February

Dan
He is working through busy season the best he can. He travels on average 1 week a month during this season but is mostly around the DFW area. He is so dedicated and hard working- and his company knows this, they love him! He honestly excels at everything he does at work. Although work demands a lot from him he balances being a husband and father by face timing with us when he can, keeping in contact and really trying to make the most of our time together. We happened to go get donuts 2 Saturdays in a row and now Brooks wakes up on Saturday and just asks, "Donuts?" haha!

Brooks
Wow there is so much I could write about Brooks. If I had to describe him in two words it'd be goofy and smart. This kid loves to laugh and loves to make other people laugh. He loves music and loves to dance. He requests songs by name (most frequently songs from The Greatest Showman) and if I'm not dancing with him he makes sure, "Mama watchyou dancin?" I'm watching! When the song is coming to an end he says, "Big finish!!" and twirls around until he ends up on the ground.

Brooks is also so smart. When I say that I mean his memory is incredible! He remembers things we did over a year ago and will tell me about them in detail. He remembers the little things that I forget. He knows most of his books by heart and will 'read' them to me. He repeats things that I didn't know he was listening. He's very intuitive and can always read my emotion and mood. I forget that he's only 2. When I get frustrated with him I have to take a step back and remember, he's only 2!

It was randomly so nice out one day so we took advantage to eat lunch outside... and Brooks wanted hi sshirt off?

Overall Brooks is doing great. We went through a rough patch of sleep when him 2 year molars were all coming in at the same time. Brooks has been a sleep through the night kid since 6 months (no we weren't 'lucky' I worked hard to teach him healthy sleep habits) so when he was up a couple times a night it threw me for a loop! Between pain relief for the molars, some rocking and retucking-in and some fussing we made it through the month. He was mostly yelling to be tucked in again, "TIGHT?!" but he eventually had to learn how to 'tuck' himself back in. Just like babies have to learn to roll over or go from standing to sitting in the crib.

Poor bud had a hard time napping.

He eats great too. He doesn't eat everything but he's usually a good eater. Recently he's learned how to get a yogurt or a cheese stick out of the fridge, get a spoon (if applicable) sit at the table and eat it all by himself. He does have to ask me first but it's so amazing how self sufficient he is! He'll throw the wrapper or carton away, put the spoon in the sink and wipe his hands, mouth and table clean.

We've have also started the adventure of potty training this month. You see in my head I was thinking, Oh maybe in April we'll give this a try? I was thinking the week of General Conference to give me a full week and weekend of being home- we'll see what happens when we get there. Well out of the blue Brooks has been asking, "Mama, potty training?" My initial reaction was just utter shock. Dumb founded. How do you know that word... or even what it is?!? So I explained to him that potty training meant going on the toilet and no more diapers. So everyday for a week he was talking about it, "No more diapers!" We've had a little potty for a while and he's gone in it a couple times but I guess we're doing this....now!

We went to Walmart and stocked up on what I thought/have been told are the essentials: Undies (duh), carpet cleaner, doggy pee pads, flushable wipes and pull ups for night. Brooks was so excited about the Cars underwear. Then he put one on his head? Seriously where does he get this stuff? Love this kid!

While we were at a 2nd hand store called Kid to Kid, I told Brooks he could pick out one toy as his "Poop prize" for when we started potty training the next week. He picked out this awesome school bus. He went home and immediately sat on his little potty and pooped in order to get the school bus. Uh WHAT? We compromised and saved the school bus for the next week and he was happy with a sucker.

Dan's brother Joe visited us one weekend. Brooks loved having Uncle Joe here and kept telling him to shave his face haha. We took him out to Babe's then last minute decided to go to the Pro Bull Riding World Champs at ATT Stadium. I guess I wasn't sure what to expect but wow was I blown away. It was a big thing with a lot of people and teams from all over the world. We all were super into and loved it! Brooks liked the tractors but loved running around even more.

I finally purchased a large temple picture for our home. Brooks ran around yelling, "MOSES!" instead of Moroni. This is the Rexburg Temple and no, we weren't married there ha! We were married in the Twin Falls temple because the Boise Temple was closed. However we spent a majority of our dating, engaged and newlywed life in Rexburg. After being married we attended the Rexburg temple weekly and it has a special place in our hearts.

Before we went to bed one night I checked the weather. I thought I heard there could be some storms passing through over night. I found that the risk was 2/5 or a slight risk. That's pretty normal around here so I went to bed. Until I was rudely awakened by the sound of my home being POUNDED by hail. "BABE!" I yelled to Dan. Nothing (he was dead tired from working so hard. He might have just slept through it) "BABE!!" I yelled as I hit him, "What about your car!" His car is newer than mine and was parked in the driveway but it was too late to move it. 

Que Brooks screaming. I got into his room and it's WAY louder in his room because of his west facing window. I swooped him up and explained to him what was going on. I thought the hail was going to break his window it was so loud! Dan brought some hail in from outside so Brooks could get a better understanding and we watched out the window until it passed. I rocked him until he was calm and put him back down to sleep. The next morning all Brooks could talk about was, "BIG storm! Ice cubes fall from sky!"

Leading up to Valentine's Day Brooks and I made cookies. He loved being able to help roll out and cut the dough, he's such a good helper.

On Valentine's Day I did my best to make heart shaped pancakes, most turned out more like blobs- oh well! and while B was eating I set up a little present for him in his room. A new Daniel Tiger book and some candy. I have his reaction on video and it's so sweet and tender to watch! He opened his candy took one for him then proceeded to tell me who the rest of them were for, "One a Dada.. one mama, one Maggie, one Tara, one.....Maggie" Oh my heart! I don't deserve him! Grandma Bullock also sent him a fun V-Day package which he loved! 

Our funnest weekend in February we had the Cowtown race in the morning and Monster Jam at night. Dan runs the Cowtown every year with his company. Last year it was POURING rain so we didn't go watch him finish. This year I waffled back and forth on going but I decided to go and I'm so glad we did! Plus Brooks woke up early anyways, he was ready! He ate breakfast in the car and we drove downtown, parked and walked near the finish line. I was early because I was concerned about traffic but it's also a mystery when your going to see your runner. However 15 minutes later we saw him and cheered him to the finish line. 

We hung out and cheered on other racers then Brooks and I went to get donuts. I wanted to go to a fun place that we hadn't been to before and it didn't disappoint. Well the service was awful, so SLOWW but B loved looking at all the donuts while we waited. He's obsessed with cereal and begged me for the cereal donut which I agreed to. Then I realized how big it truly was.... oops! We sat down and ate our donuts. Everyone waiting in line didn't realize they were going to get a show watching Brooks eat his donut. A grown man was crying from laughing so hard! After he picked about half the cereal off he decided to not use his hands AT ALL and just dig his face into it, biting random pieces off. Brooks wasn't trying to be funny, he wasn't aware people were amused by him, that's just how he decided to eat it. Glaze was everywhere on that kid but I didn't care!

Within the last month Brooks has shown us his interest in monster trucks so we decided to buy (nosebleed) tickets to the Monster Jam at ATT Stadium. So that night we kept him up past his bedtime and went to Monster Jam. I even found him a monster truck shirt to wear. I have never been to anything like this and had no idea what I was getting myself into! We found a place to park and that's when I realized how big of an event this really was. We walked to the stadium and hiked to our seats. I bought Brooks noise canceling head phones but wasn't sure if it's be THAT loud. I was wrong, so glad I bought them because it was surprisingly loud!

I think we had to take Brooks out maybe twice to run around and stretch which is pretty good for a toddler and a long event. But for the interactive parts of the show he LOVED it. Watching them flip, jump and spin he was entranced! And ever since that night he's non stop talked about Monster Trucks, sets up jumps and pretends to play monster trucks. Makes the experience of going even better to see he loved it so much.