She's Only 2

My daughter is 2. My daughter is 2. My daughter is 2.

I've had to repeat this to myself a lot lately. It seems that, as a mama, it's very easy to view her as older than she is now that there's a newborn in the house. Yet...my daughter is still 2.

She is SO smart. Seriously. She's not even 2 1/2 yet, and she counts to 12, knows her entire alphabet, and even understands concepts like one thing being "better" than another. I mean, I know I'm biased, but she's a smart little cookie! This makes it really easy to forget that she's 2. 

We have just begun to venture out during the week as a little threesome, and it's gone pretty well. I haven't attempted the grocery store yet, but I'm sure I'll have to before too long. Last week, the 3 of us (Me, Allie, and Wyatt) decided to go up the block to the recently-opened Spray Park. Allie had {once again} taken a pretty short nap, and I had some afternoon time to kill before Adam would get home. She'd been asking to go back to the "Dripping Park" all day. It took about a half hour to get everything ready: swimsuit on, baby's diaper changed, toddler to the potty, snacks packed, sunscreen applied, baby's diaper changed again, drinks packed, toddler in the car to climb into her car seat, baby buckled in (and screaming), toddler buckled in, toddler's sunglasses lost, toddler's sunglasses found, towel and bag in the car...fewf. THEN, we were on our way. {Don't judge - I did drive to the Spray Park. I just don't want to get stuck walking the 15 minute walk home with a screaming baby at this point. He's only 5 weeks old. Gimme a break.}

When we got there, the weather was perfect. I found a spot in the shade for Wyatt and myself, and that's the first time she said it. "I want to go home." WHAT?! After all that?! And after she asked a zillion times to go to the "Dripping Park"?! "No, Allie, go play in the water. Look how fun it is!"

"No, Mommy. I want to go hoooooome!"

Hmm...how can I make her go play in the water? I'll go with her.

"No, Mommy! I no want to! I want to go hoooome!" This time, she was getting louder, and borderline crying.

Here's where the communication breakdown happened. She continued to get more and more upset. I told her that if she didn't calm down and go play, that we would just go home. She ran around in one little sprinkler for about a minute, and then came back and whined some more. I {with great frustration} put everything back in the bag, dried her off, got both kids back into their seats in the car, and took her home. 

The entire way home, she kept saying things like, "Yaaaay! Thank you for taking me home. We get to go home now!" I told her we wouldn't be going back to the Splash Park for awhile. I intended this as bad news, but for her, it was just what she wanted to hear. This made me even more frustrated! Why didn't she get it!? Why didn't she see all of the time and energy that it took for me to take her to do something so fun and special? Because she's only 2. No amount of frustration or reasoning with her was going to change that.

I brought her home, turned on a princess movie, and we just relaxed until daddy got home. Sometimes, there's just not much I can do in the way of convincing and explaining...because she's only 2.

My {Instagram} Week

Until I can get back to accurately posting my Project 52 photos, Instagram will have to do...

Blake came over last weekend

and took some *amazing* photos of our

family of 4! (I'll post them soon.)

Sweet Wyatt is starting to get on a bit of a schedule.

Morning naps have been the most successful part.

The little man after keeping mama up

for 4 hours straight the night before...

Favorite. Allie holding his hand while watching

cartoons. I can't wait to frame this one.

Brother sister play time!

Our first venture out of the house: a walk around

the block. So fun!

Allie always makes sure Wyatt has a stuffed

animal near by. I can't tell yet whether he loves

or hates this, but I'm sure we'll find out soon.

Last night: Daddy/Daughter reading time

before bed. Allie can't get enough of Eric Carle's

The Very Hungry Caterpillar these days.

So, that is a (rather peaceful) look at our 2nd week as a family of 4. I promise

it was a LOT more chaotic than it looks! :)

Life Before Two

I read somewhere today that once our sweet 2nd baby arrives, "I won't even remember life before two [kids]."

This post is to help me remember.

What do our days look like as a family of 3?

• Allie wakes up around 6:45. Yep, even on weekends.
• Adam is usually showering and getting ready for work, so I get her a "princess cup" of milk, and we wait until she can go tell Daddy good morning.
• Sometimes we turn on a cartoon, other times we turn on worship music. Some type of background noise is a must.
• Allie loves to pretend like she doesn't want to give Adam hugs and kisses when he leaves for work, so she waits until the last possible second. Then, she runs as fast as she can to the door yelling, "I need a kiiiiiss!" She thinks this is hilarious, and I think it's pretty cute myself.
• We always pray for Daddy when he walks out the door and leaves for work, then I start breakfast.
• Allie's favorite breakfast (if she even has one) is currently an Eggo waffle with syrup, and some sliced strawberries.
• I try to make it a point to sit down and eat with her, but sometimes there are dishes to be done, or lunches to be put together ahead of time.
• After breakfast, she usually plays in the living room for awhile while I get dressed and prepare for the day. She loves to play in our closet while I am getting dressed. So silly!
• By the time I'm actually presentable, she is most often begging me to "come play", and so I do.
• We play tea party, we roll the ball back and forth, she shows me how she and her menagerie of of stuffed animals can go down the slide. We read books. She "cooks" for me in her little kitchen.
• After some play time, we move into Allie's room so that I can attempt to pick out clothes for her without her refusing every outfit I suggest. Once she's dressed, and has told me several times how pretty she looks, we fix her hair. (Secretly one of my favorite things to do.)
• Allie plays independently or does a table activity (like coloring or Play-Doh) for a half hour or so while I get started on housework for the day.
• (Keep in mind, all of this is sporadically changed by loooooong potty breaks for Allie Joy, during which she likes to have some serious heart-to-heart conversations.)
• She "helps" me do chores, or plays while I sew until it gets close to lunch time. 
• Lately, we've been loving having little lunch picnics on the porch since it's been so nice out.
• Allie almost always asks if some random toy can come with her to lunch at the table. A princess magnet, a tube of chap stick, a stuffed animal, you name it.
• We always sit down for lunch together. 
• After lunch comes more play time, sometimes a cartoon, and some reading before nap.
• Ah, nap time....
• When Allie wakes from her nap, it has become our routine to make a picnic snack on the living room floor and let her choose a video to watch. It helps her wake up a bit, and she sits still to eat her snack for a bit. Then, we play, clean, and get ready for Daddy to come home around 5.
• When Daddy gets home, Allie is done with mama. She is such a Daddy's girl.
• Sometimes, Adam takes her straight up the street to the park to play for awhile and give me a break. It's so wonderful for everyone!
• We usually eat an early dinner around 5:30, and then sit in the living room and play with Allie while we watch TV until it's bath and bed time.

I love this season. I love this two-year-old age of our sweet, smart, silly girl. I love how predictable our days are. I am soaking it up like a thirsty sponge, knowing that in just a few days, everything will change. (And as one who thrives on predictability and schedules, this is a difficult reality for me to accept!)

A Day in the Life, Vol. 2

Ever just have 'one of those days'? Well, today (Tuesday, I started this draft before bed) was one for me. Fewf! It's 10:57, and I can't even believe I'm awake to type this (except that I had a monstrous glass of tea at dinner, so I'll probably be awake much longer than I'd like to).

Today is Adam's birthday. I'm big on birthdays. I love to do fun things to make them extra special. I celebrate the birthday, the birthday week, and yes, the birthday month. It was my goal today to make the day as fun and care-free for Adam as possible, even though he'd spend most of it at work. (I'll wait to post this until tomorrow, because I just posted my heartfelt birthday note to Adam, and wouldn't want to taint that with the "realities" of my day.)

Not to brag (ok, to brag a little), but I've been working very hard on being disciplined and working out every weekday morning for the month of March. After being at a baby shower until late last night, I decided that this week, I was going back to 3 mornings a week. So, today would be my first day to "sleep in" (until around 6:45) on a weekday in almost a month. Here's how my day began...

Alarm goes off. I knew Adam and I had set our alarms for the same time, but I didn't hear his. I figured he'd changed it - wanted to sleep in a little on his birthday - so I didn't wake him. I got up, went to the closet, and started picking out clothes for the day. After looking around a few minutes, I glanced up at Adam's bedside clock: 6:25 a.m.. My first thought was, "Nooooooo! My alarm was supposed to be for 7:00!!!" I'd set a later alarm, but neglected to turn off my earlier alarm. Ugh, how frustrating. I climbed back into bed - just because I could - and tried to go back to sleep for the next half hour without any success. Then, I had to kick it into birthday gear.

Though Allie didn't wake up in time to wish Daddy a happy birthday before he got out the door, I had fun giving Adam his birthday gifts. He saved his card from Allie to open that afternoon.

Allie was in a fair mood in the morning, but hasn't been eating well at all, and got crankier (and I'm sure hungrier) as the day went on, and her hunger strike continued. I could tell she was very tired, so I put her down for her nap at 1:30 instead of 2:00. Sure she'd sleep awhile, I settled in to watch some Netflix and catch up on monogram designs. 30 short minutes later, she was up. Knowing she was still tired, I went in to rock her for awhile and see if she'd sleep a little longer. After another half hour or so, one of our dogs came to Allie's closed bedroom door and began scratching and clawing as if there was a dangerous intruder in the house. Scared me to death, and woke Allie up crying in fear. Thanks, dogs.

Upon exiting Allie's room, I was punched in the gut by the smell of dog poo. Awesome. Maybe someone should teach my dogs to scratch on the door *before* they poop on the floor.

After cleaning up that mess, I decided to give Allie her evening bath early, so we could enjoy Daddy's birthday time when he got home. After I got her in the tub, I guess all of the running water got to me, and I was dying to go to the bathroom. No big deal, we're in the bathroom, right? Yes, my friends, but without toilet paper. Ahhh!

When Allie was cleaned up, (and I'd retrieved a roll of t.p., praise the Lord), I dried her off, lotioned her up, and reached for a diaper. NO DIAPERS! After a momentary freak-out, I remembered there was a new box of diapers in her closet. I placed my naked baby on her bedroom floor while I dove for the diapers in the closet, had to get scissors to open the box, all the while repeating, "Please don't pee, please don't pee!"

After the bath time fail, I decided to make brownies (to cover the poo smell, of course). I managed to spill some brownie mix, but hey, what are dogs for if not cleaning up my spills?

Brownies were finished just in time for Adam's arrival, the house smelled great, and Daddy's girls were ready to spend the evening celebrating his birthday. Fewf!

The Great Outdoors

So, Spring is here!!!

Allie has decided that she *loves* being outside. Front yard, back yard, morning, afternoon, evening, it matters not. She just wants to go outside all the time! It's been nice enough this week that I've been able to leave the back door open and let her wander in and out while I work in the kitchen or at the table. She has enjoyed this so much - and so have I! (Being a self-proclaimed "inside girl", this came as a surprise to me.)

Allie Joy loving her back yard freedom.

(Sorry this one is out of place, but she SO enjoyed spending the afternoon
outside with some friends a few Sundays ago...& of course, her uncle B.)

Beautiful girl playing on the porch.

My little observer. She loves finding little twigs, sticks, and rocks in the yard.

My view, sitting outside with Allie to watch Dada mow the lawn.

I love this. I am so glad I finally caught it on camera. She stands like this, in
this adorable "girlish" pose, all the time! No idea where she picked it up,
but I think it's stinkin' adorable. 

Waving to Dada as he mowed the lawn. She was stoked to be outside watching!

Dada & Allie waving to one another from across the yard. I love how much
they love each other.

A Grown-Up Dining Set

Our AMAZING new dining set! :) :) :)

Two weeks ago, I feel like I became a "real grown-up". Adam and I bought a brand new dining set!

In 2006, when we were engaged, we went to Ikea and bought a dining set. I remember being so excited about it. It was a table and 4 matching chairs, purchased for $100. Seriously. We have used that poor table and chairs absolutely to death. Our dogs chewed the top of one of the chairs, the $6.00 cushions were stained and cushion-less, and our family of 3 could barely fit our dinner on the table without it spilling over. It was a good little table, but it was time to *upgrade*! I've been dying to do this forever, so I was unbelievably (maybe abnormally?) excited when Adam gave me the go-ahead to start looking for a new dining set.

It was such a sweet God-thing the way it worked out. I had looked on Ashley Furniture's website, and just fallen in love with one particular set. It was just the color scheme I wanted, and just the right size. Unfortunately, Ashley's doesn't publicize their prices on their website. (Dumb.)

When we went to Ashley's to look around, the set I'd seen online was the very first one we came to. It was so pretty! Not only that, but it was within our price range! We were able to get the table (and extension leaf) and a set of 6 chairs! To go from the world's tiniest table to a table that fills our dining room has been so exciting! It has also made it much more apparent that we are outgrowing our current home...but that's an entirely different jumbled bunch of thoughts for another entry.

The good ole' Ikea dining set. It looks SO tiny now!

Allie's last snack time at the old table :)

NEW TABLE & BEAUTIFUL CHAIRS! (This is without the leaf. With the leaf,
it will seat 8 with room to spare.)

Allie enjoying the view from waaaaay down at her end of the table.

A Day in the Life, Vol. 1

I've discovered that the life of a homemaker isn't necessarily for the faint of heart (or stomach, for that matter). I'm hoping to be diligent about jotting down some of the unexpected, laughable, and just plain crazy things that happen in the life of this grateful stay-at-home-mom.

Volume 1: The Lizard

Lizard, gecko, whatever. They're all the same to me, and might as well all be komodo dragons.

So, one day last week, I was getting ready to go have lunch with some friends of mine from college. I was pretty proud of myself for being dressed and ready to go early, not to mention having Allie well-rested, fed, and dressed in plenty of time. I got my baby girl all snuggled into her car seat, fastened her in, and we headed for the garage to get in the car. As I lifted up her car seat to put it in the car, I looked down at her, and there was a LIZARD crawling up her arm. It stopped, as if it knew I was watching, when it reached the top of her shoulder. Trying not to completely lose my cool, I sat the car seat back down on the garage floor, and began rapidly unbuckling my baby. At this point, the lizard was scurrying across the back of her neck. I seriously get the "willies" just thinking about it. Yick! Luckily, Allie thought it was a silly game (probably because of the terrified, crazy faces I was making), and she just giggled and cooed at me repeatedly. Once I got her out, I dusted her off all over. I really wanted to strip her down to make sure that nasty reptile wasn't in her clothes, but I saw it jot over to one corner of her car seat. By this point (about 2 minutes post-Lizard-spotting), I took Allie back inside and put her in her high chair, because we were both starting to get a lovely feminine glow from the 100+ temperature outside.

Allie Joy in her lizard-free car seat.

Next, I did what any reptile/insect-hating wife would do: I called my husband. I'd carried the car seat inside, so that I could conquer the lizard without suffering from heat exhaustion, and I was depending on Adam to talk me through it. "Get the fly-swatter", he said. Fly swatters are, oh, about 16" long, I'd guess. Not enough distance between me and the lizard, for sure. Adam graciously listened to me whine in fear while I fly-swatted the lizard to death in Allie's car seat.

Okay, so now, what? "What do I do now? It's dead." I feared his answer, "Grab a paper towel and get him out of the car seat. Just throw it in the trash." What?!?! Seriously. No. I don't even want to do that with a roly-poly, let alone a lizard carcass. I tried desperately to scoop it up with the fly-swatter, to avoid the paper towel at all costs. It wasn't working. I was already going to be late for my lunch, and I certainly wasn't going to let my precious girl ride in her car seat atop this icky reptile. With my husband's encouragement, I used a huge wad of paper towels, and removed the lizard. GROSS.

I never knew motherhood would make me so brave.