Can't we just transport her room?

We're about to embark on a journey, and we'll be adding a new first to Brooklyn's list. We will be flying the friendly skies heading down south to Arkansas for a week and we're very excited. We got all the plans in place for who will take us to the airport, who will watch our house and who will puppysit our beagle. I talked to our friends last night who we will be visiting and we have a couple tentative plans in place as to what our days will look like. Sounds like everything is all in place, right? WRONG!

We still have to finish our packing. Let me just say that I make a list of what to bring and then check them off as I packed them. A little obsessive some might say, but it has worked and I never left anything essential behind. When we went to Hawaii last year, we had everything we needed, even an extra set of clothes if our bags got lost - which mine did. Packing for Kevin and I is a cinch. But, let me just say that packing for Brooklyn has added a new challenge for me. How do you pack all her toys, her books, her CDs, her clothes & shoes, blankets, stuffed animals and exersaucer? Simple answer: You can't.

You have to make choices and decisions. And, since she's not old enough to say "Mommy, can I bring Glow Pooh Bear?" I have to make that choice for her, so I have been watching the past few weeks the toys that make her the happiest. But, in the back of my mind, I keep asking myself "Will this toy fit on the airplane or in the suitcase okay without taking up too much room?" Sad? Yes. Her books I have covered: get her favorite ones (ones that we read to her nightly) along with a selection of others. Her clothes: this little girl has so many clothes (thanks Grammy!) so it was pretty easy to figure out what to bring. If an outsider was watching though as I did this, they might have laughed. I put her to bed and then snuck in there with a flashlight in hand to select those favorite outfits and loaded Kevin's arms up with them. We brought the selected into our room and took them off the hanger. There were a few extra shirts (5 or 6) that we had to make decisions on. I held two out at a time and had Kevin pick his favorite, sometimes I wouldn't agree and we would go with my choice!

As I was talking to my friend last night, she reminded me that she has toys, books, high chair, crib, extra girl clothes, and a washer and a dryer - after all she does have two kids! So, if all else fails, we'll have back-up. But, just for my sake, I'm starting to make that list. Let's just hope I don't forget my curling iron in the freezer like I did on our honeymoon!

The Word for sale...only $4.99

I am still working on what to think about the apparently growing popularity of commercializing christianity. First it was TV and radio "evangelists" seeking money donations in exchange for audio tapes, books, and other "gifts." Now it's Jesus is my homeboy t-shirts and I saw a button that matched this graphic above during my lunch hour today. Over the weekend, I saw a Jesus action figure in a game store. And, I have seen a website that allows you to "dress Jesus up" as a clown, a German solider, Darth Vader, Oscar the Grouch pretending to be part of the KKK, TinkyWinky from Teletubbies. This website claims that "Now you can finally crucify some of the most hated villians of our time. Simply drag the items to Him with your mouse and they'll snap into place. Then you'll have your favorite bad guy crucified, print him out and display him anywhere as a reminder that even the worst sins of man are forgiven...thanks to Jesus."

The commercializing of Christianity is an enormous problem today, as blatantly evidenced by the numerous items for sale. Jesus tried to remedy the commercializing of religion by driving the merchants and money-changers from the temple. Quite frankly, I find it objectionable that modern Christianity has become so overrun by commercial hucksters who feel they have the right to convert the sharing of God's word into nothing more than another worldly business venture.

In my view, to put a price on the word of God is to say that the only ones who are worthy of hearing it are those who are willing to pay for it. This is in direct contradiction to the whole Spirit of the Bible. This is NOT the method which Jesus and His followers practiced. It is simply a matter of greed, trying to make a profit from the word of God.

You made me sick!!

It's the only place I know that you go in feeling good and leave feeling bad. It's the doctor's office. Brooklyn had her 6-month check-up a couple days ago. She went in being her usual happy self, except for a few fussy moments here and there. We learned that she is progressing beautifully in both her weight/height/head circumference and developmental skills. The doctor was quite impressed that she can pull herself up to a standing position! We listed our concerns/questions and the doctor answered them - we have such an amazingly caring doctor - and gave us the run down on what solid foods we should start trying and when. Then, the doctor said her goodbyes and wished us all well, but before heading out the door, she turned around and said, "I'll send it the nurse to administer the shots."

Okay, we knew they were coming. In fact, we were told at her 4-month check-up to give her Infant Tylenol BEFORE coming to the appointment, which we did. The nurse comes in with the needles and shot solution and asks me to lay Brooklyn down on the table. I was all prepared to hold her in my lap as I was already sitting on the examining table. But, the nurse was insistent on having her lay down on the table. Brooklyn, with Pappy (her pacifier) in her mouth, lay on the table and her eyes were getting bigger and bigger by the second. I was holding one hand and Daddy was holding the other when the first needle was shoved into her little thigh. She looked up at us in shock, and within a few seconds she started crying. Two more pricks, and she was done. The nurse quickly washed her hands, and told us to watch her temperature and dose her accordingly with Tylenol, and then she rushed out of the room leaving us with our poor, upset baby. We got her calmed down, dressed and heading out of the room ourselves.

She fell asleep on the ride home. When she awoke, she was okay, very playful. We had dinner, went for a little walk and watered our flowers - that's when she started whimpering with her eyes half open and her little lips and checks all red. I brought her in the house and took her temperature - 101.4! I carefully changed her into her PJs and we read some books. The whole time she was whimpering, not crying, but whimpering. She kept trying to crack a smile for us, but it was just more than she could handle. And, let me say this, I would much rather have her cry than whimper, it's such a sad noise and look that comes across her face. With crying, we've gotten pretty good at distinguishing the hungry cry from the tired cry, but with whimpering, you just know that she isn't feeling good. She wasn't hungry, she really wasn't into her bedtime stories, she just simply wanted to be held. After a couple hours of rocking her in the chair, we laid her down for the night half expecting her to be up. (We were deciding which one of us wanted to sleep in the chair with her.) She slept through the night only waking when Pappy fell out of her mouth, but over the monitor, you could hear a moan every time she breathed.

It's been a couple days now. This morning she was whimpering a little, but after a couple rounds of Peek-A-Boo, she turned that whimpering into laughing. There is nothing better than hearing her laugh. I'm just glad that we don't have to take her to the doctor's office until she's a year-old!

Welcome to the world, Brooke!

Welcome to the world, Brooke Kailah!

My best friend Jessica gave birth to her second child, Brooke Kailah June 9 at 4:26pm. Brooke is pretty tiny weighing at 6 lbs, 2 oz and 19 inches long. She has a full head of blonde hair and blue eyes. Isn't she precious!?!

Jessica and her husband, Todd along with their 3 1/2 year old son Landon moved from Colorado to Little Rock, Arkansas December 2004. Jessica and I have been friends since sixth grade. We miss them so much since they have moved, but we're going out to see them in a few weeks and we'll get to meet their new little bundle of joy!

Landon and Brooke

Todd and Brooke

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW FAMILY!

First Swim Class

Brooklyn had her first (of many, I'm sure) swim class Saturday. The instructor told us parents that this class was all about introducing our little ones to the water. She said it was key to get their ears wet because if they can handle that, chances are they won't be scared of the water. She also suggested encouraging them how to splash and kick in the water, and to show them how if they didn't know. Well, I have said this before, but my lil' girl is so advanced. The minute she hit the water she was so excited splashing and kicking like crazy. All those bathtime splashing sessions really paid off!

One thing that she tried, that like most people thought was bad, was the chlorine water. She used to love to try and see if Mommy would let her try a taste of her bath water, which she did with little success. I tried really hard to stop her in the pool, but when she turns her head to the side and sticks her tongue out to let the water in, there's really nothing I could do. So, she got a sample followed by a nasty look as she was gagging and spitting out what she wanted to have in her mouth so badly! I think she learned her lesson because she wasn't about to try that again.

It was so much fun to watch the excitement beam across her face and to hear her "talk" to you the whole time you were swimming and know that she is loving every second. I cannot wait for this Saturday's class!!

Some things are just priceless...

It's insane to me that different media entities are in the midst of a bidding war to get photos of Brad Pitt and Angelina "Big Lips" Jolie's new baby, Shiloh. I read a report that mentioned Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' baby hasn't been seen by the public, and Suri's already almost two months old. And, what about Moses (Gwenyth Paltrow's new son) and Grier (Brooke Sheilds' new daughter)? Does anyone have their photos yet? How much are they going for??

Now, to be fair, as part of a media conglomerate, I can understand why the media wants to obtain the first photo of a new celebrity-baby, but it makes me wonder, why it's so important? People have babies everyday and not every baby gets his/her picture published in a magazine or splashed across Entertainment Tonight. Only those of celebrities qualify - not that I'm complaining. While I realize that this is part of the celebrity lifestyle, I sometimes find myself feeling sorry for celebrities as I open a celebrity gossip magazine and see Cameron Diaz being just like me because she is tying her shoes on a sidewalk outside of a mall. I mean celebrities literally have cameras photographing their every move. But, when celebrities attract the sort of attention by basically having bidding wars to publish photos of their newly born baby, it's makes me cringe and all sympathy I felt for them is completely gone.

I never once thought about seeing how much money I could get for the photo of Brooklyn's first bite of rice cereal; the photo of her laying in front of all our Christmas presents representing our best Christmas present ever; the photo of her really upset and crying because her puppy looked away from her; or the photo of our new family moments after she was born. There are some things that are just priceless!

Splish Splash I sat up in my bath...

Brooklyn had what I consider a huge milestone last night... she sat up all by herself in her the big bathtub last night for her bath!! We had been bathing her in the infant bathtub, but since she's growing so fast, sitting up all by herself and so intrigued by the idea of splashing, I thought I would try letting her take a big girl bath. She absolutely loved it. She started splashing and playing with her toys right away. The cutest part came when she started grabbing the side of the tub, hitting it and smiling at me. It's incredible how much fun a night can be just simply by giving your lil' one a bath!

For Sale...

My parents are selling their house. The For Sale sign went in the yard yesterday. As my mom told me this yesterday, tears started welling up in my eyes.

I remember the day we moved into this house 17 years ago. I was 9 and my sister was 2. We were too small to really help with much of the moving, so we went to a carnival at my new elementary school. It's funny how things work out. If it had not been for us living in this house and my going to a different elementary school, I wouldn't have met my husband, who lived 2 blocks away.

This house is filled with so many memories: my lavender walls, my sister's Precious Moments paintings my mom did on her walls, my old puppy Courtney, our old shag carpet, copper cabinets, yellow & green linoleum floors, playing "HORSE" with my Dad, slumber parties in the basement, the smell of bacon on a Sunday morning, sleeping on my parent's floor while my sister slept in their closet, playing house with my sister, laying on the dining room floor comforting my husband (at that time - my ex-boyfriend) as he got back from a date that didn't go so well as my mom as ready to dial 911 because he was so upset, getting ready for proms, graduation parties, learning to pitch in the front yard, and the list goes on...

My parents who are the most thoughtful, loving and giving people I will ever meet are giving themselves a gift - a new home. So, even though I'm sad that they're selling their house, I am very excited that they are doing something just for them! My mom stated it best in an email we shared, when she wrote "No matter where I am physically, you will always have a home in my heart. I think a home is not necessarily a structure but more what is between hearts."