Feb. 15-28, 2010

On Feb. 15th Brooklyn said her first word while we were out to dinner..."Da-Da" it is! He was so proud and excited to be her first word and told everyone he could find. On the 18th Brooklyn spent the day at Uncle Corey & Aunt Becky's house playing with her cousins. She had a great time and came home exhausted!

On Feb. 20th Brooklyn had her 6 month pictures taken. We can't believe she is already 6 months old!!! She is beginning to move around so much more and just sits and observes everything. She is definitely going to be a mover and is on the go every minute she is awake.

By Feb. 23rd Grandma M. couldn't take it any more and she flew back to visit Brooklyn (and I'm sure she was glad to see us too). They spent their days playing and shopping while Mommy and Daddy went to work. We all went to the Renaissance Festival over the weekend. Conner went with us and he and Brooklyn enjoyed spending the day outside watching all the crazy people!

Before Grandma went home she and Mommy spent an afternoon making fabric books for Brooklyn to play with. She loved to watch the us while we worked and was so excited to see the books when we were finished!

February 1-14, 2010

On Feb. 6th Brooklyn and Mommy went to watch Makayla's basketball game. She made her first basket and we were so proud of her! Afterwards we went shopping and celebrated the basket at Yogurt Jungle.

On Feb. 7th we cheered on the Colts as they played in the Super Bowl! We were sad by their loss, but very excited about their awesome season! Our little cheerleader loved playing with all the kids who came over to watch the game and helped to console Daddy after they lost.

On Feb. 12th Aunt Becky finally had her baby! Brooklyn's newest cousin Madison was born mid-morning and Mommy was there all night waiting for her arrival:0) She came home from the hospital later the next day and we stopped by to visit her. Brooklyn was so excited to see her, but wasn't so sure when she saw Mommy holding her...

Valentine's Day was a happy day and Daddy brought both Brooklyn and Mommy beautiful roses! She was really excited about the box he brought them home in and laughed so hard as Daddy pushed her around the house in it.

January 2010

January was another busy month for us. Brooklyn started out the month by sitting up all by herself on the 2nd. On the 9th she met our friends Gregg, Dalania and Alfred for the first time when they all came over to visit and play cards. And she started consistently sleeping through the night on the 13th!

Our week days were pretty routine and work kept Mommy and Daddy very busy, but Brooklyn spent her days with her babysitter Suzanne (and her cousin Conner was there too)and really enjoyed playing with all the kids! On the 16th we went to Organ Stop Pizza to celebrate Uncle Corey & Great-Grandpa F.'s birthdays! Brooklyn was mesmerized by all the music and loved watching the organ pipes move.

On MLK Day we went to Build A Bear with Conner. He helped Brooklyn build her first "bear!" She got a dalmatian with heart shaped spots and loves to play with it:0) Later that night she ate her first vegetable (peas) and acted like she had been eating them for months! By the end of the month she ate her first fruit (applesauce) too, but was a little surprised by the taste of that after all the veggies.

Cardinal's Stadium Tour & New Year's Eve

On Tuesday, Dec. 29th we went to Glendale to tour the Arizona Cardinal's stadium with Grandma & Grandpa M. It was really neat to be able to go behind the scenes and see all the different places we don't usually get to go. It is amazing how big that place is!

New Year's Eve was a quiet one for us this year. We stayed home playing games with Grandma & Grandpa M. and watched Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve. We were pretty tired from all the festivities from the previous week still and barely made it to midnight. Brooklyn was awake to ring in the New Year with us and it couldn't have been a better start to our year!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

On Christmas Eve Brooklyn went to sleep early to wait for Santa to arrive. Before going to bed she had rice cereal for the first time and absolutely loved it! She also held her bottle for the first time by herself as Daddy rocked her before bedtime.

Christmas morning Brooklyn woke up to find all her presents under the tree and had a ton of fun playing with all the wrapping paper and bows! So much for the presents:0) After we finished opening gifts we went to Uncle Corey & Aunt Becky's house to open gifts with Tara's family. Later that afternoon we were joined by Becky's family and Dustin's parents. We all had a great time that day and were so glad to be able to spend time with everyone who was able to come!

Happy Adoption Day!

On Wednesday, December 23rd we received the best Christmas present ever! Brooklyn officially became our daughter through the eyes of the courts!!!! We were so excited and ready to be able to finally feel like we could breathe knowing nothing could take her away from us now!

Since it was so close to Christmas we were lucky enough to able to spend the morning in court joined by many of our family members (We did miss the ones that were out of town or unable to attend, but felt all the love coming our way). Along with our wonderful lawyer, Grandma & Grandpa F., Great Granny & Grandpa F., Great Grandma & Grandpa A., Uncle Corey, Aunt Becky, Makayla and Conner all helped cheer us on in court. We kind of got the feeling the judge was a little bit surprised by all the support we had there, but he looked a little shocked to find out that there were several more who would have attended had they been able to make it there:)

The hearing was short and sweet, but very much an emotional event that we will never forget! We wanted to be sure there was something special to represent this day so Brooklyn wore her cousin Makayla's first Christmas dress and we all went to breakfast after to celebrate!

Later that evening Grandma & Grandpa came in to town from Indiana and we went out to dinner to celebrate with them later that night!

Dec. 21-22nd

On Monday, Dec. 21st Brooklyn and Mommy went to the airport to pick up Great Grandma & Grandpa A. from Michigan. They came to visit for Christmas and this was the first time they met Brooklyn. She had a great time playing with them both while they were here!

Tuesday, Dec. 22nd Brooklyn had her 4 month doctor appointment. She has grown a lot, but has slowed down a little bit it seems. She did wonderful this time with her immunizations (she didn't cry at all)! This time she weighed 15.2 lbs. which is in the 70th percentile and was 24.5 in. long, the 50th. They are still predicting that she is going to be pretty tall.

Dec. 16-20

Wednesday, December 16th Brooklyn turned 4 months old. Wow! Time sure has gone by so fast already! We put up our Christmas lights on the house and Brooklyn loved to watch all that was going on.

On Thursday, Daddy had to take Brooklyn to the doctor. She ended up having croup and her Great Granny and Grandpa F. came to spend the afternoon with her once Daddy went to work. Thankfully we caught it before it really started. She seemed to be in pretty good spirits even though she sounded awful!

Friday afternoon was a huge day for Brooklyn! She seemed to be feeling pretty good so she went to meet Santa for the first time! She did amazing and then got her picture taken with her cousins Makayla and Conner too. Unfortunately late Friday night Brooklyn had a fever so we took her to an overnight pediatrician to find out she had the beginnings of an ear infection as well. Luckily we caught it early and she really didn't have too much of a problem since she started her antibiotics early the next day.

Dec. 6-14th

On Sunday, December 6th Brooklyn had a rough afternoon. She screamed and cried all day because she had a bad tummy ache. The doctor said we needed to wait it out and that she was possibly really constipated. On Monday Tara stayed home with Brooklyn to be sure she was feeling better before heading back to the baby sitter's house.

On Wednesday, December 9th we had our final Home Study. Everything went great and Bev was really impressed with how much Brooklyn could do already! She was also completely amazed by all the support and love we've received along the way from family and friends! Right before she arrived Brooklyn was sitting on Dustin's lap when she sat up by herself from a 45 degree angle!

On Saturday, December 13th Brooklyn and Mommy went to Grandma & Grandpa F's house and made some Christmas presents. We made a blanket for Great Grandpa A. and helped Grandma make a photo album for Great Grandma A.

Monday, December 14th we went and took our family pictures for our Christmas cards...Thanks Uncle Corey!

Decorating the Tree & Zoolights

On Saturday, December 5th we decorated our Christmas tree as a family. Brooklyn enjoyed watching us put the tree together and played while we put the lights on the tree. Once we were done she "helped" put her own ornament on the tree.

Later that evening we went to ZooLights with Uncle Corey, Makayla, Conner & the entire Perrius Family! Brooklyn was fascinated by all the lights and was having a great time watching all the activity. We visited the 'talking' giraffe who said hello to all the kids, watched the musical lights show and rode the carousel.

My First Thanksgiving!

On Thursday, November 26th we celebrated Thanksgiving Day with Tara's family. We went to Brooklyn's Great Granny and Grandpa F's house for dinner. We all worked hard making dinner together and then one by one everyone started drifting off to sleep:)

"Black Friday" we spent some of the day shopping with Grandma F., Aunt Becky and Uncle Corey. We got some good deals and were exhausted by the time we were done!

Sunday, November 29th Brooklyn and Mommy decorated the house for Christmas! Only 26 more days until Santa comes...

Nov. 22-23rd.

On Saturday, November 22nd Brooklyn went Christmas shopping with Mommy, Grandma & Grandpa F. We shopped pretty much all day and Brooklyn helped pick out toys for her cousins.

Monday, November 23rd Brooklyn went to her first movie "The Blind Side" with her Daddy. They pretty much had the movie theater to themselves and Brooklyn slept through most of the movie, but loved looking at the big screen when she was awake.

Nov. 13-21st

On Friday, November 13th Brooklyn rolled over for her Daddy! She was laying on her "island" playing and rolled from her front to her back.

Sunday, November 15th Brooklyn, Makayla, Conner and I went to the park in our neighborhood to play on the playground. Brooklyn loved being outside in the fresh air watching her cousins play. Makayla and Conner had a great time swinging, climbing on the mini rock wall and playing hide and seek through out the playground equipment.

On Wednesday, November 18th Brooklyn really found her voice. She had a lot of belly laughs while playing with Daddy! We made a video of her laughing and played it back for her which she thought was absolutly hysterical!

Finally, on Saturday, November 21st Brooklyn rolled from her front to her back for me! It was a lot of work to get it to happen again, but she rolled several times that day.

My 3 month photos...well almost 3 months!

On Wed., Nov. 11th (Veteran's Day) we took Brooklyn to get her 3 month pictures taken. We really wanted to bring the ASU Marching Band into her pictures since it was an important part of our history (that's how Dustin and I met) so we brought with us Dustin's trumpet and cape from his uniform, my uniform and a doll dressed like a member of the Sun Devil Marching Band! We were so excited about how our pictures turned out and the smiles we got that day!

Nov. 1st-10th

On Mon., Nov. 2nd Brooklyn spent her first "day" at the baby sitter's house. Dustin and I both dropped her off in the morning and about two hours later he and his mom went back to pick her up:) Brooklyn is lucky enough to be able to go with her cousin Conner (and soon to be new cousin) to the babysitter each day and it was much easier to leave her knowing he was going to be with her all day! Everything went great with the babysitter!

On Sat., Nov. 7th we started our day going to Makayla's soccer game. Then we all went to Great-Granny F.'s 75th Birthday party. Granny had a great time giving Brooklyn frosting for the first time and loved watching how much she enjoyed it!

On Mon., Nov. 9th Brooklyn spent her first day all alone with her Daddy! Brooklyn had a bit of a cold, but they did get out a little to have some breakfast and walk through the mall. He loved every minute of his day and was a little disappointed that I came home from work that day I think!

My First Halloween!

On Saturday, Oct. 31st we went to Uncle Corey and Aunt Becky's house to eat our traditional chili dinner and go trick or treating with all the family! After we arrived the kids all carved pumpkins (including Brooklyn-with a little help). Then it was costume time for us all!

Dustin was a hippie, Tara dressed as a character from the movie Grease and Brooklyn was a Monkey! Makayla dressed as a vampire bat, Conner was Thomas the Train and Rick (Becky's dad) was a clown! We had quite the entourage walking with us (Corey, Becky, Grandpa F. and Grandma M.)and the rest of the crew stayed behind to hand out candy.

The kids(and adults braved a haunted house and crazy teenagers, but we all had a great time and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

My first Pumpkin Patch!

On Saturday, Oct 24th we went to a pumpkin patch to get Brooklyn's first pumpkin and take some pictures. We got some wonderful pictures of our little pumpkin! By the time we arrived it was getting pretty dark and it was not well lit, so we decided to go back earlier in the day the following week.

On Monday, Oct. 26th we went to another pumpkin patch with Uncle Corey, Aunt Becky,
Makayla and Conner. We played on the playground, went through the petting zoo, took lots of pictures and went through the giant cornfield maze! Makayla and Conner were doing awesome finding all the targeted places within the maze, but it started getting dark when we were about half-way through and we began getting a little nervous that we would really have to find our way out in the dark with three little ones:0)

On Friday, Oct. 30th we took Brooklyn to the ASUSDMB Alumni practice for the Homecoming game the next day. Here we were able to introduce her to Coach (our Band Director) and several of our marching band friends. We didn't get to stay too long since it was pretty cold out, but we were happy to be able to take her to the place we met and introduce her to the music!

October 19th-23rd

On October 19th Tara went back to work. Fortunately Grandma M. was here to stay with Brooklyn the for the first two weeks back. This allowed Tara to go home to see Brooklyn at lunch time and make the transition back much easier on her. Grandma and Brooklyn spent their days playing (and doing the never-ending laundry) and they seemed to have been having lots of fun.

On October 23rd we went out to dinner for Brooklyn's Grandma F.'s birthday and made plans for the upcoming trips to the pumpkin patch with Uncle Corey, Aunt Becky, Makayla and Conner.

My first ASU tailgate party!

On Saturday, October 17th we took Brooklyn to her first tailgate party at ASU. We stopped at a couple of ASU bookstores along the way and found a "cooler" ASU outfit for her to wear since it was much warmer out than we expected it to be. She was definitely showing her Sun Devil Pride as she was passed around by friends and their girls!

I'm 2 months old!

On Friday, October 16th Brooklyn turned 2 months old. We absolutely can't believe how fast time has flown by, but as you can see we've been pretty busy and haven't had too much down time..

Early in the afternoon Grandma M. came back to Arizona for a visit. She is going to be here for a couple of weeks to stay with Brooklyn as I transition back to work and prepare to send her to a babysitter. We are so happy that she was able to come back and help us out!