Dear Brooke Allen: Finally Posting Again

Some time has passed since I have last written. Life has been extremely crazy since the move, and I am just going to photodump everything that has happened in the past month. I will more than likely follow up with a post about all the emotions of this past month.

I tell you, life has been nuts.

First - Your Daddy began working with the Dothan Police Department. He was sworn in a few weeks ago and is now on the training car. He loves the training car because he's riding with a K9 unit. He should be off the training car in a few weeks, and will really begin working patrol.

Charlotte - We've had some issues. She's used to being able to run out in her backyard when she wants to and make as much noise as she wants. Having to wait to go out and being shushed constantly have been struggles for her. She's still as sweet as ever, but it's taken some adjustments for her.

She's still your best friend and she is trying desperately to teach you how to play fetch. She succeeded in a (supervised) game of tug one afternoon.

You have many new tricks, like blowing kisses, putting your hands up when I say, "All done!", and playing Itsy Bitsy Spider.

You say DaDa and Hi, but no MaMa yet. Working on it every day.

We joined Calvary Baptist again, and you have grown to quickly love the sweet women in the nursery. So much so, that one Sunday when we picked you up to go home, you went back to the workers instead of wanting to be held by us.

We went to Birmingham one day to let the renters in. On the way there, you got SICK. We had to buy a whole new outfit, wash the carseat, and spend a little time at GranBren's house until I felt like you could make the trip home. It was not a fun day.

I took you to the pediatrician the next day, and you had an ear infection that the pediatrician said more than just likely made you carsick, but I think you had a little bug too, because I got it a few days later.

You still LOVE to eat. You have a blueberry waffle every morning, and a peanut butter sandwich almost every day for lunch, and then you eat whatever we eat for dinner. You LOVE peanut butter. Goldfish are your snack of choice. And you get so excited for your milk or juice in your sippy cups.

We made Mother's Day gifts for all of your grandmothers. I painted a little canvas and Daddy helped us make your handprint on them. You do NOT care for paint. You cried the entire time. They turned out really precious, but I think we will wait a while before our next art project.

You became a pro with the iphones. You can slide the lock over (prompting me to put a passcode on my phone), and you can slide the camera up. Then you can turn the camera around to you and slide the video button over. My phone is full of Brooke Allen selfies and movies.

We went to Jackson to spend Mother's Day with your Mississippi family. You really enjoyed swinging at Nanny and Daddy John's house.

Nanny gave you a new book. We read it lots because you like the pictures of the puppy dog.

We have spent a little bit of time at our apartment complex playground. You love to swing.

We volunteered at a motorcycle rally for the Wiregrass Hope Group one Saturday.

Which leads us to this past Sunday, when you surprised us all.

You CRAWLED.

I really never thought you would crawl. I was sure you would skip it and move straight to walking. But Sunday night at GiGi's house, you found something you really wanted, and went for it.

And then on Wednesday morning, you pulled up in your playpen. This had also never happened before.

Now you are everywhere. I've spent all morning on the floor with you, moving you from the cable boxes and the DVDs.

I am confident that you have been able to crawl and pull up for some time now, but you wanted to wait until you had it perfected to show us. You are such a little stinker.

You are now 14 months old - weighing almost 25 pounds. Full of energy, life and growth.