There have been some items that have been given to me, or I've been told about that have changed the way I have seen and/or experienced motherhood. Some of these is my Moby wraps, the electric swing when she was smaller, the Excer-saucer, The Pacifier and Swaddling. Here are a few of my most recent finds though: I was told about this book by Leah's sister, Kelty. It is truly empowring and inspiring to read about the research this lady has done on how Motherhood can make you smarter! Generations of mothers have been told—and believed—that having a baby means checking their own brains at the delivery room door. “The Mommy Brain” usually refers to a head full of feeding times, soccer schedules, and nursery rhymes, at the expense of creative or challenging ideas. I like the book because she references hundreds of legitimate social and neurological studies that back up her conclusions that Motherhood increases your abilities in efficiency (including learning and memor...

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I feel bad, I haven't blogged about our good times in Ila Georgia with D-Daddy and Nana! Their hospitality was again unmatched, with unbelievable amounts of good food and love. It was a little strained because Trey and Brooklyn were sick while we were there, but it was still great to be with them and I enjoyed the true southern experience for the Cunuck in me! I am still amazed by the south when I go down to visit them. It truly is as different from what I know as Australia or any part of Europe! Their language, customs and food are totally foreign and wonderful! We got 13lbs of pecans from these people. True small town Southerners! We passed this food stand on our way home and I had to get a photo because it is basically D-Daddy's kitchen! Now I know where Trey got his knack for charming the ladies! D-Daddy picked these from a bush next to their house. Can you believe it! Flowers like that in February! Now that's southern living!

Brooklyn is still feeling sick and isn't as smiley as she was prior to last Friday. It makes me so sad! The following pictures are from right before we left on our trip and they just capture our gorgeous ball of smiles that we love so much! She is slowly coming back. She smiled a lot more today than yesterday. Our Friends Melanie and Zach gave us this Onsie. How did they know it would be so perfect for her! It says I MAKE CHUKY THIGHS LOOK GOOD! I know there are a lot of bath photos on this blog but she is just sooo Cute!!! P.S. anyone know any secrets for getting rid of diaper rash? The drugs at the hospital must have done something funky to her poop because she has open sores on her bum and it's so sad!

We felt like this picture summed it all up: Last Friday afternoon, Brooklyn started to come down with a fever. We were in Ila, Georgia visiting D-Daddy and Nana for winter break. I called our doctor and my good friend Leah who has two little girls. I was nearly in tears when I got a hold of her and luckily her husband who is a doctor was home and he gave me some great advice that helped us nurse her through the night, but in the morning there was more mucus in her lungs and her fever was at 102 degrees, so we decided to take her into the clinic to make sure she didn't have RSV or any other dangerous bug. The clinic sent us straight to the ER when they saw her condition though and we ended up having to stay the night. it was basically 24 hours that felt like the picture above: a blur full of tears (both baby and Mommy), worry and confusion. As you can tell, Brooklyn was pretty miserable. They couldn't find any veins in her arms or lets to put the IV and draw blood, so they ...

Trey's good friend, Graham got us tickets to a charity event that his Dad organized where Garth Brooke's played at the Grand Ole Oprey, probably the most famous country venue in the world! It was incredible and great to see our good friend Graham! Smiles for Life is an awesome charity where Dentists donate all proceeds of teeth whitening to a charity for children. It is linked with Garth Brookes' charity, Teammates for Kids. We had second row seats, but decided to sit nearer the back so it wasn't too loud for Brooklyn. We still kept her ears covered the whole time and eventually she fell asleep in her sling on me!

Trey and his "Bro" The boy in the hat was sick the day they lost (As you can see, his height really helped in getting those rebounds !) Logan, Trey's little brother got a group of kids together to play in a little basketball tournament the junior high had. The rule was you had to get one faculty member to sponsor the team and that faculty member could play. The adult could only score 10 points and get 10 rebounds though. Well, Logan is in 6th grade and strategically compiled a team of the shortest kids he could find, so when they went up against 8th grade teams, they could out-maneuver them like Rocky against Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV . Team BYU was in the white T-shirts They ended up getting to the Final 4 , which was a total miracle because they were half the size of all of their opponents. Trey was an Awesome (added by Paige) coach but his strategy of "run around for 20 minutes and not let anyone else touch the ball" worked ...

First Tooth , First Snowfall , and First time Mommy has had a few minutes to get things done while Brooklyn is awake! First snowfall Good Handle of her fingers and spit bubbles Brooklyn experienced her first Tennesse Snowfall and Cold weather this January. It was 30 degrees at it's coldest I think, so we got to use her winter clothes , like the adorable bunting sack from Judy and her cute Hat D-Daddy got embroidered for her and matching sweater. She is also very good at picking things up and grabbing things with her little fingers ! Brooklyn demonstrating a move taught to her by her daddy to be used whenever a boy tries to get too fresh with her (see left picture, right hand) One of the biggest changes to our routine since returning from Canada is Brooklyn has a new toy and we Love it ! This is the newest " Baby Find " I've realized Mom's really shouldn't go without! The Exer-saucer! I received ...