Say cheese!

Well, she's still a hot tamale. And by that I mean her fever isn't going anywhere. So we still haven't taken her traditional 9-month onesie picture (hopefully tomorrow.) Since I know you're dying to see it, I thought I'd help satisfy your Brooke craving with her 9-month professional pics.

These were taken on Wednesday afternoon, just hours before Fevergate 2010 began. To be honest, I think they're just okay. I mean, she's cute as hell, don't get me wrong. But the photographer scared the bejeezus out of her, this photographer was horrible (who puts a kid wearing a cream outfit in a white chair with a white background?), the lighting was horrible (which I attribute to the craptastic, scary photographer), and Brooke was well on her way to a pretty nasty fever, unbeknownst to me. It just wasn't a super pleasant experience. We got a few good ones, so it wasn't a total loss. I've already decided that her 1 year pics will be taken by a legit photographer outside of a stuffy studio. Anyway, enjoy!

p.s. I certainly didn't buy all of these, especially not the sunflower one (what's with the one random fake flower? Idiot photographer.) I never get more than 3 poses (I got the 2nd, 5th, and 9th from the top) but we get a CD of all the images so I can share more. I felt the need to clarify this for some reason. Wouldn't want you thinking I'm some crazy first-timer sitting on a ridiculous stack of pictures or something. I'm obsessed with her, but not crazy.

Fever update.

Sigh.

It's been a very long, hot day in our house. Long because Brooke has had a fever all day. Hot because Brooke has had blazing hot skin all day. It hovered around 101.5 most of the day, until about 5:30. I woke her from her 2nd 2.5 hour nap of the day when I felt her and realized her skin was on fire. Her temperature hit 104.8 degrees. Slightly terrifying. I had a minor 10-second panic attack before reaching for my phone. I called the after-hours nurses' line, unsure what the "take the baby to the hospital" fever threshold was. Evidently, it's 105 degrees. No hospital for us, thank goodness, but we did have a very hot baby to take care of. Some Tylenol, a strip-down, a popsicle, and a cool bath later, her temp was down to about 100.6 by bedtime. I plan to check on her every few hours throughout the night to ensure she's okay. Keep those fingers crossed that she's all better by morning!!

(Luckily, we have our 9-month check-up tomorrow at 1:30, so either way she'll be seen by our pediatrician! I will be sure to update everyone after.)

Fever city.

I know you're expecting a big post today with our letter to Miss Brooke and her 9-month picture (9 months! Holy guacamole!) But you're going to have to wait until at least tomorrow. The Big Lady is under the weather. Her fever is down to 101.5 (yes, that's down....we started at 102.7 last night) and I just can't bring myself to put her through a photo shoot. Today, this PJ-clad, juice-chugging, Elmo-watching babe and I are just hanging out, on an around-the-clock Tylenol regimen. Hopefully she'll be back to her perky, smiley self for you tomorrow.

...hello Fall!

YES! It's here! Fall!

It's been a pleasant 70ish degrees out for the last few days and I am in love. Hooray for jeans and sweatshirts. Bring on the earlier evenings and frosty mornings. Time to trade dinner on the grill for a big bowl of chili and ice cream for hot chocolate (okay, that's just crazy-talk... maybe we'll just have ice cream AND hot chocolate.) Can you guys tell I'm just a tad excited for fall? (Beatin' a dead horse, eh?)

We celebrated a GORGEOUS fall weekend with a family trip to the park (after heading to a local nursery to get some mums for the front porch! So very Autumn-ish of us!) Now that the Big Lady is so mobile, the park is so much more than just the swings. She climbs, crawls, and slides all over the place. She especially enjoyed the tunnel, crawling through it several times. I can't wait until she starts walking so she can really go to town!

"I see you, Daddy, I see you!"

Practicing her driving. We'll have to work on the hand positioning - rather than 10 & 2, she's at about 4 &...minute hand?

First water fountain experience = success!

Lovin' that tunnel!

"I can climb these stairs all by myself, Mommy."

Cute & lovable, indeed.

So long, summer...

It's been one heck of a summer. We've had a blast with the Big Lady this summer! It was one of the hottest ones I remember in a long time, so we didn't spend too much time outside (not to mention I'm not exactly BFF's with nature,) but we did catch a few rays here and there. This past Friday was the last really hot, summery day, so Brooke and I hung out in the shade of the trees in our front yard. She had fun playing in the grass & dirt, while I spent most of my time making sure she didn't eat any of it.

Goodbye, summer! Thanks for the memories. See you next June :)

Tidbits.

There's really going to be no rhyme or reason to this post. Just random little snippets in the life of Brooke Mary.

- The Big Lady is now the proud owner of a 3rd tooth! She got it last weekend at the wedding (perfect timing...) It's on the bottom, next to the other two. Keep your fingers crossed that she eventually gets some top teeth to go with them.
- I told her Wednesday night that the next day was the first day of Fall and explained all about the loveliness that is Autumn. She woke up yesterday, looked outside and then at me with a "You are a big fat liar" look in her eyes. 95 degrees is not fall. It better cool down quick, because the number of summer outfits that still fit her is dwindling quickly! That, and it's hard to crawl in dresses!!

- Because Mother Nature hasn't figured out that it's Fall yet, I can still say that I am looking forward to it. I've never been a Fall girl; give me the blossoming trees and later evenings of spring! But this year is different; I am so excited for this coming season. This is our last first season with Brooke. (Take a minute to figure that one out.) We've never experienced Autumn with a baby. I can't tell you how excited I am to play in the leaves with her and pick out pumpkins (a Mommy, a Daddy, and a baby pumpkin...just because we can!) And oh how pumped I am for Halloween!! I feel a ton of pressure to make her first costume a really good one, so I've been thinking about something for weeks. I have narrowed it down to about 4 ideas, all super cute. More on that later... So yeah, hooray fall!

- She loves spaghetti, my friends. Like loves. She played and ate and played and ate for a while, making a big ol' mess. Now that she's feeding herself roughly half of her solid foods, she is messier than ever. I even resorted to taking off her PJ's before breakfast this morning; it's easier to wash mashed-up (by her, not me) banana off of a Nudie Judy than clothes!

- Brooke's cold has finally gone away. She's been quarantined from all her cousins this week (3 of the 4 suffering from the same yucky cold) which I think has helped tremendously. She's back to her old self!

- In case you thought I was kidding or that it was only a one-time thing, it wasn't. She still carries her turtle around in her mouth. Weirdo. Evidently she needed his moral support while putting together puzzles.

- Her hair is growing in so thick! We're getting closer and closer to being able to nix the headbands and move on to bows and clips. Yipee!!!

That's all for now. More randomness to come, I am sure!

**No need to sound the alarms or incite a riot. My blog has not been hijacked. Yes, the font has changed. You can thank Blogger for that. They've made blogging even more difficult, so now I have yet another excuse for crappy blogging in the future. But yeah, can't use the same one as before, so instead you get this one (a personal fave of mine anyway) so deal with it.

Wedding bells.

This was a very big weekend for us. We added a new member to my ever-growing side of the family. My little brother got married in Cleveland to his perfect match. Brooke is so excited to have another aunt and I couldn't be happier that one of my great friends is now one of my sisters!

The weekend was perfect, filled with wedding fun. Brooke handled yet another road trip like a champ. She & I are becoming pros at car rides and hotel stays. She really did well the whole trip, despite delayed/missed naps and a crazy schedule. Because I was a bridesmaid and spent the wedding day with the Bride, Brooke was with Daddy all day. They survived....barely (much thanks to Aunt Sus!!) She had a massive explosion on the way to the church (still thanking my lucky stars that I had him wait to change her into her dress until they got to church!) She was very good during the ceremony, although I hear she played a very amusing game of 52-Pacifier Pick-up (pacifiers act as silencers in church, but she kept spitting it out.) She had tons of fun at the reception, dancing the night away with Mommy. She skipped her afternoon nap but still managed to last until almost 11. Around then, she fell asleep taking her bottle in the middle of ABBA's Dancing Queen. She slept soundly in her stroller the rest of the night while we continued celebrating!

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend. The funny thing is that I don't have many of Brooke. I took 400+ pictures in 48 hours, yet very few were of my Big Lady! And the ones I did get were just okay. So here are the best ones! (Her yellow dress and silver shoes were TO DIE FOR. And that bow - heaven! She looked so, so cute!)

Brooke & Grandpa at the Rehearsal

The husband and I at Rehearsal Dinner. I heart this picture.

Wedding Day!

A family photo. Just okay, in my opinion, but the best one of the bunch.

Someone liked the ice sculpture. If he had let her, she would have tried to eat it.

Dancing queens! These girls didn't leave the dance floor all night :)

And she's out...

(p.s. A few more words about Cleveland, the Mistake on the Lake. I had anything but nice things to say about the city going into the weekend, a city I had admittedly never even been to. Well, let me tell ya - it surprised the hell out of me. I seriously enjoyed this city! I loved being near the water, pretty blue water instead of the murky brown river we have here. We stayed downtown in a great hotel with gorgeous views. I honestly wouldn't mind going back - if it didn't take almost 4 hours to get there...)