Brooke's Book

Having an entire year of experience behind her, our precocious little girl decided to publish her life story, "Brooke's Book."

Happy Holidays!

Nothing makes the season brighter than seeing life anew through the eyes of a child.

Oh So Sad!

Why the long face, Brookles? 

Terrified of Santa

For some reason, Brooklyn has this inexplicable fear of men with beards. (She may be afraid of women with beards too--we haven't tested the theory.) Anyway, this has turned the merry season of Christmas into quite a traumatic holiday!

Here's another not-so-jolly photo op with St. Nick. 

Twinkie, anyone?

Random musing for the day...

I'm so glad that we now have help making good food choices. Between whole grain, low-fat, high-fiber, and low-carb, it seems like almost everything we consume has been branded one way or another. Well, while passing the vending machine this morning, I discovered that my Little Debbie Double Decker Oatmeal Creme Pie had been marked with a "healthy food" logo! Twinkie, anyone?

Vicarious Motherhood

According to Kara's introduction, this Blog is supposed to be dedicated to thoughts about motherhood, which many might argue immediately disqualifies me from contributing. However, over the course of the last five weeks, I've come to relate with "mommyhood" much better than I ever would have imagined possible.

As Kara began working last month to help out with the financial demands of graduate school, I now get the delightful opportunity to spend significant amounts of time with our little Brooklyn. As soon as the professor of my history class pronounces the benediction on our learning for the day, I scurry for the door and race to catch the bus home, hoping to get back to Brooklyn before she decides that the babysitter is her new mom.

Arrival at the babysitters is invariably good for my heart. Brooklyn is always excited to see me and most the time even stops chewing on whatever toy she has in her hand at the moment long enough to give me a smile. Brooklyn hasn't forgotten her parents after all!

My next concern typically happens about the time we get back to our house and I start to prepare a bottle for Brooklyn. What if she begins to mistake me for her mommy and expects me to get up in the middle of the night to feed her? AGHHHH! In a state of panic, I often give Kara a call on the cell phone, hoping to calm my nerves. Kara always answers, but I rarely get out more than a few words before Brooklyn steals the phone out of my hands.

As I tried to take the cell phone back from a protesting Brooklyn this past Thursday, I suddenly realized the error of my thinking. Brooklyn knows that I'm not her mom... She even knows that the babysitter isn't her mom... Brooklyn thinks the cell phone is her mom! Why I hadn't come to this conclusion before absolutely boggles me! After all, anytime Brooklyn sees a cell phone she immediately races towards it and tries desperately to pry it from the unsuspecting grasp of its owner. My suspicions were confirmed as I heard Kara distantly through the phone crooning at the baby and as Brooklyn tried her best to nurse the antenna.

I guess I won’t worry so much in the future about having to take over the nightly feedings.

Aren't I cute!

Back to the Halloween theme, here's our adorable Brookles decked out as a ladybug. . .

. . . and a duck. Got any grapes?

More Peas Please!

A quick peek at our messy eater! Apparently food tastes better when consumed both through the nose and the mouth. 

Halloween Blues

Whoever thinks that Halloween is just for kids is mistaken. While I confess that I went through those awkward teen years where I outwardly pretended to be too "cool" for Halloween, inwardly I wished that I could be right beside Cinderella and Gumby, racing from house to house to fill my bag with the most candy.

Fortunately, motherhood has resurrected this ghoulish holiday. Once again, it's socially acceptable to squeal over costumes and sift past the dum-dums for the real goodies with each Trick-or-Treat. (I know most 10 month olds don't crave Nestle Signature Caramels, but mine's precocious.) Our family has had a blast getting into the spirit of Halloween this season as we've picked pumpkins, stuffed scarecrows, and feasted on Blue Brain Jello. Jason is sporting a box of Raisin Bran with a knife hanging out of it--what a serial killer! I am a black-eyed "P", and our more traditional Brooklyn periodically morphs between the most adorable duck, ladybug, and cow you've ever seen.

Despite our preparations, I suppose the final trick is on us. When I woke up this morning and saw the gorgeous weather, I thought that tonight's adventure would be quite a treat. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had the last word, because now it's wet, rainy, and cold. Unless you're a bathtub, trick or treating's just not much fun in the damp drizzle. Even worse, it's already pitch black outside at 4:53 pm, thanks to daylight savings. I guess the black goes with the Halloween theme, but coming home from work each night in the dark has me feeling blue.

Perhaps Halloween is simply cursed. I'm reminded of the time we had a huge blizzard on Halloween. Not only were all of the school parades canceled, but the mayor cancelled Halloween all together! The nerve. Talk about making yourself unpopular with those under the age of twelve. I guarantee you he would never have dared if we had had the power to vote. Or then there was the time we moved to Chicago on Halloween, only to discover that they had celebrated the day before. Oh, the horror! But rain or shine, trick or treat, I'll always love the day just as much as I did as a child.

Learning to Blog

Well, learning to blog is kind of like being potty trained. At first, entries are kind of messy and not very well contained. Other people have to come back in and clean up the disaster that an un-conscientious fellow like myself might leave. But, with time, I'll hopefully be able to control myself better and not just leave random little smears of thought where I ought not...

Mostly this is for Kara. I'm hoping she'll check her brand-new blog during the day today while she as at work and realize that somebody's very stinky diaper needs changing... :)

Thoroughly Unmodern

Last night Jason and I went out to the show.

At first glance, that may not seem like such a monumental achivement. Yet for new parents still accustomed to quieting the howls of our darling daughter three times a night, it was truly a notable achievement. Orchestrating an evening out was quite a performance in and of itself--you should have seen Jason and I balancing bottles, blankets, binkies and breastmilk on the way to the babysitter.

My loving hubby had purchased a couple of tickets to a musical review called Thoroughly Modern Millie. In the show, Millie, a backwards Kansas farm girl, makes it big in New York City by leaving her family and turning thoroughly modern. While her 1920s bobbed hair and speakeasy escapades made for some great laughs, Jason and I both felt strangely empty as we snuggled together just the two of us. After ten months with hardly a moment to ourselves, we actually felt lonely and wished our little Buttermilk could be there with us. Maybe it's the adrenalin rush that comes from dodging drool, but life just isn't as exciting any more without her giggles to spice it up.

So while the rest of the world may be marching madly towards modern, I'm enjoying the slide backwards if backwards means closer to family. After the frenzied fun of New York and Washington DC, we're enjoying our cozy life in the cornfields of Savoy.

We were all too gleeful to gather our bundle of Brooklyn and tuck her in bed after our night out on the town. Unfortunately, a stuffy nose kept her awake and miserable all night, despite our feeble attempts to use the blue bulb syringe. By the time early morning finally came, I thought to myself, I'm ready for another show!