what. a. day.

Today is going to go down in Love Bug's baby book as the day she started crawling. She mostly moves backwards (cute as heck!!) but today, she actually got her little legs moving under her and crawled about 4 paces before falling to her belly. She was equally proud and frustrated. Proud she made some movement but frustrated she couldn't go further. Don't worry sweet girl...something tells me you will be moving like lightning before the weekend is over.

Bennett showing Love Bug how it's done

My morning started at 7 AM and has been non-stop until this very moment...and to be honest, I still have a couple of small things left to do to be officially done with my "to-do" list.

7:30 AM The Mayor and I were heading downstairs for breakfast and to get the day started. By 8 AM the first cake was put into the oven (and you read it right...first cake). By 9 AM, when the first cake wouldn't come out of the mold...the second cake started being made. Thank the good Lord the second cake came out of the mold perfectly and we were able to keep trucking through the list.

A HUGE thank you to Meega for coming over today and helping me with this list. She was here from 10 AM until after 4 PM and then she was back at 7:45 tonight and just left. There is no way I would have completed everything that was completed had she not been here. My sister rocks!

Anyway, cake, cupcakes, dips galore are all made and ready for the morning. There are a few items that need to be done in the morning (fruit needs to be cut and train shaped PB&J sandwiches need to be made) but other than that...we are ready to party!

The best part of tonight was when I was putting Love Bug down for night. I was rocking with her in her glider and while I was nursing her, The Mayor sat on the ottoman and sang songs to me and Love Bug. He sang "twinkle, twinkle little star", "ABCs", "wheels on the bus" and the theme song to "Thomas and Friends". It was precious. And totally made my day.

Can't wait for tomorrow...

any day now...

...this little beauty will be mobile. She is a pro at getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. And I am pretty sure before the weekend is over, she will be an official crawler. Can't believe we have gotten here so quickly. Where has my little wrinkly peanut of a newborn gone?

36 hours until The Mayor's birthday party and tomorrow is going to be insane. I have so much to do that I am having a minor panic attack just thinking about it....

...but that is ok. I actually work better under pressure. Meega is coming over tomorrow to help with the baking and food prep. The extra hands will be great but the company will be even better.

MeMe and Big Daddy are set to arrive tomorrow evening with Aunt Nat, Uncle Tom, Trey and Luke arriving Saturday morning. Gonna be a full house and I wouldn't want it any other way. I love that The Mayor will be surrounded by family and friends this weekend to celebrate the BIG 3!

too tired to keep trying...

sleeping in and catching up

I have a "to-do" list a mile long in preparation of The Mayor's 3rd birthday party this weekend. And if you know me, you know I LOVE making lists. I will write something down on my to-do list that I have already completed just so I can cross it off. Yesterday I made a list and outlined which tasks needed to be completed and on which day. Today's tasks were: grocery shopping, cleaning the house, making a dessert for our small group tonight (which was being hosted at our home) and making cupcakes for The Mayor's class tomorrow for the class snack to celebrate his birthday. I had envisioned getting a start on our grocery shopping by 9:30 AM, but when Love Bug was still sound asleep at 10:30, I knew we would be way behind schedule.

Sweet girl usually sleeps until 9:30 sometimes 10:00...unless I have to wake her up because it is a school day for The Mayor. And because she usually misses her morning nap on non-school days because we are going to play dates, I decided this morning would be about her. She didn't make a peep until 10:30 and that was ok with me.

She was all smiles while being carried around Publix in the Baby Bjorn and ready to go down for her nap the second we got home by noon. She slept right on through lunch and didn't wake up until 5:00. She got up, ate dinner and went back to bed for the night at 7:30. She was tired and catching up on her sleep.

I accomplished all of my tasks for the day. Tomorrow are more tasks to get ready for the party on Saturday...can't wait!

first time they both sat in the grocery cart together...made it to aisle 4 before she went into the Baby Bjorn

love this gorgeous girl

i love this boy

This sweet boy is the love of my life. And I haven't been the same since he came into our lives almost 3 years ago.

The past few weeks have been a little stressful for D and me. The Mayor seems to be embarking on the "terrible 3s" by testing his limits and being defiant. And honestly, I have gone to bed many a nights feeling beaten down. I have gone to bed upset about his behavior, upset at feeling like a failure as a mother, upset about my own behavior in how I may have handled him that day. The other night I spoke on the phone with a friend of mine who has 5 children all under the age of 6. And I was asking her how she does it...everyday, all day with 5 children when I feel like many days I can't get through with just my two. She told me within the past 2 years, she has had 7 friends who have lost a child, either through pregnancy or worse, losing their actual living child. And that when she is struggling with one of her own, she thinks about her 7 friends and how they would give everything in the world to be in her shoes struggling with their child...

And then she said something so profound to me. Our children are a gift from God...actually handpicked for us by Him and giving to us on loan. Our job is to love them, nurture them and raise them so they get to heaven to be back with our Savior one day. We all think of our children as a gift from God, but hearing her put it in this context, well, it literally brought me to tears.

We had this conversation only two days ago, but I have got to tell you these past two days have been two of the best days I have had as a mother. Not to say The Mayor is miraculously no longer testing his limits, there have been spankings and time outs in these two days, but my attitude is so different. And he is picking up on that and he seems to be happier too.

Within the past 48 hours, when I could feel myself starting to get irritated with The Mayor, I have had to remind myself about those 7 families who have lost their babies...and it has been like a "timeout" for myself. My disciplining has been so calm and he hasn't had any tantrums.

I love my gifts from God...and am so thankful that He chose D and me to be the parents of The Mayor and Love Bug. I promise to not take this gift lightly.

she's a rockstar

Love Bug got her driver's license today, and she was rocking it out in her convertible. She cruised around the kitchen until she was so exhausted she was about to fall asleep behind the wheel. I am loving this stage with her...everything is still so new but she is so aware and interactive with us. And I am hoping now that she has her own set of wheels that this will put her crawling on hold. Can you tell I am really struggling with letting my baby grow up?? With The Mayor's 3rd birthday just 8 days away, I really need my baby girl to stay a baby!

this is her new thing...she loves to tilt her head to the side and smile

what a perfect saturday

I could not have asked for a better Saturday. The morning started out cool and sunny...a great start to a fall morning. We knocked out a few errands that had been on our to-do-list and then hit up a Mexican restaurant for some lunch. It was a great lunch. Love Bug devoured her baby food while her brother devoured his plate of nachos. We didn't hear a peep from The Mayor for about 30 minutes while he ate, except when he requested his hands or mouth be wiped clean from the collection of cheese that had accumulated on him.

Because The Mayor took a 20-30 minute cat nap in the car while we were running errands, I made the executive decision that official nap time would be canceled today...due to gorgeous weather. After lunch, we walked around the outdoor mall enjoying the perfect day. Days like today make me so happy. A high of 73, sunny, a cool breeze, not one single cloud in the sky and the leaves starting to change colors on the trees. I just soaked in every single second while we sat in the courtyard and I watched The Mayor run from one end of the fountain to the other while D cuddled with Love Bug.

After running The Mayor ragged around this outdoor mall, we decided to give Love Bug a break and let her come home and take a nap. Poor girl was exhausted and quite the trooper by hanging in there with us and missing her morning nap. Sweet girl fell asleep before she laid her head down in the crib and didn't wake up until we finished dinner. And then went to bed for good an hour after that.

While she napped, we took advantage of one-on-one time with The Mayor and played in the playroom for hours. I think he loved having all of the attention and we loved dishing it out. But missing official nap time this afternoon made for one exhausted boy and he was sound asleep by 7:30.

Tomorrow promises to be the same for weather and we intend on soaking it all in.

toy story

The Mayor doesn't watch a lot of movies...he has his two favorites: "Cars" and "Toy Story" (excluding everything Thomas the Train). So when we had the chance to go see "Disney on Ice: Toy Story 3" we jumped at the chance! D worked from home and watched Love Bug so The Mayor and I could enjoy the morning together.

There was absolutely no traffic in Atlanta today and we were downtown in 30 minutes. We got there almost an hour before the show started so we spent that time walking around the arena and looking at all the Toy Story paraphernalia. See where I'm going with this? I have S-U-C-K-E-R written on my forehead. We rarely give into The Mayor's request for a new toy when we are at the store because we are bound and determined not to raise a spoiled child who expects something every time we are out...but today all rules were thrown out the window. I spent $20 on a Buzz Lightyear that spun around with lights on the end of his wings and $12 on a Rex the Dinosaur. He asked, he received. Luckily this is rare so he didn't know to ask for the whole kit and caboodle.

The Mayor was so interested in the first half...the second half, not so much. The second half really had to do with the Toy Story 3 movie (which he has never seen) and it had a lot of characters that he didn't know. So it lost his interest. And asking an almost 3 year old to sit through an hour and a half ice show with a 10 minute intermission is a lot. But he did great today. When he got bored, he asked to play with his light-up Buzz toy and kept saying "to inrinity and berond"...(he was trying to say "to infinity and beyond" - which is what Buzz Lightyear says in the movie).

Now we are home and he is napping. I love days like this...

with his Buzz toy

saying "to inrinity and berond"!

here comes Buzz!