About Brenna Bear

My Brenna Bear--She's definitely my little "mold breaker".
Clara and Ethan were so similar in looks and attitude as babies, but not my Brenny.
Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. She is a very good baby, just very different.

1st off, mommy wanted Brenna's pacifier to be her best friend. It is definitely one of mama's best friends and worked well to comfort Clara and Ethan. Brenna had other ideas. She did NOT like the rubber plug from day 1. So, she is my finger sucker. Yep, she broke me. She sucks her two middle fingers shamelessly, but mainly when she is tired out.

LOVE that little smile hiding under there!

Then there's the reason for her "Brenna Bear" nickname. She has a favorite blanky bear. Actually, she has 2 {it's always good to have a backup ;) }. My other two were never really attached to anything, but their pacifiers. Not Brenna. Brenna's Boo Bear goes with us everywhere. It makes her happy, so in turn, mama's happy and everybody can be happy. :))

Sleeping at the table with fingers in mouth and bear in hand

Precious baby blue eyes

She really is a joy and the older 2 love her dearly. Sometimes they love her a little too much. As in, in-her-face and on top of her. But, she is already learning as the baby of the family to make her little presence known and voice be heard. Her shrieks are heard loud and clear when the others get a little to carried away messing with her or taking her toys. Overall, it is fun to watch her grow and able to interact and play with them more and more.

Giving Brenny some love

Happy Pajama Kids

Also, I think she is headed for anger management classes. Most of the time, she is a good-natured baby, content to play and keep herself occupied. BUT, watch out if she gets mad. She has been known to {rather violently} bash her poor little forehead into the floor. Which of course, only proves to make her more upset. Yeah, that is definitely something we are working on. Brenna and her means of self-inflicted torture. Crazy girl!

Then there's her crawl/scoot/jitter bug thing. I don't know what to rightly call it, but it's pretty funny to watch. Brenna would not want to be known as being conventional, so she invented her own way of getting around. She despised being on her belly. She did/does NOT want to stand. No really, when held up to stand her legs would go straight out in front of her! So, she sits and scoots using one arm and sliding her leg along the floor. Don't worry; it doesn't slow her down one little bit! She is quick as lightning! However, mama's thinking that it is about time to figure out this walking thing 'cuz the cold, dirty floor is not so good on the laundry or baby's bottom. I think she is holding out on me. One of these days when she finally decides the time is right, she's just going to hop up and take off and then I am going to be stunned and chasing after her! ;)

She's so full of smiles, ticklish spots, and baby belly laughs. Chubby cherub cheeks. Raven hair and blue eyes with flecks of brown/green. She is such a squishy ball of fun! I love my Brenny girl. She is so unique and special to me already. Can't wait to see the plans that God has for her life!

Lovin' on my Brenna Girl

Time continues to speed by around here--Friday we are moving all the stuff out of our house, the following Thurs. we are headed to see the parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends that we have missed so much. Needless to say, LOTS to do! So, going to try to do a couple of catch up posts today and then I will probably be MIA again for a while...you'll forgive me, won't you?!

A few weeks after Brenna was born the sweet ladies at my church had a baby shower for my lil' sweetie pie. It was a wonderful, relaxing time of food, fellowship and fun. Just what I needed to help me get through all those tiring days of paperwork.

All dressed up and ready to go!

No, they are really not that lumpy! LOL

Presents!

2 tiny sweaters

All the pretties

Bib Magnet Souvenirs

Yummy Cake

My dear friends

Candy "pacifiers"

Sisters

Beautiful Brenna

One of my dearest friends was not able to make it to the shower because she was dealing with her own sick baby, but she surprised me by bringing this to church--

It looks like a ginormous frosted cupcake made of diapers and 2 super soft fleece receiving blankets. Then it was decorated with tiny hair clips and ponytail "sprinkles". So cute!

And this sweater is the most precious thing of all...my friend Yanel's grandma made this sweater, along with some blue ones, for her future great-grandchildren before she passed away. But, so far, Yanel has 2 boys and no girls and so she wanted me to use it for Brenna. Isn't that super sweet?! I was very humbled that she wanted to share such a special gift from her grandmother with me and to keep my little girl snuggly warm. Such a kind and giving spirit! The Lord has truly knit our hearts together and I will sorely miss her and all my sweet friends at our church here. They have been so patient with us and have been such a blessing to me and my family. I always say that they are my Argentine family and they will always hold a special place in my ♥.

Life with 3

My how time flies...when your days are filled with a newborn baby girl, rough and tumble 2 year old, and an ever inquisitive and playful almost 5 year old. Man, that makes me tired just writing it out! ;)

Throw a whole bunch of running around doing paperwork into the mix and one after another the days vanish. Thankfully, although it seems to take us 2 days to do what should take us 1, we have everything in order for Brenna to take her first trip to the States in June. One {er...2 days} we worked on getting her Argentine birth certificate and document. Then we headed to the big city to apply for her Argentine passport (also took a couple trips) and then a visit to the American Embassy to get her American passport and certificate of birth abroad. Wheew! Of course, all these trips included dragging our 3 lil' munchkins all over the place to do a lot of sitting and waiting. To their credit, they did great! Maybe they are starting to get used to it?! We received Brenna's Argentine certificate and document and her 2 passports in the mail and are now set to travel! Praise the Lord! Dual citizenship is pretty neat, but a lot of work, too!

Of course, we tried to reward good behavior and stick a little fun in there, too. Brenna took her first trip to the park. I don't think she was too impressed, but we all enjoyed the gorgeous fall day. Another day we visited the brand new and only Wendy's in Argentina which had a ginormous play place for the kids to burn off all their pent up energy.

This is the life!

My pretty girls

Love that face, with button nose and perfectly pursed lips! ♥

Hangin' around

My 4 loves

Handsomeness

Not surprisingly with the change in seasons/temps. and the days of hurrying from one place to another to accomplish all this, the kiddos came down with lovely coughs and colds. It took a bit longer to reach to sweet lil' Brenna, but she too has been fighting it off. Even mommy and daddy did not get by unscathed. Thankfully, it has been lingering but not serious and I think that we are finally over all of that now.

This week we are happy to be at home and enjoying being a family of 5. Brenna is sleeping like a champ and starting to fill out her lil' cheeks and "bird legs" already. It is so amazing to watch the changes take place before my very eyes, although it always seems to go by too quickly. She is a content baby that has truly captured my heart. I am trying to enjoy every moment...watching her adorable sleeping form, listening to her breathe, feeling her snuggle on my chest, touching her soft skin and fluffy, dark hair, and overall being in awe of her beauty and tiny newness.

The older 2 love to shower her with kisses and talk about their "Baby Brenna". Clara is such a helper; always willing to retrieve things for me and help take care of her real live baby doll. As for Ethan, well, he has been nice and sweet and hasn't tried to attack her yet. Mostly, he is in his own little world of which she doesn't really have a big part so far. But, for now that's okay with me. Much less drama and problems. As she grows and can do more, it will be interesting to see how they interact.

In other news, with 6 weeks left before heading on furlough the packing has begun! Matt took down our spare bed in the office to make room for boxes and we are in the process of sorting, purging, stacking and stuffing, etc. It is exciting and overwhelming all at the same time. It feels a lot more real now and there's lots to do to make the remaining time fly by! Please pray that we can all keep our sanity and get everything taken care of, especially those last minute details that seem to sneak up on ya when you are movin'.

This is quickly turning into a book {or at least a long chapter} so, I will save the rest of my exciting news for another day. As a teaser, let's just say that we aren't the only ones in the process of moving around here. Can't wait to tell you more about what the Lord is doing. Until then...

Already Outdated Easter Pics ;)

Last pic as a family of 4 :)

2 (of my now 3) cuties on Easter

Adorable...but missing a lil' someone

39 weeks 4 days -- She was playing shy ;)

Me and my sweeties on Easter

See what I mean?! These pics are from just last week, but they are already outdated. They are missing my newest little peanut. At least from a more photogenic angle. ;) And the last month or so, I was all convinced that I would surely have my little Brenna girl before Easter and would be able to dress her up, etc.

But, I forgot one little detail. She is a female. As such, she has already begun the practice of arriving "fashionably late". Of course, her grand entrance was truly right on time, just the way that God had planned it. It couldn't have went better or more smoothly. I wouldn't change a thing. My labor progressed manage-ably and quickly and hubby was right there beside me every moment. My poor friend, Angela, got stuck holding the bags and never made it into the delivery. My doc. showed up about 2 min. too late. Brenna and I certainly didn't care. She came out to meet the world at 4:00 p.m. on the dot the day after Easter and mommy and daddy couldn't be happier. She's the picture of perfection with 10 tiny fingers and toes and a healthy set of lungs. She is finally nestled in my arms. All is right and good.

Here she is in her "almost Easter dress"

Sleepy smile! ♥

Introducing...

Dun, da, da, dun, dun, dun, dun...{Trumpets and fanfare inserted here!}

Much catching up to do soon...first I will start with sleep and snuggling my beautiful Brenna. You can't blame me, now can you?! ;)