My Birthday Girl

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Birthday Girl

We had Brynlie's birthday party on Sunday.  It was a Pixie Fairy Tea Party in the Enchanted Garden.  The house was decorated in lots of tulle and paper flowers.  All the little fairies running around were beautiful and everyone had a great time!  Though my house is now covered in glitter, it was all well worth it.  Hands down the best birthday party to date!
She started tap and ballet last week and loves it, just as expected!  I'm already anxious for her first recital!
We had her 3 year old pictures taken in a sunflower field.  What I had is my "sneak peek" the rest will be shown to me in a couple more weeks.  I'm VERY impressed with this photographer!  We had a lot of fun running around the sunflower field!
My website is officially up and running.  Let me just say...I belong creating things behind a sewing machine, NOT a laptop!  That job was soooo not fun and is an ever evolving one!  I've had to learn more technical stuff than I've ever cared to know about in my life!  My head hurts thinking about meta titles, spiders, crawlers, googlebots, sitemaps, froogle, back links....yada yada yada, all the stuff I've had to learn to ensure it was up and running properly.  More importantly that people could find it!  I'm so glad I've brought Gena on board to help me run this "accidental" monster of a business!  I've been pleasantly surprised with the response, moreso with the outside boutiques that have requested to carry my items!!!  YEA!!  The ball is definately rolling...now if it'll just scoop me up along the way and drop me off working at home on my two business that's all I could ever ask for!  I'm...almost on cloud nine! 
Now for the galore of pictures!

Summer 2010

So much has happened in the last month I’m not even sure where to begin! I hosted my 3rd consignment event last week. The growth was astonishing! The number of items more than doubled and the dollar amount sold was more than 70% from the spring sale. We literally got our booty’s kicked!! We worked 14, 16, and 18 hours per day and sleeping very little. I’m still trying to recuperate! The live news cast on KAKE was great, the kids did an awesome job and it ended up being very humorous. I ordered the DVD yesterday so hopefully I can figure out a way to get it posted on the blog when it comes in. I think showing up to the news station on 3 hours of sleep was helpful for my nerves; I was too tired to be nervous this time. Friends, family and shoppers that saw it all said it was a great interview and the kids were hilarious to watch.
So, at this growth rate I’m expecting to be as big as the sales here in central Arkansas in just a few more years. I can’t imagine how awesome it’s going to be to only be 35-36 years old, staying home with my baby, being my own boss working for 6-8 weeks two times a year, all while making more money than I do right now. It sounds surreal, but the day will come. I certainly don’t know what I did to be so blessed with the present and the future, but I am crazy blessed and never do I let a day go by without thanking HIM for it!

To my unselfish, awesome and loving friends and family….THANK YOU from the very bottom of my heart for all that you do in order to help me succeed.

As for Monkey Inspired….I’m currently building a website for the leotards, a FB fan page and having my own clothing labels printed. Hopefully it will be launched just in time for football season. I can’t believe how crazy people go over items with a razorback, power cat, or longhorns on it!!! More so I can’t believe what this accidental business has turned into!! When Brynlie outgrows the original leotard that started all this I think I’m going to have it framed and hang it in my home office/sewing room.

I informed Merrill Lynch about a month ago that I would not be continuing a career with them and would have to turn down the new position I had been training for. Once I explained why, I had full support from the management team and it has made me so much happier now that everything is out on the table, again I am very blessed to be able to keep my job until I am ready to quit.

I finally upgraded to Nikon D40 with lots of extra’s….let me tell you it’s the best money I’ve ever spent. I’m IN LOVE with that camera. There is such a huge difference in the pictures I take of Bryn and the leotards now. I don’t know why I felt compelled to post that on the blog but I did, probably because that’s how much I love it!!! Besides my baby girl, it’s the best thing I’ve ever held in my hands!! Ok, I’m done.

For there being next to no marketing for the house I’ve had good traffic looking at it, more than I would of liked this last month honestly. Since I’m still not certain of what the next step for me and my daughter is I’m not in a hurry to sell. I’ve learned to cross bridges when I actually approach them, not before. I love the crazy looks I get when people ask me where I’m moving and my answer is “I don’t know, I’ll figure that out when the house actually sells.”

And onto Monkey…..I’ve posted the few pictures I’ve taken in the last month. We had Luau theme at gymnastics; of course she looked like a doll.
While she’s still a pretty good kid her behavior has not exactly been up to par lately. She used to be such a sweet sweet baby and don’t get me wrong she still has her sweet moments, but oh my are we approaching the terrible 3’s. She wants her way when she wants it and how she wants it. Do not mess with her trying to pick out her own clothes or dress herself. She will test and test and test me some more.
For example, she’s in a bad habit of getting out of her car seat straps. I’ll tell her over and over to get the shoulder belts back on and she’ll just look at me like I’m singing her a lullaby or something until I get out of my seat belt and start towards her (I’m describing the times I’m not driving of course) before she’ll quickly start moving to put them back on and saying “I do it, I do it.” She has bitten me and Gigi a couple times over the past several weeks; this is in addition to the hitting! That girl wouldn’t stay in time out for me if I gave her a mound of candy! Gena has been trying to show her how to calm down when she gets into her fits of anger by showing her how to take deep breaths and gently saying calm down. The other day when I was getting a little frustrated with her she put her hand on my arm and said “calm down, Mommy…it’s going to be ok.” I couldn’t do anything but sit there and shake my head while trying to hold back the laughter!
We’ve had a hard time keeping her clothed lately, she just prefers to be naked or in her panties while at home…well mostly at home we’ve had one public incident of her stripping down and refusing to put her clothes back on! During the sale she was laying in the back room on her mat watching a movie, I guess she had stripped down to her panties (thank goodness she stopped there) this was while we had a maintenance man there working on the automatic doors, he went into the back room to the breaker box where Bryn was….everyone was busy working and shoppers were busy shopping when all the sudden you see Brynlie come running out of the back room as fast as she could run in ONLY her little rocker panties screaming Mommy and crying. The maintenance guy scared her to death when he went back there. Everyone in the store was laughing, but it took me forever to get her calmed down all while in panties only and the last place she was going to let me take her was back to that backroom she was in!
I’ve been saying I’m the only parent who will have to ask the question “did you keep your clothes on today” when picking her up from school!!!
She said her first cuss word. I don’t, Papa, know where, Papa, she picked up, Papa, that word from!!!! She was having a hard time unwrapping a piece of gum when I heard “Oh, Da**it!”
I calmly asked her what she just said and she repeated it clear as day. Then I had the typical, we don’t talk like that chat.
This week she was sticking her tongue out at everyone at gymnastics.
As soon as we return to a normal schedule she will be returned to her bed, oh wait I guess she can’t be returned if she’s not yet slept in her full size bed!!! Ok, so she’s going to start sleeping in her own bed in her own room. I don’t know how I’m going to get this accomplished but I’m determined to. I’ve never in my life seen a child sleep the way this one does!! I don’t know how she gets any sleep as restless as she sleeps! She’ll fall asleep in there if I sit with her, but she won’t stay in there for the duration of the night, she gets up and gets in bed with me.
Dad and Janet were telling me about her sleeping with them over the weekend and all I could say was “welcome to my nightly world!” Now that summer is coming to an end and she’ll be going back to school 2 days a week, I’m hoping we can all get back on a better schedule.
I’m on the hunt for 2 time out chairs exactly alike, one for my house and one for Gigi’s, that way she knows what it is and what we expect when she’s sat there! I let you know how this great plan of mine pans out!
One last sweet and funny thing. During the stormy season when she didn't like the thunder and lightening I took her out on the back porch and explained to her when it thunders its Jesus playing the drums and when it lightnings it's God taking a picture and she needed to look up and say cheese. When we came in I set her up with finger paints so I could cook us dinner. She said she was going to paint a picture for Jesus and he was going to love it! It's hanging on my fridge and I don't think I'm ever going to be able to take it down. Both of us love to marvel at that finger painting picture. We were out running a furry of errands getting ready to leave for the sale all during a horrible storm. She had Ava with us, her favorite baby doll. As the storm was roaring I heard her telling Ava everything was going to be okay, then she got upset and started saying "Ava don't like Jesus, Ava don't like Jesus" It was hilarious!! I said "Ava doesn't like his drums but Ava loves Jesus just like we do." Speaking of Jesus, Brynlie knows how to say the whole prayer before we eat, sing the whole song of Jesus loves me and we are now working on our nite nite prayer. She joined us for a bible study last month and said the whole prayer for all the ladies before we ate....I was a proud Mama!!!

This is Natalie White, last seasons Survivor winner.  Yes, that's right a MILLIONAIRE is holding my daughter!

 

Fourth of July

Things have been CRAZY busy! Rhea Lana's 2nd Annual Back To School Event is in 3 weeks so it's crunch time! Thank goodness my leotard website has a "vacation mode" because I have more leotard orders than I know what to do with. I hate to shut down the website right now, but gonna have to so I can concentrate on my sale. I'll be working on several new ones for my own sale, I'm making K-State, KU, and WSU leo's for my sale in addition to some new designs.
Brynlie had a blast in Kansas over the fourth. It rained for 2 whole days while we were there and she HATED the fireworks. She was scared to death of them!! The kids didn't care much about all the rain, we let them play and swim in the rain. She had a good time in the parade, riding shot gun in the jeep waving at everybody for blocks and blocks...oh I'm sure all the candy being handed to her helped also! She had fun playing with all the little kids and I found a great babysitter to help me out while I'm there working!
She continues to keep me laughing with the stuff she says. The other morning I was eating a oatmeal bar taking her to Gigi's, she said "what are you eating, Mommy" I said "an oatmeal bar", she said "are you going to eat all of it", I said "yes", she replied with "OH MY GRACIOUS!"
She went to her Daddy's house yesterday for a week, I was telling her how much I was going to be missing her, and asked her if she would call me, she said "yes, Mommy I'll call you on Wesday" I'm pretty sure she said Wednesday, but have no idea where or why that word was chosen. Regardless it was funny.
Her speech therapist said we need to correct her when she says things wrong but instead we just find ourselves talking like her.

Two of them = Twos of them
Tomorrow = Tomornin
All F's are B's = bowers (flowers), bireworks(fireworks), bip bops (flip flops). My favorite is "I made somting bor you"

Those are the only two I can't think of right now. I love this stage where people have to look at me and ask "what did she just say?"

Some of the pictures are blurry, but I am investing in an expensive camera in just a few weeks. I'm soooo over my 100.00 camera's! Not only do I need a good one to capture an active 2 year old, but I'm looking into having my own website made for the leotards and I'll need a professional camera to take pictures. Hopefully in the next few months I'm wanting to get a website built for the leotards where you can customize your own, pick size, color, style, applique and fabric and the website shows you what you've customized looks like before you order it! Genius right, but I can't take credit for that idea...have to hand credit over to Gigi. I'm excited, once my sale is over, to focus on taking the leotards to the next level and see what happens. I have a vision for both of my businesses but patients, money, and time seem to hinder that vision!




I absolutely love this picture. We were at a BBQ and 8 little girls were having a parade of umbrella's. They made a huge tent of umbrella's to sit in, you can see some of it behind Brynlie, and this picture was taken when Brynlie popped out of the "tent" with her umbrella.

ARD' MATEY!!

Each week at gymnastics through the summer we have a themed week. This week was pirates! As I gathered the materials to whip up a custom costume and went on the search for a sword and tattoo I realized I may be one of those moms that go a tad overboard! Hopefully she will have siblings someday so my time and effort isn't completely devoted to her and she won't stand out as the kid who's mom goes over-the-top with everything! But seriously look at this pic.....she needs to be modeling!! She ended up being so stinkin' cute in it I think it'll be our Halloween costume too!


We went back to the water park at Magic Springs on Saturday. I was trying to wipe off these little dirt specks on her cheeks and noticed they are FRECKLES not dirt spots! Hallelujah....she is a MINI ME! About a month ago, when we were outside in the sun, I noticed the tops of her hands are scarred with tiny dots. They are from her IV in NICU being moved around 100 times. I couldn't believe that it scarred her little hands like that, and seeing that brought back a whirlwind of memories. I am so very blessed to have such a healthy and beautiful baby!





She snuck out of bed last night, after panicking I found her playing in her playroom very very quietly. I shouted "Brynlie, what are you doing?" she got upset and told ME that I scarred her! I'm sure I did I was so happy to see her, but really it's not like she didn't hear me YELLING her name throughout the house until I found her. I can say one thing....it's NEVER a dull moment with her!

Happy Fathers Day! For Papa!!

And people don't believe me when I say you can often find us at home dancing in our skivvies! HA

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Big Fat Fun Day

I devoted Saturday completely to Brynlie, poor baby girl was needing some serious one-on-one time with Mommy. She had a birthday party to go to at Leah's gym Saturday morning, of course she had a blast just having free reign of the gym! Then we headed to Magic Springs. She surprised the heck out of me! She's been such a chicken about some things lately I figured we would go just walk around for a while, but she wanted to ride every ride she was big enough to ride. One she rode all by herself, which made me a nervous wreck! I didn't know she was going to go by herself when I went to put her on the ride because I had to go along all the other ones. She LOVED the carousal, we had to ride that 3 times. Next time out we'll enjoy the "big pool" as Bryn called it. After a nap we went to Gigi's house to swim a bit and have dinner. It was nice to get away from everything...housework, sewing, Rhea Lana planning, etc...and just enjoy a day with my little angel. It doesn't happen near often enough! Glad I got us season passes to the park!







Karleigh's Pinkalicious Birthday Party