Updates on Brynlee

Brynlee has grown so much in so many ways. She has a huge personality. She is full of sass. It can be SO frustrating. I see so much of myself in her. She is so smart and funny. She's sensitive and caring. She is so motherly. She will be 4 (!!) in 3 months. She tells me things all the time like, "I don't like broccoli because I am 3. When I turn 4, I will like broccoli." Where she gets these things, I am unsure. :)

Brynlee started dance class in February. She takes a combo ballet/tap class for 30 minutes and then a 30 minute tumbling class right after. She LOVES it. There's only about 5 girls in the class, ages 3 and 4. She has a dance recital on June 6th. I hope that she dances and doesn't get too shy. I can't wait to see her dances. The parents don't watch their dance classes because the girls don't participate as much if the parents are watching. So I haven't seen her dance yet. Their costumes just came in and I cannot wait to see her dance around in them. Their ballet song is, "We Are The Dinosaurs". I don't have a good picture of the costume, but it has a ruffle butt! :) Her tap song is, "Never Smile At A Crocodile" from Peter Pan. Joey took her to dance last week and sent me this picture of her in her crocodile costume! ::wub::

I love holidays because I love buying holiday outfits and dresses. Brynlee wears dresses often, but not big party dresses. I found this gorgeous purple dress (her favorite color) on clearance at Target. She couldn't wait to wear it. Then I just paired it with a simple white cardigan and found the bow at Wal-Mart, also on clearance. :) I love that she still lets me dress her up. She will wear whatever I lay out for her. Sometimes she has something specific she wants to wear or I will hold up two items and have her choose one. But for the most part, she just lets me dress her up. She's pretty easygoing. I took a few snap shots of her over Easter in her fancy dress. At first, she just wanted to show off her dress as if she was going to the ball or something. So I asked her to just stand there and this is the face I got...

HAHAHA! She is a mess. Then I told her I was going to send that mean muggin' face to her grandparents so she started laughing. I love getting pictures of her natural smile.

I bought some curlers and it took forever to curl her long hair! But it's so pretty and it stayed for a while. She is cursed with my straight hair. I was surprised the curl turned out great. :)

When I was on leave, I had Brynlee home with me as well. Some days, it was hard. I would be up all night with a baby and then up early with my early bird. But she did great. Sometimes she would wake up, get her iPad, and just lay in bed and watch videos or play games. I don't mind her using the iPad frequently because she has a good mix of educational and just fun. She loves the game where she traces letters. This girl loves the alphabet. She loves to sing. She loves to dance. She is such a charmer. She was SO helpful to me when I was on leave. I took her on a date to Starbucks one day. I got her a hot chocolate. She did NOT like it. She tried it and it was hot (I warned her). Then once it cooled down, she still wouldn't try it even though I told her it wasn't hot anymore.

She looks so grown up! We are growing out her bangs and I think that makes her look even older. *tear* She's such a diva, too.

She tells me every day that she loves Makenna. She was having a hard time at daycare because she wanted to go see her sister every day multiple times a day. I mean, she was at home with her for 12 weeks and now they are separated for 9 hours a day. She had a hard time adjusting. I was glad to hear that her daycare teachers would let her see her sister (not every time though). We finally agreed that she can see her sister ONCE a day. She also goes with me in the morning to drop Makenna off in the nursery so she hugs and kisses her then. And I always pick up Brynlee first so she can go with me to get Makenna. She loves it. She sings to her. She shows her different toys. She talks to her all the time. She loves snuggling with her. I love the way Brynlee loves her. I hope they forever have a strong bond and relationship.

We recently had some storms and lost power. As we sat in the dark, Brynlee played on her iPad. She could only play certain games since we didn't have the internet. I didn't get a picture because my phone was dead, but she fell asleep face first on her iPad. It was hilarious. Then the next night, I go to take a shower and come out to find this...

That girl is so easy to put to bed. Most of the time, she puts herself to bed, lol. Here's a picture of Brynlee and her Daddy (pre-shave) over the weekend. It was a gorgeous day so we were sitting outside eating tacos with friends.

I love this girl.

Night and Day

Brynlee and Makenna are like night and day. Night and freaking day.

Brynlee was such an easy baby. She had this harmless habit of being fine wherever she was. She was great in the car. She didn't cry in restaurants or anywhere really. She didn't throw up after eating. She was content sleeping in her bassinet beside my bed until she started to move too much. Then she was content sleeping in her crib (even though that was more work for me to get up to feed her). She slept really well until she cut her first teeth at 8 months and again at 9 months, but was totally fine when she cut four molars at once. She could sleep through anything and everything. She was a cuddly little love bug.

Makenna is sweet. I love that little love bug to death. I do. But she is a high maintenance baby! She is super gassy. For a few weeks, she threw up almost every feeding. Not a little bit. A lot. Thankfully, that has stopped. She does not like to lay down. She is very nosy so she wants to sit up and look around. At first, she hated the swing. Luckily, she tolerates it now. She hates the car. HATES THE CAR. Aren't babies supposed to fall asleep in the car or something? She hates it and screams almost every time we're in the car. Thankfully, she has not been screaming in the mornings on the way to daycare this week. I am sure it is because she falls back asleep since it is early in the morning. I'll just admit that I bedshare with her because it is MUCH easier for me to just nurse her in bed in the middle of the night and go back to sleep afterward as opposed to having to go to her room and do everything that way. I feel like I sleep better this time compared to when Brynlee was itty bitty. This girl is a light sleeper though. If I wake up to use the restroom or switch sides, she typically wakes up or at least stirs around and fidgets. Oh, she fidgets a lot. She always seems on edge and as if she doesn't know how to relax. It can get frustrating when you just want to cuddle her.

But oh boy, her smiles. Her smiles are so sweet. She loves being talked to and I love talking to her. She is a Mama's girl. I love it. :)

Here's a picture of both girls at 2 months old. They have similar features. You can't tell because of the lighting of Brynlee's picture, but their complexions are completely opposite. And of course, Brynlee was born with a 2 year old's amount of hair while Makenna was born with an old man's head of hair. :)

Oh, my girls. I love them. <3 My heart is so full...and so is my schedule.

My boss showed up at my office 2 hours early today and I was updating my blog. This was my face...