7 Months

Brooklyn was 7 months old on 3-17! Wow time is lying by! She has the happiest personality, we feel so blest! We love our princess so much!!!

She is such a little ham! She absolutely loves attention, can you tell? Whenever we go out I usually get stopped numerous times with people telling me how adorable my daughter is. I just smile like a proud mom and say, "I know!" I don't think I ever get tired of hearing it!

She is so helpful! She was helping me put the laundry away in her room and not having any fun.

Mom's first attempt to paint her toe nails! Hopefully I get better as she gets less squirmy! At first it looked pretty bad but after a day the the oopsies wore off of the skin and it looked so cute!!

Can you believe she got all of these toys out on her own? Ok, well most of them anyway!

Spring is Here

The first weekend in March we had a wonderful family outing! We had a picnic lunch at the park then explored the newest attraction to NW Arkansas, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The weather was wonderful (70 and sunny)

February

February has been a busy month filled with lots of changes! The first day of the month Mom discussed the option of working part time with her boss. At first it seemed hopeful that I would be able to work a few hours a week, but it turned out that they were not able to accommodate that schedule. So... I will be staying home for good! It came with bitter sweet emotions. Working has been such a large part of what defines me as a person that letting go of that aspect of my life was hard to fathom. Once it finally set in, I now feel relief! I no longer have to decide whether or not I want to leave Brooklyn. Now I just need to focus on being the very best mother, wife, and homemaker!!

I had the best birthday this year! One of my good friends watched Brooklyn so I could have the afternoon to myself and go shopping! It was wonderful! I wanted to update my wardrobe with "mommy attire." I know what you are thinking, I already have tons of clothes. In my defense, most of those are boring work clothes. I need "casual, comfy, easy to wash and wear" clothes. I had a hay-day then picked up Chinese take out on the way home and snuggled with my 2 favorite people while watching a chick flick. Best day ever!!! My wonderful husband got me a fossil watch, and 2 pairs of comfy shoes (which I wear one of them every single day)! Good job babe!!!

We hosted a superbowl party on Sun Feb 5th and lots of people Brooklyn's age came! It was so fun to see her playing with the other kids!


We woke up to snow on Feb 13th!! We thought it would pass by this year with nothing, but we did receive a few inches. Brooklyn wasn't quite sure what to think. Hopefully we will have more next year when she can play in it!


Valentines Day!! - We both got so excited that we couldn't wait til the evening to exchange gifts! At lunch John brought me flowers, a card that almost brought tears to my eyes, and made me a coupon book which held the most thoughtful things (dinner for a week, girls weekend, massages without having to return the favor, cleaning the house, you get the the drift). I love my husband so much! It is amazing how Heavenly Father knows us so well. He knows exactly what we need, WAY better than we do! I am so grateful that he brought me and John together. The more we get to know each other, the more I realize that he has EVERYTHING I would ever want in a companion. Things that I didn't realize were important to me at the time of dating, John somehow has exactly what I need and would want in that aspect of a husband. I am always telling him how grateful I am! I truly am the luckiest girl in the World!

Brooklyn turned 6 months on Feb 17th!! I can't believe half a year has gone by!! Our little princess is so big! She smiles all the time, sits up very well on her own, and is just such a happy baby! She brings so much joy into our home and into our hearts! We love our princess more than words can express!




I am having so much fun!!! I have lots of ideas floating around in my head and can't wait to get started!!! I have been keeping busy learning how to cook fun meals (I have only made the same recipe a handful of times over the past 6 months and most of them are actually good), bake (bread, cookies, cakes, pizza crust, breadsticks, cornbread, etc.) crafts, play dates, serving in YW, couponing (I am not sure if I am saving money or actually spending more because I feel like I need to use the good coupons), cleaning and organizing the house, sending clothes and household items to consignment stores (that is my way of making money right now), shopping, our landscaping (thanks Lindz) plus many more fun things!!! Did I mention painting and re-doing the decor in each room? John is excited about that one!


Doesn't it look nice? I am not quite done but am at least feeling content for a while. I still have visions of new curtains, throw pillows, and a few new pieces for the wall. I decided to pace myself so I don't run out of projects. I have a list of things to do from now until the end of the year! :)

January

We started the new year with a BANG!!! Literally! We hosted New Year's Eve at our house this year! We had a fun evening filled with homemade bbq chicken pizza, fireworks, sparkling cider, and of course cards! So fun!!! We were lucky enough to have my whole family here in addition to my Aunt Tammy and her family. We lit fireworks in the front yard and had laughs when a few sparks started on the neighbor's lawn. Tori's car was a little close to the fireworks but luckily no damage was done. We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning having a wonderful time.

Brooklyn turned 5 Months on 1-17-12. She is at such a fun stage!!! She is so happy and smiles all the time!! She is able to hold things very well (as you can see)! She is so curious and loves to grab anything in sight and try to put it in her mouth!! We have so much fun watching her laugh! Especially daddy, he can get her to giggle better than anyone else!

She rolled over for the first time on 1-16-12. Almost 5 months to the day!! She still doesn't love to be on her tummy very long but it is so cute to watch her roll over!!

She loves being in the same room as mommy and actually hates to be left alone, sound like anyone else you know? So we have found creative ways to allow her to "help" mommy around the house. She usually rides in the laundry basket while I take it from the laundry room to the living room. Of course laughing the whole time!

Christmas

We were able to have Jessie and Darrian come and stay with us the week before Christmas. It was so fun to have them in our home and to see Darrian play with Brooklyn.

We went to my mom's lake house on Christmas Eve. It was fun to have James, Jessie, Darrian, and Ricky with us this year. It has been several years since they have been able to join us for Christmas. We opened all of our presents right before bed.

Brooklyn spent the whole evening on one Grandma's lap or the other. She was so fascinated with the paper.

Too much excitement, she got tuckered out!

Christmas morning we went to church then had Christmas dinner at Grandma Dottie's. Isn't she beautiful in her new Christmas dress? Thank you Grandma Pearson!

Brooklyn got to meet MeMe for the first time!!

When it was all said and done, we had a wonderful Christmas season! It was so fun to have a little one! We are looking forward to next year when she will running around and even more excited about the holidays!

Brooklyn 4 Months

I can hardly believe Brooklyn is 4 Months!! We have started her on cereal and man she just loves food!! She eats whatever is put in front of her, can you tell by the chubby cheeks?

Utah Holiday Trip

We started this holiday with a trip to Utah in early December. We were a little worried about the flight but Baby B was a champ! She didn't even make a peep on the plane. She ate and slept almost the entire time. We were such proud parents!!!

Once we landed in Utah we had a wonderful evening with Grandma and Grandpa Pearson and the Sizzler (it was good to be full after a day of travel and eating like birds on the plane!) The next day was Grandpa Hawke's Christmas Dinner at the Maddox. It was Brooklyn's first time to meet most of daddy's family and she thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention for awhile. We all enjoyed a wonderful dinner and time with family!

It was so cute to see that Mallory and Brooklyn have similar taste in style. They "accidentally" ended up in the same outfits a few times on this trip. Honestly it wasn't even planned, I think their mommies' both really like Carters.

We were able to do so many fun things on this trip!! I was able to see Forgotten Carols for the first time and really enjoyed it! It was a powerful story!! We also were able to spend time with John's Mission President, President Hill. In addition, my Aunt Jammey and her kids were able to watch Brooklyn while John and I attended the Draper temple for the first time since our sealing. It was so fun to see the excitement Allix, Shea, and Crawford had to be with the baby. We were also able to have a fun girlie craft day and make BYU wreaths! We always enjoy a game night or two while in town but this trip I especially enjoyed our game of screwy Louie while drinking Pom Pom's surprise milkshake and guessing the ingredients. To top off the trip, we found some steals at the local thrift and of course the outlet malls.

By far one of the highlights of the trip was our family dinner and the sibling gift x-change. We enjoyed a wonderful meal at the Spaghetti factory. Of course during dinner the babies needed naps so the awesome dads graciously volunteered to put them to sleep. The food was so yummy, as you can tell by the full bellies!!

Brooklyn was even able to get her picture with Santa! Thanks goodness her cousin Jordyn was with her so she wasn't scared of his beard!

We all had a blast with the sibling gift exchange. John got off easy this year because I made purses for Kristen and Janalyn, of course with the help of Momma Pearson. I recieved a beautiful homemade notebook from Elizabeth and John got a sweet Red Sox wallet. The best gift of the night was Grandma's cruise and bikini. It was hilarious to see her face when she opened the box!!! There was also another funny event! I was in charge of PomPom's gift which was a golf club. I was so proud of myself, well turns out it was left handed! So needless to say we all got some laughs from that as well!

To top off the evening we went to see the lights at Temple Square! It was a cold night and everyone was bundled to keep warm. The funniest thing though was that PomPom found a shopping cart and the kids all piled in. They looked like a homeless family walking down the side walk.

The lights at Temple Square were beautiful and reminded me of the beauty and purpose of this wonderful time of year!

The trip also ended with a bang, a BYU basketball game. Another first for Mommy and Baby B. Can you believe that Brooklyn slept? The stadium was almost packed so it was extremely loud! She was a good girl the whole time then got tired so she just closed her eyes and went to sleep. We were all impressed.

After the game, Brooklyn had a blowout in the car. I won the "Mother of the Year" award for not even having an extra pair of clothes in the diaper bag. We had to wrap her bottom half in a blanket and she only had her jacket on top. Can you believe she went to lunch like this? I was so embarrassed when John wrapped her up on the table for all to see. Luckily Janalyn let us borrow some of Mallory's clothes so B wasn't dressed like a homeless baby for too long. After lunch we went to Provo Beach Resort and had a blast!!! Dave, John, Roger, Cindy and I did the surfing simulation and man was it fun. I think we all had a few battle scars, but we got some sweet footage. It was a great end to our trip!