Through The Eyes of a Two Year Old

There have been many things that have surprised me after becoming a parent. I'm surprised how much I can accomplish with little to no sleep (basically Lilly's whole first year). I'm surprised at all the little things that gave me anxiety (I'm guilty of misusing google). I'm surprised at how FAST she is growing and changing.

But one thing that has surprised me the most is that I learn more from Lilly than she does from me. My daughter teaches me more about life than I teach her. Have you ever seen life through the eyes of a two year old? It's pretty spectacular. It's humbling. It's innocent. It makes big things seem small, and small things seem big. 

Just the other night, I was getting Lilly ready for bed after a long, hot summer day. We went downstairs to let the dogs out and of course Lilly wanted to walk outside too. My inner voice was saying "great, this is going to take longer than it should", but being too tired to fight the tantrum that might happen if we didn't go outside with the dogs, we went and stood on the porch. I told the dogs to hurry so we could all go to bed... And then the sweetest little two year old voice I've ever heard said "ohh look at the stars mommy, they beautiful". And sure enough, there they were. Hundreds of stars twinkling in the sky.. And I saw them through the eyes of my two year old. Magical. Beautiful. Breathtaking. 

We stood outside for a very long time that night, just looking at the stars. 

Life is busy, and life is short, so thank you Lilly Bug for showing me how important it is to appreciate the simple moments in life. Thank you for showing me how every day things can still be beautiful. But most of all, thank you for allowing me to see life through your precious little eyes. 

Every Summer Has A Story

Sheesh...This summer needs to get a speeding ticket it's been going so fast!! We have been having so much fun. Our upstairs palace in my parents house is slowly becoming home for us and everybody has adjusted pretty well (yay!)... Even the dogs have become best friends. 

I spent the beginning part of this summer keeping my nieces while they were out for summer. That consisted of many pool days (yes, I mastered putting sunscreen on 3 kids and myself! Where's my trophy?), golf cart rides through the woods, ice cream, dress up, going to the park, and watching old school Disney movies. Lilly is obsessed with her cousins and they are actually very helpful with her too. They even like changing her diaper (score!!!). The girls started school last week (year round) so now it's just the two of us. We loveeeeee our visits with Ella Charles (aka the cutest baby in the world). Lilly loves her so much that she even tries to act just like her when we visit.. Stealing her paci's and everything... 

We have also spent some much needed time at the beach with our families. Lilly and Cole had a "friendly" competition to see who could pee pee on the potty the most! I think potty training is right around the corner. Oh boy! 

Lilly has really been enjoying her weekly gymnastics class! It's way too cute. They even play the Frozen soundtrack which takes it to a whole new level. She has mastered her front roll and pencil roll! 

Operation toddler bed didn't go over as planned... So Lilly is actually in the big queen bed in the room beside us with a bed rail. Our rooms are connected with a jack and jill bathroom which is the only way she can get to our room since her door is closed off. I have woken up twice to her staring at me in the face, even though the video monitor volume was on full blast. That has freaked me out so we are working on teaching her to yell out to us if she wakes up instead of getting off the bed. 

I spent a glorious girls weekend with my best friends in Wilmington this past weekend. It was so relaxing! We decided to venture out to a roof top bar Saturday night. You know you're a mom when they play "I'm Sexy and I Know It" and all you know is the Elmo version of the song. Such a fun weekend! 

http://youtu.be/dme9clldFts

So now we are just going to enjoy our last few weeks before I start work (teaching 2nd grade at Deep River Elementary!!!) and Lilly starts daycare. Maybe I won't cry this year..!? Yeah right, I'm about to cry just thinking about it. 

Slow down summer!! :) 

Daddy To The Rescue

We are officially all moved in with my parents! And it only took a little bit of blood, sweat, and tears! :) 

My mom came down last Wednesday to stay with Lilly and me. I used her car to get the last little bit of what was left in my classroom since it's a lot bigger than my car. She kept Lilly and cleaned the house which was a HUGE help. Then she drove my car back to Sanford on Friday so I could pack the rest of our stuff in her bigger back seat. I went to work for about an hour to finish up some last min things and to say goodbye to my fabulous coworkers. That was hard and so bittersweet. I am really going to miss Grifton. 

Mike came on Friday and once again Lilly was SO happy to see him. I am so so so glad that phase 1 of moving back home is over. Being away from Mike for 4 weeks was the hardest thing ever, and he absolutely hated being away from Lilly. 

We spent all day Saturday getting the house ready. Mike put the "For Sale" sign in the yard and spent the whole day outside cutting the grass and hauling off stuff to the dump. Lilly and I stayed inside and finished cleaning/packing. By 3:00 we had packed up both cars and were ready to hit the road. But there was one problem..... 

I couldn't find my moms car keys! I started searching every single place that I thought a toddler would hid keys (trash can, toilet, couch cushions, all the bags in the car..) until I decided that they were nowhere to be found. A quick phone call home confirmed my worst fear... The keys to my moms car were in her pocketbook.. Which was with her.... In SANFORD! 

Thank goodness Lilly was staring at me, because I probably would have NOT kept my cool as good as I did. And besides... How mad can I be at the lady who is letting me move in to her house with a husband, toddler, and dog... For free! She's lucky she's so great! 

Daddy to the rescue!! My wonderful dad jumped right in his car and drove 2 hours to deliver the keys so we could go home. I have never been so happy to see the Lee County sign in all of my life... And wine! 

We got home around 7 and I unpacked everything into our new room. It feels so good to not have to be apart from Mike anymore! We celebrated Father's Day on Sunday with both of our daddy's and didn't have to drive 2 hours back to Winterville. I could get used to this :) Life is so good. 

Home Again, Home Again

I've been waiting a while to write this blog! The short version is that Mike got a new job, our house is on the market, and we are moving in with my parents. Yes, you read that right! Operation move closer to home is in full swing! 

Here's the long version:

We have been wanting to move closer to home for a while now, especially since having Lilly. We had our house on the market last year but took it off after 6 months. Mike looked up jobs daily around the Raleigh area. Nothing much was really happening. He graduated in December with his Masters Degree in GIS from NC State. He applied for a few jobs that caught his eye and we just waited and prayed! He got a call from the City of Durham and had an interview over Skype. We prayed some more. Then he got called for a 2nd interview, this time face to face. A few weeks later he got the call that he got the job (hubby brag: he beat out 60 people for this job!!!) And that is when we realized that life as we know it was about to get crazy! 

Mike started his job 3 weeks ago so we have only been able to see him on the weekends. He is living with his sister and commuting to Durham. Our families have been so great during all of this. Lilly and I are still here so I can finish out the school year. This part of our new journey has been HARD. Thank goodness for FaceTime. Lilly has had a hard time not seeing her daddy everyday. This past weekend absolutely melted my heart when she saw him. She just kept pointing at him and smiling and wanted lots of hugs. 

I've really upped my cooking skills. Instead of making plain spaghetti, I've spiced it up and added cheese to it. Thank goodness for my friend Amy inviting us over for dinner and playtime with Emma! That was super helpful and super thoughtful. And Lilly loves playing with her Emma. :) 

The hardest part has been getting us both up and ready in the mornings and dropping Lilly off at daycare by 7 am. She's cried a lot while dropping her off. That just makes my heart hurt so much. But just a few more days of that and then it's summer break!!! 

So the last part of this new crazy adventure is that we are moving in with my parents until we can sell our house here. When I thought about moving closer to home, I didn't realize I would be this close! But I'm sure lots of almost 30 year olds with toddlers and husbands and dogs move in with their parents... Right? They have been amazing though. The whole basement has been turned into a playroom with Lilly's toys. It's kinda scary because we don't know how long it will take for us to sell our house, but they have done so much to make sure we are comfortable during this transition. And now I get to raid my moms closet and makeup drawer whenever I want! Right mom!!? 

We have also put Lilly's TODDLER BED upstairs at my parents house. I'm sure there will be a blog about this soon as we transition her out of our bed into her big girl bed! Oh joy! 

I've also applied and interviewed at some schools and will update about that when everything is "official". 

All that's left to do is find a new daycare and pediatrician for Lilly. Any recommendations would be great!! 

So this is our crazy life right now! My mom is coming down on Wednesday to help me pack up my classroom and Mike will be here Friday so we can finish a few things at the house before we are out of here for good and can be together again. So bittersweet. Tune in for the hilarious blogs to come about living with your rents, husband and toddler. 

God is so good. 

Roots and Wings

Lilly is getting too big too fast!!! Each day I am surprised by the new words and songs she sings, but also a tiny bit sad to see the baby in her drift away. It's like one big tug-of-war match and I'm on both ends! These are some things I love right now and some things I miss. 

Love- all of this wild hair!! And the few times she lets me play with it and put bows in it. 

Miss- her peach fuzz and wondering what color it would be. For a while we thought she might have some redish hair. 

Love- her new pj's! They start making nightgowns in 2T size and she has a Minnie Mouse one. So incredibly cute. And she never wants to take it off in the mornings. 

Miss- onesies. Especially when it's hot and I could just throw a onesie on her and let her play, not to mention how cute her little tush looked in one. 

Love- all the running around the house and the sound of her little footsteps. That is a sound that makes my heart smile. 

Miss- the only form of transportation she had was the boot(y) scooting boogie. Lilly never really crawled, but instead she would scoot around on her booty. That's my Lilly! Always doing things in her own unique way! 

Love- the way she uses her imagination when she plays, wether it's cooking me some food in her kitchen or pretending to be Elsa from Frozen. Let it go Lilly, let it go... 

Miss- just sitting down and holding her, or nursing, or letting her nap on me, staring at that beautiful face and wondering how I got so lucky. I still wonder that, but 2 year olds like to go go go in case you didn't know. :) 

Love- the way she can ask for things and tell me what she needs, like milk, or a snack, or to go outside. Ok, sometimes it's more of a demand but we work on using manners everyday. 

Miss- all of those huge milestones babies have during that first year, like sitting up, crawling, walking, eating, first words. I miss the anticipation of it. I know she has a ton of things to still achieve and I'll make sure I'm her biggest cheerleader! 

Love- being her mommy. I will always love this. She is our biggest accomplishment. Bigger and better than anything else we have ever done. I pray that we continue to give her roots to encourage her to be a good person, and at the same time, give her wings so she can soar. The other day she helped put a band aid on her daddy's finger because he had a booboo. I asked her if she was going to be a nurse and she said, "Yes, I be a nurse." ... We shall see Lilly! You can be anything your little heart desires... Just slow down a little please. 

Terrific Twos

We officially have a two year old folks! Your life is very busy with two year olds so I haven't had time to write a blog recently. We have been playing with all of her new birthday toys and watching Frozen (over, and over, and over....) I sing the songs just as much as Lilly does (I'm sure Mike just absolutely loves this!) :) 

The morning of Lilly's birthday I found myself anxiously watching the clock. I kept telling her what mommy was doing at that exact moment 2 years ago. And then it finally reached 8:47 am and Lilly was officially two!! Wow!! That happened super fast! 

She had a wonderful party and her best friend Emma came all the way from Greenville so that was very very special. First Baptist was an awesome place to have a party. There were tons of toys for them to play with and they ran all over the gym. Perfect for two year olds that don't sit still, ever! :)  

So two has been awesome so far! Our little busy bee is talking up a storm, loves to pretend play with her babydolls (she calls every babydoll Ella Charles), loves her Disney movies, and LOVES to play outside. She gets cutier by the second and she is absolutely hilarious. We are just really enjoying life right now with our Lilly Bug. And even though we don't go out to dinner much and spend most of our time chasing her all over the place, two is terrific! 

Bye Bye Baby

Welp... It's the end of an era folks. Lilly hasn't nursed since Friday morning. I knew this day would come, and I knew it was right around the corner, but this mommy is experiencing all kinds of emotions right now. 

Excited: I'm excited for all of the new ways Lilly and I can bond. She's finally letting me put her hair in pigtails. I can't wait to braid her long hair and play beauty salon, and all of the other fun girlie stuff we can do! 

Scared: I'm so scared my "almost" 2 year old busy body will not cuddle with me as much as we did while nursing. It's how we started our mornings and ended our days. I'll still demand she gives me 15 minutes of cuddle time or I'm going to throw a huge tantrum...

Sad: I'm definitely feeling this emotion big time. When I nursed her Friday morning I remember telling myself that would probably be the last time I nurse her. She wasn't nursing much anymore and she was going to be with my parents on Saturday so I had already decided to take advantage of that situation and start weaning her. I was going to let her nurse if she threw a huge fit about it but she hasn't done that so I know we are officially done. She has still asked a few times but quickly forgets. I told her they were broken. That part is breaking my heart, but I'm hoping she will stop asking in a few more days. 

Hopeful: I am hopeful that I will figure out how to soothe and comfort Lilly in other ways now. I'm sure I will figure it out, but nursing was always our go to when she needed a little extra loving and cuddles. 

Proud: Gosh I am so proud. Proud of myself. Proud of my husband. Proud of my Lilly Bug. I never in a billion years thought I would nurse her past a year. But she showed no interest in stopping and I enjoyed our time so much, not to mention all of the healthy benefits she still received from nursing. She made nursing easy right from the beginning and I am very lucky we never had many struggles. It might not have been easy at times, but it has been worth it. 

Surprised: I can't believe how big Lilly looks to me now that I have my nursing goggles off. Um, she's a toddler!!!! How did this happen!?!? She says sentences. SENTENCES. Like "I want some milk" or "lay down mommy" or "I want a pickle please". But in all seriousness, my little baby is a baby no more. She is a free spirited, blue eyed, blonde haired, stubborn, hilarious, sweet, and energetic 23 month old little girl who will be 2 exactly one month from today. She has made our lives so full of joy and laughter and I love her more than words can say... and she will always be my little peanut. 

*to those mommies who reached out to me over the past two years with nursing questions, I am beyond flattered and proud of you too. I hope your nursing journey, wether long or short, was just as special to you as ours was to me.