March 30, 2011

Funny Story


Ok, so this morning I made orange sweet rolls for breakfast. There are 8 in the container but so yummy. I usually save a few and heat them up later for a snack or something. 
Well, I ate one before Brooklynn woke up. Yummy. Then when she woke up I told her I made a special treat for breakfast. I put one on her plate and one on my plate (but didn't eat it yet, I went out to the kitchen to keep emptying the dishwasher.) By the time I got to the kitchen she was already asking for more. I was shocked that she finished it that quickly, but also excited that she seems like she has her appetite back. (And to clarify, she peels off the entire outside and only eats the inside and the frosting on top. So it's not like she's eating the entire roll.)
So I gave her one more to eat. That is when I heard Gabby waking up so I went to get her. I took her in their room and changed her diaper and got her into an outfit for the day. When I came back out Brooklynn was out of her chair and looked at me with a HUGE smile on her face, then said, "All Done!" and showed me her plate...and when I looked at the table I saw the ENTIRE pan of the rolls was empty and the scraps were in a heap on her plate. So she didn't even save me ANY more. (But at least she left me my second one.) I guess Brooklynn is helping the post-baby weight loss program by not sharing any of the sweets I make with me. So that is a plus.

Anyway, she was so proud of herself and I thought it was so funny. We have an ongoing thing in our family where EVERY SINGLE TIME we eat these (which are usually saved for Birthdays only--in fact we call them "Birthday Rolls") we always ask, "How many do we get?" Like we never remember. But sometimes my Mom made two tubes, sometimes she'd make three...so we never did know for sure. Brooklynn will fit in. And apparently she gets six and you get two.

So Much Dress Up

Brooklynn loves to play dress up. I put all her dress up stuff in a laundry basket in her room and she will often surprise me with different outfits or just accessories that she puts on from there. What a silly girl.

Princess!

We are a little "princessed out" here. Since Brooklynn has been so sick she's been watching a LOT more tv than we usually let her. For example, I watched "Cinderella" 5 times in one day last week. (And a lot of other times every other day since Tuesday.) Also, Brooklynn wants to read her princess book (which is Cinderella) EVERY single time before bedtime AND at naptime, too. We have been giving the "condensed version."
Yesterday after her bath I asked her if she wanted to pick out some cozy pajamas and she said, "NO!!! PRINCESS!!!" So I dressed her up in Cinderella gear.
At the end of Brooklynn's Cinderella book they have random pictures of all the Disney Characters. One night she pointed to Prince Charming and said, "Dada" and so I asked where Mama was and she pointed to Cinderella. That made me feel pretty special. Then we were gearing up for our trip home so I asked her where everyone in the family was on the cover and she would pick someone out. We play this game all the time now. It's pretty funny.

March 29, 2011

Fun Games We Play with Gabby

Gabby is never super-thrilled about the different games we play with her. But she is a pretty good sport.


March 28, 2011

Still Sick...

So Brooklynn is still sick. After the first day of her antibiotics she woke up with a 104 fever. The next day was only 99! Today she has had NO fever, and I've only given her the antibiotics! (YAY!) But as you can see from the video...that doesn't go so well. We have to do this for 6 1/2 more days. Grrr. She still has a nasty cough but I am so glad she has her medicine in her.
Josh stayed in our room all day on Sunday...throwing up. He says every time he moved, even to roll over, etc. he would throw up. Gross. Sunday was NOT a fun day in the Bean house.
Then Monday he stayed home still sick, but managed to not throw up all day. I still didn't want him anywhere near the rest of us, especially Gabby. (Who has been such a fussy-pants...but is still NOT sick!)
I spent the whole day on Sunday and Monday in all my free moments cleaning and sanitizing everything. I even shampooed the carpets. Hopefully we can kill this thing.
This morning I woke up and my throat has gone from super scratchy and cough-y to OUCH!!! And really cough-y. I think bronchitis might be in my near future. Also a nice sinus infection.






Yup, Brooklynn looks like she's foaming at the mouth, but that is just her medicine she spit out. (I kinda don't blame her, it smells horrible.)

March 27, 2011

Sisters

Candy Necklace

Brooklynn had lots of fun with her candy necklace. I forget who got it for her. (Sorry!!!) I think it was Grandma? or Erin? Either way, thank you. Here is a short video of her enjoying it. I think she was a little confused. We still actually have most of it left, we'll have to try it again.

Brooklynn & Cece

3 times a week I get to watch this little girl. Brooklynn loves Cece. Poor Cece puts up with a lot from Brooklynn, so we're glad she still likes it here. Lately I've been too lazy to bring in Brooklynn's high chair from outside on the balcony for Cece so I've been putting Cece in Brooklynn's booster seat, and Brooklynn sits in her white chair. They are so excited about this new arrangement, and it makes it much easier on me. I think we will put it downstairs in storage until Gabby starts eating solids.

March 25, 2011

Sickie Brookie

I HATE it when Brooke gets sick. Hate is a strong word. And I HATE it when Brooke gets sick. She looks so pitiful. She won't take medicine. This scares me because her fever gets so high. She won't eat or drink ANYTHING. Not even cookies. (yes, I offered her cookies out of desperation.) Here she is on Wednesday with a 103 temperature. That is why she is topless. I was trying everything to try and bring her temp down. FINALLY after about 3 hours she took some medicine. YAY! And she got better enough to walk across the room, and lie down on the floor. I had to pick her up and put her back on the couch. All day she would drift off to sleep. Poor baby. Finally her fever broke close to bedtime and she seemed like herself again. But don't worry, she was back up around midnight and we brought her in bed with us. Josh left and went in her room around 3 am because she was kicking and so so restless. So he missed the 3-8 am performance of even more kicking and thrashing around. Sometimes even crying really loudly saying, "owe, owe!" 
She was a wreck.



Yesterday (Thursday) was a lot better. She had less of a fever in the morning and I snuck some medicine into her orange juice. She drank a little bit. I had gone to the store and bought some special things that she likes like juice boxes, sprite, popsicles...etc. She even stayed awake all morning (still on the couch watching "princess") and then slept in her room for a nap. Josh surprised us and came home from work around 4 to help. So wonderful. I gave her a bath last night which I think really helped her feel a lot better. (And wash the all the snot off of her.)
Today she's been even better. I didn't think she even had a fever in the morning. (But then I took it and it was 101...I think I might be feverish, too, so it's throwing off my whole gauge.) I had to put medicine in her juice again and by lunch time she was walking around, playing...pushing her car around. I think she's doing much better, although still pretty sick. 
So we're hanging in there but really praying hard that poor Gabby doesn't get it, too.
I tried to disguise some chew-able medicine...she ate everything, including the medicine. But then she spit the medicine back into the cup.

March 23, 2011

26 Months Old

Brooklynn has been in Princess mode! She LOVES to watch, read, dress up like Cinderella...Every. Chance. She. Gets.
Brooklynn loves to play outside. I'm sad it's still been pretty cold out. I need to do better about just bundling her up and taking her outside. That is my goal for this next month. She seriously has a better day of about 85% when we can get outside. We're starting to work on different things like kicking, catching, throwing, etc. She's pretty good.
She has been talking a lot more. She will often just say a word, clear as day, that I've NEVER heard her say before and look at me like, "what? I say that all the time!" It's cute. It's a big breakthrough for both of us because she can communicate a lot better so it's easier for her to ask for things. We still have our struggles.
Brooklynn still loves to dance. Sometimes I show her music videos to help her with some new dance moves. (Because lets be honest, does she really need to learn them all from me? I don't know all the dance moves out there!) I figure she'll pick up some of her own cool new moves she can teach me.
My old phone we have been charging and there is a music playlist on there. I put it on and she carries it around like she is such big stuff. I'm not sure if she thinks it is like a little boom box or that it's ringing constantly and she's just super popular. Either way, she loves it.
I love you, Brooklynn! 

March 21, 2011

The Drive Home

How a "9" hour drive quickly turns into a "12" hour drive. Every time we stop it's at least for a 1/2 hour. Actually, the best time we've ever made it from Philly to Michigan was 9 1/2 hours and we packed our lunch, only stopped for gas and I drove most of the time. (Does that mean I drive a little faster than Josh?)
We used to average about 10 hours and now we get excited if it's under 12 hours. I think our longest time was 15 1/2 hours driving through a snow storm. Regardless...the drive sucks. 
So the drive back to PA was a lot worse than coming to Indy. a LOT worse.
Gabby cried on and off the entire trip. She cried constantly from Michigan until we got to Cleveland. (That's about 3 hours, people.) We tried stopping, we changed her, offered her more milk, nothing was working. She just likes to be held. It went a little more like I thought the ENTIRE drive would be both ways, so I'm thankful we got a little break on the way out. My arms ached from holding in her pacifier, while bouncing her entire car seat AND base--attached to the car--up and down for 3 hours to try and get her calmed down. It was not fun. Of course she did take a good nap...but it was when I was driving so Josh got to rest. I tried to drive as long as possible but then both kids started breaking down so we stopped. (Check out the video.)
Mostly Brooklynn did AWESOME. She has been so great on road trips the last few times we've done the drive. She gets bonus points.
Here is Brooklynn. She would normally be sleeping but Gabby is crying again and I think it's keeping her up. Poor Brooklynn.
Our ACTUAL arrival time. Not too bad considering all the stops we made.

March 20, 2011

India

Yay! Betsey just spent a month in India and we got to see her the day she came back home.
She even brought us presents. Brooklynn got this really cute purse and it had chapstick and hair barrettes inside. (She REALLY liked the chapstick.) Josh got a cool belt that Betsey even picked out the leather for, and here are Josh and James modelling them...so, uh...fashionably. I got a really cute purse that I don't have a picture of yet. But I LOVE it! And Gabby got a really cute pillow sham, that I don't have a picture of, either. Thanks, Betsey! We all love our presents!
We also got to look at all of her pictures. Thanks for sharing them with us. What a wonderful experience!

Uncle Josh

Josh LOVES being "Uncle Josh". Sometimes when we get together he calls himself  "Uncle Josh" instead of "Daddy" to Brooklynn because he gets so excited. 

Brooke and Andrew

 OK, seriously? How cute are these two together?!
Since Adeline was so sick Brooke and Andrew spent quite a bit of time playing together, running off and getting into who knows what, showing each other their latest "tricks." I love that they are so close and age and love each other so much. It's funny because their temperaments are very similar, too, so they really "get" each other. 

"Aunt" Joanne

Over the years Joanne has become just like another one of the Beans. So here is Gabby with her "Aunt" Joanne. I don't have any pictures of Brooklynn with her because she refused to go sit with her. But she was just trying to get her to chase her, I think. 
It was great to see you, Joann!

Sweet Adeline

We don't have any pictures Adeline getting to hold Gabby this time. (Sadly.) That is because she was so sick and didn't get to have any turns. I promise next time you can have the FIRST turn, Adeline! 
We do have this one where she is next to Gabby. We'll pretend that is the same.
 Poor sick Adeline. Adeline had pneumonia (although we didn't know it at the time.) Feel better, sweetie!

Andrew

Andrew got to hold Gabby. I love his stone cold expression the whole time. It's like he's thinking, "GET this THING off of me." or maybe, "What is WRONG with this baby?"
Poor Gabby. She's just trying to tell him how much she loves him and misses him. She just doesn't quite get her words out right yet.