Braelynn // 30 Month Update

Our little munchkin is growing by leaps & bounds. Every single day she seems to get a little bit smarter, a little bit taller, and a little bit more mischievous!

Since Braelynn has a cold & wintery January birthday, I always just set it in my mind that instead of driving myself crazy doing yearly portraits around her birthday, I’d do “half-birthday” portraits in the summer. That thought alone has taken a ton of pressure off of my back & made photos much more fun! So, this summer we did photos in two parts: we took photos in Grandma & Grandpa’s backyard complete with some of her favorite things (princess dress-up dresses and stuffed animals), and we also took some photos at our favorite happy place: Deep Creek Lake – and it was a weekend that Aunt Ellen & Uncle Jonathan were there, so D’Artagnan the puppy snuck into some of her photos as well!

Here are some of Braelynn’s latest “accomplishments”:

• She gets smarter & more independent every single day. In fact, just this morning, I found her in the kitchen – she had carried her little art table in, and then stacked her chair on top of the table, so she could get up onto the counter. Her little brain is definitely chugging along and when she comes across something she wants, she is definitely interested in figuring out how she can get it.
• She snacks constantly! She has always been a fairly decent eater, but for the last few weeks she’s been in “eat-always” mode! I was thinking for a while that she was going thru a growth spurt, but it hasn’t slowed up! She eats breakfast & not even an hour goes by when she wants a snack. We eat lunch and then she wants a snack. While I’m cooking dinner, you guessed it, she’s trying to figure out how to get a snack. It’s crazy! It’s not like we aren’t feeding her good, filling meals – she just loves to eat.
• Potty training continues to be a struggle. We were doing so good at the beginning of the spring when we started the whole process, but then summer rolled around & we have been on a constant stream of traveling and being crazy busy! We kind of fell off the potty training train mid-summer and have been slowly re-training the last few weeks. She’s doing much better than she was, but we can’t seem to get over the hump of her realizing she needs to go & going. She’ll go and stay dry as long as we remember to take her every hour or so, but if we leave it up to her to realize she needs to use the potty, we always end up with a puddle on the floor. Someday that switch will come back on, right?
• She still loves to read! She’ll sit for an hour and just read book after book after book. Her current favorites are If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, If You Give A Cat A Cupcake, The Hungry Caterpillar, and The Roller Coaster Book.
• She loves to watch tv! Her favorite shows are Daniel Tiger, Sarah & Duck, and Angelina Ballerina. She would sit & watch tv all day long if we let her. Although, more and more we’re realizing that after a little bit of time, she really just loves the background noise & to sit and play with her toys or read books with it going in the background.
• Ruby continues to be her best friend, although she has found an equally willing friend in Abby. She also loves to play with her cousins PJ & Cameron whenever we’re in NEPA, and loves to run around with her slightly older cousins Abby & Bekah when we’re at the “Eichelberger Compound”.
• She remembers so much. She still talks about flying on an airplane with Nana to go to Texas, she points out the library every time we pass it, remembers going to the park with Daddy (specifically the time they went alone while Mommy cooked dinner), on walks with Grandma, and going to lunch with Grandpa at Pizza Hut. I think she asks every single day if we’re going to Nana & Papa’s house or the Lake House. And she clearly remembers the night we all snuggled on the couch to watch Sing and then watched fireworks from our 3rd floor window!
• She spent her first night away from Mommy & Daddy just this past week! Derrick & I went to the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio for my birthday & spent the night there, so Braelynn spent the night at Grandma & Grandpa’s house. She did well! She didn’t sleep very much and ended up sleeping in bed with Grandma, but we all survived!
• She hates socks. I’m the type of person who is almost always cold, so I’ve always got socks & a hoodie on. Unless we’re putting on shoes, socks are instantly ripped off of her feet.
• Her favorite restaurant is McDonalds. If we mention going out to eat, she instantly suggests McDonalds! She loves that she gets chocolate milk & a toy there!
• She continues to be my little snuggle bug – she loves being close & snuggling!
• She loves to draw – on everything. She has a little art table in our dining room with her coloring books & colors, along with a chalkboard. She’ll sit there for ever & draw & color away. She’s also figured out how to color on the fridge, walls, and her books – so that’s not quite as desirable.
• She loves to help and she wants to be involved in everything. As in, she gets upset when there’s a task that she knows she can do and we do it. She loves to help let the dog outside by clipping her leash, to hold the door open, to hold the dustpan while I sweep, to feed the dog, to pull the laundry out of the washer/dryer, and to put her toys away.
• I mentioned that dressing up is one of her favorite things: she also loves stealing my jewelry (bracelets & necklaces) and wearing them. She’s figured out how to reach things on my dresser & simply helps herself!
• Her love affair with stuffed animals continues: she is obsessed. She isn’t entirely partial to any particular animal either – whatever is newest or closest is her favorite. She still loves her Daniel Tiger, but she equally loves her stuffed Max & Duke from Secret Life of Pets, she has a Beanie Boo kitty that is quite worn from being carried around & slept with, and a whole rotation of other fluffies. Stuffed animals are clearly the way to her heart.

If you want to go back in time & see what a giant difference just 6 months can make, go check out her 2 year old photos here (and her 18 month photos here)!