Happy, happy birthday, Brennan

Our baby girl is 11!!

She's has spent the last weeks telling us every day how many days were left. This means either she's really excited or she doubts very seriously that we'll remember without her help. The real answer probably lies somewhere between the two.

How to describe Brennan to you...she's a mass of contradictions and temperament...

• She never walks when she can run, skip, spin, crawl, crab walk or roll to get there.
• She is the child most likely to be outside, riding her bike, playing basketball, up a tree, chasing a dog, befriending a stray cat, catching a lizard, digging in the dirt...
• Unless, of course, she's got a book. Then she can stay still for hours, literally. The one who can't watch a movie without spinning in circles also can't stand to stop reading a book. So, now at 11, she can read a 400 page book in a couple of days if we'll let her.
  
• Even though she's so excited to be 11, she would go back to being a toddler if she could.
  
• Thus, she loves being taken care of...snuggling, being held tight, grabbing a hug every time you pass by.
• And yet, out of the three girls, she's most likely to be reticent with people...even those she knows pretty well. (Notice the convenient clickable wording, Cassie? You're welcome.)
• She battles fear daily. She feels an overwhelming need to know what is going on in our lives on a detailed basis...definitely doesn't do well when we tell her to just relax and enjoy the day.
• But she's also the most spontaneous of our kids. She's constantly asking to do something spur of the moment. As long as she plans it, it's fine!
  
• She's not given naturally to crafts and art stuff...unless you can stand on your head while you do it or you make it while jumping on the trampoline...it never occurs to her that you can just get a box and think of something to do with your hands. That's our Aisley.
  
• But when she does decide that what Aisley is doing looks like fun, she never makes just one. Thus for a while origami swans turned up everywhere...followed shortly by popup cards for everyone, just to say hello. Then it was anagrams of everyone's names. Then snowflake after snowflake after snowflake. Meanwhile, Aisley has made her one card and is off.
• But this energetic child has also been our sickest this year. All told, she probably missed more than 40 days of school work due to one virus after another. If it was out there this season, Brennan caught it. It got so bad that her friends were surprised each week if she showed up for art class or choir.
• She loves babies and small kids...
• until she's done. And then she's the one who's quick to hand them back!
• She's blunt to a fault sometimes when you ask her opinion...
• but she's so quick to make sure that others don't feel bad when others offer their opinions!

For all these reasons and so many more that I could list, Brennan is a delight to us. Finding out I was pregnant with her was such a surprise given that I already had an infant at home who couldn't even crawl. I remember trying to figure out with many tears how in the world we could manage to have one more. Now, tears come to my eyes as I try to figure out how in the world we could have lived without her.

Brennan, we are so proud of who you are. You tug our hearts and make us smile. We are so grateful that God chose us for you and you for us. We love you so much more than you could ever know...and are so very pleased that He has chosen to give us these 11 years together. I can't wait to spend some one-on-one time with you next year since Aisley's going off to school. We can find our favorite spots on the swing...grab a good book and rock...really, really fast!