I'm around

I've been MIA from the blogging world for a while and I appologize.

I've been really busy with this:

 

(I got my wisdom teeth out. If we are facebook pals, you've probably noticed my complaining)

And this:

 

One really messy, very mobile and extremely independent baby.

 

(Emptying out mommy's purse)

 

(You may have noticed that she has no pants on. If she was going to kick and scream and push me away while trying to put a pair of pants on her then fine, it's skivvy day at the Stokes' home...)

 

(...And the coffee table)

Plus lots and lots of homework and studying for finals.

Don't worry, I'm still around. Just busy.

Have a great week everyone!

P.S. This is my 200th post! Woo!

Crash, Bang, Boom!

Ok, so there was a crash, but no "bang" or "boom".

Our Thanksgiving weekend definitely ended on a crazy note.

Sunday, Bryant, Savannah and I were on our way to my Aunt's home. We had turned a corner and there was a car ahead of us that was pulling off to the side of the road, then slowed almost to a complete stop. We continued on foreword and then suddenly, the car decided that he was going to pull a U-turn... right into our car. He hit the front/side of my car and since Bryant was driving, I was pinned in on my side, with the other driver facing me. Bryant and I immediately looked behind us at Savannah, who fluttered her eyes, frowned, then immediately went back to sleep. Bryant made sure I was Ok, then got out to go check on the driver of the other car. He seemed really shaken up. We were all shaking a bit, but he looked like he was about to pass out!

A lady who had heard the crash came running out to make sure we were all ok. I crawled out of the driver side door (in a skirt, no less) and got Savannah out of the car. The lady then offered to have Savannah and I come inside her home while we waited for the police, who Bryant was calling at that moment.

 

(You can't really see it in the photo, but my hood is a bit bent, and the door is bent in too and won't open more than a couple of inches.)

She was really super nice, and had a cute Disney themed home. She let Savannah play with a few toys and offered us drinks while Bryant spoke to the police (4 police cars, including the undercover cop showed up. Four! For a little fender bender! Pleasant Grove really has nothing going on...)

We had to wait a while because the other driver didn't have his insurance information in the car and his parents had to bring it down. Everything went pretty smoothly. Bryant said the guy seemed a little mad when the police officer told him he was at fault. He said he had looked before he turned and everything. Obviously not, because he hit us...


I took my car into the shop today and I thought it was just a little bit of damage. But from what they were saying, I needed a whole new bumper, a new fender, my door needs to be fixed because it won't open, and my hood needs to be refinished. Not to mention all the wiring for a new light and turn signal and a paint job. Thankfully, the other guy's insurance is paying for me to have a rental car! The car rental service even came to pick me up from the shop!

I'm not sure how badly the other guy's car was damaged. We left the scene before he did, but I think they had to have his car towed away. I'm surprised his airbags didn't go off, but neither of us was really going all that fast, considering he had gone from a near-stop to swinging his car in a U-turn and we had turned a corner not too far away and were still in the process of picking up speed.


I'm glad we don't have to pay for anything, especially since I'm getting my wisdom teeth out this weekend and that's going to take a chunk out of our budget.

8 Months and a Mess Maker

My little Savannah Banana turned 8 months last Friday!

It feels like she is learning more and more, faster and faster every day. One day, she just decides that she wants to learn how to do something, so she does it! I've been better about sitting back and letting her figure things out for herself. Like when she really wanted to start crawling on the tile, and I was worried she would hurt herself, I figured that since 90% of our apartment is tile, she would have to do it someday, so I let her. Or like when she really wanted to pull herself up to stand, I let her try to do it herself rather than helping her, and hanging onto her. I think she becomes really proud of herself. She's one determined little thing, when she wants something, she'll get it.

She can crawl like a pro these days and gets into everything.  If I need to get something done, I have to put her in her bouncy chair or her play yard. Otherwise, she's getting into closets, pulling things off tables and shelves, emptying out the diapers, wipes, toy box. Basically anything that has stuff in it, she wants to pull out. And once it's out, she doesn't want to play with it. She just wants to make a mess. The other day, I watched her work for 5 minutes trying to pull a box with her headbands in it off her nightstand, and once she pulled it off, she tossed it aside and moved on to trying to get into her daddy's closet.



(A video of Savannah crawling around)

 (Pulling all the DVDs off Grandma and Grandpa's shelf)

She still loves strangers (I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing yet) and loves when people come up to her and smile and talk. She also loves going to other people during church, which gives me a break to enjoy learning, rather than chasing her around.

She's still a HUGE Elmo fan (can you guess what most of her Christmas presents will be?) and every morning after she eats breakfast, she immediately turns her attention to the TV, waiting for me to turn it on and watch her Elmo.

She's learned how to wave and clap her hands. She waves at everyone and everything. On thanksgiving, I took her out to the front yard of my grandparents house to watch the train down the block and she waved and clapped and screamed at it. It was the highlight of her day!

She loves other kids, especially babies her age. She's just not a fan of other kids taking toys away from her and she's become a biter. We went on a play date with a friend of mine from work and her daughter and Savannah was loving all of the new toys, until her friend placed her hand on the pig she was playing with and Savannah leaned down and bit her hand! Looks like we need to work on sharing and manners.

She's also starting to recognize certain words. She knows who Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, Sage, Sawyer, and Colter are and will look at them when you name them. She also knows what breakfast and dinner mean. Now we just need to learn what the word "No" means.

She can also mimic sounds really well. My favorite is when I say "Savannah, say Mama!" and she does! Most of the time it sounds like "momomomomom". (Although, the other day I put her in her car seat and she was throwing a fit about it and she looks me in the eye and screams "MAMA!" like she was mad at me.) We are working on "Dad" but it just sounds like "bab bab bab" right now.

Speaking of throwing fits, she's learned to throw them really well. She kicks and shakes her fists and screams at me if I take something away from her. She's also decided to hate getting dressed or get her diaper changed. It's a 10 minute battle of her squirming, rolling, kicking and yelling at me to put a pair of pants on this kid.

But for all her messes and fits, she's such a sweet baby girl who loves people, and is very curious about everything.
She's growing up way too fast!


I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend! We did, except for Savannah throwing up all over me at the dinner table, and the car accident we got into. Look for our blog post on that coming up soon!

I Am Thankful

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. 

Turkey, football, the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, Turkey, Family, Friends.

...oh, and did I mention Turkey?

 I love this time of year. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas when people reflect on everything they are grateful for. There is so much, much more than I could ever fit into a post, or even 100 posts, that I am thankful for. 

Today, I ran to the store for my Mom, when I came home, she was cradling my beautiful daughter who was sound asleep, so I volunteered to finish the dinner she had already started for the family. It gave me time to think about and pick out a handful of things that I am thankful for.

1.) Doctors

While at the grocery store, the Pleasant Grove Fire department were out front collecting donations for an Orem Firefighter who had a stroke earlier this month. Tears came to my eyes as I placed a few bucks into a boot and memories of my own Dad suffering a stroke when I was in Jr. High came back. I remember how hard it was for my family. How hard it was for him to swallow, to walk, to talk. Thanks to his amazing team of doctors, and lots and lots of prayer, my Dad survived. I got to keep my Dad. 

Doctors have saved my own life too. 5 years ago this Friday, I was admitted to the hospital with a severe case of pneumonia. My entire right lung and 3/4 of my left were filled with fluid. I was drowning in my own body. But my pulmonologist fought hard to help me through it. It took almost a year to get back to "normal" (I still get slight pains in my right lung every once in a while) but I am so thankful for the doctors who saved me.

And last but not least in the doctors category, I am thankful for the team of nurses and doctors who delivered Savannah. My labor and delivery was quick, relatively painless, and I couldn't have asked for better delivery room cheerleaders than those nurses!

2.) My Husband

Words cannot describe how much love I have for my husband, and I don't say that in a cheesy way. I mean it. That man is everything I could ask for and more. I love our relationship because it's not perfect. We work every single day on improving it. There is a lot of humor in our marriage. We tease and play and annoy each other. There is also a lot of trust. I feel so blessed to be at his side throughout our life and beyond.

3.) Savannah

I never imagined how perfect my life would be until I had my daughter. I know it sounds cheesy, but I truly feel like I was missing a part of my heart until Savannah filled it. She is my reason for getting up in the morning. She motivates me every day to be a better Mom, and a better person overall. She reminds me to watch what I say, what I do, what I don't do, because she is my responsibility, and I want her to look up to me. I want her to grow up having good morals and good standards. I want her to be a good person, to be a good friend.

4.) A Roof Over My Head, Food in my Cupboard

So many people in this world don't have to opportunity to enjoy the things that we sometimes take for granted. I don't know how I would handle having a messy baby, and no washing machine to toss her dirty clothes in, or clean water readily available out of my tap for her bottles. Savannah is healthy because I have access to nutritious food for her. Literally just a 5 minute drive to the nearest grocery store. A comfortable bed, a toilet, heating and air conditioning, all things that I rarely think about, and yet, a vast number of people will never have them.

5) The Arts: Dance, Music, Painting, etc

 (some of my dad's artwork at his show last year)

I grew up in a home where my Dad's artwork hung on the walls and my Mom's crafts were displayed on the shelves. They have always been supportive in any creative outlet I wanted. Paint brushes, pastels, and canvases for Christmas and birthdays, attending all my dance competitions, allowing me to take band in school and piano lessons, introducing me to new (and sometimes old) music, encouraging me to write. I'm grateful for their support in everything I wanted to do or try.

(Some of my artwork, just sketches)

6.) School

As much as I have just about had it with school, and how much it drives me nuts, I am grateful for the opportunity to attend a university and gain an education.

There are a lot more things I could write about, but I've already made this post extremely long.

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving! Don't forget to be grateful for everything, from the bottom of your heart throughout the day, and throughout the next month. If you are reading this, we are most likely friends or family, and I hope you know how much I love you and am thankful to have you in my life!

Happy Turkey Day every one!

Happy Thoughts

It's been so long since I've sat down to write a post. 

It gets tougher and tougher as the end of the semester approaches, but I thought I'd just type something up to let everyone know I'm still around.

Lately, I've been feeling a little down. I usually do about this time of the year. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE fall and the excitement of the holidays drawing near, but I'm an "outdoorsy" kind of person. I love fresh air, warm breezes, and lots and lots of sunshine! But this time of year I get cabin fever. The days seem so short. By 7:00 I feel like I should be getting ready for bed, not heading to work. It gets too cold to spend out on the lawn reading or soaking up some sun. I think the biggest problem is that I'm indoors a LOT these days and I live in such a small apartment, that it's really like being confined to a single room for hours, sometimes days on end. I purposefully "forget" to get something at the grocery store, just so I have a reason to go back the next day, just to get out for a bit. I actually get excited to go to work because it's a change of scenery. 

So you can imagine how cramped I've been feeling. And then on top of that, Bryant's been so ridiculously busy between school, work, coaching, and homework that we only get a few waking hours together so I've been feeling very lonely too. 

Isolation, shorter, colder days and loneliness are ingredients for a depression cocktail.

I was feeling so down that it was affecting Bryant and Savannah. I found myself lying in bed all day. Taking 4-5 hour naps while Bryant juggled homework and a busy baby. I hated the way I was feeling and I could tell that Bryant was doing everything to make me happy, and when I wasn't getting any better, he began to worry.

Finally, he broke my heart when he said "nothing I do makes you happy these days".

Because that wasn't true. He makes me so happy every single day of my life that I don't know what I would do without him. He takes such good care of me, and I'm always his number 1 priority. I felt bad that my misery was affecting him. Especially since I really didn't have much to complain about.

So I decided that I was going to turn that frown upside down! I decided to make a list of things that made me happy. Over the course of the last 3 days, every time something made me happy, I wrote it on a list on my phone. I think I came up with a pretty good list:

Sticky fingerprints on my mirror (from Savannah. She just loves that baby in the mirror!)

Good music

How good I felt after my morning run

Leftover Chinese take-out

My gray peep-toe, ankle boots

Meatballs

How long my hair is getting

Going to a movie with just my Mom and sister

Cuddling up with Bryant (who never minds that I stick my feet under his legs to keep them warm)

Discussing Dante's "Inferno" with Bryant

Discussing what we thought heaven will be like

Discussing what TV shows God would like to watch (Bryant believes God would like to watch Sports Center, I think he would like the discovery channel... everyone loves Shark Week...)

Basically just having any type of discussion with Bryant.

Space-heaters

Cooking

Savannah's "old man face" she makes

My dad's artwork

chocolate oranges

Watching Savannah tease Bryant

There was a whole lot more to the list. This is just a small sampling. I think it really helped me realize how much happiness I have in my life. I had to realize that I couldn't let myself become a Debbie-Downer over little things that didn't matter, and then let that ruin all the good things in my life. 

How can I be sad when I have this cute little face to love and kiss?

 

She was eye-ing my spaghetti and meatballs

 

And was getting mad when I wasn't sharing...

...So she gave me her "old man look" until I gave her a bite!

Trick or Treat! Smell my Feet!

We had a very mellow, but really fun Halloween this year!

Saturday, my ward had a Trunk-Or-Treat for all of the kids. I've never participated because I was a little too old to trick-or-treat when they started this tradition, then the first year Bryant and I moved back into this ward, they didn't do it because it was snowing so they had to have a party inside the church, and then last year they didn't get anyone to plan it so it just didn't happen at all.

This year, even though Savannah is too young to trick-or-treat, I still thought it would be fun to take her. I decided to invite my old roommate Bri and her baby Lani to come too!

I even decided to decorate my trunk! I was in a huge rush to do everything. I was at the grocery store a half hour before the party started to buy some candy and saw some white poster board, so I bought a couple of sheets and quickly cut out some teeth. If I would have had more time, I would have made my whole car into a monster! Eyes on top and everything!

Bryant and I threw together our costumes within about 5 minutes. I usually make my own costume every year, but this year I just didn't have the time, or the space to make one, so I decided I would just buy one. Bryant and I searched for weeks and weeks and costume shop after costume shop to find the perfect costumes, but we came to the conclusion that Halloween stores these days only sell kind of trampy costumes. So minutes before the party, I ran into my mom's closet and found an awesome tie-dye dress. So I straightened my hair, found a leather band that I wear on occasion, put on some "earthy" looking jewelery and was a hippie! 

 

Bryant has always said that he likes my "hippie style" of clothing and everyone at the party kept jokingly saying "Brooke! Why didn't you dress up!?" or "You just showed up in your regular clothes?" hahaha! I think even this tie-dye dress was a little out there for me!

Bryant came home from work about 3 minutes before we left for the party. He threw on a pair of suspenders, his nerdy glasses and grabbed a cane. Instant old man!

Lani and Savannah were princesses together. It was a cuteness overload!!!

 

We took the babies up and down the row of cars and got Lani some treats. Savannah picked out a twizzlers wrapped in plastic and she had lots of fun chewing on that thing the rest of the day!

On Halloween night, we just hung out upstairs with my parents and watched my dad hand out pancakes to trick-or-treaters.

Last year he handed out ketchup packets, sweet-n-low, and hot sauce packets. He had been collecting them for weeks! Don't worry, he had a bowl of candy to give out too. But I was surprised at how many kids wanted the pancakes!

I decided I had better get to carving my pumpkin (trick-or-treaters were already out and about and I hadn't even started it!) So I got down to it! I didn't even get Bryant a pumpkin this year because he hates the feeling of scooping out the guts. He gets the longest spoon he can find and scrapes them all out, while I just dig in with my hands (it's my favorite part). I usually end up finishing his pumpkin for him. But Savannah is just like her mama! Diving right in with her hands!

She even tried to eat the seeds! 

 

I was quite proud of my pumpkin this year. It's supposed to be Oogie Boogie from the Nightmare Before Christmas, but everyone said it looks more like the Grinch. Oh Well. I still really like it!

My grandparents came over for a little while too.

 Savannah was having a blast sitting with Grandma and making faces at everyone.

That night after Savannah was asleep, Bryant and I made some hot chocolate (an almost nightly occurrence now that it's gotten a lot colder!) and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!"

I can't wait to take Savannah Trick-or-Treating next year!

7 Months!

My little Miss Savannah is 7 months old today! And she has changed so much this past month! Even just in the last week, she has gotten a tooth, and crawled for the first time!

I'm not so sure I'm ready for my baby to be independent...

On Saturday, I was sitting on the couch with her and she was chewing like crazy! Anything she could get her hands on. At one point, she grabbed my hand and was chewing on my finger when I felt something a little too hard and sharp to just be her gums, so after trying to get her to open her mouth, and then get her tongue out of the way, I was able to see something pearly and white sticking out! Yup, there was a tooth!

 (Her new favorite thing is back scratches. She crawled into my lap while I was eating breakfast so I scratched her back and she eventually fell asleep!)

She surprisingly hasn't fussed that much with the pain that comes with teething. She has gotten up in the middle of the night and cried a teeny bit (mostly just moaning) but a little cuddling and kisses and she's back off to dream land. 

And then over the last couple of days, she's been wiggling her way around the floor and so last night, I decided to place her on one end of the room and place some toys at the other. She wasn't that interested in trying to crawl all the way over to get the toys so I pulled out her favorite thing to chew on: the TV remote. And slowly, but surely, she scooted her way over to me! I don't know if I'd officially call it crawling. It's more like she gets up on her hands and knees, then pushes herself with her legs while her hands slide forward. But she is getting the general idea and with a bit more practice, she will be all over the place! Looks like I need to baby-proof everything ASAP!

(If you couldn't tell, Bryant got her dressed... 49ers onesie and his under armour hat!)

She's still a busy-body and doesn't stop for a second unless she's asleep. Her favorite show is still Sesame Street. In fact, I was watching a trailer for a new documentary about the guy who is the voice and puppeteer for Elmo, and when Savy heard the voice she nearly jumped off my lap in excitement. 

She's extremely social and smiles at everyone. She especially loves other babies and wants so badly to play with them, but they usually are a little shy or scared when she lunges for them and grabs their hands (or shoes, like she did a little boy at church on Sunday). She's high energy and can't understand that other kids aren't as active as her, but it doesn't stop her from pulling their ears! She's also very affectionate and loves to snuggle up with you or give you a big slobbery kiss.

 

(Her first time sitting up in the grocery cart! She was too busy smiling and yelling at the cashier to look at me while I was taking her photo.)

She's finally growing a bit of hair and her eyes have started to turn brown in the middle. Just like her daddy's!

We've tried to introduce the sippy cup, but she hasn't figured it out yet, but she's really good at drinking out of a glass. She does really well with solids and especially loves pears, peaches, squash and sweet potatoes. She's not a huge fan of peas and green beans, but will still eat them (thank heavens!) She is definitely not a picky eater! She really loves when people give her a bite of ice cream or frosting or anything like that (I'm pointing fingers at grandma and grandpa here... haha!) And gets mad when you don't share.

 ("Good morning mama!")

She's the best little baby anyone could have asked for. She rarely fusses, rarely cries, goes down for naps and to bed easily. She's smiley, social, happy and such a riot! She's unbelievably smart and incredibly curious. 

I love being a mom to this amazing little girl!

Vacation Part 1: Las Vegas

(Warning, post contains lots of photos!)

Last weekend, Bryant, Savannah and I went on vacation with my family to the Jimmy Buffet concert in Las Vegas, and then spent two days in Disneyland!

It was a fast-paced exciting and exhausting weekend, but it was so much fun!

There is a lot to write about and a LOT of photos, so i'll have to split this up over the next few days (or weeks!)

I'll start with our day in Las Vegas:

So last Friday night after everyone got off work, we headed down to my aunt and uncles home in North Las Vegas. Savannah did really well in the car and even brought her own snacks!

The next morning, we woke up around 8:00 and went for a swim in their pool (how awesome is it that it was warm enough to go swimming at 8 in the morning?!) My mom and I swam a few laps, while Sage had fun jumping in and trying to push people in.

 

We then headed down to the strip to the the pre-concert Margaritaville street party.

 

Savannah loved the party! She does really well around lots of people and noise, she even fell asleep when the band was playing! I had tons of people asking to take pictures of her and saying how awesome it was that I was brave enough to bring a baby to the street party. She was definitely a hit there!

 

I had a better picture of this where my hair wasn't messed up and Savy was smiling, but I LOVE her face in this one so much!

 

My dad

 

Sage

 

The love of my life, Bryant!

 

The worlds largest margarita (it was 8,500 gallons!)

We decided to take a break from the party and head out on the strip to grab some lunch, shop around (my mom was thinking of going all-out for the concert! hahah!) and we visited the Coke store and the M&M store. I've decided that navigating around Vegas with a stroller is ridiculous. But if you can do that, you can do anything!

Some of the employees and the M&M started a dance, and this old lady in the sun hat and bright dress was rockin!

 

We even gambled (just a little bit) this is how much I came out with after 4 dollars...

Then, we headed back to my aunt and uncle's home to pick up our tickets and drop off Savannah (my first time leaving her with anyone besides my parents! But when we came back, she was sound asleep and content. Success!) 

And then it was off to the concert!

(sorry for the quality of these next few photos. They don't allow any big cameras into the concert, so theses are all camera phone photos, plus, you know how concerts are with lighting...)

The concert was amazing! Jimmy Buffet is one of those guys who sounds just as good, if not better, live as he does on the radio or a CD. He played a lot of his old stuff, and there was only 1 or 2 songs that I didn't know that well. It was so much fun!