Brooke's first trip to Texas

Brooke in the bow and Tutu that Karen had for all the girls

McSpadden girls

Brooke and I

Brooke and her Great Grandma (Nee Naw)

Brooke and my girlfriends at brunch (this is not our best picture)

Brooke and her great grandma (Nanny)

Brooke and her great grandpa (Paw Paw)

Brooke and Claire in their matching dresses that Twyla made.

Brooke and I flew from Pittsburgh to Texas last Monday. I had to attend a conference for work from Tuesday - Friday in Dallas. Brooke did so well on the plane ride there. She slept for most of the time and was very social with other passengers on the plane for the last 30 minutes. The worst part of traveling was trying to manage all the stuff. We had Brooke's stroller, car seat, car seat base, diaper bag, bag full of breast milk, and my 50 lb suitcase. I definitely accepted the help from strangers when they offered.
We stayed our first night in Texas at Mark and Shevawn's house. Brooke and Claire took turns crying starting at 4AM the next morning. I felt bad leaving Shevawn with two cranky babies; but she handled it like a pro. I cried a little bit when I got in the car to leave for the conference. Once I got to work I had a great time. It was so nice to see all my team members and friends. It was also a huge change of pace to have adult conversations and "talk business."
On Tuesday night after work Brooke and I drove to Mark and Twyla's house. We stayed the rest of the week at their house. Brooke did a wonderful job sleeping from Tuesday night on. She was averaging 10 hours straight. Tuesday night was the first night that I had slept 8 hours in a row since she was born. It was a huge treat to have Twyla take care of Brooke on Wed, Thurs and Friday. I was able to enjoy my work conference and they had a great time bonding. I did take Brooke to work with me on Thursday afternoon for a few hours. She could not have been more social. I would guess that about 30 people took turns holding her. She didn't cry for anyone. I did have to take her out of the meeting when her cooing got to a high volume. Everyone has so sweet to her and excited to meet her.
Jeanne Lytle drove all the way from Abilene to meet Brooke on Wednesday. She was able to hang out for just a little while before driving back. We really enjoyed getting to see her, even if it was only for a couple hours.
On Friday night we had a girls dinner at Keith's grandma's house. All the babies were there together for the first time. Keith's aunt Karen took some great photos of the family. We are excited to be with everyone again at Christmas. Even Stephanie was able to fly in from Arizona for a visit and to meet Brooke.
On Saturday I introduced Brooke to my college girlfriends. We had a great brunch in Dallas. Brooke was really happy and social again with everyone. Our visit with them was short but tons of fun. When we got back to the house; Twyla's parents drove in to visit from Oklahoma. They were also meeting Brooke for the first time. She had a lot of introductions on this trip.
Sunday marked the end of our time in Texas. We flew home that evening and were wiped out by the time we got back to Pittsburgh. She survived her second flight with no tears, woo hoo! I am so glad she is a happy plane baby. We will be flying with her in October, November, December, February, and March this year.

Lunch Date

Today Brooke and I had a long awaited lunch date with Keith at P.F Changs. We had a gift card from Josh and Steph that they gave us last Christmas. We had such a nice and relaxing lunch. I really do love chinese food and haning out with keith too. We had the fried green beans as an appetizer. They come with the best dipping sauce. I asked the waitress what the sauce was made of. She said is basically Japenese Mayo. I didn't even know there was such a thing. I'm going to look for it next time I'm at the grocery store.
Brooke started off the lunch by filling her diaper with poop. After being changed she wanted to show off her powerful lungs to everyone in the restaurant. She was very happily screaming and cooing for most of the time. I am hoping that she takes a nap and stays quiet on our flight to Texas on Monday. We are almost all packed for our trip. I am a little anxious to travel with Brooke by myself. I wish Keith could come with us. Luckily the flight is only 2 and a half hours long. I called the rental car company this week and they are going to meet me at baggage claim with a car to take us to the rental counter. This is so nice because it means we do not have to ride the shuttle bus to the rental car area. I was really stressing about getting a full suitcase, stroller, and Brooke on the shuttle by myself. Yay Alamo rental car company!! We are really looking forward to introducing Brooke to Stephanie, all my girlfriends, the Lytles, and my coworkers. And of course Brooke is excited to spend more time with her Grams, Poppa Mac, Mark, Shevawn and Claire. I think she will like meeting Myko and Maggie too.

Brooke is 3 months old

We just finished a great weekend! We had our annual block party and Brooke turned 3 months old. On Saturday all the neighbors on our street gathered for the annual block party. The family across the street brought out their grill and made hamburgers and hot dogs. All the other families made side dishes and desserts. It is so cool to me that everyone will bring their chairs and just hang out together. We had a total of 35 people come to the party. Unfortunately the rained rolled in at about 8:30. We were just starting to roast smores by the fire. Everyone gathered their stuff very quickly and headed home. We were sad to see the party end early; but glad to get to bed at a decent time.
Brooke also turned 3 months old this weekend. She has become so animated. Overall she is a much happier baby now that I've stopped eating/drinking dairy. She is also sleeping 6-8 hours in a row at night and taking 4 naps in her crib during the day. Here are a few other things going on with Brooke this month:
*She has learned how to splash in the tub. She loves taking a bath in her whale tub.
*She smiles and coos when she hears my voice or her Daddy's voice.
*She finally likes her bouncy chair.
*She still hates tummy time and works to roll onto her back right away.
*She is drooling like crazy; possibly starting to teethe.
*She is trying her hardest to suck her thumb. We substitute for the pacifier during the day. At night she wiggles her left arm out of the swaddle so she can suck her thumb.
*She is making new sounds and cries. She likes to hear herself.
*She loves to blow bubbles.
*She likes to play in her crib when she wakes up in the morning.
We are taking out first trip next week. Brooke and I are flying to Dallas for a work conference. I am a little nervous for how she will do on the plane. Hopefully she will like flying as much as her mommy.

Labor Day Weekend

Keith and I had the best Labor Day weekend. I did all of our grocery shopping and errands on Friday night so we could make the most out of our time together. On Saturday we stayed around the house all day watching football and enjoying family time. Brooke made it through one quarter of her first Aggie football game before she fell asleep. On Sunday Keith had to work so Brook and I went to church. Later that afternoon we went to a cookout at Pete and Lindsey's house. They have a huge backyard; which is great for the kids to play and adults to lounge. There was plenty of great food for snacking and good company. There were 14 adults and 12 kids at the cookout. Then on Monday we headed out to Murrysville for another cookout. One of the families from church had people over for "build your own pizza" party. It was so nice to sit outside again and relax with good company.
Brooke has been doing so great with her new Baby Wise sleep schedule. She is taking four naps a day and sleeping between 6-8 hours in a row at night. She even took naps at other people's houses this weekend. We are thrilled!! We were also super excited to find a convertable carseat for Brooke at Target on Monday. They had it on sale for over $150 less than the normal price. We raced to Target on Monday morning to be sure we didn't miss out on this deal. Mark and Shevawn also got the same carseat at Target for Claire. Yay for saving money. Keith and I did laugh about how excited we got over a good deal on a carseat. Our lives have definitely changed in the last year.

Camping at Racoon State Park

Roasting Marshmellows with Keith and Allie

Foil packets for dinner

Jess took some great pictures of Brooke

All the babies born to 1st years. Christian is 8 months, Jacob is almost 4 months and Brooke is almost 3 months


Shelly and Allie. Shelly organized the camping trip

Tally and Christian

Keith and Brooke

Brooke and I

Last Saturday we went camping at a state park in Pittsburgh that was only 45 minutes from our house. It was so nice to relax outside with all the other resident families. The campsite was really nice and I loved being out in nature without having to drive forever. Several of the podiatry resdients and their families drove out to camp. It is always fun to see all the kids and babies together. Especially since 6 of them were born within the last year. All the families made tin foil dinners to cook over the fire. After dinner everyone roasted marshmellows and made smores. Brooke was having lots of tummy troubles and her crying got pretty loud. She and I spent the last hour of camping in the car. She seems to be doing much better now that I have stopped eating/drinking dairy products.