Irelyn Jane, Gotta Love This Kid!

I know I say this a lot, but everyone really does need a Irey! She is one of a kind, fantastic!

With Reese coming soon (I hope) I keep wondering how Irey will adjust with a new sister. Some days I worry and get a lot of anxiety but most days I am confident that Irey will adore her little sister and will love the opportunity to "help" as much as she can. Anything that has to do with bottles, binkies, babies, etc. she is ALL about it! I figure, for the most part, she will love having a little baby to fuss over but I am sure there will be some moments when I have to take a deep breath. Mostly I am worried she will be hauling Reese around the house as if she was a actual doll. Irey is already bossy and mothering to her cousins who are her own age, it will be interesting to say the least how she does with Reese.

There truthfully isn't one day that passes that Irey doesn't have me laughing to tears. She says and does the funniest things and I really should be better at writing it down or recording it. She definitely has her own personality. Lately I have seen a lot of my personality in her, which is very scary. This kid jabbers to me ALL day long, non-stop. I figured I would get one of those but now I am thinking all my children will be this way. How could they not?!
Irey is a very considerate child. Any time she sees me folding laundry or washing the dished she says, "Are you getting that clean for me mommy?" and I say, "Yup!" and then she says very enthusiastically, "Oh, thank you so much mommy!" When I give her food or do her hair... there is very little that she doesn't thank me for! As a mom, you cant help but adore that quality!
Irey also will tell you I love you at least a dozen times a day or one of my favorites is when she tells you your beautiful or she says your adorable. One of my other favorite things is when you offer her something and she very sincerely says, "No thank you." Like she is a adult. I think Irey is one of those people with a old soul, because she act much older then she is!

I about cried when I signed Irey up for preschool this coming fall. She is SO excited for school and she keeps telling me that she is a big girl now and is ready for kindergarten. I TRY to tell her that she has to go to preschool before kindergarten but she doesn't care. As far as Irey is concerned, she is big enough for kindergarten. 
We also signed her up for dance in January. This has been a adventure. She was SO excited for dance class but then when we got there, she cried the whole time, which is very unusual for her because she is so independent. The next few times we went she got better and better. Now I can leave and she doesn't even cry. She has ended up LOVING dance. She shows me her moves at home all the time and wants me to do them with her. I always try to tell her that mommy's tummy is too big for some of the things she wants me to do and she most often lets me know that it's OK and her daddy can do it. I love that dad is always her back up plan, so cute!

Speaking of daddy, aren't these two so cute?! Irey is a mommy's girl and the closer I get to having Reese the bigger mommy's girl Irey becomes. I just can't help I am "Super Mommy", as Irey always tells me. But this mommy's girl thing breaks Brandon's heart. He ADORES this little girl and she knows it. She is already a little heartbreaker. Brandon is always worried that she doesn't like him because she prefers me... well little does he know that she talks about him all day like he is a super hero. Any time I tell her NO or I can't do something she will always tell me that, daddy will let her or daddy will do it. She adores him, she is just too smart to let him know how much.
Irey's favorite things to do with daddy is play hide-and-go-seek. They play it almost every day and I think it's the cutest thing in the world! She ALWAYS suckers him into telling her The Three Little Pig or Goldy Locks and the Three Bears (her favorites) before bed. I have loved seeing the daddy daughter bond and I can't wait to see what poor Brandon is going to do with THREE women! He is such a great dad.

My favorite thing in the world is to listen to Irey play. People always say the oldest child doesn't play well by themselves but Irey has such a wild imagination (a trait she also gets from her mom) that she gets lost in her room playing for a hour. I love to sit outside her door and listen to her play out a conversation that I had a few days ago, it's scary how much she listens and remembers! She will say things like, "Shhh, I am on the phone with my client." or "What product should we put in my hair." to name a few. She always tells me she needs me to watch her baby because she is going to school, Bunco, or work to name a few places in her very busy schedule. She loves to be a mommy and is very loving to her dolls, but sometimes they hit or say bad words and she is quick to put them in the "time out chair". Sometimes she wants me to go away and not bother her while she is playing and other times she will go get a book and tell me to read in her room whiles she plays. I think it's kinda funny the only time she thinks she can get mom to sit down is if I am reading. It's funny or just really sad.

This past weekend Brandon went down to Vegas to go see BYU play. Irey said all weekend, "Daddy went to see Jimmer make points." Yes, she knows who Jimmer is, just show her a picture and she will tell you. This poor girl is SO brain washed by her father. Anyways, while he was gone my sister-in-laws and mother-in-law all got together one night and we went and got pedicures and went to dinner. Irey LOVED pedicures. There was five of us girls getting pedis and Irey just went from person to person sitting on their lap and soaking her feet in the water. It was beyond cute how much she loved it! I think for her birthday Brandon and I are going to each do a one on one date with her and I know that my date will involve a pedicure because it was just way to cute to see how much she loved to just soak her feet in the water! Fortunately, her birthday is April 28th, so there wont be much going on with BYU sports so Irey might have a chance at something non-sports related for her daddy-daughter date ;)

Having Irey makes me so excited for another girl. What can I say, I guess we are just a girl kind of family. Brandon does great at playing barbies and making a big fuss when Irey wants to show him her outfits she put together. And lets face it, what would I do with a boy?! I am pro with hair bows and matching outfits. I say if and Brandon says when, but if or when we have a son I hope he comes with a brother because he will need the back up with TWO Blackwell girls bossing him around.