Happy Thanksgiving! and back from vacation

Eric, Brooks, and I just came home from a vacation with his family to St.Thomas. Both of our families planned trips with all their kids in November- and while not ideal to travel so much at once with a 5 month old, we were fortunate to do Disney and St Thomas. Brooks once again was an angel and a trooper. This year was my sides turn for Thanksgiving (we alternate). So we went from Saturday-Wednesday then flew up towards my parents house to spend Thanksgiving there. I am so proud of my boy for being flexible and not miserable. His sleep has stunk, but that is the worst of it.

Here are some pictures from St. Thomas.

Do you see anyone in this picture besides Brooks and Eric?


Happy camper even when shopping


We went to visit our favorite bar in St. Thomas and were disappointed that the couple we have known for 9 yrs retired- B ate my face for the picture.

I HATE when people take pictures of their babies with beer bottles- but B stole the coaster at lunch and ate it- don't think ill of us :)


We took a ferry to St John for a whopping 30 minutes, long enough to snap some pics with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Juan

Happy to go swimming again



The view from our room.

First time in the ocean- the waves were scary



4 generations of Eric's family at the beach! (yes- my Husband is his father's clone with hair)

Happy as can be when we went back to the pool



Naked baby eating his toes

Last night there- before he fell asleep at dinner

And Thanksgiving- was at my parents house and was wonderful. I do think I am going to make a mock turkey day here with Eric's mom since we didn't see her. Selfishly, I really missed the leftovers.

This year we are so very thankful.

We are thankful for our beautiful, healthy, wonderful, happy baby boy Brooks- who has changed our lives forever and we cannot imagine being without. I am also so thankful for my network of friends, both in real life and my ladies I know through the virtual world.

5 months old today!!

I feel like a PW lately on here... but I can't skip B's 5 monthday ;).

Lot's to say-
First his stats and new chair picture are up on the side of the blog.

I plotted his stats on the growth chart b/c he had not gained nearly as much weight in a month as he has been- however rate of weight gain does taper off.
Here is how it looked.
reminder: dark line is 50th percentile and he is the purple line
top graph: his height, growing right on track and tall!
bottom graph: weight- looks textbook to me



Wow- getting pictures of him with the monkey and on the chair is a lot harder now. He doesn't just slouch into the chair anymore, but tries to sit forward (which makes taking his picture hard because I had to be ready to spring at any second to prevent him face-planting in to the floor). As for pictures with the monkey- well he grabs the monkey now, eats the monkey, grabs the blanket, eats that too, and it is just hard.
But all this 'hard' that I am talking about is just evidence for how fun he is getting and what a little person he is becoming.

Here are just a couple of my favorites.







I didn't do this to him- he did

Swinging!

Sunday was a GORGEOUS day out- 70+ degrees, sunny, and just perfect, crisp fall weather. Eric was in San Diego for the Eagles game with Pierre, Andy, & some other friends- so to help occupy our day and change things up, Brooks and I went to a playground that is just 2 blocks from the house.
He is way too little for most of the things- but with the help of a blanket stuffed behind him, he got to swing- and let me tell you- he LOVED the swings.

Here is a video of him swinging- please ignore my mommy voice. If your volume is up and you can ignore me, you can hear him cooing and laughing.

VIDEO





PICTURES

Belly Laughs

Brooks has been smiling and laughing for a while now, but today he did his first belly laughs, contnuous, hysterical laughing. What was so funny you ask? Ming! Ming was being a nut and swinging a toy around her head and he was cracking up. I wish I caught it on tape.

He has been really into Ming lately. He stops whatever he is doing (even the jumperoo) to watch her. He also has been grabbing at her to pet her. We are going to get a trainer in to help us help her adjust- she has been great although did a 'nice' growl (not a vicious one) at him when he was in 'her' window and we don't want to mess around- especially now that he is reaching for her.






In other news- B is getting better and better at tripodding (if he is in the mood). He will be sitting on his own before we know it. He also discovered his toes. If he is barefoot he holds them, if he has socks on he pulls them off (then eats the sock), and if he has footed pj's on he pulls the cloth into his mouth. He also had his first booboo, caused by me. I was juggling him and the dog in th park and he startled right into my finger, it got him pretty good and my nail drew blood. Thank God my finger wasn't an inch lower in his eye.



tootsie time




his cut

Jumperoooooo

We have introduced the jumperoo a few times to B and he just didn't 'get it'. I think part of the problem was that his feet didn't touch the ground. I tried putting a pillow below for him and that didn't help, and constantly slid. Today I tried with a folded up blanket below him- this cured it!
At first he just had a 'conversation' with me. We have several of these talks a day. Then he went into full out jump mode!

DISNEY VACATION!!!

warning: this post is very long with LOTS of pictures



We just got back from a fabulous trip to Disney World- My parents booked a tripe including hotel, park passes, and a meal plan. All we had to do was get there and enjoy

Going into this trip we were excited to go away, but half dreaded it because who knew how it would go with a 4.5 month old. Well- Brooks was AMAZING. Seriously- he was such a trooper and seemed to have a great time.

SUNDAY 11/1- PLANE & BOAT RIDE
On Sunday B had his first flight. He did great- he slept for the first hour, then was up and played for about another hour, then slept for the end. He was an angel. Eric upgraded us for $60 to business class- business class made having a lap infant (that I needed to nurse) sooo much easier.
Sunday evening my parents rented out a private boat and we took a ride out around the Bay to see the different resorts, the light show, and the Magic Kingdom Fireworks. It was a lot of fun- I was worried about being 'stuck' on a boat at 9pm with Brooks, but he just slept and watched. (although he did HATE the life jacket).

In his first class seat! (notice- he has *wings* pinned on him)


Family Picture on the boat

Wearing the life jacket- at first he was confused, then he let us know he was not a fan.
W



MONDAY 11/2: POOL & HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

We took Brooks for his first swim in a pool- he did great and even I thought the water was cold- but he seemed to enjoy it. Once he swam and got a morning nap in, we headed to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM) to meet up with the rest of my family who had headed over earlier in the day. We went and saw The Little Mermaid - B liked some parts, but was not a fan of the volume and getting sprayed. We also went to see Beauty and the Beast- he LOVED watching this. Then we headed over to the Brown Derby and had dinner before we went to see the show Fantasmic. Brooks slept during dinner- passed out from a long day. Lastly, my mom watched B while we hit up the Aerosmith rollercoaster- 0-60 in 3 seconds!











TUES 11/3: MAGIC KINGDOM & EPCOT

On Wednesday we headed to the MagicKingdom. We actually got to take B on a few rides!!! So now he can say- his first ride ever was Dumbo. He also did the carousel and walked around. He did great here- the only thing he didn't like was the train whistle.
We then headed over to Epcot- which was having a food & wine festival. It was so fun walking through the different countries and having little 'tapas', or snacks, at each. This was the night of B's only big meltdown- it was a long day and pretty late (we went for the light show at 9pm). He did fall asleep after about 30-45 minutes of soothing. He must have really been out because he slept through the fireworks.















Deceptive shot in Epcot before the meltdown happened :)


WED 11/4: POOL & ANIMAL KINGDOM


Wednesday we hit the pool again in the morning, then headed to the Animal Kingdom in the afternoon. I cannot wait to take him here in 3-4 more years- it has a dinoland that little boys would LOVE. This is where we also found lots of characters to meet. The parade at this park was my favorite- if you have ever seen The Lion King the musical- it was like that with costumes- amazing!
Wed night we went out for a nice dinner with everyone at Disney's Boardwalk. B started to fuss but Grandpa got him to sleep and it was a fantastic meal






3 goofy guys!


watching the parade

watching a magic show at the boardwalk with daddy



Thurs 11/5: Sea World & heading home
Thursday we went to Sea World. B loved looking at the animals up close and in the aquarium. We saw Shamu, fed dolphins, & fed stingrays. As you can tell- I think this was B's favorite park- he was smiley all day. After Sea World we had about 2 hrs to kill before going to the airports so hung out by the pool and I had a vacation daiquiri. B was so exhausted that he fell asleep at 5:30. He woke up for about 40 minutes when we boarded, then passed back out until 4am sleeping through the ride home, landing, baggage claim, etc.

Sea World














And now we are home and very thankful for a weekend to recuperatw. Vacation was fun but EXHAUSTING. Doing parks daily and waking up 2 times a night with a baby is very tiring. He didn't sleep well there I think b/c he was so distracted during the day, he didn't eat as much and needed to make up for it at night.