Spring Break

Spring Break was pretty low-key this year.  The boys were NOT happy about this, but with Brooklyn being as sick as she was it was hard to avoid.  We had to cancel all our playdates and planned excursions, but luckily I had people who helped do some fun things with Ryan and Brandon so they were able to get out of the house. 

Cousin Heather took Ryan and Brandon to the Birds of Prey Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday.  They had a BLAST.  When they came home I learned all about wingspans, and vultures, and the California Condor.  Oh, and they LOVED telling me about the bird that would try to attack anything wearing pink. . .they thought it was hilarious.  Heather bought them a book so they could learn more about some of the birds they had seen.  They've been writing "research reports" ever since. 

Here are a few pictures of their adventure. . .

 Brandon makes a nice bird. . .don't you think?

 This picture freaks me out a bit. . .

Check out our wingspans!

Connie took the boys on Wednesday for "Grandma Day."  The boys went to the library and made homemade pizzas at her house.  They love being at school, but they sure do miss their Wednesday Grandma Days :)

I spent the rest of the week trying my best to entertain the troops.  We worked on a building project one of the days.  Ryan built a sailboat and Brandon built a truck.  We got the building kit from Grandma Mona a couple Christmases ago.  At first, Nate and I had to help them do everything, but this time around they wanted to do most of the work themselves.  They are really growing up :)

 Ryan working on his sailboat.

 Brandon painting his truck.

Busy Builders

Brooklyn finally started feeling better toward the end of Spring Break just in time to get our family back into a normal routine before school started again.  I thought I'd add a few pictures of Brookie playing with her dolly. . . .

 Brookie has the most beautiful blue eyes!!  I hope they don't change color. . .

This is usually how we play with our dolly. . .

Brooklyn at 7 months. . . .

This year is going by WAY too fast.  My baby changes so fast and is quickly outgrowing the baby stage. 

New milestones. . .

• Brooklyn has 2 teeth!!  The poor thing cut her first one while she was sick.  She had to have been absolutely miserable for those 7 days.
• She's sitting up much better.
• Sleep. . .some nights are good, some nights. . not so much

The boys wanted to get in on the action, too!

Sickness hits the Lowry House. . .

Well, I didn't get a chance to sleep on vacation and I certainly didn't get to catch up on sleep once we got home.  The horrible cough that Ryan had during our mini-vacation I now know was RSV. . .how do I know this you might ask?  Because baby Brooklyn has it, along with Bronchiolitis. 

Brookie was one sick little baby and we really started worrying about her when she started wheezing.  I took her in to see Dr. Peterman and unfortunately there isn't much they can do at her age.  The RSV either has to be so bad that the child is admitted to the hospital or else the parents/child have to tough it out at home. 

That means Mommy slept in baby Brookie's room for over a week straight on the recliner so that Brookie could sleep on me in an upright position in order to breathe.  She is slowly getting better, but this is the pits!

3rd Annual Tamarack Weekend. . .

March brings one of my absolute FAVORITE events. . . .our family trip to Tamarack.  The past couple of years we've been able to stay with Nate's whole family for a few days in one of the cabins that Tamarack rents out.  This year Dave and Connie were only able to come up for a night and Josh and Jo were only able to do one night, but we had a great time anyway.


We decided to head up to the mountain a week before Spring Break.  The weather has been so warm and we were a bit scared that if we waited until the end of March there wouldn't be any snow left to ski on.  As luck would have it, on Friday when we drove up to Tamarack the weather was so warm that the ski resort (and the whole area) was having problems with water flooding from snow melt off.  The ski resort was closed when we arrived because all the melting snow was pooling at the bottom of the main chair lift.  Being the worrywort that I am, I immediately went into freak out mode because we were not going to be able to reschedule this little family vacation and I had visions of crying boys because they didn't get to ski or go to the tubing hill.  (Actually we didn't go to the tubing hill because it was closed due to all the standing water.)  After a few minutes of panic, I pulled myself together and decided to let fate take its course.  Nate made a call to the main lodge and the ski resort said they had a pump set up by the lift and assured us they would be up and running on Saturday morning.


Well. . . .all my worrying was for nothing (this is usually the case).  We had the most glorious ski weekend EVER.  It began snowing like CRAZY and we had amazing powder to snow in.  Connie and Dave were kind enough to watch Brooklyn for me so I could go skiing with Nate and the boys on Saturday morning.  I think I only did 4 or 5 runs until my legs were on fire!  Mind you, those 4-5 runs were extremely long and covered with brand new deep powder.  It is SO much work skiing through deep snow, especially when I haven't exactly been on a great workout routine since Brooklyn was born. 


Ryan and Brandon have become great skiiers!!  I definitely had to work to keep up with those two.  They skiied so hard the whole weekend and had an absolute blast.  One of their favorite spots on the mountain was the kiddie lift because it has a small little terrain park area where they could practice doing "jumps."  They seriously would have been happy skiing that small hill all day. 


We had a few downfalls to our mini vacation.  Ryan wasn't feeling the best and was up all night long coughing (both nights), but he was a trouper and skiied during the days anyway. And of course I got to deal with Brooklyn's first attempt to sleep somewhere other than her house.  Naps were hard for her and she slept horribly at night.  Oh, well. . .what's a mom going to do?   


The cabin had a hottub so we were able to relax our muscles after long days of skiing and the boys were completely entertained with their little "pool."  If they weren't skiing, they were swimming.
 
I can say that I'm already looking forward to our trip next year :)

 Playing Yahtzee on Friday while resort was closed

 Daddy, Grandma, and Papa talking to. . . .

 Brookie!!  I'm such a BIG girl :)

 Brookie's bathtime. . .

 Ryan practicing his jumps

 Now it's Brandon's turn. . .

 Brothers riding the chair lift together. . .

 GORGEOUS!

 Hanging out with Uncle Josh in the hot tub.

 Ryan loving on Brookie.

Me and my boys

Random Pictures of My Kiddos. . .

Here are a few pictures that the boys have taken. . .they LOVE Mom's new camera. . .

 Awww. . .sweet Ryan

 Still not liking this food thing too much. . .

 Daddy "Loving" on Brookie before bed

 Smile Brooklyn. . .

 My 3 kiddos snuggled in Mom and Dad's bed

Yummy!

Brooklyn at 6 months. . .

I was doing so well getting the cute month-to-month pictures of Brooklyn in her "Monthly Onesies" but I totally dropped the ball on her 6 month pictures.  I did find some time to take pictures of her in one of her gorgeous dresses that we got from some of our good friends so hopefully those will do :)


What's new with Brookie:

• She's rolling over. . .I was a bit stressed out, but we did meet this milestone. . .wahoo!!
• She's sitting up with only a bit of assistance.  I usually put my boppy pillow behind her just in case she has a tumble, but she's enjoying being able to see the world from a different view.
• Brooklyn has started to get a bit of "stranger anxiety," especially around men and particularly men with facial hair.  She just does NOT like it.  Uncle Josh just recently went a couple weeks without shaving and Brooklyn gave him the total stare-down and started crying when she normally has no trouble going to him. 
• Napping has been going well during the day as long as Brooklyn is at home in her own crib/environment. 
• Brooklyn LIKES her bottle now.  We went in for our 6 month check-up with Dr. Peterman and told him that Brooklyn doesn't take a bottle very well.  He told us not to even bother using a bottle and to start working on a sippy cup with her. . .that way we wouldn't have to break her of the bottle habit later.  I swear as soon as she heard him say those words she decided she'd LOVE to drink from a bottle.  Bottle problem solved!
• Ryan and Brandon are enjoying playing with Brooklyn more now that she interacts with them better.  I still cringe when they try to carry her around the house though.  It pretty much looks like they are giving her a choke-out.

 Awww. . .so sweet!!

 Brookie in the hat Grandma Connie made. . .

 Pretty Girl :)

 This was our last picture of the day. . .I felt the same way. . .