Sunshine, lions, and creating a new little monster.

 

I love that after we had a nice long rainy period we were blessed with sunshine and warm weather. We took advantage of the sun by spending lots of time at the park and by having a picnic at the beach. Lily just loves the freedom of the beach and I love feeling like I’m on a mini vacation. Clark is kind enough to humor me by pretending that he likes going to the coast (but I think he secretly likes it!).  Here are some pics of LIl enjoying the sand

As we were heading back to our car a man walked by with the biggest dog I’ve ever seen. I think he was saying it was some kind of mountain rescue breed but we couldn’t stop laughing because Lily kept saying “Look at that lion! Look at that lion!” I love what comes out of her little mouth!

In preparation for the sun and the beach trip I decided to give myself a little pedicure. I usually avoid this due to the fact that Lily can’t keep her hands off my toes before they’re dry but I decided to give it a shot anyway. Unfortunately Lillian became entranced with the nail polish and has been asking me to paint her nails ever since. This is something I swore I wouldn’t do for a long time. Sorry to any moms who do this, but I think it’s kind of disgusting to see infants with nail polish on. Why spoil that little natural miracle with beauty products. Why would you introduce your precious little girls to the idea that they need something “more” to look better. We spend so much time worrying about looks that I want to delay the thought as long as possible. Unfortunately Lil’s persistence won out and today I painted her toenails a soft pink to match mine. She was SO excited and brought me different nail polishes throughout the day in an effort to get me to paint more. Luckily she was satisfied with clear polish on her hands so I didn’t have to feel so bad about it. When she put my shoes on later in the day I couldn’t resist getting a picture

So I’ve created a little nail polish monster, but hopefully hiding all of the nail supplies will help her to forget. I’ll just have to do my own nails in secret and keep telling Lil how much I love her little toes. I know someday she’ll grow up and I’ll get to teach her all about makeup and hair styling and (if her eyebrows are anything like mine) waxing/tweezing but hopefully I’ll discover how to do that while still making her feel beautiful. Hopefully she can have a strong confidence in who she is and what a wonderful little body she has. fingers crossed…

Rain, rain, go away…

I know I shouldn’t complain, but it’s hard being stuck inside for so long because of the rain. Poor Lillian has been going crazy without going to the park or getting to run as free as she wishes. It hasn’t helped that Clark and I have been under the weather and haven’t had as much energy to help keep her entertained. She has been finding ways to keep busy, however and I can’t say I’ve been too thrilled with all of her ideas.

She decided that playing in the bag of pancake mix was a good idea

 

She added a lovely mural to her bedroom wall with the help of a friend

 

I built her a fort but all she wanted to do was climb on top of it and refused to get inside

 

We did have fun during the thunder storm last night, however. We sat with the blinds open and would wait for the lightning to flash and say “Did you see that?” and then we would wait for the thunder and say “That was a big one!” At first she kept saying “smile, smile” and I think Lily thought the lightning was giant camera flashes. I love getting to introduce Lily to things for the first time. This was definitely her first thunder storm and I’m so glad she wasn’t scared and that the thunder stopped by the time she went to bed! Otherwise she would have kept popping her little head off the pillow to tell me what she just heard :).

Through the eyes of a 2 year old…

The past week Lillian has been allowed to play with our old digital camera, or “smile” in her words. She loves to be able to take pictures herself, be in control of the photo shoot, and to actually be able to touch the camera! It was funny watching her as she would take pictures and say try to sound like me. I would hear a soft little “One, two, three!” or “Hold still” or even “Look- so cute mommy!” coming from the other room while she was creating her art work. I am amazed at how quickly her little hands pick up and understand technology. She is a master on my phone and has no trouble navigating the camera or knowing which of the multiple remotes are required to turn on the TV. I love watching her as she explores and exercises her independence and confidence. I really feel spoiled with the wonderful child that I have and I am so grateful that I get to spend so much time with her- especially at the only time in her life where she’ll think I’m the greatest and wants to be with me all the time. That’s not to say I am always the most patient mother or don’t enjoy a little “mommy” alone time, but who doesn't…?

Here are some of the better photos captured by Lil’s little hands this week

 

I can’t tell you how many of the shots were of her fingers over the lens or of her cheek/ear/shoulder…

The REALLY amazing part was when she set up the tripod and got some wonderful self portraits and edited them beautifully! So talented!

Hang Time

While Dean was living with us we acquired a day bed from some friends. Even though Dean’s gone now we’ve decided to keep the bed to use for Lily whenever we decide to move her out of her crib. Until that change happens, though, the bed is being used as a launch pad for Lily’s tiny little feet. Not only is she going through a stage of wanting to remove all blankets and pillows from each bed in our apartment, but she takes the chance to jump on the beds any time she can.  We’ve been so fortunate as to only have had a few falls off the side of the bed, but even that doesn’t deter her for too long. I think my favorite part of the jumping is that she usually sings while she jumps and I can feel her joy. Here are a few pictures from a recent bounce session with Atlas. Lily was definitely the one getting more air…

 

 

 

 

We’ve also been trying to branch out on our movies. As anyone could have guessed by now, Lily is obsessed with Tangled. As much as I love watching that every day, I’ve been trying others out to break things up a bit. Lily has been pretty receptive to the new movies and has her own little names for each of them. She usually goes through the whole list multiple times a day trying to get me to say yes to one, and sometimes she is successful, but no matter what we watch or don’t watch, she’ll never forget to ask for Tangled. She’s coming along great with her words, but here’s the list of movie titles only I could interpret: 

Beauty and the Beast = B B Beast

LIttle Mermaid = Yittel Menain

she calls Monsters Inc. “Mike Wazowski” = My Owkowski

Hercules = Her Kittys

Kung Fu Panda = Pana Bear

Happy Birthday Clark

Yesterday we celebrated Clark’s 31st birthday. Clark seemed to think it fate that it happened to be on the first day of March Madness and therefore decided to stay home from school and watch basketball all day. And when I say all day, I mean all day. We turned the games on at 9 in the morning and finally turned them off at around 8:30 at night, and that was even before the last game finished. By 2 or 3 in the afternoon I was ready to pull my hair out from all of the games but I knew that would ruin the birthday fun so I stuck it out. Definitely one of Clark’s ideal ways to spend a day, if only he had done better on his bracket ;).  We had some pizza and cake and he even got a birthday song from Lily. I spent a good part of the day making fun of how old he is (I know it’s not that old…). It’s so great to spend time as a family and celebrate these special days together. We even got a visit from Clark’s brother Dean, who finally gave Clark ownership of the tie Clark’s been begging for and never actually returned after he borrowed it…

Here’s a pic after Lily blew out Clark’s birthday candle

How did 2 years fly by?

 

Well it’s happened. I have a 2 year old. As every other parent ever would say, it seems like only yesterday she was born and somehow a couple of years have already passed. Lillian had a fun day full of singing, friends, and “Tangled”. She was sung to twice at church and a few more times later during the day and I LOVE the fact that she clearly felt special each of those times.  We had a little party in the evening with her closest friends which went quite well. We had balloons, bubbles, Elmo cupcakes, and a bed to jump on, which is almost everything that makes little 2 year old hearts jump for joy. I couldn’t have asked for a better day for Lil, except for maybe turning on “Tangled” all day long…Speaking of which, Lillian now has just about everything “Tangled” that has ever been made and she is one happy camper. I am so happy her little obsession is with a movie that I quite enjoy as well. I’m grateful that she has such good little friends and especially that their parents are so much fun to hang out with as well! I’m grateful for this sweet little spirit that I have been blessed to take care of. And I am grateful that we waited until after this little shindig to have the carpets cleaned…

 

 

       

 

The Three Amigos

Sometimes that’s just the way it is…

Ever read the book “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”? Well that’s what yesterday felt like for me. Things went from bad to worse and then continued downhill from there. After a good night’s sleep, however, things returned to their normal pleasantness and I was able to get a better perspective on what I was struggling with. Days like this remind me how much I am grateful for my Savior. I am grateful that He knows everything I’m feeling and is always there to comfort me. I am grateful that I am never alone and that He can make my burdens light. I am grateful for answers to prayer and for strength and guidance found in the scriptures.

I am grateful for my sister who I can cry to and who can always help me to feel better. Who knows everything that has ever happened to me and therefore understands why things that happened years ago are relevant to my bad mood without needing an explanation. I ‘m grateful that she is only a phone call away (though I wish she was a lot closer than that…)

I am grateful for my husband who might not always understand why I am upset but always comforts me and does what he can to make me feel better. And I am grateful for my daughter whose sweet smile and funny dancing can always make me laugh.

It turns out one of the things that contributed to my bad day actually yielded a few gems. I was stupid enough to try to do a little photo shoot of Lillian at the park by myself and before nap time (and at a park with water and ducks…). When I finally got around to looking through the few pictures I had taken I was able to salvage a few and try to figure out a few more editing techniques. Next time I’ll definitely have someone to help me and will pay more attention to the million things that will distract or upset my little angel.

Here are the results of my mostly disastrous 2-year-old photo shoot :)