Cast Free Brooky!!!!!!!!!!

Well my sweet little Brooky has always been sweet, but let me tell you how much I am enjoying this sweet girl now that she is out of her cast! Yes! You read it right! Brooky got her cast off on Thursday November the 15th! After being in her spika cast (3 different ones) for 6 1/2 months we were more than happy to finally be getting off her final cast! And even more excited when the doctor gave us the news that her hips look great and he thinks we have nothing to worry about! Everything is looking as good as it could be at this point. So we didn't end up having to wear the brace again or anything! So we just have to go back in 8 months (when she is about 2 years old) and have another check up to make sure everything is still good. So now Brooky doesn't have to wear the brace, cast, or anything else! She is all free!

Needless to say I am so excited to finally be able to cuddle and squeeze and tickle and bathe and dress my baby in cute clothes after not being able to do these things for so long! Who knew giving kids a bath could be so much fun? Well after not being able to bathe her in the tub for 6 1/2 months it sure is fun to soap her all up and let her splash and play. And it is so much fun that she can wear tights, and leggings, and skirts, and pants and all these cute clothes that I haven't been able to dress her in before. Even before she had the cast on she was wearing the brace, so I haven't been able to have a "normal" baby since she was 5 weeks old. So I am so happy that we are FINALLY done wearing the brace and FINALLY done with the casts. From 5 weeks old to one week short of 16 months old is a long time! And we are now finally done!  And now I get to hold and cuddle this sweet girl. And it is SO FUN! I am just soaking up every second, because she is so much more cuddly now and I just love it! It really is hard to believe that we are finally to this day, because at times I wondered if we ever would be.

I have felt very blessed through this whole experience though and know that I have had extra strength to deal with things, which I think came from all of those people who were praying for us. I feel so grateful that I was given such a sweet girl who has handled each step of the way with such patience and resilience! I really couldn't have asked for a more happy girl than Brooky! She has been so happy through this whole experience and has really taught me a lot. Just makes me love her even more!

So to celebrate Brooky being cast free, we decided to take the kids to Chuck E' Cheese for a fun night out. We have never taken them before, and they both loved it! Brooky loved riding the little rides and trying out the little kid slide and trying to put the little tokens in each time. Zaya loved it too! He keeps begging us every day to see if we can go back. :)

So far Brooky is doing well. Her skin looks really great for having been in the cast for so long. There was a lot of dead skin that had built up of course, but other than that, was really not bad at all. She is relearning how to sit up. She can do it, but she likes to throw herself back on purpose because she thinks it is fun. I could tell that she is really used to having support helping her sit up, so she is having to re-learn her balance of things without the cast on. She is still pretty stiff, but that is expected for the first little while. She also was a little scared/unsettled or something  (can't think of the right word) because now when I would go to pick her up to hold her, it was such a weird feeling to her that she would grab her arms around my neck and hold on for dear life. I would just have to calm her a bit and reassure her that she was fine. This happened a few times, but now she doesn't seem to be doing it any more and is getting accustomed to what it feels like to not be in a cast anymore. She loves to be thrown up in the air! And all the other fun movements that we get to do with her now that we can actually lift her above our heads! She is also starting to realize that she can move her legs and has fun just wiggling them around. It is really quite funny though, because she still tries to do all the same kind of movements that she did while the cast was on. It's like she doesn't know how to move her body any other way. It is also funny for me, because in a way it seems like I have a newborn, but in another way it seems like she is her actual age. It is just so funny that she can't really move her legs much at all. They are like rubber and she hasn't learned how to control them and they have hardly and muscle, so they are like trying to dress a newborn. It is hard to put pants on her. And now we are relearning how to diaper. It actually takes me longer to change and diaper her now than it did when she was in the cast. But I am sure once the stiffness and everything goes away, and I get used to dressing those floppy legs, we will get faster. :)

Well this post is getting too long, so stay tuned and I will post lots of pics soon. :) Just wanted to let everyone know our exciting news! So happy to have our little girl without all those things strapped around her and that her hips are all fixed, at least for now. :) But hopefully for good.

Brooky's cast is coming off!

I finally was able to get the Orthopedic department to call me back and schedule us in to get Brooky's cast removed! We have been on the waiting list for over a month and we were supposed to get her cast off sometime around the 14th of November. Well after calling and calling and leaving messages and still not getting anyone to get me an appointment I was starting to worry that we would end up having this cast on even longer! I was really hoping to have it off before Thanksgiving! Well today I called again, and this time they finally called back with an appointment! I guess the Dr, finally opened up some slots or something. Brooky gets her cast off on the 15th of November! That is in 10 days! I seriously felt like a kid on Christmas morning after I got off the phone! I am so thrilled that this day is almost here! I can't wait to give Brooky real baths again and squish and tickle and cuddle her without that heavy thing on! It is going to be so nice! Although I'm sure we will have some adjustments as well. I just can't wait! I am so excited! We finally know when we are getting the cast off, so I can officially start my countdown. We will find out when we go in if she has to wear the brace again or not and how everything looks. Wish us luck. Especially Brooky because she hates the cast cutter saw thing that they use to take the cast off! It will be totally worth it to get it off though! She just doesn't know that yet. :) We couldn't be more excited. I am truly thankful!

Fall Fun and Halloween!

Our first fall activity was going to a little pumpkin patch and picking out a few pumpkins. It was a little rainy so we didn't stay long because we didn't want Brooky's cast to get wet. Plus all the little rides were all wet. We decided to pick the odd colored ones and then later bought a regular big one and two little ones to carve as well. I don't think I ever got any pictures of these ones carved. Woops.

Pumpkin Patch

Zaya loved pulling around his wagon full of gourds/pumpkins or whatever they are.

I was cleaning some dirt or something off of her cheeks when Casey snapped the photo. Looks like I am squeezing her cheeks though! lol

Posing by the pumpkins

Finally got all of them to look. :)

Zaya by the pumpkins

Pulling his load back to the car.

Ward Party

My cute little fairy princess and cowboy. Brooky was a little cranky since she was waiting to eat dinner. :)

I couldn't talk Isaiah into wearing his bandana or letting me put a mustache on him.

So precious.

Handsome cowboy.

Sweet smile.

I think she looks so pretty!

A flying princess! It took me all day long to paint her nail. Won't be doing that again for a long time!

Love her pretty blue eyes.

Our trunk partially decorated for the trunk or treat. It was hard to get a good picture with the full effect. The ward party was overall a big success I think. There were a lot of people that came. We had a dinner and then the kids went around and did the different booths. Zaya's favorite was the cake walk because he loved running around and around hoping to get his number drawn to get a treat. Even after he won, he just kept wanting to run around! While I was helping Brooky finish her dinner, Casey took Zaya to play at the different booths. Well there was a mad hatter dressed up really scary with his face painted and everything. I guess he sprayed silly string right in Isaiah's face and it scared him pretty bad! Then when I showed up Zaya was coming unglued every time the mad hatter was even close. He was so terrified that he was going to get sprayed again. It made me a little mad because the guy was scaring him on purpose and it ruined the rest of  the night for Isaiah. He went out to the car with dad to help him prepare the trunk for all the trunk or treaters. He was so afraid that I couldn't even get him to come back inside for the costume parade. He did do the trunk or treating though. Then that night he woke up screaming and I'm sure it was because he was so afraid of that guy! He ended up sleeping in our bed the whole night, which never happens. Then on our way to church on Sunday Isaiah was afraid to go because he was afraid that the scary guy who sprayed him was still going to be there. Poor boy has never been so afraid of anything in his life! On a happier note though, they both loved getting candy in their buckets at each car they visited!

Halloween Night

Since Zaya couldn't decide what to be he went with fireman this time. Here he is with one of his best friends Gabi who was dressed as Rapunzel.

Here I am as a cowgirl with my little fairy princess.

Here you can see me a bit better.I need to get the other pics from my friend who has one of all of us dressed up. 

 So on Halloween night we went over to our friends across the street and had a little halloween dinner before trick or treating. I brought these:

Mummy dogs

And Jello worms. These were kinda fun to make, but also a lot of work. People just don't really like the thought of eating worms. :)

Then we went with our friends to their neighborhood to trick or treat. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast. Zaya loved being able to get big handfuls at some of the doors. He filled his bucket clear to the top. He loved dumping it all out and counting it with me after we got home. Brooky loved searching through her bucket while we went around the neighborhood. She would reach in, pull out a candy. Taste it with the wrapper on, decide it was no good, then throw it off the side of her stroller! She kept doing thing (both at the trunk or treat and the night of Halloween  So finally I didn't let her hold her bucket anymore and had to just let her such on a lollipop until we were done. That seemed to suffice her just fine. And she loved getting all sticky each time! She got into trick or treating more than I thought she would!

Oh we also made Halloween sugar cookies one day. They turned out super cute, but I totally forgot to take picture of them. We made pumpkins, bats, and candy corn shapes. Here's to a happy rest of fall, even though it still feels like summer here most days. I just love it when it cools down at night, or when it is rainy because then it really does seem like fall.

Fun times with my silly kids.

I just love that I get to spend so much time with these sweet kids! I love being a stay at home mom and so glad I get so much time with these kiddos. A little while ago Casey wasn't feeling well he had a bit of a cold and sore throat so he was craving a smoothie. So he headed over to Jamba and got one. Well when he came home with it the kids really wanted some too! Casey didn't want to get them sick, so they each got a straw of their own and enjoyed daddy's smoothie! I just love these pics! :)

Brooky and Zaya enjoying dad's smoothie.

Just love this girls chubby cheeks and flat little nose. :)

Zaya clearly loved it!

This is the messiest Brooky has ever gotten! If I remember right she was eating some soup. Well when she was done she put the bowl on her head for a hat! Cracks me up. I just had to get some pics!

And you thought it looked bad before, even worse with the bowl off of her head!

She was so happy to be messy! I never let her get this messy because it is so hard to clean her up since I can't just throw her in the bath. Cleaning her up with wipes and rags is much harder, so I try and feed her the messy things myself. :) Takes forever to get her cleaned up after she is a huge mess like this. So excited for when she gets to take real baths again once she gets her cast off! YAY!

I think she is much cuter when she is clean. Don't you? She was turning upside down and backwards trying to find the camera while I was trying to take a pic of her first little ponytail.

It doesn't look like much, but we did get it in. One cute little curl. 

I don't put it into ponytails very often because I like her curls when they are just down. Although she kinda does look like she has a crazy curly mullet sometimes! lol!

Brooky turned 15 months old a few weeks ago! Can't believe how big she is getting already. I wanted to document a few things she has been saying and doing, because I don't feel like I have been very good at keeping track of her progress as well as I did with Isaiah. Her new things she says and does lately: She puts a phone, or hand, or calculator, or anything else resembling a phone up to her ear and says, "Hey-o" for Hello. It is so adorable. She does it all the time and once in a while I can actually get her to say it while talking to someone on the phone. She also just started saying "goobye" for goodbye while waving. It is so cute also. Love her little wave. She also says Owe, ah-oh, hi, how, baba, and likes to try singing. Her favorite songs are twinkle twinkle little star, and she jibber jabbers all of the lyrics and then says How when she gets to the part "How I wonder what you are." She also likes to sing the ABC's and I have heard her say EFG in the middle of singing that one. I just think it is so cute! Whenever I sing to her, she always tries singing back after I am done with the song. She loves dancing to music also and rocks that watermelon chair of hers so hard! She loves reading books, but more than reading she loves turning the pages and can turn the pages faster than I have seen any baby turn pages. She is like a little tornado. She loves pointing at the pictures of the animals in her animal book and she gibber jabbers like she is saying the names as she points to each one. Her favorite animal noise to try and make is the dog, ruff ruff, (but she makes it more in her throat than actually saying the words ruff.) She also likes trying to do the elephant noise. It cracks me up whenever she tries that one! She is so cute and I just love having her in our home. She is happy most of the time and I think the thing people tell me most (even strangers) is what a happy baby she is. She is a doll and her smile is so contagious. I feel like she has taught me a lot about being happy even when life may not be what we want it to be. Regardless of being stuck in a body cast, she has never missed a single day of being happy! I look up to her already. I feel like both my kids teach me so much!

I also wanted to write about some funny things Isaiah said this past week. Yesterday I think dad whispered into Isaiah's ear something like, "lets go give mom hugs and kisses." Well the next thing I knew they were both around me and Zaya said, "I want a big hug and kiss mom." So I got some hugs and kisses. Then I said, "I love it when I get lots of hugs and kisses!" and then Zaya said, "I love you too mom." Then he ran into the living room and on his way he said, "just don't mention it!" I cracked up laughing when he said that! Funny boy!

Then about a week ago before bedtime Isaiah was pretending that our bedroom was a hotel. He kept inviting us to come over to his hotel and asking us if we wanted to play a game with him in his hotel. It cracks me up sometimes he says enjoin me instead of join me. Its like a combo of join and enjoy mixed into one word. So we "enjoined" Isaiah in his hotel to play a game. While we were spending time together Casey asked him what his hotel was called and Isaiah replied with, "Welcome to the Farm"! We both busted up laughing with that one! I'm not sure where he got that idea but I don't think very many people are going to want to stop by and stay in a hotel named "Welcome to the Farm!" :)

The San Diego Zoo

I am a little behind in updating this blog. About a month ago we had the special treat of having my sister-in-law and her kids come up with her friend and kids to visit us here in San Diego. We had a blast and I think we played harder in one day while they were here than we have the whole summer! I'm glad they decided to spent their fall break with us! First off we decided to hit the San Diego Zoo. We got there about 11:00 and stayed until  about 3:30. We had a great time and I can't believe the kids lasted so long and were all so good! Seriously with just us 3 moms and 9 kids I can't believe what a success it turned out to be! Then after the zoo we decided to head to the beach. Why not squeeze a little more fun into one day right? So we did and the kids loved that too. I'm pretty sure Isaiah wants Aunt Jamie to come visit more so we actually do something fun! Zaya was pretty mad after we left the beach because he never got to put his toes in the ocean. (We also never got any pictures on our camera of us at the beach this time. Oh well.) The whole way back to the parking garage he kept telling me, "but mom I never got to put my toes in the ocean." I tried sympathizing with him and trying to explaining to him if he wanted to put his toes in the ocean so bad then he should have done it while we were there and had the chance. It really was his own fault because he chose to play on the playground the whole time instead. I tried taking him down to the water, but then he ran off to play somewhere else again. So needless to say, after trying every distraction and reasoning I could think of to get his mind off of not getting to put his toes in the ocean, I was running out of ideas. Even the train that crossed the tracks right in front of him wasn't enough to get his mind off of it! As we approached the parking garage I saw some bird of paradise flowers growing there and asked Isaiah what kind of flowers they were. Which he then turned to me and said, "mom I don't want to smell the flowers." I  told him he didn't have to. Again I asked him if he knew what the flowers were called. By this point he was so tired from a long day of play and everything that he had had enough. He stops walking, turns to me and says, "mom I just don't want to talk to you right now!" I said okay that is fine, but I was shocked. He has never said anything like this to me before. I guess he is already starting to figure out how to try and express his feelings to me and I am not excited for when he gets to be a teenager if he is already telling me he doesn't want to talk to me anymore when he is only 3 1/2! Oh that boy! But other than this little break down we had a really fun day!

And the other awesome thing about going to the zoo was that we all got in for free! Because it is free kids in October, I still had my membership pass, and I had two free guest passes that we had never used. So everyone got in free! That is what I call getting the use out of our expensive season pass! So it wasn't really free, but it was this time. :)

At the entrance to the zoo

This is most of us at the entrance.

Zaya checking out what I think was a sun bear?

Brooky loved watching this bear! Her little arms and feet were wiggling all over in excitement! 

Brooky also loved the leopard and was most enthralled watching it pace back and forth!

My favorite is the panther, even though he was asleep this time. He is so powerful and beautiful looking, even when he is asleep. Although he does look much more like a kitty when he is sleeping.

Zaya loved the pandas

Seeing the zebras after the long uphill climb. :)

Zaya loved exploring this big prehistoric tiger thing.

Brooky fell asleep and took a good nap. Thankfully. 

The little leopard cubs eating their blood Popsicle. Gross.

If I remember right they are like 6 months old now?

Had to get a pic of the capabara. :)

Zaya also likes the elephants.

These next few were some pictures we took at the bird show when Casey, went with us to the San deigo Safari park. We decided to squeeze in one more visit before our zoo passes expired. So glad we finally got some good use out of them! :) The bird show was really fun and I am glad we got to see that.

I don't remember what this bird is called but it has strong legs and stomps its prey to death. It's legs are even immune from venemous snake bites!

We also loved the talking parrot at the bird show and how the birds would fly right over our heads. It was really fun!

Baby gorilla! So cute!

Momma gorilla! 

Thanks again Jamie and Callie for being brave enough to drive all this way to see us without your husbands help! We definitely had a blast!