Bubbles, Bubbles (Gymnastics Update)

Briana is absolutely loving gymnastics. When I tell her we are going to gymnastics and that we are going to see Miss Jennifer, she starts yelling "yay!" We are currently working on "waiting our turn." Briana is still having problems with this issue, but she is improving. She wants to jump from apparatus to apparatus at her own pace and doesn't like when one of her classmates is taking too long. I am hoping as the weeks go by, she will learn the art of patience.

On Friday, Miss Jennifer blew bubbles and let the kids run around for a few minutes. Some kids were laughing and trying to pop the bubbles. Some just stood and watched. This was my kid...



Yes, she likes bubbles. I swear, Briana has the enthusiasm of 100 kids. She was jumping, laughing and yelling "bubbles" like she had never seen bubbles before. Yes, she has a zest for life like no other. It's pretty dang funny.

Speaking of improving, I cannot believe how good she is getting at gymnastics. She can do somersaults by herself now and can hold on to a high bar and stick her legs in the air. She balances very well on the balance beam (while holding my hand) and can climb a ladder and miniature rock climbing wall with complete ease (no help). It is really amazing to watch.

I am so happy that Briana enjoys her time in gymnastics class. And I get about a 45 minute workout myself. :)

Rocking Briana To Sleep (Capturing A Moment With My Daughter)

It’s nap time.
You have been in your room about 15 minutes or so.
I hear you on the baby monitor.
You are babbling and playing with your doll, not really ready to go to sleep yet.
I enter your bedroom and quietly tell you to “shhh”.
You flash a huge smile.
I ask you if you want to me rock you to sleep today.
You flash me your huge smile again.
I place you on my lap as I sit in the big cushy rocking chair in your room and cover you with a blanket.
You rest your head against my left arm.
You hold on tight to your “baby.”
You squirm a little and start to giggle.
You touch my eyes, nose and earrings, still not really ready to fall asleep.
Rock, rock. Rock, rock.
Giggle, giggle. Giggle, giggle.
We stare into each other’s eyes and smile.
After a few minutes, your eyes start to droop and you quiet down.
I listen to your breath.
I stroke your hair and your forehead.
Your eyes start to blink, and you struggle to keep them open.
Blink, blink. Blink, blink.
Finally, they close.
Then they open again a little.
Then close.
You are still and calm.
You look so comfortable and peaceful.
You have drifted off to sleep.
I know I am looking at an angel.
Perfect features. Perfect eyes, perfect nose, pouty lips.
I rock you for a few more minutes because I cannot let you go.
I am embracing the moment, just staring at you.
Knowing that one day you won’t need me to rock you to sleep.
So I am in the moment.
Soaking it all in.
Still in awe that you are in my arms after such a long wait.
So grateful that you are my daughter.
My eyes fill with tears of happiness.
I finally give you a kiss, stand up and place you in your crib.
I watch you sleep for a minute or so.
Then I tip toe out of the room and close the door.

Always Remember

I am sure everyone remembers what they were doing when the attacks happened in New York and Washington DC on 9/11. I remember what I was doing. I was driving to work that morning and heard on the radio that the first tower of the WTC was hit. I also remember kissing Doug goodbye when he left the house first thing that morning to take a flight from Atlanta to Washington DC. My heart sunk into my chest listening to that report.

I was so happy to hear Doug's voice on my voicemail at work saying that the plane he was on landed in Norfolk, VA and he was safe. I called him back in tears. He got the news of the WTC and Pentagon attacks while he was in the air - obviously they were not going to be landing in DC that day. Doug managed to get a rental car (people were flooding to the rental car places) and just started driving - not really sure what to do. After spending the night in Richmond, he ended up driving to DC to pick up his boss that was stranded too. They drove back to Atlanta together.

My dad was on a flight from Atlanta to Chicago at the same time Doug was in the air. Luckily, he landed safely, managed to rent a car and drove home the next day as well.

It was such a horrible day, but I was one of the lucky ones, my loved ones were able to come home. Thousands and thousands of people weren't so lucky. My heart goes out to each and every person who lost someone they loved that tragic day.

Always remember September 11.

Grandparents Day

Briana spent the afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Sunday for Grandparents Day - and Doug and I spent a quiet afternoon at home. In the above photo, you can see them completely spoiling my child. Briana had a wonderful time - look at all the smiles!

Briana in Grandma and Grandpa's car.

Taking a walk.

Pushing baby in the stroller.

Big smiles!

Grandma, Grandpa and Briana.

Briana At Bounce U (Little Miss Fearless)

The words "had a blast" don't really begin to describe the fun that Briana had at her friend Garrett's 5th birthday party last night. We walked into the Bounce U (a giant playground of inflatables), her eyes lit up and she took off like a rocket. She ran from inflatable to inflatable, and I did my best trying to keep up with her. Doug watched in Briana awe and did his best to bring me water to keep me hydrated. She ran around for an hour and a half without stopping. Events like yesterday remind me that I am in my mid-thirties. Briana has NO fear. It is wonderful and absolutely terrifying at the same time. She was one of the youngest kids there - most were over twice her age. She was right in the middle of them - keeping up like a champ. I have a very funny video at the end of this post.

Here she is coming down a slide, and there I am trying to keep up with her.

Future rock climber.

Entering the "spiderweb". I had to sit on the trampoline part to make sure she didn't strangle herself. See how she is in the middle of everything?

Good gawd this is fun!

Up please.

Look at me Mommy!

Waiting for pizza and cake.

Bri looks like such a big girl in this pic.

I know you all have heard me go on and on about how crazy, um, I mean fearless Briana is. But you will see in this video what I am talking about. There was a huge inflatable slide - really too big for a two year old to go down by herself. One of the Bounce U employees offered to take her up for me and slide down with her. Problem is I forgot to mention to the employee that she needed to hang on to Briana at ALL times.

* Please excuse my terribly embarrassing loud yelling and laughing in this video. I was in fear and shock at the same time. I looked over at Doug and he was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes.



I decided to take Briana up myself a couple more times after that.

When I got home, I was exhausted. But, seeing the look on her face the entire time was worth my complete workout.

Interesting Tidbits

Since we have been away for a little while, here's what has been going on in our world.

* When Briana burps, coughs or hiccups, she covers her mouth and says "scuze me, I burped". And when I give hand her something, she says "tank u, mama". It is so cute!

* Doug bought me an iPhone 3G. It's mega cool...

* My daughter is completely boy crazy. When she sees a boy and she runs right toward him. She giggles and bats her eyelashes. She's only two years old people. I won't be able to handle her during her teenage years.

* Briana also doesn't realize how young she is. When she sees kids her own age or a little younger, she points and yells out "Baby!" And when she is playing somewhere (like at DAC kids), she tries to keep up with kids much older than her. She doesn't realize she is just a baby herself (ok - a toddler).

* Speaking of babies, Briana never goes anywhere without her "Baby". Yes, it is that white and pink doll you see in almost every picture I take of her. Ugh. I have tried to convince Bri that "Baby" doesn't need to go everywhere with us. She disagrees.

* Briana has her own language, and she talks ALL THE TIME. Some things understandable, other things not so much. People have warned me that once they start talking, they never stop. That's the truth. She talks, talks, talks. And she sings whenever we go to a store. I drive the shopping cart - and she sings. Oh, not a song anyone would know. She makes songs up - "Mommy, Daddy, Shoe" is my favorite.

* Briana walks on her tip toes. I can't get her to stop it.

* Briana is crazy about "Ni Hao, Kai Lan". She is constantly begging me to put "Ye-Ye" on. Just see how excited she is when I play the show off of the TiVo. You can hear me laughing - I just couldn't help it.



* I am now a F@cebook addict.

* I was just thinking about how sick I was last year at this time. It was so awful. I hope I never get that sick again.

* I am so glad to be back and blogging. I've missed you all! Thanks to all of you who sent me sweet comments saying how much you missed me. It feels good to be loved! :D

I'm Back - With A New Look!

Hey everybody! So, what do you think? I felt that with Briana being home with us for one whole year, it was time to change the look of the blog. I picked out what I wanted and created the header, and Doug took time out of his very busy schedule to put it all together for me (thank you sweetie!). I'm back and ready to blog again!

We have been busy these last several weeks, but we also made time to hang out, relax and have some fun.


We have had a few play dates...

Here are Briana, Chani and Maisie at DAC kids a couple of weeks ago. You can see how excited Briana is because Kathy is just about to give her some snacks. I swear, I have never seen a kid get so excited about getting food. I do feed her - I promise.

And notice that Briana managed to change her position at the table so she could steal snacks from both Chani and Maisie. Hmm, Chani is doing a little stealing of her own! :)

We have also been spending time with Laney (and Angela). The girls love their Chick-Fil-A play date each week. They are taking gymnastics together too, and here they are showing us what they have learned.

Applause please!

We've also spent time wearing pig tails.

And sliding on the slide (a birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa).

Big news! Our re-adoption of Briana is now complete (with the help of Dan and Deb - thanks so much!). I am just awaiting her new birth certificate to come in the mail. Here are me, Doug and Briana at the court house before seeing the judge. I love the shot Doug took of me and Briana.

And here is Briana meeting her cousin Noah for the first time. She really didn't know what to make of him. She has never seen a baby that small before. Look at her expression - too funny! She is going to have so much fun with him as he gets older!

Well, that is the scoop for now! Oh - Doug got me to join F@cebook. Just one more thing for me to be addicted too. Good gravy!

Taking A Little Break From Blogging

Look at the shirt that Doug found for Briana. It says "I'm A Social Butterfly". Ain't that the truth!

Below are some pictures that I snapped of Briana the other day. Sometimes I can't believe how much Bri smiles and laughs. When I see her smile, it makes me so happy. I guess Doug and I are doing something right! :)

Well, I have decided to take a short break from blogging. I have lots of things in my life to catch up on and lots of playing with Briana to do. I spend a lot of my time blogging, and I think it is the right time for me to go on a little hiatus. It was very important for me to chronicle on this blog as much as I could about Briana's first year with me and Doug. Now that we have hit a year, I feel now that I can slow down just a tad. And I just realized that on Briana's gotcha day anniversary that I have been blogging for two whole years. WOW. This blog certainly became much bigger than I ever dreamed it would, and I have "met" more wonderful people online than I ever imagined. I won't desert you for too long. Maybe a couple of weeks - if I can last that long! And I may still lurk at some of your blogs in the meantime!

I am leaving you with a few pictures of my beautiful, smiley girl before I go.

And before I take my break, I want to say a big THANK YOU to my bloggy gal pal from The Long Road to China. She sent Briana the most beautiful shirt and adorable beach bag for her birthday a few weeks ago. Oh, and I got a special gift too! I definitely plan on using the bath fizz while I am on a break! Thank you so much my friend!

See you all on the flip side! Be back soon!

Bullets - Catching Up & Lots Of Pics

* The above pic was taken several months ago at the mall. It's really cute, and I realized I never posted it.

* Here are a few pictures of my dad's birthday at the end of July. My parents, my sister and brother-in-law, my brother-in-law's parents and Doug, Bri and I all got together for some delicious japanese food and present opening. Oh - and I told my brother-in-law's mom that I would say hi to her on my blog - "Hi Joanne!" :)

* At my dad's birthday party, Briana enjoyed Uncle Andy throwing her in the air. She was really catching some air - and I was trying not to panic. Of course, Briana absolutely loved it and kept wanting more. She is fearless I tell ya...



* We spent a very nice morning with Doug's parents this past Saturday. We enjoyed some unusually nice weather and relaxed out on our back porch. We then all headed to an Italian restaurant where Briana feasted on pizza, linguine with clam sauce and cannoli for lunch. This kid has a hollow leg. I know it.

* And here are a few pictures of Briana's Gotcha Day anniversary. My mom, Bri and I went over to visit my grandmother and took her out to lunch. Later that afternoon, Briana sat for a few minutes and watched her gotcha video. Then Briana, Doug and I went to eat Chinese food that night to celebrate!

* Last Thursday, Briana and I were able to meet our friends Amy and Kevin's beautiful daughter Mary Lin that just came home from China. Gosh she is such a cutie! I know the girls will be playing a lot together!

* And this Friday will be Briana's second gymnastics class. Just pray for me...LOL!

Seeing A Resemblance?

I bought Season 1 of "The Muppet Show" for Briana for her birthday. Um, is there a resemblance or is it just me?