Life with the Leibrocks: If I could freeze time

Seriously, if I could stop time right now I would keep Brinley exactly how she is for a really long time. She is the sweetest, most wonderful girl in the world and I love her so much I could just eat her! Okay, not really, but she's at such an amazing stage and I can't get enough of her lately.

She has always been curious but absolutely everything is fascinating her right now and it's so amazing just to watch her take it all in. Plus, she is super sweet and giving us hugs, and kisses (well more like bites) and the biggest smiles in the world. Last week she learned about nose kisses and she scrunches her nose and gets the biggest smile on her face and then leans in to touch your nose. Seriously melts your heart! I pray that I will never forget that sweet face as she does that!

Both Matt and I feel like we've recently entered the golden triangle of parenting. She was recently teething and super miserable and then before that she just wouldn't sit still but for some reason these last couple of weeks have been so perfect. She will sit and play by herself, grab a book to read to herself and then also play and interact with us.

And I know I recently wrote a post about how smart she is but I really want to remember all of these little moments so I need to elaborate. Just in the past week she has mastered all of the sounds to monkey, doggy, duck, rooster, sheep, fire truck and just tonight, train. It is so adorable quizzing her on all of them and having her say the right sound back. And just in the last few days she has learned how to put her own dirty diapers into the diaper pail. She absolutely LOVES doing this and if we forget and don't let her she gets very upset. And tonight, she was trying very hard to use her fork and dinner. It's been so amazing how fast she picks up on things. What they say about a being a little sponge is absolutely true!

Her sign language skills are great and she will use "more" and "eat" pretty consistently. She will say "more" and also point to the food that she wants more of. She has learned to recognize people in photos too and will say "da da" and "mum" when she sees us. And just tonight she learned "baby" for when she sees herself in photos.

Almost any word you say to her she will repeat back so we need to be much more careful what we say but she has melted more than a few hearts with her "ba pa" (grandpa) and "na uh" (nana). And of course her "uh oh" after she drop anything is just so precious.

So yes, I am gushing tonight over this sweet little girl but she is just such an incredible joy in our lives and neither Matt or I ever imagined parenthood could be so sweet. And we are reaching the end of an era because Brinley will be starting daycare in a couple of weeks and she won't be home with Daddy everyday. I have also been very fortunate to see her a couple of days during the week when I work from home and get to eat breakfast or lunch with her and sneak in a couple of quick hugs between meetings. But for now, we are relishing in this wonderful phase right now and the precious blessing that we've been given! And looking back years from now, this post will serve as my frozen moment in time.