Brooks - 8 Months

Brooks is 8 months old (back on Sept 24th)!! Big changes recently....he's been getting up on his hands and knees, rocking and crawling backwards. He hasn't quite figured out how to go forwards yet, but I think he's close. He rolls all over the place too and is eating all sorts of finger foods. He'd much prefer them over the jarred food, but I'm still trying to use up the ones I already bought. His favorite is sweet potatoes and turkey (jar). His favorite finger food so far is cheerios. This morning I gave him some cinamon toast (wheat, so it was somewhat healthy :-) He loved it!!!! He likes the jarred bananas, but when I give him the real thing, he smashes them all up and just plays with the mush.

So far, three teeth. Teething hasn't gone so great. He likes to wake up at night and come into our bed for a bottle. I guess I'm assuming it's due to the teething. Who knows? We need to help him break the habit, but easier said than done these days. I keep waiting for the perfect 3 day period where there's nothing going on. Well, at this rate, he'll be sleeping with us till he hits Kindergarten. No, it will be soon.

Let's see..other updates. He is starting to interact more with the kids, even Elliot and now knows the "Daddy's home!" routine. That's when Jer opens the garage door and all the kids stop what they're doing, run and scream that Daddy's home. He now lights up too and starts bouncing around. It's like Pavlov's dog, I tell you. Door opens, kids run and happily scream. Jeremy's a rockstar!

This was taken Labor Day weekend. Jeremy's parents hosted a breakfast at their house the morning after his sister, Heather got married ( I need to post on that too!)

Uncle David came home for a quick visit recently and stopped by for coffee on his way to the OSU game. The kids love when Uncle David visits! We don't see him too often these days.

Brooks with Aunt Heather at Carter's birthday bowling party, which was a blast! (I'll try to post on that too..who doesn't love bowling!?)Brooks grabbing the camera.

Happy 8 Months Brooks!!!

First Day of Pre-school

Leah and Elliot started pre-school on the 13th. This is officially Elliot's first time away from mom and dad in any organized setting. The first day went great b/c I stayed part of the time. They asked us to do so in order to help the kids get settled. The second day I just dropped him off with a quick "goodbye" hug at the door. He was not so happy. They called me a few minutes later and told me he stopped crying shortly after I left. I think it will just take a few weeks for him to get used to it. Elliot is having fun playing with the trucks and coloring so far. His cousin Paul is in his class, which is great since he has a familiar friend to play with!

Leah's upstairs in Miss Jane's class. She was so excited to go back to school especially since Carter started a few weeks ago. She loves school. They have ponies, a kitchen & sing lots of song, all her favorite things. Her friend Mary is there and her cousin Trent is in the same class, so she gets to play with some good buddies each morning. It should be a good year!

I Miss Carter

Boo hoo, right! I drove away from his school today almost in tears. He runs to the school so joyfully. That part really makes me happy. It's the 7 hours in between that are a bummer. And when I pick him up, the same smile. Every day so far has been a good one, great ones really. Each night he tells me about his day after we put him to bed, a big difference from the first day. It's like a little secret meeting we have. It's so cool how much he enjoys school. He's off to a great start.

I told Leah that I miss Carter this morning and she said, "Me too" in a sad voice. She doesn't have pre-school on Fridays which makes for a long day without her buddy. Hopefully she and Elliot will become better pals. We've been playing a lot of Zingo in the afternoons and cooking together, trying to stay busy during naptime. It is nice having some one-on-one with Leah.

Other good news is we're getting into a routine and I'm finally getting some stuff organized at home. It seems like since Brooks' birth, I have been procrastinating heavily. I weined him over the last few weeks. Now that he can hold a bottle, I'm a little more hands free throughout the day making me more productive. For a while there, Brooks would only nurse lying down in my bed, so every feeding I was going upstairs. He was so distracted otherwise. The bottle gives him the chance to look around. I'm thinking part of my sadness about Carter being at school is secondary to me being done nursing. Hormones are powerful things!

A cute story.....last night we had a pretty big thunderstorm. Elliot was really scared and followed me around the house telling me that there were dinosaurs outside. I kept reassuring him that there aren't dinosaurs anymore and I tried to explain thunder, yes, to a two year old. Carter, the wiser one, came over to Elliot and crouched down. He then said, "don't worry Elliot, God's just bowling".

Chainsaw Demo

Leah and Elliot had their open house for pre-school last night. I was talking to another mom when I had to turn around b/c Elliot was cutting up trees. The funny part was Jeremy cleared some low branches a few weeks ago, making it easier to mow. Elliot was terrified of the noise and hung near the house or by my side. I guess he was paying attention!