On Life With a Toddler

Y'all? Two year olds are fun. And tiring. And dramatic. But, mostly fun.
Back in January, when M turned two, I had a bit of a breakdown. How could my teeny tiny baby have grown up so fast!? It's like she's practically an adult!! I cried for two days straight and may or may not have drowned my sorrows in a pint or two of Blue Bell. And then I was all, "buck up, J, and make the best of it!"
So, I changed my snot and tear stained shirt (ew) and went to play with my teenager two year old.
And, y'all? I realized that this stage is awesome!
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying my child doesn't suffer from the terrible twos every now and then, because, whoa, Nelly, believe me, girlfriend can throw a fit! I mean, full out, "fall on the floor, scream your lungs out, and spin your head around" kind of fit.
But, then she makes up for it with snuggles and cuteness. And funnies. Oh, man, is she a funny one!! Her personality is getting greater by the day, and it's so exciting to watch her learn and grow, and become her own little person. From potty training to learning how to ride her tricycle (she rocked both of those!), her little brain is just absorbing so much information. And it all amazes her so much. My heart swells with pride and excitement every time she sees something new. Her little eyes open as wide as saucers, and she lets out a tiny "Wooooowwww!" I never knew I'd be so in love with motherhood. I mean, I knew I'd love it, but I never knew this was secretly was I was meant to do with my life. She is, and always will be my greatest accomplishment.
OK, enough with the sappies, let me share with y'all some of my favorite M things and sayings.
Lately she's picked up this thing where she walks up to me whenever she's leaving the room, and says, "Be back, mommy, ok?" and she puts her little finger up like she's telling me one minute, and her voice gets a little higher when she says "ok". And then I giggle and die from cuteness.
She's also picked up a bit of an attitude. For instance, I'll ask her to put her toys away, and she does the "oooookaaaaaay" and does her version of rolling her eyes. Or she says "Whateverrrrrr, man". Not sure where she got that one. Or the one where she says "Oh, gawwwd" whenever she's annoyed. Full out thirteen year old sass, y'all. And I can't help but find it adorable.
Then there's Drill Sergeant M. She comes around whenever we take the dogs out in the yard. There's no chance of our dogs getting too close to the road, because little miss thang stands in the middle of the yard with her hands on her hips and yells, "Nonie Bug, get o'er here, NOOOOOW!" Or, "Ixie, 'ere are you!?" which translates to "Dixie, where are you!?"
And, finally, there's Rock Star M. She comes around at least once a day, and brings Rock Star Elmo with her. They set up their instruments in the living room and play a free show for us locals, complete with drums, a microphone, and a tambourine. And she throws in a little "Rock and roll, babeh!" at the end of every show.
There is never a dull day in our house. Even on days when she's sick, she still keeps a smile on her face and radiates happiness. My life is so much greater with her in it. I can actually say my life is complete. And, I've come to realize, that no matter how big she gets, no matter her age, she'll always be my little girl.

Life In Photos

So, all of you have heard of Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day Challenge that she did for January, right? Well, I just found out she's doing one for February also! I didn't hear about the January challenge until it was too late, so I'm glad that I found out about this one in time. Here's the list for February:

I'm so excited to do this! Here's how to play from Chantelle's blog: 

1. Use the list above as inspiration and take a photo everyday. For example for number one on the list, 'your view today' you'd take a shot of whatever it is that you can see today. This would be a wider shot of your office space, where you went for a walk, or whatever it is that you can see!

2. Share on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, your blog or where ever it is you want to share. If you're sharing on Instagram or Twitter use the hashtag #FEBphotoaday so everyone can find them. There's a great community around the photo sharing, so do share!

3. Check out everyone else's pictures. I do it before I go to bed each night and it's so fun to see how different everyone's photos are. There are people from every corner of the world playing.

I plan on posting them to my blog once a week, but you'll also be able to find them on my Instagram (@ohheyitsj) and my Twitter. If you're planning on playing along, please let me know, because I'd love to follow you! 

And if a month long commitment is a bit much for you, there's also a Quick Challenge that I'll be participating in sometime soon!!

Hope y'all have a sensational Wednesday, here's to being one more day closer to the weekend!

When Did This Happen!?

Y'all?

My kid is two.

I'm not sure how it happened so quickly, but suddenly, my baby isn't a baby anymore. She's a full fledged kid. It seems like just yesterday that we were welcoming her into this world. How could it have gone by so quickly!? I now have an opinionated, independent toddler living in my house. She wants to pick out her own clothes, she wants to give kisses when she wants to, and she has no problem giving me the silent treatment when I tell her that she absolutely cannot have leftover birthday cake for breakfast.

I look at her and see that she's growing up right before my eyes, and I don't even realize it until it's nearly too late. My heart swells with pride, but breaks at the same time every time she learns something new. Parenthood is going to be the death of me. "J passed away this morning at 8:45 am. Cause of death was a broken heart brought on by a child who grew too fast."

Don't look at me like that, I am not being over dramatic.

Anywhoodles, I just thought I'd drop in and share some of the photos from her Rhinestone Cowgirl birthday we had last Saturday. Thankfully, I only cried once during the entire party. Go me!

M and her favorite cousin, Cade

Blowing out the candle



M and her two favorite cousins, Cade and Reese

See? I told you she's a stinker. 

Pawpaw and M

Rocking her pettiskirt and pistol boots

"WANTED: For crimes of cuteness and random bouts of sass"

Her party wreath

This one kills me.

And now you know my child's name is Mylee. Don't tell anyone, m'kay? We like to keep our secret identities.

Overall, the party was a huge success. There were a few other things that I would have liked to have finished, but no one missed them.

And I'm already planning next year's party. But if someone could figure out how to make her stop growing, we'll cancel those plans and just freeze her in time.



 *I'd like to thank my friend, Misti, for the amazing photos of the party! She does all of our photos, and having her there to shoot the party made it so much easier on me!!

Where My Heart Lies

Today I am off to watch my brother graduate from college. This has been a long time coming, and I'm so proud of him for accomplishing this!!

So, since I'll be gone all day, I figured I'd leave y'all with these adorable pictures from our adventures last weekend! Between wearing the wheels out on the jeep, visits with Santa, shopping all day, and a night spent at Lights of Tejas, we were exhausted come Sunday night. But, I love the time that I get to spend with The Tot and Princess R, so I'll gladly take the exhaustion that goes along with it!!

Are you ready for some major cuteness?

I hope all of you have a fabulous weekend, and I'll see y'all back here bright and early Monday for my Week of Wish Lists!!

Weekend Wrap-Up

This past weekend was a very special weekend. It was filled with love and laughter, and we got to spend a lot of time with our family, which is always nice.

On Friday I surprised my sister with dinner for her birthday. I love how excited she gets when we throw a party for her. We went out to eat and had cake and presents, and she even got to dance while the staff were singing to her. I am so very blessed to have such a special sister. She always manages to bring a smile to my face.

The Princess addressing her people.

It took all she had not to tear into the cake the minute it arrived!

Obviously Baby Butterbean was ecstatic about the celebrations!

My beautiful sister and I.

Then, after spending part of the day at work on Saturday, we decided to get out in the heat and blow some bubbles!

Blow!

Blow harder!

Even Aunt Charla got in on the bubble action.

Then we decided that the colored bubbles worked well as a lipstick.

We took it a bit far when we got some up our nose.

Sunday found us at G.G.'s house (my grandmother) where Baby Butterbean ran around getting into everything all day.

But, despite getting into trouble, G.G. and Gran always spoil the kids, so Baby Butterbean was rewarded with giant lollies.

And then she wanted to take silly pictures of herself until it was time to go.

I always love weekends like this. We laugh so much that our bellies hurt, and I always leave feeling closer to my family. I never met my great-grandmother, so I love that Baby Butterbean gets to spend time with her's. My heart just swells with pride every time I see them playing together.

So, now you've seen our weekend, tell me about yours!

Must Be Doing Something Right

TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL

By Maya Angelou

We, unaccustomed to courage

exiles from delight

live coiled in shells of loneliness

until love leaves its high holy temple

and comes into our sight

to liberate us into life.

Love arrives

and in its train come ecstasies

old memories of pleasure

ancient histories of pain.

Yet if we are bold,

love strikes away the chains of fear

from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity

In the flush of love's light

we dare be brave

And suddenly we see

that love costs all we are

and will ever be.

Yet it is only love

which sets us free.

 

Five years ago, on a hot June morning, I married my best friend. Five years ago today.

 

In five short years we've experienced so many things. We've moved around like nomads, traveled as much as we could, fought like cats and dogs, loved harder with every day, cried many tears and laughed so much our bellies hurt. We've lost loved ones and gained a beautiful daughter. We've built a wonderful life together.

 

There were some people who said we wouldn't last. I was all of 20 years old, and we hadn't even been together a full year. But we knew we were meant to be together. I remember that morning as though it was yesterday. I remember the butterflies in my stomach, and I remember the tears of joy that ran down my cheeks. I remember looking into my husband's eyes at the end of the ceremony and seeing nothing but love looking back at me.

He's been a wonderful husband. He's cared for me when I've been sick, he's held me when I've been sad, and he's busted his back to give us a good life. Not to mention, he's the best father in the world. Our little girl simply adores her daddy.

There isn't anything I'd change about the last five years. I love my life that I've made with the man I married 5 years ago.

I love you, B. Happy Anniversary.

Mommy Moments

Happy Monday Lovers!

I'm a little late to the game, but I'm so excited to be hosting the May Mom Blog Tour today!

Basically, instead of celebrating moms for just one day this month, we're celebrating them all month long with a blog tour! There are some really amazing bloggers on this thing, so be sure and follow along. I'll include the link to tomorrow's featured blogger at the end of my post.

Now, we were supposed to write about something "mom related". I tossed around a few ideas for awhile, but settled on writing about my favorite memory from my last 16 months of being a mommy. And then I ran into my writer's block. Mostly because I couldn't pin point my favorite memory. There are far too many to count.

There are also the struggles I faced before I got pregnant. My husband and I tried for a long time, and had almost thrown in the towel.  They were so hard to go through at the time, but I look back now and realize that life turned out the way it was supposed to. All of that time that we tried and failed prepared us for what was coming. It made us so much more thankful when the test came back positive. It reminded me to be thankful when I found myself with my head in the toilet thanks to the never ending morning sickness. It made me completely hysterical with joy the first time I felt my baby kick. And it made my heart break whenever I heard a story about a woman who wasn't able to conceive.

Then came that January day. The day that my world changed. I welcomed my teeny tiny beautiful baby girl into the world. I knew I was ready. Her first cry, the first time she looked at me with her big blue eyes, the first time she wrapped her hand around my finger. This was my reason for living. She was my world.

Then came the "Ohmygah, I've got a baby, what am I supposed to do with this thing!?" phase. Thankfully, that didn't last long. She started sleeping through the night very quickly, and we settled into a pretty comfortable routine. There were a few rough patches, like the time she rolled off of the bed, or the time that I thought she suffocated. But, for the most part, the last 16 months have been a blast.

We've taken trips, spent a lot of time with relatives, and built a wonderful little family. And we've looked so stylish while doing it.

We've celebrated holidays.



We've played in the water.

We've been to zoos.



We had a birthday party.

We've eaten cake.

We've seen cute boys.

We've played at the park.

We've played with chickens.

And we've eaten lots of chocolate.

Bottom line, there isn't one part of motherhood that has been my favorite. It's everything all wrapped together. It's been the wildest ride of my life, and it's only just beginning. And the best part? I wouldn't change it for the world. Cause this girl:

is what makes it all worth while.

Now, be sure and check out The Truthful Mommy tomorrow for her May Mom Blog Tour post!