A New Chapter

We survived the transition into full time school for my babies!  Many tears were shed (by all parties involved), but the worst of it is behind us, I believe. Brooklyn has a class of wonderful teachers: Miss Jennifer, Miss Whitney, Miss DJ, and Miss Caitlin. She gets nothing but positive reports: 'she's my best helper!' 'She helps clean up after playing!' 'She had fun playing house with Peyton & Madeline today.' and many more that bring smiles and an outstanding amount of pride to me and her daddy.

Bryson is a consistent champ, as was expected. Among his group of teachers is Ms. Debbie, Ms. Barb and Ms. Virginia. He definitely plays favorites, choosing Virginia as his #1 gal.  She's in her sixties, I would guess. Loving, sweet, and patient, with 2 children of her own (now grown with kids my age) that share the small difference in age as my babies. His reports are as follows: 'ate, slept, pooped, and smiled. He's a great little boy!'  And that he is. He's even showing signs of wanting to sleep at night for his mommy!!!  I don't want to jinx him, but he's slept in 6 hour increments pretty consistently over the past few nights.

As we all know, Brooklyn's loved her babies for quite a while now. But it seems that just recently she's using her imagination and really playing mommy. She has babies from all walks of life: Baby Dolls:

Sammy and Big Bird: 

 and even Monkeys:

If you ask her, she'll tell you that she loves them all! She treats each one with cautious care and endearment. She offers them food, drinks, paci's and blankets. All things she knows that a baby needs. Especially hugs and kisses. She'll point to me and say 'Mommy' and then point to herself and repeat the name. And I tell her that yes, she's a very good mommy!

Of course it's fun to watch her play mommy with her imaginary babies, but our favorite is to watch her be a loving, caring big sister to Baby Bryson:

Leaving my babies is a very hard thing to do. But I find peace in knowing that they're in good hands at their new school. I'm watching Brooklyn thrive in ways I've never seen before. I love to peak in the classroom when she doesn't know I'm watching. I love to hear the words of praise that everyone sings of her. I love being greeted with smiles and coos from my baby boy every single day I pick him up. I miss them terribly, but I know that this new chapter in our lives will make us all stronger and will provide a better life for us.

And for that I'm truly grateful.

This is it...

...my last day as a stay-at-home-mom! I'm overwhelmed with emotion as I stare at the screen tonight. Excitement. Fear. Joy. Sadness. You name it and I've felt it on this day, May 31st, 2011.  Tomorrow I return to my part time job for the next couple weeks, until I eventually return to a full time position on June 16th. Tomorrow is Brooklyn & Bryson's first day at their new school! Bryson is excited, I can tell! He's so full of smiles and coos nowadays that nothing can get his stomach in knots. Except for some gas every now and then. But that passes, as we all know! He's such a joy of a baby! He smiles when we lean over to pick him up out of bed, or when we talk to him and poke those chubby cheeks. He is his daddy's child, that's for sure!  Always cheerful and optimistic. 

Brooklyn and I had a great day together today! We went on a morning jog, watched a favorite DVD together, played on the living room floor, ran around outside...but most of all, we shared lots of hugs and kisses! She is such a sensitive and sweet little girl. When she first started hugging us, it took lots of bribing and then we would get a lame one-armed attempt of a hug. But now? Oh boy, does she have it mastered! She wraps her little arms around you, lays her head on your shoulder and sometimes you'll even get lucky with a 'muuu-aaah!'. It'll make you feel like the most special person in the world. Well, it has that effect on me, anyway. And she was full of bear hugs today. I couldn't help but wonder if she didn't feel my haywire emotions. 

I have been at home nearly full time since March 18, 2010. I had a very difficult time leaving Brooklyn every day to go to work, so I left my job and took on the challenge of being a full time mommy! As I've expressed in the past, I couldn't hang being at home all the time. I yearned for a professional challenge. So I found this wonderful part time job that kept me busy for the past 6 months. But even that didn't fill the void that was created when I abandoned my career aspirations last March. I'm humbled and deeply grateful to have accepted a similar full-time position back at my former employer, beginning June 16!! I'm so excited to resume that part of my life and feel complete again! But with that decision comes the anxiety I referred to. Anxiety for my dear Brooklyn, who isn't the best at transitions. She takes a while to warm up. And she warms up best when my leg is nearby for grasping:

I'm certain that she'll grow to love her new teachers and thrive in our new routine. But in the meantime, I'll be wearing water-proof mascara, drinking lots of caffiene, and will probably require some extra support until I get in the jive of juggling the life of a working mom. 

Short funny

Here's a short and common conversation between Brooklyn and I:

"Brooklyn, are you hungry?" "Dya!" "Do you want some chicken?" "Bock bock!"

Cracks me up every time!  The chicken ain't bockin' no more, sweetie! 

Here are a couple cute shots of her helping me in the kitchen last night:

First Smiles

It's official! Bryson is consistently smiling back at us!  I'm not talking about the gassy/dirty diaper smiles, but real smiles in response to us...and the wall decor. No, that's not a typo. He is smiling at our wall decor! What's more weird than that?  His sister did the same darn thing! It's just so bizarre! Both kids have been equally intrigued with this decoration that hangs above our heads in the living room. Bryson was actually cooing at it for several minutes this morning. I thought he was talking to me until I looked closer and realized that his focus was over my head.  For a split second I think I was actually jealous...why does this thing get all the attention?  :)

Girly girl

Isn't it funny how kids seem to be naturally inclined to play with 'gender appropriate' toys? Without any encouragement from us, Brooklyn has developed a shoe & flower obsession! She can't walk by a pair of shoes without trying them on.

For a while there, she was under the impression that if she hovered her foot over the shoe that it would magically stick! So if you can only imagine her exictement at the shoe store one day! She pulled shoes down left and right, and with careful concentration, she hovered her foot over each one. The shoe store employees got a big kick out of her!

Now she realizes that it takes effort on her part. But she brings her foot to the shoe, rather than taking the shoe to her foot. It's exhausting (& impressive) to watch her efforts without intervening. But it's good for her...she's learning so much & so fast!

 Here she is all dolled up to go outside and pick flowers!

 Two fistfuls of flowers with her easter bunny, and she's one happy gal!

 No matter how full her hands are, there is always room for another beautiful dandelion.

 With kids running and playing everywhere at her cousin's birthday party, Brooklyn was focused on one thing, and one thing alone: FLOWERS!

 I almost left out the best shoe pic...

How do I look, Daddy?

Oh, and she's discovered stickers! Oh, the joys of stickers! They stick everywhere, see Mom? :)

And Bryson? Well, he not only looks like his daddy, but he enjoys the same pasttimes as well!  Here he is snoozin on Jackson's chest...

Here they are cheering on the OKC Thunder together:

But too much cheering causes this to happen again:

 

Miss fix it

We're at a fun developmental stage with Brooklyn, where she's learning how things work and how to put things together.  Her newest pursuit is buckles.

Buckles, buckles, buckles: they're everywhere!  And she's aware of each and every one of them.  

She spends a large chunk of her time concentrating on them. Sometimes it causes funny faces and even a protruding tongue from time to time. But when she gets it together, a series of claps are in order.

She's also an organized clean freak! If she finds a paper towel lying around, she'll wipe down surfaces.  She even picked up the broom and tried sweeping yesterday.  And organized: when she's done eating something, she separates her food, putting every single piece of the undesirable food in one section of her tray. Is she going to be one of those people that can't allow their food to touch on the plate?!

Shooting Stars

I witnessed two shooting stars tonight! These always cause me to pause and make a "wish". But tonight, as I paused, I didn't know what to wish for. A wonderful husband? God already gave me that. A healthy baby? I have two.  Happiness? A house in the suburbs?  Prosperity?  What could I possibly wish for?  God has given me everything I could ever ask for.  And I'm not bragging.  But that's truly how I feel.  My family is happy and healthy and truly, truly blessed. Not lucky, because I don't believe that luck has anything to do with it. Not deserving because I know that I don't deserve any of it.  But blessed. Truly just blessed by God.  I am an undeserving soul that has been blessed with so much in life.  So tonight I "wish", or rather pray for another woman to feel as blessed as I feel right here, right now.

Like most, my dad often asks me how I'm doing. Sometimes when I respond 'good' or 'fine' or some other stereotypical response, he'll pin me down and ask: "Honestly, how are you? How would you rate your life today?" Of course some days are 10's and others are 6's, but overall I can't complain.  I love this impromptu question because it really causes me to evaluate my life. What matters most?  It causes me to put things in perspective. Was my 'laborious' day really that bad? What validity is there behind my complaints? After a quick prioritizion, if my 'life rating' is ever below what's acceptable to me, then I try to see what I can do to make it better. Shift my priorities? Count the blessings I have rather than focusing on what I don't or can't have? Whether through prayer, motivation, or some form of action, I believe that we should all seek a resolution because this life is too short to accept a mediocre rating!

Disclaimer: My last name isn't Cleaver & I'm not claiming to have the 'perfect' life! But tonight I'm choosing to count my blessings instead of misfortunes. Trust me, there are days (like yesterday!) that I'll have to refer back to this posting to remind myself that life's not all that bad!  :)