Easter Morning

We had a wonderful Easter.  As always I took a million pictures and I have a thousand things about the day that I want to remember.  With that being said I am breaking our Easter festivities into separate posts. 

Easter morning the kids awoke to a trail of eggs leading to their basket.  I just did a big combined basket this year from the Bunny since Mckinlee is still so young.  My kids are blessed with more than they will ever need, and I could not justify buying a bunch of junk just to fill 2 baskets.  Caleb was thrilled with the egg trail.  I swear the basket could have been filled only with Easter eggs and he would have been happy.  Each kid had a note from the Easter Bunny himself, and they enjoyed playing with the toys within the basket. 

Caleb was all about his chocolate bunny and kept saying "I eat my bunny ear",  which was a line from his favorite Easter book.  Mckinlee loved feasting on M&M's and watching her big bro.  Caleb participated in his very own Easter egg hunt, and he was diving around our house and running as fast as he could to find the eggs.  Such a little competitor. 

Nick then filled the squirt guns that Caleb received in his basket with water, and he and Caleb had a huge squirt gun fight.  They were running all over the house, and Caleb was hiding behind doors just poking his gun out and shooting water.  He was drenched by the time they were finished.  So cute.

After all the fun activities we had to rush to get ready for church.  Caleb stayed in the nursery and Mckinlee joined us for the service.  The service was great, but little miss was wild!

Lead Me to the Cross

Friday night my little family and I visited a local church for an Easter Musical.  Growing up my church always put on a big performance for Easter and Christmas, and I was looking forward to attending one again.  We had both children in attendance with us, and I was hoping that the music and performance would be enough to keep their attention, and it was, but miss Mckinlee was WILD.  She was clapping, bouncing, dancing, and squealing in my lap, and she was making my arms sooo tired!! After about 20 minutes of this I decided to let her stand in the aisle beside me.  She stood for a few minutes, danced and watched the performance, and then God spoke to me through my sweet baby girl in an awesome way. 

Jesus came on the stage to bring the dead boy back to life, and my sweet baby girl who does not walk, let go of the aisle, and started walking towards Jesus. She was moving as fast as her little legs could carry her, arms stretched out with a smile on her face.  I of course had to grab her and pull her back, but oh what those few steps toward her Lord taught her mama. 

My baby got it. She knew out of character on the stage that JESUS was the most important one. She let go of all her fears and inabilities and walked toward the Lamb of God. She didn't care that she was unstable on her feet, and still learning to walk. She let go, and trusted in the Lord, which is something her mama hasn't done whole heatedly in a long time. So many times I try to fix situations, I try to make excuses, I do not run to the Father with arms outstretched saying "take me as I am, take this situation as it is, I trust in you". It's amazing how God can take the smallest of chaotic moments and stir up a revival in your heart. I am so thankful to God for teaching me in that moment. I am so thankful for my sweet girl who openly embraced the love of Jesus, and I am so grateful for Easter and the gift of Jesus. It is my prayer that as my children grow I can teach them to keep that same faith. It is my prayer that I can be a good example to them of trusting in God. It is also my prayer that if I start to forget to trust that God will teach me through my children as he did Friday night.

Mckinlee 14 Months

My sweet peanut, you are a whole 14 months old today.  You are changing more and more each and every day, and it is all I can do to take you in.  You are such a sunshine to my life.

Mckinlee at 14 months:

Eating:  You are eating 3 meals a day, and you eat one large snack after your afternoon nap.  You have started eating peanut butter, and you have no allergy to it, thank God.  You still drink soy milk.  Some mornings you still nurse when you first wake up, and some mornings you do not want to.  You sign "milk" and crawl to me when you want to nurse.  You are down to one-zero nursing sessions a day. 

Sleeping:  You sleep 8-8 and you take one good afternoon nap from 1-3ish.  You have not taken a morning nap in 2 days, so you may be dropping that one.  We shall see.

Size: You are still a peanut.  You can wear anything from 0-3 months-12 month clothing.  You are in a size 3 shoe, and a size 2 diaper. 

Teeth: You have 6 teeth now.  Your top and bottom front teeth, and your top canines.  Teething so far has not given us much trouble.

Speech:  You are my little talker.  It is another thing that reminds me how opposite you and Caleb are.  You say mama, dada, Bella, brooerr (brother), chee (cheese), pleeezz (please), no, moorr (more), heyo (hello), nana (banana) and Caas (Cats).  You do not consistently speak as of yet, but all of a sudden you will just say random words.  You can sign milk, but you have not been too interested in other signs.

Exciting New Things:

• You smack your lips together and come at me open mouthed when you want a kiss.  You were doing it yesterday and saying mama, then smacking your lips and kissing me.  It melted my heart.
• You point your finger, shake your head no, and say "no no" to the 5 little monkeys song.  I will say what does the doctor say, and you will point, shake and say no no.
• You love to eat.  Anything and everything.  Bananas are your favorite
• You stand on your own all the time, and you take steps when you want to.  You can bend down and stand back up on your own without falling, but you refuse to actually start walking.
• You crawl so fast, and you love to chase Caleb.
• You are still attached to my leg, hip, chest etc.  I can not put you down or move out of your sight or you loose it.  You are such a mamas girl.
• You are not big on letting other people hold you. 
• You know how to brush your hair, and your teeth.
• You have enough hair for a small pony on top of your head now, but you hate having your hair fixed. It is a battle to say the least.
• You love to pull your bow out of your hair, crawl to me, and hand me the bow and smile.  STINKER
• You climb on everything.
• You can climb stairs, inflatables, tables etc like a pro.
• You have zero fear.
• You love to play on play sets. You get on everything.  You go down the slide by yourself and you know to go backwards.
• You are in a smack mama phase, and still laugh when I tell you no.
• You have started throwing tantrums when you do not get your way more so than you were before.
• You love to play outside.
• You fly in your walker.
• You love bath time.
• You rock your glider in your room and sing "roo laa laa" (rock a by baby).  So cute.
• You have become pretty obsessed with your Ellie (binky) this month.  She is always close by now. 
• You have basically turned blond, and your hair is soo curly.

Comparsion

me as a one year old

I love you sweet girl. I am so excited to see what adventures this month of your life has to offer.

Stay....

One of Caleb's favorite activities during the day is watching the school bus pick up/drop off children in our neighborhood.  He hears the bus screech to a halt, and immediately runs to the window to watch with amazement.  He loves everything about it, and he always has a million questions to ask me about it.  The other morning he made me stop dead in my tracks while watching the bus pass when he asked..

"Mom Mom can I be a big kid now and ride the school bus please"?

Oh sweet buddy, it has started.  I was hoping that I could keep you innocent and young for a few more years, but you have already started wishing your little life away.  Unfortunately, this is a process that will continue throughout life, and you will only realize what you wished away after it has already passed.  Sweet boy...stay young.....

You see once you are a big kid on the school bus it will no longer be so magical.  Gone will be the days of running through the house playing dinosaur, and fishing for alligators under the couch.  Gone will be the days of thinking that mama kisses and band aids heal even the most painful boo boo.  Gone will be the days of playing with trains, bikes, and water during the day.  Gone will be the days of your toddler hood.  Your sweet, innocent, perfect toddler hood.  Sweet boy this time is a blessing.  I know you do not realize it, but you bring so much joy to my life.  I love seeing the world through your innocent eyes.  I love spending every precious day with you.  I dread the day you are a big kid and board a school bus....then my "baby" will drive away with it, and I will be left wishing for those days to return.  Let's take in each day as it comes little man.  Let's run through the sprinkler one more time, lets pretend to be the biggest T-Rex and chase Mckinlee until we can no longer breathe, let's wrestle the alligators until they do not bother us anymore.  Stay young, stay innocent just a little longer my little man...please just stay my baby. 

The Good, The Bad and The UGLY

Today has been one of those days.  You know the Ugly ones.  I hate days like today.  I hate days where I literally feel as though everything is going wrong.  I especially hate them when I feel the need to complain because I know how blessed I am. However, it is hard sometimes to carpe diem every moment, and not have a little pitty party every once in a while...especially when your good ole aunt Flow is visiting. 

I read this article this morning and it made me laugh, cringe, and relate in more ways than one.  It is a must read http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/this-is-what-a-stay-at-home-mom-does-all-day-2522745.html?fb_action_ids=3233616810898%2C546448277815%2C10150764393385873%2C323340191053259%2C546407873785&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_source=other_multiline

I took a moment and reflected after this article.  It really made me think about my day to day life.  In my opinion mothers are super heros.  We are the biggest, baddest most amazing super heros to every live!! I swear we mothers could conquer the world by 10 am, but some how we more often than not end up feeling as though we have not accomplished anything by the end of the day. Especially on the ugly days.  You know the days that start out the roughest.  The days that begin at 6 am when your 13 month old decides it is time to play, you nurse her, and just when you get her to close her eyes and your breathe a sigh of relief your toddler enters the room.  Instead of cuddling like usual your toddler decides to bounce on the bed and yell catch me...only you cant catch him because you have a baby in your arms...her then falls off the bed and cries for FOREVER even though nothing is hurt.  At this point it is only 7:30.  You then have no time to shower even though you feel disgusting because of your aunt, and its off to make breakfast and work (nannying).  You then have 3 little kids to take care for, no patience, have not had time to feed yourself, and are praying for morning nap time.  Throw in a few diaper changes, tantrums, and short temper snaps on your part.  You look around your house and try to tackle the "cleaning", but begin to realize how much more you need to do.  You have still not eaten, you put the 2 younger ones down for nap, fix breakfast start to eat, and then your 13 month old starts crying.  You know the crying that means "I'm not gonna take a morning nap today mom", so you grab her and what was once your breakfast soon becomes a playground for a 13 month old to practice her self feeding skills.  In an effort to save the day you plan a play date to the park, but rain spoils that. Instead you have a friend and her daughter over to play, but you are in such a blah mood that you wonder if they will ever want to hang out again.......oh the ugly days.

However, as mothers we do need to give ourselves more credit.  We are amazing.  We have hard days.  We have nights where we go to bed feeling guilty because we were not the "best mom" that day.  We have nights where we go to bed with a clean house feeling wonderful, only to have to start the entire "cleaning" process over again by 7 am.  Our job is a never ending one, filled with bumps, moutain tops and valleys.  I love the good the bad and the ugly days of motherhood....they are all worth it when I see faces like this looking up at me.