8 Months

I am sorry for the long pause between blogs. We have been so busy. Brooke is now crawling everywhere and getting more confident with pulling up. Last night we saw her turn while standing from the coffee table to Ryan's leg. She also tries to climb everywhere she pulls up to standing. Her little leg just keeps bending while she is standing there hoping to catch a ledge to climb on. I think once she gets a little bigger she will be unstoppable. She has also started babbling more this past week. I have heard her say "dada" and "mama".

Last weekend, Ryan's parents came up and we went to the zoo on Saturday. It was supposed to be a beautiful sunny day in the lower 70s. It turned out to be in the lower 60s and cloudy, which is actually the lowest recorded high for that day since the 1920s. At least, it kept the crowds away and we just had to bundle up. I was a bit disappointed the monkeys weren't acting frisky in the cooler weather because they are my favorite to watch. Brooke loved the parakeets and kangaroos, but most of all she enjoyed watching the other kids.

We also discovered last Thursday that we had our 3rd slab leak since moving into this house! Insurance doesn't even pay for it. I thought at least if they had to break the tile that insurance would cover the cost to retile, but to my surprise they don't. As Ryan says, "They are in the business of making money not passing it out." So, we are going with this new technology that has come on to the market since our last leak. We are getting the pipe lined with epoxy and hopefully they won't have to dig to repair the leak. They are working on it as I am typing, so I will let you know how it turns out later.

Brooke has her next doctor's well check up at nine months. She is growing so fast. Over the past couple of weeks I have made an overhaul with her clothes. I first bought several fall/winter outfits and now I need to get more sleep coveralls because she is outgrowing them. I bought her some soft shoes with a rubbery sole. We are working on more table foods. She loves the gerber puffs and yogurt melt aways, but isn't too sure of mashed up carrots and avocado. I am trying to get her used to more textured food.

Enjoy our pics from the zoo and her new shoes!