Turkey, Shopping, Milestones Oh My!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and stuffed themselves sick. I'm sure my Thanksgiving was pretty similar to yours, so I don't really feel the need to write a play by play. Instead, here are a few highlights:

Before we left for my brother's house, Brooke decided to be especially cute. It's only a 13 sec. video so humor me.

Brooke showing us she's "So Big!"

Blake lucked out and had Wednesday and Thursday off so we went to my brother's house. On Wed. we met our good friends Reggie and Ryanne and their kids at the Gateway for some shopping and yummy food at Rumbi Grill.

While waiting for the turkey to cook we played Five Crowns (the best card game ever!):
Brooke was upset we wouldn't let her play (I mean eat) with the cards. Luckily Uncle Ben and Aunt Katie had an extra deck that was missing some cards:

These kept her entertained for quite a while.
Brooke with my mom

mmmm! The turkey was delicious!
Our first Thanksgiving as a family of 3

Today also has been an especially wonderful day. I have no desire to fight my way through a crowd of crazy shoppers just to snag some "must have" toy, but I did have a few things in mind that I wanted to buy for Brooke (my "she won't remember this Christmas, so why buy anything" attitude is slowly melting). I was able to find everything I wanted online and got some pretty good deals too. After, I put in some Christmas music and started getting out the decorations. We bought a tree permit so this weekend we are planning on going up on the mountain to chop down our tree.

Brooke has also learned some new things. There is a step that goes up into our kitchen and she has figured out how to climb over it to get up there. We first had to coax her with keys (she takes after her daddy. Blake LOVED keys when he was little), but now she can do it all by herself. We also had to finally put a baby gate at the top of our stairs after a very sad incident I am trying to erase from my memory. Today I looked over and Brooke had pulled herself up to standing all by herself! Yay Brooke! I went crazy when she did that. Hopefully I'll be able to capture it on camera soon.

Little Person, BIG Personality

These past few months I have really been able to see Brooke's personality emerge. Mostly, she is calm, happy, and mellow like her daddy. However, she does have a streak of her mom in there. Brooke has discovered the power of her own voice. Meaning she has learned to scream at the top of her lungs. Not crying though. She screams as loud as she can and then gets a big grin on her face like, "Did you hear the sound I just made?" I should be teaching her not to do that, but instead I laugh because it's so dang cute. She also screams like that when we take away something from her that she wants to play with--like the twig she found and was trying to stick up her nose. Brooke's latest is to pull all the leaves off our plants. She had two fistfulls of leaves and I took them away from her. No screams. I thought that odd and kept watching her for a minute. Slowly she opened up her little palm and inside was a tiny bit of leaf. I snatched that up and then the scream of protest burst forth. Like mother, like daughter...

Sometimes we just give in and let her have what she wants. Like this 300 page book:
Brooke is obsessed with books. She doesn't want to tear them up (at least not yet). She just wants to hold them, flip the pages, and occassionaly bite them (she still doesn't have any teeth in case you were wondering).

We also have this toy that we get out when older kids come over to play. Brooke has decided that she is not going to be left out any longer:

I had to get a bum shot

Isn't It Obvious

Last week it snowed & I needed to run some errands. So I put Brooke in a hand-me-down snow suit my sister used for her kids. It's blue. So while in the store I get quite a few comments about this "happy little boy" I have. Okay, she is in blue so I let it slide. The other day I dressed Brooke in this camo shirt Blake bought for her (did I even have to add which parent that was from?) and get more comments about my cute little boy. Fine. Then just yesterday I went to the library with Brooke and she was wearing the sweater shown in the pictures below and I get more comments about my little boy baby. Isn't it obvious that Brooke is a girl? To me, Brooke obviously looks like a girl no matter what she is wearing. In the hospital I had a nurse tell me that Brooke was such a pretty baby and also obviously a girl which was so nice for me. I have been floating on that comment these 11 months. Now I am beginning to think that nurse lied to me. I have never had so many comments about Brooke being a boy as I have this past week. (Just so you know, I am really not upset about it, more amused than anything.)

Brooke is 11 months today! She loves to pull the velcro flowers and apples off her playhouse (it's supposed to be for her birthday, but whatever)


She also loves to play with a vase of fake flowers my MIL has. Sorry Deena but those are getting ripped to shreds!

She is eating all table food now. She LOVES, LOVES to play games. We play the "asleep/awake" game where she puts her head down on her high chair tray and then we say "Wake Up!" and she puts her head up. "Go to sleep"--she lays her head back down. We also play the "so big" game. She loves it when she crawls away and we chase her. She can clap in response to us saying "Yay!" She loves to snuggle after she wakes up from a nap. And she charms our Sunday School class each week by crawling around making cute sounds and playing games with everyone. She loves to watch the Baby Einstein dvd called "Baby's First Sounds" It has these animal puppets that make sounds and she just laughs the whole time. She still loves animals and would be perfectly happy letting Daisy and Gunner lick her to death if we would let them.

I can't believe how fast this year has gone! Brooke is learning so many new things and it truly is amazing to be her mother. P.S. I promise I will think about stopping a monthly play by play gush-fest after the year mark. :)

So Far...

I don't want to jinx myself, but so far things are going well. It's been nice going to work and knowing that I am not teaching yet. So far no lesson plans to prepare or homework to bring home and grade. Of course, that will come eventually, but for now it's nice to have a little break as our family adjusts to me working again. I love my visiting teacher L. who is watching Brooke. She is amazing and so far Brooke has had no problems being with her. What can I say? Things are just working out for us. I get up a little early so I can get ready and then Brooke wakes up at her normal time. I get her dressed, give her a bottle, and then we play for a while before I take her to L.'s house. School is close by so it's not a long drive to work. I pick Brooke up in the afternoon and she takes a little power nap for about 45 min right when we get home. This gives me time to unwind (my first day I was able to take a bath to relax) and yesterday it gave me time to start getting dinner ready before Brooke wakes up. Next week Blake is going to be able to watch Brooke 3 days in a row (and he is going to have dinner duty) and then the week of Thanksgiving, Brooke only has to go to L's house once. After Thanks giving, because of Blake's new schedule, Brooke will only have to be at L's house half days.

One funny story I need to share. So me and the other new teacher are just pulling students out of their classes to come down to a conference room to some reading tests. None of the students know us or really even know that we are new teachers or what the testing is for. So of course this has caused so many rumors to start about what the testing is all about. One boy yesterday goes, "So are we going to be in a commercial?" I had to hide my laughter and wanted so bad to play along, but I couldn't. All of students I've met so far have been great. They all struggle with reading in some way, but most of them still put forth their best effort and try hard. This makes me really excited to hopefully help them in some way.

How big? So big!

This morning Blake caught Brooke and I playing our "so big" game after breakfast. I wish he would've focused just on Brooke and not on me in my robe, but oh well.

Do you like Brooke's spoon? I feed her yogurt as part of her breakfast and recently she's taken to grabbing the spoon out of my hand mid-feeding. Instead of wresting with her, I just give her her own spoon to play with while I feed her. Pick your battles, right?

This is my last official post as a SAHM. Tomorrow I rejoin the working world. To celebrate, I'm having lunch with some friends here:
and making plans to see this next week:

ahhh, I can't wait!

So far today I've caught up on all the laundry, cleaned all the floors, packed Brooke's things for the sitter tomorrow and am trying to keep the butterflies at bay. Thursday is going to be spent in a meeting with the other English teachers. After that, it's going to be testing students to see if they qualify to be in my lower-level English classes. So no hands on teaching just yet. I won't even start teaching my regular English classes until after Christmas, which I am really grateful for. I get to get my feet wet a little before I dive right in. Oh, and my other visiting teacher A applied for and got the new science position. I am so thrilled! Her classroom is next door to mine & she will also be teaching lower-level English as well as Science. So we're in this together!

And I need your help! At the first school I taught at there was this teacher who had a "Can You Find the Error?" board in her room. She posted real life spelling & grammar mistakes she found. One time a student wrote "You are Dum" in lipstick on another person's locker. This teacher took a picture of it and posted it on her error board. Students could then submit an entry identifying the error and correcting it. In return, that student would get a raffle ticket entry into a weekly drawing for a prize. I loved this idea and have always wanted to do it in my own classroom. I think it helps to teach students we can't rely on spell-check and always need to proof read everything. That's why I need your help. I need to collect mistakes. So if you see any spelling/grammar mistakes in newspapers, books, magazines, ward newsletters, billboards, flyers -ANYTHING please send it to me, take a picture of it or scan it and email it to me! I would so, so appreciate it!

Sleeping Beauty

Did I ever post this picture? I can't remember. I was reminded of it because when I went in to check on Brooke the other night before I went to bed, she was sleeping like this:
This isn't a very good picture because I was trying not to wake her up by using my flash. Brooke is on her knees and her little bum is sticking straight up in the air. It was so cute!

Then, I went upstairs to get the camera today so I could upload these pictures of her starting to pull herself up onto furniture:

And Brooke was supposed to be sleeping but I could hear her making all sorts of noise in her room. I stopped at her doorway just to listen and she was being so silly and making me laugh right out loud! I couldn't resist and went inside to play.

She's starting to learn how to pull herself up. Right now she is just kneeling.

Just relaxing with that tongue sticking out!
This is my favorite shot

This video makes me laugh! I think it shows perfectly her cute, little personality.

Excuse Me While I Freak Out

There are some big changes coming our way! And no, I'm not pregnant. Let me preface this post by saying all the freaking out I'm doing I have brought upon myself. There is no one else to blame. It all started a few weeks when my visiting teachers A and L came to visit. We were talking about substitute teaching & how I wanted to start subbing a few days a week. Then A says to me "Well, you don't even want to look on the district website" and I said "Why?" She then told me there was an opening for a 6th grade Language Arts teacher at the middle school. The deadline for applications was the next Friday. Of course, I had to go online and look at it. Then I had to print out the application. I waited for the deadline to pass and turned the application in on Tuesday and I was sure I didn't get it since 1) my application was late and 2) I hadn't heard from them in almost a week since my interview. But low and behold they called yesterday and offered me the job! I immediately called Blake crying and freaking out and he says "Well, if it's not going to make you happy don't take it" to which I replied "I don't know what's going to make me happy!" And that is the honest truth. I have felt so unbelievably lost these past 11 months. I loved, loved teaching. Even after a year of being away from the classroom I still think of lesson plan ideas and dream about school. But on the other hand I love, love Brooke and being home with her. I feel truly blessed that I was able to spend the first year of her life giving her my undivided attention. Now maybe, as selfish as it sounds, I need to explore this option that has been presented to me. It's only for the rest of the school year. If it doesn't work out, I just won't come back next year. My other visiting teacher L kindly offered to watch Brooke for me so I don't have to take her to a daycare. L's kids are all in school all day so Brooke will get that one on one attention. And thankfully Blake has a schedule that will allow him to also watch Brooke a few days a week. In fact, he's switching to a shift after Thanksgiving that will make it so Brooke will only have to be at L's house half days.

This has all come about very suddenly and I couldn't even sleep last night because my brain was going a mile a minute. As guilty as I feel about leaving Brooke, I feel even more guilty that I think I might actually like working again. I am one of those weird people that thrive in chaos. In the midst of stress is when my performance is the best. I'm looking forward to being challenged and organized. And if any profession lends itself to family life, it's teaching. Already the school year is half over and Christmas Break is just around the corner. Throw in the holidays and breaks spread across the rest of the year and summer will be here before you know it! Wish me luck!

Just Call Me Martha Jr.

So remember my post a few days ago claiming "I never said I was Martha Stewart"? Well, I'm learning. I still have a long ways to go. I recently came upon this awesome craft blog called Homemade By Jill (there's a link to it under "blogs I like") She is seriously amazing! She's inspired me to learn how to sew just so I can make some of the things she showcases. Today I made a crown for Brooke's 1st B-day next month:
I feel like a preschooler coming home with scribbled lines and proudly showing it off. True, it's nothing fancy but I MADE THIS! A true accomplishment for me. Oh btw, I still don't know how to sew. I hot glued this. Sewing lessons to come. I recently read on another craft blog something like "but the feeling you'll get from knowing it's homemade..." and I thought Oh barf! Who talks like that? That's just something crafy people say to make all us non crafties feel bad. But it was fun to do a project today and since I am still looking for "the hobby" to keep me entertained and to keep me from losing my sanity as Brooke and I sit at home this winter, doing crafts just might be it.

Yesterday was Blake's B-day too. We had a fun party complete with streamers and b-day themed plates and napkins (something I found in my M.I.L.'s storage room, I'm sure to use for the grandkids, but it was too much fun to pass up using). And speaking of crafty, I am trying out the whole digital scrapbook thing and made this card "from Brooke" to Blake:
I thought it turned out pretty cute. Like most people, we have a tradition where the b-day person gets to request anything they want for dinner. Every year Blake asks for artichokes. Not just the hearts, the entire artichoke. When our party guests saw a big steaming pot full of them they said "Out of all the foods in the world, this is what you ask for?!" It was pretty funny and just goes to show how different Blake and I are. There is no way I would ever request a vegtable on my birthday!

A Spooktacular Night

You know I could have named this post "Halloween" or something, but I like coming up with fun titles for my posts, I'm a nerd like that. On Wednesday we went to Blake's Halloween party at work. Earlier that day Blake still had no idea what he wanted to dress up as, something that wouldn't require us to spend any money on a costume. At first he thought he might be an inmate, but seeing how it was a work party, he thought that might be inappropriate (the Sheriff was going be there). We were sitting in the kitchen and all of a sudden Blake goes "I know!" and then walks out the door. He comes back wearing this pleather jacket and gold chains. He says "I'll be a pimp!" Oh brother. Then in an effort to find other objects to complete his costume he found this whip. I said, "What do you need a whip for?" Blake, "To whip my--" He gets this look on his face mid sentence and before he can even finish I say, "I am NOT dressing up like a ho" I went to the party dressed as a witch, the old reliable witch costume. Next year I'll dress up as something more inventive.
Then last night was the trunk or treat. I have never, ever been to a trunk or treat so I just thought you opened your trunk and handed out candy. But after watched a segment on Studio5 I learned that people actually decorate their trunks for the occassion. I decided to join in:
There were lots of yummy treats for the adults too. Someone more creative than I made these yummy vampire bat cupcakes.And of course, our little Brooke-Bug
But the holiday festivities don't stop there. Tomorrow is Blake's birthday and we have a marathon of birthdays between now and Christmas (including Brooke's) so we're just getting started at our house!