She's TWO!!!

Brooklyn turned 2 today, but since it was rainy all day, we were not able to do any of her most favorite things. So, to make her rainy Birthday extra special, I put 2 candles for her to blow out in each of her meals throughout the day... starting with her jelly doughnut for breakfast (see video). She is a pro at blowing out candles now. :)

She got from her mom & dad a tricycle, some floaties, some pads of paper for finger painting (which we did a lot of today), and, in about a week, she'll also have her very own playground in her backyard (a playset/swingset). I will try to post some pics later.

ER Visit

Brooklyn had her first ER visit last night. Earlier in the evening yesterday, she and I were on a walk, and, as she always does, she ran away from me thinking we were playing a fun game of chase. I, of course, obliged and chased her trying to grab her before she ran into the street. I grabbed her hand, and as soon as I did, she buckled her knees trying to wriggle loose from my grip so as to run away and play some more chase. Well, it was the wrong move with the wrong grip and she ended up with a radial head subluxation, or more commonly known as Nursemaid's elbow. I felt SOOOO bad that I did this to her and probably cried as much as she did. Since she was not using or even moving her arm at all, we decided to take her to the ER. We were there for 2 1/2 hours, and after a quick manipulation of Brooklyn's arm by the doctors, we walked out of there with a happy child using both her arms as if nothing had happened. We were all very happy, and felt very lucky.

On our way to the hospital/ER.


In the ER after the arm manipulation (which was really sad to watch, but glad I did not have to be the bad guy). All better!

Brother and Sister

Brooklyn loves to hold Joshua. Here, she was watching her show, Curious George, when she said, "Joshua watch George, too." Then she said, "I hold Josh." So, she held Josh while they watched Curious George together. I tried to take him away from her before the episode was over and she just held him tighter, saying, "I hold Josh!"


Here, Brooklyn wanted to show Joshua how to use this toy, so she crawled underneath the toy and showed him all the cool gadgets and gizmos for him to play with. Also, on a side note, Brooklyn has become an expert at taking her clothes off and will do so as often as she can.

Welcome Home Joshua

We are happy to announce that Joshua is finally home after 7 weeks in the hospital. He was not sent home with any monitors or oxygen as we all initially expected. I guess that's the benefit of him staying in the hospital for so long... he weened himself of his need for those things. He last weighed in at nearly 8 lbs. (7 lbs. 15 oz.). His length was 19 inches. He's one chunky monkey, and we are more than happy to have him home. We were especially grateful to finally introduce Brooklyn to her baby brother. She is very excited about him and is not exhibiting any signs of resentment... yet. She wants to hold him all the time and always pets his head when he grunts or cries saying, "it's okay Josh." What a great big sister! Thank you all for all your thoughts and prayers these last several weeks... they've helped!

Joshua's last day in the hospital.



His ride home from the hospital.


Brooklyn looks pretty excited to hold him.

He looks pretty happy to be home, too. :)

Joshua's first bath at home... he liked the bath, but did NOT like the pink washcloth. ;)

Video of Brooklyn meeting Joshua for the very first time. You can hear her say, "Oh, hi Josh! How are you doing?" at one point.

Easter

Brooklyn was able to go to 3 different Easter Egg Hunts. She has become a real pro at hunting eggs, now. The first one was last Saturday with our neighborhood community. The second one was put on by the City here (however, we got to this one a minute, literally, too late and all the eggs were found already. But Brooklyn was at least given one egg by the Easter Bunny). The third one was our own little Egg Hunt here at home in our back yard. Brooklyn has had so much fun and is now having so much fun eating all her candy. :)

Our first Easter Party with our community...

Second Easter Egg Hunt with our City. Brooklyn only got one egg at this one... and it was from the Easter Bunny. At the end she was just collecting flowers in her basket.

On Easter, Matt and I went to visit Josh in the hospital and then came home for Brooklyn's own personal Easter Egg Hunt at home.

What Matt and I have been up to...

This is Joshua's room. We were obviously not prepared for Joshua's arrival back in February... but we are almost ready now. We have finished painting his room and we now just need to get him his crib and set it all up. Looks pretty good, eh???