Brooke's New Zoo

Mimi and Grandpa Jim came to visit. Here's a morning shot, with Brooke enjoying her sippy cup while Grandpa enjoys his coffee.

Leaving Brooke to watch Mimi and Grandpa, Mom and Dad drove to State College to see Iowa play Penn State. It was a great win, though a crummy and wet with rain all day long.

And with the arrival of grandparents, comes yet more stuff! Brooke got a Fisher Price Zoo, which she loves playing with and "dances" to the music.

Helping in the Kitchen

With minimal to zero child-proofing in our house (we have gates of course), Brooke is constantly into all the kitchen cabinets, pulling out Tubberware, kitchen towels, you name it.

On this particular day she decided to try on the oven mitts. I guess she was ready to help Mom with some baking!

Brooke's First Pirates Game!

Grandma Karen and the Chief visted over Labor Day Weekend. With the visit of grandparents comes new stuff for Brooke -- a new tricycle! Here she is helping Dad and the Chief put it together.

Taking it for a spin. Occasionally she'll sit in the seat, but more often than not she likes to push it from the back.Brooke also went to her first Pirates baseball game. For a team with 17 consecutive losing seasons, I think they pulled out a win that day (though, we left after the 7th inning stretch...).

15 Months Old!

Brooke's 15 month well check appointment was (obviously) with a new doctor, which brought some anxiety for Mom (how to pick a doctor? do I interview again? depend on neighbor referrals? quickly try to get my own PHD and become her doctor? oh, the decisions...).
Well, everything went fine, and the new doc is FANTASTIC! Brooke is eeking up her size, slowly but surely. Her weight is 22 lbs 2 oz (37 percentile), and her height is 30.5 inches (50 percentile). That height is up from 16% at her 12 month. I think the 12 month must've been off, as the new doctor's office has a more precise measuring routine than the old one. Her head circumference is 46 cm (50 percentile).

Even though it was August 30, we had to bundle up for a rare cold day while out in our wagon.

Good-Bye Blazer!

Brooke has said good-bye to her "first car".

Yes, we've retired the Blazer. It was a good car for almost 10 years, preceding the arrival of Jennifer by about 8 months.

And Maddie will never have to cram into the backseat with Brooke and all her toys now. Well, she may still get pelted with toys, but hopefully she'll be more comfortable on the "floor" of the new car.

We tried to take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program, but unfortunately the State of PA had other ideas. Due to the recent move and ensuing car registrations, the state had our Blazer title, which you needed to do the gov't program. So we had to settle for a trade in...and wouldn't you know it, the Blazer title showed up in the mail 1 day later.

Bathroom Antics

Brooke's love for standing in drawers doesn't end (and it needs to as I think the drawer tracks are bending...)She's quite proud of her ability to put all the washcloths in the sink I guess!

Visiting Friends in MI & Chicago

We ventured out for another long roadtrip, with Brooke stopping in 3 states to see friends. First up, visiting Giovana, Cecilia and her new brother Nico in Bristol, IN!

Cecilia enjoyed showing her toys to Brooke. For anyone that knows Giovana, this picture confirms Cecilia clearly has her mom's infectious enthusiasm for life!
Next up, we headed into Michigan for Debi's wedding reception. It was great to see her as it's been a few years. After Debi's we stopped by Aunt Lindy's and Uncle John's for a fantastic dinner and good time spent with family. Over the next week we visited a couple friends in Chicago, visiting Charlie, his dad Ross and his expecting mom Erin.

We also saw Jake and his mom Suzanne, and his new sister Emily.

Fun is always to be had when Evan and Brooke get together, since they're only 3 weeks apart! We enjoyed meeting Evan's new sister, Nora, even if she DID sleep the whole time...
Then Brooke spent the weekend with Grandma Karen and Chief Steeves while Mom and Dad headed to Iowa for Chad & Molly's wedding.

The big milestone of the trip was that Brooke has begun walking! What started at the beginning of the week as crawling with a few tentative steps, evolved to full fledge walking with an occasional fall down by the end of the week. So much fun!!! Batten down the hatches, she's everywhere now!

1st Guests to 'Burgh

Jen's parents were our first guests to Pittsburgh (aka Mimi and Grandpa). Everyone openly admits that they're not coming to see Jen & Scott, rather it's Brooke and the new house! Oh well, that's okay!

Some cuddle time between Mimi and Brooke. We ventured upon a popular tourist site, the Duquesne Incline. It is old cable cars that go up the side of a big hill downtown, providing excellent views of the city. Here's a shot of the incline.
Scott and Brooke riding up in the cable car.Yea, a pretty good view of the city! (and the clouds due to my wonderful photography skills)Mimi, Brooke and Grandpa standing on the platform at the top of the Incline. We had a great visit with them and look forward to their return in September!

14 Months

Brooke turned 14 Months and has teased us with a few steps here and there, but always resorts back to her super fast crawling to get everywhere. I guess she spends so much time with Maddie that perhaps she thinks all four's is normal?!We're okay with either her crawling or walking, as she is so much fun to be around. Always smiling and laughing! Maddie must've walked in the room here as she happily distracted, laughing at the dog.

Lots of Painting

Much of settling into the new house means making our mark on the house. Literally. Translation: lots of painting. Pretty much the whole house could use a new coat of paint and we want to make it "home" with our own colors.

The Painting Station has been set-up in a spare bedroom, as we started with upstairs rooms.First up, Brooke's room. Melted Butter is back. (note through the windows it is dark out...because painting takes 3 continous hours, we must do it after the Munchkin's in bed, meaning we've had some later than normal nights)While the painting ensued, Brooke took up residence in the guest bedroom (as did Maddie during nap times).Ta Da! Here she is admiring her freshly painted, wallpapered, decorated room. And the border is back up too. When Brooke crawled in her room the day after the border went up, she sat pointing at her animal friends on the wallpaper border (daily we talk to the zebras, elephants, alligators, etc. that are on the border).