All about my 7 year old!

How has it been 7 years since Bria came into our lives?
Honestly, I can't remember life without her so part of me is shocked that it's only been 7 years. But the other part of me still remembers her squishy cheeks and sweet baby feet and can't believe she's a full blown little human who reads and writes and has opinions and stuff.

Basic Information for Bria at age 7:
Height: ? Forty-something inches, I'd say she's in the middle to tall category compared to her peers
Hair: Getting darker by the day but still has blond framing her face
Teeth: Her front teeth finally started coming in! It has changed her smile so much, she looks so much older

School: 1st grade and is doing really well. She has a hard time focusing and paying attention and her teacher said she often daydreams/spaces out. That was SOOO me. Poor girl has her father's ADD tendencies plus my daydreaming...but she is a great reader and loves science and history related things. Math is getting better but word problems really confuse her so we are working hard in that area. Overall her teacher is happy with her progress and attitude.
Personality: Empathy. If I had one word to describe Bria it would be empathy. The girl literally feels pain when someone else is sad, especially Brian or myself. For example, Brian scared her the other night (usually she thinks it's funny) and she was not having it so started crying. Brian apologized and went out to the living room. She came out crying and telling him how worried she was that she hurt his feelings for not liking that he scared her.
I'll let that sink in.
She was apologizing to HIM, for being scared when HE scared HER. This girl has all the feelings there ever were.
In addition to her endless empathy, she has the kindest heart. The other day I was reading in my bed and I heard a bunch of commotion in the kitchen. 5 minutes later, in walks Bria with a plate of food for me: peanut butter and butter sandwich, a marshmallow, and a glass of water. Why? Just because. I repeat, my 7 year old literally just thought I was hungry and thirsty so she surprised me with food. It doesn't end there, she wrote her first poem. I will share it with you now:

M is for merukl (miracle)

O is for osum (awesome)

M is for marey (merry)

E is for eksulint (excellent)

E is for ech (each)

Y is for you

love Bria

I LOVE her phonetic spelling. I believe we need to change the written english language to how my daughter spells things. I may have my Mom goggles on, but she's the best. Oh and she also brought her sister a snack.
Seriously? What did I do to deserve her?!

Just bringing a snack for her little sister too

For her birthday party she chose Pump it Up, a bouncey house place that's pretty incredible. They do EVERYTHING for you. I brought the decorations and they set it all up in the room while we were playing in the bouncey stuff. They funnel you through 2 rooms and the kids go crazy the whole time. They take pictures of all the fun. Then when they are sweaty and tired, you go into the party room where they have drinks and pizza waiting. Then they cut the cake and dish it out, all the while you get to watch a tv screen with all the pictures from the fun you just had.
They write down the present information while you are helping your child read the cards and acknowledge whom all the presents are from, and then load up a cart with all the presents, left over food, and roll it out to your car. They clean up the room and basically make sure you don't lift a finger. I felt like I was a guest at the party. It was fabulous and totally worth it.
Now that I finished my commercial, here are pics from the fun party:

Well, we tried to get a group shot, TRIED being the key word

Time to eat!

Princess birthday cake

7 years old

Her BFF, Ruby

Her other bestie, Presleigh

She loves Charleigh like a sister

Her little sis

Georgia, school friend

Parker, current crush :)

I'm so proud of my little human. It's crazy for me to think that I'm raising a real live human being. I know, that sounds insane but when I start thinking about her growing up and having a life of her own I start to sweat and pray that I'm doing it right. Parenthood feels like navigating a windy road in the dark, are we even doing it right? Is there a right way? Am I screwing it up so bad that I don't even know how bad I'm doing? Am I so awesome at it that I should write a book and create a series on best parenting ever? Am I so mediocre that it's like I don't exist?
There are so many opinions and articles and books on the right way to do this parenting job, but they all contradict each other and reading them makes me feel guilty for not doing all the recommendations but also guilty for doing other things. So I am officially throwing those thoughts out of my head, letting them roll off and trusting mine and Brian's gut instincts. We have our core values and those are what we will instill in our children.
Will we mess up? We sure will!
Will we succeed sometimes? Hell yes.
Will we love our kids unconditionally? Without a doubt.

So to sum it up for you: I feel so good, guilty, proud, discouraged, successful, hopeless, and fulfilled at this Mom job.
Sometimes I look at Bria and want to cry at how amazing she is. I love her so much it literally hurts. A huge shout to God, ya know, for blessing me with this incredible angel. Also, to my baby daddy for being the kind of man a girl can count on. You have rocked this Dad thing babe.

Happy 7th year Bria Boo!