Playing at the cousins' house

Playing with balloons from Jaira Grathwohl on Vimeo.

Swingset from Jaira Grathwohl on Vimeo.

Brooke's Mini Birthday Celebration

With being swamped at work and getting things ready for the new baby I didn't find the time to plan a birthday party for Brooke. So the weekened before her birthday we were visiting her cousins in Kansas City so we did a little birthday celebration there.

Happy Birthday from Jaira Grathwohl on Vimeo.

Eating a cupcake from Jaira Grathwohl on Vimeo.

Growing Up

Brooke's baby sister is due to arrive in less than 4 weeks. It's amazing how quickly time has flown by. Brooke is growing up so quickly. She loves to sing her ABC's and over a month ago she transitioned to a new babysitter. Brooke cried every day for the first two weeks when I'd drop her off and it was really hard for me. Now Brooke is all settled in and I think she really loves it. The babysitter is so creative and daily does neat activities with all the kids. Brooke has also transitioned to a big girl bed. The transition to that has gone pretty smoothly as well . . . now if we could only get her to ditch her passy! :)

Brooke is also doing really well on potty training. She has been going on the potty about 4-6 times a day.

Flower girl

Brooke was asked to be a flower girl in a friend's wedding and it wore me out. Brooke's daddy was a groomsman and the wedding was outside . . . in August. 7 1/2 month pregnant mommy didn't enjoy cartering around a 30 pound toddler in the heat. Brooke ended up doing a really good job. She loved the little ringbearer, Lance. At the rehearsal Brooke kept hugging and kissing on him. So the plan for the wedding day was for Brooke and Lance to walk down the aisle holding hands and Lance's grandfather and I would walk behind them to make sure they made it okay.

I wasn't sure how Brooke was going to react to all the people, but they didn't phase her at all. She got to the end of the aisle and tried to hold Lance's hand and he snapped "no" at her. She tried again and he had the same reaction. So she just did her thing. She really liked the runner going down the aisle and she started smiling and walking down the center of the runner. She was ahead of Lance and stopped and waited for him and tried to hold his hand again, but he snapped "no" again. So she turned back around and pranced the rest of the way down the aisle. I wish we could've gotten video of it. Of course she didn't want the end to be over so when she got down to the front, I had to haul her off with a small amount of protest!

Here are the only pictures I got.

Gammy came for a visit

Gammy came and visited and did fun things with Brooke like taking her to the kid's museum! Thank you, Gammy!

Other pictures from family lake trip

Snacking on the beach:





Cool girl in shades:



Chillin' on a raft (with 7-month pregnant mommy's help):







Watching the cousins clean fish:

Bouncing on the water trampoline

Water trampoline from Jaira Grathwohl on Vimeo.