has finally grown into his swim suit, and he looked adorable. He loved the water. He learned how to splash and he couldn't/wouldn't stop. The good thing is that since birth we have been dumping water over his head so he is totally comfortable with water in his eyes. We hope he'll grow up to be a swimmer like his daddy and Aunt Jill and Aunt Joy (the Hoffman's are like fish).



The week was filled with lots of "firsts":
First trip to Corpus.

First time to meet great-grandparents.

First bath in a big tub.

First experience playing with grass.

First time on a swing.

First time down the slide.

First time for four generations of Hoffmans to get together.

It doesn't get much better than that!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was perfect! Gammy and Pops were here and Brooks had a blast opening presents. He pulled gifts out of his stocking (with some assistance), and helped Daddy unwrap presents. He was a very happy little "elf". He got a basketball goal, a piano, rattles, clothes, shoes, etc. It's so different having a baby at Christmas. I loved the presents that I got (Chad got me a gift card to a spa), but I was more excited about Brooks and enjoying every moment of his first Christmas. There will never be another first Christmas - and that's really special and sad at the same time. My little boy is growing up so fast!

Pops and Gammy come to visit

My mom and dad came to visit the week before Christmas to hang out. Brooks loved it when Pops would sing him songs, and Brooks had lots of fun spending time with Gammy. Here are just some random pics from their visit.

zzzz....

Brooks has always been a great sleeper (praise God); he started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks...and he has never had a problem since. He used to sleep on this little incline mattress thing, and I would come in in the morning and I would find him with his head wedged in-between the sides (mind you, he was swaddled). And then there was the time that I found him swaddled and he had rolled over on his tummy. The other morning, this is how I found him...


And maybe it doesn't look like much, but I actually put him in on his back with his feet at the other end of the bed. So not only did he roll to his tummy, but first he turned his body 180 degrees. He's going to be one of those kids who never sits still.

A Boy and His Dog

So recently Brooks has really been interested in Kansas. The other day, Chad and Kansas were playing rough and Brooks was just watching and cracking up. And Brooks will be sitting on my lap and just watching Kansas walk around. Kansas is such a good dog, and he'll come up and let Brooks just pull on his hair, stick his fingers in his nose, etc. Kansas is real gentle with Brooks and I think they are going to grow up to be good friends. I got some pictures of them hanging out the other day in Brooks' room.

6 months old

I can't believe Brooks is already 6 months old! The old ladies in the church always told me to treasure every moment because they grow up so fast. It is so true! 6 months means he's half-a-year old, he's rolling over, and he's eating 3 meals a day. 6 months also means he looks when he hears his name, he smiles when I come into the room, he talks more and makes all kinds of noises with his mouth, and he smiles and laughs all the time! He is so much fun to be around. His personality is much like ours - he's a good sleeper, he loves to interact with people but also enjoys his alone time, and he is totally chill. After our doctor's appointment, it turns out that not only does Brooks have much of our personalities, but also much of our physical features (more Chad I think). He was 13lbs 12 oz and 27 1/2 inches long. Turns out he is in the 3% for weight, 5% for his head circumference, and 50% for his height. He is a long and skinny baby with a tiny head. The doctor said he is moving up the curve just fine, but that he is just a skinny kid and probably will never be a chunky baby. Surprise, surprise! She said it means that he'll probably walk sooner rather than later because he doesn't have much weight to carry around (and he has strong muscles). She said that it also means he will continue to be skinny and maybe fall below the curve because he'll be burning so many calories when he starts walking. Chad walked early and actually kind of skipped the whole crawling thing. He never crawled with his knees on the ground. Instead he moved around with his hands and feet on the floor and his butt up in the air. His mom said that then he never really walked, but just started running. We'll see if Brooks follows in his steps. Overall, the doctor was very pleased. It is always good for me to hear things like that considering the hardships of the pregnancy and Brooks' tiny size at birth. He is a strong and happy baby who is absolutely perfect in my eyes. I fall more in love with him everyday.

Some Family Pictures

Chad and I took some family pictures in the backyard a couple of weeks ago. I asked Chad to go buy Brooks a new little outfit to wear, and he picked out these adorable overalls with a brown and white plaid shirt. He looked so cute! We took so many pictures, and Brooks never smiled. Of course he still looked cute, but I was so sad that he wouldn't show off his big smile. And trying to get a picture of the whole family without any assistance was interesting. I had to hold Brooks and Kansas while Chad pushed the timer for the camera, then he would run over to get in the picture, hold Kansas, and then throw a rock at the last minute to get Kansas to look. We just had to hope that Brooks would look up too. We took about 10 pictures, and only one or two really worked.