The Olympian in us All

The London 2012 Summer Olympics inspired us all -- watching Gabby Douglas infectious smile as she won gold in women's gymnastic all-around, Michael Phelps become the most decorated Olympian with 19+ medals, and Misty-May Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings winning the 3rd consecutive gold in beach volleyball.  Amazing!

At first I thought it would inspire me to have a killer body and at least go to the gym, but instead I ate popcorn and watched more TV.  Seriously.  I usually hate watching TV -- but I make an exception for the Olympics.   These athletes spend their entire life training...the least I can do is watch to cheer them on, right!

And I use to think -- what undiscovered hidden talent did I have?  I never tried fencing, maybe if I did I could have one a gold medal.  What do you think?

Watching the Olympics just brings back so many memories.  Some as a child.  And some as an adult.  Four years ago I had just had Tanner.  And no matter what time of the day I was up nursing Tanner, I could watch the Olympics.  And now four years later, I have another newborn and once again, can count on good tv watching :)

For Brooke, it must have been Missy Franklin, the 17 year old swimmer who walked away with FOUR gold medals. Brooke's already started training...

She's kicking and moving so much I can't even take a picture

By the time I whipped out the camera, she was getting tired...just imagine this times 100!

And her least favorite part is getting out and having to get dressed...definitely not fun for Miss Brooke and she's not afraid to voice her opinion on the matter.

And here's Brooke 2 months earlier...a day shy of 2 months.

When she's in the water, she has a million expressions.  Once second she's smiling, the next second all serious.

Honestly, she looks the same size in these pics even though they're close to 6 weeks apart.  The only difference is the size of her chin :)

Brooke's 4 month Photo Shoot

Brooke -- again!  This time sporting Great Grandma Knick's pearls -- the same I wore for my own wedding.

The hardest part was keeping her from eating them!  Or her fingers.  The girl isn't picky, put anything near her mouth, and she'll literally attack it with all she's got until it's in her mouth.

It's no wonder she's growing SO fast -- fighting to keep in the 95-96 percentile for height (26 inches) and weight (17 lbs. 5 oz).  People guess she's 6-8 months old when they first see here.  And although Tanner was quite the chunkster too, Brooke has him beat by about 5 oz.

Of course, we were trying to get her to grab her toes like she always does at home...but we weren't so lucky.  Don't you just love her wide open smiles!!

Pretty Little Girl

My little Brooke is 4 months old today.  Oh my, it's been a crazy four months, but she's made it wonderfully sweet.  And I'm one lucky momma to have such a precious and beautiful little girl.  

I'm not sure if it's those gorgeous long lashes that reach her eyebrowns (seriously, I'm jealous!) or her wide open smile that just melts every heart, but she's just the absolute cutest little girl.  Of course I'm her mom and think she's the most pretty little thing, but at church or the store or park or really EVERYWHERE I go, people are constantly reminding me.  One person thought she looked so pretty she looked like a fake baby doll :)

But it's more than her looks that get me.  It's the furoious little attack when she really wants something.  She goes all in with all the energy she can muster to grab whatever it is she wants.  Usually more milk or her pacifier, but nowadays, it's everything from her Sophie giraffe to my hair to all her fingers and toes - in which case the more the merrier.  She's quite good at grabbing her pacifier and especially taking it out.  It's putting it back in that's she's still mastering.  One day I snuck a peak of her alseep with her pacifier in her mouth -- upsidedown :) 

She's also quite the little momma's girl.  There's just something about her that makes her nervous when I'm not around.  She tolerates formula, but not very often and gets quite worked up in the meantime.  At night, she just wants to be held, and cuddled, and nursed to sleep.  And if you leave out the latter, well, be prepared.  But I can't complain. 

Beauty Sleep

She gives me a break whenever I need it.  The night before we moved into our house, Brooke slept straight through the night.  She went to bed at 9pm and didn't wake up until 7am.  When she woke up, I had to look to make sure she was still alive.  It was absoulately wonderful.  She was just 10 weeks old -- and let's just say Tanner was at least 11 MONTHS old before he did that -- and it was only because we let him cry it out.  But Brooke, entirely on her own, and at such a young age.  I was afraid to say anything, thinking I'd jinx myself and it'd be a one-time fluke, but she hasn't disappointed.  She now typically sleeps 8-9 hours straight.  She'll wake up around 5-6 for a little snack, and go right back to sleep until 8-9 am.  Trust me, this has been a much needed BLESSING.  I'm not a morning person, and I'm not a happy person unless I get my sleep.  During the day, I'm still trying to get her on some sort of predictable sleep schedule, but our lives have been so crazy that I haven't had much success.   

New tricks

I never lay her on her belly, but the doctor's keep raving about it, so I try it every now and then.  Well, one day I layed her on her tummy and instantly, she just rolled over.  Like it was no big deal.  She was just two months old.  Don't ask me how she did it, but she did.  But I don't think Brooke knows either cause she hasn't done it since.  She's incredibly strong, and if you could dangled a pacifier in front of her, she'd probably do it again.  But in the meantime, we'd rather her go peacefully asleep that faceplant into our bedroom sheets so we don't encourage that sort of behavior.

Being heard

Being the second child, it's hard to be heard.  But Brooke doesn't let anything stop her.  She loves to make all the cutest little sounds.  She likes to talk-- take a look on the video to see for yourself.  Lately when she wants to get your attention, she'll start making these fake coughing sounds.  "Ahem, look at ME now!"

Her little spunk and personality is already starting to come out and I've decided, this is my favorite age.  Big enough they can be hold their own head, smile, and laugh, but little enough to let you hold them and cuddle them.  Oh yes, let's keep her this way forever. 

PS -- These pictures were taken when she was 3 months old, but they're the most recent I have, so enjoy!

Mierow Family Reunion at Estes Park

First ever Mierow family reunion at Estes Park, Colorado. 

Breating Taking Views

As we were driving through the mountains headed into Estes Park, Colorado, we had this kids look outside to admire the beautiful scenery. 

"This is where all the Christmas trees come from!" Brendan mentioned to the kiddos.  "No, they come from a box!" Tanner immediately replied. 

Sigh.  Looks like this year it's time to get a REAL christmas tree.

And it wasn't just trees we saw looking out the windows.  We've never seen so many dear, elk, moose, bears -- just walking along the sides of the street like it's no big deal.

Rocky Mountain National Park



Much to his father's chargin, turns out Tanner is much more of a wanderer than a hiker.  He'd rather take the path less traveled and hang out in the bushes, strolling along at his own pace, searching and wandering for something, kinda like these two:

Anthony wins father of the year award.  See this picture, now just imagine Tanner on his shoulders.  That's what he had to do most the way down. 

But the views from the top, oh so worth it.

 Uncle Jeremy with Tanman

The Knickerbocker Siblings

 Girl power

At dusk, we decided to take a car ride through Rocky Mountain National Park for some more breath taking views of the sunset.  We were just a little too late, and it was as dark, cold, and windy.  We thought maybe we could do some star gazing and then it started to rain.  We lasted all of 10 minutes. 

The last night we decided to do a Family Hike at Bear Lake - a much easier hike with amazing views of the lake.

Yet again, Tanner had a hard time keeping up.  At each mile marker along the trial, he'd start freaking out and ask, "Is there a bear?"  It just so happened the mile markers had a bear paw print, only to find out later that Uncle Keith had told him each of those represented a bear's home.  No wonder he was so scared!!

Brooke, on the other hand, was loving her Baby Bjorn.  She loves the outdoors!

The sisters

Happy Couples

The cousins

 .

The Happy Hikers

 After the short hike, a group decided to go on a real hike up to Emerald Lake.  Katie and I lasted all of 1/2 a mile before we pooped out.  I thought it was only a short mile hike round trip -- but it 2 miles straight up hill, making it 4 in total.  I'm glad I turned around -- but the entire time was waiting anxiously for them to return with my lil baby girl. 

Paddle Boat Brigade on Lake Estes

We had a party out on the middle of the lake.  We linked all of the paddle boats together and starting paddling in tandem.  It only took the 'patrol' 5 minutes to come running out to remind us, "First of all, all boats most be 50 feet away, and second of all, no switching spots out on the lake."  But as Justin mentioned, there was no third of all...

The Clubhouse
No matter all the fun stuff you try to do with the kids, like swimming, mini golfing, fishing, eating ice cream, ultimately, they're better at making up their own sort of fun.  When we were just chilling in the cabins, the kids were outside at the "clubhouse."

But the best sort of fun is always just the simple things.  Hanging out.  Spending time together.  That's where memories are made!  My favorite part was relaxing with the girls in the hot tub and catching up on all the latest gossip with everyone's family and playing Werewolf (mafia with a twist) with all the cousins.  Oh yeah -- that's where it's at!!!

Four generations of strong Mierow women.  No need to stay more. 

And the whole reason we came togehter -- celebrate Papa's 79th Birthday!!

 

And his only request was to take a picture to prove it. Each in our shirts made just for the occasion.

His legacy

  

Nana & Papa

The Mierow Family

The Knickerbocker Gang

This family reunion was 79 years in the making...now we just hope it's not anothe 79 years until the next one.