Brudders and Stuff

Mia's has officially become obsessed with her baby sister.

"I love our baby."

"I love my sister."

"She's sooooo cute Mom."

Cup runneth over like whoa.

Her new thing, however, is that she feels that because we have given her a sister, she would also now like a brother, actually a brudder to be exact.

It's cute, yes.

But first of all, I'm one of three girls, my sister has two girls and my sister in law has two girls.  The whole weenie thing doesn't seem to happen in my family.

Annnnnndddddddd....we've been officially official on the two kids and done thing for a while now.

They're awesome and sweet, but they don't sleep very late and I haven't slept in years and I'm tired and kids are expensive and our routine is nuts as it is.

So as much as I would like to give Mia another gift of a sibling, she'll just have to hang on for her next cousin.

Happy Turkey Week!

4

Mia Jane,

Today you turn 4.  I cannot believe it.  4 years ago this morning, at exactly 1:57 am, your Daddy and I welcomed you into this world for the first time.

You have been nothing short of amazing since that very moment and you have taught us so much about patience and understanding.  You've shown us the world through your eyes and that is one of the greatest gifts.

You are spunky, sassy, witty, goofy and oh so very smart.  You are an amazing big sister and you often tell us just how much you love her as you cover her in your hugs and kisses.

And your heart...it is as big as the ocean.  You care deeply for those around you and hate to see people sad or upset.  Your I love yous and those wonderful hugs you give are the best!  Your smile is contagious and your silly sense of humor is something I hope you keep around forever.

You're growing up too fast.  You're no longer my baby, but now my little girl.  You have changed so much in the past few months.  I'm not sure if it's because you are not in preschool or if it is just because you are getting older, but I want you to know something.  I will never stop telling you this...

Never Stop Being YOU.

You are wonderful, beautiful and perfectly sassy just the way that you are.

We can't wait to see where this world takes you, but I have a feeling you will go far...

I'm so proud to be your Momma Mia Jane.  I hope you don't ever question that.  I hope you know just how much you are loved each and every day.

And even though you are a little girl now, you will always be my baby.

I hope #4 is the best year yet.

With Love, Always & Forever,
Mommy

This Place

Today was a very big day for a certain little girl in our family.

I wasn't sad.  I didn't cry.  But I did feel a strange sense in the pit of my stomach last night and this morning as I thought about how we got to this place.

Just shy of four years ago, she made me a Mom and here we are today dropping her off for her first day of Pre-K.

There are moments where I just yearn for some quiet, some alone time, 5 minutes to go pee by myself, maybe a solo trip to Target.

But today I realized, once again, just how very lucky I (we) am (are).



Mia is amazing.  She's smart, social, happy, healthy and FULL of energy.  And her memory....it's outstanding and scary all at the same time.  She remembers so many experiences already.  If there was a way to bottle it up and sell it I would.



This morning my thoughts were on how quickly she's grown into a little girl, how my baby is no longer a baby, how amazed I was that she found her own name tag upon entering her classroom.

I can't believe I have a pre-schooler.  I'm pretty sure someone told me that they stay babies forever. Liars.

I'm so excited to hear all of her stories tonight when I pick her up.

I'm so excited to watch her grow and develop.  The girl could not have been more excited to put that princess backpack on and strut into school this morning and for that I'm elated for her.  I'm impressed by her ability to walk into a new and strange environment and settle right in.

But that pit, that pit is there.  That pit that tells me she's growing up and there is not a darn thing I can do about it.

Kids teach us so much about love, patience and life.  Watching them explore all things for the first time is such a remarkable process to experience.

Life, I tell you, is one interesting journey of emotions after another.

Ok life.  You win.

Let's Go Girls

There is no question Mia is and will continue to be an extrovert.  Hubs and I are too and it's great on so many levels.  I love that she will strike up a conversation with just about anyone, especially other kids.  She has little fear.  She loves people and bonds with other girls (because she doesn't like boys, including boy singers just so we're all on the same page) quickly.

This year we decided to officially get her in her first activity.  I've always sworn that I will never have my children in 5 activities a week where I am running them and me around in a bazillion circles during the week and the weekend.  We're trying one thing at a time.  Her first choice was dance.  Girl has been shaking it since she's been able to sit up.  She's always loved music.  It was a perfect fit.

I was a dance mom.  I even volunteered to be room mom.  Who am I????  We luckily had a class full of adorable, happy girls and only one crazy mom. She had a great year.   Even at one point told me she was bored of dance and was ready to move onto gin-nastics. For her age group, I understood their need for consistency but for Mia outside of being able to see ELEANOR and  RILEY (OMG MOM!!!! Each week she was so excited to see them, planning their visit, drawing them pictures, bringing them stickers, me reminding her this was not social hour) it was getting old quick.

Then came recital prep.  I wish you all could have been at watch week when her teacher spent 30 minutes talking about their hair and makeup just so you could have seen my Husband. Melissa, they're 3.  Red lipstick, eye shadow?  Trophies? T-shirts? Sorry honey.  Welcome to the world of daughters.

Mia was so excited.  Over the moon about her fancy outfit, her makeup, her spiral curls.

The day came and she did AMAZING.  They had tap and ballet, so we had the extreme pleasure of two performances. You know when you laugh so hard you have permasmile and your jaws and cheeks hurt?  That was the tap performance.  She was even chosen by her teacher to hand her flowers on stage at the end of the show.  Pretty cool honor for a three year old.  Even then, she was on stage shakin' it with her teacher.

I'm so happy she had such a wonderful experience.  I'm a little sad she's over it, but I'm excited for her to move on to the next thing.

Dance is now over.  But she still grabs the iPad for a little Taylor Swift (Trouble, Trouble, Trouble, ooooooooooo) almost nightly and her new thing before she starts?  Her announcement that she is getting ready to bring it?  LET'S GO GIRLS! Where in the heck does she come up with this stuff?

I love her energy and the light in her eyes.  Watching her learn and grow all of these new things daily is an amazing thing to watch.  I often find myself just sitting back and trying to take it all in.  This journey.  This life.  Her toddler days are short lived.  Each day goes back quicker than the last.

Another first in the books.

I swear she's going to be 13 the next time I blink.

The Countdown

Friday marks the start of the last full month of this pregnancy and I'm just overly amazed at how quickly this time has gone.

I'm trying to soak up my Mia time as best as I can.  I'm overwhelmed with emotion when I think about the fact that she is our only for just a short while longer.  It does make me sad, as she is my everything.  I struggle, as many parents do, with how I will ever be able to imagine love any greater than what we have for Mia.  How is that humanly possible?  I know that it is.  I don't question it.  We're just not there yet, so until I experience it I will struggle with that.

My daughter's heart is growing by the day and I do feel strongly that it's all in preparation for her sister to arrive.  She's making more room in her already amazingly sweet heart for her little sister.  She loves spending time in her room and indeed helped Daddy put up the crib yesterday.  She wants to do all things and help with all things related to her sister's upcoming arrival.

Even more so, she is always helping me.  Last night, I lied in bed watching the SAG's while she and Hubs put up the crib.  She came and checked on me often to make sure I was "ok."  She tucked me in 100 times, she gave me 403 kisses and told me she loved me more than I could ever count.  Does it get any better than that?  She's listening, helping out with chores, doing all the things we've been trying.  We even managed to give up the binky this weekend.

We're in such a good place, our little family.  It's a great feeling, especially leading into the arrival of our newest family member.

My heart is full and that's a really good thing.

I needed to feel like this.  I needed this past weekend to get to a place where I felt content and ready.

I wasn't there two weeks ago, but I'm there today.

We have a little less than 7 weeks to go until Baby W #2's arrival.

We're excited to meet her and we're excited for our next chapter.

Have a great week!

Three

Today, we celebrate this amazing girl.

Words cannot express how proud I am of her and how proud I am to be her Momma.

She is my everything.  There is nothing more that I look forward to than seeing her shining eyes and smile at the end of a busy day.

I always wondered what motherhood would be like.  I always knew I would be one some day.  But I never thought this experience would be as wonderful as it has been over these three short years.

I've learned so much and I've grown so much through motherhood.  Motherhood and parenthood have taught me so much about who I am as a person, my strengths, my weaknesses.

I've been challenged and so has my Husband.  We are always working on being the best that we can be because at the end of the day I feel strongly that is the best we can do as parents.  We can only do the best that we can do.  It may never be enough.  It may never be perfect, but that is ok.  This is life.  We are to learn and grow through this process, every step and stage along the way.

*******************

Dear Mia,

Today we celebrate your third birthday.  I cannot believe it has been three years already.  It seems like it was just this time yesterday that we were in the hospital enjoying you, our new baby.

Here we are.  So much has changed from that moment.  You are amazingly smart, witty and kind.  You never run out of hugs or I love yous. You love to talk.  You continue to be my shadow, everywhere we go.  You're my buddy and sidekick.  People continue to tell me how much you resemble me.  Lucky you :)

Each day you amaze me with what you know and if you know anything, you certainly know how to rock a dance party.  This is by far your favorite thing.  You've even started singing along to songs and I'm not sure there is anything much cuter than watching you sing and dance.  You know your numbers, letters, shapes, colors and animals. You want so badly to be able to tie your own shoes.  You show signs of independence.

You love to draw, color and paint.  You love your babies and have really started to love the Disney princesses, especially Rapunzel.  You love shoes, especially boots.  You love your socks, but mostly love to mismatch them when you pick them out in the morning.

You are so special to me and your Daddy.  You will always be you and nothing will change that.  Our lives will be changing in the coming months when your sister arrives, but I want you to know that you will always be my baby.

You will be such a great big sister.

I'm so proud of you and love you with every ounce of my heart.

I love you.
How much?
So much.
How much is so?
Way, way more than you know.

Always and Forever,

Momma

And Now She's Manning The Door

So Mia's newest "thing" is a 6:00 am wakeup call.  Not cool on Saturday and Sundays, but during the week it's not a major deal because I'm up anyway.

Girlfriend thinks it's play time and doesn't quite understand that I have to get ready for work so I try to include her in the things I do to get ready...we brush our teeth together, get dressed, if I'm curling my hair that day she gets a few curls in her hair, etc.

But this morning....she was not having the fact that Mommy had to go to work.

She came into the bathroom, shut the door and looked straight and me and said....

"Whhhhhhhhhyyyyyy?  I don't want you to go to work.  I want you to stay home wifff meeeeeee."

We've been trying to explain (as best you can to a 2 1/2 year old) that Mommy and Daddy have to work in order for us to have the nice things that we do.  Most of the time she has no idea what we are talking about but we continue to tell her this nonetheless.

So as I trekked downstairs to get my coffee, juice, water and breakfast bar for the road, she decided that she was going to man the door so that I couldn't leave.

She used all of her might to prevent me from leaving this morning.

"Momma, hug."  "Momma, kiss."  "Momma, I need to show you sumfing."

And then...

I tried to talk her out of my way.  I told her I would only be gone a few hours.

"Momma, you comin' home after work?"

Yes Mia.

"Yaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!!!" (as she runs the opposite direction towards her playroom)

PS.  Except on the very rare occasion I am home right after work 95% of the time, but whatever makes her happy.  That's all that matters.

Silly monkey.

Tweeps, Peeps and Everything In Between

I love to write.

I have a undergraduate degree in Secondary English Education and a Master's degree in Education.  I enjoyed sharing my love for reading and writing with kids for the three years that I taught high school English, but the politics and other BS were more than I could handle, so I chose to explore other opportunities outside of education...

I digress...

Writing has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember.

I just like to speak on paper.  After leaving teaching, I went from being consumed with reading and writing most of my days to very little of both.  And then came Mia and then I stopped reading and stopped writing all together.

Through a recommendation of my cousin, I started blogging in 2009.

I never thought that blogging would provide the connections and believe it or not friendships that it has provided for me.

Example.

Through blogging and Twitter, Gina and I figured out that we lived in the same city at a time when I was exploring a new gym to join.  Ms. Namaste herself encouraged me to join her gym and boom, that's how we met.

And through that relationship, I met (well I should say virtually met her via the internet, not in actual human form) Lindsey.

Since they are both teachers, they have a bit more flexibility with their schedules in the summer and had made several mentions of trying to get together for a day at the zoo with our kids.  As I've mentioned before our zoo here in the Lou is a amazing.

So we figured it out.

Last Friday we met up for a day of F U N!

All of the kids were so cute together and it was a great day to get to know these women even better.

Checking out the trees and bugs on the way in.

Cheese.

We tried at a group shot, but I kind of like this one better.

Petting the stingrays

Trying to keep all the kids out of the water.

Choo Choo Taaaaain, in the words of C man himself.

Choo choooooo

We ended the day with a little body art.

Girlfriend fell right to sleep. 

Her pick - the Pink Kitty - meeeeow.

Getting picture ready for sending a text to Dadda.

Night night kitty.

It's amazing how something can become something you never expected.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Time with my girl.

Time with my other girl.

Time outside with new shades and guitar bubbles from VBS.

Heading to the grocery in purple socks and red sparkly shoes.

Wearing Momma's shades because if I say no she will quickly remind me that we share in this house.

A whole bag of Haribo gummies all to myself.

Swimming lessons with Mia's BFF.

A man and his dog (why so fuzzy, no bueno).
It was just these two before Momma moved in (in sin, gasp).

Time to myself on a Sunday, curled up with a blanket, my Haribos and  the Real Housewives during naptime.

Seeing old pictures and reminiscing.
This is Mia and Kaelyn at their first swimming lessons together two summers ago.

Have a good weekend! I'm off tomorrow and will be busy playing at the zoo with Lindsey and Gina and their adorable boys!  Mia and the boys, should make for some great Instagraming tomorrow (melissaw13).

A Defining Moment in Motherhood

Since she was born, the words "I love you" have been a constant.  Not just because I felt like I "had" to say it, but because I wanted to.

I always thought it would be pretty awesome to be a Mom.  I always knew I would be one.  But until you experience it for yourself, you just don't know exactly.  You just don't.

The love for a child is so very different than the love I have for the other special people in my life.  I doesn't mean I love anyone more or less, it's just a different kind of love.  Indescribable really.

She is my everything, I will do anything for her, sacrifice whatever I need to, spend as much time with her as I can, she will always know who her Momma is and at the end of each and every day she will know and feel just how much love there is.

That is my hope.  That is what I strive for in the chaos of our every day.

Lately, she has begun reciprocating that love.  She's always been a big hugger and kisser, like her Momma is.  But lately, some pretty amazing things have been happening.  She'll just randomly say, "Momma, I love you" or "Dadda, I love you."  And by far, that has been one of the single, greatest things about motherhood in my almost 2 and 1/2 year journey.

It really made me feel like I was really doing something right.

I won't be perfect and I'll make mistakes, but any Mother can tell you that moment where you see the result of what you are trying to do, it will simply take your breath away (and possibly make you break down in ugly happy tears, but I stood strong).

I just can't get enough of my girl.  So much joy, so much innocence and so much love.

And we're still pretty new around these parts.

Wordless Wednesday - This Is Not A Joke