A Glimpse Into Our Future....

After washing my car and walking to the garage to put something away, I turned around to walk back to my car and this is what I found....



This little girl was having a B.L.A.S.T!!!!!!! She was jumping up and down and cracking herself up and all I could think about was how this is what we have to look forward to in less than 15 years! Actually in reality, a whole lot sooner with Andrew!!! He's turning 10 years old in a couple of months. Seriously??? Where did the time go? It just seems like yesterday that I met Andy and Andrew was just about this same age as Brooklynn......crazy thought!

Anyway...not too much has been going on with us - just enjoying the warm and sunny weather....our neighborhood pool finally opened last weekend and we took Brooklynn down this weekend. She did pretty well - liked jumping off the side of the pool to us and walking back and forth on the top stair. We also set up her new bigger pool in our backyard and put her indoor slide in it...she loved it until she went under the water one time...and then she was done with the whole water thing.


This is her after that last slide - like I said...
she was DONE!

Hmm...what else? Well I have just about a month left of work - I don't think the days could go by any slower at work - still have tons to do of course but I guess knowing that there is light at the end of the tunnel makes it just DRAG by. Definitely hard to stay focused and stay motivated. The joys of giving 2.5 months notice to your boss I guess. I am still really excited, but scared at the same time. It hit me other day when I got my paycheck..wow - that money isn't going to exist in about a month's time. That's a scary thought but its definitely something we have thought long and hard about and we are willing to make some adjustments to make this change. So hopefully it will work out as we hope it will.

Well I think that is it for now....I'll just finish off with some other of my favorite pics of Brookie.....


This pic was obviously before the whole water
slide incident above....b/c she was NOT smiling
like this afterwards....lol



This is how we start our afternoons after we
get home from work and daycare - she chills
out on the couch with a CUP of milk and watches
cartoons. (this is a major accomplishment for
her - she has REFUSED milk in a cup until now....
always wanted the milk in a bottle) YAY!!!


Yes...we have a thumb sucker
I wonder who she got that from???


I just love this smooshie face......


And of course that beautiful smile.... :)

It's Official....

I am going to be a SAHM (aka... Stay at Home Mom)!!!

I gave my notice to my work about a month ago and they announced it at our weekly staff meeting about 2 weeks ago and as of today, they have hired my replacement. I am so excited (and terrified at the same time).....this is my dream come true. I have been struggling with continuing to work since before I even had Brooklynn and it has just been getting harder and harder being away from her and missing so much of her life. We went back and forth on this issue for so long to the point I was making myself sick with stress about what I should do. Then it happened - I had a week where everything just kind of led me to my decision and everything sort of fell into place. Anyone that has known me for any amount of time knows that I am a firm believer in that things happen for a reason - you may not know right away what the reason is, but there is a reason behind it - I've lived my life with that in mind for as long as I can remember - from relationships, to school to work to trying for over 2 years to get pregnant and anything/everything else that I have encountered - I knew that there was a reason why I was going down each path. This decision was no different.

Anyway....back to my big decision and the week it all fell into place. Some of the things are little and prob don't mean much to most people but to me they were all signs....the first was a song on the radio - I had heard it before but never really 'listened' to the words...'It Won't Be Like This For Long' by Darius Rucker - I heard it on the way home from work and it just hit me - the words are all so true - completely hit home. The next sign for me was from reading another blog, Kelly's Korner that I follow. She had a baby back in January and I guess she was continuously being asked about her plans to return to work and she did a great post on her decision - I loved it - everything she said hit home once again....just reinforced my decision.

Then finally the biggest thing that happened that made me realize I need to do this...we were offered a spot in a Mother's Day Out/Preschool program that is in HIGH DEMAND. Its through the church that Andy's family belongs to and there is a HUGE waiting list. Andrew used to go there before he started school and we all loved it. Anyway, I just happened to email my mother in law one day to ask her if she could find out how much the program costs just out of curiosity - I knew there was a waiting list but I really just wanted to compare their rates to other places that I had looked into since we knew how this school was and what they offered. Well she emailed her friend that day that works at the school and it just so happened that they had a spot open for the fall semester and if we wanted it - it was ours - no waiting list or anything. We just had to go the very next day for the tour at 11am and put our deposit down. Well of course we were shocked b/c we thought for sure there was no way we would get in...and now we had this amazing opportunity. Of course we jumped on it. We went to the tour the next day and we knew right away this was the right spot for Brooklynn and the right decision for our family. There were prob close to 50 people on this tour and they all had to be put on the waiting list!! How could we pass this up?!?!? So thats how it happened. It really was amazing timing and we are so thankful.

My boss took the news pretty well - she was really excited for me and very supportive but sad b/c it meant she was losing me as an employee - I've been there for almost 8 years (I know...hard to believe its been that long). Like I said, they officially hired my replacement as of today - she will start in a couple of weeks - so I will have just under a month to work with her and begin training her. My last day is July 2nd. There is the possibility that I may end up working part time starting back in the fall - just during the hours that Brooklynn is at preschool. My boss mentioned that she would love to still have me part time as an assistant to my replacement - esp since it will take awhile before she is into the full workload that I handled. So if we can work out the details to where it benefits all involved, that may happen - time will tell. But I am definitely off for the summer - and taking an extended vacation up to Toronto....can't wait!

Anyway..this is long enough - just thought I would bring everyone up to speed on what's been going on - sorry it is so long. A big congrats if you read all the way through this post...a little longer than I anticipated....

Oh and of course we all know that I can't do a post without sharing some new pics of you know who..so here y'all go.....these are her spring pics that were taken at the daycare.....I think you would agree that it looks like someone was not having a good day that day...lol.

18 Months....

Where did my baby go???? Brooklynn is 18 months old!!! She is half way to 2 years old. How is that even possible?? She is growing up way too fast.

I have realized in the last couple of weeks as I have been going through both old and new pictures that she has officially lost her baby look :( Where was I when all this happened??? She now looks like a little kid running around - its crazy.

Its also funny b/c a few months back when she was about 15 months old, I was touring several preschools/Mother's Day Out Programs in our area and was worried that she was way too young for these things. Of course I realized that she wouldn't be starting until the fall and she would be the same age as these kids by that point, but it scared me b/c these kids I saw in the classrooms were like little people - they weren't babies!! At 15 months - there seemed like a world of difference to me when looking at Brooklynn compared to these kids who were 3-6 months older than her. How could she possibly change THAT much in just 3 short months? I didn't think it was possible - but how wrong I was!! She is now THAT kid that I saw in the classroom - she is one of those little people and she's 18 months! These last 3 months have probably seen some of the biggest changes in her to this point. She is so full of life and character and is just so much fun. She is always making us laugh and I swear she just gets cuter and sweeter every day - There are still days after all this time I still catch myself thinking, "Wow I have a kid.... I am a mom"...and I still find myself in awe of her and wondering how I ended up with such a great kid.....she can make your heart melt a million times a day.

Anyway...just thought I would share some of what Brooklynn is up to these days....I've seen other people do this and I thought it was a fun way to keep track of what's going on in their lives at this point....(make sure you click on the green italic words for links to different videos of Brooklynn)

At 18 Months, Brooklynn:

• is much bigger than your average 18 month old and wears mostly size 2T & 3T clothing with some 4T clothing in there as well (she has her 18month appt next week so I will have her #'s then)
• talks in her very own language non-stop (we're still working hard on our ENGLISH vocab but for now she is saying mama, dada, gramma, car, fan, that and vrrrooommm when asked what a car sounds like...and I'm sure there's tons more, that we just don't realize.
• loves to read books - her favorite is Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? She can point to any animal you ask her on the last page of the book.
• can point to 13-14 different body parts when asked
• loves watching airplanes, school buses, cars and trains go by
• loves anything to do with water (bathtime, pool, sprinkler, water hose, dog bowl, etc.)
• sits at the table with us to eat in her 'big girl' chair
• loves to be outside as much as possible and her...
• favorite thing to do outside is draw with sidewalk chalk on our driveway
• still loves to play with Rocky and torment poor Daisy....
• is extremely ticklish on her feet, under her arms and under her chin and will go into giggling fits if you start tickling her in any of those spots...
• is down to 1 nap per day
• can throw a pretty impressive temper tantrum when things don't go her way
• knows what 'Time Out' means and where she has to go for it
• loves to climb on anything and everything (both on things that are meant for her and not meant for her)
• and our absolute favorite thing - all the kisses, hugs and snuggles she loves to give us

So that pretty much sums up where we are now at 18 months...such a fun age with so many new things being learned on daily basis. We are loving every minute of her and she just continues to amaze us. I can't wait for all my family and friends up in Toronto to see her now and how much she has changed since last summer...its unbelievable. We'll see y'all in July :)

But for now, here are some recent pics of our 'little person' ... Enjoy! :)

Eating like a big girl.....we have since bought her
one of those booster chairs for the seat...she loves
it - much safer than the Bumbo chair stacked
on top of phone books....lol



we did get her a bigger pool - this one was from
last summer when she was barely sitting up...
poor girl felt like she was getting ripped off
from her pool fun that day...


Even the bucket on her head probably could
hold more water than THAT BABY POOL!!!


Relaxing on the back patio after her pool
disappointment....still smiling though :)


Working on her artwork on the driveway with
the sidewalk chalk.



Running around the house
getting into anything she can
get her hands on....see what I
mean about no more baby look??


Especially in these - they were just taken today
definitely growing up.....look how tall this girl
is already.....


My sweet baby girl (oops...I meant big girl)