Brooklynn-isms

I have recently started keeping a notebook of the funny, entertaining things Brooklynn, my two year-old, does. I could spend hours everyday recording the antics of that wonderful, silly (and sometimes frustrating) little girl. Here are a few recent ones...

Brooklynn has worked VERY hard to grow the small amount of hair she has. When she wakes up in the morning it looks something like this...One morning we went in to brush her teeth and she looked at herself in the mirror. She laughed and said, "Mom, I need comb my hair, it's dangerous."

With Christmas coming we have been talking to B about the baby Jesus and the things that happened when he was born. We talked about the angels, the Shepard's, the Wise Men, Mary and Joseph. But the thing that B loves the most is the star. She is now constantly talking about the "big, huge star in the sky" and how everyone followed it to baby Jesus. Every time she sees a star she has to tell us about the star of Bethlehem. I LOVE it!


A few weeks ago I asked B if she wanted to go sit on Santa's lap and tell him what she wants for Christmas. She thought about it for a second and then with a very serious look on her face told me, "No, I too big".


When I went to pick Brooklynn up from nursery a few weeks ago, her nursery leader told me that she had asked B what Santa was going to bring her and B had told her "pink and blue". She wondered what that was...I have NO idea! Brooklynn has now started telling everyone she wants "pink and blue". My sister, Emilee, wins for the best guess; something to do with Sleeping Beauty. I guess we'll find out on Christmas morning. We are grateful that she has now added bubble bath to that list.


We took Brooklynn to Zoo Lights for Family Night a few weeks ago. They have a really fun carousel there. She wanted to ride it and we asked her if she wanted Mom or Dad to take her. She said, "Mommy too big. Daddy take me". I'm still not quite sure how I'm supposed to take that one. :)


When B goes to sleep she has to have all her "animals" in bed with her. It's ridiculous! She has been a terrible sleeper from the beginning and bedtime is quite the ordeal. We put her down and within minutes we hear her scampering around. We have started taking one animal away every time she gets out of bed. Oh the tears that come when we take even one little animal away. The other day I went up and laid her back down and took one of the toys and she started crying and yelled, "Be nice to me!"

And finally...Brooklynn has recently started singing at the top of her lungs all the time. The other day she was singing a very beautiful rendition of Frosty the Snowman. I had to stop and listen...she was singing "with a corncob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of corn." When I tried to correct her, she told me I was wrong and now in our house Frosty has eye's of corn.

Oh, how I love my little girls!! They bring SO much joy and laughter into our home!!

Extra! Extra!

I love Christmas Newsletters. LOVE them! In fact, I not only read the ones sent to me but I always raid my mom's basket of them as well. The love I have for them is somewhat twisted. I love them because they are SO ridiculously not true to life. I love reading people's one (or two or sometimes even three) page summary of all the perfection they experienced over the year. I love reading about people's perfect children, who get straight A's and excel at each of the 47 activities they are involved in each day. Who always say 'please' and 'thank you' and NEVER whine or get mad. I love reading about their perfect family vacations to the 'Happiest place on earth', with the happiest children on earth and the happiest parents on earth, in the happiest car on earth. I love even more getting updates on the family pets. I imagine everyone wants to hear how Sparky did this year. And I wonder if every person who writes about their dogs think that they are SO clever when they write a phrase like 'As I get older I can't keep up with Sparky as well, so it's more like him walking me'. I saw something new in the slew of newsletters this year that surprised even me. People are now plugging their businesses in their letters. Seriously. I have read more than once, check me out at mylifeisautopia.com. Wow, really?!? In the newsletter?

Reality check!! Something I've learned again and again over the last few years...Life is MESSY!!! There are bumps and bruises along the way. Lots of them. For everyone. No one is exempt from this. No matter how much perfection they cram into a newsletter. Kids get D's in 8th grade geometry (that's right I got a D, and I learned an amazing lesson from my parents that day. I was sitting there worried about what they would say about my D. The boy next to me was worried about what his parents would say about his A-. I went home and showed my report card to my parents. They asked me if I had tried my best. I really had. Angles, volume, area and I just don't get along. They didn't get mad or upset, they just told me the important thing was that I did my best. I think I learned a lot more that day than the boy whose parents really were upset about the A-.). Family vacations are sometimes filled with whiny kids, who are mad that their brother breathed on them or touched their seat. Siblings fight, spouses argue, dogs chew on things they shouldn't. Life is filled with mundane tasks like dishes, laundry and scrubbing toilets. Welcome to reality.

But what a wonderful reality it is. If life really were like all the newsletters that I enjoy reading how boring it would be. Heartache, joy, pain, love, tears and smiles are all part of life. And that's what makes life beautiful. People get cancer, experience infertility, make mistakes, and keep going. Isn't that the best part of all? That life teaches us how strong we actually are. That despite all lifes trials we still serve those around us and find joy in our imperfect lives.

So I will continue reading Christmas Newsletters and loving it. Because they help remind me that I LOVE my imperfect life. There is a song that says: I love this crazy, tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful beautiful life. And I think that sums it up perfectly.

Happy birthday Alisha

In October my older brother, Mike, married a beautiful girl that we all love, Alisha. It was her birthday on Monday. We got together at my mom's to celebrate. Brooklynn loves to sing and recently started picking up on the words to "Happy Birthday". On Monday she was singing "Happy Birthday 'lisha" at the top of her lungs, all day long. So I asked her if she wanted me to film her so we could put it on the computer for Alisha.

This is the result...



Brooklynn has watched this video about 1,000 times since.

Little Moments

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while now. I am terrible at writing in my journal and as my kids grow I need to be better about writing down the delightfully entertaining and wonderful things they say and do. Last night decided it for me...

Brooklynn has a sippy cup addiction. It's a problem! Since Emma was born she has been having even more trouble sleeping through the night than she did before. When she wakes up she wants more "mokey" as she calls it. Last night she woke up at about 3:30 and started crying. Mark being the really nice Dad that he is went in to get her more milk in her sippy cup. He was obviously exhausted because he forgot to put the lid back on the cup. He handed it to Brooklynn who was lying in her bed. She went to take a drink and got a face full of ice cold milk. It was a rude awakening for the entire household. We got things cleaned up (always a fun time in the middle of the night) and got everyone back in bed.

I had a hard time falling back to sleep, still laughing to myself, when I heard little footsteps coming into our room. Brooklynn came walking in and announced, "I waked up!". I guess getting cold milk dumped in your face will do that to you. I had her come and lay next to me hoping that if I scratched her back for a minute she would get tire out again. My plan backfired because our cats, Gus and Roxy, were sleeping at the foot of the bed. Brooklynn keep telling them over and over, "I love you Roxy, you're so cute" and "Hi Gus buddy, I love you" (it sounds more like "I dove you Rotsy, you're so tute" and "Hi Dus buddy, I dove you"). She was so wound up sleep was not coming soon. She couldn't hold still at all, constantly twitching with the restless energy that cannot be contained in a little two year-old body. I finally took her back to her own room hoping being back in her bed would help. It didn't...about 45 minutes later I heard those same little footsteps walking down the hall. When I went to go see what she was doing, I found her sitting at the top of the stairs. She looked up and smiled at me and said, "Sorry Mom. I waked up." It is impossible to be upset when those innocent little eyes are staring up at you! I finally got Brooklynn to sleep right about the time that Emma woke up to eat. :)

Needless to say, I am exhausted today. But I wouldn't trade those little moments with my girls, even the ones in the middle of the night, for anything in the world. I'm grateful for a mom who reminds me constantly to cherish my little ones. So am I learning to love the sticky fingerprints that dot every surface, the piles of laundry that seem to reproduce overnight, the toys that I trip over day and night and all the other things that come with parenthood. Because along with all those wonderfully awful things come the big hugs and sloppy kisses, the 'I dove you's', and the little giggles and songs that fill my home.

Silence is golden, but laughter is priceless!