Our February Adventures

February was a good month. The weather warmed up and all the snow finally melted. We were able to play outside a few times. Annalyn loves it outside. She is totally fascinated with the chickens and wants to chase them so badly. There are usually at least three chickens that jump over the fence everyday and they have left chicken poop all over our yard (not to mention all the dog poop from the neighbor dogs) so I really didn't want her crawling around out there. We still found plenty of things to do outside.

Brynlee has been begging to go swimming outside all month. Even though it is warm it is not that warm. I filled up the tub for them one day and let them go swimming in the bathtub. They loved that. At least Brynlee did. Annalyn cried most of the time. Sometimes she loves the bath but on other days she cries during the whole bath.

I love having my sister Heather live close by. We spent several days hanging out with her and her little boy Jakobee, plus the little boy she babysits. She started coming to the library with us on Thursdays which has been lots of fun. We also took the kids to Jumpin Jungle one day. It's a fun place with all of these bouncy houses, and the kids loved it. Annalyn was in heaven while we were there. She could not stop laughing. We also took the kids to Jabbers where they could play. This was the first time that Annalyn was big enough to play with the toys and she had so much fun. Brynlee had fun too. At one point while we were there I looked and Brynlee had found some mom and she was holding her hand and dragging all over the place trying to get her to find a green cup. Several of the other kids there got a drink and Brynlee really wanted one but I told her they were too much money. Brynlee found someone who had a drink and asked them if they would give her some money. I finally gave in and told her she could have one if she gave me some of the money from her piggy bank when we got home. She was so excited about the drink but she was not happy when I took her money.

My mom and dad and my sister Heather all have a birthday this month. My sister Heather and I took my dad out to lunch for his birthday. We went to Sizzler. Everyone got the salad bar except for my dad. At one point Heather and I both got up to get something and my dad was left with all four kids. We teased him that the real reason we took him out was so he could be our babysitter. For my mom's birthday we made her some cupcakes and surprised her by cleaning and decorating the house. We all hid and surprised her when she got home from work. We made a cookie cake for Heather's birthday.

For Valentine's Day Joel and I decided to surprise Brynlee with a treasure hunt. We bought a balloon for both of the girls and we got them some candy and Brynlee got some necklaces. Joel also surprised me with some new jewelry. I made Joel some cupcakes and tried to surprise him with them. I hid them in the oven the day before Valentine's Day thinking he wouldn't look in there. As soon as he got home from work he opened the oven door and found them. Brynlee also told her dad about the cupcakes so he would have found out anyways. It is hard to keep a surprise around here.

When Brynlee woke up on Valentine's Day we had to show her where the first clue was. It was a picture that I drew of the TV. Brynlee couldn't really tell what it was. I am not really an artist. Eventually Brynlee found the next clue, a picture of the fridge, which led her under her bed. From there Brynlee had to look in mom and dad's closet where she found her surprises. She loved her Valentine's gifts and she still talks about the balloons she found in our closet. They are still blown up big.

Later that day Joel came home for lunch and took us all out to a pizza buffet place; after we went to the library. We had heart shaped pancakes for dinner and we put the kids to bed at 7 so we could have an at home date. It was a fun day. I am glad we got to incorporate the kids into the celebrations and make it an exciting day for them too.

Later this month Annanly got sick with a fever. She was sick for three days. We had to miss the library so I sent my dad there with Brynlee. I took Annalyn to the doctor but she thought it was just a fever without a cause. Brynlee has also had a cold and a really bad cough. One day she was coughing and I was feeding the baby when she walked up to me and told me she was coughing too much. She then proceeded to throw up all over my pants. I mean, it was bad. My pants were covered in throw-up. It was all I could do just to move the baby out of the line of fire. As soon as Brynlee had stopped puking she started bawling because she had gotten a tiny bit of throw-up on her shirt. I told her it was all right. She got some on me too. As soon as she looked at my pants she really lost it and started crying even more while exclaiming that my pants were all yucky. I got us both new clothes and then made dinner. I threw my pants in the bathtub so when Joel came home and wanted to take a bath he volunteered to wash them off for me. He really regretted it when he saw how bad they were. I love him for cleaning them anyways.

In other news, I think Joel is getting a raise at work. He finished Heather's salon and had the final inspection on Grandma's shed. We are excited and hopeful that he will now have time to work on all of the projects that are piling up around our house. We got to go to the temple last weekend for the first time in over a year. We had a great time and now have a goal to try and go once a month. Now that Annalyn is bigger we can leave her more easily. We just have to find people to watch her and Brynlee.

Annalyn took her first steps the day after she turned 11 months but she would still rather crawl. She is capable of walking, she is just not that interested right now. Brynlee has been as busy as always and I have fun trying to keep up with her. Life is good and I am very grateful for my little family.

The Joys of Raising a 2 Year Old

      With Brynlee I have discovered that Two is such a fun age. This is the age when the personality really comes out and the ability to communicate is so much better. Brynlee really has such a fun and busy personality. I love getting to spend my days playing with her. And I really don't want to forget what she was like at this age. I have been jotting down several of these stories about her that I don't want to forget but somehow my paper got ripped out and drawn all over. So I am going to record what I wrote down in a better spot; right here on my blog.

      My daughter has done lots of crazy things in her day. If you have read my blog before you will know about how she has covered herself with toothpaste and permanent marker. She has covered the baby with Desitin and she poured half a box of rice cereal in Annalyn's crib. Not to mention the formula she poured on our pizza and the countless other messes she has made.

      Brynlee loves to line things up and pour water into things. She has poured hot chocolate all over a batch of cookies and she poured cinnamon all over the scrambled eggs we were going to have for breakfast one morning. She took a screwdriver and pushed it through the nipples of all Annalyn's bottles. She has poured her own milk all by herself on several occasions and recently she even got ahold of some nail polish and she painted her own fingernails without any help. One day I caught her with an oven mitt on, trying to get our food out of the oven for me. She thinks she is just so helpful. On another occasion she filled up the dishwasher with all of the clean dishes that I had just put away. She is just one busy girl.

     I love listening to my daughter talk. She says the funniest things and she talks all the time. Here are some of the words she says and the way she says them, along with some of my favorite phrases that she says all the time.


WORDS
 Mah-mu-roni and cheese (Macaroni and cheese)
Annawyn (Annalyn)
Farkles (Sparkles)
Frinkly (wrinkly)
Frinkles (Sprinkles)

PHRASES
"That's my favorite kind"
"I don't want that one. That one is not my favorite kind."
"My wants to do it"
"I do it all myself"
"Just a minute" (this one she says all the time whenever I ask her to do something)
"Oh No, It flewed away"
"Seelly mom" (silly mom)
"You seelly weelly" (You silly willy)
"You're my best friend Ever" (I love it when she says this to me)

CONVERSATIONS 
     Brynlee loves to tell me what to say. Especially when we are playing a game. She tries to tell me where to stand and everything. When we are eating she likes to hold up her food and she asks me something like this; "Is this one a horse? Say No Mom. Is this one a frog? Say no. Is this one a lion? Say yes mom." I don't really get the game but is keeps her happy.

We also have conversations like this one.
B: "Oh no, there is a hippo coming into our house. You have to say no to the hippo mom."
Me: "No"
B: "Say it louder."
M: "No"
B: "Louder"
M: "NO"
 B: "LOUDER."
 There are hippos, lions, monsters, and owls that come into our house all the time and scare Brynlee. Although, the girl ones and the baby ones are nice. Brynlee likes to pretend she is carrying them around the house in her hand and she is constantly having me "pap" (pet) her baby hippos.

      The other day Brynlee was playing with her toys on her little trampoline. She colored all over it with an orange marker a few weeks ago. She came and told me,
"Brynlee wrote all over my trampoline. I am so Upset. I am so upset with Brynlee."
 One time she also said to me,
"Look at this mess mom, look at this big mess."
" I see it," I said "who made this big mess?"
"Brynlee did, She in big trouble. She need a go to a time out."

STORIES
      It was really windy outside the other day. Brynlee stepped outside and said,
"I have an idea mom. I have an idea to stop the wind."
"Really?" I asked. "What is your idea?"
Brynlee stood there all serious, boldly stuck out her hand and yelled "STOP" as loud as she could. It was a great idea but it didn't seem to stop the wind.

      We were at my sister Heather's house the other day when Brynlee walked up to her and said, "Heather, I don't like to see you naked." No, she has never seen my sister naked so I have no idea what she was talking about. She is just obsessed with things that are naked and she talks about being naked all the time. Whenever she changes she has to make sure everyone around her has their eyes closed so they don't see her naked.

      The last time I took Annalyn in for a check up I had to take Brynlee with me. They had me take off Annalyn's clothes and Brynlee told the nurse, "I don't like to see Anna naked." The nurse just laughed and assured Brynlee that we could leave Annalyn's diaper on. As soon as the doctor walked in Brynlee told her "You need a get me a sucker." Luckily the doctor just laughed and told Brynlee she could get one when we were done. As soon as Brynlee got it she then demanded that the doctor open it for her.

      Brynlee loves the movie Cinderella. She watches that movie all the time. The other day she grabbed a washcloth, got it wet and started scrubbing my kitchen floor while she was singing; "Sing sweet night a girl, sing sweet nigh a girl, ah ah ah ah ah." (If you don't know what that is from you need to watch Cinderella)

      Brynlee likes going to Zumba with me so she can exercise. Lately I have had to hold Annalyn several times and this makes Brynlee really jealous. I try to hold Brynlee for at least part of a song but that is just not good enough for Brynlee most days. One day she was mad that I wouldn't hold her so she went up the lady (Sis. Hellewell) next to me and got her to hold her. Now every time  Sister Hellewell is there Brynlee tries to be held by her.

      One day we were at Zumba and both of the girls were playing in the gym when I looked over and saw the baby put something in her mouth. I went over and found it was some kind of a mint. I asked Brynlee where Annalyn got it from and she said "I gave it to her because I didn't like it." When I asked Brynlee where she got it from she marched over to a purse that was sitting on a chair and pulled out a tin of Altoids. She stole it from someone's purse. We had a long talk about asking before taking things.

      We went to Walmart a few weeks ago and I had both of the girls by myself. Brynlee was not that excited about sitting in the back but I promised her some gum if she would be good. Luckily she was good because Annalyn kept trying to get out of the cart. I got some sprinkles so we could make a birthday cake for my mom and I gave them to Brynlee to set in the back of the cart. It was getting kind of crowed back there because we had to buy several things. Brynlee brought her purse with her so I checked it before we left to make sure she didn't hide anything in there and then we got Brynlee some gum and headed home. The next day when we got in the car Brynlee picked up her purse, opened it, and pulled out the sprinkles that were hidden in a little side compartment. I realized right away that we didn't pay for those sprinkles. The next time we went to Walmart we bought some more sprinkles and I had the cashier scan them twice so we could pay for the ones we stole. We have got to get her away from this life of crime.

I was doing the laundry one day and hanging up my clothes when I noticed that one of my shirts had a big cut mark down the back and several little ones on it. Someone took a pair of scissors to it. I questioned Brynlee.
"Brynlee do you know what happened to my shirt?"
"Yes."(said with a huge grin)
"Did you cut my shirt?"
"Yes, I did."
I still have no idea how she found the scissors.

On Friday Brynlee got out all of my pitchers, pots, and pans and she filled several of them up with water and lined them all along the kitchen. I made her stop and put everything away and she did. Then when I went to make dinner that night I grabbed a pan out of the drawer and water went everywhere. Brynlee didn't bother to dump out the water. She just put them away with the water still in it.

My dad and my little brother, Josh, watched Brynlee for me the other day. When I went to get Brynlee from their house she was crying. Apparently she told Josh she was tired and wanted to take a nap and he believed her. He turned on a movie for her and set her up in the spare bedroom my parents use for foster kids. When Josh went to check on her she had changed into a way too big pair of pajamas and she was trying to put on some pink panties that she found in there. Josh made her change and clean up the big mess she made. This in when I got there and Brynlee was still mad that Josh wouldn't let her wear those pink panties. I reinforced the decision Josh made. Brynlee didn't need to wear those panties. The next think I knew Brynlee was in the bathroom sitting on the foor right next to the spot where she had peed. She had a huge grin on her face and she looked at me and said "I need some new pink panties mom." She didn't get them. I had some spare ones in my bag.

My dad told me he had a long day with Brynlee because he forgot how busy little kids can be. She kept getting into the pantry and playing with the spices and she covered the dog's tail in hand sanitizer.

Yeah, this girl is constantly making me laugh and I sure do love her. There are plenty more stories I could write but I will save them for another post. This one is long enough.

My 11 Month Old

Little Annalyn really has been a joy to have in our family. I couldn't imagine life without her. She is so busy these days and fun to be around. She has such a great little personality. She is fairly easygoing but she is also good at letting us know when we want something.

She plays great with Brynlee. Sometimes I think Brynlee is being too rough and Annalyn is just laughing like crazy. Annalyn loves to be held and cuddled, especially if I am holding Brynlee; but she doesn't like to stick around for long. When she is done being held she just hurls herself down. I think I am going to drop her on her head every time. She just has no fear.

Annalyn is so close to walking. She walks along everything and will go from different pieces of furniture if they are close. She can also stand on her own for several minutes. As soon as I try to get her to walk, she takes one step and then falls to the ground and crawls. When she wants to do it she will. She is a really fast crawler so for now she doesn't really need to walk. She really likes to walk while she holds onto my hand and she can walk well with only one of my hands for support.

Annalyn loves stuffed animals and baby dolls. She loves to hold and cuddle them. She also loves to be outside where she can watch the chickens. When she sees something she wants she reaches out her little hand and then opens and closes her little fist. If I don't get it right away she hollers at me and grunts until I she gets what she wants.

Annalyn can say mama and dada. She says mama all the time which makes me so happy. She can also sign "more" but only if she wants to. She wont usually do it when I tell her to. We are working on please but she would rather reach and holler until she gets what she wants. She makes all kinds of sounds all the time. I really think she says, what and look sometimes. Whenever I look at her she goes "wha." I think she is trying to say "what?" but who can really tell?

 Annalyn loves her soother, eating food, balloons, play doh (she likes to eat it), books, and playing with Brynlee. She loves to crawl into containers. She doesn't like getting her diaper changed or wearing hats, headbands, or shoes. She sometimes keeps them on for a little while but most of the time she takes them right off. She sometimes loves to take a bath but on some days she cries the whole time. I took the girls to JumpTime and Anna had a blast jumping on all of the bouncy stuff. She laughed the whole time. It was so fun. She sleeps good most of the time, I just wish she would sleep in a little more. I am not liking waking up at 5:30 or 6 am every day. She just has so much to do she can't sleep any longer I guess. I sure do love this little girl.

Brynlee's First Haircut

Brynlee got her first haircut on Tuesday. At least, she got a trim. My sister Heather evened out the back of Brynlee's hair. I did get a few pictures to document the event. Brynlee almost has enough hair for me to cut her some bangs. I was talking to my sister Heather about how she almost needed her bangs cut and she suggested that we give the back of Brynlee's hair a trim so that it would look more even and a little bit healthier. It took us a while to convince Brynlee that this was a good idea. Now that my sister Heather has a salon at her house it was quick and easy for her to sit Brynlee in the chair and trim her hair.

When Brynlee was done with her haircut she insisted that Heather put it in a pony tail. She was actually pretty good during the whole thing. Luckily it didn't take Heather that long and Brynlee had fun making funny faces in the mirror. She was also excited to get a sucker from Aunt Heather. Now she just need to grow her bangs a little bit longer so we can give them a trim too. 

Snowy January

January was a cold and snowy month here in Boise. We were stuck inside most of the time.We did go to Pojos for my cousin Ryder's birthday party and Brynlee loved that. Especially the carousel ride. We have all had bad colds and a bad cough that we can't get over.  The kids and I all got pink eye this month and my car has been having problems, so for a few days we were really stuck inside. We did our best to keep entertained with lots of play doh, dress-up, hide and go seek, and games of duck-duck-goose. We took advantage of leaving the house whenever we could because the girls also made lots of messes and got into all kinds of things.

Joel worked outside a lot this month and froze. He also got to help my sister Heather remodel a room in their new house. They are going to make it into a home salon. They are almost done with that project. I got a new calling at church teaching the 4 year olds. I have Annalyn with me so there is one other lady that teaches with me. There are only 4 kids in the class so it seems kind of silly to have two teachers in there but oh well. Brynlee has been terribly jealous of the baby and whiney lately. She constantly wants to be held like a baby and she even started to talk like a baby. It is kind of driving us crazy but she is also just as funny and lovable as ever. I really do love the stage she is at, she is so fun. Annalyn is getting more and more brave about getting into things and trying to walk.

We got to take Brynlee on her first sledding trip and she loved it. I was actually surprised that she was so into it. She walked up the hill several times all by herself. At one point she lost her sled down the hill and then she went chasing after it. She walked all the way down the hill and then back up on her own. My whole family went so Brynlee got to go down with several different people. She only went down with me once. It was a lot of fun. I kept Annalyn bundled up and over by the heater so she would stay warm. She didn't get to go sledding. 

Annalyn's 10 Month Update

I just looked at the calendar the other day to see what date it was and I realized that my little baby is already ten months old. Wow, that went fast. Annalyn sure is turning into such a fun little baby. She crawls all over the place, pulls herself up to stand with ease and cruises along all the furniture. She has really good balance when she is standing and can stand unassisted for several seconds. She has a really great, infectious laugh and is usually happy and content. I sure got lucky with her.

Now that Annalyn is on the move she loves to dump things out and play with everything that I have cleaned up and put away. I can get out several toys for her to play with and she will crawl in the other room so she can pull all the books off the bookshelf, empty the laundry basket, or just dump out her bucket of toys. One of her favorite things to play with is her car seat. She climbs in it and rocks it really hard and then she throws herself over this side. It scares me when she does it but she just laughs with such pure abandon. She is going to be a climber.

She loves the little trampoline we have in our house and it makes me laugh every time she crawls up there to "jump" on it. My favorite thing is when Brynlee and Annalyn both get up there and just start laughing away. They are so funny together. Annalyn really does just adore her big sister and she wants to do everything Brynlee does. When I am holding Brynlee or reading a book to her, Annalyn will whine at my arm until I pick her up but she wont stay there for long. She throws herself over the chair which really scares me. Even though I hold onto her the whole time she is on my lap it is hard to catch her when she throws herself over my arms like that. Annalyn also likes to antagonize Brynlee by going into her room when she is trying to sleep and she unplugs Brynlee's night light. We have to barricade the door so she can't get in since Brynlee wont sleep with the door closed.

 Annalyn has two teeth on the bottom and she is growing more hair. Her bald spot is finally gone, although she still has a little birth mark back there where no hair will ever grow. Annalyn always amazes me at the things she can eat with those teeth. And boy does she like to eat. She is good at biting things and chewing stuff up so she can eat things I think she will choke on. I still cut her food up really small for her but she almost doesn't need me too. Annalyn is really good at finding food on the floor too. She stretches and reaches under cabinets and chairs to get the crumbs left there. I have to vacuum under the table right after we eat right or she will find and eat all of the food that fell on the floor. I really hate having carpet under her high chair because she is a messy eater. She likes to feed herself. She even thinks she should be the one holding the spoon.

Annalyn is finally on a better sleep schedule. Plus she falls asleep by herself in her crib. I miss rocking her to sleep and so does Joel but she sleeps much better this way. She takes an hour nap in the morning, one more longer one in the afternoon, and another short nap in the evening. I put her to bed between 8:30 and 9pm and she usually sleeps in until 5-6:30 in the morning. I am loving it. I don't like it when she doesn't go back to sleep after I feed her in the mornings but at least I am not waking up with her so many times during the night.

I sure do love this little girl. She has brought so much fun and happiness into our home. 

Cabin Fever

It has been really cold at our house lately. It snowed on Christmas day and we have had snow ever since. This isn't normal for Boise and I am not used to it being so cold. It has been below freezing most days the last few weeks and the wind is terrible. It is way too cold for me to take the baby outside. This has left me stuck inside way too much with a busy active 2 year old and a baby and we are all going crazy. Especially since Brynlee has completely stopped taking naps. I still miss that time to myself. I really hope no one comes over to my house because it is a disaster.

As a mom, I spend a lot of time vacuuming, doing laundry, dishes, and cleaning up my house. And yet it is hardly ever clean. Brynlee loves packing things into the living room and lining them up. Plus she likes to changes her clothes several times a day. She makes so many messes it is ridiculous. My goal for the new year is to get most of her toys and all the stuff I don't want her playing with organized and up out of her reach. Joel is working on some shelves with locks so we will have places to put things. But in the meantime, Bynlee has access to lots of things and she takes full advantage of it. I tried to incorporated a schedule with Brynlee with a cute little sticker chart so she would be motivated to help out and get dressed without such a struggle in the morning. It worked great the first day but after that it didn't work at all. She is such a strong willed and opinionated little girl.

One day Brynlee was happily playing with her barbies and she was being really good. But then the last time I went to check on her I found that she had a pair of scissors and she was giving all of her barbies a haircut. At least it wasn't her hair and none of them got drastic haircuts since I caught her pretty fast.

 Another day I was in the kitchen cooking and Brynlee was being my helper. We were making a pie crust. Annalyn woke up from her nap and I went to go get her. I told Brynlee to leave everything alone. When I came back I found she had rolled up the dough like a ball and she was playing with it like it was play doh. She also dropped it on the ground a few times. Pie dough is not something that turns out very well if it is played with too much so I decided I had better start over. I salvaged some of what Brynlee had and then gave her some to play with. Whenever I try to make dinner, Annalyn wants to be held. If I don't hold her she just whines, cries, and pulls herself up on my legs. I have tried several different things to distract her but she just want to be in my arms to she can see what I am doing. I am getting pretty good at cooking with one hand but it is not easy. I was trying to cook and hold the baby and keep Brynlee out of things. Brynlee grabbed all of the clean cookie sheet I had and covered them with flour, ate a whole bunch of the cheese I grated and then she peed all over my kitchen floor. That is when I kicked her out of the kitchen and made her go to the bathroom and change. I had to barricade that baby out of the kitchen so I could clean the floor. Then I went to check on Brynlee and I found her sitting on the toilet, completely naked, eating a stick of butter. She loves butter. 

Just the other day I noticed that Annalyn's eyes had a lot of discharge in them and they were really red and puffy. She had a really bad cold so I thought it was caused from that. And then when I woke up the next morning my right eye was really red and it had a lot of discharge. My brother used to get pink eye all the time and I never got it from him but I was really afraid that we had pink eye. I went ahead and set up an appointment to take Annalyn to the doctor. 

We didn't have a lot of time to get ready before we had to leave for the appointment. I had the kids ready and then I hurried to get dressed. When I was ready I walked into the kitchen and found Brynlee surrounded by all of my measuring cups and big serving spoons and she was spraying Lysol spray into them. I guess I didn't put it away after I cleaned up the pee on the floor. I should know better by now. The whole kitchen smelled like Lysol and Annalyn was playing in a puddle of it on the floor. I don't think she tried to eat it but she had is all over her hands and her shirt. I had to give both kids a bath and change their clothes. I quickly cleaned up the kitchen and hid the Lysol and then we left for the doctor's office.

They were busy that day at the doctor's office so it took awhile to see the doctor. Both kids were well behaved. As soon as the baby's doctor walked into the door and looked at me she said "you have pink eye." "Well great, " I said. "Then that is probably what the baby has too." The doctor looked at her and said "yup." The doctor wrote a prescription for the baby but she couldn't write me one. I ended up just going downstairs to quick care so I could get some medicine for my eyes too. Then we went to Walgreen's so we could get the medicine. At this point it was lunchtime and Brynlee was about done. We had already waited at the doctor's office for almost two hours. The pharmacist said it would just be a minute and so we patiently waited for 20 minutes. After that point, Brynlee was not going to sit still any longer. I pulled out everything I could think of. I even told her of my plan to take her to McDonald's for lunch but she was all over the place. She kept laying on the floor, crawling all over things, and playing with the medicine. A few times she grabbed something off of the shelf and ran with it through the store. I was so ready to leave. She opened up some lotion and she tried to rip open a box of something. She made friends with a lady in there and talked to her for a while. It took them 45 minutes to get our medicine and by then I was ready to just leave and go home. Luckily my doctor said I could use the same medicine for Brynlee because she got pink eye the next day.

My kids really have been busy. I hope it warms up a little more so we can play outside again. I feel bad for Joel because he has to work outside and he is freezing. We did brave the snow for a little bit so we could go sledding. All I know is, there is never a dull moment around here at our house. Good thing I love my girls a lot because they have been big troublemakers lately. 

Brynlee is 2 and 1/2

I thought I already posted this but somehow it never not posted. Brynlee turned two and a half on December 14th.  My sweet little Brynlee has grown so much in the last few months. It is so fun to watch. She loves to play in the dirt and catch our chickens but she also loves dress up, mom's make-up, and playing with dolls. She loves playing with Annalyn these days and is usually such a good big sister. She loves to give Anna food and give her hugs and kisses. She also loves to kiss anyone who is nice to her. She loves to play with her dolls, barbies, little people, kitchen stuff, and blocks. She also loves to empty out her toy box and sit in it. She loves pouring things from one container to another. She is officially potty trained and doesn't like any help in the bathroom. Although she still has an occasional accident. She has been a real trouble maker lately and cannot be left unsupervised for very long. She is lots of fun and I am so glad I get to be her mom. Here are a few more fun facts and quotes about this fun little girl that I am so glad to call my daughter. 

Weight - 31 lb.
Height - 3ft  
Shoe Size - 8 
Clothes size - Mostly 3T but some 4T shirts and pajamas.
Favorite Color - Purple
Favorite Foods - She can now open the fridge with ease and help herself to whatever she wants. Her most common snacks are Tortillas (she calls them tacos), and cheese. She can eat slice after slice of that american fake cheese if I don't intervene.  
Favorite Movies - Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty
Favorite Shape - Diamonds and circles
Funny Things She Says: WARNING: She talks about poop a lot. Anything gross is poopy in her mind.

This is a recent conversation we had in the car the other day.
Me: Do you smell that Brynlee?
B: Ewww, that's poopy
Me:That's a skunk
B:Yeah, that's a poopy skunk.

Lately Brynlee talks a lot about boys and girls. She likes to list off who is a girl and who is a boy. The other day I was telling Brynlee that she didn't need a pacifier because she was a big girl. She told me she wasn't a girl, she was a boy. She likes to be silly like that. Here is another conversation I had with her. 
B: This is gonna be so fun. 
Me: I know. Are you so excited?
B: No, I not excited mom, I a girl!
She also had the same conversation with my cousin Ryder when he told her to be tuff. She said she couldn't because she was a girl. 

When I was first potty training Brynlee I was helping her in the bathroom. This is our conversation.
B: I'm poopin mom. I going poop.
Me: Good job Brynlee
B: Don't touch it mom. Don't touch it. It will be gross. 

Brynlee can open all of the doors in the house. I was going to the bathroom the other day and she opened the door and told me she needed to watch. I told her I needed privacy and to go away. She just sat herself right down and told me she was going to watch. Another time I was in the shower. Joel was supposed to be watching the kids. Brynlee walked in completely naked and climbed in telling me she needed to take a shower too. The life of a mom is a life without privacy. I have since learned to lock the doors when I want to keep her out. 

Brynlee and I were playing with her fake kitchen stuff when she brought me a fake onion and told me to eat it. I told her people don't usually eat a whole onion by itself.
B: Eat it mom. It's good. You will like it. 
Me: All right, I will eat some. 
(I pretended to eat some and then I handed it to Brynlee for her to eat.) 
B: No mom. I don't like it. 
Me: Well if I just ate it, you should have to eat some too. 
(Brynlee pretended to take a huge bite and then she started spitting and sputtering.)
B: Ewwww, it's gross. I don't like it. 

Brynlee loves to line things up and organize them. She also loves to play with all of the bars of soap at grandma's house. The other day she was playing with them for a long time. I checked on her several times and the last time I found her covered in toothpaste. She decided to paint all of the bars of soap with toothpaste by using a q-tip. There was a huge mess in that bathroom and it took a long time to clean it up.  

I had a Christmas present under the tree for Brynlee's cousin, Jakobee. I told her she couldn't open it. When she tried to rip it open I told her she had better not rip that wrapping paper. The next thing I know she had some scissors and she was cutting the paper so she could see what was inside. I told her to stop and she exclaimed that she wasn't ripping it; she was only cutting it. 

Brynlee has a really active imagination. We celebrate someone's birthday around here on a daily basis. Brynlee makes the (pretend) cake and wraps all the presents. Then she cuts the cake up and gives everyone a slice. I am sure all her bunnies and babies appreciate it. We also have lots of lions, hippos, and cows that somehow keep getting into our house. If we hide from them long enough they eventually go away. There have also been several monsters in Brynlee's room during the day. Luckily they don't scare her very much. In fact, yesterday she told me she ate one of the monsters and it was in her belly! I love playing with her.

Brynlee is busy, fun, whiney, smart, and super sweet and affectionate. I love her little personality and I love being her mom.