Lollie's Birthday!

  Today is my mom's birthday!! Merry Birthday to our Lollie! She isn't the type to want to do a big shindig or anything, but I think birthdays are so super important. Today, years ago, my mom was born. Without her, there would be no me, no Madelyn, no Lilah. Every person she has even had the slightest relationship is different in some way for having known my mom. That's weighty. And, when the Bible talks about being salt and light in Matthew ("You are the salt of the earth; but if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? ...You are the light of world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, so that it may give light to the whole house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven." Matthew 5:13-16), it's talking about my mom. She is light and flavor to everyone she meets. She is an example of encouragement and Christly love. She is kind and generous and stunning, inside and out. I am so, so grateful for her and her influence on my life and that of my kid(s).

   And, so, to celebrate without "celebrating" today--Madelyn and I did a project! We made her a card. (Please ignore her bed-head! :) )

 Priss was totally fascinated by the paint on her hands...getting her to open them up so I COULD paint them was a little difficult, but she ended up enjoying it.

 Daddy took the pictures today, so she got distracted by his camera. :) Which was actually a huge help, since it enabled me to manipulate her hands more easily.

She did try to eat the paint brush, but we rescued it before it got insider her mouth. :)

He Who Is Mighty

     I have a beautiful, strong-willed daughter who needs me like crazy. She is vocal, volatile, funny, sweet. She is a daily challenge. There are times  where I really have to remind myself to just "enjoy" the moment, whatever that moment is, because it's never coming again. Each minute is a fresh moment to build relationship with her, to pursue her heart, to help guide her, even at this young age. I pray often that I will be a good example to Madelyn, that I will shepherd her heart wisely. That she would see Christ in my life and love Him.

   She's had a day that's definitely been out of her routine today. She's spent much of it in the car, hasn't had her normal naps, and is still a little congested. She had been eating peaches out of her mush spoon, and they'd wound up in her hair and everywhere else. I was desperately trying to entertain her and still find her Daddy's jersey to wash before tonight's game. The house is a mess, with tile and trowels and old bathroom drawers everywhere, to say nothing of the clutter that my husband and I (both naturally...uhm,....poor, let's say, at housekeeping) accumulate. My Dad called this morning and needed me to take him to the doctor, quite unexpectedly...and then to the bank...and then to the pharmacy...and then back home. It has definitely been a stressful sort of day. I was rocking back and forth, and she wouldn't quiet. I closed my eyes and started to pray silently, pleading with God to give me some kind of patience or something to deal with all of the things going on.

  It was in that moment that I had my epiphany. Madelyn has never heard or really seen me pray. I've prayed so hard that I would be an example to my daughter--and my little girl on the way--and she's never seen/heard once of the most crucial things I could possibly show her! How can I later explain a relationship with Jesus to her, if she never sees me talk to Him? If I want to tell her that it's a daily walk, and a daily desire to know more about Him, and that knowing more means asking Him to show me more of Him, then how can I explain what looks like silence on my end away?

   I felt dumbfounded, absolutely struck. After a moment or two of stunned contemplation, I decided that was a situation that needed to be rectified immediately. I pulled her back and looked into those big, teary blue eyes and apologized, whether she understands what I'm saying right now or not. Then, I explained how important it was that we talk to Jesus, the man I've been reading to her about and telling her about. Then, we had a prayer time that was so, so sweet and comforting to my soul. She lay quietly on my chest while I rocked and prayed with her and over her and for her. I explained after how important it was to worship God--to thank Him and sing to Him and tell Him what an incredibly cool God and Savior he was, so we sang He Who Is Mighty.

   Thank God today for showing me an area I was definitely lacking, for having grace and mercy on me in that place, and for being the ultimate Parent and the ultimate Life-Guide and Partner.


  ((Sidenote: I'm super aware that these pictures have NOTHING to do with anything. I just like pictures in my posts lol.))

Balloon Bath Fun

  First, before you see any of the pictures, I have a confession. Madelyn fell off the bed last night, so if you see some bruising/scrapes, it's not the lighting, it's legit. And, believe you me, I am SO aware that it happened. I'm not sure who came out of the situation more traumatized--Madelyn or me. I think it was rough on the both of us. Thankfully, she doesn't seem to be hurt, other than the mild scrapes/bruises on her face and knee. The drop wasn't far, praise God, and she recovered pretty quickly. (I felt terrible about it, and I think I spent the majority of the night getting up and checking that she was ok...I woke her up a couple times, just to be sure. I think I got on her nerves more than anything else.)

    She's still a little fussy today, so I thought we'd do something fun as a treat for her. (And, to prevent us just sitting on the couch like logs, reading stories--fun as that is (and don't worry, we did that, too!)--and watching an episode of Little Einsteins--since I'm usually pretty anti-TV for her, that's saved for special occasions.) Still, my daughter is the active, loves new things type, so I wracked my brain for any idea that I've ever seen on Pinterest, Google, a Mama Blog, whatever, that would be special for her. The balloon bath seemed the most fun to me!

 That being said, we're still in the middle of the bathroom remodel, so I loaded her up and took her to my mom's. (Conveniently enough, Mom also has tons of balloons!) I filled the bath up with bubble bath and got her cleaned up first; then, I started adding balloons. At first, Madelyn didn't know what to think of them. I definitely got some odd stares. Then, she learned that if she splashed next to the balloons, they moved--and if she hit them, sometimes, they'd bounce up out of the water and around the bath water! Plus, I mixed up the colors so they'd be visually intriguing--and once she got going, she had a GREAT time. We will definitely be doing this again!

 I think the green balloons wound up being her favorite. She played with the other colors, definitely, but she would reach out and try to grab the green ones. The others were more of a if-it-was-right-in-front-of-her kind of thing.

 Madelyn LOVED pushing the balloons around the water. I loved all her expressions, from the "oooh, what's this" face to her bright toothless smiles.

I picked some of the balloons up and dropped them down (not a splash, seriously). Watching them go up and come back down was definitely a cause for extreme concentration, apparently. This is going to be a game we do more often!

Our Cuddle Monster--Guest Star: Mr. Owl

 Since it is Sunday, Daddy was home today. Granted, we had church and then my parents came over and helped us on our remodel, but we still a little bit of time to ourselves as a family. Much needed, I assure you. 

 At first, we played our usual on-the-bed games--things like "earthquake" where Daddy bounces her on the bed and makes odd noises, or got-your-legs/belly. But then, out came...Mr. Owl. Mr. Owl was a gift from Grandpa when we visited Cherokee recently. She was over-tired at the time, and, when it seemed nothing could console her, we found a puppet. It was an owl (obviously) that hides in a tree trunk and can be thrust out periodically with a "Boo!" Not much is that funny to her--and then, to add Mr. Owl giving kisses!!

 She finds him utterly delightful. She loves to hug him and chew on his...ear tufts?...and when we pull him back into his tree trunk, she grabs the edge and pulls it down to look inside. That's usually when Matt makes him jump back out with another "Boo!" and give kisses...especially since, if we don't do that, she grabs the ear tufts and tries to yank him out. She LOVES her Mr. Owl.

But, then, it started inching closer to nap time. Madelyn gets kind of stoic around any sleep time, and active games like Mr. Owl get thrown right out in favor of staring at you singing, or snuggles and kisses. And, I'm a total sucker for pictures of her looking to the side like the one above. She's simply gorgeous, no question. :)

One of the few acceptable pre-nap-time games, though, is got-my-toes, demonstrated by the obliging Chicken to the right. Toes are another thing that never seem to lose entertainment value!!

Simply love this girl!

Colored Ice

  Though the day started out a little less than promising--the forecast warned of storms, and, yet again, the clouds were heavy--it turned out to be warm and sunny! So, I got to try out the colored ice I made a couple days ago!

  For the sake of total honesty--Madelyn enjoyed the pasta bowl from yesterday more than she liked the ice. It proved difficult for her to grasp, and, of course, cold, when she could get a handle on it. Still, she loves the water, and she liked to splash and play in all the bright colors. (Admittedly, by the end, the water was all a murky green-brown color.)

 Before we started that, though, we played with the baby in the mirror for awhile.

  Madelyn loves the baby in the mirror. Today, she chatted and spit and blew raspberries and "taught" the baby to sling the edible book around.

I think, at first, she was just confused.

Granted, it wasn't a terrible experience. She just kept looking at me and giggling--I think she was hunting for some kind of explanation! :)

The green was her favorite to grab, with the red/orange a close second.

 Then, we realized that the grass outside the pool was the most fun of all. :)  ((Then, I got sweltering hot, so we went inside. :) ))

Rainy Day Play Date

  I looked out the window to where our two dogs--a Doberman and a Boxer--were playing happily in the sunshine. It gleamed off their fur invitingly, and the heat caused their tongues to loll out to the side. My day was already cram-packed, but the cheery sunbeams reminded me of an idea I've seen often on various and sundry Momma blogs: colored ice cubes in a kiddie pool. I got PUMPED. While the Chicken was down for her afternoon nap, I measured out water in the bottom of a muffin tin. I carefully mixed in colors: red, green, blue, yellow. Then, I gleefully put it in the freezer with high anticipation for the next day's playtime--my little water dog was going to be so thrilled! 

  Unfortunately, when I woke this morning, there were no cheery sunbeams, no bright light glinting off the boys' fur. In the sun's place hung heavy, dreary rain clouds that promised a cool, wet day--not at all the kind of day made for colored ice cubes and splashy kiddie pools. After feeding Madelyn breakfast and playing in the floor with her texture balls and mirror for a while, I put her down for her mid-morning nap and set about coming up with something to entertain my ever-active daughter. 

  So....we had a Pasta Day! I put dry bow-tie pasta in a bowl with an assortment of lids and plastic cookie cutters. (With my own cookie cutter obsession, I have about a billion of those.) I still picked as colorful things as I could find--the only ice color I didn't have anything for was the blue. (So at least I KIND of got my color game. :P ). When she woke up, we migrated to my bed (the house is super cluttered, because we're smack dab in the middle of a remodel), and I presented her with the bowl. 

She was not disappointed.

 At first, just looking in the bowl--and occasionally removing one cookie cutter or lid--was enough for her.

But, then, she learned she could dump it out and make a real "mess" all around her. :)

THAT was the funnest part, naturally. She liked seeing all the colors and pasta around her toes--she wiggled them to watch all the stuff move and was about the cutest thing I've ever seen. (Sidenote: she was never unattended with these slightly bigger than bite-sized portions of pasta. Choking hazard and all that.)

Once that got boring, we played like the bowl was our hat--I put it on, she giggled and pulled it off and hit it a few times for good measure. Then, she cooed and looked at me until I put it back on her head again. After that, we had lunch and then started looking around for more ways to have some fun! We decided on dyed, cooked spaghetti. This is something we've done a few times, and the Chicken totally digs it.

She loves to put it in her mouth--not sure why, since she hates the way it tastes...

She loves to stretch it, to break it, to feel it slime between her fingers. She especially loves to throw it in the floor and watch Momma (or Daddy, if he's home) have to pick it up. (Definitely goes in the trash after that. We have dogs, and that is SO not going back in her mouth..)

All in all, we ended up having a lot of fun on our rainy day date. Of course, story time was included--for the record, if you haven't read The Love Monster, you are so missing out!--and now, we're back down for our afternoon nap. :) Who knows what we can get into when she wakes up?? :)

"You Are My Quiet Place, I Am Your Wild"

    "I am your parent, you are my child. I am your quiet place, you are my wild." That's a quote from a book called You Are My I Love You--and it's a quote that sparked my desire to create this blog. My name is Katy; my husband of nearly 2 and a half years, Matt, and I have a beautiful 7 month old daughter named Madelyn (aka the Chicken), with another--Lilah Kate (aka the Duck)--due in December. Our two girls will be less than a year apart--what a shock! Despite the initial stunned couple of months, I am so excited about the challenge; there has never been anything I've loved like I love being a Momma.

(I know--she's about the cutest thing ever.)

So, I started this blog as a way to hold myself accountable in a couple of ways. Firstly, that I would be documenting these sweet but fleeting days with my girl(s). There are times where I desperately crave some time to myself, but when I'm rocking Madelyn and reading to her or singing and she lays her head so sweetly on my shoulder, I can't help but think about how quickly the time has gone! In those moments, I snug her tighter because I know that tomorrow, she'll already be a little bit bigger, a little more independent. So, I want pictures and memories that I can go back and look at when she's eight months, ten month, a year, or twelve years old. Hopefully, blogging will hold me accountable to documenting these things.

The other way I intend to use this blog is as a way to actually DO all the cool ideas I find on Pinterest or Mom Blogs and think, "WOW. Madelyn would totally DIG that!" instead of getting distracted by the day to day. If I'm wanting to talk about anything, I have to do something to talk about.

So, in the interest of showing just how much my girl is "my wild", let's get this thing started!