Happy Birthday Brenna: jennickels

jennickels

Happy Birthday Brenna

Nov 08, 2011 13:57

Nothing fannish to see here.

But there are a bunch of pictures of my middle daughter. Nine years ago I gave birth to my 3rd child in just over two years. My third c-section. Meagan was 2 (28 months--er, 2 years, 4 months old) and Owen was 13 months when she was born. And she was just the perfect little addition to our family.

And she was the littlest of the kids at birth. And she still holds the title after adding two more babies to the family. She was a tiny little 6lbs 15oz and 19" at birth. We called her "Squawky" because that's what she sounded like when she cried. It was more of a squawk. Over the years Brenna has had many other nicknames and currently answers to "Potato". She maintained the title of "the baby of the family" for three and half years before we added Nora and is now currently dead center. Poor kid. She has an older sister and an older brother. AND a younger sister and a younger brother. But she takes it in stride. She's the most helpful, kind and caring kid I've ever known. She'll go out of her way to make life easier for everyone around her. And she's strong and independent and smart and funny. And I can not believe she is nine years old already. Where did the time go?

I really don't know what I'd do without Brenna in my life. She was a life saver when I was pregnant with Jack last year. When I was no longer able to bend over she picked up the slack and cleaned for me. Every day after school she'd scrub the kitchen down and pick up toys and sweep for me. I rarely had to ask her, she'd just do it. Then, when she was done, she'd come over to me and ask if there was anything else I needed done. She was 7 1/2 years old. She is just amazing.

I wish I had more to give her today but, once again, money is tight. She takes that in stride, too. She's been habitually shorted on her birthday for years because it's so close to Owen's birthday and Thanksgiving and Christmas. There never seems to be enough money to go around but she never complains. This year we got her two movies (Marley & Me 2 and the Judy Moody movie). That's it. But my dad more than made up for it by sending her $100. We took her out on Saturday and she picked out a pair of jeans, a watch, 4 Bratz dolls, 2 Barbie dolls, a pair of funky socks and a notebook and pen for writing more fabulous stories. This morning I gave her all the cash I had on hand: $7. She was so excited.

That's Brenna. No matter how crappy life is she finds the silver lining. She is just so naturally upbeat and optimistic. The complete opposite to me. Which is probably good. We balance each other out. I remember when she was a toddler I was having a particularly bad day and was sitting on my bed crying when Brenna came in, climbed up next to me and put her tiny little hand on my back and told me, "it otay, mama, it otay," her garbled Brenna language. I'm sure I burst into a new fit of tears but she stayed with me, hugging me and petting my head until I felt better. No 2 1/2yo should have to go through that but Brenna handled it with more grace than most adults. She has always been my constant. She pulls me back from the edge with just her presence. She is just the most amazing person.