These Boots Were Made for..... Crawlin!

The other day I was in the Kitchen and I heard the loudest noises coming from our entry way, and wondered what Brooklyn was pushing along to make such a racket. Well she rounded the corner with my boots on her hands and smiled proudly at me and said "I'm walkin in your shoes mom!"

I know most little girls love to put on their mom's shoes and walk around the house, and Brooklyn found a way to do it in her own little way! Since then she makes it a daily routine to find either mine or Jonny's shoes and slip them on her hands and "walk" around the house just like us!

I love the quirky little things she does. There isn't a day that I don't find myself laughing out loud at the way she crawls. Her head is down, her hands turned in, and her feet fly out to the sides. When she gets going too fast she starts crawling sideways and can't seem to slow down. I love to think about her walking, but I almost wonder if these moments are funnier than most, more precious and unique. These are the reasons I love my little Girl.

Oh ya, and she is completely potty trained!!! The doctors gave me a whole booklet on how to potty train a child with Spina Bifida, but I decided that she didn't need any of the extra medicine, and techniques that are usually used, so I did it my own way. She really should not be able to do this for like 5-10 more years. My family often asks since Brooklyn does so well that if I found out I was going to have another child with Spina Bifida if I would even be upset, and I say "I would freak out!" I feel like as far as kids with Spina Bifida go, we won the lottery!

My Baby Is Three!!!

I can't believe my little Brookie is 3! She woke up so excited that the house was decorated and all she could say was, "my cousins are gonna come over, and we're gonna have cake and ice cream!"

She was more excited about the cake than anything else, so I kinda made it a low-key Birthday. Usually there are a million kids running around, and I usually make a dinner for everyone who comes, but I decided to keep it simple and just do cake and ice cream. I only bought her a giant princess coloring book and a barbie movie that she now says is "stupid." That's why you only got two gifts from me kid!



This is Brooklyn when she woke up. We started the day by taking her to the pet store with her cousin Kayson to see the animals, and for the first time she didn't get scared when the animals inside the cages moved.......she must have realized that she was 3 after all. Then we took her to Costco for free samples. Every 3 year olds dream right? She thinks Costco is the most amazing place on the planet.

For some reason she really wanted a Tinkerbell party. I don't think she has ever even seen Tinkerbell, but she was adamant, so I slaved away to make this Tinkerbell cake for her. OK, so I didn't make it. But why would I when Wal-Mart didn't even mind?

Blowin' out her candles. Thanks to her Grandma for the 'Happy Birthday Tiara' that Brooklyn kept saying hurt her head, but it was cute!

Say Cheese Mom!!! This is how Brooklyn takes my picture, and she does make me say cheese every time or I get yelled at! I only got pictures of two of her presents. Good thing it is her two favorite gifts. Her Barbie Camera, and her Kitty (that personally I think looks like a rat)

My parents got this cat for her thinking she would have a fit and hate it. Sorry to disappoint both of you, but she loved it! My mom thought it funny to tell her that the cats name was puss puss. So I got Brooklyn on Camera yelling "Where is my Pussy!?" I believe I have successfully changed the name to Sprinkles.

Though she likes the name Sprinkles, she doesn't call it that. She just says over and over, "my kitties name is not puss puss." Thanks Mom.

Snugglin her new Kitty/Rat

And of course the best part, the cake and Ice Cream!

The Cutest faces EVER!!!!

Random

So I havent' updated in a while so I thought I would post some radom pictures and tell some funny stories about Brooklyn that have happened the last few weeks.

Better late than never......but here is the only picture we took when we went to Island Park a few weeks ago and stayed at our friends cabin. I remember a few days before we left I had been bragging about how Brooklyn NEVER gets sick. SO our first night at the cabin we got a total of about two hours of sleep because Brookie got a fever, a nose she couldn't breath out of that woke her up every twenty minutes. Oh, good times.

Daddy and Brooklyn on His new ride. This was her first time on a snowmobile and she actually liked it! Since it was like 20 below she only lasted about three minutes. Twenty minutes of getting her ready in all her snow clothes, three minutes on the snowmobile, and 5 more minutes taking it all off. I wondered why I just didn't say home ;)

Though Brooklyn said goodbye to the Binky a year ago, somehow she stumbled across one and came crawling to find me and said "mommy? I can have this?" She looked so funny, but seriously it took three months for her to stop asking/screaming/sobbing for it after we took it away, so I snatched it and re-hid it so we didn't have a re-lapse.

My little muscian. Her chair is the perfect height. And Boy is she CUTE!

Don't let this face fool ya. This little face has been waking up several times a night conviced that there are cows in her bed. I blame Jonny. For months he likes to scare her by mooing like a cow really loud and scary like, and it has finally caught up to him.

Since this is a random post, I might as well add that I got a job. Sort of. It just kinda happened. I work at the the Kids Klub at Gold's GYm. I get to take Brookyn with me which is why I took the job in the first place. I thought she could benefit from being around alot more kids more often. And it gets me out too. The first two weeks were challenging with her. She thought I was leaving her constantly, but now she loves it and I see her being alot better around other kids. Oh, and I get a free membership. Not that I have used it or anything yet!

Brookie's New Wheels

My baby so proud of her new-found freedom

We spent this past weekend is Salt Lake getting Brooklyn her first set of wheels. Though its not a car, it is about triple the price of the first car I got in High School! When we started this process a YEAR AGO, Brooklyn had just begun to crawl and had a hard time keeping up when playing with kids her age, which tugged at my heart strings, and made me curse her disability, so applying for a chair seemed like the right thing to do. I was secretly hoping she could then run over those overly able-bodied children once it came! One year later, I'm not sure how I feel. Maybe I am too close to the situation to actually see that getting this wheelchair was the right thing to do, but I have met this new stage with a lot of anxiety, and yes a tear or two.
I told Jonny that I feel like there really isn't anything to 'wrong' with Brooklyn, but if the Doctors and Therapists feel like we should get her a wheelchair, I would humor them and get my perfectly FINE daughter a wheelchair. It seems a little excessive for a child who can crawl really fast and climb up on tables and chairs with ease..........

When we met with her Physical Therapist (who is amazing) in Salt Lake, he was so excited all he could do was gush about all the wonderful things she would be able to do, and how quickly she will catch on be able to maneuver her new set of wheels. I finally had to burst his bubble, swallow the lump in my throat and explain that I was worried she may never learn to walk if she relied on her chair. He very nicely explained that often once children realize they CAN be mobile, they explore all their options, like a wheelchair, using a walker or arm crutches to walk etc. But then he went on to say that maybe walking will just be too difficult for her, and therefore she will choose to be in a wheelchair. Sometimes the truth is hard.

For the time being, Brooklyn ,who hates doing anything herself, screams at anyone who tries to help her by pushing her wheels for her. We learned this the hard way. We were a half mile away from our car and she still hadn't learned that if you don't push with BOTH of your hands at the same time, you will go in circles! So an hour later we made it to our car with a very proud girl.

I would be ungrateful if I made this seem like a thing of dread, when really we are very blessed and excited to see where this next step takes us (hopefully not around in circles for much longer!) Though we are still going to keep working on walking at home and in therapy, we are not going to bang our heads against the wall when the progress is slow. We have a happy healthy girl who lights up any room with her smile and countenance. We love you Brookie! Get runnin' over those kids!!!!

P.S. Does this mean I can get a handicap pass for my car? Score!

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!