Family

As I woke Brenna up to go to school, Sean stood in the doorway watching. I pulled back the blankets, she sat up and stretched, saw her daddy and ran to him, sleepy faced and crazy haired. As they shared that good morning, sleepy hug, I had to take a mental picture of that warm and cozy daddy-Brenna love. It brings tears of joy to this momma's eyes. I love our family so much and have a deep need to hold tight to every one of these moments. Some moments aren't photo worthy because a photo simply wouldn't capture the true feeling and love. Plus, that would mean I would need the camera to be permanently attached and while I love taking photos, I'm not taking the camera every single place this body goes! Happy Friday!

Friday Five (ok, six)

1. It has been more than a month since I last posted...I really need to work on that!

2. Brenna cracks me up every day...our conversation about oatmeal this morning after she finished one entire bowl.
B: I want some more Mommy
M: Would you like some fruit?
B: No, more oatmeal please
M: How bout some applesauce (I know full well that a second bowl of oatmeal will not be eaten!)
B: I really just want some more {oatmeal}.

That's my little stinker! Talking like she's 10 when she's two

3. We got her "report card" from day care - She's progressing on most things, trying on others. My favorite is the P+ for Stands up for Own Rights. I can only imagine her yelling at someone else that "it's mine!" or "you no do that!" and "no me no!" (no means no). Not surprisingly she also received a P+ in Participates in Music - from the little girl who loves to sing "Bottle of Sunshine" by Milkshake in the car and tells me "I want it louder mommy." She also likes to know "do we have any 'yaks' (I Like Yaks by Roger Day) in here mommy?" Sean doesn't always have the same songs in his car as I do in mine so she has to check to see if we have what she wants to listen too. Thank goodness for the Shuffle - now in both cars thanks to my birthday Target gift cards, so now there will be matching music in both cars. I love that she likes Laurie Berkner and wants to hear Shady Tree, Victor Vito, and many others. It seems that we are moving away from The Wiggles - finally - at least for the time being. I'd much rather have her interested in other kid's music that isn't specifically related to characters...even though she will pick songs from her favorite Noggin shows too.

On another B related note, she loves wearing dresses. It is often a fight to get her to wear something other than a dress. It's really hard to give in when she says "my wear a dwess, mommy, I pick it?" Usually she wins that war. Just not a battle I feel like fighting. Thankfully we have been able to stock up on some cute Carter's dresses at Costco...gotta love the costco.


4. We're on the countdown for vacation...still on the hunt for a relatively inexpensive portable DVD player for the plane ride...more for my sanity, not because B can't go 4 hours without watching tv. She can. While I'm really looking forward to the trip, I will really miss my wonderful husband! I'm definitely looking forward to his vacation time in July.

5. Spring Break has gone by entirely too fast. I have managed to catch up on laundry...finally..now if only I could stay caught up. I always have good intentions but just never seem to manage to keep up with it. I will say I am doing less laundry for B now that she is older.

6. I LOVE THIS MAN....even though he hates when I take his picture. He and little B are my world...

Happy Birthday Husband

Dear husband:

It's your birthday...the 10th birthday that I'll spend with you. I hope you know how important you are to me and our sweet litte girl. I'm so proud of all that you have accomplished, of the wonderful daddy you are to Brenna, and the amazing husband you are to me. I love that little girl loves you so much, it's so sweet that she tells you to be careful when you are traveling and that she is a "mini-sully". Every time I look at her I see our love. I love that you are the calm in my storms and know just what to say to put a smile on my face. Thank you for all that you are and for all that you do for our family. I love you so much,

Happy Birthday!

Love, me

The End of a Great Weekend

So I'm sitting here on the couch after a wonderful, long, holiday weekend wishing I still had a few more days off so I could spend more time with the husband and the little girl (even though 2 1/2 year olds have a tendency toward having multiple personalities). We had a great time together these last few days. Thanksgiving was the usual whirlwind as we traveled from family to family. Saturday brought a day of hard work for my husband in the basement (I love the sound of nails being shot into basement walls with a nail gun and .22 loads - how Brenna could nap through that and how my husband and dad can hear at this point is still beyond me).

Today was another great and relaxing day. Laundry and some dishes were my only chores. Brenna and I made a Santa Claus fill-the-beard countdown calendar and a red and green paper chain to count down the days until Christmas. Can you tell that I am a Christmas maniac? I love it...all the excitement and the family time and the snow and the songs...I love it all.

Munchkin napped, daddy watched football, and I got to scrap! Finally! I haven't scrapped any layouts since I started teaching my 5th graders, usually I'm too busy doing school work. I did four pages (2 - 2 page spreads) for Brenna's NICU album. I have to figure out how I can post them...I haven't figured out whether I can somehow scan 12x12 pages or if I am just going to take pictures and hope they come out well.

Luckily, Christmas break will be here soon and my scrappy friends and I are planning a crop - I can't wait to have several hours to devote to good times with friends and my scrappy self.

Oooo...we made snowflakes today too (well Sean & I did with Brenna coloring and hanging out with us at the kitchen table), and B had her first mug of hot cocoa. I don't think I have to tell you how much she loved it, it is chocolate after all.

Overall a great holiday weekend.

Here are a couple of pics of the little girl - it's her first official nightgown...

and an exact replica of a face I use to make when I was her age. Thanks Dad!

Oh yes...lest I forget...we have moved into the "WHY?" stage of life.

B: What doing grandma?

G: Sewing, Brenna (grandma is working on another quilt - currently piecing a few squares)

B: Why?

G: Because I like to make quilts.

B: Why?

This continued for a little longer until grandma turned it around on B, asking her why - this utterly confused the little girl.

I can only hope that these little memories will be saved here in cyberspace forever as I know that while I stop to commit them to my memory, it can only hold so much. Brenna, my little sweet potato, I hope you know that daddy and I cherish every moment with you!

Bad, bad, very bad blogger!

I have not fallen off the face of the Earth but I have been a very bad blogger...while this is far from my longest stretch, I had been doing pretty well keeping up-to-date, and then, well, life has been rather busy. Not as busy as my friend Marie, who, by-the-way, just had a baby and is doing better keeping up with her blog than I am. That is just sad on my part! But congrats to the Taylor family and welcome little Charlie. We are very excited to meet you!


All-in-all things are good.


School is winding down. Monday will be the beginning of the last 9 weeks of trying to get as much done as we can before testing and before the end of the year.


Brenna has been healthy (knock on tons of wood) and hasn't missed any day care days since tube surgery!! This is week 5 I am happy to say. We had a follow-up, no fluid, no infection....great news even though one tube was blocked. We are hoping that a second round of drops has taken care of the problem. Back to see the Dr. in about 2 weeks to make sure it is clear.


Sean hasn't had any major travel days for the last three weeks which has been nice. This week begins a new round but it was nice that he could be home for a few weeks in a row. It is nice too that he isn't usually gone for more than a night or two. Managable, especially with the weather being a little nicer.


I got to sleep for an extra half hour this morning because my wonderful husband took our daughter to day care. 30 extra minutes of sleep are sooooo valuable! Thank you!!!


I have started walking daily and doing my best to eat more healthfully. It is time. I can't set any kind of good example for Brenna while continuing on the path that I was on. I am not healthy and I have chosen to do everything I can to make a major change as far as my health is concerned. So far I am doing pretty well. It's challenging to make myself go for a walk everyday but I have been making myself go, even when I really have no desire. While today's walk wasn't long at all since it was a little chilly and Brenna was cold...apparently it isn't fun to be bundled up in the stroller when you want to be free. Mittens aren't fun when you want to be free either. So cold hands won today. At least we were able to get some fresh air.


I love springtime in Ohio...oh wait...it was 32 this morning...stupid groundhog.


I have been thinking about the bazillions (sometimes I think this may be more than a fair estimate) of pictures we have taken of Brenna and what to do with them all. I was great when she first came home....I printed all 400 (and I'm not kidding) that were taken before she came home from the hospital. And then I printed a few more. And diligently placed them in acid-free photo albums that had room for a little blurb about each picture (I even actually wrote something). And now I am looking thru folder after folder of photos that I have uploaded and don't really know where to start. I think scrapbooking would be great but there are SO MANY pictures~just of Brenna. First I think to myself "I'll do one of her days in the NICU", then I change my mind and think "maybe her first year" in an album. The task seems so big and there are so many little and big milestones that I don't want to leave anything out. Every moment filled with worry and hope and joy...how do you capture all of that in one or two scrapbooks? I want to do something that is more meaningful than just print, stick, write. I want something that she will treasure and that we can look back at and remember.


My dilemmas are this: 1 ~ where do I start, and 2 ~ what are the essential tools that I need to get started. The scrapbooking aisles in the stores are a little overwhelming when you don't even know where to start. If you are into scrapbooking....where do you start? what are your "must-have" tools? what advice can you give a beginner?


Here are a few photos to update any need for a "little girl" fix!