reading, organizing, shopping, momming too close to the sun. Home is wherever the Army sends us.
Quick question today…do you subscribe to my blog using google reader?? It looks like my readers all suddenly disappeared and I have no idea how it happened. I'm thinking maybe it has something to do with my .com vs my typepad??
Any way, I wanted to ask y'all if any of you are reading this through Reader. Or if maybe you USED to read through reader but then your feed disappeared?
HELP!! 🙂 any advice/ideas would be greatly appreciated.
xoxo
s
harper's very first school picture. i notice two things when i look at this photo. how grown up she looks and how HAPPY she looks.
it's complicated, this mother/daughter dance.
i expect so much out of her,yet i don't want to project my expectations onto her or crush her with the weight of them.
she frustrates me so much because she is exactly like me.
all of the things i don't have patience for in myself, i don't have patience for in her.
the fact that she is high strung.
the fact that she worries too much about what other's think.
the fact that she wants to please others so very much.
she's very self aware…
the fact that she never ever stops talking and that all of her life is one
long
run-on
sentence.
the way she always wants to help SO much but sometimes just gets in the way…
she is me.
i have so many hopes and dreams for her. she will soar,this one. she's smart and observant, kind and generous. she's beautiful with a beautiful heart.
i feel so much pressure to teach her to respect herself,and to respect others and their feelings/wishes… but never to be a doormat.
these days are a bit rough. she's prone to dramatic fits of wailing, inconsolable crying.
because she's still so LITTLE but yet she seems so capable.
it's complicated.
i love her so much it physically makes my heart hurt. but she drives me nuts at the same time.
i have to be sure to always praise her, but not over praise her.
i make mistakes. i lose my patience with her. i snap. i coddle her. i have no patience, i have too much patience. i ignore her when there's really something wrong and indulge her when nothing is wrong.
it's complicated.
this girl made me a mother. we are learning together, feeling this thing out together.
but there's this.
at her kindergarten parent/teacher conference her teacher told me she is so smart and well behaved (except for a bit of talking out-again she gets that from me)…but above all she is KIND. she plays with everyone, befriends everyone, encourages everyone.
and also, there is this.
when she got out of the car today, she walked/pranced up the school sidewalk with a bounce in her step. i held up the carpool line for a minute…just watching her and rejoicing in the gift of her.
suddenly she turned, ran back to the car and motioned for me to roll the window down.
she yelled "I love you mama and i'm so proud of you!!!"
and my heart was calm in the knowledge that the two of us are doing just fine.
we are navigating this complicated, blind route just fine. and all the good times, good parts…well,they more than make up for the hard parts.
xxo
this past weekend was so much fun.
j had a four day weekend for veteran’s day…and the girls had friday off from school. friday evening we picked BB (my mom)up from the airport. to say the girls were excited would be a MASSIVE understatement. 🙂
we took her to b matthews for dinner. b matthews is on bay street (one street up from river street) and is a sweet little restaurant. there was a live jazz band and just a great,energetic vibe in that part of town.
saturday we headed down to city market. city market is the more touristy part of town (think paula deen’s restaurant, cobblestone streets,street bands,and horse drawn carriages). my mom had never been in that part of savannah and we really wanted her to experience it!
we sat in ellis square and watched the girls watch the fountains and dance. i mean really…wouldn’t it be awesome to be 3 and 5 and dance your heart out regardless of who is watching?
the big girls have wanted to go on a horse drawn carriage tour of savannah since we’ve lived here, and my mom decided to take them on one. this photo makes me laugh so hard i cry every single time i look at it. HAHAHAAAAAAA
still laughing. heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. okay. deep breath.
you may be shocked to know that we didn’t think taking two one year olds on a horse drawn tour sounded fun. so while BB toured with the bigs, we hit up the telfair art fair with the littles.
there were white tents set up everywhere, feauturing work of local artists (jewelry,photography,paintings). i think the babies enjoyed their first cultural outing. hehe!
saturday night j and i had a DATE NIGHT!!! yes, you heard me correctly. DATE NIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!! okay, sorry…i got a little carried away. but seriously…so blessed to have a mom who loves my girls so much and encourages us to go out.
we ate at ele, a thai fusion restaurant i’ve been wanting to try for months. cross one more off of my savannah bucket list.
it.was.incredible.
sunday we went to church,walked down habersham a bit (i’d like to live here please,thankyouverymuch).
and then had brunch at firefly cafe. i have no fabulous food photos or photos of the restaurant because….
i was outside. the entire time. with these rascals.
turns out that *they* were NOT in the mood for a leisurely brunch. shocking, no? 😉
sunday night j and i went to see moneyball. TWO DATES IN A ROW!!! score! 🙂 for the record, moneyball was fabulous.
and then monday i wrapped up a glorious long weekend by meeting up with my favorite ladies in the world for a baby shower (back at b. matthews).
i have to tell you that these ranger wives are the most amazing women in the world. strong, capable, funny,beautiful, and smart women and mothers. i adore them.
whew! it was FUN. so blessed to live in a place that we can have so many adventures! 🙂
have a beautiful wednesday!
xxo
double the “peekaboo” head stands
double the grabbing:
double the sipping:
double the pulling up on EVERYTHING:
if you want to know what i do all day…really only one word describes it.
chase.
i chase, i pick things out of little mouths, i pry things out of little fists. i run,i pull babies off of stairs and out from under tables.
and you know what? those little stinkers go in opposite directions every single time!!!
they sure are giving me a run for my money. and they aren’t even walking yet!! but we are dangerously close. 🙂 teetering on the brink of DISASTER!
and my hair? is a lot more gray than it was a year ago.
but i am also 2x happier and 2x more blessed.
happy monday y’all!
xoxo
1.come listen to me on this week's paperclipping roundtable. the topic is scrapbooking military moments. the fabulous elizabeth dillow was the other guest, and i just love her. please excuse my man voice and awkwardness…that's just how i roll. 🙂
2. thank you so much to amy perez for sending me a link to the joyful life library project. please go read about this amazing cause.
simply put:
We feel strongly that reading a favorite story to a child is an act of love that's comforting to the child and the caregiver alike, and is especially important when your life has been turned upside down because of a little one's critical illness. As a parent of a hospitalized child, you often feel helpless because there is so little comfort and care you can offer. Being able to sit and read a book, just like you would do at home, helps to make the entire family feel a little bit better. Because of this we have set out to put books in as many PICU's as we possible can.
how can that NOT just warm your heart and motivate you to GIVE? i plan to add a bunch of extra books to my Christmas shopping list and i hope you will too.
3.Like TinyPrints on Facebook and receive a free military card to send your favorite veteran (through November 15)!!!
4. love this image. more people could stand to live by this quote, don't you think?
that's it! i hope you have a beautiful weekend!
xoxo
s