The Sun Will Come Out...Tomorrow

I've been missing this happy face for the past week or so. I don't know what is bothering her (assuming teeth coming in), but she has been the crankiest unhappiest child lately. I think this is the most unhappy she has been in her little life. She has been crying and clinging to me and nothing, not even holding her, makes her happy. This has been very tiring for me too and quite a challenge to take care of the house and other responsibilities.
HOWEVER, today the little miss seemed more like herself and she played happily without needing constant attention. It was a huge relief and the day was so much more enjoyable. I was relieved to know that she still had that happy pleasant side to her after so many days of distress and crying.

Weekend Fun

On Saturday morning we went to a small parade downtown. It was pretty short and simple, but the kids liked it a lot. They got balloons, stickers, and candy, so that was fun. There were some craft booths and inflatables for kids there, so we walked around for awhile afterwards. It was a nice time. On Sunday night we went to a little fall festival put on by a church in our area. It was free and they had pony rides, hay ride, inflatable maze, slides, bounce houses, and a couple fair type rides. Aidan went on on of the rides. It was a big swing and he loved it! We were a little nervous that he would be upset, but he was thrilled and had the biggest grin on his face. I was just so sad that I left our camera at home and missed taking some awesome pictures.

The sweet things in life

I have been really learning a lot how to enjoy the small everyday moments with my kids, the wake up early in the morning and jump in our bed moments, the crying in the night and needing to be rocked moments, the needing to be held right now moments, the I just want you to read me a book moments. These moments are precious, they are flying by.

I am so grateful for fresh perspective. And a lot of that starts with prayer. I am finding myself sleepily offering thanks to the Lord at 4am while I rock a restless baby back to sleep. I smile instead of groan when little feet come padding into my room before the sun comes up wanting to "cuddle" in bed, which really results in giggling, bouncing, and talking. I cherish those moments of little voices asking questions and innocent hearts that need to be treasured and directed.

I know I still have a lot of growing to do and I am thankful that I am ever changing, moving more toward the mother I desire to be. There are moments that I certainly feel overwhelmed, guilty, and out of control. I respond harshly or forget to add a measure of grace to my discipline. I just flat out fail at making the right choice under stress. I feel disgruntled rather than blessed, stressed out instead of at peace.

Praying through my day opens my eyes to more of the little blessings. It allows me to see the power of grace in moments of chaos. It gives me strength to change one more diaper, clean up another spilled drink, or fish toilet paper rolls out of the toilet. It allows me to feel at peace in the middle of the night when I hear my children crying, or when I don't get that break I so longed for in the day. It awakens my soul to the beauty that is developing before my eyes, to the amazing revelation of God's goodness that is constantly before me.

My prayer is that my focus may always be on what is eternal, that my heart would be tender towards my children, that there would always be time for one more story, one more hug, and one more kiss. That I wouldn't base my reactions on feelings, but strive to put God and my children first. I want to look back on these years and know that I didn't just rush through them trying to get everybody potty trained and off to school. I just want to be in these moments...really truly in them.

Sweet and sassy

Mimi and Papa come to SC!

My parents came to visit us last week. It was so nice. My mom arrived Tuesday and my dad came on Friday. They stayed until the following Tuesday morning. It was too short.

Rocking together...sigh.

Zoo trip-feeding the goats!

Water balloon fun!

Chick-fil-a night

Wagon ride and cuddle time

Love this girl!

So sweet

Reading with Mimi one last time!

Here's a quick recap of all we did:

zoo trip, Chick-fil-a, kite flying, walks, garage sale shopping, reading books, frozen yogurt, Mellow Mushroom for Daddy's b-day, Cars 2, strawberry rhubarb pie, Settlers of Catan, good conversations

13 months

Sweet baby girl,

You are no longer a baby it seems, but so much so at the same time.

You are walking everywhere with much ease and grace. You are busy and want to be riding bikes and scooters with all the big kids. You love riding on the back of Aidan's "car" and bike with him. I think you are going to be a wild one.

You are still very easy going and content to busy yourself with toys. As long as you are feeling okay, you are so easy peasy. You are flexible and sweet, and love your babies more than anything. I love watching you talk to your babies and push them in the stroller. So sweet!

You are still not the best sleeper. Getting better, but there has been some recent regression. You are still struggling to take one good nap every day, but I am slowly seeing some hope for that. You also have started waking up way too early in the morning wanting to nurse. You go back to sleep some days and don't on others. I still nurse you to sleep for nap and bedtime, although if you don't fall asleep you are able to do so on your own after a little bit of rocking.

You are a cuddler. I wonder if I will be nursing you at 2 years old. We are still nursing 3 times a day. You love that time with mommy. You love to be rocked and held and often lay your head down on our shoulders and put your arms around our necks. Heart melts every time!

You are saying several words: Mama, Dada, Aidan, shoes, baby, thank you, step, dance, touch, fish, "e-i-e-i-o", hi, bye, hot, bath, this,"boo", thank you, woof woof, and I think you say drink. You also mimic all sorts of sounds and clap your hands. You are extremely perceptive and try hard to communicate with us.

You still love to eat. You enjoy having snacks in a snack cup and love to munch all day. If we don't share our food it makes you mad. You prefer to feed yourself and want to spoon it into your own mouth, not eat it from us. I like you independent eating habits because I am still feeding your brother most of his meals, so it  frees me up a little. :)

You are so smart. You observe the world around you with a keen eye and mimic what you see others doing.  It is amazing to see all that you pick up from just watching people closely.

You continue to love putting things in odd places. It makes me laugh to find toys under the stove after looking for them for days.

You have the best scrunchy nose smile and your hair sticks straight up. You are a cutie.

You had an ear infection recently and are teething so your neediness as of late has been exhausting. I look forward to the teeth coming in and returning to more happy days with you.

I love you Nora, forever and always.

Mama

3.5

My little buddy,

You are getting so big. It is hard to remember those baby days with you. And yet, this new little person is so unique and fascinating that I find it very exciting to see who you are growing up to be.

You still continue to have an unbelievable amount of constant energy. You are full of life and personality and have yet to find any embarrassment in being the center of attention (whether for negative or positive means). You are incredibly friendly and love having people around you. You cannot stand to be left alone and absolutely hate being on time out in your room. You are definitely going to be an extrovert. 

You are getting good at riding a bike and scooter. You are a daredevil and easily get right back up when you fall. I am amazed at your high pain tolerance. 

You are learning the art of manipulation and talking back. Wow! But, I am hoping to teach you to use your newfound skills in a more positive light. You love to find about 2 million reasons why you need to get out of your bed at night and often declare "I don't know how to sleep!" This is a surprise after all those easy nights of plopping you in bed with no more than a kiss and a quick prayer.

You love your blankie and thumb and I have no clue how that will change, but I know it must at some point.

You are still not an adventurous eater and could live on oatmeal and peanut butter and honey sandwiches...oh, and fruit snacks. You have become more willing to try new foods, but you still resist anything to do with cereal (even rice krispy treats), milk, beans, and most meat. 

You started preschool last month and are doing awesome. You love being around other kids and the environment is just what you need. You go 3 mornings a week from 9-12.

Your love for music is still very strong. We are seeing more glimpses of a future rock star. You definitely have rhythm and impress us often with your perception of all things musical. 

You are learning to be a good big brother. You are wanting to play with Nora more and hurting her less. You are willing to share and often give her big hugs and kisses. You love when she laughs at you.

You are such a blessing to my life. Thank you for being you. Even if it means I will probably be on my toes for the next 20 years.

Love,

Mom

Trying to find Fall

Here in South Carolina we are trying to find this thing called Fall. If you know where to find it, please let us know. ;)

Actually, the weather has been gorgeous the past 3 days! I was wearing a tank top and shorts on Friday and sweating at the park, and then it turned cooler and we got to wear long pants and jackets this weekend. We opened our windows and made homemade chai, and it was lovely. However, it looks like it is warming up again and we'll probably be back in shorts by tomorrow.

Okay, so a few random things...

Nora has this crazy hair and I don't know what to do with it

....can't put a bow in it and can't get it to stay down.

The neighbor kids started making this fort on the weekend.

 They spent hours and hours out there playing and Aidan

 joined in the fun. I think we spent most of our weekend outside...

Loving the cool weather so we can wear hats!

 This one is made by me and I'm loving it!

 Aidan has been into throwing frisbees lately. Love that kid!

We've been enjoying time spent with getting to know our neighbors. We spend almost every evening outside and the kids play and play until bedtime. Aidan loves riding scooters and bikes with the big kids and I think it has been a great outlet for all his energy.

I have been watching this little boy for a couple weeks now and it is going pretty well. They can all be a handful at times, but I have had two successful afternoons of getting them to nap at the same time, so that has been good.

My mom comes tomorrow and is staying for a week....CANNOT WAIT! My dad will be here on Friday and I also CANNOT WAIT!