The little things

The little things can make any situation change from bad to good or vice versa in a matter of moments.

With a toddler the smallest of tasks can end up being quite an ordeal. Tonight that task was nail clipping. I know, fun fun. Mylin was fighting it every step of the way. She squirmed, kicked, and said "All done! All done!" repeatedly. Once I got to her toes I told her she could have polish if she let me finish. Sadly, this didn't settle her right away, but we got through it. She was a pretty unhappy girl. However, as soon as we were done she ran to the bathroom, pointed at the medicine cabinet and said "This. This." She knows exactly where the polish is. She also knows exactly what color she wants every time. Independent woman ;) I have no clue where she gets it from.We picked a bright red, with sparkles, of course.

As soon as she saw the first toe polished her face lit up. She went from a sleepy lil grump to happy sparkly eyed girl. (I can't lie seeing her all excited made me excited too.) She could barely sit still and kept saying "ooooo..." and "pretty.". Once we were done she stood right up and began to prance around the room. She had a huge smile and was kicking her toes up in the air, both so she could see them and she could show them off. With a goofy little smile she announced "I pretty! I pretty!" My heart got all melty. (Corny I know, but I LOVE my little girl.)

In these moments I was reminded how the little things can mean so much. They can make a little girl feel like a beauty queen, remind her that her Mama loves her, and remind her Mama how important those little things are. It's so important to give our children those little moments, not just for them but for us.

Being Thankful & Crafty

Tonight I wanted to do a little Thanksgiving craft with Mylin. I wanted it to be something we could keep and look back on. Of course, how it all went down in my mind differed quite significantly than the actual event.

We made a hand turkey. This meant I had to trace and cut out enough of her hand prints to feather a turkey. At first she was cooperative and allowed me to trace one print. Then she saw Mama was getting to have, what she thought, was all the fun with the paper and permanent marker. After this it was a constant battle of Daniel chasing Mylin away from the scissors, glue sticks, and paper as I tried to quickly recreate many handprints from the only one she had stood still for. It took much longer than I had anticipated, and of course we made an extra for Grammy Linda. Why I thought I could get an 18 month old involved with an organized craft is beyond me.

The end result, however, is beautiful! (or at least we think so.) We have already taken loving gazes at it and talked about how next year we won't believe how small her hands once were. It was well worth it, and I hope we have many more family crafts like this. <3

It's about time.

I have been telling myself I would start a blog since I had Mylin a year and a half ago.  With the many hours I spend on the properly called, "world waste wide waste of time," you'd think I'd have a book of blogs by now.  Finally, here we are.  I am adding one more stereotypical mom thing to my list.  I am now a Mommy Blogger. Dunt dun dunnnnnn!!!!

A huge influence in prompting me to start this is that time truly does fly so fast.  I catch myself staring at my computer as it has switched to screen saver mode for a good 1/2 hour at a time, just oogling over Mylin's many baby pictures.  Yet, when it comes to written memories and funny stories, I have to scroll my own facebook page for old status updates or twitter for old tweets.  I am hoping this will create something more concrete. A scrapbook of sorts that grandparents, our kids, as well as Daniel and I will have to look back on.

Having Mylin changed my life forever.  I had never seen nor felt love like that before.  Daniel and I both beamed.  For years I had heard that God loves us as his own children. I don't think I could ever fully understand the extent of that love until I had felt it myself.  It also gave me greater fears.  I remember being in the shower the first week we brought Mylin home.  I heard her crying.   I, also in tears, flew out of the bathroom only in my towel.  In a total postpartum hormonal moment, I cried to Daniel saying, "When I heard her in the shower, I realized that for the last 9 months all that I had to do to protect her was to take care of and protect myself.  That's no longer the case and I can't be with her every second." Every day I pray protection over her.

There are so many things that I have had to go through that I hope with all that I am she will never have to.  I constantly remind myself of the things that were part of my childhood that I don't want to recreate for her.  There were also good things my parents did that I will implement in my parenting.  All in all, I know I will have my own individual style of parenting.  My hope is it will be a style of love, grace, and patience.  May this blog be a reminder on those rough days of how blessed I am and bring me joy even in times of tears and frustration.