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Brianna is all about doing things herself these days, and in general she prefers to do whatever I am doing. If my hair is in a pony tail, her hair must be in a pony tail. If I have “naked feet” she must also have “naked feet.” As a bonus, this behavior even extends to chores! I got out some gloves to pull a particularly nasty and prickly weed - she could not wait to put them on and pull some weeds herself.

Hard at work searching for some weeds…

She also insists that she “help” load the dishwasher, put the soap in the dishwasher, and she loves to sweep! Is it too much to hope that she will always want to do these things?

Today we took Leia to the vet for a follow up appointment. I am very happy to report that her blood pressure has significantly improved thanks to two different medications (down from 220 to 140!), and her kidney values are only mildly elevated from where they were before. We are all hoping that with the improved blood pressure, her kidney values will return to normal (at least what is normal for her) - the doctor assures me this is quite possible! Brianna has come along to most of Leia’s recent doctor visits - she is so cute about it too! She insists that Leia’s carrier be next to her in the car so she can pat the carrier and tell Leia “it o.k. Pooh Bear” (sorry it is a little blurry).

She took it one step further after we got home and decided her Bla Bla needed to go to the doctor too. Packed up and ready to go (see the Bla Bla in the carrier…)

Off we go!

Might need to do some shopping too…

Brianna is fully into her twos - complete with opinions, crazy antics, and sheer fun. For example, she is fascinated by my shoes - me wearing my shoes, her wearing my shoes, Colleen wearing my shoes…

When I took her in for her two-year checkup, she came in at 34″ tall (50%) and 24.8 lb. (25%). I am not too sure the height is correct. First, she wouldn’t exactly stay still (she was not pleased to be participating at that point). Second, she has pretty consistently stayed at 25% for height, which would put her just under 33″. Lastly, as you can see below, her height according to her giraffe her Poppa installed is closer to 33″ (really closer to 32.25″ when you get her to stand right and push down on her hair).

She “passed” all her milestone tests, and did pretty well with her doctor until it came time to get a blood sample. And then a shot. She was not happy about that at all, but what really set her off was the bandaids they tried to put on. I have never known a kid to love bandaids so much, except when it comes time to wear them on an actual boo-boo. NO BANDAID! she says…and she means it!

She is, of course, full of all kinds of personality and attitude. I captured these pictures of her while we were playing on the front porch (in between hat modifications, she was rearranging my patio furniture…)

Showing her street cred.

Contemplating the best place to move my patio chair.

And Jason’s personal favorite, the “Kaaaaahhhhhnnnnn” photo.

Saturday afternoon we received an emphatic request for bubbles. Now. Pweeze. She is much better at it than she was the last time she tried. Part of that is because I bought better bubbles, but another part is she just understands better how to wave her wand around (video coming soon).

I am including this photo just because I like it. She explicitly requested a pony tail like Mommy’s, and then made me put mine up in one too.

And finally, last night we had ribs - she LOVED them. She repeatedly pestered us for “big one”. Since she was so cute eating her big ribs, I had to get a picture.

A couple of days after Brianna’s birthday, her Grandma and Grandpa arrived to visit for a week. Brianna was just starting to go into withdrawal from missing her first wave of visitors, so they arrived just in time! We had lots of fun playing on the playground, eating lots of good food (especially pizza and ice cream!), going to see some artistic birdhouses, and generally just hanging out. Here are a few pictures from their visit.

At the playground:

In her new Flyers shirt Grandpa got her:

Enjoying the birdhouse displays:

Yummy food (why just eat it, when you can wear it too??):

Playing in her new tent:

Story time with Grandma:

We had a wonderful visit! Of course, adjusting to only getting attention from Mommy and Daddy after about two weeks of lots and lots of attention from grandparents, aunts, and uncles…that was a whole different story!

What a crazy, busy day - we didn’t even leave the house. We basically opened presents and played with everything as we went. Brianna is not a toss the present aside kind of gal - she must play with them as she goes. So, she was basically opening presents from 9 AM to 8 PM, with a nap in between. Brace yourselves - you are about to see 37 pictures (which is only 10% of what we took). I think it is safe to say we are all exhausted!

Look at all the presents. When she saw them all together, her mouth rounded in a big “ooooo!” Unfortunately, no one captured that shot.

We started the day with a mango banana smoothie (she loves, loves, loves her “mooties”) followed by opening the first present - toy baby bottles for her babies!

Then we moved onto an outfit present so we could get her all dressed.

We managed to get a couple more presents open before she opened….her Nemo pool toy! That was the end of all gift opening for the next hour or so. We found an old tub and filled it with water so she could see Nemo go. She was a little skittish at first, but she got into it eventually.

Then, we went back and forth between Nemo and her birthday picnic lunch (by request).

We did manage to open another present (scissors and activity books) before nap time, but she was pretty tired, and we spent most of our time trying to help keep her from getting frustrated with the scissors.

During her nap, we finished putting together her panda cupcakes - I think they turned out great! Nana, Tia, and Tatie Kat all helped - thank you!

By the time she finished her nap and a quick snack (check out her muscles!),

Jason made it home and we all headed back to the living room to open more presents. She really liked and thoroughly examined her backpack,

but the ball brought the show to a halt for at least 20 minutes. Nothing quite like a ball in a kid’s eyes.

We headed outside (presumably to play with the ball some more), but on the way out we managed to distract her with more presents. It was all good to her - just as long as we got to go outside. Apparently she has no allergies to pollen - it was so thick it was practically snowing pollen. She didn’t care. In fact, she loves the stuff - it gives her yellow feet!

To understand these next couple of pictures, you need a little back story. While removing the plastic wrap from one of her presents, Tia closed her eyes while pulling (like we all sometimes do when something takes a little effort). Brianna saw that - for the rest of the day, any time she had to pull on something, she would scrunch up her eyes just like Tia. So sweet…

One of her presents was set of a shoestring puzzle cards. Brianna had to put each and every shoe string in the set in the sea horse card.
\

It takes lots of concentration…

Finished product!

She wanted to stay outside, but we had all had enough of that pollen. She pouted a bit by putting herself in time out (didn’t really work since we were all busy laughing and taking pictures of her antics).

We managed to convince her that playing with her new play doh set inside would be great fun!

After a birthday dinner of her favorite food (pizza!),

we opened one more present - kitty Bla Bla (to go with her baby Bla Bla, big Bla Bla, and puppy Bla Bla)!

Then she decided it was time for cupcakes (which she referred to as “pancakes,” “panda cupcakes,” and “panda bears” depending on her mood). We stripped her down first and let her go at it. Blow out the candles big girl!

We only got one the first time so we closed our eyes and blew harder the second time.

Then she tackled the panda. First, the head (she refused to touch the face until much, much later).

Then, the oreo covered frosting body. Still relatively clean at this point.

But that did not last long!

After a few more presents (still naked from her cupcake time),

it was time for bed. We find it hard to believe she is two already, but she seemed to relish the idea. Now she is all caught up with her boys!

Whew - I made it! But, this is my last post for a while - I am pure blogged out.

Today was very busy, but we had a wonderful Easter! We started the day by heading out to some local gardens to enjoy the beautiful spring day, and the beautiful flowers.

She needed a snack while she was on the go…

but she did take time to smell the flowers.

Tatie Kat & Uncle Mike waiting patiently for her to catch up (she wanted to stop and watch the ducks while she had some of her snack).

The secret to getting her to smile for the camera? Have Tia stand behind the photographer and periodically jump out and say BOO!

As we were leaving, she saw an older girl (maybe around 6) walking backwards. She thought that looked like fun, so she gave it a shot. It is hard to tell in a picture, but I think she did pretty good!

After nap, she got a dressed up in her Easter dress for her very own personal Easter egg hunt.

She liked this one much better - no rushing and no need to worry about anyone stealing her eggs!

Here’s one!

Scoping out the scene…

I found two! Note the deep concentration facilitated by her tongue…

Can you believe they are making us stand here while they take our picture?

All right, people, I am done. Can we go to the playground now?

Tomorrow is the big day! If you ask her whose birthday is tomorrow, she says “Brianna.” If you ask her how old she is going to be, she says “two!” Cute and smart!

Today we started with a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt! Brianna was very patient waiting for her chance to go get some eggs.

She even took the time to scope out the eggs to see which ones she wanted.

Unfortunately, she didn’t quite grasp the idea that she had to hurry and grab as many as she could! Still she got a few, and definitely enjoyed a little kiss for her efforts.

After the hunt, we walked over the farmer’s market - Brianna enjoyed a hard roll from her favorite baker while listening to some live music. Then we headed to the playground. Gotta look both ways before crossing the street!

And she is off!

Oops! She got going just a tad too fast, and fell down and scraped her knee. Mommy and binks (especially binks!) make everything better.

After spending some quality time with her favorite swing, we headed back to the house for some lunch.

Ms. Kelly made a little wrist corsage for her, so she had to go outside and show Daddy (he was outside washing his car). We had to get Tia involved to wring a smile out of her (she is becoming quite “camera stubborn”!

Washing cars looked like so much fun, so she decided she wanted to try it out - Daddy’s sponge takes up her whole arm!

After her nap, we colored some Easter Eggs. I only made a dozen, and they went quickly!! While she wasn’t fond of waiting for the dye to do its thing, she seemed to like dipping the eggs,

and putting them on the “rack” to dry.

After her eggs were done, she moved on to more chalk art.

Tonight she gets to eat tacos with everyone except Jason and me - we are headed out for a nice leisurely dinner! YUM!

Next up tomorrow:fun in the sun at some local gardens.

Holy cow I have a lot of pictures from today - the benefit of having three people that don’t get to see her very often taking care of Brianna! Brianna spent all day with Nana, Poppa, and Tia while we worked since her school was closed today for Good Friday. They started the day with Tia giving Brianna her very first pony tail (such a serious contemplative face…)

Here is the happy face I recognize!

Then it was time for some posing in front of the fireplace (pony tail is already coming out, of course),

before heading to the playground to swing!

Look at me on the big girl swing, just like Tia!

Then, Poppa read Tia and me a story.

After my nap, Nana gave me my surprise for the day - sidewalk chalk!

I can do this!

We are all very artistic, don’t you think?

After that, there was another trip to the playground (on wheels!).

Then, after dinner, some peek…

a boo with Poppa!

Whew! Think she will sleep well tonight??

Whew - Blogging everyday is tough!

After she woke up this morning, I reminded her that we were going to her school’s treasure hunt, and that Nana, Poppa, and Tia would arrive before bed time. Later, while getting her cleaned up, dressed, and ready to go, I asked her “who is coming to see you today?” She said “boys.” So, I asked my question differently. “Are Nana, Poppa, and Tia coming to see you today?” She replied “and boys!” Already??? Apparently, she was thinking of the treasure hunt where she would see her boys (at the moment, she is the only girl in her class, so she thinks of Hawke, Max, and Jayson as “her” boys). So, off we went to see her boys. Of course, when we got there, she wanted nothing to do with Ms. Anne, her boys, or the hidden eggs. *sigh* I finally got her to participate a bit by pointing out that Hawke was going to get all the eggs (he is an excellent egg hunter) if she didn’t hurry up, but I don’t have any pictures of her actually searching for eggs (kind of hard to get any when she wouldn’t let go of my hand).

Here are the shots I did manage to get.

Brianna with two of her boys (Hawke is all the way to the left in the shade, and Jayson is all the way to the right. Ryan is in between; she is still deciding if he is one of her boys…)

This isn’t the best picture of her, but I wanted to show you her shoes. I tried to get her to wear her white sandals, but she insisted, “no, pink!” I bought these shoes at a consignment sale knowing that I would hate them and she would love them. I was right on both counts…

After the egg hunt, she didn’t really want to hang out and play at the school playground (Hawke was very sad). She wanted to go play on the “unner playground” by our house, so off we went. It is sooooo beautiful outside and there were lots of kids at this playground as well enjoying the beautiful morning. Brianna mostly stuck to the swings. Despite the look on her face, she loves to swing way up high (you cannot push the swing, you must pull the swing so it goes high).

Then, she was worried that her bunny was missing out, so she let the bunny swing.

Next up: her school is closed tomorrow for Good Friday, so she gets a day with Nana, Poppa, and Tia all to herself. She will LOVE it!

Today, in honor of the Heels making it to the NIT Championship game, Brianna wore her very adorable UNC tennis dress that finally fits! Tomorrow she will have to choose whether to root for Grandpa’s team or for Daddy’s team. Sorry, Grandpa, but I don’t like your chances…

We didn’t get to spend much time with her today as it was Parent’s Night Out at school! After enjoying a lovely ride on a beautiful spring evening in the convertible and a yummy dinner, we headed back to pick up the soon-to-be birthday girl. When we got home, she actually ASKED for her Easter egg! She seems to grasp that she gets one a day (and only one a day) from Mimi’s Easter basket. Today, she chose the purple egg with strawberry puffs inside (which she promptly inhaled). Then, we gave her her pre-birthday treat for the day - Tatie Kat’s Easter basket!

While I was unable to capture it, her face morphed into a big ooooooo face (you know, the delighted expression with the mouth all rounded in an O) when she saw this big bunny. There was also a little bunny that skittered across the floor when you pulled its tail - strangely, she wasn’t too sure what she thought of that.

More searching through the basket revealed mini M&Ms and chocolate covered pretzels! She wanted to dig into the pretzels right away, but we convinced her to wait until tomorrow since it was time for bed. She enjoyed telling us “eat tomorrow.” Trust me, she will remember!

In addition to trying chocolate covered pretzels for the first time, tomorrow she also gets to participate in a treasure hunt at school (and I get to help hide the eggs!) - stay tuned!

Today Brianna started her day by defying all fashion “rules” and combined her bumble bee rain boots with her patch-work pink dress. I attempted to direct her to her sandals or even her sneakers, but she was having none of it. “No, boots!” So boots she got.

Oooo, look at me!

They are actually a bit heavy (so she tells me), so they only lasted an hour or so. After that, she chose a new pair (to her) of sandals to wear. We got them on just in time for her play date with Corinne and Jack! They all made Brianna a birthday Easter bucket, so they brought it over since Corinne is on spring break this week. Her purple bucket had some really cool plastic “Easter” eggs shaped like various bugs - lady bugs, bumble bees, caterpillars, etc. - each with some stickers or some bath time squirt toys in them. Also included was a new Tigger book and a new Winnie the Pooh - we shall call him “bunny” pooh since he is dressed up in a bunny costume. Last but not least, she got a cool bug catching kit!

After opening her present and playing on the playground, we headed to McDonalds (Corinne and Jack’s choice b/c of the new Happy Meal toys) and Brianna got her very first Happy Meal, complete with a dragon toy (Deadly Nadder) from the new movie “How to Train Your Dragon” - she LOVES it. *sigh* Here she is playing on the McDonald’s playground (she climbed all the way to the top!) and with Corinne & Jack and the dragons (Corinne is not particularly fond of cameras).