Brylee turned 1....

...like two months ago! There has been a lot going on for us this summer, but I don't want to forget to post about her 1st Birthday. I wrote this post a long time ago, and just needed to add the photo's when Brylee got sick. Once you read it, you will see how ironic it is. Thought I would keep the original posting...I kinda liked it. Here it is:

Have you ever wanted something to be just absolutely perfect that you almost miss the most important stuff? I almost made that mistake on Brylee's very first birthday. Luckily Rusty was here to ground me.

Bry and I had just returned the day before from a two week long trip to Arizona. I had huge plans for her birthday cake which involved blocks and fondant and a cake fit for beautiful pictures.


However, when I went to Walmart to finish shopping for her presents, the cake decided to crash in on itself and ruin any chance of my picture perfect cake. Then, when we did finally get a cake for her with a candle burning, the camera wouldn't work to capture the moment, so we didn't get her blowing out the candles. And then my husband pulled me from the depths of selfishness to make me remember that it wasn't my day, that Brylee didn't care what her cake looked like, and that she only has one 1st birthday so lets let her live it up. So I threw all my plans out the window and that's what we did!

I didn't do a real cake, just one block that I saved from the rubble and decorated it with the cheap icing you get in the can. I didn't put bows or ribbon on her presents, and I didn't invite anyone over.







I made her favorite meal ever, YUMMY chicken. It was just the three of us...and I think she LOVED IT and I know Rusty and I loved having her all to ourselves to fuss over and spoil.

She dug into her cake like a total pro! We hadn't really given her cake before so this was a first of sorts for her. She would take a handful of cake in her hands, grind it between her fingers, then stick her tongue out as far as she could and just smear the cake on it. It was dirty, nasty, awesomeness. Her bath that followed was full of cake bits and tears because she could have sat there licking her high chair all night.



Her dad and I tried like crazy to get her to help unwrap the presents. She wouldn't. She would wait until that was done, then take the present and shove it in our faces until we stopped everything and opened it up so she could play with it.






When she was a few weeks old and crying all the time, I had people tell me that if I could make it until she was 4 months old that I would be in the clear. But see, that was the problem. I couldn't see myself making it that far without some serious medication to make me not care about the crying. We did make it though, and I know Rusty and I have learned so much throughout this 1st year. You learn a lot while you watch your child open up the secrets of the world one by one.

I have told people this before, but Brylee is my nemesis.She brings every fear of mine out in the open and makes me confront it head on. I have thought many times that I don't know how moms sit and read the same book, or play the same game, or sing the same song over and over again. Even now, I know that some days I do better than others, but she makes it easier with the fact that I worship the ground she walks on.

I worry that I don't teach her well enough, that my lack of patience is something she will pay the price for. When she is sick, every weird medical ailment that could possibly afflict her comes to my mind. I have seen sad, heart wrenching things. I have seen things happen that people tell themselves would never happen to them or their children. I have asked parents how they deal with children hooked up to ventilators and tubes. I have held children's hands through tough procedures I never want Brylee to even know about. So my mind never sleeps when she has an unexplained fever.

She is my nemesis but she is also the reason why all of those fears are worth fighting through.

To my sweet Chunk-o-monk....I speak for your dad as well when I say that we love you Brylee! You have been our miracle baby from the very beginning. You roll with the punches with a smile on your face and a sweet giggle in your heart. You laugh out loud at everything, especially yourself. You think you are the funniest person alive! It just so happens that we do too! Please keep laughing and loving life like you do right now. It makes this whole adventure the best ride ever! Love you Chunky!