Thanksgiving

We have had a WONDERFUL week off together! Stephanie is standing now (until she realizes it and then she sits down, ha!) and she is taking steps (only three at a time, again....until she realizes it ans she sits down). We have played TONS, shopped, cleaned and even decorated for Christmas (pictures to come). Being a stay-at-home-mom has been THE BEST EVER!!!

Thanksgiving was a blast! We slept in....hung out with Daddy until he had to leave for work and then went to the Koehlers. We had dinner with Gampa Steve and Miss Claudette, Memaw, Uncle Marshall, Auntie Kimmi and Uncle Mikie, Gamma and Gampa, Auntie Laura and Uncle Will....so much love for such a little girl :) Stephanie had a blast playing outside and took a sweet nap on her Mommy while everyone watched the Cowboys. The best part.....hanging out with family and the WONDERFUL food! Thanks Mom Koehler and Mom Merrill....ya'll ROCK!!!

Next big thing....Josh's Bday Fiesta a week from today....will take tons of pictures :)

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Kati's Big Day...Part II

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Thanks Kimmi for the rest of the pictures! You did a great job (and so did Uncle Mikie!)

ahhh, the solution to no cable

Jon and Kate DVD's.....ALL THREE SEASONS!!! How fun! I can even get a bag that says "It may be a crazy life, but its our life".......man I love this family :)

Dear Santa,
I've been very good this year :)

Richard's Passing

Juan's brother, Richard, went to be with our heavenly Father Friday. Juan had the privilege of holding his brothers hand when he met our Lord. The service was Monday and friends who drove out for it says it was beautiful. Juan gave the eulogy, a goodbye letter to his big brother which ended with "Give Mom and Dad a hug for me". Prayers now are for the families healing and how they are going to manage the large amount of medical expenses.....

Thanks for your prayer and support during this difficult time in the Rivas Family.....Juan said they have felt the outpouring of love and support.

A thought from Lauren Chandler

I linked my blog to this earlier in the week but wanted to post the whole thing....It's just a beautiful and challenging thought/prayer.....

Thoughts on Thankfulness (and Unthankfulness)

John Piper on why God would start with himself as king of Israel and then bring human kingship into Israel's history later through a spectacular sin (Israel's rebellious request for a human king):

"We should learn from this how stiff-necked and rebellious and unthankful we are...Each time they forgot God and went after other things. That is not just the story of Israel. It's the story of humanity. It's the story of my life and your life. Even as Christians, we are not steadfast in our affections for God. We have thankful days and unthankful days. And even our thankful days are not as thankful as they should be.

Just think of how joyful and thankful you would be if your heart responded to God himself and his ten thousand gifts with the admiration and gratitude of which he is worthy." (from Spectacular Sins)

As Thanksgiving is only two days away, I am especially struck by the truth of this text in my life. I am an unthankful person. Like Israel, I so often forget God and live as if He is an afterthought or bit-part in the story of my life. I forget how He's provided, rescued, saved, sustained and redeemed.

Lord, forgive me for so easily forgetting You. Help me to have a thankful heart always, not just at Thanksgiving. Thank you for Thanksgiving and other reminders of Your providence. Help me impart a spirit of thankfulness to Audrey, Reid, and, according to Your pleasing will, this baby growing inside me. Thank you for each day I carry this little miracle. Thank you for the grace, righteousness and perfect thankfulness imputed to me by Your Son. For that, I am forever thankful.

Power Tools

While most of the women in America were cooking and cleaning yesterday in preparation for our big feast today I was playing with power tools. Yes.....I was putting cabinet locks in the kitchen and a few in our entertainment center becasue a certain someone LOVES to get in them and HATES it when I say no. It took her a few hours to check the cabinets out but when she did she was SO MAD that she couldn't get them open! I showed her that some were locked but some were still open for her.....that seemed to make her happy. We even put some of her toys in our entertainment center cabinets....she was pretty happy about that.

Hope to have some fun pictures and videos of today. Stephanie has started being SUPER vocal and outgoing (more so than before). In the last 4 days or so she is just such a crack up! Josh chased her around the house and she just laughed and laughed (she's still crawling). She loves to jump and bounce, gives kisses and laughs ALL THE TIME! This has been a wonderful week (and it's only half over).

amazing prayer....

Thanksgiving......Check out this amazing blog (very short)

Fun Weekend

Let the Holiday fun begin!!! and bring on the cold weather :)

Cold weather is here (most days). This is my homemade version of my favorite breakfast (Starbucks coffee and their oh-so-yummy perfect oatmeal). I enjoyed this while Stephanie watched Sesame Street for the first time.....she loved the puppets, got distracted by all the people on there.....Elmo was a hit though (what kid doesn't like Elmo??)

Here are some cute pics of Stephanie....followed by some video that shows her little personality developing. We get to spend the ENTIRE week together this week! I had to take two days off (no babysitter) and had the rest off......It's going to be the best week ever!We decorated while Daddy was at the movies with Gampa....Stephanie thought the tree was pretty cool (but she hasn't messed with it.....yet)

Silly girl crawling under the buffet....she was so proud of herself (until she got stuck, see the video below)

She and Boulder are best buds.....they are so cute together!!!



Look close....can you see those teeth!!! The two top ones cut through, the top side ones are almost through.
This is her new thing....hanging upside down. She cracks me up!

Enjoy the video....her little personality is really coming out when it's time to eat, explore or I tell her no. She only has two "no's" in her life, no taking Mommy's glasses and no opening cabinets (we are putting locks on them this week). She is such a little person!!!

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Good News and Bad, Cancer among Friends

The Good news: It seems Tricia is cancer free....check it out Here


Bad news: My friend Juan's brother, Richard is in his last few days of his battle with cancer. He has a wife and 4 year old son. He is surrounded by his friends and family, covered in prayer and being cared for by hospice. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers the next few days. He has fought long and hard, his battle is coming to an end and he is looking forward to being with our Lord soon......

He has a wonderful extended family and church family that will look after his wife and son.....praise God for that!!! He has 13 or 15 brothers.....his little boy will have wonderful, positive role models as he grows up :)

still sick

Stephanie is still not back to herself. She had four very "bad" diapers today....but not throwing up (thank you God, that's progress :) She has been on Soy formula and I'm beginning to wonder if that's part of the problem. My friends son had this and the soy made it worse....as soon as she put him back on regular his diapers returned to normal. I also made a HUGE batch of her favorite....sweet potatoes and chicken. I'm hoping that will help her tummy return to normal (and for her WONDERFUL "sweet potato poops" to return. The good news is Josh was at the academy yesterday and today....so he didn't work last night or tonight. He was able to help with some of the night time fussiness (at 4am) and will be able to be with her tomorrow morning. I will only have to take off half a day tomorrow.....so much better then having to take a whole day. I have all next week off so we will have plenty of time to keep a close eye on her and get her tummy back on track.

She is acting pretty normal, a bit quiet but plays and eats good. She LOVES her cheerios and puffs, kinda picky about the babyfood and eating smaller amounts of her bottle (I really think her stomach has shrunk). She likes to snuggle a bit more than normal.....which I love (I'm not gonna lie :) She's such an active, independent baby....it's been nice for her to want to sit and snuggle with mommy.

Well just wanted to update all.....I'll post Twitter updates if/when things change. Look for some SUPER FUN pictures over the next week! I'll have the time to take them and can't wait to show you all how big she is getting! My goal....get a picture of her MOUTHFUL of teeth!!! two on top (almost 4) and two on bottom....she looks like such a kid, not a baby :(

Much love and many thanks for all your prayers!

Few New Pictures

Here are what was left on my camera. A VERY cute picture of Stephanie and her GG. Papa and GG bought this precious rocking horse for Stephanie when she was born.....it's still a little big but we are getting closer! Go Cowgirl!

Stephanie and her Gampa watching a movie.....he came to visit his sick little girl. She sat and watched movies for two hours :( She is NEVER that still!!! The dr has me giving her 1tsp of pedialite every 5 minutes until she is barf free for 4 hours....then she gets 2tsp every 5 min for another 4 hours......8 hours barf free and she can have formula. So far as soon as I introduce the formula back she starts to throw up again by the 2nd or 3rd bottle (which are only 4oz at this point). No fun! Can't figure out if it's a bug or teething.....I really think it's teething! 4 teeth at once....that's a big job!

Later in the evening she was watching Nemo and playing with her toothbrush....I'm sure it felt wonderful on her little gums!!


I hate having a kiddo that doesn't feel well.....but do enjoy the extra snuggle time I get :) Today she is feeling great.....but still getting sick if she has too much formula :( I wish these teeth would just cut through so we could move on (until the next ones decide to come in ;) Bummer my sweet Little never cuts just one.....she cut the bottom two together and now the top FOUR together....over achiever :)

Love this Dog

This is Stacy (the BEST dog trainer ever!!! who helped LOADS with all of our dogs). This is her dog Amos. I am IN LOVE with him! Josh and I seriously talk about getting a Great Dane one day....here's why: they are HUGE so people are scared of them, but they are lazy and super gentle! Amos would lay down and "play" with Dakota when Dakota was a puppy....so fun! Here he is now:

Lazy Amos

Kati's Wedding Fun, Part I

Here are the few pictures I took.....I was busy baby wrangling the rest of the time ;) Kimmi took a bunch also....
I'll post those in a different montage later this weekend. Enjoy!

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Odd Thing..

So when I was sitting in the dr's office last night I had a
strange, sad and wonderful thought.....

1. Strange: I used to sit in this exact waiting room with my mommy when I was sick.
2. Sad: My little is SOOO sick, I remember feeling this way when I was little!
3. Wonderful: I am sitting in the waiting room at the dr, with my sweet baby girl who only wants me right now because she feels horrible......I used to sit in this office with my mommy and think about what it would be like when I was the mommy at the dr with my kids. It's a strange, sad and oh-so-wonderful feeling to have a sick kiddo sleeping peacefully in your lap.....

How awesome that I AM SITTING AT THE DR when my child is sick and yes, she feels HORRIBLE but in a short while she will be on the mend.

I am blessed beyond words!

Montage of Fun

This has ALL the pictures from the photo shoot (of course none with Auntie Kati in her dress :) It also has some SUPER cute video from this week. Two are 30 minutes before her fever spiked and she FREAKED OUT (Monday night) and one is from today (sick day #1). Despite being so sick she has had alot of fun and a great couple days (80% of the time ;)

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Last of the Halloween Pics

Here are the pics from the Halloween Carnival. Gamma, Gampa, Auntie Kati, Auntie Kimmi and Uncle Mikie took Stephanie and it was OH SO FUN! It gave Mommy and Daddy a chance for a date night and some sleep :) Stephanie had a blast for about a 45 minutes....then it was time to go Gamma's and go to bed. Enjoy!!

Hey Uncle Mikie!!
Peek-a-boo with Auntie Kimmi

Big girl....she had the little bounce house all to herself
(Gamma thinks she needs one for home)
Hi Gampa.....

She loved the slide!
Snack break
Uncle Mikie was the person of the hour :)
So where is Auntie Kati??? She was there, from what I understand she was behind the camera most the night (you'll make a great Mommy one day ;)

Pics to Print

Here are some of my favorites from Stephanie's "photo shoot". We had a blast and got some super precious pictures!!! More to come after Kati's wedding
(we had several taken with both Stephanie and Kati.......
but you can't see her dress until the big day :)

Our little Princess is getting so big! I'm sure she'll be walking before we go out for her Christmas shoot......man I can't wait to get my new camera!
(I'm still using Moms....and love it!)

Fun Weekend.....Sick Baby

We spent the EVENING in the dr's office last night....our apt was at 8:40 and we didn't leave the dr office until 11!!! She spiked a fever around 6:30....ALL OF A SUDDEN!! It was 101.5. We gave her Tylenol and put her to bed (until the dr apt). When we got to the dr office it was 103. They did blood work, urine test (HORRIBLE) and could only tell us that her white blood cell count was pretty high (17 if that means anything to you). His only thought was maybe a kidney infection (seriously, how do you get those?). They gave her TWO HORRIBLE, THICK SHOTS and it broke my heart....she was crying, I was crying and Josh was barely awake (having not slept in 40 hours by that point). They sent us home telling us to call if her fever got up to 105. We gave her more Motrin and put her to bed (in her pack-n-play right next to me because she will NOT sleep in our bed :(

Well today she is feeling better. SUPER tired, little to no fever and only a little whiny. We are waiting to hear the results from the dr....either today or tomorrow. I'll be home with her until we know what's going on.

Strange how quick babies can get SUPER sick! She had a great weekend....Friday we had a super fun time Trick or Treating at a friends house then a special sleepover at Gamma and Gampa's. Saturday was the Bridal photoshoot with Kati, Kimmi and I. Stephanie was ALL dressed up and I got some amazing pictures (posting them soon). Sunday we hung out, grocery shopped (one of her favorites) and then had a super fun Birthday dinner for Gamma. Ms. Claudette, Gampa Steve and Memaw came.....Stephanie was passed around and loved it! (but I still think her favorite is Uncle Mikie ;)

Moms Birthday: we had a super fun time at PF Changs (sorry, no pics). I have a few pics of Stephanie before we went out....she wore a new SUPER CUTE little outfit we picked up at Kid to Kid that afternoon. Kimmi and Michael, Kati, Steve, Claudette and Memaw all loved on Stephanie....she even let Memaw hold her (which she wouldn't two weeks ago). It was a HUGE table, TONS of food and lots of fun! We each ordered something different and just ate it all......yum! For moms birthday Kati, Kimmi, Stephanie and I made her a serving platter with our handprints saying "All your Little Girls". Great idea Kati!!! Stephanie tried fruit again.....peach, banana oatmeal. She LOVED it and DIDN'T GET A DIAPER RASH!! Yea! Maybe we can do fruit now :) She also had tofu.....and loved it! I bought some for home....great way to add more protein into her diet!

Well back to working on pictures for ya'll. Stephanie is enjoying a VERY long nap......hope her fever doesn't come back while she is sleeping. Thanks in advance for prayers that our Little doesn't have anything serious. Will update you all as soon as we know. Much love!

The Brooks' Three

PS, keep an eye out for Stephanie's wishlist.....Josh and I are having a BLAST looking at toys for her :)

Halloween Week Pictures

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Update

Just posted the current Halloween Montage. Kimmi took a bunch more pictures...but I need to edit them. Will create another montage when they are done. The plan was to edit them tonight....but Stepanie is sick :( She was pushing her little walking toy around the house and having a GREAT time! She went towards the door (I was outside) and so Josh picked her up....she started crying this pitiful cry! So we figured she was tired and gave her a bath.....she started SCREAMING! We got her out, put a diaper on and I just rocked her.....as she screamed. We took her temp....102.5. Called the dr as we gave her tylenol. She has a dr apt at 8:40. She and Josh are taking a "nap" before we head to the apt. Will let you all know what the verdict it. I'll be home tomorrow so depending on how she feels I may be able to get the rest of the Halloween pics up and the SUPER CUTE video of her pushing her little walking toy.....SO CLOSE TO WALKING!!!

Enjoy the pics! Pray our Little gets better soon. (I'm doing better, went to the dr today and got meds and steroids...just in time to take care of a sick baby :(