Musings on life, parenting, Jesus, and more...

I know parents say this all the time, but seriously - where did the time go? My baby is two already? It just doesn't seem possible. She is silly and fun and full of life and we can't imagine our lives with out her. She makes me laugh every day - from her "ta-da's" as she shows me the (empty) potty, to making up her own knock-knock jokes, she is a joy to parent.... Well most of the time.... Until she throws herself on the ground for no apparent reason, kicking and screaming in pure 2 year old fashion. Fortunately those moments pass quickly and she's back to her silly little self. She is also one of the cuddliest, snuggliest girls I know. Even as I type this, she has her blanky and has ingeniously pushed my kitchen step stool over to my chair so she can climb up and crawl into my lap to cuddle. Guess that's my cue that it's time to get back to my job of being Mommy to these two beautiful girls.

A couple funny things that Jenica has said over the last couple days that I want to remember, and since I have failed miserably at the "baby book" concept, the internet is where they are being posted (Jenica, I apologize in advance for the embarrasment this may cause you in the future!) Yesterday I had to ask her a couple of times to put her socks on so we could get ready to leave. The second time she looked at me and said, "Sorry Mom, I didn't hear you, your talking must have made my ears dumb!" I literally laughed out loud! This morning her and Tenley were playing together in the other room and Jenica yells, "Mommy, Tenley is crapping me up!" She did quickly correct herself to "cracking me up" so that was good, but in the mean time, it still gave me a good chuckle under my breath! That's all for now!

Well, for me at least, I feel like baby books have become a thing of the past. I bought one for Jenica but never actually finished filling it out - and Tenley is almost 20 months old now and I have yet to even acquire one for her. But I have done a pretty good job of documenting momentous occasions here on the baby blog, so tonight definitely warranted a quick post. Tonight, my sweet little Tenley, who seemed to take forever to talk at all, has blossomed in her vocabulary during the last month, and tonight for the first time, she said "I love you" to me (in words spoken clearly enough for me to understand.) To add to the sweetest of the moment was big sister Jenica, who exclaimed, "She said I love you Mom! I taught her that!" Oh how I love these sweet little munchkins of mine!

Check out what my awesome, amazing, super talented friend Kelly just made for me. I LOVE them, and can't wait to frame them for the girls' bedroom wall.

This is Jenica 3 years ago, at only 9 months old! Yes, she had enough hair to french braid before she was even 1! At that age, I would braid her hair while she laid on the floor drinking her morning bottle. When she outgrew the bottle, she also outgrew the ability to stay still while I did fun hairstyles like this. Then, for the next couple of years, she just hated having anything done with her hair. But, she's finally getting old enough now that she thinks it's fun to let mommy try new hair styles on her - and thanks to Pinterest, I have lots of ideas! Here is what we did this morning: Do you have an idea you think I should try on her hair? Send me a link! I'm loving trying new things and maybe if I get good at doing her hair, I can try some on my own hair too!

We celebrated Tenley's first birthday last weekend with cake, lots and lots of cake... and she loved every bit of it! Friday was family picture day. My amazing friend Kim came up from Salem to take some fun family pictures of us at our house. During the session, Tenley got a hold of a handful of her birthday cake that Jessica had dropped off that morning. Fortunately, it was out of the back of the cake so it still photographed nicely for her cake smash session on Saturday. Then Sunday was party day! By now, she was a seasoned cake eater and knew just what to do to please the crowd! To go along with the birthday cake, my friend Kelly and I made some oh so delicious cake pops. It was my first time making them, and I couldn't have done it without her help, but they turned out delicious and were really fun to make. Jenica even got to come help out! Thanks to everyone who helped celebrate our baby's first and make it a special day for...

Where has the year gone? I can't believe that in just one short month we'll be celebrating my baby's first birthday. She is on the go these days! Not walking yet but pulling her self up on everything and cruising around on the furniture. Oh, and she's discovered the stairs and is enamored with them! Every time I turn my back she makes a bee line for them. Fortunately, big sister is a good monitor when I'm not watching and is always quick to tell me, "Mom, Tenley's climbing the stairs again!"  She also has an adorable playful side - initiating games of peek-a-boo on her own with the kitchen hand towels while I'm making dinner. She loves to feed herself all kinds of finger foods and has even started weening herself off the bottle in exchange for a sippy cup. She says dada all the time but has yet to call me mama. I think it's just a fun game for her now. I say mama, she says dada and laughs! One of these days she'll call me mama and melt m...