Jenn and Brett's Family Blog

Happy Half Birthday, Lily! You are 6 1/2

2018-04-24T22:17:00.002-04:00

Hi Lou,

I've been feeling terrible that I didn't get around to writing your bday post for 6 so I'm going to write you a Happy Birthday post because you are officially 6 1/2!

You started Kindergarten this year and I'm not going to lie...it didn't go so well for the first half of the year. You had Mrs. Francis who you already knew since Brenna had her and you would see her around town or at school and even give her hugs but to my surprise, you did not just breeze right into Kindergarten. We had a rough start. You were really nervous the first day of school and we had a plan that Brenna would walk you in to the school and bring you to Mrs. Francis. Well the first day was chaotic and all the kids I think scared you and at the very last minute of you walking through the doors together hand-in-hand, a teacher stopped you and said "oh you're in kindergarten, so you should go through that door (pointing to another door)," so you and Brenna had to have sort of an abrupt separation and you pretty much cried through the entire first week of school all day. Mrs. Francis was so sweet and concerned and I knew you would get the hang of it but Elementary School was a big change for you. Much bigger than CEC. You told me you didn't like that you didn't know all the teachers and that Brenna was in an entirely different building than you. And if there was a substitute, well just forget it, you were not having any part of going to school that day.

It took a while, but you eventually started to enjoy school. You came home one day with the funniest story. You said that today a couple kids got into trouble for arm wrestling in the cafeteria and I said "Oh, well that doesn't sound like a good idea. You weren't arm wrestling were you?" And you said with a little smile "Well yea, but I didn't get in trouble." And I said, "Well I don't think you should be arm wrestling, that's against the rules and next time you could get in trouble too." And you said to me with the most serious face, "But I won." LOL I'm not surprised at all that you won.

You had a great time at the Daddy Daughter Dance.

You started speech at school to sharpen up on your R's and you also got your first pair of glasses and I noticed that you started to be more content after that. I was surprised at how much better you could see with your glasses. You liked to wear them cause you could see so much clearer.

This year you have enjoyed gymnastics. You don't do as many endless cartwheels as you used to do...that has been replaced by back-bends and then back walk-overs.

You also do a combo tap/ballet class at Performing Arts Academy and you really enjoy that with your best friend, Brookie.

You and Brookie also played t-ball for the second season with your dads as the coach. On the first day of practice someone noticed a raccoon hanging out in the tree and your team all yelled "RACCOON!!!!" over and over again so your team became the Blue Raccoons! You are a good little tball player and Daddy is looking forward to coaching you next year when you move up to the coach pitch position.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=19c2QQXXXqGlDhTyywla0Hejma8xhCqsJ

You are a very picky eater. You don't like to try new foods. Your diet basically consists of plain pasta, rice and beans, turkey rollups, and black bean and cheese tacos.

You don't like to do homework but you are very smart. Mrs. Francis says you are extremely well-behaved in class and are very detail-oriented. Brenna can't ever remember what day she has her fine arts rotation but you always know and Mrs. Francis says you remind her what day it is when she can't remember.

Here you are reading one of your favorite book series, Elephant and Piggie, by Mo Willems.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/121K3LMGPWzX6Owv7Y8Zo3OLM51cTsRJv/view?usp=sharing

And another of you reading to Brenna: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ey8wz5S363SXU0rznFQpnBlkJYY_wNky

You were super eager and excited to lose your first tooth.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1raZrZ_Da5hhFdRnWSf9HEKuRcujEFKkH

You are loving our new pool!

One of the things I LOVE most about you is how witty you are. You are hilarious. You understand sarcasm and many times you'll finish a joke or say something at the exact right time that is intentionally hilarious to lighten the mood.

We faced our biggest family challenge ever this year with the loss of our dear friend, Carley. We miss her terribly and I hope you'll always remember her sweet gentile nature and how much we loved her and she loved you. She wasn't just Brenna's friend, she was yours too. You will sometimes draw pictures and put her name on them and you told your teacher all about the tree we planted for her. I'm sad that you had to face such sadness at such a young age but we'll never forget her and I bet this will make you into an even kinder and more empathetic person as you grow up. Carley was one of your favorite friends and first words to say.

Brenna is still your favorite person and also the person you love to pester and fight with the most. But you LOVE her and she LOVES you. All of Brenna's friends at school seem to like you a lot too and you get picked up and hugged quite a bit. I love you, Lou! I'm sorry I got a year behind on my updates for you. I hope you'll keep being your sweet and silly self cause you make all of us so happy! xoxoxo

Happy 9th Bday, Brenna!

2017-08-29T22:19:00.005-04:00

Happy 9th Birthday, Brenna!

I'm feeling good about this birthday. You grew up a lot this year and seem to be much more independent than ever before.

You had a great year in Mrs. Wilson's 2nd Grade class. Math became one of your favorite subjects and you continue to do very well in school. This was definitely the year of Harry Potter! You are on book #6 and I can't believe you are still going. One funny (ish) thing that happened this year was that a boy in your class kept giving you book spoilers and omg, did that infuriate you!!! This is the year where boys either really irritated you or gave you googly eyes depending on the boy. I told you to stop talking about it with him but that didn't work. One day you came home in tears begging me to email his mom because "He did it again and this time he tricked me! He asked me who my favorite character was and I said "Hermoine" and then I asked him who his favorite character was and he said ____ but he dies in the next book!" Oh boy, I heard about that one for a long time around here...

You still love musical theater and got to participate in 2 shows this year. The first one was Wizard of Oz where you played the Coroner munchkin. "As Coroner, I must aver, I thoroughly examined her. And she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead!"

You followed that up with Grease where you were in the ensemble, specifically one of the cute little beauty school drop out angels. I really love watching you perform. It's one of my most favorite things.

And you did a beautiful job at your voice recital this year singing one of my most favorite songs ever, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

You and I still butt heads from time to time and there's no one that challenges my patience more than you but overall you have really grown up and matured this year. Bedtime is still a challenge because you just can't get your brain to shut down. You're always thinking about what's next....

And here's you hamming around on the first day of 3rd Grade. Lily had a rough first few days because she missed you and you were very patient with her and did your best to comfort her. You are her most favorite person in the whole world. I think that's why she had a hard time the first few days of school...she somehow thought you all would be together or see each other more.

I love you. Brenna. I love your little big brain and how it is constantly working and trying to get bigger and better. I love your heart how you genuinely hurt if you see someone else hurting. I love how you challenge yourself to try new things and go for what you want. I'll always be your biggest fan! xoxo mom

And for kicks, a few more of my favorite of your performances from this year. :-)

Happy 8th Birthday, Brenna!

2016-08-29T11:52:00.001-04:00

Happy 8th Birthday, Brenna! Another year has come and gone and I love looking back and seeing all you have done and accomplished. This is the year that you fell in love with performing arts. You traded in diving for singing/dancing/acting and you haven't looked back since. You LOVE it.

But we'll start with school. You had a great 1st grade year. You loved your teacher Mrs. Cyrek and you had a great group of friends in your class.

Here's your First Grade School picture right when you turned 7 and the next picture is just before you turned 8.

A really cool school accomplishment this year was that your design won the Race for the Cure T-shirt design contest. We went down to the big Race for the Cure event in West Palm and you and your art teacher, Mrs. West were presented with an award. Your design said "Hope you are Ofishally Cured" with a drawing of a fish.

This year was really all about Annie Jr. We started ballet at Performing Arts Academy and there was a poster announcing auditions for Annie Jr. It said ages 8 and up but you really wanted to do it. I asked Ms. Elizabeth if the age limit was strictly enforced and she told us it would be a very big commitment but if you wanted to audition you could. You loved Annie the movie and recently, you had gotten a kids meal toy that played "Maybe" and it came with the lyrics. You practiced that song over and over again and when it came time to audition you were really really nervous. You fought back tears because you didn't know anyone and many of the kids seemed a lot older. But you sang and you danced and you got the part of Molly, the littlest orphan. You rehearsed every Saturday for 4 hours and loved every second of it.

Annie Jr. gave you the confidence to sing "Tomorrow" in your 1st Grade talent show at school. You were so great!

You love gymnastics and while last summer was the year of the cartwheel and this summer was the year of the back walk over. I think you and Lily spend more time upside down that right side up.

You and Lily are best friends one moment and enemies the next.

You still love and cherish time with Molly. This year when upset over a disagreement with a friend, I said, "well Brenna there is no such thing as a perfect friend." And your response was, "Yes there is, there's Molly."

Your summertime was filled with lots of fun performing arts camps and you also played the Evil Queen's cat in Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, the musical.

I love you, Brenna. You continue to exhaust me with your emotional intensity. And you continue to amaze me with your talents and achievements. Hope this 8th year is your best yet!

Happy 4th Birthday, Lily!!!

2015-10-14T12:51:00.003-04:00

Happy Happy Birthday, Lily!

I think you've had a pretty great 3rd year. We love your silly personality and how sweet you can be. You love preschool. You love dancing and gymnastics. You sleep in your bed all night (most nights) and you are overall pretty easy going (except when you're just having a 3 year old tired moment then you are not easy going at all :-) ). You and Brenna have a love/hate relationship right now. The love is much stronger than the hate. You are each others best friend and if we're out in public you get along soooooo well. But at home, there is lots of fighting and arguing. Brenna's got a strong personality so in a way I'm proud of you that you can hold your own and can give her a dose of her own medicine sometimes.

You really loved your first year of preschool at CEC. Ms. Cheryl and Ms. Alexis were your teachers in the 2's and you just started the 3's with Mrs. Donham and Mrs. Willis. Here are your school pictures from last October (turning 3) vs this October (turning 4).

Seeing this pics from last year makes me realize how much bigger you've gotten this year! You're sooo adorable.

Your first preschool field trip to Publix

Easter

I loved watching you in your dance recital. You took Ballet at the Community Center and both you and Brenna were in the recital. You even had a special part where you got to be a Lobster hiding in the pot and you ran across the stage to get away from the Chef. It was super cute and elicited many "awww's" from the crowd.

For Grammy and Grandpa's 40th Anniversary, we had some family pictures taken and here you are with your cousins Jaden and Jordyn. Whenever you see baby clothes in the store you always say, "Awww, this would be so cute on Baby Jordyn."

An exciting thing that happened this year was you decided to get your ears pierced! Brenna waited until she was almost 6 and liked to remind you a lot in an annoying-sister-sort-of-way that she had hers pierced and you didn't. Well I think you got sick of her always bragging and you decided that you were going to get it done so she couldn't rub it in anymore. Here you are getting them pierced. You weren't nervous at all before and cried for about 20 seconds after. You were so proud of yourself and loved showing them off to everyone afterwards.

You are the cartwheel queen! You've always been really coordinated. At 2, you were zooming on your scooter all over the place. At 3, you are doing cartwheels every place you go! Ms. Liz at CEC pulled me aside and told me you were really amazing at gymnastics and we should seriously consider putting you in a good gymnastics program, you're that good. Then the same week at Keep Flippin, your tumble tots coach told me she has never seen a 3 year old be able to do a one-handed cartwheel. I told them you get a lot of practice in at home! You LOVE your cartwheels.

You are very patient. loving, sweet, and well-behaved. When you are home, you like to watch Daniel Tiger, color, and "do homework" like Brenna. We love you so much and can't imagine how you could get any cuter. Happy Birthday! Love you!!!!

Happy 7th Birthday, Brenna!

2015-08-29T20:41:00.003-04:00

Another year has come and gone and today we celebrated your 7th birthday! Look at how much you grew this year. The skirt length makes me laugh...below the knee at the beginning of Kindergarten and above the knee at the end. You also look so much more grown up with your front adult teeth that have come in this year.

You had a great first year at Limestone Creek Elementary School. You loved your teacher, Mrs. Francis, and met a whole new set of friends. You are not the little girl you were a couple of years ago. You gained such confidence and independence this year. Your reading really took off in kindergarten. You had the most Reading Counts points in the whole kindergarten and as a reward got to throw a water balloon with your Assistant Principal at the end of the year. I think it started because you liked hearing your name on the announcements as a points leader and so you set a goal to get 100 Reading Counts points by the end of the year. I love that at just 6 years old, you can set a goal and work hard to achieve it. Mrs. Francis always had really nice things to say about how responsible and smart and kind you are.

The Daddy/Daughter dance was another highlight of your school year. You and Daddy had a great time and you looked so beautiful and grown up that night.

You are still diving and won a first place medal at a Miami dive competition this year. You stay really busy with diving and dance, and you also played another season of t-ball in the Spring with Daddy as your coach.

This is also the year of the cartwheel for you. I think I've witnessed 100 cartwheels a day. I'm glad you'll be starting gymnastics classes soon because you definitely need a place to get all those cartwheels out of your system!!!!

You and Lily are still best friends but you guys fight A LOT when you are home. If we go out, you're fine. If you are somewhere together without Mommy or Daddy, I know without any doubts that you will take excellent care of her. But at home...it's pretty exhausting with all the fights. I know it's probably hard because Lily is 3 and sometimes she is impossible but I definitely hope this next year brings less fighting at home.

You move your body with a lot of beauty and grace. Here you are rocking the crow pose in Yoga.I just love to watch you dive and dance. I think you are so pretty and graceful.

One thing you did this year which BLEW MY MIND, was jump off a 10 meter board at a dive camp this summer in Coral Springs. I would have bet a lot of money that there was no way on Earth you would ever do that. Lesson learned, I will never bet against what you can do. This takes my breath away every time I watch it.

One "low point" that happened this year which I'll never forget happened a few days before your 7th birthday. You got hurt at dive practice. You accidentally got knocked off of the 3 meter board by another diver and landed on the cement. I didn't see you fall but ran over when I heard you cry. I was soooo scared you were hurt. We went by ambulance to St. Mary's and you were soooooooooooooooo unbelievably good and brave. The paramedics and Drs and nurses were wonderful and a head-to-toe CT scan determined that you were just fine. I'll never understand how a fall like that did hardly any damage. I think you had angels looking over you that day.

After a nice summer break, first grade here you come! There was a rainbow right outside of school on the first day and you said "I bet God put a rainbow in the sky to wish us all good luck on our first day." I love how sweet you can be. Happy 7th Birthday. I love you with all my heart. Shine on!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lou!

2014-10-14T12:28:00.001-04:00

You crawled into bed with us at 6am and said "Did I grow? Am I 3 now?" Yep, you are! Well technically not until 5:04pm this afternoon but close enough. Happy Birthday, Lily Girl!

I sometimes stare at you and can't get over how beautiful you are. You have the most beautiful towheaded blond hair and we have NEVER given you a hair cut yet. You have the prettiest loose curls at the bottom. You always request an "Elsa braid" even though I like when you let me leave it down. You are also quite petite....easy to hold and squeeze.

Your best friend is still "BaBa." You can say Brenna just fine but 98% of the time you call her BaBa or Bubba. You two can definitely fight but have so much fun playing together. You give her big sweet hugs and really just love being around her unless she's in a mood or something.

Hippo and Pacy are also 2 of your best friends. You say these requests one right after the other. "Pacy...Hippo!" I told you that the pacy fair would be coming soon and your response was, "Ok, as long as she doesn't take my hippo."
I knew it got too quiet. Potty training was very easy with you. You would pee in the potty shortly after you turned 2 and by 2.5 you would poop in the potty too. You never had to wear pull-ups at night. I think you've had maybe 2 accidents ever. Even though you always got up so early, you have always gone to bed very easily for us for the most part. We tried to put you and Brenna in the same room in bunk beds this year but Brenna didn't like the feeling of being up top and I think she wanted her own space at night so we ended up putting the bunk beds in your room and you sleep on the bottom and the top is a little reading/play area.
One of the sweetest things was when you said goodbye to your crib, one last time: Saying goodbye to her crib. #bitteraweet

You aren't much of an adventurous eater. You eat a little bit all day but never really eat much at a meal.

You like playing with playdoh and lego duplo blocks. You LOVED any and all things FROZEN this year and you sang "Let It Go" and acted it all out every chance you got. At this exact moment, Frozen seems to be on the way out and you have discovered a love for Paw Patrol. You also go to Yoga sometimes with Brenna and even though the class is for 4-8 year olds you still participate sometimes and you'll come out and see me and maybe have a snack or a drink and then go back in and finish. You love demonstrating your handstand against the wall.

This summer you took a dance class which you loved. You were really good at following the directions and you loved dressing up each week. The one time Daddy took you though you cried and wouldn't go in. Not sure what that was about...I think you were just used to me taking you. We really enjoy going to story times at the library and going to ride the carousel.
You are a phenom on your scooter! When Brenna was playing tball, you'd bring your scooter to the ball fields and scoot around and then you closer to 2 than 3 and people would stare cause they couldn't believe how good you were. You and Brenna will race (you on scooter and her on her bike) and you can beat her! She does not like that but you do!!!
Instagram You are also an amazing swimmer and swim at the pool where Brenna dives a couple times a week. You can swim, float, swim thanks to ISR and we always go back every so often for a refresher lesson.

You also started school this past September at CEC. You were very comfortable the first week since you were so use to going there with Brenna the last couple of years. The second week was rough and you cried when I'd drop you off in the morning but you are used to it by now and I love hearing you sing all the songs from Chapel and your good morning song "Lily came to school today, school today, school today, Lily came to school today, we're so glad you're here."

Lily's First Day of Preschool!

I got out of the shower to this.... I love you, Lou Lou! Happy Birthday! The 2's were pretty great so don't be make it the terrible 3's ok? xoxoxoxox

And just like that, you are 6!

2014-08-29T22:21:00.000-04:00

Happy 6th Birthday, Baby!!!!!

Each year on your birthday, I always love sitting down and reflecting on the year and all you've done and accomplished and struggled with and conquered. OMG, I'm almost overwhelmed at the list of things you've done on what was only your 5th year on this planet. But I will do my best to recap...

You had one more year of preschool at CEC. You made some wonderful friends and graduated with smiles! Mrs. Miguel taught you so much and you went from shy and clingy at the beginning of the year to happy and confident at the end.

You started KINDERGARTEN last week at Limestone Elementary School. As we mentioned in last year's post, we red-shirted you for school. Sept 1st was the cut off so instead of starting school at 4 turning 5, you started at 5 turning 6. There is not 1 single ounce of me that regrets doing this because the growth that you had emotionally this year was HUGE. You started kindergarten confident and excited and I couldn't be happier with how well you appear to have transitioned to big-girl school.

Teeth! I could not believe my eyes when not far after you turned five, you got your first wiggly tooth! I guess it's early to get, early to lose cause I remember you had a mouthful of teeth at a year old when some of your friends didn't have a single one. Then 3 more fell out so you have the cutest little toothless smile right now.

The first little WIGGLE
Omg #loosetooth

Thanks to my good friend, Lauren Donovan for snapping this cute pics of my toothless wonder!

You learned to ride your bike with NO TRAINING WHEELS. At CEC, they had a trike-a-thon where you bike around the parking lot raising money for St. Jude Children's Hospital. A few of the girls in your class didn't have training wheels and you did so you came home and made the decision that it was time to learn and you did it in about 10 minutes. Just like walking and almost anything in life, you like to wait until you are absolutely ready and then you just do it. It was the same for walking...you waited until you knew you could run. You don't like making mistakes, you are a bit of a perfectionist so you like to do it on your own time when you know you got it! Don't be embarrassed or ashamed to fail. You gotta hit some lows to appreciate the highs. I get it though...I'm the same way.
Lookey here! #notrainingwheels #brennaboo

Dive: You have been diving for a little over a year now and competed in 3 dive competitions. I was soooooo proud of you because these are like real competitions and you were always one of the youngest there. They are quite intimidating and just the fact that you competed and did 6 dives each time is something to be soooo proud of. You're not so eager to try new dives but you really enjoy perfecting the ones you know. Here you are at your 2nd competition where you got a gold medal :-)
Soooo proud of my little gold medalist today!!!! What a difference in 6 months in terms of guys and confidence!!! #3ddive

Here was your first unassisted front line up off the 3 meter board. GUTS!!!! I can't imagine being so brave First unassisted front line up off the 3m. Guts!!!!! Love my girl!

You participated in 2 dance recitals this year. A sugar plum fairy in December's Nutcracker and a Bluebird in the Ugly Duckling Ballet in May. You really were awesome...you totally paid attention and did all the moves.

Notice how you give your friend Sofia a little shove to get going at the end...lol, you know your cues!

In addition to dive and dance, you also played T-ball this year and Daddy was your coach. You looked so little out there and you were adorable and loved being with Daddy. You wore #2 just like he did when he was little. I loved watching this special time for you and Daddy. He loved it too and was a great coach!

Great season dolphin-mermaids!!!

This year was the year of FROZEN. It came out in theaters in October and I think we had a constant loop of the soundtrack playing in the car from November - July. Like every other girl your age, you love to sing "Let It Go" And you are pretty darn good at it too.

This year was also the year of YouTube, specifically Kindereggs and playdoh art tutorial. You can watch Kindereggs being unwrapped for hours and you love watching tutorials on playdoh creations. You've turned into quite the little Playdoh Picasso but what I love most of all is catching you playing alone and pretending you are giving a tutorial on youtube..."Hi, My name is Brenna and today I'm going to be showing you how to build the perfect Mickey Mouse out of playdoh" Ugh, could you be any cuter!
Brenna the Playdoh Picasso

Oh, another big deal this year was getting your ears pierced. We went to the mall one day and ran into two friends randomly (Caroline and Cameron from CEC) and they sort of spur of the moment decided to get their ears pierced. You FREAKED out during your 5 year old shots so I knew there was no way you were going to let 2 holes be poked through your ears. Peer pressure or not you were not having it. So we went home but to my surprise you woke up the next morning saying, "Mom, I want to get my ears pierced...I just need to wear my Brave Maeve shirt." And so we went that day and did it.

So speaking of Brave Maeve and for anyone who might not know...Maeve is the little sister of one of your preschool classmates and I have become friends with their mom, Megan, who is one of the most brave and articulate moms I know and she oh so eloquently shares her journey of having a child with Type 1 Diabetes through facebook journal entries and community fundraising events and you are soooooo interested in Type 1 Diabetes and anything to do with Maeve. You watch their YouTube videos and when you play house, you are always the "Big Sis who has Type 1 Diabetes." You "check Lily's blood sugar" in the bathtub. Megan texted me after she gave a little talk at CEC on Diabetes and said that you are bound to be an Endocrinologist when you grow up because you knew everything there was to know about the disease. Your Grandpa Les has it too so you are very interested in it. Your charitable heart is so special. You were faced with a difficult decision this year because there was a Saturday where you had a T-ball game, a dive meet, and the Brave Maeve walk. It wasn't difficult for you at all....the Brave Maeve walk it was and you scooted that whole 2 miles with your friend Dagny. Daddy had to coach the team and you wanted to be with the Brave Maeve team.

You are an amazing big sis. You and Lily have your share of arguments at home but anywhere else in public you are SUCH a good sister. Always watching out for her and loving on her. I'd take you both to a morning of gymnastics camp and you'd always tell me that you hung out mostly with Lily and took her to the potty whenever she needed to go. The camp posted a picture of circle time on facebook and she was sitting on your lap. You are her "Baba" even though she can say "Brenna" just fine now. She loves her "Baba" so much.

Can you believe what a year you've had? You have done soooo much in just 1 year's time. I love you so much. You make me so proud and yet can also drive me so crazy. You continue to be so emotionally intense. You are so sweet and kind but can also become very upset and angry (especially if sleep deprived) This year was not a great one for you in terms of sleep. You ended up on the floor of our room almost every night. Even after Daddy built you the most beautiful bunk bed ever, you just didn't like it so we changed everything back to the way it was to try and get you sleeping better. I'm really starting to see just how true the saying is "the days are long and the years are short." Keep shining, baby. You are so special and I am so blessed beyond measure to be your mom.

I heard this song in the car yesterday and I feel like it totally sums up how I feel about you right now. So proud of you and I feel like I catch glimpses of you growing up before my eyes. So bittersweet.

Lily Lou is 2!!!!

2013-10-13T21:54:00.001-04:00

Lily Lou is 2!!! Awwww, in 1 year you went from my little brunette just-learned-to-walk cutie pie....

....to my gorgeous sun-kissed, spunky, funny BLOND little love!

Shortly after your first birthday, you started calling Brenna "BaBa." Even now at 2, you can say "Benna" but you still chose to call her "BaBa" and she refers to herself as "BaBa" and can often be found loving on you saying something like "oh, come here and sit on BaBa's lap and BaBa will hold you." This was the year that you and BaBa became best friends. She adores you and takes such good care of you and loves to make you laugh. One thing we used to do a lot was say "Lily, who do you love?" And you would reply "BaBa." And then I'd say "BaBa?!?!?, What about Momma/Daddy/Grandma and go down the list just to have you smile and say "No, BaBa" And of course Brenna would find this hilarious. Of course you guys get in fights sometimes but really you love each other more than I ever could have imagined a sisterly bond could be so early on. Here you are showing off your new trick and wanting Brenna to watch you "Ready, Look BaBa!!!"

Lily Girl, you get up EARLY! You are so easy to put down for a nap and at bedtime but honestly I can count the number of times you have slept past 6:30am on 1 hand and I'm not exaggerating. You get up between 5:15-5:45am everyday. Luckily your dad and I switch off every other day who gets the early morning shift because man it can really wear on you. But you're so sweet in the mornings and drink your milk and watch tv on the couch with us. And because you are up so early, you take 1 early nap when Brenna is at school which works out nice for mommy because I could get some things done for work or around the house when you're asleep.

You are kinda on Brenna's schedule and this year we spent a lot of time at the pool watching Brenna take diving lessons.

You think you can do anything that BaBa does and you jump into the water with no fear!!

Which is why we spent our summer in ISR swim lessons.

You can often be found walking in plastic princess heels and pushing a stroller around the house. One thing that is so funny about you is that you are LOVE musicals. You can watch Annie on youtube over and over again and your absolute favorite thing to watch on tv is Teen Beach Movie on the Disney Channel. You dance to the music and prefer that over Mickey Mouse Clubhouse any day of the week.

You answer yes by saying "mmm hmm" in a cute little high-pitched squeak and your new favorite thing to say to me is "Momma, you know what?" Me: "What?" Lily: "Nevermind" You also say "And...Papa Les" all the time out of the blue because you know it's funny.

When you have a dirty diaper, I say "Are you stinky" You: "NO!" Me: "Yes, you are, can I change you?" You: "NO!!!" Me: "Will you tell me when I can?" You" "Ok, Momma" It's your little routine we go through almost everytime.

PURPLE HIPPO Oh how you love purple hippo. "Pacy" "Hippo" are requests I receive all day long. We even bought a second hippo this year when we couldn't find yours one day. You LOVE hippo. Now we just have to get rid of the Pacy but our new puppy, Sydney Mae Grace, is helping with that because she is chewing all of them up that she find laying around the house. You were scared of dogs until "Syd Syd" came along. When we leave the house you say "Bye Syd Syd, love you!"

Recently, when you are frustrated or annoyed you let out a big "UUUGHHHHHH" Wooopsies, you definitely got that one from me. You've thrown a couple of fits one involved me having to carry you out of the mall in the football hold while people were staring at me. You wanted to hop through the mall like a frog and any other mode of transportation was unacceptable to you and you let me know it.

I love you, Lou Lou!!!! You are beautiful inside and out and to be your momma is the best feeling in the whole world!

Brenna, All About You at Age 5!

2013-08-29T11:24:00.003-04:00

Brenna, you are 5 years old today! 5 is a big deal...you said to me this morning on the way to school "So Momma, I'm 5 today, right? Not 5 and a half, right?" Nope, you are 5...please don't try to speed up the process on me.

Each year I look forward to sitting down and reflecting about who you are and who you have become in this past year. Your 4th year started out pretty smoothly. Your new school, CEC, was a terrific fit and you enjoyed learning so much in Pre-K. You are so smart and I can tell that you are going to like school. Here you are on your first and last day of PreK-4.

One thing that really stands out this year is that this is the year that you and Lily really fell in love with each other and have become best friends. You are her "BaBa" and she just adores you!!!! And you are the best big sister in the whole world.

My heart just about exploded when I went to an exercise class and it was one of Lily's first times away from me. You and her were in the childcare room with other kids and Lily was sooooooooo upset. You comforted her even though Jalyn was there and wanted to play with you. You took the best care of her, getting down on your knees to talk to her and hug her and have her sit in your lap....I was so proud of you for that...makes me cry just thinking about it.

You are one of the most inquisitive kids I've ever seen. You want to know about EVERYTHING. I can't really watch the news because you want to know about EVERY story that comes on...you have a deep empathy for others and that is one of your qualities I am most proud of. If there is a fire on the news, you need to know where it is and who lived there or if there's a story about a sick child, you want to know more and sometimes will even ask to make a card for them. If there is a song on the radio, you are not content just humming or singing along, you have to know what the song is about...if it's about a boy and a girl breaking up, you have to know why they broke up...what did the boy do? For example, here you are singing a Christmas song and explaining what the song was about.

You are a true beauty inside and out. You remembered how we gave a donation to Brave Maeve for Lily's 1st birthday and on your own wanted to do the same for your 5th birthday party coming up.

You have a passion for the water. You excel at swimming and had fun taking diving lessons this year.

And of course a big highlight was the addition of Sydney Mae Grace. You had been asking for a puppy for months..."A puppy named Sydney." It was such a treat to add her to our family this year.

The year wasn't without challenges. Your mood and behavior can be intense at times. You had a bad bought of UTI's at the beginning of the year and it really affected you and caused you to want to withdraw from a lot of things. For a big portion of this year, you became very attached to me and didn't really want to do anything other than be at home with me...school, dive, dance...pretty much everything became a struggle to get you to do them without tears. You ended up in our bed most nights this year. This is where parenting gets tough...sometimes I would let you bail and sometimes I would try and get you to keep on truckin....I'm not sure if I made the best choices but I did my best, Brenna. You still struggle with anxiety at times and I have a feeling that this "emotional intensity" will be a recurring theme as you get older. This parenting stuff isn't for the faint of heart. This is one reason we decided to "red-shirt" you and repeat Pre-K4. Being that your birthday is right on the cut-off we wanted to give you another year to be a kid before moving on to elementary school.

I keep a jar on the counter for Kid Quotes and write down some of the cute stuff you say during the year. Here are some goodies:

1/13: Upon Lily waking up really early in the morning, I said to Brenna "I'm sorry Lily woke you up." Brenna: "It's ok, I mean it's probably going to be my low point for the day, but it's ok."

1/13: Mom, my hands are so clean because I used the whole bottle of soap in the bathroom. That was a lot of soap so they are like really really clean now."

6/13: Brenna: "Please give me the lellow crayon." Me: It's Y-ellow. Brenna: "L-ellow." Me: "Say Yo-Yo" Brenna: "Yo-Yo" Me: "Yellow" Brenna: "Lellow" Me: "Yell" Brenna: "Yell" Me: "oh" Brenna: "oh" Me: "Yell....Oh" Brenna: "Yell...Ow" Me: "Yellow" Brenna: "Lellow" Me: We will try again once my coffee kicks in....;-)

7/13: Brenna begging for a dog says "Don't worry, I'll still play with Lily sometimes too if we get a dog."

7/13: After doing summercamp at Temple Beth Am. Brett: "The statue of liberty is hollow, you can actually walk up to the top." Brenna: "The statue of liberty is made of Holla like bread???"

8/13: Brenna: "Mom, can you have another baby?" Me: "No, why?" Brenna: "Because if there was another kid here, we could play duck duck goose and it would be more fun"

My prayers are that you remain strong, healthy, kind, compassionate and brave! It's ok to push yourself because you can do so many things! We love you sooooooooo much. xoxo your momma

Lily's Baby Book - All about her first year!

2013-01-17T11:29:00.001-05:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

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Brenna, All About you at 4!

2012-08-29T10:46:00.000-04:00

Yay!!! You are 4!!!! You have officially gone from baby to little girl. And you started your first day of Pre-K 4 at your new school today...on your birthday!

I am so happy that we have reached this milestone cause let's be honest...your third year has been a little rough. When asked by a friend how life was this year, I replied "I either love her so much that my heart literally feels like it could explode with love and pride...or I want to throw her out of the window" It's true. A lot happened this year. For starters, Lily was born. The first 8 weeks or so were filled with the love for a new little baby and a very sleep deprived and low-on-patience mommy. First let me say how proud I am of you for making it through that adjustment because I know it must have been so hard. You were our one and only for 3 years and it was quite an adjustment adding a new little sister to the mix. You have ALWAYS loved your sister and she has ALWAYS loved you from the moment she arrived. But truth be told, you were kindof a nightmare to mommy and daddy for the first few months. I want to recount some of our struggles not to make you feel bad, sweety, but so that we can look back and read this and giggle and maybe it will even help you keep a good perspective when you yourself are a mommy and are sleep-deprived and ready to toss your 3 year old out the window. ;-)

But let's recall 2 of the lows before I tell you about all the highs that your third year brought.

1) The Thanksgiving incident: I'm not sure why I thought hosting Thanksgiving at our house with a 6 week old was a good idea but I swear at the time I thought it was. It was the week of Thanksgiving and I still didn't have everything together. You were being awful. Throwing the biggest fits and I just couldn't handle it. I lost it. I called Daddy at work crying and said "You have to come home. I have to leave and if you don't I'm going to lose it on Brenna. Seriously, come home. I need to leave before I lose my mind" So home he came and out I went. I think I was gone for probably 5 hours. I needed it. As much as I needed a break from you, I missed you once I was gone. When I got home, I felt like I could breathe easier. Please take 2 lessons from this...1) When life gets too crazy, take a breather. Know when you need to walk away to regain composure. And 2) Marry someone who is a true partner and makes your life easier and better in almost all regards. Marry someone that would come home from work to help you.

2) The Corneal Abrasion: One night I was putting you to bed and you were throwing a fit saying you didn't want to go to sleep and you were so overtired that you were entering what Daddy and I refer to as your "Sleep Deprivation Psychosis" where you are not rational and just generally crazy-in-need-of-sleep. The lights were out and it was very dark and in the midst of your flailing fit you accidentally sucker punched me right in the eyeball. IT HURT. A LOT!!! I tried to go to bed but I woke up at 2am and drove my one-eyed self to the ER where I had to explain how my 3 year old had just punched me in the face. Low point for sure.

But just like any good story the lows were superseded by the highs. You shock me at how smart and sweet you can be. Your verbal communication soars. I think because you are so smart and so expressive, I sometimes forgot that you were 3 and expected you to have the rationale of someone much older. My bad.

You have the absolute cutest helium-sounding voice on the planet. Seriously, people tell me that you should be the voice of cartoon characters, it is that cute.

Your love for Lily. You love her so much and she lights up when you are around. You always want to hold her and kiss her and give her raspberries on her belly. You make her laugh more than anyone else. You also protect her. You make sure she doesn't have something too small to play with and one time you came carrying her out of the laundry room like a dog (holding the back of her PJ's while her arms and legs were dangling above the floor) because she was trying to get shoes.

Your first dance recital. You were the cutest little Angelfish and you gave the grandest bow and blew a kiss to all of your admirers and even mouthed "I love you Daddy" while on stage. Don't think I'll ever forget that.

The diving board. You passed a swim test where you swam the entire length of the pool in order to jump off the diving board. People kept coming up to me saying "how old is she?" When I said, "she's 3" they would look at me in disbelief that you could pass the swim test and were brave enough to jump over and over again!

Role playing. You love to play any sort of role playing game where you are the grown-up. We played movie theater a lot where you would take money, give tickets, manage the snack bar, and perform all the other appropriate duties of a movie theater attendant.

Your Students: You have had a class of students that have followed you around almost all year: Chauncy ("He's the naughty one, he never listens"), Nala, Rainbow, Carley, Jalyn. You run a tight ship. You do circle time and story time and do not hesitate to put someone in time out if they step out of line.

High point/Low point. Whenever we are sitting together for dinner we go around the table and do high point/low point. You share some of the sweetest things. A typical example of what you'd say. "Today my high point was when Mommy picked me up from school and we went to the park with my friends and shared our snacks. My low point was when I didn't want to leave the park and I threw a fit" Many times, we have the same low point ;-) Or sometimes you won't have a low point and say "I don't have a low point, today was a pretty good day!" and you'll shrug your shoulders with a "what are you gonna-do-about-it?" expression on your face.

I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. I'm sorry for my lack of patience sometimes. I'm so lucky to be your momma.

How Brenna got ready for the new baby

2012-05-31T13:49:00.004-04:00

We had lots to do to get ready for a second baby. Two major things that needed to happen was 1) Brenna needed to lose the pacy and 2) transition to a big girl bed I didn't want her to associate the baby with taking either away so pretty soon after we found out we were expecting we started transitioning.

While napping in her crib one afternoon, the pacy fair came and left her a little story about how she was taking her pacy and giving it to some new babies that needed them and she left her a little koala as a gift for giving her all her pacys. When she woke up, she was sad...

But it didn't take long for her to come around....

And now for the big girl bed...

So many of Brenna's friends were going to be big sisters right around the same time. Here is Brenna, Maddy and Audrey graduating from their Big Sister Class at Jupiter Medical Center.

About my pregnancy

2012-05-31T13:35:00.000-04:00

My last pregnancy post was way back in April when we let the world know we were expecting again. My second pregnancy was very similar to my first but everything was just amplified. I felt sick with Brenna but never actually threw up. I threw up a lot with Lilia. I was tired with Brenna...I was more tired with Lilia (maybe because I couldn't rest like I did the first go-around). I was very happy to have started this pregnancy 15 pounds lighter than with Brenna and just like that one I gained about 35 pounds. So getting that 15 pound head start really helped me out once the pregnancy was over.

7 Weeks

12 Weeks

I couldn't wait to find out whether or not we were having a girl or a boy. I really didn't have a gut-feeling about it and when asked which I was hoping for, I knew that either option would cause mixed emotions. A girl would be awesome. I love to do the girly things and I have all the girly baby stuff from Brenna and I just feel like I'm well suited for girls...But if it's a girl, I knew I would be slightly disappointed that Brett didn't get a boy to do all the Daddy-Son bonding stuff with...not that he can't do the same things with girls but I would have felt disappointment if I didn't have a girl to do Mommy-Daughter things with so I would be a little sad about that for him. Now if it were a boy, while I'd be very happy to have the experience of 1 of each, I'd be sad to not have another girl because I LOVE my girl so much and I would so love for her to have the experience of having a sister, something I always wished for. And I knew Brenna wanted a baby sister badly (she would cry if we told her it might be a boy). So truth be told, I was probably 51% wanting a girl and I think Brett was completely 50/50.

The day of our ultrasound appointment, they do all sorts of measurements and it takes a long time before they actually get to the gender part. The ultrasound tech seemed to take forever and when it was time for the gender reveal, she said something like "What did you say you have at home again?" And I said a girl and she made a face like "uh oh" so I immediately knew that it was another girl and felt excitement and happiness. Then she confirmed it and said it was definitely another little girl on the way. I was looking at Brett's face to try and see how he felt and he was happy too. I think he acknowledged that it would have been cool to have had a boy but he was 100% excited and on board for another little girl. Plus we have our nephews, Nick, Alex and soon to be Jaden to fill up any of the male bonding time that might be needed.

I spread the good news via text "Princesses and PMS, here comes another girl!"

I didn't do maternity pictures the first time around and I've been so lucky to have met friends who happen to also be wonderful photographers so my friend Lauren, of Lauren Donovan Photography took these pictures of us right before we welcomed our little girl.

I'm back!!!!

2012-05-15T13:10:00.000-04:00

Well I'm back. It's been 9 months since my last post and I'm so sad I haven't posted more. I really could care less if anyone reads this but I want to look back and remember this precious time while our little ones are young so I am going to try my very best and update this on the happenings of our last 9 months. There are oh so many...thus why I haven't had time to update in the first place!!!! So apologies for anyone who actually subscribes to this blog as an rss feed because I will probably clog up your feed in the next week or so with tons of posts and pictures about the family!

Brenna, All About You At 3!!

2011-08-29T14:40:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday, Brenna! You are 3 years old today!!! What a year it's been. You have definitely grown up so much this year. And we have hit so many milestones. I'm so proud of you how well you've done in so many different areas.

For starters, the Pacy Fairy came and you completely said goodbye to your pacies that you loved so much. By 2 1/2 you were Pacy Free and you really handled it so well. Only a few tears at the very beginning. I thought this transition would be much tougher than it was. The Pacy Fairy left you a letter and a little bear and you still talk about them and know who gave them to you. The dentist could really tell a difference too.

Then you found out you were going to be a big sister. You insisted from the very beginning that you would be getting a little sister and if we even mentioned the possibility that it could be a baby brother, you would break down in tears. Well you were right, you are getting a baby sister and she will be here soon! I know you will be a big helper once she arrives...just as long as she doesn't take your stuff because you will tell me "Mommy, I don't want to share." This could be a problem....

Our next big step was getting your big girl bed. Bye-Bye Crib. You loved your crib and slept really well in it...never once did you climb out, couldn't quite figure out how some of your friends could climb in and out...you needed a little boost. You've done beautifully in your bed. It took about a week where we had to reverse the lock so you couldn't run out when you wanted to, and you were not happy about that but it wasn't long before you slept in your bed all night by yourself.

Lastly, you are 100% potty trained! Yay!!! This was a lot easier than I anticipated (for once something was easier)...you did a great job. We introduced the idea around 2 and you weren't quite ready but a few months in and you pee pee'd on the potty like a champ. It took another 2 months to conquer #2 but overall you caught on so fast and you rarely have any accidents. Even at night, you will call for mommy if you have to go. We really lucked out here, thanks for throwing us a bone in this department, boo boo!

You still go to Holy Spirit Lutheran Preschool and just started in the 3 year old class. Now you go to school on Tues,Wed, and Thursday. Mommy works while you are at school so we can play together during the times you are home. On Monday we have dance class and on Fridays we go to storytime at the library. Our days are filled with fun activities with some TV time and book time sprinkled in there too.

Your favorite shows right now are Dora the Explorer and anything Princess related. You like many different books (we are at the library a lot swapping our books and DVD's). Mommy has to read the princess ones because "you're a girl" and Daddy reads the other ones. You like to read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. You have such a cute high and squeaky voice.

You are a really big helper in the kitchen. You like to make smoothies with Daddy and bake cookies with Grandma Joann.

You like to talk like a grown-up. You get in this moods where you are the mommy or the teacher and talk to daddy and me like we are the kids. You might say "Mommy, did you drop that toy on the floor (even if I didn't), you can't do that mommy, you're making a mess, you need to clean it up. And tell my baby you're sorry, you stepped on her foot (even if I didn't) and you hurt her. Tell her you are sorry, Mommy, alwight? Alwight, Mommy? Did you hear me? I'm talking to you"

As you can tell, you talk A LOT! You can have a conversation about anything and it's fun teaching you things and watching you learn and retain.

Personal space: This is big for you with your friends. You don't like running hugs from friends and you don't want anyone to grab your hand without asking first. You are affectionate but you just don't like to be caught off guard. You need to feel like you have control in the situation.

We love you sooooo much!!!! I can't wait to see what year 3 brings!

Here we go again!

2011-04-11T15:10:00.000-04:00

In case you missed our recent facebook announcement....

Yep, we are very happy to announce that our family is growing! Brenna's new brother or sister will arrive around October 16, 2011. We are very blessed and lucky to be expecting especially since I know that the process of growing one's family does not happen so easily for everyone. With Brenna, I got pregnant right away. With this one it took slightly longer than immediately so it did give me a little bit more understanding for anyone who feels the disappointment in wishing they were pregnant. So we are very thankful and I am trying my best to savor this pregnancy knowing that this will most likely be my last. Sooo, how am I feeling you ask?

LIKE CRAP, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ASKING.

I am not one of these people that love being pregnant. In fact when people tell me "oh I just love being pregnant", I think "really? come on...are you serious? do you want me to punch you?" In fact some of my friends are on baby #3 in less than 4 years and I honestly don't know how they are doing it. Did they have very easy pregnancies? Are they as tired as I am all the time? Do they feel nauseous morning, noon, and night? Have they had to get up from bed to puke? No? Just me? Ok then.

But at least I know what to expect this time around. I feel pretty much exactly the same as I did when I was pregnant with Brenna only slightly less crazy. I still feel very hormonal but not as straight up crazy as I did the first time around...probably just because I know what I'm feeling is normal. Another difference is that while I was nauseous all the time with Brenna in the first trimester, I never actually vomitted. This time my dinner has come back up to say hello quite a few different times and I hate throwing up. So disgusting.

I am hopeful that by week 14, my nausea will be gone and my energy back up. That's what happened the first time so fingers crossed that I'll be feeling a lot better soon.

Brenna is excited and insists on 2 things: 1) that she has a baby in her belly button and 2) the baby will be a girl. If we tell her that we don't know if it's a girl or a boy she breaks down and sobs that "Nooo, it's a girl" Hmmm, she'll either be super excited or heart-broken.

But despite not feeling well, I am truly so excited and happy to be expecting again. I found out I was pregnant after I had gone to NYC to visit Schecky for the weekend. I tested when I got back and to my happy surprise, I got the 2 little lines 3 different times. So I went to the library and got a bunch of children's books about being a big sister and expecting a new baby in the house. When Brett got home from work, I told him that Brenna had picked out some new books from the library that she wanted him to read to her. He got it right away from the first book he pulled out and was very excited. Yay!

Our little blueberry at 7+ weeks

Our little "large plum" at 12 weeks

2011 will be the year of the baby boom, with my brother, Jeff, and his wife, Jackie, expecting a baby boy in early August. Cheers to new babies!!!

Brenna's Favorite Things: Dance Class and Merry-Go-Round!

2011-02-15T09:36:00.000-05:00

Two of Brenna's favorite activities right now at amost 2 1/2, is surely dance class, which is every Monday morning and riding the new Merry-Go-Round at Downtown at the Gardens. Here she is strutting her cute stuff at dance...

Her favorite part of class is when you get to hop like a frog on the colored spots. She also loves when it's time to clean up the spots and she tries to pick up as many as possible and rush them back to Ms. Jessica.

And if we pass Downtown at the Gardens without stopping at the Merry-Go-Round, I will surely hear about it for hours on end. I estimate that in 3 months the carousel has been there, we have probably ridden at least 40 times. But look at how happy it makes her. Thank God, Brett's coworker gave us a bunch of free passes or I'd have spent a fortune by now.

We recently went to Trey's 2nd birthday. You can read all about it on my other blog (Click here). It was really something. Here are a just a few pics of Brenna from the party.

This one was taken by Brooke. She's so talented. Not only are her pictures gorgeous but I admire her for how it seems like she never gets burnt out. It takes A LOT of time to edit these and she is always posting new pics of Maren and Maren's friends for everyone to enjoy. Some of my all time favorite pics of Brenna have been taken by either Brooke or my friend Lauren. It's great to have friends who are great photogs!

Professional Photos - Holidays 2010

2011-02-12T14:42:00.000-05:00

I live for Christmas cards. I love getting them in the mail. I especially love the ones with a nice coordinating and sometimes awkward family photo so I can see how everyone's families have grown and changed in a year's time. The more perfect the families appear, the funnier I find the picture. That goes for my own family pictures as well. I love displaying the cards I receive and when I go to someone's house during the Holidays, I almost always look through their pile of cards even if I have no idea who the families are. I love it!

And yes I totally get that it's a little narcissistic to get the family all dressed up in coordinating outfits and get professional photographs done each year but I don't care. Call me vain, roll your eyes at what is the adorableness of Brenna's Ralph Lauren ensemble (Thank you, Aunt Schecky) but as long as I have the littlest of strength left in my body in the month of December, I will schlept my family out to the beach or some grassy knoll and get a picture taken. Because for that one second, it appears that we have it all together and I find that delightful and amusing. I probably have residual snot in my hair and I may be bribing my kid with a lollipop or the empty threat of NEVER RIDING THE MERRY-GO-ROUND AGAIN, but you will never know that by the looks of our photo. :-)

My very good friend and photog, Lauren Donovan, of Lauren Donovan Photography took these pics. Kudos to you Lauren. I love them!!! Thank you for your patience and beautiful work!

Christmas 2010

2011-02-12T14:15:00.000-05:00

For some reason, I've been really burnt out with the blogging lately so I took a nice long break to just enjoy the moments themselves without hopping to the computer to record them right away. I hope I can get back into it on a semi-regular basis because I know that I will love to look back and read all about our lives "when". I also do this because I hope Brenna and any other future kids will also look back and see a glimpse into what life was like when they were little. So without further adieu, here is our Christmas 2010 Recap!

We had such a nice Christmas this year. We started out by baking cookies for Santa...

Pouring some milk for him and leaving some carrots for the reindeer.

Before bedtime, we needed to taste for quality-assurance.

In the middle of the night, Santa arrived and even left snowy footprints.

Brenna woke up around 5am and I brought her in our room past all the presents (which luckily she didn't even notice) and we all slept a few more hours in our bed. Brett and I got up and started breakfast before Brenna came stumbling out. She was half-asleep so didn't have a huge reaction to everything but she did enjoy playing with all her new toys and discovering new ones all throughout the morning.

Daddy and Brenna playing with Mr. Potato Head in her new Monkey Tent.

Dress Up Time

One of my favorite memories was skyping with the grandparents and Brenna showing them all the goodies Santa brought her.

Christmas Eve at the Bloom House

Grammy fixing Brenna's hair....there's always a lot of this going on.

Our 24 hour playdate with Marina

2010-12-20T22:09:00.001-05:00

Brenna's pal Marina's mommy, Keri (who has become one of my great friends) is a labor and delivery nurse who works 12 hour shifts from 7pm to 7am. I am tired just thinking about how hard she works and the hours in which she does it. Marina's dad is a firefighter who works 24 hour shifts. So every once in a while when these shifts overlap, and when her grandparents are unavailable, Marina needs a 24 hour playdate with a pal and Brenna and I were happy to host :-)

Brenna had been giving me a lot of grief over the past week so I was a little nervous about how having 2 would be, but honestly Brenna was so much better behaved with Marina here. They didn't fight at all. They had so much fun playing and after having Marina for 24 hours, I think I might venture to say she's the easiest of everyone in the playgroup.

Marina is like a little monkey and can climb in and out of Brenna's crib in 2 seconds. She loved taking all of Brenna's stuffed animals, throwing them in the crib, then climbing in the crib, throwing them out, and climbing out. She did this over and over again to Brenna's amuzement and delight. Brenna just kept looking at her climb in and out and wanted so badly to be able to do it too. She kept saying to me "I want to do it all myself...Momma help." And I'd help her get in the crib with Marina.

We took the girls to the carousel at Downtown at the Gardens where we met up with Ella Kate and the girls had so much fun running around and playing.

Marina didn't want to ride the animals.

Next was the wishing well/fish pond.

Round 2 Carousel Ride

After lunch, we were driving home and the girls were both looking really tired. Just as Brenna nodded off, Marina yelled "WAKE UP!!!!" At which point Brenna woke up and thought that was hysterical and they had a shouting/giggling match for 5 minutes yelling "WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP" back and forth before Marina fell asleep.

After perfect naps by both girls, we went to the park and then ended the night looking at Christmas lights. Everytime we'd see a Santa, Marina and Brenna would go "HO, HO, HO"

In the morning, we made breakfast and played for a little while before Marina went home.

Later that day, Brenna woke up from her nap and said "Where's Rina?" I want to go play with Rina." She obviously had fun with her buddy.

Brenna's First Haircut

2010-12-20T21:46:00.000-05:00

Well the time finally came to get Brenna her first haircut. I was nervous about it because she really doesn't like me messing with her hair (yes mom, I know it's karma but let the record show that I will never make her sleep in pink spongy rollers) and I have to bribe her with princess gummy vitamins every morning to get her to let me brush through it. I originally wanted her to get her first haircut at Disney back in November but she wasn't feeling it and I certainly wasn't going to make an issue out of it and put a damper on our Disney day since it was more for me than her anyway.

But her hair was all sorts of scraggly and uneven so we went to Limelight, a cute little hair salon for kids in Jupiter and were really happy with the whole experience. They let her pick from a list of about 30 DVD's to watch and she picked the Little Mermaid and got to ride in a Hummer while they cut her hair. At first she started to cry and fuss and didn't want to sit there and I thought for sure we were going to have to abort this mission but thank goodness the hair stylist pulled out the big guns and gave her a lollipop which saved the day!

It came out so cute! Here are some fun post haircut pics from December!

Disney World 2010

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In November, we made our first trip to DisneyWorld with Brenna and we were lucky to have all the grandparents, Aunt Cookie, Mandy, Stephen, Nick and Alex along too!

Brenna LOVED driving!!!! She didn't want to get out of the car when the ride was over.

Waiting to ride Buzz Lightyear

It's a Small World

Look at that precious face!

The highlight of the entire trip was when Brenna got to meet Mickey and Minnie. She is normally terrified of anything in a big costume like that but she loved on Mickey and Minnie for as long as they'd let her.

Here's the video of Brenna meeting her idols, Mickey and Minnie!

Cutie pie Alex in Minnie's Clubhouse

Taking a power nap on the Winnie the Pooh ride

She still talks about seeing the castle "where the princess lives"

Souvenirs on the way out.

SeaWorld the next day.

What happens after a long day....

And we're up again!

Playing back at the resort.

November 2010 Favorite and Not So Favorite Things

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Well let's start with my least favorite things about November 2010 so we can end on a positive note.

1) Brenna got REALLY sick the week we were supposed to go to Disney for a week. Her fever was so so high and she had strep throat and was just miserable. Brett had taken off work for the whole week so we could go to Disney and have a nice vacation and we ended up in the house all week taking care of Brenna all day and all night. She was waking up every couple of hours at night and it was NOT FUN. Poor thing did get better in time to go to Disney for the weekend though! I was very thankful to have Brett home to help take care of Brenna for that week but sad that he pretty much wasted 4 vacation days.

2) Tonsillitis! I got tonsillitus during Thanksgiving and was MISERABLE for 8 straight days. On the plus side, I did lost 2 pounds rather than gain the normal 5 or 6 during Thanksgiving. On the negative, no Thanksgiving food or leftovers to enjoy :-(

3) Brett has a PE job and his work at PSI has him working WAY too much. He probably averages working 16 hours a day (weekends too). No joke. Can't wait for him to cut back. We miss him. But let's be a pollyanna for a second and count our blessings that he has a job! And one that he loves! I should take this one off the list...

Ok, now on to the happy and good times of November 2010.

1) Disney!!! We were able to bring Brenna to DisneyWorld despite her not feeling well in the days prior. Post all about that will be up shortly.

2) Supportive Family. I'm so lucky to have parents and parents-in-law who can help with Brenna when I'm sick. Brenna spent a day with the Epsteins and her cousins Nick and Alex over Thanksgiving when I was feeling so crummy and then she spent 3 days and nights with my mom and dad later that week. I have no doubt that I had to take care of her on top of being sick with tonsillitis, I would have been sick for twice as long. Here's Brenna and Nick and Alex having a photo shoot at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Great grandma Ruth (Bubbee) and all her grandkids

3) Marina's 2nd Birthday Party which was ladybug themed. So fun!

4) Playdates at our place. Specifically a Megablok-themed playdate that I hosted which was sponsored due to my other blog (http://www.thismommyloves.com/)

5) Happy Birthday, Mac Luber! November 29, 2010, Mark and Jill welcomed Baby Mac Alan Luber. Can't wait to see them over New Years and Meet Baby Mac in person. And for the record, I guessed his weight exactly to the oz! 7lbs 1 oz

Such a proud big sis!

6) Cooler Florida winter temperatures which make it fun to go for walks outside!

7) Christmastime is here! Decorations are everywhere, the tree is up and Brenna got to welcome Santa as he arrived at our local mall.

Kisses from Trey while Santa arrived and the kids had milk and cookies.

Halloween 2010

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The Haffey's (Sonya, Ryan, and Ry Ry) had a little Halloween party this year and we went trick-or-treating in their great neighborhood with our playgroup pals. Of course, our whole family dressed up in a Royal motiff. We were watching Enchanted one day and that's when Brenna decided she wanted to be a Princess, Daddy should be a Prince and Mommy the evil queen.

Our caravan complete with a beer wagon!

From October 2010

Mom and Dad's 65th Birthday Party

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Mom and Dad celebrated their 65th birthdays this year (just 3 days apart) so I was thrilled to throw them a little lunch party. I did a 50's themed lunch and we had so much fun.

Our Diner Set-Up

Juke Box and 50's Music in the background

Uncle Jerry emailed me a bunch of pictures of Mom from the 50's and I had a lot of Dad from Fran's old albums. I taped them all around the dining room and I loved seeing them walk around and look at all the pcitures.

Real records as chargers

Dancing

More Dancing

Cheeseburgers and French Fries with Milkshakes

Watching the Happy Birthday video from Steve and Judy.

Awesome cake that Jeff and Jackie made. So cool!

And he's out!

Happy Birthday Mom and Dad! Love you so much!