September 2020 – Moments of Meghan

Last month, Brooke hit her 18-month mark. She is a happy and fun girl! The first year of her life, she was a fairly sad/upset baby. But in the last few months she has totally changed. She is SO happy. She had tummy troubles when she was born, and I wonder if those challenges continued with her longer than I realized, and that’s why she was upset a lot.

Fun facts about Brooke:

She has become a very sweet cuddler.

She is obsessed with Elmo. She has a little rubber Elmo that she calls “La La.” She carries him all over the house with her.

She says “Oh no!” in the most dramatic (and cute) fashion.

She loves wearing her winter hat (no matter the weather). She thinks it’s funny to pull it over her eyes and walk around and bump into things.

She has the cutest curls in the back of her hair.

When she’s looking for John, she’ll say “Daddy, are you?” That was her first phrase.

She also says the phrase “I see you.”

She has the best belly laugh when tickled.

She is sneaky and fast. A couple weeks ago she climbed into David’s bathtub fully clothed (while also wearing her favorite winter hat).

She’s a great eater.

She loves to have her hair brushed. She still loves to pull out any bow or clip I put in her hair.

I recently started putting her hair in pigtails and ponytails. Her hair has grown so fast over the past few months.

She loves to explore and climb.

She’s adventurous. We were at the beach last month, and she walked right into the ocean with no fear.

She only drinks with a straw. She hasn’t seemed to figure out she needs to tilt her sippy cups.

She loves to sit on John’s lap while he mows the lawn.

We love Miss Brooke (Brookie, as David calls her), and we’re so happy she’s in our family!

We recently returned from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Because of COVID-19, we haven’t traveled at all in 2020. We are fortunate to have an aunt and uncle who live in a private beach community in Myrtle Beach. This made us feel comfortable (and excited) to head down there and soak in the sun, sand, and ocean.

Brooke loved the ocean. I spent a lot of time with her sitting on my lap letting the waves wash over our legs. She was so cute to watch. She thoroughly enjoyed getting in the water. David on the other hand did not like the ocean at all. The first day down at the beach, he got very upset any time any one of us got in the water. I could tell he was scared that something bad would happen to us. John ultimately took him back to the house for a nap that first day.

Each day David got a little more comfortable. It was a SLOW process. He never got super excited about the ocean, but he did like playing in the tide pools that would form as the tide went out. I finally figured out that he was much more comfortable if we told him we were going to “clean our feet” or “wash our hair” (depending on how far out we went in the ocean) before we went into the water.

One thing David did love was the golf cart my aunt and uncle have that we drove down to the beach each day. He loved riding the golf cart. We also took a couple golf cart drives through the neighborhood while we were there, and he was in heaven. Brooke liked “driving” the golf cart while sitting on John’s lap.

My aunt and uncle are great cooks and have lots of fun snacks for kids. We ate very well, and our kids LOVED eating frosted animal crackers, fruit snacks, and Oreos. They had never eaten frosted animal crackers, and I believe they may think those are the greatest cookies ever.

One of my favorite times at the beach was our last night there. After we put the kids down, John and I picked up dinner and drove the golf cart to the beach. We ate a delicious meal and then walked along the beach and talked as the sun went down. It was so fun to have time with just John (without a child around wanting attention haha).

Another experience I enjoyed was on the first day when John took David back to the house for a nap. Brooke ended up taking a nap in my arms. Since we were in a private beach community, there were very few people around (my siblings also came down for the weekend, but they hadn’t arrived yet). As I held her and looked out over the ocean, my heart felt so much gratitude for God and for my family. I offered a silent prayer as I looked out over the ocean and the beautiful scenery that surrounded me that my heart would always be willing to do and accept His will in all things. Seeing the magnificence of the ocean, I was reminded that God is all powerful. He has a plan, and He is in the details of our lives.

I think everyone in our family had a great time. Even though David didn’t love the ocean, he spent a good part of the drive home letting us know that we needed to go back to Diana’s house. Even this past Friday, he asked if we could go to Diana’s house.