Tessa Laughing

So you know that baby who was the Internet sensation last year because he was laughing at his dad ripping up a piece of paper?  Well this is our version.

Please ignore the bad joke telling in the background and focus on the cute baby doing all of the laughing.



Tessa Laughing from Alison Street on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving Weekend

The kids Thanksgiving outfits were a success! It took longer then anticipated but what DIY project doesn’t. Tess’s outfit was actually really easy to put together. The tie for Colin was a bit more challenging. Reading a pattern is seriously much harder then you would guess. The instructions are vague and they use lingo that only an experienced seamstress would understand. Thank God for my mom’s help. There is absolutely no way I would have been able to make Colin’s tie without her. It took me probably 10 minutes just to identify which pattern I was supposed to use after I opened the pattern packet. For clarification patterns get sold in bunches. So when I bought the pattern of a tie for a little boy I actually got the patterns for 2 different kinds of ties for little boys, 2 different men’s ties and a couple of different vests. It was intense. I was relived when I saw the pattern I needed was the smallest in the packet. Things went pretty well until we were doing the final stitches and realized that we laid the pattern upside down on the material so all of the words on the tie were facing the wrong way. No big deal though just had to start over completely. Ha, actually it went about 10 times faster the second time around so it was too bad. Tess’s outfit was super easy to put together. If you ever want a tutu made I would be happy to offer up my services. They are so simple, and so cute!

After all of the work of putting together the outfits the real challenge came into play. How do we convince Colin that wearing a tie all day is a good idea? And how do we get Tess to wear a tutu without trying to eat it? All I can say is we did get the kids to both wear their outfits at the same time long enough to get a couple of family pictures. It might be a couple of years before we are able to get a picture where all 4 of us are actually looking at the camera and smiling.

Keith decided to brave the crowds and do a little Black Friday shopping this year. I think we are the only family in America who doesn’t have a flat screen TV and we figured if we were going to breakdown and finally get one that this would be the time to do it. Now there was no crazy standing in lines in the middle of the night or anything like that but Keith was able to snag us a really good deal. He woke up when the kids did around 6:15 on Friday morning. He headed out to Wal-Mart to see if the TV we wanted was still
available. The TV’s didn’t go on sale till 8am but we were unclear when people would start lining up for these since the store was open all night. Turns out they handed out line tickets so Keith knew he had no shot of getting the TV. Just for kicks he stopped by SAMS on the way home and there he found the TV he wanted for the same price that Wal-Mart was advertising. So we now finally have a flat screen tv. And I have to say it does look pretty nice. Granted we spent a couple hours adjusting the wall mount and cursing our plaster walls. In the end though I think it was a good purchase. And I feel like we proved we can do some home DIY projects after the whole ordeal with getting the TV mounted. If you don’t have plaster walls you are just going to have to trust me that this was a big feat. Now much to Keith’s delight (please insert heavy sarcasm here) I have started a nice little home improvement to do list. I wonder if he will be as willing to work for a new back splash in the kitchen as he was for a new TV…

Holidays

The one thing that helps me deal with the fact that summer is ending and that winter is beginning is that it means the holidays are right around the corner.  I have always loved Thanksgiving and Christmas but have never really been big on Halloween.  That has changed though over the past few years.  Having little ones to dress up is really fun.  And this year being the first year that Colin actually understood what was going on was especially exciting.  Tessa was a kangaroo and Colin was Woody from Toy Story.  Keith was amazing and was somehow able to track down the last Woody costume in St. Louis.  The only size that was left was 2T.  We thought that would be perfect seeing that Colin is just shy of 2 and a half.  What we didn't factor in is that Colin is taller then most two year olds.  So although the costume fits you will see that it is a little snug.


At first we had a difficult time trying to convince Colin that he should wear the hat but once he realized that neighbors were handing out candy to kids in costume he was all for putting the hat on.  He was willing to do anything to get his little hands on some candy. 

Here is our sweet little kangaroo, yes, this was Colin's costume from when he was a baby.  It was just too stinkin cute to pass up using again.


I learned two important things about Halloween this year 1. It is ok to bend the rules a little for one night and allow your kid to eat candy and stay up past bedtime.  We have video of Colin in his costume talking about how much fun he had trick or treating.  That video alone was well worth breaking a few rules for and 2.  Leftover Halloween candy is excellent bribery to use for potty training.  (yes we are still potty training, yes it has been months, yes he is out of diapers and in big boy underwear, yes sometimes it still takes a little bribery to get him to use the potty, no you are not allowed to judge me for this).

With Thanksgiving and Christmas quickly approaching I have been thinking a lot about what outfits I want the kids to wear for the holidays.  Is it weird that I have already spent time thinking Tessa's Christmas outfit?  There is just something so cute about little girls Christmas dresses!!  Realizing that it really is probably a little earlier to start shopping for Christmas outfits I thought I better focus in on Thanksgiving.  I had this idea to get a white long sleeve onesie and put a little Turkey applique on it for Tess to wear along with a matching tutu.  I know several stores where I could buy this exact outfit but I figured I would give myself a little challenge and will try to make it myself.  When I told Keith about this he suggested that I make Colin a tie to match the outfit I make for Tess.  Well I talked my mom into going to the fabric store with me today.  Here's hoping that the actually assembly of the outfits will go smoother then the purchasing.  If you have never been to a fabric store before prepare yourself to be overwhelmed.  Oh and you might want to leave your 2 year old who is in to everything at home for this shopping trip.  Here is a little sneak peak at what I bought today.  I will be sure to post updates regarding my progress and the finished product.

Wild hair and other tidbits

So I started this blog because I thought I would have the time and energy (ha... what is that?) to keep up with it.  I thought I could post at least once a week with little updates about the kids, the house, and all the little stuff that keeps us busy.  At the same time I thought that every once in awhile I could write something with a little more substance.  Well it turns out that having two kids, one of whom is nursing and one of whom we are currently potty training takes up pretty much all of my time.  As much as I would like to get to dedicate a little more time to blogging it simply isn't a priority in comparison to spending time with my kids.  It is important to me to be active with my kids.  So when we go to the park it isn't just Colin who is running around I am usually right there running with him.  I have been joking lately that I will never have to join a gym again because I am so busy running around with the kids.  It can be exhausting.  Fun, fulfilling, at times really funny but still exhausting.  By the time the kids go to bed at the end of the day I am ready to go to bed myself.  Bottom line my blogs for here on out will likely be pretty brief.  I will try to get right down to the point.  And really most people are just stopping by here to see pictures of the kids anyway.  So... here are some updates on what we have been doing lately...

We took the kids up to St. Joe yesterday for their Fall Harvest.  The kids had a good time and I have to admit I think it is fun to stop by my old stomping grounds every once and awhile.

Colin went for his first pony ride ever.  He did such a great job!!  And doesn't he look like a 4 year old here?  How is this child only 2?

I thought I would show Tess the gym, you know just in case she grows up to be at all like her Mama. (no pressure I swear!).  Please note that at this point she was totally passed out. 

A quick note about hair.  My children both have wild hair right now.  Earlier this summer we shaved Colin's head because his hair had been getting so sweaty so quickly anytime we played outside.  We are now in the process of letting it grow back in and we found out that he has a double colic.  The only solution at this point is to go with the faux-hawk. 

Tess easily has the most ridiculous hair I have ever seen on a newborn.  Take a look at this picture.  I swear I did not style this in anyway.  This is honest to God what her hair looks like.  Can you believe that volume?  People have asked me if I style it.  First off who styles a 3 months old hair?  Second off if I did style it why would I chose this particular style?  It is CRAZY.  It sticks up a good inch off of her head and then curls.  I can not wait to see what it looks like when she gets older.  For now I am taking lots of pictures so we don't forget what it once looked like and we are wearing lots of bows. 

That's all I have for tonight.  I am back at work so it is for sure time for me to go to bed so that I can be functional for the next 3 days.  

First Night without the kids


I did it.  Well we did it.  We had our first night away from the kids and we actually survived.  Friday night we went to Columbia, MO for a wedding and we left the kids with my parents.  I surprised myself by actually going.  Tess is only 11 weeks old you know.  I didn't have an overnight stay without Colin until he was over a year old.  I knew that the kids would be well cared for.  It was just the fact that I knew I would miss them like crazy.  And Tess is still waking up in the middle of the night for a feeding so I felt guilty that my parents would have to wake up with her.  And since I am nursing she has only had three bottles in her whole life so I was also worried that she might not be too interested in taking a bottle.  My parents said she wasn't happy with the bottle at all at first but that they were able to calm her down and eventually she took it just fine.  After that first feeding she took the rest of her bottles like a pro.  Thank you Mom and Dad for being patient with her.  I know how stressful it can be to deal with a crying, hungry baby. 

The wedding was so much fun.  The bride was absolutely beautiful (she always is).  I really love going to weddings, especially when I know that the two people getting married truly are meant for each other.  Steven and Erika are such a fun couple and you can tell that really love each other.  I just couldn't be happier for the two of them.  On top of that when the dinner being served is a steak fillet and lobster tail well that just makes everything a little better.  You also know you are at a good wedding when Truman the Tiger shows up.  We had a great time dancing and hanging out with friends who we don't get to see as much anymore.   The highlight of the night may have been the cab ride home when we had the cab pick us up from a bar, drive us to our car which was parked at the reception site to pick up some milk that I had pumped earlier in the night which was on ice in our backseat, and then drive us back to our hotel.  I am pretty sure the cab driver never had anyone request that before. 

 

Overall I am really happy with how the weekend turned out.  We got to see two amazing people get married, we got to spend time with some good friends and we proved that we and our kids can survive being apart from each other for a night. I do have to say though I was so happy to see these two when we got home.

Seeing Double

After weeks of being asked who Tessa looks like I finally figured it out.  Yesterday Colin and I were looking at pictures and videos of our family on our computer (this is Colin's new favorite pastime) and I thought it would be fun to look back at some of Colin's baby pictures.  When the pictures came up Colin kept saying "Baby Tessa"  and you know what?  I can see why he was confused. 

Here is Colin

And here is Tess

Colin

Tess

Colin

Tess

 

Yep it's official Tess looks like her big brother.  She just has more hair. :)

God Bless Tess

Our sweet baby Tessa was baptised this past Sunday.  We had an absolutely beautiful day for the celebration.  Here are some of the highlights from the day.

Tess wore a baptismal gown that has been in the Brooks family for over 100 years!  Colin was also baptised in this gown, so was I, so were all of my brothers, so was my Dad and all of his siblings, so were countless other Brooks relatives.  I think it is so cool that we have such a special family heirloom that gets to be used on this occasion.


Here is a picture of all of the Brooks relatives who were at the celebration who wore this same gown when they were baptised.

In addition to Tessa's special Baptismal gown we also had two very special bonnets for her to wear during the ceremony.  One was made from the material of the original baptismal gown.  The gown was recently refurbished.  Originally it was a gown and a slip.  Over the past 100 years however the gown started to get very worn in several places.  The best parts of the slip and the gown were used to create a new gown.  The extra material was used to create a bonnet to wear with the dress.  Tess also received a new bonnet as a gift from her Aunt Jen, Uncle Don, and cousins Nora and Luke.  We held this bonnet throughout the ceremony and it has become Tessa's own special keepsake from the day.

Msgr Jack preformed the Baptismal Service.  He did a great job with the service and mentioned several things throughout the ceremony that really made me think.  He suggested that each year on the anniversary of Tessa's Baptism that we light her baptismal candle and celebrate the day that she was Baptised.  I think this is a really cool idea!  It was especially symbolic for us to have Msgr Jack preform the service because he was actually the priest who baptised me not so many years ago.

Tessa's Godparents are her, Uncle Nat (my brother) and Aunt Julie (Keith's sister).  Aunt Julie traveled all the way from LA to be there for the special day.  Julie, I can't tell you how much this meant to us.  Thank you so much for being there!  Tess is truly blessed to have such great Godparents!

After the service we hosted an open house for our friends and family.  The service went a little longer then we had anticipated and some of our guests arrived at our house before we were back.  Luckily we have amazing friends who helped get the house ready and greeted our guests.  Thanks you Pete and Molly and Lori.  You guys are the best!! Seriously I don't know what we would have done with out you guys.  And special thanks to Tony and Colleen for taking pictures for us at the ceremony, they turned out great!

While it was a holiday weekend and many people were out of town we were very blessed to get to celebrate with our friends and family who were in town.  It meant more to us then I could ever say to have so many wonderful friends and family who came to help celebrate with Tess on her special day.  I am so sorry that I didn't get to visit with all of you more.  Trust me though when I say that you all being there really meant the world to us.  It was a day I will not soon forget and it will be one that I will be sure to tell Tess all about in the years to come.

I have a few bones to pick

There are a couple of things/places that have been getting under my skin lately..

1. Rock N Roll Half Marathon

Every year around this time Keith and I start talking about how we should run a half marathon.  There is typically one in St. Louis every fall so summer time is when our training would need to begin.  We both like to run and we think this would be something really cool that we could do together.  Every year it seems that something comes up or our motivation just fizzles for one reason or another.  Well this year the same thing started to happen.  We started talking about running a half marathon and we were getting excited about the idea.  Then I logged on to the website and found out that the entrance fee is $105 PER PERSON!  Man this is annoying.  I can not wrap my brain around why this would be so expensive.  I know that this particular marathon has a live band at each mile but come on, what bands are we talking about here?  Taylor Swift was just in town and I am positive that tickets to her show were less then $105.  (Is it weird that I just made a Taylor Swift reference?  It's cool I am OK with admitting that I think she is awesome.) Getting up the motivation to do the run was hard enough, now I have to justify spending $210 so Keith and I can participate.  While we haven't totally ruled out signing up for the run trust me when I say I can think of many other ways I would like to spend $210. 

2.  Running shorts that ride up

While on the topic of running I would like to mention that it has always bothered me that running shorts seem to find a way of riding up your inner thigh.  I used to think this was all a matter of buying the correct size shorts.  I now see the error of my ways.  After trying many different types of running shorts in varying sizes I have finally found the pair that doesn't ride up.



God bless the makers of this product.  These shorts are amazing.  Not only do they not ride up the tag is on the side of the shorts rather then the back.  What genius thought of this?  I love it!  I don't think I will ever buy a different type of running shorts again. 

3.  Babies R Us

There is a long list of things I could say about Babies R Us and the ways they annoy me but today I will just mention their coupons.  Babies R Us is one of those companies who sends out booklets full of coupons on what seems like a weekly basis.  And they always sound so great 15% any item, but one get one free etc etc.  The fine print on these coupons are RIDICULOUS!  We went in to buy a new activity mat for Tessa, similar to the one below, and tried to use the 15% off coupon, we were denied.  Why you ask?  Because the activity mat is considered to be a 'toy' and 'toys' are excluded from the sale.  I would love for someone to explain to me how an activity mat is a toy.  And please let the record note that these are not listed under the 'toys' on the Babies R Us website. 



Then today I went in to buy diapers because I had a great coupon, or so I thought.  Basically it said "$8 off any large box of diapers and large box of wipes"  I thought this meant either $8 off the wipes or $8 off the diapers.  No, no, no, it means $8 off the diapers AND the wipes.  You have to buy both.  While in both of these cases the coupon did state these rules and exclusions I am totally frustrated with the various ways they can be interpreted.  From now on I am going to do my best to stay away from this place all together. 

Thanks for listening to my small rant.  After looking over this post the thought crossed my mind that if these are the worst things plaguing my life right now that I must be one lucky girl.  And you know what, I am!  I even have some pictures to prove it.

Tess loves her swing so far.  Thank God!

Yes, Colin does wear this shirt a lot, I promise I wash it after each use. 

Quick Updates

After this weekend I have a renewed sense of confidence that I should continue blogging.  Keith and I spent our first night away from Tess and I saw some friends who let me know that they are checking in on the blog to see what has been happening lately with our family.  I needed this boost to keep me going.  I like knowing that people are stopping by here occasionally.

I don't have much time right now (or ever really if I am being totally honest) but I wanted to hop on and give some quick family updates.

Keith

A lot of people have been asking about Keith's new job.  Last week was his first week and he is liking things so far.  He is still learning about what his day to day activities are going to look like but so far things are going well.  On a personal note I need to mention that Keith did an excellent job of spoiling me on my birthday.  He brought home a sushi dinner and borrowed a projector from a friend so that he could play a movie on the side of the house outside.  It was a very romantic night under the stars.

(looking a little sweaty while waiting for the movie to start in our backyard)

Colin

Colin continues to be the one who is really running the show at our house.   It is incredible how much energy a 2 year old has.  We have had some major ups and downs over the past week with potty training.  He wore big boy underwear and had very few accidents for almost a week and suddenly he started having lots of accidents and we are back in diapers and are trying to take a little potty training break.  I am waiting for him to be interested again.  Maybe in a week or two he will be ready.

(at the zoo with Phil the gorilla)



Tess

Tess is such a sweetie pie.  People keep asking if I am getting any sleep.  Although I am still waking up every 4 hours or so things with Tess have been going great.  In the middle of the night I fed her, change her, and she goes right back to bed.   I am up for 30 minutes tops.  I am so grateful for this!  She is growing up fast and I finally am starting to think that she looks like one of us... Colin. 

I know I promised a non baby related post.  And I assure you one is coming.  I just wanted to pop on here real quick today for some mini updates on the Street Family.  

Let's try this again

So remember last week when I posted about how nervous I was about being alone with the kids for the first time?  Well it turned out that I wasn't alone with them at all.  Keith went into work on Tuesday to find out that the vacation time that he had originally requested that he thought he wasn't going to get because he is in the process of switching jobs was in fact approved.  So I had Keith home with me all week last week.  And thank God for that. 

Colin woke up on Wednesday with a 101 fever.  We gave him Tylenol and put him down for a nap, hoping he would sleep off whatever bug he had.  Well he woke up with a 104 fever.  Off to the doctor we went.

 

(This is Colin in the doctor's office.  I know I should feel bad about taking this picture b/c he was clearly sick but it was just too funny not to capture.)

We get there and are told that he is breathing VERY fast and that he needs a chest x-ray.  This is easily the most scared I have been as a parent up to this point.  The x-ray reveals that Colin has pneumonia.  We were sent home with antibiotics and instructions to use a nebulizer every 4 hours.  Oh and we were told to keep Colin and Tess away from each other just in case Colin was contagious.  Apparently pneumonia in little kids typically is not contagious but it is better to be safe then sorry especially when you are talking about the health of your newborn baby. 

Keeping the kids separate was not the easiest thing in the world to do especially because these are some of Colin's favorite things to do these days.

Tess and I spent Thursday over at my parents house and Keith stayed home to take care of Colin.  We must have caught on that Colin was sick very early because by Thursday morning Colin was literally running circles around the house.  I am so grateful that he was back to his normal self so soon.  That being said I am just so happy that Keith was home last week.  I don't know how I would have gotten through all of that without his help.

With Keith's new job he will be working 8-5 Monday through Friday.  In his previous position he worked 6:30-5 Tuesday through Friday.  He starts the new job next week so this Monday was the last Monday that Keith will be at home.  Yesterday I spent the day over at my parents house.  The grand kids, all 9 of them, spent time over at Grandma's yesterday.  It was a fun, but slightly hectic day.

So after all of that.... today is officially my first day alone with the kids.  I made it through the morning.  The kids are both napping.  I am using my 'me' time to do a little blogging and we will see where the afternoon takes us. 
I promise to work on posting something non kid related soon.  I assure you that although kids are running my life right now that I am capable of adult conversation that doesn't revolve around nap times and diaper changes.  Thanks for being patient with me.

Wish me luck

Well the day has finally arrived.  Tomorrow is my first day at home alone with both of the kids.  So far Keith has either been home with me or Colin has been in daycare so it has been just Tess and me.  Colin officially had his last day of daycare last Friday. 

This is really a bitter sweet time for me.  Of course I am SO happy to have Colin home with me while I am on maternity leave but I do recognize that there were some good things about daycare.  For example

1. He got to play all day 3 days a week with a bunch of other kids his age.
2. He would come home and start talking about a song or book that he read at daycare that Keith and I had not yet introduced him to.
3. Honestly it was nice to have a break from chasing around a very active 2 year old. 

All of that being said though there are some things I will not miss about daycare

1. The horrible guilty feeling in the pit of my stomache when I would drop him off in the morning.
2. Feeling like the workers at daycare weren't really on board with potty training.
3. Shelling out hundreds of dollars a month to have someone else take care of my kid. 

I have said all along that I wanted to be able to spend time at home with my kids.  I have also always acknowledged just how hard I know it will be to stay home all day everyday with two kids.  It is also hard because I don't have many friends who are in this position so I don't have a lot of people to talk to about what I should expect.  A friend posted this article on facebook a couple of days ago and it really speaks to where I am in my life right now. 

Carolyn Hax - TELL ME ABOUT IT ®

www.washingtonpost.com

 

So what exactly am I trying to stay here...  Tomorrow is the first day of what I think will be the most challenging and rewarding 10 weeks of my life.  I get to spend the day with these two cuties, I couldn't be happier. 

For my love on his birthday

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday.  I had originally planned on having his present ready to go a week or two ago but baby Tess arrived a little earlier then I thought she would so my birthday shopping plans were put on hold.  I didn't have anything particularly exciting in the works for Keith's present.  Maybe just a couple of new shirts or some stuff for around the house.  I did end up getting him a couple of things for the house but he was with me and helped pick them out so I am not sure that that they should really count as a present.  So this year I am going to do something that I haven't done in a long time and I am going to try to be a little romantic (without making anyone want to puke).  I thought I would give you all a quick rundown of some of the top reason that I love Keith.

1. One of our first dates was a pub crawl.  I am 99% sure that this is the first picture of Keith and I ever.

2.  I knew he would be a great dad long before we had kids.

3.   His bread grows in all different colors; red, brown and grey. 

4.  We went down to Mizzou for a football game and while out celebrating after the game he pulled me on the dance floor because HE wanted to dance.  That was the night I feel in love with him.



5. He loves the Cardinals.  This picture is from inside Busch Stadium the night the Cardinals won the World Series. 

 6.  We can be totally silly and goofy together.

7.    He sings Karaoke.

 8.  He isn't afraid to show how much he loves me.

9.  He is incredibly good looking. 

10.  He asked me to marry him. 



 11.  He is the world's silliest dad.  (This is Colin)

12.  He is the world's most loving father. 

 

13.  Bottom line... he gets me.  And loves me.  And for that I will be forever grateful.

Happy Birthday Keith.  I hope you feel how truly loved you are today and every day.