Our Beach Countdown

Well, we're back now...but I wanted to share the little countdown that Brookston and I did before we left for the beach! He was getting excited about his visit to see Nana and Papa! Aunt Kristi, Uncle Adam, cousin Lucas too! Along with some of Aunt Kristi's inlaws!

We were gone for a total of 11 days, so pardon my lack of posting...now I have a LOT of pictures to share! It was a fun, fun week! But a long, long drive!

We left on Friday, September 25th and we drove about 11.5 hours. Saturday we finished the drive up with another 6 hours. The kids did pretty well. Brookston better than Kaisley, but that's because he found a new love for the movie "Cars"!!! Kaisley would do okay for about 2 hours, then she'd get really cranky (til she finally gave in to sleep!!). So I spent a number of hours cramped between two car seats...not quite the most comfortable way to spend a 2 day car trip! But we all survived!

We enjoyed an entire week at the beach with BEAUTIFUL weather almost every day. We left the beach on Saturday and drove through Savannah, GA (took us a little under 6 hours) to visit my best friend from high school and finally meet her ONE YEAR OLD daughter! We actually arrived on her birthday! We spent all day Sunday, which was nice to hang out and enjoy each other's company and families. It was also a nice break before we tackled our 12 hour day!!!!

Like I said, TONS of pictures to come...but here's one that we took of our side of the family!

Tooth Picture

Look really close...do you see it? Bottom, middle, her right!

Okay, so maybe you'll need to click on this picture so you can blow it up...but it's there!

And then here's our baby girl the day she turned 7 months...obviously it's only a still picture, but she was clapping! She loves to clap!

I REALLY need to figure out videos on the internet. I was taping her clapping when daddy got home the other day. You could tell Kaisley heard his car pull into the driveway as she stretched her neck as far as she could backwards wondering what the noise way...the door opens and I've never seen a happier, more excited baby in my life! It was priceless...I hope to share it soon!

LSU Football Game!

OUR FAMILY AT AN LSU FOOTBALL GAME

Richard and I are ticket holders for this year's LSU football season! We are sooo excited!

So far we've had 2 home games. We only have 2 tickets, so for the first one, we got a baby sitter. The second one, we decided that Daddy and Brookston would go! Then, fairly last minute a friend told us she had 2 extra tickets. So, Richard and Brookston joined our friend and Kaisley and I sat in our seats!

How lucky are these kiddos? At just 2 1/2 and 6 months old, they were able to go to see the Tigers play! (Yes, even babies have to have tickets for Tiger football!!!)

They both did great. Daddy said that Brookston was cheering and screaming "awww man" & "get him", right along with the crowd! He had a ball! Kaisley was in awe of everything and didn't even mind the very loud people surrounding us!

Grandpa Bob's seats are very close to ours...so we went to visit him after the first quarter!

Daddy and Brookston even came our way to join us for a little bit.

Baby Push Ups

Kaisley wants to crawl SO BAD! She moves around a LOT, she's just not crawling at this point! She goes backwards mostly, reaches and twists and turns to the sides a bit, and every once in a while when she's on her hands and knees rocking she'll fling herself forward to flop on her belly.

By far my favorite though is her push up position...

That can't be easy for a 6 month old!!!!

A TOOTH, A TOOTH

Kaisley is finally getting her first tooth! Wait, I say finally like she's 11 months old! :) I know, I know, she's not even 7 months, so she's still "young"! But, I feel like she's been teething for almost 3 months now! It's been almost 2 months since I said, oh, it looks like the skin is about to break...and now, this morning, IT DID!

I know this is going to be a long road of teething..one down, 19 to go (well, through to the 2 year molars at least!) But it's exciting to see that #1 is here! Picture to come, since for now, you can't see much!

Labor Day Weekend

Wow, I'm a slacker and I haven't even posted about Labor Day weekend! Oops!

We joined our friends at their parents' camp on Lake Bruin over the weekend. The same one we went to at the beginning of the summer! It was a great time and even better because Brookston had some playmates!

Just a few highlights....

Brookston and Ruby playing in the water

They had so much fun together!!!

Dora and Diego fishing (I mean Ruby and Brookston)

Brookston and Daddy (I love this picture!)



Brookston was cathing fish all day long, but just like last time...he wasn't sure about AFTER he's made his catch!!! About 5 fish in, he was much better!

(Notice Ruby and her fish in the background!)

Gymboree Birthday Party

Brookston and Kaisley were invited to a Gymboree Birthday Party this weekend! It was SO MUCH FUN! I'll let the pictures show you...

Brookston LOVED this thing!!!!

And Brookston wasn't the only one that had fun....

This thing was beyond perfect for our little one that can sit up...but you never know when she'll FLING herself back!

Kaisley was swatting at the ball so fast, her arm is a blur!!!

After all of this, I realize I really need to get some pictures of the fun we have at "Little Gym", so hopefully that will be a post to come soon!

Sibling love

I've really noticed Brookston and Kaisley interacting lately...it's adorable!!!!! Some days Brookson really doesn't care about his little sister, but other days he LOVES to entertain her. He gets a kick out of making her laugh and of course she loves it too! Just the other day when we were shopping, Brookston turned around in the stroller and had Kaisley cracking up for a good 10 minutes straight!

I tried a little photo shoot of the 2 of them today...well, I guess I didn't realize how hard this would be...I honestly have very few pictures of the kiddos together and even less that are considered "good"!!!

Kaisley - "Ahhh, eeeeehhh" (Cheese! I'm here mommy! Take my picture!!!)
Brookston - "No pictures, no mommy", as he scoots away from Kaisley.

Well, at least he was next to her!

He did end up giving her a hug...

And then wanted to lay on her!!!!! Kaisley thought it was funny!!!

Awwww, Big Brother playing with his little sister! Doesn't it melt your heart??


In other news of the week, Brookston started sleeping in his BIG, big boy bed. Before he was in the toddler bed, but we finally let him get in the big bed! Now that we have a rail at least!

And here is Kaisley enjoying peas! Good girl!

August Scream Fest!!

Well, scream fest begins...start praying for my baby girl's peace and OUR sleep!!!

Shots!!!!

Kaisley had her 6 months shots today. After reacting soooo poorly (as in 3 weeks of crying for no known reason) after her 2 and 4 month shots, I was NOT looking forward to this round.

Well, after talking to the doctor, she got all of her shots AND the flu shot (apparently you can start as early as August!). So my poor girl got one oral vaccine and 4 shots (2 in each leg)! Poor baby! She cried like crazy, of course, but it only lasted about 15 seconds! Phew! We'll see how the next few days and the next few weeks are though!

Kaisley measured 19 pounds, 9.5 ounces! (97th percentile...of course! Do you expect anything else from a Hall baby??) And 26.75 inches (about 90th percentile...she's slowin down there!). Her head was 50th-75th percentile, whatever that equals.

We discussed her issues with solids, her poor sleep habits, her possible dog allergies, and hydration at the beach next month! Phew, it was a long appointment!

She's "Half"

(more pictures below)

Kaisley is now "Half"...as Daddy says! I can't believe our baby girl is 6 months old! When did that happen? This afternoon, 6 months ago, we were on our way to a Mardi Gras parade without a clue that we'd be holding our sweet baby girl that night!

She fits right in to our family life and schedule very well! Good thing, right? ;) She will sleep in the carseat for a decent morning nap when we are running the roads and at play dates, but I'm nervous about when she's too big for the infant carrier (it won't be long!!!!). She loves her big brother and he loves her too. It is really just so sweet to see them interacting now!

Her night time is still iffy. I thought I was blessed with a great sleeper again when she was doing 8-10 hours at 2 months old, but these last couple months she's been up and demanding food every 3-4 hours! ***Yawn!!!*** But, the last 4-5 night, she's been going 5-6.5 hours, so my fingers are crossed. My fingers are also crossed that her 6 month shots don't totally RUIN this...again!

Kaisley is sitting up unassisted really well. I won't leave her alone without a pillow behind her or sitting right by her, but she's doing great. She rolls, but usually only from back to tummy and she stays there. She doesn't seem to have much interest in crawling, which is totally okay with me! She LOVES to jump. Oh she loves it! And she has for a couple/few months now!

She started rice cereal at 5 months and started a couple fruits and veggies a couple weeks later. We've only done a few, but she REALLY likes pears, you can't fed them to her fast enough!

She has a smile that will light up my world....see below:

Kaisley's 6 month well baby visit is not until next week, so I'll update her stats then!!!

Mostly pictures!!

Daddy insisted our baby girl needed a walker...who am I to say no!!! ;)

Grady, Owen, and Brookston enjoying a water birthday party!

(thanks to my photo taking friend's for these pictures!)

Yes, I admit, I'm into these cute girly clothes now!

And look at this baby girl, she's GOTTA be teething right?

I'm losing hope since it's been over a month...

but 3 friends confirmed that her gums look like something is going on in there!

Brookston and Mommy worked on a little project

Turned out pretty well for a toddler project huh?

(Peel off to reveal the sticky section (one at a time), and sprinkle on the colors!!!)

Brookston (in blue) started "Little Gym" today!!!

His friends Grady (in orange) and Owen (in white) were already in the class...

and Isabelle joins them all next week!

Brookston had a blast!!!!

Big girl bath & New Orleans

Kaisley goes bonkers in the bath. She has a little infant tub that she can either lean back or sit up...however she bucks herself around so much we decided to try her in the big tub with this handy contraption...she LOVED it!

Or maybe she loved playing with big brother!

Soooo, cute huh? 5 1/2 months

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit...I'm absolutely exhausted. I pray that Kaisley is teething, in hopes that once a tooth pops through, she sleeps better.

We're also potty training Brookston. And while it's going well, it's pretty exhausting!

Last week, the kids and I accompanied Richard in New Orleans while he had a conference. The other lady attending the conference also had her husband and kids (8 year old boy and 2 year old girl) join her as well! So, Wednesday the other husband and I took each of our kids to the aquarium while our spouses were in the conference. Brookston has never been, but he LOVES fish...so it was great. It was also very cute to see the kids warm up to each other. Thursday a friend and her son came from Baton Rouge to play at the New Orleans Children's Museum! And Friday we left around lunch time. Both nights we hung out as families in the city and went swimming before bed!

Brookston at the first Aquarium exibit


Brookston making a new friend


Brookston & Mommy

At the Children's Museum

Mommy & Kaisley playing

(Thanks to Katherine for this photo!)