Six Weeks

Our little Brooksy hit the 6 week mark today! I'm amazed he has been in our lives for that long, it feels like yesterday that he was still in my belly :) Brooks is doing great and last week when I weighed him he was a whopping 9.5 lbs! Not that I want to make a habit of comparing our two boys but I don't remember Cole hitting the 10 lb mark until much much later! Brooks is much more awake to the world now, spending a lot of his time sitting or laying quietly and checking our his environment. He has a mellow, laid-back personality that I already love! I am hoping we can begin to space night time feedings apart a little but for now he's waking me up every 3 hours with a slight whimper (as if it were impolite to cry in the middle of the night!). Cole loves his little brother and is a huge help. He particularly likes to help with bath time, which Brooks seems to love. He lets out a big sigh everytime we put him in the water.

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for this year. Family is the thing that sticks out most in my mind. I am thankful that everyone has been relatively healthy. I am thankful my dad has found happiness again. I am thankful that I have such a wonderful husband who has supported us financially for an entire year and although not by choice, that I have been able to stay home with Cole. I am thankful that Cole has loved preschool and has blossomed as a result of going. I am thankful to have experienced another pregnancy (with my sis at that!) and the end result was a beautiful, healthy little boy. I'm still not sure our family is complete but it sure feels good for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful day...with their family.

Better Late Than Never

Happy Halloween to all! I have the best intentions as far as the blog is concerned...well as far as everything is concerned...but it's been hard to get to it all lately. I cannot image why! What have we been up to? We spent half of our Halloween day standing in line to get the H1N1 vaccine and the other half decorating cookies, carving our pumpkin, and finally trick-or-treating. The weather didn't cooperate in the evening, so our door to door time was cut short but it was probably plenty for 3 year old Cole and honestly for me too!

Cole continues to be a good big brother. Last week was our first at home without Craig and Cole was a good helper...most of the time :) He had his fair share of tantrums as a result of not meeting his needs immediately!

Brooks seems to be growing by the second! He is slowly awakening out of his newborn slumber and testing out his lungs quite often now. Despite telling myself that its okay for him to cry, I run at every whimper. I think he's in the midst of his 3 week growth spurt because he seems to be doing nothing except eating! I'm wondering if he's going to be bigger than his big brother because he's already outgrown all of those newborn clothes (and I seem to remember Cole being in them for a long time!).

Lastly, we said a sad goodbye to our family pet, Flower, on Sunday. She took her last breath, or tweet, as we sat in the living room with her feeding Brooks. I cried as if she were my child (well she was!). We buried her in the backyard, under a stepping stone, so that she will always be with this house...a house where Craig and I began our family together. She's seen so much with me...college, grad school, marriage and the birth of both of my babies...I will miss her a lot.

Boys in my House

There are boys in my house – and Spiderman shoes
And 200 papers in various blues.
There's Bob (he's a builder) and Thomas the Train,
There's a fireman coat to wear in the rain.
They have cars on their shirts and frogs on their hats
There's a glove and a ball and a red plastic bat.
There's dirt on a face and a smudge on a nose;
Grass stains on knees and sand between toes.
There's bathtime at night with bodies to scrub,
And when we're all done there is dirt in the tub!
There's bandaids and bruises and curious bumps,
There's smiles and laughter and sometimes there's grumps.
There's odors most icky; there's boogers so green
There's more yucky things than I'll ever get clean.
There's piles of laundry; there's stories at night;
There's bedtime and bathtime and dinnertime fights.
There's cars and there's trains and there's books about trucks
There's Scoop, Lofty, Dizzy, and Travis, and Muck.
Sometimes there are bugs, and sometimes there are frogs;
Sometimes they are lions, or dinos, or dogs.
There are cute little vests and darling neckties
Dragged right through the mud – oh what a surprise!
There's running and climbing and jumping and falling
And laughing and crying and hugging and brawling
And rolling and losing and finding and creeping
And whining and stealing and sometimes there's sleeping.
There's tantrums and time outs and extra loud noise –
There's love in my house shaped like two little boys.