My Brooker Boo!

We have successfully (well, almost, I'll explain later) made it through what I call Birthday Season at our house. My sweet little Brooklen Aleah aka Brooke, Brookers, Boo Boo and Monkey turned 4 years old today.

Brooklen was due May 18, 2006. Sean was working a second job doing private security which took him out of the country on occasion. Unfortunately, he was supposed to leave for one of these jobs on May 10th and would be gone for about 10 days. Given my history of going into labor early with both Jordyn and Maegan I wasn't too concerned. However, as my due date was quickly approaching and she was obviously not making her appearance I started to get a little worried. On May 8th I went in for a routine checkup when my doctor said I was dilated to a 5 and 90% effaced. He knew of the travel situation and decided to strip my membranes in order to induce labor. Which, just as a side note, that is not a pleasant experience. Later that night I started to have some minor contractions but they never really progressed into anything and eventually stopped. The good news was that he was willing to induce me the next day if the hospital had a bed available. So, on May 9th my mom came up to watch Jordyn and Maegan and I waited and waited and waited. Finally around 3:00 p.m. the hospital called and said to come in. My labor went fine until it was time to push. That's when Brooklen's shoulder got stuck on my pelvic bone. It was definitely a different experience to have multiple nurses literally on top of me trying to push her shoulder down. It took about 10 minutes of this before she was born at 11:09 p.m. and unfortunately her collar bone was broken in the process. Other than the collar bone she was a healthy 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 18.5 inches long and Sean left the next morning at 6:00 a.m. for his business trip.

Brooklen was an easy baby for the first few months and having Jordyn and Maegan a little older made things even easier. However, when she was about 4 months old things quickly changed. Brooklen was a mamma's girl and, oh boy, I was not used to this. She would cry the second I left the room or quit holding her. When I was trying to make dinner I would put her in one of those "saucers" that have all the baby toys and even though she was only 2 feet away from me she would hold her arms up and cry, and cry, and cry and cry and cry and cry and cry. Really, that is not an exaggeration. Let's just say that I got very good at finding creative ways to do my chores around the house with a little monkey on my back, hence the nickname. Today Brooklen isn't as attached to me but she is MUCH more open around me than anyone else. Even at the daycare where she goes 4 days a week she is still a shy little girl. The first day I took her to primary she cried when I left, which the other two didn't do, and even today she didn't want me to leave. She is also a smart little thing and can do simple subtraction and tell time. Both were a little shocking to me when she started figuring these out on her own. She writes her name and is constantly spelling all the words she sees. I have to keep doorknob covers on the pantry and my bedroom because she is a stinker and loves to sneak Oreos and get into my makeup. She also likes to dress herself and some of her outfits are rather interesting. I am so grateful for this sweet little girl.

Today she woke up to the birthday banner and we headed off to church. Afterwards her primary teacher stopped by to give her a little present. Because it's Mother's Day as well I had a little get together at my house for both occasions. My Grandma and Grandpa Madsen, Aunt Debi, Mom and Dad and Lisa and Jaxon came over. We ate dinner and then opened presents and had cake and ice cream. By the end of the day Brooklen was so tired she fell asleep and didn't open any of her presents for me so I guess I'll have to do that tomorrow night.

As for now, I'll just post some of the pictures I've taken of my little monkey over the years.

Her first bath....notice the bracelet on her right arm? That's how we remembered which side her bone had broken. When she was dressed we used a safety pin and pinned her sleeve to the shirt in order to keep her arm in the same position as a sling.


Playing with her baby in 2007


I hope no one cares that she doesn't have any pants on but you can't see anything. I found her one day in the pantry using the step stool to make herself a sandwich in 2008


Making cookies for Santa in 2009


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