Brigitta October POTD

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'till tomorrow,
For babies grow up we've learned to our sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Brigitta and Rockwell are growing up so quickly, Reagan came up with the brilliant idea to send each other a Picture of the Day of our babies. I don't typically have time to pull out my Nikon to catch the latest, but I almost always have my iPhone handy. Now I wake up excited to see the latest of Rockwell. As I'm closing out October, I thought I'd post some of Brigitta's most brilliant moments. Bear with me while I learn the ins and outs of Instagram!

14 Oct 2012: First Sunday at church. 

15 Oct 2012: At the park. Lovely eyelashes growing in!

16 Oct 2012: Immunizations.

17 Oct 2012: Blessing dress finally arrived in the mail!

18 Oct 2012: Shopping at Gymboree.

19 Oct 2012: Long nap after a blow out diaper

21 Oct 2012: Telling Dad about her day

22 Oct 2012: Tummy time!

23 Oct 2012: Sleepy, squishy face

24 Oct 2012: Being a baby isn't always easy

31 Oct 2012: Swaddled

Blessings

Brigitta Katrina Wuehler became a member of record alongside her cousin Rockwell Fisher Dickson. It was a sweet day filled with family, love and of course, babies. Brigitta was intially a tad more uh, vocal than her cousin but she calmed down midway through the blessing. I'm so very grateful my girls all have a cousin counterpart (who all happen to be boys!). It will be so much fun watching Brigitta and Rockwell grow up.

To the Moon and Back

Bed Time

It's so routine the girls could probably do it on their own. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to document the steps we take to get our tinies down for the night. 

Step 1: Brush Teeth. The challenge here is making sure the girls actually brush their teeth rather than simply run their toothbrushes under water and then suck on them. Sometimes I brush my teeth alongside them and can't help but laugh when they mimic my spitting and toothbrush tapping on the side of the sink. When I remind Ireland to be sure and clean her teeth well, she jiggles her head like a bobblehead doll. It's so adorable it kills me.

Step 2: Dance Party. Somehow Brent came up with this scheme to get the last bits of energy out of the girls. No one will be knocking on our door for choreography gigs but Brent doesn't care. He unabashedly dances with his little girls while the room fills with squeals of joy. Their favorite part is his version of Ring Around the Rosie.

Step 3: Church Video. We've tried all sorts of things to get in a little spiritual thought before bedtime and so far this is the one we've settled on. The church has so many wonderful videos on lds.org which also help the girls calm down after kicking up their heels. We ask them follow up questions to see if they're paying attention and get some pretty funny answers. Someday we may read scriptures together but for now this works well. 

Step 4: Prayers. Lately Liesel always thanks the Lord for being able to "play with Barbies" which I find odd since we don't own any. Ireland always prays for more food. There's something said pretty much every night during prayers which has Brent and I stifling our laughter. 

No peeking allowed!

Step 5: Off to Bed. The girls get one last thrill as Brent whisks them away to a land of dreams. Sometimes there is one last request for some milk or to have a rice bag heated up. And then the house falls silent. Brent returns from their darkened room red-faced from all the exertion and without missing a beat he stands at the edge of the room and looks around; calculating his next move. Then he either picks up his laptop, catches up on some ESPN or haunts the kitchen for a bit more dinner (when the meal was especially good). 

I cuddle Brigitta a bit tighter and somewhere between the jammies, "sparkle fingers" and heartfelt prayers for more Oreos, I fall in love with my family all over again. 

What I'm Into Lately

Reading- Laundry: The Home Comforts Book of Caring for Clothes and Linen by Cheryl Mendelson. Did you know you're not supposed to use fabric softener with towels because it blocks the absorbency? Or that a lot of detergents don't work in cold water? So if you wash all your clothes in cold to save on energy costs, you end up wasting money on detergent... and your clothes end up grey and dingy because they never really get clean. Did you know there's a way to fold your sheets so making the bed goes much faster? Or that acetate will dissolve in nail polish remover? Okay, so it could get dry at times but the geeky side of me loved this book! The author is a Harvard graduate and she really knows her stuff. Particularly useful was the chapter on stains. Next up: Photoshop for Dummies.

Watching- How the States Got Their Shapes. I stumbled across this show while I was nursing Brigitta and was instantly hooked. Did you know Chicago was originally part of Wisconsin? Or that Ohio didn't have all the documentation to become a state until recently? And the safest state to live in when it comes to natural disasters is Hawaii- mild temperatures and no hurricanes or terrible earthquakes. Again, the geeky side of me can't get enough! The host is really great too.

Reminiscing- Since the birth of my nephew Rockwell, I've been going through the Rocky series. I'd forgotten what good movies they are (I and II especially)! Admittedly the fight sequences still make me sick but the training scenes are so inspirational. I'll never understand how cock fighting is illegal but boxing is considered a respectable sport. Doesn't it seem like they just don't make movies like this anymore? I feel like everything is either based on a book or a remake. A while ago a good friend recommended Eye of the Tiger as a good running song (shout out to Blair!) and it's become one of my favorites... especially for stairs. Yo Adrian, I did it!!!

Training- When I'm out with the girls, some stranger almost always says, "You sure have your hands full, eh?" And I do. To make life a little more manageable, I'm employing what I learned while earning my bachelor's degree in psychology. Whenever we leave to go somewhere, the girls scramble into the car while I put in Brigitta's car seat. If they have their seatbelts on by the time I get to the driver's side, they get a mini Milano. It's positive reinforcement and Pavlov's dogs all wrapped into a delicious Pepperidge Farm cookie. As they get better and better at it, I'll discreetly do away with the cookies.

Jonesing- Soon I'm upgrading my blackberry to the new iPhone 5. I'm so very, very excited! I've been shopping for a cool protector because I have this odd notion that expensive electronics should last a long time... not just until the next version comes out. I found this one that looks like a little black book when it's closed. I love that there's room for a few cards as well. It's incredibly embarrassing sifting through all the Build-A-Bear membership cards and kids library cards when I need to pay for something. I'm thinking this would be just about perfect.

Cuddling- I can't get enough of Brigitta! In those few moments of quiet when it's just the two of us, I baby talk to her and gently squeeze her and tell her how much I love her and of all the dreams I have for her. She usually looks at me like, "Mom's being a little crazy again!" but every now and then I get the most adorable, gummy smile. She's her daddy's girl- so very happy. It's wonderful to have a tiny baby in the house again.