A GRRR-eat Halloween 2009!

We had a GRRRRR-eat Halloween with 3 little tigers!

It was Brooke's first Halloween! We're not sure how much she was awake for, but she certainly looked cute all day long!

We got dressed up early in the day so we could visit a few homes in our old neighborhood before walking around our new neighborhood. Aunt Angie helped get Kylie & Neela dressed up, while Daddy fed Brooke and showed her off on the webcam.

Neela, Brooke, Kylie & Cy

All 3 Tigers

Kylie & Neela took a bunch of pictures before they went to find Brooke!

Check out Daddy's "in between" hair do - with no top, but still a lot on the sides!

Neela & Hambone (she scared him!) - even though "we are friendly tigers!"

Daddy & Mommy all dressed up for their party

Brooke models Daddy's wig in her "Daddy does my hair" onesie!

We visited the Stehura's, Starken's and Soderstrom's before heading back to our new house to knock on doors! Neela was very excited, but Kylie got very shy about the experience. Brooke slept through most of it!

After we got home, Kylie went to Greg & Michelle's (to our west) and Mike & Kelly's (to our east), and decided that was enough. Neela wanted to keep going, so she and Mommy started down the block. At every door, Neela said "Trick or Treat", then checked what was new in her candy bucket before saying "Thank You!". Then she'd jump up and down and say "More trick or treating! Can we go to that house next?". Neela made it to a lot of houses (Mommy stopped counting), and a lot further than we planned on! She was so excited when she got home - Neela wants to do more trick-or-treating still!

Last night after the girls were in bed, Brooke made her first "raspberry" sound! It was so cute, and she's also starting to coo... she seems to be growing up so much faster than her big sisters did!

Here are a few cute pictures of Brooke from this week:

Neela helped Daddy rake the backyard to burn off the candy!

Brooke's 1st Road Trip

After Neela was diagnosed with a minor ear infection, a cold, and probably some influenza-like symptoms, we took off for Brooke's first road trip on October 15. This meant Brooke got to meet most of her great-grandparents!!

Great-Grandma Betsworth

Big Papa Estochen

Big Grandma Estochen

Since it was a football weekend - Iowa State's Homecoming and a Steelers game - we also got to dress up in all our gear!

Mommy, Neela & Brooke

Big Papa, Mommy, Neela, Kylie, Brooke & Cy

(Guess who actually looked at the camera??)

Neela & Big Papa (he was passing out money for our piggy banks!)

After the Steelers game on Sunday, we went with Mommy and Grandma to a greenhouse for a Halloween festival. We painted pumpkins and went on a hayride! The paint didn't come out of our clothes too easily, but the degreaser seemed to be our best choice.

Painting our pumpkins - Neela used EVERY color and covered the entire pumpkin. Kylie only wanted to paint one side of her pumpkin, and was much more careful painting it.

With Mom at the Festival

Brooke enjoys being around Cy - and her favorite form of "tummy time" is over your leg. She was doing her tummy time when Cy decided to sit down - and ended up with a chunk of hair in Brooke's reach! He didn't move - and she held on for a long time!

After the football weekend, it was on to Papa's Farm...

Brooke & Papa

Brooke & "Grandma" Arleen

Papa and Grandma have an awesome swing on their porch - Neela was showing Brooke how to use it! Neela loved it as "monkey bars", but Brooke just liked it as a swing.

All the playing and traveling left both Brooke and Cy a little tired, so they took a nap on Grandma's porch.

Kylie's favorite part of Papa's farm is visiting Slick (the bull calf). He's "bigger" now, but she still will "share" "her cow!"

Papa modified our playhouse, too! He put all our names up by the door, and then installed a heater. We went outside to play with him on a rainy day, and had a lot of fun - we even moved into the machine shed by the barrel stove to warm up. We brought some pumpkins in from the shed (Papa saved them so they wouldn't freeze), and he helped us take the hat off, clean the guts and strings out, and carve faces in them!



Grandma's big pumpkins froze and turned white, so we helped her spray paint them. We also got to ride in Papa's truck, and go with Daddy hunting for pheasants (he didn't get any - yet!). Of course, Kylie found every "pheasant" (bird) she could get her eyes on! Papa also taught us all about race cars - Grandma drives a red race car, and she drives it fast! One night, Grandma helped us bake some cookies. Kylie came to tell Papa they were done, and the pan was very, very hot - "Do you understand?" (with her hands on her hips). The cookie eating was followed by yet another trip to the "hot pool".

The trip went from Neela being sick, to Kylie being sick, to Daddy being sick... thank goodness Mommy & Brooke stayed healthy!! Road trips always mess up schedules, and being sick makes it even worse. On Saturday night, Kylie didn't fall asleep until close to midnight - on the futon in the basement with Daddy! She preferred to watch the Wild play on their "shoe skates" over sleeping. She also wanted Mommy to know she was a "good girl" because she drank all her "juice" (an empty wine glass....).

This was also the first trip where the big girls got to sleep in "big girl beds" at both grandparents' homes. At the Estochen's, they slept crossways in a Queen bed, with the headboard as a side support, two walls as additional supports, and pillows in the middle (do you remember the "you crossed the line???" issues from car trips, etc.). At the Guggisberg's, they slept in twin beds on the floor of Aunt Angie's "red room".

During our road trip, Brooke started smiling at people she recognized (Mommy, Daddy, Kylie & Neela), and figured out how to get her floor toy to make music. When we got home, Daddy was on the phone talking about a project that was a "moneymaker", and Neela started singing "Shake your moneymaker"... Daddy missed it, but Mommy had to hide in the corner to laugh!

Brooke's Visitor Log:

10/16: Great-Grandma B. & the Candy Store Crew

10/17: Big Grandma & Big Papa Estochen

10/18: All the Great-Grandparents, Aunt Heidi & Uncle Cory

10/21: Grandma Arleen

10/25: A BIG DAY! The Steelers played the Vikings (and BEAT the Vikings), and we had a lot of guests! Matt & Janna, Sarah & Elsa, Greg & Brenda, Chris, Wendy, Amanda, Matthew & Sarah

10/27: Brooke's first trip to the Como Zoo - and Aunt Angie's job trailer for lunch (and diaper changes)... she also met Angie's friend, Jill, and a few zookeepers

10/28: Brooke's first visit to Tracy's daycare - Brooke stayed at daycare while Mommy took Kylie & Neela for H1N1 vaccines and lunch!

10/29: Kathy, Joanne, Autumn, and Aunt Margaret

10/30: Julie T.

Fire Safety Week, Big Truck Day & Brooke's First Trip to 2270

The week of October 4-10 was National Fire Safety Week. At daycare, we learned all about what to do in case of a fire. We learned that if the smoke alarm goes off, we need to go outside (we practiced when the cookies were burnt!). We learned that if there is smoke in the house, “you crawl to the door” (just Kylie!). AND, we learned if we are on fire to stop, drop and roll – and Neela will show you the roll!

The morning of October 10, we woke up to SNOW!! We were so excited we had to put on our hats, mittens and winter jackets – and Mom & Dad had to figure out where they could get ski pants and boots – FAST! Of course, two days later when it snowed and Neela looked outside, she said “Again?!?!?!”. This could be a LONG winter!

We were getting dressed in winter gear so we could go the Woodbury’s Big Truck Day! We got to see a fire truck, a bus, a school bus, a tow truck, a snowplow…

Then, we went to the Fire Station Open House at Daddy’s new fire station! It was so much fun – we got to climb in the trucks, try on Daddy’s boots, and climb in Daddy’s new locker. They also had a jump house for the event – and root beer floats. Now, we think the jump house is ALWAYS at the fire station.
We are learning a few more things, too. A few of our new things are…

If it’s daytime, “Mommy it’s time to get up – it’s daytime.” “Mommy, the sun is sleeping, it’s night night time!” (Of course, Mom & Dad would like if we went to bed a little better at bed time since we know it’s night night time!)

If anyone asks where we are, we say “Here I am!”. We also love to talk about our names – any time we see a “K” that’s Kylie’s name, and an “N” is Neela’s name – even if it’s in the middle of a word! Neela really loves Mommy’s Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Gophers shirts – they have Mommy’s AND Neela’s names on them.

When we do good things with other people – like at daycare – we will say “Mommy/Daddy will be so proud” and “Mommy/Daddy will be so happy”.

We’ve been helping Mom draw thank you notes, and our pictures were of “Happy Face”, “Rocket Boy”, “Rock Families”, “Swimming Boy”… We also told Daddy he’s a “boy princess” and somehow talked about a “Swimming Girl” (Mommy thinks that’s Ariel – the little mermaid – but she’s not sure!).

We also LOVE to play doctor! Our favorite patients are Daddy & Cy.

Brooke’s favorite thing has been grabbing Mommy’s hair – she is in LOVE with grabbing now!! Here she is in her new Mickey Mouse sleeper!

Brooke's 1 Month Old!

We can't believe Brooke was one month old on Wednesday! She is growing... She eats 4 oz. every 3-4 hours, and even had 5 oz. last night!! Cy loves to protect Brooke - you can see it in almost every picture. And, when you don't see Cy, he's still very close to her!

Football Fans!!

The Steelers played the Chargers last Sunday night, and the whole family (Cy included - check out his collar) wore their Steelers jerseys all day! We even got to show them to Big Grandma and Big Papa on the webcam before the game.

Daddy with his Steelers' Girls

Cy checks out Brooke's Steelers outfit (and the formula on her hand!). Brooke LOVES it when Cy is close by!!

Daddy & Brooke Roethlisberger

Mommy & her Steelers' Girls


WAIT! What's this? The Vikings played the Packers on Monday Night Football. Since they didn't play the same day as the Steelers, Mommy decided to find her "old" Vikings stuff - and let Brooke model one of the "big girls" Vikings cheer outfits! (Both the Steelers AND the Vikings won!)


Children's Museum
Last Sunday, Mom took the big girls to the Children's Museum. We had never been there before, and really liked it! We will probably make many more trips there in the next few years!

Neela the firefighter

Kylie the firefighter

Doing our own face painting...

Neela moving the block up the conveyor belt

Kylie (dressed like Aunt Angie, Uncle Cory, Uncle Tony & Papa G) - doing her block moving

Building an igloo out of blocks

Did anyone tell Neela the turtle's head doesn't come out all the way??

Playing Pretend

Lately, we've been very big into pretending! Here are some of our biggest adventures at home:

Fixing Daddy's hair AND sideburns

Kylie Potato Head

Neela Potato Head

Kylie feeds her baby, while Daddy feeds baby Brooke

What else happened this week?

It's Fire Safety Week! Mommy will put all kinds of pictures from the fire station open house up soon!

One day this week, we found a flashlight Daddy left out. Mommy found us another one - and we ran around shining the light on things. We thought it was pretty cool to light up the ceiling, Cy, Brooke, and anything else that was "dark" (at 9 AM!).

One of our new neighbors, Brenda, cuts hair - so Mommy took us to visit her - and we got haircuts on Friday afternoon. (Right after we got our flu shots!)

At Little Gym this week, Dominique and Danielle came with us! They helped us play "bears" in the big donut - and Reardon and his Grandma played with us! We missed Aunt Angie and Mommy, but they will come with another time.

Tuesday was a big day for Minnesota sports fans (after the Vikings win on Monday night). Mom and Dad left us with our first babysitters that weren't a Grandma or a Papa (Dominique, Danielle and their mom, Lisa) - and went to the Wild home opener. Everyone at the game was out in the hallways watching the Twins in their playoff game against Detroit, trying to win the division. The game didn't end until the 12th inning (and the Twins WON!) - that was close to the end of the first period of the Wild game. There were cheers in the hallways, but none in the arena :-) The 3rd Period got WILD - and the Wild pulled out an overtime win against Anaheim! Despite Uncle Chuckie teaching us "Go Cubs", we will say "Daddy says Go Twins" - but it's "Go Cubs" first... This ties right into the "Go Hawks" that daycare Grandma is teaching us. Mom is trying to teach us "Boo Hawks" or "Go Cyclones", but it turns into "Go Boo Hawks". Daddy says it's OK for us to choose our own team... did you see the pictures at the top?? :-)

Brooke's Visitor Log:

10/6: Jennifer S., her nephew Jack and her niece Molly

Danielle, Dominique & Lisa

10/7: Jason D.

10/8: Lori & Kristen S.

10/9: Greg K.

Sandi C.

10/10: Danielle & Dominique

Love, Brooke, Kylie & Neela

Jesse's Party & The Big Sisters

We've had another week to adjust to having Brooke as part of the family! The big girls no longer wake up at night when Brooke cries (that only happened a few times), and Brooke is slowly learning the difference between night and day. At her 2 week appointment, she weighed 8 lbs, 3 oz. -- and she just drank her first 4 oz. bottle this morning (October 1).

Brooke loves her baths, and spending time curled up on Daddy's chest :-)

All 3 girls stayed home with Mom last Thursday - we colored, played with Play Do, and watched Big Sister Dora before our nap. Here are some pictures of Brooke & her big sisters!

Here are the "Big Sister" cookies we got from Aunt Renee & Uncle David:

What else have the big sisters been up to? The big girls are also into Goldilocks and the 3 bears -- so everyone is "Papa Bear", "Daddy Bear", "Mommy Bear", "Baby Brookie Bear", "Neela Bear", "Kylie Bear"... do you see a theme here?? We also read about the troll under the bridge at daycare, and like to ask "Who's walking on my bridge?" September was apple month at Tracy's, so we learned about apples - and made apples into stamps with paint. October is pumpkin month - and we brought Papa's pumpkins for everyone! We'll be singing our favorite "5 little pumpkins" song this month, too! Another new activity is playing Hide & Seek... we haven't figured out how to hide real well yet. We cover our eyes, count to 5, then say "Here I come" -- or "Here I am" -- depending on who's doing what!!

Last weekend, Aunt Angie took us to Jesse & Marissa's wedding (Mom's cousin). Mom & Dad stayed home so Baby Brooke didn't get sick (although Baby Brooke already got a cold from Neela -- we're just trying to avoid influenza & H1N1). Papa said if we were good in church, he'd buy us ice cream - so we were ANGELS!! Daddy taught us some dance moves for the party (the sprinkler, the lawn mower, churn the butter, the flamingo, the airplane...) - but we preferred to polka with Papa! We also danced with Grandma, Aunt Heidi, Uncle Tony, Uncle Cory, Aunt Angie, Tony's friend Chelsea (she took the pictures below), and cousins Mallory, Lauren, Drew, McKenna & Megan. They also had a table full of stickers, markers, crayons, etc. - so we made some great pictures for Grandma & Papa before we went to the hotel. We stayed with Grandma & Papa, and got to go swimming in THREE pools before Aunt Angie brought us home.

Dancing with cousins Lauren & Mallory

Neela's Cupcake

Kylie's Cupcake (How long was Angie's dress black??)

The table favors were pumpkins painted gold - Neela counted them all, and made Grandma pack up all of them from her table to show Mommy & Daddy!

Our silly Aunts & Uncle

Monay, Mommy took Brooke on a major shopping adventure. She had a lot of errands to run - Kohl's, Target, Post Office, Babies R Us, Jo-Ann, and Mary Kay... and Brooke enjoyed the entire trip in her fuzzy carseat cover. It started to get cold Monday - and very windy - so Brooke was nice and bundled most of the day :-) Last week, they went to the Rosedale mall, the Toyota dealership, and Buffalo Wild Wings. They also went to get Mommy's flu shot!

Last week, Brooke visited Daddy's office and met Daddy's co-workers. She also went to the Little Gym to watch her big sisters... Her Great Aunt Margaret stopped by for lunch and to drop off a new quilt on Friday.

Pumpkins & Visitors

What's been happening? This post was started a week ago (on 9/22), so you'll see two posts this week! Last weekend (9/18-9/20), Papa Guggisberg brought his annual pumpkin delivery to our house. He made pumpkins for Kylie, Neela, "Baby", and cousin Caroline -- and loaded them all in the truck with a bunch of plain pumpkins and gourds! We got to take pictures in the truck before they got delivered to all of our aunts and great aunts!

Even Brooke got in the pick-up for a picture!!

The kids in the neighborhood were THRILLED to check out our pumpkins! We loved sharing!

Uncle Chuckie with all 3 girls in our Halloween shirts!

We like to color - so Uncle Chuckie helped us out.

Grandma Guggisberg brought us new scarecrows - with "pigtails" just like ours!

Of course, it was also football Sunday - so we had to get our Steelers' on! We love our new Miller jerseys from Grandma & Papa E... and enjoy telling everyone "It's Miller Time" when Heath has a great play! (The slips Mommy & Daddy make on lack of sleep!! That's always been Daddy's quote for Heath Miller -- and of course, Kylie picked it up!) But, they also tell you Daddy, Grandma & 2 Papas drink beer -- but Mommy doesn't... and when Kylie fills a glass with water, it's still Kylie's beer... go figure!

We had breakfast at the Woodbury Cafe with Grandma & Papa G., Grandma & Papa E., and Uncle Chuckie -- Brooke's first meal out! (Neela likes to say: 2 Grandmas, 2 Papas & 1 Chuckie!)They have statues out front the girls really enjoyed from when St. Paul did their Charles Schultz tribute!

Papa G. showed Neela how to peddle her bike around our cul-de-sac. She figured out to push backwards to stop, but had a bit of a problem with pushing forward to go. She did get it sort of worked out - so next spring should be lots of fun!!

Brooke's Visitor Log:

9/18-9/20: Chuckie, Grandma & Papa E., Grandma & Papa G.

9/22: Bonnie & Hambone

Brooke's Growth Chart:

9/21 (2 week appointment): 8 lbs, 3 oz. & 20 inches

More to follow!!

Brooke is home!

Brooke and Mom were discharged from the hospital on Thursday, September 10. During our stay, the big sisters came to visit every night after daycare - they told Daddy "Mommy & Brooke are in the castle", and they told Aunt Angie is was a "popsicle" (not a hospital).

In the new outfit Kylie & Neela brought Brooke to go home...

With big sister Kylie

With big sister Neela

Also, during our stay, we had amazing care from the staff at Woodwinds and Comprehensive Health Care -- thank you all! Michelle from Riedel Photography (http://riedelphoto.com) stopped by to take Brooke's hospital pictures, and sent a few of her favorites for us to share.

Once we made it home, we had a busy weekend adjusting. Brooke spent her first evening at home watching her first Steelers game with Daddy on the big TV in the basement - thank goodness they pulled out a victory! She's now Daddy's 3rd lucky charm -- the big sisters had their Miller jerseys on ALL day -- and told everyone "It's Miller Time!".

Daddy was able to spend a few nights sleeping in Brooke's room so Mommy could get some sleep and recover (one of the great benefits of formula!), and Brooke only managed to wake one of her sister's up one time... Kylie asked Daddy at 2:30 AM when Brooke was going to be quiet!

On Friday, Grandma and Papa Estochen arrived early enough to pick up the big sisters from daycare - and spent the weekend. They kept Brooke downstairs a little bit at night so even Daddy could get a few more hours of sleep! They played with the girls, took Mommy shopping (she still can't drive), and took everyone out for ice cream!

Brooke watched her first ISU vs. Iowa football game in Papa's arms - the girls were all dressed for the big game, even though Papa and Daddy said it wasn't much of a game (a true start to another ISU football season!!).

Sunday was Papa's birthday - and the girls brought Papa his card and gifts (lots of BBQ sauce) as soon as they woke up! We had rhubarb crisp and ice cream for "cake", and then the other Papa and Grandma stopped by for a few minutes on their way out of town.

For those keeping up with stats, Brooke weighed 7 lbs, 6 oz. at birth - 7 lbs, 1 oz. the first night - 7 lbs, 4.6 oz. at discharge - 7 lbs, 5.5 oz. on Saturday (Sept 12) - and 7 lbs, 7 oz yesterday at her first nurse appointment.

The Visitor Log:

Monday 9/7: Kylie, Neela, Aunt Angie, Grandma & Papa G., Katie F.

Tuesday 9/8: Bonnie R.

Thursday 9/10: Val & Duane T. -- they brought "Brother Cy" back!

Friday 9/11: Grandma & Papa E.

Monday 9/14: Lisa D. - she helped pick up the big girls from daycare since Mommy can't drive

Stayed tuned...