Brinley Joy is 2!

Oh my, where to even start with this post! I have probably said this before on the blog, maybe even multiple times, but I feel this compulsion to try and document ever single moment of our sweet little Brinley girls life. She's so darn cute, smart, sweet and feisty that I just want to capture every single second, every cute phrase, every expression and that's just not possible. My dear husband always reminds me to stop and enjoy the moment but I can't help but want to record it somehow to enjoy it again, and again, and again in the year's to come.

So here's my attempt at trying to capture two wonderful years with our precious baby girl. I'm sure I won't even scratch the surface of what an incredible little girl she's becoming but I will give it my best shot!

Oh sweet Brinley Joy, what a wonderful time we are having with you! You are just the cutest little thing and have really started becoming our little "girl" more than our little baby. Your verbal skills are off the charts and not only are you saying tons of words, but you are now communicating in little sentences and even long run on stories using lots of "ands" that sometimes mommy and daddy can't even keep up! Your little face just lights up though and you get so excited trying to relay all of the information to us. It's beyond adorable! You like to tell us all about the things you remember, all about things that happen at Ms. Raquel's house or on your favorite show, 'fia First (Sofia the First).

You love to play hide and seek, read books (by yourself even), watch movies or TV with daddy, sit on the counter and "help" mommy make dinner, go swimming, play with Birdie and go to the park. You are a very social little girl and love to play with your two best friends, Greta and Sadie at daycare and meet new friends at the park. Your formula for making friends goes something like this: First you find a little kid that you want to play with. Second, you chase the little kid around saying "wait friend." Some kids run from you, others will stop. If you get a kid that stops, you go up and give them a hug and say "hi, friend!" then you follow each other around. So cute!

You also like to go for runs with mommy and have already logged quite a few miles these past couple of months as mommy is training for her first marathon. You eat snacks in the stroller and tell all of the puppies that we pass not to bark. You also like to look for duckies, bunnies and birdies and point them all out to mama as we go past. You're a pro at riding in the stroller and even like to climb in by yourself. We've had some sweet moments just chatting you and I while I run and I really cherish that time with you.

In recent months you and mommy have also spent a lot of time together since daddy has been working second shift. I think you really miss him during the weeknights but I love how close you and I have gotten. Also, daddy is home with you during the day on Thursdays and Fridays and I know you two have a great time hanging out on those days. You are such a daddy's girl and I love to watch the special relationship that you two have. You're really lucky baby girl to have such a wonderful daddy!

In other big news, you started gymnastics just a couple days after your 2nd birthday. At first it was a bit challenging as you weren't used to the structured format and mommy spent most of the time chasing you all over the place trying to get you to listen (remember, I said you were spirited!). However, after a couple of classes you quickly got the hang of it and are much better about following the instructions and doing the activities. And you absolutely love it! It's really fun watching you do your "high, low, over you go" (forward rolls), walking on the balance beam and doing lots of jumping. Your favorite activities seem to be the big trampoline (even though you were scared at first), jumping in the foam pit and swinging on the rope. Afterwards we always have a treat (DQ) and you tell me how much you love 'nastics and how 'nastics if fun! It's been a great activity for you and I to do together.

You are a pretty brave little girl when it comes to most things, especially swimming, picking up leeches and bugs and meeting new people. However, you have developed a few strange fears like dryer link (you shriek!), chocolate (no clue on that one but I have a video of you crying and running away when I tried to give you a piece), the video monitor in your room and the garage. You have also recently gotten scared with a couple of things on princess Sofia including the wombeast and a particularly memorable incident with the swamp monster. It was heartbreaking (but adorable too) how you leapt into Nana's arms when the swamp monster made a scary noise and for the rest of the episode you stayed buried in her chest. The monster was actually not very scary looking and the kids made friends with her, but you were pretty spooked. We kept telling you that it was just a "funny guy" and everything was okay, but it's been a few days now and you still keep talking about it. We keep reassuring you that it's all okay though :)

You have recently started to smile more for pictures and like to say "cheese" or "cheeseburger" when you smile.

As far as size goes, you weigh around 28 lbs and are 35 inches (I think!) tall (100th percentile for height). You wear size 2T-3T but occasionally still wear some of your 24 month dresses. Speaking of dresses, you insist on wearing a pretty dress almost every day and have to pick them out yourself. It's a bit of a negotiation already to get you into the clothes we want you to wear.

For eating, you remain a pretty good eater. When you are going through a growth spurt you can eat everything and anything. Matt's cousin's wife, Kristin, was pregnant at the family reunion and I was joking that Brinley would eat more than her for breakfast and you did!

You love to pray with us before meals and always add in your own little gibberish prayer and then repeat "amen." We have started to talk to you about Jesus and we tell you how mommy and daddy love Jesus and you say that you love Jesus too. We pray that will become true for you someday soon little one!

In other big news, we said goodbye to "paci" right before your second birthday. Mommy and daddy just cut the end off of one and gave it to you and said that paci broke. You were a little upset that first day, but got over it pretty quickly. You have asked for it a few times since then but when we ask you what happened you now tell us that it "broke."

And lastly, you have started to go potty on the big girl potty! Just a couple of weeks ago (7/11/15, 25 months old) you went pee pee on the potty all by yourself. You've liked to sit on the potty a lot and we let you try, but you had yet to go. Then on Saturday night after your bath you wanted to sit on the potty and mommy was about to go and get the hairbrush when I heard you going. I was so proud of you! Then daddy got home a bit later and you were so excited to tell him. He was really proud of you too! I think this next weekend we are going to continue to work on it with you and hope to have you out of diapers very soon.

Words cannot express how much we love you Brinley Joy. You are the best thing in our world and we are so thankful that God chose us to be your parents! When you were born, we chose this verse for you and this is still our prayer for you:

Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Here's a few of your favorite phrases, songs and milestones to note:

Favorite phrases:
- Mommy/Daddy, I need you
- Mommy says I love you, Brinley responds "I love you more"
- I do it or I do it 'self
- No mama, don't do dat!
- I got it!
- I go to work (pretends to go off to work)
- Ask where daddy is, "Da da, fire call"
- Oh so cute!
- I scared of garage :(
- Dada funny :)
- Oh so pretty (when commenting on whatever Mommy wears)
- No, just gas! (when you ask her if she pooped ;))
- I did it! I really did it!
- Go away momma! Go work! :(
- My dadda!
- One minute (we tell her no and she really ones something)
- Dis a one
- "Just a funny guy" referring to the swamp monster
- Camera no move referring to the video camera in the room

Songs you can sing:
- Baa baa black sheep
- Twinkle twinkle
- At last I see the light ('punzel)
- Let it go (Elsa)
- Five green and speckled frogs
- Tiny turtle (his name is Tim)
- Ring around the rosey (all fall down!)
- Jingle bells, jingle bells

7/14/15
It's not a fluke! Brinley went potty all by herself again tonight after gymnastics!

7/11/15
Brinley went pee pee on the potty for the first time all by herself! Mommy as about to leave the bathroom to grab a hairbrush and she started to go. Mommy and daddy were so proud!

7/8, looking at the pictures in my office, she says "this is when mommy and daddy got married" and pointed to the wedding picture. Then she said "and mommy and daddy dance"

Then later in the same convo she said "mama, I love daddy"

7/7, in her room finishing a sucker before bed, mommy pretends to take a bit and she says "no, why did you do that? You're mean. You mad at me." Then I say sorry and that I was just joking and get sad, and she gives me a little piece and says "no more"

6/26, in the car eating dinner, knows I'm worried about her chocking and fake coughs and thinks it's hilarious. Little stinker!

6/23, eating rotisserie chicken straight of the chicken, with mouth full says "whoa, that's a big bite"

6/8, almost 2
- mommy had friends over and before bed Brinley said "hey guys, I pooped!"

5/29, almost 2
- mama, dada, airplane, DISNEY WORLD! She then proceeded to tell me everything that she remembered about the trip: Ariel, Dolphins, belle, meeting Mickey and Minnie, giving them a kiss in the nose, giving them a hug, saying ba bye, have a nice day. Cutest thing ever!!!

5/22
'Course!
PepperOni

5/15/15
Dis a mine
I'm ready for booeys!

5/1/15
Afraid of lint. So adorable!

4/29/15
Brinley's been saying "I'm a big guy" and "not bad" when she smells something or tastes something. So cute!

4/3/15
Really started saying I'll do it! I'll do it for everything.

4/2/15
Brinny has her adenoids out. Did really good. Got to meet a puppy named Stella and ate TONS of food, including jello, Popsicle, pudding, bars, crackers, cupcake, chocolate and 3 cups of Apple juice. We also watched frozen 3 times in one day! We love all of the snuggle time with our sweet princess.

3/22/15
- said "dada funny" at dinner. She's been so so cute lately, picking up the camera and saying cheese while pretending to take pics. Singing all of the Frozen songs, including bowman, open door.

- cutest sentence ever: dada Paci a me 3/5/2015 (almost 22 months)

- sang frosty the snowman with mama 2/4/2015