We got it narrowed down to three. Choosing her favorite was easy.

There was difficulty deciding on the second favorite…..

This was her FAVORITE :)

I hope that you will enjoy looking at these as much as Brookie, Grammy, and I had making them. Her face is IN EVERY photo, some of them you have to look VERY close….have fun finding her:)

This is the author page and title page

and her dedication page

let the book begin….. (this first one is a little tricky – yes Brookie is in her chair – but she is in this picture twice….. ;)

The End…..

Leave Brookie a comment and let her know how you liked the book ;) I think we have a best seller here – but, I am a teeny bit biased!

There are eight girls in the second grade that have all asked to stay inside with Brooklyn (we keep her in when it is SUPER COLD outside) They each took it upon themselves to ask their moms to write a note and they each take turns having some one on one time with Brookie – They read, play games on the ipad, or sometimes even help her with her homework!) They have all formed a pretty special bond!

We had an “owl” theme, yes, that is an EIGHT candle. When in the world did I blink and lose like 6 years of my life?!?!

We decked out the living room, dining room and kitchen :)

Again, I am a HUGE fan of the window crayons and markers, the girls had a blast writing birthday messages to Brookie! (AND gives me an excuse not to clean the windows for a few weeks because they look AMAZING!)

The girls all learned how to draw an owl and turned them into cards for Brookie.

Didn’t they turn out so CUTE!?!?!

Group Photo!! These are some of the sweetest 7 and 8 year old girls you will ever meet! (yes, that is our owl pinata, yes, I know it is ridiculously big)

The girls were all very curious as to how Brookie was going to open her gifts ;) We decided that the best way would be for each girl to help Brooklyn open the gift that they brought for her- it worked out perfectly!

She got SPOILED rotten – I mean rotten, her friends got her SO MUCH great stuff!

Kady got Brookie LOTS of beautiful new hair clips – which the girls and Brooklyn thought would be supper funny to clip them all on at once – too funny!

It is IMPOSSIBLE to choose a favorite gift!

Marina got in some snuggle time while we were getting the pinata ready – is this the sweetest picture ever or what?!?! (I told you, such amazing friends)

Love….I love Brookie, I love her friends, I love that today was something Rett Syndrome did not take away from us!

Here is the MONSTROUS Pinata (if you are my friend on facebook, you already heard about this crazy thing!) Yes, they had smaller ones…no they were not this cute….yes it holds up to 10 pounds of candy…..no they should NOT make a pinata this size! (and no there was NOT 10 pounds of candy in there – I want the girls moms to allow them to come back!)

See…..Spoiled ROTTEN

Getting ready to unload at the roller rink (thank goodness Grammy was available to help drive some of the girls. I had to laugh because apparently some of the girls had already “called dibs” early last week at school on getting to ride in the van with Brooklyn on the way to the rink. (stinkin love it!)

Taking a quick skate break for a group photo (and Congrats to Emma T for WINNING the limbo competition TWICE today!)

On final picture of this very HAPPY Birthday.

*I need to give a HUGE shout out to my mom and my sister for their help with planning and organizing this party, and assisting today so that it went smooth! AND a thank you to Jon’s parents (Sam & Mary) for hanging out with Boston so the focus could be on the birthday girl!

I would say we are off to a good start with this years birthday…..is this the sweetest card or what??? It came home from school with Brooklyn.

“You are a great friend”

“I enjoy recesses with you”

“You are so true, that’s why I like you”

I think these are things ANY mom would love to read in a card to their child…..it might not move most moms to tears but yep, it did.

I did quite a bit of searching for birthday gifts this year but you know what – she already has the best gift – friends that love her…..birthday wishes like this from them is a gift for us both!

May brings three special days when it comes to Brooklyn. May brings Brookie’s birthday on the 13th  – which is EIGHT this year…..eight….where in the world did the last eight years go? It seems like only yesterday that I was holding that beautiful bundle of love in my arms. Which brings me to the second important day in May – Mothers Day. Brooklyn made me a mother for the first time – forever changing me. I truly did not know what love was until Brooklyn was placed in my arms for that very first time. But in that moment….I changed, I now had the ability to love completely, with my entire being, it was like watching my heart beat outside of my body. It is weird, my mom had told me she loved me probably a million times in my life – but it was not until I became a mother myself that I realized what those three little words meant when she said them!

Then there is the third big day in May. The 21st. Our Diagnosis Day Anniversary. This year marks six years since those life changing words were spoken “Brooklyn has Rett Syndrome.” Those words can still hit me like a punch in the gut, a punch that takes every last breath out of me. Don’t get me wrong – we are in a MUCH better place today than we were six years ago but I still long to have our cure – to get my little girl back.  To have another day to celebrate – the day that Rett no longer controls our life. It is hard sometimes – to have her birthday and diagnosis day in the same month – to separate the celebration of her entering this crazy world from the focus on everything Rett Syndrome has taken from her.

But today – as we start the month of May I choose to celebrate. I choose to focus on the awesomeness of my daughter and all the good that she brings to my life, all the good that she brings to this world and everyone around her. If you are reading this blog – help me celebrate my daughter, please leave a comment on how Brooklyn has changed your life.

Hello May……thank you for giving me so much to celebrate!

I wanted to share the stack of Brooklyn’s Purple Cards because her latest version were delivered yesterday. I am not sure if these are all of them, I might be missing one or two. I want to try to put into words what these cards mean to me. It is funny to think something so small can be a life changing thing. But these cards are just that!

They have made the numerous NEW doctors, therapists, & dentist appointments much easier. I simply include one with each “new patient medical form” that I fill out and ask that anyone that will be working with my daughter please read the card. It is amazing the difference this makes. I think the most powerful words on there are “I can hear you, I understand you, I am smart.” It is like reading those words encourage them to talk TO her and not just about her, to me. Now…..this is not 100% true – we all have those people we encounter that either:
a.) do not take the time to actually read the card
b.) read the cards but do not believe the words on the card or
c.) simply do not have the time or care enough to actually talk to Brooklyn.
It happens. BUT the majority of the time people thank me for the card and let me know how much more at ease it puts them with understanding Rett Syndrome and Brooklyn.

They have also had a HUGE impact during all of our hospital stays. I make sure I have a big stack – anyone who walks in the room gets one. (all nurses, nursing students, respiratory therapists, child advocate staff, heck, the cleaning crew!) I do this for a couple of reasons. Mainly, because I have seen over and over peoples attitude/demeanor change after reading the card. Again – they talk TO Brooklyn, they engage Brooklyn, and that is awesome. Also, I hope that it helps educated them about Rett Syndrome for future patients. Rett is still pretty unknown – who knows when another child might cross their path that is not diagnosed yet. They might notice some of the characteristics and help lead a family to a diagnosis. Because lets face it – while Rett Syndrome IS a tough diagnosis – having NO diagnosis is worse…Not knowing is worse. If one of our Purple Cards can help even one family in that way….well – there are not words for how awesome that is.

One of the best ways these cards have helped us out is with her peers. Every fall each child in her class received a welcome letter from me that goes to their parents along with one of her cards. Although, with each year – more kiddos already “know” Brooklyn, they all get cards anyway. It is a good reminder that Brooklyn is just like them. She is smart, fun, likes to play and hang out with her friends! This year I had a little girl tell me that she keeps Brooklyn’s card under her pillow so that every night she remembers to pray for her. Now – if that is not one of the best affects a card can have on someone, I am not sure what is.

Bottom line – these cards have changed our life – they have changed the way people look and Brooklyn, the way they communicate with her. I love them so much! Looking through them – at her sweet little face. I can watch her grow – and think about each year and everything that sweet little girl went through during each of those years. It is a reminder of how truly amazing she is! I know ALL moms are proud of their kids – I am certainly no except to that rule! She is truly my little hero!

We decided to try those “stick on” nail polish thingys - I figured they would be fun (and easier) since we typically have to paint Brooklyn’s nails when she is sleeping! (her hands are in constant motion and polishing a moving target is just a mission impossible!) I again was super happy to have Bree’s help. Although, I have to admit – I got the hang of these pretty quick!

This is Emma getting started on her manicure:)

The girls wanted to show off the finished project – I would say it was a smashing success! Three sets of sparkly pink nails!

We tried desperately to get a picture of all three of the girls together, smiling, looking at the camera but  that was tougher than I had anticipated (and yes, it brought me GREAT joy that it was not always MY girlie causing the photo taking trouble) turns out that ALL seven year old girls can be hard to give directions too – who knew?!?!? I swear Brookie WAS smiling most of the afternoon!

Another one of the cool things I found were window markers. I discovered these when I was looking for fun stuff to send to Brooklyn’s friend Sophia while she was in the hospital. The girls LOVED drawing on the windows (and mirrors) in the house. They wrote cool “i love Brookie” messages and did some pretty awesome drawings!  It was the first thing that I saw when I came downstairs this morning. It made me smile – scribbles of love for MY daughter – scribbled messages made by my daughter’s FRIENDS – messages that were drawn while my daughters friends were at OUR house hanging out after school. Moments like this seem so little, so insignificant to most of you reading this. Moments like this to me are huge - moments like this are dreams that I thought might never come true.

You  see……..a diagnosis of Rett Syndrome almost six years ago gave me FALSE worries that my daughter was different, that her peers would not accept her, not understand her, maybe not even (gasp) like her. It is moments like these that remind me that those worries, those fears  are so far from the truth! My daughter has amazing friends that accept her, understand her (most of the time – lets face it Rett Syndrome makes it tough for all of us! ) and not only do they like her – they LOVE her!

Brookie – checking out Emma’s fabulous artwork.

It is kind of hard to see the details – but you get the idea – and can probably get why these BEAUTIFUL windows were the PERFECT start to my day!

McKenna wanted a quick picture with Brookie before she left, I think Brookie was bummed that it was time for her to leave :( There was no getting a smile out of her for this one! I love that both friends were BEGGING to stay longer. They want to have a sleepover!

EEEEEKKKK :D

(a sleepover – a true honest to goodness sleepover – girls want to come over and STAY at my house with my little girl!)  Those fears I talked about earlier that I had when we got our diagnosis can take a flying leap!!!!

One final “project” Emma helped out with before her mom got here was recording Brooklyn’s parts for her second grade class play on her talker. Her class is doing the play “WackaDoo Zoo” – Brooklyn is in the “goats” group :) This particular switch is able to record four separate messages – which is perfect for each line of the play she has!

Thanks Emma for being Brookie’s voice!!

Last night was another night of Brookie falling asleep with a HUGE smile on her face. I of course could not tell you if I fell asleep with a smile on my face but I am betting I did! I know for sure my heart was happy!

***Hey Rett Syndrome – nice try – but Brookie wins this round – you can’t stop THESE girls from having fun!!

We decided to put two teams up at a time to let her make her choice. We knew this would be a fun activity for her to do with her college friends Lauren, Sarah, and Bre.

The girls are great at “reading” Brooklyn and knowing what she wants!

Sarah was THRILLED that she picked Ohio State (and promises she did not sway Brookie’s decision ;)

Yes folks….she DID pick the HOOSIERS!

Checking out her picks!

Stay tuned to see how she did……

After the “serious business” it was back to playing games :)

The All-Star :) Jackson

I love this picture because it looks like Boston is thinking about going in for the steal ;)

It is hard to tell in this picture but Brookie is sitting up on the bleachers all by herself – so I was telling her how proud of her I was!

Here is a better one of her (although she was not thrilled with the amount of picture taking.) I kept my arm behind her (just in case) but she was ROCKIN it! Her core strength is getting so much better!

Aleesha was at the game too – Boston LOVES her! (She is one of our Trine University buddies)

Jackson playing a little “D”

He shoots…..he SCORES! Jackson had EIGHT points in the game today!!

Jackson’s NUMBER ONE fan!

OK….is this not the stinkn’ cutest picture ever? I think these two are going to be the best of friends!