Brooklyn is 22 months

December 22, 2014
23 lbs
Size 4 diapers
Size 18 month clothing

I can't believe my little girl is almost 2, time truly does fly.  She is continuing to talk more and more.  Still not putting sentences together but she knows a lot of words and communicates what she wants and needs very well.  She loves letters.  She has some toys and puzzles with letters and she can identify quite a few letters and can say a good amount of them as well.  We have been working a lot on colors.  For the longest time everything was blue regardless of what color it actually was.  She all of the sudden could say orange, and no we did not purposely teach our daughter blue and orange (go Broncos!), she did it all on her own.  She now also can say grey.  She can recognize a lot more colors but refuses to say them.  She is completely obsessed with books, we read a minimum of 30 books a day, I guess that is a good problem to have though.  Her favorite food at the moment is banana.  She eats one a day, sometimes two if daddy doesn't realize she had one earlier.  Between her and Craig we go through at least 12 bananas a week.  She has started to show a little interest in the potty.  Sometimes she wants to sit on it, but she has yet to actually go potty in it.  I don't think she is quite ready for potty training, but hopefully it will be sooner rather then later, but its not something I am going to push too much.  She loves to go to nursery and still loves going to the gym. She is really happy most of the time, we do have to do timeout every once in a while, but that is to be expected.  Her naps are starting to get shorter and somedays are non-existent, which makes me sad, but I will have to deal with it.  She has had a cold with a cough and runny nose and also been teething the last few weeks.  She didn't sleep well for a little while because her cough kept waking her up but she is now back into her good sleeping habits.  She is now just barely tall enough to reach the door handles.  She loves to open and close doors but she can't turn the handle, so there have been time when she has got herself stuck in a room and can't get out until I get her.  She is so much fun and such a joy, I am so grateful I get to spend everyday with her.

She wanted to wear one of mommy's scarves

fun at the zoo with her friend Peyton

She was saying "moo" as the picture was being taken

Her new favorite thing at the library is to sit on the zebra

She loves to crunch leaves, a girl after my own heart

Rockin' her boots and sweater dress

Loving the cupcakes I made for my primary class, she just kept wanting more frosting

Brooklyn wanted Daddy to check her eyes after my exam

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since most of our SCO friends are no longer in Memphis, we decided to get together with some families from our ward.  There were enough families that we needed to do the dinner at the church, which Craig is not a big fan of, but it worked out really well.  Everyone brought a few items of food.  There was more than enough food and everything was fantastic.  Brooklyn had a lot of fun with all of the other kids around.  She didn't eat a whole lot since she was preoccupied with all of the people, but she got enough.  She did get locked out of the nursery on accident and got a little scared because she couldn't get back in and didn't know how to get to the gym.  Luckily one of the other moms found her and brought her back into us.  We all had a very enjoyable day and are so grateful for the friends that we have made in our ward.  I just wanted to list off a few other things that we are grateful for right now in our lives:

Loving and supportive family, friends, the education and training that Craig is receiving, my jobs (even though they aren't much they do still help), our health, our beautiful daughter and the joy she brings into our lives, our house and cars, the knowledge that we are an eternal family and all of the many other blessings that the gospel brings into our lives.  

Craig had his eyes closed in every single picture

A few of the families and missionaries that we had dinner with

Brooklyn with Emma McKonkie

Caleb Bockholt and Brooklyn 

21 Months

10/22/2014
23.2 lbs
size 4 diapers
size 18 month clothes

Since getting back from Boise Brooklyn's speech has really taken off.  I think spending time with her cousins really helped.  She says a lot more words and is starting to put together 2 and 3 words at a time.  My favorite new word of hers is please.  She does pretty good about saying all by herself, but if she doesn't I just have to say "what do you say" and she'll say "pease".  For a while she was obsessed with saying "hi" to everything and everyone, but now her obsession has moved to saying "bye". She can't leave a room without saying bye to her toys, any person that is in the room, the T.V., absolutely everything.  It is pretty cute.  She also refers to herself at Baby.  I think this is just because she can't say Brooklyn.  She has gotten really comfortable with me leaving her.  Since I had so many doctors appointments recently and now work at the gym 2 nights a week, she will just give me a kiss and say bye and doesn't care one bit that I am leaving.  It is super awesome, which also makes taking her to nursery at church so much easier.  She has started to have issues with sharing.  The funny thing is she doesn't mind sharing with other toddlers or older kids, but if a baby gets close to a toy of hers or to me, then she freaks out.  I guess someone isn't quite ready for a sibling yet.

She has been eating a ton the last few weeks and sleeping really well, so she must be going through a growth spurt.  She will eat anything I put in front of her, which is so nice.  She still loves fruit and veggies.  One day for an afternoon snack she ate bell pepper, carrots, and cucumbers.  If she doesn't want to eat something then I will just give her a sauce to dip it in and then she will eat it.  When she's hungry she says "eat" and starts walking to the kitchen.

We finally had her start sleeping with a blanket.  She gets so excited when we tuck her in at night.  She doesn't always keep it on her,but hopefully it keeps her a little warmer.  Next we need to have her start sleeping with a pillow.  A new thing she does is she recognizing sizes of things.  She has three stuffed animal dogs and the biggest one is the daddy, the medium one is the mommy and the smallest one is the baby.  She does this with everything, crayons, trash cans, pens, bowls, shoes, etc.  Luckily the biggest thing is always the daddy and not the mommy. A new thing she has started is blaming her toots on Craig.  If she ever toots or burps she automatically starts giggling and then says Daddy.  She will even accuse him if he isn't home.  She thinks it is hilarious.

She still loves to read her stories and go to story time at the library

She had fun helping me make treats for my primary class

Showing off her new boots that I got for $6

Wearing Daddy's BSU hat

Having fun at the park

It's a Miracle: She can see!!

I GOT LASIK SURGERY! YIPPY!  So, starting from the beginning... Craig is doing his rotation right now at the Toyos Eye Center,  Dr. Toyos is the top ophthalmologist in the mid-south and he also has the best technology in the area.  He very kindly offered to give us a 50% discount on Lasik surgery for me.  I had to wear my glasses for two weeks in preparation for the surgery, which was awful (especially when teaching spin classes), but totally worth it.  On Tuesday I went in for my pre-op appointment and got cleared for the surgery.  My cornea was just barely thick enough.  Friday afternoon, the 21st, I dropped Brooklyn off at a friends house and one of my visiting teachers drove me to the office.  They scheduled me as the last surgery of the day so that Craig could just drive me home when I was done.  I hung out at the office for awhile, they were running behind (surprise surprise). They then started some drops and eventually gave me a Vallum.  Then it was go time.  Dr. Toyos let Craig watch the surgery and joked with me that he was going to let Craig do the surgery.  I love Craig dearly, but no way that was going to happen. The surgery was super fast.  The first part where the machine cut the flap, there was a lot of pressure, but no pain (love me numbing drops).  The second part after the Dr. pulls back the flap, the laser literally burned away some of my cornea, it seriously smelled like burning flesh for a few seconds. And just like that it was done. The nurses and Dr. clapped for me.  I sat up and could see.  Seriously the coolest thing ever!  After the Dr. took a quick peak in my eyes they sent me home with a sleeping pill and instructions not to open my eyes until morning.  I even got to sleep in some awesome goggles so that I wouldn't accidentally rub my eyes, oh and I get to sleep with them for 2 weeks.  After Craig got me in bed he went to pick up Brooklyn and then hung out with her the rest of the night.  I slept for almost 13 hours, not many moms can say that. I went to my 1 day post-op appointment this morning and everything looked great.  I was seeing 20/15 already.  I have to put in a bunch of drops for the next few days and will probably have to use artificial tears for a few months.  Other then my eyes feeling a little dry and not being able to wear eye make-up for 2 weeks, everything is fantastic.  It really was the coolest thing to be able to drive with out glasses or contacts.  I can even read the bottom line on ESPN.  I am just so amazed and grateful for the technology.

Last time wearing my glasses

Right after surgery with Dr. Toyos and Craig

The super sweet goggles I get to wear the next few weeks

Brooklyn and Katie's trip to Boise

We were so excited to be able to see so much of Craig's family at the wedding, but I was also excited to get to see my family for a few weeks after the wedding.  Brooklyn and I drove up to Boise from Salt Lake on October 19th with Craig's parents.  She did really well on the drive, even took a good nap.  We got into Boise Sunday evening and were able to have dinner with my family that lives in Boise.  On Monday we walked over to the park with Grandma.  Brooklyn loved going high in the swing and Grandma running underneath her.  For lunch my mom had some of our close family friends over and Brooklyn had a lot of fun playing with the little ones.  On Tuesday we went over to the YMCA and swam while my mom taught a water aerobics class. We then met some ladies from my mom's ward for lunch at Casa Mexico.  That afternoon we played outside in the backyard a lot.  Brooklyn was absolutely obsessed with the trampoline the entire trip and would do her best to coax anyone to go out there with her.  She was successful most of the time cuz she is just too dang cute.

Wednesday afternoon we headed over to the Moss residence and hung out their for a while with Mark and his family and also ate dinner there.  After dinner Audrey and Brooklyn headed outside to pick Brooklyn a pumpkin from Stan's garden and then drive the Cobra.  Brooklyn had a blast, even when Audrey would accidentally run into things.  She can't wait until she is big enough to drive it herself, maybe next time we are in town.

That evening Sunni and her kids got into town.  Brooklyn was so excited to see her cousins.  She didn't want to go to bed that night, she wanted to stay and play.  I'm always so grateful that my siblings always make such an effort to come into town when we are there.

Brooklyn was having fun going through grandma's toy cupboards

On Thursday we braved a little bit of rain and headed downtown to the zoo.  Compared to the Memphis zoo it was a little wimpy but it was still fun and all of the kids really enjoyed it.  Brooklyn enjoyed all of the puddles that she found because of the rain.  we also stopped at Trader Joe's while we were downtown, I had never been there before but it was a cute little organic grocery store and Brooklyn loved the miniature shopping carts she could push around.

She was not a fan of sharing the tiger with Xander

Her feet were soaked by the time we were done

                                   

She was even more excited when grandma let her push the cart with actual groceries in it.

That afternoon we just hung at the house while my mom did a team dinner for Tucker's football team after school.  We then had everyone over for dinner before we headed over to Centennial for Tucker's last game of the season.  It rained the entire game and the other team had scored two touchdowns within the first minute and a half of the game, but it was still fun to watch Tucker play.  Luckily my mom came prepared and so we had plenty of blankets and umbrellas.  Brooklyn was super content to just sit on my lap and watch the game.  We did leave at halftime to get Brooklyn to bed and sadly Tucker separated his shoulder in the second half, good thing we know an athletic trainer and orthopedic surgeon.

Friday morning we headed out to Planet Kid.  The older kids and Sunni and Missy did a team building thing with some rock climbing, while my mom and I stayed with the three little ones and played on the indoor playground.  Everyone had a blast. That evening I was able to go to the BSU vs. BYU football game with Stan and Mark.  BSU played awesome and it was a great game to be at.  Don't get me wrong I am very grateful for my education at BYU but I will take BSU over BYU anyday.

Saturday morning we met at Tiffany's house and then headed out to Linder Farms.  Stan and Diane met us there.  We went on a hayride and picked out pumpkins.  The kids played in a corn pit and then the highlight for Brooklyn was the petting zoo and riding the horsey.  Brooklyn had to pet every single animal there but especially loved the bunnies.  She was so excited to do the horsey ride.  She wasn't scared at all and didn't need or want me to hang on to her.  She would wave to Nana and Pops as she went passed them.  Brooklyn could have stayed at the petting zoo for hours.  We then went back to Tiff's for lunch and then back to Grandma's for naps.  That evening we all just hung at the house.  Brooklyn had so much fun playing ring-around-the-rosies with LJ and Xander.  It was so cute, they did it all by themselves.  Then late that night my Dad got back in town from Europe.  He missed a connecting flight so he got back quite a bit later then planned so sadly Brooklyn was asleep already.

On Sunday we went to Stake conference with my parents and then Sunni and her kiddos had to head back to Rexburg.  Brooklyn had a couple boughts of diarrhea that afternoon which was super fun.  We just hung low that afternoon and evening.  We did go over to the Moss' for a little while with Tucker so that Stan could take a look at his injured shoulder.

Grandpa and Brooklyn working on their "computers"

The second week in Boise was a little bit more chill and relaxed.  We played outside a lot.  Brooklyn had a lot of fun helping rake up leaves, well it was me raking the leaves into a pile and then she would spread them all back out with her little rake. Luckily I could rake faster then her.  We also had to hit up Costa Vida while we were in town.  I of course downed an entire pulled pork salad and it was so worth all of the calories. We also decorated the pumpkins we got at Linder Farms.  They were too small to carve so I let her draw on them.  She had a blast with the sharpies and barely got any on herself.

 Wednesday morning we got together for a little play date with my cousin and her boys.  Brooklyn loved that they had a trampoline in their play room.  We did the Trunk-or-Treat with Tiffany on Wednesday and then on Thursday Brooklyn got sick.  Not sure what happened, but right after lunch she puked her Mac and Cheese all over me and then after we showered she puked again, but luckily I got her to the sink this time.  She then threw-up one more time in the middle of the night.  I felt so bad for her, but she was just as happy as could be and wasn't acting sick at all.  Totally weird.

my mom thought it necessary to take a picture of Brooklyn's puke

 Luckily Friday she wasn't puking anymore and we went to lunch with Grandma, Grandpa, Tiff and LJ at Chik-fil-A.  The kiddos had a fun time in the play area, I did have to climb up after LJ and then go down the slide, just a little embarrassing. Brooklyn then did more Trick-or-Treating that night. Saturday morning we went to the Aquarium with Stan, Diane, Mark, Audrey and Camdon.  Brooklyn loved all the fishies.

My Dad had to fly back to Europe that afternoon so that evening we went with my mom to a wedding reception for for a friend in high school, whose parents are also in my parents ward. Sunday we went to church with my parents and then went to go say goodbye to Stan and Diane.  We then went to my Uncle Marks house for the monthly Williams family home evening.  Monday morning we got up and packed and then headed off to the airport.  We flew threw Phoenix and were there for almost 4 hours and then stopped down in Houston before getting back to Memphis at about 11:00 pm.  Brooklyn and I were both exhausted, but she really did a great job on all of the flights and during the layover.  She did get to play with my phone and kindle way more then she ever has, but you do what you gotta do, right?  It was a great trip home and it was so great to see so much family.  We can't wait until next time.

a few other pictures from the trip:

blowing bubbles with Grandpa

watching football with Uncle Tuck

playing golf in Aunt Tiffy's living room

jumping on the tramp with Aunt Missy

She loved the baby doll set my mom bought and she figured out she could fit into the baby's stroller