Summer lovin’

 

 

Work Hard. Play Hard. This is the family motto for the summer.  

Although summer just began this weekend we have been in summer mode for quite some time now.  We work really hard all day long yet the moment the door opens up to go outside it becomes family time. Play time.   We work hard so that we can play hard with our daughter the first moment we get the chance.   Dinner might be late getting on the table, but it well worth the summer memories we are making with our sweet little girl. Dusk is our favorite time of the summer season as we get to spend it together playing.  Although she most likely will not remember the countless stairs she climbed, the rocks and pine cones she collected, the birds and balls she chased, the scraped knees she got, the flowers she “petted”, the weeds she pulled, or the frogs and worms she touched–we  most certainly will and we will cherish this summer long after the leaves start to fall.  

Welcome summer.  Please stay forever…

 

Guest blogging today!

Hi peeps!!!

I am over at my besties blog, The Well-Read Redhead, guest blogging while she is on a family vacation!!! Jealous!! So head on over to see my post and if you are looking for a Summer book to read-this blog will help you pick a book!!! Trust me!!

Come visit her blog as I talk about vacations and reading while having a toddler!

*if you are one of Kelly’s readers-hiiii!!!! Hope you enjoy some reading over on my blog! Glad you popped over! Stay awhile 🙂

Well I was a bit crabby this past  Friday…could you tell by my blog post?? WOWZA! I am happy to report that it was fleeting and once the sun rose on Saturday so did my spirits! I can’t believe I left “Bad Day” as the blog post for people to read first for almost an entire week! Sorry peeps! It has been quite the week so I am just a little fried in the brain and so I am only good for candy crush (dang you level 79!!) and YouTube surfin’ these days. I am hoping for some normalcy soon, but we have a few weeks before that actually happens. Below are some finds on the YouTube that really have kept my spirits up with all the crazy happening around me (promise to fill in soon!)

 

Here are some things that are making me happy on YouTube these days:

1. Stella Sisters.  Any of you readers watch Nashville? I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the show and in one of the last episodes the daughters of the Mega star Raina did sound check and I just thought “wow that is such a great sound by those two daughters! I wonder if they can actually sing?!”  Well this weekend I found out they can sing! Bonus they are actually sisters in real life! They are actually YouTube sensations and you can look up the re-makes of songs.  This on here is what got them started on YouTube.  I am addicted to their sound now and find myself listening to it at least once a day.  Makes me happy!

2. Lexi summer fun! So this isn’t a YouTube sensation, but she is a sensation to us! I just had to share this video of Lexi as she found a frog while playing this weekend.  She just loved it! I will say that the video isn’t great as I was mostly frightened of the frog as I was filming.  There was no frogs harmed while making this video and the frog was sent to the woods after Lexi finally let us say goodbye to the froggy.  It was quite a hoot!

3.  Another great clip making it around the web is Neil Patrick Harris and his opening of the Tony Awards this year!! I watched it and was just in awe of how he got through that entire performance still breathing.  I am still in awe and it is a little lengthy (7 minutes long) but it is totally worth the time! And hellooooo he raps at like the 5 minute mark! You need to watch this!

4. An oldie but goodie that always makes me laugh! Charlie you bit my fingggerrrrrrrrrrr. I have watched this video at least 4.5 billion times over the course of the years but it still makes me laugh every.single.time.

5. I am a big So You Think You Can Dance fan and this is one of my favorite seasons! There are two just beautiful pieces of dance that I are just seared into my mind as my all time favorites.  We are in the middle of SYTYCD season and every time it makes me think of these two collaborations! The first is actual a rendition of the real dance that happened earlier in the season so I will post both of them.  Here is the one with Ellen and here is the original.  The other dance has to do with getting through cancer and the dance is just beautiful and moves me every single time.  They are totally different genres of dance–but still both moving in different ways.  Gosh I wish my body moved like that and had actual rhythm!

So yea I am totally out of my funk and if you need a little pick me up hope one of these could help! Any people can add? I am always on the hunt to add more to my “makes me smile” list on YouTube! Happy Day!

Bad Day.

Most times (except for the longggg May challenge) this blog is usually upbeat and happy so can I do a little whining today?

Okay great. (I took the silence as an agreement. thankyou)

I am just having a bad day.

Not one of those OMG something hugely bad happened in my life days, just one of those should have stayed in bed kinda days.

It started by being woken up today at 1:30am (not by my toddler)–nope by a work issue. greaaaaatttttt.

I had a terrible time getting back to sleep, which always means I am going to have a terrible time waking up.

Yup, I was right.  Terrible time waking up.

I rush us out the door into the rain, where I guy asked me where my umbrella is to protect my daughter’s head from the rain.

#momfail and make a note to buy a new umbrella as ours bit the dust in the wind storm a few months back

I then drop off my daughter at daycare, which she was clinging to me for dear life the entire time.

If this happens I can normally console her and she is normally gearing up for snacktime when I leave so she is completely happy waving me off for the day.

Not today. Not even bananas and graham crackers could say this from becoming a total meltdown.

As I leave her hysterically crying I want to jump back into the room and run away with her.

these are the days I wish I stayed at home with my sweet baby girl. Rain + Meltdown =disaster of a morning

Work is slow and so thinking about upcoming changes to our life, to-do lists, sent an email to friends/family, watched a sad video on FB

all while thinking I should just go get my daughter, but she is about ready to go down for a nap so I shouldn’t mess with her schedule

#workingmomproblems

I should be happy it is Friday.  I should be happy we are heading to see my grandparents this weekend.  I should be happy the forecast is looking great for a poolside weekend.  I should be happy about upcoming changes. I should be happy that we are all in good health!   But today is all about woe is me down in the dumps no good bad day.  But hey the day is young and so maybe it will get better? Anyone else in a funk?

 

 

 

5 things about toddlerhood

 

getting into toddler size spaces is just part of the mom job description

5 things I wish people told me about having a toddler

1. If you haven’t lost the baby weight in the first year? Don’t worry because the following year when you have a toddler on your hands you wont have time to eat seconds let alone firsts with having a toddler.  Plus you will be running around so much with your toddler your waist will come back. So enjoy your baby who stays where you put them and eat another bowl of dinner for me!

2. Having your house be clean is easy.  Having your house be tidy and look like a tornado didn’t just rush through it–now that is a different story! Sure I can dust, vacuum, mop, and windex windows and feel as though I was productive,  but keep books in order, toys put away, and clothes in drawers is seriously impossible with a toddler. Every night we try to win the battle over toys and usually our toddler wins.

3. The “what do you want?” phrase will be said approximately 4.6 billion times in a day.  We can pick up some of what Lexi is asking us through sign language and basic signals we caught on as her parents, but the other 90% of what she is babbling about we just don’t have a clue.  We can even tell when she is repeating herself and probably in her head being like DUDES GET THE TOY ON THE SHELF IN THE BACK ALREADY?! Instead we look at her with this really dumb look on our faces and utter the words…what do you want? I think once she even sighed and thought the thing she wanted wasn’t worth the trouble of repeating herself so she moved on to a new toy.

4. Life will continue to revolve around sleep even when they are toddlers.  Right now her naps are smack dab in the middle of the day (lunchtime), which makes any sort of planning a nightmare.  Do we risk it and keep her out a little longer to see friends for a lunch date? Do we have brunch instead? Do we let her sleep in the car for 30 minutes on the way to something in fear she wont take her usual nap later? Did she have a good nap today? Will we be back in time for her bedtime? Did be bring the right blanket? sleepsack? Is she too hot? Too cold? For some strange reason I thought after a year the sleep talk would stop, but I might say it just has increased in toddlerhood?

5. Milestones only get sweeter as time goes on.  I thought the best milestones would be in the first year as how can you top rolling over, crawling, saying ma-ma for the first time, walking, etc.  I mean really how do you compete with those milestones?! Somehow though the toddler milestones although different from the first year just keep getting sweeter and sweeter as she grows.  The first time she got hurt and ran to me for a hug-so sweet.  The first time she said “one more” when asking for a fig newton-even sweeter.  The first time she gave me an actual kiss-omg the sweetest.  Having infant milestones was awesome.  Having toddler milestones if you can believe it are even more awesome. Your baby is turning into a little boy or girl and no longer a baby and it couldn’t be more satisfying!

I think I would add one more to the list if I could–as the child gets bigger the decisions for them only get bigger.  

 Would you agree with these? Any mommas out there with toddlers want to add to this list?? I would love to hear what you think are some things you just learned along the way of being a parent to a toddler!