My new Three-nager

Brynn is now officially three years old. Just like that. And I am still officially the worst mom blogger ever. No news there.

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, we started potty training at the end of August, when I was heading back to work. As you can see, it is now January, almost February, and we are still potty training! It has been a slow and steady process, but I know with each day we are improving. We hit a few bumps in the road and we are figuring those out now and I am hoping that we will have an accident-free life very soon. To elaborate, once we started to potty train I mentioned to the Dr. that I was concerned and having difficulty with Brynn's #2 because it had never been solid- in her entire life. The Dr. advised me to try probiotics, but at the time she was not too concerned as #2 takes longer when potty training anyway. Months and months went by and nothing really changed, so I decided to go back to the Dr., and this time she referred me to a GI Specialist. Again, GI specialist wasn't amused with our story, ordered some blood work which came back normal, and told me to give her Metamucil. Metamucil worked about 60% of the time, but what it did was create a formed stool that almost served as a plug- and then once the plug was out- well, back to the soft stool. So, we happened to have Brynn's 3 year check up when I was able to finally sit down with one of the pediatricians that I really like at Brynn's Dr's Office. She sat and listened to my concerns, listened to every step that we have taken with Brynn, and then seemed perplexed that more hadn't been done at the GI. She ordered more blood work, and a stool study. After two weeks, we got the results. Blood work was normal again, but the stool study showed that Brynn has what's called "Carbohydrate Malabsorption- with positive inhibiting factors" WHATTTT? WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? ....Basically Brynn is either Lactose Intolerant or Fructose Intolerant. So, for now, we are omitting all dairy and we are going to see what happens. I am hoping and praying that it is the Lactose intolerance and not fructose. She isn't much of a dairy person anyway (Thank God!) But boy can this girl put down some fruit! She loves every single fruit under the sun so we really are hopeful that it is not a fructose intolerance. As for now, we will ride this out and see where we stand in a couple months.

In other Brynnie news, she's coming along just like any other 3 year old would. She's now barking orders at her big sister (who is extremely patient with her, thankfully), pushing and kicking, and throwing herself on the ground at times when things do not go her way. Sounds like a 3 year old to me! She is really into playing with her Peppa Pig toys recently and will sometimes be interested in playing dolls with Ellie. She is still very happy-go-lucky and is becoming a lot less shy around people we know. Her little vocabulary is growing day by day and she cracks us up with the things she says. We love this little person so very much, and we cannot believe how old she is getting.

Two and a Half

Poooooooor Brynn.... never has any blog posts about her.

Well, she is now two and a half and she is starting to stand her ground! We have seen her have a lot more tantrums lately, which aren't too bad (thanks to Ellie who broke us in).... It just makes me sad because it means she is getting older! My baby is no longer my baby, she is turning into a "big girl" and it makes me really sad.

We have been flirting with potty training lately, but have been very inconsistent. Brynn says "I go potty" all damn day long, but when she sits down, she really never goes. I think she has maybe gone three times total. It's a totally different experience than what we did with Ellie, but they are completely different kids so that's ok. I am hoping to have her trained before she goes back to school at the end of August, we shall see.

She's really been loving school, and she is always talking about seeing her "guys" at school. I love when I come to pick her up, seeing her engaging with her friends, it is so cute, then once she notices I am there she sprints toward me screaming "Mommy!!!" and gives me a huge hug. It really makes my day. Her language has really taken off lately as well. She is a bit hard to understand at times, but she is stringing words together and making sentences left and right.

She has been loving the pool and summer time. She wears her puddle jumper floaty and just swims all over the pool. If she could, I bet she would try to swim without it, but we aren't quite ready for that yet! She's also recently found her voice and has been making various loud screams and noises all over the house, it's super fun to listen to! Haha

Overall, Brynn is still a chill little lady. She would eat all day if you let her and it doesn't take much to make her happy. She doesn't really care for TV or movies yet, but she does love books, she could sit for hours and listen to someone read her books. We are so very blessed to have her.

Almost 2!!! Why???????

It is so sad how fast this little person is growing. I can't make her stop! Brynn continues to be such a little lover and sweetie pie. She is very loving, always wanting hugs and kisses, and I eat it up! She has recently started "talking" more which is fun and interesting. Sometimes she has a lot to say, although I have no idea what she is saying. The words that we do recognize are: eat, eh-wee, mommy, daddy, papa, wubby (her pacifier), baah (bath), mo! (no), yeah, peez (please), bahr (bar), and she has recently started saying something when referring to her water, but I can't even remember how it sounds right now. It sounds nothing like water though, haha.

Brynn has been doing really well at school. I like to sneak in when she isn't looking so I can watch her interact with her peers and teachers. It took her a while to warm up, but now she is a champ. She sits and listens to the story when she is supposed to, she follows simple commands and she understands the flow of her school day. It's pretty amazing to walk into a room full of 2 year olds and see them all follow directions in a calm manner! I have to say hats off to her teachers for having such patience, takes a special person to want to me surrounded by that many 2 year olds!

Brynn is finally coming around and enjoying her sister's company. I think that Ellie use to smother Brynn too much and so Brynn preferred not to play with/near her. Now, they love to play together, most of the time. My heart melts when I see Brynn just run over to Ellie and hug her. They love their bath time together, and it's nice to see them get along, cause I know it won't last forever.

We just love Brynn so much. We can't believe how different she is from her sister. They are pretty much polar opposites, so it will be interesting to watch her grow. Ellie was a difficult toddler, but as she gets bigger she is so smart and witty. I wonder what Brynn will be like when she is Ellie's age. We are having a great time watching her discover new things and enjoy life. We are looking forward to the next year with Brynnie!

Starting School Tomorrow

Here I am again, months later doing another post. Life gets busy! It's hard to sit down and think about writing on these blogs. Lately, however, I have had a heavy heart as I am going back to work tomorrow, and the girls are going to a new school. I am not worried too much about Ellie, because she is excited to learn and make friends. I do not think Brynn is excited. She's a mama's girl, and a homebody, and she is kind of shy. She is not used to being around a big group of kids, and a new group of adults. She's still shy around her own grandparents! I just feel bad also because she doesn't say much. She has a whole (maybe) 8 words so she can't tell me if she isn't happy or not. I know she will adapt and be fine, it's just a sad transition to have to go through.

In other news, Brynn is still my mellow Marley, for the most part. She is starting to show signs of being two when she doesn't get her way though. Sometimes she will yell, sometimes she will throw herself on the floor, and sometimes she will shake, but nothing lasts more than a couple seconds and she is easily redirected. I am hoping she stays more on the calm side, but know that the two's are well on their way, and I remember what a great heap of fun they are! Brynn's likes right now include swimming, she thinks she can swim without help and gives us quite a workout trying to hang on to her while we are in the pool. She also loves to find things throughout the house and displace them where ever she feels like it. She enjoys pulling multiple wipes out of the wipes case and throwing them all over the room as well! She will play with a couple of toys here and there, but doesn't necessarily have a favorite. She doesn't seem to care about the TV at all either. For some reason, is she finds my phone, she presses the button and tries to talk to Siri every time.

As for her development, Brynn finally started walking when she was 16 months, actually on Mother's Day. It was a pleasant surprise, and an awesome Mother's Day gift. Nowadays, she takes off running and it's pretty cute. She's really into climbing right now. She loves to climb on all the big stairs and ladders at the park and she gives me a heart attack every time. She also loves climbing on the kitchen chairs, the couch, and our bed. She's been attempting to jump for some time now, and she is almost clearing the floor! As I mentioned earlier, Brynn doesn't talk too much, but she does make her needs be known around the house. The "words" she is using on a regular basis are "Mama" or "Mommy", "Dada" or "Daddy", "Papa", "Eh-wee" (Ellie), "Ah-hunn" (all done), "Ma" (more), "Bah" (ball). She's also said a few words when she's been prompted but she doesn't use them on a regular basis. She makes a lot of sounds and we have no clue what she means, but she definitely thinks she's saying something :)
We are looking forward to what she will blossom into once she is in school with her friends.

Well that's about all I have time for now. We just love Brynn to pieces and we cannot believe how old she is getting!

14 Months

I am such a bad second-time mom.

Pooooooor Brynnie hardly has any blog posts about her. I am sorry my Brynnie Bear! Well, as you can see she is now over 1 year old and I cannot believe it. Brynn is still just cruisin along, not yet walking, but she likes to walk with her push-cart. And just recently, she will actually walk alongside one of us while holding only one hand, so we are getting there! I know a lot of people say your life is over once they start walking, but at this rate I am just ready for her to walk because she wants to get down and crawl everywhere-- Target, Costco, the Park, the gym... she's ruining all of her clothes cause she won't get off her little knees!

Lately, her favorite thing to do is climb all over the couches and bury herself in the pillows, she laughs so hard knowing we are right behind her trying to pull her off the couch. Luckily, she has learned how to get off the couch safely. She is still just loving any and all food we put in front of her. She's not too keen on Oatmeal though, that's about the only thing I think she dislikes, but I don't mind, cause it's messy anyway. She still loves the bath and loves to splash like we are in an Orca show at Sea World, the entire bathroom is soaked after bathtime is done.

She's starting to really "love" Ellie like a sister would... (That's said with sarcasm) Ellie is in that stage where she wants to help whenever possible, and it's nice, sometimes. When she tries to pick up Brynn, or force Brynn to do things she doesn't want to do, it's not so nice, and Brynn gets upset. I have even seen Brynn swing at Ellie like "Leave me alone!" ....you can't help but chuckle under your breath.

Brynn is using her voice quite a bit. She still says "mama" "dada" "Eh-Wee" and now "mah" (more). I have been trying to get her to say please and Auntie, she will get there soon enough I am sure. I am not going to rush that though, we already have one motor mouth in the house :)

Well that's about it for now. Hopefully I will write again soon, before she starts Kindergarten!

10 Months

I can't even believe it. Yes, time flies when they are young but I feel like Brynnie's time is flying way faster than I remember Ellie's flying.

So I may or may not be guilty of keeping Brynn behind and treating her like "a baby" for as long as possible. I don't want her to grow up!!! I didn't relize it before, but I actually adore the first year. It's so fun, and they do so much!

Well, Brynn has been chattering more. Although she doesn't say anything more than "mama" and "dada"(sometimes) she is able to understand some language. When we tell her to dance, she will dance and when we ask for a kiss, she leans in, and with an open mouth, plants one on us. I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but Brynn's absolute favorite time of day is bath time. She would stay in there all night if she could. She loves the water, and splashing and playing with the bath toys.

Brynn is still just standing all day. She likes to stand up and cruise on the couch quite often, but most recently, she loves to stand up while holding onto my or Paul's legs, while we are trying to get things done! When I hold her hands out and try to help her walk, she doesn't really seem interested in taking any steps... but I am more than ok with that for now. She knows how to get from point A to point B if there is something she wants, she is quite quick with her crawl.

Brynnie Kitty

Brynn now has two little bottom teeth, and I think she may be getting a couple more. When the first two came in, she wasn't too fussy, just a little more slobbery. However, lately, she has been fussy and slobbery, and she has also been yanking on her ear. She hasn't had any fevers, so I am pretty sure she's teething. She just hasn't been herself, so I know something is up. For now that is about it. We had fun on her first Halloween, and we are looking forward to her first Thanksgiving and first Christmas!

7 Months...Gulp!

3 months

It is so amazing to me how fast time flies with the second child. I still feel like I just had her last month. I cannot believe she is already 7 months.

Brynn has had a few new milestones lately. She is now eating solids. I am feeding her purees because her motor control is not ready to do baby led weaning like I did with Ellie. Brynn really enjoys eating from a spoon. So far she's had applesauce, peaches, zuchinni, sweet potatoes, avocado, blueberries, bananas, green beans, peas and rice cereal. I need to cut out some time to cook up a bunch of food and freeze it for her, but we have been on the go lately. I plan to make up some food for her this week, and we will be letting her try new things as well. She seems to love eating, and hasn't really turned away from anything. She makes a few funny faces when trying anything sweet, which is interesting to me, cause she sure made me eat a lot of sweets while I was pregnant... haha.

4 months


Brynn is finally able to sit up on her own. I am glad she is sitting on her own now I was kind of getting worried that she wasn't sitting by 6 months, but I keep telling myself, all babies are different. She just took a bit longer. Now she will sit on the rug and play with toys for quite some time. She is even trying to crawl! She will either lay on her belly and pivot around to get different toys, or she will army crawl or roll to whatever it is she needs. She is even bridging up on all fours, and rocking forward and back, but isn't really moving anywhere in that position yet, and I am ok with that!!! I know that once she is mobile I will be in for it!

5 months

Brynn just adores her big sister, Ellie. She loves to stare at her, smile at her, hug and kiss her, and even pull her hair! I think Ellie is going to really start having fun with Brynn as she becomes a little older. I cannot wait until they play together!

Almost 6 months

Overall Brynn is an awesome child. She is just really laid back and pretty calm. If she is fussy, we usually know why and we are able to get her to calm down pretty quickly. She is always smiling, I mean all day long. When she wakes from her naps, she usually just lays in there cooing and singing, and once we walk in she is just smiling from ear to ear. It's quite refreshing and it makes my heart happy.

Almost 7 months

Well that is about it for now. We love our little Brynnie Bear!