ONE!

One week

One year

My baby just turned one.

"Man does the first year just fly by!" Cliche yes, but this is a true statement. I really love this age because I'm starting to figure her out. When she grunts a certain way, I know she wants a baba. When she gets fussy a certain way, I know she needs a nap, you get the point. New babies are for the birds! Just kidding ha ha... but not really. I'm a one year and older fan. I know that sounds so harsh, but I'm just too anxious of a person to be a baby fan. Don't get me wrong though, Brooklyn was such a great baby. She brought me so much joy and love this past year and I will really miss my sweet baby. Anyway, this post isn't about me and my weird quarks with infants. Its about the sweetest little one year old in the world.

If you want to learn more about Brooklyn Mae Charles, read below

She took her first steps around December 10th, so just after her 10 month mark.  She didn't start totally walking till about the first week of January, just after her 11 month mark. She beat Avery at walking, but who is keeping track?

She is a fantastic eater, and would eat peas all day long if I let her. No thank you green poops!

She still wakes up at 4 am in the morning and demands milk. I'm a wuss and just give it to her. I figure that she goes to bed about 7:30 and sleeps for about 10 hours and all she wants is a little thirst quencher and then she will sleep till 7:30 and still take a 2-3 hour nap in the day, its just not that big of a deal to me to get her a bottle. *

With her dismay, I have officially weened her from breast feeding. It was kind of tough. I have mixed emotions, but it was time! *Now her Dad can be involved with those 4 am night feedings. Wink wink!

She has 7 teeth! The last 3 came in at the same time, and she wasn't too happy about that.

She is very mellow, but I think will be passive aggressive like her Dad, because she always gets her way, but doesn't demand it, just like her spoiled dad.

She still cackles when she laughs.

When somebody takes something away from her, she throws a temper. She throws her whole body back and it kind of looks painful. I kind of think we might be seeing more of that temper come out.

She loves to just be involved. I sit her in the kitchen sink while I cook (don't worry, I'm within an arm's reach away) and she loves to play and watch. While I do my hair and makeup, I put her in the bathroom sink and she just plays. 

When Dada comes home from work, she gets so excited and walks around in circles in front of him.

I think she likes me, because when I walk into the room, she pretty much tackles me. Makes and old Mom feel special.

She loves to cuddle.

She loves technology. She would pick my cell phone over any toy in the world, you have probably received a call or text message from her. We are always having to hide our computer keyboard and mouse from her. She already knows how to work the Ipad. 

We are trying to teach her  all the animal sounds. She thinks that the doggy says, "ruff ruff" and all the other animals say, "ROAR."

She knows how to say, "Dada," "Mama," "Doggy," "uh-oh," "night night," and "baba." 

 Her best friends are Olive, Asher and Brody.

Her hair is dang curly.

Her newest interest it to climb. She loves climbing on the stool, on Avery's bed and inside of the fridge when it is open. What is it with our kids and climbing? 

We love our sweet baby, and I can't stop kissing her all of the time, sorry about that! 

For her special day, we took her to George Bush's favorite restaurant, the Corner Cafe, for some pancakes. 

She gobbled them up, just like all the 70 year olds who eat at that place wanted to do to her. If you ever want to feel awesome about your baby, go there. Or maybe not, because some of those people just grab your baby without asking. Gotta love the Midwest.

Favorite things

If I was Oprah and you were on my show today, I would so hook you up with my favorite things. But I'm not Oprah, in fact, I'm like the opposite of her; white, stable weight, poor, non powerful. That being said, I still think, just like her, what I like is cool. So here is a list of my favorite things of 2011.

My number one favorite thing in 2011 is something not even Oprah could give away. Its Brooklyn!

Obviously she was the best thing that happened to me this year. She toots like a grown up and still struggles with sleeping through the night, but I wouldn't trade her toothy smile for anything! 

She has truly changed my life and I can't imagine it without her.

Now for the more shallow things I enjoyed this past year

Like television

This show made me so happy this year

I know it first aired in 2008 or so, but I never watched it, mostly because Travis hates any Baldwin brother and wasn't too excited about it. When good old Netflix picked it up on their instant streaming, I inhaled it unlike Bill Clinton. I watched all 5 seasons, and loved every second of it. I even started dreaming of the characters at night, like they were my friends. I wish. I would so want Tina Fey as my friend. I think she would like hanging out with me? Because when I hang out with some of my friends (IE: old friends, you know who you are) we are just as funny as Tina Fey and Tracy Jordan. Or maybe it was because it was 2 in the morning and we were drunk off marshmallows? I don't know, but Tina, if you are reading this, you are welcome to come hang out with me and my friends ANY time!

Another totally enthralling show we watched was Friday Night Lights

Yeah, it had a lot of football in it, so that was partly why we liked it. But lets be honest, the high school drama was the best part! It made me never want to send my little girls to high school. Sheesh! We loved it though, and we were really sad when it was over. Tim Riggins, you broke our hearts, but the real crush was on coach Taylor, and I think Travis had the bigger crush on him than I.

I know you must be thinking that all we did was watch TV in 2011, and you might be right, but the last show I need to add to the list 

 

This is our most recent venture, and we still have a couple more episodes until we are all caught up. At first I wasn't captured by the show, but once you get to know the characters, it is solid! It also makes me want to move to Northern California, libs and all!

Another must have is Coldplay's Mylozyloto album

Coldplay owns me. I can't get away from them. Whenever I'm listening to music on my Ipod, somehow, Coldplay always ends up being played. They are my go to in the music department. Its funny because every time a new album of theirs comes out, it takes about 2 weeks for me to actually like. This last album came out in October, and I actually remember the moment it hit me that this CD was another masterpiece. I was jogging, and as I was listening my arms just started playing the drums, I started to really run fast and sing along. I looked like a freak, but felt nothing but adrenaline. After that moment, I have been obsessed with it. They are money (just give it some time to sink in though).

If you aren't a dork, then tune out for my next favorite thing of 2011. 

We have become fans of board games with a little bit of strategery involved. When we aren't on our bums watching our shows, we are usually playing Dominion with the Johnson's. Don't judge. If you tried it, you would love it as well.

The next thing I have on my list is something that just fell into our laps this year, and its probably more of Trav's favorites than mine. It is our Nikon camera

I've never cared about photography much. I'm pretty low maintenance. If you can see an image and see what's going on, then great! That is until this bad boy came into our lives. You can actually see the sweat beads on people's faces! Our kids pics look so much better! Although I will probably never delve into any other function than automatic (that is Trav's hobby) I do feel like a better photographer.

My next thing is something I have already given a blog post to, so I won't take long to write about it. 

Mini vans rock! Just like the camera, I really wasn't too excited about this addition to our lives. But seriously, so dang convenient. Ours doesn't have too many bells and whistles, but I plan on, in a couple of years, getting a top of the line MV. The only thing those mini vans don't do for you is dress and feed your kids, which maybe in like 5 years will be an added feature? 

Do I even need to explain this next item?

It has changed my life, well maybe just a tad less than Brooklyn, but really, my life is better because of Pinterest. I know there are some haters out there that think its a pure waste of time, cliche or trendy, but I don't care what you think, Pinterest is a genius idea. I promise at the beginning of the year I thought of this idea. I was overwhelmed by all of the blogs out there with great ideas, and I didn't know how to find certain things, so I started copying and pasting their links on my ipad so I wouldn't forget where to find them. Too bad I didn't take it a step (or leap) further and actually come up with a whole website dedicated to this. Thank you to whoever did!

Here is another trendy product that made the list

Apple's I-pad 2

I am a very frugal person, and I don't need too many extravagant items. Travis went about it in a very smart way. He bought me a Nook for my birthday and he told me before I totally turn the idea down, to think about upgrading to an Ipad 2. It was only 200 bucks more and had way more functions. And it took about a month, but then I went for it. Good plan babe! I never splurge, and I'm so glad I did because my Ipad is honestly my brain. Which, after having my second child, I needed. Its not really the apps or games that I love about it, its the fact that it organizes my life. I'm a list person, and would have several lists around my house, and this invention makes me not go insane running in circles trying to organize everything. I also love how compact and convenient it is. I don't have to boot up a computer when I just need to check something really fast. I just love it. 

The last thing on my list is another one that can't be given. 

Its that fact that this man is half way done with residency!

I'm not going to say it has been tough, I'm going to shout it! Don't ever have a baby first year of residency, it will test you! OK, it hasn't been all that bad, more of just a learning and growing experience. I think it has worked wonders on our marriage because we have had to learn how to make each other happy even when we are both exhausted and just want to be selfish! I think we have gone through the hardest part of residency, and the rest should be a breeze... or maybe slightly windy? Thanks for all of your hard work Trav, sorry I'm a whiny when you come home! It should be a compliment to you though, because I only whine to those I love!

This was my list. Sorry I can't give you all my things for free. I really would if I could! 

2012, bring it, we are ready for you!