My Name is Brenna, And I Am Addicted to Binkies.

This has been a source of comfort for Brenna over the .. year, and, mostly, an excellent sleeping aide. Seeing how she has not lost interest, but seemingly grown a deeper attachment for her binky over the last few months, I decided that the longer I waited, the more painful it'd be. So yesterday, sort of spur of the moment, I decided to try a nap with no binky. Brenna seemed a little confused and put out, but she fell asleep pretty quickly. I thought to myself, oh, this won't even be bad! So full of confidence, I put her down for bed time with no binky. What do you know, she fell asleep after only 20 minutes of complaining. I was elated. I thought this would be torture! As I'm bragging to my mom on the web cam about how great this is going, Brenna wakes up only minutes after falling asleep, and she is NOT HAPPY! Determined to make this work, I decide to bring her back out until she's calm, then try the bedtime routine all over again. Overall this happened about 6 times last night between Jeremy and I, and only after 4.5 hours (mostly of Brenna crying and screaming, and just a little of me doing the same) and as a result of a VERY sincere and pleading prayer, did Brenna finally find comfort some other way and fell asleep. The good news is, she stayed asleep all night, no problems! So, I have learned to not brag about a job well done until the job is actually done, and once again been a witness to the miracle of sincere prayer. Brenna is currently napping, no binky, and with any luck, tonight will go better than before!

Little Angel - Little Devil

This is Brenna. In my opinion she is the sweetest, cutest little baby around (slightly biased). She has always been happy and .. angelic! I love her to death. This weird thing has been happening with her lately though. She can be a stinker! (pictured to the right with applesauce smeared all over her face, hair, and body, but sweetly folding her arms) She can throw fits! She has drastic mood swings occasionally! I'm completely in shock! Ok ok, I guess I knew this day would come, but SO soon? I don't think I'm ready! 90% of the time she's still my angelic little baby, don't get me wrong, she's not a total devil all of a sudden, but 10% of the time her devil side shows through. It's worth it though for all the neat new things she's learning and especially for the hugs and kisses she freely gives to her eager mommy. Now that everyone knows she has a little evil side, I'd like to fill you in on her latest accomplishments. I plan on making a video of her doing some of these things, but so far haven't caught her at a good time. She can do the star actions to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", also she does "Skimmarinky Dinky Do" pretty well. She does the sign for please and milk. She can point to her nose and say "nose" at the same time. She occasionally blows kisses, especially when you say "Bye Brenna, love you!" she will wave and then blow kisses. And most recently she learned to climb up onto a kitchen chair! She has also, for a while, been able to give closed mouth kisses, and if you ask for a hug she'll grin really big and run over and squeeze your neck tight. That's my favorite! I'm sure I'm missing some, but this covers the highlights! I guess to enjoy all these good things, I can endure the occasional douse of attitude she gives. I just need to figure out how to deal with it in a way that will not increase the regularity of these events!

Lastly, next weekend (or maybe the next one.. but FOR SURE by the next one after that) we are taking away the binky. I plan on ditching the binkies off someplace far from home (I will hire a binky-sitter) and dealing with the ensuing panic attacks... WISH ME LUCK!!!!!

Family Reunions

I LOVE family reunions! I got to go to two while I was home, so I'm a lucky girl! The first one with the Peterson family was over Canada day, we went to the Raymond Parade and then hung out with family the rest of the next two days. The second reunion was in Mountain View and we had Independence Day and the rest of the weekend to party. Smith reunions always get a little crazy, and the talent show is always a highlight. Unfortunately I don't have too many videos or pictures because they are mostly on my parents camera, but I'll show you what I have, even though it may be embarassing. We had a great number for the talent show... too bad I couldn't stop laughing the whole time. The boys were awesome though. Warning.. you'll probably only think it's cool if you've seen "Harry Potter Puppet Pals: The Mysterious Ticking Noise". Also, This is a bad video, but the good one, again, is on my parents camera. Oh well, for now this will do!

Brenna even got tattoos for Canada day!

You can't really see it, but her shirt says USA Cutie!

My two American's! I love em!

A beautiful view in Waterton at Cameron Lake. There's snow in the background, but it was a nice summer day!

It rained on Monday, and Brenna LOVED it! This isn't warm Arizona rain either, it was a pretty cold rain! She just wanted to hang out the window the whole time.

Doh!

The biggest ice cream cone ever!

Between the three of us, we finished it all!

And lastly, the video. There's a little bit missing because they thought it was over and stopped taping, then started again, but I trust you'll get the idea. And I know... We're sooooo cool!