Mommyhood Monday (on a Tuesday night) // News

Here is a special message from Lilly:

Could you understand that? It's the real reason I've been to sick/tired/slacker blogger... 

Little Miss Lilly is going to be made a big sister in June! We are so excited! I've been trying to remember to get a cute video of her saying she would be a "big seester" for a while but you know what they say about baby brain. She asked about Emily (my SIL) in the video because we facetime with she and the rest of Ben's family a lot. I love her uber emo reaction to me saying no. That is kinda the norm around here these days. Silly girl. Anyhoo- I am almost out of my first trimester so hopefully things will be picking up around here. I'm super happy to finally let the cat out of the bag because all day long I want to tweet/post/ig etc. about having zero appetite or a weird craving or whatev. So expect that now too. Eep! 

♥

Mommyhood Monday // Friends

I got this look from Lilly over the weekend and realized that I will FOR SURE being seeing it more and more as she gets older. The look clearly says, "Ok mom! (sarcasm) What ever you say, mom. (more sarcasm)." And while it is still cute at this age it is a good reminder that even though I sometimes wish Lilly thought of me as her BFF that isn't really how parenting works. 

Even at this stage in her life, I feel like all I ever say to her is no. "No! Don't eat that twig!" "No you can't play with that knife." "No ma'am, you may not feed your dinner to the dog." But that is my role for now. And even though it isn't my favorite role she has to understand that there are rules and boundaries. I also want to make sure that she learns to respect authority and to take direction. I have to remind myself that I want to raise my child to be an adult. But you know what?!? Sometimes it sucks! I get so sick of saying no all the time! UGH! That is part of the reason why we do things like paint in the tub because I want her to associate mommy with fun occasionally too. Can you say mommy guilt?

I thank God that I have such a smart toddler but for crying out loud could she stop looking for every loop hole to the rules I lay out for her. 

Turns out this post is more of a little therapy session for me then anything else. So... thanks for letting me vent.(insert awkward laughter here...)

♥

Family Portrait

How amazingly cute is this? Amanda from Pencils and Daisies whipped up this amazing family portrait for me. She is such a sweetie and a majorly talented one at that. One of the greatest things about Amanda's work is that she can piece together several photos which was necessary for me because I think it must be impossible for Ben, Lilly and I to all look at the camera and smile at the same time. And, not to be totally self absorbed, how amazing is my hair! Definitely one of my favorite parts. ;)

If you are in the market for a unique gift check her etsy out STAT!

♥

Halloween Pictures

Ok- They aren't really bad. My sister is my saving grace when it comes to pictures opportunities. I NEVER remember to take pictures at family events and she always takes plenty and sends them to me. I don't know what I'd do without her. Unfortunately her subject, Lillian, was not interested in holding still and we got started a little late so all the pics were taken in the dark using a flash. Better then nothing though! Thanks sister!!

The matching pink pants I found were WAAAAAAY too big and, of course, I didn't try them on her until that day, so went went for some cute black tights and a black skirt instead. I made the hat and tail, drew some whiskers and a nose on her pretty face and away we went. She totally got it. She would charge every house yelling "TRICKER TREATS!!!!!!" It was awesome. I got teary eyed more then once. Now if I can just get all this halloween candy out of my house life would be pretty close to perfect. ;)

♥

Mommyhood Monday // Noodle Nose

Hey Friends! If you follow me on IG or twitter you probably already know some of these things but, you know what? I'm going to talk about they anyway!

First, yesterday was my birthday! I spent the weekend relaxing and enjoying time with friends and family. I have eaten a lot of pizza and there is more left over in my fridge. I am a happy lady. 

sleeping with noodle in nose = snoring baby

Secondly (and really more importantly), Lilly sucked a noodle up into her nose last Thursday night. I don't know how it happened, I wasn't in the room at the time, but when I came back she was wiping she was wiping her nose fiercely. We thought she may have just got some garlic salt up there (it was on her noods) so I shot some saline up there and had her blow her nose and she seemed mostly better. As the night progressed though we noticed her nose was running a lot and that she was still uncomfortable. Welp. After closer examination- we saw the noodle. Long story kinda short- I called friends, looked online, tweeted about it and checked her nose over and over before deciding to try and get it out. We could see it after all. Well, the noodle was too soft and we couldn't get it with tweezers. That was good and bad. Bad because I couldn't pull it out but good because I knew it would continue to get softer and come out on its own. A few people advised that I take her to the emergency room. I didn't feel super comfortable doing that not being sure they would be able to pull the flimsy linguine noodle out so I decided to wait until morning. (didn't I say long story short...) She did eventually sneeze it out. It was gross. She was relieved. and now she talks about it all the time. "There a noodle in my nose. All gone." 

Happy noodle free girl. 

To be honest with you I almost rushed her to the er. The stress and anxiety I was feeling over that silly little noodle wanted me to use any means necessary to get it out of my life!! Oh, and out of Lilly's nose. But, looking back, I'm glad I didn't. I am a worrier by nature and I do feel a little proud of myself for letting nature run its course without having to put any more pain and discomfort on my daughter. So my words of motherly advice are these: A small noodle will probably come out of your child's nose on its own. Thankfully, God made our bodies work so that they can deal with those sort of circumstances. Phew. 

Baby Talk V.6

I don't know how much longer I can call this feature baby talk. My girl isn't exactly a baby anymore... ah, well. Here are some of the super cute/sassy things Lilly has been spouting off with recently:

1. Neck-a-nace: This is used interchangeably for necklace and Nicholas (a character in her favorite book).
2. Crock-a-tail: Crocodile. A new word for her (we stick to alligators usually) but she has a new book that refers to a croc. 
3. Don't: Alas, she has discovered a new word for no. She uses it a lot. In super fun ways like this: "Mommy, don't talk! No talking!" "Daddy, don't tickle me! No tickling!" It's way cool. 
4. Cant: Usually goes like this- "Lilly, you need to pick up the cheerios you spilled." "No, I can't." "Lilly, it's almost time to go to bed." "No, I can't." It seems to be her answer for everything recently. So I've tried to stop using the word all together which leads to some pretty in-depth conversations about motivation that probably go way over my toddler's head. 

I know there has to be a ton more but I can't think of them now. Hopefully I can remember to write them down in the future for better documentation. 

♥

Smudge: Attack Cat

You may not know this but I have a cat. He originally belonged to my sister but he terrorized her small dogs and house (she doesn't have a yard) so we took him. We have come to the conclusion that Smudge is basically a feral (non-domesticated) cat who chooses to come inside while it rains and accept food from us. Also, Smudge kinda loves Liberty. I took these pictures yesterday while I was throwing the ball for Liberty. Smudge like to hide in the tall grass (yes, we do have a lawn mower...) and then jump out and attack Liberty as she runs by. It makes me laugh pretty hard.

You can't really see him so I pointed him out.

ATTACK!!!

Smudge has also killed 2 squirrels, 2 moles and, most recently, a rat. He does not have claws in the front. He is available for hire. ;)

♥