Things I've Never Had to Say......

So having a child as unique as Brooklyn, there are many things that I don't have to worry about her doing. By the time she crawled she was almost two, so I never had to worry about her falling down the stairs, because Brooklyn was old enough to know to avoid them. I never find toys scattered all around the house because Brooklyn can only take whatever she can carry in her mouth (it is so cute. she looks like a puppy! ) or fit in her baby stroller that she pushes all around the house loaded with her favorite toys. I can count the messes she has made, and to be honest I almost go into shock when I watch other peoples kids. I find toys in my toilet, under my bed, and fingerprints everywhere! MY sweet little Brooklyn does NOT do those things........yet.

Along with all these 'wonderful' experiences I have yet to have with my own toddler, there are many phrases that just don't exist around our house. Examples:

Get out of the street!

Don't go in there!

Don't jump on the bed, couch, etc.

Take your shoes off

What did you step in?!?

Stop running around!!!

But there is one phrase I was happy to say this week..........


Brooklyn! Get off the table!

I found Brooklyn on the table and in a state of shock asked Jonny why on earth he put Brooklyn on our coffee table. Well he didn't put her there, and I didn't put her there, yet it took us about 15 seconds to figure out that she crawled up there! Yay! I wanted to get mad, but I, laughed, congratulated her, and took a picture, then got her off which resulted in a full-fledged tantrum. I watched her crawl up on the table several more times that day and had to suppress a laugh every time.

Christmas, Christmas, and more Christmas!!!

Since both of our families live in the same town as us, holidays tend to get a little crazy. The craziness started the 23rd with the Fisher Christmas party. The Fisher's are a small family of about 300, so this was a nice quiet start to a week of partying.......

We then spent Christmas Eve at my parents house where little Brookie got spoiled once again but I walked away with the best gift of all......a Kitchen Aid mixer. I love it!!



Here is Brooklyn at the Christmas Party with some of her favorite people, cousin Tayzlee and Kayson. I don't notice the large size of Brooklyn's head until she sits next to little headed Tayzlee. And isn't black supposed to be slimming? She can get away with anything with that cheesy smile though!

So everyone decided to spend the night at Jonny's parents house so we could wake up all together and open gifts. I'm the first to say that I was not to thrilled with the idea of sleeping on a ten year old couch when my house was only two miles away, but we did it, and I had to swallow my pride and admit that it was a lot of fun to watch all the littles open their Santa gifts together.

Brooklyn walked away a very spoiled girl with a new Kitchen, dress up clothes, a Dora doll, and a new bike. Hmmmmm......still not sure how the bike thing is gonna work, but we'll try. Thanks grandma!

Does anyone else see a resemblance???

Two of a very cute kind!!!

Scootin' in her new had that our neighbor made for her.

And finally, Christmas NIGHT, we found some time to open our own gifts at our house just the three of us. Brooklyn is sporting her new necklaces and her new Dora shoes. Yes SHOES!!!! Her first pair that has fit over her braces in a year!

French toast Surprise........

So last night, being the good husband that he is, Jonny decided to make dinner since it was that or cold cereal. So he whipped up a batch of cinnamon French toast and eggs. So what's the problem you ask? Well this morning when I went to make Brooklyn her morning drink, complete with a teaspoon of her laxative she takes every morning, I realized that the bowl that is usually full of the white powder that is her laxative, was now replaced with a bowl of cinnamon and "sugar". So I called Jonny at work and asked him if he used the "sugar" up in the cupboard to make his cinnamon mixture for dinner. Well of course he had and we are now happily (or not so happily) staying close to home for the next 24 hours. Thanks for dinner Jon!

Such a big miracle, in such a little girl....

Wow, Two posts in one week! I think that's a record, but Brooklyn has given us many reasons to smile the past couple days. And to be honest like any almost 3 year olds, many reasons to not smile, but I won't get into that! So a few days ago my grandpa came over and was asking where Brooklyn's walker was. I told him that she doesn't use it to walk with every day yet, just during therapy or when I'm practicing with her. Well Brooklyn heard heard the word 'walker' and she turned to me and said, "mamma, I wanna walk" Well I was too lazy to go downstairs to get her walker so I said " you want to walk? are you sure?" The reason for my hesitation is because it usually takes a small army for that little girl to take a few steps. When her therapist comes it takes both of us to get her to walk. One of us pushing her legs forward, and supporting her hips, and someone helping Brooklyn push the walker, etc. So I figured if she really wanted it I would get it. So I brought it up and stood her up to it, and next thing I knew Brooklyn took about 7-8 solid steps across the room before I could even do anything about it!

Later that night when Jonny got home I told him the story and figured it was a one time thing, but we got out the video camera and stood her up and she walked the whole length of our family room before flopping down and said, "Dada. this kinda hard!" I am sure there will many more posts like this where I will say, no today she really walked. But this was the first of many firsts I guess! We have always hoped that this day would come, but we never knew what Brooklyn's abilities would be. We are constantly in awe of her strength. And so grateful for answered prayers.

On a smaller note but just as important......Brooklyn has been going poopy on the potty! This is something that we hoped she would be able to do when she was much older, but many adults with spina bifida, simply don't have the control, so it may never happen. I know we have a long road, but now I know it is possible. I just hoped that we could have her going on her own by the time she was in school so she wouldn't have to feel self-conscious about diapers, but hopefully by her progress and understanding (and feeling!) we can be done with diapers much sooner! It is amazing that she can even tell me when she has to go. Yay for small miracles!!!

Giving Thanks

We had such a fun Thanksgiving I'm sad it's over. For only the second time since being married, my whole family got together, so we took a trip to St. George. The car ride was a breeze since we have a DVD player and we let my mom and dad tag along in the car to entertain their favorite grandchild. Only it wasn't that far down the road that I heard my mom and dad argue with Brooklyn over what movie they should watch. Yes, mom. Brooklyn would love to watch Holes instead of Twelve Dancing Princesses!
We actually made it to Vegas for a day and I finally got to see Mamma Mia! It was good, but I honestly liked the movie so much that I think I compared the two a little too much. I totally owe my Aunt Christy for driving Brooklyn from Vegas to St. George while she screamed "I no yike this car!" so we could go to the play.
I also learned that I will never leave Brooklyn and go on another trip again because the repercussions from her just aren't worth it. All week long she thought we were leaving her and was a monster to anyone who wanted to.....forbid......hold her. When I went to the bathroom without notifying her first, she would be sobbing by the time I got out because she thought I left her again.
All in all it was so much fun and so worth the drive to be with my family. I wish we could have been two places at once, because this Thanksgiving especially, I know Jonny really wanted to be with his family too. We are very spoiled and have too many blessings to count.

Only Five Years???

So Jonny and I celebrated our five year annniversary this past week. Yep, I said week. All week long! We both can't believe that it has been ONLY five years. We laugh when we say that because we don't know if that's good or bad that it feels like longer, but it's hard to remember much before us being together. So in celebration we went on a cruise! It was alot of fun......but not what I expected either. Here is a list of the good and not so good things that we took away from our trip

Good:

First and foremost..... the food! SO much and so good!

We got to be together without distractions or two year old interruptions

Gettin' dressed up. That hasn't happened in years :)

Staying out past 10:00.

Brooklyn had more fun with us being gone.

Bad:

No two year old to interrupt us! Yes. someone got a little homesick.

I got sea sick

Mexico is not all the glamorous and made me sad to see little two year olds begging on the streets :(

I got sea sick

I'm not sure anyone spoke English on the ship but us.

Catalina Island

Jonny striking a pose in Beautiful Mexico

Yes, don't I look great? This would be the day I was a wee bit sea sick.

That's an understatement. I wanted to die.

I think we were talking when this picture was taken, but it is the only one where I am wearing make-up so I thought I'd add it :)

Caught Red Handed!

These two little girls are lucky they are so cute! Brooklyn and her little friend Brielle came across some toll paint in our basement and apparently played patty-cake in it. I wish I took a picture of our carpet. Actually this happened a week ago, and I probably still could!