THE BREW CREW

Movin and Shakin in 2012

2012-01-20T22:31:00.011-06:00

Hello All! Well wishes to you and yours in the New Year.

What a great end t 2011 and great start to the new year we've had. We've seen family, friends, had some outings to relax and move us right on into a crazy, busy, February. February brings lots of birthdays and fun though. Berkley will be 2! Its just gone way too fast. I see newborns and can't even imagine where the time has gone. Its been a whirlwind of funnies though.

Berkley is truly, like any child to their parents, the JOY of our lives. She is hilarious. She has so much personality, is such a ham, makes the silliest faces, and is constantly on the move. She never stops. No really, she doesn't. She had a great Christmas, enjoying one toy Santa brought a tad more than the others...a lil 2mph quad (4wheeler). She does tricks people. She will stand while riding, sit on it backwards, etc. She is a little daredevil. Its so fun to watch, until she runs into the wall and doesn't stop pressing the GO button. She loves friends, and playing. She loves anytime we get to see friends, go to playgroup or just go outside and watch the big kids at the park. We are so blessed that she loves going to church, MDO and her grandparents houses. SHE LOVES her grandparents on both sides. She knows their houses, so when we pull up she gets super excited. She is spolied rotten, and we love it because we are blessed to get lots of mommy/daddy time when we need it. She loves babies. She would prefer a "live" one to feed and take care of, but a doll will work just fine. She buckles them in chairs, carseats, her highchair, and strollers. She is obsessed. You will see in the pics below what I mean...She is a great helper. She still loves Gymboree, so we go weekly and play hard. We have made some new friends through church, MDO and playgroups, so its fun to see her with more kids her age and really being social. We are very blessed.

We are looking forward to another great year in the Brewer home. Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Love and Blessings,
bb

Making sure daddy has all her goods before we leave.
Typical JOYful face. Im bad about snapping quick photos on my phone, hence the blur.
Christmas Eve at my parents house.
Fake sleeping to make people laugh...
Showin her belly off, to herself.
Acting like butterflies at Gymboree.
Xmas night in her pwetty dwess, as she calls it.
Went to see Cyn at Lake Texoma, loved swinging.

Putting deodorant on her belly. It stunk.
Puttin on makeup, nope thats not a black eye.

Helping Lucy drink her milk...even though Lucy is 1 and totally capable.
This is how I found her Wednesday night at church. Just hangin out.
trying to put on a doll sized shoe. She tried this for quite a while.
Found her asleep one night like this...apparently we were being too loud in the living room.
FroYo at Green Goodies! YUM!
Allie's bday dinner at Chick Fil A. Friend photo!
Addie, Allie and Berk
Goin down the slide with Allie.

The Holidays are here...

2011-12-21T09:34:00.005-06:00

The following pictures ARE IN RANDOM ORDER!

What a fun few weeks we have had in our home. We got to spend time with Aunt LaLa from North Carolina over Thanksgiving and she will be back soon for Christmas. Speaking of Thanksgiving...we played minute to win it games with the family. It was a blast! We didn't take pictures but for those of you who know the Brewer clan, you can imagine the chaos of fun that was had! Especially, by Uncle Bill. He doubted every game, and was proven wrong every time. Yes Bill, it can be done! Berkley even joined in a few times. She was a hoot as usual.

We got to spend time with friends at a few Xmas parties, Berk even got to see Santa two times! She freaked out both times, and I laughed, hard, both times. Oops! At one party that was for the kids, Berk found a nativity scene and she proceeded to hang out with Baby Jesus most of the time. She took him in and out of the manger, put his blanket on him, and even took him at one point over to a baby seat and strapped him in. She loves babies!

Oh and.... please excuse all my horrid iphone shots, she was moving to quickly for me.... but you get the point. Baby Jesus was her friend, she looks cute in any dress, we love the holidays, etc.

Did you see the one where she is STUCK in her crib rails? I think she was still half asleep, trying to crawl out like it was my bed or something. She just kept saying mamadadddy, mamadaddy, and yes its all one word.

Oh we also had the Brewer Family/Work party. Berkley has gone every year (2) that she has been here. Ha. Everyone loves seeing her and its fun to dance and play and show her off. One of the partners and our good friends the Ogles are always so sweet and love playing with her. Ms. Karen taught her naughty things though this year. She was throwing sugar packets on the ground and laughing like a crazy woman. Karen would laugh too, and so the GAME continued. It was a mess. Did I mention she would also tear open those sugar packets with her teeth, like a sugar crazed animal? Such a sweet, well behaved child. WHO ARE HER PARENTS!?

We did a lil Xmas party with our friends and their kids. We played, tried to read Xmas stories, and made Santa Hat bites. SO YUMMY! Brownie bites, whip cream and strawberries! Berk loved them.

We are so blessed and thankful for another wonderful year here in the Brewer house. We love this time of year with family, and we pray that no matter what is going on we can all remember how blessed we are! I know I can lose sight of how wonderful I have it...so feel free to gently remind when I have to go up another pant size after all the food, that I am lucky to have that much food, and when I pick up another broken ornament, that some children don't get to have a tree, and when I am exhausted from my crazy lil blessing, that she is a blessing and there are people in the world who would give anything to be up all night with their child. God is good. Thank you Lord for loving me, and thank you Lord for blessing me!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! - the Brew Crew

Fall Photo Fun!

2011-11-06T22:42:00.005-06:00

We're takin this one man show on the road...

2011-10-24T18:30:00.003-05:00

Berkley has been taking her diaper off lately, many times a day. Today though...it was taken off and I was given another present. We had gotten home from the park and a jog and mommy needed to use the restroom, badly. I got her out of her seat, rushed inside, put her down, and took myself to the potty. She followed, took off her pants, diaper and then urinated all over the floor and her feet. That all happened so fast I barely got out...."Berkley! NO!" I was *ahem* busy, so I just had to watch it all happen. Precious lil darling. She's a one man show.

Did I mention that on Saturday she got into the vasaline?? I had been putting it on her nose, its that time of year for us both. Raw, red noses. I had left it out where she could get to it. So I take full responsibility. Ok not really, but whatever. Again, I was right there, but thought the bathroom door was closed in her room, and she was reading her books. Well she was doing that, and then mommy goes into kitchen and she stopped doing that sweet little thing where she reads books and plays quietly, and started taking full hand/finger dips in the vasaline and using as hair product? All I know is that its Monday evening and I still haven't totally gotten it all out. I started with soap. That was a no. I tried cornstarch. Helped a lil. MIL went used bar soap. Helped a lil more. Dishwashing soap has been the best so far, but it still looks like she has gel in her hair. Oh well.

Did I tell you then one where she tried to shave her face?! Yep. About two weeks ago. She had a lil cut on her chin. Daddy was getting ready, mommy was still asleep (thank you honey) and she reached in the drawer and got out his razor, started to shave like daddy. Nice. She has tried to shave her legs too. ALL RAZORS are now in top cabinet where she can't reach. Please don't call child services.

Things not to do in front of B, because she WILL try to copy you and do them herself and then I will have my child taken away:

Shave legs
Shave face
Product in hair
Use lotion (she tries to put toothpaste and anything else that kinda might resemble a lotion bottle on her face or body like its lotion)
Put vasaline on nose (ok I have to do it infront of her when its her nose...)

Mom of the year! Love and Blessings,

BB

We parents are just to slow sometimes...

2011-10-05T23:53:00.004-05:00

Hey Yo!

So Berkley had a rough night last night. She was kept up a lil too late and didn't get her normal 2.5 hour nap at MDO, so about 1am she had what I think were night terrors or something like that. It was off and on for about 1.5 hours and for about 30 minutes it was every few seconds. CREEEEEEPY and sad. Anywho...it made for one tired mama.

I am not a morning person to begin with, but if I have been in and out of sleep then it makes me pretty much dead to the world. I am up, but a walking zombie. So apparently while getting myself together, teeth brushed etc., I didn't realize my daughter had just gifted me with her morning BM. Which brings me to...

Sometimes we parents are just to slow.

One of my besties was telling me the most hilarious kid incident the other day. Love her and her kids but it is just one of those OH MYLANTA, that is gross, no way, how did it happen kinda stories. Basically she is a working super mom of three, so after I'm sure what was a busy day everyone was down for a nap and she too decided to partake. Apparently at somepoint her 20 month old woke up and came out to the living room and started handing her things. This is normal for her to get books, toys, whatever so she just in her 'sleep' took them and didn't realize she was being handed a dirty diaper, poop, and not all in the diaper, but seperatly, multiple times! HAHAHA!

So, this morning when I was trying to get us ready for playgroup I didn't think I would ever be able to relate to my sweet friend, but, I can. I was gifted a diaper with poop falling out of it, and off of my child as she was running away to go get whatever it is she thought she needed, but couldn't do with her dirty diaper still on. Apparently me getting ready was taking to long, mind you...I was only brushing my teeth and putting on clean clothing, no shower, no makeup...anywho so she handed me stuff and I took it. I will never do that again, ALWAYS look down at what you are being given.

I love her. I love her sweet smile looking up at me with a look on her face...as I freaked out...saying to me, "what mama? It was yucky. Gotta go get my toy now. Bye!"

Did I mention we didn't make it to playgroup? Fail.

peace and love,
bb

Where did the summer go?

2011-09-12T22:03:00.009-05:00

First day of MDO. What a face?!
Loves bike rides with mommy.
Still loves each and every single bath she takes.
Getting her ears checked at the doc and sportin her OU gear.
LOVES pushing carts, strollers, anything you will let her at. I totally gave in and bought this for her. It was a fight I was not going to fight. Mommy was sick so she went to work with daddy for a few hours. Pretty nice setup for 18mo old!

The recent goings and comings of The Brew Crew...

School has been in session for a few weeks now. It feels good and weird not to be there. Did I mention I am not teaching this year, and maybe not till we are doing having our clan and they are in school? I was in a plush situation with great coworkers, and had a GREAT principal. It wasn't a tough decision to stay home because teachers make poo in Oklahoma pay wise. So, working part time it just wasn't worth it to have a sitter 3 days and leave B that much. I love kids but I love B more, and while I like teaching, I have been so annoyed with the system for so long that this is a good thing. I do hope to go back one day, and will hunt down Beth and Tammy and beg to be back on their team.

Went on some fun trips and got some mommy me time. It is always nice. :) I took 2 solo trips and loved every minute of it. As social as I am, I am also equally a loner. I love quiet time. Bart took a couple works trips (golf) and I did my thing to. We are VERY blessed to have both grandparents within a mile to watch B, along with Aunt Lindsay and Aunt Tonya.

Doodlebug Berkley is growing at rapid speed. I still can't believe I have a child sometimes and then I realize that she is on the downslide in to being 2 and it is just to much! She has the terrible 2s already down though. :) ha. I love her but wow am I getting paid back for my moodiness! She does these silent protests. She lays down on the ground and just lays there. No screaming, or kicking, and its just pathetic I tell ya. She also can do the crazy scream, crying, kicking throwing things tantrums also. On the other hand, she is pretty much a really happy, sweet lil girl. We have been very lucky. She likes people, but it takes her a minute to warm up. She loves her grandparents and has started to become a daddy's girl. She still has a belly laugh, randomly does funny dances, faces and is still into jumping, marching and seat drops on the ottoman. She is quite the little ham! She loves babies, buckling and unbuckling her seatbelt, and is obsessed with our friends lil boy Rhett. She is talking up a storm, even putting a few words together. She literally says more and more every day. Its amazing what they soak up.

Football has begun. I have always enjoyed watching sports but now my other half is in the zone. Going to games, watching games all day and did I mention the multiple fantasy teams? Add golf in there and I guess I will see him in the new year? I've got it pretty good, but men and sports is nuts sometimes.

Ok so I kinda lied...I will actually see B lots here in a couple weeks. We are going on a great beach trip to celebrate my 30th birthday! I have made it to 30, all limbs intact, and the world did infact keep on turning! It was a wonderful birthday and I love all my family, friends and especially Bart who helped me celebrate. I was spolied rotten and I got to celebrate about 5 different times. It was great!

Baby boo started MDO at our church last week. She has done great so far! She is getting less of a nap there, its about an hour less than she is used to, so I am getting a crazed kid around dinner time. You can just see her exhaustion, poor thing. I have tried mini naps but, by the time she finally gives in to sleep, I have to get her up so it won't interfere with her bedtime. She is a good napper and sleeper in general, almost always goes down without a fuss so I know I am blessed and will take MDO in stride. Its good for her and me. We are still doing Gymboree every week, took a break from swim lessons because of being out of town, being sick, & another ear infection. We also are part of a twice monthly play group and I have met some really great new girls that attend church with us. It is nice to know more and more people with kids around the same age and doing the same things.

I am addicted to Pinterest when I get on it. I can go a day or two, just like with FB and such and not get on... but once I am on, look out. It is like my reading addiction. Before I know it its 1am and I have been on the darn computer for 3 hours. This has to stop. It is a brilliant way to 'file' aways things though. Okay, so maybe Pinterest and reading is my "sports". :)

Took a really fun trip to Breck with one of my besties Mere and our husbands. I LOVED Breck in the summer, want to go back ASAP. I hadn't been since I was 19 (in the summer) and I forgot how beautiful it was, and how much great stuff there is to do. We ate, walked around, shopped, biked and went white water rafting. We had a great time and can't wait to go back! We also got to see our friends the Colley's in Denver. It was so nice to relax, catch up and love on their sweet kids.

What I really wanted to share and got sidetracked with personal mumbo-jumbo:

***We are attending a Wednesday night bible class at our church by one of my favorite pastors. His name is Terry Feix and I love his teaching style. He is on staff at Crossings and is usually the one to fill in for Marty when he is gone, or just to take on topics that have a little more theology to explain. He is brilliant and knows so much about history and the Bible and yet he is one of the only teachers that has really ever made it easy to understand all the stuff that can make someone studying the Bible get a headache. He keeps you interested but is in the word, making it understandable and applicable the whole time. The series is called Hard Questions and it hits on things like 'why can't/won't everyone go to heaven?, is heaven/hell real?, viewing God as a just God equally to a God of grace and love, etc." I truly think no matter where you go to church, or if you don't go that you would benefit from this series and you should check it out. My dad has gone with us and if you know my dad, that is a big deal. :) It is Wednesdays in the Sanctuary at 6:30, or they are online to view/listen to. You can go to http://crossingsokc.org/terry-feix-teachings/ to see the lesson that have been posted so far. It really is worth looking at. Terry is a great teacher, Oklahoma Christian/OU grad and one of the best teachers I have ever heard. It has really helped me look at things and either reevaluate my belief on a certain topic, or confirm and strengthen it. Did I mention I think Terry is a great teacher? Haha.

Love and Blessings,
bb

Breck pictures & Mere's Bday Party:

Highschool friends! Love them.Baby shower for Jeff, Logan and Baby girl Ellis!

The Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer...

2011-07-12T21:56:00.009-05:00

Summer has been great so far! I have a precious lil girl who loves being outside, loves the water, and belly laughs to show her joy for everything she is doing.

I was SO thrilled when the rain started today. Thank you Lord for the rain. Please, send more. Berkley and I were on our way to her swim lesson when it started and she kept saying, "uh oh" and then pointing to the moon roof where the rain was hitting.

I love this age of discovery. Everything is so exciting to her and it is hilarious to watch and also a little scary because, she is climbing everything! Well, ok she still hasn't tried to get out of her crib... but the tub, on the tables, on chairs up to the counter, etc. Girl is going to give me an ulcer. Her vocabulary is expanding and all that she remebers a word for, and the unknown language she babbles is so exciting, as a first time mom. Of course, it's not as exciting as when she says BeBe to my mom. That is her 'grandma' name. My mom squeels and you have never seen more joy.

We love our lil girl, love summer and I feel so blessed to get to be at home with her and having fun. While I realize I am biased, I think she is the funniest, silliest, sweetest, smartest, most precious thing on this planet. God is good.

Swim lessons with Miss Megan, practicing my hanging on side of pool.
She is also learning to float on her back, so she likes to practice in the bath.
After swim lessons, and Gymboree this is usually what happens on the way home. This particular time, she was snacking and fell asleep with her hand in the baggie. :)
One of our sweet babysiters (Miss Devin Dobson) let her play in her awesome sunglasses. B thought she was a diva!
We love swimming, and the Wedel's is always a favorite choice! She is a little skiddish around their puppy dogs. For some reason the only thing that seems to really scare her is dogs. I have no clue why. Sad.
I got this little swim mat for our yard. It is great! You can find it at onestepahead.com It attaches to your hose, fills up and squirts water out. Not deep, so no scary baby in water issues. Gotta beat the heat!
Due to the bluegreen algae up at our lake place, we stayed home for the 4th. We are so glad we did! We had a blast with some friends.
We ate dinner twice with this group and then hung out after. We also watched fireworks with them and the Holleyman's and got to see some other friends too! It was a great weekend.
We were headed to watch fireworks with our friends and thanks to Megan and Lindsay we got some awesome 4th of July tatoos and glow in the dark necklaces for the kids! SO fun. Thanks fun moms who think of stuff like that!
Poppi (aka Grandpa Tom) got Berkley her first golf club! She thinks its pretty fun. Notice the grip? She is a natural!
She loves holding the waterhose and helping with yard work. She likes to sit in the flowerbeds while I pull weeds, and sweep the sidewalk.
She is modeling her shirt from her Aunt LaLa (aka Laura).
On her Aunt Lin's (aka Lindsay)birthday she sent kisses!

Oh Highschool days at OC, I mean COLLEGE days at OC.

2011-07-09T00:22:00.003-05:00

I tend to give background when telling a story so...If you are reading this by choice, then just keep reading. The funny stuff is at the bottom. At least it is funny, if you were part of it.

Ok so here is the thing. I went to Oklahoma Christian University. I was kinda given a non-verbal ultimatum for a while and then a conversation happened. It went something like this:

Dad: If you want college paid for, it's going to be a Christian college. As in, affiliated with the Church of Christ.
Me: Oh Oh, I choose Pepperdine in Malibu.
Dad: That doesn't count.
Me: hmmm. Well. Um. grrrrr. OC?
Dad: Exactly!

Ok my dad is the best, and I am SOOOO Flipping Grateful I have no school debt and so is my husband. But, if I am being honest I should have spread my wings and moved away for college, but, it by no means was totally my dad's fault that I ended up at OC. It was just one of those things that kinda happened all of a sudden. It is Senior year, like the end of it, most of my friends were going to big schools. They had been working on their grades, applications and all sorts of stuff for Rush for quite a while. I had not. My best friend and I had a falling out, she went out of state, and I think I had always thought in the back of my mind, I would go with her. It didn't happen. I was a coward, so I stayed at OC. Where my family went. Where I went to church. Where I knew almost everyone.

I'm glad I went to OC. I grew up, regressed a little, then grew up more. I screwed up a bunch, learned from it, then screwed up more. I had my first true love. I met some amazing NEW people. I learned a great deal the HARD way, oh I mentioned that already, huh? I connected with people at the end of my time there that I wish I had known the whole 4.5 years. I fell in love with Honduras, made some life long friendships with families and I got to say I was 'staying at home' for the weekend but really just stay out past curfew. YEP, curfew is a enforced rule at OC. Long story short, OC was great, is great....but it is a small private school, it is in the town I grew up in, my mom works there, I babysat for half the staff, etc. So, it was kinda like highschool. Highschool - that is where the funny story starts.

My gal pal Ginny Lou came for lunch the other day. That is us at her wedding!
Ginny is from Edmond, went to OC, but has a legitimate reason...she was on a softball scholarship. Back to the other day... I was coming home from swim lessons and Gymboree with a very tired 16month old so as I pulled in the driveway and got out my sleeping zombie child, Ginny said "you are SO a mom. " We had lunch and updated on CrossFit stuff and her hubby being a doc and me being a mom, vacations we wish we were on, etc. Oh and updated on her crazy cool fun sister who basically almost got stuck in a foreign country when her passport, purse, etc. got stolen. That girl is like a movie waiting to happen. Did I mention she is a FLIPPING AWESOME military woman? She like got her finger bit off one time. Nway, so as we are eating and updating we are like wow, being an adult stinks. Bills, cleaning, jobs, cars that break down, ugh! So we laughed, ha ha. Talked about how being a kid was fun. I felt bad about myself as she ate fruit and a sandwich. I ate those things talso but, I also had chips. Then I showed her my Magnum IceCream Bar I would later devour.

Ok so Ginny and some others including me were in what we called SGC. Senior Girls Club. See, highschool. But, I am so glad I was apart and I love it. Not knocking it, just explaining. This was our made up club. We were all in different clubs at OC. Not sororities, because we can't have those. Ok so, in our SGC we did fun things like meet for lunch, we took senior pics together, yep...like jeans, matching black shirts, all 15 or 20 of us at a house taking pics outside, posed. Seriously. We had shirts, we had meetings, we had jobs, as in president and we even had a COOKBOOK, thanks to Mich's mom. We also might have all had matching rings. Hot pink with fake diamond rings. Think JLO engagement ring from Ben. Oh and lots of obsession with SATC & Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde. Anywho, we really did have SO much fun. We did random missions, we laughed a lot, we got to be close with friends of friends and made new friendships that were so great.

One of the best things I remember about SGC, was that a smaller group of us were in a war with some guys. PB&J or PBNJ. I can't remember exactly. I am pretty sure they started it. Like 99.9%. They caught a goose that was in the pond, put it in a plastic tub and knocked on our door. We opened the said door, they threw goose in, shut door and we were trapped with a goose, flying, walking, squawking, and going nuts and we couldn't get away because they were on the other side of the door keeping us in. We stole all the antenas and tailgate from one of their trucks. They (Ben) got really mad about that one. They did the same back to a girl, or actually I think they took Haley's tailgate first, and then wrapped it up and put it under the school Toys for Tots Xmas tree. If I am mixing up details, sorry. Ginny, Angela or Amy can tell you exact stuff. LIke the Xmas tree might have been for homeless people not toys for tots, or what order stuff happened in. Nway, we put flour on their door inside a trashbag so when they opened it, it was a mess. I think we spooned their door? Like we wanted to fork them, but they had no grass in the apartments. Ok so back and forth we went with this war. It was fun. It was fun until they singled me out. I came out from class one day. My car was in the parking lot by the gym. I go up to my car and there is a note on the window. I laugh as I start to read..."Not going anywhere for a while? Have a snickers!" There was a snickers with the note on my window. That was the saying from a current snickers commercial. Anyhow, as reality sinks in of what is going on...I realize, they have chained my tires to my axel. I can't go anywhere. I laughed thinking they were watching, but they were long gone. SO I wasn't laughing anymore. My car was stuck. Bootyheads. Hilarious, clever, but Grrrrr. They also put another girls car up on blocks. I think that is how it all started. Maybe even someone caught them in our group. Like, girls car up on jacks, taking wheels off, its on blocks. OH and we had initiation night, for ourselves. It was fun. I'm pretty sure some guys had chainsaws and scared us. It was dark. I have great pictures from all of this, but most are saved on my old computer and that whole switching stuff isn't my thing. So, enjoy these few.

Yes, we did the whole make female products looked used, in college. We did it, we laughed the whole time, we made memories!

Oh college fun.

Love my life, grateful for all I have, thankful for the lessons I have learned, prayerful that lessons in the future are a tad easier to learn. :)

-bb

Can't sleep....

2011-06-16T02:15:00.003-05:00

So its 2:30am, 3rd night in a row that sleeping isn't working...so I uploaded some videos of my wacky offspring. Happy Thursday.

Grateful for the little things...

2011-05-04T15:22:00.004-05:00

I have a hard time keepin the big pitcure in mind. I struggle with letting the little thigns overwhelm me or take my focus away. I am grateful for the little things, but sometimes if my mind is taken elsewhere I lose sight of little joys the Lord is offering up.

Like today...I have had this project in mind for a friends shower. I can't show you exactly yet, cause I don't want her to see, but I have been excited it would be a fun touch. I asked around and felt like I just wasn't quite getting in the direction I needed to make it happen. My sweet dad of course was like he always is, and said he would figure it out.

Today, out of the blue I got a lead, a friend jumped in and BAM, project is going to happen. Then, bam...another friend with more of what I need and holy cow I am walking around school in the BEST mood. I am showing other teachers the project and students and forgetting to actually teach math. oops. Anway, it was that little thing today, a reminder from God, that even the little thigns that matter to me, matter to Him. He loves me. He is joyful with me. :)

Some things that have helped me lately:
- From the book or APP Jeusus Calling: Feb.19 & May 1
- This post from Jon Acuff: http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/2011/05/the-miserable-god/#more-4905

Decision Points

2011-04-25T21:06:00.008-05:00

One of my favorite things to do is read. Mostly I stick to fiction, kind of a quick escape. Within fiction though I will read anything from a murder mystery by James Patterson, to a love story always set in NC by Nicholas Sparks to the tween favorites about witches, dragons and vampires!

I made a decision recently that I need to read more non- fiction. I've read two great books lately I recommend.

First, a book called Heaven is for real. If you are or aren't a believer it is a great look into the childlike innocence of what I believe is an authentic account of a little boy who met Jesus. The Bible talks a great deal about Jesus and his love of children, and how we should follow with that blind faith of a child. As a Christ follower it was a way to look at heaven in the way Revelation and other parts of the Word describes, but in not so confusing terms as sometime scripture can be. I really had some moments of true joy at what eternal life will hold for us, as well as grounding moments of what I need to be focused on here in this life. Please read it, if anything it will raise questions and challenge you to read your Bible! From the mouth of babes...

The second book was way out of my normal reading... But not my interests. I love history. I wish I knew more, and I also love understanding why people made choices that have affected us in this world, whether it was 1000 years ago, or 8 years ago. Watching history on tv or a movie and gaining insight into why or how wars were fought, why or how pyramids were built, and much more is so neat! Ok I'm kinda a nerd...oh well. I love American history as well as world history. I like reading about explorers, founders, monarchies, presidents and the foundation of our nation intrigue me. While I try to stay somewhat informed on politics and world news it can also be overwhelming for many reasons. Some of it is confusing and most
of it is just plain scary or sad. I am not someone who votes straight republican or democrat. I try to truly look at issues, what a person or group says and figure out who I think i agree with and who i think would do what is right for the whole, not who is being influenced by crooks
or lobbyist. All that said it led me to the book Decision Points by former President Bush. The son, not dad.

In general I've never had to much interest in reading a life story or anything about a president, but this book was different. While I think no president makes perfect decisions I think it has to be one of the hardest jobs ever! You are criticized no matter what you choose and people
say the meanest things. I'm not by any means a George W. fan, but i also don't dislike him. I think he made good and bad choices just like all leaders and humans do... but he wrote the book in a neat way and it intrigued me. Each chapter is based on a controversial decision
he made... such as The Surge, Iraq, Katrina, personnel decisions, 9/11, etc. Whether he is telling the truth or not about every issue, and remembering there are always things as citizens we will not know, and that there are always multiple sides to the same story, hearing
explanations and hearing info we weren't privy to at times helps people understand and see different sides to topics. I found it really
interesting and it truly changed my thoughts on some topics, some good and some bad. It is worth the read. I wish more people would do
this that are leaders.

Also, I wish we as a people would pray more for our leaders. Whether you like them or not, agree or disagree, pray they will make the right choice, pray they will be honest and make good decisions that will benefit the people. After all, at the end of the day they are someone's child, someone's parent, someone's friend and our leader. In the least, they deserve respect.

It's the classic game we all love...Tag!

2011-03-24T08:58:00.003-05:00

I got tagged! Not only did I get tagged...but she did this fancy thing where when you click on my name it takes you to my blog. I wish I could use fancy blog tools like that. Fail. Lindsay Cooper, you are cool with all your blogging awesomeness! I offer you my best internet high five!

Four Places I go:
1. To Target. I spend too much time and too much money there.
2. To Sonic. I usually only get water, but who doesn't love them some Sonic ice?
3. To the cloud! Get it? Im just kidding...I go to um, the bathroom. Ok kidding again. I go to work. On Tues, Wed. & Thurs. Hello Angie Debo Elementary school and all my peeps in 3rd & 4th grade! What. What.
4. I used to go to CF405, then I had hand surgery and I have failed at getting back into it. So I go to the ZOO! Berkley likes the playground the most.

Four Favorite Smells:
1. Berkely right after her bath. She takes LONG baths. The kid is a fish. Our friend Megan got her some Noodle & Boo Lotion and it makes her smell so fresh and so clean clean.
2. I love the morning rain/dew smell. Like you go outside after it has just rained. I like it! (Especailly at the lake & at camp PJSCC)
3. A good smellin man. I love my husband, but, if I smell a man who smells yummmy, I smile big. Our pediatrician always smells good. :)
4. Can you say CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES?! Those babies baking...they will make you swoon.

Four Favorite TV Shows:
(Disclaimer... I am doing stuff I watch right now. If I chose like all time favorite, we would be here all day.)
1. Pretty Little Liars
2. NCIS
3. Housewives of ... love em all but Atlanta. No thanks.
4. Private Practice

Four Favorite Movies:
1. Family Stone
2. Beaches
3. Any Star Wars Movie
4. Any Harry Potter Movie

Four Recommendations:
1. (this is the same as the person who tagged me, but its a great one.) GO ON A MISSION TRIP! The best spring breaks and summer trips I went on in college/highschool were mission trips. I spent most of my time in Honduras and I formed friendships that will last a lifetime and I learned so much about God, his people and how blessed we here in N.America are. I can't explain how much serving others can change you.
2. Read! I do not care what, but reading is awesome. It sets a good example for your children, it is an escape, its relaxing, it teaches you, it inspires you, you can go to another world and experience life through another point of view!
3. Go meet your neighbors. Not just the young couple with kids. We have gotten to know a retired couple across the street. I love them. They play with Berkely, they take her on walks, they come help me jump my car. They bring us treats at Xmas. They are so kind and so generous.
4. Eat fried cheese (like mozarella sticks) dipped in sugar. Like the little packet of sugar on the table for tea or whatever. I know it sounds crazy, but its good. Just plain good. Really unhealthy, but good.

Four Favorite Things To Do:
1. Read
2. Go to the lake
3. Give Berkley a bath
4. Vacation! Tropical Island type of vaca please. :)

Four Things I dislike:
1. People who use handicapped parking spaces when they aren't handicapped.
2. People who do not put up their shopping carts and leave them to be blown around the lot and hit other cars.
3. Gossip. I have been a part of it all of my life... as the person doing the gossiping, as the person listening but not stopping it and as the person being talked about. It is hurtful for all involved in the end. It is no good and I am doing my best to stop this awful habit. If you hear me doing it, tell me NO!
4. Vaguebooking! People, either tell what is going on or don't. If you need someone to ask you, then call a friend or call me. I will humor you.

Four Friends to Tag:
1. Amber F.
2. Ginny K.
3. Michelle Y.
4. Elizabeth M.

Part 2 of the video

2011-03-09T17:49:00.004-06:00

So apparently I did have more video, I just didn't know it! Typical. Again with the commentary...really sorry.

The video...

2011-03-09T17:01:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the commentary...

I didn't video them actually sticking the needle in because I kept walking in and out thinking any minute she would scream or I would cry...but I can honestly tell you the whole time she just sat there watching! Crazy kid!

The Brave One

2011-03-08T18:42:00.004-06:00

B woke up with a rash/hives literally everywhere but her face. I figured it was just an allergy but went to our fav pediatrician just in case. Long story short was sent to have blood work done to rule out peanut allergy(ahhhh!) I'm hoping to get the silly video up but for now here is how it went.
I stood in the hall, hyperventilating, tearing up and trying to control my breathing. Berkley sat there (Bart held her) and did nothing. She watched and made faces and just was so curious about what the nurse was doing she didn't even flinch! No crying, no squirming, absolutely sat there like it's normal to have a needle in your arm! What!!???? Ok so she's going to be a druggie or a doctor! Just kidding, she would never do drugs, unless apple cinnamon puffs are a drug. I was so scared by the silence that I creeped back in the room and videoed the whole thing. I'm the one that cries or goes pale and passes out. My child, my 1 year old sat there happy as a lark. Really?

YouTube here we come!

Peace and Love,
BB

Dear Parents....

2011-03-03T12:27:00.003-06:00

Dear Parents (of school aged children),

As a school teacher, there are some things we see your kids do or not do that you aren't privy to during the day. So, please work on these following things (oh and if in 5 years you see my kid doing any of the following just ignore it. She is perfect. :) ha.)

- wash your hands after you use the bathroom
- was your hands after you sneeze into them
- do not chew on other peoples' pencils
- do not put your mouth on or lick the water fountain
- your pants and shirts are not where boogers go
- my tables and chairs are not where boogers go

Finally,

- don't cheat off friends, they get the answer wrong somtimes and so now i know you cheated and who you cheated off of!

Can you tell I'm having a germ-a-phob day??

Our lil Ham...

2011-02-16T13:12:00.002-06:00

This is her excited face.
This is her scowl. I am afraid she gets it from me. Ask anyone how I am in the morning time... they will say I scowl, act very confused, don't talk, and pretty much make no sense. Berkley does it when you tell her NO, or just for no reason at all.

Happy 1st Birthday!

2011-02-11T15:56:00.002-06:00

Ready to rock out with her 'wub-a-nub' out!

Vaguebooking

2011-02-06T15:27:00.003-06:00

Please go to the link below and see this blog post by my girl Adrienne on 'vaguebooking'.
I agree with her completley and just wanted the blog world to know.
If you vaguebook,you will get a bear growl and and a "hide".

http://31flavorsblog.blogspot.com/

Berkley thinks she is funny....

2011-02-02T18:28:00.001-06:00

Day 30

2011-01-31T01:09:00.002-06:00

Day 30 - a picture

I did it! 30 days of blogging. Hope to continue with the blog, but maybe not everyday. :)

Our Angel. :)

Day 29 (a little late)

2011-01-30T17:34:00.003-06:00

Day 29 - wishes

Can I wish for more wishes?

I don't know why but some of these have been really hard for me. I find myself in my head having ten pages to write on some of the topics that have been on this blogging adventure, but when I actually go to type it, it doesn't come out. I think part of it is me not being able to express myself as well as I want to, or think I can. I also think part of it is putting something out into the world, especially via the web. It is out there, for all the world to see. I don't mind sharing, I just want it to be what I really think or feel. Ya know ?

Anywho. I am sure I could come up with a million wishes. Selfish, Unselfish, typical and so forth but these are some that are coming to mind.

I wish that I didn't have medical issues every other flipping day. I am very blessed none of my issues have been life altering, but more pains in the bootay.

I wish that I had been like most of my friends and bounced back after having a baby. I haven't bounced, scooted, or inched.

I wish I could travel as much as I wanted.

I wish I could go back to Honduras int he near future. I want Bart to go too. I know I can, but leaving Berkley for that long would be hard and finding the time is hard. As I say that I wish I wasn't so selfish with my time. I can find time to go on a tropical vacation but I can't find time to go back to one of the most spiritually uplifting and happiest places I have ever spent time.

I wish I wasn't as selfish as I am. I think I "justify" too much.

I wish people were more honest with me. I know I have things I need to work on, I wish people were brave enough to tell me the bad so I could be a better me.

I wish Berkley never had to hurt...physically, emotionally, etc. I want her to be her joyful self, always.

I wish I was more positive.

I wish I liked myself more. I think I put negative stuff out in the world becasue I can be "down" on myself. I think people start to think about me the way I do. That is not good.

I wish there was more help for all the children in the world who don't get a clean bed, food, water, love everyday. I truly wish I could just call the eight person, or write a check and just fix it. I know the Lord answers prayers but it is hard to see suffering.

I wish there was a cure for cancer.

I wish all the babies who don't have a mom/dad to take the home from the hospital could get adopted into a loving home.

I wish all the children in the world had a loving home, a warm bed and food to eat.

I wish teachers got paid more, and had more respect for the job they do. We are a huge part of what shapes the world.

I wish more politicans were honest, did what was right for the whole and truly put the people first.

I wish God would intervene more. Like open up the sky and shoot down the problems. I think he intervenes all the time and we don't know or recognize enough, but I wish sometimes we had a red phone up to the sky. You know like for batman or the president. :)

Ok that's enough.

Ok one more...I actually wish I could win the lottery and own a private island somewhere tropical and could go there alone, with friends, with family anytime my lil heart desired! :) hehe.

Also, I wish my daddy wasn't having to have medical issues right now. I don't like seeing him in pain. Prayers accepted and requested. :)

Peace.Love.Joy.
-bb

Day 28

2011-01-28T19:59:00.003-06:00

Day 28 - something that stresses you out

Well I had a big ole post typed out. Berkley hit the keys and its gone. I may choose to retype later but as of now...lets just say LIFE stresses me out.

It is a sin, I wish I could relax more and move on with my life when the little things start to take over.

Day 27

2011-01-27T21:26:00.001-06:00

Day 27 - pets

Um I don't have any. I have never had a pet. I have allergies.

Day 26

2011-01-26T21:50:00.004-06:00

Day 26 - picture of your family

Day 25

2011-01-25T12:17:00.002-06:00

Day 25 - put your ipod on shuffle, name the first 10 songs

Disclaimer: This is my phone ipod music (so not a great selection). My actual ipod is dead in my car and I don't have time to charge it, just to blog about it.

Bruce Springsteen - secret garden
Never Shout Never - can't stand it
Jack Johnson - no good with faces
Black Eyed Peas - missing you
Fergie - big girls don't cry
Green Day - 21 guns
DMB - crush
Jimmy Buffett - cheeseburger in paradise
Katy Perry - teenage dream
Pink - please don't leave me

Day 24

2011-01-24T15:27:00.002-06:00

Day 23 - something you have learned

I have learned some hard lessons in life. I am glad I have learned them, but I would be lying if I wished maybe I had learned them different ways. It is never fun to learn through hurtful situations.

Recently I have learned I have SO much more to learn! ha.

I have many things I need to work on in my life. I have learned some lessons that have taught me I need to be more aware of those around me, their feelings and being a positive person in anothers life. I need to give what I wish to receive. I need to act how I want others to act. I need to treat others how I want to be treated...no matter what. You never know what is going on in anothers life.

I have also learned that here on this earth my family is what is most importnat. I am putting my phone on silent more. I am spending more time focusing on what is best for Bart and Berkley and I. They are my life. Others will have to wait.

I have learned that God still loves me. I still don't know why some days, but... He is the only one who will never dissapoint or let you down. Humans are flawed. We all need forgiveness. I need it, I need to give it. Thank you Lord for loving me. Thank you Lord for blessing me.

Day 23

2011-01-23T12:54:00.003-06:00

Day 23 - favorite vacation

In recent years my favorite was our first trip to Cabo. We stayed at the Sheraton Hacienda Del Mar Golf and Spa Resort.

We golfed. We spa-ed. We saw whales from sitting by the pool. We did a zipline up in the mountains. I loved the trip. It was relaxing and calm. I would go back tomorrow.

Day 22

2011-01-22T21:21:00.003-06:00

Day 22 - what's in your makeup bag?

1. some makeup brushes
2. tiji brown eyeliner
3. clinque eyeshadow
4. mac eyeshadow
5. mac eyeshadow
6. bare minerals orignialfoundation
7. almay mascara
8. maybeline blush
9. tiji blush
10. trish mcevoy concelear
11. trish mcevoy eye base essentials
12. trish mcevoy foundation

to tired to write exacts. i guess if you really care i can tell you...do you really though?

Day 21

2011-01-21T17:02:00.001-06:00

Day 21 - a picture of yourself

I don't really have one of just me. So here I am. I am the girl. :)

On the move....

2011-01-20T19:38:00.000-06:00

Day 20

2011-01-20T18:47:00.001-06:00

Day 20 - nicknames

Brookie
Brookles
Brooklyn
B
B-dub
Babbling Brooke

Day 19

2011-01-19T19:00:00.003-06:00

Day 19 - something you miss

I miss going to church camp. I went as a camper and as a counselor. I went mainly to Pettijohn Springs Christian Camp. My PaPa JD Walker help found and run the camp for years. My dad was one of the main Camp Directors for years and I have fond memories of spending a week or two there in the summer as the Directors Kid.

As a teen when I got to go it was hard to realize I wasn't special and didn't get to do what I want all the time like I had as a child. :) Imagine that. hehe.

I loved seeing old friends, being outside and sleeping on the bunks. It was so fun to get lost in GOD, singing and praising was consuming all week. It was a getaway for teens to really have powerful experiences.

As an mini-adult I got to be a counselor. I wish I would have been a better one. I screwed up a few times. I miss those girls though. They each were so special. I had so much fun as a counselor.

I can't wait for Berkley to go one day. Hopefully to PJSCC!

Day 18

2011-01-18T20:44:00.004-06:00

Day 18 - regrets

I unfortunately could think of a few. Trying to not focus on that I will name one...

I had the chance to go on a semester abroad when I was in college. Because of a boy I chose not to. That boy broke up with me. I SHOULD HAVE GONE. I really, really regret not choosing what was best for me. Boo Hoo. :)

Day 17

2011-01-17T21:37:00.002-06:00

Day 17 - Something you are looking forward to...

Well this is easy. While on a mini vaca/wedding weekend in Colorado Bart and I got to ski! We saw these sweet little ones with their parents learing to ski or actually just killing it! They were flying by us. We both remarked how we are soooo looking forward to when we get to do things like that with Berkley, and future kids. :)

We get to do great things with her now, but really enjoying something fun with her is something I look forward to.

OH, and my 30th is this year. I am looking forward to it, ONLY because I am going on a trip!

Over and Out,
BB

Day 16

2011-01-17T21:34:00.003-06:00

Day 16 - dream house

Ok this is a major weakness. Dreaming! So instead of taking this to a level that is inappropriate, I will just say....

My dream home includes Bart, Berkley, more children I hope to be blessed to have, and our family and friends. I want a home where it feels like a home. I want God to be praised in this home. I want people to feel welcome in this home. I want it to be comfortable. I want it to have room for everyone who wants to be there. It is a home full of laughter, love and fun! I want my kids friends to want to be there.

I think I have this home now, so maybe just adding a few rooms for future kids makes it the dream part....

Day 15 (a little late)

2011-01-17T21:30:00.002-06:00

Day 15 - bible verse

So I can't just pick one. I couldn't even just pick a couple. I suggest you grab your Bible! It will be easy, I put them in order. :)

Exodus 15:13
Romans 12:14
Romans 14:19
Romans 16:9
1 Cor 15:33
2 Cor 3:5
2 Cor 4:18
2 Cor 12:9
Phil 4:6
1 Thes 5:18
Hebrews 13:2
I Sam 16:7
Psalm 19:14
Proverbs 21:38
Micah 7:18

Toook a little time out.

2011-01-17T17:29:00.003-06:00

Well we went to Colorado Fri-Mon.

I am working on the days I missed ...Day 14-17.

Will post when done with the following: berkley hugs, berkley kisses, trying to catch Berkley walking on camera/video, laundry, berkley love, realizing i have to work tomorrow, showering, etc.

Peace.
-bb

Day 14

2011-01-14T12:57:00.002-06:00

Day 14 - a picture you love

Day 13

2011-01-13T11:25:00.002-06:00

Day 13- goals

Have more kiddos

Do another triatholon

Continue to try new things like tri's, biking, etc.

Convince my husband traveling more is a great idea!

Be happy and thankful I have a job.

Cook at home more, my husband gets the kudos for this

Enjoy when Berkley wants to sit with me, crawl on me and be glued to me more. I tend to think "i love you, i love your hugs, i love that you want ME, but its hard to eat, or get ready or whatever it may be i am trying to do or not do with you standing on my neck or clinging to my leg."

Be more grateful for how wonderful my life is

Pray more specifically

Eat healthier so that all the CrossFit, running, biking and triathlon junk will actually show some results and kick the babyfat I have kept right off my belly (think of austin powers and the scottish fat guy...get in my belly! That was the voice I was using when I typed.)

Convine someone to do the Warrior Dash in Dallas with me. You? What, you want to do it? Let's crawl thru some mud!

Praise my husband more.

Thank my parents more.

Thank my God more.

Day 12

2011-01-11T22:57:00.003-06:00

Day 12 - what you believe

Well. This could be many things but the first thing that comes to mind is that I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I believe that he died on the cross to save us from our sins. I believe that He will come back and take His people to live with Him for eternity.

I believe that He is enough. His grace is more than we know. I believe that people spend to much time trying to follow rules and not enough time following Jesus.

I believe that He wants good and happiness and joy for all His children. I believe that He loves me, even though I don't deserve it. I believe that He has blessed me with so much in my life & continues to bless me. My cup runeth over.

I believe I forget to often how much the Lord has done for me. I forget to often to choose the right path. I believe He forgives readily, happily and OFTEN. I believe I was given a gift.

-bb

Day 11

2011-01-11T13:11:00.002-06:00

Day 11 - favorite tv shows

Some of them are favs from the past and soem are shows I watch now. I watch too much TV.

Lost
Gilmore Girls
Real Housewives of BH, NY and NJ
Friends
Saved by the Bell
The Daily Show
Colbert Report
Chelsea Lately
Oprah
Sex and the City
Modern Family
True Blood
The West Wing
Pretty Little Liars
CSI
NCIS
Bachelor
Bros and Sisters
ER
Cheers
Cosby Show
Will and Grace

Ok I am stopping. I like TV way to much.

Day 10

2011-01-10T11:26:00.002-06:00

Day 10 - something you are afraid of

I am going to be brutally honest here. My fear for a long time was being alone. After Bart I no longer have that fear. I have a greater understanding of the Lord's love for me and I know that I always have my Father. As long as we are here in this world I also know I will have Bart and my family.

I have lost three great friends in my life. Luckily I still have been able to see each of them and talk on occasion, although it is different now. Each came in and out of my life and I am thankful for that time with them. I thought for a long time each ending of the friendship was my fault but as time passed I realized part of it was circumstance, other was communication and other was just growing in different directions. I miss them each in differnt ways but am thankful they are all leading wonderful lives and seem to be very happy.

So for a while I have thought my greatest fear was losing another friend.

Well it isn't, currently at least. I don't know if your greatest fear can change but it has. Bart went to school and was good friends with a girl named Jenny. She and her husband Chris were killed in a car accident on xmas eve. Their lil girl Emily who is less than a year old survived. Since that accident I have been pretty anxious. I don't like leaving Berkley, I don't like Bart travleing and what I hate most is that I am letting fear cripple me instead of looking to Jesus.

About now most wish I would have just said I was scared of spiders! (I am)

We have another good friend, who also has the name of Jenny. She is going thru a very tough pregnacy right now and has previously lost 2 babies due to miscarriage. Because of her story and situation I have been reading blogs and articles and gathering lots of information. The baby has trisomy 18 and most babies with this do not live thru the birth and if they do they pass within hours. It is absolutley awful to think of and I think most days I like to think it isn't happening. I know when baby K is with Jesus he will be healthy and healed but as I have been reading two specific blogs about infant loss and trying to think of how I can be there for Jenny, how I can help, how I can pray, I again have been crippled with fear. Bring The Rain and Keeping Awake are the two blogs. The loss these two women and their families have had to endure is so unimaginable. THey are so strong, so faithful and so blessed to have other children but I know they will carry a scar of loss with them always.

This is my greatest fear. To lose a child. To lose Berkly.

My husbands family lost thier oldest daughter Bridget (Bart's older sister) when she was 18 in a car accident. It kills me to think of what I consider my family now, hurting like that. They are so brave and so strong. They are one of the closest families I know of. They rock.

The sermon on sunday at Crossings (where we attend church) was about the 7 deadly sins. How we can either focus on the sins, or we can focus on Jesus and how to live a life and avoid those sins. We are all sinners, we will all sin. But, we have Jesus. HE has already paid the price. We can choose to wear our sin around our neck, let the evil one remind us of it, bring it back up after it has been forgiven, hurt us with it, cripple us with it OR we can say NO! God forgave me, it is gone and I am moving forward with my Lord.

I am trying to move forward. To know that there will be pain in this life, tragedy and loss. But, I know that my Savior is MORE than all of it. He is bigger than all of it. He can make good of all bad. He can bring us thru the storm. HE alone when we think its to much, to big to face and more than we can handle, HE can carry us.

Please pray for the Laisle family. Pray for baby Kanon. Pray specifically that he will be born breathing, they will get to hold him and spend however long God will allow letting them hug and kiss him and show him their love. They want that and I want that for them. I realize it may not be God's plan but I believe in the power of prayer.

Blessings,
brooke

Day 9

2011-01-09T19:05:00.012-06:00

Day 9 - A picture of your friends

Well our computer crashed and we lost some pics so I am going to have to miss a few people(and some of my fav pics and memories). I have some hard copies but no scanner and I am to lazy to copy pics from my phone and try to gather all of that.

The most important thing about this post is that I LOVE MY FRIENDS. I have been blessed over my life to have many and I look forward to the people that will come into my life because of kids and change and new adventures to come.

I did my best to find some pics and add them below. I found plenty. :) There are a lot but I just kinda went thru and pulled as I saw and liked. The pictures are pretty much from the past few years but I will always cherish my friends from my childhood & college years.

I love you friends.

- bb

Day 8

2011-01-08T17:30:00.007-06:00

Day 8 - A place you have traveled to.

I have been very blessed in my life in the realm of traveling. I have been to DC, the Bahamas, Honduras & Roatan, Mexico, Europe and some other fab places, but one of my favorite places we have traveled to, was St. Johns! It was our first trip as a family!

Berkley loved the water. She loved spending time with family and hey...it was the beach!

Hey mom, this is how you travel and zzzzzzzzzzzzz!
No cameras! No cameras!

Just tannin the bod.

Much love,
BB

p.s. Berkley is on the move! She is taking steps, only a few at a time though. SHe has to really want something to walk to it. I am DYING to get it on film. :)

Day 7

2011-01-07T20:33:00.005-06:00

Day 7 - Favorite Movies

I had this whole great idea of being creative. HAving pictures to go along with this post. Then my child woke up from her nap and squished that dream like a bug. Now it is bed time and it AIN't gonna happen!

Sidebar - I love, LOVE, love movies. I watch probably 4 times a week. The majority at home. Might be a sappy Hallmark, or a blockbuster I never got to see so I go to ONDEMAND. I will watch kids movies, love, drama, comedy, action, horror. You name it, I have seen it. Really I have friends who won't call me to see a movie because they know I have already seen it. I should have been a professional movie watcher or critic. I love to double movie at the theaters. SO fun. I have seen all the random movies in the theater or on dvd that no one ever watched. I will rent the random ones just because I love being thrown into another world for a while. It's an escape for me, like reading.

I have never been able to answer the question...what is your favorite? I just can't. I get anxiety. I realize I will forget some in this list but off the top of my head here are some of my favs...

Beaches
My Fair Lady
Mary Poppins
James Bond - sean connery and pierce brosnan
The Notebook
All the Lord of the Rings
All the Star Wars
Any and all Harry Potters
Pretty Woman
The Family Stone
Sweet Home Alabama
The King and I
White Christmas
Braveheart
Pearl HArbor
16 candles
Can't Buy Me Love
Sex and The City
Newsies
Indian Jones - all
You've got Mail
How to lose a Guy in 10 days
Gladiator
Robin Hood - with Kevin Costner
Wedding Crashers minus the opening with all the nekedness, seriosuly not needed
Dirty Dancing
Cinderella
Steel Magnolias
Stand By Me
Grease
Hangover - minus the closing credits, see above

Ok that was exhaustive. Sorry. Blame it on whomever made up the 30 day blogging list! hehe.

Over and Out,
BB

Day 6

2011-01-06T20:27:00.003-06:00

Day 6 - A picture of something that makes you happy

It is super easy to pick that picture. My world is Bart and Berkley!

Day 5

2011-01-05T19:00:00.002-06:00

Day 5 - Favorite Recipes

Ok so first off I couldn't tell you a recipe without looking at it to save my life. While I do cook (sometimes)it is by recipe, always! Since I am to lazy to get up and search for my favorites in my messy recipe box, I am breaking the chains of this day and not giving favorite recipes.... hehe. Wow I sure know how to walk on the wild side! Instead I am listing some of my favorite recipes I like to eat.

If you want any of these recipes below, then lemme know and I will get them for you ASAP!

And go....

My mom's choocolate pie
My mom's chocolate sheet cake
Cynthia's strausberg pork loin
Patty's spinach salad
Megan's mexicorn dip
Amanda's sausage roll-ups
Amber's chocolate chip cake
Amber's almond chicken
Mom/Aunt's stuffing
Kathy's creamed corn

Ok so all of that above is why I have eating problems.

Ok that's enough. Happy food thoughts.

-bb

Side Note: I had the honor today of attending the funeral of Jenny and Chris Stiegler. THey were tragically killed in a car accident on Christmas Eve. There sweet 8mo old Emily survived. It was awful and wonderful at the same time to be there. It was a joy to hear how much they were loved, how much they gave and inspired those around them and how much love they had for eachother and Emily. It was awful to know EMily has to grow up without her parents and that Jenny and Chris had to be laid to rest by their parents. No parent should have to bury their child.

I pray that you hug those you love a little tighter, make sure people know how you feel about them and do your best to walk with Christ everyday. Be grateful for the time you have with those you love as Jenny and Chris have left so many behind, way to early. While we all know Emily will be taken care of and smothered with love, it won't be the same as having her parents there. Please say a prayer for sweet Emily.

Day 4

2011-01-04T14:15:00.006-06:00

Day 4 - Parents

Well this could get sappy!

My parents are Jeff and Bobbie Walker. They are two of the most amazing people in this world. Any of you who know them, know I am totally telling the truth. They are beautiful Christian examples (even though I haven't always listened) and so selfless its beyond compare.

They are servants. They serve our family, they serve eachotehr, they serve their church family, they serve strangers but most of all the serve God. They brought me and my sister up in a loving home. They always kissed and spent time together and I have always been so thankful my parents stuck to their commitment of "forever". We were and are always provided for and we have always known how much we are loved. I am so thankful for the opportunities and the life my parents gave us.

THey have taught me how to be a better person, wife and mother (even though I don't always listen). They let me learn the hard way, even while trying to help me learn the easier way. They always forgive, they never hold grudges (even though I deserve it). They practice God's love to everyone, all the time. I have no idea how.

They take care of me just like they have my whole life. If I am at their house for instance, I am greeted with joy and hugs...then I get to watch what I want, I get my drinks refilled and my dishes taken away. I am so spoiled. They still treat me like their baby... just like when I had my first heartbreak. They listen, they advise, they hug, they pray. I know I can always count on them. They taught me how to be a good friend and how to be loyal and giving.

They are not afraid to tell me how it is. Especially my dad. When I need to hear I am being stubborn or selfish, they will tell me what I need to hear in order to get back on track.

They take care of Berkley with joy and love. This is their most precious gift to me. I can leave her and know she will get more love and laughter than any kid could eer need.

They accepted Bart into their hearts quickly and easily and have helped me learn to grow and accept the change that marriage brings. I actually think they like him more than me most days. I do also, but lets not tell him that. :)

I really have so much to say about them that there could never be enough words. They are amazing. I love them. I am so grateful God chose them to raise me and love me in this world.

-bb

P.S. I am also very very grateful for sudo-parents/sisters in my life that helped raise and guide me at different ages and stages. (Ahem: cyn, dudley, etc.)

Day 3

2011-01-03T17:48:00.003-06:00

Day 3 - First Love

Well this is not something on the 30 day blogging adventure that I wanted to talk about. Really? Can't we talk about my favorite shopping stores, favorite Sonic drink, or beaches??

Ok so my first love. Can I have 2? hehe.

I think it was Casey. Well I know it was. We met when I lived in St.Louis. He was the PK (Preachers kid) and I was the EK (Elder's kid). OH MY! It was bound to be crazy! He was cute and fun and came from a large family. I want to say we dated about a year? I say date as in...what 7th graders do. Go to church activities, hang out at eachothers house on the weekend, kiss while the parents aren't looking, etc. I moved back to Edmond, I kicked and screamed the whole way there. Literally! I was awful to my parents. We stayed together like 4 months after that. I broke it off, after he had come to see me, sold his bike to get the money for the plane ticket. I felt horrible for years. Seriously right now I kinda feel like I still owe him a bike or a plane ticket. I was in 8th grade, but still. Casey if you are out there. I am sorry. If I ever get money to throw around on a bike I will send you one. On a side note: I recently got into biking so I could do a triathlon so I know what a good bike costs. Ouch!

Ok the second love, which I think was my first real love because I was 19, so I would say a great deal more grown up and actually had feelings more than, "you're cute, I like you". Still a silly kid though. Welp, his name was Justin. OH boy was this a big one. We met the week before our freshman year of college at Earn Your Wings. Something they do at OC where we went to school. I should have gone to another college and gotten away from Edmond but I didn't know much then. Oh well. Live and Learn. Justin and I fell hard and quick. He may never admit it but at the time, at least at first he was in it as much as I. Anywho, he was from Kansas and I had visited his family there a few times. I thought they all hung the moon. 5 kids, cool dad, pretty mom, and Justin was a great guy. The last name should have warned me (hehe)! Totally kidding. Well it went down hill quickly then back up and then WAY down. I got accused of cheating on him. Which so didn't happen. He broke his hand. It was ugly. We worked it all out, and stayed together until the next summer. In the late spring he went through a rough medical issue with me. I would have sworn we were in it for life. So school let out and summer came. He was coming down to visit. He was working hard over the summer so it was only maybe the 2nd time I had seen him since school was out. He broke it off within about 10 minutes of being there. I took it pretty darn bad. Ask anyone. It was brutal. I lost 11 pounds in like a week, really. My parents tried to send me with Mickey and Jane Banister to Europe for the semester abroad because they were so worried about me being back at school with him come that August. Amanda sat with me on the floor while I cried myself silly. Ginny walked to me to classes he and I shared to make sure I went to class and didn't break down. Hey, I was 19 and it was my first love. I learned, I grew. Long story short, I eventually got over it and had a great end to my time at OC. He has a family of his own now and as far as I know is doing wonderful and obviously he knew more than me at the time. I think I would have held on till it killed us. Good for him.

Fast forward to the age of 26...I thought I was going to be alone forever. Then, I met the love of my life. It was all worth it. :)

Day 2

2011-01-02T17:37:00.003-06:00

Day 2 - Meaning behind your blog name

I always have enjoyed reading and blogs is a fun daily read for me. Before Berkley made her way into the world I decided to document for myself, friends and family her arrival, and then her life as she joined our family and made us 3! Since I enjoyed reading so much I was hoping others would enjoy my blog. I couldn't really thinkg of anything super creative, and since it was about us as a family and anything to do with that topic, I didn't want to be to specific. That way if I rant and rave about a waiter who put lemon in my water it's ok. :)

So the name: My husband has a shirt and on it is has "the brew crew". It's a resturaunt/bar somewhere he had visited. His nickname has always been Brew. So I decided to call us the Brew Crew. Then my friend Michelle helped me with my first layout and she added the "bits of bart, brooke and berkley". She rocks.

over and out.
-bb

Day 1

2011-01-01T16:14:00.010-06:00

Happy New Year! What a blessing 2010 was for our family with the birth of Berkley. I look forward to what 2011 brings.

So "day1" you ask!? I am following in the footsteps of a friend! It is a blog challenge type of thing. YOu blog every day for 30 days. Luckily the challenge gives you what to do each day. So here goes for day 1!

Day 1: Introduction, recent picture & 15 interesting facts.

I am Brooke, I have a big mouth, I am very opinitated & I have a need to people please. I love my husband, his name is Bart. I love my daughter, her name is Berkley (boo, boo boo, budah, munchkin, punkin, B, lil bit, etc). I am an organizer and I make lists of lists. I like to blog and I enjoy getting my feelings/thoughts out, but then sometimes they get me into trouble. Oops! Oh and I teach. Lil humans. 3rd and 4th graders to be exact. I love to take trips, but hate traveling, I like me some Sooners and I love chocolate covered strawberries!!!! Ok intro over and out.

This is a recent pic of me and my boo. Yes I know it is dark and you can't see well. Sorry. Sounds like a personal problem. JUUUUUUUUUUst Kidding. It really was the most recent.

1. Brooke is my middle name. My first name is infact Kathryn. (Thanks mom and dad for making classes fun every first day! Roll call = frustration)

2. I hate getting my picture taken.

3. I am a CrossFitter! If you haven't done CrossFIt or have never heard of it...YOU need to check it out.

4. I did my first triathlon in August 2010. Way fun.

5. I dip my fried cheese (mozarella sticks) in sugar. Like I take a bite, and then when most would go for marinara, I go for sugar. Pure sugar out of the lil packet on the table. Yep. Thanks Dad.

6. I love to wrap presents with big pretty bows, especially for XMAS. I go buy ribbon and coordinate up to 3 different paper selections. :)

7. During my pregnacy my reading habit (LOVE ME SOME BOOKS) kinda got nuts. I was reading a book about every 2- 3 days. I would sit in the bath at night and read for hours.

8. I can't stand lemon in my water. I don't understand when it became the norm at resturaunts to just automatically put it in without asking!

9. In 3rd grade we had moved to Pennsylvania and we were attending a new church. Growing up I went to the Church of Christ. THey serve communion every week and you take it when you are a baptized believer. I wasn't baptized yet. THey were offeing it to any in the class I was in that were. I told them I was catholic and had been baptized as a baby so I could take communion. It was a bit of a problem with my parents later.

10. I have Thyroid issues.

11. I don't like or eat any type of fish. No lobster, no fish, no shrimp, etc. NONE at all. Gag.

12. I get motion sick very easily. It is a pain in my rear.

13. I can eat sunflower seeds with the best of any boys. My dad taught me when I was little. I pour them in my mouth and they go into the cheek and only come out via spitting in a cup. I taught my husband.

14. I snuck into Wrigley Field.

15. According to my OBGYN I have a high pain tolerance. He was impressed. That made me feel good till he made me push a child out of my woman parts.

Okay so that was day 1. If anyone wants to do this challenge themselves I will send you all the info. Kinda fun and a new way to jump start 2011 in the bloggin world!

-bb

P.S. Here are some recent pics of baby boo. She is the cutest, funniest and smartest lil booger!

THis is her new big girl car seat!

Crazy XMas outfits I made her wear!

Yay for her first pair of converse! They have sparkles!

Belly Laughs

2010-12-27T20:24:00.002-06:00

Our little love has started laughing with all her might. She will laugh on cue. Laugh to make you laugh. Laugh to get attention. She likes attention!

Help!

2010-12-21T11:38:00.003-06:00

I have tried posting videos on here and I obviously haven't been successful. Any tricks? Tips? Help!

one - upping

2010-12-16T14:12:00.002-06:00

I am not sure at what age it starts...the whole need to one-up someone but I can tell you it is ever present in 3rd graders. I am guilty of it. It is one of those rotten things we do when we want to feel better about ourselves or not feel jealous of someone. We try to one-up them. Sometimes it is on accident. You hear someone say something and it reminds you of a story and it kind of turns into a one-up. Oh well.

I've been fortunate enough to listen to 3rd graders one-up eachother this week. Mainly talking about their holiday break plans and gifts they know or think they will be receiving. Enjoy the example below.

Girl 1: I'm getting a phone.
Boy: I've already got a phone.
Girl 1: Well im getting an Iphone.
Boy: Well my dad already got me a phone, they arent that expensive or anything.
Girl 2: I want a phone.
Girl 1: Oh and I'm getting an Ipad. I mean I have an Ipad.

By the way in case you didn't know...3rd graders are 9 years old. 9! I'm pretty sure I got a pager at 16. A phone at 19.

Another Installment of ...Random Thoughts on Thursday!

2010-11-18T09:15:00.006-06:00

It is Thursday again. Here are some thoughts, a large amount of them to be more precise!

So...

It is a sad day in my little world. This will be the first Harry Potter movie I have not attended the opening mindnight showing. For some of you, this would not be a problem. That is ok, I don't judge your weird stuff. So, you don't get to judge mine. Anyway, I haven't quite grasped that I am actually going to miss out. I have very mixed feelings about this. I have been preparing. I have been watching all the older HP's! I have reread the book! Ugh.

Why have I not posted at all this week? I have been sick, again...and exhausted. I am sure I am not the only one in this boat with this weather, but it's my blog. I actually like winter, but liking winter doesn't mean I like...sleet, rain, bitter cold, gloomy skies and crazy strong winds! Anywho, said energy level has meant I get home and sit in floor with child, play, eat, and then go to bed.

What do I like about the winter months? Two great holidays, christmas lights, big coats, boots, fires, snow, hot chocolate and snugglin with baby boo! this is how she rolls. Laid back and only needs one hand for the bottle! So talented.

Berkley likes to sleep sitting up. It is really quite funny. She will lay down when it is nap time or bed time. Stick the wubanub in (paci with a toy stuck to it) and then start to fall asleep. All of a sudden its a few minutes of play, stand, sit up then sit down. Finally, she kind of plops down, head cocks sideways on the bumper and she is out. I think maybe she would enjoy a pillow.

I have a had a few people show me their true self this week. They say one thing, then do another. Their actions are speaking louder than their words. Why do I not listen when someone is clearly 'showing' me what they really think/feel??

Why can you(not you exactly, but people in general) do what's best for you and it be ok, but then when I want to do what is best for me, my family, etc. it isn't ok?? Obviously it's ok with me, but why is it not ok with you? You live your life, let me live mine. Our choices, thoughts and feelings do not have to match! That is the beauty of the world God created.

I saw my favorite doctor on Monday. My OBGYN. That might freak some of you out, but I love this man. He is calming and caring and talks all the nonsense through with. He made my birthing experience great! Nway, I wish he could be my primary care doctor too, oh and maybe my dentist? All in one stop!

During the cold months I will only grocery shop at Target...they have Starbucks and I need a hot chocolate when I grocery shop and when I am also cold. Sorry Crest, you will get some love come March.

Starbucks Hot Chocolate: Personally, I think it is the best hot chocolate ever. It's so darn good. Perfect temperature every time! It is also very chocolaty and made with milk, not water. Much better. Oh and the cream on top! I challenge you to find better.

I found some new jeans. They are called DL's. Can you say, 360degree stretch in waitband? Yes sir! Thank you new favorite brand of jeans, in your honor I will do a ballet twirl!

Is it just me or does a beach holiday sound good right about now?

I have a KeepItLocalOklahoma card. So handy. You get great discounts for going places you already go! Cheevers, Saturn Grill, Lime Leopard, etc. Get one.

Let's talk DWTS. Why is everyone so mad that Bristol Palin is still on? She got the votes. That is the point of the show. You get votes, you stay on. Is she a great dancer? No. Was Brandy better? Yes. Does that mean Brandy deserves it? No. It isn't just about the dancing, or how great your body is, or how the judges vote. Bristol got the viewer votes, end of story. If you don't like it, go VOTE!

Speaking of voting. Did you vote for our politicians? You should.

I know people that only go to the bathroom at home. They will hold it ALL day. I think that is amazing. You should get like a double star on your report card. I think it is kinda bad for your insides, but wow. Jumping jacks for you,your bladder and your bum!

All things school related:
Why do all children when they enter school hallways have one level of speaking? That one level, it is called yelling. It's like an on switch. Enter hall=scream at friends. Enter hall=no one can hear me if I don't yell, must yell.

Children also feel this way about running. They must have a little person in their head that says, "if I do not run to the classroom, down the hallway, to the bathroom, to gym, to the media center, I will not get there. I must run."

My classroom is in the 1st grade pod. (I work with 3rd and 4th graders though.) I use the 1st grade bathroom quite often as I am to lazy to walk down the hall to the adult one. Anywho. I walked into said 1st grade bathroom the other day. There was a head peeking at me. Above the stall. It looked like a 8ft tall 1st grader. What was it? A tiny little 1st grader who had climbed up the wall of the bathroom stall and was standing on the toilet paper dispenser looking around. I guess she thought it was recess? Nosy booger. Oh and we don't climb walls. I bear growled at her.

1st grader bathroom habits =YUCK! Fist pumps and hula dances for my clean bathroom at home.

I was walking a student back to their classroom....I didn't notice she stopped to tie her shoe. I kept walking. I tripped over student. I fell on face in hallway. Ouch.

I personally am for all year round school with breaks spread out. Like we would still get the normal breaks, but instead of all summer off, you take a shorter summer break, then add in week break for Thanksgiving instead of just a couple days and a few more long weekends here and there and bam! It is all year round school, more breaks but shorter, kids retain more and still get brain and play breaks throughout the year. It helps all our sanity! That is my opinion though.

Oh and teachers should get paid more. WAY more.

Finally, for your viewing pleasure. Berkley's new favorite past time. Taking things out of drawers!

Happy Thursday! Stay warm people.
-bb

Random thoughts Thursday:

2010-11-11T10:51:00.006-06:00

Is it weird to follow a blog that you don't know the person, at all? I do. A really cool friend of mine does, so I am going with totally acceptable.

Ginny is moving home. YAYAY! It has been hard to not spill the beans, but I did a good job. Angela pooped her pants she was so excited. I think that is spilling ALL the beans. Don't you? hehe.

I have been sucking it up at working out. Hence, my ever expanding waistline! Oh and here come the holidays. Bring on the stuffing and stretchy pants.

When a kid sneezes all over your pencils, table, and even you sometimes, is it ok to smack them with the sanitizer bottle? I mean, they aren't my kid! I would never smack Berkely. She also would never sneeze on everyone and everything at school, right? She will be perfect, right?

Can I start leaving notes for people on their car?
Example: You aren't handicapped, nor were any of the people in the car with you. Please don't use this spot or I will give you papercuts in your toes.

Berkley likes to try to eat my nose. It's cute and also a little wet.

Our waitress at Charleston's last night was Tara. I think at least. SHE ROCKED IT. Didn't try to fill up your glass after every sip, but had everything you needed, right when you needed it. She timed out the food, salads, etc. perfectly so you had time in between! She made great suggestions that I actually LOVED. What a fine dining experience. Get it? Fine Dining?

Happy Veteran's Day!

Over and Out.
-me

Heartache and Hangups

2010-11-09T10:53:00.004-06:00

Berkley will be 9months on Thursday! Oh, how she has blessed my world!

The sermon on Sunday was about how when you are generous, you will be rewarded tenfold. Other thoughts that follow along those lines are: when you give, you recieve; when you forgive, you will be forgiven; you need to show mercy, to get mercy. (BTW, sorry for using semicolons and what not incorrectly. I have only taught 4th grade and below and I totally forgot highschool English/Grammar).

Anywho....listening to these principles in church and knowing in your heart you have some work to do, are easy. It is stepping out those doors and walking the walk. I have some things in my life I need to repair. Relationships, habits, etc. I can sit there and logically know that a verse is speaking to me. I need to forgive, so I can be forgiven. I need to do this, because when I do it has an impact on me. It impacts my thoughts, my actions, my faith, others around me, and my future. It is so hard though to take that first step. Especially when the last time you took it...it blew up in your face. It didn't work. You got hurt, again. What I notice in those last few sentences is the word I, over and over. I keep focusing on how I am hurt, how I feel and I am not putting God and his commandments first. I am not putting his people first.

I read a blog a few days ago that talked about priorities. Do we have them in check? How do we know what our true priorities are? We may say what they are, we may even write them down and tell the world what our priorites are. But, then our ACTIONS show what our real priorites are. Did we break a promise to a friend, did we choose what we wanted first over what was best for our spouse. Did we give up too easy. Did we make excuses. The old saying goes "do as I say, not as I do." What a messed up message we send sometimes. We tell our children one thing, then we do another. We tell our spouse one thing, then we do another. We tell our friends one thing, then we do another. We tell our God one thing, then we do another. I want my prayers of my priorites to be my ACTUAL priorities, my actions.

Our God tells us something and he follows through. He is faithful.

My goal today is to take little steps. To fake it, till I can make it. I want to have my actions match my words in all I do. I want to live above reproach. I want to live my faith and be a woman with unquestionable character. I know I am a sinner. I know I am not perfect and I know Iwill mess up. But, if I am showing what my heart feels, making my prayers my actions, then when I do mess up....I know I will be forgiven. I know people will know the real me. I know my God knows my heart and He is who what matters. It is his approval and his forgivness I seek.

Do you have a heartache and hangup you need to work on? Give and you shall recive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened.

Love and Blessings,
BB

old friends...

2010-11-06T21:18:00.003-05:00

I had the joy of spending some time with a good friend and his family this weekend. He was one of my best friends in highschool and I love him, his wife, and his whole family. They have always been like family to me. You always feel welcome in their home and in their lives. They have always treated me with so much kindness and love. My friend married a wonderful woman and I feel lucky to have spent some time with them here and there over the past few years. They are fun to be around and always ready for a good tiem! While we live in different cities, have different lives from day to day, it is such a blessing to my heart to get to reconnect from time to time with old friends like this. This friends' older brother just had the first child of the family. What a blessing that little girl is to the whole clan. It was a joy to meet her and to see all the love she has brought to their world. I am so proud of the life my friend has built for himself. I am so blessed to still know him and his wonderful family.

I had a rough week, so I want to say Thank you Lord for always sending 'restoring spirits' into my life at just the right time.

Love and Blessings,
bb

Clarification....

2010-11-05T09:37:00.002-05:00

I got a funny pic via email, was having a bad day and it made me laugh, really hard. A wise friend of mine commented on how sad it was to see the jersey shore pic and it shows how low family values have come. I agree. I don't watch the show, I hope the little kids don't and I would never let my child dress up like that. I probably shouldn't laugh at most things I laugh at, including this. I really hope it was just some parents trying to get a laugh and the kids had no clue.... Still made me laugh though. You can not like me because of this. I can handle that.

Why didn't I think of this??

2010-11-04T17:56:00.001-05:00

Jersery Shore Baby!

Things you shouldn't pray for...

2010-11-03T18:51:00.005-05:00

...0r at least not admit to them?

I have been following the blog of Jon Acuff called 'Stuff Christians Like'. He is the author of a book by the same name. Very humorous Jon Acuff is. (name that movie character?)

He recently wrote a blog that made me laugh REALLY hard. You really should go read it. Praying for things you shouldn’t pray for. It is about praying for things that maybe you shouldn't, or at least not telling anyone about it.

Being an educator(like I am) we sometimes think things about kids we probablly shouldn't. In frustration, we (ok, me) also might pray for things we shouldn't. This week is parent/teacher conferences at school. While I probablly shouldn't, there are parents that come in to talk with me and I say what I can to try and be encouraging and helpful and nicely discuss academic concerns with their child. I do want to help thier child and hopefully tell them things I think could improve their students achievement, etc. I also secretly am trying to not blurt out that I prayed their child was absent today.

Sometimes, a parent comes in and it becomes really clear why a child is the way they are. It's like an Oprah "lightbulb" moment. I am sure at somepoint this will happen with me and my children. I really just want to tell that parent that I was so frustrated and annoyed with their child yesterday that today, I prayed their student wouldn't be at school. I prayed that so my class might actually go smoothly because their child wouldn't be there to be the class clown, to goof off, to distract the other students and to have a behavior issue every hour on the hour that took up half my day to deal with.

After reading Jon Acuff's blog about this sort of thing....other people's children that is. I realized
1. Ok, so I only have an 8 month old and boy do I have many school years ahead of me. Here's to hopin I have one of those sweet old lady teachers for B that never thinks a bad thought about anyone and loves ALL children. Even the spirited ones.

2. I used the words active, spirited and social today a great deal when discussing children. I wanted to use the following words: spolied, obnoxious, rude, disrespectful, lazy and slow. Yes, I said slow. They are slow because you allow them to play 4 hours of computer games every night on killing people and stealing cars. Then you feed them junk food (every night). Then you add to this by sitting them in front of the tube to watch more junk till THEY feel it is their bedtime.

3. I know it is a busy world. I am not perfect, you are not perfect and no one parents perfectly. But, there are those that try. Could you please, please, TRY! Or, just try Oh I dunno...maybe not having more kids?

Sometimes I pray students will move. This might make me look bad in your eyes. I can accept that.

Word.

great...

2010-10-30T00:26:00.005-05:00

I've been following Ben Arment's blog lately. His most recent blog about honor is worth the clicking to get you over to his blog. It's short and to the point and makes me go...gosh we as people, as Christian people, we have to remember what God says and what He values. Head on over to www.benarment.com (i have no idea how to do a link. oops.)

The cork is about to pop!

2010-10-25T21:06:00.000-05:00

Ever feel like you have so much inside that you are about to pop? It can be anything, such as love, laughter, inspiration, joy, ideas, desire to travel, dreams, hunger for change, anger, hurt, jealously...

I feel lately like I am about to burst. I want to be doing something more. I need to do it for the Lord, for others and for me. While I am actively pursuing my relationship with the Lord, because only He can fulfill me, I feel like with my time and with my family we should be doing more. We get stuck in our little box, with what is safe, comfortable, what is known and who we know and then before we realize, so much time has gone and we rarely have left our box! How sad.

I have a great box. I am grateful and in love with my box. I do however want to see other boxes, enjoy your box and share our boxes!

Let's mix and mingle, shall we?

I feel a new project coming on....

Enough about boxes? Oh, go box yourself!

Love and Blessings,
BB

whaz up wit U?

2010-10-21T20:34:00.001-05:00

Whaz up wit me is this:

Couldn't figure out why my purse was so heavy all day. Found my water bottle at the bottom. Oops.

I threw my cell phone in the recycle bin instead of my empty bottle.

I've been to lazy to do my childs laundry so lets just say she hasn't been sleeping in cozy pajamas the past 4 nights. Bad mom award.

I am going on week 3 of being sick. Not like stay in bed, dying sick. But coughing, headache, can't get totally well, annoying sick.

We have family holiday pics this weekend. I planned B's and I's outfits around an outfit I bought online for Berkley that I am in love with. I've spent all week making sure I had the right bow, hat, shoes for Berkley and for me....earrings, shoes, or really just pulling clothes on and off in my closet to see what will not make me look/feel like gigantor. I know this totally doesnt sound like me, right. I am so not that crazy controlling, A type. Anywho... so I get home all proud of my self only to try Berkley's outfit on, bow, shoes and all....lets just say its about 2sizes to big. Awesome. Love when plans blow up in your face. On to a new plan...

B and I went on a lil date night. We saw Secretarait. Great movie. I love anything with an inspiring, true story theme. Anyway, we are discussing our day, etc. I am telling him a story about a girl in my class. For some reason I brought up how she had "need lunch money" stamped on her hand. If you are a teacher, parent with a school aged child you know what that means. It's kinda like when a pike pass blinks at you "low acct balance". At school it means your account is low, a reminder for mom/dad to send lunch money to school. My sweet husband had NO clue what it meant. He proceeded to ask me..."so they just like go around and people give them money?" I was very confused. I said " no, they need lunch money, like at school." He says, "Like a kid just sees they need lunch money and says, here I have a buck you can have? That's kind of sad." Oh bless. I laughed really hard and really loud, then I explained.

I ran into a shoe display at Dillards in front of two salesman. They straight up laughed at me. I have a bruise on my thigh. Oh well.

I went to buy something at a store. The lady helps me, I try stuff on, pick out some earrings, go up to pay. She folds it, ready to scan it... then she tells me, "oh I can't sell this to you right now. Our computer is down. It's been down all morning." Um, I'm sorry. Come again? Might have mentioned that a little before now. Thank you.

Oh and this is my super cute kid. She likes to lay her head down and watch her Mickey Mouse. Sorry for the horribly grainy picture. It was dark, it was a phone, it was me.

-bb

High pitched screaming...is that really necessary?

2010-10-17T22:17:00.001-05:00

Matching hats with mommy.

We go to Sunday lunch to a local place with the fam. Berkley is being her cute self, strangers stop to say hi and meet her kinda cute. My parents oogle and google and talk about how perfect she is. Mom thanks B and I about 3 times for having Berkley. She does this often. Berkley is sitting in the little high chair and playing with spoons and toys and babbling and smiling and making us all enjoy our lunch that much more.

Then the high pitched screaming started.

Not our child, but a child a table over.

She screamed off and on every 30 seconds for about 15 minutes. It was a very HIGH pitched, toe curling scream. It was not pleasant. The parents of course did nothing. Now I am not an idiot...I realize sometimes kids flip out, scream, throw fits and you ignore it or what ever you choose to do. But, in a public place like church, an eating establishment, a store...MOST of the time I think a parent should somewhat intervene and remove the child from the situation or something like that.

Back to the story, Berkley starts looking at this kid like she is nuts. Looks at us, looks at the other baby, looks back at us confused. It's almost as she was saying, "what is that about? why she screamin?"

This picture is at the "incident lunch". I like to think she was laughing to herself saying "haha crazy baby. why you screamin?"

Love my child. Love her calm, beautiful spirit. Love that she is sweet, loves people and brings joy to each person she is around, each room she enters, and each event she is a part of.

We are so blessed.

We are also SO flippin thankful she isn't the kid that high pitch screams while others are trying to enjoy their meal. I am sure I will have to eat those words when lil miss Berkley throws her first fit, but for now... I got myself an angel. I mean she is only 8mo. haha. Maybe, we can skip those terrible 2's, 3's and the dreaded teenage girl years?

Inspiration or just a good laugh...

2010-10-13T22:47:00.001-05:00

This is a first. Two blog postings in one day.

The other is down below...its about the recent Brewer happenings. I say this with all honesty, I am a complex person. I love the Lord and strive to live more like him but, I fail quite often. I love my family and friends and while they make me a better person, no matter what I do, I have a sick sense of humor and when I get upset with people, I mentally want to stomp on their foot. I don't think I am a bad person. I think I just voice stuff and think stuff most people are smart enough NOT to. Oops.

Warning: THe following post is an illustration of randomness. Random Wednesday thoughts? Sounds a lot like Randon Thoughts Thursdays, those are poplular so I will do it today instead.

Ok so for a couple weeks now I have been reading friends of friends blogs, googling topics and reading random strangers blogs, clicking on links, etc. that lead me to some interesting reads. I think this comes from my LOVE of reading. I love any and all kinds of reading. I read my Bible everyday, along with my email, twitter, US Magazine, notes from my babysitter, text from the husband and James Patterson murder novels.

I think sometimes my heart and head battle and are contradictory...very much like when I let my selfish desires take over from what I know I should do, say, act like, be.

Warning: what you are about to read is prob on the selfish side of me. Most of my blogs are. Again, I tend to say what most people or talk about what most people are smart enough to shut up about.

I have found a few blogs that I kept going back to read. A couple are very inspirational/hilarious about marriage and communication. SOme are about everyday life, decor, fashion, kids, etc. One is pure sick humor. She has a potty mouth, but I find myself laughing sometimes so hard my toe hurts.

You are thinking to yourself right now why did she just say ' laugh so hard it makes my toe hurt. that makes no sense. she really is nuts, its not just a rumor!'

Well it is one of the many random things about myself I have learned. I like to say random things, quote movies, etc. One blog I came across the blogger uses awesome descriptions when she is excited about something. She says fun stuff like...two leg kicks for ice cream, or 1 fist pump for mocha latte afternoons, and finally 1 hula dance for all green lights. I read this, how she describes her joy about something and I think to myself....THAT IS SO ME, sometimes. I get excited or mad about something and I want to kick,silent dance, or bear growl and I haven't ever been able to adequatley describe that....UNTIL NOW~ Thank you todaysletters.com for your awesomness. 2 fist pumps for your vocab skills.

"You're killin me smalls" is one of my FAVORITE things to say. By the way, 3rd graders have no clue what this means.

Another thing I have learned about myself through reading a blog is: I have an insane memeory about people, but I often downplay this to not freak them out. Then this is where it gets creepy. A girl I went to highschool with described this quality about herself, exactly. So maybe this girl and I could make some money off this. You forget soemthing, call me, I fill you in and magically I get money in my paypal? Like I bet if I know you, even kinda...I can tell you what kind of car you drive. You will swear I have no idea, but I do. I am super observant.

I also have learned that even though I am an educator, I really need to practice my writing skills...as in how to use commas, semicolons, apostrophes.

I am waaaay to sarcastic. This is also something 3rd graders don't understand.

I have learned I am really random and if you can keep up, 2 tutu twirls fo sho!!

I read blogs and people are so articulate, funny, interesting and so are their kids and friends they write about. I get jealous. Then I think about how hugely silly some of the things we humans get jealous about. A blog, come on Brooke. Really?

If B is the only one who laughs at me or gets my humor, then its a constant reminder of how awesome God is for leading us to each other.

Final thought: I find myself singing "we are the champions" when something cool happens. But, I also find myself wanting to drop a banana peel in front of somehting who is rude....I do this all in my head. Do I get two points for not actually making someone slip? How about 3 points for not kicking the Target check out lady who sneezed all over my groceries, just mentally doing it?

Done and done.

-bb

P.S. I made a baby. I love her SOOO much, even when she wipes her nose back and forth on my neck. Throws up on me, poops on her hand sewn bedding and sticks her fingers in my nose and laughs. She rocks. She rocks the bath too. Sticks her head under the running water cause she is cool like that. Stuffs 2 squirt toys in her mouth while popping open her eyes like an alien. Fist pumps for cool babies.

Busy! Busy!

2010-10-13T19:37:00.001-05:00

Busy Weekend!

We went with B's family up to the lake, where Aunt Laura met us along with Bart's Aunt/Uncle Kilburn. We had a great time! It was beautiful outside and we went on the boat, walks, jogs, sat on the dock and hung out on the porch for most meals!

While up in the Tulsa area, we went to a wedding of one of my best friends from growing up! Daniel and Brianne got married in a beautiful outdoor wedding and it was so special to be able to be there!

Also while up in Tulsa we went to a babyshower we helped host. It was fun to hang out with the crew and enjoy a good meal and good company!

I think if I had to drive to and from Tulsa one more time in the next few weeks I might hurt myself, but I love the lake and getting away for a few days! It was a great rejuvination.

Berkley is 8 months now! Whoa. How in the world did 8 months go by that quickly? She has 2 bottom teeth, crawls, pulls up and moves everywhere. SHe loves electronics. Anything that lights up is her best friend. She likes to dance along to Mickey Mouse in the morning while mom/dad get ready. She is a joy to us and to all those around her. I am not sure how I was blessed with this kid, but she is good natured, happy ALL the time, loves everyone and is just "good" (for lack of a better word). I am so excited to see what kind of a little person she will turn in to and the sweet little love she is turing out to be. I feel so lucky to be her mom.

Love and Blessings,
BB

The World of Lollipops and Rainbows:

2010-10-06T23:51:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I wish I lived in the world of lollipops and rainbows. There are unicorns and happy people and you just go on about your day, everyday, skipping and prancing along....

this week I am living in the world of failure. I am failing this week, big time.

*Insert bear growl here.

I did it.

2010-09-27T17:56:00.000-05:00

Last leg of the swim.

Transition from bike to run.

Start of the run with Marie and Mel.

Finish line!

Part of my cheer squad.

Well....I did it. I finished the tye dye tri. It was one of the best feelings in the world to cross that finish line. I am embarassed at how I look, but so proud that I did something like this. I did better than I thought I would, so not only did I finish, but I beat my personal goal by 20 minutes. Ok so, I really had no idea how to gauge how I would do. I looked at times from people that competed last year, I got some advice, and I timed myself practicing a couple times. Oh well...Still happy!!

I want to thank Marie and her sister. I saw them at our 2nd transition (starting the run) and at that point I had done the whole race and not seen one person I knew. The others I knew or had trained with were in different parts of the race. In this Tri we all start at differnt times for the swim so being on my own, I had been in my 'head' too much. When I saw Marie and Mel, I kinda invited myself to run with them and they TRULY got me thru that run. I appreciate them so much. What awesome sisters! They trained together, stuck together and did the whole race together. I was so proud of them. They kept checking on ,and going at a pace that was best for the other person. I was so thankful they let me crash in their world for a few minutes.

My family was awesome! They were watching the swim and cheering me on! I saw them at every transition, I saw Bart like 3 different times, and Berkley too! At the very end my mom (she is so awesome) was there cheering me on the last 100 meters and there at the finish line was my main squeeze. My face was ear to ear smiles and so was his. It was such a great feeling.

Thank you to CF405 for getting my lungs and muscles in shape for this. Thanks to Downtown Brett Brewer for all the Tri advice. Thanks to everyone who trained with me. I can't wait to do it again! It was so fun.

So proud of:
Marie
Mel
Brett
Evan
Jarred
Whit
And...the guy a few people behind me(#189) in the swim that pushed me in the bike and help me cut my time down!

Yall ROCKED it!

Love and Blessings,
BB

Random cute pic of Berkley. This is at her friend Milan's 1st Birthday. Berkley is 7mo and 2 weeks old!

Tie Dye Tri

2010-09-14T22:44:00.000-05:00

Picture me wearing this in front of hundreds of others. Right, I know...I just threw up in my mouth also.

People, this sprint tri is less than 2 weeks away! How did this happen? Where did my time go? I am so freaked out.

First of, my body is hurting. I am putting it through more than I think I ever have. Have a baby, start working out, join CrossFit405, go back to work, decide to do a sprint tri, train for that sprint tri. It's to much.

I am waking up freaking out, I am not sleeping and I am sooo sore! I have scrapes and bruises and it isn't pretty.

Here are some of my fears:

WEARING A REALLY TIGHT NON FORGIVING OUTFIT
being kicked in the face by the swimmer in front of me
being passed by the swimmer behind me
getting urinated on while swimming (i know, random...but it still freaks me out)
WEARING A REALLY TIGHT NON FORGIVING OUTFIT
falling while getting on my bike in front of EVERYONE
not clipping in and falling
clipping in one foot and falling while trying to steer, clip in and go
running into anohter biker
WEARING A REALY TIGHT NON FORGIVING OUTFIT
not clipping out in time to transition into run, falling or running into someone
not being able to run
having to walk more than i run
my legs giving in
my knees giving out
puking
passing out
WEARING A REALLY TIGHT NON FORGVING OUTFIT

Get my mind right now?? Crazy huh? I am a worrier. I hate it about myself. It is a sin and I am terrible at just letting things go and moving forward. I worry about things I can't change and things that haven't happened and so forth. It is awful and annyoing.

I have put a great deal of time and effort into getting ready for this. I still have time but I am so nervous. I am accepting plane tickets for the weekend of the 26th..I will gladly go anywhere but Norman, I am also accepting advice for any of you that have done this and prayers.

Blessings,
BB

P.S. I also haven't lost a pound. So not cool. Just like with BF, I did it a ton, I produced a ton, and I lost nothing. People I had to get a deep freeze. If you are producing that much you should lose some weight. If you are working out this hard, you should lose some weight. NOT FAIR! Oh ok well here is the truth. I guess when you still eat ice cream and oreos it is fair. Oops.

7months and crawling!

2010-09-13T20:31:00.000-05:00

Berkley has started 'kinda' drinking water from a cup. She likes to chew on the rubber part and it squirts water out and then every few mintes she will actually suck and drink. Big girl.
She loves watching Mickey in her Big Girl Chair.
Smashing prunes all over her face. If you read the 'poo' blog, this was the night before the incident.

I haven't caught it on camera, well not a good shot anyway but, "HOUSTON, we have a crawling baby!" It's excitng... then again I would have been ok with her waiting another few months to be mobile. Mama's tired just thinking about it!

Berkley turned 7mo. on Saturday and for the past few days she will move a knee, a hand and then flop. A knee, a hand, another knee, flop. So on and so on. Tonight though was the night she decided to put it all together. We were at my parents house and she was going nuts! She crawled back and forth and back and forth. She wanted all things electronic. The computer, the phone, the TV. Oh well, it was fun to watch. It was really exciting for my parents to get to see, Bart walked in from bball just in time, my sister was there and my mom's parents too. It was a great family affair. I know it meant a lot to her Great Grandparents to witness that for the first time. My DaddyBob has been battling a cancerous tumor in his leg and they have been spending a great deal of time basically living with my parents for weeks in stead of being down at the farm. It's hard on them to not be at home and I know they miss it, but it has been a blessing for them to spend time with Berkley. Due to where they live and traveling with a small one, it is something they wouldn't have been able to do very often. It has been a healing tool for them and a great joy for us all. God works in mysterious ways.

Ok, back to the main event: crawling. It was super exciting to see and I was so joyful and proud but now I just have to go rearrange the whole house to keep her from eating cords, sticking her finger in outlets and so forth. I really think she got sick of her friend Allie crawling all around and away from her so she decided she would join her.

Wish me luck!

Love her. So blessed.

-bb

how cute do they have to be??

2010-09-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

How cute do a pair of shoes have to be to wear them even if.....they give you blisters and wear your skin down to where you are in pretty severe pain????

I got a new pair of cutie shoes for my bday. I wanted them, I got them. They are great for everyday, work and going out, how great is that? It's great I tell you.

Untill....

You wear them for more than 10 minutes around the store/house and you realize THEY KILLLL YOUR FEET. Major bummer.

I plan on strategically placing bandaids and padding in and around them and trying them again.

Love and Blessings,
bb

poo

2010-09-09T22:33:00.000-05:00

Berkley had prunes for lunch and dinner. I kinda forgot to ask Miss Stormi about lunch so as a result this is how this morning went.

Sweet husband gets up and takes care of feeding babby boo so I can get showerd and dressed for work. Sweet husband feeds baby boo pears or something, her bottle and then proceeds to get her dressed for me. Then the yelling starts.

Bart: OH NO! NO! NO! Ugh! Pooop! Poop everywhere! Brooooooke! There is poop, literally everywhere!
Me: (Im in the other room talking to myself) Okay honey, I'm sure its not everywhere. YOu are so dramatic about diapers. Geeze, I do poop all the itme, just wipe it up and move on.
Bart: BROOOKE!

Here he comes with neked baby into the bathroom. By the way, I look over and I don't see any poop..............yet.

Me: What's going on? She had a bad diaper?
Bart: There is poop on the carpet, her, her feet, her legs, her back, everywhere.

He starts running bath and throws her in.

I go into living room.

Me: OH MY GOSH! There is poop everywhere. Literally on the floor, on the changing pad, on the changing pad cover, on the wipes that are scattered all over the floor, on her pajamas and literally (and I am using the word correctly in this whole post) it is thick, purple, sticky poop running from the footsies to the neckline of her pajamas.

I clean it all up and realize I don't care if I blog about poop. Its my blog, I am going to write about it. Poop. It owned us today.

So then I rush to get her to Miss Stormi, jump out of the car, run around the back and run smack into my bike rack, fall down. Literally. I bruised my arm.

Happy Poop Thursday!

Love and Blessings,
BB

P.S. BOOOOMER SOOOONER! Ok, random but anyone who knows me reallly reallly well (Ginny, my dad, barty, some others) knows I have been an FSU fan since I was in 6th grade. Saturday will be my first time to see them play in person. I've been thinking about it since BArt told me they would be on the schedule like 2 years ago. I am so exctied I can't stand it. Yes, I still love OU. Yes, I want OU to win. But, I am so excited. I know it seems like a contradiction but whatever. I always thought my first FSU game would involve me standing on the field watching the game with Bobby,laughing, calling plays, yelling at the boys, but since he isnt coaching and I dont have any connections and i dont have a million dollars and therefor can't stand on the field I will just enjoy my seats with my man and cheer for OU and smile secretly while watching the Noles.

self inflicted pain...

2010-08-30T21:47:00.000-05:00

I tend to hurt myself. Most of the time I don't know how I got a bruise or cut...they just appear. Recently though, I can account for them all! Some of my inflicted pain is on purpose, like my first group bike ride. 12 miles and I loved it. CrossFit every week, love it after its over but it hurts so good. Then there are the times I don't mean to hurt myself but do anyway...

Cut on my knee, both sides of ankles up to shin - fist group bike ride, clipping out and fell.

Bruise on left side of head - car door.

Bump/bruise on right side of forehead - ok this one I don't remember but it was the same day as the one before.

Sore shoulder - running into the wall while walking to B's room in the middle of the night. She is teething and has woken up a few times about 4am.

Right pointer finger - 2 months ago at CrossFit405 while box jumping. I got to 29"!! Finger still hurts.

Other random injuries:

- closing the laptop on my nose
- washer lid falling closed on my head (this happened so often so I got a front loader.)
- multiple knees and shins lost to the ottoman.

Anyone want to share their random/silly injuries??

The Sprint...

2010-08-27T18:13:00.000-05:00

So I workout with some crazy people. People who run marathons and workout for fun. I wish I loved it, I really do. It would make running and what not so much easier. For those of you who love to workout, jog, compete in races, triathlons and such...spread the love. Help me love it.

The point of this post is to remind you all of how crazy I am. I am doing a sprint triathlon.

Me.

Moi.

Brooke.

Who am I kidding? I can do all three things seperatly and fairly effectively. All together is a whole other story. I am going to do it anyway.

I have 1 month. My girl Nicole and I have started training. Our goal, simply to finish. Wish me luck.

-me

baby manuals

2010-08-21T14:25:00.000-05:00

Anyone reading this probablly already knows how neurotic I am. Very typical type A personality. I like things how I like them, things have their place, etc. So when I left Berkley for the first time (overnight) I wrote a manual on how to take care of her. Yep, I did. I can share it with anyone who wants to write one, just so you have something to go off of. Kinda like a 'blackline master'. If you are a teacher you know what that is.

After I wrote it, made copies for all those who might be taking care of her, made them swear to read it, freaked out, revised it and reprinted it, I left her feeling good about how it would all go. As I left her I realized that I wrote it more for me, then for them. Oh well.

When I got back and asked them (Berkley caretakers...aka Grandparents) if they thought I was totally crazy, they actually admitted it came in handy.

So now, if I leave her, I just update the manual. :)

Oh and I know someone else who has done this. So I am only as crazy as the next person!

Love and Blessings,
BB

Am I really leaving her??

2010-08-17T20:47:00.000-05:00

Well I am going back to work (part time). For going back to work, it is a really great situation and (even though my husband probablly doesn't think so) I am trying to put on my big girl pants. Ok, being honest, so far it only works about every other day but I am still trying. I didn't think I would ever go back to work. This kinda fell into my lap and within a couple weeks I had a job. Very thankful. Great person I am working for and great people I am going to be working with. It was the only working situation that worked for me being a stay at home mom at least most of the week, it works for Berkley to be in a good home with a friend, and it worked for us as a family. I wanted being a mom to be my only job. It isn't for everyone to stay home, but so far it was totally for me. I am going back to work and since I can't take Berkley with me, I have to leave her. WHAT??? Oh bless...this is killing me. I was delusional when this all came about. Somehow I didn't think leaving her was actually happening. Ha. I cry thinking about it. I have cried at work, I have cried in the driveway of the sitter, I have cried in the sitters living room and well a few more places. I don't want to miss anything. If I leave her to go on a date with the hubs, or to run errands, to CrossFit (which I have missed for a week now!) or to go to Cabo and I know she will be with her PaPa and BeBe it is totally fine. But this, this is not good. What if I miss her crawl?? What if she finally says mama??
I have been dealing with it for a few weeks and it just hasn't gotten much better yet. I know it will. I know it will. I know it will. (I also know I am not the first to have to do this, and I am so blessed it is only part time.) She is staying with a great woman, her friend Allie is there, but still I want her with me. I have been reading others blogs (Summer) and they are having to take their kids to school. Ok now that, I just can't even imagine yet.
She is 6months old as of last week. She is amazing! We took her 6mo pics and they are to die for. My opinion of course. Just ask me, my parents, Bart, his parents, any of her aunts, her great grandparents, her great aunt, some babysitters, etc...we will all tell you she is amazing, and funny and beautiful, and a few more things. No bias here!!

Reasons Berkley is awesome:

- she is the easiest and happiest baby. no really she is.
- she smiles and laughs at everything and anyone.
- she loves when her poppi sings to her.
- she wiggles like a mad woman in her sleep and her daddy and I look at the video montior and crack up trying to guess where her head is versus a leg or arm. it is hilarious! (see picture in blog)
- when she wakes up she is so happy to see you. she lights up and squeels and pops up and down.
- she loves to play. she is so independent!
- when you read to her, she pats the book.
- she is so close to crawling and its so fun to watch her get up on hands and feet (all fours) and rock back and forth, and then she only goes backwards.
- she makes the best sounds and moves her mouth in the funniest ways.
- she eats everything you give her, so not like her momma.
- everything she can get into her mouth, goes in her mouth.
- she loves her daddy. seeing them together makes me melt.
- she loves bath time. its so fun to watch her splash around.
- when she snuggles up into my neck for kisses and hugs, its heaven.
- when she is starting to wake up in the morning, she doesn't cry...she starts to talk and sing and she reachers her hand up and plays with the ruffle on her bumper. i love her fingers.

Ok that's enough for now. That might have been longer than the magna carta. I love her so much.

(This is one of the times we found her moved around in her bed. About an hour before, when we put her to bed she was facing the other way, face down, in the middle of the bed. Somehow, it turned into what you see here.)
(Some of her amazing 6mo pictures taken by Angel Porch!)

Prayers welcomed for a stressed, worried, guilty feeling, frazzled momma.

Love and Blessings,
BB

24 weeks!

2010-08-05T20:38:00.000-05:00

Her new trick...Funny Faces!

A few posts combined....

2010-08-02T16:45:00.000-05:00

(She sent this picture along with a stylish purse to her Aunt Laura for her birthday! It was a hit.)

Well it has been a busy few weeks. Mostly great things. I have a very blessed life, a wonderful husband, family and child. Life is full and its great. We have had lake trips, weddings in Cabo, dinner with Coach Switzer, family in town, Berkley sitting up on her own, Berkley eating new foods, etc, etc, etc.

Through all of that I have been feeling like every few days I have been thrown for a loop. I get frustrated with myself when I feel disappointed, hurt or let down due to someone one else or a silly situation I come across. I get stuck on that negative thing and forget what good health we have, a home, a healthy/happy child and nothing to truly complain about. I haven't had to suffer loss of a family or friend and I have it so good compared to so many. I know I am so blessed but I feel like for so long I have been in a funk. While most who know me know I wear my heart on my sleeve...as in I am not good about hiding my feelings, I don't think most know what I am feeling deep down. It is usually surface joy or surface annoyance at something mundane that people see or experience around me. I hate that. I feel like I have had to have some major self examinations lately, make some hard decisions and choose Berkley/Bart and what is best for us over others and of course I look back, even to yesterday and know I have made a few mistakes too many. I hate disappointing people, or making a decision someone else doesnt like. I have a major problem with being a people please which majorly butts heads with my big mouth/opiniated self. I am very sensitive yet also strong. Too many contradictions!!

Praying for grace, direction, courage, forgiveness, and so much more.

Love and Blessings,
Brooke

***Below is most of July in a picture montage(sp?)***

5months.

2010-07-11T20:23:00.001-05:00

Thursday Tattletale....or let's call it what it is, a Brooke rant.

2010-07-01T21:45:00.000-05:00

I really want to post about the awesome Boston trip (with pictures), how big my baby is gettin,how excited I am for the 4th of July lake trip, etc. but instead I am gonna tell yall about my date night. I realize this is my take on what happened but if you need to verify just ask my hubby.

We drop of precious lil one at grandparents house, we eat, we go to movie, we run into Katie and Michael and then Dee (not together)and then we go on into the movie for our date night. We choose a lil snack, I complain that I would rather be at Eclipse or Toy Story, but we go walk into another movie and we settle in. I realize I am easily 'hiped' up by things so when I see 15+ teenagers come walking in, oh and by walking in I mean yelling, laughing, stomping, making a rukus I kinda sigh. "Here we go", I think, there is gonna be name calling and popcorn throwing and giggling and texting and phones going off. I didn't think I had to be in a classroom till August??

If that was all I saw tongiht I would have been a happy woman. Instead here is an account of my movie...

5 seats to my right there was a man, his wife and a teenager. They also had in tow a 3-ish year old little boy, and twin 1-ish year old little girls. My first thought is "why, why do they think this is appropriate for that age of children, and it has got to be bedtime!" Then I think (aloud to my husband) "why do people bring kids to movies? If it was Toy Story or something appropriate I am all for it, but a PG13+ adult humor movie at night I just will never understand." If you can't get a babysitter then you need to be an adult and choose to stay home and realize that taking your child to an adult movie, where others who want to watch the movie and only hear the actors talking, and have paid quite a bit to watch the movie, and it has got to be past that childs bedtime is flat out selfish (my opinion). Nway, I look over and try to think that maybe they are just those super good kids who are like always quiet and love movies no matter what they topic and they are gonna be quiet little angels. NOOOOOPE! They scream, they cry, they play on the stairs, they drink soda, they run up and down the isles, the dad takes them out...and by out I mean to the little hallway by the stairs where you can still see the movie so when they scream it is AMPLIFIED! Oh and did I mention the mom was taking turns nursing the twins?? Yes, yes you heard me right, she was. Now I nurse, I think its great she nurses, I even think its ok to nurse in public, but I personally would think it is appropriate to use a nursing cover when the child is old enough to pull your shirt up and down and expose you. Yes, I saw her bubbies. Nway, in between nursing the twins, they would drink soda. No, I am not kidding. The 1-ish year old twins were swiggin mommy milk and soda. Oh and yes I was watching this family more than the movie.

Seriously?? I was a hot mess.

Sorry for the rant. I have a great life, a great kid and a great husband. Life is good.

-BB

**Below are some lovely pictures of our Boston trip! It was fabulous. Horrid travel to and from but such a fun lil weekend. Love that city. Go SOX.
Oh and there are also some newer pics of my lil princess. She is 20 weeks! Where is the time going? Ugh! Oh she loves her feet, grabs them both and stick her lil booty up in the air. Love it. She had her 4mo check up...about 10 days before she is 5mo, oops! Nway, she is 14lbs.12oz, 24 3/4" long and her head is normal. :) She is right in the middle for everything. Rice Cereal here we come.

Sorry it is all out of order. I am not a great blogger.

neked baby!
loves the bath.
THE GREEN MONSTER
happy 18 weeks!
19 weeks and in love with her WUBBA NUB. Loves it.

Pedroia's winning hit!!!
Loved Fenway, loved the game.
My favorite. Papelbon came out from the bullpen and they played this awesome irish music and everyone got all pumped up and I was freaking out. LOOOVE that crazy fool.

Poop.

2010-06-15T21:12:00.000-05:00

Peek-A-Boo
Making faces with daddy.
We were taking a pic to send to Grandma Mabel.
Big girl! 4months old!
She loves looking at the TV. I will have to worry about this when she is like 2 but for now if it gives me time to eat or use the bathroom, she can stare. By stare I mean STARE.
She will stay like this and not move or squirm, which is so not like her.
She loves holding onto things. She will fall asleep like this.
She had just woken up and was a little grumpy. Kinda like her mommy is in the mornings. :) This was right before she shot her first commercial with daddy!
This is her new funny face. She smiles with her mouth closed. We think its to die for.

4months old...Lots of smiling and pooping:

So it seems my child no longer has issues with going #2. She wouldn't go without help for the first like 2.5mo of her life. Well she is making up for that! She poops all day everyday. Most days when I go get her out of her bed in the morning she has been squirming around so much that I am just praying it is not a poop all over the bed,sheets and mattress day. That has been 2 times this week so far. She has also pooped on her exersaucer, me, her bouncer, her changing table and her car seat. She bears down, makes the sound then laughs. I think my child is paying me back for all the years of torment I gave my parents!

We are leaving her for the first time overnight this week. We are going to BOSTON for the weeknd, and we get to go see our REDSOX at FENWAY! Needless to say we are super pumped. I am getting more nervous by the day though. She will be staying with my parents. They are great grandparents and keep her all the time, but they haven't had the pleasure of an overnight stay yet. Luckily she usually sleeps around 8-9hrs, eats and goes back down for another 3, but still. So in preparation of our trip I have basically been writing a "take care of Berkley manual". I doubt it will get read but I am gonna give it to them anyway and hope they humor me. It contains tricks for quickly defrosting breastmilk, how to make a bottle, how much to give her at each feeding, how to add a little formula at the nighttime bottle, it has how to put a baggie around the milk baggie in case it gets a little hole while thawing, it has tricks for naps, how to tell when she is sleepy, how to use the avent bottles with the little stopper things versus using the drop in liner bottles, and so on. It is exasperating, I know....but this is MY first child and so I get to make a manual if I want. Does it make it better that it's only 4pgs so far?? Ha.

She is 4months now! She loves standing up so she LOVES her exersaucer (we got one for BeBe and PaPa's house).She puts everything in her mouth, has started to grab her feet, loves being outside, and talks a lot! Sometimes it sounds like she is crying, but she is doing it with a smile while playing. She will crow and scream and laugh and is really happy. She doesn't just smile, she expresses her joy with her full being! It is really fun to watch. She has also started to do this funny smile where she smiles while her mouth is closed, kind of biting her lip and it is just so darn cute. I realize I am bias, but she really is the best...the love and joy of our lives. Especially when we have had a 9hr of sleep night with a 3 hr nap right after!

Love and Blessings,
BB

Swimming...swimming, just keep swimming!

2010-06-03T12:59:00.000-05:00

Daddy and Berkley swimmin!
Dads and Daughters
Loves standing up and loves her hat! Ok I love her hat. (14wks)
Snooze on the boat.
Allie snoozin on the boat. She was a sweet baby all weekend. Keep hopin she rubs off on mine. :)

Addie loved splashin around on the raft.

First lake trip of the season! Loved being up at the lake for Memorial Day Weekend. Babies kept us on our toes but we still had a great time. Next time might be sans kids but either way who can resist that water? It was warm, it's never warm this early in the year. It was fab!

15 weeks!

Rolling Along...

2010-05-25T18:11:00.000-05:00

Mother's Day!
Likes to pull her blankie up over her face...
At the Brewer Golf Tournament. It was hot!
This is how I left her...
This is how I found her literally a minute later....

Now that she can roll over, its all she wants to do. I will put her in her bouncy chair or swing and within 2 minutes she has started to try and roll over!

They will soar on wings like eagles...

2010-05-21T21:52:00.000-05:00

Isaiah Stone:
Always loved this picture of Isaiah!

While we were out of town some friends of ours experienced the worst thing I can imagine for a parent. It has been heavy on my heart but I know that it is nothing compared to what they are feeling and experiencing. I know nothing I can say will be what I want to express exactly but I feel I need to say something. Some friends of ours, Renzi and Leeanne Stone lost their beautiful, strong little boy this week. He was 11 months old and had been having seizures. He was so strong and his family so faithful and so AMAZING during the whole, long battle. He lost the battle but has won the race! He is with his Lord and I have no doubt he is smiling and laughing and playing basketball! I wanted to post because they have asked that people donate in his name and memory to Youth Leadership Oklahoma(there is a link to thier blog with information on my blog list). It is a great organization and I know they would appreciate anyone who donated. This family has had such a rough year, more than I can ever imagine and they have been so faithful, so strong and so upbeat. I am sure they didn't always want to be, or feel like smiling but they were strong for their older son Jackson and for everyone around them. I would have been a mess, I would have been angry and mad and everytime something came at them they fought through! They have been such an inspiration and I'm sure didn't even realize. This is close to my heart because I think so much of Renzi and Leeanne, but also because my husband lost his older sister in 1993. Every year his family has a golf tournament in her honor and to raise money for scholarships. That tournament is this coming week. When I started dating B, it was the week of the tournament. While I have learned so much about my husband and his family while we have been together I learned the most that first few weeks around the first tournament I was a part of. I saw their hearts and spirit. Losing a child is something a parent should never have to experience. Now that I have Berkley it just breaks me to think of what Ren and Lee have been thru and my own parents-in-law and still I can't imagine. Both sets of parents have chosen to celebrate the lives of the child they lost. They have both chosen to help others in their time of loss and through that they have glorified God. I pray that they feel God's love, His peace and His voice during a time that must feel very lonely and dark. I pray that anyone who reads this will stop for just a moment and send a prayer up for Isaiah and those he left here on earth who miss him and love him but whose job it is now to take care of his family. While we are friends we aren't their closest friends, but I feel so honored that I knew Isaiah, I even got to grocery shop with him one time. It was an absolute joy. It is a joy and honor to know the Stone family.

Isaiah 40:31 - May he soar on wings like eagles.

**I wanted to share just a snipit of the past week. I feel so blessed that I got to spend a week in the sun loving on my baby and enjoying time with my husband and his family.
Ok so she didn't sleep well. She regressed back to being up at 12:30 and 1:30 in the morning and every few hours after that, but who cares when you have this smiling face staring at you. How flippin cute is she?? Oh and she learned to roll over on the trip! SO fun. We are so blessed. More to come later.
Love and Blessings, bb

12 weeks and ready for the beach...

2010-05-05T21:19:00.000-05:00

She is practicing her good baby airplane behavior...napping! We hope. :)

Happy 12 weeks. She is super smiley, laughs at everything and she celebrated by snoozin in the car with her favorite zebra, well his leg.

Love and Blessings,
Brooke

My stupid body and I would like to thank my husband...

2010-05-02T14:45:00.000-05:00

Why you ask? He rocks, that's why. He takes care of me and our lil girl even when he has had a long day. He surprises us and spoils us rooten. By the way...he had a really long Friday and Saturday dealing with me, and he is still happily taking care of her today too!

Trying to not gross everyone out I will tell you what happened with little detail. I had surgery Saturday morning. It was outpaitent, I'm fine, but I can't really do anything for a few days. I am a little drugged up, and very sore. I had a device in me, it moved from where it was supposed to be up into my pelvis. Really? Yes, really...I am that person. The 1 in a 1000 that it happens to. Nway,the doctor couldn't find it, the ultra sound couldn't find it (not a fun process)...but the XRay found the little booger. So...Surgery. Boo!

Nway, it kinda put a hiccup in my weekend plans and since we are leaving on vaca soon it put a little hiccup in getting ready for that. All that said,I have a great life, I am healthy, I have a great husband and family and I am very lucky that nothing more serious was going on. Having an 11 week old to feed and take care of is a little challenging though, hence my mom/dad had her all day Saturday so Bart could focus on me. Thank you mom/dad! Nicole had her all Friday afternoon (when this all started), thank you Nicole! Bart has been taking care of me and lil B and helping me get her milk from me to her and keeping the house running, etc.! Those that know me well, know I have control issues. I also like things done my way so this whole being in bed and not doing anything is killing me. Yes I love sleep, but when I choose it. It is also annoying not remembering who I have talked to or what I have done from hour to hour. I will talk on the phone or via text, then 2 hours later go back and re-read or ask Bart what I said because I can't exactly remember. It has been a whirlwind of a weekend but I am on the mend moving forward!

Please keep me in your prayers. I have nothing to complain about and no real issues compared to most but I would like to heal well and quickly so I can get back to feeling better. I want to pick up lil B and move about as I please taking care of her.

A couple fun things have come from it though...I am catching up on some DVR'D shows and a little series I rented from the video store. I love watching 2 or 3 seasons of something in a few days. I'm a loser like that. If I get into something, like one of my books or shows, I can't put it down or stop watching. OH, because of all this I can't do CrossFit for a while though so I am sad about that. I was really enjoying it and won't be able to get back into it for a few weeks. (I will miss you guys at CF405 till I can start back!)

Berkley is doing well. Gaining weight like crazy...she likes to eat like her mommy. :) We are looking forward to having her in the sun and seeing how she likes the water.

God is good. Life is good.

Love and Blessings,
Brooke

2 years later...

2010-04-25T22:33:00.000-05:00

TV is going up on the wall and all that equipment being put away and of course some pics of B will be displayed instead!

We finally got bedroom furniture. We have been using tray tables and janky lamps, not cute mismatched but scary mismatched and mine was broken. Anyway, the room isn't done, TV needs to be hung, a mirror or two to put up and what not but its so close! Furniture, check. Lamps that work, check. Bedding, bedskirt, table skirt, check. I love walking in my room now. My husband likes to keep commenting on how the lamps aren't functional. They are kinda tall, ok really tall, and you can't reach them while laying in bed. I realize for most that function would haven kept them from buying these particular lamps but I never do things the easy way. If you know me you are not shocked by this. The lamps are pretty, that is their function. Simple as that.

My child is almost 11 wks old! She has been super smiley lately and sleeping a little longer at nights. We are hopeful she will be ready for vaca in a couple weeks and sleeping thru the night! Don't tell me if you don't agree... I prefer to stay in ignorant bliss. :) She laughs out loud for no reason and I love that about her. I also love that I can put big bows on her and since she is mine and can't talk yet...she can't tell me no. OH and her BM issues have gotten better the past few days. I doubt anyone reading this really wants to hear about bathroom stuff but when your lil one is having problems and they finally start going the bathroom without help then you will jump for joy and call your husband to tell him about it. She has gone 3 times within 5 days! Ok enough of that. Oh did I tell you she was sleeping in her bed? When she sleeps that is. Glad that pretty bed is gettin some use.
Looking up at dad who is tryin to make her smile...
It worked!

She gets distracted easily...who does that remind you of?
10 wks. - clearly annoyed with her mom. Hope it isn't a sign of things to come. Ok it prob is, who am I kidding?

CF - CrossFit is going well! Kicking my booty but it feels good to be doing something and it helps me wake up in the morning! I have enjoyed meeting some new girls and I am trying to get a friend to start going with me so I look forward to getting my heart, lungs and body in better shape. My knees are killing me when I run and my lungs seems to have jumped back in better than my body. Being a mom who is serving milk out of my body, who is large in the milk supply area, has been making running a challenge. 2 sports bras later I think I have figured it out, then another hump in the road. Another infection in the milk supply area. Seriously? 3rd time. I am so over infections.

Ok so here is a story to make anyone laugh or gasp. I realize boys are different than girls, especially 3 yr old boys but here is what took place as I pulled into my parents house yesterday. I am about to pull into the driveway and I see the lil boy that lives across the street walking on the sidewalk in front of his house, away from the house to the empty lot next door. I kinda wondered why he was out there alone but maybe his mom/dad were close by in the garage and I just didn't see them?? Ok so he starts to mess with his shirt pulling it up, and then I realize he is taking his pants down. ALL the way down. He then knelt down over a sewer and relieved himself. He smiled at me the whole time. I of course not being able to mind my own business told him if he needed to go potty that bad he should do it inside his house (that was right there), or in the grass but not in that water because it went out to the fishies and they didn't like potty in their water. Ok I realize as a new parent I will eat my words as my child grows, and I hope I dont offend anyone but the parents weren't there, and I think they should have been at least outside considering he is 3 and it he was basically in the stree. I also think he was doing it because he is a stinker. If it was out in the woods, or an emergency on the side of the road, or at the park or whatever when there is not a bathroom close is one thing, but in front of your house where I know there is a perfectly acceptable bathroom, pretty much in the street unsupervised, in the drain is another story. Come on people. I will say I did laugh really hard as I went inside to tell B what I had just seen. Maybe his parents were watching the whole time laughing or not caring, if so...to each his own and not my problem. I kinda do kinda think we shouldn't urinate in the drain though.

On a little bit of a sad note: my grandad has had a mass on his leg for quite some time. We found out it is malignet (sp?) and so he starts treatment this week. They live down on a farm in SE Oklahoma and love it down there. They will be here though in the city for the next 5 wks while he does radiation and that is hard for them to not be able to go home. We will be taking him every day and hope that he might even do well enough that the treatment won't have to be the full 5 wks. We feel blessed because they think its contanied and the radiation will shrink it enough that when the doc goes in to take it out it will be done with. Say a lil prayer all goes well! They are happy though becaue they are getting to spend time with lil B!

Long post. Oops.

Love and Blessings,
BB

Vaca Countdown: 18 days!

9 weeks and growing - Berkley that is...

2010-04-15T18:17:00.000-05:00

Hanging with Milan
Eyein Brady's cookie
8 weeks
9 weeks
Fun at Kayt's 2yr Birthday. Loved being outside with Mommy, Daddy and friends!

It has been 9 weeks! I feel like I just had her yesterday and then again I feel like I have had her forever now! Same with being prego. It seems like it was just last week and then again it feels like forever ago...until I look at myself and realize that prego body is still kickin. I am into my 2nd week with CF though and so with the killer workouts they serve up I know I will be in better shape than ever if I stick with it. It's awesome, but a booty kickin every time!

Berkley is doing good - growin and eating non stop. She is 11lbs now and feels so heavy! I realize that is still small but, my lil chunck is so big to me. She is still not doing great with tummy/BM stuff but her awake time is better and nighttime sleep is slowly starting to have longer stretches. She will play on her mat or hangout in her bassinet for a little while and just kinda look around or coo. She still won't do it for very long but it is a start! She loves to be held (spolied much?) and will let you know if she wants to be picked up or change positions. I wonder where she gets that from?? :) We are going on a family vaca in May so I am hoping she will be a little more consistent by then with her eating/sleeping schedule! Feel free to give advice and pray for me. Ha.

We love her and laugh at her all the time. We love the smiles and sounds she is starting to give us. It is so amazing to have her smile when I talk to her, or show off for friends and family. She is the first grandbaby on both sides so I am sure you can guess her grandparents LOVE her to pieces. Her greatgrandparents too, aunts, etc. We are so thankful for everyone who loves her and wants to play with her and keep her so we can visit with friends, run errands and go on dates! I am also very thankful to my husband - he gets up and does 4am feedings when I am too tired and every night when he comes home...he kisses me and takes her happily to give me a break. He is also happy to do it. Love that man.

Love and Blessings,
Brooke

2 year Anniversary!

2010-04-05T21:51:00.000-05:00

Happy Anniversary!
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad
Crazy Face
She loves her some Auntie Laura
Hoppy Easter :) Had fun with Papa, Grandmommie, Aunt Lindsay and Aunt Tonya.

What a fun week...Easter and Anniversaries!

Happy Anniversary to my awesome husband. I don't think he reads this but just in case...it was a great day and I had fun with you and love how special you make our time together.

What a great and crazy 2 years we have had. We now have our lil girl to celebrate with us, even though we ditched her for a date night. :) She got to hang out with her Aunt Laura who is in town for the week and I am pretty sure they had fun. Laura got some funny pictures while they played.

Easter was fun with the families. Berkley is a lil young so we mainly just took some pictures of her dressed up, no baskets this year.

Also....dun dun dun. I started working out again. My pants will thank me I hope. I started CrossFit. I was inspired by two of my fav girls Ginny and Nicole. I don't plan on being CrossFit crazy like Ginny and competing, or getting certifited to instruct like Nicole, but a MWF workout I welcome with open arms. Let's pray I can eat better to so that the workouts actually can show through! I went to my first elements class today where you learn what to do in the classes. Boy am I sore. That is super sad considering it wasn't a real workout. I just practiced. I mean come on. On the other hand I can tell how much I needed it and I am super excited for Wednesday. Wish me luck!

Love and Blessings,
Brooke

week 6 - busy busy!

2010-03-28T13:27:00.000-05:00

Aunt Mere and Kayt
All dressed up for church!
Chris and Steph's wedding. So fun to see all the old gang and have everyone meet Berkley!
6 weeks!

Over the past couple of weeks we have had ups and we have had downs. Everyone said to be ready for all this, but until you are going through it it just doesn't quite hit home.

Tummy problems - Berkley has had some tummy issues. Not sure if its my diet, constipation only or a mix of that and reflux. Poor thing had 2 weeks in a row where she only went to the bathroom when I gave her something to help her which was no fun for me or her. Doctor said not to worry and I did of course, but she is back on track I think and doing better. She takes a little pear juice everyday and that has seemed to help also. She is gaining weight like crazy though! She was having some major spit up issues, borderline throwing up at almost every feeding. She had gone thru a little growth spurt where she wanted more milk, so I upped her intake. Well we found out that mommy (me) produces more milk and produces it quicker than most so she was getting too much. Overeating at 4 weeks! So now the lil eater is on a diet(not really). I have to cut her off and then make sure all the burping and spittin up is done before we move on with our day. Well that went great for a couple weeks and then this week, week 6 she has decided to have another growth spurt and does major cluster feeds in the evenings. During the day/night she has been eating a little more and it made for a couple really good nights. It's crazy because you get the hang of something and then it changes!

Oh but she is smiling! I don't mind being pooped on/thrown up on because when she smiles at me, its all worth it.

She loves her bathtime... or maybe the sound of the water, but either way if she is having a melt down we can plop her in that water and she is so content. I think that its from the fact that I take a bath and read every night, so she got used to a bath every night when I was prego. It is our relax, calm time each day. Sometimes more than once. :)

She also loves going on walks...or maybe I love going on walks because it puts her right to sleep.

Busy week - we had lunch with daddy (her's) and then 2 different days lunch with some friends. Mommy loves lunch out. We had playtime and went on some windy but good walks with friends, hung with aunt lindsay, went to her first wedding and finally went to church. I was so excited to make it to church, we had been failing in the getting up and getting ready on time but we made it and she did great! She pretty much slept the whole time and really didn't squirm or squeak at all till the last song.

Sleep- what is that? Well I actually remembered 2 nights this week! 2 nights in a row I only had to get up once and it was either like 12am which I do easily or not until 6or7am which her daddy does well. She slept 6-7 hours 2 nights in a row. What was even better, both those nights she went right back down for another 4-5 both times. I knew it wouldn't last but we sure enjoyed it while it lasted. We look forward to 10-12 weeks when I hear most little ones will sleep thru the night. We have a trip in May and my goal is to have her sleeping thru the night/having dropped the middle of the night feedings by then. Who wants to be on vaca and getting up at 2am and 5am? Will it work?? Who knows, but I sure can try. :)

Love and Blessings,
BB

Berkley is 4 weeks old!

2010-03-14T17:04:00.000-05:00

Picture updates:

hangin with friends...
4 weeks
naptime with dad
2 weeks

Well time is flyin by and boy are we worn out! We love it but holy cow it's been 4 weeks and I am not sure where the days have gone. She is doing great, started the normal baby fussy times at night, which are always fun. ha. SHe is a big eater, gained 22ounces in less than 2 weeks. She might have been overeating a little bit. We have had to limit her a tad so she doesn't spit it all back up! Those were a messy few days figuring that out. She is more awake and alert every day and we are pretty sure she thinks we are funny and laughs/smiles at us. We realize that she really doesn't, but she is ours so we can think what we want.

First Bath!

2010-02-20T14:21:00.001-06:00

Bath time before and after! She loved it. We loved it.

More pictures...can't help it, we kinda like her.

2010-02-15T18:58:00.000-06:00

She is 4 days old and we are so in love with our baby girl! She makes the cutest faces, sounds and movements. We of course think she is the most beautiful lil thing ever! God has truly blessed us. He answered every prayer and in a much better way than we could have ever asked or imagined. His plan is always so much better than ours.

Thank you all for the kind words, prayers and love sent our way and to Berkley.

Blessings and Love,
brooke

Berkley Bridget Brewer

2010-02-13T06:58:00.000-06:00

Leaving for the hospital! She didn't come for almost 20 more hours.
Grandpa Tom
Grandpa Jeff
Aunt Cyn and Uncle Todd
Berkley's new friend Allie. Allie was born 3 weeks ago!
Some of our friends came to visit! Milan, Morgan and Brady...
Look at that booty!
Grandma Bobbie
Dr. Goff - WE LOVE HIM!
She loves to snuggle. I love it.

Well folks...the baby is in the building! We are so excited to have her here! Berkley came at 1:02pm on Thursday, Feb.11th. It was a long labor but delivery was quick and overall everything went well. She weighed 7lb 5oz at birth and is 19 3/4". We take her home today (Saturday) and she is right at 7lbs. She is doing great so far. B and I are sleepy of course but hanging in there.

We have had lots of wonderful family and friends to see her already and look forward to having Berkley meet many more family members and friends.We got some pictures and tried to remember to take them with visitors but of course forgot sometimes. I've posted some pictures to introduce our lil girl to the world.

For those of you that didn't know we named her Berkley Bridget Brewer. We of course both have B names and kinda went with it. It is totally a mouth full, as are our names already, but now we have done it to our child too! Hopefully she won't mind to much. Her middle name, Bridget is after B's older sister who passed away in October of 1993. We wanted to honor her in some way and we think Berkley will be a great bearer of the name!

Thank you for all the sweet comments, well wishes and prayers during the pregnancy. We are so thankful for all of those who helped us get to this wonderful new time in our lives.

Blessings and Love,
Brooke (Bart and Berkley)

37 1/2 weeks, bring on the baby!

2010-02-03T00:18:00.000-06:00

Well other than a pillow and a couple more things to hang the room is done! Bedding is in, clothes are washed, diapers put away, curtains are up(awaiting their pull backs)and even though she won't be in her crib for a few weeks it is ready with clean sheets for when her time in the bassinet is over. We technically have 19 days till her due date arrives, even though I am still hoping for a tad earlier, but whenever she comes, we can't wait for Berkley to be here! I have a huge basketball(or maybe two) pulling at my back and I feel huge. It is so werid to look at myself and realize I have baby in me. I realize by now I should have accepted it and come to terms with it all, but it still boggles me. Really, it does. Even with the room, the kicking, the weird body stuff going on, I can't comprehend that we are going to have a baby in a couple weeks. Me and a baby. Oh bless.

On a fun note...Berkley enjoyed her first night of LOST tonight. How frustrating and excting it all was. So many new players and questions and twists. I love it.

Love and Blessings,
brooke

City Planner...or something like that.

2010-01-24T23:58:00.000-06:00

36 weeks! 4 more to go...or hopefully less. I want her to cook as long as she needs but I'd be ok with sooner than later. Come on Berkley...come out! Give me my ribs back. :)

City Planner...or something like that. If you are reading this you probablly know me pretty well and thus know I have too many opinions and so if you don't want to hear one of them then quit reading now or you may add to the list of reasons to roll your eyes at me. But...if you have stuck around long enough in my life, you hopefully have learned to love me even with all my faults such as this one. If not...well that's ok too.

One of my many faults is judging things. I really truly don't do it with a mean heart but I realize that doesn't make it ok. I have worked on it and I do think I have matured and grown in many ways but still I judge... christmas lights, car colors, how people park, music lyrics, customer service, and most recently how cities should be laid out. There are many more but I would like to say a word about city planning. I am sure we all do this but I talk about it...again most people are smart and keep it to themselves. NOT ME! Nope, I love to say what I am thinking, outloud.

Ok, so the whole point is I think I should be a city planner. I would like to warn you this is not real city planning, this is Brooke planning and how I think I would be really good at deciding where my favorite resturants, stores, gas stations and other such things should be placed around Edmond. When I see a new piece of land being cleared, or a new building going up I find the need to tell anyone near me what I think it should be and why and really that we actually need more green and trees so I just end up annoyed at more buildings. I really think I have good reasons behind my thoughts, but don't we all?

Example: There is a new shopping center going up at the corner at 2nd/Western. That whole area if you were a developer or someone like that...someone wanting to make money could really do well. There are new neighborhoods, a big church, schools and tons of land and the closest good resturants are over by the mall and boutique shopping is way down Penn or over on the other side of Edmond. In this particular shopping center they are putting in a Louie's which I think is great, but I would also like them to add a Panera and some boutique shopping too. I think it would do amazing in that area. There are like 4 elementary schools withink 1/2 a mile and teachers need a great quick lunch place. There are 2 highschools within maybe 3 miles...again teenagers at lunch, great idea. Sunday lunches at Louie's and Panera- hello there is a huge church 1/2 a mile down the street, tons of neighborhoods and there is nothing out that way! That corner could also use a Chick-fil-a, Chili's, Cafe 501 (ok I realize that would be amazing but never gona happen. They are putting one on Western, just wayyy down near Classen). Ok nway, the point is I really think that I could be good at this whole deciding where things should go. OH and I would put a MidFirst over on Memorial and Kelly. There is no MidFirst anywhere on the southeast side of Edmond. It's just werid.

Ok I am done. :)

Blessings and Love,
brooke

P.S. On a serious note...I have some amazing friends and family members and through them I have some amazing aquaintences. I know a girl who's baby boy has been going through so many medical issues and she has chosen to look to the Lord and stay faithful when most would be beaten down. It is such an inspiration. I have a great friend who is one of the happiest people I know, most supportive wives I know and a great friend to anyone around her. What an amazing gift to truly love people and love the world around you. I have a great friend who is a great mom, and who I pray I can be an ounce like her. I have people I know who are serving others in Honduras and Brazil and other places. They have literally picked up their lives and gone to serve the Lord and his children. What an amazing heart these people have, such unselfish choices they all made. I know people that have know idea the amazing gifts they have, but I get to witness them all the time. I look at all these amazing people around me that I have the honor of knowing. I appreicate all my friends and my family (like my amazing mom and my amazing husband) and I am so thankful Berkley will have all these people in her life. I know she would be in trouble if she only had me raising her so thank you to those of you inspire, guide without knowing and lead me so that I can be a better person and mom. I realize I just ranted about something silly like city planning, but as I am about to have a child it is humbling to think I won't have to do it alone. I get to do it with amazing friends and family and mentors who love me, support me, forgive me, see the best in me even when I don't deserve it and stick by me no matter what. Thank you Lord for all these people. Continue to bless them and surround them with your love.

It is getting close...

2010-01-19T23:48:00.001-06:00

The room is pretty much done, clothes are washed and put away, we have diapers and wipes and blankets and everything I think she will need. I am ready for her to come. Technically I have about 4 weeks left, but I am good with it being less than that. :) I kinda constantly ache. I am glad I can feel her move and groove...I am glad she is still cookin and growing but it has put a major hiccup in my getup. I am back to being exhausted and everything kinda hurts. OH well- I will be going sleepless here soon (or so I hear). :)

Some of our good friends had their lil girl this morning. We have enjoyed going thru pregnancy together. This is her second so she has been great for advice. We got pedi's last week in anticipation that she would need to have her feet lookin good. We were right. Little Allie came about a week early. She is perfect and came into the world happily and very easily on her mom. It gives me hope for the same type of labor/delivery. My nightmares and all the stories I see on TV or hear from other friends have me thinking the worst but after seeing Allie today and hearing her delivery story I feel much better. Praise God for a healthy baby.

Allie Featherstone-1/19/2010-7lbs1oz.

While walking into the hospital to greet this new life I couldn't help think of all the babies and people in Haiti and all over the world who are suffering. We are so lucky to live in the USA, to have all the wonderful modern medical technology and knowledge...to have all the blessings we have and all the opportunities we are able to take advantage of. Thank you Lord for blessing all of us.

Oh and I was also thinking and telling B as we were walking up the steps...OH MYLANTA! We will be back here in a few weeks and we will not be leaving alone. Berkley will be here. That is a WEIRD feeling.

Love and Blessings,
Brooke

Washington, D.C. - great trip!

2010-01-10T18:10:00.000-06:00

Rotunda at the Capitol.

White House - so cool all that is behind those walls!

Bart at the Lincoln Memorial.

Well, we made it to DC and back with no baby coming on the plane! My husband was thrilled. The pressure during take off and landing was a little weird. I think she kept balling up behind my ribs, very high up in there...so that was a little uncomfortable! Overall though, I flew well and for me that's a huge accomplishment. I did use my sleepy/nausea meds but that doesn't count. ;)

We saw everthing! It was so amazing. If you are an American you need/should go to DC and see what our nation was built around. All the historical documents, the goverment buildings and national monuments are amazing. It was so surreal to be standing in front of Lincoln and knowing how many have walked those same steps. It is surreal to be in the Capitol and know that in a week our law makers and representatives will be walking those halls. It is crazy to look at the White House and know that somewhere inside our President is walking around doing the best he can (hopefully) for the American people and for our freedom! We went to Arlington Cemetary and that might have been my favorite place. Weird, I know...but to look at the tomb of the Unknown's and to see the changing of the guard and the whole ceremony just makes you shiver with pride. JFK's tomb and the flame that never dies -all that his presidency represents...it truly made me feel so thankful for all our liberties and all that we are able to do in the US. I am so thankful for the men and women who fight for our freedom so that we can walk around DC and around our state capitols and make laws and enforce our constitution! The Constitution - holy cow! What an amazing thing to see in person. To know that men sat together so long ago and came up with that, wow! It was humbling. I feel so blessed to have been able to go to our Nation's Capitol.

The shops and food and the little towns around DC were awesome too! :) I loved Georgetown and just north of the Capitol there are some great shops and resturaunts. It was all so great. What a cool place to live. I wasn't that great at the whole METRO system but it was better than traffic!

On a side note - We stayed at the Gaylord National (really cool), got to eat some great food and see some of the cool areas outside of DC. I of course hurt my foot (bad actually), luggage got lost in St. Louis, leg cramps galore, hobbled all around DC, and I am still exhausted from walking around but still so thrilled at all I got to see and do. Oh and my husband got to hear Colin Powell speak - how cool is that? He had jokes...B enjoyed it. :)

OH and.......... We got back at midnight Friday from DC and Saturday night some of our sweetest and dearest friends had a couple's baby shower for us. We got our stroller/carseat (yeah - she can come home from the hospital when we have her!) We are so blessed to have all these wonderful people in our lives.

I forgot my camera at the girl's shower at my second mama's house (Cynthia)... so when I get my mom's camera I will post some of those. If you have met my mom you know she took lots of pics and was hugging and smiling the whole time! Those special women who did that for me and the women helping Kerry Pope next week (which I am so looking forward to) are all so amazing. I am so blessed and so overwhelmed with all the love and just want to say thank you to all the wonderful people in my life who have made Berkley's arrival so special. We are so thankful.

Love and Blessings,
Brooke