Minutes & Milestones (9 months)

This month has been a bit crazy.  We just can't seem to get better all at once.  We try to be nice, and try to at least turns getting sick.  But Brooke has had more than her fair share.  What starts with a normal cold turned into a nasty eye infection, thanks to all the extra congestion and a that dang clogged tear duct.  People think she's always crying but truth be told, she's the happiest lil thang. 

Except when she's sick.  Then she reserves right to be quite the cranky, tired mess this month, off her sleeping schedule, insisting on being rocked to sleep or held most of the time, and so on.

And on top of it, she's been cutting her top FOUR teeth!  Not one, not two, but all FOUR!  And just when she gets better, I get sick, and then Brooke gets it -- and it's not more than a week before we doing this all over again.

But despite all of this, she's been conquering the world, one thing at a time.  She's just exploded with all her new tricks and milestones. 

Let's her true emotions comes out and isn't afraid to tell us how she really feels.  Shakes her head "no" in response to naptime or anything else she deems appropriate.  Even spoonfed veggies.  But smear them on a cracker or toast -- she'll gladly partake, at least *most* of the time.  And while she can shake her head yes, it's a lot less common.  Usually when she's trying to be silly. 

I started doing some baby sign with her, mostly my made up versions of everything.  Now she's started doing "up" for when she is done eating and wants out of her high chair. 

Waves hello, good-bye and to everyone, including herself.  The landing at the top of our stairs has a huge mirror -- and Brooke never misses an opportunity to pass it and wave to herself.

And her super silly intense smile is back in full force. 

When she meets a stranger, she'll usually wave, clap her hands, and then proceed to her super smile.  Like she pulls out all the tricks all at once -- and then basks in all the smiles and laughter she gets in returns.  She's quite the little social butterfly, but momma still has to be in sight or she'll spiral out of control.

Loves her Daddy.  She wakes up right around the time Anthony leaves for work each morning, and she loves watching him get ready.  And if he's not there, all I hear all day long is, "Da-da-da!"  But at nighttime when Anthony is rocking her to sleep, all he hears is "Mum-mum. Maaa, maa!"  And in between morning and night, she's quite the babbler.  You'll always know when she's around!!

She hilarious though.  The funniest things scare her out of control.  Bubbles in the bathtub -- absolutely terrified.   Certain dogs, same result, but others, like my parents, she absolutely loves.

Earlier I posted how she's on the move.  It started with crawling -- like a cripple with one foot dragging behind. 

Ready...set....CRAWL!

Going for her cousin:

Now a little faster, but just a little:

Honestly, we thought she'd skip the crawling phase cause she loves to stand up, play with her toys, and walk holding onto our hands or around furniture.

One day, we got the walking toy out and OMG!  She just took off with it.  She went on the carpet, the hardwoods, and was loving every minute.  But with Tanner cheering her on, nothin was going to slow her down. 

And towards the end, she even was brave and let go of it for a second.  And this was all in the first 5 minutes of having the toy available.  Who knows what's going to happen now?

She loves to get up onto anything and everything.  And recently, I caught her going up a few stairs.  She had only made it up 3...but that's enough to be dangerous.

Watch out world, her she comes!!!