Meet the Miss..

Brynlee Ann Barnes was born on Thursday, 7/12/12 at 6:03 a.m. weighing in at 7 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long. The birth story will be coming soon...as soon as I can stay awake and focused long enough to write it down :) I delivered naturally (although not really by choice) and luckily, it was fast. Brynlee has been such a sweet baby! We are so blessed to have her in our family, and Brooke has been an awesome big sister so far! So far we have survived the first almost week as a family of four.

Brooklyn's 2 year pics

I may have been a few months late in getting her pics done, but they turned out so dang cute! Since she is 2, I hoped she would cooperate for a few, but I wasn't expecting her to be the little model that she was. However the photographer put her hands/feet, she was like frozen in place and smiled so sweetly. She did so good having her pictures taken, and I loved every picture, so even though it was more than I wanted to spend, I just had to have the CD. Which is actually nice since I can post pictures without scanning them. Here is our little 2 year old princess!

Things I want to Remember: 

• This girl is obsessed with nursery. She mentions nursery at least daily. If we sing a song that she has sung in nursery she says, "sing it in nurshy." And she always talks about her friends from nursery, "Emmy, Hunter, Ty ty, Ivy, Knox"...it's so cute! I don't think she's actually that interactive in nursery, but she sure things she is a social girly! The other day when I was getting her out of her crib from her nap, I asked her what she dreamed about and she said, "I dream bout nurshy." I love that she loves it so much because the first couple months were a little rough of an adjustment. My mom is the new nursery leader so hopefully Brooke isn't too needy for her. Only time will tell!
• She is a crazy book lover. If her room is a mess, it's because of books. I will tell her to get 2 or 3 books before nap/bed and she is always trying to sneak a few extras (which how can you say no..) She fills in the blanks on so many books and will sit still forever being read to. It's great snuggle time so I will never complain! She loves going to the library and checking out new books and I love seeing her excitement for books and reading.
• She knows all her letters, the sounds they make, can count to 10 pretty well, knows her shapes (the basic ones), and colors. (Colors took a little while but she has them down!) I swear the girl remembers way more than I even imagined and watching her learn is amazing!
• She pooped in the toilet twice this week! She is starting to be a little interested in potty training (more the #2 side of it), so we got her a princess potty seat (the one that goes on top of the regular seat) and she loves to sit on it and looks like such a big girl. I would have loved to have her potty trained before a new baby, but it just didn't work out that way. I have a feeling in the next couple months, we'll be spending lots of quality time together in the bathroom!
• She still looooves music! Curt put in Primary CD's in the car the other day (he's nicer than me..the kid voices kinda drive me crazy), but she begs for "prophet" every time we get in the car. So we have been listening to lots of Primary songs and she has started singing along in an adorable high pitched voice. She loves songs with actions and her latest frequent request is "listen heart" (If I Listen With My Heart), which we sing before every nap and bedtime. 
• She started out this spring hating grass, curling up her toes if she stepped on it, but mostly trying to avoid it. But we have gotten over that and she will run and play like a normal child (yay!). A few weeks ago she had been playing in the grass and got some in the bathtub that night. She freaked out, crying and shaking, and wanted out of the bath immediately. And then the next two nights (even though there was no grass), she all but refused to take a bath. We still washed her, but it was forced and she did not enjoy it. Thankfully it only lasted a couple days then she was back to her normal self loving her baths. I often wonder what goes through kids minds...wish I knew! If she is that afraid of a few pieces of grass in the water, it could be a loooong summer!
• She loves to swim. We just got passes to the YMCA and she's been swimming a few times and loves it! (Another improvement over a year or so ago). She gets a little crazy dunking her head and has swallowed her fair share of water, but she still loves it! We love going down the slide and playing with her monkey inflatable. 
• The other day after I put her down for nap, I heard her crying a scared cry saying, "bubblebee." I went in her room, and sure enough, there was a bee buzzing in her curtains and she was laying exactly how I had tucked her, totally covered up, too scared to even move apparently. I had a heck of a time killing the bee, but I did it and all was well! She things flies are bumblebees and freaks out when they are in the house. Darn the bad luck I was going to teach her to kill flies/bees/spiders so I didn't have to. Looks like that plan may not work..at least not for a while!
• She loves all the attention she gets living with family. She is quite spoiled and quite manipulative to get what she wants (she knows if she asks grandma or grandpa, she'll get it so she just bypasses us). Kids learn that young. She loves having Uncle Troy home from his mission and will miss Uncle Tate so much when he leaves next month. 

Almost 38 weeks

I have been a terrible blogger, and therefore, a terrible journal-er of this pregnancy. And since it is almost over, I better write down a few things for memory sake. It really has been pretty uneventful, which is a good thing! I have had to have some things more closely monitored just as a precaution since Brooke was so early. But because of that, we pretty much had got to see the babe at every appt up until a couple weeks ago which was fun! The doc tried to do a 3-D ultrasound twice, at 28 weeks (and she didn't cooperate) and again at like 31 weeks (and again she didn't cooperate very much), but I guess that will make it all the more suspenseful what/who she will look like. She sure is not a fan of showing off much of anything..stubborn little girl already! I have felt really good (minus frequent heartburn, but thank goodness for wintergreen tums), up until a couple weeks ago. Then the pressure increased, I started having to focus on walking normal and not waddling, and just lots of lower back pain. Since I have never been this pregnant before, that was all new to me! At my appt 2 weeks ago (36 weeks), the doc checked me for the first time and I was almost 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Last week, the exact same. I have had to be on a daily shot since December to thin my blood to prevent clots since I have a DVT after Brooke, and a couple weeks ago, I had to switch to a different shot that is twice a day. Twice a day is much harder to remember than once! I'm really glad to be almost done with them..let's just say I'd much rather give than receive shots :) I'm still not really sure that a contraction feels like, but I think I have been having lots of Braxton Hicks..not painful, just an uncomfortable tightening. I go to the doc today so we'll see if anything has changed (which I doubt). Next week is my last week of work, so really, she can come anytime and although I may not feel mentally ready, I sure do physically! I scheduled an induction for July 23rd (he would start me that night) since my entire family will be in town that week and we have family pictures on the 28th..so ready or not, the longest I'll be pregnant is 18 days! We can't wait to meet our little girl!

 This was at 32 weeks (and the only pregnancy picture I have taken so far..I stink!)

Just imagine a significantly larger belly and you get the idea..(Now you don't have to ask Curt for a picture Lisa Marie :)