Brianna update

 Every now and then I remember that I haven't done an update on Brianna. I hope I don't forget about my FIRST baby when the NEW babies come. She leads the exciting life of a 2-year-old, and I'm sure if I don't write down her quirks and habits and milestones, I'll forget them. Sooooo....

-More often than not, instead of just responding "yes," she will answer "BOO-YAH!"  [thanks, Brian]

-Whenever I come to pick her up from somewhere she's been for awhile without me (ex: nursery, friend's house) she gets SO excited to see me. I love it. She yells MOMMY, then runs to the nearest adult and yells at them, "that's my MOMMY!" then she runs to my arms and gives an awesome hug. Then she tells me something random she did while we were apart. 

-Lately she's been coming out of her room around 4am crying about random things - her covers came off, she can't find her shoes, she heard a noise, her blanket got stuck... I'm thinking it's just an attention thing, because all I have to do is hug her and tell her she's ok and walk her back into her bed. I wish she'd stop it. Soon. What if she's still doing this when the babies come home!?

-In the last month, we've used about 5 diapers. She wakes up nearly every morning dry!

-She's starting to willingly wear underwear. We've had an issue with that. When she initially got potty trained, she refused to wear anything - even pants. So that was the first battle. Now we've nearly conquered underwear, and maybe the next step will be socks and shoes STAYING on.

- At church during Sacrament recently, Brianna looked around and loudly declared, "Mom, everybody DANCING!"
- Brianna saw me playing with my phone and asked me, "Mom, whatchu texting?"
- She gets SO excited every Monday when the garbage truck comes by. It's the most entertaining thing in the world to see the truck lift up and dump out our can.

- She often says phrases to her blanket that sound oddly familiar, such as "blanket, don't ever run away from me!" and "blanket, it's ok, I love you, you're ok" and "blanket, did you have a nice nap?" and "blanket, go to time out!" and "blanket, you're so sweet."

- Whatever she sees me eating, she will announce like this: "Mommy, it's APPLE time!" [CRACKER time! WATER time! ICE CREAM time! you get the idea]
-She often wakes up and immediately asks for a lollipop. Though her daddy is famous for immediately giving in, I always tell her she can have one after we eat real food. Today she asked for a lollipop, but before I could respond she told ME, "I need real food first."
-She's finally letting me brush her teeth! I got her a new Elmo toothbrush and I started singing this silly song where we count 20 "Brianna alligator teeth", and she's stopped fighting me on it! Huge guilt relief. Maybe she won't end up with a mouth full of silver like her dad!
- She wears at least 3 different shirts every day, because every time she gets one wet or dirty at all, she semi-flips and starts yanking her shirt off, demanding a new one. She also whines and cries every time her hands get sticky or dirty.
- A couple weeks ago I noticed that she's finally jumping with both feet off the ground at the same time.- She calls me by my first name occasionally - or even just "Chel." [again - we can blame thank Brian!]


I seriously adore my Brianna. I still refer to her as my baby frequently. I'm already sad about the time we'll be apart when I'm in the hospital, and then of course the severe reduction in quality one-on-one time, indefinitely. I'm sure other moms feel like this when their first child loses their ONLY child status, right? She's been my only little buddy, my little sidekick, for over 2 years now.... and in a few more weeks, that's over. Infants' needs have to be top priority. I mean, I know it has to happen, because I want more children. I can't have it all. And of course I'll try to still give Brianna as much attention as possible, and include her in the baby care... but it's going to be so different. I wish I could grow an extra arm so I can always hold her too!