6 Months old

Can you believe it? She is already 6 months old? The time has definitely flown. I have enjoyed every minute of being home with her; especially once we figured out her tummy issues. She has become such an animated and loud girl. We are entertained by her every day. On Friday night Keith and I were trying to watch a movie. She "talked" and made tooting noises for a good 30 minutes. Keith and I tried to take some 6 month pictures of her yesterday but she was more interested in playing with the dogs. She is not very gentle with them so they try to keep a safe distance. Sometimes Jackson will venture closer for some licking.
Here are some fun facts about Brooke at 6 months:
*She is finally in a size 2 diaper
*She is wearing 6 month clothes
*She is wearing a size 2 shoe
*She is eating baby oatmeal every day
*She sleeps 12-13 hours every night and takes 3 naps during the day
*She LOVEs people. She will go to anyone that wants to hold her.
*She can hold her own bottle
*The jumparoo is her favorite place to play
*She did her first couple crawls this week
*She can take her paci out and put it back in (sideways)
*She has been on 3 round trip airline flights
*She still loves bath time
*She drools so much that we go through 3-4 bibs a day
*She likes to be in the bumbo seat and watch people cook in the kitchen
*She loves the dogs
*She is almost able to sit up on her own

Cinnamon Pecans

One of the great things about being a McSpadden is the tradition of making Cinnamon Pecans at Christmas. Keith's grandparents have a pecan farm in Oklahoma and they put out a big crop every year. Keith's mom was nice enough to pass on the recipe. I made my first batch of pecans about a week ago. I gave some to the neighbors, mailman and friends. People are going nuts, ha, over this sweet treat. I made another batch this weekend and Brooke decided she wanted to help.
**Disclaimer - I realize that she appears to be too close to the knives on the counter. She cannot reach the knives and I was watching her the whole time.
Anyway, we had a great time making cinnamon pecans. We saved a pretty good size bowl for ourselves. Hopefully they will last until my family comes in town to visit.
I also put a couple pictures of Brooke on here after we "winterized" her car seat. SHe is much warmer now. Our temps are not supposed to be over 25 degrees for the next 10 days. Brrrrrr.......

Thanksgiving

I can't believe that Thanksgiving was a whole week ago. I am so late in posting this blog. We flew to Dallas on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. When we arrived in Dallas we were met with only one of our suitcases. Luckily it was the suitcase with all of Brooke's clothes. We reported our other bag missing. The bag clerk said the bag was still in Pittsburgh and would be on the next flight to Dallas. Hmmm...... One week later and still no bag.
Even though the trip started out kind of rough we had a great time. Mark and Shevawn were so nice to let us use their car for the drive down to Waco. They had the new baby's carseat for Brooke to use too. We drove from their house to pick up Twyla in Sunnyvale.
On our way to camping we stopped to attend the graveside service of my dear friend Rodney. He died suddenly after suffering a heart attack. He was my coworker at Encompass for the past 7 years. It was a very touching service. He was loved by everyone who knew him. I will miss him so much. I am glad to have so many great memories with him.
We got to the campsite in Waco on Wednesday night. Mark and Shevawn had already setup and organized our popup. It was the perfect size; 2 beds, a potty/shower, and a small kitchen. It definitely beats sleeping in a tent. Twyla had found a roaster box for Brooke to sleep in. It was the perfect size for her.
Our Thanksgiving meal was delicious as usual. The boys fried up 5 turkeys! The only bummer was the rain started falling right as everyone started eating. It also got really cold on Thanksgiving. Sadly, we all spent the rest of the day/night in our campers trying to stay warm. Keith went to the A&M game with Mike Rasmussen. Even though it was cold he was excited to watch the Aggies beat Texas.
The rest of the time camping was spent playing games, relaxing, eating and catching up with family and friends.
We were excited to get home and back to our beds, but sad to leave everyone in Texas. I love camping because we are away from all the hustle and hurried pace of the city. There is no schedule, you can dress comfy and good food is always around.

5 Months Old

Brooke is now 5 months old, hard to believe. She has not feeling too well when I attempted to take her picture with the horse. So, I am going to include a couple other recent pictures for this post. She will be sporting the Thanksgiving outfit again in Texas. We are hoping that she is much happier then.
It seems like Brooke is growing and changing every day. Here are a few highlights about Brooke in month 5.
*She is sleeping 12 hours in a row at night
*She loves her jumparoo
*She is already favoring her left hand
*gives very slobbery kisses
*She is totally on formula. I was a little sad to stop breastfeeding all together; but she feels much better now.
*She pays attention to the pictures when you read her a book
*She is wearing 3-6 month clothing
*She just discovered her feet
*Everything is going in her mouth
*She is SO LOUD with her happy screaming
*She likes to watch the dogs when she is in jumparoo
*She smiles so big when Daddy gets home from work
*She is still wearing size 1-2 diapers
*She loves when you sing to her
We are so excited to be traveling back to Texas in just 10 days for THanksgiving. Brooke will have several more people to meet during her first overnight camping trip in Waco.

On a totally unrelated note; I love the Geico commercials; especially the one with Maxwell the pig crying WHEEEEEEE all the way home. Too funny!

Rice Cereal

We started trying to feed Brooke rice cereal this week. She LOVES making a mess! I think she is actually getting some of it in her mouth but I cannot be sure. We did not put a bib on her because she was getting a bath right after dinner.

First Trip to College Station

We took Brooke on her second plane trip last weekend to see the Aggies play in College Station. She did okay on the plane ride but was a little fussy on the way down. We had a wonderful time relaxing with family in College Station. They had Trick-or-treating at the tailgate site on Friday night. Brooke was a pea pod and her cousin Claire was a lady bug. We had to cut the feet out of Brooke's costume because her legs were too long to fit.
Both girls dressed up in their Aggie gear on Saturday. Keith went to the game with his dad and we stayed at the campsite with the babies. The Aggies had a huge victory over Texas Tech under the direction of their new quarterback Ryan Tannehill. The weather was so nice all weekend. We really enjoyed louging outside and eating yummy tailgate barbeque. On Sunday we went to A&M church of Christ. It was such a great service. IT really made me miss going to church in Texas. I can't wait to be back in a year and a half. We had to rush back to Dallas after church to catch a flight back to Pittsburgh. Brooke has started teething so she is a bit more fussy than usual. She did a bit of crying on the flight home too. Let's just say I was glad to get home. I was also glad to turn the calendar to November and see that we have no plans until Thanksgiving, woo hoo!! We are sad to miss Claire's first birthday party in a couple weeks; but excited to camp with them at Thanksgiving.

Brooke 4 months

4 month pictures with the horse!
She enjoys being on her tummy now.

She is such a happy baby. Now that we are feeding her more she is all smiles. Look at that chubby tummy!!

We took this video of Brooke splashing in the tub. She has recently learned to kick her legs. The video is a little fuzzy but she is super cute!!

We took Brooke to the doctor last week for her 4 month checkup. She now weighs 13 lbs and 10oz. She is 24 and 1/4 inches long. The doctor said she is in the 45% for weight, the 60% for height and the 20% for head circumference. I guess she'll be wearing little hats. We have always enjoyed our sweet baby, but I have to say that she is getting more fun every day. She is much more interactive and playful at this stage. We took her 4 month pictures in this dress because she had never worn it and it is almost too small. She should have been in something with long sleeves because it is cold here; but it is okay since she's inside. Plus she matches the horse, ha! Brooke did not like getting shots at her doctor visit but she is a LOT tougher than her mom. She has laughing and playing within a few minutes.
Brooke had a lot going on this month. Here are some of the highlights:
*She took her first plane ride
*She splashed in the tub
*She can hold her bottle
*She is all about the food. If she sees a bottle, she will yell until she gets it. THis could be a bad sign.
*She talks to her monkey mirror in the car
*She took her first road trip to visit Ryan and Kelly in DC.
*She poops every day.
*She moved up to 6oz each feeding.
*She does NOT like rice cereal. We tried to feed her and she spit it all back out.
**She loves to be held and loves people. She really lights up when her Grams and Grammy hold her.